Mission India: the message of persecution

The message of persecution is stop

From Mission India:

Today, believers in India — and around the world — daily face the threat of being arrested, rejected by family and friends, and even killed. They are told to stop preaching the name of Jesus.

In Orissa, India, the message of "stop" is ringing out. Thousands have been left homeless. Hundreds of churches and homes have been burned to the ground. The government is doing little to stop the suffering.

Christians in Orissa have lost everything — except their faith.

All they have to do is stop believing, stop reading Bible verses, stop meeting together for worship, stop teaching, stop witnessing to what Christ has done — if they stop that, they won't be killed or persecuted.

Visit Mission India and read more...

God bless you!

Note: Also stop by Hopegivers and find out how you can make a difference today.

A new blog for Lesotho orphans: Bana!

orphans with new blankets from BANA Project

Ladell Patterson is blogging for the BANA Project at Kingdom Orphans.

Please visit the blog and also look at what Jennifer and Chris Roe are doing to raise funds for the orphans. Good stuff. And take time to visit her Encounter humanity orphan blog.

God bless you, Ladell! And Chris and Jennifer!

Note: If you wish, you can donate for the Project at Logos Global -- or just click here: Support the Bana Project.

Tony Snow: the true strength of humble virtue

Through selflessness and service...

Tony Snow has gone to his eternal reward. He has entered into divine rest, and he is sorely missed. We surely could use his character, his person, his humble virtue in our time. God grant that his memory is blessed with others who pick up his mantle.

A man is measured by his life -- and words uttered in line with that life have great power. Consider these words from Tony, and let them stir your heart to humility:

There's nothing wilder than a life of humble virtue -- for it is through selflessness and service that God wrings from our bodies and spirits the most we ever could give, the most we ever could offer, and the most we ever could do...

God bids us to choose: Do we believe, or do we not?

Will we be bold enough to love, daring enough to serve, humble enough to submit, and strong enough to acknowledge our limitations? Can we surrender our concern in things that don't matter so that we might devote our remaining days to things that do?

Let these words stir your heart to humble virtue, and thus greatness! Our world needs you to be great like this!

Selah.

Hat tip to Roger for sharing these words! And the picture. Read his post here.

Related reading: The Bana Project for Lesotho, S.A.

The world's best investment: vitamins for at risk kids

Copenhagen consensus 2008

For two years, 50 of the worlds top economists have wrestled with finding solutions for the world's top ten problems. And, during this last week of May, 8 of the top economists, including five Nobel Laureates, met together to assess all the research.

They've produced a prioritized list of 30 solutions to the top ten problems. [Article here, with links.]

Interestingly, at the top of the list is combating malnutrition in the 140 million kids who are undernourished. They've determined that providing micronutrients [vitamin A capsules and a course of zinc supplements] to 80% of the 140 million kids who lack essential vitamins would cost just 60 million dollars and yet provide an estimated yearly benefit of nearly 1 billion dollars.

In other words, each dollar spent in this program turns 17 times that amount in benefits provided -- better health, fewer deaths, and potentially increased future earnings, etc.

Ronald Bailey, in his article, "The Top Ten Solutions to the World's Biggest Problems," notes that the Copenhagen Consensus process is certainly not perfect [applying benefit cost analysis to world issues] but it surely helps elucidate the problems and brings potential solutions to bear, great market place awareness. [Note: a tip of the cap to Glenn Reynolds on this. Great site, that Instapundit place! :-)].

These findings have fascinating implications... related to orphan care and and BANA Project, for instance: what would it cost to provide courses of micronutrients [A and zinc] to Lesotho orphans, for instance? And what benefit would this bring to an already phenomenal [and exploding] grassroots care program there?

I think it's a win/win potentiality.

Selah.

Global food prices rising: starvation looms, riots ensue

Austin Bay talks of the food crisis, and implies that the factors involved are more complex than a simplistic reliance upon ethanol. So I offer his thoughts [Food Crisis and Starvation: The Maze of Maize] to balance my previous post highlighting the green rape of poor people.

I agree that the factors are more complex than simple green doctrine alone. However, I stand by my statement that the consequences of such green doctrine are yet to be counted, to the detriment of the poor of the world, and potentially, the environment, too.

To quote John at Powerline:

One fundamental issue, maybe the most important one, is that most governments can't resist meddling in the farm economy. Ethanol is also a big part of the problem. Whatever you think of ethanol--and lots of people here in the Midwest think it's terrific, especially for the local economy--it's hard to avoid the conclusion that we picked a bad time to start burning a big chunk of our biggest crop.

Apt words.

