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16 Christians dead after an accidents in India

Sixteen Indian Christians were killed when a truck carrying the group to an annual church meeting overturned.

“The truck carrying the Christians reportedly overturned after the driver lost control and hit a concrete railing, throwing most of the passengers in a deep gorge,” said Vijayesh Lal, general secretary of the Evangelical Fellowship of (EFI).

The accident happened on February 26. Twelve people were killed at the scene of the crash, including a 13-year-old girl, while four others died later at the hospital from their injuries. Additionally, 50 more passengers sustained injuries from the accident.

The group of Christians had been on their way to attend the regional Khasi Jaintia Presbyterian Synod.

China: Christian Woman Sentenced to Prison for Holding Bible Study

 

A Christian woman in China has been sentenced to serve three years in prison for “gathering a crowd to disturb public order” for her Bible study.

Mia Huichao was sentenced last week in the western Xinjiang region courts of the country, according to China Aid.

She was taken into police custody with four other Christians after officials said she was holding the Bible study without government approval.

Mia is not planning to appeal.

Recently, China’s government has been pursuing non-government sanctioned Christian gatherings and arresting pastors and Christians.

China Aid reported that several Christians were arrested in October and November and accused of being in “evil cults.”

China’s Revised Draft of Regulations on Religious Affairs went into effect in October and prohibits “"organizing citizens to attend religious training, conferences and activities abroad"; "preaching, organizing religious activities, and establishing religious institutions or religious sites at schools," and "providing religious services through the internet."

"The government wants to control everything, even the smallest aspects," one pastor, identified as Zhou, told China Aid in September. "One characteristic of this draft is the empowerment of local government bodies all the way down to the communities.

"This revision will further reduce the possibility of loosening religious control in China. It is becoming impossible."

Austria: Woman Reading Bible in Refugee Camp is Stabbed by Angry Muslim Man

An unnamed woman survived a stabbing attack by an Afghan Muslim migrant at a refugee camp in Austria.

The Inquisitr.com reports that the 50-year-old woman was reportedly a guest at the Timelkam refugee center in Voecklamarkt, Austria when the incident occurred.

She was asked by other Christian residents of the refugee center to read the Bible and lead a Bible study with them in the center’s kitchen. While she read from the Bible, however, a 22-year-old refugee from Afghanistan burst into the kitchen and began attacking her. He reportedly stabbed her repeatedly, but miraculously, because of the large coat she was wearing, the blows did not harm her.

She did incur a minor injury when the force of the blows made her fall. The injury was not serious, however.

Police apprehended the attacker who claimed he merely overreacted and was dealing with “personal problems.” He was reportedly taken to Wels Prison, but it is not known if he was charged for his crime.

Following the attack, debate raged on social media about Islam and violence.

Immigrants in refugee camps are facing increased violence, particularly those who are vocal about their Christian faith.

Persecution of Church in China to Escalate as Zhejiang Experiment Goes National

Christians in China's Zhejiang province, where authorities have carried out a devastating cross-removal campaign, say they will remain vigilant amid signs that elements of the hard-line strategy could spread to other jurisdictions. Photo Credit: China Aid

In October 2012, the South China Morning Post ran a series of articles on China's looming leadership transition. One line might prove prophetic, although not in the way intended: "For clues about how China's leader-in-waiting Xi Jinping might manage the world's second-largest economy, Zhejiang province is a good place to start looking

After explaining that the years Xi spent in Zhejiang (2002 to 2007) - as party secretary and as governor - "are regarded as a transformative period, during which Zhejiang expanded its private sector and moved toward cleaner, more innovative industries," the author surmises that as president of the People's Republic, Xi Jinping would doubtless work the same magic on a national level.

Similarly, for clues about how Xi intends to manage religion and what is possibly the world's second-largest evangelical Christian population (after the USA), Zhejiang Province is a good place to start looking.

Since assuming office in March 2013, Xi has worked doggedly to consolidate power around himself as the "core" or hexin. To this end, Xi has been purging dissent (primarily through an "anti-corruption" campaign), escalating repression, increasing censorship and tightening the reins on civil society. Reportedly a compulsive micro-manager, Xi has moved at speed to acquire control over every aspect of government. Australian academic Geremie Barmé has labelled Xi China's "COE" or Chairman of Everything

In the spirit of Lenin and Mao, Xi maintains that all elements of society should "serve socialism" and "be consistent with Marxist-Leninist thinking." Positing communism as an "attainable goal" of the party, Xi has revived Chairman Mao's dictum about the Party's tight control over culture - particularly creative arts, literature and religion.

Moving 'Sinicize' Christianity
China analyst Willy Lam opines that it is no accident that President Xi's campaign to "Sinicize Christianity," so as to put Christianity into the service of the ruling Chinese Communist Party (CCP), was launched in Zhejiang.

