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Persecution Report for Tuesday, 17-Dec-2002

Mission Network News provides the following reports of believers being persecuted.

Laos:

Mission work prevented by communist authorities.

According to Open Door’s semi-annual World Watch List, Laos is the third largest persecutor of believers. Communist government authorities accuse Christians of causing religious division, and in turn, tightly control their activities. FARMS International’s Steve Salowitz says because of the atmosphere, their ministry has been stymied for the time being. "There’s three countries that surround Thailand that are restricted. One of them (potential projects) we’ve held off and said ‘you’re better off not doing anything there unless you figure something out that would work because you don’t want to bring unwanted persecution, or unwarranted persecution upon people’." Salowitz asks prayer for an open avenue of ministry. "(In) one of the countries, there’s been cross border activity, where the people are actually benefiting from Farms’ programs. They would like to do more, but we have held off with doing any more there." FARMS International is a Christian ministry that serves the church by equipping families in poverty with the means for self-support.

Myanmar:

Caution urged for Bible distribution.

It was there that a new contemporary Gospel of John was released this month. Walk Through the Bible’s Roger Massey believes it will serve as a great tool for a spiritually hungry people. That also means there is a need for caution because: "We understand that Myanmar is a great deal like China in its views on Christianity and birthing and planting new Christian churches in the area....so, much of the work has to be done carefully." Massey explains that releasing the Gospel of John will be instrumental to the small but growing churches. "The government would be quick to move in and close down new works. It’s much of the same problems that churches are facing in Russia and Eastern Europe when new Christians groups go in and start to try to establish a beachhead. But, what we’re mainly concentrating on is getting the Word of God into this area in an easy-to-read format."

Haiti:

Christian leaders’ lives threatened.

Their goal: to saturate Haiti with the Gospel through solar-powered radios that are fix-tuned to Christian radio station 4VEH. Men For Missions’ Warren Hardig says thousands of souls are at stake." It’s a spiritual warfare-it’s a deep, heavy spiritual warfare. And, the other thing is it’s an economic thing for them. It’s a very poor country,perhaps the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere. Per capita income is under 400-dollars a year, and for many of the people in the country,it’s lower than that." Hardig says they’re hearing reports that even the witch doctors are coming to Christ through their outreach. That also increases the danger for mission workers who become the targets of resentful Haitians. "Pray for protection for the missionaries and for the pastors. We have a situation right now in Haiti, near our radio station in Vodry, where several Christians leaders, their lives are being threatened, and some of them are wanting to leave the country because they’re fearful for not only themselves, but for their families."

India:

New converts receive harsh penalties.

Despite harsh penalties, people are coming to Christ. Dr. Samuel Thomas is with Christ For India, a Bible Pathways affiliate. Dr. Thomas has devoted his life to evangelizing the lowest Hindu caste known as the "Dalits". He says under the country’s religion laws, new converts face brutal penalties for accepting the Gospel. "The restriction is that whoever baptizes spends four years in prison. And then, whoever receives the baptism, that is the Dalit that receives the baptism, he will have to come up with 22-hundred dollar fine and spend 200 years in jail." Despite those severe consequences, many are still turning to Christ. Thomas urges prayer for those new believers. "Pray for the safety of our pastors, pray for wisdom for Christians all over India that none of them may be afraid by seeing this mass conversion but on the other side be encouraged and even be willing to die for the sake of the Gospel."

North Korea:

The price Christians pay for their faith.

A famine of physical and spiritual proportions is growing. Of the 25 million people in the country, there are only an estimated 400-thousand Christians, many of whom face severe oppression. Open Doors’ Terry Madison. "If they find Christians, they’re sent off to segregated work camps where Christians are given less food and more work to do. That’s the best side of a bad situation; otherwise, they’re killed, more or less, on the spot." Madison urges prayer for North Korean believers, adding that the persecution has not gone unnoticed. "Open Doors, every six months, puts out a ‘World Watch List’, where we document the most offensive countries in the world. And,for the first time in our history, Saudi Arabia has been replaced by North Korea as the most fearsome persecutor of believers."