An addendum from Dana H., commentator at Austin Bay blog:

I hope people realize that this is what happens when green chickens come home to roost. Biofuel subsidies are an obvious and immediate cause of higher food prices. But one reason oil is so expensive (which in turn makes food expensive) is environmental restrictions on exploration (e.g., ANWR) and extraction (e.g., the California coast). Nuclear power, which could substitute for oil-burning plants thereby driving down demand for oil, has been all but regulated out of existence (at least in the US). It’s probably a much more minor effect, but green regulations have also stymied any increase in hydroelectric power, and have even caused dams to be destroyed.

Thought provoking, and in line with my assertion that we have yet to pay the piper for the long-term results of green doctrine: a cure which might dramatically trump the disease, in terms of its detriment on human life.

Right now, the people paying the steepest price for green doctrine [and other catalysts] are the poorest people of our planet. Consider: How many additional African orphans will die this year because of comfortable, environmentally chic mantras in America?

Thanks for caring.

Selah.

African orphan meals on two dollars a day

Lesotho orphans pray the Lord's Prayer together
before receiving their one hot meal for the week.

Identifying with the least of these

Item: 75 percent of Sub-Saharan Africans live on two dollars a day or less.
Item: 56 percent of Lesotho adults live in two dollars a day or less.

In praying for Lesotho orphan intervention, where the number of AIDS orphans is exploding at one of the highest rates in the world, an American couple decided that they would live on two dollars a day per person for a week, and send the rest of that week's food budget to the Lesotho orphans. It’s a great investment, because each dollar sent counts for seven, and feeds multiple orphans.

The result is a no lose situation: givers function on the same household budget while needy orphans gain the difference in food.

If you would like to participate in this unique fundraising experience, please do so.

You can read more about it here and here.

Checks can be made payable to Encounter Humanity and sent here:

ENCOUNTER
P.O. Box 841
Alabaster, AL 35040

God bless your care and efforts!

Sam Thomas presses the battle for orphans

Hopegivers orphan care carries on in faith

Hopegivers International is sporting a new website, fronted by recent coverage of Dr. Sam Thomas, and his return to India. Dr. Sam was recently reunited with his wife Shelley, and their boys, after being separated from them for 14 months. His time with them was brief… and he returned to India, to carry on for the orphans there.

It all sounds so easy, so clinical, but the reality is truly life-threatening. Sam is risking his health, his freedom and his life for these orphans. He’s already been persecuted terribly and imprisoned, facing threats spoken and physical. Like Nehemiah, Sam has many high profile enemies who seek his life. And yet, also like Nehemiah, the cause is worth the risk.

He’s offering himself to stand in the gap for the orphans, to take a lead for the work there. As the article states,

There have been many setbacks and obstacles for the ministry on the India side over the last year. And as much as he suffered through the persecution, his real heartbreak was for the hundreds of children who were forced back to the streets when the orphanage licenses were revoked last March. Since then, it's been an uphill battle all the way, trying to get them reinstated so the kids can come back. Any day now Sam is hoping to hear the news that the orphaned and abandoned kids – his kids – can come back home.

In Sam’s words, “I breathe, sleep, dream, and talk about my goal and deepest desire – one million orphaned and abandoned children raised up for God.”

That is a passion worth giving one’s life for! Read the whole article here.

Sam’s departure words from Atlanta airport are reminiscent of the Apostle Paul, as he stood at safe harbor and said, “I must go to Rome for the sake of the gospel, whether I am free or bound!” Essentially, Sam looked at the reality on the ground in India, and said, ‘I am willing to be free or bound for the sake of saving orphans.”

He entrusted his wife and boys to the God who does all things well, and then flew to India – facing threats, persecution, intimidation, legal manipulation, and spiritual warfare… all for the sake of the call. He doesn't know for sure if he will see them again, but he is driven to the calling of saving lives: a million orphans in his vision.

God bless you, Sam Thomas! You are in our prayers…

For those of you who want to be a part, offer your prayers today, and consider visiting the new Hopegivers site and making a donation for orphans and leaders.

It will be a small part, a cog in the wheel of integral orphan care and deep sacrifice!

God bless you too, for your care!

Selah.

A gift of hope

A gift of hope begins with you! Your prayers, your thoughts, your gifts make a difference.

Click on the picture and follow the links -- here is a chance for everyone to support, each of us doing what we can, at our own level.

See the fragile hope in the eyes of these girls, and don't let that hope die!

Be a hopegiver today!

Dr. Sam Thomas: A man of courage and steel

Hebrews 11:35-40 Others were tortured and refused to be released, so that they might gain a better resurrection. Some faced jeers and flogging, while still others were chained and put in prison. They were stoned; they were sawed in two; they were put to death by the sword. They went about in sheepskins and goatskins, destitute, persecuted and mistreated — the world was not worthy of them. They wandered in deserts and mountains, and in caves and holes in the ground.

