RLPB 533. Advent Amidst Terror

Religious Liberty Prayer Bulletin | RLPB 533 | 18 Dec 2019
RLPB is published weekly to facilitate strategic intercessory prayer.

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)

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NOTE: This will be the last Religious Liberty Prayer Bulletin (RLPB) for 2019. Unless there is a crisis requiring an urgent call to prayer, the next RLPB will be the January Update on 29 January 2020.

Please continue to watch and pray over the Christmas - New Year period. When watching, listening to or reading the news, think of how local Christians might be impacted by events, and pray for them.
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'Advent' is derived from the Latin word adventus, which is a translation of the Greek word parousia which means 'coming'.

ADVENT AMIDST TERROR
by Elizabeth Kendal

The risk of Islamic terror attack is elevated over Christmas as terrorists seek not merely to kill for political gain, but to make a statement about their intention to eliminate Christianity. Across the United Kingdom (UK), undercover SAS officers will be stationed at Christmas markets and other crowded places. The situation will be much the same in Germany, in France, in Belgium and across much of Western Europe and Scandinavia. Europe might have the most potential targets, but Christians in jihadist hot-spots still face the greatest risk.

INDONESIA: On Tuesday 17 December Indonesia's National Police spokesman Argo Yuwono told media that more than 192,000 police and military personnel will be deployed nationwide ahead of Christmas to guard against potential terror attacks. He said, 'Based on intelligence data, there are potential risks ... so we're taking preventative measures but we are also ready to take proactive action.' On 5 December police from the Densus 88 counter-terrorism squad raided a house in the Sentani district of Jayapura, the capital of PAPUA Province, arresting an alleged terrorist and seizing a cache of homemade explosives. While police denied that eight terrorist suspects with ties to the Jamaah Ansharut Daulah (JAD) had also been arrested, Institute for Policy Analysis of Conflict (IPAC) director, Sidney Jones, confirmed, 'The recent arrests are linked to members of JAD cells in Bekasi [West Java] and Lampung … .' Terrorism experts have cautioned Papuan authorities to remain vigilant. [Background: RLPB 523 (9 Oct 2019)]. Please pray.

AFRICA'S TERROR AXIS: In March this year, Kurdish-led anti-IS forces captured Islamic State's last stronghold of Baghouz in eastern Syria. As jihadists have left Syria, either to return home or find fresh fields in which to sow misery and death, jihadist terror has escalated across Africa's terror axis.

(1) SOMALIA-KENYA-ETHIOPIA

In northern Somalia's Puntland, Islamic State in Somalia (ISS) is training fighters and recruiting Ethiopians with Amharic-language propaganda that specifically targets churches and Christians [see RLPB 520 (18 Sep 2019)]. Meanwhile, in southern Somalia, al-Qaeda affiliate al-Shabaab continues to inflict terror both inside Somalia and across the border in Kenya where Christians are its primary target.

KENYA: On Friday 6 December at 5pm al-Shabaab militants flagged down a bus in eastern Kenya's Wajir County. The bus - en-route from Nairobi to the north-eastern city of Mandera - was carrying 56 passengers. After ordering the passengers off the bus, the terrorists separated them into two groups: 'locals' (ethnic Somali Muslims) and 'non-locals' (Kenyan Christians). The 'locals' were ordered back onto the bus while the eleven 'non-locals' were executed. The dead included eight Kenyan police officers returning from leave in Nairobi, two teachers and a medical doctor. The teachers and doctor are known to have been active members of evangelical churches. The bus driver and conductor have been arrested, suspected of being al-Shabaab sympathisers who colluded with the terrorists in the planning and execution of the attack. The militants escaped back to neighbouring Somalia. Please pray for all Christians living and serving in eastern Kenya.

(2) NIGERIA - CAMEROON

Voice of America reports (12 Dec): 'Authorities in Cameroon say Boko Haram terrorists have been launching daily attacks on villages along the Nigerian border, killing at least 30 people and injuring scores in the past few months.' Christian aid group Barnabas Fund (BF) reports that in mid-November, Boko Haram militants conducted a raid in Tourou district, in Cameroon's Far North region, in which they hacked to death a 12-year-old Christian schoolboy who resisted their attempt to abduct him as a 'child soldier'. BF also reports that seven people were killed and 21 children and young adults were kidnapped when Boko Haram rampaged through mainly Christian villages in the Far North region in early December. After each attack, the militants escape back to their base in neighbouring Nigeria. [Background: RLPB 518 (4 Sep 2019).] Please pray.

(3) BURKINA FASO – MALI - NIGER

Violent events linked to ISGS between Jan 2018 - May 2019.
Africa Centre for Strategic Studies (10 June 2019)

On Sunday 1 December terrorists stormed a worship service in eastern BURKINA FASO (BF), near the border with Niger. They killed 14 of the 15 men present, leaving the women and children traumatised and destitute [see 'Urgent Update on Burkina Faso' in RLPB 531 (4 Dec 2019)]. In recent weeks, pastors in BF's East region have been threatened. Despite this, Bible colleges in the region still want to proceed with graduation ceremonies and churches still want to celebrate Christmas. Please Pray! 

I love you, O Lord, my strength. The Lord is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer, my God, my rock, in whom I take refuge, my shield, and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold. I call upon the Lord, who is worthy to be praised, and I am saved from my enemies. (Psalm 18:1-3 ESV)

NIGER: On 10 December well-armed terrorists from Islamic State in the Greater Sahara (ISGS) - also known as Islamic State in West Africa (an off-shoot of Boko Haram) - launched the most deadly and sophisticated attack on a military base ever seen in Niger. Suicide car-bombers opened the way for militants armed with mortars and riding motorbikes to briefly over-run the Inates base in remote south-western Niger near the border with Mali. At least 71 Nigerien soldiers were killed and 30 remain unaccounted for. ISGS claims to have killed 100 soldiers, wounded dozens more, while capturing weapons, ammunition and 16 vehicles.

Despite being majority Muslim, Burkina Faso, Niger and Mali are states with secular government and religious freedom - states where the Church has long been respected for its service which benefits all the people. Today, the tri-border region has become a key focal point for ISGS. Analysts fear that as terror escalates, Niger's overstretched military might opt to withdraw from this remote region to concentrate its forces around the more densely populated cities. This is precisely what has happened in Burkina Faso and Mali. Crisis Group explains, 'The zone is at risk of becoming a no-man's land under the custodianship of a rural [ISGS-infiltrated and backed] jihadist insurgency, with residents more or less held hostage.' The implications for churches, Bible colleges and long-established missions through the wider region are huge. Please pray!

Fulani (courtesy Samaritan's Purse)

ACROSS AFRICA, tribes and peoples with grievances - be they real, imagined or exaggerated - are embracing jihadists who come promising to empower, enrich, rescue and save, while actually harbouring intentions to exploit and enslave. Instead of securing liberty, equity and dignity, the aggrieved peoples are oppressed, abused and sacrificed as cannon-fodder and human shields. It would be better for them if they were to embrace the One who came preaching good news, offering life and liberty, and proclaiming the year of the Lord's favour (Luke 4:16-21). They need the Lord Jesus Christ. Please pray!

