" I , THE CONVERT " BY ANAND MAHADEVAN ( OUTLOOK BUSINESS EDITOR ) ; READ THIS AMAZING TESTIMONY WHICH CAME IN THE OUTLOOK BUSINESS

Even as India continues to face communal disharmony, Anand Mahadevan, the editor of Outlook Business, speaks boldly and honestly about his conversion to Christianity.

I was born a Brahmin and am the grandson of a priest whom I dearly loved. I am educated and my current professional standing indicates that I am reasonably intelligent. I am also affluent and my income would put me distinctly in the upper middle class bracket. I guess that would make me high-caste, rich and smart. In other words, I am not a tribal, or poor or dim-witted. And yet, I chose to become a follower of Jesus Christ.
The world would call me a convert to Christianity. I have no problems with that, though I see my faith more as a relationship with God through Jesus Christ than as a religion. And for the record, I can truthfully claim that no one financially induced or threatened or deceived me into converting to Christianity.
I am fiercely proud of my national identity as an Indian and I am completely at peace with my cultural identity as a Hindu. I retain the name my parents gave me. My wife, who also shares my faith, continues to go by her Hindu name. We have two children and we have given both distinctly Hindu names. In fact, many of my colleagues and acquaintances who may happen to read this column are likely to be surprised. They have no inkling about my faith, for I generally don’t go about announcing it. But if someone does ask me the reason behind the joy and hope that is everpresent in my life, I am always delighted to share it with them.
I write this piece to make one point—that my conversion was not a change of religion but a change of heart. To explain this, I need to go back to my childhood in Chennai, similar to that of so many other Tamil Brahmin boys like me. My grandfather, every bit the virtuous priest, had enormous influence over me. I absolutely adored him and as a toddler, always clung to him. He too loved me to a fault. There was no wish of mine that he would not rush to fulfil. But even in my early, formative years I was unable to relate to the religion he fervently practiced. Later, in my school days, I once spent my summer holidays with him in Trichy.. Memories of dawn walks with him, for the ritualistic dip in the Cauvery river, cow in tow, are still fresh in my memory. I learnt many shlokas, some of which I still remember. But I never understood any of it and none of it helped me connect with God.
When I was 19, a Christian friend with whom I used to play cricket invited me to his house for prayer. If he had invited me to a pub, or party, I would have gone too. At his home, he and his sister prayed for me. It was a simple yet delightful conversation with God that lasted all of five minutes. I don’t remember it verbatim, but they articulated a prayer of blessing on my life, future, career and family. It was a simple affair—no miracles, no angels visiting. All they did was utter a deep human cry out to the creator God and His only son Jesus Christ. When they said Amen, I felt in my heart a desire to follow Jesus.
It was a faith encounter with God that I shall not even attempt to understand, rationalise or explain. I simply accept it. It is my faith. It is what I choose to believe. That evening I did not change my religion, for in reality I had none. Hinduism was my identity, not my religion. It still is..
The Christianity I acquired that evening is not a religion. On the contrary, it is an intensely intimate relationship with Jesus. Over the past fifteen years, I have come to know this Jesus even closer. I know Him as the pure and sinless Son of a Holy God. And I know Him as a dear friend to whom I pray and talk to every day—about my career, my dreams, successes, failures, finances and even my sexuality.
If I read a good book, watch a good movie (Rock On is terrific, mate), or eat a good meal at a new restaurant, I would naturally tell my friends about it. In Jesus, I have discovered a truly amazing friend, guide, leader, Saviour and God. How can I not tell all my friends about Him? And if anyone does listen and he too comes to believe in Jesus, I am delighted. The world would call it a conversion; I call it a change of heart, like mine.
But I would never force anyone to listen to me, leave alone financially induce, coerce or con him into believing. That to me is pointless and against the very grain of my faith. But I do have a constitutional right to practice my faith and to preach it without deception, force or bribery. It pains to see such basic rights of mankind being cruelly violated every day in this great Hindu nation.
God bless India.

CHRISTIAN PRIEST , WIFE KILLED IN EATERN INDONESIA ; PRAY & MAKE A DIFFERENCE IN INDONESIA

A Christian priest and his wife were stabbed to death in a region of eastern Indonesia that has been wracked by sectarian violence in the past, police said Monday.
The bodies of Frans Koagow, 64, and his wife, Femy Kumendong, 73, were discovered by their grandson in the priest's home on Sulawesi island over the weekend with deep wounds to their heads and necks, said local police chief Aridan Roero.
Authorities have yet to determine a motive, he said, and no suspects have been named.
"We're still investigating," Roero said. "It's too early to say anything."
More than 90 percent of Indonesia's 235 million people are Muslims, but Sulawesi - the scene of religious clashes that left up to 2,000 people dead from 1998 to 2002 - has a large Christian population.

CHRISTIANS AT HIGHER RISK AFTER UN CONFERENCE ; PRAY AND MAKE A DIFFERENCE..

International ― Several national leaders continue to seethe after Iranian President Ahmadinejad inappropriately made anti-Semitic remarks at a United Nations conference on racism.
The dispute over Iran's and Israel's issues caused such a distraction that more pressing matters which should have been addressed in a discussion about racism were dismissed. David Harder of the Christian satellite television network for the Middle East and North Africa, SAT-7, notes the discrepancy from the conference.
"One of the things that's overarching is that by bringing up issues that Iran has with Israel, they was able to completely neglect the treatment of Christians in the Middle East and North Africa."
The topic of Muslim subjugation seems to be brought up quite often in international circles, while the persecution of the Christian minority in the Middle East and North Africa is very much ignored. "There are Christians that live in every country in the region and they suffer; they have difficult times," says Harder. "Sometimes the pressure is very overt, and sometimes it's very subtle. Unfortunately, those things weren't dealt with."
Christians in hostile areas are at even higher risk now that many of their leaders feel contempt toward the West, due to some Western delegates walking out of the UN conference.
"Whenever there is animosity towards the West in general, unfortunately the Christian believers in other countries throughout the region are often targeted because many people view Christianity as a Western religion. They don't realize that it truly is a Middle Eastern religion."
Harder notes that many people in the West seem to forget this, too, and often do not think about Christians living in the Middle East or North Africa. Although they may be a minority, their presence is still vibrant.
To help brothers and sisters in Christ in these areas, Harder encourages you to find and support a ministry that works there. SAT-7 creates television programs to encourage these believers, as well as to reach out to unbelievers. The ministry has seen a great deal of transformation in the region and continues to watch people in countries such as Iraq and Jordan come to the Lord, especially as a result of recent SAT-7 Easter programs. To help SAT-7 reach more for Christ, click here.
Above all, these persecuted Christians need prayer. Pray for their safety and protection as tensions rise toward the West. Pray that they would be free to worship as many of other religions are able.