These were all commended for their faith, yet none of them received what had been promised. God had planned something better for us so that only together with us would they be made perfect.

A life of light and glory

How would you feel if separated from your wife or husband for 11 months? And, what if you could end this separation by selling out just a bit of your calling? Would you remain at your post, true to your high calling in Christ…? Or would you sprinkle just a small sacrifice on the Emperor’s altar? Just a tiny pinch of incense – it’s nothing really! – and you are free to go! Free to travel anywhere you please, free to take your ease, like the rest of the world...

This is no theoretical question. It is the stuff of real life.

Dr. Sam Thomas has paid this kind of price this year, forced into false imprisonment and lonely separation from his wife and children. His “great crime” is the loving care of outcast orphans in Rajasthan, India. There, militant Hindu authorities have made Sam’s life a living hell this year, trying to force him into death or quitting, casting the rescued orphans to the wind…

And, his wife Shelley has lived this torture with him, separated by thousands of miles, continuing the ministry and raising their children, in faith, alone…

And people don’t understand why he stays, why he toughs it out, giving his life for the care of Indian orphans. Even “good Christians” fault him for staying…

I thought of Sam as I watched part of a series called “Walk as Jesus Walked.” In one scene, modern Christians traveled into caves where Christians once lived. They went deeper and deeper into the earth until they were twenty stories underground. 20 stories! And there, deep in the earth, they entered a little chapel, a chapel with a cross carved into its entrance…a cross etched deep by thousands upon thousands of Christians across the years, persecuted believers who felt the cross on the wall as they entered to pray and sit in darkness…twenty stories underground, without light, without hope of day, without the safety of home or comfortable toiletries…in darkness, praying to the Light of life.

For what?

For nothing other than the call of Christ.

All they would have to do to be free is just walk back up, up the twenty stories, out into the light and air, walk over to an altar, and toss a pinch of incense on the small flame, confessing Caesar as lord. And that’s it! Now you are free to live in comfort, free to travel, free to go as you please – all this for just a small, very small, sell out…over in a moment! And oh! how much better you feel!

But they stayed there, deep in caves in the earth, in prisons, wrapped in chains, lives counted as naught for the sake of the call…willingly suffering so that we might inherit the richness of faith, vital life, passed down in blood, for sake of truth.

...of whom the world was not worthy.

Sam Thomas stands in that line. His life is on the line, right now, for the sake of the call. Sam is one of the thousands of Christians being persecuted as we speak, for the sake of faith.

And he could escape it all for just a small, very small, sell out! over in a moment’s time…

But he stays!

I think of Sam, and I think of the others, both now and then, who give their all for faith…and then I think of what modern Christians have made faith into…and my head bows low.

I think of what we call Christian success – gleaming megacenters filled with Christianized self-help messages, endless streams of self-actualization offers… I think of how we have defined the will of God – as something easy, as something that must accord with social expectation, as something that gives instant returns…as something all about “open doors” and “good choices” made in line with others who buy the same line….

I think of this cultural Christianity in light of Christ's higher call, and I can only bow my head, and confess my lack. I pray with Isaiah, “Lord, I am a man of unclean lips and I live among people of unclean lips. Please help me!”

Christians have faulted Sam Thomas for staying, as if he is missing the will of God because of the discomfort, because of the separation from family. One Hindu police officer asked Sam, “Why do you want to continue in this work? Why not go and live a comfortable life in USA? Why not sell all the property?” And to this Sam could only reply, “Because of all that God has done for me, I must serve Him more!” For Sam, it is about the call – the utter reality of seeing Christ’s intent face to face, and living in that light.

Every life that Sam touches, every orphan he saves, is an infinite blessing. Every day that Sam’s wife Shelley quietly prays, raising her children in hope, is a day of unending light. For these the world was made, these who live the Image of God, the intent of Creator in creation!

And we, we who live in comfort, can we do any less than support this call, with our all?

So then, let us live our own high calling – giving up the necessary cultural falsehoods, so that we can answer in light to the God of Light: Yes, I lived that intent for which I was made, my Lord and God!

Thank you, Sam and Shelley, for showing us, in current terms, what it means to live the call.

May we follow this light, in sacrifice, to our destiny!

Selah.

Note: Please consider a gift today for Hopegivers orphanage. And with your gift, please consider a five-minute prayer! Many thanks, this day...

India's lost girls

India's endangered species: baby girls

The brides never had a chance to be born

In Punjab, special prayers of thanks greet the birth of a boy… Girls are born into silence.

