All the afore mentioned signs of the times like wars and rumors of wars, kingdom rising against kingdom, nation against nation, famines and pestilences, Jesus said, are only the beginning of sorrows! He said:

"This century is known as 'The martyrs' century' because more people have lost their lives for their Christianity since 1900 than in all the previous centuries together," writes the mission agency Open Doors, founded in 1955 by a Dutchman known as Brother Andrew, whose 1967 book God's Smuggler has sold 14 million copies around the globe.

We believe that the blatant anti-religious bias of major television networks, movie studios and news magazines provides convincing evidence that a determined effort is underway--not only in the U.S., but worldwide--to erode and overthrow the fundamental beliefs and spiritual values which we hold most dear.

In his book, Free Speech or Propaganda?--How the Media Distorts the Truth (1990), Marlin Maddoux accurately describes the anti-religious slant of the programs broadcast by the mass media manipulators of Hollywood and New York:

"I don't think most Americans have yet fully grasped the awesome power of persuasion held by the people who skillfully use television. Nor do they understand that this power is being systematically used to undermine the religious faith of the people. . . . Religiously motivated characters are likely to be [portrayed as] neurotics for whom religion is a form of sickness."

We believe that an ungodly agenda is being pursued by an elite clique of individuals to undermine religious faith and to deny believers their religious freedom. Furthermore, we see this erosion of spiritual values as a fulfillment of Biblical predictions that just before God intervenes in this war-torn world to establish His Blessed Kingdom on Earth, the world will experience an unprecedented apostasy. The prophets of the Bible warn that Mankind will ultimately fall under the dominion of a ruthless anti-God New World Order which will severely persecute all who refuse to renounce their faith and embrace the new state-sponsored creed. Citizens of this rapidly rising One World Government will be required to worship its demagogic dictator, a vile oppressor described in Scripture as "the Beast!" (See Revelation chapter 13, The Holy Bible.)

It's Time to Unite and Stand Up for Our Religious Rights

AS GODLY VALUES and religious practices are cast aside (and in some cases, actually banned by secular humanist forces), and the shadows of anti-God darkness deepen across the globe, we beseech all people of faith to join together in resisting the anti-religious forces that seek to denigrate our faith and rob us all of our religious liberties.

I believe strong evidence exists that worldwide persecution has begun on those who have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. Christians are the most widely hated and persecuted group of people on Earth today. Marxists persecute Christians from the Red Chinese communes to the Cuban prisons to the midnight disappearances in Ethiopia and Mozambique. Muslims persecute Christians from the hostage cells of Lebanon to the terrorist attacks in Morocco, Libya, Algeria and the Sudan. Animists persecute Christians at the instigation of their occult witch doctors in many parts of Africa and Asia. Approximately 310,000 Christians were martyred worldwide in 1988.
According to the World Christian Encyclopedia, Christians in two-thirds of the nations of the World are experiencing some form of "religio-political restrictions," ranging from limitations on political freedoms and civil rights to outright attempts to suppress or eradicate their faith. Some 30 percent have no political freedom or adequate civil liberties. Approximately one-fourth live under anti-Christian regimes while 13 percent live under atheistic ones. Nearly 17 percent are "experiencing severe state interference in religion, obstruction or harassment."

The most glaring recent example of gross religious intolerance is the Federal Government's merciless assault against the Branch Davidians in Waco. While we cannot endorse all of the theological doctrines of David Koresh, we believe that the brutal manner in which he and his followers were handled is an affront to the Constitution of the United States and a mockery of America's professed religious freedom. (It should be noted that the government was receiving so-called "expert" advice from the Cult Awareness Network [CAN] before and during the Waco siege. CAN is an organisation dedicated to "deprogramming" and "exit-counseling" [for exorbitant fees] members of religious bodies which they label with the pejorative term "destructive cults." Not only have fringe or new religious movements been targeted by zealous CAN-affiliated deprogrammers, but members of mainstream denominations, including Catholics, Baptists and Episcopalians, have been kidnapped and deprogrammed as well.)

A widely published joint statement issued in May 1993 by a broad cross-section of mainstream religious organisations cautions the government, "Under the religious liberty provisions of the First Amendment, government has no business declaring what is orthodox or heretical or what is true or false religion. . . . History teaches that today's 'cults' may become tomorrow's mainstream religions. . . . To deny religious liberty to any is to diminish religious liberty for all."

For the American government to self-righteously set herself up as the judge of others' faith, when she has, in effect, abandoned her own Christian faith, is the height of hypocrisy! As Jesus said in His Sermon on the Mount:

"Judge not, that you be not judged. For with what judgment you judge, you shall be judged: and with the same measure you use, it will be measured back to you. And why do you behold the mote [speck] that is in your brother's eye, but do not consider the beam [plank] in your own eye? Or how can you say to your brother, 'Let me remove the mote out of your eye;' and look, a beam is in your own eye? Hypocrite! First remove the beam out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the mote out of your brother's eye" (Matthew 7:1-5).

Does Jesus' stinging rebuke to the self-righteous religious leaders of His day apply to the authorities and so-called "anti-cult" organisations such as CAN who have targeted the Branch Davidians and other religious groups throughout the U.S.?:

"Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! Because you say, 'If we had lived in the days of our forefathers, we would not have taken part with them in shedding the blood of the prophets.' . . . Behold, I send you prophets, and wise men, and scribes: some of them you will kill and crucify; and some of them you will scourge in your synagogues, and persecute from city to city . . . that upon you may come all the righteous blood shed upon the earth!" (Matthew 23:29-35).

WE BELIEVE THAT ATTACKS against religious groups such as the Branch Davidians are an ominous "sign of the times," a foreshadowing of the persecution that the Bible predicts will come upon all people of faith in the Last Days. Scripture clearly warns that in the days just prior to Jesus' Second Coming, a powerful anti-God One World Government will arise. This New World Order will ultimately be led by a Satan-possessed megalomaniac, known in Scripture as "the Beast" or Antichrist. He will ultimately demand the entire world's loyalty and worship. It will be against the law for anyone to digress from the "norms" of the anti-religious society that this soon-to-arise "Big Brother" will establish.

By Karen Haywood

MANASSAS, Va. (AP)--When school officials told 10-year-old Audrey Pearson she couldn't read the Bible on the school bus, the girl's mother turned for help to the Rutherford Institute.
Within days, Audrey was back reading her Bible on the bus.

The Rutherford Institute is devoted to religious free speech. I want this group to be a beacon of light for people who give up," said John W. Whitehead, who founded the institute in his basement here in 1982.

