Incidents of violence against Christians in India continue to pour in, as Hindus opposed to the spread of the Gospel use anti-conversion legislation to oppress the followers of Christ.
In the district of Mahaboobnagar, Andhra Pradesh, militant Hindus have threatened to kill Christians if they continue to hold prayer meetings, according to an October 9 report from Compass Direct. On September 22, approximately forty people surrounded three members of the Good Shepherd Community Church in the village of Nandiwaddeman while members of the Hindu nationalist organization Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) beat them. When the church's pastor, Nagaiah, went to the village head, Usha Anna, to report the incident, Anna refused to listen to him and asked him to return the next day. When Nagaiah returned, he was accused of forcibly converting villagers. Anna warned the Christians to stop all prayer meetings in the village.
According to an October 6 report from Compass Direct, a Christian youth from the Bhadrak district of Orissa was tortured, tonsured (shaved) and abducted from his home on October 4. Dr. Sajan K. George from the Global Council of Indian Christians reports that the situation in the village, where two platoons of policemen have reportedly been deployed, is "very tense" following the abduction and torture. At last report, Ranjan Dangua was still missing.
False reports on the conversion of three hundred villagers to Christianity in the Jaunpur district of Uttar Pradesh have triggered violence in the region. The incident began after a meeting was held at the home of Sanjay Singh on October 3, according to the Evangelical Fellowship of India. Singh's neighbour reported the meeting to police. Rumours that followed were spread by the local press and militant Hindus, leading to violence.
In the Varanasi district of Uttar Pradesh, hundreds of Hindu militants attacked a facility providing shelter for widows and schooling for poor children, according to AsiaNews. The facility is run by an American couple, James and Monica, who use the proceeds from a restaurant to assist the poor in the area. Some of the locals employed by the couple had been exploiting them but were discovered and dismissed from their jobs. Angered, they accused the couple of proselytism. After authorities dismissed the allegations, a mob raided the facility on October 8, taking anything of value they could find. The lawyer for the American couple claims that officials are reluctant to pursue the attackers and appear to be in collusion with them.
Pray that the believers who have been attacked and threatened will determine to obey God regardless of what man says (Acts 5:29). Pray that each of these believers will be assured that, as they have suffered with Christ, so they will be glorified with Him (Romans 8:15-17). Pray that they will find comfort in the fact that the Heavenly Father defends the oppressed (Psalm 10:17-18).
For more information on the persecution of Christians in India, click here. A new video report by Crossroads Communications about some of the ways that VOMC is assisting persecuted Christians in India is available on https://www.vomcanada.com/.
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