DAWN Fridayfax 2000 #16

Uganda

Pastors close three porn magazines

Three magazines with pornographic content had to close after pastors started to preach against pornography, according to news agency 'Newsroom'. Roman Catholic and Protestant pastors put aside their differences to form a united front against the porn industry. At first, they approached the publishers directly, but were told to 'preach to their own people, and leave the magazines in peace.' So they preached, and the magazines' circulation dropped significantly. One of the publishers, Wairagala Wakabi, said "The pastors' permanent attacks irritated many potential buyers." Another publisher has since become a Christian, and apologised for perverting youths.
Source: Religion Today

USA

Pastor's wife prays with passengers before plane crash?

Alaska Airlines Flight 261, en route from Puerto Vallarta to San Francisco, crashed in the Pacific 20 miles from the Californian coast on 31 January 2000. All 83 passengers and 5 crew were killed. According to the NTSB, responsible for investigating the accident, the aircraft suddenly dropped 7,000 feet, then remained stable for 9 minutes before it fell 18,000 feet in the final minute. An Alaska Airlines pilot familiar with the investigation told John Hernandez that he had listened to the recordings of what happened in the cockpit during the flight's last minutes. During that time, Linda Knight, whose husband John is a pastor in Monroe, Washington, explained the gospel to the other passengers via the intercom. Shortly before the crash, she led them in prayer to God for the forgiveness of their sins. The pilot who passed the report on says that there is still no plausible technical explanation for the fact that the aircraft remained relatively stable for those 9 minutes. One thing is clear: it remained in the air long enough for Linda Knight to explain the gospel.
Source: San Francisco Examiner and John Hernandez

Editor's Note: According to John Hernandez, Linda Knight was able to explain the gospel to the passengers before the aircraft crashed. A number of the family's friends have questioned the accuracy of this statement. It may be a misunderstanding of a statement made by Jeff Knight, Linda Knight's son, that his mother was 'probably' able to tell the passengers about Jesus. Officially, there is no evidence that Linda Knight said anything to her fellow passengers. It is impossible to conclusively verify or refute the report, because neither the black box tapes nor a complete transcript of their content can be legally released; the transcript which has been released contains only the information of direct relevance to the crash. The information available at the time of publication appeared trustworthy, but subsequent research has cast doubts on the report.

India

Signs, wonders and new churches in Northern India

"Our main aim is to plant new churches, because we are convinced that it is the most effective method for completing the Great Commission in Matthew 28:10," says Dr. Alex Abraham, previously a neurosurgeon famous throughout Northern India who now heads 'Operation Agape'. "The movement has grown from 1,500 to 3,000 house churches in the past three years. The Reach Punjab 2000 movement set itself the aim of planting churches in each of Punjab's post code areas; in July 1998, 220 had no church, now only 33 remain."

Persecution and attacks

"The stronger the persecution, the more doors open", he says "Many of God's servants in Northern India are repeatedly attacked, their literature is stolen, their buildings and vehicles damaged. And yet Jesus continues to add people to his Kingdom." In Kinnaur/Pradesh, a Hindu fanatic joined the church, and was even baptised, but is now trying to denounce the church. But the church in Kinnaur still continues to grow: in the last 5 years, 21 churches have been planted with a total of more than 2,000 members. Samuel John from Shadol District in Madhya Pradesh reports that armed Hindu guerrillas set out to Chirimeri to break up an event. They were unable to complete their journey because their Jeep stopped for no apparent reason. The driver later told of what had happened, and the whole group now wants to hear the gospel.

Mother healed, witch doctor baptised

Om Prakash was an idol worshipper and witch doctor in Kotli Village, Haryana. He was familiar with the devil and even drove demons out of people with his magic tricks - for money. Six months ago, his mother became seriously ill, and was close to death. Om Prakash tried all of his magic arts and even took her to the hospital, but her condition worsened. One day, he spoke with a demon, asking him how his mother's life could be saved. "I cannot give her life," the demon replied. In anger, Om Prakash destroyed all his idols. At that moment, Pastor Joseph was able to pray for Om Prakash's mother, who was completely healed. In March 2000, an Operation Agape team celebrated the baptism of not only the mother, but also of Om Prakash himself, his wife and father.
Source: Dr. Alex Abraham, Operation Agape, fax +91 161 456323, e-mail agapeldh@usa.net

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