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ADVENT PRAYER

Dear God our Father

Please help us to fully comprehend and embrace what you have done through your Son, the Lord Jesus Christ whose birth the angels announced as 'good news of great joy that will be for all the people' (Luke 2:1-21). Empower us by your Holy Spirit to live in the light of this truth, energised with hope, conscious that because of Jesus a new day has dawned. Father, open our eyes, unblock our ears, put life in our legs. May we never grow tired of serving in the kingdom of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Father, we lift before you the Christians of Mesopotamia and the wider Middle East, as they celebrate Christmas in exile, or in hollowed-out churches ravaged by war, and amidst great insecurity. We lift before you the Christians of Sri Lanka, Burkina Faso and Nigeria, indeed all believers who this Christmas will be missing loved ones killed in terror attacks, Islamic jihad and communal violence in the course of 2019. We lift before you Christians in prison in Iran, Pakistan, China, Eritrea and North Korea; as well as those held captive by jihadists in the Malian desert and Northern Nigeria. We lift before you the multitudes of believers across the Indian subcontinent and Central Asia who will celebrate Christmas despite crippling poverty (caused by discrimination) and violent persecution (encouraged by impunity). Oh Father, bless them and keep them safe. May reviving power from the life-giving and ever-present Holy Spirit flood their hearts with joy, hope and peace as they remember, embrace and celebrate the true meaning of Christmas.

In the name of Jesus,

AMEN

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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 (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 409. May Update, Incl. Pakistan, CAR, Iran, Afghanistan, Eritrea, Egypt, Iraq, Philippines, Sudan, UK

Religious Liberty Prayer Bulletin | RLPB 409 | Wed 31 May 2017

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)

by Elizabeth Kendal

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Please Note: A Religious Liberty Prayer Bulletin will not be issued next week (7 June) as Elizabeth Kendal will be unavailable to prepare it. Churches and small groups needing an item for their newsletter or intercessory prayers should consider using another of the situations detailed below -- an urgent item this week and a less time-sensitive item next week. May the Lord bless you as you serve him and his precious Church in prayer.

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When I am afraid, I put my trust in you. (Psalm 56:3 ESV)

MAY 2017 UPDATE -- this month we prayed concerning ...

* PAKISTAN (RLPB 405), where the brutal lynching of Muslim university student Mashal Khan -- on campus in broad daylight -- had reignited the debate around the infamous blasphemy law.

UPDATES
PAKISTAN: LAW REFORM STALLS WHILE ISLAMISATION PROGRESSES
Ever since Marshal Khan was accused of blasphemy and lynched, his sisters have been receiving death threats. On 4 May some 500 Muslims in the town of Hub, in Balochistan Province, rioted after police refused to hand over a Hindu man whom they accused of blasphemy; a ten-year-old boy was killed in the melee. Meanwhile, Nabeel Masih -- the 16-year-old Christian boy arrested in September for 'liking' and 'sharing' a Facebook post which supposedly 'defamed and disrespected' the Kaaba in Mecca -- has again been refused bail. Despite doing little or nothing to address the blasphemy law, the Senate Standing Committee on Religious Affairs has amended the 'Respect for Ramadan' law, unanimously approving ten-fold increases in the maximum fines for fast-breakers, as well as prison terms of up to three months. Eateries are not even permitted to provide food during Ramadan's daylight hours. Rights advocates fear the law will hurt non-Muslims and fuel vigilantism. Ramadan commenced on 27 May and will continue until 25 June. Pray for the Church in Pakistan.

PAKISTAN: CHRISTIAN LAWYER THREATENED WITH DEATH
Jacqueline Sultan is a high court advocate and a member of the Karachi Bar Council. She is also a human rights activist and the chairperson of the Global Human Rights Association Alliance. A Christian, she defends people charged with blasphemy and helps victims of forced conversion and marriage. In mid-May, a letter was delivered to her chambers in which she was threatened with death if she did not stop her work. The Karachi Bar Association is taking the threat very seriously and has demanded the state investigate and provide Sultan with extra security. Please pray for Jacqueline Sultan; may the Lord of hosts provide all her needs.

* NIGERIA (RLPB 406), where 82 'Chibok girls' had been released (ransomed) from Musab al-Barnawi's Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP). Hundreds of girls, mostly Christians, are still captives of ISWAP and Boko Haram.

* CENTRAL AFRICAN REPUBLIC (CAR -- RLPB 407), where the de facto partition of the state -- with Christians in the south and Muslims dominating the north -- had brought a degree of peace. However, Islamic militias are fighting each other now for control of roads, grazing land, water and diamond mines. This strife is evolving along ethnic lines. Furthermore, native, non-Muslim 'anti-balaka' militias have allied with non-Fulani Islamic militias against the Muslim Fulani. In retaliation, the Fulani are escalating their attacks on Christians.

UPDATE: CHURCH FACES CRISIS AS VIOLENCE ESCALATES
On 15 May at least 20 were killed, more than 40 wounded and some 20,000 displaced as rebels clashed in Bria, the capital of central Haute-Kotto Province. UN personnel have confirmed that an aid warehouse was pillaged, saying: 'There's fighting taking place but we don't know who's fighting whom.' World Watch Monitor reports that Baptist pastor Ange-Apoléon Ngakolada (36) was among the dead in Alindao; he leaves behind a wife and eight children. It seems Muslims unhappy with his church exploited the chaos of 6-7 May and murdered him in his own home. CAR needs assistance, as it simply does not have enough troops to contain the escalating crisis.

IRAN (RLPB 408), where, faced with a choice between the conservative but pragmatic Rouhani and the ultra-conservative hard-liner Raisi, moderate Iranians came out en masse on 19 May to vote for Rouhani despite Raisi being the regime's preferred candidate.

UPDATE: EMERGING THREAT
As is commonly the case in politics today, the election's loser (in this case Ebrahim Raisi) has moved straight from campaign mode into conflict mode, launching a campaign designed to fire-up supporters, undermine the result and discredit and de-legitimise the winner (in this case, Hassan Rouhani). Raisi has accused Rouhani of electoral fraud and called for an official investigation, even though the Guardian Council has approved the result. Hard-liners have vowed to fight Rouhani and press their ultra-conservative agenda. If the situation arises where Raisi incites Islamic revolutionary rage, and/or President Rouhani feels pressured to appease hard-liners, Iran's Christians will suffer as a consequence. Please continue to pray for Iran, and for Pastor Victor Bet Tamraz and Amin Nader Afshar as their trial continues in Tehran.

MAY 2017 ROUND-UP -- also this month ...

* AFGHANISTAN: AID WORKER KILLED, ANOTHER KIDNAPPED

On 20 May militants broke into a Kabul guest-house run by Swedish-based charity, Operation Mercy. A German woman who had been working in Afghanistan for 13 years was killed, as was her Afghan guard, who was beheaded. A Finnish woman was kidnapped. Both women (who have not been named) were aid workers with Operation Mercy. As yet, no group has claimed responsibility. Please pray for the captive Finnish aid worker, and for the families and colleagues of the deceased. May the Lord have mercy.

