Christian CDs lead to government fines

Mosque in Kazakhstan.
(Photo courtesy of Ken and Nyetta/Flickr)

Kazakhstan (MNN) ― Do you own a Christian music CD? Have you ever given one as a gift? This may seem trivial, but it could get you heavily fined in Kazakhstan.

David Degterenko, a nine-year-old Kazakhstani, gave Christian CDs to two of his teachers, according to a recent report from a Voice of the Martyrs (VOM) source, Forum 18 News. One of the CD covers was labeled, “God loves you, too.”

A head teacher saw the Christian CD in the teachers’ lounge and immediately called the police. Degterenko was interrogated without his parents. When the investigator asked Degterenko who allowed him to bring the CDs to school, the boy replied, “My mother.”

David Degterenko’s mother, Tatyana Degterenko, has been heavily fined one-month’s wages for illegal religious activity. She appealed the fine on July 30, but the court held its verdict, according to VOM.

Kazakhstan’s population is 70% Muslim and just over 25% Christian. Most Kazakhstani Christians are Russian Orthodox. Open Doors USA says there is a bias in Kazakhstan against the Christian minorities who are partially denied registration. They are then deemed illegal by the state and face harsh religious laws.

Please pray for Tatyana and her son. Pray for the Christian music to touch hearts. Also pray, ultimately, for religious freedom in Kazakhstan.

A registered church is raided in Kazakhstan, says Forum 18

Kazakhstan (MNN) ― In former Soviet Union countries, preaching or attending an unregistered church is against the law. But if a church is registered, they have so far flown under the governmental radar.

However, according to a recent article from Forum 18 News, that seems to be changing.

Forum 18 says a visiting pastor was delivering an Easter sermon at a New Life congregation in Kazakhstan when four police officers raided the church. The pastor was accused of being a missionary and conducting illegal missionary activity; but in reality, he was a local pastor associated with the New Life network.

He and the lead pastor were brought to the Police station to write down their statements, but the police found no evidence of any law-breaking, so they were allowed to leave. This is one of the first raids on a registered church in this area.

Joel Griffith of Slavic Gospel Association says, "If this is now something that is being done by authorities on a registered church that actually has an existing legal charter, that's a definite change in the game on the ground there."

Kazakhstan's restrictions against the church have risen in the past few years, but this raid is something Griffith hopes doesn't become a regular occurrence. He says, "We're going to have to watch and see how this filters down to the rest of the registered churches."

Because of increased pressure, SGA has made it a point to be discrete when it comes to their ministries. Griffith says the pastors' safety is a "top priority."

If the situation worsens, SGA will be with Kazakh Christians every step of the way. "We're going to try to serve them however they need us to serve them," he states. "We will be there to support them in prayer and we will be able to support them however they have need for us."

No justice for kidnapping case

Sudan (MNN) ― Kidnapping, rape, torture, and threats are all methods of persecution suffered by Christians in Sudan at the hands of Muslims. One teenage girl who recently escaped from the hands of her Islamic abductors suffered all four.
Voice of the Martyrs, Canada(VCM) reported that Hiba Abdelfadil Anglo, 16, was abducted last year on June 17 by a Muslim gang. She was just reunited with her family last month after several months of trauma and suffering.

According to VCM's source with Compass Direct, Hiba was kidnapped while going to the Ministry of Education for transcripts to enter into secondary school. She didn't know she was being monitored and one of the kidnappers pretended to work for the Ministry of Education.

She was taken and moved around various locations in Khartoum by her kidnappers. All the while, Hiba was constantly pressured to convert from Christianity to Islam. She was often locked in a room and beaten until she lost consciousness.
In trying to recount the story to Compass Direct, Hiba broke into tears. "They did many bad things to me," she says.

The group members tortured her and referred to her family as "infidels." They would not let her pray Christian prayers, and the leader of the group sexually abused her. "Apart from abusing me sexually, he tried to force me to change my faith and kept reminding me to prepare for Ramadan," says Hiba.

Two days after Hiba was kidnapped, her family started receiving threatening phone calls and text messages demanding a random of 1,500 Sudanese pounds ($560 USD) if they wanted her back.

Hiba's mother, Anglo, went to the police station to open a case to find her daughter, but the police refused unless Anglo converted to Islam as well.

Hiba tried to run away three different times, but each time her captors caught her and severely beat her for trying to escape. Freedom finally did come when Hiba gave enough of a pretense of converting to Islam for her captors to lighten up on guarding her. She got out and begged a motorcyclist to give her a ride to her home two hours away.
Such a situation just shows the intensity of the religious profiling at the level of law enforcement in Sudan and the ongoing persecution there.

Even Hiba's captors were so sure of their safety if they were caught. Hiba says she was warned by her captors, "Even if you call the government, they will not do anything to us."

Anglo says, "It is good that those who prayed for us to know that their prayers were answered, and that my daughter is back at home with me. I also need prayers because I am jobless since the time my daughter was kidnapped."

Please pray for Christians in Sudan suffering persecution both from Islamic groups and from lack of justice by the law.

Pray for the emotional and spiritual wellness of Hiba and she and her family recover in Christ from this traumatic time.

Pastor thrown into labor camp; no trial

Pastor Shi was sentenced to two years hard labor with no trial. (Photo courtesy of China Aid Association)


China (MNN) ― Pastor Shi Enhao, 55, was recently sentenced to serve two years of hard labor in a Chinese labor camp.
Voice of the Martyrs, Canada (VCM) reports that China has been cracking down on house churches, and Pastor Shi's Chinese House Church Alliance came into police sights.

According to VCM's source--China Aid Association, Pastor Shi was first detained by police on May 31 in the coastal Jiangsu province. He was held for 12 days and then re-detained on June 21 by the Suqian Public Security Bureau.
When given his two-year labor camp sentence, Pastor Shi was charged with "illegal meetings and illegal organizing of venues for religious meetings."

Two years of "re-education through labor" is an extra-judicial punishment that can be sentenced by Chinese police without conviction of crime, trial or review by a judge.

Usually those given this sentence are either minor criminal offenders or members of religious groups police deem rebellious--mostly Christians.

Chinese House Church Alliance is made up of several thousand believers and meets in several locations around the eastern city of Suqian.

This is not the first time the church has been targeted. Pastor Zhang "Bike" Mingxuan, the chairman of Chinese House Church Alliance, has also been arrested several times.

In addition to the recent arrest of Pastor Shi, police ordered the church to stop all congregational meetings. They confiscated the church's car, choir robes, musical instruments and funds amounting 140,000 yuan ($20,900 CAD).

Pastor Shi's three daughters and their husbands have also been threatened by police. His son, Shi Yongyang, is in full-time ministry and was required to go to the police station to sign his father's sentencing paperwork.

Please pray for Pastor Shi's family as they struggle with a husband and father's prison sentence. Pray also that Pastor Shi would have the joy of the Holy Spirit in the midst of trial and would use this opportunity to minister to his inmates.