The Book of 1 Thessalonians with VPP

In the year AD 50-51, Paul wrote these Epistle to the Thessalonica

1:1, Grace and peace from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

1:5, “For our gospel came not unto you in word only, but also in power and in the Holy Ghost…”

Gospel is God’s given message, it has power. And with Holy Spirit, the Gospel can change the listeners.

1:6, in much afflictions, they rejoiced, this is the work of the Holy Spirit. There were persecutions for the believers, but they were comforted. “There is hatred because of Christ…” (Luke 6:22-23)

1:9, one thing is that they had turned away from the idols to serve the living and true God.

2:1-12, Paul given the pastor’s handbook, how to be an effective pastor, how about a theologian?

1.verse 2, preach Christ, the Gospel.
2.verse 3-4, with a right motive
3.verse 5-6, no greed, not for the praise from man.
4.verse 7-8, gentle, caring, loving.
5.verse 9, and hardworking.
6.verse 10, holy, righteous and blameless.

The theologians who are teaching the VPP, why they are not gentle in their teaching ? In attacking the brothers who are reading and preaching Christ with the CUV ? They are preaching what ? A “underlying perfect bible,” are they looking praises from man, or the praises from Dean Burgan ? I called their perfect TR as the “under table perfect text,” let put on the table ! Show me the perfect text !

Are they blameless in VPP?

2:15, The Jew who kept and read the Bible, the Old Testament, they had killed the Lord Jesus Christ and their own prophets, and persecuted the believers. “eis telos !” wrath has come upon us to the uttermost.

Do we the keeper of the Bible, not a brother keeper?

Do we keep pure the text, but we will not keep our brothers? Kept pure for all ages, keep our brothers!

Paul wants us refrained from revenge, in enjoying the new life, we are to love our enemies, let God deal with the enemies. (Rom 12:19) Let us preach Christ, not ourselves.

2:17, Satan hindered us. The evil power is trying to hinder us from,

1.preaching Christ, spreading the gospel.
2.and tempting us to turn away from the truth,
3.and entangle us in sins.

What is the force working behind the VPP? Is VPP a hindrance in preaching Christ ? Is VPP promoting the Gospel or not ? Is VPP turn us away from the truth ? Or bring us nearer to the truth ? Or VPP brings us more confusions among ourselves ? It seems that VPP is bringing us more troubles and confusions than edifications, more slanders than the encouragements.

This blog is my personal opinion...you may not accept my view, this blog is not a dogma...it is a private view only. This blog is not from God, it is written by a man, please understand this.

3:2, but Paul sent Timothy to establish and encourage them concerning their faith. Timothy must not argue or quarrels about words! Even though the believers are called and appointed to suffer. (Matthew 4:17, John 16:33, Acts 14:22, 2 Tim 3:12, and 1 Peter 4:12). Do not quarrel about words. Not even for texts....

3:3, Paul wanted not one should be shaken by afflictions. For me, VPP is an affliction. I must not be shaken! And I had not owned this battle yet.

3:4, the tempter had tempted them! Paul wanted them to aware of the tempter! Paul said we should not afraid of him (Ephesians 6:16)

3:6, we must have faith and love! More faith in God, and more love toward man, (.....the brothers in BP.)

3:7, stand fast in the Lord.

3:10, Paul said, “to perfect what is lacking in their faith ?” Are we lacking a perfect underlying text? Or we are lacking some things else in our faith? What is lacking in our faith? Brotherly love? Unity? Truth ? We are not lack of a TR ! But we are lack of Love !

3:12, Paul pray for them, “may the Lord make you increase and abound in love to one another and to all, just as we do to you.” READ, PRAY, GROW + LOVE.

4:3-8, these are the commandments Paul given, to please God, we must,

1.abstain from sexual immorality.
2.not living in the passion of lust.
3.do not take advantage and defraud his brother.
4.living in holiness.