"People say, you have two girl children, you have done some sins in your past life…" Surinder Saini.

Recent research into India’s abortion by sex selection estimates that India has experienced a net loss of 10 million baby girls over the last two decades. This is stunning. Certain groups dispute the figure. But what is not disputable is the unusual gender balance in India. Estimated research is disputable, but empirical numbers are not.

Demographic studies across India show that, on average, there are around 900 girls for every 1,000 boys. In some provinces this figure dips below 800 for the girls, and sinking. Multiply this figure times the national number and the result is staggering.

Female devaluation not devastates girls, it hurts an entire society.

Jill McGivering aptly notes:

All those years of prejudice against girls are finally coming back to haunt this society.

There is such an acute gender imbalance here that it is causing real social problems. Young men are coming of marriageable age, only to discover there is no one left for them to marry.

The young girls who would have been their brides never had the chance to be born…

In Haryana, a quarter of the female population has simply disappeared.

Inquiry into Rajasthan female feticides

Police in the Indian state of Rajasthan have launched an investigation into 21 doctors who are alleged to have been involved in aborting female fetuses. But those persons truly invested in saving female lives say that this “police investigation” is just a smokescreen to cover up the real problem. They have no faith in the police or state politic on this issue, instead pleading for the Central Bureau of Investigation to take up the cause.

"The police case is just an eye wash to delay the investigation. We don't have faith in the state agency. We want the CBI to investigate the scandal," Kavita Srivastva of the People's Union for Civil Liberties (PUCL) said.

According to the last census, Rajasthan has 922 females per 1,000 males. However, some districts have an even more dismal sex ratio.

Gory tale of Punjab's lost girls

In Punjab, the government is investigating the “possible involvement” of state officials in setting up illegal clinics and ultrasound centers dedicated to female feticide.

Last week, a surprise raid by police and health officials unearthed a 30-foot well located behind a private clinic, which contained the remains of female fetuses.

The discovery provoked the ‘largest ever campaign against female feticide’ across the state's 23 districts; yet Virender Singh Mohi, the official who led the raid against the hospital, has received several phone calls with death threats – threatening to kill him if he continues the raids on private hospitals. In response, Mr. Mohi notes the obvious:

"There are very strong and influential vested interests in keeping this illegal practice going...”

Darshan Kumar Singla, a local journalist in Patran, says that although everyone is aware that female feticide is illegal, most people do not think anything about aborting a female child and trying again for a boy.

"Female feticide is rampant in all the small towns here. Most nursing homes do such work at night and everybody – the police, the health authorities and the civil administration – knows this is happening.

He says that people are sitting up and taking notice only because the fetuses in the well became too public to ignore, that the problem is so widespread and ingrained that laws cannot stop the practice – it only creates a booming black market.

The implication is that only a change in heart, a change in culture, will end the destruction. The system of dowry – and attendant ingrained devaluation of girls – feeds into deep greed in the parents’ hearts. It is common practice for parents to abort girls and try again for boys – even among those who otherwise might be against the practice of female feticide [in theory].

Pritam Singh, the owner of Sahib Hospital who is under arrest, says, "The only thing that could really end this problem is a firm end to the system of dowry.”

Praying for a cultural change of heart

But, of course, ending dowry would mean a change in the hearts and minds of traditional Indian people. The India that Amy Carmichael found a few decades ago, where girls were devalued and fed into the crucible of ritual Hindu temple prostitution, lurks just beneath the surface of this debate.

When someone tries to make a difference, s/he is threatened with loss of life or vocation. Just ask Sam Thomas and the Hopegivers orphanage in Rajasthan, where they’ve faced an incessant tide of threats, beatings, persecution, imprisonment, and illegal law manipulation in their effort to reach outcast girls and boys. Just ask the girl orphans of Emmanuel Hope Home who’ve faced attempted rape by Hindu authorities in Kota, Rajasthan.

The issue is serious and heartbreaking, and goes to the soul of Indian culture as surely as the practice of American abortion goes to the soul of our culture: the place where truth is exchanged for lies and innocents pay the price on the altar of human greed.

And here is where a devastating Indian practice reaches across the oceans and continents, and runs down the line of good and evil that pierces our own hearts.

We cannot truly stand for innocent Indian girls without also standing against something in our own cultural soul…

Selah.

The BANA project: A miracle begins with a gift!

BANA means children

Ladell Patterson
Logos Global Ministries

Bana means children in the Sesotho language. Bana: the children of Lesotho, Africa, who need real care! Bana: the life-giving focus of Logos Global Ministries [LGM], which now cares for hundreds of AIDS orphans, leveraging indigenous networks for critical training and care. LGM has quietly become a permanent presence in this desperate country, working through its Lesotho arm, THE BANA PROJECT OF LESOTHO, to offer hope in the midst of seemingly hopeless circumstances. These people are threatened on every side for daily existence. For them the Bana Project is a miracle of hope: Loving eyes that look to the children, see their desperate needs, and offer them a better future.

