Muddling Toward Maturity Blog

RAYMOND IBRAHIM - ATTACKS ON CHRISTIAN CHURCHES NEAR DAMASCUS

Today Kathryn Jean Lopez interviewed Raymond Ibrahim, author of Crucified Again.    He is the "go-to" guy for information on Islamic persecution of Christians in the Middle East.  On his website, Raymond Ibrahim, he posted a video of what appear to be Islamic extremists attacking Christian churches in Syria — St. Elias Church and St. Grace Church in the Christian village of Maaloula near Damascus – where villagers still speak Aramaic, the language Christ spoke.

Some excerpts from the interview:

KJL: . . . .  Do we have any idea how many churches have been attacked in Syria and Egypt recently?

IBRAHIM: In Egypt, in just the last few weeks, approximately 80 churches and monasteries and other Christian institutions were attacked, many set aflame and/or destroyed.  In Syria, I am not sure of the exact number, but nary a month goes by when I compile my monthly Muslim persecution of Christians series, that an attack on at least one Syrian church or monastery does not take place. A recent report says that a decade after the U.S. “liberated” neighboring Iraq, some 70 churches have been destroyed. That appears to be the fate of the ancient churches of Syria should the Obama administration get its way in Syria.  .  .

 

KJL:  Are Syrian Christians better off if the U.S. does not strike against Assad?

IBRAHIM: Absolutely. That is not because Assad is a great guy, but because the alternatives — the same alternatives we saw in Libya and Egypt, that is, the Islamists and jihadis — are hostile to “infidel” Christians, a fact with ample doctrinal, historical, and current-affair proof. . .

KJL: How can the U.S. help? Specifically the Christians and minorities under fire?

IBRAHIM: It is sad to say, but the days when Mideast Christians called for U.S. help are gone.  Today, all that Copts, Christian Syrians, and others want from the U.S. is for it to not get involved — since apparently every time it does get involved it’s to help those who persecute Christians, Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt, and now al-Qaeda in Syria. Watching Mideast media, it’s clear that millions of Egyptians and Syrians — both Christians and moderate Muslims and others — want nothing more from the U.S. than for it to stop supporting terrorists, under the guise of “freedom” and “democracy.”  [more . . .]

RAYMOND IBRAHIM - PERSECUTION OF CHRISTIANS CONTINUES IN ISLAMIC WORLD

Raymond Ibrahim, author of Crucified Again: Exposing Islam's New War on Christians, sets the record straight concerning Islam's record of persecuting Christians.

 

THINKING CLEARLY ON SYRIA - Bill Muehlenberg

Bill Muehlenberg, one of the most perceptive Christian bloggers writing today, offers a helpful analysis of the Middle East Syria crisis. He titles his piece simply "On Syria" and writes:

One thing that can be said with some degree of certainty is that the situation in Syria is a mess. Then again, that largely describes things in all of the Middle East as well. This is one messed up part of the world, and no easy solutions present themselves to any number of problems found there.

But the situation has just been ratcheted up a notch – indeed, a huge notch – by Obama wanting to take America into war again. His insistence on taking some sort of action – no matter how ill-conceived or little thought through – makes this whole scenario now the stuff of front page news.

Indeed, with all the sabre-rattling going on now from a number of players, talk of WWIII erupting is not mere rhetoric. So this is serious stuff which needs sober analysis. And that is largely lacking in so many quarters. There seems to be far too much sloppy thinking and confusion about all this.

While I do not claim to be an expert on the matter, I am happy to draw upon the expertise of others as I very briefly examine a number of relevant points in this debate. They are by no means the only considerations here, but they are some crucial ones nonetheless.

Where is the anti-war left?

Given the fact that at any moment Obama may have military strikes being launched against Syria, one of the most obvious questions to be asked is just where are all the peaceniks and lefties? Just imagine if this were Bush in office: all hell would have broken loose by now, and there would be rioting in the streets.

Every lefty in the nation would be doing mass protests with all the usual lame rhetoric: “Stop US imperialism,” “End the occupation,” “No blood for oil” etc. Yet all we seem to hear at the moment is crickets chirping. So evidently American aggression overseas is not wrong in itself – only if Republicans do it. But if Obama is behind it, then it must be just fine. Yes, I understand how the left thinks here. What was that word starting in ‘h’ and ending in ‘ypocrisy’?

EGYPTIAN CHRISTIANS' "RADICAL" RESPONSE TO ISLAMISTS

This five minute report is well worth viewing.  From CBN news:

 

ELIZABETH KENDAL - "EGYPT: A TIME TO WEEP, MOURN AND PRAY"

Elizabeth Kendal's analyses offer insight on troubled areas around the world and ways to pray for  Christians suffering persecution and martyrdom.  Here's her report on the current situation in Egypt.

The present crisis in Egypt is the culmination of several strategic trends, particularly the arrival of 'democracy' after decades of Saudi-sponsored Islamic radicalisation in a State that is hurtling towards collapse. Egypt's population has exploded, doubling in one generation to more than 92 million. With a massive youth demographic, high unemployment (40 percent), high illiteracy (45 percent), critical food and fuel shortages and looming bankruptcy, Egypt is on the brink of becoming a failed State. Saudi money keeps Egypt afloat and the Saudis want their nemesis, the Muslim Brotherhood (which advocates republicanism), not just out of power, but crushed. In this, the interests of the Saudis, the Egyptian military and the Salafis converge.

As noted in RLPB 218 (10 July), the military staged their coup under the cover of anti-Morsi protests, ensuring that anti-Morsi elements would bear the blame and the brunt of reprisals. And 'no soft target so clearly represents opposition to Morsi and the Muslim Brotherhood (MB) as the Coptic Church'. The military's actions may have halted the Muslim Brotherhood's consolidation of power and guaranteed the flow of Saudi aid, but their actions are making the situation worse. Violence against Christians has exploded. The military may even exploit this, rather than prevent it, to legitimise military violence, military rule and requests for military aid. As the guardians of the Suez Canal and the Sinai, the Egyptian military is essentially a law unto itself, something Morsi and the MB have failed to appreciate.

RALPH PETERS - MIDDLE EAST GENOCIDE

This hard-hitting historical survey should be filed away for ready reference.  Originally published in the New York Post, I found it at VirtueOnline.  Peters writes:

We are witnesses to murder, and our governments are accomplices. The relentless destruction of the last remnants of the Middle East's Judeo-Christian civilization is well under way. And we are silent.

Captives of political correctness, our governments cater to radical immigrant tantrums as our leaders contort the truth to deny the existence of Islamist terrorism. Meanwhile, our Middle Eastern "allies" and foes alike eradicate thousands of years of Jewish and Christian heritage. Our diplomats treat the persecution as a minor embarrassment, best ignored.

The banishments and butchery aren't new, but the breakdown of the last rotting order in the wake of the "Arab Spring" has empowered psychotic fanatics who do not even value the lives of the faithful, let alone the lives of unbelievers. This is the end-game, the final persecution of Christians clinging to lands they've called home for 2,000 years. Except for Israel and the rarest exceptions elsewhere, Jews are already gone from the realms that nurtured them since the early years of their faith.

A thousand years ago, there were more Christians in the Middle East than in Europe, and Jewish communities prospered from the Nile to the Tigris. 

Even a century ago, more than 20% of the region's population was Christian, and Jews still adorned Arab cities with their talents. Today, estimates put the Christian population of the region at under 5% and sinking rapidly - and only that high because of the 9 million Copts who remain, for now, in Egypt.

CONVERSION AND PERSECUTION IN A MUSLIM SETTING

I'm indebted to a friend, a graduate of Dallas Theological Seminary, for sending me this extraordinary interview with two people raised in Muslim countries who became followers of Christ.   I found the stories gripping, well worth one's time to listen to.

I will post part 2 as soon as it becomes available.

CENTRAL AFRICAN REPUBLIC (CAR) - THREAT OF THE LRA

Elizabeth Kendal has written a tremendously informative report on what is going on in the Central African Republic.   Those who understand how prayer can turn around  difficult and dangerous situations will want to read this report.  It includes commentary on past amazing answers to prayer  when urgent calls have gone out.  Kendal writes:

As reported in last week's RLPB 210, a rebel army known as Seleka('alliance') has seized control of Central African Republic. What international media and human rights organisations are failing to acknowledge is that while CAR is French-speaking and 76 percent Christian, the supposedly poor and marginalised yet exceedingly well-armed rebels are Arabic-speaking Muslims with many foreign jihadis in their ranks. While France (the colonial power) refused to aid the government -- something that triggered angry protests outside the French Embassy in Bangui -- French soldiers are now patrolling the streets at the behest of the rebels. Targeted attacks against churches and religious workers have led church leaders to question Seleka's intentions. Many other questions remain unanswered too, such as: 'Who backed this regime change and why?' 

As if this were not bad enough, another threat hangs over the Christians of CAR: the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA). The LRA is a Ugandan rebel militia that emerged to wreak terror in Uganda's impoverished and marginalised north in the 1980s. However, when the Islamic regime in Sudan started sponsoring it, LRA activities expanded to fighting all of Khartoum's 'enemies', such as Uganda and its allies in southern Sudan. LRA terror escalated markedly in late 2002 such that, in May 2003, this prayer ministry (then under the auspices of WEA RLC) launched an international prayer campaign, triggering an intensive spiritual battle.  The first call to prayer (RLP 219) went out on 14 May 2003. This was immediately followed by an unprecedented mass of defections from the LRA to the Acholi Religious Leaders' Peace Initiative.  Kony responded on 14 June 2003 by ordering his troops to 'kill all clergy'. An urgent call to prayer was immediately issued, that God would 'bind all the demonic spirits allied with Joseph Kony and the LRA, to keep drawing defectors from all ranks of the LRA, and to effect the escape and rescue of hundreds of abducted children.' We prayed also for God to protect and bless all 'clergy, nuns, and Christian workers, especially those in front-line danger.' (RLP 224, 17 June 2003 (includes 18 months of updates)). To each request, God answered, "Yes!" Over the next 12-18 months, intercessors continued to battle against the LRA. Eventually the group was so decimated that violence had subsided greatly and redevelopment had begun. 

MUST WATCH (VIDEO INTERVIEW WITH RAYMOND IBRAHIM): "CRUCIFIED AGAIN: THE NEW ISLAMIC WAR ON CHRISTIANS"

I posted an article by Raymond Ibrahim yesterday and then today saw him interviewed on the 700 Club.  His book, Crucified Again: The New Islamic War on Christians, looks outstanding, a book urgently needed to enlighten people living in ignorance of Islam's history and current jihad against Christians.   Underneath the interview below, I have posted a helpful synopsis of the book by a reader, William Garrison Jr.

 

"Crucified Again: Exposing Islam's New War on Christians" by Raymond Ibrahim (April 2013), 322 pages. The author knows well of the sufferings of Christians at the hands of Muslim tormentors: he learned Arabic from his Egyptian Coptic Christian parents, has traveled throughout the Middle East, and his website maintains a blog of Islamic assaults against Christians, Jews and other mulhid, jahil, gird, and generic kafirun.

On Amazon, the "view inside" feature should be available, however, at the time of this posting, it is just of the e-book Kindle version. This book is not a cut-and-paste posting of his various internet columns; this isn't just a collection of newspaper clippings regarding tormented Christians. Instead, it is a remarkably detailed and scholarly study [52 pages of notes alone!], of Christian persecution (and at times near genocidal assault) throughout the Islamic world (as well as in countries where Muslims have a strong presence).

In Part 1: "Lost History": the author noted how that within the first couple hundred years of Muhammad's jihad the Muslim umma islamiya had conquered half of the Christian world. The author purveys Muhammad's holy book, the Qur'an, for ayat that justify the superiority of Muslims to conquer non-Muslim al-dhimma.

Part 2: "Islam's War On Christian Worship": Here the author discusses the Islamic jurisprudence (usul al-fiqh) for justifying Islamist curtailment of non-Muslim houses of worship, as well as the chastisement of their congregation. Today's attacks against Christian churches can be traced back 1,400 years ago to the Muslim conqueror of Jerusalem `The Conditions of Omar' (p. 33), and as expounded upon by other 14th Century Islamist theologians (p. 35).

Part 3: "Islam's War On Christian Freedom": the author reviews the history of Muhammad (al-insan al-kamil) ordering the killing of those who mocked him (p. 101), and how this developed the notion of blasphemy (tashif), whereby those who publicly question Islamic beliefs can be killed, as well as Christian proselytizers (dai'ya). The author recounts many accounts of Islamist attacks against Christians throughout the world [Caution: not for the fain-of-heart: there are 14 pages of full-color photographs of burned churches and many brutally butchered Christians, pp. 130+].

Part 4: "Climate of Hate": Herein the author details how Muslim governments "plant and nourish the seeds of hate" against non-Muslims.

Part 5: "See No Evil, Hear No Evil": The author explains why liberal academia and media "whitewash Islam and blame the West" for Islamic attacks against non-Muslims. Not a book with a happy ending. [Also see an important companion book: "Persecuted: The Global Assault on Christians" by P. Marshall, et. al. (March 2013)].

MASS EXODUS OF CHRISTIANS FROM MUSLIM WORLD IGNORED BY MEDIA

I think this an unbelievable atrocity and no one (or very few) seem to be exercised about it.   Raymond Ibrahim writes:    HT: Drudge

A mass exodus of Christians is currently underway.  Millions of Christians are being displaced from one end of the Islamic world to the other. 

We are reliving the true history of how the Islamic world, much of which prior to the Islamic conquests was almost entirely Christian, came into being.

The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom recently said: “The flight of Christians out of the region is unprecedented and it’s increasing year by year.”  In our lifetime alone “Christians might disappear altogether from Iraq, Afghanistan, and Egypt.”