CHINA'S ' HI -TECH ' DEATH VAN WHERE CRIMINALS ARE EXECUTED AND THEN THEIR ORGANS ARE SOLD ON BLACK MARKET

Death will come soon for Jiang Yong. A corrupt local planning official with a taste for the high life, Yong solicited money from businessmen eager to expand in China's economic boom.
Showering gifts on his mistress, known as Madam Tang, the unmarried official took more than £1 million in bribes from entrepreneurs wanting permission to build skyscrapers on land which had previously been protected from development.
But Yong, a portly, bespectacled figure, was caught by the Chinese authorities during a purge on corrupt local officials last year.
He confessed and was sentenced to death. China executed 1,715 people last year, so one more death would hardly be remarkable.
But there will be nothing ordinary about Yong's death by lethal injection. Unless he wins an appeal, he will draw his final breath strapped inside a vehicle that has been specially developed to make executions more cost-effective and efficient.
In chilling echoes of the 'gas-wagon' project pioneered by the Nazis to slaughter criminals, the mentally ill and Jews, this former member of the China People's Party will be handcuffed to a so-called 'humane' bed and executed inside a gleaming new, hi-tech, mobile 'death van.'
After trials of the mobile execution service were launched quietly three years ago - then hushed up to prevent an international row about the abuse of human rights before the Olympics last summer - these vehicles are now being deployed across China.
The number of executions is expected to rise to a staggering 10,000 people this year (not an impossible figure given that at least 68 crimes - including tax evasion and fraud - are punishable by death in China).
Developed by Jinguan Auto, which also makes bullet-proof limousines for the new rich in this vast country of 1.3 billion people, the vans appear unremarkable.
They cost £60,000, can reach top speeds of 80mph and look like a police vehicle on patrol. Inside, however, the 'death vans' look more like operating theatres.
Executions are monitored by video to ensure they comply with strict rules, making it possible to describe precisely how Jiang Yong will die. After being sedated at the local prison, he will be loaded into the van and strapped to an electric-powered stretcher.
This then glides automatically towards the centre of the van, where doctors will administer three drugs: sodium thiopental to cause unconsciousness; pancuronium bromide to stop breathing and, finally, potassium chloride to stop the heart.
Death is reputed to be quick and painless - not that there is anyone to testify to this. The idea for such a 'modern' scheme is rooted in one of the darkest episodes in human history.
The Nazis used adapted vans as mobile gas chambers from 1940 until the end of World War II. In order to make the best use of time spent transporting criminals and Jewish prisoners, Hitler's scientists developed the vehicles with a hermetically sealed cabin that was filled with carbon monoxide carried by a tube from the exhaust pipes.

The vans were first tested on child patients in a Polish psychiatric hospital in 1940. The Nazis then developed bigger models to carry up to 50 prisoners. They looked like furniture removal vans. Those to be killed were ordered to hand over their valuables, then stripped and locked inside.
As gas was pumped into the container and the van headed towards graves being dug by other prisoners, the muffled cries of those inside could be heard, along with banging on the side.
With the 'cargo' dead, all that remained was for gold fillings to be hacked from the victims' mouths, before the bodies were tipped into the graves.
Now, six decades later, just like the Nazis, China insists these death vans are 'progress'.
The vans save money on building execution facilities in prisons or courts. And they mean that prisoners can be executed locally, closer to communities where they broke the law.

