Anti-Christians are coming down hard

India (GFA) ― One Gospel for Asia Bridge of Hope center was closed November 17 after extremists forced the landlord to stop renting space to the program. They also threatened to kill staff members if they stay in the area.

On November 16, the center’s staff held a medical camp for the students, followed by other activities. At around 4:30 p.m., a group of more than 300 people from a nearby village came to the Bridge of Hope center and told the staff to leave the cluster of local villages as soon as possible.

“We will not allow any Christian activity in our village, even if it is social work,” they said, while others shouted anti-Christian slogans and verbally abused the staff.

The staff talked with the protestors for nearly an hour, explaining the activities of the center and how they help impoverished children, but the crowd was unmoved. They called the landlord of the house and threatened to banish him from the village if he continued to allow the program to operate in his building.

At the homeowner’s request, the staff brought all the center’s supplies to a local believer’s house. The following afternoon, however, more anti-Christian groups arrived in the village, many bearing weapons.

They told the staff to leave the area, saying, “We will not allow any work of Christians in this area. If you do not obey, we will take your lives.”

Upper caste groups, who are a minority in India, often oppose the education of lower caste and Dalit (“Untouchable”) children. However, this is the first time such a severe campaign has been mounted against a Bridge of Hope center, marking an increase in persecution.

The center’s closing means a loss of free education, food, and medical care to more than 100 local children, many of whom come from Dalit backgrounds and will be unable to receive an education apart from the Bridge of Hope program.

"It breaks our heart to see adults who should be the protectors of these children become the roadblocks to their future and hope of a better life," said K.P. Yohannan, the founder and international director of Gospel for Asia.

The Bridge of Hope staff and local church ask for the prayers of fellow believers as they determine how to serve the community at this time.

"We will do all we can to ensure that these children will continue to have the future they deserve," Yohannan said.

Pray for the protection of the Bridge of Hope staff, local believers, and everyone in the area who stands in support of the Bridge of Hope. Pray for wisdom as GFA staff determines its response to the anti-Christians’ demands. Pray for open eyes and softened hearts in the people who are making threats against believers.

UN passes more sanctions again North Korea

North Korea (MNN) ― Following last month's nuclear test, North Korea is spewing new threats of a first-strike nuclear attack because it claims the United States is pushing to start a nuclear war against the country. This fiery rhetoric comes on the heels of the United Nation's approval of sweeping sanctions against the isolated nation.

Todd Nettleton with Voice of the Martyrs says, "These sanctions I think do have an effect because they do involve some commercial things and banking things and financial things; yes, they do have an effect. Is it something that's going to really change the direction of North Korea? It's hard to picture that happening."

While the sanctions may be meaningless for real change in North Korea, it does signal some change, says Nettleton. "It shows that China is perhaps losing patience with the North Korean regime. So these sanctions, and the fact that China cooperated with them, may be sending them a message."

Nettleton says Christians continue to face incredible oppression in a nation that's considered the worst place on earth to be a Christian. "Christians are sort of singled out for the worst persecution or the worst situations in North Korea. One of the things I like to tell people is that everyone in North Korea is oppressed, but the Christians are singled out for the very worst oppression."

Nettleton also says, "If they know you're a Christian they've already arrested you. If you're a Christian and the government finds out about it, you are arrested. You're taken to a concentration camp."

About the only thing Christians can do is pray. "Pray for a change in government that treats all of its people better: not only the Christians, but all of the people of North Korea. That's hard to imagine, but obviously we serve a God who can do amazing things."

Voice of the Martyrs is doing everything possible to encourage secret Christians, and they do it in unique ways: "Balloon launches that float over into North Korea and come down. That's a significant way of getting the Gospel message [into North Korea]. Actually, last year we were able to deliver 50,000 New Testaments."

More threats against Christians in Egypt

(Photos by Hector de Pereda)

Egypt (MNN) ― A report Friday indicated Egyptian Christians in border towns are getting threats of violence if they don't leave. One church leader suspects the threats are connected to the anti-Islam film which has angered Muslims throughout the Middle East.

In other parts of the country, the pressure has increased to the point where people are fleeing in droves. They represent an increasing number of the country's 8 million Coptic Christians were already feeling increasingly cornered.

