Religion Today Summaries – October 6, 2004

Ministry Watchdog Calls for TBN to Submit to Investigation
Allie Martin and Jody Brown, AgapePress

A North Carolina group that monitors the finances of more than 500 Christian nonprofits is calling for the founders of the Trinity Broadcasting Network (TBN) to step aside while a panel of Christian leaders investigates its finances. MinistryWatch.com, a division of Wall Watchers, has issued a "Donor Alert" regarding TBN.  The alert asking donors to consider withholding contributions to TBN comes on the heels of a series of articles in the Los Angeles Times focusing on the network's finances and the luxurious lifestyles of TBN founders Paul and Jan Crouch.  According to those articles, the Crouches receive combined annual salaries of more than $750,000 ("considerably higher than the average for executive pay for nonprofits," MinistryWatch says), and the ministry holds more than $230 million in U.S. Treasury bonds and more than $30 million in cash reserves. Michael Barrick with MinistryWatch wonders why the network continues to solicit donations.  "TBN presently has cash in short-term investments and long-term investments of about $280 million dollars, yet [they] continue to ask for more money?" he asks. A TBN press statement, dated September 22, 2004, explains that "because the nature and demands of [the network's] growth create large capital and long-term contract cost demands, extensive cash reserves must be maintained." Still, Barrick suggests the Crouches should step aside as leaders of TBN until an impartial panel of Christian leaders investigates the ministry. TBN is watched by more than five million households in the U.S. alone each week.  That is more viewers than its three main competitors combined.

Pastor Sued for Alleged Hate Speech Urges the Church to Avoid Timidity
Charisma News Service

A prominent Swedish charismatic pastor who was sued recently for alleged "hate speech against homosexuals" said the church must get involved politically to counter-lobby socialists and liberals in Europe. In August, Ulf Ekman was hit with the lawsuit. After only a few days, authorities decided not to prosecute the high-profile founder of Uppsala Word of Life Church (UWLC), but the incident further inflamed the already heated debate on the future of religious liberties in the northern European country. "There is a deliberate political move in all of Europe toward restricting the freedom of religion, with Sweden serving as a sort of European Union pilot project," Ekman told Charisma magazine. "Unless we now claim the freedom to preach the gospel in all of its facets and consequences, we soon will not be allowed to preach it at all," Ekman added. Ekman has urged the European church to "lay aside its timidity, its policies of silence and compromise, and raise its voice now, or [the believers] will soon be facing very dangerous times indeed. The agenda of the political left in Europe -- socialists and liberals -- is by no means secretive. The church must get involved politically, too, forming a counter-lobby." Ekman resided in Jerusalem and is committed to international missions. (http://www.charismanow.com)

Gospel For Asia Native Missionary Abducted By Maoist Insurgents In Nepal
Gospel For Asia

Gospel for Asia native missionary Tul was forcibly abducted two weeks ago by Maoist insurgents in a mountainous district of Nepal, according to a member of his congregation. Word reached GFA leaders only yesterday about Tul’s kidnapping because of the remote location of the village where he pastors a church. The believers there said they expected Tul to be freed a few days later, but so far his whereabouts are unknown and there has been no word from him. Tul was kidnapped by Maoists once before and held for a month. During that time, he was pressured to join their struggle for a communist state, but he refused and instead shared the Gospel with his captors, telling them how Jesus changed his life. For some reason, the insurgents released him. Pastor Tul is a graduate of a GFA Bible college and has been faithfully serving with Gospel for Asia since 2000. He is actively involved in evangelism and church planting, and has a sincere burden for unreached souls in his nation of Nepal. Since the war between the Maoists and the Nepali government began, more than 9,000 lives have been lost. As the violence continues, it threatens the spread of the Gospel—and the safety of our missionaries and believers.

Arrest Warrants Issued for Pakistani Police Officers
Barbara G. Baker, Compass Direct

Arrest warrants were issued yesterday by a provincial high court in southern Pakistan against two Karachi police officers standing trial for contempt of court. Charges have been filed against Deputy Superintendent of Police Qasim Ghori and Inspector Tasarrud Mumtaz Mehmood for manhandling several lawyers and abducting their Christian client from the Sindh High Court premises on October 22, 2002. The police actions flouted the court’s specific orders, issued minutes earlier, to release Christian prisoner Robin Piranditta from “illegal police detention.” Piranditta had been arrested at the scene of a terrorist attack against a Christian welfare organization two years ago. Police kept him under so-called “protective custody” for four weeks, inflicting “severe physical and mental torture.” Piranditta was the only uninjured Christian survivor of the attack and no evidence was produced of his complicity in the crime.