Christian persecution on the rise throughout India
by Allie Martin
February 27, 2007
(OneNewsNow.com) - - Five Bible college students were recently attacked by militants in India, and officials with the ministry Gospel for Asia say violence against Christians in that country is ongoing and on the increase. The five students were from a Gospel for Asia (GFA) Bible College in the Indian state of Maharashtra, in the state capital of Mumbai (formerly known as Bombay) sharing their faith on the streets of a local village. Reportedly, as they arrived at the village, the five were approached by an anti-Christian mob that threatened to kill them.
According to GFA's sources, the Bible College students were severely beaten by the militants. All five of the assaulted Christians were taken to a local hospital and treated, and two of the men are listed in critical condition with severe head wounds.
GFA founder K.P. Yohannan says the students' classmates are standing strong, despite the current climate of anti-Christian oppression and violence. "The entire [body of GFA] Bible School students are saying the same thing," he notes, namely that they are taught "that Jesus sent us out as sheep among wolves, and this is what the Lord said would happen."
The student also say they "are not angry or unhappy," Yohannan adds, that "this is our privilege, to do something for the Lord and to have the privilege to suffer for Him." Even the Christian students who were attacked in the streets of Mumbai "will go back to the same places to witness," he says, adding, "They are now praying that some of those people that abused them and beat them up will somehow come to know the Lord through this incident."
There are several reasons for the rise in Christian persecution in India, the GFA spokesman notes. "Among the Muslim communities, they equate America and England as Christian nations," he says. "So when they see the Iraq situation ... they immediately take this out upon Christians."
Also, the ministry leader points out, "Hinduism has been used as a political agenda by the extremists." What many militants in India are saying, he explains, "is that Christian nations are using Christianity to take control of nations like in the colonial era."
Yohannan says the suspects in the Mumbai incident could be either Muslim or Hindu extremists. He encourages Christians in America to pray for boldness, strength and grace for believers throughout India.
