RLPB 608. July Update, incl. Nigeria, China, the Sahel, Burma (Myanmar), Cuba, France, Pakistan, Uzbekistan.

Religious Liberty Prayer Bulletin | RLPB 608 | Wed 30 Jul 2021
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JULY 2021 UPDATE
By Elizabeth Kendal

DURING THIS PERIOD, WE PRAYED CONCERNING:

* NIGERIA [RLPB 605 (7 July)], after Fulani bandits abducted 121 boarding students during the night from Kaduna's Bethel Baptist High School on 5 July.

BBC video report on kidnappings in Nigeria:
‘Children for Ransom’, 25 June 2021 (8 minutes). 

UPDATES:

Mercy Joy is reunited with her father.
Channels TV, 25 July 2021

1) ABDUCTIONS:  A few children were released because they were sickly or because ransom was paid. Three boys who escaped on the night of 20 July were subsequently picked up by police and reunited with their parents after undergoing a medical examination. In the early hours of Sunday 25 July, 28 students were collected from the Tsoho Gaya Forest in Chikun Local Government Area, after being released during the night. The Nigerian Baptist Convention has confirmed that 87 schoolchildren aged between 10 and 19 years are still with the bandits. While the government and the Church refuse to pay ransoms, the distraught families had pooled resources in the hope of collectively redeeming the children. Video footage from Nigeria's Channels TV shows clearly traumatised children - some wounded - being reunited with their parents, followed by scenes of parents in deep distress as they realise their nightmare is not yet over. Please pray.

Prayer for Nigeria: Psalm 56, excerpts, When I am afraid, I put my trust in you (v3). You have kept count of my tossings; put my tears in your bottle. Are they not in your book? (v8) This I know, that God is for me (v9c).

2) ZERO SECURITY: As reported by Morning Star News, for the whole week, from 8 to 14 July, Fulani herdsmen attacked Christian communities in southern Kaduna state unimpeded. They targeted villages throughout Zangon-Kataf LGA, killing at least 33 Christians and burning 215 homes and four churches. The jihadists swept through this very same area 12 months ago [see RLPB 561, Christian Crisis in Kaduna, 5 Aug 2020]. This campaign of terror is designed to effect ethnic cleansing. According to the International Organisation for Peace Building and Social Justice (PSJ, 14 July), '108 Southern Kaduna communities have been displaced and taken over by [Fulani herdsmen] since 2019'. The main reason why there is zero security is that military-influenced 1999 constitution centralises the police force and prohibits states from establishing their own police force [see RLPB 596 (5 May 2021)]. Please pray for the Christians in Nigeria's North and Middle Belt and for constitutional reform. 

3) TAKING JIHAD TO A WHOLE NEW LEVEL: On Sunday 18 July, in an incident that has sent shock-waves through Nigerian security, jihadists in the north-western state of Zamfara, shot down a Nigerian Air Force Alpha jet above the Zamfara-Kaduna state border. The pilot ejected safely. This is the first confirmed case of an armed gang downing a Nigerian jet. Boko Haram has claimed responsibility. This takes the jihad to a whole new level.

* CHINA [RLPB 606 (14 July)], where Taiyuan's Xuncheng Reformed Church, a church planted by Chendu's Early Rain Covenant Church, is experiencing escalating persecution. Officials ordered the church to be closed in November 2020, and detained its pastor, An Yankui, for 15 days during January 2021. On 7 July, Pastor An's friend and co-worker Zhao Wikai (35) was summoned and then detained on the very serious charge of 'illegal holding of materials promoting terrorism and extremism'.

UPDATES

1) DETAINED: On 20 July Zhao Wikai's wife Li Xin received a notification of his official arrest on charges of 'unlawfully possessing items that advocate terrorism or extremism'. Those who know Zhao describe the charges as 'beyond imagination'. Christian Solidarity Worldwide also reports that Elder Zhang Chunlei of Ren'ai [Love] Reformed Church, Guiyang - arrested 16 March [see RLPB 593 (14 April)] - may well face similarly serious charges to Mr Zhao. Please pray.

Always smiling, Brother Chen...
(l) witnessing with his mother; (r) after detention.