* ERITREA: NEARLY 100 CHRISTIANS ARRESTED IN MAY

World Watch Monitor reports that on 9 May ten Christians were arrested at a home in Ginda, north-east of Asmara, having been betrayed by neighbours. On 17 May more than 35 Christians were arrested from their own homes in Adi Quala, after a compulsory survey exposed them as evangelicals. On 21 May 49 Christians were arrested at a post-wedding celebration outside the capital, Asmara. The totalitarian regime of President Isaias Afewerki is one of the world's worst persecutors. Since May 2002 thousands of Christians have suffered incarceration, hundreds have been severely tortured and at least 28 have died in custody due to mistreatment. Christians attempting to flee routinely fall prey to human traffickers. Eritrean Orthodox Patriarch Abune Antonios (89) has been confined to house-arrest for more than ten years; he had protested the persecution of 'Medhane Alem', a thriving revival movement which exists within the Eritrean Orthodox Church.

* EYGPT: SHAHADA OR DEATH IN THE DESERT 

On Ascension Day (26 May) a convoy of Coptic Christians en route to the Monastery of St Samuel the Confessor was stopped on the desert road some 220km south of Cairo by a group of around 10 men dressed in military fatigues and armed with automatic weapons. Claiming to be security officers, the gunmen ordered the Copts out of their vehicles. After separating the men from the women and children, the gunmen demanded the men recite the shahada (Islamic statement of faith). When the men refused, the militants opened fire, but were forced to flee when they noticed cars in the distance. Twenty-eight Christians are confirmed dead (including two children) and 23 wounded. Islamic State has claimed responsibility. The Copts are grieving and their grief spans the world. One Coptic Christian living in western Sydney, Australia, lost 12 members of his extended family in the massacre. Pray for Egypt.


* IRAQ: CONVERT, BE KILLED, OR PAY JIZYA

Undated footage emerged in early May showing the head of Iraq's Shi'ite Endowment Fund, Alaa Abd al-Sahib al-Musawi teaching that 'the people of the book must be fought ... to compel their conversion to Islam. Either they convert to Islam, or else they are killed, or they pay the jizya.' [Jizya, as mandated in the Qur'an Sura 9:29, is a form of extortion wherein 'the people of the book' agree to pay for their right to life.] Iraq's Christians, most of whom are Assyrian (the indigenous people of Mesopotamia), were horrified. A group of 180 Christian families filed a lawsuit against Musawi, accusing him of hate speech. Musawi rejected the charge, claiming he was teaching on historic matters that are supposedly irrelevant today. He claimed the video was leaked by parties resistant to Muslim-Christian coexistence -- by which he doubtless meant the Assyrian Christians lobbying for a 'safe haven' or autonomous province in their historic homeland of the Nineveh Plains. By accusing the Assyrians of resisting what he calls 'Muslim-Christian co-existence', the cleric has knowingly created an extremely dangerous situation.

* PHILIPPINES: SHAHADA OR DEATH IN MINDANAO 

On 23 May, Philippine forces attempted to apprehend Abu Sayyaf chief Isnilon Hapilon from his hideout in the 99.6 percent Muslim city of Marawi, Mindanao. When Abu Sayyaf called for reinforcements, some 100 Islamic jihadists from an ISIS-inspired group known as 'Maute' stormed the city. They attacked St Mary's Cathedral, kidnapping 15 believers, including the priest Father Chito Suganob, some nuns, and several lay persons who were praying in the church. The Cathedral, a Protestant College and numerous other properties were torched. A truck transporting nine Christian labourers was ambushed at a militant checkpoint. After being pulled from the truck, the men were bound and ordered to recite the shahada (Islamic statement of faith). When they could not, they were executed. The militants have occupied half of the city using their Christian captives as human shields and are engaged in fierce battles with the Philippine military. The Maute group has escalated its activities over recent months as it seeks recognition from ISIS. President Duterte has declared martial law across Mindanao. The Church is pleading for the release of the Christian hostages.


* SUDAN: PRISONERS FREED; CHURCHES DEMOLISHED

On 11 May Christian prisoners the Reverends Hassan Abdelrahim Kodi and Abdelmoneim Abdelmoula were released and reunited with their families. Incarcerated since December 2015, both men were released with a presidential pardon. Their co-accused, Rev Kuwa Shamal and Mr Petr Jasek, were released in January and February respectively. Despite this mercy, the Government of Sudan’s campaign against the Church continues, with 27 churches designated for demolition. Of these, two Sudanese Church of Christ (SCOC) buildings were demolished in May: one in Algadisia (established in 1983) on 17 May, and one in Soba Al Aradi (established in 1989) on 7 May. The demolition in Soba Al Aradi was particularly significant, for in 2011 Soba Al Aradi had 13 churches and today it has none. Pray for the Church in Sudan.

* UNITED KINGDOM (UK): CHURCHES TO REMAIN ALERT

On 22 May Salman Abedi (22), a British youth of Libyan heritage, blew himself up at a pop concert in the Manchester Arena, killing 22 people, including young children, and wounding over 100. ISIS claimed responsibility, warning: 'What comes next will be more severe on the worshippers of the cross and their allies.' After the attack MI5 lamented being overstretched, commenting that security services are currently ‘looking at 500 different plots’ and have a list of some 23,000 potential terrorists, including a 'top list' of 3,000 deemed high risk. Barnabas Fund UK has advised churches across Britain to 'exercise extra vigilance', providing guidance on how to reduce risk and how to report suspicious activity to police. Pray for a revival of faith and courage in UK.

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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 (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 381. Oct. Update Incl. Russia, China, Germany, Iraq, Prisoners, Northern Ireland (UK)

Religious Liberty Prayer Bulletin | RLPB 381 | Wed 26 Oct 2016

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)

by Elizabeth Kendal

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International Days of Prayer (IDOP) for the Persecuted Church
IDOP 2016: Sundays 6 & 13 November. Resources: http://idop.org/
See also Critical Prayer Requests (CPR)
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OCTOBER 2016 UPDATE -- this month we prayed concerning ...

* RUSSIA (RLPB 378), where new anti-mission measures -- which have more to do with politics than religion -- are causing grief and stirring debate.

Orthodox 'vigilantes' (Pravmir.ru)

UPDATE: Russia's new anti-mission measures are stirring debate within the Orthodox Church.  On 7 October activists associated with the 'Orthodox Advocacy Analytic Centre' (OAAC) summarily detained and then handed to police eight Jehovah's Witnesses they accused of illegal missionary activity. Russian Orthodox theologian and commentator Sergey Khudiev slammed the action in an article on Pravmir.ru (Orthodoxy and the World website). Khudiev condemned the harmful actions of Orthodox 'vigilantes' who bring 'nothing to the faith, the church, or the salvation of souls, except harm. ... [They] are not a testimony to Orthodoxy. They are testimony against it,' he said, recommending instead 'a ministry of love'. Lawyers from the OAAC went on the attack, publicly criticising Khudiev. Citing a list that includes Baptists and Pentecostals, they referred to the 'sects' as 'wolves in sheep's clothing' who hide 'their evil and violence against people' behind 'Christian symbols and quotations from Sacred Scripture'. Using highly evocative language, the OAAC insisted it has a 'sacred obligation' to 'defend our neighbours from this plague that is vigorously penetrating our country'.

