VOM contacts in Indonesia reported that two days ago on, March 26, hundreds of radical Muslims converged on the Church of Pentecost in Indonesia (PTDI) in Gunung Putri, Bogor County, West Java during a Sunday morning service. The mob’s angry protest over the property being “misused” as a church building lasted five hours. Some of the women among the 190 congregants began crying hysterically as a result of the mob’s hostile demonstration, with some falling unconscious and collapsing to the ground.

After law enforcement officers of the Resort Police of Gunung Putri set up a meeting between the church’s pastor, Daniel Fekky, and representatives of the Muslim mob, the pastor agreed to close the church and cease all of its Christian activities. Only then did the Muslim mob of 200 disband. Pastor Daniel has led PTDI’s services for nine years, but the residents of Gunung Putri and the local government did not protest his ministry until a year ago. The concerned pastor exclaimed, “If this church is closed down, where can my congregants and their children worship the Lord?”

Muslims defended their closure on legal grounds, even though there is a constitutional guarantee for freedom of worship in Indonesia.

Last week, the Religious Affairs Minister and the Home Minister announced a revision of the 1969 Joint Ministerial Decree (SKB) which dealt with church buildings and government approval. The revisions will need the signature of President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono before coming into effect.

The revised SKB regulations would set three conditions before a church building can be built or a congregation legally established:

1. Proof of at least 90 existing members with official ID cards.

2. Signatures from 60 neighbors of different faiths approving of the establishment of the new Christian congregation.

3. Approval from local authorities.

Indonesian Christians say the new law will make it more difficult to open new churches, especially in rural, predominantly Muslim areas. They also point to already-established churches which have tried for years to get government approval, without success.

Article 29(b) of the Indonesian constitution guarantees Indonesian citizens the freedom to choose their own religion and to worship according to the dictates of that religion.

Now imagine if this was happening in America, where an angry Muslim mob protested your Sunday morning worship service for 5 hours.  Now put yourself in the shoes of the Pastor of that church.  What do you think you would do?

I urge you to continually pray for the church of Jesus Christ in Indonesia, because they are under severe persecution on a daily basis.  In the case of this story we are fortunate that no one lost their lives.  Please petition God for their protection, boldness to stand for the truth and perseverence.

Comments

[Matt J]

Dear Ms. Harp,

I regularly drop by your site, as I am an evangelical Christian involved in overseas ministries and Christian aid relief, and have experienced and seen persecution myself firsthand. India is among the worst countries, as your own blog has noted, with frequent attacks by Hindu mobs on Christians and churches, vile anti-conversion laws that target new converts in their most personal beliefs, and a bloody and horrid military campaign by India's army in the Christian NE, that has killed hundreds of thousands of Christians:

http://www.christianitytoday.com/tc/2004/003/8.59.html
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/2805829.stm
news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/2798771.stm
http://tinyurl.com/kq65b
http://www.wfn.org/1998/02/msg00057.html
http://tinyurl.com/mltsw
http://tinyurl.com/z2moz

Considering India's awful record of persecution against its Christians, I am appalled that President Bush and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, have recently proposed a nuclear deal that would transfer nuclear fuel and technology to India that would be used to make potentially hundreds or thousands of nuclear warheads (since many of India's reactors would not undergo inspections). This is appalling an outrageous!

We in the Christian community must unite and mobilize to oppose this nuclear deal and ensure its defeat in Congress. We must contact our representatives in Congress, repeatedly over months by mail and telephone, to voice our opposition and demand that this nuclear deal be rejected-- and that they will suffer severe political damage at the polls unless they reject it. It is imperative that we act immediately to protect India`s fledgling Christian communities.

Please contact your representatives, and urge everyone around you to do the same. This is a critical juncture for the worldwide evangelical movement.

[Stacy L. Harp]

Thanks for the information Matt.

[Templar]

DEVIL'S NUMBER IN SEMARANG/INDONESIA.

Female,Fullname: DINA SAPTARINA DA. [Diani Agustina]