Indonesia (MNN) — Indonesia’s president called on Muslims to be peaceful and respect the law amid persistent violence carried out in the name of Islam in the world’s most populous Islamic nation. Indonesia has been hit by a series of bloody bombings by hard-liners who have often vandalized bars, Western embassies and churches.
While the violence is a concern, Back to the Bible International’s Mark Blowers says one of their radio stations in North Sumatra is facing a challenge.
“We’ve had a local Christian FM radio station on the air for about a year in an area that’s heavily Muslim. The interesting thing about this particular location is it’s close to where the tsunami happened back in December 2004,” says Blowers.
Back to the Bible has been operating there with limited approval from the government. Blowers says he’s now concerned because they’re being required to get local government approval for the station. “It’s critical that they get this approval from the local council, or they cannot continue broadcasting. The interesting thing is that because it’s such a heavily Muslim area these council members are almost all Muslim and so the chance of this being approved from a human perspective is almost nil.”
Blowers says this the station has seen an incredible response. “We have received over 10,000 letters in our first year, and it’s critical that people pray that we can stay on the air because God’s Word is having an impact and people’s lives are being changed.”
The national director in Indonesia is doing work before their presentation, says Blowers. “Pray for them as they meet with the chief of police in the local area to tell him what’s going on before the meeting. They’re hoping to win his support and we need God to sway his heart because that will make a large difference with the other council members.”
A decision is expected in the next couple of weeks. Blowers says a positive decision would be an incredible answer to prayer. “If we got this local approval there is basically nothing that could happen within the law of Indonesia to shut down our station in the short term.”
