by Karen Faulkner, Worthy News Correspondent
(Worthy News) - A pastor who was leading Hindus to Christ has taken his three children into hiding after Hindu radicals in India’s Bihar state attacked and threatened to kill him unless he shut down his church, Morning Star News (MSN) reports. Pastor Raj Masih, who lost his wife to COVID-19 earlier this year, had been holding services for at least 300 people prior to the attack on September 28.
A resident of Simri village in Bihar state, Pastor Masih was at a local market buying food for his children, when the mob surrounded him. “They kept repeating, ‘Stop Christian prayers. Shut down your church. If we see you conducting prayers, we will not spare you alive,’” Pastor Masih said. “They kicked very hard on my chest.”
“At least 300 members from different religious backgrounds were attending worship services in Simri,” Pastor Masih said. “More and more Hindus were putting faith in Christ as they witnessed their family members or relatives become strong in faith, leaving behind idol worship.”
Pastor Masih was attacked just months after his wife died in the pandemic, leaving him all the more concerned for the welfare of his children. Requesting prayer for his children, as well as for the church in Simri, Pastor Masih told MSN: “Since we lost my wife to COVID-19 in April this year, I am all they have. I do not know when we will be able to return to Simri. My children’s studies have come to an unexpected halt. They also miss their mother very much.”
India’s government, led by Hindu nationalist Prime Minister Narendra Modi of the Bharatiya Janata Party, is hostile toward non-Hindus: emboldened by this, Hindu extremist attacks against Christians have intensified greatly since the party took power in 2014. India now ranks 10 on the US Open Doors Watch List of top 50 countries where Christians are persecuted.