Bringing Light to Darkness

MISSION

A blind person anywhere in the world faces physical and social barriers. But to be blind in Thailand is especially difficult.

Prayat Punongong lost his sight at the age of eight in 1961, the result of an automobile accident. And in this predominantly Buddhist nation, blindness and other disabilities are commonly interpreted as punishment for sin in a previous life.

Punongong believed otherwise, and with the aid of Christian missionaries fought to receive the education he wanted. He became a Christian in the process, and in 1978 started a school for the blind with $500 and 13 students.

A decade later some 80 blind people, mostly young children, study at the Khon Kaen Training Center, where Punongong serves as administrator. Today the school receives most of its financial support from the Christian Blind Mission International (CBMI), with international headquarters in West Germany.

Now, instead of being hidden from public view due to their parents’ shame, or confined to the streets as beggars, many blind youth in Thailand are learning to care for and support themselves. One major goal of the program is to prepare students for successful integration into government-operated schools.

“In my country,” says Punongong, “children are told that if they shake hands or stand too close to a blind person, they will get a disease or have bad luck.” Hundreds of graduates from the school Punongong founded now destroy this myth every day in government schools throughout Thailand.

Punongong’s efforts also provide a source for his Christian testimony. “In the Gospel of John,” he recalls, “the disciples asked Jesus if a man was born blind because he sinned or because his parents sinned. Jesus said it was neither.”

Time is set aside at the Khon Kaen center for prayer and for worship as part of the students’ two-year experience there. “We want the students to learn how to function in society,” said Punongong. “We also want them to see the light that is God.”

World Scene

EASTERN EUROPE

Camp Meeting In Poland

Evangelistic meetings held in Poland this summer were eagerly attended, according to a report from Campus Crusade for Christ’s European office. Nearly 6,000 attended the largest of the week-long series of meetings, with 200 accepting Christ.

Observers report no interference from the Polish government. The meetings were held in a large tent in the village of Cieszyn, and Polish television produced a program about the event—a first, according to observers. Organizers of the event videotaped the proceedings and will distribute the tapes to organizers of home Bible studies this winter. Protestants in Poland number 120,000, compared to the nation’s 35 million Catholics.

TRENDS

Islam Goes To College

Over the past ten years, several British universities have established departments of Islamic or Middle Eastern studies that are heavily financed by Islamic nations or individuals. According to a report from People International, an outreach ministry to Muslims, the university centers “promote Islam” while giving it “academic credibility.”

Contributions from Persian Gulf states to Oxford University’s Center for Islamic Studies have been estimated at close to $10 million. Other British universities receiving similar aid are Exeter and Newcastle.

A spokesperson for People International says that Islamic clergy see England as a potential source of converts.

UPDATE

China Seeks Church Help

Faced with corruption in government and moral decay in society, Chinese Communist leaders may be turning to the church for help, says a report from the Hong Kong-based Chinese Church Research Centre. The report referred to conversations between premier Li Peng and American evangelist Billy Graham, where Ping suggested Christianity could play a role in China’s efforts to fight moral and social problems.

In June, the government allowed the official Protestant church to consecrate its first bishops in more than 30 years. The government also allowed a Catholic bishop who had been imprisoned for 30 years to visit the United States. The report says such activity may be the result of Chinese Christians’ reputation for being good citizens.

PACIFISTS

Baptists Study Peace Roots

Last month a group of Baptists met in Sweden for the first International Baptist Peace Conference. There were nearly 200 Baptists from 27 countries in attendance.

“We are discovering the presence of a worldwide community of Baptists who share our convictions, along with an almost-forgotten history of Baptist peacemakers,” noted Ken Sehested, the executive director of the Baptist Peace Fellowship of North America, which helped sponsor the event.

The conference focused heavily on Baptist history. Twice each day Paul Dekar, a Baptist church historian from Canada, told brief stories of Baptists who struggled to abolish slavery, oppose war, and reform prisons. But Australian history professor Heather Vose noted that the majority opinion among Baptists since the seventeenth century has been to support the use of violence in resolving conflict.

The five-day event included participants from the Soviet Union and East Germany. One specific result of the historic conference—a “Baptist Pen Pals for Peace” network—was initiated by 12-year-old Courtney Walsh of Memphis, Tennessee.

MIDDLE EAST

Plea For Jailed Christian

Christians in Egypt have begun a campaign to free a fellow believer who has been in jail for his faith for nearly two years. Abdul-Rahman Mohammed Abdul-Ghaffar was arrested on October 21, 1986, without explanation and has never been given a legal hearing.

No official charges have been brought against Abdul-Rahman, but informed sources say he will be accused of “exploiting religion to promote extremist ideas and divide national unity and social peace.” This was the same charge used against ten other Christian converts from Islam detained in 1986. They were released after widespread Western media attention.

Prompted by what he had read of Christ in the Qur’an, Abdul-Rahman, a medical doctor, began a study of the Bible in 1981, which ultimately led to his Christian conversion.

ELECTRONIC EVANGELISM

Bible Beamed To North Korea

South Korea’s Christian Broadcasting System (CBS) recently began airing a daily program of Bible reading at dictation speeds for listeners in North Korea.

“We do not know if anyone in North Korea is listening,” said the program’s sponsor,” Peter Lee. Radio ownership is carefully controlled by the North Korean government. The few that are available have no tuning dial, just an on/off switch preset to the official government channel.

According to a report from News Network International, this is believed to be the first time the Bible has been read across the airwaves to people in North Korea. However, a CBS spokesman said that “hard evidence of a Christian audience in North Korea is not available.” Most Christians fled the northern section of the Korean peninsula during the Korean War.

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