Persecution Blog

Top 8 in 16: #4

In the remaining days of 2016 we'll look back on the most-viewed posts on Persecution Blog in 2016, including a post that is more than 10 years old but is still one of the most-read posts on the blog! Today we look at #4, the story we posted in March of a bell ringing three times without seeming to have anyone ringing it.

Assyrian Christians Are “N”

In the early morning hours of Feb. 23, 2015, guards in the Assyrian Christian villages along the Khabur River in northern Syria left for duty in Hassaka. An hour later, ISIS militants burst into the homes of villagers, taking hundreds of men, women, and children as captives.

In one village, ISIS militants forced 21 people into a small room. Most in the group were men, but there were a few women, including one man’s aunt and his six-year-old daughter, Mariana. For three hours, they listened to gun battles and explosions just across the river as ISIS militants battled with Assyrian soldiers and Kurdish forces. It was not clear what the extremists intended to do. Death seemed imminent.

Photo credit: Assyrian International News Agency

Caption: In the weeks before the attack, ISIS fighters told the villages to remove the crosses from their churches. After crosses came down, some of the men defied the Islamic extremists and put the crosses back on top of their churches.

During a lull in the fighting, the Christians heard the village church bell ring three times. It gave them hope that God was still with them.

Immediately, their ISIS guards became fearful and demanded to know who else was in the village. No one could explain why the church bell rang. Thousands of those who once lived in these villages had already left, and only 3,000 or so remained. Taking no chances, ISIS loaded group into trucks and took them into the mountains. Eventually the Islamic extremists would bring 253 hostages into this area. Nearly every day, the ISIS fighters pressured the Christians to convert to Islam.

The Islamic extremists began negotiations to exchange the hostages for ransom almost immediately. Within a week, the 21 who were held in the room were among the first to be released. However, just as they were releasing the hostages, the extremists decided to keep 6-year-old Mariana. Her father and great aunt pleaded with the extremists, who tried to force them to leave without the girl. Finally, the men relented and told the father to bring more money for his daughter’s release, and they allowed Mariana’s great aunt to stay as her guardian.

Mariana and her great aunt were eventually released along with around 30 of the others after ransoms were paid.

In November 2015, ISIS released a video showing three men from the Khabur region dressed in orange jumpsuits and kneeling in front of black-clad ISIS members. The men stated that they were Christians from the Khabur region, and they were executed on-camera. The video threatened that if ISIS did not receive $10 million dollars,

ISIS demanded nearly $10 million dollars for the remaining hostages, then believed to be about 202 people. The Assyrian Christians remained committed to their faith. None of them would convert to Islam, despite the pressure to do so.

On Feb. 22 of this year, following their year-long captivity with ISIS militants as their guards, the last of hostages from the Khabur River region were released. The 43 men, women, and children are thankful for all the Lord has done.

They ask that Christians remember them in prayer. While all of those who were taken captive from the villages along the river are accounted for, there are still hundreds of missing Assyrian Christians who have been taken from other villages. More than 200 were taken from another village in Qaratyain, Syria this past August. They too, need Christian brothers and sisters who will not allow them to suffer in silence and will stand with them in prayer for their faithfulness, courage, and perseverance.

In the early morning hours of Feb. 23, 2015, guards in the Assyrian Christian villages along the Khabur River in northern Syria left for duty in Hassaka. An hour later, ISIS militants burst into the homes of villagers, taking hundreds of men, women, and children as captives.

In one village, ISIS militants forced 21 people into a small room. Most in the group were men, but there were a few women, including one man’s aunt and his six-year-old daughter, Mariana. For three hours, they listened to gun battles and explosions just across the river as ISIS militants battled with Assyrian soldiers and Kurdish forces. It was not clear what the extremists intended to do. Death seemed imminent.

Photo credit: Assyrian International News Agency

Caption: In the weeks before the attack, ISIS fighters told the villages to remove the crosses from their churches. After crosses came down, some of the men defied the Islamic extremists and put the crosses back on top of their churches.