'This deters others from committing crime and has more impact,' said one official.
Indeed, a spokesman for the makers of the 'death vans' openly touted for trade this week, saying they are the perfect way to 'efficiently and cleanly' dispatch convicts with lethal injections. Reporting steady sales throughout China, a spokesman for Jinguan Auto - which is situated in a green valley an hour's drive from Chongqing in south-western China - said the firm was bucking the economic trend and had sold ten more vans recently.
The exact number in operation is a state secret. But it is known that Yunnan province alone has 18 mobile units, while dozens of others are patrolling in five other sprawling provinces. Each van is the size of a specially refitted 17-seater minibus.
'We have not sold our execution cars to foreign countries yet,' beamed a proud spokesman. But if they need one, they could contact our company directly.'
Officials say the vehicles are a 'civilised alternative' to the traditional single shot to the head (used in 60 per cent of Chinese executions), ending the life of the condemned quickly, clinically and safely - proving that China 'promotes human rights now,' says Kang Zhongwen, designer of the 'death van'.
It seems a perverse claim, but certainly the shootings can be gruesome. Once carried out in public parks, these executions -sometimes done in groups - have seen countless cases of prisoners failing to die instantly and writhing in agony on the ground before being finished off.
There are other concerns: soldiers carrying out the shooting complain that they are splashed with Aids-contaminated blood. After the shooting, relatives are often presented with the bullet hacked from the condemned's body - and forced to pay the price of the ammunition.
While posing as a modernising force in public, Chinese leaders remain brutal within their own borders. They are, however, anxious to be seen to be moving away from violence against their own people, stressing that all judicial decisions have been taken out of the hands of vengeful local officials and must be ruled on from Beijing.
China has traditionally always taken a ruthless, unemotional view of crime and punishment. Before injections and bullets, the most chilling sentence was death by Ling Chi - death by a thousand cuts - which was abolished only in 1905.
The condemned man was strapped to a table and then, in what was also known as 'slow slicing', his eyes were gouged out.
This was designed to heighten the terror of not being able to see what part of his body would suffer next. Using a sharp knife, the executioner sliced at the condemned's body - chopping off the ears, fingers, nose and toes, before starting to cut off whole limbs.
Traditionalists insisted that exactly 3,600 slices were made. The new mobile execution vans may, indeed, be more humane than this, but their main advantage in official eyes is financial. According to undercover investigations by human rights' groups, the police, judiciary and doctors are all involved in making millions from China's huge trade in human body parts.
Inside each 'death van' there is a dedicated team of doctors to 'harvest' the organs of the deceased. The injections leave the body intact and in pristine condition for such lucrative work.
After checking that the victim is dead, the medical team first remove the eyes. Then, wearing surgical gowns and masks, they remove the kidney, liver, pancreas and lungs.
Little goes to waste, though the heart cannot be used, having been poisoned by the drugs.
The organs are dispatched in ice boxes to hospitals in the sprawling cities of Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou, which have developed another specialist trade: selling the harvested organs.
At clinics all over China, these organs are transplanted into the ailing bodies of the wealthy - and thousands more who come as 'organ tourists' from neighbouring countries such as Japan, South Korea, Singapore and Taiwan.
Chinese hospitals perform up to 20,000 organ transplants each year. A kidney transplant in China costs £5,000, but can rise to £30,000 if the patient is willing to pay more to obtain an organ quickly.
With more than 10,000 kidney transplants carried out each year, fewer than 300 come from voluntary donations. The British Transplantation Society and Amnesty International have condemned China for harvesting prisoners' organs.
Laws introduced in 2006 make it an offence to remove the organs of people against their will, and banned those under 18 from selling their organs.
But, tellingly, the law does not cover prisoners.
'Organs can be extracted in a speedier and more effective way using these vans than if the prisoner is shot,' says Amnesty International.
'We have gathered strong evidence suggesting the involvement of Chinese police, courts and hospitals in the organ trade.'
The bodies cannot be examined. Corpses are driven to a crematorium and burned before independent witnesses can view them.
A police official, who operates a 'multi-functional and nationwide, first-class, fixed execution ground' where prisoners are shot, confirmed to the Mail that it is always a race against time to save the organs of the executed - and that mobile death vans are better equipped for the job.
'The liver loses its function only five minutes after the human cardiac arrest,' the officer told our researcher.
'The kidney will become dysfunctional 30 minutes after cardiac arrest. So the removal of organs must be completed at the execution ground within 15 minutes, then put in an ice box or preservation solution.'
While other countries worry about the morality of the death penalty, China has no such qualms.
For the Beijing regime, it is not a question of whether they should execute offenders, but how to do it most efficiently - and make the most money from it.

1500 FARMERS COMMIT MASS SUICIDE IN INDIA ; PRAY AND MAKE A DIFFERENCE..

Over 1,500 farmers in an Indian state committed suicide after being driven to debt by crop failure, it was reported today.
The agricultural state of Chattisgarh was hit by falling water levels.
"The water level has gone down below 250 feet here. It used to be at 40 feet a few years ago," Shatrughan Sahu, a villager in one of the districts, told Down To Earth magazine
"Most of the farmers here are indebted and only God can save the ones who do not have a bore well."
Mr Sahu lives in a district that recorded 206 farmer suicides last year. Police records for the district add that many deaths occur due to debt and economic distress.
In another village nearby, Beturam Sahu, who owned two acres of land was among those who committed suicide. His crop is yet to be harvested, but his son Lakhnu left to take up a job as a manual labourer.
His family must repay a debt of £400 and the crop this year is poor.
"The crop is so bad this year that we will not even be able to save any seeds," said Lakhnu's friend Santosh. "There were no rains at all."
"That's why Lakhnu left even before harvesting the crop. There is nothing left to harvest in his land this time. He is worried how he will repay these loans."
Bharatendu Prakash, from the Organic Farming Association of India, told the Press Association: "Farmers' suicides are increasing due to a vicious circle created by money lenders. They lure farmers to take money but when the crops fail, they are left with no option other than death."
Mr Prakash added that the government ought to take up the cause of the poor farmers just as they fight for a strong economy.
"Development should be for all. The government blames us for being against development. Forest area is depleting and dams are constructed without proper planning.
All this contributes to dipping water levels. Farmers should be taken into consideration when planning policies," he said.

ELECTIONS PROMPT PRAYER CAMPAIGN FOR CHRISTIANS INDIA

A ministry working with the persecuted church is calling on Christians around the world to pray for fellow believers in India as the country begins its nationwide parliamentary elections Thursday.

With the start of the election, which is the largest in the democratic world and will span four weeks, religious minorities are fearful that political parties will intimidate and coerce them into voting for candidates they do not want to support or force them to stay home.
The Global Council of Indian Christians (GCIC) estimates that as many as 70,000 Christians, who would normally vote for opposition political candidates, may be affected by Hindu extremist political parties in a way that would allow them to go unchallenged.
In response to the threat of unfair elections, Christian leaders across India have called on all political parties in India to guarantee safety for religious minorities, ensure their participation in the elections, defend freedom of religion and bring to justice those who discriminate against Christian minorities.
“India is a democracy, but unfortunately in practice the law is being restricted in its application in favor of the Hindu majority – 80 percent of the population – and to the disadvantage of minorities such as Christians and Muslims,” said Abhishek Singh, director of Open Doors in India.
Singh described the violence against Christians as “quite great” and noted that not a day passes without there being two or three attacks against Christians somewhere in India. The police, he said, are under the influence of Hindus so in many cases they do not act to protect religious minorities, and when they do act, it is with leniency towards Hindus.
“The violence against Christians is not the random work of a few break-away gangs,” Singh said. “There is a close-knit network of Hindu fundamentalist organizations. The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is nothing other than the political wing of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), the umbrella organization which promotes the ideal of a national state for Hindus.”
Christians in India are particularly afraid during this year’s elections because of the extraordinary violence against believers over the past nine months. Following the death of a Hindu fundamentalist leader, mobs of extremists have brutally attacked Christians in the eastern state of Orissa and elsewhere in India.
At least 60 Christians have been killed – although some Indian leaders say hundreds have died – 18,000, wounded; 252 churches, razed or destroyed; 5,031 Christian homes, burned; and more than 50,000 Christians, displaced in Orissa alone since August.
Hindu extremists accuse Christians of being behind the murder of their leader, even though Maoist rebels have publicly stated that they are the perpetrators of the assassination. Hindu assailants also justify their attacks by accusing Christian missionaries of using bribery or coercion to convert poor Indians, mostly the lower-caste Dalits, to Christianity.
“Unfortunately, 2008 saw the worst kind of regression in our society as the church in India experienced a wave of violence and persecution unprecedented since the origin of Christianity in India 2,000 years ago,” said Dr. Sajan K. George, national president of the Global Council of Indian Christians.
Open Doors, which works with partner organizations in India to help the displaced Christians with basic food supplies and medicines, listed India at No. 22 this year on its World Watch List of countries where Christians suffer the most severe persecution. India jumped eight spots since last year when it was listed at No. 30.
Christians are asked to pray for:

officials in the government ignoring persecution of Christians will be replaced by officials who support and protect religious freedom

