Religious Liberty Prayer Bulletin | RLPB 651 | Wed 29 June
2022
RLPB is published weekly to facilitate strategic intercessory prayer.
RLPB 651 is being re-sent as the HTML version that went out yesterday came through slightly mangled. If this causes any inconvenience (or annoyance), please forgive me; I am in the process of moving to a new e-mail delivery system and have not as yet ironed out all the glitches.
thank-you for your patience
Elizabeth Kendal
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ANNOUNCEMENT
The ElizabethKendal.com website has
been renovated and repurposed. While a few pages still await content, much
information has already been uploaded. As always, my aim is not to simply
deliver news in the manner of a journalist. Rather, my aim is to generate the
understanding required to facilitate a strategic response.
Consequently, rather than reporting news, my work involves gathering news; as
such, I am indebted to journalists everywhere. I also gather analysis and
intelligence, most of which requires expensive subscriptions. All news gathered
is analysed in the context of worldview, history, domestic politics, and
international geopolitics. Only by that means can we hope to see the big
picture. Only by seeing the big picture can we hope to formulate a strategic
response. And while the Church’s response to the problem of persecution might
start with journalists/reporters and move through analysts, ultimately it falls
to pastors, small group leaders, prayer leaders, mission leaders, aid groups,
politicians, and other individuals to act upon that information, and ‘Speak, Pray,
Give’.
Because I am now working independently, the repurposed website includes a facility
through which people can contribute financial support. There is also a facility
through which people can sign up for the Religious Liberty Prayer Bulletin
(RLPB). Please forward the RLPB widely and encourage others to
sign up, for ‘The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective’
(from James
5:13-18 NIV).
In the hope of drawing in more youths, and people who are only nominally
interested in religious liberty or persecuted Church issues, I have set up an
Instagram account. While the issues posted to Instagram will relate to material
in the RLPBs, the text will be short (120-250 words) and written in a different
style, designed primarily to grab interest. Please recommend the religiouslibertyprayer
Instagram to anyone you believe might benefit from this form of communication.
Thank-you
from your sister in Christ and partner in the Gospel,
Elizabeth Kendal
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JUNE 2022 UPDATE
By Elizabeth Kendal
DURING THIS PERIOD, WE PRAYED CONCERNING:
* INDIA [RLPB
647 (1 June)], after authorities threatened pastors in Basti district of
Uttar Pradesh; and pastors were arrested for ‘conversions’ in Karnataka (which
has an anti-conversion law) and Goa (which does not – yet). As noted in RLPB
647, Goa is ‘a former Portuguese colony on India’s west coast; Christians: 26.7
(census) - 41.5 percent (Operation World 2010), virtually all Roman Catholic’.
UPDATE: PROPOSALS ARISING FROM THE HINDU NATIONALIST CONVENTION IN GOA
On 15 June Goa’s BJP Governor, PS Sreedharan Pillai, proposed promoting Goa as
‘a destination for spiritual tourism’, a proposal that could see Gao host more
Hindu festivals and new Hindu infrastructure. Outlook India reports (16 June):
‘On the same day, just some 30-odd km away, a Hindu Rashtra Sansad (Hindu
National Parliament), part of the Akhil Bharatiya [an RSS affiliate] Hindu
Rashtra Adhiveshan [Hindu nationalist convention] held at the Ramnathi temple
grounds in the temple town of Ponda [in north Goa], demanded the deletion of
the words ‘secular’ and ‘socialist’ from the Indian Constitution.’ High on the
list of topics discussed was that of religious conversions. While Goa is
preparing to table a law against conversions, the delegates – reportedly
comprising ‘hundreds of representatives from Hindu organisations based out of
the US, UK, Hong Kong, Singapore, Fiji, Nepal and 26 Indian states’ – insisted,
‘The issue of religious conversions exists at the national level. To stop this,
Article 25 of the Constitution needs to be amended and the words “propagate
religion” removed from it.’ They also raised the issue of boycotting
non-Hindus: ‘When you are fighting against an opponent, you have to cut all his
financial links,’ insisted a delegate from neighbouring Karnataka. The author
wondered whether the Adhiveshan/convention in Goa was just ‘an exercise in mere
fulmination by the fringe’, before concluding that ‘the lines between
mainstream and fringe, may well have blurred beyond recognition.’ Please pray
for the Church in India.
See: Hindu
Adhiveshan and the Changing Political Face of Goa
by Mayabhushas Nagvenhar, for Outlook India, 16 June 2022.
