India update 10-02-08

Good Morning,
Praise the Lord for this new day. Our Lord is in control. Though the world is turmoil and in disarray, Jesus is the Christ in every Crisis. He is the Lord in every situation. Thank you for praying for the persecuted Christians of Orissa. Thank you for sending your love gifts to care for the hurting and for the destitute and the homeless. We are able to send monetary gifts to various places. 100% of the funds are given to people in need. It is given for food, clothing, medicines, and in some cases for burial expenses. During the recent attacks on Christians in the village of Gadaguda, in the area of G'Udayagiri, an elderly couple was attacked with axes. They both were severely wounded. They were taken to a hospital in Berhampore, 80 miles away from the village they lived. The husband died yesterday. They cannot take the body back to the village for fear of further attacks by the Hindus. They have to find a place in Berhampore for burial.One of their nephews was shot and was taken to a hospital in Cuttack, 150 miles away from the village where he in serious condition. This man's name is Jonah. He was my classmate in Middle School. He is married to my first cousin.
One of the reports we have recently received is that Orissa has been deluged with severe floods after seven days of torrential rains. 5.8 millions Hindus are homeless, stranded in flood-ravaged places, many being bitten by poisonous snakes. In another tragedy, 175 Hindu worshippers died in a Hindu temples due to stampede.
If somebody mentions snake stories in the Bible, the first one that pops into most people’s mind is Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden, getting tricked into disobeying God by a clever snake. There are also those who might remember this little story from Numbers about the poisonous snakes and the bronze snake on a pole; many put it out of their minds quickly because it seems so odd. This is a problem story for a lot of people--one of those Old Testament stories that make God seem harsh. But it pops up again in the Gospel of John where Jesus compares himself lifted on the Cross to the snake lifted in the wilderness. And if Jesus is comparing himself to a snake on a pole, maybe this bizarre story deserves a bit more attention.
I have been preaching for the Book Of Exodus, looking at the Exodus experiences. In Exodus the Lord of History performs miracle after miracle. He is mighty and merciful towards His people. The people God are prone to complaining time and time again, and now it is starting again. The latest complaint puts God over the top, and God responds with a plague of poisonous snakes. We tend to be horrified at the thought of God actually punishing people this way. The God revealed in Numbers 21 is a God who is disciplining His people. The poisonous snakes had exactly that effect on the people. This wakes them up, and they realize this is harsh discipline. They go to Moses and admit that they were wrong to complain about him and about God, and they ask Moses to pray for forgiveness. This is the appropriate and faithful response to God’s wrath. To repent as they did shows that they know that God is just and would not give them a punishment they did not deserve. To ask for forgiveness shows their faith that God is not only just, but merciful. Anyway, the people ask Moses to pray for them that God might take away the snakes and Moses does as they ask. God’s answer is perfect, I think. God does not take away the snakes, but God does provide a way for people who are bitten by the snakes to be healed. Moses is instructed to make a bronze snake and put it up on a pole. From then on, whoever got bitten had to look at that bronze snake to be healed and live. God had every right to send the snakes to Israel, but there is nothing anywhere that says God had to provide a way for them to live.
The bronze serpent is a symbol of mercy...a gift...a way out. “And just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in him may have eternal life.” Lo and behold, this strange snake story from the book of Numbers, is tied into the saving work of Jesus Christ. John compares the snake on a pole to Jesus on the Cross. To enter the Kingdom of God, we have got to be able to face the crucifixion. We have got to be able to look at Christ on the Cross. This is the same message as the bronze serpent. For us to be healed, we have to be willing to remember both our sin and God’s mercy.

In His Grace and in His Mercy,
Brown

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rW4oJ0jTHqg
An Invitation:
Friends,

Union Center U.M. Church and First Presbyterian Church of Endicott are joining together to pray for our persecuted brothers and sisters in Orissa, India. We will meet this Thursday, October 2, in the chapel at First Pres, from 12:15 to 1:15 pm. Come and go as you need, but let us come together before God on their behalf. The news each day continues to tell the story of brutal attacks and murder, the torching of homes and churches, Christians being coerced to denounce their faith and Christians fleeing from the area. Family and friends of the Naik and Tandi families are caught in the midst of the upheaval. Let us pray for peace, for safety, for the witness of courageous Christians, for healing of the land and people.
In Christ,
Jan and Tim Devine and Brown Naik
First Presbyterian Church
27 Grant Ave.
Endicott, NY 13760
748-1544

Thu, 02/10/2008 - 1:31pm Hindu extremist groups on radar in Malegaon probe- Indian express
Sagnik ChowdhuryMumbai, October 2: A day after the Maharashtra Police said it could not rule out the possibility of a Hindu extremist hand in Monday’s blast in Malegaon, investigators are revisiting the crude bombs that were planted in auditoriums on the outskirts of Mumbai earlier this year.
posted in: Current Issue, , East India
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Thu, 02/10/2008 - 1:12pm Gandhiji remembered today,139th birth anniversary :GCIC greets all
New Delhi : Mahatma Gandhi was remembered on his 139th birth anniversary on Thursday with President Pratibha Patil, Vice-President Hamid Ansari and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh leading the nation in paying rich tributes to the messiah of non-violence.An inter-religious prayer meeting marked the birth anniversary of the Father of the Nation at the samadhi, where leaders, children, youth and women paid floral tributes. GCIC has also paid floral tributes at the samadhi at Raj Ghat as the country fondly remembers the Mahatma. Clad in white dresses and hats, people from all walks of life thronged Raj Ghat to pay respects to the apostle of non-violence.
posted in: Current Issue, Beliefs, East India
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Thu, 02/10/2008 - 10:29am India's reputation wounded by religious killings- Financial Times
By Tom Felix Joehnk in BhubaneswarPublished: October 2 2008 03:00 Last updated: October 2 2008 03:00Anti-Christian violence, which began in a remote district of India's tribal belt in the eastern state of Orissa in late August, has become an international embarrassment for India's secular Congress-led government. It has spread to four more states, including Karnataka, the home of the subcontinent's information technology hub in Bangalore.
posted in: Current Issue, Persecution, East India
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Thu, 02/10/2008 - 9:13am Another Church attacked in Tamil Nadu
Coimbatore: Another church in Tamil Nadu came under a spell of stone throwing by miscreants, this time in communally sensitive Coimbatore.
posted in: Current Issue, Persecution, South India
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Wed, 01/10/2008 - 9:26pm 1killed and thirty injured in a serial bombblast in Tripura
Agartala, Oct 1 : Three bombs went off in this Tripura capital within a span of about 30 minutes Wednesday evening injuring at least 35 people, many of them seriously.The first bomb went off at the popular Gol Bazar, followed by two near-simultaneous blasts, one at the G.B. Market and another at a public bus stand, according to Tripura policeThose injured, including a number of women, were rushed to the G.B. Pant Medical College and Hospital here.Police cordoned off the blast spots as shopkeepers downed shutters. No group had claimed responsibility for the blasts.
posted in: Current Issue, Secular, North India
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Wed, 01/10/2008 - 7:16pm Centre sends 1000 more paramilitary personnel to Orissa
New Delhi : The Centre on Wednesday dispatched 1000 personnel of paramilitary forces to the violence-hit Kandhamal district in Orissa in the wake of fresh communal clashes there.
Ten CRPF companies have been rushed to the district, taking the total to 53 companies out of which four are Rapid Action Force (RAF), a CRPF official said.
posted in: Current Issue, Persecution, East India