RLPB 441. Uganda: high cost of faith in Muslim-dominated Eastern Region

Religious Liberty Prayer Bulletin | RLPB 441 | Wed 07 Feb 2018

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UGANDA: HIGH COST FAITH IN MUSLIM-DOMINATED EASTERN REGION
by Elizabeth Kendal

[click on map to enlarge]
Eastern Region = Green
Districts: Kibuku (91)
Budaka (7)
Mayuge (53)
source

Kibuku District: Munabi Abudallah (37) asked his local sheikh why Islamic prayers were conducted in Arabic, a language he did not understand. The sheikh explained that it is because Allah communicated to Muhammad in Arabic; he also advised Munabi not to question it. Confused and disillusioned, Munabi asked local Christians how their God communicated with them. They explained that the God of the Bible communicates with people in their own language. On 20 January, after several private sessions with a local pastor, Munabi came to see that 'God is love' (1 John 4:8,16) and decided to put his faith in Jesus. At that moment he received 'a unique peace that I had not experienced before'. Unable to contain his joy, Munabi shared his experience with Aisha his wife. In the presence of their seven children aged 3 to 17, Aisha shouted at Munabi, calling him 'kafir' (unclean/infidel). Horrified and furious she drove him from their home. The next day, Munabi visited the pastor, who duly prayed with him. He then returned home to find his father and other local Muslims gathered there, their anger evident. Furious, his father disowned, cursed and struck him. Shocked, Munabi fled back to the pastor. Within 24 hours of coming to faith in Christ, Munabi had lost his wife and seven children, his parents and his home, his community and his security. Understandably, he is absolutely traumatised. 'The Muslims are searching to kill me,' he said. 'I need prayers.'

Budaka District: Nafamba Bongo Madina and her husband put their faith in Jesus some two years ago. Though her husband subsequently died, Nafamba remained firm in her faith and continued to raise their five children, aged 5 to 14, in the Lord. On Christmas morning (25 December 2017) one of Nafamba's Muslim neighbours brought her a gift hamper. Nafamba prepared the Christmas meal for her family and guests, using the cooking oil from the hamper. Before plating up the food, she tasted it. Within a minute Nafamba was vomiting and screaming. Her family raced her to the hospital where doctors treated her for poisoning. Later her relatives took the gifted cooking oil for analysis, which confirmed the oil had been laced with poison. Horrified by the attack, the village chairman, John Guloba, a Christian, convened a village meeting for 28 December. He questioned the culprit, Taaka Hajira, who freely confessed to attempting to kill the Madina family, which she held in contempt for leaving Islam. Despite her confession, village elders refused to make any legal decision. They also decided not to call the police, so as to avoid stoking the wrath of fundamentalist Muslims. Consequently, persecution of the family -- particularly of the children -- has only escalated.

Mayuge District: In October 2015 Mulangira Ibrahim -- a missionary of Islam and sheikh on Dagusi Island (which is on Lake Victoria in Mayuge District) -- had a vision in which he saw himself holding a Bible. Confused, he decided to visit the local Evangel World Vision Church and have a chat with its pastor. To allay fears, he took along a child from the Islamic school, intending that the child would enter the church, find the pastor and ask him to meet the sheikh at the door. However, upon arriving at the church door, Sheikh Ibrahim fell to the ground, temporarily blinded. Terrified, the child ran off screaming that the Christians had killed the sheikh. When the pastor arrived at the door, he found Sheikh Ibrahim praising 'Issa' (Jesus) as Lord. Muslims, who also had rushed to the scene, beat Ibrahim until Christians could rescue him. The Muslims then proceeded to Sheikh Ibrahim's home. They took away his wife, Nalunkuma, and his three children aged 4 to 8, and left a note warning him not to return. Within hours of confessing that Jesus is Lord, he had lost everything.

Former sheikh, now brother in Christ,
Mulangira Ibrahim (27).
source: Morning Star News

On 16 November 2017 Muslims tricked and ambushed Mulangira Ibrahim and beat him into unconsciousness. Christians found Mulangira in a pool of blood and called police. Pastor Charles Musana of the Evangel World Vision Church rushed Mulangira to a nearby medical dispensary where he received treatment for multiple injuries. On 7 December a Muslim broke into the house the church was renting for Mulangira close to the dispensary, and attempted to kill him, this time suffocating him into unconsciousness. Muslims have vowed to kill him. While the church has moved him to a secret location where he is under the care of believers, his injuries require ongoing medical treatment. 'At the moment the medical bill is high,' said his pastor. 'We need prayers for a quick recovery.'