Ongoing reports from the Islamic world certainly support this conclusion:  Iraq was the earliest indicator of the fate awaiting Christians once Islamic forces are liberated from the grip of dictators.

In 2003, Iraq’s Christian population was at least one million. Today fewer than 400,000 remain—the result of an anti-Christian campaign that began with the U.S. occupation of Iraq, when countless Christian churches were bombed and countless Christians killed, including by crucifixion and beheading.   

The 2010 Baghdad church attack, which saw nearly 60 Christian worshippers slaughtered, is the tip of a decade-long iceberg.

Now, as the U.S. supports the jihad on Syria’s secular president Assad, the same pattern has come to Syria: entire regions and towns where Christians lived for centuries before Islam came into being have now been emptied, as the opposition targets Christians for kidnapping, plundering, and beheadings, all in compliance with mosque calls telling the populace that it’s a “sacred duty” to drive Christians away.

In October 2012 the last Christian in the city of Homs—which had a Christian population of some 80,000 before jihadis came—was murdered.  One teenage Syrian girl said: “We left because they were trying to kill us… because we were Christians….  Those who were our neighbors turned against us. At the end, when we ran away, we went through balconies. We did not even dare go out on the street in front of our house.”

TWO HEROIC WOMEN SUFFER FOR THEIR CHRISTIAN FAITH IN AN IRANIAN PRISON

 - Update 4/17/13 - Christianity Today published an extensive interview with Maryam Rostampour and Marziyeh Amirizadeh.  The CT interview complements the interview below.  Both highly recommended.

- Update #2 - To learn how to write Saeed Abidini and Farshid Fati, two Christians still imprisoned in Iran, go to  http://captiveiniran.com/how-to-write-to-friends-of-the-authors/

- Original post - Iranian authorities sentenced Maryam and Marziyeh to death because they converted from Islam to Christianity.  I found their faith and their testimony compelling.  Their book, Captive in Iran, looks valuable:  

<iframe width="640" height="360" src="http://cbn.com/tv/embedplayer.aspx?bcid=2305242998001"  frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

IRAN DENIES PASTOR SAEED MEDICAL TREATMENT

From CBN News:

American Pastor Saeed Abedini, imprisoned in Iran for his Christian faith, is being denied medical treatment.

Abedini is suffering from internal bleeding after months of beatings by prison guards.

A few weeks ago, Iranian authorities promised he would receive medical attention, but that didn't materialize.

The American Center for Law and Justice says he was taken to the hospital and returned to prison without being treated.

Iranian officials claim the specialist he was supposed to see wasn't available. Instead of letting one of the many doctors on staff examine him, he was returned to prison without seeing anyone.

The ACLJ has obtained his mailing address at the Evin Prison, and they're encouraging people to write him a note for his upcoming 33rd birthday on May 7.

In a statement posted on their website, the ACLJ warns that Iranian officials are carefully scrutinizing all his mail.

"It is important that we not say anything that could be harmful to Pastor Saeed's case. Statements against Iran or specific references to outside organizations or churches could be harmful.  But please let him know you are thinking about him, that you are praying for him, and that you want to see him released to his family," the statement reads.

***Please consider sending Pastor Saeed an encouraging message to let him know people are praying, watching and fighting for his freedom. For further information go to SaveSaeed.org.

KIRSTEN POWERS - MIDDLE EAST CHRISTIANS NEED OUR PROTECTION

It's encouraging to see a TV commentator writing a column for USA Today on persecution of Christians, perhaps the most underreported story of our day!  Her column bears the subtitle:  "Christians are harassed in more countries -- 130 -- than any other religion in the world.   She writes: 

"Christianity is the most persecuted religion in the world." So asserted German Chancellor Angela Merkel late last year, causing a stir. Merkel echoed a concern expressed by then-French President Nicolas Sarkozy, who warned in a 2011 speech that Christians face a "particularly wicked program of cleansing in the Middle East, religious cleansing."

Not 'War on Christmas'

Now, this is not about clerks who say "Happy Holidays" or bans of nativity scenes in public schools. Merkel spoke of real persecution ofhundreds of millions of Christians around the world. Indeed, a 2011 Pew Forum study found that Christians are harassed in 130 countries, more than any of the world's other religions.

The just-released book Persecuted: The Global Assault on Christians provides the gory details behind these statistics. Persecuted is a collaboration of the Hudson Institute's Nina Shea, Paul Marshall and Lela Gilbert to catalog the human rights abuses visited upon Christian believers from North Korea to Mali. They define this persecution as Christians "who are tortured, raped, imprisoned, or killed for their faith." It's a worldwide phenomenon, but Shea points out a troubling acceleration in the cradle of Christianity's birth: the Middle East and North Africa. As London Guardian columnist Rupert Shortt wrote in January, "The religious ecology of the Middle East looks more fragile than ever, as the Arab Spring gives way to Christian Winter."  

Tragically, Christians have been forced to abandon homelands they have occupied for thousands of years. Up to two-thirds of Christians have fled Iraq in the past ten years to escape massacres, church burnings and constant death threats. ManyChristians fled to Syria, where they are experiencing persecution anew. In Iran, U.S. pastor Saeed Abedini has been sentenced to eight years in prison for preaching Christianity. . . . 

[more . . .]

SUDAN: ISLAMIC BELLIGERENCE AND SOARING PERSECUTION

Be among the few who pay attention to the terrible persecution being meeted out to Christians in the world today, especially by Islamists.  Elizabeth Kendall of the Religious Liberty Prayer Bulletin reports:

**   Islamists -- a powerful force in Sudan -- hold President Gen. Omar el-Bashir responsible for the loss of southern Sudan. Of course he is responsible, for he systematically marginalised, cheated, persecuted and fought the predominantly Christian non-Arabs of southern Sudan while trying to impose Islam on them until all they wanted was separation. Eventually on 9 July 2011 South Sudan became an independent nation. Khartoum's hardline Islamists believe secession should never have been an option, not merely because southern Sudan is resource-rich, but because Islamists do not believe Allah's land should ever be forfeit -- especially not at the behest of the US! In the latter part of 2012, Arab Spring-inspired protests erupted in Khartoum only to be hijacked by Islamists who attacked Western embassies. Rumours abounded that a coup was imminent. Whilst some of the discontent in Khartoum is due to economic hardship and repression, the Islamist discontent pertains to the growing belief that el-Bashir has failed the State by not being Islamic enough! A key opposition figure, Hassan al-Turabi, has asserted that el-Bashir's regime should not even be regarded as Islamic! Factions inside the regime are leveraging this discontent to increase their power, leaving el-Bashir under pressure to prove his Islamist credentials. This is the context for the campaign of systematic persecution that began in late 2012 (see RLPBs 198 and 199, and for more details RLM 6 March 2013).

On 14 February doctors in Khartoum cross-amputated a man's right hand and left foot under orders from the government as a punishment for robbery. Canada responded by condemning the deteriorating human rights situation in Sudan, noting also the targeting of civil society organisations, particularly those which are owned and run by Christians. Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird called on Khartoum 'to respect the rights of Sudan's people, to cease its intimidation of civil society and political opponents, and to end indiscriminate bombardments of civilians'.

CHINA PLANS TO WIPE OUT HOUSE CHURCHES

Jonathan Saruk reports for Morningstar News:

Government sponsored persecution rose 42 percent in 2012

China's Christians felt a noticeable rise in persecution in 2012 as the Communist government began the first of a three-phase plan to eradicate unregistered house churches, a new report says.

Incidents of persecution of Christians rose by about 42 percent last year compared with 2011, according to the report by human rights group China Aid. Many of these incidents involved groups of Christians. In total, the number of individual persecuted Christians rose by roughly 14 percent and total individual detentions increased by nearly 12 percent. China Aid said overall total persecution in six categories was about 13 percent worse than in 2011-though China Aid termed its statistics just "the tip of the iceberg."

At least 132 incidents of persecution affecting 4,919 Christians-442 of whom were clergy-were reported in the country last year, according to China Aid's annual report. The Texas-based group tracked detention of at least 1,441 Christians, the sentencing of nine of them, and the abuse (verbal, mental and physical, including beatings and torture) of 37 Christians.

Beijing, administered directly under the central government, witnessed the highest number of persecution cases, at 62, affecting 934 Christians; Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region in northwest China followed with at 11 cases involving 382 Christians. Persecution was also high in central China-comprising Henan and Hubei Hunan provinces-where 1,056 Christians were affected, and in east China, which includes Shandong, Anhui, Zhejiang, Jiangsu and Jiangxi provinces, which witnessed harassment of 750 Christians.

The report also notes that persecution last year was 61 percent worse than in 2010; 85 percent worse than in 2009; 120 percent worse than in 2008; 308 percent worse than in 2007; and 372 percent worse than in 2006.

CHRISTIANS IN SYRIA FLEEING EN MASSE

A terribly sad story of which we are largely ignorant. 

SYRIA: DESCENDING INTO HELL

Elizabeth Kendall of the Religious Liberty Prayer Bulletin describes the scene:

Historically one of the most hospitable places for Christians in the Middle East, Syria is descending into 'hell'. Hijacked by the Muslim Brotherhood and Salafis, the 'Arab Spring' has morphed into a Sunni Ascendency in which intolerant, fundamentalist Islam is subjugating and eliminating moderate and pluralist elements. The West is allied to the 'good' jihadists who are in turn allied to the 'bad' jihadists (al-Qaeda). Co-existence is being replaced with sectarian bloodletting. Secularism is being replaced with Islamisation. Jihadists are kidnapping, terrorising and killing Christians and destroying churches. Like most civilians caught in this civil war, Christians are suffering extreme hardship without medicines, doctors, heating, food and water. A Protestant pastor reports from Aleppo that starvation is now a greater concern than bombs. Please pray for the Church in Syria.

More details:

 

RELIGIOUS LIBERTY UNDER FIRE AROUND THE WORLD

Elizabeth Kendal, a member of the Australian Evangelical Alliance Religious Liberty Commission (AEA RLC), monitors situations around the world ignored by mainstream media in the West.  That the West no longer cares about religious liberty is shameful and depressing.  Kendal's work represents a mighty call to prayer.

Below is the latest installation of Kendal's reporting which offers updates on Sudan, Burma, Egypt, Eritrea, the EU, Iran, and Vietnam.  I've been bowled over by this report. 

I value the way she begins:

'Break the arm of the wicked and evildoer . . . ' (Psalm 10:15a ESV), the 'arm' being the machinery of action that facilitates evil: military and economic supply lines; power structures, relationships and networks; forums that disseminate ideologies of death. Lord, break them all!


* SUDAN (RLPB 194), where the Nuba and other African tribes across the 'new south' (Abyei, Sth Kordfan and Blue Nile) are facing genocide at the hands of the Islamist and racist, Arab-supremacist regime in Khartoum. 

UPDATE: On Friday 25 January some 350 African Non-Government Organisations (NGOs) presented their appeal to the African Union (AU) for action concerning the 'war in South Kordofan and Blue Nile'. Meanwhile, senior leaders of the Sudan People's Liberation Movement-North (SPLM-N), including Yassir Arman and Malik Agar, met with the US envoy Princeton Lyman in Washington to appeal for action to prevent genocide. Lyman, however, merely exhorted them to renounce violence and lay down their arms, adding that the Obama administration leans towards a political resolution and believes 'the ongoing tracks are acceptable'. Well, God does not find the situation acceptable! So let us put our trust in God, not humanity, and pray Psalm 10, that HE will intervene in Sudan.

* BURMA (RLPB 192), where the Buddhist and racist, Burman-supremacist regime in Naypyidaw has launched a full-scale war against the Christian Kachin, deploying helicopter gunships and bomber jets against civilians in Laiza.

UPDATE: Guy Horton of the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London, says the fighting is unlike anything he has previously witnessed in Burma (see video interview). He writes from northern Kachin State: 'The churches are open on a 24-hour basis. The people pray for deliverance from a conflict where Kachin soldiers, with the support of tens of thousands of civilians, are fighting for survival against an army several times their number.' He notes that the Kachin people are 'bonded by their Christian faith', adding that they are targeted by the Burmese army precisely because of 'their religion and their ethnicity. The law of genocide thus applies.' Horton reports: 'Kachin fixed defensive positions protecting civilians are probably unsustainable. Confronted with jet bombers, artillery, heavy mortars and overwhelming numbers of ground troops, Kachin soldiers may be unable to protect their civilians in the long- or even medium-term.' He expects not a mere humanitarian disaster but 'appalling human rights violations' and regards the West's silence as 'complicity with evil'. (For more detail see Religious Liberty Monitoring.) Pray Psalm 10 for Burma.

SUDAN: racial-religious genocide in 'new south'. 'Worse than Darfur' -- but who cares?

From Elizabeth Kendal of Religious Liberty Prayer Bulletin:  (January 22, 2013)

In 1992, during its war against South Sudan, Khartoum declared a jihad against the 'rebellious' Nuba: the African tribes of the north's Nuba Mountains who along with the southerners were resisting Islamisation and racist Arab supremacy. A government-sponsored fatwa legitimised the jihad by labelling Muslim 'rebels' as 'apostates' and Christians as 'kaffirs [infidels / unbelievers] standing as a bulwark against the spread of Islam', and affirming that 'Islam has granted the freedom of killing both categories'. Nothing has changed -- same genocidal regime, same racial and religious hatred, same jihad, same aim: genocide.

