Showing posts with label AsiaNews. Show all posts
Showing posts with label AsiaNews. Show all posts

Thursday, April 30, 2015

Christians Died While Worshipping as Quake Hit in Nepal

Christians Died While Worshipping as Quake Hit

Hundreds of Nepalese Christians died as their churches crashed down upon them when last week's devastating earthquake hit during their weekly worship services.

In Nepal, Christians worship on Saturday because it's a day off, while Sunday is a work day. Most services last until 12:30 in the afternoon meaning most were still in service when the quake hit at 11:56 AM.

"Many Christians were buried while they were worshiping on Sabbath and died," the president of the Seventh-day Adventist Church in Nepal, Umesh Pokharel said, according to an article by Christianity Today. (The article cited several sources, including: Adventist Review, AsiaNews, Global Mission Nepal, the Brethren in Christ Church, Mission Network News, the Assemblies of God, the International Mission Board of the Southern Baptist Convention, Christian Aid, and the Nepal Church of Christ.)

The CT article cites a Facebook post by a Brethren in Christ Church worker: "Although unclear some have reported 100 believers in a church in Kathmandu were worshipping on the 7th floor rented building was completely collapsed, some 40 bodies were taken out whereas others still missing."

About 80 people died when the Nepali Evangelical Church in Kapan oustide Kathmandu collapsed.

Seventeen bodies were discovered in the rubble of a rural church that was struck just as the service was ending, according to the IMB. The pastor reporteldy lost three family members in the tragedy.

Assemblies of God World Missions reports that three of its churches are totally destroyed and several lives lost.

Christian Aid said several churches had just let out ahead of the quake, including one in Kathmandu.

"Ten minutes earlier and everyone would still have been inside," said Christian Aid's South Asia director. "There would have certainly been many injuries, if not deaths."

Overall, approximately 500 Christians are feared dead.

Tuesday, April 15, 2014

Persecuted Christian Asia Bibi's Appeal Hearing Delayed for Third Time

Persecuted Christian Asia Bibi's Appeal Hearing Delayed for Third Time



Asia Bibi
Appeal proceedings have been delayed again in the case of Asia Bibi, the Christian mother of five sentenced to death for blasphemy.
Lahore high court judges Sardar Tariq Masood and Abdul Sami Khan adjourned the case shortly after the hearing began and arguments were presented.
Court sources say that a new date for the appeal is expected tomorrow in a case that has dragged on without any progress for quite some time.
For several months, extremist groups have been making threats against the judges in order to pressure them to confirm the death penalty imposed by the lower court.
However, the woman's lawyers say they remain confident and hopeful that the high court will soon overturn her conviction and let her go.
In recent days, Pakistani Christians have promoted days of fasting and prayer on behalf of Asia Bibi and Sawan Masih, both of whom are innocent but sentenced to death under the infamous "black law."
Asia Bibi, who has been on death row since November 2010 and held under solitary confinement on security grounds, has become a symbol of the fight against blasphemy.
Punjab Gov. Salman Taseer and Federal Minority Affairs Minister Shahbaz Bhatti, a Catholic, were killed in 2011 for coming to her defense.
Masih, a 26-year-old Christian from Lahore, was convicted recently by a lower court on false charges as a result of a personal dispute with the person who reported him.
It is sad "to see how the situation in Pakistan is getting worse by the day, not only for minorities, but especially for women and girls," Father James Chand, from the Archdiocese of Lahore, told AsiaNews.
"Let us continue to pray for Asia Bibi and Sawan Masih," he added.
Father Arthur Nat, a priest from Central Punjab, joined Chand's appeal, calling for "a day of fasting and prayer on Wednesday."
Meanwhile, a new case of child sexual assault has been reported. On Sunday, a 12-year-old girl was raped by an Islamic cleric in a Punjab mosque.
Witnesses say the imam sent students home, asking the girl to stay. He then assaulted her ​​with the help of four boys.
The girl's family plans to report the crime, but it appears the religious leader has already fled the area without leaving a trace.
Click here to read this article on persecution.org from CHARISMA NEWS.