COORDINATED CRACKDOWN ON CHINA’S HOUSE CHURCHES

VIOLENCE ROCKS IRAN IN ADVANCE OF ELECTIONS

CHRISTIANS SEEK CLEMENCY FOR IMPRISONED PASTOR IN U.S.

INDIA’S GOVERNMENT ASKS STATES TO TAKE ACTION AGAINST PERSECUTORS

EVANGELIST DOUBTS IMPACT OF KORAN DISTRIBUTION

Today’s News Stories:

COORDINATED CRACKDOWN ON CHINA’S HOUSE CHURCHES Reports are emerging that there has been a coordinated crackdown on Christian believers attending house churches in China’s Jilin Province. According to a news release from the China Aid Association (CAA), the crackdown began at about 5 a.m. on May 22, while house church leader Zhao Dianru, was praying at his home. Dianru was released on June 6. About 20 boxes of Christian books were confiscated during the police raid. Meanwhile police simultaneously raided about 100 house churches in the Changchun area, the capital city of Jilin Province in northeastern China. Nearly 600 house church believers and leaders were taken into custody. Most were released after 24 to 48 hours of interrogation, but about 100 of the leaders are reportedly still being held in different detention centers. “While (the) Chinese government has been claiming to the world community that Chinese people are enjoying religious freedom, this major assault on unregistered house churches in Jilin Province really shows the opposite,” said Bob Fu, CAA president. “The manpower, coordination and planning involved in raiding such a large number of church meetings simultaneously shows that this effort came from high levels of the Chinese government.” CAA is calling “upon the world community to urge the Chinese government to immediately release these innocent religious leaders. It’s time for China to live up to the commitments and treaties it has signed on religious freedom.” (ASSIST News Service)

VIOLENCE ROCKS IRAN IN ADVANCE OF ELECTIONS Bombings are rocking Iran days in advance of the presidential race, claiming at least nine lives. Officials fear that unrest from Iraq may be spilling into Iran in the form of support for Muslim extremists. In addition, the unrest has left an indelible anti-Western impression. Evangelist Sammy Tippit says despite the unrest there’s a tremendous hunger among a young, disillusioned population that is embracing the gospel. “There are literally, thousands upon thousands who are coming to know Jesus Christ there.” The country’s young population under 35 is marked at 67 million. Many of these young people are disenchanted by the violence in the promise of tradition, and are opening their hearts to something else, Tippit explains. As they respond to the Gospel, another issue becomes clear. “One of the great needs is for discipleship. Many of them have never had a Bible. Many of them, their only contact with Christianity is through our TV broadcast.” (Mission Network News)

CHRISTIANS SEEK CLEMENCY FOR IMPRISONED PASTOR IN U.S. Thousands of Christians nationwide have written letters expressing support for a pastor serving a 41-year sentence for a crime he says he was coerced into committing. Dino Gentile of Chatsworth, California, is seeking clemency from President Bush for his role in a 1998 bank robbery in Pensacola, Florida. The former pastor of The Ark, a Chatsworth congregation affiliated with the Apostolic World Christian Fellowship Inc., said he was forced to drive the getaway car at the threat of harm to his wife and two children in California. “Dino was in terrible fear [that] he and his family [would be] executed,” said his mother, Emila Gentile Medeiros in an interview with Charisma magazine. Gentile received 30 years for his alleged use of an automatic weapon, and 11 years for the abetting charge. Since then, friends, relatives, former parishioners and members of his 3.2 million-member denomination have written more than 3,000 letters and faxes requesting clemency. (Charisma)

INDIA’S GOVERNMENT ASKS STATES TO TAKE ACTION AGAINST PERSECUTORS At a time when persecution against Christians is running high in India, India’s government is taking notice, says Mission India’s Dave Stravers. Reports indicate that Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh is asking the states to take measures to combat attacks against Christians. Stravers says that while this is good news, he doesn’t think it will slow down the violence. “There are so many Hindu and Muslim Indians who are open to the gospel in ways they have never been seen in the last 2,000 years,” he said. “This work of the Holy Spirit seems to be continuing to accelerate, so it’s only natural to expect that Satan and the people who are enslaved to him to react.” Mission India is training 100,000 adults to lead the ministry’s children’s Bible clubs. “We’ll reach about 4 million children this year,” Straverse said. (Mission Network News)

EVANGELIST DOUBTS IMPACT OF KORAN DISTRIBUTION According to USA Today, the Council on American Islamic Relations (CAIR) plans to distribute as many as 25,000 Korans. A Christian evangelist and former Muslim says she is not concerned about the news that a radical Islamic group is offering free Korans to anyone who wants one. W.L. Cati, founder of Zennah Ministries, believes most Americans would probably find the Islamic sacred text hard to decipher. “If you really try to read that book,” she says, “it’s very confusing. The Koran was put together not by chronological events, like the Bible; it’s all sporadic. It was put together from the largest sura [or chapter] to the shortest sura, vice-versa.” The Zennah Ministries founder says she doubts that CAIR’s massive distribution effort will have a great effect on most Americans who do receive a free Koran. Cati believes out of those who do read the Islamic holy book as a result of this campaign, many will be turned off by what they find in its pages. (Agape Press) * * * * * * * * * * * * *

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