• the freedom and liberty of the church and missionaries in India to share the Gospel and disciple believers

• God would move in the culture to remove the caste system and create equal opportunities and rights for all people

DE-BAPTISM GAINS A FOLLOWING IN BRITAIN ; PRAY AND MAKE A DIFFERENCE

More than 100,000 former Christians have downloaded "certificates of de-baptism" in a bid to publicly renounce the faith, according to the London-based National Secular Society (NSS).

Terry Sanderson, the society's president, says the group started the online de-baptism initiative five years ago to mock the practice of baptizing infants too young to consent to religious rites. Their web site invites visitors to "Liberate yourself from the Original Mumbo-Jumbo that liberated you from the Original Sin you never had" and allows them to print out a paper certificate that uses quasi-formal language to "reject baptism's creeds and other such superstitions." But in recent months, as tens of thousands began to download the certificate, organizers realized that they had struck a chord with atheists and once-devout church members who are leaving churches they see as increasingly out-of-tune with modern life. "Churches have become so reactionary, so politically active that people actually want to make a protest against them now," Sanderson says. "They're not just indifferent anymore. They're actively hostile." (See pictures at a drive-in church.)
The campaign has become so popular — with nearly 1,000 certificates downloaded each week — that the NSS has started taking orders for certificates printed on parchment, at $4.50 each; they've sold nearly 2,000 in just three weeks. "Every time the Pope says something outrageous we get another rush on the certificate," Sanderson says, noting that traffic to the site skyrocketed last month following Pope Benedict XVI's comment that condoms could worsen the HIV/AIDS epidemic in Africa.
Public gaffes like that one may explain the anti-Catholic backlash driving similar movements elsewhere in the world. In October last year, Italy's Union of Rationalist Atheist and Agnostics sponsored the country's first-ever "De-baptism Day," when the no-longer faithful attended protests and passed out de-baptism forms to areligious people who didn't have internet connections to download them. More recently, on March 2, atheists and feminists in Argentina teamed up to launch the "Not in my Name" Internet campaign which encourages Roman Catholics to notify their local bishops of their desire to officially leave the church. So far more than 1,800 have joined their Facebook group or signed the petition on their website http://www.time.com/time/world/article/www.apostasiacolectiva.org.
According to Argentine campaigner Ariel Bellino, a former Catholic: "The church counts all those who've been baptized as Catholic and lobbies for legislation based on that number, so we're trying to convey the importance of people expressing they no longer belong to the church." Campaigners say that's particularly important in Argentina, where liberal social values frequently clash with Roman Catholic doctrine related to issues such as birth control, abstinence before marriage and homosexuality; in 2003, Buenos Aries became the first city in South America to legalize gay civil unions.
Back in Britain, Michael Evans, an atheist and former journalist who downloaded the de-baptism certificate in March, believes the Church of England claims more members than it actually has in order to shore up its influence in the secular world. "It claims to speak for the majority of people in Britain," he says. Official estimates are that fewer than one million Britons regularly attend Sunday services, but there are currently 26 Church of England bishops sitting in the House of Lords. "With churches, everybody checks in, but nobody checks out," says Evans, who was baptized as an infant. "There's no exit strategy except the funeral."
That may be changing. On April 9, John Hunt, a 56-year-old nurse in Croydon, south London, managed to have his official baptism record amended. Religious leaders from the Southwark Diocese had previously refused to delete Hunt's record of baptism, claiming it was an important historical detail. But after Hunt published a renouncement of his Christianity in the London Gazette, a journal of record dating back to the 17th century, those same religious leaders agreed to include it alongside his official baptism entry. "It's about time some of us stood up to be counted," Hunt said after receiving the news.
Nick Baines, the Bishop of Croydon, says such notation makes little difference. "Sticking John Hunt's note in the register is not 'de-anything,'" he wrote on his blog. "It is simply a note in a register that has no effect whatsoever other than to make him feel better that he has been heard." And, officials at the Church of England say, allowing such notation is not the Church's official policy because true renunciation can only take place between an individual and God.
Given that God takes on different forms for different people, the NSS has been approached by non-believers are far away as Australia, Romania and Saudi Arabia requesting certificates tailored to their former faith. "We've had Jewish people write in asking, 'Can I have a certificate to undo my bar mitzvah?'" says Sanderson. And while the group is considering those requests, there's at least one recurring query they're certain they can't undo, symbolically or otherwise: "How can I get myself uncircumcised?"

4 CHRISTIANS KILLED IN IRAQ WITHIN 48 HOURS

Four Iraqi Christians were murdered within two days by unknown assailants, according to a Christian persecution watchdog group.

