Persecution Blog

Remember Where You Are Headed

An American missionary team was traveling through Sudan delivering food, blankets, and Bibles and showing the JESUS video. Everything was on schedule until their truck got stuck in a river and they lost a day’s work.

    The missionaries committed the events to God and asked him to guide their path. Knowing they would have to cut their travels short to make their deadline, they decided to visit a closer village. Shortly after arriving, a number of women came running up to the foreign visitors. In broken English they cried, “Come quickly . . . our boy . . . you must help . . . come quickly!”

    The team followed the women into a small, dark building. On the floor they found a small boy lying motionless, wrapped in a ragged blanket. When the blanket was lifted off, they discovered the severe burns covering Kamerino’s body.

    They quickly and carefully loaded Kamerino into their truck and drove to the hospital fifty miles away. There, the boy immediately received the treatment he badly needed. Today Kamerino’s eyes fill with tears when he remembers how prayer and providence rescued him. He knows the love of Christ and his power to heal, and for the first time in many months, he smiles.

    The missionaries also thank God that after being surrounded by so much death and suffering in Sudan, he allowed them to save the life of a brave, ten-year-old boy.

Kamerino brings new meaning to the phrase, “to be continued.” His life seemed destined for unending suffering, living out his life wrapped in a ragged blanket. However, part two proved to be a happy ending and a reminder of God’s grace. However, his story does not end even there. Part three is yet to be written. One day, Kamerino will experience the ultimate healing—a heavenly home where there is no suffering or pain. Earth will get worse before it gets better. Yet God will step into the worst situation imaginable and call for an end to all suffering. Then we will all head for home. If you are going through unimaginable pain right now, remember where you are ultimately headed.

Powerful Christian Witness Causes Hindu Bomber to Repent

This is the type of story that I love to read, because it shows the power of the love of Christ, when Christians walk out their faith in love.  Compass Direct shares the following...

Graciousness of Christians leads head of terrorist group to join prison fellowship.

KATHMANDU, Nepal, December 30 (CDN) —Disillusioned with Hindu nationalists, the leader of a militant Hindu extremist group told Compass that contact with Christians in prison had led him to repent of bombing a Catholic church here in May 2008. 
 
Ram Prasad Mainali, the 37-year-old chief of the Nepal Defense Army (NDA), was arrested on Sept. 5 for exploding a bomb in the Church of Our Lady of the Assumption, in the Lalitpur area of Kathmandu on May 23. The explosion killed a teenager and a newly-married woman from India’s Bihar state and injured more than a dozen others.
 
In Kathmandu’s jail in the Nakkhu area, Mainali told Compass he regretted bombing the church.
 
“I bombed the church so that I could help re-establish Nepal as a Hindu nation,” he said. “There are Catholic nations, there are Protestant nations and there are also Islamic nations, but there is no Hindu nation. But I was wrong. Creating a religious war cannot solve anything, it will only harm people.”
 
Mainali, who is married and has two small daughters, added that he wanted members of all religions to be friendly with one other.
 
Asked how the change in him came about, he said he had been attending a prison fellowship since he was transferred to Nakkhu Jail from Central Jail four months ago. 
 
“I have been reading the Bible also, to know what it says,” he said.
 
Of the 450 prisoners in the Nakkhu Jail, around 150 attend the Nakkhu Gospel Church inside the prison premises. 
 
Mainali said he began reading the Bible after experiencing the graciousness of prison Christians.
 
“Although I bombed the church, Christians come to meet me everyday,” he said. “No rightwing Hindu has come to meet me even once.”
 
Jeevan Rai Majhi, leader of the inmates of Nakkhu Jail and also a leader of the church, confirmed that Mainali had been attending the church, praying and reading the Bible regularly. Union of Catholic Asian News reported on Nov. 30 that Mainali had sent a handwritten letter to a monthly Christian newsmagazine in Nepal, Hamro Ashish (Our Blessing), saying he had repented of his deeds in the prison.
 
Asked if Nepal should be a Hindu nation, Mainali said he just wanted the country to become a monarchy again, “but not with Gyanendra as the king.” In 2006 a pro-democracy movement in Nepal led to the ouster of the army-backed regime of Hindu King Gyanendra, and Parliament proclaimed the Himalayan kingdom a secular, federal state.
 
Mainali said the NDA still exists but is not active. It was formed in New Delhi in 2007 at a meeting attended by a large number of Hindu nationalists from India, he said. Since bombing the church in Kathmandu, the group has threatened to drive all Christians from the country.
 