The project is currently supplying Basotho Blankets to help the children during the winter months, which are now beginning. The highland winters of Lesotho can be brutal. The lowlands around the capital city, Maseru, experience a mild winter even though the temperature drops below freezing most nights. But in the highlands the people and animals die by the hundreds: a lack of fuel or money for its purchase means deadly results. During such drastic times, snow and wind bring unthinkable hardship for the locals. We only pray that it will not be one of those winters!

The need is great, but God is raising up people around the world, people called to join LGM in the battle for orphans. Just last week a prominent lady of the community in Lesotho came to the site where the children are cared for and brought with her a load of used clothing. There seems to be no other way to get used clothing into the country, so this lady was a Godsend. Her charity will do more than warm the bodies of the small children: Their hearts also are feeling the comfort of good clothing.

A month ago a lady called me with an offer to build a large garden project for the orphans – with another $50,000 gift! Fresh vegetables and fruit are of great nutritional value if they contain no contaminates or polluted ingredients left there by pesticides: Lesotho struggles with the quality control that we take for granted here in the USA. However, this garden project will now make healthy produce a reality!

Several months ago someone offered a gift of $50,000 for a sewing factory so that the ladies of the community could make school uniforms for those who do not have them. Education is such an important part of the orphans hope! Now they will have uniforms manufactured by their village peers.

A friend with extensive exposure to LGM, who has offered timely counsel, advice and encouragement, recently donated $1100 for the project. And God continues to whisper on the night wind, calling caring hearts to stand in the gap, and stand for this project.

We’re also learning the lesson of fed multitudes in Galilee, where Jesus took a small boy’s lunch and fed five thousand and more. This miracle principle is echoing greater and greater for Lesotho: Little by little we receive 10 dollars here, five dollars there, 50 or a hundred…slowly moving toward our original goal: to find 1 million people to give $5. Youth groups and other groups are starting a campaign to see how many $1 bills we can raise, all for the orphan care project!

We are still praying that a large grant will come to us, like $5 million, or more. I feel confident that it will happen on God’s timetable, but until then we count the blessings of miracles already come, of lives already changed.

You are invited to join us in prayer, for it alone will continue the success that has already come to Logos Global Ministries. Here are a number of things you can pray:

• God, give us that mountain we have prayed for so long. Drive back the forces of evil that refuse us access. Show LGM Your plans and make it all happen, according to Your will.
• Lord, continue to speak to those whom You want involved in the project. Visit those who have already answered with Your Holy presence. Guide them daily as they prepare mentally and spiritually for their assignments.
• Father, will You open the windows of heaven upon The Bana Project of Lesotho to supply all their needs? I know You will, for You have promised over and over again that You care for the orphans as Your own children. In this promise and on Your character we hold them up in prayer.
• Almighty God, Creator of all things, will You surround and support the little children in Lesotho who have no parents to care for them? When they are hungry, help LGM to be there. When winter sets in, keep them warm with Your love. Completely meet their needs through the church and through your chosen vessels. We ask these things in the name of Jesus Christ our Lord, for the sake of Your children and for Your glory. AMEN!

God bless you for your prayers, and for your concern! Remember that a miracle begins with a gift – sometimes even a gift that seems so small will begin a blessing that reaches hundreds and thousands of lives. So hear the call! Join the project as God leads you, and together we’ll make a large difference in Lesotho.

Yours in Christ and for the Kingdom,

Ladell Patterson
Note: This article was written in consultation with Loy

The BANA project for Lesotho orphans

I’ve been encouraged recently, hearing about the BANA project for Lesotho orphans. The project is working in a non-traditional manner, using indigenous networks to reach the local orphans. Ladell Patterson is leading the project here in the U.S.A., soon to be in Lesotho, with a heart aflame for the cause. On a recent administrative visit, he and his son Allen found far more than they expected! Listen to his moving description of the event:

The rains had returned with a vengeance. Now we looked at the Lesotho lakes, ponds and gullies full and running…as if there had never been a shortage of rain. The entire country bloomed greener that I have ever seen it… Crops peaked through the formerly parched soil – a visible answer to prayer…

But the crop-giving rains turned the roads to mud! The car slipped and slid down to Tsikane's home and we wondered how on earth we would climb out the next day. Immediately we received word: You are to speak to the village chiefs and committees regarding the BANA project! So we prepared, with only two hours to spare.