2) 'CLERGY': Update to RLPB 585, 'CCP Moves to Fully Subjugate the Church,' 17 Feb 2021. The Administrative Measures for Clergy, which came into force on 1 May, require citizens involved in religious work to secure a Clergy Card proving they have CCP permission to conduct their ministry. As RLPB 585 noted: 'One evangelist destined to fall foul of the new Administrative Measures is Brother Chen Wensheng of Hunan Province. Before he met the Lord Jesus, Chen spent ten years crippled by and enslaved to his drug addiction. His testimony is one of transformation, healing, liberty and redemption, all thanks to the Lord's amazing grace.' A fearless evangelist, Brother Chen was arrested on 19 June 2021 and 'disappeared' into Residential Surveillance at a Designated Location (RSDL: see RLPB 593, 'Residential Surveillance at a Designated Location,' 12 April). Chen was interrogated and warned not to continue his street preaching, before being released on 7 July. Chen is not going to stop witnessing, meaning the arrests will continue with ever increasing pressure. Please pray for Brother Chen, and for the Church in China.

* THE SAHEL [RLPB 606 (21 July)] where French troops are being withdrawn at a time when jihadists are: (1) escalating activity to record levels; (2) enforcing Sharia law and implementing Sharia penalties in territories they control; and (3) actively working to expand south into Ivory Coast, Ghana, Togo and Benin. Christians in the Sahel - especially those in the Mali, Burkina Faso, Niger tri-border region - are imminently imperilled.

UPDATE: Despite being majority Muslim, the Sahelian states have a proud tradition of religious freedom and social cohesion. Christian mission - comprising churches, schools, medical clinics, aid centres and development projects - has a respected presence there. That could change if Islamic powers fill the vacuum left by France and the West. A report entitled 'Turkey in the Sahel', just released by Crisis Group (27 July), provides details of Turkey's expanded presence and influence in the Sahel where it is building mosques, schools and hospitals, and presenting itself as 'an alternative security partner'. Please pray.

JULY 2021 ROUND-UP - also this month:

* BURMA (MYANMAR): CHRISTIAN CRISIS COMPOUNDED BY COVID

According to a local Christian correspondent inside Burma, the junta is restricting oxygen supplies, giving it only to people who hold a letter of approval from a hospital owned and run by the junta. The claim is supported by a report in Asia Times entitled 'Everyone is Dying', by Associate Professor Mary P Callahan (17 July). Reporting from Thailand, Callahan confirms that, instead of tackling the health crisis, the military junta is using COVID-19 as a weapon. 'Most horrifically,' she writes, 'there is no oxygen left in the country, or rather, there is oxygen, but only the military gets it.' She warns: 'One very reputable public health specialist expects that the population will be decimated by at least 10-15 million by the time COVID is done with Myanmar.'  The Irrawaddy reports (27 July) that the junta is even  seizing oxygen imported by charities.  According to the local Christian source: 'More than 200 Christian ministers across the nation have gone to be with the Lord... The people of Myanmar and believers in Myanmar desperately need God's healing touch and protection from this deadly COVID-19 disease. Kindly continue to uphold us in your prayer.' Please pray.

* CUBA: ARE WE ALL COUNTER-REVOLUTIONARIES NOW?

Protests erupted across Cuba on 11 July. Though triggered by despair over a lack of food and medicines amidst the COVID crisis, they evolved quickly into angry demonstrations of unprecedented scale against the ruling Communist regime. Among the hundreds of citizens arrested on 11 July were Berean Baptist pastors Yarian Sierra Madrigal and Yéremi Blanco Ramírez, both tutors at the William Carey Biblical Seminary in Matanzas. The pastors were detained incommunicado and in appalling conditions before being released on 24 July. During that time, Pastor Madrigal's wife and young son were forcibly evicted from their rented home; the family is currently sheltering in a church. Meanwhile, another pastor, Lorenzo Rosales Fajardo, remains detained, incommunicado, in a State Security facility in Santiago de Cuba. His 17-year-old son arrested with him has since been released unharmed but deeply shaken.

