[Picture (courtesy HRCBM-Dhaka): Adv. Rabindra Ghosh of HRCBM-Dhaka talking with victim of brutal gang rape Mrs. Anima Bhattacherjee. Terrorist has also killed her husband. She is currently under treatment at Khulna Medical Hospital.]
The Alabama Baptist Newspaper reports, “DHAKA, Bangladesh– Muslim villagers in Mymensingh district eager to rid the area of the Christian work of a local pastor have gang-raped his 13-year-old daughter. Pastor Motilal Das of United Bethany Church said the villagers sexually assaulted his daughter, Elina Das, May 2 and left her unconscious in front of his house in an attempt to drive him and his Christian ministry out of the area. Local residents have long been angry with him for his ministry and evangelism, he said, and he has received death threats. “I did not pay attention to any of the threats of or hindrances – I continued evangelical and pastoral activities with prayer,” Das said. “When nothing stopped me, then they wanted to leave me scarred for life, so that I would be upset and not be able to show my face to the society for shame, and therefore I would leave the village.”
This is a worse case scenario of persecution on the mission field. I would rather die, be tortured, or suffer the lost of limbs, than to have one of my children suffer through being gang-raped. This happens often in our country as well. Somewhere in America, a woman is sexually assaulted every 2 1/2 minutes, according to the U.S. Department of Justice (2003), as reported by RAINN (Rape, abuse, and incest Nation Network).
Sure puts my “problems” in perspective. I pray for forgiveness for whining prayers and murmuring about little things, for looking in too often, and looking out too seldom. The Das family is in our prayers.
Steve you’re right, and I think this is how God uses it for good in our lives…
…because it humbles us to pray harder (with a broken heart) and, like you said, offers a proper perspective of our “problems.”
Yogi
The Das family is definitely in my prayers. I cannot imagine what he and his family…his daughter ….I can’t even articulate. The body of Christ neeeds to rise up and pray. More of us need to answer the call to missions. Our missionarie should not be few and far between.