4:9-10, And Paul mentioned a plea for “Philadelphia”, “brotherly love,” not a plea for perfect underlying text TR.

Your followers are praising you, "I know you love the Bible, I know you love the KJV better than anything else, I know you love the 1611 old English, I know you love to read the Bible, I know you love the Lord, I know you love to preach the Gospel.

Your brothers in Christ are asking you, "but where is your love for your own brothers in Christ? Love for the other churches ?"

Some weak brothers are asking you further, "Do you really love the Lord? Do you really love the Bible? Do you really preach the gospel? Where is the brotherly love in Christ? Where are that love and faith? Show me on your websites, your sermon, your weekly, your face, your church members, show me, before I follow your VPP...."

Paul wrote, “Increase more and more in love !” Pursue love! Improve!

4:11, Paul encouraged us to continue in

1. lead a quiet life, (stop tiam tiam luan, stop all quarrel about “words”, quietly write some blogs, write you papers, but do not impost our personal view on others ! You are welcome for good comments.)

2. mind your own business, (do not disturb the Chinese Christians who are reading the CUV, one day their theologians will improve the Chinese Bible.)

3. work with your own hands. (Clean hands !)

5:4, You are not in darkness.

5:8, putting on the breastplate of faith and love, faith and love again! Let us become a good soldier. And put on the helmet of the salvation.

“Soldier, a soldier of Christ !”

You must say, “Yes, Sir.”

“Love, faith, and hope. Which is greatest ?”

You must say, “Love is the greatest !”

You must not say.

“so what, I do not care.”

You must not say, “For me, in all the theologians, the most important thing is my personal view, VPP, VPP, and VPP is the most important thing, no such thing called “Philadelphia.” Bible Text is more important than brotherhood, more than anything now.”

But what say, Paul ?

5:11, “Therefore comfort each other and edify one another, just as you also are doing.”

“Why? Must I let go my personal view ?”

5:10, BECAUSE Jesus Christ died for you.

5:13, be at peace in BP.

5:14, warn the unruly, comfort the fainthearted, uphold the weak. BE PATIENT.

5:15, PURSUE WHAT IS GOOD BOTH FOR YOURSELVES AND FOR ALL. (NOT FOR YOURSELF ONLY)

5:18, in everything give thanks. IN EVERY THING? CUV? NKJV? AFFLICTION? PERSECUTION?

5:19, THE HOLY SPIRIT IS LIKE A FIRE. LET HIM HELP US.

5:20, prophecy, continue in this work...

5:21, test all things, test VPP. Do not just accepting...

5:22, abstain from every form of evil, if VPP is a form of evil, abstain.

5:23, the believers are to be preserved blameless.

5:24, God is faithfull.

5:28, Lastly, the focus of the gospel, is the Lord Jesus Christ.




Assignments

Is VPP blameless?

What to increase?

What we lack?

How to kept pure in this world?

Write a paper about Philadelphia, 5000 pages.

How to please God?

What is the focus of the Gospel?

Is the KJV too Archaic for Use?

Is the Hebrew too Archaic for Use?

Is the Greek too Archaic for Use?

Is the 1611 English too Archaic for Use?

Is the CUV too Archaic for Use?

Oracle

Weather it is from the oracle or not, it is up to you to judge, but please do not disturb any brother who is reading the CUV with your personal VPP.

curryvvp@hotmail.com

You may contact and write your view to the blogger :

This is the email address.

Before you write anything, the blogger is:

He is not a BP member, he is not anybody. Not a full-time worker, he is not paid blogger, he is not a spiritual man, he is just a weak brother in Christ, and he has lost many battles, he is sad about VPP, and he is reading the CUV, and NIV, KJV, NKJV, the Hebrew and Greek Bible. He is not perfect, and he is sinful, you can read his mind in the blog...He is not stable...but He is concerned about VPP. The blog is a way of writing a personal view, and this is not a criminal to refute another personal view.

