Help us Celebrate Freedom this Christmas

By Dan Wooding
Founder of ASSIST Ministries

LAKE FOREST, CA (ANS) -- Dear ANS friends: As we celebrate Christmas around the world, we also celebrate freedom. Yet for many of us, the two ideas are not necessarily synonymous.

In fact we enjoy so much freedom that we don’t give a second thought to the liberty we enjoy during this special season. But for many people around the world, such freedom is just a dream.

Thousands of Christians in Iran are afraid to openly celebrate the birth of our Savior. Young men such as Abdol-Rahman Mohammad have fled their homeland leaving behind their entire family as they seek asylum in other countries rather than face persecution or death.

In some countries such as Myanmar, whole villages of Christians face brutal treatment by a militant government that is systematically performing the ethnic cleansing of Christian tribal peoples such as the Karen, Shan and Kachin.

And believers in Plato state Nigeria live in fear after witnessing brutal killings of fellow Christians. Many victims were literally burned alive as Moslems dealt out their hatred.

These are just some of the alarming stories carried by ASSIST News Service in recent months. It is essential that these stories are told. It is imperative that the world’s press is fed these stories and can bring them to public attention. It is our duty to our brothers and sisters in Christ that we champion their cause and lift them up in prayer.

Over the Christmas holiday, ASSIST News will remain vigilant and carry the torch to expose suffering and gain freedom for persecuted Christians everywhere. With your help, we can provide news to some 2,600 media outlets around the world several times a day via Twitter, email, RSS, audio and video. The stories filed by our experienced team of writers are widely used by Christian media and are often picked up by secular media too.

None of the ASSIST News reporters receive a salary, they are media missionaries. So would you please help us continue to get the word out to the media by making a special gift this Christmas? What better Christmas gift could you give than hope? As you support ANS, you help to make freedom for persecuted Christians a reality. We urgently need your gift today!

All you have to do is go to our secure site -- www.assistnews.net/assist/donations.htm -- and then click on “Where Needed Most” or designate your gift for the support of Dan and Norma Wooding. (We are blessed when friends like you stand with us in this way.)

If you prefer to send a check, just make it out to ASSIST (tax deductible in the US) and mail it to ASSIST, PO Box 609, Lake Forest, CA 92609, USA.

All of us at ASSIST wish you a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year! Dan Wooding

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Dan Wooding, 70, is an award winning British journalist now living in Southern California with his wife Norma, to whom he has been married for 48 years. They have two sons, Andrew and Peter, and six grandchildren who all live in the UK. He is the founder and international director of ASSIST (Aid to Special Saints in Strategic Times) and the ASSIST News Service (ANS) and was, for ten years, a commentator, on the UPI Radio Network in Washington, DC. He now hosts the weekly “Front Page Radio” show on KWVE in Southern California which is also carried throughout the United States. The program is also aired in Great Britain on Calvary Chapel Radio UK and also in Belize and South Africa. Besides this, Wooding is a host for His Channel Live, which is carried via the Internet to some 200 countries and also provides a regular commentary for Worship Life Radio on KWVE. You can follow Dan Wooding on Facebook under his name there or at ASSIST News Service. He is the author of some 44 books. Two of the latest include his autobiography, “From Tabloid to Truth”, which is published by Theatron Books. To order a copy, press this link. Wooding, who was born in Nigeria of British missionary parents, has also recently released his first novel “Red Dagger” which is available this link.

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Hope springs eternal for believers in Bhutan

Bhutan (MNN) ―   There are conflicting reports over what's changing in the spiritual climate in Bhutan.
On one hand, Bhutan ranks 14th on the Open Doors World Watch List. The listing is a compilation of the 50 countries where persecution of Christians is the worst. In this case, it's not one particular faith that has been targeted.   
Although Bhutan's constitution states that Buddhism is the "spiritual heritage" of the country, Lee DeYoung with Words of Hope says, "It's one of the few countries in the world where it is said there are no open mosques, Hindu temples, Christian churches or Jewish synagogues." 
One the other hand, after 100 years of rule by absolute monarchy, the first elections were held in 2008, and Bhutan emerged as a parliamentary democracy.  
Now, the government requires a license for the construction of religious buildings, which seems to hint that such buildings would be approved. Some religious freedom watchdog groups allege that those licenses are withheld, which gives force to the idea that Christianity would still be on the "black list." DeYoung agrees. "Although it is still technically illegal to be openly operating as a Christian, nevertheless, the number of believers in Bhutan is clearly growing, and they are gathering in house fellowships secretly."
Compass Direct News issued a report at the beginning of the year that indicated hopeful prospects of change. DeYoung explains that "some believe that the government may be very close--perhaps maybe later this year--to officially recognizing at least one Christian group. That would mark a milestone in which the government of Bhutan would make an open declaration that Christianity is permitted."
At the same time, movement on that issue seems to have stalled out for the last six months. Even though it seems there has been some movement toward freedom, evangelism is still forbidden in the country.  This is where radio comes in. Radio has played a significant role in making the Christian presence felt in Bhutan, a country that is otherwise closed for Christian activities.
Programming in Dzongkha--the official language of Bhutan--occurs three days a week with a 15-minute program which includes health topics, music, and a Christian message. The programming not only encourages the existing believers, but also takes the message of Christ to others who are looking for answers.
They're responding, too, although DeYoung notes that "for the foreseeable future, the Bhutanese that are coming to Christ newly as believers would probably still tend to maintain a relatively low profile."

What's exciting is that "people widely believe that the government is well aware of many of those house fellowships and has chosen not to interfere, has not to gotten involved in trying to stop their activity," says DeYoung.  

Although the atmosphere feels freer, DeYoung says, "It's the question of evangelism that would be still a very sensitive one."

Pray that Christians are treated fairly under the new constitution. Pray that the church continues to expand and flourish despite pressure.

Freedom for all?

India (MNN) ― Kite flying, flag raising and vivid displays of orange, green and white could be seen yesterday as India celebrated 65 years of freedom from British oppression.

On August 15, 1947, India celebrated its first National Independence Day with Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru officially unfurling their national flag. Its colors represented hope, courage and peace within their nation.

While these ideals are praised by the country of India, many Christians within its borders still wait for the same type of peace and freedom for themselves in this overwhelmingly-Hindu population.

Lee DeYoung with Words of Hope states, "In the past couple of years, there has been some noteworthy opposition to Christianity, increases in some places in persecution, [and] violent incidents which have prompted many Christians to adopt a lower profile."

The independence gained in India changed the face of Christian missions there. "Conversion" took on a whole new political meaning, and upper caste Hindus felt threatened by the large amount of lower caste Hindus converting to Christianity.

Hindus felt the conversions were politically motivated in the wake of a newly-birthed government, and they set out to stop the "invasion" of more missionaries. Various forms of persecution range from anti-conversion laws oppressing ministry, to harassment and imprisonment of Christian workers.

But with evidence of increased oppression, there is also an increase of Christian believers in India. According to Operation World, 26 million evangelicals currently make up 2.2 percent of India's population.

In advancing the Gospel, Words of Hope ministers to Christians in some of the most oppressed regions of northern India through radio broadcast programs. DeYoung says, "We've been encouraged that in every place we've been, there seems to be an increased listenership to the programs that we sponsor."

Over 500 million people are potentially reached with Words of Hope's Hindi Gospel broadcast program. Please pray that Christians in India would start to gain political recognition and the same religious freedoms enjoyed by others in their country.