Please check http://www.mnnonline.org for missions news and a weekday audio broadcast.

The Voice Of The Martyrs reports these persecution incidents.

India:

Violence against Christians continues.

Four native missionaries were recently attacked on their way to an evangelistic gathering in Tamil Nadu, India. According to Gospel for Asia, the missionaries were travelling to a village for an open-air meeting when they were threatened and attacked. Two of the missionaries are being treated for severe internal injuries. Pray for their quick recovery. Christians in the state of Gujarat have also raised concerns about elections to be held this Thursday. The election manifesto for the governing Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) includes several proposals of concern to Christians, including a law banning religious conversions. "By openly reiterating its divisive agenda, the BJP is trying to polarize the Hindu majority against the religious minorities," said Bishop Vinod Kumar Malaviya (ENI). Such divisions have often resulted in violence against Christians. Sectarian violence is common in Gujarat and security is tight with the upcoming election.

Nigeria:

Report from Kaduna.

Violence in Nigeria has been a major news story in recent weeks, with the riots centring on the Miss World competition resulting in over 200 deaths. This week, The Voice of the Martyrs received a report from a representative in Nigeria, detailing some of the results. He had been advised until now to remain silent until the situation had calmed. Along with the many deaths and injuries, he reported how 102 churches in Kaduna were burned and two pastors killed, as the rioters centred their attacks on anyone suspected of being a Christian. All of the churches in Lemu Road, Kaduna were either burnt or vandalized by the Moslem rioters. This is not the first time that violence has erupted in Kaduna with tragic results. In February 2000, riots in Kaduna led to the deaths of over 2000 people. Earlier this year, The Voice of the Martyrs opened a new office in Kaduna, after the previous office was burned down in the riots of 2000. A representative from VOM Canada was there for the opening and returned with testimonies of believers experiencing the cost of discipleship in Nigeria.

We encourage you to read his newsletter article at www.persecution.net/nlarchive/article1.htm.

To subscribe to VOM’s free monthly newsletter which contains in-depth analysis and personal testimonies of today’s persecuted church, go to www.persecution.net/nlorder.htm.

Ethiopia:

Evangelical Leaders Held Without Charge.

Two evangelical Christian leaders are continuing to be held by police without charges in Maychew, despite a court order to withdraw the case against them. The two men, Kiros Meles and Abebayeh Desalegn, were arrested last April after a two-day riot in which Maychew’s five evangelical churches were looted and destroyed by a mob of Ethiopian Orthodox militants. According to Compass Direct, a judge has given the local police until today to produce solid evidence, or she will order the men released. During riots in April, a young man identified only as Haile was shot and killed. While all indications point to a bullet fired into the air by the local police chief, Meles and Desalegn were arrested as suspects. They have made eight court appearances and each time the hearing was postponed as the police search for more evidence. Finally, on October 29, the judge ordered that they be released because of the lack of any evidence against them. The police, however, refused to release them. On November 29 police told the courts that they had evidence and asked for more time. They were given until December 11. The families of the men report that they have not been mistreated in prison and they are optimistic that today’s hearing will bring their release.

However, the ordeal has taken a toll on the families, with continued harassment, and stones being thrown at their homes, breaking glass windows and doors. Earlier this month, a team from The Voice of the Martyrs Canada was in Maychew and found a positive mood among the Christians in the city. They were concerned about the violence that they continued to suffer, but they are not defeated. The beatings are continuing; the team spoke with one man whose wife had been beaten the previous day. Evangelical churches in Ethiopia have grown greatly in recent years and now make up almost 20 percent of the population. Ethiopian Orthodox priests have denounced evangelical groups as "cults," urging their members to attack them verbally and physically in an attempt to have them return to the Ethiopian Orthodox Church. Children have been told to beat evangelical children. One man told the VOM team, "We cannot go back to the darkness we were in before. We cannot go back."

Please go to http://www.persecution.net to learn more about believers being persecuted and what can be done to help them.

   

email: ve6xtc@freenet.edmonton.ab.ca