[!] Persecution

WELCOME SHARPER IRON READERS

That's what the Gospel of Jesus Christ is going to get you: persecution. For example, Samuel Thomas is the President of a group of churches known as Emmanuel Baptist Ministries in India, and he has been arrested.

Thousands of Christians around the world are praying for the persecuted Christians in Rajasthan and sending letters and faxes to the Indian government in New Delhi asking for emergency protection of the children and staff of the Hopegivers schools and orphanages in Rajasthan.

Local government bureaucracies in Kota, which have been politicized by Hindu extremist groups, have taken a series of illegal actions in the last month to prevent Hopegivers and Rajasthani Christian leaders from offering protection to abandoned children, educational and medical services.

"Of course," said Dr. Samuel Thomas in a recent e-mail, "none of these actions are legal. The terrorists and hate groups have taken the law into their own hands and sadly, we have lost confidence in the local government to control them."

Lawyers for Dr. Thomas and Founder Bishop M. A. Thomas are appealing to the High Court in Rajasthan's capital of Jaipur to set bond for the staff being held without charge in Kota jails. Bishop Thomas began a church in Kota in 1960.

"The Thomas'need to remain free so that they can lead a defense of the social welfare work in Rajasthan which includes 65 schools and 13 orphanages," said Hopegivers spokesman Dr. Bill Bray in a recent news interview.

Bring your prayers, and bring your support. This is the Gospel work. Get involved in it.