Persecution Blog

60 Henan Neixiang Christians Arrested, One Severely Injured

Our friends at China Aid are reporting the following suffering for followers of Christ Jesus.  Please read the blurb below, commit to pray right now while you're reading this, and tell a friend. 

HENAN--For many women, a husband's profession is simply a means of support. For the wives of Chinese house church pastors, their husband's work can lead to devastating pain and physical suffering. For Chen Hailan, wife of Pastor Guo Quanyou, it meant broken vertebrae, a concussion, and paralyzing pain. On October 19, 2009, sixty Christians were holding a time of worship and fellowship at Pastor Guo Quanyou’s house in Neixiang. At about 10:00 AM, 18 local police besieged the house and arrested and interrogated the Christians. The police charged them with “disturbing social orders under the name of religious activities” and put five brothers into ten-days administrative detention each and imposed a fine of several thousand RMB.

Please click here for the full report and other pictures.

Iraq: Christians Martyred

Three Christians have been killed in Mosul recently, and community leaders warn that violence will increase leading to the March 7 parliamentary election, according to Agence France-Presse (AFP).

On Feb. 16, unidentified gunmen shot two Christian students with an automatic weapon. Police told AFP that Zia Toma, a 21-year-old engineering student, was killed in the shooting and Ramsin Shmael, a 22-year-old pharmacy student, was wounded. Both men were Assyrian Christians, according to police.

The violence is thought to be related to the upcoming parliamentary election, in which the vote of minority Christians could be a factor between Arab-Kurd rivals. “We don’t want elections, we don’t want representatives, we don’t want our rights, we just want to be alive,” said Baasil Abdul Noor, a priest at Mar Behnam church in Al-Arabi neighborhood, where the shooting occurred. The student’s murder occurred one day after gunmen killed shop owner Fatukhi Munir, an Assyrian Catholic, in his business. On Feb. 14, another shop owner, Rayan Salem Elias, was shot to death outside his home; Elias was a Chaldean Christian.

These incidents are the latest in a series of attacks on Iraqi Christians in recent months. The Christian community in Iraq is estimated to be 3 percent of Iraq’s population of 26 million, or about 780,000 people. Islamic extremists have targeted Christian leaders, churches and businesses in Iraq since 2003. As a result, many believers have fled.

The Voice of the Martyrs actively supports Christians in Iraq with Action Packs, resources for Christian leaders and evangelistic literature. VOM also distributes the New Testament in Arabic and supports widows through the Families of Martyrs fund in Iraq.

VOM encourages you to pray for those who mourn these murdered believers. Pray that the killers might come to know Christ as their savior. Ask God to embolden the Christian community in Mosul to proclaim the gospel even while being persecuted, and pray that they will be filled with Christ’s peace during these difficult times.

Church Arson Suspect Likes Nietzsche and Bonfires

In one other report on the two young men arrested in connection with the fires in Texas, Jason Robert Bourque is said to have quoted Neitzsche on his Myspace page, which has now been removed from the internet.

According to the DMN Investigates blog, the quote said, "Never give way to remorse, but immediately say to yourself: that would merely mean adding a second stupidity to the first. -- If you have done harm, see how you can do good. -- If you are punished for your actions, bear the punishment with the feeling that you ARE doing good -- by deterring others from falling prey to the same folly. Every evildoer who is punished may feel that he is a benefactor of humanity."

It is also reported that on his Facebook page Bourque liked bonfires.

ATF Charges Two Men in Church Fires

Thank you to all of you who have been praying about the church fires that have been taking place in Texas. It appears that there may have been a big break in the case, as two young men have been arrested and are now in jail. Here are some related news stories and a short 40 second video.

Suspects Behind Bars in Texas Church Fires

NY Times - 2 Men Charged in Texas Church Fire

Pakistani Christian Beaten for Refusing to Convert to Islam

The bible is an amazing book filled with wonderful acts of faith despite persecution.  As I read this latest news story from Compass Direct about Riaz Masih, who has been severely beaten because he believes in Jesus and is refusing to convert to Islam, I instantly thought of the apostle Paul who wrote about his hardships as a follower of Christ. 

2 Corinthians 6:3 -10 - We put no stumbling block in anyone's path, so that our ministry will not be discredited.Rather, as servants of God we commend ourselves in every way: in great endurance; in troubles, hardships and distresses;in beatings, imprisonments and riots; in hard work, sleepless nights and hunger;in purity, understanding, patience and kindness; in the Holy Spirit and in sincere love;in truthful speech and in the power of God; with weapons of righteousness in the right hand and in the left;through glory and dishonor, bad report and good report; genuine, yet regarded as impostors;known, yet regarded as unknown; dying, and yet we live on; beaten, and yet not killed;sorrowful, yet always rejoicing; poor, yet making many rich; having nothing, and yet possessing everything.

Wow!  Talk about a description of the Christian life. That is a far cry from what a lot of us have heard in church, and yet in reality, the overwhelming majority of Christians in the world today are living under persecution.  

Here's a part of how Masih described his persecution and God's work.

“They threatened that it was the breaking point now, and that I must convert right now or face death,” Masih said. “They said killing an infidel is not a sin, instead it’s righteousness in the sight of Allah almighty.” 


Masih begged them to give him a few minutes to consider converting and then tried to escape, but they grabbed him and beat him with bamboo clubs, leaving him for dead, he said. 
 
