Tuesday, January 10, 2006

take time and pray...

01/09/2006: Bangladesh Missionary Brutally Murdered

Gospel for Asia leaders in Bangladesh report that native missionary Laxman Das, 25, was murdered last Friday, January 6. He was found on the side of a highway near the town of Dangil, approximately 100 kilometers (62 miles) outside of the capital city of Dhaka. Police took his body to a hospital, where an autopsy revealed the cause of death to be a severe blow to the head.

Laxman is survived by his young wife and five-month-old child. He graduated from a GFA Bible college in 2001 and was working full-time as a missionary. He had already established a church in his village located in the northern part of Bangladesh. Laxman was returning home by bus on Friday when it was stopped. He was apparently singled out and forced off the bus, then killed. GFA leaders are still waiting for more details from the police investigation.

"This is the time of the Eid festival [when Muslims celebrate what they believe to be Abraham's willingness to sacrifice his son, Ishmael]," one GFA leader commented. "There is no law and order in some places, and usually many incidents like this happen." The nation of Bangladesh is primarily Muslim, with more than 85 percent professing Islam. Less than one percent of the population is Christian.

Gospel for Asia is currently training 77 students in two Bible colleges in the country. GFA also has 98 full-time native missionaries in Bangladesh who have planted 75 churches and 100 mission stations. "This is not the first time we have faced such opposition to the work of the Gospel in Bangladesh," commented GFA President K.P. Yohannan. "As the Body of Christ, we must stand together in prayer for our brothers and sisters in this nation."

Please pray for Laxman's family and co-workers to know the Lord's comfort and strength as they grieve his death, and pray that much fruit will come from this "grain of wheat" that has fallen.

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