According to Voice of the Martyrs (VOM), more than 70,000 Christians have been displaced and forced to live in refugee camps:
“At the Peyton Sahi relief camp which houses 35 families and 130 distraught tribals, Chabila Naik, a man who ran an orphanage for 50 children in Sarangada spent three days in the forest after their houses and churches were razed [with fire]. He has not been reunited with the children,” VOM sources said.
Stories coming from persecuted believers in Orissa are heartbreaking. Christians spent days hiding in the forest following the attacks that erupted on August 24, after the murder of a prominent Hindu leader by Maoist extremists. “One family which did not want to be named said they had to leave their elderly mother in the jungles while the others walked through rain and darkness for 60 hours to get out of Kandhmal,” VOM sources added.
“We had no choice; I could either save my wife and two kids, or stay with her and ask for death for all of us. But, I am sure God has saved her, though I have no idea where she is,” the man told VOM sources with tears in his eyes.
VOM is assisting displaced believers in Orissa and other areas in India where persecution has spread. Pray for believers who face these intense hardships and have in some cases lost contact with family members. Ask God to protect them and provide for their needs. Pray their testimonies will draw nonbelievers into fellowship with Him.
Of the situation in India, VOM Director Tom White makes these staggering remarks:
“In India in the last five years, more Christians have been beaten or killed and more houses and churches burned than in all other countries of the world combined. What has happened? Why have so many fanatics arisen among the Hindus? Thousands of Dalits (formerly untouchables), have found Christ. This is a threat to their masters, the land-owning higher caste Hindus. Still, opposition such as anti-conversion laws in India have not stopped the evangelistic explosion there.”