There's just a myth out there if it's on public property, it can't be religious."

Although Audrey's case took only a few telephone calls, the Rutherford Institute has successfully defended cases to the U.S. Supreme Court.

In seven years, the institute has grown to 21 state chapters across the country and has an annual budget of $800,000. Forty staff attorneys handled 75 cases last year, up from 40 cases the year before, Whitehead said.

Michael Patrick, executive director of the institute, said it averages 25 calls for help a day and is defending 600 people now.

The group operates largely on donations from people who have heard about the institute; Patrick said 90 percent of donations are less than $100 and most are for $10 or $15.

One case the institute took successfully to the Supreme Court involved an Illinois man who refused a job because religious beliefs prevented him from working on Sundays.

In March, the high court ruled in William Frazee's favor, overturning a ruling from the Appellate Court of Illinois. The lower court had ruled that Frazee's personal religious convictions did not constitute good cause for declining a job. Frazee had been denied unemployment benefits.

The sad part is, for every one of these there are a dozen that go unreported," Patrick said. He said the institute is trying to dispel a notion that religious speech is less free than other speech.

If it's really a free-speech position, why should I be concerned about what kind of free speech?" Patrick said. We're only as free as the rights of the least free--religious people."

Persecution

1. One outstanding feature of Jesus' life that most of His followers today tend to overlook, is that He was almost continually PERSECUTED! Imagine, Jesus was PERFECT, He never made a mistake, He was GOD manifested in the flesh! (John 1:1,14) Yet His enemies relentlessly accused Him of all kinds of horrible crimes, sins and wrong-doings, and finally arrested and CRUCIFIED Him!
2. Jesus virtually promised us that EVERYONE who dedicates themselves to follow Him will ALSO suffer persecution: "Truly I say unto you, there is NO ONE who has left house, or brothers, or sisters, or father, or mother, or wife, or children, or lands for My sake, and the Gospel's, who will not receive 100 times more in this present age, WITH PERSECUTIONS; and in the World to come, Eternal Life!" (Mark 10:29,30) But if we never suffer any persecution or have any trouble, then we must NOT be DOING anything for Jesus!--Because the Bible says that, "ALL who will live GODLY in Christ Jesus SHALL suffer PERSECUTION!" (2Timothy 3:12)
5. All Jesus had done was tell them the TRUTH, the good news that God was fulfilling His promises and prophecies, and had at last sent the Messiah to His people. But they REJECTED this revelation of Truth and tried to KILL the Messenger Who was delivering it, saying, 'From WHERE does HE get such Words and authority?--Is not this the Son of Joseph the carpenter?' And they were OFFENDED in Him." (Luke 4:22; Matthew 13:55,57)
9. Although Jesus made it clear that He came to bring PEACE to the lives and hearts of all who would RECEIVE and BELIEVE on Him (John 14:27; 16:33), because He knew that many would REJECT Him, He said, "Do you think I am come to bring PEACE on Earth?-NO, I tell you, but rather DIVISION!" (Luke 12:51)--And certainly this was the case. Wherever He spoke, there was always a clear division drawn between those who RECEIVED and those who REJECTED His message:
24. Jesus told us, "The servant is not greater than his Lord, and if they have persecuted ME, they will ALSO persecute YOU!" (John 15:20) So why should it come as a surprise to anyone that dedicated Christians TODAY receive the SAME kind of antagonistic response to their message and methods as JESUS HIMSELF did to HIS? If you are actively preaching the Word of God, delivering souls from Satan's kingdom and winning them into the Kingdom of Heaven, the Devil will FIGHT you and ATTACK you every way that he possibly can to try to stop your good work!--Just like he did to JESUS!
25. "Oh, but isn't this the 20TH CENTURY," some people argue, "a CIVILISED age? Aren't things DIFFERENT now?"--NO, they're NOT! The DEVIL is as real and evil as EVER, and his PEOPLE are as vicious, bitter and in opposition to God's children as they EVER were!

Another very difficult kind of suffering that God allows is the PERSECUTION that His followers suffer at the hand of the godless Gospel-rejecting wicked. For millenniums the righteous have suffered pain, persecution and deprivation at the hands of a wicked World! In fact, any Christian who courageously stands up and actively fights the evils of this World is bound to suffer persecution. "For ALL who live GODLY in Christ Jesus SHALL suffer PERSECUTION!"--2Timothy 3:12.

_____________________________________________________________________________________________________

The Martyrs' Century

"This century is known as 'The martyrs' century' because more people have lost their lives for their Christianity since 1900 than in all the previous centuries together," writes the mission agency Open Doors, founded in 1955 by a Dutchman known as Brother Andrew, whose 1967 book God's Smuggler has sold 14 million copies around the globe.

By Linda Bowles, Creators Syndicate, Inc.

We are going to investigate the Waco tragedy once again, based on new evidence that lies were told in defense of the government's armed assault on a religious compound. Unless there is some change in direction, this investigation will be as fruitless as the first one.

We are being set up to believe that if the FBI did not start the fire, the demonized David Koresh did, so everything that happened was his fault. This is more than a wrong assumption. This is a lie posturing as an assumption. The truth is that the safety of the children should have been the top priority guiding the hands of the U.S. government and its agents. It was not, and that is the everlasting shame of Waco.

Of all the events of the past decade that led to cynicism of the government and alienation from it, none had the impact of the Waco tragedy. Nearly 80 American citizens died horrible deaths, including two pregnant women and 25 children, 17 of whom were under 10 years of age. They burned to death in a lantern-lit, wooden structure that had been violently rammed by armored tanks and assaulted by chemical weapons. The attack was authorized by President Clinton and ordered by Attorney General Reno.

It was a tragedy that would have toppled most civilized governments, or at least resulted in the resignation of a few top-level scapegoats--but not in an America where justice is routinely mangled, the Constitution is ignored, and corruption thrives in high places.

The behavior of the mainstream media was revealing. In every other instance, if 25 children died horrible and arguably unnecessary deaths, the reporters and cameras would have been all over the story. Every lurid detail and aspect of the carnage would have been tediously exploited.

But that didn't happen. We didn't view the funerals, hear the gospel music or listen to the praise heaped on the dead by those who knew and loved them. There was no national mourning. President Clinton did not show up to deliver the eulogy. He didn't plant a dogwood tree on the White House grounds in memory of them as he did for the precious children who died in the Oklahoma City bombing. This time, honoring the victims served no political agenda.