A spiritual battle is under way. Please pray for Russia and its Church. (Romans 8:28 ESV).

* CHINA (RLPB 379), where new regulations targeting churches and lawyers herald dark days for the Church. For a more complete analysis, see: 'Persecution of Church to Escalate as Zhejiang Experiment Goes National', by Elizabeth Kendal, Religious Liberty Monitoring (17 Oct 2016).

UPDATE: China Aid reports that local government authorities in Lishui city in Zhejiang Province have instructed teachers at the Lishui Vocational and Technical College to instil atheism, exclude theism and eradicate religious activity on campus.

ALSO: The four-day 6th Plenum of the Chinese Communist Party's 205-member Central Committee commenced on Monday. By the end of the week President Xi will have been confirmed as the 'core' of the CCP. This will put Xi Jinping on a par with Mao Zedong and Deng Xiaoping, as a leader whose rule may not be questioned. Pray for China and its Church.

* GERMANY (RLPB 380) where the Church is in decline, Christianity is in crisis and Christian asylum seekers are persecuted with impunity. Without reformation, revival and divine intervention, Germany will be lost.  Pray for Germany on Reformation Sunday, 30 October. [For prayer points see RLPB 380 (19 Oct).]

UPDATE: In addition to the report referenced in RLPB 380, Open Doors has now also released a case study which profiles a refugee centre in the central German town of Rotenburg an der Fulda. Sobering reading, the report includes an open letter and appeal for help from Iranian Christians living in the Rotenburg facility. Appendix 2 calls for an end to the 'integration experience' which is being undertaken at the expense of Christians and appeals for the swift implementation of various protective measures. Critically, the report highlights the role of the local church in supporting Christian refugees, monitoring their situation and advocating on their behalf to bring about change.

Report: 'Attacks on Christian Refugees'. Open Doors, October 2016
A case study: the refugee reception centre in Rotenburg an der Fulda, Hesse.

OCTOBER ROUND-UP -- also this month ...

* IRAQ: ELEVATED RISK DURING BATTLE FOR MOSUL 

Despite having been driven from their homes in Mosul and the Nineveh Plains in June-August 2014, the now-displaced Assyrian remnant will face elevated risk during the Battle for Mosul. At present most are hunkered down in Ankawa, on the northern edge of Erbil, the capital of Iraqi Kurdistan.

The ISIS counter-offensive has included attempts to open new fronts. On 21 October ISIS suicide bombers and snipers attacked the contested but Kurdish-held oil-rich city of Kirkuk. On 23 October ISIS launched a fierce three-pronged attack on Rutba in western Anbar Province.

Church welcomes one of the 'hidden' girls.
photo: Fr. Ammar. (source: WWM)

During the attack on Kirkuk, a group of ISIS fighters (at least one in suicide vest) took up positions inside the home of seven female Christian university students. Unable to escape, the girls hid under their beds, texting their priest in Erbil. He in turn, rallied the church to prayer and notified Iraqi and Kurdish forces. It is nothing short of a miracle that these girls remained undetected and were rescued, not simply alive but unharmed. Priest Ammar told World Watch Monitor, 'It's a miracle. A true miracle. We prayed a lot and God answered.'

Pray for the Christian remnant in Iraq: 'Keep me as the apple of your eye; hide me in the shadow of your wings ...' (from Psalm 17:6-9).

* PRISONERS: PRAISE GOD for the release in IRAN of Behnam Irani, pastor of the 300-member Church of Iran in Karaj. During his six years in prison, he had at times been close to death. PRAISE GOD for the release in CHINA of Yang Rongli, pastor of the 50,000-member Linfen Church in Shaanxi province; she had served her full 7-year detention.

PLEASE continue to 'Remember those who are in prison, as though in prison with them, and those who are mistreated, since you also are in the body.' (Hebrews 13:3 ESV)

* UK: BELFAST COURT RULES AGAINST ASHERS BAKERY

Belfast's Court of Appeal has ruled against Ashers Baking Company deeming its refusal in 2014 to decorate a cake with the words 'Support Gay Marriage' constituted 'direct discrimination'. This was despite recognising that the openly Christian bakery manager, Mr Daniel McArthur, did not refuse the service because the customer, Mr Gareth Lee, was gay; indeed, Mr Lee (a gay rights activist) had been a regular customer at Ashers bakery. 'What we refused to do,' said Daniel McArthur, 'was to be involved with promoting a political campaign to change marriage law.' Northern Ireland's Attorney General John Larkin QC had argued that, 'No one should be forced to be the mouthpiece for someone else's views when they are opposed to their own -- whether in print or in icing sugar,' noting that would amount to 'coerced expression'. Simon Calvert of the Christian Institute agreed, protesting: 'Equality laws are there to protect people from discrimination, not to force people to associate themselves with a cause they oppose.'

The case against Ashers Baking Company was brought by the taxpayer-funded Equality Commission for Northern Ireland, which is now demanding the McArthurs pay costs amounting to more than £88,000 (more than US$107,000). As the McArthurs consider their options, the tide of public opinion is turning. In an on-line opinion poll conducted by The Telegraph, 88 percent of respondents voted 'No' when asked if the court had made the right decision. Pray for the McArthurs and for awakening in the UK.

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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).

See www.ElizabethKendal.com

RLPB 373. August Update, incl. Syria, Iran, Sudan, Egypt, Indonesia, Pakistan, Russia, Scotland (UK)

Religious Liberty Prayer Bulletin | RLPB 373 | Wed 31 Aug 2016

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)

By Elizabeth Kendal

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

* Islamic State's DABIQ magazine (RLPB 369), the latest issue of which targets Christians and Christianity. Titled 'Break the Cross', the magazine is sure to fuel anti-Christian hostility in would-be jihadists.

* SYRIA (RLPB 370), where al-Qaeda-led Jaysh el-Fatah broke through government lines and declared its intent to take the jihad into government-controlled western Aleppo. This is home to more than a million loyalist Syrians -- i.e. non-Islamist Sunnis, Alawites and some 40,000 mostly Armenian and Assyrian remnant Christians.

Alaa: wounded when rebel shells
struck her home in western Aleppo.
source: RT video report

* SYRIA (RLPB 371), where, despite rebel shelling [striking children and church property] and al-Qaeda-led Jaysh el-Fatah being at the gate, the churches of western Aleppo continue to minster to hungry and displaced Muslims and Christians.

UPDATE:  On Friday 26 August US Secretary of State, John Kerry, and his Russian counterpart, Sergei Lavrov, met in Geneva for nearly ten hours of talks on the Syria crisis. Russia wants America to convince US-backed 'rebels' to separate themselves from al-Qaeda affiliates so that al-Qaeda jihadists can be targeted without hitting US-backed 'rebels'. The US, however, has not been able to do this, and this is hampering US anti-terror efforts and preventing co-operation with Russia in the battle against al-Qaeda.