Reporting on the situation across Sudan's 'new south' -- Abyei, South Kordofan and Blue Nile -- Dr Mukesh Kapila, the former UN Humanitarian Co-ordinator in Sudan (2003-04) laments: 'The ethnic cleansing is largely complete.  . . . Rebel areas are depopulated and largely empty.' He says that in Blue Nile, some 450,000 people have been affected with fields and villages being razed as Sudanese radio calls for the region to be 'combed' and cleansed of Africans who are de-humanised as 'black plastic bags'. He reports that in South Kordofan -- where soldiers have been ordered to 'sweep out the trash' (i.e. the Africans) and 'eat them alive' -- displaced families have retreated to remote cave networks where food is scarce. Whilst many are determined to remain, saying 'This is our country', others are simply too weak to attempt the long trek south. It is a journey that is itself incredibly dangerous, for Khartoum wants the Nuba not just gone, but dead -- unable to return.  A delegation from HART (Humanitarian Aid Relief Trust) recently confirmed that on 12 December 2012 1700 civilians from Ulu Payam (Kirmuk County) left for South Sudan, only to be attacked en route by SAF (Sudan Armed Forces) ground troops. Many were killed and many children scattered, with only 700 of the original 1700 arriving in Maban, South Sudan.

Dr Kapila adds: 'What I've seen in the Nuba Mountains and Blue Nile is all that I've seen in Darfur, plus the addition of modern technology. Ten years after, we have precision guided missiles, land mines which I don't remember seeing in Darfur, anti-personnel bombs, cluster bombs which I did not see in Darfur, we see MiG fighters which I don't remember seeing in Darfur, and we have a much more precision-guided approach with distance over the horizon artillery. So this is not just another Darfur; quite possibly, it is worse than Darfur.'

Human Rights Watch estimates that a total of 900,000 African (non-Arab) Sudanese are now affected. Having razed the farms and villages, the regime maintains a blockade on humanitarian aid, using starvation as a weapon of mass destruction. This has long been the regime's preferred method of mass killing: engineering a famine and just waiting as the population turns skeletal and quietly drops into the dust. Khartoum has a long history of this type of warfare -- indeed President Omar el-Bashir has perfected mass murder and his conscience is untroubled. Despite this, the US administration has assured Khartoum that it is not seeking regime change but rather normalising relations. This is because the US believes friendship with Khartoum is in its geo-strategic interests on the spurious grounds that it thinks Khartoum could be helpful in the fight against terrorism. In truth, the West's interests would be better served if it feared the LORD!

Bishop Andudu Adam Elnail of the Anglican Cathedral in Kadugli only survived the ethnic-cleansing of Kadugli (the capital of South Kordofan) because he was receiving medical treatment in the US when Kadugli was invaded and ethnically cleansed in June 2011. This week Bishop Andudu and Dr Kapila will attend the African Union (AU) Summit in Addis Ababa to lobby for action to end the suffering in Sudan's 'new south'. They have identified Friday 25 January 2013 'Heads of State meeting on Sudan' as a key test of the AU's 'credibility'. Bishop Andudu is praying the AU will soon take action and send humanitarian aid, implement a ceasefire and  send a delegation to the conflict areas. 'That [would] be very helpful,' he said.

HISTORICAL NOTE: In 1913 the newly formed Sudan United Mission (SUM) Australia-New Zealand began sending pioneer missionaries into the Nuba Mountains. The first 'Sudanese Church of Christ in the Nuba Mountains' was planted in 1914. By 1936 there were 33 Australian and New Zealand SUM missionaries working in the Nuba Mountains alongside others who had arrived from various missions (in particular Church Missionary Society) and from the USA. After Sudan became independent in 1956 under a repressive Muslim, Arabist government, the missionaries, sensing their time was limited, redoubled their efforts in Bible translation. By the time the missionaries were forced to leave in 1962, Australian SUM (now Pioneers) missionaries had translated the New Testament into five Nuba languages. Today the Nuba are predominantly Christian. Germany, the USA, New Zealand and particularly Australia, all have strong spiritual ties (does that imply responsibilities?) to the people of the Nuba Mountains. May this centenary year be the year the battle is turned back. Remember - our struggle is not primarily against flesh and blood. (Ephesians 6:12)

PLEASE PRAY SPECIFICALLY THAT THE LORD OF HOSTS WILL --

* intervene in Sudan, so that 'the wicked will be caught in the schemes that they have devised' (Psalm 10:2b ESV).

* 'Break the arm [the machinery of action] of the wicked and evildoer; call his wickedness to account till you find none' (v15); may the machinery of evil -- the government in Khartoum, the Sudan Armed Forces, the military hardware -- be disrupted so that forces of liberty, justice and equality might be able to rise against it.

* show Omar el-Bashir and all who wield power in Khartoum (vv3-13) that YAHWEH reigns and is King forever (v16).

* see the suffering of the victims (Ps 10:14), hear their cry (v17a), strengthen their hearts (v17b) and provide them with justice (v18a) 'so that man who is of the earth may strike terror no more' (v18b).


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RACIAL-RELIGIOUS GENOCIDE IN SUDAN'S 'NEW SOUTH'

According to Dr Mukesh Kapila, the former UN Humanitarian Co-ordinator in Sudan (2003-04), the ethnic cleansing of Sudan's 'new south' -- Abyei, South Kordofan and Blue Nile -- 'is largely complete'. He comments that due to advances in technology, this war is 'worse than Darfur'. Displaced Africans (non-Arabs) unable to reach the massively over-populated refugee camps in South Sudan have retreated to remote caves. Having destroyed their food supply, the Arab-Islamist regime is blockading all humanitarian aid and using starvation as a weapon of mass destruction. These Africans are predominantly Christian. Christianity in the Nuba Mountains dates back nearly a century to when pioneer missionaries from Sudan United Mission Australia-New Zealand planted the first church there in 1914. Please pray for the Lord to intervene in Sudan.

TORTURED AMERICAN CITIZEN IN AN IRANIAN COURTROOM

His "crime"?  He's a Christian. He's to stand trial tomorrow before the notorious "hanging judge."

From the Family Research Council:

While people stream into Washington on Monday to celebrate one of freedom's greatest spectacles--the inauguration--another American will be sitting in an Iranian courtroom wondering if he'll hang for his faith. At 32, Pastor Saeed Abedini was just getting settled into his family life with his wife and two children in Idaho, when he took a trip home to Iran that not only changed his life--but may end it. The former Muslim, who converted to Christianity 13 years ago, was home for a humanitarian mission when he was pulled off a bus and arrested. Authorities claim his conversion has "endangered" the national security of Iran. After four months of unspeakable brutality, the Iranians set a trial date of January 21 in a court headed by a man many have nicknamed "the hanging judge."

Pastor Abedini's wife and his attorney have pleaded for help from the U.S. State Department, but officials insist their hands are tied because Iran doesn't recognize Abedini's U.S. citizenship--an excuse that Congressman Trent Franks (R-Ariz.) finds ridiculous. "Let me be clear: under no circumstances should the U.S. State Department allow Iran to determine who is or isn't a U.S. citizen and who the U.S. should protect," he said.

Meanwhile, a dozen senators, led by Sens. James Risch (R-Idaho) and Roy Blunt (R-Mo.) have sent a letter to Secretary Clinton urging the agency to intervene. "We should not stand idly by while the Iranian regime arbitrarily persecutes a U.S. citizen who has committed no crime," they write. Still, the State Department has been relatively mute. This is exactly the kind of apathy that Congressman Frank Wolf condemned in his letter to hundreds of American church leaders. "The Church globally is under assault. Our response must not be to simply sing more loudly thereby drowning out the cries for help from our brothers and sisters. Rather we must speak out, advocate and act on their behalf."

The White House is at least attempting to speak out before Pastor Abedini's trial. Earlier today, the President's team finally released a statement saying that it "remains troubled the case of U.S. citizen Saeed Abedini, who was arrested by Iranian officials more than three months ago on charges relating to his religious beliefs. We call upon Iranian authorities to release him immediately." With your help, we can make sure they put action behind their words.

CHRISTIANS AROUND THE WORLD CELEBRATE CHRISTMAS AT GREAT RISK

Elizabeth Kendal of the Religious Liberty Prayer Bulletin writes:

We are 12 years into the 21st Century; 64 years on from the signing of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights; 23 years past the fall of Communism in Europe and the end of the Cold War. Yet the world is not a safer place, especially for Christians. For while positives have progressed, so too have negatives. And while proud, self-sufficient humanity likes to congratulate itself on the positives, it is not very good at tackling the negatives. For decades now, dangerous religious nationalism has been building in post-colonial emerging democracies such as Sri Lanka, and especially India. It is 33 years since the successful Shi'ite Revolution in Iran and the failed Sunni Revolution in Saudi Arabia triggered the Saudi-funded global expansion of Sunni Islamic fundamentalism, which is pro-Sharia, pro-jihad, supremacist, imperialist and intolerant.

Yet these past decades have been decades of phenomenal Church growth, specifically throughout the non-Western world. In 1960 the Church was predominantly white, Western and middle-class. Today the Church is some 80 percent coloured, non-Western and poor. These Christians -- who include many converts -- live as counter-cultural, vulnerable religious minorities in increasingly hostile environments in states with poor human rights records. Yet their numbers still increase as the Church continues to grow despite everything the devil throws at it. And that brings us to the key issue: the escalating persecution we are witnessing is Satan's response to Church growth. 'For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.' (Ephesians 6:12 ESV.) Satan is fighting back as should be expected. So how should we respond to this? We are to respond with endurance (Hebrews 10:35-39), prevailing prayer (Ephesians 6:18) and steadfast faith (Isaiah 30:15) in the one who secured our victory by means of the cross.

This year multitudes of Christians will be celebrating Christmas behind barricades and with armed guards to prevent terror attacks and mob violence. Those of us who are accustomed to worshipping in freedom can hardly imagine such a scenario. This year the Indonesian government will heighten security 'in seven areas believed to be prime targets for terrorist attacks ahead of the Christmas and New Year celebrations'. The areas which will receive special attention are East Java, Central Java, Jakarta, North Sumatra, Central Sulawesi, Bali and Maluku. From 23 December 2012 to 1 January 2013 'police will heighten security at the 38,499 registered churches across Indonesia' (Jakarta Globe). Instead of celebrating Christmas outdoors as they like to do, most Christians across northern Nigeria will remain inside their churches, behind the barricades and armed guards. The general secretary of the Christian Association of Nigeria, Rev. Musa Asake, expressed anxiety about the prospect of Christmas bombings and appealed through CBS News for Christians to pray that 'the Lord will intervene to protect churches'.

One of Iraq's leading Shi'ite clerics, Ayatollah Ahmad Al Hassani Al Baghdadi is currently in Syria, supporting the jihad against Assad. He has just issued a fatwa labelling Iraqi Christians as 'polytheists' [because they worship a trinity] and 'friends of the Zionists'. He has decreed they must choose 'Islam or death' and that 'their women and girls may legitimately be regarded wives of Muslims'. This fatwa may well increase the likelihood of a terror attack against Iraqi Christians this Christmas. Also it is difficult to imagine that foreign jihadis in Syria will let Christians gather and celebrate Christmas in peace and with security when their intention is to eradicate Christianity from the whole Middle East. In totalitarian states such as Eritrea, Algeria and all through Asia, Christians worshipping in unregistered ('illegal') house fellowships will worship, as usual, at risk of arrest. Christians in Pakistan, Egypt, Sudan, Maldives and India will also worship at great risk, while Christians in Somalia, Afghanistan and North Korea will worship in total secret and near silence.

But worship and celebrate we all will, for we celebrate the coming of the one who changes everything: Jesus Christ, son of David, Son of God. He came to redeem his people and establish his Church. What started with a band of disciples -- most of whom were martyred -- he has built into a Church that is hundreds-of-millions-strong. What is more, he is building still and Satan, though he fight with 'the energy of despair', cannot stop him. Though this relentless battle leaves us weary, Christ is resilient. Though we bruise like fragile reeds and fade like spent lanterns, the promise is that Jesus Christ, the Lord of Hosts, will not grow faint or be discouraged till he has established justice in the earth (from Isaiah 42:3,4). The one whose coming we celebrate at Christmas is the one who in grace gives strength to those who will trust him, that the battle might be turned back. He is the one in whom we hope. Yes, Christmas is worth celebrating, for Christmas heralds hope for the world.

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A CHRISTMAS PRAYER FOR IMPERILLED CHRISTIANS
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As we lift our hearts and hands to the God of all Creation,
we confess that our hearts are heavy with anxiety for our persecuted fellow believers;
we confess that our hands are empty for there is nothing material that we could offer that could stop the violence.

But come we do, because we know that while we are limited, you our God are not; for you are the Almighty living God (Psalm 77:10-13) and nothing is impossible for you (Luke 1:37). Indeed you are willing and able to do abundantly more than we could ask or even imagine (Ephesians 3:20).
 
We come because we know that you love us with an everlasting love; that you speak, work and rule in our interests; and that you are 'for us' (Psalm 56:9) and one with us (Romans 6:5), having been given to us (the Church) as our head (Ephesians 2:22).

And so we cry to you:
May the Lord of hosts himself guard his churches and secret fellowships this Christmas.
May the Holy Spirit draw all imperilled believers into prayer, trusting that you will answer as soon as you hear it (Isaiah 30:19).
May the name of Jesus Christ be exalted throughout all the nations with songs of praise, of glory to the Righteous One (Isaiah 24:16).

AMEN 

NIGERIA: THE TERROR OF JIHAD

Elizabeth Kendal of the Religious Liberty Prayer Bulletin reports: 

As was reported in RLPB 187 (28 Nov), up to 20 Christians were killed and dozens wounded on Sunday 25 November in a twin suicide bombing at St Andrew's Protestant Church inside the Jaji military barracks in Kaduna. Investigations indicate that the bombers may have been residents of the barracks and might have built the bomb on site, which would explain why they were granted access to the church without being searched. This raises fears that other military establishments could be similarly targeted. That same week Boko Haram gunmen attacked the headquarters of the Police Special Anti-Robbery Squad in Abuja, freeing 30 detainees and killing two policemen. Guards were under strict orders not to shoot. But Nigeria is at war! In Boko Haram's own words (29 November), 'Jihad [holy war] started now, jihad started now, O enemies of Allah.' 

