Abducted Indian Missionaries Released

Gospel for Asia (GFA) is excited to announce that the five native missionaries captured in the state of Karnataka Saturday have been released (Related article: GFA Native Missionaries Abducted ). Ramesh, the only brother who had escaped from the anti-Christian elements, urgently informed GFA leaders of the whereabouts of the other missionaries and where they were being held. However, all the evangelists were found to have been beaten severely.

GFA pastors then contacted the superintendent of police, who immediately rescued the missionaries from their captors. However, the police warned them to move away from the community that they were working in. One local police said, "for your own safety you (must) please leave this place.".

The released missionaries told police that they forgave their abductors in Jesus' name and they didn't want charges filed. One GFA leader expressed that they are grateful for all the sincere prayers that have been given for the missionaries.

The Congress Party in India is currently giving Christians new hope for religious freedom for the next five years, but the reality for Christians is that radical Hindus continue to restrict it.

KP Yohannan, Gospel For Asia's President, says the Hindu extremists are taking a different approach to their attacks. "Since they can not directly attack Christian workers, they are now finding a new way to persecute our missionaries by accusing them of stealing things, or causing trouble or whatever else." Similar events to this one, where the five missionaries were falsely accused of robbery, have become increasingly common, and this worrying trend must be overcome.

"Many Indian people are hungry for the Gospel. That's why Gospel for Asia is printing Bibles. We need to flood (India) with the Word of God. One of our greatest needs right now is to produce at least 10 to 15 million Bibles in all the major languages. We have two printing presses working full time. It costs just $1 to produce four New Testaments, and about $2 to produce a whole Bible," says Yohannan.