No end in sight in Syria civil war

Syria (MNN) ― The United Nations says more than 100,000 people fled Syria last month as the civil war exploded out of control. Over the weekend, Syrian aircraft went on the offensive, going after what they're calling insurgents. However, many of those killed are civilians, caught in the middle of this conflict that's trying to push President Assad out of power.

New U.N. statistics indicate the number of refugees in neighboring countries exceed 220,000. According to reports, fewer than half of Syrian hospitals are even functioning.

E3 Partners Vice President Tom Doyle says, "The government is holding nothing back. Aircraft is flying in and blowing up things. Nobody really even has a handle on how many people are dead. The statistics are being withheld by the government."

Rebels want President Assad to step down. Doyle says the sad thing is: there are no signs that the situation will get any better. "Iran is backing Syria, and Russia is in the background--and so is China. The Arab League is supporting the Sunnis. It's just two groups that are going to keep going at each other, and innocent people are caught in the middle."

While the situation appears desperate and hopeless, Doyle says one leader told him, "We're praying that God uses every one of these terrible, horrible situations for His glory, and that it would open up people's hearts that the only peace they're ever going to experience comes from Jesus Christ."

Doyle says it's already happening. The leader added, "We have met Alawites and Sunnis that are now convinced that Jesus is the only way. This religious hatred: they're not seeing it from Christians."

Christians in Jordan are doing everything they can to help the growing refugee population. Doyle says e3 Partners in Syria have been able to help because of donations from people like you. "We've had some significant funding come in to help feed them, clothe them, and provide places for them to stay. And they understand that this is coming from believers and they are overwhelmed by it."

You can help e3 Partners do even more with your donation. Click here to help Syrian refugees.

Doyle says this kind of a conflict can be something God uses to bring Muslims to Himself. However, He's also using dreams and visions. With 60-70% of the Muslim world illiterate, the supernatural may be responsible for Muslims giving their hearts to Christ, says Doyle. He's collected those stories and has written a book called, "Dreams and Visions: Is Jesus Awakening the Muslim World?" It's about "dreams and visions that sound very much like the Old and New Testament-kind of experience where Jesus appears to them in a dream."

While many believers question the validity of these reports, the book describes them. Doyle says, "90 percent of the Muslims who have dreams about Jesus are led to faith in Christ with someone who reaches them with the Bible and shares God's Word with them."

As they do, they talk about dreams and visions of the Bible.

Four years: shadow of anti-Christian pogrom lingers

India (MNN) ― Four years after the anti-Christian pogrom in India's Orissa State, 10,000 remain displaced.

Dave Stravers, president of Grand Rapids, Michigan-based Mission India, explains that in the wake of the violence, "Promises were made to these tribal villagers by government officials, but really not kept. People are afraid to go back because there are still threats of violence and even continuing violence in the area."

Justice has been slow in coming, so nearly 5,000 victims and survivors of the 2008 communal violence in Kandhamal district, Orissa, lent their voices of protest at a public rally marking the fourth anniversary of the violence and call for justice, peace, and harmony.

The attacks, led by Hindu extremists, caused 55,000 Christians to flee their homes. They have little recourse, Stravers says, because "these tribal Christians would be considered the bottom of the social ladder, so they don't have much political clout. They're discriminated against anyway, so they're just basically being ignored by the powers that be."

Asia News reports bear that out. Of the 3,232 complaints filed by victims and their families, district police accepted 48% of the cases. A scant 828 were registered as a first information report (FIR).

The numbers from Asia News also show that out of 245 cases dealt with by the Fast Track Court, convictions were obtained in 73 cases. Another 267 cases are still waiting to go to trial. Of the thousands accused in the pogroms, only 452 have been convicted; all the others were acquitted of the charges. Six have been sentenced to life in prison out of the 30 cases involving murder.

Despite the slow journey to justice, the work of Mission India continues, notes Stravers. "We still continue to work in all of Orissa, in all the different districts, including the tribal districts--all those places where you have these incidents of violence and our partners continue to work."

However, teams have had to be more careful in the days since the 2008 riots. "Obviously in those places where there has been this violence and continuing threats, there are many Christian workers that just don't feel that it's safe to carry on ministry. For us, that's the big prayer request."

Then, this news came: the Himachal Pradesh High Court struck down two provisions of the anti-conversion law. Christian Solidarity Worldwide (CSW) reported the decision on August 30.