On Saturday night 1 December a band of jihadists attacked Kupwal, a remote village in Chibok Local Government Area (LGA). (That is about 160km south of the Boko Haram stronghold of Maiduguri in Borno, Nigeria's most north-eastern state.) They invaded the Christian district and according to survivors entered 'carefully selected' homes, slitting the throats of the occupants. They then set fire to homes and sacked the whole neighbourhood to chants of 'Allahu Akbar' (Allah is the greatest). [See Qur'an, Sura 7:4 ] At least 10 people were killed whilst dozens escaped with serious and life-threatening injuries. Observers believe Boko Haram was either responsible or at least complicit.

On Sunday morning 2 December, some 50 Islamic gunmen in cars and on motorbikes attacked a police station, immigration and customs offices and three churches in Gamboru Ngala, Ngala LGA. (That is 140km north of Maiduguri, Borno State, near the border with Cameroon.) Before launching their attack, the jihadists destroyed the mobile phone masts to prevent communication and so compound the crisis. With shouts of 'Allahu Akbar' they opened fire on police, killing five. The churches were torched and Christians living and doing business in the border town were targeted. About two weeks earlier, leaflets had been distributed in which the Islamists declared their intention to impose Taliban-style rule, e.g., women were told to wear the veil and cigarettes were banned. A tailor was subsequently shot for continuing to make clothing the Islamists deemed un-Islamic.

In a 30 November column, author and analyst Raymond Ibrahim explained why persecution such as that described above is 'Islam's Achilles' heel'. Persecution committed by dominant Muslims in Muslim communities -- i.e. Muslims who cannot claim to be 'oppressed' or 'aggrieved' -- against vulnerable minority Christians is simply impossible to justify. Such persecution exposes Islam as supremacist, totalitarian, intolerant and imperialistic; as a movement that will not rest until the 'other' is totally subjugated. 'And to Allah prostrates whoever is within the heavens and the earth, willingly or by compulsion, and their shadows [as well] in the mornings and the afternoons.' (Qur'an, Sura 13:15)

PLEASE PRAY SPECIFICALLY THAT GOD WILL --

* rise up on behalf of his traumatised and terrorised people and intervene to rout the enemy and deliver his Church.

'And he [King David] said, "The LORD has burst through my enemies [the Philistines] before me like a bursting flood." Therefore the name of that place is called Baal-perazim [the Lord  who bursts  through]' (2 Samuel 5:20b ESV).

* bring healing and comfort to his bleeding, broken and grieving people; may he provide all their needs and make his loving presence felt so as to sustain their sorely-tested faith, that they might be 'more than conquerors through him who loved us' (from Romans 8:31-39 ESV).

* give the Nigerian authorities divine wisdom and insight, strength and commitment that they might excel in their battle against the enemies of the state and the enemies of the LORD.

* re-assure the church in northern Nigeria of his protection who is their 'strong city' (Isaiah 26:1). May the church in the south, and indeed the rest of the world, join this battle by praying for the north (Romans 15:30; 2 Corinthians 1:11).

* bless every Nigerian missionary and every witnessing Nigerian with divine courage and power from the Holy Spirit, for this is first and foremost a spiritual struggle (Ephesians 6:12).


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THE TERROR OF JIHAD IN NIGERIA

A full-blown Islamic jihad is raging in Nigeria and it is terrifying for the Christians of the north on the front-line. On Saturday evening 1 December jihadists attacked the Christian district of a remote village in Borno State. Entering 'carefully selected' homes, they murdered the occupants before sacking and burning the entire neighbourhood to shouts of 'Allahu Akbar' (Allah is the greatest). Ten were killed whilst dozens fled with serious and life-threatening injuries. On Sunday morning 2 December jihadists attacked another village in Borno close to the Cameroon border. With shouts of 'Allahu Akbar' they opened fire on police, killing five, before torching numerous government facilities and three churches. Only weeks earlier, Christians were threatened with violence if they did not leave the area. Please pray for Nigeria.

** This week I received an e-mail from Voice of the Martyrs which read:

The Voice of the Martyrs is standing with our persecuted Nigerian family this Christmas. We invite you to join us by sponsoring a CHRISTMAS CARE PACK or a VILLAGE OUTREACH PACK to bless our Nigerian brothers and sisters.

Each CHRISTMAS CARE PACK includes a backpack filled with gift items such as a children's Bible, school supplies, a toy and some basic toiletry items.

Each VILLAGE OUTREACH PACK includes a small library of materials that will help a pastor or evangelist further the gospel in Nigeria. These packs include a DVD player, a JESUS: He Lived Among Us DVD, a Bible and other Christian literature, a flashlight and rain boots. Many of these outreach packs will be used in the most dangerous parts of Nigeria.

Please CLICK HERE to sponsor one or more of these gifts and remind Nigerian Christians that they are not alone this Christmas season.

ERITREA - CHRISTIAN PRISONERS AND REFUGEES SUFFERING UNIMAGINABLY

Elizabeth Kendal offers a tremendously valuable summary of what has been happening in Eritrea. 

Eritrea, in the Horn of Africa on the Red Sea coast, has one of the most brutally repressive dictatorships in the world. The population is equally divided between Christians (90 percent Eritrean Orthodox) who live mostly in the highlands and Muslims who live mostly in the coastal lowlands. Eritrea won its independence from Ethiopia in 1991 and Isayas Afewerki has been the president since independence was declared and internationally recognised in 1993. In 2001, in the wake of a two-year border war with Ethiopia (1998-2000), Afewerki began cracking down hard on anything that could be viewed as a threat to national unity. He cancelled elections and closed all independent media. Opposition figures -- politicians, activists and journalists -- were removed, mostly to underground 'secret prisons' for the 'disappeared'.

In May 2002, reportedly at the behest of the Eritrean Orthodox Church (EOC), the government began cracking down on 'foreign' and 'non-traditional' religion. A Biblical revival and renewal movement had exploded within the EOC. While some priests accommodated or even embraced the movement, others resisted, forcing those desiring a more evangelical Christianity to leave the EOC for Protestant fellowships. The exodus has caused great angst in the hierarchy of the EOC. Now only state-sanctioned Muslim, Eritrean Orthodox, Roman Catholic and Mekane Yesus (Evangelical Lutheran) denominations are legal and worshipping in a Protestant fellowship is a criminal offence. However, by mid-2005 the authorities were oppressing the EOC as well, specifically those EOC priests supportive of the renewal movement and protesting religious persecution. When EOC head, Patriarch Abune Antonios, complained about the persecution of his priests, Afewerki had him deposed, placed under house arrest and replaced with a government administrator.

By the end of 2010 an estimated 3000 Eritrean Christians of all denominations (mostly Protestant) were incarcerated purely for their faith; today the number is estimated at around 1500. Whilst most prisoners are held in shipping containers in desert camps, some are kept in underground cells. The conditions are inhumane: children and the elderly are amongst the prisoners sharing skin diseases, dysentery and other horrors in confined, unventilated spaces. Torture is routine. An Amnesty International report published in May 2004 details the tortures suffered by Christian prisoners.Several Christians have died in custody and others have perished in the desert trying to escape.

Because Eritrea has no independent media, news of persecution is difficult to obtain for it must be leaked at great personal risk. Open Doors (OD) reports that on 30 October a Christian by the name of Adris Ali Mohammed (31), a Muslim convert from the town of Tesenai, died in custody. Adris had spent almost two years in a suffocating dungeon located in Eritrea's Aderset Military Camp, where some 100 Christians are believed to be detained. According to sources, Adris had stood firm through two years of terrible suffering and systematic torture aimed at forcing him to renounce his faith. According to OD, 'Military officials secretly buried Adris outside the camp.'

The repression has created a refugee crisis with many Christians amongst them. In July The Guardian reported that the Eritrea military runs a business kidnapping Eritrean refugees out of refugee camps in Sudan and trafficking them into the Sinai where they are sold to Bedouin gangs 'who use starvation, electrocution, rape and murder to extort up to $40,000 from relatives in the Eritrean diaspora for their release'. (See also NYT, 31 Oct 2012, for horrific details.) According to Strategic Policy magazine (4, 2012) Maj-Gen. Tekle 'Manjus' Kiflai has been identified as the 'co-ordinator of the human smuggling operation' which reportedly serves as 'a major revenue source for the PFDJ', the ruling People's Front for Democracy and Justice. This very powerful Maj-Gen. Tekle, an ethnic 'Christian', is rumoured to be a possible successor to Afewerki. Eritrea also funds, arms and trains anti-Ethiopian forces across the region, as well as rebels fighting against the Government of South Sudan.

But change is looming. For many years Afewerki had been funded and propped up by Gadhafi (Libya) and Mubarak (Egypt). With these two backers now removed, Eritrea's principal ally is US-allied, Islamist Qatar which is fully occupied trying to orchestrate regime change in Damascus, Syria. Furthermore, Afewerki is so unwell that when he disappeared in March, rumours circulated that he had died. Eventually he quelled those rumours by making an appearance on State TV on 29 April. Afewerki allegedly has a liver complaint for which he has received medical treatment in Qatar. Whilst Eritrea is ripe for change, the rot runs deep.

PLEASE PRAY SPECIFICALLY THAT GOD WILL --

* interpose himself in Eritrea to bring deep and radical change; may he bring judgment on all who trade in suffering and terror and bring an end to belligerence and repression. May he open the door to a new era of justice, liberty and peace, to his glory.

'In my distress I called upon the LORD . . . and my cry to him reached his ears. Then the earth reeled and rocked; the foundations also of the mountains trembled and quaked, because he was angry. He rescued me, because he delighted in me.' (Psalm 18:6,7,19b ESV)

* have mercy on his sorely persecuted Church. Lord, comfort and protect them, sustaining them in body and soul, especially prisoners and refugees. Lord, provide all their needs, fanning their faith into flame so they may not lose hope; may their trust be in you.

* redeem this era of intensive persecution by refining and unifying the Eritrean Church and use their stories of faithfulness to soften the hearts and open the eyes of multitudes.


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CHRISTIAN PRISONERS & REFUGEES SUFFERING UNIMAGINABLY IN ERITREA

Eritrea has one of the most brutal dictatorships worldwide and the repression has created a refugee crisis. Since May 2002 Christians have been severely persecuted and an estimated 1500 are suffering torture and appalling prison conditions today, simply for their faith. With no independent media, news is extremely difficult to obtain. Open Doors reports that on 30 October a Christian Muslim convert, Adris Ali Mohammed (31), died in custody after two years of systematic torture aimed at forcing him to renounce his faith. Christians in refugee camps are no safer as the Eritrean military runs a lucrative operation on behalf of the government, trafficking them to Bedouin gangs in the Sinai. Please pray for Eritrean Christians and that God will effect deep and radical change in Eritrea.

PRAYERS FOR COUNTRIES OF THE WORLD

Click through to a wonderful website with short suggested prayers for many nations of the world, mostly those who persecute Christians. Examples:

Father, we pray for . . .

AFGHANISTAN
•    for religious freedom to become a reality, so that the remnant Church will be free to witness and grow, bringing hope, healing and life to Afghanistan’s oppressed and suffering millions. Until then, Lord, sustain, comfort and build your Church and provide her every need. May the LORD of hosts break through in Afghanistan.




ALGERIA
•    where the government's tenuous peace with Islamic fundamentalists depends in part on its willingness to restrict and repress Christianity. May the largely young, growing and now vulnerable church grow in faith and grace, trusting in the LORD in all circumstances and for all things. May Christ continue to build his church in Algeria.  

 AZERBAIJAN
•    an authoritarian state threatened by the rise of intolerant fundamentalist Islam. Lord, give grace to the authorities that they may distinguish between good and bad, blessing and threat; so that the church need not be swept up in anti-terror measures that target 'non-traditional' and 'foreign' religion (i.e. jihadist and revolutionary Islam coming in from outside). Grant your people wisdom. May the church grow in faith and numbers.

 

 BANGLADESH
•   that the nation will remember its secular roots and preserve liberty and rule of law. May Bangladesh's persecuted Christian minority not lose hope. May they endure their trials and hardships as shining lights, with wisdom and grace. Lord, be their shield and defender, and add to their number.

THE CHRISTIAN EXODUS FROM EGYPT

Samuel Tadros' subtitles his article,  "For Copts, a persecuting dictator was preferable to the Islamist mob."  He writes: [the bolding is my own]

Visit any Coptic church in the United States and you immediately recognize the newcomers. You see it in their eyes, hear it in their broken English, sense it in how they cling to the church in search of the familiar. They have come here escaping a place they used to call home, where their ancestors had lived for centuries.

Waves of Copts have come here from Egypt before, to escape Gamal Abdel Nasser's nationalizations or the growing Islamist tide. Their country's transformation wasn't sudden, but every year brought more public Islamization. As the veil spread, Coptic women felt increasingly different, alien and marked. Verbal abuse came from schoolteachers, bystanders in the bus station who noticed the cross on a wrist, or commentators on state television.

But life was generally bearable. Hosni Mubarak crushed the Islamist insurgency of the 1980s and '90s. He was no friend to the Copts, but neither was he foe. His police often turned a blind eye when Coptic homes and shops were attacked by mobs, and the courts never punished the perpetrators—but the president wasn't an Islamist. He even interfered sometimes to give permission to build a church, or to make Christmas a national holiday.

To be sure, Copts were excluded from high government positions. There were no Coptic governors, intelligence officers, deans of schools, or CEOs of government companies. Until 2005, Copts needed presidential approval to build a new church or even build a bathroom in an existing one. Even with approval, state security often blocked construction, citing security concerns.