It is as though it would have been politically incorrect to have covered the story with attention-getting intensity. To make too much of it might have aroused sympathy for the victims, or even worse, aroused questions about why "getting" the "evil" Koresh outweighed the endangerment of the children.

This was not like Columbine or Oklahoma City. This was not like the deaths of John Kennedy Jr. or Princess Diana. This time, you see, we were dealing with religious "nuts" and "fanatics."

Before the fire, huge tanks had rumbled up and rammed gaping holes in the walls of the buildings. Heavy volumes of gas were pumped into the structures, saturating the air, burning the skin, blinding the eyes. The plaintive wails of frightened, coughing children filled the air. They were held close, and told to be brave.

Outside, loudspeakers blared, "This is not an assault! This is not an assault!"--a message so ludicrous that those inside must have doubted their own senses.

There were, no doubt, screams of fear and pain from the children and babies, cries of horror, shouted prayers and supplications ... thick black smoke ... the rising heat of fierce, wind-driven flames ... panic ... confusion ... child-calls for "mama!" … the end.

When Attorney General Reno accepted full responsibility for all of this, she became a hero to the Washington establishment. Rather than an indictment for criminal negligence, reckless child endangerment and violation of the civil rights of innocent children, she was congratulated for her courage in saying "the buck stops here." She still insists she has "done nothing wrong."

Officers Stacey Koon and Laurence Powell were sent to prison for violating the civil rights of ex-felon Rodney King by using excessive force while arresting him. Was not the whole Waco operation, including the gassing of infants and children, an excessive use of force in making an arrest?

Who protects the civil rights of the innocent when it is the government itself who violates them?

(Jesus speaking:) I am the helper of the helpless and I care for My own. Though they may seem to be forsaken on Earth, it is often because I wish to gather them home to My arms, dwelling safely by My side, so that they can be free from their pain and suffering. Their persecutors and oppressors may remain a little longer, until their cup of iniquity be full, but those who deserve it shall drink of the cup of My wrath to the uttermost and rue their iniquities.

A student's prayer

By a 12-year-old girl in Boston
Now I sit me down in school
Where praying is against the rule.
For this great nation under God
Finds mention of Him very odd.
If Scripture now the class recites
It violates the Bill of Rights.
Anytime my head I bow
Becomes a federal matter now.
The law is specific, the law is precise,
Praying out loud is no longer nice.
Praying aloud in a public hall
Upsets those who believe in nothing at all.
In silence alone we can meditate
And if God should get the credit, great!
They are bringing their guns;
I don't dare bring my Bible,
To do so, might make me liable.
So, now, O Lord, this plea I make:
Should I be shot in school,
My soul please take.

(The London Times) Almost a third of Anglican clergy believe that the Virgin Birth is a legend or are unsure if it is true. Even among churchgoing Anglicans, about half believe that it happened. The figures are published in Modern Believing, the quarterly journal of the Modern Churchpeople's Union. According to the study, by Clive Field, of Birmingham University, about one third of British adults view Christmas as primarily a religious festival, with two thirds failing to mention religion or Christ's birth when asked to state three things Christmas meant to them.

"The Israeli government has allotted $12 million to upgrade security at the Temple Mount" to prepare for millennium-related violence, reports Nando Times. Police are concerned that Jewish or Christian fanatics may try to destroy mosques at the Temple Mount in order to rebuild the Jewish temple. Some believe this will hasten the end of the world and the second coming of Christ. According to the report, the Temple Mount, known to Muslims as al-Haram al-Sharif, is "considered the most sensitive spot in the Mideast conflict."

Compiled from articles in The Christian Science Monitor and Religion Today

And these blows are falling not just in Eastern Europe, where countries may still be struggling with the aftermath of atheistic pasts, but also in the heart of Western Europe, where a few governments have taken it upon themselves to call a whole host of minority religions "dangerous sects."

"In Europe in the last few years, partly as a function of nervousness about suicidal sects, governments have decided to step in and define what a religion is," said Robert Seiple, the U.S. State Department's special representative for international religious freedom, in an interview in Vienna. "And when you do that, it's very easy to get it wrong." And get it wrong they do, say many minority faiths.

Rijik Van Dam, a Dutch member of the European Parliament, told a human-rights conference sponsored by the Rutherford Institute that many countries agree to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights but practice "brutal deeds" against religious believers. "Persecution because of religious belief, torture and torment, and unfair and dishonest trials are the order of the day."

Europe is so secularized that it treats active minority religious groups as threats, Pedro Moreno, Rutherford's international director, told Religion Today. Groups that are complacent are left alone, but those that win converts "make people mad and are regarded as a nuisance," he said.

There is no doubt that "numerous European democracies and former Soviet republics" are violating their own commitments, says the International Helsinki Federation for Human Rights (IHF), an independent watchdog group headquartered in Vienna. "Many [European] countries are taking legal measures to suppress religious activity and to interfere in the internal affairs of religious communities," says Aaron Rhodes, IHF executive director. And "the situation is gradually deteriorating," says Willy Fautré, who heads a Brussels-based group called Human Rights Without Frontiers, which has closely monitored the developments in Western countries.

France and Belgium have set up commissions to look into sects and published reports with lists of more than 170 "harmful" groups without consulting with the groups or with scholars in the field. "This resulted," says the IHF, "in media reports libeling minority religions, circulation of rumors and false information, and incitement of religious intolerance."

In both countries, groups have found that when they provide accurate information to the commissions, no attention is paid to it. Meanwhile, government bodies have been set up to "observe" the groups.

"In Europe, the states generally think that it is their responsibility to protect their citizens against various forms of dangers, including 'new religions,'" says Paula Tscherne of IHF. "It appears that in some countries anything outside the mainstream religions [Roman Catholic, Lutheran, Orthodox] is regarded as dangerous." In some societies, state-recognized churches are subsidized, and they may be worried about splitting the pie.

Some scholars also see something else at work. Massimo Introvigne, director of the Center for Studies on New Religions, in Torino, Italy, has looked closely at the commissions and often directly connected anti-cult movements in Western Europe. In a briefing for a U.S. congressional committee last July, he described "a dangerous ideology, hostile to religious minorities in general," and said it involves "a secular-humanist reaction against the postmodern return to religious interests." Europe's anti-sect movement is made up of "liberal rationalists," he said. "They criticize the 'rising tide of irrationality.' Since religion is not disappearing, they are quite angry about that."