In February 2019 Cuban Christians overwhelmingly voted against constitutional amendments set to strengthen socialism, restrict religious liberty and pave the way for same-sex marriage. For championing this minority view, the Church was vilified, labelled 'counter-revolutionary' and subjected to increased persecution [RLPB 491 (27 Feb 2019)]. On 7 July 2021 - just four days before the protests erupted - Cuban Christians held a nationwide and interdenominational day of prayer and fasting for Cuba. Today this 'extremely vibrant Church' is standing with the protesters who are all counter-revolutionaries now! May God redeem this crisis to raise the profile of the Church in Cuba and open may hearts to receive the Gospel. Please pray.

* FRANCE: ISLAMIC TERROR BRINGS END TO LAÏCITÉ.

Islamic violence has claimed over 200 lives and wounded close to 1000 in France in recent years. Consequently, on Friday 23 July, the French Parliament passed a bill designed to help the state counter the influence of inherently political fundamentalist Islam. The Law Reinforcing Respect for the Principles of the Republic will allegedly protect laïcité, which traditionally has been understood as state neutrality with regards to religion (or separation of Church and state) but increasingly is understood by many as the elimination of religion from the public sphere. The law empowers the state to interfere extensively in the practice of religion if it finds that a group is inciting violence or hatred, a charge open to interpretation and abuse. Concerns abound that hostile anti-Christian groups will take up the law as a weapon against the Church. Furthermore, the law requires that parents who home-school their children obtain authorisation from the government to ensure that children are taught France's secular values (many of which are contrary to Biblical values). An office of laïcité has been established to track the implementation of the law. Protestant leaders told Christianity Today (April 2021) that the Church will continue her Gospel witness and the fight for liberty without fear or weakness. 'The Lord is with us,' confirms Erwan Cloarec (Evangelical Baptists), 'and he invites us to faith, trust and prayer.' Please pray for the Church in France.

* PAKISTAN: SUPREME COURT SETBACK

Christian child, Nayab Gill (13) before her
abduction and forced marriage to Muslim.

On 14 July Supreme Court Justice Mushir Alam rejected an appeal by Bishop Azad Marshall, Moderator Bishop of the Church of Pakistan and president of the National Council of Churches in Pakistan (NCCP). Filed by renowned human rights lawyer Saif Ul Malook on behalf of Marshall, the appeal called for a constitutional petition to protect Christian girls from forced conversion and forced marriage. It also asked the court to recognise the difference between Pakistani penal laws and Islamic Sharia law, as the latter is one of the major causes behind the exploitation of Christian girls. The petition was filed under Article 184(3) of the Constitution of Pakistan, which allows the Supreme Court to have jurisdiction over matters of public importance with reference to the enforcement of any of the fundamental rights guaranteed by the Constitution of Pakistan. Justice Alam rejected the petition on the grounds that it did not address an individual case or grievance. But as Bishop Marshall explained to Morning Star News (MSN, 20 July), 'The matter is not restricted to an individual case. Rather, it relates to the entire Christian population in Pakistan and the violation of their fundamental rights.'

While Bishop Marshal was extremely disappointed to have his appeal rejected, he was encouraged by the court's promise 'that it will take this issue up if we bring a specific case before it'. He told MSN that he will file an appeal in the Supreme Court against the Lahore High Court's 1 July decision to ignore official birth records and send the Christian child Nayab Gill (13, abducted in May) to live with her Muslim abductor, Saddam Hayat (30), a married father of four. In making his ruling the Lahore High Court judge cited Islamic Sharia Law which says a girl who has had a menstrual cycle is of marriageable age. Please pray for Nayab Gill, and that Bishop Marshall's new Supreme Court petition will be heard.

* UZBEKISTAN: NEW RELIGION LAW COMES INTO FORCE
Update to RLPB 565, 'Religion Law Under Review', 2 Sep 2020

On 5 July Uzbekistan's President Shavkat Mirziyoyev signed Uzbekistan's new Religion Law. The law was made public and came into force on 6 July. The US Commission on International Religious Freedom laments: 'Uzbekistan's new Religion Law fails to address the most serious restrictions on religious freedom in the country... [but] retains Uzbekistan's most severe limitations on freedom of religion or belief from previous laws, including restrictions on education, literature, and sharing of religious beliefs.' In a detailed analysis, Forum 18 (5 July) also laments the law's numerous failings, including its ban on all exercise of freedom of religion and belief without state permission, its ban on teaching about religion without state permission, its ban on sharing beliefs and its compulsory prior state censorship of all printed and electronic religious materials. Meanwhile, Turkey's state-run Anadolu Agency praised the new law which it claimed, 'expands religious freedom in the country'. Islamist, neo-Ottoman Turkey - which is expanding its influence into and through Central Asia - was particularly pleased to see many anti-Islamist measures revoked. Please pray for the Church in Uzbekistan.