“The NDA was started in February or March 2007 at the Birla Mandir [a Hindu temple in central Delhi] at a meeting which was attended by many leaders from the Vishwa Hindu Parishad [World Hindu Council], the Bajrang Dal, the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh and the Shiv Sena party,” he said. Mainali declined to name the leaders of these Hindu extremist groups present at the meeting.
 
The NDA is also believed to be responsible for the killing of a Catholic priest, Father John Prakash Moyalan, principal of the Don Bosco educational institution in Dharan city in eastern Nepal, in June 2008.
 
Nepal was a Hindu monarchy until 1990, after which the king was forced to introduce political reforms mainly by Maoists (extreme Marxists). In 2006, Nepal adopted an interim constitution making it a secular nation, which infuriated Hindu nationalists in Nepal and India. In 2008 Nepal became a federal democratic republic.
 
Mainali said the NDA was receiving about 500,000 Nepalese rupees (US$6,590) every month from the organizations. He declined to divulge how the Hindu extremist groups in India funded the NDA. Mainali also said that the NDA bought arms from an Indian separatist militia in the northeastern state of Assam, the United Liberation Front of Asom or ULFA. Although most of the ULFA members are nominally Christian, he said, “they sold arms to us as a purely business deal.”
 
The ULFA is a banned organization in India and classified as a terrorist outfit since 1990. The U.S. Department of State has listed it under the “Other Groups of Concern” category.
 
Of the roughly 30 million people in Nepal, a meagre .5 percent are Christian, and over 80 percent are Hindu, according to the 2001 census.
 

Accused Pakistani Christian Says Muslims Tried to Coerce Him

Compass Direct is reporting on the release of persecuted believer Naveed Masih, a Pakistani Christian accused of killing a Muslim during the Aug. 1 Islamist attack on Christians in Gojra.

 Sources say he was arrested and tortured only because he was a key witness of the mob assault that left at least seven Christians burned to death. 

The article goes on to report that Masih was released on bail on December 23rd, and he has also been contacted by numerous Muslim's offering him bribes to change his story.

(Photo courtesy of Compass Direct)

As a result, Masih fears for his life, while out on bail, and has asked numerous organizations for help.  

The article goes on to report the different trial strategies and lays out who really started the conflict - the Muslims or the Christians.  Click here to read the full report, and please keep Naveed Masih in your prayers.

$10,000 Reward Offered for Murder of Salvation Army Major Murdered Christmas Eve

In case you haven't yet heard about this tragedy that took place on Christmas Eve, let me just sum it up for you.

Salvation Army Major Philip Wise was shot and killed, in front of his three young children who are 4, 6 and 8 years old.

According to reports, Wise was coming home after dropping off other Salvation Army workers, when two black males approached him with guns, and wanting money.

Authorities are now offering a $10,000 reward for information on the people involved in his murder.

Please keep this situation in your prayers.  Click here to see video reports.

Persecution of Christians in Palestinian Authority

This article sheds some light on Christians who are being persecuted in Gaza.  Click here to read the full article.

Within a year of Gaza’s take-over by Hamas, the owner of Gaza’s only Christian bookstore was abducted and murdered.  Christian stores and schools were firebombed.
 
Like most of his friends, Mr. Khoury had enough.  He went to the Judea-Samaria part of the Palestinian Authority  (P.A.).  He studies theology in the Bethlehem Bible college.
 

The Western media usually ignore the plight of Christians in the P.A..  They just denounce Israel’s security barrier.  However, until Arab terrorists “turned Bethlehem into a safe haven for suicide bombers, Bethlehemites were free to enter Israel, just as many Israelis routinely visited Bethlehem” [as I once did].

...

In Bethlehem, too, life is difficult for Christians.  Khoury says that Muslims stand in front of his college to intimidate the students by the way they read the Quran.  Other Muslims place their prayer rugs in Manger Square.  The college dean would not explain why.  He said that Muslims and Christians live in “relative harmony,” but admitted that Christians “feel the pressure of Islam…”
 

The head of a Christian TV station denied any “Christian suffering,” but then described land theft, beating, and intimidation by Muslims, and his own house’s firebombing.  Muslim gangs seize Christian-owned land, as P.A. security forces stand by.

Interesting isn't it?

Two Churches Bombed at Christmastime

VOM and Mission Network News have been reporting on this tragedy over Christmas.

Iraq (MNN) ― Two days before Christmas, two churches were bombed in Mosul, Iraq, on December 23, Voice of the Martyrs reports.

At 11:00 a.m., a bomb was detonated near the Syrian Orthodox church of St. Thomas. On the same day, a bomb exploded in a cart of vegetables near the Chaldean church of St. George. The latter bomb killed three people, including one Christian and two Muslims.

