INDIA: 14 years later, 2 suspects arrested for the murder of Australian missionary Graham Staines and his two young sons who were burned to death in their sleep by a right wing mob

Mission Network News reports:

14 years after Australian missionary Graham Staines and his two young sons were burned to death in their sleep by a right wing mob, two suspects were arrested last week.

According to The Hundu, 37-year-old Ghanshyam Mahanta and 34-year-old Ramjan Mahanta were arrested on Friday morning during a raid by India’s Central Bureau of Investigation officials and the Keonjhar police.

The third individual is still on the run.

The Hindustan Times reported that in an incident that drew international outrage, Staines, 58, and his sons Philip, 10, and Timothy, 6, were burned to death on Jan. 22 1999 by a mob led by Bajrang Dal activist Dara Singh. Staines and his sons were asleep in their station wagon in front of a church in Manoharpur village in Keonjhar, about 400km northwest of Bhubaneswar, when the mob set his vehicle on fire.

• The Hindustan Times said a total of 18 people, including Dara Singh, were arrested for their involvement in the crime while three others were on the run.
• In 2003, a CBI court in Bhubaneswar sentenced Singh to death and 12 others to life.
• In 2005, the Hindustan Times reported, the Orissa high court commuted Singh’s death sentence to life imprisonment. The court, however, retained the life imprisonment awarded to the other accused.
• In 2011, the Supreme Court upheld Orissa high court’s life imprisonment for Singh and his accomplices.

Staines’ wife and daughter now live in Australia.

BELOW, READ the 2011 – ORIGINAL POST on the burning death of Graham Staines and his sons Philip and Timothy:
(via) Randy Alcorn from his Eternal Perspective Ministries.

On January 23rd of 1999, Graham and his two sons, Phillip (11 yrs.) and Timothy (6 yrs.) were murdered by a large mob of militant Hindus. They had gone to a Christian camp in the jungle, where Graham was ministering. At midnight the mob attacked, setting fire to the jeep in which Graham and his sons were sleeping. They were burned alive. When the fire finally cooled, they found the charred body of Graham Staines with his arms around the bodies of his sons.

Graham served the Lord in the jungles of Orissa for over 34 years. He was described as “a wonderful, gracious, self-effacing man of God, full of faith, confidence and humility; warm-hearted, and a wonderful father.” At his funeral, the streets were thronged with masses of people—Hindus, Muslims and Christians. They were there to show respect for Graham and his family and to show their solidarity against the actions of the killers. Despite the fact that persecution of Christians has increased in recent years, the president of India came forward and said, “that someone who spent years caring for patients of leprosy, instead of being thanked and appreciated as a role model should be done to death in this manner is… a crime that belongs to the world’s inventory of black deeds.”

The response of Gladys and Esther was on the front page of every newspaper in India (with one billion people, soon to pass China as the most populous nation on earth). Gladys said, “I have only one message for the people of India. I’m not bitter. Neither am I angry. But I have one great desire: that each citizen of this country should establish a personal relationship with Jesus Christ who gave his life for their sins…let us burn hatred and spread the flame of Christ’s love.”

Gladys and her daughter did not move back to Australia, but, instead stayed on to work at the Hospital leprosy center that her family had served before her husband and two sons were killed. Indeed, a moving example of faithful serving and dying for Christ. Read the entire article at Randy Alcorn’s site…

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Randy Alcorn – Gospel and Niceness

Randy Alcorn is featured over at http://www.sermoncentral.com/ with this article:

When Gianna Jessen (an abortion survivor) spoke at our church recently, she said many memorable things. The one I’ve been thinking about most is to be a follower of Christ you need to be willing to be hated.

I agree.

Of course, this does NOT mean being hateful. Nor does it mean seeking to be hated. Or having a persecution complex, so you think people don’t like you because you’re following Christ, when they actually don’t like you because of how you’re acting.

I am all for graciousness, kindness and servant-hearted love as we speak the truth. I seek to practice this with the non-Christians I’m around. But at some point the greatest kindness we can offer them, coming out of a life of humility and faithfulness to Christ, is the good news about Jesus. That good news actually involves some very bad news about human sinfulness, which is what makes the cross an offense, meaning that it ticks people off.

The danger comes when we live in such fear of being mislabeled that we don’t step forward as unapologetic and unashamed all-out followers of Jesus. They can call us Jesus freaks or ignorant or uncool or intolerant or anything they want; that’s fine. We should do what we believe pleases our Lord, regardless of how it pans out in opinion polls. That includes loving others and giving radically and ministering to the down and out and addressing addictions and saying we think it’s wrong to kill children of all ages and helping people find alternatives. We do such things not seeking the approval of our culture, but of our King.

Alcorn makes these important points in his article. Note especially #3.:

1. If we seek our culture’s approval, we’ll either never get it or get it only at the expense of failing to represent Christ.
   
2. Among some believers the new definition of a good Christian is holding your beliefs privately, not challenging those who publicly share beliefs that dishonor Christ, and avoiding controversy at all costs lest we be perceived as “those kind of Christians” who hate gays, oppose abortion, favor inquisitions and love to burn witches.
3. There is nothing new or postmodern about the gospel turning some people off. As D. L. Moody said when someone criticized his approach to evangelism, “I like the way I do it better than the way you don’t do it.”It is not gracious and kind to withhold the gospel from those who, according to Jesus, are going to hell without Him. Sometimes what we imagine to be our graciousness and kindness is actually indifference or cowardice.