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Elizabeth Kendal is an international religious liberty analyst and advocate. She serves as Director of Advocacy at Canberra-based Christian Faith and Freedom Inc. (CFF) and is an Adjunct Research Fellow at the Arthur Jeffery Centre for the Study of Islam at Melbourne School of Theology.

She 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).

See www.ElizabethKendal.com 

RLPB 368. July Update, Incl. Egypt, Bangladesh, France, India, Iran, Nepal, Nigeria, Syria, Yemen

Religious Liberty Prayer Bulletin | RLPB 368 | Wed 27 July 2016
By Elizabeth Kendal

Please forward this prayer bulletin widely, and encourage others to sign up to the Religious Liberty Prayer Bulletin blog. "The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective." (James 5:16 NIV)

NEW BOOK: Elizabeth Kendal's new book, After Saturday Comes Sunday: Understanding the Christian Crisis in the Middle East (Wipf and Stock, Eugene, OR, USA) was released in June 2016 is now widely available. For more information, including purchasing options see www.ElizabethKendal.com.

PLEASE PRAY that God will use this book to awaken and embolden and facilitate engagement -- for the Christians of the Middle East need all the help they can get. What's more, as the book makes clear, this battle will not be confined to the Middle East, for Mesopotamia (Syria-Iraq), long known as the cradle of civilisation, is but ground zero in a battle for civilisation. PLEASE PRAY that God will bless and use this book for the benefit of his people and the glory of his name.


JULY 2016 UPDATE -- this month we prayed concerning ...

* RUSSIA (RLPBs 364 and 365), where President Putin has defied the advice of business and church leaders and even his own advisors and signed into law a controversial 'anti-terror' package which includes anti-mission measures that eviscerate religious freedom. We now wait to see how the law will be applied and how it might be challenged.

* EGYPT (RLPB 366), where Egypt's indigenous Christian Copts face escalating violent persecution at the hands of local radicalised Muslims increasingly confident they will never be charged.

UPDATE: CHURCH BURNED; COPTS STABBED

Burned: Church of the
Archangel Michael, Luxor.

LUXOR: Morning Star News reports that at 2:30am on 16 July Copts in Al-Madamoud in Luxor Governorate were woken by the sound of flames ripping through the roof of the Church of the Archangel Michael. An iconographer, who was sleeping in the church while he worked restoring the church's religious paintings, was trapped inside and had to be rescued by local residents. Firefighters arrived two and a half hours later, after the building had been thoroughly gutted. Local Copts suspect arson.

MINYA: Shortly after 9 pm on Friday 15 July Muslims in Abu Yacoub village, Minya, attacked the homes of Copts, enraged by a rumour that a church might be constructed in the area. Five homes were torched and several Copts received minor injuries.

Stabbed: Naguib Hanna (80)
wataninet

On Sunday evening 17 July a group of Muslims armed with knives and batons attacked the families of two local Coptic priests in Tahna al-Gabal. The attack came after a group of four local Muslims harassed and threatened Pastor Matta'os' son, Mikhail (7), as he played outside the house under the watchful eye of his grandfather. When the grandfather protested, the Muslims became violent, attracting more Muslims. The grandfather Naguib Hanna (80) was stabbed several times in the face, as were Malak Aziz Hanna (40, the brother of another local priest) and a female Christian neighbour Azza Gouma (35). Mr Fam Mari Khalaf (27) was stabbed repeatedly in the chest and died.

* TURKEY (RLPB 367), where President Erdogan is exploiting the failed coup as an opportunity to eliminate his opponents, tighten his grip on power, advance his personality cult and  further his dangerous Islamo-Turkic nationalism. The threat facing alleged 'enemies of the state' -- i.e. Gulenists (liberal Islamists), Kemalists (secularists), as well as all non-Turks and non-Muslims -- is now greatly heightened.

JULY ROUND-UP -- also this month ...