Stravers says, "The changes that the Himachal Pradesh High Court delivered are really good for Orissa because they struck down a section of the law which makes it mandatory for any person seeking to convert to go and give prior notice to local authorities before he actually would be baptized."

On the other, "The court decision of Himachal Pradesh did not strike down the entire law, and people are unhappy about that." Stravers goes on to add, "The prayers are that these anti-conversion laws will continue to be struck down piece by piece, if necessary."

Yet, because the legal precedence has been set, they're hoping for a similar response to follow in neighboring states. "Orissa has the same law. Technically, in Orissa if you become a believer and you want to be baptized, you have to go to the chief of police and receive their permission first to do this. Of course, this sets you up for all kinds of intimidation/threats of violence."

Stravers knows their team. Regardless of what happens with the anti-conversion laws, the Gospel will still go forward. In fact, so far, "People are baptized, usually en masse, without first seeking permission because they're going to do it whether they get permission or not. So this section of the law is not routinely enforced."

Disruption their partners endure isn't on the same scale as the anti-Christian violence of 2008. However, it comes regularly. One of their literacy class teachers and his mother were recently assaulted and warned to stop their work or be driven out of the village. Stravers says what happened next is a near-daily occurrence throughout India. "They were both told, 'Convert back to Hinduism within a week or else leave the village and stop your work.' They're praying. They don't know quite what to do. It's a real situation of severe persecution for anyone who is aggressively bringing good news to people."

Pray for patience in this situation. Once the villagers learn to read, they will see the benefits of finishing this class. Pray for patience and wisdom for the teacher and his family. It's only a matter of time before something good comes from the Gospel seeds planted.

Stravers sums it up this way: "Jesus said repeatedly to His disciples, even when He was predicting persecution, 'Do not be afraid. Speak boldly because Jesus reigns.' So that's what we pray for."

Pakistani Christian Parents worry about ‘the next Rimsha’

Hushed conversations amid the country's renewed debate

LAHORE, Pakistan, Sept. 3 (Open Doors News) — Nabil was out pretending to wash his father’s car, as an evening breeze cut through Pakistan’s monsoon humidity. Together with his father and a Christian neighbor, they had made their way out of the house late last week on this everyday pretext. In reality, they were trying to prevent their Muslim neighbors and the women in their families from overhearing or worrying over their conversation.

As he wiped the car, Nabil spoke in hushed tones to their friend from two blocks away and his father, a pastor in Lahore. Nabil had come home to spend the summer with his family. Natrually, the topic was Rimsha Masih, the young Islamabad Christian girl arrested Aug. 16 after Muslim neighbors told police she was carrying burned pages of Quranic texts.

Because of the vulnerability of Christians in Pakistan, especially when questioning the country's blasphemy law, Open Doors News is not publishing his real name.

"I live and work in the Middle East, so I am able to send my children to school here in Pakistan," Nabil said. "But I am seriously thinking of coming back now. What happens if my little Zari becomes the next Rimsha, or my wife the next Aasiya (Bibi, the first woman sentenced under Pakistan’s blasphemy law)? What good is school, if she will only graduate into prison?”

Nabil’s conversation echoed questions being raised across Pakistan. He said there is little that will change in terms of Pakistan’s controversial blasphemy law.

"God’s word has told us that there will be trials and tribulations, and that there will be persecution for Christians,” he told the neighbor, who questioned how Pakistani Christians could have any hope for a future.

"That is our future before we go to heaven. Either we accept that difficulty will come, or we pretend we have the right to something outside of the Word of God. Let us just seek His grace and hope.”

The conversation continued in low tones. All three were afraid their voices might carry to the neighbors. Nabil’s family lives on the second floor of a home that belongs to a Muslim landlord who lives directly below them. He is always concerned that his children will say something to cause them to be falsely accused of blaspheming against the prophet Mohammad, the Quran, or Islam.

The story of Rimsha has shaken Christian families across Pakistan, and has re-ignited national debate on the blasphemy law. Immediately after Rimsha's arrest, Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari warned against misuse of the law. The Sept. 2 arrest of a Muslim cleric on suspicion of placing the religious texts into the girl's possession has elevated tensions to a high pitch.

"President Zardari has finally spoken! Thank goodness someone came to the rescue, although it seems a meager and useless attempt,” the neighbor said with some skepticism, because Rimsha’s ordeal follows three particularly devastating cases.