Uganda is roughly 85 percent Christian, with a Christian president and a secular constitution that guarantees religious freedom. Yet persecution with impunity is fast becoming the order of the day in the Muslim-dominated Eastern Province. For a full analysis of why persecution is so severe and unrelenting in Uganda's Eastern Region, see Uganda Analysis: escalating persecution of Christians in Eastern Region linked to Islamisation, decentralisation and impunity. Religious Liberty Monitoring, 8 May 2017.

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The three cases summarised in this RLPB are available in detail on the website of Morning Star News -- search Uganda. 
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PLEASE PRAY SPECIFICALLY FOR

* Munabi Abudallah, that God will comfort, encourage, sustain and protect him; may the Lord supply his every need. May the Holy Spirit open the heart of his wife, Aisha, to receive the Gospel. May Munabi's family and friends be convicted of sin and drawn to repentance and reconciliation. May God watch over the church and keep it safe.

* Nafamba Madina and her children, that God will comfort, encourage, sustain and protect them. May the Lord supply their every need. May Taaka Hajira (the Muslim culprit) be convicted of sin and drawn to repentance. May many local Muslims be drawn to the God of amazing grace; the God who is love.

* Mulangira Ibrahim, that God will comfort, encourage, sustain and protect him. May the Lord supply his every need, in particular his need for physical healing. May the Holy Spirit open the heart of his wife, Nalunkuma, to receive the Gospel. May God watch over Pastor Charles Musana and the Evangel World Vision Church and keep them safe.

* God to intervene in Uganda's central government, to remind members of Parliament of their responsibility to ensure that the constitutional right to religious freedom applies to all citizens and stretches across the whole state, including Muslim-dominated Eastern Region.


SUMMARY FOR BULLETINS UNABLE TO RUN THE WHOLE ARTICLE
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HIGH COST FAITH IN UGANDA'S MUSLIM-DOMINATED EASTERN REGION

Uganda's population is 85 percent Christian, with a Christian president and a secular constitution that guarantees religious freedom. However, persecution with impunity is becoming prevalent in the Muslim-dominated Eastern Region. Munabi Abudallah put his faith in Christ on 20 January and within 24 hours had lost everything. On Christmas Day a Muslim neighbour attempted to poison the Madina family, which she held in contempt for leaving Islam for Christianity. In October 2015 Shiekh Mulangira Ibrahim had a dramatic conversion experience and within hours had lost everything; Muslims are still trying to kill him today. Islamists are exploiting Uganda's decentralisation and following Sharia principles locally. The persecution is enabled by systemic corruption. Without radical reform, the situation can only get worse. Please pray for Uganda, her politicians and her Church.

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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 440. Jan 2018 Update: Inc. Burma, Syria, Cameroon, China, India, Iran, Kyrgyzstan

Religious Liberty Prayer Bulletin | RLPB 440 | Wed 31 Jan 2018

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)

http://rlprayerbulletin.blogspot.com

by Elizabeth Kendal

JANUARY 2018 UPDATE -- this month we prayed concerning ...

* BURMA (RLPB 438), where intensive fighting is underway in Burma's northern Kachin State with the military eager to seize control of valuable gold, amber and jade mining areas.

BURMA UPDATE (1): Ndup Yang Camp sits on the bank of the Malikha River, east of Sumprabum, some 200km north of the Kachin capital Myitkyina. Clashes between the Kachin Independence Army (KIA) and the Burmese military erupted in the area on 17 January. With Burmese troops firing artillery from the opposite bank of the river, residents of the Ndup Yang Camp -- a total of 260 households consisting of 949 people -- fled for their lives into the jungle, many with nothing but the clothes on their backs. The camp is now empty and the whereabouts of the displaced Kachin are unknown. Reverend Bang Seng, who is in charge of Ndut Yang Camp, has been informed that one pregnant woman has since given birth in the jungle. Please pray for Burma's long-suffering Kachin believers.

BURMA UPDATE (2): On 2 January the Kachin Independence Organisation (KIO) elected General N'Ban La (70) as its new chairman. Gen. N'Ban La also serves as deputy chair of the Federal Political Negotiation and Consultative Committee (FPNCC), an alliance of seven armed ethnic groups yet to sign the Nationwide Ceasefire Agreement (NCA). [They refuse to sign while the junta's preconditions include disarmament and acceptance of the flawed 2008 constitution.] Pursuing economic interests, the West has essentially abandoned the Christian Kachin, citing their refusal to sign the NCA. Eager to advance its own interests, China is now wooing the Kachin, offering to facilitate the flow of humanitarian aid into Kachin State from China. Observers expect that under Gen. N'Ban La, the KIO will give up on the West and will instead look East. Of course this will leave the Kachin vulnerable to the machinations of the Chinese Communist Party. Please pray.