Shabah Aziz Suliman was reportedly killed in the northern Iraqi city of Kirkuk on Apr. 1, and Nimrud Khuder Moshi, Glawiz Nissan and Hanaa Issaq were murdered thereafter in Dora, a historical Christian neighborhood of Baghdad.
"The killing of four innocent people within the last two days has put a renewed fear in our hearts,” said Julian Taimoorazy, president of Iraqi Christian Relief Council, in an interview with International Christian Concern. “What is important is to keep these continuous atrocities in the media and on the policy makers' radars. What we need is a more safe and secure Iraq for all of Iraqi's especially for the Christians who have faced ethno-religious cleansing.”
Since 2003, some 750 Christians have been killed in Iraq, according to Archbishop Louis Sako, the Chaldean Catholic Archbishop of Kirkuk. Dozens of churches have also been bombed.
Islamic extremists often target Christians under the assumption that they are supporters of the coalition force since they share the same faith as the West.
Constant death threats, lack of economic opportunities, and security instability have forced more than half of the Iraqi Christian population to flee the country within the past five years.
The U.N. High Commission for Refugees reports that although Iraqi Christians make up only three percent of Iraq’s population, they account for nearly half of the refugees leaving the country.
In October, more than 15,000 Iraqi Christians were driven out of the northern city of Mosul after 13 local Iraqi Christians were killed within four weeks, including three within 24 hours. Several Christian homes were also bombed.
And last March, a high-ranking Chaldean Catholic archbishop was kidnapped and murdered outside of Mosul in northern Iraq. The death of Archbishop Paulos Faraj Rahho, who was the second most senior Catholic cleric in Iraq, sparked outcry from the Christian community over the increased violence towards the tiny Christian community that is on the brink of extinction.
Other Iraqi Christian leaders who have been murdered since the start of the U.S.-led war include Fr. Paulos Iskander, who was beheaded; Fr. Mundhir al-Dayr, who was assassinated in his Protestant church; and Fr. Ragheed Ganni and three deacons, who were gunned down and whose cars were bombed, according to Nina Shea, director of the Center for Religious Freedom at the Hudson Institute, in the National Review.
"The suffering of Iraqi Christians has been beyond description and is not yet over. More than ever, the Iraqi Christians need our prayer and support,” said Jonathan Racho, ICC's regional manager for Africa and the Middle East.
“The latest martyrdom of our brothers should serve to awaken churches in the Western countries to come to the aid of their Iraqi brothers and sisters,” he said. “We call upon Iraqi officials and the allied forces in Iraq to avert further attacks against Iraqi Christians. It is simply unacceptable to watch the extinction of the Christian community from Iraq."

OBAMA SEEKS MUSLIMS FOR THE WHITE HOUSE POSTS; MORE THAN 600 GOVERMENT OFFICIALS SUBMITTED FOR CONSIDERATION

WASHINGTON – Barack Obama is conducting his own affirmative action program to get more Muslims in the White House.
The move began with Rep. Keith Ellison, D-Minn, who took his oath of office with a hand on the Quran, to solicit the resume of what he considered to be the nation's most qualified adherents of Islam.
According to the Denver Post, when White House officials heard about the program, it was put on overdrive.
So far, 45 Ivy League grads, Fortune 500 executives and government officials have been submitted for consideration.

J. Saleh Williams, program coordinator for the Congressional Muslim Staffers Association, sifted through more than 300 names as part of the search.
"It was mostly under the radar," Williams said. "We thought it would put (the president) in a precarious position. We didn't know how closely he wanted to appear to be working with the Muslim American community."
Ellison is serious about his faith. He made the pilgrimage to Mecca with the sponsorship of the Muslim American Society, an offshoot of the Muslim Brotherhood.
In 1991, Mohamed Akram wrote a memo for the leadership of the Muslim Brotherhood that explained its work in America as "a kind of grand jihad in eliminating and destroying the Western civilization from within and 'sabotaging' its miserable house by their hands and the hands of the believers so that it is eliminated and God's religion is made victorious over all other religions."

TWO YOUNG IRANIAN CHRISTIAN WOMEN HELD IN NOTORIOUS PRISON ( ELVIN PRISON ) WITHOUT CHARGE ; PRAY & MAKE A DIFFERENCE...

Two young Iranian Christian women have been held for weeks now in the notorious Elvin Prison without charge.

Roommates Marzieh Amirizadeh Esmaeilabad, 30, and Maryam Rustampoor, 27, were arrested March 5 by Iranian security forces who accused them of being “anti-government activists,” reported Farsi Christian News Network (FCNN), which recently received news about their detainment.
All their personal belongings were confiscated during the arrest, and they were hand-cuffed and taken first to a police station in Gysha, west of Tehran for interrogation. They were later taken to Vozara Detention Center, then to a National Security Section of the Revolutionary Court.
After several sessions of interrogation, they appeared in the Revolutionary Court on March 18, after which they were sent to Elvin Prison where they are being held without charge.
According to reports received by FCNN, the two young women are innocent and their only “crime” is being practicing Christians. The incident highlights the Iranian government’s growing hostility towards followers of Jesus Christ.
Last year, there were more than 50 known cases of arrests and imprisonment of Christians in Iran. There were also some known cases of torture.
Each day, the women are allowed only a one-minute phone call to their immediate families.
During their last call on March 28, Esmaeilabad said she is suffering from an infection and high fever, according to FCNN's March 29 report.
She also said, "I am dying."
Both women are sick and need urgent medical attention, according to reports.
The Iranian court has ruled that the women could be freed on a bail of $400,000, but the “excessive” bail is unrealistic and is designed to make the release impossible, noted that Christian news network.
Moreover, the women’s families have been repeatedly told the judge is not available to discuss their case.
“Iranian Christian leaders from around the world are calling for the immediate and unconditional release of Marzieh and Maryam,” FCNN stated. “We ask world governments to put pressure on Iran to ensure freedom of religion.”
Prayers are also being requested for the two young Christian women’s safe release.

SWEDEN BECAME THE 7TH COUNTRY TO ALLOW SAME SEX MARRIAGE;PRAY AND MAKE A DIFFERENCE

Sweden has adopted a law that legalizes same-sex marriage, making it the seventh country in the world to allow gay and lesbian couples to wed in either a religious or civil ceremony.

After hours of debate, the Swedish parliament voted 261 to 22, with 66 abstaining or absent, on Wednesday to approve a gender-neutral law on marriage.
Christian Democrats opposed the legislation.
The new legislation repeals a 1987 law that defines marriage as between a man and a woman. Sweden now joins the Netherlands, Belgium, Spain, Canada, South Africa and Norway in allowing same-sex marriage. In the United States, homosexual marriage is legal in Massachusetts and Connecticut.
The new law takes effect May 1 and allows individual pastors the freedom to opt out of marrying same-sex couples.
The Lutheran Church of Sweden has already expressed support for the new law, according to Agence France-Presse.
Since 2007, the Church – which 74 percent of Swedes are members of – has blessed civil unions for gay and lesbian couples but stopped short of blessing gay marriages.
The Lutheran Church synod is scheduled to decide in October whether or not to perform same-sex marriages, according to AFP.
Polls indicate that a majority of Swedes approve of homosexual marriage. The northern European country has recognized civil unions for homosexual couples since 1995.