"Modern anti-cult movements are … primarily secular organizations fighting 'cults' based on brainwashing or mind-control paradigms" discredited in the U.S., he says, but that have been sold to the press and public bodies in France, Germany, and Belgium. "In some countries, including France," he says, they "operate with the help of taxpayers' money and are responsible for spreading misleading information about a number of religious minorities."

Jon E. Dougherty, WorldNetDaily

When producer Dan Gifford was making his documentary film, "Waco: The Rules of Engagement," he didn't know the film--hailed as one of the most complete documentaries of the April 19, 1993, incident--would be nominated for an Academy Award.

But now, six years after the incident, Gifford says the nation is no closer to understanding the causes and effects of what happened in Waco, and he believes that because of that lack of understanding it is likely such incidents will repeat themselves in the future.

The Waco tragedy was sparked by an FBI-led assault on a religious group known as the Branch Davidians after a 51-day siege. David Koresh, who died in the ensuing firestorm that engulfed the entire community, headed the group, numbering 83 men, women and children.

After the assault, many people asserted that the government intentionally planned, then botched, the raid on the Davidians, then attacked and killed them to cover up their initial mistake.

Gifford was curious about the accusations, so he set out to discover exactly what happened for himself. "Waco: The Rules of Engagement" was the result of his efforts, in which he concluded after making the film that the government attack theory was indeed correct.

"The government set up to murder these people, no question about it," Gifford said. He compared it to ancient times, "when the Romans would follow believers of Jesus into the desert and kill them after they gathered to hear the prophecy."

"Quite simply today, as it was then, most Americans seem frightened of people who espouse deep religious beliefs and convictions," he said. "In short, if you believe wholeheartedly in God, you're a crazy who 'ought to be killed,' according to many people who have spoken to me about the film."

Gifford says the media and the government are largely responsible for that attitude, purposefully creating a daunting stereotype of Christians and practitioners of Judaism. "I'm not a church-goer myself," he said, "but I see this truth nonetheless."

The film, which was edited for viewing on HBO, depicts never-before-seen videotaped accounts of what Gifford said were U.S. and British military special forces personnel "invited by the federal government to 'observe'" the handling of the situation.

In one startling scene from the original "Waco" film, government or military personnel are shown on infrared camera shooting at Davidians who Gifford said "were obviously trying to escape the flames" and burning debris. One expert in infrared technology was interviewed by Gifford and his staff during the filming of the documentary, testifying that some images caught on FBI tape were automatic weapons being fired by federal or military personnel, not Davidians.

Compiled from articles by Reuters; Los Angeles Times; Vernon Loeb, Washington Post; David M. Bresnahan, WorldNetDaily

Editor: Terrorism and the threat of terrorism have increasingly been in the news. While terrorists are still usually described as fanatical Muslims, Communists or militia men, there's a new type of fanatic being portrayed as well--Christians. The following excerpts of news articles reveal what the U.S. government is doing to prepare for the threat of domestic terrorism from any of these groups as the year 2000 approaches:

FBI Director Louis Freeh has warned that right-wing extremists, religious cults or apocalyptic groups could turn to violence to fulfill their prophecies of Armageddon as the year 2000 approaches.

At a congressional hearing, Freeh cited "rogue terrorists" such as Saudi dissident Osama bin Laden as probably the most urgent risk to U.S. interests. But he said the domestic threat could not be ignored, especially as the millennium approached.

"The possibility of an indigenous group like Aum Supreme Truth cannot be excluded," he said, referring to the cult responsible for a nerve gas attack in the Tokyo subway system in March, 1995. "With the coming of the next millennium, some religious/apocalyptic groups or individuals may turn to violence as they seek to achieve dramatic effects to fulfill their prophecies," he said.

"The greatest terrorist threats to U.S. interests today come from extremist groups who claim, however falsely, to act on behalf of a religion," said Retired Adm. William Studeman, former acting CIA director.

In the late 1960s, when modern terrorism took off, not one of the 11 known terrorist groups was classified as religious. In contrast, nearly a quarter of 50 identifiable groups around the world today are motivated largely by religion, said Bruce Hoffman, director of Britain's Center for the Study of Terrorism and Political Violence.

In his State of the Union address, President Clinton proposed massive funding increases for counterterrorism. Federal law enforcement agencies have already received substantial new legal authority to fight suspected terrorists with "roving wiretaps" and secret court orders for tracing telephone calls and obtaining business records.

"Roving wiretaps" enable the government to eavesdrop on calls made by a suspect from multiple phones. New provisions for obtaining business records and tracing telephone calls amend a little-known statute called the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA). The law, passed 21 years ago, established a secret federal court to approve wiretap requests made by the Justice Department against suspected foreign terrorists and intelligence agents without probable cause that a crime has been committed.

Today, the secret FISA court grants more wiretaps than all other federal courts nationwide in criminal cases. FISA wiretaps have doubled since the last year of the Bush administration, records show.

A broad counterterrorism program being considered includes the creation of a domestic military commander-in-chief responsible for fighting domestic crimes of terrorism. This is unnecessary according to the American Civil Liberties Union. "We should keep scenes from movies like 'The Siege' and 'Enemy of the State' in the theaters, not on the streets," said Gregory T. Nojeim, a legislative counsel for the ACLU.

In the few instances when the military has gotten involved in law enforcement efforts the result has been catastrophic, the ACLU said. A year and a half ago, Marines patrolling the U.S. border near Redford, Texas, in search of drugs shot and killed an 18-year-old goat-herder, Esequiel Hernandez. In Puerto Rico, when the National Guard took over public housing projects, it detained residents without cause, searched their apartments without warrants, and used excessive force--including breaking down doors. One youth was killed, allegedly without cause.

The problems with the military in Texas and Puerto Rico were only the tip of the iceberg according to some. A former member of U.S. Special Forces claims he has witnessed military film evidence showing Delta Force members shooting civilians trying to escape out the back door of the burning compound at Waco, Texas.

He says the government raids on Ruby Ridge and Waco were tests to determine whether the American people would tolerate the use of the military in a domestic police action. "The American people failed miserably," he said.

Police seized boxes of documents from the Scientology movement and questioned its leaders, in the latest government action against religious groups in Russia. Tax police and other security services spent 16 hours confiscating materials from the Scientologists' Moscow center, the group said. Authorities said they were investigating possible tax evasion and other financial irregularities.

Russian authorities have moved against a number of religious organizations following the passage of a 1997 law that placed widespread restrictions on "nontraditional" faiths. Human rights groups say the religious law is reminiscent of anti-religion drives during the Soviet era, when the Communists decreed an official policy of atheism and many religious groups had to operate underground.

