Tag: Religious Persecution

Please pray for Christians in Eritrea – World Watch List #10

Christian Persecution: Please pray for Christians in ERITREA – World Watch List #10

“I am testing and experiencing the love and care of our Lord every day… The moment I entered my cell, one of the prisoners called me and said, ‘Pastor, come over here. Everyone in this cell are (unsaved). You are very much needed here.’ So, on the same day I was put in prison, I carried on my spiritual work”. – Eritrean pastor in prison

eritrea-mapPopulation: 5.6 million (2.5 million Christians – mostly Orthodox)
Main Religion: Islam/Christianity
Source of Persecution: Dictatorial paranoia

OPEN DOORS: All evangelical churches were closed in 2002 following a government ban on religious groups other than Orthodox, Catholic, Lutheran and Islam. The government is very hard on non-traditional Christians, but members of the Orthodox Church also report on evangelical believers, and Muslim extremists are ready to take over where the government leaves off. When believers are discovered they are arrested and held in shipping containers in military camps. At least 105 Christians were arrested in 2012, and 31 Christians were reported to have died in prison.

Christian prisoners in Eritrea (Release International)
Christian prisoners in Eritrea (Release International)

Please Pray:

  • For God’s strength for Christians imprisoned in containers, especially those arrested in 2012
  • For spouses and families who are forced to live as refugees in different countries
  • For worldwide awareness of the plight of Eritrean Christians.

Persecution dynamics

Eritrea has three types of Christianity: registered historical churches, Christian-background believers (CBBs), and independent Christians. The country has a violent history with Ethiopia, and shares a long border with its ‘arch-enemy’. A government official once declared in public that there are three enemies that need to be eradicated: HIV/ Aids, the regime in Ethiopia and independent Christians. Continue reading “Please pray for Christians in Eritrea – World Watch List #10” →

Morning Reading: Luke 12.49-59 (NLT) – divisions

Reading: Luke 12.49-59 (NLT)

earth-on-fire“I have come to set the world on fire, and I wish it were already burning! I have a terrible baptism of suffering ahead of me, and I am under a heavy burden until it is accomplished. Do you think I have come to bring peace to the earth? No, I have come to divide people against each other! From now on families will be split apart, three in favor of me, and two against — or two in favor and three against.

‘Father will be divided against son and son against father; mother against daughter and daughter against mother; and mother-in-law against daughter-in-law and daughter-in-law against mother-in-law.’”

Then Jesus turned to the crowd and said, “When you see clouds beginning to form in the west, you say, ‘Here comes a shower.’ And you are right. When the south wind blows, you say, ‘Today will be a scorcher.’ And it is. You fools! You know how to interpret the weather signs of the earth and sky, but you don’t know how to interpret the present times.

“Why can’t you decide for yourselves what is right? When you are on the way to court with your accuser, try to settle the matter before you get there. Otherwise, your accuser may drag you before the judge, who will hand you over to an officer, who will throw you into prison. And if that happens, you won’t be free again until you have paid the very last penny.”

Prayer: Lord Jesus – you remind us that we are created free agents to choose for you, or against you… life, or death. And you remind us of the cost… conflict, division, alienation and persecution. Give us the courage of our convictions and the fortitude of faith. We pray especially today for divisions within the families of Christian converts. Protect your children, grant them your peace and fill them with your love. For your name’s sake, I ask it. Amen.

Spiritual Song: “Love is Stronger Than Fear” – Mal Pope (Shipwrecks and Islands)

Click on audio link –

Please pray for Christians in Yemen – World Watch List #9

Persecuted Church: Please pray for Christians in Yemen (World Watch List #9)

map of YemenPopulation: 25.6 million (a few thousand Christians)

The Yemeni constitution declares that Islam is the state religion and Sharia is the source of all legislation. Conversion is forbidden for Muslims and Muslim-background believers face persecution from authorities, family and extremist groups who threaten ‘apostates’ with death if they do not revert.

There is some religious freedom for foreigners here and there are a few official churches for several thousand Christian expats and refugees in Aden, but in the north, no church buildings are allowed. The country is very unstable and large numbers of expats have left the country. Evangelism is prohibited and conversion is forbidden. Yemenis who leave Islam may face the death penalty. The few hundred Christians from a Muslim background face persecution from authorities and family, and extremist groups use this threat to pressure them to recant. (Open Doors)

Yemen1Please Pray:

  • That isolated believers will find ways to meet together.
  • That vocational training programs supported by Open Doors will help Yemeni believers to stand strong.
  • Suicide bomb attacks killed over 100 in 2012. Pray for peace in this deeply divided country.