* NIGERIA, after Christians were massacred in terrorist attacks in Owo,
Ondo State and Okpokwu LGA, Benue (both on Sunday 5 June); and Kajuru LGA,
Southern Kaduna (Sunday 12 June) [RLPBs 648
(8 June)] and 649
(15 June)].
UPDATE: NIGERIA’S CHRISTIAN CRISIS CONTINUES
KADUNA: On Sunday 19 June a large contingent of gunmen on some 30
motorcycles looted and terrorised their way through three villages in Katura
Community, in Kajuru LGA, in predominantly Christian Southern Kaduna. When they
subsequently arrived in Rubu village at around 7am, church was just commencing.
The terrorists attacked Maranatha Baptist Church and St Moses Catholic Church, killing
three worshippers and wounding at least two. They
also abducted 36 worshippers,mostly Catholics, for whom they are demanding
N100 million ransom.
On Saturday 25 JuneFather Vitus Borogo (50) was visiting the Prison Farm in Kujana town, in Chikun LGA, when terrorists raided the farm. The terrorists stole all the farm’s sheep and cattle and murdered Fr Borogo. Along with his church and pastoral duties, Fr Borogo also served as the chaplain of the Catholic community of the Kaduna State Polytechnic and was Chairman of the Nigerian Catholic Diocesan Priests Association, Kaduna state chapter.
EDO: On Sunday 26 June Father
Christopher Odia of the diocese of Auchi was abducted from his rectory at
around 6:30am and subsequently murdered. He had been preparing to lead Sunday
Mass at St Michael Catholic Church Ikabigbo, Uzairue, in predominantly Yoruba
Edo State, in Nigeria’s South-east region. Please pray for the
Church in Nigeria.
* VIETNAM [RLPB
650 (22 June)] where the publication of two draft decrees on religion show
the ruling Communist Party of Vietnam is moving (as China has done) to tighten
control over, and escalate persecution of, Vietnam’s registered Church.
JUNE 2022 ROUND-UP - also this month:
* BURMA: KARENNI CHURCH SHELLED, TORCHED AND MINED
 |
| Free Burma Rangers in Daw Nye Ku, 15 June 2022 |
* CHINA: MORE LEAPS BACKWARD
(1) CITIZEN INFORMANTS
On 6 June China’s ruling Communist Party (CCP) issued a directive encouraging
and incentivising citizens to inform on one another. The Ministry of State
Security has set up a public hot-line through which citizens can provide either
real-name reports or anonymous tip-offs, by phone or over the internet,
regarding citizens they suspect may be a threat to ‘national security’. As
Radio Free Asia reports (9 June), ‘“national security” [is] a broadly
defined concept that criminalises overseas contacts and fund-raising, criticism
of the ruling Chinese Communist Party (CCP), and peaceful political
opposition.’ Depending on the value of the information, informants may receive
a ‘spiritual
reward’ (a certificate of appreciation) or varying
degrees of financial reward. Please pray for the Church in
China.
(2) TRIAL OF PASTOR GENG ZEJUN
In
early June, Mrs Hao Ying, wife of Pastor Geng Zejun, published on social
media that a trial will be held against her imprisoned husband at the end of
June. Pastor Geng leads the Church of the Rock in Shizuishan city’s Huinong
district in China’s Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region, a remote far north region on
the border of Inner Mongolia. Authorities raided the church on 5 December 2021
and sentenced Geng to 15 days administrative detention, and his wife and four
others to 10 days. After their release, church gatherings resumed. On 4 January
police summoned Pastor Geng for questioning; he never returned home. Pastor
Geng and two
other members – Luo Shiping and Wang Sufang – were charged with ‘organising
illegal religious gatherings’. Bitter
Winter reports (27 June) that Pastor Geng has been committed to trial and
his sentencing has been scheduled for 13 July. Please pray.
* EGYPT: COPTS MURDERED
The Copts are the indigenous people of Egypt, the true descendants of the
Pharaohs. At the time of the Arab invasion and conquest (from AD 639) the Copts
were already predominantly Christian. The Copts are now an ethnic-religious
minority, imperilled by systematic discrimination and persecution. On
Sunday 5 June, in the village of Arab Mahdy in Akhmim, Sohag, some 500km
south of Cairo, a Copt named Kirollos (Cyril) Megally (30) was brutally
murdered by an extremist Muslim with a long history of harassing Christians.