Then the outpouring of hope captured our hearts. Some 800 people greeted us, surrounding us and crying their happy cry – dancing around, shaking and kissing our hands. Some of them had never met me and this was Allen's first group gathering to experience. What a greeting! I was not aware what was about to happen.

Tsikane introduced us and said a few words about our hearts and our vision. Allen spoke a few words of thanks and encouragement towards the project. As I walked forward to speak my heart suddenly leaped within me! I was so moved to see such a large delegation awaiting us. They had come from all 17 villages where we are working. A news reporter joined the crowd, along with the steering committee of the whole project. A representative from the chief’s office was there and many, many other people. Several cast iron pots wafted smoke in the background – promise of welcoming food being prepared. My heart threatened to beat out its socket: These people were really serious!

I gave greetings to them, and thanked all of them for their dedicated efforts. I recognized all those important people who were there. Then I told them of our entire vision, what we wanted to do in Lesotho, and they came unglued. They clapped, gave the happy cry and our hearts soared together, two diverse cultures meeting together with one common cause: to help the children of their villages who have no parents…

Ladell goes on to tell how moving the event was – he could think of no past experience in Africa that equals it: a true convergence of calling and destiny, the pleasure of God. In his words, it seemed as if God is saying that “we must do all within our power to continue putting this project on the map.”

Ladell’s passion comes through, powerfully, in his words:

I want the entire world to become involved. These kids need all we can give them, and as a side effect to it, thousands of lives will be touched and possibly a nation will be saved from annihilation. There were Christians, Jehovah Witnesses, Catholics, Lesotho Evangelical Church, and many other groups. They were all aware that we were Christian. They did not seem to care. Lives are being touched and changed and they seemed to want to be a part of it. The BANA Project is certainly a success. However, there is much, much more to do and their needs will never go away. We are going to be there for each child as they grow up and take their place in Basotho life. There is education, training, preparation, and many things to do for the children and we intend to be there.

You can read more here and here, but it is true: God is calling this project into existence, with the purpose of saving many lives, and perhaps a nation. Ladell and the others have come to the kingdom “for such a time as this!”

People are seeing the vision. Generous donors have heard the calling on the night wind, and moved to contribute. Lives are being touched and healed. The word is going out, with hope and healing in its wings!

And, there is room for your heart and action, should you sense the call!

The BANA project of Lesotho is making a difference in our time, our world of desperate need. Stay tuned here for more to come…

God bless,

Loy

Congressional signers of the Akin-Wicker letter re: orphanage

U.S. Congress contacts Indian Prime Minister
The letter specifically mentions Hopegivers orphanage, and asks that Prime Minister Singh take a personal interest in the ongoing persecution of Christians and minorities in India.

Below are the members of U.S. Congress who signed on to the Akin-Wicker letter to Indian Prime Minister Singh, requesting that he take action to halt the religious persection taking place now in India. The letter specifically requests that the Hopegivers orphanage in Kota be protected [Emmanual Hope Home (EMI)] and that its leaders be released from prison.

The letter is listed in full, here. To which these intrepid members signed:

Page one of signatures:

Page two of signatures:


These signatories are worthy of our gratitude. If your congressperson is listed here, please consider sending a note of thanks.

Kota: A place for prayer and action

Religious persecution is on the rise in India,
directly affecting thousands of orphans
and their key caregivers.
It's a time for us to help them as we can.

A time for prayer and action

In answer to many prayers and letters, members of the U.S. Congress will be sending a letter to Indian Prime Minister Singh. This is a great gesture and something that we help with – please take five minutes and call or email your congresspersons and encourage them to sign onto this letter. God bless you for your thoughts!

Copy of the note from International Christian Concern:

Help stop religious persecution in India! Contact your Member of Congress and ask him/her to sign onto the Akin-Wicker letter to the Indian Prime Minister. Reps. Todd Akin (R-MO) and Roger Wicker (R-MS) will be sending a letter to PM Singh of India asking him to intervene on behalf of Hopegivers International and other religious groups in India currently being persecuted by Hindu extremists. Call or email your Member of Congress today and urge them to sign onto the Akin-Wicker letter. Call your Representative or Senator at 202-224-3121 (Capitol switchboard) or find their email address at www.house.gov or www.senate.gov.

The deadline for your Senators and Representatives to sign onto this important letter is Wednesday, March 29th, so please call or email today!

Below is a copy of the letter:

Dear Prime Minister Singh,

As evidenced by the recent visit of President Bush, India is an important friend and ally of the United States. India is a strong voice for democracy and stability in South Asia and has been a staunch ally in the War on Terror. Our countries’ economic, political, security and social ties are strong, and we look forward to continuing to fortify this relationship.

