The discovery of explosives in one village days ahead of a brutal assault on a Christian community in another village has raised fears of a repeat of the large scale anti-Christian violence in Orissa state, India. A church leader and the 12 families in his congregation were attacked by Hindu extremists on 15 June in the village of Mitrapur. Evangelist Baidhar (50) was making his way home from a prayer meeting in a believer’s home when he was set upon. He was seriously injured and left bleeding on the ground. He was found shortly afterwards by local Christians who took him to hospital. Around 50 Hindus then attacked the Christian community in the village. The assailants looted the homes of the 12 families. The Christians fled the village. A few days before this incident, on 10 June, police seized more than 50 homemade bombs and 12 blocks of dynamite from a hut in Gambhari village, Puri district. The offenders fled and the explosives were taken to the police station to be defused.

Pray: against any recurrence of extremist activities in Orissa state. (Ps.5:11)

More: http://www.barnabasfund.org/Attack-on-Christian-community-in-Orissa-raises-fears-of-further-violence.html

An international advocacy group urged the U.S. government to condemn Indian authorities for asking three American Christians to leave India because they allegedly participated in evangelism. ‘We urge the U.S. government to look into this matter and take appropriate measures to pressure India to respect the religious freedom of Christians and other religious minorities,’ explained an International Christian Concern (ICC) representative. Shelly Deeds, a nurse from Pennsylvania, her daughter Katelyn 15, and Diane Harrington a teacher at Wisconsin were ‘asked to leave’ the country after Hindu organizations complained they ‘tried to convert poor families in India's southern state of Kerala. Indian police acknowledged there was no evidence the Christian tourists participated in proselytizing, but said they asked them to leave because the women ‘violated’ visa regulations by trying to attend a prayer meeting.

Pray: God’s protection for Christians and the Christian community in the sensitive areas of India. (Ps.17:1)

More: http://www.bosnewslife.com/17201-india-asks-u-s-evangelists-to-leave

With Hindu extremists constantly perpetrating attacks against the church, Christians in the northern region of India find themselves in a very hostile environment. Persecution has also come through politics as some states have implemented laws against conversion to Christianity. One such law is ironically called the "Freedom of Religion Bill." Similar legislation has been approved by lawmakers in Madhya Pradesh. The bill, which now awaits the governor's signature, would make it a crime to convert to Christianity without government permission. But Pastor Abraham, who works everyday with average people in the region, says that not everyone is hostile toward Christians. "When you bring the salvation, the healing, the blessings from Jesus, the common people always respond to the Gospel," he said. "Otherwise we can't do the work." Despite the persecution and the challenges, God is moving and the church is growing, Abraham said.

Pray: for true freedom of religion and for those who do wish to convert to Christianity. ( Jn.10:28)

More: http://www.cbn.com/cbnnews/world/2013/September/India-Church-Growing-Stronger-Despite-Hostilities/

There has been a steep increase in persecution across the ‘10/40 window’ in the last decade, says Gospel for Asia. It warned that in India alone there had been a ‘400 per cent’ increase in persecution. The 10/40 window encompasses the countries that have been least reached with the Gospel. Gospel for Asia president K P Yohannan said that people who had not experienced persecution ‘do not fully understand what it means to have their lives threatened, homes destroyed, rights violated and loved ones imprisoned, all because of embracing faith in Jesus Christ’. Christians in the 10/40 region have had their homes destroyed or been imprisoned because of accusations against them, including accusations of forced conversions. Many have been killed because of their belief in Christ and others have been forced to go underground. ‘The increase of this kind of persecution should not be surprising where the gospel is going forth in unfriendly world areas,’ said Yohannan. ‘.

Pray: for all Christians ouround th World who find themselves persecuted for their faith. (2Ti.3:12 )

More: http://www.christiantoday.com/article/increase.in.persecution.across.1040.window/30949.htm

More than 320 people have died in the southern Philippines after Typhoon Bopha swept across the south of the country. The total number of fatalities, which stood at around 90 on Tuesday, jumped as rescuers on Wednesday reached remote mountain villages cut off by floods and landslides. A government spokeswoman, Fe Maestre, told the Associated Press news agency that at least 151 people died in the worst-hit province of Compostela Valley. That included 66 villagers and soldiers who died in a flash flood that swamped two emergency storm shelters and a military camp as Bopha devastated New Bataan town the day before. Maestre said an unspecified number of villagers remained missing in New Bataan. Bopha swept across the island of Mindanao, destroying homes with 210km per hour gusts on Tuesday before headed towards the South China Sea.

Pray: for the people of the Philippines, for those who are suffering and need relief. (Lam.3:56)

More: http://www.aljazeera.com/news/asia-pacific/2012/12/201212553732512410.htmlChibok

12 million people across the Horn of Africa are struggling from the worst drought in decades, with two regions in famine. At emergency talks between aid chiefs, charities and ministers last Monday discussions centred around ways to step up food supplies and deliver them to the epicentre of the famine in southern Somalia, much of which is under the control of Islamist militants. UN emergency official Cristina Amaral said the fact that children are dying of hunger is ‘immoral’, she has been warning about the crisis facing the drought-stricken region since November when the rainy season failed. Now she says it's not enough for donor countries to stump up some cash for immediate food aid - there needs to be long-term investment to help farmers resist droughts and international mediation to bring peace to war-torn Somalia. See http://www.canada.com/life/Famine+Somalia+immoral+ordinator/5151657/story.html

Pray: for herders killing livestock on which their lives depend before they die of starvation and for God’s wisdom to endow the authorities making decisions in the coming weeks. (Ps.123:2)

More: http://www.canada.com/news/famine+Somalis+flee+Mogadishu+UNHCR/5159452/story.html

A human rights' group in Honduras says a prominent lawyer who represented peasants in disputes with large land owners has been killed. Antonio Trejo was shot dead by unknown gunmen after walking outside the church, where he was attending a wedding, to answer a phone call. Mr Trejo represented lands rights groups in the Bajo Aguan, a fertile palm-oil-producing region. Dozens of people have been killed in land conflicts there in recent years. A statement by the Peasants Movement of the Valley of Bajo Aguan, known by its Spanish acronym, Marca, says he was shot five times outside a church in Tocontin, in the outskirts of the capital, Tegucigalpa. He was taken to a nearby hospital but died of his wounds. Human rights' groups have called on the Central American government to investigate the deaths of dozens of peasants and campaigners in the Bajo Aguan area, in Honduras' northern Colon department.

Pray: for all those who offer their services to the peasants in their fight against greed and corruption. (1Jn.3:12)

More: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-latin-america-19695587

A federal court has upheld Hawaii’s definition of marriage as a union between one man and one woman. The court rejected a lawsuit that sought to tear down the state’s law defining marriage as the union of one man and one woman and Hawaii’s constitutional amendment that gives the legislature the power to maintain the timeless definition. Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF) attorneys defended the law and the amendment on behalf of Hawaii Family Forum, which the court allowed to intervene in the case in April. ‘This ruling affirms that protecting and strengthening marriage as the union of one man and one woman is legitimate, reasonable, and good for society,’ says ADF legal counsel Dale Schowengerdt. ‘The people of Hawaii adopted a constitutional amendment to uphold marriage and the court rightly concluded that the democratic process shouldn’t be short-circuited by judicial decree.’

Pray: that the Hawaii Government will continue defending the current definition of marriage. (Ps.74:22)

More: http://www.charismanews.com/us/33936-federal-court-rules-on-traditional-marriage-in-hawaii