Persecution in India

I have been grieved recently over news that a fresh and terrible persecution has broken out against Christians in Indian. As you may know, I traveled to India last year to work with Hopegivers Ministries and to see what we could do to help them advance the gospel in that country. The history of Hopegivers and Emmanuel Baptist Ministries is too long for me to give here, and it is not the purpose of my writing this. You can find out more here at www.hopegivers.org.

As I traveled through India, my host was Dr. Samuel Thomas. He took our team to visit some of the orphanages, scheduled our speaking arrangements, and made our hotel reservations. More than that, we shared good times of Christian fellowship discussing the future of Christian work in India and how we might be more effective there. I enjoyed my time with Sam tremendously.

You may also be aware of the fact that while we were in India, Christians were under constant threat. Once when we traveled to an orphanage in Rajasthan, we had to be escorted out of town by the police because death threats had been made against Sam. (And us by association.) The persecution is real, and the enemy is determined.

Recently, Hindus began burning churches, obstructing the delievery of food to orphanages, and shutting down the schools. Now, Dr. Samuel Thomas has been arrested and is being held without bail on no charges. I urge you, dear readers, to go to Hopegivers to get more information. You can pray for the churches who are facing persectuion; you can pray for Dr. Samuel Thomas and his father M.A. Thomas, and you can write letters or make phone calls. Won't you at least go and find out what's going on there? Won't you at least pray? These men are my friends; they are not just names in some unknown place. I have walked with them, eaten with them, and laughed with them. I have played with their children. I have seen the love for Christ in their laugh. I plead with you to plead for them. Go to the website. Do what you can.