A ROMAN CATHOLIC PRIEST GETS 50 YEARS IN PRISON FOR RAPE OF A CHILD IN NORTH TEXAS

EASTLAND — Jurors have sentenced a Roman Catholic priest convicted of child sex abuse to 50 years in prison, a term double the original sentence he received during his first trial for the crime.
The Rev. Thomas Teczar had been sentenced to 25 years by a judge in 2007 for raping and molesting an 11-year-old boy. But his convictions on three counts of aggravated sexual assault of a child and indecency with a child were overturned on appeal last fall because of testimony from a witness.
During his retrial, an Eastland County jury took less than an hour to find Teczar guilty of the same charges. On Friday, his 68th birthday, jurors settled on his sentence.
Authorities say the abuse happened in the early 1990s in Ranger, where Teczar was a parish priest.
Teczar took the stand during the punishment phase Friday and testified he was innocent and didn’t even know the accuser. But he also admitted to being sexually attracted to teenage boys.
Teczar is in the process of being defrocked at the request of the Fort Worth Roman Catholic Diocese, where he served as a priest from 1988-93 in several parishes.
The diocese has settled with six of Teczar’s accusers, including two in 2005 who received $4.15 million.
Teczar was a priest in the Worcester, Mass., diocese until he was kicked out in 1986 for misconduct with boys. He returned to Massachusetts after the abuse allegations surfaced in Texas, diocese officials have said

IN AN EXTREME CASE OF RELIGIOUS REVERANCE A DEVOTEE OFFERS TONGUE TO GODDESS DURGA; PRAY SO THAT THESE BLIND FAITH'S CAN BE ERASED FROM OUR COUNTRY

BAHRAICH: In an extreme case of religious reverence, a devotee offered his tongue to Goddess Durga in a temple here on Thursday.

Ramroop, a resident of Adharipurwa village under Risia police station, first offered prayers to the Goddess Durga in the temple of Samai Mata located in Chakia gram and then cut off his tongue with a knife and placed it at the feet of the Goddess. It was said that Ramroop did the crazy act stating that the Goddess had fulfilled a wish of his. Later, he was admitted to a primary health centre in an unconscious state. There is huge rush of devotees in the temples of Goddess Durga these days because of Navratri.

MUSLIM AUTHORITIES EXPELLED FIVE CHRISTIANS FROM MOROCCO; PRAY AND MAKE A DIFFERENCE IN MOROCCO

RABAT, Morocco — Authorities have expelled five Christian missionaries from Morocco on the grounds that they were illegally inciting Muslims to convert, the Interior Ministry said Sunday.
The missionaries were caught Saturday during an assembly with Moroccan Muslims in Casablanca, the North African kingdom's economic capital, and have been sent to Spain by boat, the Interior Ministry said in a statement carried by the official MAP news agency.
"Numerous pieces of evangelical propaganda material were also seized," including video cassettes in Arabic that advocated conversion to Christianity, the statement said.
A senior Interior Ministry official said the missionaries were four Spaniards and a German woman. He insisted Morocco has nothing against the Christian faith, but that authorities felt the missionaries had gone too far. The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity in keeping with Interior Ministry rules, said the missionaries were expelled without being officially arrested or charged. He could not specify the Christian denomination to which they belonged.
Several Evangelical Christians have been charged or detained in recent months in neighboring Algeria, and authorities throughout North Africa have become increasingly wary of an apparent push by some Protestant churches in this overwhelmingly Sunni Muslim region.

Christianity and Judaism are freely practiced in dozens of churches, temples and synagogues throughout Morocco, but proselytizing to convert Muslims is considered illegal.
A tourism haven and a strong Western ally, Morocco has a reputation for tolerance. At the same time, the country's King Mohammed VI is also "Amir al-Mouminine," or commander of the believers and protector of the Muslim faith.
Morocco appears to have hardened its stance on moral issues in recent weeks. A Shiite Muslim school was closed earlier this month on suspicion it was trying to convert pupils, and Rabat severed its diplomatic relations with Iran, accusing the Shiite Islamic republic of trying to undermine Morocco's Sunni unity.
The Interior Ministry also recently issued a statement asserting it would not hesitate to crack down on media or activists that threatened the country's religious or moral values. The statement was viewed as targeting Shiites, as well as some newspapers that recently called for more rights for homosexuals.

