Altar Call – Opelika-Auburn News
Walter Albritton
September 21, 2008
News of Christians being killed in
Nowhere is it front page news but it is alarming to
hear that Hindu militants are killing Christians in
The extremists are using the assassination of a Hindu
leader and four associates as their reason for attacking and killing Christians
at random. They have incited at least 90 incidents of mob violence that have
resulted in the deaths of innocent Christians. The number of persons killed is
unknown.
Several Christian pastors have been killed. One pastor was
burned to death. Many Christian homes have been burned down. Christians have
been pulled from their homes and killed or beaten as their homes were torched.
Reports indicate some Christians have fled into the jungles to save their
lives. Militants have even attacked the police for interfering with their violence.
An orphanage in one village was set on fire, leaving the
priest severely burned. A mob torched a home in which a paralyzed man stranded
inside burned to death. Another orphanage, home to 150 children, was burned to
the ground. Last Sunday a pastor and other Christians were
forcibly removed from their home and taken to a Hindu temple where militants
demanded they convert to Hinduism.
This violence against Christians is not peculiar to
Christians in
In many places in the world Christians are persecuted, and
sometimes put to death, simply for professing their faith in public. While on a
missions tour in
Some may argue that the recent killing of Christians in
Strangely the church prospers in an environment of violence
and persecution. Reports indicate that in
Jesus came to bring love to a world filled with hate. He
was met with rejection, persecution, and death. Across the world Jesus is still
rejected by millions of people. Today barely 30 per cent of the world’s
population is Christian.
Hatred is still an ugly reality within the human family.
Persecution goes on. And it is possible for those of us who live in a free
society to pay little attention to the killing of Indians on the other side of
the world. But as surely as day follows night, it is true that “none of us is
truly free as long as anyone, anywhere is being
persecuted.”
Take a moment to give thanks for the freedom we enjoy in