He has no wing!

A tract I never forget

One day a Christian went to the state to give out gospel tracts, and the title of the track is "Are you good enough for heaven?"

We know that no one is good enough to go to heaven, we all are sinners, and we are only saved and all sins are forgiven when we are believing and accepting Christ.

Many people angry after reading this track. And one of the receivers of the tract scolded the Christian, "Go to hell!"

Are you good enough for heaven?

The Book of 1 Thessalonians with VPP

1:2 We always thank God for all of you, mentioning you in our prayers. We continually remember before our God and Father your work produced by faith, your labor prompted by love, and your endurance inspired by hope in our Lord Jesus Christ.

The Book of Colossians with VPP

1:2, Holiness is a sign of perfection.

1:3, Paul always prays for the Colossians, Paul knew they were not perfect, he still thanks God for them.

1:4, do not boast, everything is a gift from God. We are the receiver. Have faith, but also must have love!

1:5, Paul wanted them to know the truth of the Gospel. This is the purpose of his epistles.

1:6, The Gospel outreach was started after the sending of the Holy Spirit at the Pentecost. We must begin with the Holy Spirit.

How can we start all over again with a TR?

1:8, …..love in the Holy Spirit, add this in your doctrine. Care for one and another, rather than pulling their legs, how can you the lecturer of the Word of God, betrayed your students, who had put their trust in you, how can you because of a minor doctrine you betrayed your brothers in Christ. You attack you own students and betray what you have held on.

1:9, some are promoting Agnosticism, rather than faith. Pray, so that God may help us in working and living. Keep us in the holiest faith.

Agnosticism (Greek: α- a-, without + γνώσις gnōsis, knowledge; after Gnosticism) is the philosophical view that the truth value of certain claims — particularly metaphysical claims regarding theology, afterlife or the existence of God, gods, deities, or even ultimate reality — is unknown or, depending on the form of agnosticism, inherently impossible to prove or disprove. VPP is a kind of.


1:11, LONG SUFFERING AND FORGIVING, are the fruit of the Holy Spirit ? Yes or no ? Since we have God in control, can’t we forgiving and forbearing those brother in Christ who are reading the NIV, CUV ? Accepting those who do not accept VPP, like Christ accepted the woman caught in adultery ?

1:12, how to continue hating a brother in Christ, when we are walking in the light? Unless we are blind. And how can we said we love God when we are provoking the younger believer in anger?

1:13, 14, Redemption by the Son of God. Not by a man’s work. Not by the Scribes, not by the Pharisees, not by the High Priest, not by the theologians, even not by the 15th century reformers, (they are all the instrument of God, we must thank God for them.) But by grace, we have only one Savior, one mediator, no other name that can saved us, no other, and we are saved to do good work, this is the will of God. There is only one Kingdom of the Son, but not divided.We are moved from darkness into light, and we are free from darkness.

Martin Luther pray, that let the angels be charged for us, so that we may not be over power by the evil power.

1:15, God is a Spirit, we cannot see Him, His Son, took the image of a man, and the Word became fresh, became a perfect man, called Jesus Christ, He came to the world to magnify God himself, in Him we see God. Only through Jesus Christ, we can see God clearly.

1:18-19, beware of those school that put anything higher than Christ, those schools are the primary school, shallow in their teaching, we must go beyond those schools. We must know that Christ is the head of the Catholic Church. Abundant life from Christ, and only He is the true vine, and only He is the true life ! ANd true life giver.

1;20, when Jesus was lifted up at the Cross, there is the reconciliation between God and man. United in Him.

1:21, we needed the grace and salvation from Christ. we were enemy of God, totally true. And sometimes we are acting like that again.

1:22, since there is no condemnation in Christ. Why some of them condemning those who are holding the CUV and NKJV like us? And splitting the brotherhood in Christ.