Other current religious cases include:

-- In St. Petersburg, more than 40 teachers and children at a Christian school have been holed up inside their building under the eye of police in combat fatigues outside. The city gave the Society of Open Christianity a rent-free lease on the aging building in 1991, but are now demanding it back.

-- In the eastern city of Magadan, authorities have sought for months to close the Word of Life Pentecostalist Church. A prosecutor has accused church leaders of hypnotizing people, while tax police and security services have conducted raids and interrogations. Earlier this month, 400 church members applied for asylum in the United States.

-- Moscow prosecutors are seeking to ban the Jehovah's Witnesses in an ongoing trial. Prosecutors have accused the group of "aggressive proselytism" and describe it as a cult that destroys families, fosters hatred and threatens lives.

"The issue is whether the government can classify any religious group they want to close down as a cult," said Lawrence Uzzell, Moscow director of the Oxford-based Keston Institute, which monitors religious freedoms in former communist countries.

The central accusation against the Witnesses is that they "foment religious strife" by claiming to be "the only true religion." That's an assertion made by nearly every faith, Uzzell noted. "Any religion that claims to be in possession of a divine revelation--as all major world religions do--could be outlawed if they should fall out of favor with the authorities," he said.

Critics note that the charges against the Witnesses are based on general assertions of the group's beliefs and practices, not specific cases of alleged wrongdoing. "What they are trying to do is close them down purely on the basis of what they write and what they say," Uzzell said.

In a cramped loft apartment in Macungie, Pa., a grass-roots group that includes a mechanic, a retired teacher, a physician and a concrete salesman gathers every Tuesday to pray for what they call Christian martyrs around the world who are victimized, raped and killed for their faith.

Slowly and without much publicity, a new kind of solidarity movement is gaining force among Christians across the United States. Their focus is what they call "the persecuted church"--the fellow Christians throughout the world who they say have been targets of abuse solely because of their faith.

A wide swath of Americans who admit they never before paid much attention to foreign affairs or human rights is beginning to exert its influence on U.S. foreign policy. They are lobbying cities to stop doing business with nations that they say persecute Christians. They are writing letters to countries, some of whose names they cannot pronounce, demanding the release of Christian prisoners. They are swelling the coffers of groups that aid persecuted Christians. And they are traveling to refugee camps in Africa and Asia, taking donated Bibles and gathering testimony of suffering to take back to their congregations.

In October, this fledgling movement succeeded in persuading the Senate to pass by unanimous vote the International Religious Freedom Act, which requires the president to take action against countries that the State Department finds are violating the religious rights of their citizens. The punishment could range from sending a private diplomatic note to invoking economic sanctions.

It was a Jewish attorney in Washington, D.C., who turned persecution into a political issue. Michael Horowitz said his awakening occurred in 1994, when he hired Geteneh Getanel, a Christian Ethiopian, to do housework. While trying unsuccessfully to evangelize Horowitz, Getanel recounted how he had boiling oil poured on the soles of his feet as he was whipped by metal cables.

Horowitz eventually wrote to 143 missionary organizations across the country, saying he was "pained and puzzled" about their relative lack of interest in persecuted Christians. "What struck me is how Christian leaders were so intimidated in speaking out on behalf of their own," he said.

The rationale behind the legislation, summed up by Horowitz with characteristic verve: "They're pulling fingernails out of preachers? And you want us to subsidize these guys with aid? What, are you kidding?"

He argues that Jews are safest from the world's Hitlers when the populace is worshiping a God of faith rather than a God of politics. "The fact of the matter is, the Holocaust really began after religious faith declined in Europe," he says, noting that his family was able to avoid the gas chambers and the ovens because it immigrated to a country where totalitarianism never caught on. "I would be a bar of soap, a lampshade," Horowitz declares, "were it not for the faith of churchgoing Americans."

And as for that love-your-enemy stuff, Horowitz says: "I take my cues from the Old Testament."

India. (Washington Post Foreign Service)
Long known for sporadic outbursts of violence between Hindus and Muslims, India is experiencing a new wave of communal conflict: Hindus, who make up 82 percent of the country's 950 million people, are attacking Christians--a 2 percent minority--and their religious institutions.
In the seven months since the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) formed its first enduring national government, church leaders have reported dozens of attacks on Christians in more than half of India's 25 states--mostly in the north and west, where the Christian population is smaller and Hindu nationalist sentiment stronger. The attacks on Christians appear designed less to inflict bodily harm than to disrupt or shut down church schools, health centers and development programs that have attracted converts from Hinduism's lower castes.

Saudi Arabia. (Religion Today) The Saudi government is making local companies fire Christians from their jobs so they can deport them, Filipino pastor Ed Lapiz told Compass Direct news. Eight leaders have been fired from their jobs and deported to the Philippines since August, and about 10 other house church leaders are targeted for the same treatment, he said. Saudi Arabia forbids any religious worship outside Islam. A report by Open Doors International said the Islamic country has the poorest record regarding Christians in recent years. The group annually rates religious tolerance around the world. Sudan, Somalia, Yemen, North Korea, Iran, Laos, Morocco, Vietnam, and China complete the list of the 10 most repressive regimes.

Uzbekistan. (Religion Today) A harsh religion law went into effect in Uzbekistan Aug. 15. The law makes it illegal for anyone except a government-certified clergyman to talk about religion, bans private religious instruction in Sunday schools, summer camps, and homes, and outlaws any church with fewer than 100 members, Compass Direct News said. Church leaders who fail to comply will be subject to criminal charges, starting with heavy fines and leading to sentencing to labor camp, jail, and eventual confiscation of church property. Every church and religious organization must have submitted to the government by Aug. 15 a complex set of documents in order to be granted formal registration status by the Ministry of Justice--or be ruled illegal and forbidden to exist. Registered churches are forbidden to proselytize or do missionary work and must submit detailed quarterly and annual accounts verifying their activities and plans.

China. (AP) Communist China sees religion less as a spiritual threat than as a political one. Still, many Chinese Christians said they are experiencing a golden age of religious freedom, as long as they abide by government controls.

Those who don't register with the Chinese government--underground, mostly evangelical, Christians--described lives as fugitives, moving from house to house to avoid arrest. They spoke of jail and torture with electric prods.

Citing the biblical message, "blessed are the persecuted," some called suffering redemptive. "It's good for the church, like growing pains with children," said Allen Yuan, 84, a Chinese church leader who spent more than 21 years in a labor camp. Peasant pastors in China have a slogan: "Prison is our seminary."

