Brown's Daily Word & India update12-18-08

Good morning,
Christmas has become a time of lights ever since the time of Martin Luther, who over 500 years ago brought an evergreen tree into his home and decorated it with candles. My wife goes all out to decorate the house with multiple Christmas trees of all sizes with diverse decorations. We got our "real" tree - 9 feet tall - this past Saturday. It is in and all decorated. I love to drive around and see the lights adorning the villages and cities. Throughout December, the evenings are lit up as homes, businesses, and even city streets fill the night with beautiful colored lights and decorations. It seems fitting since that first Christmas was also decorated with lights. There were angels who lit up the night for the shepherds and there was the star in the East that led the wise men to Jesus. In John 1:6 & 7 – “There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. He came as a witness to testify to the light, so that all might believe through him.”The image of light is not unique to Jesus. The God of the Old Testament was a God of light, who appeared to Moses as a burning bush and led the Israelites out of slavery as a pillar of fire. The image of light is a powerful picture of God. Light cannot be contained. Light has no shape or form. You can’t hold it in your hand, or close it up in a box. In fact, if you look in the dictionary the first definition for “light” is “something that makes vision possible.” Light is mentioned 71 times in the gospel of John. It puts chaos to flight and shows things as they really are and it guides or leads the way. Spiritually speaking, people are living in a world of darkness. “The Sounds of Silence”, a Simon and Garfunkel song from the 70’s, could very well be the theme song for today’s generation. “Hello darkness, my old friend, I’ve come to talk to you again. . .” Our world needs those who are willing to point others to the light, to be a witness to the light in the same way that John was a witness to the light. Vs. 8 – “He himself was not the light, but he came to testify to the light.” Our role is to point others to Christ Jesus, to point others to the light of Christ. We cannot bring light to the darkened souls of others, but we can direct them toward the light. We can reflect the true light and be representatives of the light of Christ. Ghost Whisperer is a TV program in which a young woman attempts to help earth-bound spirits resolve some problem so that they can go into the light. I see this as our job as Christians, to help troubled, earth-bound people to go into the light of Christ. Perhaps the most precious gift we can give another person is the gift of the light of Christ. We light our homes, we light our trees, and we even light candles on Christmas Eve. The surest way to bring light into our dark and hurting world is by introducing others to the light of the world, Christ Jesus.
In His Light,
Brown http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qu9zhl6zLFs

Wed, 17/12/2008 - 9:57pm Christians have a bleak christmas in Orissa-Orissa round up
1-Witnesses fail to turn up despite notices
PHULBANI, Dec 16: Five people who were expected to depose before the Justice (retired) Basudev Panigrahi Commission of enquiry to the Kandhmal violence of December 2007, at Balliguda yesterday did not turn up."Notices had been sent to the five but not one of them appeared yesterday," said a official attached to the commission. Today five others deposed as against the notices issued to 22 people of Balliguda area. In fact four of those who are to depose before the commission are present in jail for riot-related cases. The commission will also conduct its hearing at Phulbani for second time on 18 and 19 December and notices have been issued to eight people.Earlier 30 deponents, all from minority community, were ordered to appear before the commission in its camp court at Cuttack, but some of them had prayed that they be heard in Kandhamal district.As many as 362 affidavits were received by the commission in connection to the communal violence of Kandhmal in 2007 said reliable sources. It may be noted that the Justice Panigrahi Commission is probing into the violence of December 2007.
2-Bhubaneswar, Dec 17 - A court in Orissa Wednesday granted bail to a journalist who was arrested by the police Dec 7 for writing an allegedly inflammatory book on the recent communal violence in Kandhamal district.Lenin Kumar, editor of the quarterly magazine Nishan, was arrested for his book “Dharma Nare Kandhamalare Raktara Banya” (Flood of blood in Kandhamal in the name of religion) that blames Hindu groups for the violence.Police had termed Kumar’s book as provocative and aimed at disturbing communal harmony. Two others were also arrested for helping him print and circulate the book.“J.P. Das the district and session judge at Bhubaneswar granted Lenin and other two bail on a surety bond of Rs.20,000 with some conditions,” one of Lenin’s lawyers Biswapriya Kanungo told .Kandhamal district, about 200 km from here, witnessed widespread communal violence after the murder of Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) leader Swami Laxmanananda Saraswati and four of his aides at his ashram Aug 23While police blamed Maoists for the killings, some Hindu organisations held Christians responsible for the crime and launched attacks on the community.At least 100 people were killed in the state and thousands of Christians forced to flee their homes after their houses were attacked by rampaging mobs. About 18,000 people are still living in government-run relief camps in the district.Rights activists, journalists and writers have been demanding Kumar’s release. Last week, about 100 protesters staged a sit-in outside the official residence of the Orissa governor here.The Orissa Human Rights Commission Tuesday sought a report within two weeks from the state government on the arrest of Lenin after his wife Rumita Kundu submitted a petition describing the arrest as illegal and an instance of blatant human rights violation.