   “All men will hate you because of me.” Mark 13:13

   “If the world hates you, keep in mind that it hated me first.” John 15:18

Read the article in full here -  http://www.sermoncentral.com/

Randy Alcorn – Difficult Truths: Sovereignty, Suffering, and the Promise of Heaven

From Randy Alcorns website Eternal Perspective Ministries-

Randy Alcorn is an author and the founder of Eternal Perspective Ministries (EPM), a nonprofit ministry dedicated to teaching principles of God’s Word and assisting the church in ministering to the unreached, unfed, unborn, uneducated, unreconciled, and unsupported people around the world. His ministry focus is communicating the strategic importance of using our earthly time, money, possessions and opportunities to invest in need-meeting ministries that count for eternity. He accomplishes this by analyzing, teaching, and applying the biblical truth.

Before starting EPM in 1990, Randy served as a pastor for fourteen years. He holds degrees in theology and biblical studies and has taught on the adjunct faculties of Multnomah University and Western Seminary in Portland, Oregon.

Randy has written more than forty books, including the bestsellers Heaven, The Treasure Principle, and the Gold Medallion winner Safely Home. His books in print exceed five million and have been translated into over thirty languages. Randy has written for many magazines including EPM’s quarterly issues-oriented magazine Eternal Perspectives. He is active daily on Facebook and Twitter, has been a guest on more than 700 radio, television and online programs including Focus on the Family, FamilyLife Today, Revive Our Hearts, The Bible Answer Man, and The Resurgence.

From the video below:

Do not throw Romans 8:28 at people after a tragedy. Grieve with them. Don’t try to minimize their suffering by quoting this verse right away.
Look at Jesus. Jesus wept even though He knew He would be raising Lazarus from the dead.. He wept for Mary and Martha. He wept for the ugliness of death, and, knowing that even though raised from the dead, Lazarus would have to die again.
And, so Scripture as it looks forward to the resurrection does not minimize pain and suffering. Never the less Romans 8:28 says, “And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.” Read entire chapter 8 in Romans here.

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Randy Alcorn – The Purity Principle (Esssential Reading)

This is a very helpful article with the Biblical perspective on sexual purity from Randy Alcorn. You will find all his links at the bottom of this page.

Chapter 5 and 6 from the Purity Principle

Posted in: Excerpts from Randy’s Books, Sexual Purity Articles
By Randy Alcorn

The Purity Principle is this: Purity is always smart; impurity is always stupid.

Does God really argue for sexual purity on the basis that it’s the smart choice, while impurity is stupid? Judge for yourself:

Why be captivated, my son, by an adulteress? Why embrace the bosom of another man’s wife? For a man’s ways are in full view of the LORD, and he examines all his paths. The evil deeds of a wicked man ensnare him; the cords of his sin hold him fast. He will die for lack of discipline, led astray by his own great folly. (Proverbs 5:20-23)

Why avoid adultery? Because God will see it and He will bring judgment. But even before judgment day “the cords of his sin hold him fast.” The adulterer will be ensnared; he will die. He’s the primary victim of his foolishness. In contrast, the man who remains pure can “rejoice” and “be captivated” by his wife’s love, enjoying their sexual union (Proverbs 5:18-19).

In the next chapter God asks, “Can a man scoop fire into his lap without his clothes being burned? Can a man walk on hot coals without his feet being scorched? So is he who sleeps with another man’s wife; no one who touches her will go unpunished. (Proverbs 6:27-29)

Haunting words: no one who touches her will go unpunished.

Proverbs also depicts the man who is seduced into adultery as “an ox going to the slaughter,” and like a deer or bird being killed by a hunter (Proverbs 7:21-27).

A believer recovering from sexual addiction (which requires repentance from sexual sin) told me, “Addicts always think they can get away with it. You won’t change until you realize you can’t.”

I can never get away with sexual immorality. God wants me to remember that…for my sake.

The world was not worthy of them, who is the God they serve? (1)… Graham Staines’ family, India

(via) Randy Alcorn from his Eternal Perspective Ministries.

On January 23rd of 1999, Graham and his two sons, Phillip (11 yrs.) and Timothy (6 yrs.) were murdered by a large mob of militant Hindus. They had gone to a Christian camp in the jungle, where Graham was ministering. At midnight the mob attacked, setting fire to the jeep in which Graham and his sons were sleeping. They were burned alive. When the fire finally cooled, they found the charred body of Graham Staines with his arms around the bodies of his sons.

Graham served the Lord in the jungles of Orissa for over 34 years. He was described as “a wonderful, gracious, self-effacing man of God, full of faith, confidence and humility; warm-hearted, and a wonderful father.” At his funeral, the streets were thronged with masses of people—Hindus, Muslims and Christians. They were there to show respect for Graham and his family and to show their solidarity against the actions of the killers. Despite the fact that persecution of Christians has increased in recent years, the president of India came forward and said, “that someone who spent years caring for patients of leprosy, instead of being thanked and appreciated as a role model should be done to death in this manner is… a crime that belongs to the world’s inventory of black deeds.”

The response of Gladys and Esther was on the front page of every newspaper in India (with one billion people, soon to pass China as the most populous nation on earth). Gladys said, “I have only one message for the people of India. I’m not bitter. Neither am I angry. But I have one great desire: that each citizen of this country should establish a personal relationship with Jesus Christ who gave his life for their sins…let us burn hatred and spread the flame of Christ’s love.”

Gladys and her daughter did not move back to Australia, but, instead stayed on to work at the Hospital leprosy center that her family had served before her husband and two sons were killed. Indeed, a moving example of faithful serving and dying for Christ. Read the entire article at Randy Alcorn’s site…

Source