Those concerns were often real. Mobs could mobilize against Copts with the slightest incitement—rumor of a romantic relationship between a Christian man and a Muslim woman, a church being built, reports of a Christian having insulted Islam. The details varied but the results didn't: homes burned, shops destroyed, Christians leaving villages, sometimes dead bodies. The police would arrive late and force a reconciliation session between perpetrators and victims during which everything would be forgiven and no one punished. What pained the Copts most was that the attackers were neighbors, co-workers and childhood friends.

IRANIAN PASTOR YOUCEF NADARKHANI SET FREE!

Nadarkhani being reunited with his family.

What remendous news!!!  Here's what we have learned so far:  (From Fox News)

Iranian Pastor Youcef Nadarkhani, who was originally sentenced to death in his native country for his Christian faith, was acquitted of apostasy charges and released from custody.

Nadarkhani, 32, was imprisoned for three years and waiting execution for refusing to renounce his Christian faith. His charges were lowered to evangelizing to Muslims, which carried a three-year sentence. He was released with time served, according to the American Center for Law and Justice, a Washington-based watchdog group that had been campaigning for the pastor's release.

"Today our sources in Iran reported that Pastor Youcef was acquitted of apostasy and released from prison. After languishing in prison for almost three years, he has been reunited with his family," Jordan Sekulow, executive director of ACLJ said in a statement to FoxNews.com.

"While we are working on confirming the exact details of his release, some sources report that the court alternatively convicted Pastor Youcef of evangelizing to Muslims, sentencing him to three years and granting him time served.  Pastor Youcef’s story is an example of how the world can join together to ensure that justice is served and freedom preserved."

SAUDI ARABIA: CONVERT FLEES; HELPERS TO FACE COURT

Religious Liberty Prayer Bulletin
-- Interpol and Swedish authorities aid Saudi Embassy to hunt convert.

By Elizabeth Kendal

Since late July Saudi media have been buzzing with reports that a 28-year-old Saudi woman has embraced Christianity and fled the country, staying initially in a church in Lebanon before moving on to Sweden. According to the Saudi Gazette, the woman, Maryam, appeared on an Arabic TV channel saying she was tired of performing prayers and fasting during Ramadan -- rituals that never brought her any benefit. She also criticised Saudi Arabia's Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice. She claimed to have been converted through a dream and said that though she was raised to hate Judaism and Christianity she has come to love those religions since finding peace in Christianity.

The woman's father said his daughter was working in an insurance company in Al-Khobar (in Saudi Arabia's Eastern Province) when her boss, a Lebanese Christian man named Henna Sarkees (50), influenced her and ultimately encouraged her to leave Islam. According to Saudi investigators, a second man, a Saudi national, helped the woman obtain false documents and leave the country. The woman's family have pressed charges against the two men because apostasy (leaving Islam) is an Islamic capital offence and a Saudi woman is not allowed to get a passport without the permission of her male guardian. The men will face court on Saturday 15 September.

IRAN: URGENT UPDATE ON PASTOR NADARKHANI

Elizabeth Kendal has an update:

Reportedly, Christian pastor Youcef Nadarkhani (34, married with two sons), who was sentenced to death for apostasy in 2010, will be re-tried on 27 August (although some reports say 8 September). This time the charges are 'banditry and extortion'. The regime is possibly seeking to convince Nadarkhani's supporters that he is a criminal unworthy of their support. Alternatively, by launching a new trial with unprovable accusations, the regime may be seeking to 'wash its hands' publicly of Nadarkhani and release him to the Islamists and secret police while declaring itself 'innocent of this man's blood' (after the manner of Pontius Pilate in Matthew 27:24, as has happened before in Iran). No matter what happens, Youcef Nadarkhani and his family will be greatly in need of our prayers. Please pray for Iran's Christian prisoners.

CHRISTIANS IMPERILLED IN SYRIA, SUDAN, AND BURMA

I have the highest respect for Elizabeth Kendal who produces the invaluable Religious Liberty Prayer Bulletin.   Here's the latest:  (the bolding is my own)

Religious Liberty Prayer Bulletin | RLPB 170 | Wed 01 Aug 2012

SYRIA, SUDAN, BURMA: THE BATTLES RAGE

By Elizabeth Kendal

SYRIA
On Sunday 29 July the Australian Broadcasting Corporation's Jim Middleton spoke to Prof. Vali Nasr about Syria's prospects. Nasr confirmed that al Qaeda was indeed gaining ground in Syria. He expressed concern that in the event of regime collapse, it is not clear who would 'prevent a massacre of the Alawites and the Christians and those Sunnis who supported Assad'. He also said it was not clear who would 'prevent al-Qaeda from setting up shop in various little emirates across Syria'. Furthermore, Nasr warned that should the regime fall 'in a bad way' then the whole region -- especially Lebanon, Iraq and Jordan -- will be massively impacted and destabilised.

THE BATTLE FOR ALEPPO
The battle for Aleppo is a decisive one. With a population of 2.5 million, Aleppo is Syria's second largest city after Damascus, and its commercial hub. Home to swaths of loyalist Sunni Arab and Kurdish business elite, Christians make up some 10 percent of the population of the city. Around half of them are Armenians, with the remainder belonging to the Syrian, Greek Orthodox and Maronite churches. Jihadists are pouring in for the battle. Syrian Sunni jihadists who have been fighting with al Qaeda against US forces in Iraq are returning home in droves. The West called them 'terrorists' in Iraq. In Syria it calls them 'rebels', 'insurgents' and 'opposition'. Furthermore foreign jihadists are coming in from the Caucasus, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Tunisia, Uzbekistan, Algeria and Gulf Arab states as well as Europe, including Britain, Sweden and France. It is not uncommon to see the Islamist black flag flying on rebel vehicles or hoisted in rebel-held areas, yet Western journalists seem as oblivious to this as they are to the Islamist beards, chants and overt threats. Still holding out dreams of 'democracy' these journalists also seem oblivious to the long-term global consequences of Islamist sanctuaries in Syria.

It is reported that Aleppo's Armenian community has hunkered down for the duration.  Other Christians are doubtless doing the same. Some Christians, though, feel their only option is to take up arms to fight for the survival of their family. The battle has not yet reached the Christian quarters. However, a standard tactic in Islamist asymmetric warfare is to use women and children -- and Christians wherever possible -- as human shields and then exploit their deaths for propaganda in the West. Therefore we can expect jihadists will attempt to deliberately infiltrate Christian districts not only to kill Christians (whom they want to eliminate anyway) but also to draw the regime's return fire into those districts. Indeed, only the LORD of hosts can prevent this.

SUDAN AND BURMA
Watching and listening to the news, one could be forgiven for thinking that the Syrian conflict was the world's only war. On the contrary, regimes are waging war against predominantly Christian peoples in South Kordofan, Sudan and in Kachin State, Burma. The difference is, whilst the West is for regime change in Syria, it is against changing the brutal, Islamist, racist, Arab-supremacist regime in Khartoum, Sudan and the brutal, Buddhist-nationalist, racist Burman-supremacist regime in Burma. In each case, the Christians are on the wrong side of Western economic and geo-strategic interests! In each case, Christian peoples -- children, parents, the elderly -- are suffering immensely with hunger, tears, spilt blood and broken bones. However, this is being covered up continuously and without discernment by lazy, conformist media -- apparently ignorant of historical and religious realities -- who are echoing the official line. Surely God is NOT pleased.

For more on Syria, Sudan and Burma see Religious Liberty Monitoring.

PLEASE PRAY SPECIFICALLY THAT THE LORD OF HOSTS WILL --

* by the power of the Holy Spirit draw his people close and increase their faith so they will hope in him (Psalm 33:18) and see answers to their prayers (Isaiah 30:19); may the devil have no victory over them.

* rise up to defend, shield and supply his precious people and vanquish their enemies. (Isaiah 40:10,11)

* raise his right arm against all jihadists and jihadist-allied forces in Syria, the regime of Omar el-Bashir in Khartoum, Sudan, and the Burmese junta in Naypyidaw; may those who seek to annihilate God's precious children succeed only in securing God's furious wrath. (Isaiah 31:4,5).

'But my eyes are toward you, O GOD, my Lord; in you I seek refuge; leave me not defenceless! Keep me from the trap that they have laid for me and from the snares of evildoers! Let the wicked fall into their own nets, while I pass by safely. (Psalm 141:8-10 ESV)

With whole Christian communities facing existential threat, consider Psalm 33:8-19.

SUMMARY FOR BULLETINS UNABLE TO RUN THE WHOLE ARTICLE
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THE BATTLES RAGE IN SYRIA, SUDAN and BURMA

The battle for Aleppo is decisive. Jihadists are pouring in from around the world for this battle, fighting not for Syria, but for Islam. The Christians, who comprise about 10 percent of Aleppo's 2.5 million population, are gravely imperilled. Whilst the fighting has not yet reached the Christian quarters, the jihadists doubtless know the propaganda coup they could score by drawing the regime's fire into the Christian districts. Please pray for God's protection. Meanwhile, wars continue to rage against Christian communities in South Kordofan, Sudan and Kachin State, Burma. In all these cases, the Christians are finding themselves on the wrong side of Western economic and geo-strategic 'interests'. Please pray for God to rise up on behalf of his precious people. 

Syrian Muslim Brotherhood Says “Decisive Battle” Has Begun In Damascus…

The big question:  If/when Assad falls, will the Muslim Brotherhood come to power as they have in Egypt?  Christians in Syria tremble.  Weazel Zippers says: "Expect an Alawite/Christian bloodbath once the Sunni rebels overrun the Assad regime."   

Elizabeth Kendal, Christian researcher of worldwide persecution of Christians, says the media has given an entirely false story regarding Syria.   She reports:

SYRIA: CHRISTIANS' PLIGHT LOST UNDER MOUNTAIN OF PROPAGANDA

Without a doubt, the greatest lie being told about the Syrian conflict is that it is being waged by President Assad against 'the Syrian people'. This is pure propaganda. In December 2011, just three months into the crisis, the Qatar Foundation conducted a major poll inside Syria to assess the level of support for Assad. (This was before al-Qaeda and other international Salafi jihadists started flooding in, making the crisis worse.) As an advocate of regime change in Syria, Qatar was embarrassed by the results and so buried them. When eventually leaked, the results revealed that 55 percent of Syrians supported President Assad and 68 percent of Syrians disapproved of Arab League sanctions. This makes perfect sense, considering that religious minorities make up 25 percent of Syria's population (Christians are 10 percent) and at least one-third of all Sunni Muslims would be nominal or secular urbanites who likewise do not want to live in an Islamic State. So the main division in Syria is not between Assad and the rest, but between Sunni fundamentalists (including foreign Salafi jihadists) and the rest, i.e. the majority of Syrians.

House Democrats Blocking Bill Seeking To Aid Christians And Other Persecuted Religious Minorities In Muslim Countries…

This information comes from Weasel Zippers, an important news aggregator, which in turn quotes CNS News:

With time running out on the legislative calendar, a Republican lawmaker is urging a Democratic senator to lift a “hold” on legislation that would establish a special envoy to promote religious freedom in the Middle East and South-Central Asia.

Almost a year ago, the House of Representatives passed a bill with strong bipartisan support — it had 80 co-sponsors from both parties — but companion legislation has been held up in the Senate. Rep. Frank Wolf (R-Va.), who authored the House bill, says he learned that Sen. Jim Webb (D-Va.) is behind the hold.

In a letter sent to Webb this week, released by his office on Thursday, Wolf said he could not understand why Webb would oppose the initiative.

“More importantly, I would venture that the Coptic Christians, Baha’is, Chaldo-Assyrians, Ahmadis, small remaining Jewish population and countless other religious minorities throughout the Middle East and South Central Asia who face daily persecution, hardship, violence, instability and even death would be hard-pressed to see your objection to this straight-forward, bipartisan legislation,” he wrote.  [more. . .]

Read the whole thing.  It's apparent to me (and has been for a long time), that the U.S. State Department needs a radical overhaul.  November can't come fast enough.  Meanwhile, religious minorities suffer with few voices speaking on their behalf.  Memo:  Must contact my senators.

NIGERIAN CHRISTIANS SEEK SAFETY BEHIND BARRICADES; ALSO SUDANESE GENOCIDE UPDATE

Elizabeth Kendal of the Religious Liberty Prayer Bulletin reports:  [my bolding]

NIGERIA: BOKO HARAM'S JIHAD

At least 15 people were killed and more than 40 seriously wounded on Sunday 3 June when a Boko Haram suicide bomber rammed his car into the checkpoint outside the Living Faith Church in the Yelwa Tudu area of Bauchi metropolis. The blast, that occurred around 9:20am, sent fire and shrapnel burning and slicing through believers who were chatting outside after the church's first worship service. The explosion also rocked Harvest Field Church 25m away  across the road, causing part of the building to collapse on worshippers. The death toll is likely to rise, as some believers are still unaccounted for and many of the wounded are severely burned. The Islamic jihadist sect, Boko Haram, has claimed responsibility. The Pastor of Harvest Church, Mbamingo Godia, has asked Christians not to retaliate in any way but pray to God for peace.

Increasingly Christians in Northern Nigeria are attending worship behind barricades and checkpoints constantly reminding them that jihadists are plotting to eliminate them. Attending worship is done at great risk. A photo obtained by Compass Direct News shows a little girl lying on the ground, covered in blood. Furthermore Muslim mobs are persisting with organised night raids against Christian communities. By murdering Christians in their beds the Muslims aim to instil terror and trigger an exodus that will have the effect of ethnic-religious cleansing. Their primary aim, however, is to pressure the government into acquiescing to their demand for Sharia (Islamic) Law. The murderous night raids have Qur'anic precedent: '. . . Our punishment came to them at night or while they were sleeping at noon.' (Sura 7:4) The National President of the Christian Association of Nigeria, Pastor Ayo Oritsejafor, has declared Saturday 16 June a day of national prayer and fasting for the country.  (Add this date to your diary so we might all pray in solidarity.)

