Persecution Blog

Take Action: Call the Embassy of Indonesia About the Beheadings in Indonesia

I just got off the phone with the The Embassy of Indonesia in  Washington D.C., and wanted to give you an update.

According to the woman I spoke to at the Embassy there are currently six suspects in the brutal beheadings of the three Christian Indonesian girls last week.  However, due to the investigation, no other details are being released at this time.

I was thanked for calling and showing my interest in what has happened in Indonesia because the Embassy is taking reaction from the American public.

So, if this situation upsets you as much as it does me please call the Indonesian Embassy in Washington, DC and tell them that you are concerned about the persecution of Christians, and that you'd like to see them do everything they can to make sure these killers are caught and prosecuted.

Please call 202-775-5200 .  Thanks!

Who Will Tell Them About Jesus?

I posted earlier today about the three girls who were beheaded and for the last few hours I haven't been able to get them off my mind...especially since I viewed the pictures.

I've been thinking about something I read in the book Light Force that I wanted to share with you in light of this situation.  The first chapter of Light Force talks about the horror of suicide bombers, and this is the last paragraph in the chapter.  I think it applies to the beheading situation.

One question particularly troubled me after each suicide bombing, one I'd been asking for years: Did anyone present Jesus to that young person who blew himself up?  Who was going to the terrorists?  Was anyone prepared to confront them and give them a reason to live that was greater than their motivation to die?  How can they know about the Prince of Peace if no one goes and tells them?

But are Muslim fundamentalists who are committed to the destruction of Israel really willing to listen to the gospel?  How can we know if we don't go, if we don't try?

Powerful questions.  This reminded me of another question I heard awhile back which was - When was the last time someone shared the gospel with you?  Now imagine you didn't know the Lord Jesus loved you and died for you and no one ever told you that.  How would you find out?

We need to share everyday with the lost and dying world that Jesus loves them.  That Jesus took all their sins away and that all they have to do is believe and confess Him as Lord and they will be saved. Amen!

Photos of Christian Girls Beheaded

Just so I won't gross you out I've decided not to post the pictures of the girls who were beheaded here, however, if you want to see a few pictures you can at Bare Nuckle Politics.

The pictures are not bloody, and they are cleaned up, but they do show the girls bodies and heads separately.

Christian Girls Beheaded

Hey everyone, I apologize for the delay in posting, my server Typepad was having "issues" and wouldn't let me post...so better late than never heh :)

This story broke Friday and many news outlets didn't even cover it  until today.  However, blogger friend, Michelle Malkin was right on top of it.  Read what Michelle had to say about it here and here.

Here's information from the following sources:

Christian schoolgirls beheaded 

Three Christian schoolgirls beheaded in Indonesia

Islam...yeah...a nice peaceful religion.  Give me a break! 

Nuns Attacked & Beaten in India

I am constantly amazed at the evil in the human heart.  Today I read this article about some nuns getting attacked by some boys in India.

Why were the nuns attacked?  According to the article it was because...

"Kushalgarh in Banswara district is a tribal-dominated area of Rajasthan bordering Gujarat. Tension has been brewing in the district since Oct 16 after the Sangh Parivar objected to a function organised by Catholics to mark the end of the Eucharistic year."

Nice right?  The article also says the boys attacked a nun who was 62 years old!  This is just unbelievable to me.  Whatever happened to respecting clergy and the elderly....

Read the full article here.

International Day of Prayer for the Persecuted Church

Yesterday I asked you how I can make this blog better and Daniel left a comment about the International Day of Prayer.  So I wanted to let you know that Todd and I had planned on discussing this issue on our next podcast.  In the meantime, let me suggest a few things.

First, please visit the International Day of Prayer for the Persecuted Church website.  This site has a ton of great information and it includes downloads that you can use.  Please be sure to check out the powerpoint presentations because they are great!

This website also concerns the IDOP and has some information you can order directly for your church.  Please visit here today.

I hope this helps a little Daniel.  We'll be giving you more information in a few days.

