VOM Sources

Does that headline catch your attention? To be honest, I actually laughed when I read it because it's absolutely amazing to me how it doesn't matter what it is, everything can and will be considered an insult to someone sometime. However, in this case, this story is no laughing matter because persecution of Christians in Turkey is a serious business and I personally have friends who are missionaries in Turkey. Here's part of the story from our friends at Mission Network News...

Today the online site Christian Today has an article titled Serving Persecuted Christians in the Name of Jesus where the Voice of the Martyrs founder, Richard Wurmbrand, is mentioned.

JAKARTA, April 2 (Compass Direct News) – Islamic extremist groups and local governments in Indonesia closed 110 churches from 2004 to 2007, according to religious and human rights organizations. The Wahid Institute, a moderate Muslim non-governmental organization, along with church associations and the Indonesian Human Rights Commission reported that discrimination and violence against churches was most common in the provinces of West Java, Banten, Central Java, South Sulawesi and Bengkulu. Radical Muslim groups coerced local governments to send letters to churches prohibiting any activities. When churches did not comply, they would be burned or otherwise damaged, as happened last December to Jakarta Baptist Christian Church (Gereja Kristen Baptis Jakarta, or GKBJ) in Sepatan, Tangerang province. Muslim extremists from the Islamic Defender Front kicked out the windows and doors of the pastor’s home and threw out his belongings.

I just finished reading an interesting article at the BosNewsLife website titled Wave of Persecution in China; Group Smuggles Millions of Bibles" in which it is being reported that

NORTH KOREA – The Voice of the Martyrs is calling on the Communist North Korean government to immediately release 10 college students in Ham Kyung Book Do Chung, North Korea, who were investigated and arrested for reading a Bible and watching a video CD about the Bible.

- VOM Sources

The following is from our friends at Mission Network News.

Guards, Islamic inmates bullying Liu Huiwen for distributing gospel leaflet. BANGKOK, March 18 (Compass Direct News) – Liu Huiwen, a Chinese Christian sentenced to 18 months imprisonment last November for distributing a gospel leaflet to Muslims in Gansu province, is suffering mistreatment in a Muslim-majority prison, local sources told Compass. After a recent prison visit, Liu’s wife Miao Hui Lian claimed that he was limping badly and looked very thin. Liu, unable to speak openly, told his wife that the prison was a “very bad place” and that he was being “bullied constantly.” When Liu’s wife attempted to travel to Beijing to report the abuse, police warned her to stay at home. A local source told Compass that, “We have reason to believe the guards or inmates are punishing him for what he did and trying to cast terror into his heart".