While we're looking at persecution of Christians in Nigeria, what's the current situation in Sudan?  Kendal reports:

SUDAN: KHARTOUM'S NUBA GENOCIDE

Khartoum's genocide against the non-Arab, non-Muslims of the 'New South' (Abyei, South Kordofan and Blue Nile) has been raging for over a year now and shows no sign of abating. Film footage obtained by Al-Jazeera in late March shows the governor of South Kordofan, the indicted war criminal Ahmed Harun, addressing his soldiers before deployment to Nuba territory. 'You must hand over the place clean,' he says. 'Swept, rubbed, crushed. Don't bring them back alive. We have no space for them.' An army commander standing near Harun then adds, 'Don't bring them back, eat them alive.' (Al-Jazeera, 1 April) This is clearly a call to genocide.

According to the medical charity Medecins sans Frontieres, up to 4,000 people are fleeing into South Sudan every day to escape fighting in Sudan's Blue Nile province, with around 100,000 refugees already in camps across the border in South Sudan's Upper Nile State.

Further to this, famine is starting to set in for the displaced Nuba of South Kordofan. Some 38,000 Nuba refugees have fled over the border into South Sudan's Unity State. Yida refugee camp, which already holds 35,000 refugees, is bracing for an influx as refugees desperately trying to cross the border before the rains make travel impossible. Meanwhile, Khartoum continues its aerial bombardment of refugees and its blockade of humanitarian aid. Reporting from the Nuba Mountains, Nicholas Kristoff says (2 June) that around 800,000 Nuba have completely run out of food in South Kordofan, while some 50,000 are attempting the trek to Yida. However, starvation is taking its toll, with many travellers simply too weak to complete the journey. Samaritan's Purse reports that at least ten percent of the children arriving at Yida are acutely malnourished. Amjuma Ali Kuku, a teacher, says the camp is presently caring for some 2,000 unaccompanied children.

Why is this genocide attracting no attention? Is it because this genocide is an openly declared Islamic jihad and talking about it would risk being politically incorrect? Well, a genocidal Islamic jihad it is! And while the world looks away, hundreds of thousands of predominantly Christian Africans are being deliberately starved to death by the racist, Arab supremacist, Islamic regime in Khartoum.

"RELIGION OF PEACE" SLAUGHTERS 21 MORE CHRISTIANS IN NIGERIA

CBN reports:

Transcript:

At least 21 people are dead after attacks on churches in northern Nigeria. No group has claimed responsibility so far but there's signs the radical Islamic sect Boko Haram may be at work.

These latest attacks appear to be part of a violent campaign that the sect has waged for several years in the northern part of the country targeting the government and Nigerian Christians.

The city of Kano is the epicenter of Boko Haram's holy war against the country and the site of the largest attack this week-end. At least 16 died and 22 were injured after gunmen rode on motorcycles onto a university campus. 

The attackers threw grenades in an area where local churches hold services, and ss worshippers ran out to escape the gunmen were waiting to shoot them.

In another city where Boko Haram once had its main mosque gunmen stormed into a church service and began firing. The pastor and four other worshippers died.

In the past, Boko Haram has said the deadly attacks won't stop until Sharia law rules the country. In the meantime, its work is creating a spirit of fear in northern Nigeria.

In January of this year Boko Haram launched its deadliest attack to date. Suicide bombers hit multiple locations in Kano killing 185 people.

"Their bombs are increasingly more sophisticated and more powerful so this has gone beyond the sort of local radical group," Paul Marshall, with the Hudson Institute, said.

Boko Haram has rejected efforts to begin indirect peace talks with Nigeria's government.

Meanwhile, the killings continue. It's believed the sect has killed more than 450 people already this year.

A church in Nairobi, Kenya was also attacked this week-end. One worshipper died and 15 were wounded after someone threw a grenade into the building during a service.

The incident marks the latest in a series of attacks since Kenya send troops into Somalia. Al-Qaeda linked Al-Shabab militants in Somalia have vowed to carry out a major attack on Kenya for sending in the troops.

Me:   I am really upset, as I am sure you are.  Imagine the fear Nigerian Christians must face continually.  Being in a church has become the most dangerous place in the country.  Can we please pray for the Nigerian Christians?  Let us pray as well that the Nigerian government will be effective in destroying Boko Haram.  Finally, let us pray that Nigerian Muslims will perceive that killing is wicked, and not godly, even though that realisation contradicts the Qur'an.

CHINA PERSECUTION OF CHRISTIANS IN CHINA INCREASED DRAMATICALLY IN 2011

China Aid reports that in 2011, the number of Christians detained for their religious beliefs had soared 131.8% from 2010.

A new government practice last year was targeting churches and individuals who were significantly impacting society, like Beijing’s Shouwang Church and leading legal activists such as constitutional law expert Dr. Fan Yafeng, who has been under house arrest since December 2010, and award-winning human rights lawyer Gao Zhisheng, who disappeared into official custody for 20 months before being sent to a remote prison in far western China in December 2011 to serve a three-year sentence.

The report also highlighted the worrying increase in the use of torture against detainees, citing a 33.3% increase over 2010 in the number of cases of abuse of all kinds, including torture.

LAOS: CHRISTIANS THREATENED -- RECANT OR LEAVE

Religious liberty specialist Elizabeth Kendall reports:

Laos is a Communist-ruled South-east Asian state known for its abysmal human rights record, particularly its appalling prison conditions and systematic use of torture. Christians in this poor, landlocked nation face intensive persecution. Generally the religious persecution occurs outside the main cities, targets the already marginalised and persecuted ethnic minorities and is committed by belligerent and corrupt local officials. In Laos, religious liberty exists in theory but not in practice. Article 30 of the Laos Constitution states: 'Lao citizens have the right and freedom to believe or not to believe in religions.' However, the Prime Minister's 2002 Decree on Religious Practice (Decree 92) renders religious liberty illusory by mandating that religious activities first be approved by the village, district and regional authorities.

Furthermore, Decree 92 and Article 9 of the Constitution prohibit activities that could cause 'chaos' or 'social division'. Lao Communists oppose the growth of Protestant Christianity amongst the ethnic minorities, viewing it as part of a US conspiracy to destroy social cohesion and challenge Communist rule. Meanwhile, ethnic minority groups with a tradition of ancestor worship oppose Christianity, fearing reprisals from offended ancestral spirits. Denial of services (educational, medical, sanitation), imprisonments, forced renunciations of faith (using threats and torture) and expulsions are the main means employed against Christians by Communist officials determined to maintain control over a harmonious society. In January 2010 eleven Christian families consisting of 48 believers were expelled at gunpoint from Katin village in Ta-Oih district, Saravan Province, southern Laos, simply on account of their faith. Over the course of the year several other families, moved by the Christians' witness, decided to follow Christ and were also expelled. These believers have suffered greatly, losing everything they owned, with some even dying in the bush. They are slowly re-establishing themselves but life is hard. (background, see RLPB label: Laos)

NORTHERN NIGERIA: ISLAMISTS (BOKA HARAM) PLOTTING TO WIPE OUT CHRISTIANS

Religious liberty specialist Elizabeth Kendall reports: [my bolding]

Evidence indicates that the Nigerian al-Qaeda-linked terror group Boko Haram has transformed numerous suburban homes across the north of Nigeria into bomb-making factories. Several militants have been killed recently in Maiduguri, Damaturu and Kaduna when bombs exploded accidentally. Boko Haram's targets include schools, police stations, banks, government buildings and churches. Apart from these strategic bombings, the militants also roam the streets killing people randomly. Bauchi State Police Commissioner Aduba Ikechukwu says these militants are well armed, carrying sophisticated weapons including machine guns, and improvised explosive devices (IEDs). Boko Haram's aim is to make Nigeria ungovernable so they might extract concessions towards the Islamisation of Nigeria. Al-Qaeda supports Boko Haram as a way of furthering its own goal of establishing a sanctuary and base of operations in Northern Nigeria from where it can launch jihad into West Africa.

     [For background see: Nigeria: the Boko Haram threat Religious Liberty Monitoring, 10 July 2011]

On Sunday 4 March Egypt-based news website Bikya Masr spoke by phone to a spokesman from Boko Haram who told them that Boko Haram is preparing to launch a 'war' against Christians. He said the campaign, which will involve numerous co-ordinated attacks, is part of a 'plan to eradicate Christians from certain parts of the country'. He also boasted that the government 'cannot be prepared for what is to come'. Such a threat indicates that Boko Haram may be preparing to launch a wave of co-ordinated suicide bombings targeting Christians. The Boko Haram spokesman told Mikya Masr, 'We will create so much effort to end the Christian presence in our push to have a proper Islamic state that the Christians won't be able to stay.'

QUICK TAKES

Chuck Colson - Vending Machine Abortions

When contraception is as convenient as sodas and candy bars, that’s the sign that sexuality has not only been divorced from marriage and procreation, it’s been divorced from any relational responsibility.

The Silence Regarding the Persecution of Christians

According to a Pew Forum study, Christians are being persecuted in 131 of the world's 193 countries (200 million according to the World Evangelical Alliance). (These data are reported in David Aikman, "The Worldwide Attack on Christians" Commentary, February 2012

The 1998 International Religious Freedom Act requires that the promotion of religious freedom worldwide be a part of U.S. foreign policy, but the Obama administration has yet to take a single step under this Act (see here).

Rick Warren Builds bridges to Muslims

The Rev. Rick Warren, pastor of Saddleback Church in Lake Forest and one of America's most influential Christian leaders, has embarked on an effort to heal divisions between evangelical Christians and Muslims by partnering with Southern California mosques and proposing a set of theological principles that includes acknowledging that Christians and Muslims worship the same God.   Hmmm....  Update: 3/3/12  -IMPORTANT:  The reporter of this story got it entirely wrong.  Rick Warren sets the record straight here. 

Why No Coverage of This Odd Obama Remark about Religion?

"Islam has demonstrated through words and deeds the possibilities of religious tolerance." Obama said this in his June 2009 Cairo speech that the media praised to the high heavens -- literally.

INTERNATIONAL PRAYER ALERT: PRAY FOR 30 NORTH KOREAN REFUGEES IN DANGER OF EXECUTION -- URGENT

The following is of upmost importance.  I am sorry to be a few days late but I just learned of the crisis.  It was posted by China Aid, a reputable organization both for news and for rendering aid to those suffering persecution.

**

International Prayer Connect  February 23, 2012

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

For the last two weeks, China has been threatening to repatriate 30 North Korean refugees. These are people who escaped the brutal oppression and starvation of their land, hoping to get a better life, and to go to South Korea eventually. They and three generations of their families (men, women and children too), potentially hundreds of people, will be sentenced to execution as an example by the Pyongyang government or at least to slave labor in one of the Nazi-style death camps in North Korea if China repatriates them as it says it will do.

The South Korean government has appealed to China to no avail so far and is now pressing the United Nations Human Rights Council. Yesterday, the New York Times reported that "South Korean diplomats are expected to call for the safety and humane treatment of North Korean refugees living in hiding in China." (See the whole article at www.nytimes.com/2012/02/23/world/asia/seoul-urges-china-to-not-return-north-korean-refugees.html)

With this important issue finally before the world in such glaring manner, this could be a kairos time to see China's inhumane policy on refugees changed so that those suffering in the hell-hole of North Korea can freely escape. Please pray for the following and let's trust God together for this mountain to be moved (Matthew 17:20):

1. That the North Korean refugees and their families still inside North Korea will be protected from harm.
2. That China's government will be embarrassed and ashamed of their policies regarding North Korean refugees and allow refugees to come across the border to find asylum there or to go on to South Korea to live.
3. That China which supplies 80% of the resources to prop up the evil regime in Pyonyang will be moved to cut off those resources unless North Korea respects human rights and shuts down the Nazi-style prison camps in which hundreds of thousands of men, women and children are incarcerated. (In those camps, they are worked to death with little or no food and in terrible conditions or used for the testing of biological and chemical weapons.)
4. That the United Nations will take up this issue aggressively and that the international community will strongly pressure China and North Korea to respect the rights of the North Korean people and reform their policies concerning them.

Thanks for your persevering prayers of faith. The Lord will use them to shape history and bring His deliverance to North Korea!

Yours in Christ,

John Robb

Chairman, IPC

AYAAN HIRSI ALI - "THE GLOBAL WAR ON CHRISTIANS IN THE MUSLIM WORLD"

That this front-page Newsweek article was published is nothing short of amazing.  It does a very good job describing the atrocities occurring daily in the Muslim world against Christians.   Islam expert Robert Spencer says,

It is good to see Newsweek, which has been an energetically dhimmi publication, finally taking notice of the rampant worldwide Muslim persecution of Christians. It's also quite surprising, given that in the past, Newsweek has denied the existence of the stealth jihad; billowed fogs of deception about the pro-Sharia Ground Zero mosque imam Feisal Abdul Rauf as a "moderate"; dismissed concerns about the Hamas-linked Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) as a "conspiracy theory"; dismissed concerns about Eurabia, i.e., the Islamization of Europe, as "false fears"; and even called for a general surrender of the West to the global jihad.

So why is a thoroughly compromised publication like Newsweek suddenly noticing the worldwide jihad against Christians? Your guess is as good as mine, but in any case it is a welcome development to see the mainstream media finally waking up to this phenomenon, which we have been tracking here at Jihad Watch for years. Ayaan Hirsi Ali has written a fine piece for them. Because she is an ex-Muslim and an African woman, she is allowed to say things in Newsweek that Newsweek would charge me with "racism," "bigotry" and "Islamophobia" for saying.