On Monday 29 August Russian foreign ministry spokeswoman, Maria Zakharova, lashed out against the rebels who are preventing UN-funded aid convoys from delivering food into rebel-held eastern Aleppo. The rebels, who know how to fight asymmetrically, want their human shields starving and pitiful for propaganda purposes. Also on 29 August Islamic State confirmed that its spokesman and chief propagandist, Abu Mohammed al-Adnani (39), has been killed in Aleppo. Al-Adnani was the US' second most-wanted IS figure after al-Baghdadi. May the Lord intervene in Aleppo to 'frustrate the way of the wicked' (Psalm 146:9 NIV).

* PRISONERS (RLPB 372): in Algeria, where a Christian has been sentenced to five years in prison for 'blasphemy'; Iran, where numerous Christians are in prison because of their Christian witness; and Sudan, where four believers -- two Nuba pastors, one Darfuri convert and a foreign (Czech) film-maker -- are facing national security charges that carry the death penalty.

UPDATES

MORE ARRESTS IN IRAN

Ramiel Bet Tamraz

Middle East Concern (MEC) reports that on Friday 26 August five believers were arrested as their families picnicked together in Firuzkuh north of Tehran. At around 1:30pm, officers from the Ministry of Intelligence and Security (MOIS) raided the picnic and took the men into detention. The whereabouts of Ramiel Bet Tamraz, Amin Nader Afshar, Hadi Askary, Mohamad Dehnay and Amir Sina Dashti remains unknown. Ramiel Bet Tamra is the son of Assyrian Pastor Victor Bet Tamraz. Pastor Victor and Amin Nader Afshar were arrested over Christmas in December 2014 and released on bail in early 2015 pending trial. There are grave concerns that the 26 August arrests are part of a MOIS campaign to compile 'evidence' against Pastor Victor ahead of the trial. Morning Star News notes that  37 Christians were arrested during August alone. The spiritual battle is intensive. Please pray.

TRIAL RESUMES IN KHARTOUM

As World Watch Monitor reports, the trial of the two Nuba pastors, one Darfuri convert and a Czech film-maker resumed on 29 August. The men stand accused of capital crimes associated with what the prosecution refers to as the 'fabrication' of 'false' stories of Christian persecution and Nuba genocide. Western diplomats and representatives of foreign aid groups attended the hearing. Please pray.


AUGUST ROUND-UP -- also this month ...

* EGYPT: PRISON BREAKS HEGAZI

Long-time intercessors will be familiar with the case of Mohamed Hegazy (34). In 2007, Hegazy became the first Muslim-born Egyptian to sue the Interior Ministry for his right to change his religion from Islam to Christianity. The court ruled against him, affirming the Sharia principle that apostasy is impermissible. His family vowed to kill him. With his wife and child safe overseas, Hegazy changed his name to Bishoy Armia and in 2011 began working as a freelance writer, reporting on the violent persecution of Coptic Christians in Upper Egypt. In December 2013, Hegazy was arrested and held for 15 days [RLPB 240 (10 Dec 2013)]. Re-arrested in June 2014, he was sentenced to five years in prison on charges of inciting sectarian strife and spreading 'misinformation' [RLPB 266 (25 June 2014)]. As reported in RLPB 312 (2 June 2015), Hegazy has suffered much in prison, including routine beatings and intense pressure.

screenshot of Hegazi (29 July).
source: Morning Star News

On 23 July 2016 Mohamed Hegazy was released from prison. On Saturday 30 July footage appeared on YouTube showing his conversion to Islam. Recorded on Friday 29 July, it shows Hegazy reciting the Shahadah (the Islamic statement of faith), apologising to his Muslim family and declaring that he would never again speak to the media. Human rights and religious liberty advocates fear Hegazy has succumbed to extreme pressure. His lawyer, Karam Ghobria, believes Hegazy's 'conversion' is the act of 'a terrified and broken man'. Hegazi has been released into the custody of his parents who had previously vowed to kill him. Please pray for Mohamed Hegazy.

'But you, O LORD, are a shield about me, my glory, and the lifter of my head.' Psalm 3:3 ESV

* INDONESIA: FAILED TERROR ATTACK IN MEDAN CHURCH
On Sunday 28 August a teenage would-be terrorist launched a failed attack on a Catholic priest as he celebrated the Mass in St Yoseph's Catholic Church in Medan, North Sumatra. When his home-made bomb detonated but failed to explode, Ivan Armadi Hasugian (18) rushed at Rev Albertus Pandiangan (60) with a knife and an axe. Parishioners wrestled the attacker to the ground and the priest suffered only minor injuries. Hasugian claimed to be inspired by Islamic State propaganda (no doubt including DABIQ magazine) and by the 26 July attack in France [RLPB 368 (27 July)] in which two Muslim youths slaughtered a Catholic priest as he celebrated the Mass.

* PAKISTAN: ASIA BIBI'S SUPREME COURT APPEAL SLATED FOR OCTOBER

Pakistan's highest court has announced that it will hear the appeal against Asia Bibi's death sentence for blasphemy during the second week of October. It is reasonable to expect that, as in the past, this news will trigger Islamic protests, sit-ins and calls for Asia Bibi's death. It may also trigger anger and mob violence against Pakistan's vulnerable Christian communities. As the appeal hearing draws closer, the threat to Asia's life will escalate. If acquitted, Asia and her family will need high level security immediately, as well as sanctuary in a safe country, if they are to be spared vigilante extra-judicial killing. The Church must be praying for this whole process, and the West must take a stand for religious liberty and Christian security.


* RUSSIA: ANTI-MISSION LAW KICKS IN

On 7 July Russia's President Vladimir Putin signed into law a controversial 'anti-terror' package which includes anti-mission measures that eviscerate religious freedom [RLPB 365 (8 July 2016)]. Five cases came before the courts during August. A Hare Krishna devotee was acquitted. Of four Protestants to be charged (two of whom are foreigners), three have been fined and one was due in court on 29 August. Furthermore, a case was launched on 22 August against the director of an Adventist church who stands accused of illegal evangelism for sending Christian literature to the leadership of the district administration. [See Forum 18 for details.] Pray that the anti-mission measures will be either radically amended or repealed.

* SCOTLAND (UK): 'NAMED PERSON' SCHEME DEEMED UNLAWFUL

The UK Supreme Court has ruled in the case of The Christian Institute and others v The Lord Advocate (Scotland). The case concerns Scotland's highly controversial and unacceptably intrusive Named Person scheme [see RLPB 246 (10 June 2014)]. On Thursday 28 July the five judges of the Supreme Court ruled unanimously that the Scottish government's Named Person scheme, as it stands, is unlawful. There can be no appeal. The scheme would have seen every child in Scotland under the age of 18 assigned a state guardian to monitor their 'well-being'. Christian Institute director Colin Hart praised the ruling as a win for families. However, the Scottish government remains 'firmly committed' to the scheme while reluctantly acknowledging it would have to be optional rather than mandatory. Praise God!

'Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be frightened, and do not be dismayed, for the LORD your God is with you wherever you go.' Joshua 1:9 ESV

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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

RLPB 341. January Update, Incl. Burkina Faso, Mali, China, Cuba, Iran, Northern Ireland (UK), Sudan, Mesopotamia (Iraq-Syria)

Religious Liberty Prayer Bulletin | RLPB 341 | Wed 27 Jan 2016

By Elizabeth Kendal

We start the year with dozens of faithful believers incarcerated and 'disappeared', hundreds of thousands dispossessed and traumatised and millions repressed and persecuted. But the promises of God are eternal: such as 'I am with you always' (Matthew 28:20).  And so we pray.