Burma. (The Oregonian) In Burma, a war is raging between a military dictatorship and rebel ethnic groups. To divide the opposition, the Burmese military regime orders Buddhist monks to destroy mosques in large cities to demoralize Muslim ethnic groups. To disparage Chins, a mostly Christian ethnic group, soldiers marry Chin women and force them to convert to Buddhism. To split the Karens, another ethnic group, Burmese soldiers torment Christians and show favoritism to Buddhists while attacking refugee camps.

Edith Mirante, an expert on Burma, says, "It's an effort by the military to emphasize that they and only they are in power. There is no higher power. Nobody is supposed to worship anything that's a rival to the regime, whether it's Islam, Christianity or some form of Buddhism that threatens the regime. Among the Karen, the Christians are definitely being targeted. They're definitely being wiped out."

Facing destruction of their churches and restrictions on their worship, attacks on their villages as well as stints of forced labor to help the Burmese military fight their own people, many Karens have fled from Burma. More than 80,000 have crossed the border to live in Thailand. The vast majority live in 13 crowded refugee camps.

According to human rights organizations such as Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch/Asia, the camps are frequently attacked by the Burmese army, which calls itself the State Peace and Development Council.

Because Thai authorities do not allow the Karen refugees to own guns, they are defenseless. For many, their only weapon is prayer. They live in bamboo huts with thatched roofs next to jungles where trained elephants pull logs and other heavy loads. Despite the lush surroundings, the dusty, barren camps have little foliage or color. Residents do their best to turn their huts into homes. In large, white block letters, "Jesus is Lord" decorates the entrance to a dormitory for Christian students.

Kyaw Zwa, 55, says he remembers his eldest daughter, 17-year-old Sheh Wah Paw, praying the night of March 10, just before the family went to bed in the Huay Kaloke refugee camp. As was her habit, Sheh Wah Paw thanked God for the family's bamboo hut during a time when many Karens were homeless and had to sleep under trees in the jungle.

He says he planned to rise the next morning to study the Bible and pray with his wife and daughters, as he always did. But just after midnight, Kyaw Zwa heard the sounds he had long dreaded, the "boof" of shoulder-fired, rocket-propelled grenades, the "kaboom" when they hit their targets and the deafening "ta ta ta ta ta ta" of a variety of assault rifles. Like many Karens, Kyaw Zwa knew what these sounds meant. The Burmese army was attacking.

Most of the camp was burned. The camp's Baptist church was among the first buildings to be torched. But the Buddhist monastery and the homes surrounding it were untouched.

Kyaw Zwa also lost his daughters, among other Christians who were killed. He says he wondered for a time why their prayers for safety weren't answered. He says he has an answer he can live with. "I know now," Kyaw Zwa says, wiping away a tear, "that God helped me and let my two daughters die. They are gone. But they are free."

Nineteen European countries violate religious liberty, says the 1998 report of the Helsinki International Federation for Human Rights. Religious liberty is in greater danger in Europe than during the communist era because many governments in both Western and Eastern Europe are supporting traditional religions at the expense of minorities, the report says. Violations of religious liberty are cited in Albania, Armenia, Austria, Azerbaijan, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Georgia, Greece, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Latvia, the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Moldavia, Norway, Romania, Russia, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, and Yugoslavia.

The report cites many Western European countries, Adventist Press Service said. It noted a 1997 Austrian law that prohibits giving official recognition to any religion other than the 12 that already exist. In Greece, where 97% of citizens are considered to be members of the Orthodox Church, Protestants, Catholics, and other minorities are victims of discrimination, the Helsinki report says. Other nations of the European Union are in the process of preparing laws to reinforce the status of traditional religions while limiting smaller groups.

Recent investigations have been carried out by the French, Belgian, and German parliaments into the activities of minority religions under the guise of investigating "dangerous sects" and "psycho-groups." These governments have often prominently listed such groups as Jehovah's Witnesses, Hasidic Jews, charismatic Roman Catholics, evangelical Protestants and the Young Women's Christian Association (YWCA) to "warn" the public against them. Additionally, pan-European institutions such as the European Parliament and the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe are considering issuing reports on "sects" that call for national "advice and information centers" to control "sects" and disseminate information on these "harmful" or "dangerous" groups.

(RFE/RL Newsline) Segodnya on October 22 suggested that two Mormon missionaries arrested in Krasnoyarsk for illegally entering the premises of a military unit may "work for [a foreign] intelligence service." The newspaper cited a source in the Federal Security Service who said that "foreigners are frequently found in Russian military units" and "more often than not pose as missionaries." NTV showed film footage of the men climbing over a wall of the base the previous day. A spokeswoman for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints said the missionaries were not sneaking into the base but had been invited by someone interested in their faith.

"If they have persecuted Me, they will also persecute you" (Jn.15:20)

"Christians are the most persecuted religious group in the world" writes Nina Shea, advisor to President Clinton's Committee of Religious Freedom, in her book In the Lion's Day. "During the twentieth century more of them died, as a result of persecutions, than in all the preceding nineteen hundreds since the birth of Christ. When I say persecution I don't mean simple discrimination, but slavery, torture and murder."

"All over the world there are about 200 million followers of Christ suffering today," says Michael Horowitz of the Hudson Institute, "and it's surprising that nobody, neither the Christian community nor the establishment, talks about it."

"We want to break the silence," explains Horowitz. "We see that people don't want to believe facts. It blows their mind that at Sudan's market you can buy a young Christian slave starting with only two chickens."

Torture and arrest are becoming part of daily life in the Muslim world. In Saudi Arabia there is a special religious police whose job it is to search private houses and make arrests, confiscating Bibles as well as tapes with religious recording.

The Muslim world is not the only place where Christians are persecuted. "In China thousands of those who profess Christ live in religious gulags," writes Shea. "They are imprisoned and tortured simply because they dared to pray, sing hymns and read the Bible in public places," she explains. Chinese prisons hold more Christians than any other country of the world.

Christians are also persecuted in North Korea, Laos, Nigeria, Cuba. Just last year 156 thousand of them were killed--17 every hour.

"It's terrifying that so few Americans realize that," says Nina Shea. "Our government is indifferent, even hostile, towards all those who are trying to escape persecution. Persecution of Muslims in Bosnia was criticized. But at the same time nobody talks about persecution of Christians."

"I know a Christian pastor from Ethiopia," Michael Horowitz says, "who, without success, is seeking refuge in the US. He was imprisoned and tortured for his faith 25 times. If he comes back to Ethiopia more suffering awaits him. When he approached the Immigration Office asking for asylum, he was told Christians are not persecuted in Ethiopia."