Background: Yemen, situated on the Arabian Peninsula, consists mostly of desert. The country’s main source of income comes from its petroleum industry. However, poverty is a big problem in Yemen as one in every three Yemenis is unemployed.

yemen_0364When the winds of the Arab Spring reached Yemen, the government used excessive violence to crack down on protestors. As a result of the unrest many expatriates, including Christians, left Yemen.

On March 18, 2012 an American language teacher, Joel, was shot dead by gunmen in Yemen’s second largest city, Taiz. Joel was driving to work on a Sunday morning when he was fired on by gunmen on a motorbike. The al-Qaeda-linked militant group, Ansar al-Sharia, said it carried out the attack, “in response to a Western campaign to preach Christianity among Muslims.”*

The number of Muslim background believers is estimated to be between 500 and 1 000. They are not allowed to have their own gatherings and so they meet in secret locations.

Yearly, about five to six Christian converts are imprisoned for a duration varying from a few days, up to half a year. Often, these Christians are not officially charged making it very hard to prove that they are being detained due to their Christian faith.

The government used excessive force to crack down on protestors after 10 months of mass protest caused by high unemployment levels and government corruption. In February 2012, elections were held and the Acting President and only candidate Mansour Hadi was sworn-in amid a climate of violence. The country is divided between pro- and anti-Saleh forces, the south is claiming independence. There is a strong tribal system and small al-Qaeda-linked groups struggling for power.

UPDATE: Iran Jails Two Christian Converts As Part Of Crackdown – Re-blog

Iran Jails Two Christian Converts As Part Of Crackdown

By BosNewsLife Middle East Service

image
Two Christian converts among the latest believers to be imprisoned in Iran.

TEHRAN, IRAN (BosNewsLife)– Two Christian converts are already over 50 days in Tehran’s feared Evin prison as part of a crackdown on spreading Christianity in heavily Islamic Iran and it remains unclear when they will be released, BosNewsLife learned Monday, March 4.

Shahrzad Y., a 25-year-old woman, and a man named as Sam S. 27, were both detained on January 9 after security forces raided their homes in western Tehran, Iranian Christians said.

The two university students were reportedly charged with the “formation and promotion of house churches and holding gatherings intended for committing crimes.”

Iranian police also confiscated personal belongings including laptops, Christian books and notes, Christian song Compact Disks and cameras, reported Mohabat News, a news agency of Iranian Christians and activists.

Their arrests came shortly after some 50 other Christians were reportedly detained on similar charges, though it remained unclear how many of them remained behind bars Monday, March 4.
Continue reading “UPDATE: Iran Jails Two Christian Converts As Part Of Crackdown – Re-blog” →

Shut up! – Muslim cleric at Al-Azhar warns: “The new pope must not attack Islam” – Re-blog Jihad Watch

Peanut Gallery: The Muslim “Vatican” is firing a warning shot over the upcoming Papal Conclave in Rome – Shut up about Muslim persecution of Christians, particularly Coptic Christians in Egypt. “Stay quiet and you’ll be OK.” Really…

Muslim persecution of the Egyptian Christians is widespread and increasing, but Al Azhar was infuriated not with that persecution, but with the Pope’s daring to notice it. He should have heeded the advice Muhammad Atta gave to the passengers on the plane he hijacked on September 11, 2001: “Stay quiet and you’ll be OK.” Except they weren’t.

Muslim/Christian dialogue typically goes like this: Christians tell the Muslims what they like about Islam. And then Muslims tell the Christians what they like about Islam.

Robert Spencer unmasks the sham in the following article – well worth the read.
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Muslim cleric at Al-Azhar warns: “The new pope must not attack Islam” 
posted by Robert Spencer at Jihad Watch

Cairo - Islamic district - Al Azhar Mosque
Cairo – Islamic district – Al Azhar Mosque

In other words, the new pope must not speak the truth about jihad and Islamic supremacism — or else. The papacy of Benedict XVI offered numerous illustrations of this. “Muslims Seek Dialogue With Next Pope,” by Harvey Morris for the New York Times, March 1:

LONDON — As the Catholic Church’s cardinal electors gather at the Vatican to choose a new pope, Muslim leaders are urging a revival of the often troubled dialogue between the two faiths.

During the papacy of Benedict XVI, relations between the world’s two largest religions were overshadowed by remarks he made in 2006 that were widely condemned as an attack on Islam.

Not by rampant, worldwide Muslim persecution of Christians. No, that didn’t hurt relations at all. Only Benedict’s remarks were at fault. Continue reading “Shut up! – Muslim cleric at Al-Azhar warns: “The new pope must not attack Islam” – Re-blog Jihad Watch” →