the Indian state of Himachal Pradesh have turned that church into a Hindu temple, a missionary group said Tuesday, December 13.
"60 new believers (and former Hindus) in the Indian state of Himachal Pradesh were threatened with death if they did not return to Hinduism…We all thanked God when He answered our prayers and the Christians were spared. Now, however, the place where that church was meeting has been forcefully taken over by radical Hindus and turned into a temple," added K.P. Yohannan the founder and president of Gospel for Asia (GFA), which supports native missionaries.
He said it was the first time in the 26-year history of GFA that a place of worship "has been taken over and defiled as a temple."
FAMILY EXPELLED
Yohannan stressed the pastor of the Believers’ Church in India (BCI) in Baijnath town, Ramesh Masih Bhatti, and his family were forced to move from the building, where they lived for 25 years, and are now with relatives.
"Local officials have done nothing about the take-over, and in fact have apparently sided with the Hindus."
Police officials in the region could not be reached immediately for comment. However in the past they had apparently interfered to prevent an arson attack.It was not clear whether the police knew of the Hindu temple plans.
ANTI-CHRISTIAN CAMPAIGN
"The leader of the Hindus in Himachal Pradesh is threatening a massive, village-by-village campaign to force Christians to convert back to Hinduism," said Yohannan in remarks obtained by BosNewsLife.
He said he had urged GFA supporters to "pray and fast on behalf of Pastor Bhatti and his family and for all of the believers in their church" so "God’s protection will be upon them, and and they will stand strong in the face of this horrible persecution."
Human rights groups have expressed concern about what they regard as growing attacks against churches and individual Chriastians across India, a predominantly Hindu nation. Christians comprise roughly two percent of India’s nearly 1.1 billion people, according to estimates of the US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA). (With reports from India and BosNewsLife’s Vishal Arora at the New Delhi Bureau)
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