FOLLOWING ATHEIST TREND , MORE THAN 100,000 BRITONS SEEK ' DE - BAPTISM '; PRAY AND MAKE A DIFFERENCE

More than 100,000 Britons have recently downloaded "certificates of de-baptism" from the Internet to renounce their Christian faith.
The initiative launched by a group called the National Secular Society (NSS) follows atheist campaigns here and elsewhere, including a London bus poster which triggered protests by proclaiming "There's probably no God."
"We now produce a certificate on parchment and we have sold 1,500 units at three pounds (4.35 dollars, 3.20 euros) a pop," said NSS president Terry Sanderson, 58.
John Hunt, a 58-year-old from London and one of the first to try to be "de-baptised," held that he was too young to make any decision when he was christened at five months old.
The male nurse said he approached the Church of England to ask it to remove his name. "They said they had sought legal advice and that I should place an announcement in the London Gazette," said Hunt, referring to one of the official journals of record of the British government.
So that's what he did -- his notice of renouncement was published in the Gazette in May 2008 and other Britons have followed suit.
Michael Evans, 66, branded baptising children as "a form of child abuse" -- and said that when he complained to the church where he was christened he was told to contact the European Court of Human Rights.
The Church of England said its official position was not to amend its records. "Renouncing baptism is a matter between the individual and God," a Church spokesman told AFP.
"We are not a 'membership' church, and do not keep a running total of the number of baptised people in the Church of England, and such totals do not feature in the statistics that we regularly publish," he added.
De-baptism organisers say the initiative is a response to what they see as increasing stridency from churches -- the latest last week when Pope Benedict XVI stirred global controversy on a trip to AIDS-ravaged Africa by saying condom use could further spread of the disease.
"The Catholic Church is so politically active at the moment that I think that is where the hostility is coming from," said Sanderson. "In Catholic countries there is a very strong feeling of wanting to punish the church by leaving it."
In Britain, where government figures say nearly 72 percent of the population list themselves as Christian, Sanderson feels this "hostility" is fueling the de-baptism movement.
Theologian Paul Murray at Durham University disagrees. "That is not my experience," he said, but concedes that change is in the air.
"We are in an interesting climate where Catholicism and other belief systems have moved into the public, pluralist arena, alongside secularists," he said.
De-baptism movements have already sprung up in other countries.
In Spain, the high court ruled in favor of a man from Valencia, Manuel Blat, saying that under data protection laws he could have the record of his baptism erased, according to a report in the International Herald Tribune.
Similarly, the Italian Union of Rationalists and Agnostics (UAAR) won a legal battle over the right to file for de-baptism in 2002, according to media reports. The group's website carries a "de-baptism" form to facilitate matters.
According to UAAR secretary Raffaele Carcano, more than 60,000 of these forms have been downloaded in the past four years and continue to be downloaded at a rate of about 2,000 per month. Another 1,000 were downloaded in one day when the group held its first national de-baptism day last October 25.
Elsewhere, an Argentinian secularist movement is running a "Collective Apostasy" campaign, using the slogan "Not in my name" (No en mi nombre).
Sanderson hopes rulings in other European countries will pave the way for legal action in Britain, since European Union directives require a level of parity among member states' legislation.
"That would be a good precedent for us to say to the British Information Commissioner: Come on, what's your excuse?" said Sanderson.
The bus-side posters that hit London in January sported the message: "There's probably no God. Now stop worrying and enjoy your life."
The scheme was in response to pro-Christian adverts on buses directing passers-by to a website warning those who did not accept Jesus would suffer for eternity in hell.
Comedy writer Ariane Sherine, mastermind of the British bus campaign that saw a copycat version in Barcelona and other cities, said she backs the "de-baptism" movement but insisted the two initiatives were separate.
Sanderson meanwhile remains resolute. "The fact that people are willing to pay for the parchments shows how seriously they are taking them," he said.

MOB BRUTALLY ATTACKS MISSIONARIES IN HIMACHAL PRADESH,INDIA

A large mob of anti-Christian extremists brutally attacked two Gospel for Asia-supported missionaries in Himachal Pradesh, India, on Saturday, March 14. After stripping them naked and beating Murari Jay and Atul Rajesh, the vicious group burned all their belongings and then had the missionaries arrested.

The mob of about 30 people barged into the place where Murari and Atul were staying. Humiliating the missionaries, the group tore the men's clothes off and beat them. Murari sustained severe injuries to his back after mob members repeatedly kicked him, and Atul suffered acute head trauma. Other members of the mob set fire to everything the missionaries owned. After assaulting the missionaries, their attackers grabbed Murari and Atul, forcing them to go to the police station. Authorities took the two men into custody.

When GFA leaders in the area heard about the attack, they immediately went to the police station to help the missionaries. After much discussion, authorities released Murari and Atul at 11:30 p.m. Even in this difficult situation, the missionaries were praising Jesus and told the GFA leaders that they felt the experience increased their faith in Him. "It was a great privilege to be persecuted for the Gospel of Christ," both missionaries responded when asked about the attacks. The next morning, the two missionaries had to go back to the police station to clear the case. After investigating the situation, the police found no fault in the mob for the unproved beatings, and the missionaries were not charged with any crime. Murari and Atul also received treatment at a local hospital following the attack. They are now home and, through medical care, are recovering quickly.

JOHN 3:16 NOT WELCOME AT NCAA TOURNAMENT; SECURITY GUARD SNATCHES AWAY SIGN WITH FAMOUS BIBLE QUOTE

Has the Bible verse John 3:16 become too controversial to be displayed at sporting events?

Some might be asking that question after a basketball fan at the NCAA Tournament had his sign featuring the famous New Testament quote snatched away from him by a security guard.The incident took place last week during Round One of the annual contest, as Siena College, a Catholic school, was taking on Ohio State

"Well, there goes the First Amendment," wrote one commenter online.While the action may seem harsh, NCAA guidelines actually ban sports fans from displaying signs, though the rule is not always enforced at some venues.

"They don't allow signs at NCAA events because they block people's view," wrote another online commenter. "I for one am glad they don't. It's not pro 'rasslin,' it's a real sporting event that people pay to see."

John 3:16 is considered to be among the most well-known verses from the Bible.It states: "For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life."The verse has appeared in various forms at nationally televised sporting events over the years.And as WND reported in January, after University of Florida quarterback Tim Tebow inscribed it on his eye black for this year's BCS National Championship game, the biblical reference became the most popular search item on Google.com. "I am fortunate to have family members, coaches and teammates around who can help me stay focused on the right things for us to be successful," Tebow said. "For me, every day includes four things: God, family, academics and football, in

PARISHIONER AND PASTOR CITED FOR FIRING AN ARROW IN THE CHURCH FOR A SERMON ILLUSTRATION

A Sheboygan Falls pastor and parishioner were issued municipal citations Thursday for firing an arrow during Sunday's service as part of a sermon illustration.