Do they wanted to crucify Christ again on the Cross, seeing that His sacrifice and death are not enough and have no power to unite us, when we are refuting the VPP, the theologians condemned us, must Jesus died on the cross again so that BP can unite again after this, must Jesus died another time so that we are forgiven because we refute VPP ? No, Christ died once and for all. Should Jesus be crucified again just because I am reading CUV?

1:23, do not moved by false doctrine. We must not self content, in this “false perfection” promoting by some false teachers. We must pursue holiness, without holiness, no one can see God. Christ had died on the Cross, do we preach about His suffering, sacrifice, martyrdom, self denying ? Or something else like this VPP, meaningless argument.

Or we are still quarreling in the primary school ? Quarrel about what ? Who is the headmaster, how much we should praise him when he is old, and who is the second man now, how many votes he got, where is the landmarks from our forefathers, how big was my parsonage next years, how tall is my Babel, what is my position in the church committees, where is the next Bible to be defined, which preacher to be condemned, this pastor to be promoted, and what is the next reformation, this reformation, that reformation. But you forgot the Lord, we worship with our lips, but we are far away from Him.

1:25, what is the whole council of the gospel, if we know, we must preach the full gospel.

1:28, Paul said, WE HAVE PERFECTION IN CHRIST.

2:2, only the Believers have the truth and true wisdom.

2:4, Paul said, knowing Christ is the only way to know God, there is no short cut, there is no other way, beware of false doctrines, leading to destructions.

2:5, be alert, there are alarms, and there are the false doctrines. Also the false alarms like the VPP.

One of the student went to see the principal of a Bible College, and asked him, why he used the NIV in his commentary, “the Gospel of life.” And the old principal told his students, that NIV is easier to understand. Because there were many foreign students who were weak in their languages. So he quoted the NIV in his commentary of Gospel of John. The students were very happy to hear his answer, and he sees great wisdom in the principal. He is not like a false teacher in a stoicheia who is attacking the people who are reading CUV.

2:7, better take time to teach these commandments in the Bible College :

1)Rooting in Christ,
2)Building in Christ,
3)Strengthening in Christ
4)Thank giving in Christ.

2:8. the danger is in BP, not outside BP, the manipulating by the false teachers and their doctrines must be stopped.

2:10, worship Christ, do not worship the Bible.

2:14, the end of the law is Christ. Christ is the new beginning. Christ has born our sins, and our imperfections nailed them on the cross.

2:15, We have the victory in Christ. But Paul wanted us to beware those false teachers and their doctrines.

2:16, and there were heresy in Colossian. As we know, like Paul indicated to us. Most of the heresies are mere imaginations. Pride of the World is working in the heart of the teachers. Like the branches are separated from the vine, they dried off. We must unite with the true Vine. He is the life giver.

2:22, their greatest error is making the rules of man to become the commandment of God. This is their weakness.

3:1, had nothing to do with the evil force. Rather walk in the narrow way, and Jesus is the way. Only way. From Him we may go to God the Father. Remember VPP is not the narrow way.

3:5, put to death, the evil desires. Become a new creature in Christ. This is what count.

1)fornication,
2)uncleanness,
3)inordinate affection,
4)evil concupiscence,
5)covetousness

3:8, but sometimes we fall in sins these again, and we are living the old man again.

1.)anger
2.)wrath,
3.)malice,
4.)blasphemy,
5.)filthy communication….

3:9, and we lived in lies….then we will create untrustworthiness among BP, doubt one another, and then the church split like what the theologian did! Are we aiming that way now, VPP is the wrong way, let's take a u-turn. This is not our goal. When we are new in Christ, we must a new goal.

3:11, When we are anew in Christ, then there is all equal in Christ. Not matter what languages you speak, read your Bible in your languages or mother tongue, and believe in Christ, you are saved, there is a higher plain we aim, Christ is the Rock. Do you believe there are no enemies in Heaven, BP and BP, BP and Methodist... even now you do not want to forgive someone here on earth, there is no enemy you find in heaven? Forgive them now on earth, do just try, say "yes", do not say "no."