During a lull in the fighting, the Christians heard the village church bell ring three times. It gave them hope that God was still with them.

Immediately, their ISIS guards became fearful and demanded to know who else was in the village. No one could explain why the church bell rang. Thousands of those who once lived in these villages had already left, and only 3,000 or so remained. Taking no chances, ISIS loaded group into trucks and took them into the mountains. Eventually the Islamic extremists would bring 253 hostages into this area. Nearly every day, the ISIS fighters pressured the Christians to convert to Islam.

The Islamic extremists began negotiations to exchange the hostages for ransom almost immediately. Within a week, the 21 who were held in the room were among the first to be released. However, just as they were releasing the hostages, the extremists decided to keep 6-year-old Mariana. Her father and great aunt pleaded with the extremists, who tried to force them to leave without the girl. Finally, the men relented and told the father to bring more money for his daughter’s release, and they allowed Mariana’s great aunt to stay as her guardian.

Mariana and her great aunt were eventually released along with around 30 of the others after ransoms were paid.

In November 2015, ISIS released a video showing three men from the Khabur region dressed in orange jumpsuits and kneeling in front of black-clad ISIS members. The men stated that they were Christians from the Khabur region, and they were executed on-camera. The video threatened that if ISIS did not receive $10 million dollars,

ISIS demanded nearly $10 million dollars for the remaining hostages, then believed to be about 202 people. The Assyrian Christians remained committed to their faith. None of them would convert to Islam, despite the pressure to do so.

On Feb. 22 of this year, following their year-long captivity with ISIS militants as their guards, the last of hostages from the Khabur River region were released. The 43 men, women, and children are thankful for all the Lord has done.

They ask that Christians remember them in prayer. While all of those who were taken captive from the villages along the river are accounted for, there are still hundreds of missing Assyrian Christians who have been taken from other villages. More than 200 were taken from another village in Qaratyain, Syria this past August. They too, need Christian brothers and sisters who will not allow them to suffer in silence and will stand with them in prayer for their faithfulness, courage, and perseverance.

Please Remember Her Name

More than two years ago, I was handed a slip of paper with the name “Nguba Buba” on it.

Nguba Buba. Remember her name, please.

Nguba Buba was one of the 276 girls kidnapped on April 14, 2014 by Boko Haram militants who stormed her school in Chibok, Nigeria. She was a young girl, a 16-year-old who attended church and loved Jesus. When she was kidnapped, she was ripped away from her studies, her potential to take her exams, and to go to college.

Nguba is one of more than 2,000 children stolen from their parents by Islamic militants since 2014. Many of the boys were armed and forced to shoot people, some from their own villages. Those who refuse were killed. The girls were forced to convert to Islam, compelled to become servants, used as prostitutes, and married off to their captors, often, men old enough to be their fathers.

Nguba was forced at gunpoint to get onto a truck in the middle of the night. They drove for hours into the Sambisa Forest under the cover of darkness. During the ride, around 50 of the girls managed to jump off and escape.

The 219 remaining stayed in Boko Haram custody. Many were advocating on their behalf and the campaign #BringBackOurGirls attracted huge amounts of attention. The government negotiated for their return, with no results.

As time passed, fewer and fewer people remembered Nguba and her friends.

Their grieving parents began succumbing to stress-related illnesses. At least 18 died of these illnesses. Another three died in Islamist attacks. In 2015, Boko Haram would use 44 stolen children as suicide bombers, many of them young girls like Nguba.

In May 2016, one of the 219 was discovered. After escaping, she arrived at home with a 4-month-old baby, the child of a Boko Haram fighter.

On Oct. 13, parents and relatives finally had something to celebrate. Negotiations had finally been successful, and 21 of the girls were freed. Nguba was not among them. No one really knows her fate. There are 114 Chibok girls who are unaccounted for. Some are believed to have been killed. Others, may wish to stay with their abductors.