JANUARY 2016 ROUND-UP -- this month ...

BURKINA FASO AND MALI: TERRORISM THREAT ESCALATES

As Islamic State (IS) consolidates in Libya (its African beach-head into Europe), AQIM (led by Algerians) is pressing south into the Sahel. Stratfor Global Intelligence reports: 'Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) is entering 2016 stronger than it was at the beginning of 2015... [The] group can be expected to continue to conduct kidnappings and armed assaults across a wide expanse of the Sahel, both to raise funds and to attract attention and recruits' Accordingly, the risk to Christians, especially to foreign Christian workers, could escalate markedly, as it did in 2012.

* BURKINA FASO: FOREIGN CHRISTIANS KILLED AND KIDNAPPED

On Friday 15 January six militants (including two females) from AQIM's al-Murabitoon attacked Ouagadougou, the capital of Burkina Faso. After detonating car bombs, they laid siege to the Splendid Hotel and nearby Cappuccino cafe -- sites frequented by elites and foreigners. The security forces regained control on 16 January, killing four jihadists. By that time the jihadists had killed 29 civilians, including seven foreign Christian workers -- one American, and six Canadian short-term aid workers (four from one family). The American, Michael Riddering (45, and a father of four) had, along with his wife Amy, been running an orphanage and women's refuge in the West African country since 2011. AQIM claimed responsibility for the attack, calling it 'a new message ... to the slaves of the cross' and 'a reminder to the worshippers of the cross ...'

On 16 January, as the siege was under way, another AQIM-linked group, Ansar al Dine, crossed into Burkina Faso from Mali and kidnapped Australian missionaries Dr Ken Elliot (81) and his wife Jocelyn from their home in Baraboule. The Elliots, who built and ran a 120-bed clinic in nearby Djibo, had been providing medical services to the poorest of the poor in Burkina Faso's remote north since 1972. Dr Elliot has been praying for God to provide a successor, a surgeon who would take over the work of the hospital. 'We really are getting on a little bit in years,' he notes in his Youtube appeal. 'We fully believe that this hospital is here because God loves people.'

'The wounds inflicted on people are felt by the whole nation,' said a statement of the Bishops' Conference of Burkina Faso and Niger. 'We invite you to remember and pray for the victims, the injured, their families and their friends. Our only weapon is prayer. May all believers increase the ardour of prayer as we have done in other circumstances.'

* MALI: SWISS MISSIONARY KIDNAPPED

On 15 January, al-Qaeda's Ansar al-Dine kidnapped Swiss Christian missionary Beatrice Stockly from her home in Timbuktu, Mali. This is the second time in four years that Stockly has been kidnapped by jihadis. Kidnapped in April 2012, after Ansar al-Dine seized control of Timbuktu, she was accused of proselytising for Christianity, held for ten days, and warned that she would be executed if she tried to return to Timbuktu. Despite the threat, Stockly returned to Timbuktu in 2013 after French troops liberated the city. AQIM has released a VIDEO showing Stockly in full Islamic dress with  an English-speaking jihadi proposing a prisoner swap.

Grave fears are held for the safety of Ken and Jocelyn Elliot and Beatrice Stockly, and for the future of foreign mission and aid work in Burkina Faso and Mali. Please pray.

* CHINA: PERSECUTION HEATS UP

In August 2015 Chinese security personnel seized Zhang Kai, Christian attorney and defender of the cross, and Liu Peng, his legal assistant, taking them from a church in Wenzhou into China's secretive 'black jail' system [see RLPB 325 (1 Sep 2015)]. In December, reports emerged that Zhang and Liu had dismissed their legal representation, presumably under duress, having been threatened or coerced. ‘Why else,’ asked the dismissed attorneys, would two human rights lawyers, detained in isolation and in separate locations, suddenly both dismiss their own lawyers? Please pray for Zhang and Liu.

Meanwhile, government-ordered church and cross demolitions continue as the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) advances its 'Sinicisation of Christianity' [putting Christianity at the service of the CCP] with censorship of all that is seen and heard. On 28 December 2015 authorities forcibly removed the cross from atop the Xialing church in Wenzhou, in the southern coastal province of Zhejiang. On 6 January 2016 officials in Fuqing, in the neighbouring southern coastal province of Fujian, demolished Yulin Furen Christian Church for its failure to register with the local government. On 7 January crosses were forcibly removed from Nanhu Church and Wutian Dongzhuang Church in Wenzhou. Also in January, the CCP-approved Three Self Patriotic Movement (TSPM) and China Christian Council (CCC) dismissed Pastor Gu Yuese, the senior pastor of China's largest TSPM church, the Chongyi Church in the Zhejiang capital, Hangzhou. Pastor Gu had openly criticised the CCP policy of cross removals in Zhejiang. Pastor Gu had to be sacrificed so as to preserve the TSPM's and CCC's relationship with the CCP. The persecution is escalating.

* CUBA: RELIGIOUS FREEDOM TAKES A TURN FOR THE WORSE.

In December 2014 US President Barack Obama and Cuban President Raul Castro announced the restoration of full diplomatic ties. In May 2015 the US removed Cuba from its list of state sponsors of terrorism. In July embassies were re-opened in both Washington and Havana. But while Raul Castro has introduced economic reforms, religious freedom remains a mirage -- and in fact has taken a turn for the worse. A new report by Christian Solidarity Worldwide (CSW) released 15 January 2016 describes 2015 as the year of 'crackdown', and reveals 'unprecedented levels of threats on the Cuban Church'. According to CSW, more than 2000 Assemblies of God churches have been deemed illegal, 15 Methodist churches have been confiscated by the state and over 100 churches have been designated for demolition. Pastor Carbelleda (45) of an unregistered church in Havana spent six months of 2015 in prison (without trial) reportedly for holding 'illegal religious services', the first such arrest since 2011. It seems that Cuba has chosen to follow the China model: granting rights and privileges to selected churches which then act as a smokescreen covering pervasive repression. Expect to see persecution escalate as Cuban authorities 'test the waters' to see what they can get away with and what they can afford to do.