After being falsely accused and arrested in June 2009, Aasiya Bibi became the first woman in Pakistan sentenced to death under the blasphemy law. She has been languishing in a Pakistani prison and solitary confinement ever since. Her controversial case prompted criticism of the blasphemy law from Punjab Governor Salman Taseer and Federal Minister Shahbaz Bhatti, who were subsequently assassinated. Threats also have been leveled at Sherry Rehman, the Pakistan Ambassador to the United States.

END

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Copyright 2012 Open Doors News

United Nations crisis meeting on Syria ends in failure

(Photos courtesy SAT-7)

Syria (SAT7/MNN) ― The United Nations gathered last week to try to come to some solution to the Syrian violence.

Even as the world's leaders puzzled over the lack of safe zones and supporting refugee camps, rebels kept the government forces occupied with a barrage of attacks in Aleppo, and the violence spilled over the border into Tripoli, Lebanon.

That led to requests for U.N. help from Turkey, Jordan, and Lebanon, which are bearing the brunt of the mounting refugee crisis.

SAT-7, a Christian satellite television ministry to the Middle East and North Africa, has studios in Beirut. "The condition in Lebanon is becoming more and more difficult for everybody. There aren't a lot of opportunities for young people," says Naji Daoud, Executive Director of the SAT-7 studio in Beirut. The unrest has added to the challenges facing the region, both acknowledged and answered by SAT-7.

About 30,000 Syrian refugees have flowed into Lebanon since the uprising against the regime of President Bashar Assad. According to Naji, wealthy Syrian refugees typically rent hotel rooms or apartments, while poor Syrian refugees live in tents in substandard conditions. Many of the poorer refugees are alienated from the assistance of Lebanese who support Syrian President Assad.

Naji says that churches, on the other hand, are helping these individuals. At the same time, while there has been an influx of Syrian refugees in Lebanon, there has also been an exodus of Lebanese Christians. The exodus is in response to the lack of job and educational opportunities in Lebanon, and the decline in state services.

"Bridges," a SAT-7 show broadcast from its Beirut studio, is confronting Lebanon's challenges head-on. An entire episode was dedicated to the effect of Syria's conflict on Lebanon. Tapping into widespread concerns, the show host posed the question, "Are Christians in danger?" Show guest Gussan Hejar said of Christians, "They fear the unknown today."

SAT-7 USA President Rex Rogers weighs in on importance of their during crisis times. "We broadcast also, in terms of live programming, sometimes panels of individuals who talk about how to protect yourself, how to exercise your 'rights,' so to speak, how to be salt and light in a society that isn't open to Christians doing that kind of thing, typically."

Rogers goes on to say that as viewers also minister to the staff, another picture is emerging. "I think God is drawing the Church (capital C) together in the Middle East, and they're performing an incredible function of connecting with these folks and helping them to get through a very, very difficult time."

Building the Church remains SAT-7's goal, while at the same time offering a message of comfort and hope to all through the presentation of a Christian worldview. That extends far beyond the borders of the Middle East and North Africa, explains Rogers. "It makes the American Christian community a little more aware, that is to say the region is more salient, it's more on their mind, and they understand more so they respond more quickly."

Despite uncertainty, the team at SAT-7 has no plans to go anywhere. That sends a strong message to their viewers: they're committed to the community. Developing future projects sends the message that they're sending down roots. Rogers says, "We have a new initiative, or project, we call the TEACH project: TEACH stands for Theological Education for Arab Christians at Home, and it's simply Bible instruction and discipleship. It's helping people who've recently come to the Lord to be able to grow in the grace and knowledge of the Lord."

With Syria's violence in the foreground, it may be some time before the fighting stops and things settle down. In the meantime, SAT-7, along with its entire sister channels, SAT-7 PARS, SAT-7 KIDS, SAT-7 ARABIC, SAT-7 TURK and SAT-7 PLUS are all working to bring a measure of peace that passes understanding.

Christians still suffering in Orissa state

Tens of thousands still homeless following 2008 violence.
 (Image courtesy of Voice of the Martyrs Canada)

India (MNN) ― As if being terrorized by Hindu extremists and watching their homes burn to the ground wasn't enough, believers are still waiting for justice and compensation after four years.Voice of the Martyrs Canadasays 10,000 believers are still homeless after radicals destroyed over 5,000 homes and hundreds of church buildings throughout late 2008 and early 2009.

Pray for these suffering believers.