Please remember Nguba’s name. Remember that she was once a schoolgirl who planned to finish her exams at Chibok. She was a Christian. She had parents and siblings and a hope for the future that was stolen. Remember that she and each of the other 2,000 other children who were stolen still need your prayers.  

The names of the 21 girls who have been released thus far:

More than two years ago, I was handed a slip of paper with the name “Nguba Buba” on it.

Nguba Buba. Remember her name, please.

Nguba Buba was one of the 276 girls kidnapped on April 14, 2014 by Boko Haram militants who stormed her school in Chibok, Nigeria. She was a young girl, a 16-year-old who attended church and loved Jesus. When she was kidnapped, she was ripped away from her studies, her potential to take her exams, and to go to college.

Nguba is one of more than 2,000 children stolen from their parents by Islamic militants since 2014. Many of the boys were armed and forced to shoot people, some from their own villages. Those who refuse were killed. The girls were forced to convert to Islam, compelled to become servants, used as prostitutes, and married off to their captors, often, men old enough to be their fathers.

Nguba was forced at gunpoint to get onto a truck in the middle of the night. They drove for hours into the Sambisa Forest under the cover of darkness. During the ride, around 50 of the girls managed to jump off and escape.

The 219 remaining stayed in Boko Haram custody. Many were advocating on their behalf and the campaign #BringBackOurGirls attracted huge amounts of attention. The government negotiated for their return, with no results.

As time passed, fewer and fewer people remembered Nguba and her friends.

Their grieving parents began succumbing to stress-related illnesses. At least 18 died of these illnesses. Another three died in Islamist attacks. In 2015, Boko Haram would use 44 stolen children as suicide bombers, many of them young girls like Nguba.

In May 2016, one of the 219 was discovered. After escaping, she arrived at home with a 4-month-old baby, the child of a Boko Haram fighter.

On Oct. 13, parents and relatives finally had something to celebrate. Negotiations had finally been successful, and 21 of the girls were freed. Nguba was not among them. No one really knows her fate. There are 114 Chibok girls who are unaccounted for. Some are believed to have been killed. Others, may wish to stay with their abductors.

Please remember Nguba’s name. Remember that she was once a schoolgirl who planned to finish her exams at Chibok. She was a Christian. She had parents and siblings and a hope for the future that was stolen. Remember that she and each of the other 2,000 other children who were stolen still need your prayers.  

The names of the 21 girls who have been released thus far:

1.     Mary Usman Bulama
   2.      Jummai John
   3.      Blessing Abana
   4.      Luggwa Sanda
   5.      Comfort Habila
   6.      Maryam Basheer
   7.      Comfort Amos
   8.      Glory Mainta
   9.      Saratu Emmanuel
   10.   Deborah Ja’afaru
   11.   Rahab Ibrahim
   12.   Helin Musa
   13.   Mayamu Lawan
   14.   Rebecca Ibrahim
   15.   Asabe Goni
   16.   Deborah Andrawus
   17.   Agnes Gapani
   18.   Saratu Markus
   19.   Glory Dama
   20.   Pindah Nuhu
   21.   Rebecca Mallam

“Ann Kay” is a writer for VOM. She learned about VOM five years ago when she read Tortured for Christ and began receiving the newsletter. She is passionate about reaching the world for Christ and sharing stories of the persecuted church.

“Ann Kay” is a writer for VOM. She learned about VOM five years ago when she read Tortured for Christ and began receiving the newsletter. She is passionate about reaching the world for Christ and sharing stories of the persecuted church.

TURKEY: How Will Coup Attempt Affect Church?

Imagine seeing three of your best friends murdered for their faith in Christ. Brother Gokhan experienced that loss, living in Malatya where three Christians—all part of his church—were murdered. Today Gokhan is a part of Sat-7 TURK, sharing the gospel across the nation via satellite television. He tells us that risk is a part of sharing the gospel in Turkey. “We need to be sacrifice people,” he says. But he reminds us that the power to endure persecution doesn’t come from us, it comes from God.

