A Man in a White Robe

While watching television one New Year's Eve in a Southeast Asian Muslim country, a van crashed into Lydia's living room!! While she was pinned beneath the van, a man in a brilliant white robe appeared as if from nowhere. Lydia, who was seven months pregnant at the time, and who years earlier quit the Islamic school where her fundamentalist parents had enrolled her, says the man gently touched her stomach and said, "You are safe. Follow Me." She says she immediately felt peaceful and free from pain.

After rescuers had pulled her from beneath the vehicle, Lydia began to search for the man in the white robe. When a rescuer asked her what she was looking for, she sat down and said, "I want to see the one who saved me." Her puzzled rescuers replied, "No, we are the ones who helped you."

Lydia told her Christian nephew about the experience, and he suggested that it was an encounter with Jesus. He gave her a Bible and taught her about faith in Christ.

"I read in the book of John the words of Jesus, who said, 'I am the true way and follow me'", Lydia says. "Those are the same words he said to me at the time of the accident."

(from Voice of the Martyrs)

Inside or Outside?

"We have to have something inside that is heavenly,
if we are to have something outside that is genuine."

(Dr Robert A. Cook, Walk with the King today, and be a blessing!)

From Scoffer to Follower

Vita, a television anchorwoman in Lviv, Ukraine, was negative toward the evangelical church. She would say, "it's a sect and people are brain washed." She took pictures at events organized by New Hope and the local church and her attitude started to change. Today she is a follower of Christ and wants to be baptized and serve the Lord. It was a big surprise to all who know her.

(From the Connect newsletter, November 2010, a publication of New Hope International)

Hindu radicals continue to target Christians in India

One night in July 2010, at midnight, Hindu radicals marched through a village in Karnataka state, India. They were wearing their distinctive bright orange headbands. More than 500 believers were rounded up and forced to pray to Hindu gods.

Four pastors were also arrested that night. One of the pastors later said, "I was frightened. I didn't know why they had come to harass me. They beat me with their hands on my legs and head. They yelled that I was forcibly converting people to Christianity, and then they dragged me off to jail. They asked me to renounce Christ. I told them that I had surrendered my life to Christ and will not worship any other god. They threatened me but finally left. I felt sympathy for them, and I pray for their salvation."

As the world's largest democracy, India proclaims religious freedom. But a rash of anti-conversion laws landed many Christian pastors in jail, leaving families alone without food or income. Many of the Christians are from tribal clans and lower caste ethnic groups. They are generally poorer and less educated than those in higher caste groups. Yet they stand firm in their faith in Christ and remain committed to spreading the gospel.

(news from Voice of the Martyrs, November 2010)

Please pray for persecuted believers in Pakistan.

"We are happy that Jesus is caring for us, and we don't worry about what is coming tomorrow".

(Voice of the Martyrs, from a persecuted believer in Pakistan, 2010)