"The aggressive Sinicization of Christianity, which started in 2013, is evidenced by the new policy of the so-called wujin (五进; literally "five penetrations" or "five introductions") and wuhua (五 化; literally "five transformations"), which was initiated in Zhejiang Province. Xi, who was Party Secretary of Zhejiang from 2002 to 2007, apparently wanted to start this experiment in a region which has centuries of interaction with Christian organizations in the West." (For more details, see: Xi's Obsession with "Cultural Renaissance" Raises Fears of Another Cultural Revolution, By Willy Lam, China Brief, Feb. 8)

Lam's revelation that Xi had wanted to launch his experiment "in a region which has centuries of interaction with Christian organizations in the West" begs the question: "Why?" Was Xi testing the waters to see what a Western, or even a domestic, response might look like?

The reality is that Zhejiang is more than its Western connections, for as Xi would well know, it is nothing other than China's Christian heartland. Zhejiang's business hub, Wenzhou - a city of some 10 million - is believed to have the largest Christian population of any city in China. The proliferation of churches, Christian-run businesses and sizable, influential Christian minority has earned Wenzhou the title, "China's Jerusalem."

Indeed, Wenzhou is famous for its many successful Christian entrepreneurs who actively promote Christianity in their workplaces. It is primarily because Wenzhou's Christian entrepreneurs hold so much economic power that Wenzhou's churches have had so much freedom for so long. So why would President Xi start his experiment to Sinicize Christianity in Zhejiang, rather than in some quiet backwater?

It is doubtless because if the experiment succeeds in Zhejiang, it will likely succeed anywhere in China.

Zhejiang Experiment Begins
On Jan. 8, 2014, Zhejiang's Communist Party secretary, Xia Baolong who had been Deputy Party Secretary under Xi Jinping - was conducting an inspection in Zhoushan (north-east Zhejiang) when allegedly he was suddenly surprised and shocked by the proliferation of large churches.

While passing a church in Baiquan town, Xia reportedly objected that the cross atop the church was "too conspicuous" and demanded that the local Religious Affairs Bureau "rectify" the problem by removing it. And so began the campaign to de-Christianize the landscapes and skylines of Zhejiang.

This was never a campaign about building regulations. Rather it was in every way an attack on Christianity to (literally) bring down the cross and rein in the church, so as to force her to bring her message and her administration into the service of the Party.

In its battle against the church in Zhejiang, the CCP has forcibly removed some 1,800 crosses, much to the distress of faithful believers for whom the cross is the ultimate symbol of grace, salvation, transformation and hope - not only for the individual but for the nation. Not only have crosses been removed, but dissenting churches have been demolished and protesting church members have been beaten and arrested.

As the campaign lurched into its second year and casualties mounted, in April 2015 Beijing-based Christian human rights lawyer Zhang Kai wrote on his blog: "Seeking justice, promoting reconciliation and advancing rule of law are an historic mission, called for by God, that Christian lawyers must answer and cannot shirk. Confronted with cases of oppression of Christian belief, more Christian lawyers are willing to withstand the pressure and walk alongside those who suffer."

CCP Moves against Lawyers
On July 1, 2015, the CCP enacted a National Security Law that paved the way for increased nationwide repression and persecution, purportedly in defense of "national security."

Dr. Eva Pils, a China law expert at King's College, University of London, opined that the national security law "manifests a neo-totalitarian ambition to reach into every sector of society." Maya Wang, a China researcher for Human Rights Watch, expressed concern that the law "includes elements that define criticism of the government as a form of subversion."

Then, in a massive crackdown commencing on the weekend of July 11-12, 2015, the CCP arrested some 300 prominent human rights activists and lawyers, including several who were defending religious cases, in particular cases from Zhejiang.

By this time, Zhang had relocated to Wenzhou, where he had taken up residence in a local church and was advising congregations on their constitutional rights. Despite having been temporarily detained on July 10, 2015 - during which time he was interrogated and warned not to get involved - Zhang persisted in providing legal advice to more than 100 churches.

On July 14, 2015, in the midst of the crackdown, Zhang announced the formation of "Lawyers for Protection of the Cross," a group of some 30 Christian lawyers from across the country who would take on the Zhejiang church cases. 

Zhang Kai was arrested on the night of Aug. 25, 2015, and was "disappeared" into China's secretive and notorious "black jail" system, accused of "inciting disorder" and "spreading fiction."

CCP Moves against TSPM 
Also criticizing CCP policy in Zhejiang was Pastor Gu Yuese, senior pastor of China's largest CCP-approved and registered Three-Self Patriotic Movement (TSPM) church: the 10,000-strong Chongyi Church in the Zhejiang capital, Hangzhou.

