DAWN Fridayfax 2004 #16

Germany

"Pray for the train!"

"More good luck!", "Tractor fell on track, rammed by express train", "Train escapes catastrophe", "Tractor de-rails train near Efringen-Kirchen, second train collides with first, vintner severely injured" - those were the headlines in the newspapers and TV news in Germany on April 2nd 2004. Martin Huber, who lives in Efringen-Kirchen, writes "During an intense prayer time in the week of the accident, my wife had the impression that she should pray for protection for the trains, drivers and passengers. That Thursday, April 1, the accident happened: a vintner lost control of his tractor, which slid down a steep embankment onto the rails. Badly injured, he was able to scramble away from the approaching train, which demolished his tractor. 'Luckily,' the train didn't topple, but only jumped the rails enough to scrape the side of the other express train travelling in the opposite direction. My wife does not normally pray for the trains passing only 400 metres from our house. We believe that God spoke into her prayer time, and that her prayer was a factor in preventing a catastrophe."
Source: Martin & Ruth Huber, Efringen-Kirchen

Switzerland/Hungary

UN listens to Chinese house church leaders

"For the first time, persecuted Chinese house church leaders, including tortured and sexually abused women, have testified to the UN Human Rights Commission about how the Chinese Government treats Christians from unregistered churches," writes Dutch journalist Stefan J. Bos. The suffering of at least 8,903 Chinese Christians who have been imprisoned in the last decade, and some tortured, was declared by the United Nations to be a violation of Human Rights. The hearing was led by Lord Chan of Oxton, a Member of the British Parliament. Since the end of 2002, the Chinese Government has intensified the persecution of unregistered, and hence uncontrolled, churches, particularly Evangelical groups such as the South China Church and other unregistered groups. The increased persecution mirrors the Communist government's concern about the growing number of Christians in China. Analysts believe that the church is growing faster in China than anywhere else in the world.
Source: Assist News Service, www.assistnews.net

USA

Films with Christian content do best at the box office

The spectacular financial success of Mel Gibson's film 'The Passion of the Christ' may have surprised many critics, but not Dr. Ted Baehr and his staff at the "Christian Film & Television Commission?", a religious lobbying group in Hollywood. "We've been tracking the success of Christian films for years," says Baehr. "Year in, year out, the statistics show that films with strong Christian convictions make far more money at the box office than those with a non-Christian ethic." Between 2001 and 2003, for example, 'Finding Nemo', 'The Gospel of John', 'The Lord of the Rings', 'Luther', 'We Were Soldiers' and 'Evelyn' brought in between two and five times as much as films with strongly non-Christian themes.

Comparing world views in 2003

	Box office takings
Strong Christian values	$77,296,571
Strong non-Christian values	$16,150,236



In more detail

	Box office takings
Christian	$77,296,571
Occult	$70,422,751
Pagan	$25,233,085
Romantic	$12,739,480
Homosexual	$8,600,126
Anti-Christian	$5,812,522
Humanist	$5,313,973
False Religion	$717,197


Source: Assist News Service, www.assistnews.net/Stories/s04040012.htm

Nepal

Jesus can heal where the witch doctors fail

An evangelist working with the German mission agency AVC in Nepal reports "I work in the Gorkha district. I was recently called to a house where a man called Mithe Pandey had been possessed by evil spirits for nine years. His family had done everything they could to help him; all their savings had been spent on Hindu priests and witch doctors, to no avail. When I entered the house, I told Mithe about Jesus and his transforming power. Touched by God's love, he fell to his knees and gave his life to Jesus. To his family's astonishment, his symptoms - shaking, frothing at the mouth and cursing - vanished instantly. He was completely set free. The result was that his entire family, which had previously strongly opposed Christianity, came to believe in Jesus. There is now a lively church in the village."
Source: Daniel Hofer, AVC

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