3:14, and above all these things, put on charity, which is the bond of perfectness. Practice love. Abundant life is a life full of love. United because of love.

3:16, praise and thank the Lord. Do this, put away VPP. Put away!

4:2, cease the quarrel, and continue in praying. Watch. The coming of the Lord is nearer. The lamb of God has been slain.

4:5, be careful, what life we are living. We are the Jesus’ witnesses. Thank God, He gives time for us to live, let us preach the gospel, spread the truth, and continue to serve the Lord.

4:6, Be the salt and light in the world. Let us edify the church, by the truth, we are building, even salt can sanctify too.

4:7-8, Paul talks about his co-laborer. Do you?

4:10, Paul forgave Mark, the younger man. Do you?

4:11, the name of Jesus is mentioned here, a common name in the Jewish community. Do you?

4:14, Luke, a good doctor. Do you?

4:15, home church, house church. Do you?

4:18, Paul was imprisoned for the sake of the Gospel. Do you?



Conclusion:

Help me to be like Paul, and like Christ.

Words used by the leaders

The words I used in this blog are sometimes very nasty and vulgar, Christians should refrain from using those words, but these are normal to that VPP leader and pastors who support the VPP. I heard with my own ears these words were spoken from their mouth.

These are actually the actual words used by the church leader and the follower who is supporting the VPP, words like these were spoken when they were driving such as “stupid, ....” Are used by the leaders, you think they spoke perfect words, no they do not. The leaders will try to be good in front of the congregation, but behind you, he will call you “stupid.” And still, that leader believes in a PERFECT BIBLE! Propaganda of VPP leader is to call other Stupid.., they are the wise, put down other under their foot. And they still can say "Holding forte the Word"! This is the "true life…"!!!!

Some words like “cut your throat using your own words,” “put your foot into your mouth.” “pai Kia, or bad boy” “swindler,” these words are normal in their conversations, but the congregation does not hear this daily. This is no surprise to me. Salt your conversation with VPP some more? No thanks.

I washed with curry powder!

Scholars hunt missing pages of ancient Bible

JERUSALEM - A quest is underway on four continents to find the missing pages of one of the world's most important holy texts, the 1,000-year-old Hebrew Bible known as the Crown of Aleppo.

Crusaders held it for ransom, fire almost destroyed it and it was reputedly smuggled across Mideast borders hidden in a washing machine. But in 1958, when it finally reached Israel, 196 pages were missing — about 40 percent of the total — and for some Old Testament scholars they have become a kind of holy grail.

Researchers representing the manuscript's custodian in Jerusalem now say they have leads on some of the missing pages and are nearer their goal of making the manuscript whole again.

The Crown, known in English as the Aleppo Codex, may not be as famous as the Dead Sea Scrolls. But to many scholars, it is even more important, because it is considered the definitive edition of the Bible for Jewry worldwide.

The key to finding the pages is thought to lie with the insular diaspora of Jews originating in Aleppo, Syria, where the manuscript resided in a synagogue's iron chest for centuries.

A turning point in its history came three days after the U.N. passed the 1947 resolution to grant Israel statehood, provoking a Syrian mob to burn down the synagogue. Aleppo's Jews rescued the Codex, but in the ensuing years the 10,000-strong community was uprooted and scattered around the world.

Scholars believe that Aleppo Jews still hold many of the missing pages, while others have fallen into the hands of antiquities dealers. Two fragments have already surfaced: a full page in 1982, and a smaller piece last year that had been carried for decades by a Brooklyn man, Sam Sabbagh, as a good-luck charm. Persistent rumors tell of more waiting to be found.

When the Codex reached Israel 50 years ago it was presented to Izhak Ben-Zvi, the country's president and a scholar of Jewish communities in the Islamic world. Although the manuscript is housed at the Israel Museum with the Dead Sea Scrolls, the Ben-Zvi Institute founded by the late president remains its legal custodian and is behind the new search.