Listen this week to learn more about what recent political turmoil in Turkey means for the church and how you can be praying for our brothers and sisters in that nation.

 

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Still Persecution in Cuba?

The United States and Cuba have resumed diplomatic relations after more than 50 years of animosity. President Obama recently visited Cuba. But has anything changed for the church or for Cuban Christians?

Pastor “Jose” is a Cuban church leader, and he’ll share this week a reminder that Cuba is still a communist nation and that our Christian brothers and sisters there are still persecuted. But Jose also has exciting news: Cuba’s Christians are not afraid of the government or persecution and they are boldly sharing the gospel. House churches are being planted and are growing, in spite of efforts by the government to exert control and instill fear in believers.

We’ll also welcome back to the studio “John and Mary,” working among Muslims in Europe, to hear how persecution happens even to Muslims living in free nations in Europe. Mary also offers advice to people sensing God’s call to missions.

Never miss an episode of VOM Radio! Subscribe to the VOM Radio podcast on iTunes or Google Play Music.

 

New York Times Covers China Cross Removals

In the front section of the New York Times on Sunday was a story on the ongoing destruction of churches and removal of crosses from church buildings. The article says as many as 1700 crosses have been taken down in the past two years in Zhejiang Province; Bob Fu, president of China Aid Association, told VOM Radio the number may be even higher.

A portion of the Times article explores the pressure being brought to bear on China’s Christians—even those who are part of the State-sanctioned, registered church:

As the authorities pressed the campaign [to remove church crosses], prominent Protestant and Catholic leaders across China, including senior figures in the government’s religious affairs bureaucracy, spoke out against it in sermons and on social media.

One of them was Gu Yuese, the pastor of one of the biggest churches in the Chinese-speaking world, the Chongyi Church in the provincial capital of Hangzhou. As one of the best-known Protestant leaders in China, Mr. Gu was influential, and his criticism resonated beyond the region.

“These actions are a flagrant violation of the policy of religious freedom that the party and the government have been implementing and continuously perfecting for more than 60 years,” he wrote in a statement released on official government letterhead.

Then he was silenced. In January, the police detained Mr. Gu and charged him with misusing church funds. A few days later, another pastor in Zhejiang who had also spoken out was detained on similar charges.

“It’s a method to make us pay attention,” said the pastor of a government-run church in Wenzhou. “None of us have financial training, so if you send in an accountant, they will probably find something wrong.”

Several clergy members in the region said they were under pressure to demonstrate their loyalty to the Communist Party. Some churches, for example, have begun extolling Mr. Xi’s campaign to promote “core socialist values” — a slogan meant to offer a secular belief system that bolsters the party’s legitimacy.

Other churches have begun displaying their building permits, implicitly endorsing the government’s authority to approve or reject church construction, including crosses.

“We have to show that we are loyal Christians,” said an employee of the historic Chengxi Church in Wenzhou, “or else we could face trouble.”

Please pray for our Christian brothers and sisters in China, that they will remain faithful to Christ in spite of the threat of trouble. Pray also that government leaders and local officials will come to know Christ in a personal way.

Pastor Held During Obama Visit to Cuba

Seeing news images of President Obama doing “the wave” at a baseball game in Cuba, it would be easy to think that this small communist country is now completely free and open to the gospel of Christ.


But while President Obama was watching baseball, Pastor Mario Felix Lleonart Barroso was sitting in a police station. Barroso, a Baptist pastor, blogger and friend of VOM, was thrown to the ground, handcuffed and detained at his home (which also serves as his church) just hours before Air Force One landed in Havana. A few hours after the president left Cuba, Pastor Barroso was set free and returned to his family. He was tired and weak, having fasted throughout his detention, but happy to be home.

Pastor Barroso is a bold pastor and outspoken advocate for religious freedom in his nation, and as such he is seen as a threat to the communist government of Fidel and Raul Castro. The Cuban government decided to make sure there would be no “distractions” during President Obama’s visit, so Barroso and dozens of other dissidents were detained by police in the days leading up to the president’s arrival.