* IRAN: USING THE PRISON SYSTEM AS AN INSTRUMENT OF PERSECUTION

While we thank the Lord for the release of Iranian pastor Farshid Fathi (released on 20 December) and US-Iranian prisoner Pastor Saeed Abedini (released in a prisoner swap on 16 January), we remember the dozens of Persian believers who continue to suffer for the name of Christ in Iranian prisons. On 1 February, Amin Khaki, Hossein Barounzadeh, Mohammad Bahrami and Rahman Bahmani -- all of whom are affiliated with the 'Church of Iran' network -- will appear in Ahvaz Revolutionary Court. They were amongst eight believers arrested at a picnic in Shush on 5 March 2014. Though four were later released, these four were imprisoned and later released on bail. Tried on 19 May, the men were each sentenced on 4 October to one year in prison for holding illegal meetings, spreading Christianity and attempting to convert Muslims. The ruling was appealed and the 1 February hearing is a re-trial. Please pray, recalling the promise: 'What you are to say will be given to you in that hour.' (Matthew 10:19)

* NORTHERN IRELAND (UK): PREACHER 'NOT GUILTY'

Update to RLPBs 320 and 340 (28 July and 16 Dec 2015). On 5 January 2016 the Belfast Magistrates Court concluded that, though Pastor James McConnell's remarks about Islam were offensive, they did not reach the high threshold of being 'grossly offensive'. McConnell was therefore found to be not guilty. However, the law used against McConnell will continue to be used against critics of Islam or same-sex marriage, etc. As rulings are arbitrary, freedom of speech is not guaranteed. It is a deeply flawed, subjective law that the intolerant can exploit to silence their critics.

* SUDAN: MORE ARRESTS AS PERSECUTION ESCALATES

Rev Hassan Abdelrahim
Morning Star News

Christian activist Talahon Nigosi Kassa Ratta (36), a member of the Sudan Presbyterian Evangelical Church (SPEC), was arrested on 14 December 2015. Detained without charge, reportedly he has been questioned extensively about his relationship with a foreign missionary, although Christians suspect he was targeted for protesting against government persecution of the Khartoum Bahri Evangelical Church. On 18 December 2015 authorities from the National Intelligence and Security Services (NISS) arrested Rev Kowa Shamaal at his home in Khartoum Bahri (north) and Rev Hassan Abdelrahim at his home in Omdurman. Both men are associated with the Sudan Church of Christ (SCOC), of which Shamaal is the head of mission and Abdelrahim is vice-moderator. Both men are ethnic Nuba (from the Nuba Mountains in South Kordofan) and had objected to government demolitions of SCOC church properties. Though Kowa Shamaal has been conditionally released, Hassan Abdelrahim (a Muslim name) remains detained. Please pray.

THE MESOPOTAMIAN BATTLE FIELD

US soldiers join in a pre-dawn
Easter service, 2010
images: AINA

* IRAQ: Islamic State has demolished St Elijah's Monastery (known to the Assyrians as Dair Mar Elia) on the outskirts of Mosul. Built by Assyrian Christian monk, St Elijah, between AD 582 and 590, it was Iraq's most ancient monastery and one of the earliest Christian settlements in the wider region. The crime is irreversible and the Assyrians are inconsolable. IS believes that it is here to stay and that the Christian/Assyrian era is over. Of course, that is not what the Bible says:

In that day Israel will be the third with Egypt and Assyria, a blessing in the midst of the earth, whom the Lord of hosts has blessed, saying, 'Blessed be Egypt my people, and Assyria the work of my hands, and Israel my inheritance.' (Isaiah 19:23-25 ESV).

* SYRIA: A number of Assyrian businesses have been bombed in Qamishli, which is near the Turkish border in the north-east corner the country, where Christians face threats from IS, and tensions are building between Assyrian and Kurdish militias. The IS bombing of three Assyrian properties, including two restaurants, on the evening of 30 December was particularly heinous, killing 16 and wounding 45. Meanwhile, with Russian air support, the Syrian Arab Army has liberated strategic areas in Latakia formerly held by jihadist forces. Referred to in the media as an 'Assad stronghold', Latakia -- which is majority Alawite -- is also hosting hundreds of thousands of mostly displaced Christians. Latakia had been seriously threatened during 2015 by the advance of the Turkey-Saudi funded Jaysh el-Fateh, a rebel coalition led by al-Qaeda's al-Nusra Front but including US-armed and sponsored 'moderate rebels'. To the existentially imperilled Alawites and Christians of Latakia, these al-Qaeda-aligned 'rebels' are anything but moderate. May the Lord protect and preserve his people.

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Elizabeth Kendal is the author of
Turn Back the Battle: Isaiah Speaks to Christians Today 
(Deror Books, Dec 2012).

Her second book, After Saturday Comes Sunday: Understanding the Christian Crisis in the Middle East, will be published by Wipf and Stock (Eugene, OR, USA) in early 2016.

RLPB 340. December Update, Includes Ireland, Pakistan, Uganda, UK, UK-Northern Ireland, Vietnam, Yemen

Religious Liberty Prayer Bulletin | RLPB 340 | Wed 16 Dec 2015

By Elizabeth Kendal

This is the final RLPB for 2015. Regular RLPBs will resume on 27 January 2016. However, brief alerts will be issued for urgent prayer needs as required.

It is a great honour for me to serve not only the Lord's precious persecuted church, but the Lord's vast global army of faithful intercessors through the weekly provision of these Religious Liberty Prayer Bulletins. So until 2016:

'Come, behold the works of the Lord, how he has brought desolations on the earth. He makes wars cease to the end of the earth; he breaks the bow and shatters the spear; he burns the chariots with fire. "Be still, and know that I am God. I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth!" The Lord of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our fortress.' (Psalm 46:8-11 ESV)

DECEMBER 2015 UPDATE -- During December we prayed concerning ...

ADVENT (RLPB 338), noting that Christmas is a time of elevated risk of terrorism. Please continue to pray that plots will be thwarted, that would-be terrorists seeking divine empowerment will instead find the Lord and that God will prepare us for whatever lies ahead, working all things together for good 'for those who are called according to his purpose' (Romans 8:28 ESV).

WHAT THE PERSECUTED MIGHT HOPE FOR THIS CHRISTMAS (RLPB 339), noting that, while celebrating the coming of Christ, millions of believers will be hoping not for mince tarts and new gadgets, but for peace, security, religious freedom and the return of captive and imprisoned loved ones. Give the persecuted a gift: recruit another intercessor who will join us in prayer for those things hoped-for.

DECEMBER 2015 ROUND-UP -- also this month ...

* IRELAND: NO MORE RELIGIOUS EXEMPTIONS
On Tuesday 1 December the Dail (Irish parliament) voted unanimously to pass the new Equality (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill which replaces the Employment Equality Act, and which comes without religious exemptions.  Previously, specific exemptions gave 'religious, educational or medical institutions' the right to act 'in order to maintain the religious ethos of the institution'. Without these exemptions, religious, educational and medical institutions will be obliged, by law, to respect and advance 'diversity'. The move is profoundly discriminatory, for while political institutions will be permitted to act to preserve their ethos, religious institutions will not. Whilst LGBTI employees in religious institutions will be able to 'come out' without fear of retrenchment, religious institutions will not be able to preserve their own values without fear of a law suit. As well as being anti-religion, the law is also anti-diversity, for it will ultimately result in the loss of distinctively Christian schools and hospitals. According to Ireland's equality minister, this measure will not be the last, and is but one of many reforms to come. The move is indicative of rising hostility against Biblical Christianity in Ireland.

* PAKISTAN: CLEANSING ISLAMABAD OF POOR CHRISTIANS
Between 2007 and 2012 some 100,000 settlers arrived in Islamabad from Taliban-infested, war-ravaged Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) and the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA), as well as from Balochistan and Punjab. This pushed Islamabad's population to two million, with the growth occurring predominantly in slums. In July Pakistan's Capital Development Authority (CDA) launched a demolition campaign. Citing the threat of terrorism, the CDA demolished a mostly Pashtun [Muslim] slum, triggering an outcry. In August, the Supreme Court issued a stay order, stopping the demolitions. Since then the CDA has changed its strategy.