Past efforts, including some by Israeli diplomats and Mossad secret service agents, came up against a wall of silence in the Aleppo community. The new search has recruited a small group of Aleppo Jews, better able to win the community's trust, and has yielded information on the whereabouts of specific pieces and on the people who are holding them, said Zvi Zameret, the Ben-Zvi Institute's director.

"Only someone who believes that this manuscript is one of the foundation stones of the people of Israel, someone whose goal is not to get rich — only such a person can make progress," he said.

He divulged few details lest he compromises the effort. He would say only that the search is being carried out in North, South and Central America, Israel and England, and that success appeared within reach.

"If there is a possibility, as the rumors say, that there are not only small fragments but also entire sections, that is extremely exciting," said Adolfo Roitman, the Israel Museum curator in charge of the manuscript. "We're missing entire books — most of the five Books of Moses, except for a few pages, and we have no Book of Esther, no Book of Daniel."

He, like most other scholars involved, has met people who know of people who supposedly have pages. But the leads invariably end with people who refuse to talk.

Each page is priceless, but money wouldn't be an issue for most Aleppo Jews because anyone trafficking in such holy relics could be banished by the community, Roitman said. Some of the Crown's pages bear an inscription warning that it "may not be sold."

Some people might be superstitious about the fragments they hold or believe they are rightfully the property of Aleppo Jews, not of scholars. Others might simply have no idea of the value of what they own.

The Codex, on 491 parchment pages about 12 inches by 10 inches, was transcribed sometime around 930 A.D. by Shlomo Ben Boya'a, a scribe in Tiberias on the banks of the Sea of Galilee. It was edited by a renowned scholar of the time, Aaron Ben-Asher. Its completion marked the end of a centuries-long process that created the final text of the Hebrew Bible.

It belonged to a Jewish community in Jerusalem until it was seized by the Crusaders who captured and sacked the city in 1099. Ransomed, it made its way to Cairo, where it was used by the 12th-century Jewish philosopher Maimonides, who declared it the most accurate copy of the Old Testament.

The manuscript doesn't contain passages missing from other versions. Instead, its accuracy is a matter of details like vowel signs and single letters that would only slightly alter pronunciation. But Judaism sanctifies each tiny calligraphic flourish in the Bible as a way of ensuring that communities around the world use precisely the same version of the divine book. That's why the Codex is considered by some to be the most important Jewish text in existence, and why the missing pieces are so coveted.

"The bottom line is that the whole process of putting together the text of the Bible ended with the Codex," said Rafael Zer of the Hebrew University Bible Project in Jerusalem, which is using the Codex to create what is meant to be the authoritative text of the Old Testament but can't properly complete it without the missing pages.

Not enough has been done to find them, laments Hayim Tawil of New York's Yeshiva University, the author of a forthcoming book on the Crown. "For Jews and for Western civilization, this manuscript is equivalent to the Magna Carta," he said.

How the Codex reached Aleppo in northern Syria is unclear. Some scholars believe it was brought by a descendant of Maimonides in the late 1300s.

There it was guarded as the Jews' most prized possession and talisman. But on Dec. 2, 1947, the mob burned the synagogue. In the ensuing years, Aleppo Jews would describe rushing to snatch pages from the flames. The missing ones have not been seen since, with two exceptions.

One page from the Book of Chronicles survived in the New York apartment of an Aleppo woman and was handed over by her relatives in 1982. Another fragment recounting the Exodus story of the 10 plagues survived in the wallet of Sabbagh, another Aleppo exile in New York, who laminated it and kept it as a good luck charm. Last year, following Sabbagh's death, his family brought the fragment to join the rest of the manuscript in Jerusalem.

One of the men who rescued pages from the synagogue was Mourad Faham, who sneaked into the building disguised as a Bedouin and found the bulk of the manuscript on the floor, according to his grandson, Jack Dweck.

