News  and  Praise

Newsletter #20

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  We at Love Lines are saddened at the loss of life caused by the tsunami. Regrettably, the death toll will continue to rise in time to come.

  One of our Love Lines Directors, Bro. Jackson from Bangalore has toured the devastation and his report follows.

Dear Friends,

  You must be aware of the Tsunami Tidal Wave which swept over South East Asia on the morning of 26th December and has claimed over 150,000 lives till date.

  I was involved in the relief operation for the Tsunami victims for the last 3 days and arrived just yesterday.  Tragedy is unspeakable and inexpressible.  Thousands of people have been washed away. Most of the beach shores are covered by water, which means the water level has

increased towards the land replacing shores that have been washed away.

  In a place called Nagapatanam in Chennai, 3 villages where the population is over 65000, has been completely wiped out and no trace of the seashore houses of mostly fishermen houses.  I can see decomposed bodies of people everywhere and in another place in Vellankani, a Catholic shrine where over 5000 tourists who went for a morning ocean bath were washed away. The neighboring  small islands are just covered by water and a lot of people are still missing. Altogether its is a very very awful sight. I had been to theses places with a team of volunteers for 3 days and have some pictures. In the  video pictures  we can see the aftermath of the tsunami affect.

  Bangalore and Karnataka is not affected but people are really very much in shock.

  Purified water is now supplied by trucks in the various places and I myself witnessed the distribution of loads of water.

  I first visited Chennai (Madras) and then went on to Kalpakkam, Ponidcherry, Cuddalore and  Nagapattanam.  Nagapttanam and Cud-dalore are worst affected areas.  Kalpakkam is where the Nuclear Atomic Energy plant is situated. 16 Scientists have died in this place. 48 children have died in a Catholic St. Anthony’s Shrine.  Six Government officials also have died. A 400 tonne  container ship has been swept away to the shore and lies on its side.

  We have surveyed the needs of the people and have found out that what they really need for their uplifting and their survival  are the following basic necessities which we have decided to provide for each of the families, for a total of 1000 families –

2 Cooking utensils

1 Plastic Bucket and Mug

1 Plastic Water pot

2 plates and tumblers

1 sleeping mat and 1 pillow

1 blanket and 1 bedsheet

10 kgs rice

2 kgs wheat crystals

2 kgs oil

2 kgs lentils

1 kg Sugar and salt each

Additionally a sum of Rs 500 each in cash for other necessities like cooking stove etc. The cost per family is 25 dollars. ORA Germany is providing 50% of the cost and I tried to arrange other 50% and distribute them from Sunday to Wednesday.

  After I returned from my second visit to the Tsunami hit areas, where we traveled for four days and distributed relief supplies of over Rs 20 lakhs.  We carried four truck loads of Rice, Lentils, Cooking utensils, Oil, Wheat, Sugar, Salt, sleeping Mats, Pillow, blanket, Water pot, Buckets, Mugs, spoons, plates, tumblers and many other items. 

   More than 2500 families have benefited & it was a very tremendous and hard operation to carry out. At times a few members of our team were at a risk of being run over by the crowds who came to collect the supplies.  But the Lord strengthened our team of 40 people. 

  One particular incident really touched & broke my heart at Nagapattanam. While we were distributing the relief materials, an elderly person was sitting on a pile of sand, which he told us later that this was where his house stood. He refused to accept the money or the relief materials that we were offering him. He then told us his sad story. He had gone to a nearby town to buy groceries. When he returned after about 3 hours, he saw the whole place flooded with water and human bodies floating around. He couldn’t find his house nor his family. He then found the bodies of his wife and four sons. Nobody from his family survived. When I offered him more money to take care of himself, he refused saying that he had no desire to live.

  There are many more such painful incidents. Every household has lost atleast one member in their family.  There is much mourning everywhere.

  Huge ships have been carried by the tidal wave and thrown on top of buildings. The Government has had to arrange for cranes to remove a huge ship which was thrown by the wave and destroyed a multi-storeyed

building.