Martyrs. (Christian Daily News) According to an estimate appearing in the January issue of the International Bulletin of Missionary Research, the average number of Christian martyrs per year worldwide is 163,000.

Editor: On November 15, an estimated 300,000 churches in 130 countries participated in the international Day of Prayer for the Persecuted Church. There is a growing awareness of the fact that as many as 300 million Christians worldwide suffer for their faith in one way or another. Following are some excerpts of recent news articles describing some of the sacrifices they endure for their faith as they continue to preach the Good News.

In a cramped loft apartment in Macungie, Pa., a grass-roots group that includes a mechanic, a retired teacher, a physician and a concrete salesman gathers every Tuesday to pray for what they call Christian martyrs around the world who are victimized, raped and killed for their faith.

Slowly and without much publicity, a new kind of solidarity movement is gaining force among Christians across the United States. Their focus is what they call "the persecuted church"--the fellow Christians throughout the world who they say have been targets of abuse solely because of their faith.

A wide swath of Americans who admit they never before paid much attention to foreign affairs or human rights is beginning to exert its influence on U.S. foreign policy. They are lobbying cities to stop doing business with nations that they say persecute Christians. They are writing letters to countries, some of whose names they cannot pronounce, demanding the release of Christian prisoners. They are swelling the coffers of groups that aid persecuted Christians. And they are traveling to refugee camps in Africa and Asia, taking donated Bibles and gathering testimony of suffering to take back to their congregations.

In October, this fledgling movement succeeded in persuading the Senate to pass by unanimous vote the International Religious Freedom Act, which requires the president to take action against countries that the State Department finds are violating the religious rights of their citizens. The punishment could range from sending a private diplomatic note to invoking economic sanctions.

It was a Jewish attorney in Washington, D.C., who turned persecution into a political issue. Michael Horowitz said his awakening occurred in 1994, when he hired Geteneh Getanel, a Christian Ethiopian, to do housework. While trying unsuccessfully to evangelize Horowitz, Getanel recounted how he had boiling oil poured on the soles of his feet as he was whipped by metal cables.

Horowitz eventually wrote to 143 missionary organizations across the country, saying he was "pained and puzzled" about their relative lack of interest in persecuted Christians. "What struck me is how Christian leaders were so intimidated in speaking out on behalf of their own," he said.

The rationale behind the legislation, summed up by Horowitz with characteristic verve: "They're pulling fingernails out of preachers? And you want us to subsidize these guys with aid? What, are you kidding?"

He argues that Jews are safest from the world's Hitlers when the populace is worshiping a God of faith rather than a God of politics. "The fact of the matter is, the Holocaust really began after religious faith declined in Europe," he says, noting that his family was able to avoid the gas chambers and the ovens because it immigrated to a country where totalitarianism never caught on. "I would be a bar of soap, a lampshade," Horowitz declares, "were it not for the faith of churchgoing Americans."

And as for that love-your-enemy stuff, Horowitz says: "I take my cues from the Old Testament."

India. (Washington Post Foreign Service) Long known for sporadic outbursts of violence between Hindus and Muslims, India is experiencing a new wave of communal conflict: Hindus, who make up 82 percent of the country's 950 million people, are attacking Christians--a 2 percent minority--and their religious institutions.

In the seven months since the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) formed its first enduring national government, church leaders have reported dozens of attacks on Christians in more than half of India's 25 states--mostly in the north and west, where the Christian population is smaller and Hindu nationalist sentiment stronger. The attacks on Christians appear designed less to inflict bodily harm than to disrupt or shut down church schools, health centers and development programs that have attracted converts from Hinduism's lower castes.

Saudi Arabia. (Religion Today) The Saudi government is making local companies fire Christians from their jobs so they can deport them, Filipino pastor Ed Lapiz told Compass Direct news. Eight leaders have been fired from their jobs and deported to the Philippines since August, and about 10 other house church leaders are targeted for the same treatment, he said. Saudi Arabia forbids any religious worship outside Islam. A report by Open Doors International said the Islamic country has the poorest record regarding Christians in recent years. The group annually rates religious tolerance around the world. Sudan, Somalia, Yemen, North Korea, Iran, Laos, Morocco, Vietnam, and China complete the list of the 10 most repressive regimes.

Uzbekistan. (Religion Today) A harsh religion law went into effect in Uzbekistan Aug. 15. The law makes it illegal for anyone except a government-certified clergyman to talk about religion, bans private religious instruction in Sunday schools, summer camps, and homes, and outlaws any church with fewer than 100 members, Compass Direct News said. Church leaders who fail to comply will be subject to criminal charges, starting with heavy fines and leading to sentencing to labor camp, jail, and eventual confiscation of church property. Every church and religious organization must have submitted to the government by Aug. 15 a complex set of documents in order to be granted formal registration status by the Ministry of Justice--or be ruled illegal and forbidden to exist. Registered churches are forbidden to proselytize or do missionary work and must submit detailed quarterly and annual accounts verifying their activities and plans.

China. (AP) Communist China sees religion less as a spiritual threat than as a political one. Still, many Chinese Christians said they are experiencing a golden age of religious freedom, as long as they abide by government controls.

Those who don't register with the Chinese government--underground, mostly evangelical, Christians--described lives as fugitives, moving from house to house to avoid arrest. They spoke of jail and torture with electric prods.

Citing the biblical message, "blessed are the persecuted," some called suffering redemptive. "It's good for the church, like growing pains with children," said Allen Yuan, 84, a Chinese church leader who spent more than 21 years in a labor camp. Peasant pastors in China have a slogan: "Prison is our seminary."

Burma. (The Oregonian) In Burma, a war is raging between a military dictatorship and rebel ethnic groups. To divide the opposition, the Burmese military regime orders Buddhist monks to destroy mosques in large cities to demoralize Muslim ethnic groups. To disparage Chins, a mostly Christian ethnic group, soldiers marry Chin women and force them to convert to Buddhism. To split the Karens, another ethnic group, Burmese soldiers torment Christians and show favoritism to Buddhists while attacking refugee camps.

Edith Mirante, an expert on Burma, says, "It's an effort by the military to emphasize that they and only they are in power. There is no higher power. Nobody is supposed to worship anything that's a rival to the regime, whether it's Islam, Christianity or some form of Buddhism that threatens the regime. Among the Karen, the Christians are definitely being targeted. They're definitely being wiped out."