A decade later he strapped the manuscript under his robe and crossed the border into Turkey, Dweck said. From there it was wrapped in towels and, according to most versions of the story, bundled into a washing machine to be shipped to Israel.

Dweck, a businessman who lives in New York, home to one of the biggest communities of Aleppo Jews, says he has heard the rumors among his fellow Jews and believes the missing parts exist.

"My guess is that there's a bigger piece somewhere else, waiting to be found," he said.

Looking for a God, and finding Him

Psalm 97

The LORD reigneth; let the earth rejoice; let the multitude of isles be glad thereof.

Clouds and darkness are round about him: righteousness and judgment are the habitations of his throne.

A fire goeth before him, and burneth up his enemies round about.

His lightning enlightened the world: the earth saw and trembled.

The hills melted like wax at the presence of the LORD, at the presence of the Lord of the whole earth.

The heavens declare his righteousness, and all the people see his glory.

Confounded be all they that serve graven images, that boast themselves of idols: worship him, all ye gods.

Zion heard, and was glad; and the daughters of Judah rejoiced because of thy judgments, O LORD.

For thou, LORD, art high above all the earth: thou art exalted far above all gods.

Ye that loves the LORD, hate evil: he preserveth the souls of his saints; he delivereth them out of the hand of the wicked.

Light is sown for the righteous, and gladness for the upright in heart.

Rejoice in the LORD, ye righteous; and give thanks at the remembrance of his holiness.

Put off the VPP, raise up your hands for Prayer..

For all the theologians who are prayerful,

please put off the quarrel of VPP, please pray silently..and

pray aloud.

pray in the room, and ...

in the sanctuary...

the tribulation...

pushing nearer to the end....

God is Love

Hindu-Christian Violence Kills 9 in India's Orissa State
By Anjana Pasricha
New Delhi
27 August 2008

Pasricha report - Download (MP3)
Pasricha report - Listen (MP3)


In India's eastern Orissa State, spiraling violence between Hindus and Christians has killed at least nine people. From New Delhi, Anjana Pasricha reports on the religious tensions gripping the region.


Smoke rises from a church torched by hard-line Hindus in Muniguda in Phulbani District of India's Orissa state, 26 Aug 2008
Authorities issued shoot-at-sight orders and police staged marches Wednesday in Orissa's Kandhamal District, the region worst-hit by violence between Hindus and Christians.

Kandhamal is a primarily tribal area, where Christian missionaries have worked for decades. Almost 20 percent of the district's people are Christians.

The clashes erupted after the killing of a Hindu leader, Swami Laxmanananda Saraswati, and four others on Saturday by unidentified armed men. The Hindu leader had been leading a drive to reconvert local residents from Christianity to Hinduism.

Since then, angry Hindu mobs have attacked and damaged churches, Christian homes and an orphanage. Some of the victims were burned to death, when rioters set fire to their homes.

Police say rival groups from both communities have attacked each other with axes, sticks and guns, despite a curfew. New clashes occurred Wednesday.

Home Minister Shivraj Patil says the federal government has asked state authorities to protect all communities.

"We asked them to take stern action to protect the properties, the churches, the life and limbs of people and properties and houses of other people also," said Patil.

Police say the Hindu leader was killed by local Maoist rebels. But Hindus blame Christians for his death. He belonged to a hard-line Hindu group called the World Hindu Council.

This is not the first time that tensions have run high between Hindus and Christians in Orissa. In 1999, a Hindu mob killed an Australian missionary and his two sons by setting fire to their car.

Hard-line Hindu groups accuse Christian missionaries of trying to convert illiterate tribal or Hindu villagers by alluring them with promises of free education and medical care, a charge denied by the missionaries.

Christian organizations in India have asked the government to end the violence. Christians make up about two percent of India's population, which is predominantly Hindu.