“They vented their fury and left me, thinking that I was dead, but God Almighty resuscitated me to impart His good news of life,” he said. 
 
Masih told Compass that his brothers and Akram-Ullah have been trying to coerce him to convert to Islam since his brothers converted. 
 
“They had been coercing me to embrace Islam since the time of their recantation of Christianity,” Masih said, “but for the last one month they began to escalate immense pressure on me to convert.”

Click here to read the full story at Compass Direct, and please say a prayer for Masih today.  God bless you!

Stenley's Martyrdom Grows the Church

When Stenley got off the boat on the remote Indonesian island, he felt the spiritual darkness. The people practiced a combination of witchcraft and Islam. Stenley was fresh out of Bible school and ready for the work to which God had called him, reaching these island people for Christ.

    Stenley preached boldly, calling people to turn to Christ and then to burn their idols and the relics of their old life. One Muslim burned his idol, but inside it was a scroll from the Koran. When radical Muslims heard of the burning of the Koran, they reported Stenley to area officials. Stenley was immediately arrested.

    Although Stenley was horribly beaten and lay comatose, his mentor from Bible school, Pastor Siwi, came to see him and witnessed tears streaming from his eyes. Soon after, Stenley died from his injuries.

    But even death could not end Stenley’s ministry. When his story was told in his home village, eleven Muslims accepted Christ as Savior. Fifty-three villagers made the decision to attend Bible school, seven of whom asked to be sent as missionaries to the very village where Stenley had died.

    Hoping to extinguish the gospel fire, village officials snuffed out Stenley’s life. But even in the midst of their violence, God’s hand was at work. Today the flames of the gospel burn brightly in that village.

“Leave the light on.” That’s what all who follow Christ should aim to do when they leave this world behind. A committed Christian leaves the light on for a world that is lost in darkness. It’s called leaving a legacy. It seems we often hear of famous people who leave behind a legacy in film, sports, or some other public arena. However, while the lives of many Christian saints are extinguished in anonymity, their faithful lights still burn brightly throughout the world. Their legacy of faith, integrity, hope, and love cannot be doused by their death. In fact, death may even accelerate the flame. For a legacy like that is often willingly imitated by those who remain.

Dispelling the Lies: ChinaAid Calls for the Truth about Gao Zhisheng

CHINAAID--"This is nonsense!" Gao's wife Geng He furiously refuted the rumor which first broke out on February 12, 2010. In response to the San Francisco-based think tank Dui Hua Foundation's request for information about Gao Zhisheng, the Chinese Embassy in Washington, D.C. said that Gao Zhisheng was alive, working happily in Urumqi, the capital of Xinjiang, more than 1,800 km from Beijing. Around the same time, a Chinese informant then posted photos of Gao Zhisheng online in a Chinese report, claiming he worked in the same company as Gao Zhisheng. He said that Gao was a talkative, even funny man, who had allegedly become a successful operational manager, talking about his wife and family and even "whistling a happy tune" daily.

On February 14th, the story broke to western media, leading to speculation as to whether the reports were valid. One American legal expert Chinese government's disclosure a "step in the right direction," but has called the Chinese government's treatment of Gao's case highly irregular. Gao's wife, Geng He has denounced the claim as false, greatly frustrated by the lack of communication and deception. "I am in America now. I have no contact with Gao." Neither she nor Gao's brother or sister have been able to contact him, much less acquire "useful information" about his whereabouts and condition.

Read Geng He's Statement, in English and Chinese, released on February 17, 2010.

Please click here to read the rest of the story at China Aid.  And please keep Gao and his family in your prayers.

Another Church Fire, This Time in Baltimore

It seems like I'm reading daily news stories about churches being on fire these days.  A few days ago I read a story about a church school that was even on fire, although reports didn't suggest foul play.

This morning according to the Baltimore Sun a 3 - alarm fire teared through a church called Mount Calvary Star Baptist Church.  There are not reports about the cause of this fire.

Please keep our nation's churches in your prayers.

Richmond Police Make One Arrest in Church Shooting

Good news, according to a breaking news story this morning on MercuryNews.com the Richmond police have arrested one of the three suspects in the shooting that took place at New Gethsemane Church of God in Christ this past Sunday.

The suspect that has been arrested is a 15 year old and has been arrested for "conspiracy".  Detectives will not release any further information at this time.  For more on this story see the following links to news covering this breaking news.

Richmond Police Apprehend Juvenile In Church Shooting

Ethiopian Authorities Concoct New Charge against Christian

2 Timothy 2:9 says that "God's word is not chained" and in the story that follows, we see another situation where the Word of God being distributed has caused an Ethiopian convert from Islam, to be arrested and jailed without charges being brought against him. 

Bashir Musa Ahmed, a 39-year-old Ethiopian national, was arrested on May 23 when police found him in possession of eight Bibles in Jijiga, capital of Ethiopia’s Somali Region Zone Five, a predominantly Muslim area in eastern Ethiopia. Zonal police arrested him after he was accused of providing Muslims with the Somali-language Bibles, sources said, though Ethiopia’s constitution protects such activity.

The report goes on to say that Bashir has been beaten while in jail, and they won't allow him to have medical treatment.  Please remember this dear one in your prayers today.

Click here to read the full report at Compass Direct.