Megally was riding his motorbike when Abdullah Hosni obstructed him, pushed him
off, and then hacked into him with a meat cleaver. Megally
died in hospital on 7 June. Hosni has confessed to the crime and been
charged with intentional murder. Please pray.
On 11 June, a decision was handed down in an Egyptian court
that Copts hope will herald an end to impunity. On
7 April Father Arsenius Wadid (56) was enjoying a picnic with church youths
on a popular seaside promenade in Alexandria when he was set upon and stabbed
to death by a knife-wielding Islamist named Nehru Tawfiq (60). Tawfiq’s defence
ran the usual line, that the perpetrator was mentally ill. However, a mental
health assessment concluded Tawfiq – a former member of Gamaa Islamiyah who has
previously spent time in jail on terrorism charges – had ‘no signs of
psychological disorder’ and
was ‘fully cognisant’ during the attack. Tawfiq appeared in court
confidently flashing V
for victory signs, chanting Allahu Akbar, and quoting the Quran. On
18 May Tawfiq was deemed guilty of first-degree murder and sentenced to death.
Before it can be enacted, a capital punishment must be approved by the Grand
Mufti. On
11 June Egypt’s Grand Mufti Shawky Allam indicated ‘no objection’. While
the death sentence can be appealed, the fact that punishment – as
distinct from ‘reconciliation’ – is being demanded, is a positive step
towards the ending of impunity. Please pray.
* ETHIOPIA: AMHARAS MASSACRED
 |
| Gimbi Woreda/district (encircled, in red) Click on map to enlarge. |
 |
| Map of northern Ethiopia, showing Welkait (all lands west of the Tekeze River) and Raya. source: Horn Africa Insights (10 Aug 2021) |
* PAKISTAN: DEATH FOR BLASPHEMY
On 8 June Christian brothers Qaiser Ayub (45, father of three)and Amoon Ayub (42, a music teacher), were informed that their appeal against their death sentences had been rejected. The brothers from Lahore will remain on death row. A case was registered against the brothers in June 2011, after Muhammad Saeed told police that he had found blasphemous content on the brothers’ website. The brothers were arrested and jailed in 2014. Their appeal, which had been pending since December 2018, was finally heard on 28 February, but the verdict not released until 8 June. The brothers, have always maintained their innocence, insisting Muslim associates Zaryab Sheikh and Sheraz Qureshi – with whom the brothers had a dispute – revived an old website under Amoon’s name and posted the blasphemous content to frame the Christian brothers on a false charge. There is no evidence to indicate the brothers ever posted any blasphemous content. According to their lawyers – Khurram Maan, of the European Center for Law and Justice (ECLJ), and Tahir Bashir of the Centre for Legal Aid, Assistance and Settlement (CLAAS) – the judge simply refused to believe that another person could have done it. Please pray that the Lord will sustain the Ayub brothers, grant wisdom to their lawyers, pierce the conscience of their persecutors, and embolden Pakistan’s judges to rule justly.
* UGANDA: DEATH FOR APOSTASY
On 29 May, (Miss) Hawa Amoti (28) of Nansana, Wakiso District, on the outskirts of Kampala, in Uganda’s Central Region, died due to injuries inflicted by her father. After having several dreams about the Lord Jesus, Hawa visited a Christian neighbour on the morning of Sunday 29 May. After learning about Jesus and embracing the Gospel, Hawa went to church and worshipped her Saviour with fellow believers, staying with them for the rest of the day. When Hawa arrived home, her Muslim father, Haji Shariifu Agaba, flew into a rage, grabbed a knife and stabbed her in the eyes to ‘stop [her] seeing churches forever’. Neighbours rushed to Hawa’s aid and got her to hospital where she subsequently succumbed to her injuries. Morning Star News reports, ‘Community leaders in Nansana condemned the attack and vowed to arrest and charge Agaba.’ No amount of justice will bring Hawa Amoti back. However, fewer Christian converts, pastors, evangelists and apologists will die if impunity were to end and justice prevail. Please pray.
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Elizabeth has authored two books: Turn Back the Battle: Isaiah Speaks to
Christians Today (Deror Books, Melbourne, Australia, Dec 2012) which offers
a Biblical response to persecution and existential threat; and After Saturday
Comes Sunday: Understanding the Christian Crisis in the Middle East (Wipf
and Stock, Eugene, OR, USA, June 2016). She is also an Adjunct Research Fellow
at the Arthur Jeffery Centre for the Study of Islam at Melbourne School of
Theology.
See www.ElizabethKendal.com