The atmosphere chilled quickly in the wake of Hosni Mubarak's ouster and the Muslim Brotherhood's meteoric rise to power. Already subjected to anti-Christian discrimination and attacks for years under Mubarak, his fall meant no one was there to suppress the hard-liner Islamists.

The nation's Christians saw an uptick in violence against them alongside an overall rise in crime since Egypt's 2011 revolution. There are heightened concerns now that believers might face backlash amid outrage over the film, says Rody Rodeheaver with IN Network.

It's not something that dies down quickly. "Each subsequent conversation about that continues to elevate the emotional level in countries like Egypt and others." As a result, Rodeheaver says their team is very concerned about exodus of believers.

There's also the danger of the mass hysteria driving a rumor mill that comes back on the believers. For example, one of the rumors on the street is that there were six Egyptian Christians that participated in the making of the video. "There is no way of knowing whether that is true or false, but that is the word on the street, according to our staff. What that then does is just escalates the emotional extreme reaction to this whole situation."

Meanwhile, Christian leaders are trying to distance any connection--perceived or otherwise. Compass Direct News cited Rev. Dr. Andrea Zaki, Vice President of the Evangelical denomination in Egypt, who said that "the film insulting Islam is a criminal act, and should not be tolerated. It must be prosecuted, and they who produced and published it are criminals."

In his statement, Zaki stressed that the Egyptian Evangelical Church "not only condemned the film, but is communicating with several American institutions to stop such films depicting the sacred, because they represent a crime against human rights."

IN Network Egypt has a team in place, committed to ministering the Gospel. On one hand, says Rodeheaver, there's the human reality of working and being part of the pressure of this kind of situation. But, "On the other, they're seeing that the God who called them is also there, working beside them, providing fruit for their efforts."

That's why Rodeheaver doesn't foresee them leaving. Practically speaking, abandoned property is often stolen or vandalized. But the other reason has staying power. "This is their home, and they need to be there as a voice for the Lord to the people to whom they serve." Plus, Rodeheaver adds, "I think what our staff is seeing is that they are experiencing a real outpouring of God's Spirit as it relates to the programs that they're conducting."

The team works through Bible correspondence courses offered to men and women across the country, encouraging them in the study of Scripture. A Bible school program equips pastors with all they need to serve their communities for God. Finally, leadership conferences bring in hundreds of people every year to be empowered to lead others to Christ.

Pray that things would not escalate. IN Network's team is now asking themselves how they can continue to minister to the people God has called them to. The threats are not taken lightly, but continued work "takes a great amount of wisdom, and courage. That becomes a real focus for the prayers of God's people." 

Raids, Threats and Warnings in Belarus for Religious Meetings

By Jeremy Reynalds
Senior Correspondent for ASSIST News Service

Police chase anti-communist protestor

BELARUS (ANS) -- On the same Sunday in January, police and local officials visited three worship services in villages in different parts of Belarus, issuing threats and warnings over what they claimed were unauthorized meetings. Court proceedings against two of their pastors might follow.

Forum 18 News Service reported that in February, police in the capital Minsk launched a mass raid on a cultural meeting being held in a pastor's home. All were meetings organised by local congregations of the Pentecostal Church.

Three Jehovah Witness communities which have been unable to gain mandatory state registration suffered raids during meetings for worship in the last quarter of 2011.

Forum 18 said Belarus imposes strict controls on exercising freedom of religion or belief without state permission. All unregistered activity is banned under the highly restrictive 2002 Religion Law, while activity by registered religious communities away from their legal address is similarly illegal.

Raid

Forum 18 said police raided a meeting to discuss historical and cultural issues in Minsk on the evening of Feb. 8. About 34 members of several Minsk Protestant churches – including Grace Church and the Church of Jesus Christ - and a small number of students who did not belong to any church were detained.

An hour after the meeting started in the house of Antoni Bokun, Pastor of John the Baptist Pentecostal Church, OMON special riot police officers – some in masks - broke in through the windows and ordered all the 55 people present, including children, to gather in one room.

Forum 18 said police explained to the detained that a police hotline had received a call informing them of a secret drug laboratory in the Pastor's house. Thirty four participants were taken to a police station, but were released two hours later without any explanation and without any official record being drawn up. (Drawing up such a record is a legal requirement.)