It is as friends that we write today to voice our concern about the recent increase in religious violence in parts of your country. As you know, the freedom to believe and practice a religion of one’s own choosing is vital to maintaining a strong democratic nation. The persecution of religious groups, no matter how large or small, is a step backwards for any country, especially growing democracies like India. In recognition of this, India ratified the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) in 1979, which states in Article 18, “Everyone shall have the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion. This right shall include freedom to have or to adopt a religion or belief of his choice, and freedom, either individually or in community with others and in public or private, to manifest his religion or belief in worship, observance, practice and teaching.”

We believe that India’s leaders value religious freedom, but we are concerned about the recent spike in violence against religious minorities in parts of your nation. The ongoing attacks on both Christians and Muslims are disturbing, and we urge you to take strong actions to protect all your citizens from religious violence. We also are concerned about the movement to adopt “anti-conversion” laws in various Indian states. While individuals should be protected from coerced conversion, citizens must be free to choose and change their beliefs as they see fit. Anti-conversion laws, like the one recently introduced into the Rajasthan Assembly, are alarming, because of the seeming encouragement they provide to groups promoting violence against minority religious groups, and are a clear contradiction to the values reflected in the ICCPR. We urge you to take a stand against these harmful laws.

We have enclosed for your review several examples of recent acts of religious violence in India that have come to our attention. We find one specific situation to be particularly dire and troublesome. The recent attacks in Rajasthan on Emmanuel Missions International, known in the United States as Hopegivers International, are of deep concern to many in our country. This Christian organization, which runs a number of orphanages and schools, has suffered numerous attacks and now its 2,600-child orphanage in Kota is under a virtual siege. Two administrative staff have been under arrest for three weeks without charges, and the leaders of Emmanuel are in hiding as a bounty has been publicly placed on their lives. Emmanuel’s bank accounts have been frozen, and a school and church were burned down in Jaipur as the local police watched. We have grave concerns about the ability and desire of the local authorities to protect these children and the staff of Emmanuel. Therefore, we respectfully request that your government take immediate action to quell the violence and religious discrimination in Rajasthan. The situation in Kota, Rajasthan, is of special interest to many Members of the U.S. Congress and our constituents, and we look forward to learning of your actions on behalf of the persecuted Christians of Emmanuel Missions International.

Thank you for your continued friendship with the United States. We truly appreciate your leadership and the strong, reliable ally America has in your country, and we urge you to continue to protect the foundations of religious freedom vital for the growth of democracy.

Sincerely,

REP TODD AKIN
REP ROGER F WICKER

It is a good letter – one that good-hearted people everywhere can support. Let’s do our part, ok?

God bless,

Loy

A paradox of unity and individuality

To draw souls out of isolation
Fyodor Dostoevsky

In his Christ-soaked novel, The Brothers Karamazov, Dostoevsky relates this enigmatic truth: He says that ‘true security is to be found in social solidarity,’ that even though sometimes a person ‘has to do it alone,’ s/he will do so in order to ‘draw other souls out of their solitude.’

Everywhere in these days people have, in their mockery, ceased to understand that the true security is to be found in social solidarity rather than in isolated individual effort. But this terrible state of affairs must inevitably have an end, and all will suddenly understand how unnaturally they are separated from one another. It will be the spirit of the time, and people will marvel that they have sat so long in darkness without seeing the light... But, until then, we must keep the banner flying. Sometimes even if he has to do it alone, and his conduct seems to be crazy, a man must set an example, and so draw other souls out of their solitude, and spur them to some act of brotherly love, that the great idea may not die.

When Dostoevsky says that ‘true security is to be found in social solidarity rather than in isolated individual effort,’ doesn’t this contradict Kierkegaard, who says that the highest goal is to be an individual in the truth, a true person before God?

Not really. Taken in context, both Dostoevsky and Kierkegaard are saying the same thing: only a true individual before God can offer the masses a real path to God. Kierkegaard approaches it by exposing how people hide in the crowd -- perhaps fragmented or isolated in their inner person, but using ‘the family,’ or ‘the church,’ or some other manifestation of the group to deny personal calling. And Dostoevsky approaches it by showing that the goal of the true individual is salvific social solidarity.

In both cases, it is the individual who opens him or herself to the high calling in Christ, who can then show a family and ‘group’ the path into greater glory. In no case does the individual go there for personal glory. And this is the paradox of true individuality: one never becomes an individual to remain alone. S/he seeks then the light for others…

The story of Heliopher
The lover of the Son

Hardy Arnold recounts a Russian legend as told by Maxim Gorky, it is the tale of Heliopher, the lover of the sun, or lover of light, who leads the crowd out of darkness.

