A total of 50 Christians were viciously assaulted during a Sunday worship service held in Rajasthan state, which is located in the western part of India. A group of about 200 individuals stormed the building in Bikaner City and struck worshipers with iron rods and vandalized property.
Many attendees suffered serious injuries during the attack before local authorities arrived on the scene. If you thought that Christian persecution was a thing of the past, think again.
This sort of violence is becoming more and more common all over the world, even right here in the United States. Church shootings have started to rise along with terrible acts of vandalism. Satan is alive and well.
The attack took place near the close of the service. Three people sustained severe injuries while others had bruises all over their bodies. May God have mercy on His children and heal their wounded bodies and hearts.
“The pastor of the church, who asked to remain anonymous due to security reasons, said a new member had attended the service that day and was seen sending messages minutes before the mob entered the church, at which point he ran out of the building,” The Christian Post reported.
“The attackers left hastily when police arrived at the scene. Police questioned the injured Christians afterward and accused them of forced conversions. The pastor’s children were cautioned that they should not turn out like their father,” it added.
Local law enforcement escorted the pastor, along with his wife and other believers to the Mukta Prasad police stations. Police conducted an investigation into the group’s allegations of forced conversions. Neither the pastor or those who joined him at the station were charged with any crime due to a lack of evidence.
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Fearful that more attacks would follow if they spoke against the mob, church members decided not to file a complaint. In other words, the vicious assault went unpunished. That, friends, is a travesty.
The attack occurred weeks after the Rajasthan Prohibition of Unlawful Conversion of Religion Bill 2025, an anti-conversion measure, was presented before the state’s legislative assembly. If it becomes law, individuals who want to convert voluntarily would be required to submit an application to a district magistrate 60 days in advance. Any conversion determined to be forced would be treated as a non-bailable offense, potentially resulting in a significant fine and up to 10 years in prison. The proposed legislation would also shift the burden of proof onto those accused of compelling someone to change faith.
Twelve out of 28 states in India enforce these anti-conversion laws, according to an organization called the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom. The proposed measures in Rajasthan are part of a larger trend that also includes amendments made last year in Uttar Pradesh, where the current anti-conversion laws on the books were changed in order to make punishments more stringent.
If you are like most of the world and think Hindus are peaceful people, you’ve been lied to. Most of these harsh laws and penalties have been pushed and enacted by the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party.
Last December, over 400 individual Christians and 30 church groups, including several Baptist conventions, councils and associations, sent a letter to President Draupadi Murmu and Prime Minister Narendra Modi, according to Baptist Standard. The letter asked for intervention against violent mobs that have targeted Christians and other religious minorities. The signatories stated that believers in various parts of India have been facing assaults and intimidation.
Pray for those who are living in these places in India, that they would still remain faithful and obedient to Christ and His call to preach the gospel so that all have an opportunity to be saved.