Dmitry Fedoruk, a Pentecostal who took part in the meeting, expressed his doubts to Forum 18 that it was a raid in search of drugs, as the officers were unarmed, and did not have forensic investigators and sniffer dogs with them to search for drugs. Without presenting identification, officers took out cameras and started to videotape.

Another member of John the Baptist Church, Boris Goretsky, told Forum 18 that besides intimidation, the purpose of the raid was to get more information about the meetings and the people who attend them.

“Though it was not a religious meeting, this one had a symbolic topic: we were to discuss a book by Belarusian writer Franciszek Alachnowicz about the punitive Soviet system,” Pastor Bokun told Forum 18. The next discussion in the series is to cover a “long expected event,” publishing the Bible in Belarusian.

“The only thing they wanted was to arrest everyone..”

John the Baptist Pentecostal Church has faced pressure in the past. Bokun was fined and detained for three days in 2007 for religious activities without state permission.

Asked if he connected the raid with his previous issues, Bokun said that the intruders gave no reason for such connection.

“We were not asked any questions and nobody answered ours,” Bokun said. “It seemed that the only thing they wanted was to arrest everyone, take passport details and then release us.”

He added that it was just like in Soviet times, when police were waiting at the door of the church taking passport details of those attending worship.

Dmitry Fedoruk, who was among those detained, told Forum 18 that at the police station those detained had a chance to pray and sing.

“The policemen were at first at a loss, then pretended that they didn't care, and finally started to feel nervous,” Bokun said. He added that many of Minsk's senior police officers were present, but none of them were able to explain to the detained church members what was going on.

Forum 18 reached the head of Moscow District Police Station, Nikolai Nazarov. He declined comment.

Complaints at police action

Sergey Khomich, Bishop of the Pentecostal Union to which John the Baptist Church belongs, said that he was shocked by the police actions.

“The meeting was within the bounds of the Church's Statute and no law was violated,” he told Forum 18. The day prior he submitted a written complaint to Aleksandr Barsukov, the head of Minsk City Police.

A formal official reply, signed by the Head of Minsk Security Police Yury Sorokin and seen by Forum 18, informed Bishop Khomich that his complaint would be not considered because he had not attached documents confirming his position. Despite this, the letter was addressed to him as Bishop of the Pentecostal Union at his Church's address.

Forum 18 said when the news organization called the Minsk City Police, the person who answered the phone refused to transfer the call to Colonel Barsukov. Forum 18 repeatedly called the Police Press Service, but each time the telephone went unanswered.

Threats, warnings

Forum 18 said three Pentecostal pastors faced problems in January for leading religious worship, which the authorities regarded as illegal. At least two of them received verbal official warnings and were required to sign official records.

On Jan. 8 in the village of Ogarevichi in Brest Region, local officials and a local police officer attended Sunday worship led by Pastor Vasili Raptsevich.

Forum 18 said two days later, Raptsevich was ordered to the police station in Gantsevichi where the Pentecostal community is registered. There he was told that he had violated the law by conducting a religious service away from its legal address without permission from the Regional Executive Committee. Ogarevichi is about four miles from Gantsevichi.

“In Ogarevichi there are about ten disabled believers who can't walk without crutches and we have been visiting them regularly for many years,” Raptsevich told Forum 18.

In 2011 the Gantsevichi Pentecostal community bought a house in the village to make it easier for the disabled church members to pray together.

“At the police station they threatened to take away the church's registration if I don't stop violating the law,” Raptsevich told Forum 18.

Though he denied all the charges - insisting that since the church bought the house it could use it for religious purposes - he was made to sign an official record. He was told that he would be summoned to court later.

Forum 18 did reach local police officer Andrei Bukato, who had taken part in the raid, but he declined comment.

Forum 18 said when Raptsevich later talked with the Deputy Head of Gantsevichi Regional Executive Committee Nikolai Volynets, he told the pastor either to apply for permission or visit the believers individually in their homes. He insisted that Raptsevich and the church had violated the law.

Volynets acknowledged to Forum 18 that Raptsevich had been warned, but explained, “It's not a question of prohibiting, but of keeping all the formalities.”

Forum 18 said on Jan. 8 in the village of Lasitsk, 28 miles from Pinsk, the authorities also attended the congregation's Sunday service.

