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Here’s an account I received in a prayer request. It’s long, but it tells what’s going on there.

This is is a request for prayer for YWAM missionaries and their churches in Orissa, India.
The request came Mable Hurst, an associate of HCJB Global.

Please read and make this a matter of urgent prayer.

Dear beloved sponsors and friends of Good News India.

We have never seen anything like this. We knew that Orissa was the most
resistant and hostile State in India as far as the Gospel is concerned. And we
brushed off the continuous threats and harassment we faced as we went about His
work. But none of our staff imagined that they would see this kind of
carnage.... And it seems to be totally under the radar of the Western Media ....

Let me explain.... A militant Hindu priest and 4 of his attendants, who were
zealously going around the villages of Orissa and ‘reconverting’ people back to
Hinduism, were gunned down by unknown assailants in Central Orissa last
weekend. Immediately the Christians were blamed. The cry rose up...’Kill the
Christians!’

And the horror began.... In the past 4 days, we have first hand witness to
hundreds of churches being blown up or burned and many, many dozens of Christian
tribals have been slaughtered. For no other reason than they bear the name of Christ.

Night and day I have been in touch with our Good News India Directors spread
across 14 Dream Centers in Orissa... they are right in the middle of all this chaos.

In Tihidi, just after the police came to offer protection, a group of 70 blood-thirsty

militants came to kill our staff and destroy the home. They were not allowed to get in,

but they did a lot of damage to our Dream Center by throwing rocks and bricks and

smashing our gate, etc.

They have promised to come back and ‘finish the job.’ Our kids and staff are
locked inside and have stayed that way with doors and windows shut for the

past 3 days. It has been a time of desperately calling on the Lord in prayer.

More police have come to offer protection. In Kalahandi, the police and some
local sympathizers got to our dream center and gave our staff and kids about 3
minutes notice to vacate. No one had time to even grab a change of clothes or
any personal belonging. As they fled, the blood thirsty mob came to kill
everyone in the building. We would have had a mass funeral there, but for His
grace. In Phulbani, the mob came looking for Christian homes and missions. The
local Hindu people, our neighbors turned them away by saying that there were no
Christians in this area. So they left. We had favor. The same thing happened in
Balasore.

All our dream centers are under lock down with the kids and staff huddled
inside and police outside. The fanatics are circling outside waiting for a
chance to kill. Others were not so fortunate. In a nearby Catholic
orphanage, the mob allowed the kids to leave and locked up a Priest and
a computer teacher in house and burned them to death. Many believers have been
killed and hacked into pieces and left on the > road.... even women and children.

At another orphanage run by another organization, when this began,

the Director and his wife jumped on their motorbike and simply fled,

leaving all the children and staff behind. Every one of our GNI directors that I

have spoken to said: ‘We stay with our kids.... we live together or die together,

but we will never abandon what God has called us to do.’

More than 5000 Christian families have had their homes burned or
destroyed. They have fled into the jungles and are living in great fear waiting
for the authorities to bring about peace. But so far, no peace is foreseen.
This will continue for another 10 days.... supposedly th e 14 day mourning
period for the slain Hindu priest. Many more Christians will die and their
houses destroyed. Many more churches will be smashed down. The Federal
government is trying to restore order and perhaps things will calm down.

We ask for your prayers. Only the Hand of God can calm this storm. None of us know the
meaning of persecution. But now our kids and staff know what that means. So many
of our kids coming from Hindu backgrounds are confused and totally bewildered at
what is happening around them. So many of their guardians have fled into the
jungles and are unable to come and get them during these trying times.

Through all this, I am more determined than ever to continue with our goal:

the transformation of a community by transforming its children.
Orissa will be saved... that is our heart’s cry. If we can take these thousands
of throw-away children and help them to become disciples of Jesus, they will
transform an entire region. It is a long term goal, but it is strategic thinking
in terms of the Great Commission.

What can you do? First, please uphold all this in fervent prayer. Second, pass
this e-mail on to as many friends as you can. We must get the word out and
increase our prayer base for this is spiritual warfare at its most basic meaning.

We are literally fighting the devil in order to live for His Kingdom. The next 10 days

are crucial. We pray for peace and calm to pervade across Orissa.

Thank you for taking the time to read this. Please pass it on and help us to
get as many people to partner with us on this cutting edge effort to fulfill His
mandate: Go and make disciples of all nations.... Prayer works!

Blessings, Chip & Sandy Wanner Col 2:2 MBI
Team Facilitators to YWAM frontlines