* BANGLADESH: CATHOLIC NURSE BURNED

Maya Karmokar (45) lives with and cares for her elderly mother in the village of Kajura, Jessore District (south-west Bangladesh). A devout Catholic, she works as a nurse in a local Catholic medical facility. On the night of 9 July Maya was asleep in her bed when Muslims broke into her home, poured gasoline over her and set her alight. Alerted by her screams, neighbouring relatives rushed to her aid. Unable to afford specialist medical care, Maya was in hospital for just one day before being released to the care of her local doctor, despite receiving burns to most of her body. According to the parish priest, Fr Ananda Gopal Biswas, Maya is respected and has no enemies. Christians, Hindus, atheists and foreigners are increasingly being targeted by fundamentalist Islamists. In some areas, Hindu and Christian businesses have reportedly received anonymous pamphlets ordering them to observe Sharia, respect Islam and obey Muslims.

* FRANCE: CATHOLIC PRIEST SLAUGHTERED 

On Tuesday 26 July two knife-wielding men pledging allegiance to Islamic State (IS) stormed a Roman Catholic church in Saint-Etienne-du-Rouvray, Normandy, northern France, during a celebration of the Mass. A nun who fled the scene told French TV that she saw the attackers force the priest, Rev Jacques Hamal (85) to his knees before slitting his throat. Another believer, whose throat was also slit, remains in a critical condition. French police shot the two Islamic terrorists as they left the church. One of the killers, Adel Kermiche (19), was known to French intelligence services as he had previously been arrested trying to join the jihad in Syria. IS has taken credit for the attack, via its Amaq news agency. This is the first Islamic terror attack on a church in Europe and cannot be expected to be the last. Pray for revival in Europe.

* INDIA: SIKH CONVERT PASTOR ATTACKED

Pastor Singh's mother (90)

The Evangelical Fellowship of India (EFI) reports that on Sunday 3 July a group of 12 to 15 Sikh men violently attacked Sikh convert pastor Satpal Singh (48) along with his elderly mother, son and nephew. The family was at the church early with a group of around 15 church women making preparations for the luncheon that was to follow the worship. While the church women were able to flee, the pastor and his family were trapped, abused and beaten. Pastor Singh's 90-year-old mother was struck on the forehead with a brick and required hospitalisation. Pastor Singh told EFI that their church in Mallian village, Gurdaspur District, Punjab Province, has a congregation of some 60 members, all from different faiths. 'While we have a good testimony in our neighbourhood, these eight Sikh families have come together and have been threatening us for more than a year now for spreading the Word and conducting Church and prayer services in the village.' Please pray for Pastor Singh, his family, his congregation and his ministry. Pray also for his attackers that they will repent and believe.

* IRAN: MERCILESS OPPOSITION

NADARKHANI: Having already endured several years in prison -- between October 2009 and December 2013, including a death sentence for apostasy, subsequently overturned -- Pastor Yousef Nadarkhani is again being threatened by the Iranian regime. On 13 May the pastor and his wife, Tina, were temporarily detained after Iranian Security Service (VEVAK) officers raided their home in Rasht as part of a series of raids targeting approximately ten Christian households [see RLPB 358 (May Update)]. On Sunday 24 July Pastor Nadarkhani was summoned to the 13th Branch of the Revolutionary Court in Rasht. He was formally charged with 'acting against national security' and accused of Zionist activities and evangelism. He has been given until 31 July to raise 100 million Toman (US$33,000) bail or face arrest.

MARYAM: Though granted medical furlough in June 2016, gravely ill Christian prisoner Maryam Naghash Zargaran was escorted back to Evin Prison on 27 June after the court ruled she must continue serving her four-year prison sentence on charges of 'acting against national security' [see RLPB 363 (June Update)]. Still gravely ill and suffering both physical pain and psychological distress, Maryam commenced a new hunger strike on 5 July, demanding 'immediate and unconditional release'. An Iranian court has rejected her demand at the request of the Iranian Ministry of Intelligence (MOIS). Prison medical staff who examined Maryam on 20 July report that her blood pressure is very low and that she has pains and numbness in her feet; possibly early signs of multiple sclerosis. Please pray for Maryam and for the Church in Iran.

