Right NOW, on the other side of the world…
Posted by nathan on 27 Aug 2008 | Tagged as: New Hope stuff.
Have you ever wondered about what was happening on the other side of the world?
Here’s a report from one of New Hope’s missionaries in India of what is happening over there right NOW:
1) NUN BURNT ALIVE: A nun was burnt to death on 25th, Monday, after an orphanage was torched in at Phutpali in Bargarh district in Orissa during a bandh called by Hindu nationalist parties.Twenty children, who were at the orphanage, managed to escape but a priest suffered serious burn injuries in the attack.
2) RASANANDA PRADHAN TORCHED ALIVE: Another person, Rasananda Pradhan, was burnt to death when his house was set ablaze at Rupa village in Kandhamal district.
3) INFLAMMATORY SPEECHES TARGET CHRISTIANS: During the bandh inflammatory speeches spreading hatred against the Christian workers and the community were given by the VHP leaders. To gain the mass support,the activists have also carried the body of Swamiji throughout the town.
4) CHURCHES BURNT ALL ACROSS ORISSA STATE: Churches were attacked in Khurda, Bargarh, Sundergarh, Sambalpur, Koraput, Boudh, Mayurbhanj, Jagatsinghpur and Kandhamal districts as also in the state capital, police sources said, adding 40 houses were set ablaze in Phulbani town.
5) BUSES AND VEHICLES TORCHED: Mr. Mishra Digal was beaten up, while the motorcycles of Mr. R. K. Digal and Jitendra were burnt. Several buses at Gee Udaigiri in Baliguda were burnt.
6) PULBANI CHURCH RANSACKED: The Church at Phulbani,and several other churches at Phiringia were attacked and ransacked. Pastor D. Tatson’s house was vandalized and his property burnt.
7) KAKRIGUMA CHURCHES VANDALISED: Churches in Kakriguma have been targeted by the mob that reportedly damaged the Assembly Of God Church and the Philadelphia Church .
8 ) WORLD VISION STAFF FLED FOR SAFETY: World Vision India office ransacked and the Staff has also fled to jungle for protection.
9) CHRISTIANS TAKE SHELTER IN FOREST FOR PROTECTION: A police camp at Barakhama was also attacked by the Hindu fundamentalists. With several houses being burnt down and people being made homeless, many Christians,particularly from Nua Sahi, Munda Sahi and Suna Tonga have fled into forests for their lives.
10) NUN RAPED: A young Catholic Nun of the Cuttack Bhubaneswar diocese working Jan Vikas Kendra, the Social Service Centre at Nuagaon in Kandhamal was reportedly gang raped on 24th August 2008 by groups of Hindutva extremists before the building itself was destroyed.
11) SENIOR PRIEST AND NUN INJURED: Fr Thomas, director of the Diocesan Pastoral Centre in Kanjimendi, less than a kilometer away from the Social Service Centre, and another Nun were injured when the centre was attacked. They were taken to the police station in a disheveled state as the armed mob bayed for their blood. The Pastoral centre was then set afire.
12) BALLIGUDA CHURCH BUILDINGS DESTROYED AGAIN: On 24th August 2008 evening lynch mobs at the block headquarters of Balliguda, in the very heart of Kandhamal district, which had seen much violence between 24th and 26th December 2007, attacked and destroyed a Presbytery, convent and hostel damaging the properties.
13) CHRISTIAN BOYS HEADS TONSURED: The mobs in Balliguda caught hold of two boys of the Catholic hostel and tonsured their heads.
14) PHULBANI CHURCH DAMAGED: On 25th august 2008 morning followers of the late Lakshmanananda Saraswati damaged the Catholic Church in Phulbani, the district headquarter town.
15) MOTHER TERESA BROTHERS ASHRAM ATTACKED: Mobs attacked the Mother Teresa Brothers’ residence and hospital in Srasanada, destroyed once before and rebuilt two months ago, and beat up the patients.
16) BHUBANESWAR BISHOP’S HOUSE ATTACKED: On the morning of 25th August 2008, violent mobs made several attempts to enter the compounds of Catholic Church and Archbishop’s house in the heart of the Capital of the State of Orissa . They could not enter because of the police presence. They threw stones at the guesthouse of Archbishop’s House, damaging windows.
17) DUBURI PARISH: Another group of fundamentalists entered presbytery in Duburi parish, managed by the SVDs and destroyed and damaged property. Two priests of the parish are missing.
18) Mr. Jamaj Pariccha, Director of Gramya Pragati, is attacked and his property damaged, vehicle looted and burnt.
19) A Baptist Church in Akamra Jila in Bhubaneswar is also damaged.
20) Christian institutions like St. Arnold’s School (Kalinga Bihar) and NISWASS report some damage.
21) BOUDH DISTRICT [Adjoining Kandhamal]: Fundamentalists enter the Catholic parish church and destroy property. People are fleeing to safer places. But nothing seems safe.
22) MUNIGUDA: Muniguda Catholic Fathers and Nuns’ residence have been damaged.
23) SAMBALPUR: HM Sister’s residence (Ainthapalli) has suffered damage.
24) PADANPUR: One priest is attacked and admitted to a hospital. Hostel boys and the in charge have moved away from the place.
25) MADHUPUR: Madhupur Catholic Church currently under attack.
26) SMALL CHURCHES: Attempted violence on small churches in various districts, including Padampur, Sambalpur near GM College, Talsera, Dangsoroda, Narayanipatara, Muniguda, Tummiibandh, Tangrapada, Phulbani, Balliguda, Kalingia, Chakapad, Srasanranda.