India's Orissa state (now called Odisha State) has always been a hotbed for anti-Christian violence. But it reached a new peak following the assassination of Swami Lakshmanananda Saraswati on August 23, 2008. Saraswati was the leader of India's radical Vishva Hindu Parishad (VHP). Although a Marxist group claimed responsibility for Saraswati's death, the VHP pinned the blame on Christians and launched vehement attacks.

As the attacks increased in severity and frequency, it became clear to the worldwide community that this situation was beyond violent protests: it was genocide.

Eventually, India's Supreme Court stepped in and ordered authorities to protect believers. Change in leadership at the national level and new protections for religious minorities seemed to bring hope to oppressed believers.

But it's hard to remain hopeful in your fourth year of desperate homelessness.

According to a fact-finding visit by a group of journalists, activists, and writers, there's been no justice for victims and even less compensation for lost homes and churches. And according to AsiaNews.it, India's government isn't planning to pay. Hundreds of churches and Christian facilities destroyed by Hindu radicals will remain in rubble.

What's bright side of this dark situation? You can help.

Pray for persecuted believers in Orissa state. Pray for boldness and strength as they face continuous adversity for their faith.

Give online to VOMC's Relief and Development Fund. Voice of Martyrs Canada helps Orissa Christians rebuild their lives through skills training, micro-loans, and discipleship training for church leaders. VOMC also cares for children orphaned by the violent attacks, providing a safe home, education, clothing, food and medical attention.

Christians across Pakistan protest and call for the ‘urgent release’ of a 14-year-old girl arrested in a ‘fabricated case’ of blasphemy

It follows the arrest of an imam charged in a ‘Quran plot’ of planting evidence

By Dan Wooding
Founder of ASSIST Ministries

Pakistani Christians carry crosses during a protest against the imprisonment of Rimsha Masih, a Christian girl accused of blasphemy, in Hyderabad, Pakistan, Sunday

ISLAMABAD, PAKISTAN (ANS) -- Following the news that a Pakistani imam has been remanded in custody, accused of planting pages of the Quran among burnt pages in the bag of Rimsha Masih, a 14-year-old Christian girl, Christians across Pakistanis have held a protest rallies demanding her immediate release.

The protests came after the media reported that Imam Khalid Chishti had allegedly told a witness, after tampering with the girl's bag, that this was a “way of getting rid of Christians”, a prosecutor said, and now he will himself face charges of blasphemy.

The imam was arrested after his deputy Maulvi Zubair and two others told a magistrate he added pages from the Quran to the burnt pages brought to him by a witness,” an investigator Munir Hussain Jaffri said.

He said Mr. Zubair and some others had told the imam not to interfere, urging him to “give the evidence to the police as he got it”.

The accused Imam being brought blindfolded into court

According to Mr. Jaffri, Imam Chishti had told them: “You know this is the only way to expel the Christians from this area.”

The investigator said the cleric had been arrested at his home on Saturday under Pakistan's blasphemy law.

“By putting these pages in the ashes he also committed desecration of the Holy Quran and he is being charged with blasphemy,” he said.

The girl's lawyer told AFP news agency that Rimsha “should be acquitted immediately”, as it had been “fully proven that it was a conspiracy”.

Protesters in Rawalpindi

Now ANS has been told by Shamim Masih, an ANS correspondent in Pakistan and also a human rights activist, a group called the Pakistan United Christian Movement (PUCM) organized a Demonstration on Sunday, September 02, 2012, outside of St. John’s School, Rawalpindi.

Mr. Masih told ANS that Albert David, Chairman of the Executive Committee of PUCM, appealed to the Pakistan government to immediately release Rimsha saying, “The real culprit has been arrested yet the girl is still in jail.”

He went on to say, “Failure to do so, points to a bleak future for the minorities in this country.

The time has come for Christian in Pakistan to be treated equally in all spheres of life.”

Mr. Masih said that the rally protestors were holding placards and banners, demanding equal citizenship for Christian and the ending of discriminatory practices.

He added that PUCH made a number of recommendations to the government which included steps to be taken for solve the problems that all minorities in the country face in accordance with the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

It also called for the various blasphemy laws should be “revisited” an also the victims of blasphemy allegations that have not yet been proved, should be released.”

Shamim Masih added there were with other Christian, religious and social reformers, who also made speeches there at the rally.

Another large protest rally took place in Hyderabad, Pakistan, on Sunday, when Christians carrying crosses called for justice for the young girl.

Also reports are coming into ANS reveal that other protest rallies have taken place across the United Kingdom and also outside the United Nations in New York and if she is not free immediately, the groundswell of protests are expected to spread around the world.