   It’s almost 3 weeks since this incident has taken place, but the death toll is still rising due to the spread of diseases & infection in these areas.

  The Government and aid workers have their hands full with the rehabilitation work to be carried out……..

  We are planning to go back in the last week of this month to the areas where we have not been able to visit so far.  The Tidal wave tragedy has left unspeakable misery, fear and hopelessness in the mind and hearts of the remaining people of the area.

  Please continue to uphold these people in your prayers.   Pictures would be sent very shortly.

  I will be getting more reports and pictures and will send the same to you once I return from my visit.

God bless you all. Warm regards,

Pastor Jackson

E-mail:  <ora@bgl.vsnl.net.in>

    Javed Masih

    Johannesburg, South Africa

  We are happy to report that we received 2,400 calls for the year 2004. The crisis ministry has been a wonderful help.

  One man called and asked to come in for a personal meeting. He and his wife were constantly fighting with no peace. They were at the point of a divorce. With consultation, he and his wife have been brought back to peace and this bad matter solved and the family building together again.

  One young lady was smoking and using alcohol. It was destroying her life and became weak and near death. With counseling, she accepted Jesus  and left all bad things. Now she is living with God and with peace.

    Mzulumba Tonnie

    Malawi

  The work has progressed far in advance of our expectations. Over 15,780 since we opened in September 2000. Of that number almost 9,000 have expressed acceptance of Jesus Christ as their Savior.

  Last April I was invited to be a guest speaker at a Seminar. I spoke on Pride and Humanity in the church.

  From that time, people came to the Center. All my phones are busy. Someone brought me a mobile phone which is used mainly at night.

  We give Him the praise. I am looking forward to the conference in India.

    Cyrus Anaghe

    Delta, Nigeria

  I am interested in attending the conference in Bangalore. I missed coming to the United States for the last one.

  This year we had 245 calls with half of them accepting Jesus. 45 received healings through the prayer of faith by counselors.

God is good.

    Sunny John

    Indore, India

  God is moving in our Center. Three families have been counseled and settled their family problems. Six have called on us for healing. One mad man was healed and now doing his job well. One sister was miraculously healed from a heart attack.

  From another area, three heathen families came to the Lord and after one month some religious people attacked them, beat them and placed troubles in their way. We teach them through our Centre. Please pray for them.

     We have  great news: In our Indore city the city mayor election is going on and a Christian lady is one of the nominee. So please pray for her to win this this election. Please share to others those who are the prayer warriors and pray for our Indor city for a breakthrough from od If you have a word from God about her please send us.

         By the grace of God one sister recovered from her serious heart attack. One heathen Doctor told her, “Your God too powerful.” Praise God for this healing. Thank you for the mighty prayer. May God bless you.

Ravi Sharma

Pokhara, Nepal

  We had a wonderful time in the youth conference in Dulegaunda. Only 11 churches could attend the conference because of present political situation. 130+ were registered.

  God’s awesome presence filled the environment, God’s total dominion ruled over us. Not only the youths but also the leaders recommitted their life onto the LORD in the POWER of the Holy Spirit. Hidden diseases were revealed from the LORD who knows the heart of the people.

    Demonic power and evil forces put into the captivity by the POWER of resurrected LORD Jesus.

     Each and every youth were revived. Lives were renewed; healings and miracles took place to prove that JESUS is LIVING GOD.

   People were brought to us for prayer. Many received the Baptism of the Holy Spirit with the signs of speaking in tongues.

      One child will be brought to us for prayer who has a hole in heart, this happened on the second day. This child’s mother told us that she was not thinking of coming to us BUT something forced her to come in the meeting place. God is sooo faithful, we prayed for that child and the anointing came upon him.

  Many young girls and boys came to us shared that they were not taught of the Holy Spirit in their churches. Many of them had seen the reality of Jesus’ Power through the Holy Spirit. Many of them were delivered from the bondages of sins and spiritual forces. glory to Jesus who is the same, yesterday, today and forever.