SATURDAY JAN. 28TH - VOICE OF THE MARTYRS REGIONAL CONFERENCE IN CHARLOTTE, NC

Those in the Carolinas should take note of this wonderful conference.    Guest speakers include Sarah Liu (imprisoned 6 years in China), Getaneh Getaneh (tortured in Ethiopia), Gracia Burnham (held hostage in Philippines; husband killed), Darcie Gill (VOM spokesperson who travels worldwide).

Host Church:

Steele Creek Church of Charlotte
1929 W. Arrowood Rd.
Charlotte, NC 28217

For more information go here and for a great PDF poster, go here.   Even if you haven't registered yet, you can still go.

QUICK TAKES

Two items that need to be read:

Mark Steyn - "The Sinking of the West"  MUST READING

Wintery Knight - A Summary of Dr. Laura's "Proper Care and Feeding of Husbands"

And a sad note of continuing violence in Nigeria, most of it targeted at Christians

Islamic Insurgents Kill over 178 in Nigeria in the past few days

Added:

Islamists Torch Homes and Businesses in Coptic Village

Witnesses quoted by Assyrian International News Agency (AINA) report that Egyptian security forces did not intervene promptly to repel the onslaught and defend the Christians. Even the teams of firefighters delayed their intervention, arriving only 90 minutes after the assault, and when most of the buildings were already in flames. A source adds that a hut belonging to a Coptic Christian was burned to make room for the construction of a mosque. Moreover in the area there are now 300 Muslim places of worship, compared to only one Christian church even though Christians are 50% of the local population.

According to the Copts, the anti-Christian violence is related to the upcoming parliamentary elections: the Salafis, in fact, want to prevent the religious minority from voting which, with its 20 thousand members, can shift the balance of power in the area. The Copts are close to the Muslim moderate wing, which opposes the Islamist front. A witness confirmed that “no Copt from Rahmaniya-Kebly could vote” and that “the Salafis will win the elections.”

 

 

CHINESE COMMUNIST PERSECUTION OF CHRISTIANS INTENSIFIED IN 2011

From "China Aid," a top organization monitoring religious persecution in China, comes this summary statement of conditions in Communist China in 2011:

2011 can be regarded as China’s “year of political and religious persecution” or “year of Beijing terrorism.”  Last year saw the revival of extreme leftist ideology and a severe deterioration of the rule of law, bringing with it not only the most severe deterioration in political and religious freedom for the Chinese people since the 1966-1976 Cultural Revolution and the 1989 military crackdown on the Tiananmen Square pro-democracy movement, but also blatant human rights violations and a worrying economic crisis.  Because of the Arab Spring Jasmine Revolution in 2011, a systematic crackdown on churches and prominent Christians that was launched in the second half of 2010 was extended and lasted for the whole of 2011.

China Aid just published the Top 10 Cases of Persecution of churches and Christians in China.

ChinaAid’s selection of the top 10 persecution cases for 2011 is based on the severity, impact and significance of each incidence of persecution and is a highly representative list.  These cases occurred in different parts of China and involved both urban and rural house churches, as well as “Three-Self” churches and Catholic churches.  The victims included pastors, human rights lawyers, political dissidents and artists.

Heading the list is the story of Beijing Showang Church:
 

1.    Beijing Shouwang Church―nonstop persecution throughout the year

In 2011, Beijing Shouwang Church, a well-known house church in Beijing with more than 1,000 members, was forced to hold its worship services outdoors.  The government’s persecution of the church has lasted for 38 weeks nonstop and is ongoing.  This large-scale and persistent crackdown on Shouwang Church is part of the government’s widespread suppression of house churches in 2011 and can be viewed as a continuation of the persecution that started with the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games.

(This July 3, 2011 photo shows Shouwang church members who managed to get to the outdoor worship site starting their Sunday morning worship service.)

Shouwang Church was established in Pastor Jin Tianming in 1993 as a Beijing college students fellowship.  According to its March 27, 2011 “Beijing Shouwang Church Announcement to the Congregation” and its April 14, 2011 “Beijing Shouwang Church’s Further Explanation on Outdoor Services,” the church began in 2005 to rent office building space for its Sunday services, and in 2006 applied to the government for permission to register, which has never been granted.  On May 11, 2008, taking advantage of the pre-Olympic Games “rectification” of society, the religious affairs bureau, the police and other government departments of Beijing’s Haidian District burst into a Shouwang meeting and tried to close down the church, to no avail.  In August 2009, under repeated pressure from the government, the landlord of Huajie Building where the church had been meeting terminated the lease with Shouwang Church, and the church was forced to hold worship services outdoors on Nov. 1 and 8 in Haidian Park, after which the government allowed the church to hold its activities indoors.  On Dec. 22, Shouwang Church purchased the 1,500-square-meter (16,145-square-foot) second floor of the Zhongguancun Daheng Technology Building, paying in full the price of 27 million yuan (US$4.27 million).  However, due to government pressures behind-the-scenes, the seller has not handed over the keys, nor given any explanation for refusing to do so.  In May and August of 2010 and in March 2011, Shouwang Church made three attempts to rent indoor venues but met with failure each time due to government interference.

At the end of March 2011, Shouwang Church was no longer able to hold its Sunday services at its leased premises in the “Old Story Club.”  So Shouwang Church, which had adopted as its vision and mission to be a “city on a hill,” was left with no recourse but to hold its April 10, 2011 Sunday worship service outdoors.  At 8:30 a.m., more than 200 believers showed up at the third-level platform of Zhongguancun Plaza, which is located south of the Beijing Zhongguancun Dinghao Building and southeast of Zhongguang Building, and connected to the Jiangnanfu Theme Restaurant.  More than 160 church members were taken into police custody.  All were released within 24 hours with the exception one pastor and his wife, who were detained for 48 hours.

(This July 3, 2011 photo shows Shouwang Church members outside a police station singing worship songs to encourage brothers and sisters being detained in the police station.)

In the 37 weeks that followed―until the last Sunday of 2011, which was Christmas Day―the same basic scenario played out every Sunday.  Shouwang Church members would go to the designated location every Sunday for their outdoor worship service, and police and Domestic Security Protection guards would take them into custody.  They would be sent to different police stations where they were usually detained for no more than 48 hours and released singly or in small groups.  During the 38 weeks of outdoor worship, a total of more than 1,000 church members were taken into police custody, including a few believers from other churches who joined them in a show of solidarity.  Several hundred other church members were placed under house arrest by police and Domestic Security Protection guards.  During this time, some believers were verbally and physically abused while in detention, and some lost their jobs or were evicted due to government pressure on their employers and landlords. The church’s pastors and elders were confined under house arrest the entire time and deprived of their liberty.

Shouwang’s pastors and believers have endured unimaginable pressure and paid a heavy price.  This protracted act of obeying God rather than man and of upholding the vision of being “a city on a hill” is still ongoing―as is the government’s illegal persecution.

For more details, go to:
http://www.chinaaid.org/2011/04/beijings-shouwang-church-issues-q-about.html
http://www.chinaaid.org/2011/04/further-statement-on-outdoor-worship.html
http://www.chinaaid.org/2011/04/nature-of-battle.html
http://www.chinaaid.org/2011/12/beijing-shouwang-church-announcement-on_27.html
 
For the other nine representative cases of persecution, click "continue reading" below. 

CHRISTMAS REMEMBRANCE: PRAYERS NEEDED FOR ASIA BIBI HELD PRISONER IN PAKISTAN

Paul Marshall reports: (my emphases)

In Pakistan, Asia Bibi, a Christian mother of five [I think she is mother of two], still faces the death penalty for allegedly blaspheming Mohammed. Punjab governor Salman Taseer and Federal Minorities Minister Shahbaz Bhatti were both killed this past year for defending her and opposing Pakistan’s blasphemy laws. The Fides news agency reports that she needs medical care to ward off mental illness. An international delegation from the Masihi Foundation, overseeing Bibby’s legal and material assistance, visited her on December 19 in the prison in Sheikpura, where she has been held for more than a year, and is currently in isolation. They report that she had not been allowed to bathe for more than two months, could not stand on her own, appeared confused, and was afraid to accept the water they offered her to drink. Nevertheless, she told them she has forgiven those who accused her of blasphemy and only wants to return to her family.

I have previously reported on Asia Bibi here,  here, and here.  This last link features a video with Asia's family:  10-year-old Isham and her 12-year-old sister Isha and their father, Ashiq Masih.

— Paul Marshall is a senior fellow at the Hudson Institute’s Center for Religious Freedom and co-author, with Nina Shea, of the just released Silenced: How Apostasy and Blasphemy Codes are Choking Freedoms Worldwide (Oxford University Press, 2011).

AMERICAN FOREIGN POLICY SHOULD INTEGRATE A STRESS ON RELIGIOUS FREEDOM

I appreciate Nina Shea, the author with Paul Marshall, of Silenced: How Apostasy & Blasphemy Codes Are Choking Freedom Worldwide.  

[...]  In an interview with Kathryn Jean Lopez, Nina Shea offers a striking comparison between the state of religious freedom at home and abroad: “We don’t face death squads, torture or labor camps, as millions do elsewhere, so we should be careful in our rhetoric. At the same time, there are growing, dangerous restriction on religious freedom in the U.S., and more so in Europe, and we need to protest and fight them. We can do both, while not confusing their gravity.” . . .

Who is your nominee for the Nobel Peace Prize, from among those profiled in Silenced?

Shahbaz Bhatti and Gov. Salman Taseer of Pakistan wouldn’t qualify since both have been murdered this year and posthumous nominations for the prize are not permitted. I would, therefore, nominate Ayaan Hirsi Ali, the Somalian-Dutch former member of parliament. For raising the issue of violence against women in the Netherlands’ Muslim communities, she endured and overcame death threats, a criminal hate speech investigation, a civil hate-speech trial , the stripping of her citizenship, eviction from her home, a constant need for bodyguards and social ostracism. She, however, has not been silenced.

How should the name Shahbaz Bhatti, the Pakistani politician who was assassinated this year, be known?

Shahbaz Bhatti was quite simply a Catholic martyr. He was murdered early this year because he opposed Pakistan’s blasphemy law, which is regularly used to persecute the Christian and Ahmadi minorities and Muslim liberals. Peacefully defending minorities persecuted for their religious beliefs in Pakistan was his life’s work both from his base as the head of a non-governmental organization and from his post as the only Christian in the government’s cabinet as minister of minority affairs. He put his life on the line every day.

What can American Catholics do?   [This goes for Protestants like me, also]

Catholics need to become more aware of the intense religious repression suffered by other Christians in Iraq, Egypt, Iran, Pakistan, northern Sudan and elsewhere. They need to pray for them and reach out to them. They need to use their rights as citizens of the world’s leading democracy to insist that their president and members of Congress defend persecuted believers.

A good place to start would be with Asia Bibi, the 45-year-old Catholic mother of five who has been on death row in a Punjab prison awaiting appeal on blasphemy charges since November 2010. The Catholic media Asia News reports: “The bishop of Islamabad wants Pakistan’s highest authorities, including the justice minister, to intervene. However, so far, warnings by Western governments and Pope Benedict XVI’s appeal and words of solidarity for the Christian mother have fallen on deaf ears. … She had been arrested on blasphemy charges in June of 2009 stemming from a discussion she had had with Muslim women. At the time, she tried to defend her Christian faith and Jesus, who died on the cross for humanity’s sins, asking her co-workers what Muhammad had done for them. After verbally assaulting her, they accused her of “contaminating” a well by drawing water from it. … Local Muslims retaliated against her once the charges of blasphemy were made. They surrounded her home and tried to lynch her.”

While American Catholics—and all people who take their religion seriously—are understandably offended when their faith is mocked, hate-speech laws are not the solution.

Government-coerced speech codes would be applied in a broad fashion to curtail individual freedom and would also be used against them. The state regulation of Christian preaching has already happened in Western countries that have hate speech laws: clergy have been put on trial for preaching against gay marriage and for teaching the differences, in Christian theological terms, between Islam and Christianity. Following the example of Father John Courtney Murray in the last century, we must promote, including in Rome, the importance of the American First Amendment.

A lot of the nations you survey are allied with the U.S. in one way or another. What can we do to influence religious liberty abroad? Why is it any of our business?

We need to better integrate religious freedom into our foreign policy. We should now anticipate great persecution against Christians, a religious cleansing, for example, in Iraq, Egypt and Syria and make plans to forestall that though our diplomacy and aid. We should stop partnering with the Organization of the Islamic Conference on issues involving freedom of religion and speech; this validates its agenda of repression.

SYRIA: CHRISTIANS FEAR FOR THEIR FUTURE

Elizabeth Kendal writes a weekly "spotlight" on the plight of suffering and persecuted Christians in different parts of the world.  Today's summary deals with Syria, and I consider it MUST READING to really understand what is going on in that nation and how it affects Christians.  The bold emphases are my own.

---------------------------------------
SYRIA: CHRISTIANS FEAR FOR THEIR FUTURE
By Elizabeth Kendal

When democracy is decoupled from its Judeo-Christian foundations it is
diminished, becoming little more than majoritarianism. When
majoritarianism is inserted into highly tribal and sectarian cultures it
risks enabling and legitimising tyranny by the majority. When the cost of
losing power is enormous -- poverty, persecution and death -- tribes and
sects have little choice but to resist or to flee.

ANTHER CHRISTIAN MARTYRED IN PAKISTAN

Nina Shea reports:

Another Christian in Pakistan has been murdered, and the local Catholic Church is calling her a “martyr of the faith.”

