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Persecution Report for Tuesday, 24Dec2002

Mission Network News reports these persecution incidents.

Bhutan:

Insurgents threaten already difficult missions work.

There’s word that camps of north-eastern insurgent groups are building up. With the new threat to peace growing, neighbouring officials are pressuring Bhutan’s government to act. East West Ministries’ John Maisel says the response may worsen a difficult situation for mission work. "Bhutan is an official Buddhist country. Everything else is illegal if you live in Bhutan; (and) you’re shut down and you’re imprisoned if you try to do anything, especially try to proselyte—win a Buddhist to Christ—or if you’re aggressive in any other type of faith other than the Buddhist faith, it has enormous consequences." Maisel says there is a lot to pray for as far as ministry in this area is concerned. "A lot of people don’t hear about it, but it’s one of the most difficult countries in the world to work in, just because of the Buddhist mentality of it being a Buddhist kingdom."

Nigeria:

Pastor and 2 family members murdered.

Rioting in Nigeria’s Plateau State last week has claimed the life of a prominent pastor and two members of his family. Voice of the Martyrs’ Gary Lane says the extremist Muslim mob targeted the Christians, a pattern that is likely to continue. "Radical Muslims in Nigeria want to impose Sharia law, not only on the 12 states of Nigeria that have already enacted it, but they want to impose it on the other states, and these are Christian areas. The one state that they are particularly targeting at this time is Plateau state." Lane says in spite of the dangers, believers continue their work. "Church buildings are being destroyed, and Christians and their pastors, the Christian leaders are being gunned down, and targeted and killed, but that isn’t stopping the growth of the church. The church in Nigeria is growing more than ever. But, we’re losing some good people; we’re losing some strong leaders - those who are standing up to the imposition of Sharia law."

India:

Radical Hindus win election.

Hard-line Hindu supremacists see their party’s victory this week in Gujarat as a mandate to turn secular India into a Hindu state. East-West Ministries’ John Maisel says the Hindu leaders there are: "...strongly focused on a nationalistic Hindu type of direction as far as their country; almost like the Al Qaeda or the militant Islamists that want to make their countries just strict Islam-type countries. You’re having some of the same set of dynamics in India among the Hindus." While caution is exercised, Maisel says the training goes on. "We’ve had to move one of our training sessions out of a place where we had a number of our guys get beat up by the Hindus and move to another location that’d be a little bit safer. Just pray that God would allow the ones that are in our centre, and that we’re sendingback in as church planters, that they’d be able to get out of the country."

Please go to http://www.mnnonline.org to learn about missions news and to hear a weekly audio broadcast.

The Voice Of The Martyrs provides these news bulletins.

Indonesia:

Threats of Christmas violence.

Investigators in Indonesia are looking into threats by a groupcalling itself "International Battalion of Death" that is threatening more violence against Christians over the Christmas season. On their web site, the group blames a "conspiracy of Christians" for the deaths of hundreds of thousands of Muslims in Palestine, Afghanistan, Iraq, the Philippines and Indonesia.

Two years ago, a series of bombs exploded in and around churches in Indonesia during the Christmas season. Nineteen people were killed and more than forty wounded. Last year, bombings in Palu in central Sulawesi damaged four churches and injured four people. In response to threats of violence, hundreds of police are being posted at places of worship in Palu this year. According to The Jakarta Post, each church and mosque in Palu will be guarded by three police officers.

In reflecting on these warnings, Glenn Penner, Communications Director for The Voice of the Martyrs said: "In recent years, Christians in a number of nations have found Christmas to be a time when they face threats or acts of violence. It’s a time when the followers of the Prince of Peace often do not find much peace on earth or much good will toward them. In 1998, Christians in India suffered greatly at the hands of militant Hindus during Christmas time. The next year saw the greatest massacre of Christians in Egypt in a century in El-Kosheh. In 2000 it was Indonesia. We would certainly urge Christians in the West to pause during the Christmas season to remember their brothers and sisters around the world for whom Christmas is a time of uncertainty and fear."

United Arab Emirates:

Filipino Pastor Imprisoned.

A Filipino pastor in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) has been arrested for allegedly distributing Christian materials.

According to International Christian Concern (ICC), Rev. Fernando Alconga from Redeemer and King Filipino Church of Ras Al Khaimah in U.A.E. was arrested on November 12 after undercover police agents approached him asking for Christian materials in Arabic. The previous day he had given a package of information to an Egyptian Arab outside the same building. When he told them he had no materials in Arabic, they asked to see what he had in other languages. After showing them cassette tapes, tracts, and New Testaments, he was arrested.

Representatives from the Council of Evangelical Churches that sponsors Rev. Alconga’s ministry were told there would be a hearing on December 1. When they inquired about the hearing on November 30, they were told it was to be postponed. The next day, however, they found that the hearing had been held in a different location. As a result, Alconga was denied legal counsel and representation from the Filipino Embassy. He was refused a translator and was pressured into signing documents in Arabic that he could not understand.

Reports from prison say that he is being treated well, however. On the web site for the UAE Embassy in Canada, Sheik Zayed, President of UAE, is quoted as saying: "A Muslim should know what are the true teachings of Christianity, and a Christian should know what are the true teachings of Islam. Sincere people from both sides should enter into dialogue, and should not leave the floor to the extremists who are there amongst both Christians and Muslims. A true dialogue between religions is the real deterrent and strong defense against fundamentalism and extremism."