Once upon a time there was a race which was lost in a great, dark forest. The trees stood so close together that the light of the sun could not penetrate the thickly entwined branches. There were also numerous wild animals which fell upon the people, especially the children, when they wandered too far from their parents while they were playing. So everyone lived in a constant state of fear of death and destruction, and a hopeless despair took hold of the hearts of the folk.

Continuous…darkness had strangled all the light in their hearts. They could not love one another any more. They even hated and murdered one another in their rage. Yet they were forced to remain together, for it was impossible for any single man to defend himself against the attacks of the wild beasts. They had lost all hope of ever finding their way out of the forest. Many of the young people did not believe in the light they had never seen, and they mocked their elders, when, with a last weak light gleaming in their dim eyes, they recounted tales of the festive, sunny days of their youth.

Among the people however, there was a young man called Heliopher. He was very much alone, grieving over the misery of his people, and seeking a way of salvation. He bore in his heart an endless longing for light and love in the desolation which surrounded him. Heliopher left his people to seek the sun. For many months and years he wandered through the dangers of the forest and of his own soul, and often, very often, nearly lost all hope and confidence. But Heliopher bravely withstood his enemies, whether within himself or around him, and at last he reached the edge of the forest and saw the light of the sun. In terrible amazement he fell into a swoon, and when he awoke he saw in the twilight that he was watched over in his slumber by beautiful people. In the green meadows stood the simple huts of the sun-people, and Heliopher lived with them in peace and endless joy as the most beloved amongst living men.

Then Heliopher went back to the forest to seek his people. “Come, brothers and sisters,” he said to them, “I will lead you to the light.” At this there was murmuring and frowning, wavering and hesitation, wonder and questioning, incredulous laughter, and finally a jubilant “Yes!” And then, at last, the longed-for departure.

Then the light of the sun shone in Heliopher’s eyes, but the way was long and difficult, and demanded much suffering and sacrifice, and murmuring arose among the people. Some spoke and said, “Let us murder him, the betrayer of the people!” And the dark glow of hatred was in their eyes. Others were wiser and said, “No! let us judge him in the presence of all, for it is dangerous to give the people a martyr.” And Heliopher spoke to his people, and talked about light and love. But the wise ones answered, “You lie! There is no light, there is no sun, there is no love. Let us be darker than the forest and more cruel than the wild beasts. Then we shall be masters of the forest!”

Heliopher answered in great pain, “O believe not, ye wise men, that ye can be victorious over darkness by being more dark, that ye can overcome the wild beasts by being more beastly. Only love is stronger. Only the light of the sun can drive away darkness.”

“Be silent!” said the wise men. “There is no light, there is no sun!”

And the people shouted, flinging their arms about in raging despair, “There is no light, there is no sun!”

But Heliopher called out, “Follow me!” Then…he tore open his breast, and his heart burned with love, and it glowed and shed its beams through the dark forest. He took it in both hands, held it high over his head, and strode forth in front of the people.

In reverent wonder and silence the multitude followed the burning heart.

As they came out of the forest, the people ran in jubilation towards the sun, dancing in its loving rays, and loving one another. But Heliopher knelt down at the edge of the forest, and with the last strength of his outstretched arms he held up his loving, pulsing heart to the light of heaven, and gave his last smile to his people.

Alyosha Karamazov
A true individual gives the unity of hope

The story of The Brothers Karamazov is the story of one brother, Alyosha, who goes into the light, following Christ where others will not go…offering his brothers and his world the new world of the Son. Tragedy occurs, yes, but not until the Light has won out. The story ends with Russian street orphans surrounding Alyosha, and crying out, “Hail to the Karamazov!” “Hail to the Karamazov!” But what they really mean, in their own broken way, is a tear-soaked song of faith and hope: “Hail to Thee, O Christ the Lord, who has shown us light in this Karamazov!”

Therein is the meaning of the novel, the meaning of real life, brilliantly summed by Dostoevsky. It is tantalizing. It is existential, and invites each one of us into the story…to be Alyosha in our own stories, and for our world.

For the street orphans are still there. Recent figures put Russian street orphans at 1 million. [1]

And yet, the ‘light has gone out into the darkness, and the darkness will not overcome it.’

Will you be part of the light, the unity of Christ, by becoming a true individual in Christ?

Will you call your people into the Son…by being who you were meant to be?

May it be, may it be!

Alleluia!

_______________________

[1] This is not to mention the orphans of other Eastern European nations. Nor the vast orphaned millions of India, China, Africa, South and Central America...
But the ‘Light has gone out into the darkness, and the darkness will not overcome it.’ How? In you, and in me...in every person who lives his or her potentiality in Christ...