Many Christians have fled Mosul, which is the primary target for a series of attacks against believers in recent months. Earlier this month, a baby girl died and many others were injured when attackers threw hand grenades at a Christian school. However, some Christians are determined to stay and proclaim the Gospel despite persecution.

"The message of peace and hope announced by angels remains our best wishes for Christmas for the entire country," said Louis Sako, the archbishop of Kirkuk. "We want to work together to build peace and hope in the hearts of all men and women of Iraq."

While the Iraqi constitution adopted in October 2005 states that religious freedom should be respected, it also says that no proposed legislation can in any way violate the "universally-agreed-upon tenets of Islam." Only 3.3 percent of the population is Christian. Pray for protection for Iraqi believers, comfort for the bereaved, and wisdom to respond biblically to persecution.

Indonesian Christians Seek to Avoid Deportation

Here's an interesting article that appeared in the Seattlepi.com about three Indonesian Christian's who are seeking asylum here in the United States so that they do not have to return to Indonesia where there is severe  persecution.  Here's part of the article:

Three Indonesian immigrants who are fighting deportation because they say their Christian faith would lead to persecution in their native country have been released from a detention center in Washington.

The release of the immigrants is the latest episode in an effort by Christian Indonesian nationals from Western Washington and around the country to stay in the United States, the Everett Herald reported Sunday.

Indonesia, a country of more than 200 million people, has witnessed deadly clashes between Muslims and Christians in recent years. Beheadings, hundreds of deaths and church burnings have all been linked to religious tensions. Indonesia is about 86 percent Muslim.

"They have a credible fear of persecution," said Albert Lum, a Pasadena, Calif., attorney who has represented many of the immigrants.

Read the full article here.

As you think about followers of Christ who come to America and do not want to return to their countries, if they are known for being persecuted for their faith, what do you think should be done?  Feel free to comment.

Jewish Christian in Israel Seeks Protection from Repeated Attacks

Compass Direct is reporting today about Jerusalem resident Yossi Yomtov, who is also a Christian of Jewish  origin, who is being persecuted by other Jews.  Read the full report here.

VOM Canada's Glenn Penner Remains Hospitalized

I wanted to let you all know about the latest with The Voice of the Martyrs Canada's Glenn Penner.  Glenn remains hospitalized and was in the hospital during Christmas.

Denita, Glenn's wife writes in her latest post on his blog:

Not much has changed.  He usually wakes up around 3:00 a.m. with a lot of pain and it takes until about 9:30 a.m. before the drugs kick in to make him comfortable enough to be able to sleep.  He then spends most of the day sleeping so that when I go to see him in the evening he is a bit more alert and able to visit for a bit.

Please remember to keep the Penner family on your prayer lists.  Thank you so much for encouraging them and lifting them up to our Lord who can bring healing and strength.

Zoe's Faith

“Kill her! Long live Diocletian!” echoed in Zoe’s ears as she stood in the middle of the Coliseum before the angry crowd.

    Zoe thought about why she was there and smiled. She remembered the day she visited her husband at the jail where he worked, guarding the Christians imprisoned for refusing to sacrifice to the gods. Zoe grew up hearing that Christians were misguided and followed a deadly superstition. They set fire to Rome during Emperor Nero’s reign and got the punishment they deserved—they were nailed to crosses and thrown to lions.

    But that day in the prison, Zoe witnessed a Christian family praying together: “Dear Lord, help our death bring glory to your name. We forgive those who imprisoned us.” Zoe left the jail puzzled. Why did these Christians have so much peace, knowing that they would soon face the lions?
    Zoe began to secretly meet with this family and ask them about their faith. Soon, she gave her heart to

Jesus.

    Word quickly spread of Zoe’s newfound faith, and guards were sent to her home to give her a chance to recant and sacrifice to the god Mars. She refused. The guards put her in chains and hauled her to the very
prison where her husband stood watch.

    When Zoe continued not to recant her faith, she was hanged, burned, and thrown into a river.

Who is the extreme witness in this story? Is it the family who prayed before they were tossed to the lions? Or is it Zoe who would not recant her newfound faith before the guards? The answer is, yes. The family, on their way out of this world, brought another person into heaven. Both became extreme witnesses for Christ who left an indelible mark on the pages of history. Zoe would have otherwise been forgotten as a pagan wife of a pagan prison guard. History would have paid the family no mind as one of thousands killed. Yet an ordinary person with extraordinary faith is worth remembering. Will your life pen you into history as an extreme witness for Jesus Christ?