News Archives

Headlining today’s news the list of countries that fail to allow religious freedom
has been released. It’s called the Open Doors’ World Watch list, comprising of
countries where Christians face the most persecution. Open Doors President Terry
Madison. “Saudi Arabia has the distinction, unfavorable as it is, of being the most
repressive regime in the world for Christian faith. And, they have topped this list again
as number one for a number of years in a row.” Madison says Afghanistan is second,
followed by China, Chechnya and Sudan. 82 other countries made the list. He says
churches can use this as a prayer tool. “It’s very helpful for churches to use because
they can pray their way through the list and remember those who are in bonds for
Christ’s sake. We’re really committed to public education, particularly among the
church folk, to realize that even as we enjoy the freedom that we have, that is not what
others around the world share.”

Headlining today’s news the list of countries that fail to allow religious freedom
has been released. It’s called the Open Doors’ World Watch list, comprising of
countries where Christians face the most persecution. Open Doors President Terry
Madison. “Saudi Arabia has the distinction, unfavorable as it is, of being the most
repressive regime in the world for Christian faith. And, they have topped this list again
as number one for a number of years in a row.” Madison says Afghanistan is second,
followed by China, Chechnya and Sudan. 82 other countries made the list. He says
churches can use this as a prayer tool. “It’s very helpful for churches to use because
they can pray their way through the list and remember those who are in bonds for
Christ’s sake. We’re really committed to public education, particularly among the
church folk, to realize that even as we enjoy the freedom that we have, that is not what
others around the world share.”

Headlining today’s news the list of countries that fail to allow religious freedom
has been released. It’s called the Open Doors’ World Watch list, comprising of
countries where Christians face the most persecution. Open Doors President Terry
Madison. “Saudi Arabia has the distinction, unfavorable as it is, of being the most
repressive regime in the world for Christian faith. And, they have topped this list again
as number one for a number of years in a row.” Madison says Afghanistan is second,
followed by China, Chechnya and Sudan. 82 other countries made the list. He says
churches can use this as a prayer tool. “It’s very helpful for churches to use because

they can pray their way through the list and remember those who are in bonds for
Christ’s sake. We’re really committed to public education, particularly among the
church folk, to realize that even as we enjoy the freedom that we have, that is not what
others around the world share.”

Headlining today’s news the list of countries that fail to allow religious freedom
has been released. It’s called the Open Doors’ World Watch list, comprising of
countries where Christians face the most persecution. Open Doors President Terry
Madison. “Saudi Arabia has the distinction, unfavorable as it is, of being the most
repressive regime in the world for Christian faith. And, they have topped this list again
as number one for a number of years in a row.” Madison says Afghanistan is second,
followed by China, Chechnya and Sudan. 82 other countries made the list. He says
churches can use this as a prayer tool. “It’s very helpful for churches to use because
they can pray their way through the list and remember those who are in bonds for
Christ’s sake. We’re really committed to public education, particularly among the
church folk, to realize that even as we enjoy the freedom that we have, that is not what
others around the world share.”

Headlining today’s news the list of countries that fail to allow religious freedom
has been released. It’s called the Open Doors’ World Watch list, comprising of
countries where Christians face the most persecution. Open Doors President Terry
Madison. “Saudi Arabia has the distinction, unfavorable as it is, of being the most
repressive regime in the world for Christian faith. And, they have topped this list again
as number one for a number of years in a row.” Madison says Afghanistan is second,
followed by China, Chechnya and Sudan. 82 other countries made the list. He says
churches can use this as a prayer tool. “It’s very helpful for churches to use because
they can pray their way through the list and remember those who are in bonds for
Christ’s sake. We’re really committed to public education, particularly among the
church folk, to realize that even as we enjoy the freedom that we have, that is not what
others around the world share.”

Next, among the top ten countries on the World Watch list, most of them are
strongly Islamic. So, evangelism among the Muslim community worldwide has been a
challenge. However, for Arab World Ministries, the light of Christ is being shared
elsewhere. We spoke with one missionary, whom we’ll call “Mark”. His ministry is in
France’s Muslim community. “Mark” says despite the fact that France’s Islamic
population is more open to evangelism, they are faced with many obstacles. “A Muslim
who would become a Christian from a Muslim point of view is a traitor-he’s a traitor to
God, he’s a traitor to his country, he’s a traitor to his family, to his ancestors, to his
history, to all that is good, right and true. Many Muslims who become Christians feel a
lot of pressure to conform to their former religion, to the people around them.”

A Christian television station is refusing to accept a license by the Federal
Communications Commission because of new guidelines attached to it. The new
guidelines, restricting the amount of religious programming, forced Cornerstone
Television to make the move. They said it would jeopardize their ability to carry out
your mission of sharing the Gospel. The guidelines require noncommercial educational
TV stations to devote half of their time to educational materials, excluding preaching
and most church services. National Religious Broadcaster and members of Congress
oppose the guidelines, which could affect 90 other such stations.

We begin today’s newscast in strife torn Indonesia where the Muslim and
Christian conflict continues. After three days of rioting Christians are fleeing the
Island of Lombok (lohm-bahk). Clashes there have claimed two-thousand lives over
the last year. Guy Sire with New Tribes Mission says we’re seeing a fundamental shift
in the country. “Indonesia has always been a Muslim country with an attempt to keep
the government secular. But, what we’re finding now is without a strong powerful figure
in the presidency, Islamic elements are making their bid for control of the country.”
According to Sire, because many New Tribes missionaries are in safe areas of the
country, their work has slowed. “We have a tremendous core of Indonesians that have
gone through our training program there. We still have two families still in the Moluccas
and have not evacuated out. But, we sincerely need more Indonesians, challenged to
reach their own people.”

With the Balkans in ruins, World Servants is making plans to go into twelve
destroyed villages this spring to help rebuild. Chris Clum says not only are they
working to provide shelter, but they also want to give back the future the Serbian
soldiers stole from the Albanians. “One of the things they did in these villages when they
went in is target the schools. They leveled the schools, and in some cases, killed all the
teachers in some of these villages. So, we are going to go back to one of these villages
and work with the people that live there and rebuild the school.” Clum says helping the
Muslim community in this manner will give them a chance to share the Gospel. “It’s a
wonderful open door for us to share our Christian faith by just working alongside them
and helping meet some practical needs really warms their hearts to receive the Gospel.
As we’ve been over there and have begun to build relationships, they begin to ask
questions-“Why are you here?” “Tell us about your faith.””

Elsewhere, a message on the Bible millennium lands a Chinese pastor in jail
again and another chance to share Christ with authorities. Voice of the Martyrs
reports that the Chinese people are to refer only to the “new century” and not use the
word millennium due to it being a Biblical term. Li De Xian was preaching on that topic
when he was arrested earlier this week by local police. Xian says he welcomes the
opportunity as a means to plant seeds and share the Gospel with the PSB authorities.