Hoping to protect themselves from negative consequences, the TSPM and associated China Christian Council (CCC) cut Gu loose, officially dismissing him on Jan. 18

Pastor Gu was arrested on Jan. 27 and "disappeared" into China's "black jail" system on charges pertaining to corruption. The very fact that the TSPM and CCC thought they could protect themselves shows the degree to which they had misread the situation.

On Jan. 29, authorities arrested Li Guanzhong, chairman of the CCC in Zhejiang's Pujiang County and senior pastor of Puyang Christian Church in the city of Jinhua. Li and his wife Zhang Shuzhen were likewise "disappeared" into China's "black jail" system and held incommunicado, without access to legal representation, on criminal charges pertaining to corruption.

Like Gu, Li had protested CCP policy in Zhejiang. In July 2014 he had resisted CCP pressure to destroy his own church's cross. In January 2016 he resisted the CCP's order that all TSPM churches fly the Chinese flag.

By early February 2016, eight influential TSPM and CCC leaders had been arrested and were being held incommunicado on criminal charges pertaining to corruption.

Zhejiang Experiment Goes National
On Sept. 8, the Chinese government released a deliberative draft of its new Regulations on Religious Affairs. While Oct. 7 was designated as the day the government would stop receiving public comments and bring the law into effect, no public announcement has been as yet been made.

The regulations give the CCP total control over religion. Unregistered and unapproved religious activity will no longer be tolerated; registered churches will be obliged to follow strict guidelines; and all building will be tightly regulated, doubtless to reduce Christianity's visibility, just as in Zhejiang. (Click here to see an English translation of the deliberation draft: New Regulations on Religious Affairs.)

New Regulations for Lawyers
Not only has the CCP set the stage for a flood of persecutions and prosecutions against the church, but it is also poised to hamstring and tighten the noose around China's human rights lawyers.

When Zhang was arrested in August 2015, he was held in solitary confinement and in darkness for six months, until Feb. 25, when, under extreme duress, he made a televised "confession" in which he repented of his "crimes," retracted his criticisms of the CCP and advised other lawyers against getting involved. Upon his release on March 23, Zhang returned to his mother's home in Inner Mongolia, subject to strict bail conditions that he stay out of politics and refrain from speaking to the media.

In late August Zhang posted a video on WeChat in which he retracts his former statement, which he explains was made under duress after experiencing a six-month detention that was "all black and no daylight." On Aug. 31, security police from Wenzhou City surrounded Zhang's mother's Inner Mongolia home, arrested Zhang and took him away. His condition and whereabouts remain unknown.

When the Ministry of Justice's amended "Administrative Measures for Law Firms" come into effect onNov. 1, then all China's lawyers will be officially banned from speaking out about human rights abuses. Even silent protests, such as walking out of a courtroom, will be prohibited. (Click here to see report by China Human Rights Defenders (CHRD): Revised Measures on Law Firms Further Curb Independence of Chinese Lawyers, Oct 3.)

So, for clues as to what lies ahead for China's churches, "Zhejiang province is a good place to start looking," for the Zhejiang experiment is about to go national.

Disillusioned by the horror perpetrated by followers of Islam, Muslim refugees in Switzerland and Germany are converting to Christianity at a dramatic rate after experiencing the love of Christ and hearing the truth of the Gospel, according to a new report.

Switzerland's Counselling center for integration and Religious Affairs found that more than 2,000 Muslims have turned to Christ since 2014, and the number keeps rising.

Coordinator Kathrin Anliker told the Swiss edition of 20 minutes:"In recent months we've been told mainly of Afghans and Kurds who have converted."

She revealed that some of the refugees embrace Christianity after witnessing the brutality of extremist groups like ISIS, who carry out horrific acts in the name of Allah. Others, however, were already Christians, but kept their faith a secret for fear of persecution.

Philippe Dätwyler of the Reformed Church in Zurich also reported many conversions to Christianity in Switzerland's free evangelical churches, which runs services for Iranians and Afghans, led by a Persian Pastor.

"The strong piety and the family atmosphere that prevail in the free churches meet the needs of converts rather than the somewhat non-binding regional churches," he told 20 Minutes.

Last year alone some 1.8 million asylum-seekers entered the European Union, fleeing war and poverty in Middle-Eastern countries, according to data from the European Union border agency Frontex. Around 1.1 million refugees came to Germany in 2015.

In June, The guardian reported that an astounding number of Muslim refugees in Europe had converted to Christianity, with some churches conducting mass baptisms. In Austria, there were at least 300 applications for adult christenings in the first three months of 2016 alone, with up to 70 percent of those said to be refugees. RT, which conducted interviews with several converts, said that "among the most popular reasons behind the conversion is faith in a new religion, triggered by 'lack of freedom' in Islam, and gratitude to Christians offering help to refugees fleeing war-torn countries."