The 18-year-old Amariah Masih (also reported as Mariah Manisha), a Catholic girl from the village of Tehsil Samundari, near Faisalabad, in Punjab province, was shot dead on November 27, after putting up resistance when a Muslim man abducted her with the intent to rape her. Fr. Khalid Rashid Asi, General Vicar of the Catholic diocese of Faisalabad told Fides, the Catholic news agency, that “cases like these occur daily in Punjab. It is very sad; Christians, often girls, are helpless victims.”

The girl’s mother, Razia Bibi, 50, told the Catholic media outlet AsiaNews that she and her daughter were riding on a motorbike on their way to pick up drinking water, which is not available in their village, when a man seized the motorbike, grabbed the young woman, and tried to drag her away at gunpoint. As she tried to pull away, the man opened fire, killing her instantly. According to AsiaNews, the 28-year-old Muslim Arif Gujjar, the son of a wealthy local landowner, is in police custody for questioning for the murder of Amariah.

Amariah’s funeral was presided over by Fr. Zafal Iqbal, who said to Fides: “She is a martyr. . . . The girl resisted, she did not want to convert to Islam and she did not marry the man, who killed her for this.” He explained to AsiaNews: “Wealthy and influential landowners often take aim at those who are marginalized and vulnerable, for their dirty interests.” In Pakistan, a rape victim is often imprisoned for unlawful sex and released on the condition that she marry her rapist. Because, under sharia, a Muslim cannot be married to a Christian, the women in such cases are also forced to convert to Islam. In its sharia courts, the testimony of a Christian is worth less than that of a Muslim, and a Christian woman’s is worth less yet. The whole system is rigged against the Christian woman.

More information on Amariah can be found on the website of the Permanent Mission of the Holy See to the United Nations.

Meanwhile, Ruqqiya Bibi, a Christian woman, was sentenced in Pakistan in late October to a 25-year prison term for blasphemy on accusations that she defiled a Koran after handling it with unclean hands. Mrs. Bibi is not to be confused with Asia Bibi, a Christian mother of five who was convicted of blasphemy following a dispute with other Muslim women with whom she had been working as a field hand, and who remains imprisoned after being sentenced to death a year ago.

Pakistan’s minister of minority affairs, Shahbaz Bhatti, also a Catholic, was murdered earlier this year, as was Punjab governor Salman Taseer, a Muslim, for calling for the repeal of the nation’s blasphemy law. Pakistan’s harsh blasphemy law is notoriously vague and ever expanding to include new applications.

The BBC reported on November 17 that the Pakistan Telecommunications Authority has told mobile-phone companies to begin blocking text messages containing “obscene” and otherwise “offensive” words. The name “Jesus Christ” was listed among them.

The discriminatory blasphemy law, which protects only Islam, generally encourages targeted violence against Christians, as well as against Ahmadiyas, Hindus, non-Sunni Muslims, and Sunni Muslim dissidents.

— Nina Shea is director of the Hudson Institute’s Center for Religious Freedom and co-author, with Paul Marshall, of Silenced: How Apostasy and Blasphemy Codes are Choking Freedoms Worldwide (Oxford University Press, November 2011).

HELP "VOICE OF THE MARTYRS" AID CHRISTIANS IN NORTH AFRICA

From a VOM email:

Christmas time is often a dangerous period for Christians who live in hostile areas. But thanks to your generosity, "The Voice of the Martyrs" can help persecuted Christians at Christmas time and throughout the year. As we prepare to celebrate our Savior's birth, let's also remember those around the world who are persecuted for their faith in him. Join us in praying for them and fellowshipping with them this holiday season.
One way you can encourage persecuted Christians this Christmas is by sponsoring a Christmas Care Pack or Village Outreach Pack through The Voice of the Martyrs.
Since the Arab Spring uprisings that began a year ago and spread throughout the Arab world, attacks on Christians and churches have increased across North Africa. You can help thousands of Christians across North Africa by supporting VOM's 2011 Christmas Care project.
For a gift of $25, you can sponsor a Christmas Care Pack for a North African child who lives in an area where Christians are persecuted. Each pack includes items such as clothing, toiletries and school supplies as well as a gospel storybook to help encourage children in their faith. You can also help North African evangelists spread the gospel throughout the region by sponsoring a Village Outreach Pack. Your gift of $75 will provide church leaders with a small library of gospel materials.
CLICK HERE to support this vital ministry effort.
I know that you will join me in praying for our persecuted family this Christmas. Pray for God's protection over them, and pray that they may know his love in deep and significant ways during this season.

HELP FREE ASIA BIBI, SENTENCED TO DEATH IN PAKISTAN FOR "BLASPHEMY"

This is a terrible case of injustice.  Asia Bibi should be freed.  She is a Christian wife and mother convicted of blasphemy and sentenced to death in Pakistan.  Tens of thousands of people from around the world have signed a petition for her release at www.callformercy.com  More than 400,000 petitions were delivered to the Pakistani embassy in Washington, D.C. earlier this month.  If you haven't signed the petition yet, do so now.  Asia continues to be held in prison, separated from her family.  The goal is one million signatures.

 

DISCRIMINATION AGAINST CHRISTIAN CHURCH IN PALESTINIAN-HELD BETHLEHEM

From Family Research Council:  (my bolding)

The current town of Bethlehem, the birthplace of Jesus, is anything but the peaceful town that we sing about at Christmas each year. Bethlehem--now under the control of the Palestinian Authority (PA)--is in the area that Jordan labeled the West Bank after it took control of a swath of land known as Judea and Samaria in the 1948 Arab-Israeli War. During the six-day war of 1967, the Israeli military regained control of the area, but Jordan didn't relinquish its claims on the region until 1988, when it ceded authority to the PLO. Today, the PA, underwritten by the U.S., has governmental and security jurisdiction in several West Bank cities, including Bethlehem. In fiscal year 2010, America funneled more than $500 million dollars in economic support to the PA--nearly half of what the entire international community provided to prop up the fledging authority.

Knowing that the PA couldn't exist without U.S. funding, it was particularly disturbing what our delegation heard last week when we met with Pastor Naim Khoury at the First Baptist Church in Bethlehem. Pastor Khoury is a Christian Palestinian who recognizes and supports the right of Israel to live in and control the land God gave to them. His church of about 300 has seen tremendous growth as he boldly preaches the gospel to Jesus Christ in an area now dominated by Muslims.

Unfortunately, his courage has come at a steep price. The church, with worship banners adorning the walls, resembles a church you'd find in America's heartland. But looks can be deceiving. The church has been bombed 14 times and Pastor Khoury has been shot at four times during the course of his 32-year ministry. What's most troubling is the fact that the PA is trying to shut down this thriving evangelical church by refusing to recognize it. To us, that doesn't sound like a big deal. After all, who needs government approval? But this isn't a matter of tax-exemption, as some in the U.S. might be concerned with. In this Muslim-dominated region, as with most, you have to declare your religion or church (which, by default, is Muslim). If you worship in an unrecognized church, the consequences are astonishing. Parents can't obtain birth certificates for their babies, couples who want to get married cannot get a license, and congregants of an unregistered church will find employment hard to come by. (That explains why Pastor Khoury's church has almost 70% unemployment.)

The intent is obvious: to drive people away from churches in the very city that gave birth to the hope-filled, life-changing message of Jesus Christ. If the U.S. continues to prop up the PA with financial support, we are complicit in this discrimination and the hostile environment created by the PA toward these evangelical churches. While discrimination against Christians may not be troubling to the Obama administration, it should be to us as Christian taxpayers.

frc home > washington update ShareThis   -->           --> Washington Update  Baker Won't Play Flour Girl at Gay 'Wedding' She may be a baker, but Victoria Childress isn't in it for the dough. At her Iowa Cake Cottage, she knows the recipe for success is sticking by your convictions--even if it costs you some business. So when two lesbians asked Childress to make their "wedding" cake this fall, she politely refused. "She introduced herself," Childress told Fox News, "and I said, 'Is this your sister?' She said, 'No, this is my partner.'" At that point, Victoria knew what she had to do. "I was straight-forward with them and explained that I'm a Christian, and that I have very strong [beliefs]." When the couple went to the press with their story, gay activists launched a boycott. "It's not to discriminate against them," Victoria explained on TV. "As I keep saying, it's not so much to do with them as it's to do with me and my walk with God and what I will have to answer for." The two lesbians don't see it that way. "It was degrading," they told KCCI. But apparently, calling Victoria a bigot is not? Obviously, the only form of discrimination that's acceptable in this country is directed at men and women of faith. Whether this couple likes it or not, religious freedom is for everyone--including Christian business owners. Just because Victoria runs a bakery doesn't mean she has to check her conscience at the kitchen door. Childress is well within her rights to decline an order that would force her to join in the assault on marriage. Usually, homosexual activists like to sugar-coat their agenda--but not these two. The couple came right out and admitted that this controversy " is not about cake or someone's right to refuse service to a customer." It's about running Christians out of business. Unfortunately, Americans don't seem to understand that religious freedom and same-sex "marriage" can never coexist. Why? Because the Left's definition of "tolerance" is surrender. And until more people like Victoria dig in their heels and refuse, homosexual activists will continue to bully anyone who disagrees with them. Despite the threats and hate mail, Victoria has no regrets. "People are telling me they were proud of me for standing up for my beliefs because not many people do that these days," she said. "Business people are afraid to because they're afraid to lose money." At the Cake Cottage, Victoria isn't worried about her profits getting battered. This baker's here to serve Jesus. What Liberals Aren't Telling You about the Defense Bill... The fiscal year may have kicked off on October 1, but the Senate is just now getting around to funding its departments. After the Armed Services Committee approved the Defense Authorization bill back in June, our sources tell us that Sen. Harry Reid (D-Nev.) could bring the spending measure to the floor as early as this week. Unfortunately for our troops, the bill hides a lot more than appropriations. Buried deep in the Pentagon's budget is one major change in Defense policy. As part of the mark-up, the Senate included language repealing the military's sodomy ban. That's right. While liberals couldn't be bothered to consider amendments protecting religious liberty or marriage, they did find time to advance the President's perverse agenda. If the bill passes, our troops will have Congress's approval to introduce sodomy in the ranks. There's also a distinct possibility (as we mentioned last week) that Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) could try to sneak an amendment onto the Defense bill to overturn the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA). While there's no confirmation that she'll go through with it, Feinstein would have to scrounge up 60 votes just to attach the anti-marriage bill onto the final legislation. That's a tall task in this Senate climate where many incumbent Democrats don't want to be seen voting for sodomy and against marriage! If those developments weren't disturbing enough, rumors are circulating that the Pentagon is quietly planning to move forward with its first-ever policy to place women in combat roles. While the life of any deployed soldier is tough, the growing number of female recruits means even greater sacrifices on the home front, as many cope with long tours in the Middle East. Women historically have played a vital role in America's military, and they should continue to serve where appropriate--but not on or near the front lines. FRC will keep you posted on these rumblings as we have more details. For now, it's just speculation. Let's hope it stays that way. Woe Little Town of Bethlehem The current town of Bethlehem, the birthplace of Jesus, is anything but the peaceful town that we sing about at Christmas each year. Bethlehem--now under the control of the Palestinian Authority (PA)--is in the area that Jordan labeled the West Bank after it took control of a swath of land known as Judea and Samaria in the 1948 Arab-Israeli War. During the six-day war of 1967, the Israeli military regained control of the area, but Jordan didn't relinquish its claims on the region until 1988, when it ceded authority to the PLO. Today, the PA, underwritten by the U.S., has governmental and security jurisdiction in several West Bank cities, including Bethlehem. In fiscal year 2010, America funneled more than $500 million dollars in economic support to the PA--nearly half of what the entire international community provided to prop up the fledging authority. Knowing that the PA couldn't exist without U.S. funding, it was particularly disturbing what our delegation heard last week when we met with Pastor Naim Khoury at the First Baptist Church in Bethlehem. Pastor Khoury is a Christian Palestinian who recognizes and supports the right of Israel to live in and control the land God gave to them. His church of about 300 has seen tremendous growth as he boldly preaches the gospel to Jesus Christ in an area now dominated by Muslims. Unfortunately, his courage has come at a steep price. The church, with worship banners adorning the walls, resembles a church you'd find in America's heartland. But looks can be deceiving. The church has been bombed 14 times and Pastor Khoury has been shot at four times during the course of his 32-year ministry. What's most troubling is the fact that the PA is trying to shut down this thriving evangelical church by refusing to recognize it. To us, that doesn't sound like a big deal. After all, who needs government approval? But this isn't a matter of tax-exemption, as some in the U.S. might be concerned with. In this Muslim-dominated region, as with most, you have to declare your religion or church (which, by default, is Muslim). If you worship in an unrecognized church, the consequences are astonishing. Parents can't obtain birth certificates for their babies, couples who want to get married cannot get a license, and congregants of an unregistered church will find employment hard to come by. (That explains why Pastor Khoury's church has almost 70% unemployment.) The intent is obvious: to drive people away from churches in the very city that gave birth to the hope-filled, life-changing message of Jesus Christ. If the U.S. continues to prop up the PA with financial support, we are complicit in this discrimination and the hostile environment created by the PA toward these evangelical churches. While discrimination against Christians may not be troubling to the Obama administration, it should be to us as Christian taxpayers. More Washington Updates       frc home > washington update

NIGERIA CHRISTIANS PRAY FOR STRENGTH IN PERSECUTION

Today is the "International Day of Prayer for the Persecuted Church (IDOP)".  As an example of worldwide persecution of Christians, Gary Lane reports on the situation in Nigeria.  The following video also features a short interview with Nina Shea, a member of the U.S. commission for International Freedom and co-author of the book, 'Silenced: How Apostasy and Blasphemy Codes are Choking Freedom Worldwide):
 

(I am experiencing technical problems.  For some reason the video refuses to load.  I haven't had that trouble before.  For Lane's report, click the link above or click through to the "continue reading" option below.)