Last week we watched with horror as terrorists attacked Mumbai, India, where buildings were torched and people murdered.

Yet, since last Christmas Hindus have been burning homes, churches, orphanages and poisoning wells. Christians who won’t deny Christ are beaten with sticks, machetes, raped, stabbed and had gas poured on them and burned to death. The government is part of the problem and hides the number of those killed.

Christians are denied any rights: to get loans, travel, jobs, food, trade or economic opportunity; their children denied school.

Fifty thousand are in refugee camps, there’s no count of the number hiding in the jungle and dying of hunger or malaria.

Although there are Catholic, Lutheran, Baptist and other missions, it is the Indian Evangelical Team that has almost reached their goal of planting 7,777 churches by 2010.

India has a caste system and those at the bottom are the untouchables. These people live a life of abuse since birth to death. Imagine their joy at hearing the gospel and being told Jesus loves them! There is such a thirst for the gospel. The IET has a Bible College and Institute, children’s homes, and schools. They have missionaries trained that are willing to die for their faith, but they need funds to buy bicycles for traveling.

My feeling is that because of language and cultural differences Indians should minister to their own. At some point Americans may not be able to enter the country like at Bhutan.

A representative lives by Starbuck, where his wife is a doctor. Currently Aby is in India visiting the churches and I pray he will not be killed. To learn more, Google: Orissa, India persecution of Christian and www.ietmissions.org.

These people are our brothers and sisters in Christ. They have requested prayer that the persecution will stop.

Juanita Bolinger

Alexandria