DAWN Fridayfax 2000 #32

India

Child with two heads and two sexes healed

As Dawn Friday Fax editor, I am used to hearing extraordinary reports. The following, though, was a little too much even for me, and I decided to publish it only after repeated requests for verification and research through personal friends in India, such as nationally famous surgeon Dr. Victor Choudhrie and Prof. Alex Abraham. Both confirmed the report.

At a church-planting conference in Madhya Pradesh state, Rev. Amos, a personal friend, told of the following events: a church-planting team visited a village without a Christian church. As usual, they asked whether there was a sick person in the village for whom they could pray. The villagers led them to a hut in which a family lived, with a severely disfigured five-month-old baby: it had two heads and two sexes, both male and female. The parents and other villagers looked on in suspense to see what the Christians would do. In faith, one of the church-planters laid hands on the child and prayed to Jesus for a miracle. As she prayed, the two heads became one! After further prayer, the child was left with only one sex: a girl. The village's first church was planted as a result of the miracle.

Erich Reber's comment: "When I heard Rev. Amos' report, and in my mind was still questioning whether this miracle really occurred, God spoke to me very clearly. He showed me that the church in Switzerland also has several heads. Beside Jesus Christ, there are others: materialism, humanism, rationalism, mammon, worldly heads and so on. The identity of the church is also not clearly visible; people looking at the church from the outside can't tell what it is. Just as the woman laid her hands on the sick child, God is initiating a movement consisting of countless women, men and children, who are praying that Jesus will be restored as the only head, and the identity of the church become visible."
Source: Rev. Amos/Dr. V. Choudhrie, E-mail victor@bom6.vsnl.net.in, Tel/Fax (+91) - 7145 63229, and Erich Reber

Moldavia

Pentecostal churches quadrupled

"The Pentecostal churches in Moldavia are growing despite - or even because of - the nation's economic problems," according to the July 2000 Assemblies of God News. "People recognise that God is the only answer to their problems," says Victor Pavlovski, Bishop of the Pentecostal Union and President of the Theological Seminary in Moldavia's capital, Chisinau. "We tell people that we do not know whether life will become easier or more difficult in the future, just that it will be over one day. Because of that, we need a good relationship with God today." Independence from Russia, which Moldavia's 4.4 million inhabitants obtained in 1991, brought no economic benefits and did not reduce crime or corruption. The lifting of restrictions on Christians did bring a quadrupling in the membership of Pentecostal churches, though: in 1992, there were some 70 Pentecostal churches in the nation, with around 6,000 members; today, there are 200 churches with 28,000 members. One of the reasons for the growth is a plan which Pavlovski developed: on Sunday evenings, whole churches travel to areas unreached by the gospel, where they hold their services. Thirty new churches have been planted in the last two years as a result.
Source: AG-News

Cuba

First open celebration in 40 years

"Cuba's Baptists celebrated their first public evangelistic meetings in 40 years," writes the Baptist Press news service. Cuban Christians attended two evening events linked to the meeting of the Baptist World Alliance in Havana on 3. July 2000. "This is a historic event for the Cuban people," said Victor Gonzales, Baptist General Secretary for Western Cuba. "It is the first time that all pastors, students and missionaries have taken part in one meeting, and the first public meeting since the revolution 41 years ago. The Lord himself is opening doors in Cuba. The only answer for Cuba is Jesus Christ." Theo Angelov, General Secretary of the European Baptist Federation, compared Cuba's current political and economic situation with that of his native Bulgaria before the fall of Communism a decade ago. "I come from a land which was governed by Communism for 50 years. I am aware of the significance of such a meeting for Cuba's population," he said. Cuba's Baptists number 418 churches and 901 mission stations with around 38,000 baptised believers, and are hence Cuba's largest evangelical group, according to the report.

Quote of the week:

"We don't need more church buildings in Cuba. But Christian meetings in private households are fine, as long as no more than 15 people attend." - Fidel Castro
Source: Baptist Press

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