About 120 people were attending the evening service at Pentecostals of Sheboygan County, 621 Broadway, when the Rev. John Putnam had Jason Wilke, 26, draw and fire a steel-tipped practice arrow across the front of the church.
Putnam called it a "teaching tool."
Police call it illegal.
Wilke, of Sheboygan Falls, was cited for using a missile indoors, and Putnam was cited for aiding and abetting that ordinance violation. Both will be fined $109.
But Kohler Police Chief Bill Rutten said no criminal charges will be filed.
"Our department did not feel that it rose to the level of endangering safety," Rutten said. "Anytime with bows and arrows or firearms, there's always that chance for a malfunction to happen, but nothing did happen aside from the firing into the target, so we're thinking that an ordinance violation is appropriate in this case."
Rutten said Wilke, at Putnam's direction, stood on the far left side of the occupied front row and fired at a foam target on the right side of the stage, shooting the arrow across the congregation but slightly away from them.
"Even if their had been a malfunction, the likelihood of something bad happening (is slim)," Rutten said.
Putnam, 30, defended the illustration when contacted at his office on Thursday.
"We use props all the time for messages," he said. "It was a completely controlled, choreographed demonstration."
Not all churchgoers agreed.
One man stood up and objected as Wilke drew the compound bow, telling Putnam firing the arrow was unsafe and illegal, according to two parishioners. Putnam told the man to be quiet and sit down, which he did until Wilke drew the bow again.
The man objected a second time, after which Putnam said he asked the man to leave. Putnam said the church will seek a restraining order against the man, who he said was yelling and "causing a disruption."
The man then reported the incident to Sheboygan Falls police, who responded to the church and spoke with the pastor. The incident was turned over to the Kohler Police Department on Monday since Putnam is the former chaplain of the Sheboygan Falls Police Department.
One woman in attendance described the scene differently from Putnam, saying the man's objection was "very gentle and very respectful."
The woman, who asked to remain anonymous, said church leaders closed the rear doors of the church after the man left, and Wilke then fired the arrow.
"Our family was a little scared," she said. "They can easily ricochet and kill a person. That's happened."
Putnam said he was challenging churchgoers to be active in sharing their testimonies with others. He was elaborating on a passage that details spiritual "equipment" given to Christians, such as the helmet of salvation, the sword of the spirit and the belt of truth.
"I used the practice arrow just as the fact that an arrow by itself — your testimony by itself — is no good, so you have to have a bow, and the bow is that equipment," Putnam said. "And you have to have a target, and still with all that if you never pull it back and release it then it still does not accomplish its objective."
He said the illustration — which was practiced in the church basement before the service — endangered no one.
"Was it completely safe? Absolutely — it was completely safe," Putnam said. "If I knew it would cause this kind of problem, I certainly would have reconsidered."

EVANGELICALS APPLAUD OBAMA FOR SUDAN ENVOY APPOINTMENT

Evangelical leaders and human rights groups applauded President Barack Obama Wednesday for naming an envoy for Sudan as the violence-wracked country faces a critical time in its history.

In a statement, President Obama announced that his campaign adviser and close friend, retired Air Force Gen. J. Scott Gration, will serve as the special envoy to Sudan. Gration had lived in Africa as a child when his parents served as missionaries there.
“I believe President Obama is taking the right action by appointing retired Air Force General Scott Gration as Special Envoy to Sudan,” said Rev. Franklin Graham, president and CEO of Samaritan's Purse and the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association. “This is a critical time in Sudan and it is important for the United States to do as much as possible to help the millions of people whose lives hang in the balance because of the ongoing crises there.
"My prayers go out to both the President and General Gration that God would grant them wisdom as they navigate the complexities of Africa's largest nation."
Graham, who recently returned from a trip to Sudan where he met with President Omar al-Bashir, had repeatedly called on President Obama to appoint an envoy to Sudan after the International Criminal Court issued an arrest warrant for the Sudanese president earlier this month. The arrest led to the government retaliating by expelling several large relief groups from the country.
Relief groups have expressed serious concern that millions of Sudanese lives are now at risk without the aid provided by these agencies.
Samaritan’s Purse, which operates several relief projects in Darfur and southern Sudan, was not ordered to leave and is still providing aid in Sudan.
The Rev. Dr. Geoff Tunnicliffe, international director and CEO of the World Evangelical Alliance, also welcomed President Obama’s new appointment at “a most critical time” for Sudan.
“With the expelling of international aid agencies by the Khartoum regime, millions of lives are at great risk,” wrote Tunnicliffe, who often speaks at Darfur rallies, to The Christian Post via email. “The international community must respond quickly and decisively to this crisis. It is imperative that the new U.S. envoy provide crucial diplomatic leadership at this time.”
The World Evangelical Alliance is a member of the Save Darfur Coalition.
Sudan is currently in a precarious situation with its sitting president, along with other high level government officials, being charged with crimes against humanity in Darfur. The ICC has issued several arrest warrants for Sudanese government officials, but Sudan has refused to turn them over to the court.
Instead, just days after the arrest warrant was issued Sudan announced that some of the largest international aid groups, most of them operating in Darfur, must leave the country. The government accused the foreign aid groups of spying and providing the ICC with false information against President al-Bashir and his government.
Then on Tuesday, al-Bashir made what appears to be an unplanned announcement that all foreign aid groups must leave Sudan within a year. Sudanese government officials later in the day tried to downplay al-Bashir’s statement, saying that not necessarily all foreign aid would have to leave and U.N. agencies would not be affected.
The Save Darfur Coalition, an alliance of more than 180 faith-based, advocacy and human rights organizations, expressed hope that Gration’s experience and close relationship with President Obama “will contribute greatly to his effectiveness.”
“Equally important, he must have the mandate and authority to drive U.S. policy on Sudan,” said Jerry Fowler, president of the Save Darfur Coalition, in a statement.
It is estimated that about 1.1 million civilians will be without food aid, 1.5 million without health care, and over a million without potable water after the 13 international aid agencies leave Sudan due to government order.
“General Gration will need to hit the ground running and spearhead an urgent and sustained diplomatic push - involving China and key African and Arab countries - to establish unimpeded humanitarian access, hold President Bashir accountable for meeting Sudan's obligation under international law to protect the lives of Sudanese civilians and move toward lasting peace,” Fowler said. “Presidential engagement and U.S. leadership are more vital than ever."

IRAN ; CHRISTIAN RELEASED AFTER 27 DAYS IN PRISON

On Feb. 25, 27-year old Hossein Karimi was released from prison after placing his home as collateral, according to Farsi Christian Network News (FCNN).
Hossein, a new convert, had been arrested on charges of attending home churches, evangelizing, storing Bibles and converting to the Christian faith, FCNN reported.
Hossein was arrested by Iranian secret police on Jan. 30 and was held for 27 days in an unknown location until his release. He’s now waiting for the courts to give him a scheduled date to appear to present his case.
Prior to this recent incident, Hossein was arrested in November 2008. According to FCNN, he was taken into custody, fingerprinted and photographed. He was then released after four days on bail with a consent that he would no longer participate in any Christian activities.
Praise God for Hossein’s faithfulness to the Lord and his release. The Voice of the Martyrs encourages you to pray for him. Ask God to protect him as the Iranian government will be watching him closely. Pray he will continue to stand for Christ.