27) VILLAGE CHRISTIAN HOUSES ATTACKED: Houses attacked on forest hamlets of Balliguda, Kanjamandi Nuaguam (K.Nuaguam), Tiangia (G.Udayagiri), Padangiri, Tikabali.
28) KALAHANDI DISTRICT: Houses burnt even though the district is more than 300 kilometers from the place where Swami Lakshmanananda was killed.
29) PASTORS’ HOUSE BURNT: Pastor Sikandar Singh of the Pentecostal Mission beaten up and his house burnt in Bhawanipatna.
30) KHARIHAR: 3 Christian shops were looted and burnt. Pastor Alok Das and Pastor I M Senapati beaten up.
31) AAMPANI: Pastor David Diamond Pahar, Pastor Pravin Ship, Pastor Pradhan and Pastor Barik beaten up and chased away with their families.
32) NAKTIKANI: Mob surrounds village to attack Christians.
Think you have it rough? How would you like to live like this?
Pray, my friends, pray.
9 Comments »
on 28 Aug 2008 at 12:48 am 1.
marvin said …
Hope you wouldn’t mind if I add.. Villages in Lanao del Norte, Mindanao, Philippines, attacked by a moro group while their are sleeping, burnt houses, left more or less 40 people dead (men, women, children, christian and non-christians shot by high powered guns), more than 60,000 families displaced. The reason - religion and ancestral domain.
Yes, why do we complain about how hard “our” life is while there are many people experiencing this kind of sufferings?
on 28 Aug 2008 at 1:19 pm 2.
Todd Helmkamp said …
Yeah, Marvin, it makes me feel pretty ashamed when I whine about driving through traffic when things like this are happening to our brothers and sisters.
Maybe someone can answer this for me, though. This kind of reminds me of the Gnadehutten massacre in 1782 where 96 Christian Native Americans were massacred by Pennsylvania militiamen. These Native Americans could easily have defended themselves, or escaped into the nearby forest. But they didn’t.
Is there a Biblical mandate against self-defense? I know we’re supposed to turn the other cheek, and its difficult to fight a mob by yourself, but it makes me wonder. Can someone help me out with this?
on 28 Aug 2008 at 4:01 pm 3.
joe said …
@todd: I don’t have time for a complicated answer, but for me (as a pacifist) it starts with me having the power to give up my life.
For instance, to reference a familiar Bible story, if you slap me in the face, and I pick myself back up and look you in the eye and offer my other cheek, and don’t try to defend myself…who has the power? You for smacking me to the ground, or me for getting back up and being strong enough to effectively say, “I won’t fight, but I’m not afraid of you, because God is bigger than this, so do what you will.”
In the same way, if someone came after me with weapons, and I stand and face them like a man and let them kill me, who had the power? I don’t see how, even in the case of self-defense, I can harm another human and simultaneously say that I love them like Jesus does!
Again, this is only brushing the very deep surface of this topic, but maybe it will give you something to chew on, and it might have something to do with how and why the Christians who are under such outrageous persecution answer it in the way that they do…
on 29 Aug 2008 at 7:45 am 4.
nathan said …
Interesting to note, I am descended from Moravians…
Here is what David said:
(link)
note: For the battle is the LORD’s.
Who are we to say we can’t use force to defend the Lord? Doesn’t that make it my battle, not God’s?
on 29 Aug 2008 at 8:41 am 5.
Todd Helmkamp said …
@Joe, those are good thoughts. Thank you.
@Nathan, I’m not sure I understand what you meant in your last sentence. Can you clarify for me?
I guess some of the question I have is that in the Old Testament (which I accept and realize was part of the Old Covenant) is that the Israelites had no problems defending themselves, and though the battle was the Lord’s, they still fought. I also think of Nehemiah when the wall around Jerusalem was being rebuilt. The workers were instructed to have tools in one hand and weapons in the other.
on 29 Aug 2008 at 9:01 am 6.
nathan said …
Yeah, I had thought about Nehemiah as well.
And getting slapped in the face due to a disagreement with a fellow christian is a vastly different kind of persecution than being burned to death because of your faith.
To answer your question, by telling God how he can and cannot fight battles, we take God out of control, and put us in the driver’s seat. I would always caution us against limiting the abilities of God.
God is capable of winning without so much as a slap in the face. He’s also capable of winning by just doing it.
Saying self-defense is the only way, when it’s not clear in the bible, is something I would caution us against.
If it’s black-and-white, then it’s black-and-white, but if it’s not, it’s not.
And I’ll always be against limiting God.
on 29 Aug 2008 at 9:16 am 7.
nathan said …
Here’s an update just received from our missionary (with some info removed for security):
on 29 Aug 2008 at 10:10 am 8.
Todd Helmkamp said …
I’m certainly not suggesting that self-defense is the only way! Look at Daniel’s experiences!
I’m just saying that I wonder why so many don’t seem to view it as an option, choosing death instead. One of my favorite quotes is “There is no cause worth dying for that is not better served by living for it” (The Scoutmaster Minute, by Ron Wendel, p 125).
on 29 Aug 2008 at 10:38 am 9.
nathan said …
If passivism is a doctrine, it is worth dying for.
I would die for what I know is right and true.
But what isn’t black and white I won’t.
If people are taught passivism is a doctrine (doctrine doesn’t waiver and is ALWAYS black and white), then they ought to die for it.
Unfortunately, that’s the problem, as I see it.