Officials issued Pastor Anton Yatskevich with an official warning.

“There are a lot of people with different problems who need help, and as Lasitsk village is too far from Pinsk we come ourselves,” Yatskevich told Forum 18. He said that the Lasitsk congregation has fewer than twenty members, not enough to register a community.

However, Yatskevich wouldn’t blame the authorities for checking on the church's services. He said, “They get complaints from Orthodox believers and have to respond.”

Forum 18 twice called the village council, but the phone was not answered.

Also on Jan. 8, Pentecostal Pastor Viktor Kokhovets was given an official warning for leading Sunday worship in the village of Kovnyatin in Pinsk Region, the Bishop's Assistant in the Brest and Pinsk regions Fyodor Suvorov told Forum 18.

Forum 18 said the news service repeatedly called the head of the village council Konstantin Shlyazhko to find out why Khokhovets had been warned for leading religious worship, but the telephone went unanswered.

Forum 18 said police officers told Raptsevich that he would face a court hearing. However, it is unclear if that will be the case.The Bishop's assistant told Forum 18 that Kokhovets simply received a warning and no court procedures are expected “unless there are further violations.”

For a personal commentary by Antoni Bokun, Pastor of a Pentecostal Church in Minsk, on Belarusian citizens' struggle to reclaim their history as a land of religious freedom, see F18News May 22 2008www.forum18.org/Archive.php?article_id=1131.

For more background information see Forum 18's Belarus religious freedom survey atwww.forum18.org/Archive.php?article_id=1311.

 

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Jeremy Reynalds is Senior Correspondent for the ASSIST News Service, a freelance writer and also the founder and CEO of Joy Junction, New Mexico's largest emergency homeless shelter, http://www.joyjunction.org He has a master's degree in communication from the University of New Mexico, and a Ph.D. in intercultural education from Biola University in Los Angeles. His newest book is "Homeless in the City." Additional details on "Homeless in the City" are available athttp://www.homelessinthecity.com. Reynalds lives in Albuquerque, New Mexico. For more information contact: Jeremy Reynalds at jeremyreynalds@comcast.net.

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Militants' Threats Keep Christians Cautious

CRI staff and volunteers pray over
 the crate sent to Nigeria last week.

Nigeria (MNN) ― Christians across northern Nigeria are closing their windows and posting guards at their entrances. Attendance has decreased significantly in many congregations as believers brace themselves for what may be to come.

AFP News reports that militant Islamists, members of the sect Boko Haram, have threatened attacks across Nigeria. Compass Direct reports that Christians fear they may become scapegoats for a commemorative assault in honor of the extremist group's late leader.

Nigerian Christ-followers are not new to such attacks. Many believers and church members have lost lives in the past to attacks by Muslim extremists. Recent overt threats made to the Nigerian military have forced Christians to take caution.

The timing is tricky for Christian Resources International. Just last week they sent a crate of Christian teaching tools, Bibles and literature to Nigeria. The shipment is not expected to reach Nigeria for another three weeks, and in the meantime, the ministry is praying it won't be disrupted.

Executive director Jason Woolford says CRI experienced a few bumps in the road right off the bat. "With this particular container that's going to Nigeria, basically the government had come to us and told us that they needed to know by line item every single thing that was in every single box."

With the added concern of possible militancy, Woolford says the ministry has put their trust in God to keep the resources and their recipients--who are spread out all across the country--safe.

If anything, says Woolford, this is further confirmation that Nigeria is in desperate need of the Word. "When you look at a 50-50 split [of Islam and Christianity in Nigeria], that equates to 45% of people in this particular area that are headed to hell. And we know that the only way they're going to be saved is through the Name and the blood of Jesus Christ."

And, Woolford adds, "The only way they're going to find that out is through his Word." 

"This container has about 30,000 Bibles and Christian pieces of literature that will hopefully change the hearts of those who read them," says Woolford. Pray that the literature might get into the hands of even some of these Muslim extremists.

Pray that believers who receive the materials would take it even to the darkest depths of their nation, where Christ has yet to be preached.

CRI has five more container shipments planned for 2011 in other volatile regions. You can help provide the materials needed to transform nations for Christ by sending Bibles and Christian literature to the CRI headquarters. Learn more about how to get involved here.