THE PERSECUTED

 “OCT-NOV 2006”  

 

CHINA: TWO YEARS JAIL

FOR PRINTING BIBLES

A Chinese house church pastor, Wang Zaiqing, from China’s Anhui province was sentenced on Oct. 9, to two years in prison on charges of “illegal business practices.” He was also fined the equivalent of US$12,500, and all books in his home and funds for printing were confiscated.

Wang, who has been crippled since age 5, had been printing and distributing Bibles and other Christian literature from his home free of charge. This resulted in his arrest on April 28. Wang and his lawyer contended that for the printing to be considered an illegal business practice, the accused must make a profit.

Pray Pastor Wang will find comfort and strength, know-ing the One who will never forsake him.

 

N. KOREA:

CHRISTIANS NEED OUR PRAYER SUPPORT

There is a spiritual war taking place in North Korea as our enemy seeks to destroy the souls of North Korea’s citizens. Following “the God of Heaven” is considered treason, punishable by imprisonment or even death. Caught in the middle of this spiritual battle are our persecuted brothers and sisters, bearers of Light in a terribly dark country.

Pray God will give discernment and protection to those who are bringing the comfort of Christ Himself to our suffering brothers and sisters in North Korea, and that North Koreans will find the source of true peace - the Prince of Peace, Jesus Christ.

 

EGYPT: CHRISTIAN CONVERT JAILED

A Muslim sheikh jailed in Egypt for 18 months has declared from his prison cell that he is under arrest for “insulting Islam” by becoming a Christian. Egypt’s secret police transferred Bahaa el-Din Ahmed Hussein el-Akkad, 57, to the Wadi el-Natroun Prison last month.

He was told he would remain there indefinitely unless he agreed to work as a government informer against other converts to Christianity. According to the prisoner’s Cairo attorney, Athanasius William, his client remains incarcerated in this desert prison “only because he has chosen a different belief, to be a Christian.” When courts ordered El-Akkad’s release from provisional detention 10 weeks ago, State Security Investigation authorities deliberately ignored the ruling.

Pray God will strengthen this faithful believer with the assurance that Jesus is with him and He will be the final victor.

 

IRAQ: CHRISTIAN BOY BEHEADED

According to the Assyrian International News Agency (AINA), the Assyrian website www.ankawa.com has reported that a 14- year-old Assyrian boy, Ayad Tariq, was beheaded by Muslim militants in Baqouba, Iraq .

At approximately 6:00 am on October 21, while Ayad was beginning his twelve hour shift of maintaining an electrical generator, a group of disguised Muslim militants approached him and asked to see his identification. According to an employee who witnessed the events, when the Muslims saw that his identification noted him as “Christian,” they asked him if he was truly a “Christian sinner.”

Ayad replied, “Yes, I am a Christian but I am not a sinner.” The insurgents responded that this is a “dirty Christian sinner!” They threw him to the ground, held down his arms and legs, and shouting “Allahu Akbar!” (God is great), and then beheaded him.

The Assyrians are the indigenous people of Iraq. They have faced a number of purges by the region’s rulers over time, including the present attacks by powerful Islamic factions across Iran, Iraq and neighboring nations.

Only two generations back, Assyrian Christians made up 20 percent of the population of the Middle East, but during the Assyrian Genocide of 1915, an estimated three million Christians were slaughtered there. Current estimates are that there are about 2.5 million Assyrian Christians in Iraq.

Pray that the Holy Spirit will work through Ayad’s story and bring many of his neighbours and friends to Christ Pray that the murderers will find forgiveness in Christ as Saul the persecutor did. (Acts 9:1-19).

 

ERITREA: 150 MORE CHRISTIANS ARRESTED

Eritrean authorities have arrested and detained 150 Christians. The large-scale roundup began on October 25, when security officers in the town of Mendefera started to arrest local Christians whose names were on a list of known Christian church members. A total of 38 men and 17 women were locked up in the town’s military fort where they have reportedly been subject to beatings and other physical mistreatment. 

Eyewitnesses claim that at least 10 of the detained Christians were nursing mothers who were forced to leave their infants behind. The following morning, the roundup continued and an additional 95 evangelical Christians were placed under arrest.

At least 162 Christians have been arrested over the past month. These recent arrests push the confirmed number of Eritreans presently imprisoned for their religious beliefs up to 2,078, almost all of them Christians. None of them have been brought to trial.

Pray that the imprisoned believers will find comfort in the promise that God is with them in their afflictions, and that they will be faithful witnesses for Christ to their fellow prisoners. Pray for the children left without their parents’ care. (Psalm 68:5)  - Compass Direct / 30 Oct 06

 

INDONESIA:

THREE CHRISTIAN GIRLS BEHEADED

Three Christian high school girls were beheaded as a “Ramadan trophy” by Indonesian militants who conceived of the idea after a visit to Philippines jihadists.

The girls severed heads were dumped in plastic bags in their village in the strife-torn Central Sulawesi province, along with a note that said, “Wanted: 100 more Christian heads, teenaged or adult, male or female; blood shall be answered with blood, soul with soul, head with head.  - The Australian / 9 Nov 06

 

INDIA: BJP CALLS FOR

MISSIONARIES TO BE DEPORTED

According to a report from the Hindustan Times, the Bharatiya Janata Party vice president in Andhra Pradesh is calling for the ouster of evangelical workers. He specifically demanded the deportation of foreign missionaries from the country over the number of religious conversions among the tribal populations there. The BJP seeks a Hindu Nationalist state. Anti-Conversion laws are actively enforced in Orissa, Madhya Pradesh, Arunachal Pradesh, and Chhattisgarh.