Give Us Some Feedback

I'm always looking for ways to make this blog more beneficial to you.  So today, I thought I'd throw out this question...

What would you like to see more of on this blog?  Leave your answers in the comments please.

We have covered some of the following...

- Persecution in the news

- Devotions concerning the persecuted

- One audio interview

- Prisoner Alert

- Action Packs

- Other VOM related things like signing up for the magazine

- Focused prayer...

What other things would you like to see?  Please share your ideas and vision!  Thanks!

Glenn's New Persecution Post

HI Everyone...

VOM Canada's very own Mr. Glenn Penner has a new blog entry up called Equipping for the 21st Century.  Here's the first paragraph to whet your appetite...

I am writing this from Prague enroute to Bonn, Germany for meetings with Dr. Thomas Schirrmacher, a German evangelical theologian and scholar who, like me, has a passion to see Christians around the world embrace the biblical theology of persecution.  When I first started my studies in this long neglected field several years ag, I felt very much alone.  But in recent years, I have come across a handful of other theologians who are seeing the need to encourage students and other theologians to study persecution, to introduce the topic of persecution into theological training worldwide, and to provide good training material for persecuted churches around the world. It was for these last two reasons that I wrote my book in 2004 entitled "In the Shadow of the Cross" and am delighted to report that it is presently being translated into Ukrainian, Arabic, Tamil, Sinhalese, Farsi, Chinese, Spanish, and Dutch. I am also grateful that not only persecuted Christians are finding it helpful but also believers who live in religiously free countries.  I have been told that it has helped them to understand the Bible better and challenged them to walk more courageously for God. 

Under Persecution - Focus on China

Guess what everybody - We have a new prisoner that we can minister to by writing them through the Prisoner alert!

This new prisoner Sun Minghua was arrested in September 2001, on suspicion of organizing and utilizing a cult organization to undermine law enforcement. At the time she was a council member in charge of finances for the South China Church (SCC). After the arrest, police searched her house and confiscated financial documents related to the church.

In April 2001, the SCC was designated a "cult" by the ministry of Public Security. However, this did not stop the church members from continuing in their "illegal missionary work," even with the threat of arrest the SCC is expanding and increasing its membership. It is considered a relatively small house-church group in China, with approximately 100,000 members spread across 10 of China’s provinces. During 2001, the communist government had tried to close SCC down by arresting more than 500 of its leaders.

Minghua was born on June 13, 1965, in Hubei province. Influenced by her Christian mother, she accepted the Lord in 1984; and in 1986, she devoted herself to preaching the gospel. The trial for the charges related to organizing a cult was held December of 2001, when Sun was sentenced to life in prison. At a later High Court hearing, this sentence was reduced to 12 years. Earlier in 1996, she was jailed for a year by the Jinmen Public Security Bureau for evangelizing activities.

Let's see if we can beat last times letters written to the Indonesian prisoners. Let's see if we can get over 900 letters written to Sun - Please pass this on throughout the blogosphere team! Let's do it!

Violence Against Egyptian Christians Continues

A website called Strategy Page has a story today, under their terrorism banner, called More Violence Against Egyptian Christians

October 23, 2005: Islamic militants have renewed attacks on Egyptian Christians, leaving four dead and dozens wounded. The last major outbreak of Islamic radical violence against Copts was in 2000, when 21 Christians were killed, and many injured, during four days of attacks in southern Egypt. Copts have suffered discrimination by Moslems for over 1,300 years. There are constant minor attacks, and much discrimination, against Egyptian Christians.  (more)

And in a related story from The Independent we learn that Muslims vandalize and kill 3 in a Coptic Church because they were showing a DVD movie of  I Once Was Blind But Now I See.

I Once Was Blind But Now I See, performed in 2003 at the Coptic church of St George, told the story of a poor young Copt drawn to militant Islamists, who then try to kill him. Last week the appearance of the play on DVD rekindled the fury of local Muslims, who called it "an insult to Islam".

So killing people isn't an "insult to Christianity?"  I love the double standards.

Finish reading the story.