Message from Orissa

[steve...@aol.com]

ASSIST News Serice reports that Juria Bardhan, Gospel for Asia's state
leader in Orissa, India, has seen dozens of churches burned to the
ground in the last two weeks. He has seen missionaries and Christians
beaten and killed. But during all these horrific attacks, Juria has
had one thought. "We know the Lord is in control," Juria said in an
interview Thursday. Juria's comments may sound naïve to Western ears,
but to Christians in volatile parts of Asia, they ring true. They
expect persecution rather than peace. They know that to follow Christ
means choosing to bring more trouble into their lives. They also know
that Christians standing strong in the face of such trials encourages
others to follow Christ. "The encouraging thing is that the attackers
themselves acknowledge that Orissa used to be only 2 percent
Christian, and now it's 28 percent Christian," Juria said. "They don't
understand that by doing this, the church will grow by leaps and
bounds, and this will cause thousands to come to Christ."

-Crosswalk