3-ORISSA: Tensions are running high in Orissa's strife-torn Kandhamal district with radical Hindu groups preparing for a showdown and Christians fearing a fresh wave of attacks on Christmas.The Hindu organisations, which had given the state government a Dec 15 deadline to arrest all those involved in planning and executing the killing of Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) leader Swami Laxmanananda Saraswati and four of his aides Aug 23, have said the administration had failed to act on their demand and they would go ahead with a statewide shutdown on Dec 25, Christmas day. Though police have arrested seven people for their alleged involvement in the murder that sparked widespread sectarian violence in the district, Hindu leaders have said police action was not enough. The Swami Laxmanananda Saraswati Sradhanjali Samiti (SLSSS), a body affiliated to the VHP and the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) that has called the shutdown, described the arrests as an eyewash. "The state government has failed to perform its statutory responsibility in bringing to book the killers and the conspirators," SLSSS president Ratnakar Chaini said. While Maoist extremists have claimed responsibility for the murder of the Hindu leader, the Hindu groups have maintained that Christians were unhappy with the swami's campaign against religious conversions. Christians have denied they were in the business of conversions. Christians fled their homes and hundreds took shelter as radical Hindu groups attacked them. In the violence that went on for more than a month in this eastern Indian coastal state, at least 36 people were killed.Hindu Jagaran Samukhya president Ashok Sahu said his organisation was not happy that only seven of the 18 people who had conspired and perpetrated the killings were arrested. "I will not say the arrests were just eyewash. But there are some big fish involved in the murder and are yet to be caught," Sahu told IANS, adding that the administration was not making attempts to nab them.He, however, stressed that the shutdown would be peaceful and all steps were being taken to ensure that there would be no violence. "We have told all our people not to resort to any kind of violence. But we are apprehensive that 'Christian militants' may create trouble during the shutdown," he said in a veiled reference to Maoists who have threatened to kill more Hindu leaders. Asked if he was referring to Maoists, Sahu said: "Naxals have no religion. I am referring to those militants who killed swamiji. They are Christians and have taken up arms against Hindus." Notwithstanding the assurances of the peaceful shutdown, the minority Christians in the district, about 230 km from state capital Bhubaneswar, are worried - more so, as the chosen day is Christmas. Rajib Prasad Naik, who stays in a relief camp in Rudangia - a riot-hit village some 40 km away from district headquarters Phulbani, said they had information about some local Hindus planning fresh attacks on their camp. "We have information that some Hindu activists are collecting money to buy weapons to be used against us during Christmas bandh (shutdown)," Naik, who lost two of his relatives during the riots, told . "We have informed police and the district collector about this and hope the administration will take some steps. "Though paramilitary forces are guarding our camp, we are not sleeping at night in order to keep a vigil against any sudden attack," he said, hoping that more forces would be deployed in his village soon. Christian leaders also feared fresh violence during Christmas but hoped that the state government would take measures to protect the traumatised Christian community in the district. "We don't know what will happen this Christmas. The government has promised that they will take all measures to prevent any untoward incident this time around and I believe the administration will live up to its promise,""We will not say that I fear a fresh wave of violence against our community, I just hope this Christmas should go peacefully,"Forty-five Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) companies are currently deployed in the district and Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik has pledged that his government would not allow the shutdown on Chritsmas.
posted in: Current Issue, Persecution, East India
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Wed, 17/12/2008 - 9:42pm Christian leader abducted in Kandhamal?
Phulbhani-17th Dec-08Hindu extremists on Dec 16th, assaulted Mr. Jubaraj Digal, a Christian leader of Kanjamendi village under K. Nuagaon Block.
Digal, was returning home along with his son Muna, from Congress MLA Mrs. Ajayanti Pradhan , where he is employed as her PS.
Around 6.30 PM, extremists stopped his motor bike on the road between Telengia to Sitapanga.
The extremist started hitting them mercilessly, luckily his son escaped on the motorbike and reached G. Udaygiri PS around 9.45 pm and informed the police.
Police immediately went for spot inquiry but found nothing.
Police have registered a MISSING case under FIR NO.400, dtd17.12.08 and investigating further on the said matter.
According to GCIC regional co.ordinator, this may be communal attack by Sangh Parivar as a prelude to Orissa Bandh on 25th December, 2008, they have rulled out that aspect.
posted in: Current Issue, Persecution, East India
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Wed, 17/12/2008 - 6:30am Govenment says no Shut down permitted on Christmas day by radicals
Bhubaneswar (16th Dec 08)
The Orissa government on Monday announced that it will not permit the state wide shutdown called by some Hindu groups on Christmas Day, demanding arrest of all those involved in the killing of Vishwa Hindu Parishad leader on August 23 that led to communal violence in the state.
"No shutdown will be permitted on December 25," Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik told the assembly while replying to a discussion on the communal violence in the district of Kandhamal.
"The government will come down heavily on those who try to create any trouble," Patnaik said.
Orissa tops in communal violence
Kandhamal district, about 200 km from here, witnessed widespread communal violence after the murder of Swami Laxmanananda Saraswati and four of his aides at his ashram at Jaleshpata.
While the police blamed Maoists for the killings, some Hindu organisations held Christians responsible for the crime and launched attacks on the community.
Thousands of Christians were forced to flee their homes after their houses were attacked by rampaging mobs. At least 38 people were killed in the violence.
posted in: Current Issue, Persecution, East India