Your Family Was Attacked! - IDOP

(I’m going to let The Voice of the Martyrs do the talking for me today but please be mindful that they are describing what happened to your family, not strangers in a distant land.)

“On Oct. 18, a radical Hindu group, Rashtriya Swayam Sevaks (RSS), viciously attached three pastors, one women and one child while they were having a prayer service in Hyderabad, Andra Pradesh state. About 40 believers were gathered in Siluvai Kumar’s house for the prayer service, according to Voice of the Martyrs’ contacts. At 9 p.m. RSS radicals barged into the house and began beating people. Pastors Phillip, Timothy and Siluvai Kumar were badly injured. The radicals also beat Pastor Phillip’s pregnant wife, Kezia, and their 18-month-old daughter. Bibles were destroyed; musical instruments, and metal doors and windows in the house were damaged.

“Pastor Timothy was dragged to the police station where the radicals lodged a false complaint against him alleging he urinated on idols in a nearby temple. The police detained the pastor, but he was later released.

“RSS activists had warned the pastors against having prayer meetings in the area.

“Please pray for a rapid recovery for those who were injured in this attack: not only the injuries they sustained physically, but also psychologically and emotionally. Pray that the testimony of the believers will lead RSS members into fellowship with Christ.

“Churches across the United States and around the world are preparing to “remember those in bonds” (Hebrews 13:3) on Nov. 8, the International Day of Prayer for the Persecuted Church (IDOP).”

(Learn more about the persecuted church at Open Doors or The Voice of the Martyrs)

Compelling Facts
* Over 200 million Christians around the world suffer persecution.
* The world’s worst persecutor of Christians in the world is North Korea.
* In Saudi Arabia, practicing Christianity can result in death by beheading or stoning.
* Over 90% of China’s Christians worship in hidden, underground house churches to avoid government regulations and restrictions.
* Open preaching in Sudan is punishable by beatings or imprisonment.
* Christians make up less than 1.7% of the population in Pakistan, and over 70% of them are the poorest of the poor.