India Marxist Rebels Release Gospel For Asia Missionary

BosNewsLife ( 02/11/06) – A Gospel for Asia (GFA) native missionary has been released after being kidnapped in the state of Chhattisgarh late January by a Marxist rebel group known as the Naxalites, BosNewsLife learned Saturday, February 11.

Pastor Subhash, a missionary who started five mission stations “and led 28 people to Christ,” was captured while returning home in a taxi with five other people, confirmed GFA President K.P. Yohannan earlier. The young single Christian was apparently forced to leave the other passengers behind and taken to the jungle, said GFA, a major mission organization in India .

“They [the Naxalites] tried to force Subhash to join their terrorist group, but he refused and stood firm in spite of threats,” GFA added in a statement monitored by BosNewsLife. Two Naxalites rebels “were kind to Subhash, so he began to share with them about his ministry and about Jesus. They told Subhash how to find his way out of the jungle, and gave him 100 Rupees ($2.2) to help him [escape] on February 5,” GFA explained.

“Subhash is now at the nearby GFA Bible College ,” the group added. The Naxalites were named after the Naxalbari, a small village in West Bengal , where leftists led a militant peasant uprising in 1967, trying to develop a “revolutionary opposition” and establish “revolutionary rule” in India .

Subhash’s parents received a letter from the Marxist group, but it did not mention any ransom or other demands, GFA claimed. The kidnapping came as dozens of GFA native missionaries and Bible college students were allegedly beaten in militant attacks in the states of Bihar and Madhya Pradesh.

On Saturday, February 11, hundreds of thousands of Hindus were on their way to a tribal area of the Indian state of Gujarat , amid fears they will “persecute the Christians living there,” GFA said. The organization has been attacked by Hindu and other militants as it aims to raise up and send 100,000 native missionaries to preach the Gospel and establish churches. Currently GFA claims to supervise over 14,500 indigenous missionaries serving in 10 Asian nations.

Christians are estimated to comprise just roughly 2 percent of India ‘s nearly 1.1 billion, predominantly Hindu, population.