* NEPAL: EVANGELISTS CHARGED

source: World Watch Monitor

Eight Christian teachers/counsellors charged in June with proselytising will soon face court. The seven men and one woman (pictured) were arrested on 9 June for distributing religious booklets in a Christian school [see RLPB 363 (June Update)]. In April the Himalayan Times reported that Christian-run orphanages with access to foreign funds are 'preaching Christianity to young minds'. Like schools, orphanages are in the firing line, and in the past few weeks a number of Christian social workers who run orphanages in Nepal have been arrested for proselytising and charged with human trafficking. Chinimaya Blown runs a children's orphanage in the capital, Kathmandu, and prays with the children in her care. She was arrested on 24 June and is currently being held in a Kathmandu jail facing charges related to human trafficking. On 19 July police in Chitwan (about 160km south-west of Kathmandu) arrested Pratik Sunar and his wife whom they accuse of running an unregistered children's home where they engage in 'unnecessary promotion of Christianity'. Whilst Mrs Sunar was freed after objections from local residents, Mr Sunar remains in police custody. Pray for the Church in Nepal.

UPDATE: In December 2016 the court dropped all charges and threw out the case. Praise God!

* NIGERIA: EVANGELIST ASSASSINATED 

Evangelist and martyr:
Eunice Olawale.
Morning Star News

On Saturday morning 9 July Eunice Mojisola Olawale (41), a deaconess in the Redeemed Christian Church of God which her husband pastors in a suburb of Abuja, went out preaching in the streets of Kubwa as was her routine. That Saturday, however, was to be anything but routine for that morning, as Eunice preached 'the blood of Jesus', a band of Islamists stabbed the mother of seven to death. Eunice had been street preaching for some six years, following in the footsteps of her evangelist mother. Though grieving deeply, her husband, Pastor Olawale Elisha said his one desire is that 'the killers repent and join her in heaven'.

Meanwhile, many southerners, especially Christians, are concerned that, of the 122 government appointments President Buhari has made since being elected, 77 posts have gone to northern Muslims. What is more, they are highly strategic posts, including Senate President, Speaker of the House of Representatives, Chairman of the Electoral Commission, Chief Justice, Chief Judge of the Federal High Court, Chief of Army Staff, Chief of Air Staff, Defence Minister, Inspector General of Police, Chief of Defence Intelligence, Controller of Immigration and more. (Source: Stratfor Global Intelligence). Continue to pray for Nigeria.

* SYRIA: A FIREY MESSAGE TO THE CHURCH IN QAMISHLI 

On the night of Monday 18 July a group of gunmen attacked an Assyrian Orthodox Church in Watwatiyah District, 13 km north-east of Qamishli city which is in north-eastern Syria close to the border with Turkey. The militants broke into the church and, after looting it, detonated explosives. Though security forces were able to extinguish the fire, the church was destroyed. Although the perpetrators have not yet been identified, Assyrian activists accused Islamic State militants of being behind the attack. Pray for the Church in Syria.

NOTE: The strategic situation may be about to shift in a way that bodes well for Syria. Recognising that it has run out of options, the US has agreed to co-operate with Russia in the fight not only against Islamic State, but against al-Nusra (al-Qaeda) which has long been protected by its close ties with US-backed 'rebels'. Furthermore, Turkey -- which has done more to facilitate the jihad in Syria than any other state -- has buckled under the stress of Russian sanctions, apologised for shooting down a Russian jet, and is seeking rapprochement with Moscow. This could lead to Syria's stabilisation and save Syria from a US-Turkey-Arab backed Islamist takeover. May GOD bring peace and security to Syria.

* YEMEN: KIDNAPPED PRIEST MOST PROBABLY ALIVE

On 19 July a photo appeared on the Facebook account of Father Tom Uzhunnalil that appears to be a photo of the kidnapped Indian Salesian priest. Father Tom (56) had been praying in the chapel of a Missionaries of Charity care home in Aden when it was stormed by Islamic State jihadists on 4 March. Eight residents and four nuns were killed, while Father Tom was kidnapped [see RLPB 348 (16 March 2016) includes earlier photo of Father Tom]. Bishop Paul Hinder, the Apostolic Vicar of Southern Arabia, believes the photo is authentic and that it is Father Tom. There is no indication of who posted the photo or why. Please pray for Father Tom and for the Church in Yemen.
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Elizabeth Kendal is the author of 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). For more information see: www.ElizabethKendal.com