On 4 December the CDA told Pakistan's Supreme Court, 'Most of these katchi abadis [slums] are under the occupation of the Christian community. It seems this pace of occupation of land by the Christian community may increase. Removal of katchi abadis is very urgent to provide a better environment to the citizens of Islamabad and to protect the beauty of Islam.'

Impoverished and persecuted, Christian families migrate to Islamabad in search of work and security.  Some 80,000 Christians live in Islamabad's Christian colonies/slums, comprising 4 percent of Islamabad's population. Many of these colonies have existed for 15 to 50 years. As the CDA presents its case for demolition to the Supreme Court, residents of about 30 Christian colonies have been issued with eviction notices. Should the demolitions proceed, these many tens of thousands of poor Christians will have nowhere else to go. Please pray for the Christians of Islamabad. Pray that the Supreme Court will rule justly and wisely and that Muslims will not respond to any incitement to take matters into their own hands.

* UGANDA: YET MORE MARTYRS IN EASTERN PROVINCE
'We need prayers,' a source tells Morning Star News (MSN), 'as the Muslims are out to destroy people who converted to Christ in this area, especially those of us who have sacrificed to share the love of Christ to our fellow Muslims.' Patrick Ojangole (43), a Christian convert from Islam, cared not only for his own five children, but for ten convert children rejected and abandoned by their Muslim families. On the night of Wednesday 2 December Ojangole and a companion went to the aid of two burka-clad women only to find it was a trap. The women drew swords and handed them to the Muslim attackers who killed Ojangole. His companion who escaped said one of the attackers was berating Ojangole for his refusal to stop his Christian activities. On Tuesday 8 December a mob of more than 20 Muslims similarly entrapped, ambushed and murdered Ismail Kuloba (43), a policeman who had left Islam for Christianity and was leading other Muslims to Christ. On 9 December a group of Muslims kidnapped three children aged five, seven and ten  from the home of Madengho Badir (42), another Christian convert from Islam. Unable to trace his children, Badir is distraught. 'I know the Muslims are doing this to frustrate my hope in Christ and to make me return to Islam ... my only hope is in Jesus.'

* UNITED KINGDOM (UK): GOVERNMENT PROPOSES REGULATING RELIGION
Ofsted (the Office for Standards in Education, Children's Services and Skills) is a non-ministerial government department responsible for inspecting schools and regulating services to ensure they conform to 'British values' (by which is meant the Equality Act, which equates British values with moral and cultural relativism). Ofsted inspections have threatened a number of Jewish and Christian schools which, despite their academic excellence, have been deemed to be failing to promote 'British values'. Now the UK government has proposed that Ofsted be given powers to investigate non-school settings, i.e. anywhere children are taught or trained, including church camps, Sunday schools and youth programs. All out-of-school educational settings would have to register with the authorities and submit to routine inspections. 'Undesirable teaching' that 'undermines or is incompatible with fundamental British values' would be banned and those guilty of undermining 'British values' would be sanctioned. As the Christian Institute notes, this would turn Ofsted into a 'state regulator of religion'.

Though designed to rein in the promotion of 'extremism' in fundamentalist Islamic schools and youth programs (which is a serious problem), rabid secularists with their own agendas are exploiting the inspection regime to attack Christianity. This is exactly what we observe in Central Asian states like Uzbekistan, where laws designed to rein in militant and revolutionary Islam are exploited to suppress evangelical Christianity. The UK Department of Education has launched a consultation (which closes on 11 January) and the Christian Institute is spearheading the response (click here for details). Pray for revival in the UK, and that religious freedom will be preserved.

* UK: NORTHERN IRELAND

Rev. James and Margaret McConnell

Update to RLPB 320 (28 July). The trial of Pastor James McConnell (78) began on Monday 14 December and is expected to last three days. McConnell was charged with improper use of a public electronic communications network and causing a grossly offensive message to be sent by means of a public electronic communications network, after a sermon in which he criticised Islam was broadcast on the internet. McConnell had been responding to the death sentence for apostasy handed down in Khartoum to Christian convert Meriam Ibrahim. The case revolves around McConnell's words: 'I don't trust them [Muslims],' which the judge asserts is akin to vilifying all Muslims as liars, something McConnell strongly rejects. McConnell's accuser, Dr Raied Al-Wazzan of the Belfast Islamic Centre, was not called on to give evidence, for he has since discredited himself by commending Islamic State's rule in Mosul.

* VIETNAM: CAMPAIGN OF INTIMIDATION AGAINST CHRISTIAN ADVOCATE

Nguyen Van Dai, 6 Dec 2015
Radio Free Asia

On Sunday 6 December internationally acclaimed Christian advocate Nguyen Van Dai was attacked while returning to Hanoi after running a human rights information session in Nghe An Province.  Some ten masked assailants -- security personnel on motorbikes -- ambushed Dai's taxi. Dai, his three colleagues and the driver were dragged out of the car and beaten with clubs. Though his colleagues managed to escape and make their way back to Hanoi, Dai (the main target) was beaten severely, robbed and left on a bench. A passerby lent Dai his phone so he could call for help. Friends collected him and provided first aid. After being alerted that police were lying in wait to ambush Dai yet again, his friends drove him back to Hanoi by an alternative route.  In May 2014 Dai was beaten by plain-clothed security personnel while he was meeting with colleagues and students. A courageous religious liberty advocate and devout Protestant Christian, Nguyen Van Dai has already spent five years in prison for 'propagandising against the state of Vietnam'.

* YEMEN: CHURCH GRAVELY IMPERILLED

Church of the Immaculate Conception,
Aden, in better days.
 Independent Catholic News

Two Christian converts from Islam have been murdered in Taiz, south-west Yemen, both of whom had reportedly been professing Christ openly. One of the Christians was assassinated, shot multiple times by an AQAP (al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula) operative. Details surrounding the killing of the other Christian, who was shot to death in his home, are as yet unconfirmed. The martyrs' names have not been released. Yemen has grown increasingly lawless due to war and is essentially a failed state. The killings, which occurred in September and October, have shaken the convert community in Yemen, contributing to a growing sense of vulnerability and insecurity. In September masked assailants believed to be linked to AQAP torched St Joseph's Catholic Church (built 1855) in Aden. On Wednesday 9 December militants detonated explosives in the Church of the Immaculate Conception (built 1960s) in the Al-Ma'ala area of Aden. The church and adjoining priests' residence were totally destroyed. Christians in Yemen are mostly foreign aid workers, African refugees (many Eritreans) and converts from Islam. Pray for this gravely imperilled Church.

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Elizabeth Kendal is the author of
Turn Back the Battle: Isaiah Speaks to Christians Today
(Deror Books, Dec 2012).

Her second book, ‘After Saturday Comes Sunday’: Understanding the Christian Crisis in the Middle East, will be published by Wipf and Stock (Eugene, OR, USA) in early 2016.