(http://www.uae-embassy.com/zayed.html)

The Voice of the Martyrs urges the government of the UAE to demonstrate this commitment to religious moderatism by releasing Rev. Fernando Alconga. VOM also encourages concerned Christians to write to UAE officials asking for fair legal treatment for, and the release of, Pastor Alconga.

For more information on writing letters to government authorities, go to www.persecution.net/howto/writegov.htm

For contact information, go to www.persecution.net/uae.htm

Mongolia:

Charges Dropped Against Church Elders.

"Shouts of praise and rejoicing be unto the Lord!" This is the beginning of an e-mail received on December 18 by The Voice of the Martyrs.

On November 6, The Persecution & Prayer Alert reported that the elders of the Church of All Nations in the Bayangol district of Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia were facing criminal charges and confiscation of all tithes and offerings because they were not registered, despite efforts to register since 1999. This morning The Voice of the Martyrs received notice that all charges against the church have been dropped. The church thanks everyone for their prayers and asks that Christians continue to pray that they will be able to register, to prevent further problems.

The Buddhist government of Mongolia has been working to prevent the growth of Christianity in the country. Despite these efforts, the Church of All Nations has moved into a larger hall and is continuing to grow.

Pakistan:

Suspected mastermind behind attack ordered released

The head of an outlawed Islamic militant organization has been ordered released from prison. The Lahore High Court ordered on December 14 that Maulana Mohammad Masood Azhar, head of Jaish-e-Mohammad, be released from house arrest, stating that there was not sufficient evidence to continue to hold him.

However, news reports today indicate that local police have refused to release him in hope that his detention order will be extended. If it is not extended by December 20, he will have to be released. Security is extremely tight, with more than two dozen police posted around the house. Maulana Azhar was arrested December 2001 after the attack on St. Dominic church in Bahawalpur that left seventeen Christians dead. He is also the main suspect in planning the attack on India’s parliament in December 2001. He has previously served six years in prison in India as head of a militant Islamic group in Kashmir and was released in 1999 in exchange for passengers of a hijacked Indian Airlines jet.

Please visit http://www.persecution.net to learn more about Christians suffering persecution and what can be done to help them.

ASSIST News Service reports the following acts of persecution.

Bulgaria:

Bulgaria adopts restrictive religion law.

Several churches were left wondering about their options Saturday, December 20, after Bulgaria’s Parliament passed a strict religious legislation that forces all Non Orthodox denominations to receive official court registration.The bill, which has been condemned by human rights groups, defines Orthodox Christianity as a "traditional religion" in the Balkan nation, which hopes to join the European Union in 2007. Church analysts say the law appears aimed at ending a deep rift between supporters of current Patriarch Maxim and backers of his rival, Metropolitan Innokentii. He claims to be the church’s legitimate leader and accuses Maxim of having cooperated with the communists.

Under the new legislation, courts can also punish religious organizations for a variety of alleged offenses by stopping their activities for up to six months and banning religious publications or their distribution as well as cancelling an organization’s registration. The bill, which passed Friday December 19, by 150-0 in the 240 seat assembly with others present boycotting the vote, was initiated by the ruling National Movement Simeon II, named after the current Prime Minister and former King. Several churches have held street protests and demanded the intervention from the Council of Europe to stop the bill.

China:

Persecution continues in China despite talks this week.

Lorne Craner, the U.S. Assistant Secretary of State forDemocracy, Human Rights and Labour Affairs, completed two days of high-level talks in Beijing with Chinese officials on Tuesday and remains in China this week to continue talks in other parts of the country. Most of the talks centred around human rights and democracy issues. But China watchers were hoping that the fair treatment of house church Christians was also high on the agenda. According to reports, Craner said China had agreed to meet the leaders of the U.S. Commission of Religious Freedom in the spring.China is ranked 12^th on Open Doors’ "World Watch List" of countries where Christians are the most severely persecuted." The government of China continues to make life difficult for people of faith. Christians face intimidation, arrest, beatings, fines and imprisonment for the ‘crime‘ of worshipping God outside the control of the Three-Self Church structure," Terry Madison, president/CEO of Open Doors USA with Brother Andrew, states. "For China to truly become part of the world community, it needs to take the issue of freedom of religion for its citizens more seriously than it has in the past."

Recent reliable reports from many parts of China speak of arbitrary arrests and imprisonment of unregistered Christians. Flagrant cases of abuse and even torture are common, according to a report from Compass Direct." The police poured boiling water over one evangelist in north China recently," reported one house church elder. "When I heard the news, I wept." In late May, 100 house church leaders were reportedly arrested in the Fangcheng district of Henan, an area known for Christian revival. Informants had apparently alerted authorities that the leaders were involved in a Bible training camp, reports Compass Direct.

In early July, house churches in the city of Jinan, capital of Shandong province, were prohibited from meeting after a "mole" reported their location to the authorities. In late September, a Christian in the central province of Henan reported in a letter that Christians in the provincial capital of Zhengzhou are only permitted to meet in government registered churches.

Please see www.opendoorsusa.org for more details on this story and to learn of their 50 years of ministry to persecuted Christians.

Please check http://www.assist-ministries.org for thefull story versions and for many interesting and uplifting articles.

   

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