Pastor Barroso’s name is already familiar to many American Christians who have committed to pray each week for persecuted believers at iCommitToPray.com. More than 400 people in 27 nations have already prayed for the pastor and his wife, who was threatened with imprisonment in 2014.

Each week, VOM posts a specific prayer request on iCommitToPray.com and invites Christians around the world to join in prayer for that request and to type their prayers on the website. Other believers — even believers in hostile and restricted nations — can then be blessed by and join in agreement with those prayers.

Please pray for Pastor Barroso and his wife, Yoaxis, as the pastor recovers from his recent detention.

Sign up on iCommitToPray.com to receive a new prayer request like this one via email each week.

Sign up on iCommitToPray.com

Murder in Malatya: Nine Years Later

Nine years after the torture and killing of three Christians in 2007, a civil court in Turkey has ruled that the Turkish government failed in its duty to protect them. On April 18, 2007, Uğur Yüksel, Necati Aydin and Tilmann Geske (German) were murdered at the Zirve Publishing House, a Christian organization where all three worked. The brutal killing was carried out by five youths who were detained at the scene and were each found with identical notes reading: “We did this for our country…. They are attacking our religion.”

The Jan. 26 civil court verdict found that both the Turkish interior ministry and Malatya governor’s office ignored reliable intelligence that Turkish nationalists were targeting the three Christians prior to their murder. The court has ordered the interior ministry to pay close to 1 million Turkish lira (US $333,980) to the victims’ families.

Susanne Geske, Tilmann’s widow, says that she does not believe the three families will see the money anytime soon. Court appeals could potentially take years to settle. The money is welcome, but she says it is hard to place a monetary value on her husband’s life, or the lives of the other two men who died for their faith.

While there is at least some resolution in the civil matter, the families wonder if there will ever be an end to the criminal case. The trial has been repeatedly stalled for several reasons, including political maneuvers, the removal of judges and changes to the prosecution. With the discovery of a connection to a larger nationalistic organization known as Ergenkon, more arrests have been made and new witnesses have been identified. Many of these witnesses have been uncooperative and have made threats against the three families. The outcome of the civil trial will not have an impact on the criminal proceedings. The next hearing is scheduled for March 1.

Nine years later, the families are still trying to move forward, but the stress of the trials and threats have been difficult. A new reform law that limits pretrial detentions to a maximum of five years resulted in the release of all five suspects in March 2014. Though ordered to house arrest and fitted with electronic monitoring systems, the men have been seen walking freely through Malatya.

This story also appeared on VOM's primary web site, www.Persecution.com. 

Image credit: www.MaltayaFilm.com

Laos: Christians "Possessed" by the Spirit of Christ

The following is excerpted from a recent report of persecution in Laos as published by Human Rights Watch for Lao Religious Freedom:

Atan Village, Nong District, Savannakhet Province

On August 31, 2015, Mr. Bounchen, chief of Atan village (also being referred as Ala village), and, Mr. Pousone, Atan village’s religious affairs official, sought to carry out the official verdict of the Atan village meeting that had handed down a death penalty to the first Christian family in the village. However, the Communist Party official stationed in the area stopped the village chief and the village religious affairs official from following through the verdict.

The incident started on April 20, 2015, when a family in Atan village, composing of Mr. Lahoie and six others family members, began embracing the Christian faith in accordance to their constitional guaranteed right. Then, in the middle of August 2015, the Atan village chief’s daughter became severely ill and died. The village chief blamed the Christians for the death of his daughter. He believed that her death was caused by angry village spirits who were oppressed by the Spirit of Jesus that the Christians brought into the village when they embraced the Christian faith.

