Urgent Prayer Request from YWAM in India

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The following is an Email asking for our prayers of intercession:

 

Prayer Request from YWAM (Youth With a Mission) in India                   Sat, 4 Oct 2008             

 

 

URGENT PRAYER REQUEST!

 

Dear beloved sponsors and friends of Good News India…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 ….

 

Let me explain…. 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!” And the horror began…. In the past 4 days, we have first hand witness to hundreds of churches being blown up or burned and many, many dozens of Christian tribals have been slaughtered. For no other reason than they bear the name of Christ.  

 

Night and day I have been in  touch with our Good News  India Directors spread across 14 Dream Centers in Orissa… they are right in the middle of all this chaos.In Tihidi, just after the police came to offer protection, a group of 70 blood-thirsty militants came to kill our staff and destroy the home. They were not allowed to get in, but they did a lot of damage to our Dream Center  by throwing rocks and bricks and smashing our gate, etc. They have promised to come back and “finish the job.” Our kids and staff are locked inside and have stayed that way with doors and windows shut for the past 3 days. It has been a time of desperately calling on the Lord in prayer.

  

More police have come to offer protection.  In Kalahandi, the police and some local sympathizers got to our dream center and gave our staff and kids about 3 minutes notice to vacate. No one had time to even  grab a change of clothes or any personal belonging. As they fled, the blood thirsty mob came to kill everyone in the building. We would have had a mass funeral there, but for His grace.  In Phulbani, the mob came looking for Christian homes and missions. The local Hindu people, our neighbors turned them away by saying that there were no Christians  in this area. So they left. We had favor. The same thing happened in Balasore.  

 

All our dream centers are under lock down with the kids and staff huddled inside and  police outside. The fanatics are circling outside waiting for a chance  to kill. Others were not so fortunate. In a nearby Catholic orphanage,  the mob allowed the kids to leave and locked up a Priest and a  computer teacher in house and burned them to death. Many believers  have been killed and hacked into pieces and left on the road…. even  women and children.  At another orphanage run by another organization,  when this began, the Director and his wife jumped on their motorbike and simply fled, leaving all the children and staff behind. Every one  of our GNI directors that I have spoken to said: “We stay with our  kids…. we live together or die together, but we will never abandon  what God has called us to do.” More than 5000 Christian families have  had their homes burned or destroyed. They have fled into the jungles  and are living in great fear waiting for the authorities to bring  about peace. But so far, no peace is foreseen. This will continue for another 10 days…. supposedly the 14 day  mourning period for the slain Hindu priest. Many more Christians will  die and their houses destroyed. Many more churches will be smashed  down. The Federal government is trying to restore order and perhaps things will calm down. We ask for your prayers. Only the Hand of God  can calm this storm. None of us know the meaning of persecution. But  now our kids and staff know what that means. So many of our kids  coming from Hindu backgrounds are confused and totally bewildered at  what is happening around them. So many of their guardians have fled  into the jungles and are unable to come and get them during these trying times.

 

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 transform an entire region. It is a long term goal,  but it is strategic thinking in terms of the Great Commission.

 

What  can you do? First, please uphold all this in fervent prayer. Second,  pass this e-mail on to as many friends as you can. We must get the word out and increase our prayer base for this is spiritual warfare at  its most basic meaning. We are literally fighting the devil in order  to live for His Kingdom. The next 10 days are crucial. We pray for peace and calm to pervade across Orissa.

 

Thank you for taking the time to read this. Please pass it on and help  us to get as many people to partner with us on this cutting edge  effort to fulfill His mandate: Go and make disciples of all nations…. Prayer works!     Blessings,    Chip & Sandy Wanner    Col 2:2 MBI   /  Team Facilitators to YWAM frontlines

 

 

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