PRAY FOR INDIA, PRAY FOR INDIA, PRAY FOR INDI-AAA!!!
This is the song the girls taught us to dance to while we were there earlier this year... We've been remembering again and again to pray for the orphanages, their staff, each of the children who crept so deeply into our hearts, the country and all the Christians who live there.
Since the end of August the State of Orissa has been facing severe persecution. Many have died as martyrs and thousands are left homeless after churches and villages had been burnt to the ground.
I remember the verses God used to touch and change my heart, my thoughts and my actions during the first time I visited the orphanages in India... Be joyful always; pray continually; give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus! (1 Thes 5:16-18).
Now, I am urging you to pray with us for the Body of Christ in India.
I've been receiving news updates from various sources living in India at the moment and will copy a few excerpts below...
"INDIA, a democratic nation.
A nation where, people are free to express and adapt.
A nation that spreads a message of national integrity and unity in diversity worldwide fails to tackle the situation in one of its own state, Orissa.
Moreover it is quite shocking, but not surprising that people here are killed as a consequence of professing their faith. Missionaries and priests are murdered, nuns are sexually assaulted and churches, convents and Christian institutions are ransacked."
"Over 3000 houses and 300 churches are destroyed and over 3000 people injured. Around 100 nuns, Christians, priests have been killed and burned alive. Even now over 50,000 people have taken shelter in the forests, where women and children are starving without food, shelter and medicines, 20,000 are living in the relief camps set-up by the government."
"I strongly believe that Orissa will be the first Christian state in Independent India. I praise god for the martyrs and the blood which is shed in Orissa. I believe that young soldiers of the cross from Orissa will go to all over India to preach the Gospel. Will you stand firm with the family who lost their dear ones as a martyrs. Will you please pray for them? Will you stand with those Christians who are suffering and have suffered for their Faith? Will you help the widows and the children of the pastors who died for Christ?"
"We have never seen anything like this.
We knew that Orissa was the most resistant and hostile State in India as far
as the Gospel is concerned. And we
brushed off the continuous threats and harassment we faced as we went
about
His work. But none of our staff imagined that they would see this kind of
carnage.... And it seems to be totally under the radar of the Western
Media...."
"A militant Hindu priest and 4 of his
attendants, who were zealously going around the villages of Orissa and
'reconverting' people back to Hinduism, were gunned down by unknown
assailants in Central Orissa last weekend. Immediately the Christians were
blamed. The cry rose up...'Kill the Christians!'"
"Through all this, I am more determined than ever to continue with our goal:
the transformation of a community by
transforming its children. Orissa will be saved... that is our heart's cry.
If we can take these thousands of throw-away children and help them to
become disciples of Jesus, they will be transform an entire region. It is a
long term goal, but
it is strategic thinking in terms of the Great Commission."