"I've been spat on, told that I've betrayed Islam. But through what I've learned, I can forgive them," one man who was recently baptized a Christian told the news outlet in Hamburg.

"In Islam, we always lived in fear. Fear God, fear of sin, fear of punishment. However, Christ is a God of love," another Iranian refugee, Solmaz, told the German daily, according to RT

Anliker admitted that some refugees misguidedly believe that converting will help their case for asylum. However, Léa Wertheimer, of the State Secretariat for Migration, made clear that each case for asylum was judged on its own individual merit, and conversion made no difference.

Because of this, the Counselling Center For Integration and Religious Affairs advises churches to consider any baptism of asylum seekers carefully to detect the true reasons for the change of faith.

"If someone just comes to baptism, the churches should be cautious," said Anliker. "It is not about to lead a police interrogation, but to feel the motivation for the Christian faith."

Little Girl Forced to Work as Prostitute in India Receives New Life After Embracing Gospel

A little girl who was forced to work as a prostitute in southern India has received new life in Christ thanks to the witness of indigenous missionaries, and has since dedicated her life to sharing the Gospel with her people.

According to a report from Christian Aid Mission, by the time she was just four years old, Tehmina was already dedicated as a temple prostitute. Her impoverished mother, who offered sex to men as a service to Hindu gods in northern Karnataka state, saw no other way for her young daughter to earn an income.

"Her father was taking her by the hand at midnight looking for customers, and then during the day her mother would take her on the streets," an indigenous ministry leader told the outlet. "By her earnings, the whole family would be taken care of."

Miraculously, Tehmina came into the ministry's care when her mother put her faith in Jesus Christ: "She learned that if her daughter is to have any hope, it has to be through Jesus Christ alone," the director said. "So Tehmina went to school, stayed with us for 11 years and completed 10th grade. After that she wanted to go back and take care of her mother and go to college. We thought she would be a great witness to her own people, so now she is in college and taking care of her mother."

The ministry is also assisting her with her education by providing a scholarship, said the director, who along with her husband started the ministry to temple prostitutes and their families in 1995.

Unfortunately, stories like these are all too common in southern India, where women known as "devadasis" - a term that implies they are slaves to gods - are forced to prostitute themselves to generate income for their families.

"We have seen many times these ladies come to us crying, very desperate, they have nothing, no hope was there, and then they receive Jesus Christ as their personal savior and they return back, bringing the joy of Christ," the ministry leader said.

Oftentimes, children are forced to be in the same room while their mothers entertain men.

"In many houses, when the mother is practicing prostitution at night time, the children have to go under the bed and hide themselves," she said. "If it is during the daytime, they are thrown out onto the streets while the mother is entertaining men. So the ministry seeks to give them a safe place where they're protected, and they can study and be loved."

In addition to training rescued women and girls in sewing and computer skills, among other things, the ministry is currently meeting the basic needs of food, clothing and medicine for 40 girls and 10 boys and has begun providing food the entire families of 100 people with HIV.

"If they stop working as prostitutes, they won't be able to feed their families," he said. "The government doesn't give any support for them. So they don't want to leave prostitution, even if they are very weak, very sickly, and they will be spreading this disease to so many people. And they're dying, so we thought it would be good to give something to these people, at least give them some food so they will have a full stomach."

One of the ministry's churches is located in an area where nearly 80 percent of the residents are HIV positive, he said. Through the ministry's HIV project, five churches have now emerged in one village.

"We were not just filling their stomach, but we also have opportunities to share the good news with these people," the ministry said. "I have seen these people who were sickly, they know they will not be able to survive it, but they come to the church and just raise their hands to the Lord Jesus Christ, because they have the joy of receiving Jesus Christ into their lives."

"We have seen many people who have received Jesus Christ just before their death," the leader added.

More children are sold into prostitution in India than in any other country, according to the yearly repoon the state of worldwide human trafficking and slavery for forced labor and sex from the U.S. Department of State.

And, despite its illegality, government figures showed a 25 percent increase in cases of human trafficking in India in 2015, with 43 percent of the 9,127 victims below the age of 18.

In light of these staggering statistics, Rajeev Chandrasekhar, a member of parliament from the southern Indian city of Bengaluru, has asked the government for a revision of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act, clearer emphasis on child trafficking in the proposed Anti-Trafficking Bill and a child sexual offender register across police stations in India.

"With child rights and safety being left unregulated for decades, we have created a fertile ground for their trafficking and abuse," he told Reuters earlier this week.

"Children cannot speak for themselves and neither can they organize themselves as an effective group," he added. "They depend on adults to get them justice, and we are failing them. The depth and lack of sensitivity in government departments is startling. The existing laws are not working. Reporting crimes under these acts, proper investigations and evidence collection is also not happening. A rethink is urgently required."