The village chief summoned an official village meeting where all representatives of the households in the village were required to attend. During the village meeting, it was concluded that the Christians were possessed by an evil spirit–Spirit of Christ–who was held to be harmful to the village; and, thus, the Christians had to be killed to appease the village spirits. Therefore, the official village meeting handed down death penalty to Mr. Lahoie and his family on the account of their Christian faith.

The village officials, consisting of the village chief, the village religious affairs official, and village security force, thus sought the backing of the Community Party official in the area for the execution of Christians in Atan village. However, the Community Party official disapproved of the action.

On September 4, 2015, unable to get gain support to carry out the execution of Christians, the village officials, led by the Atan village chief, went into the house of the believing family and confiscated a pig and a goat worth USD 85 and USD 45 respectively. The total value of the pig and goat is equivalent to approximately 2 months of wages locally. The animals were slaughtered and eaten by the village officials. After the confiscation of the pig and goat, a Christian leader, Pastor Agom, from the Nong district aided the Christian family in Atan village by reporting the incident of their death penalty and the confiscation of their animals to the Nong District’s Religious Affairs Office. The Religioius Affairs Office has yet to bring actions against the Atan village officials who acted in violation of the law.

We are thankful that the Spirit of Christ is more powerful than the evil spirits that oppress, and thankful for the faithfulness of these new Christian believers. Please pray for Christians in Laos. Also watch for the November issue of VOM's free monthly newsletter, which focuses on stories like this one, where Christians are accused of "Angering the Gods."

Video: The Gathering Storm of Persecution in Kenya

The focus for VOM's free monthly newsletter in June is Christians facing persecution in Africa, with stories from Niger, Uganda and Kenya.

Recently, VOM's sister mission in the UK, Release International, produced this video about the rise of persecution in Kenya. Please pray for our persecuted family in Africa.

 

Dr. Tom: Medical Ministry Under Fire

In the April 27, 2015, issue of TIME Magazine, Dr. Tom Catena was identified as one of the "100 Most Influential People in the World." Dr. Tom is a family practice physician who has been in the Nuba region for seven years, as the only remaining physician at the hospital he helped found.

Dr. Tom took a short break from his seven days a week schedule to speak with me. After an extensive bombing campaign by the Khartoum government, his facility is the only referral hospital in the entire Nuba Mountain region of Sudan. He is very grateful for VOM’s support. He thanked us for the medication we provide, and even more importantly, for the prayers that are generated from people around the world.

While at the hospital, we also met with an 11 year-old boy, Mansour, a little over 48 hours after he was injured in an attack and prayed with him.

Mansour was wounded by shrapnel entering his left chest. He was carried for 11 hours to get to the hospital with a sucking chest wound. When he arrived, Dr. Tom put a drainage tube in his chest, then opened his chest and performed surgery, repairing two holes in his diaphragm, and saving Mansour’s life.

I asked Dr. Tom about the impact of prayer on his ministry. He responded, "Prayer means everything. The only way we go ahead here is the grace of God, and the grace of God is manifest by people praying for us here. We see miracles here every day, and it is not through our own strength or own doing, it is all through the grace of God."

Dr. Tom continued, "I would ask people that are in the U.S. to keep praying for us here, to keep praying for the Nuba, to pray for resolution of this conflict, to pray for our strength so that we can keep going ahead with the work here, and know that your prayers are much appreciated by everybody here."

Watch this one minute interview with Dr. Tom and listen as he describes how prayer is the foundation of everything they do.

 

Dr. Jason Peters oversees Global Partnerships and travels frequently to meet with our persecuted sisters and brothers. He has ministered in 39 countries, as diverse as Cuba, India, Sudan, Nepal, Saudi Arabia, Burma, Sri Lanka, Colombia, Kyrgyzstan, Bangladesh, Thailand, Indonesia and Nigeria. Jason ministered as a military chaplain for more than 18 years, with assignments at the Pentagon, the US Air Force Academy and as a faculty member of the Air Force Chaplain Corps College, where he directed Crisis and Trauma training. Jason and his wife Kimberly lived overseas for several years, where two of their five children were born.