Facing destruction of their churches and restrictions on their worship, attacks on their villages as well as stints of forced labor to help the Burmese military fight their own people, many Karens have fled from Burma. More than 80,000 have crossed the border to live in Thailand. The vast majority live in 13 crowded refugee camps.

According to human rights organizations such as Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch/Asia, the camps are frequently attacked by the Burmese army, which calls itself the State Peace and Development Council.

Because Thai authorities do not allow the Karen refugees to own guns, they are defenseless. For many, their only weapon is prayer. They live in bamboo huts with thatched roofs next to jungles where trained elephants pull logs and other heavy loads. Despite the lush surroundings, the dusty, barren camps have little foliage or color. Residents do their best to turn their huts into homes. In large, white block letters, "Jesus is Lord" decorates the entrance to a dormitory for Christian students.

Kyaw Zwa, 55, says he remembers his eldest daughter, 17-year-old Sheh Wah Paw, praying the night of March 10, just before the family went to bed in the Huay Kaloke refugee camp. As was her habit, Sheh Wah Paw thanked God for the family's bamboo hut during a time when many Karens were homeless and had to sleep under trees in the jungle.

He says he planned to rise the next morning to study the Bible and pray with his wife and daughters, as he always did. But just after midnight, Kyaw Zwa heard the sounds he had long dreaded, the "boof" of shoulder-fired, rocket-propelled grenades, the "kaboom" when they hit their targets and the deafening "ta ta ta ta ta ta" of a variety of assault rifles. Like many Karens, Kyaw Zwa knew what these sounds meant. The Burmese army was attacking.

Most of the camp was burned. The camp's Baptist church was among the first buildings to be torched. But the Buddhist monastery and the homes surrounding it were untouched.

Kyaw Zwa also lost his daughters, among other Christians who were killed. He says he wondered for a time why their prayers for safety weren't answered. He says he has an answer he can live with. "I know now," Kyaw Zwa says, wiping away a tear, "that God helped me and let my two daughters die. They are gone. But they are free."

About 33% of the world's people are Christians, at least in name, American missions statistician David Barrett says. The Global Evangelization Movement said that 2,015,743,000 of the Earth's 6,091,351,000 people believe in some form of Christianity. Church members total 1.898 billion, and 1.3 billion attend services. Pentecostal and charismatic Christianity is growing fastest; 482 million belong to such movements and 680 million can be described as "Great Commission Christians," Barrett said.

Muslims comprise the second-largest faith group. Followers of Islam number 1.215 billion, followed by 786 million Hindus, 362 million Buddhists, 225 million members of tribal religions, and 102 million members of "new religions."

The world also has a large number of unbelievers. A total of 774 million consider themselves "nonreligious" and 151 million say they are atheists, Barrett said.

A sobering statistic: It is estimated that 165,000 Christians will be martyred for their faith in Christ this year, Barrett said.

There are 24,000 missions organizations worldwide, which collect $120 billion a year. The income of all church members is $12,700 billion, of which $220 billion is spent on Christian outreaches including Christian radio and TV stations. There are about 4,000 Christian radio and TV stations, and they can reach 2.15 billion people with the Gospel this year, Barrett said.

Large cities are key mission fields of the future, Barrett said. An estimated 2 billion people live in poor urban areas, 1.3 billion of them in slums. The world has 410 cities with more than 1 million inhabitants and 4,100 with at least 100,000 residents.

Compiled from articles in Religion Today

Ethiopia. The evangelical church in Ethiopia is among the fastest-growing in the world. Believers have doubled from 4 million to 8 million people since 1984, the international evangelization network AD 2000 and Beyond said.

Persecution became a "prime contributor to an amazing spiritual breakthrough," an AD 2000 report says. Churches were shut and Christians were arrested, tortured, and sentenced to years in prison during the 16-year rule of Marxist dictator Mengistu Haile Mariam. The church grew stronger and millions reportedly turned to Christ by the time he was ousted in 1990.

Christians went underground, meeting in cell groups and quietly evangelizing. Thousands of small group leaders taught believers how to study the Bible on their own and to evangelize. Believers learned to share the Gospel with those who showed interest. The cells multiplied and between 2 million and 3 million people became Christians, Greg Groh of the Worldwide Leadership Council said.

Congo. Political unrest in Congo has led many to become Christians. Former dictator Mobutu Sese Seko persecuted outspoken Christians in the early 1980s through the mid-1990s, Dawn FridayFax said. Christians were killed, their houses were burned, and they lost family members. But the church grew more than ever during that time. About 5 million became Christians in the early 1980s. There are an estimated 750,000 Christians in Kinshasa, the capital. Some churches have 5,000–10,000 members and have formed missions groups. The revival has spread to parts of Angola.

Vietnam. Dinh Trung didn't want to leave his church. The Vietnamese evangelist had made many converts to Christianity, but the authorities wanted to take him away. Finally, they relented and allowed him to stay--in prison. There he continued to lead other inmates to Christ.

Trung is one of the millions of persecuted Christians who are refusing to be intimidated into hiding their faith, Todd Nettleton of Voice of the Martyrs told Religion Today. In countries where the government has set out to destroy Christianity, "the Church has only grown stronger," he said.

"Persecution is like vitamins for the Church," a church leader in Saudi Arabia told Nettleton. There are no hangers-on or shallow Christians, because the price believers pay for their faith is too high. "They don't go to church because their friends are there or because they want to have fun. They are there because they want to live their faith, and the Church is exploding because of it."

GANDHINAGAR, India -- The way political leaders here in Gujarat state have been talking lately, one might think they want nothing to do with Christian missionaries.

Chief Minister Keshubhai Patel, of the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party, has accused them of bribing poor, illiterate Hindus to convert to Christianity.

Last month, the intelligence branch of the state police sent out a secret circular instructing officers to find out where Christians live, the identities of their leaders, the foreign countries purportedly encouraging them, any firearms they possess and "the tricks" they use to convert people. They were also to collect dossiers on Christians with "criminal minds."

Yet despite the hostility to Christians in Gujarat, where Hindu militants have attacked dozens of Christian prayer halls and schools over the last year, several Hindu nationalist leaders, including Patel, have chosen to have their offspring educated by those same reviled Roman Catholic missionaries.

Some of these officials explain that while the children of uneducated, lower-caste people are vulnerable to the conversion methods of the missionaries, their own children and grandchildren--from educated, prosperous, devoutly Hindu families--would never be tempted. The missionaries also happen to have a reputation for running some of the finest schools in the state.