Appointment gives
hope for Bible distribution
and less perssecution
By Stefan J. Bos
Special Correspondent,
ASSIST News Service
NEW DELHI, INDIA
(ANS) -- In an unprecedented
move India's first ever non-Hindu Prime Minister has asked a born again
Christian to help lead the country, who missionaries hope will help to
end persecution of Christians and allow them to set up thousands of
schools
and distribute Bibles among tens of millions of people, ASSIST News
Service
monitored Tuesday, June 1.
An official of
global Bible distributor
Bibles For the World told Mission Network News (MNN), a mission news
service,
that Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had appointed P.R. Kyndiah from
northeast
India to become his Minister of Tribal Affairs all across India.
"My dear friend
P.R. Kyndiah from northeast
India, was not only elected by an overwhelming majority to become a
member
of parliament, but the prime minister of India inducted him as one of
his
cabinet members," said Rochunga Pudaite in an interview with MNN.
Pudaite, who
personally led Kyndiah to
Christ, suggested the Minister may support plans to distribute Bibles
among
over 40-million people, MNN reported.
42 MILLION BIBLES
"There are 42
million telephone subscribers
whose names and addresses we have, and we'd like to make a Bible
available
to all of them. That will have the impact, the kind of which we have
never
known before."
$4 prints,
packages and distributes one
Bible, Pudiaite said, adding that it would be a great project for
churches
and Sunday school classes. The official announced on Monday, May 31,
that
Bibles For the World also wants to be involved in setting up 3-thousand
schools around New Delhi, India's capital.
Kyndiah's
appointment was also expected
to boost hopes among human rights watchers and missionary organizations
that persecution of Christians will be tackled in area's such as Jhabua
in the north Indian state of Madhya Pradesh, where churches have been
burned
down and Christians are reportedly in prison for their faith.
"HATE FOR CHRISTIANS"
The region has
"become a laboratory for
India’s religious forces to demonstrate their hate for Christians,"
said
Hope Builders International in a recent statement. The mission
organization,
which works in Asia, claims that village activists recently burned down
several churches and nearly two dozen Christian homes.
"Christians have
deserted the town and
nearby villages and are living in fear for their lives. Fourteen
Christians
are in prison and another 84 are sought after," while families are
allegedly
harassed and intimidated by the police.
The persecutors,
the police and the government
machinery are working together to create insecurity in the lives of the
Christian minority in Jhabua, the organization said, before news
emerged
of the appointment of Kyndiah.
============================
ASSIST
News Service (ANS)
- PO Box 2126, Garden Grove, CA 92842-2126 USA
- E-mail:
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Web Site: www.assistnews.net
Tuesday,
June 1, 2004