* SYRIA (RLPB 438; updated in RLPB 439), where, on 8 January, Christian properties in the Old City of Damascus were hit by rebel shells; and where Christians in northern Afrin are imperilled due to Turkish shelling and aerial bombardment, as well as from Turkish-backed al-Qaeda-linked jihadists.

SYRIA UPDATE (DAMASCUS): Nine civilians were killed and 21 wounded in Bab Touma on Monday 22 January, when jihadists based in Eastern Ghouta shelled the predominantly Christian district of the Old City. Three-year-old Elias, whose parents were critically wounded, was among the dead. The shelling commenced just as school had finished for the day; several youths from the Church-run Al Riaya School were among those killed and seriously wounded. Please pray.

SYRIA UPDATE (AFRIN): Rev Abdalla Homsi, of the Evangelical Christian Alliance Church of Aleppo, has issued a statement condemning Turkey's 'unjustified aggression'. With Turkish forces fighting alongside rebel and Islamic factions, Syriac Orthodox Patriarch of Antioch, Mar Ignatius Aphrem II appealed (again) for the West 'to put an end to all forms of external support for irregular militias and armed groups operating in Syrian territory'. Turkey's President Erdogan has declared his intention to launch an attack on Manbij (100km east of Afrin) and to continue the fight eastward until no 'terrorist' (read: Kurd) is left 'right up to our border with Iraq'. In reality, the Turkish military is struggling to hold on to its gains. Failure could trigger a nationalist backlash against minorities in Turkey. The situation is extremely volatile and dangerous. Please pray.

'Cast all your anxiety on him [God, v6] because he cares for you' (1 Peter 5:7 NIV).

* NIGERIA (RLPB 439), where the extra-legal arrest of a convert from Islam and her Christian friend has triggered a religio-political crisis, because Nigeria's constitution guarantees religious freedom. No further news is available. [See also The Islamisation of Nigeria, Religious Liberty Monitoring (23 Jan 2018)].

 
JANUARY 2018 ROUND-UP -- also this month ...

* CAMEROON: BOKO HARAM TORCHES ROUM

On the night of 15 January Boko Haram militants stormed Roum village in Cameroon's Far North region (which borders Nigeria's Borno State), setting it ablaze. Two churches (one Evangelical, one Catholic) were destroyed, along with 93 huts, 20 food storehouses, and 11 motorbikes. Not far from Roum, a health centre belonging to the Evangelical Church was also attacked. One church leader told World Watch Monitor (29 Jan) that the violence and looting has become routine. It must be terrible to live with such insecurity; please pray.

* CHINA: NEW RELIGIOUS AFFAIRS REGULATIONS IN FORCE


China's new Religious Affairs Regulations come into force on 1 February. The regulations give the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) full control over religion. Unregistered religious activity will be illegal and all approved religious activity will be heavily regulated and monitored. Resistance will result in demolitions and administrative detentions. [See: The Return of 'Mao-style Terror and Control', Religious Liberty Monitoring (25 Jan 2018).] Meanwhile, the Vatican has already capitulated, retiring one bishop so he might be replaced by a CCP appointee. Hong Kong's Cardinal Joseph Zen (retired), who in November 2016 urged the Vatican not to take this path [see RLPB 387 (5 Dec 2016)], has accused the Vatican of 'selling out the Catholic Church in China'. Meanwhile, having already demolished much of the residential accommodation at Larung Gar (possibly the largest centre of Buddhist learning in the world), the CCP is now preparing to take over all administration, installing scores of CCP cadres at the site -- in every department, at every level and in every corner -- to ensure total compliance [see report by Human Rights Watch]. Pray for China. May God give his precious Church much wisdom and grace to navigate the 'New Era'.

* INDIA:  HARASSED, THREATENED AND MURDERED

JHARKHAND: Morning Star News (MSN) reports on several incidents of violence against Christians over Christmas. In each case, Christians had been engaged in peaceful worship when they were violently attacked by Hindu nationalists. As MSN reports, Jharkhand's Adivasis (indigenous tribes) are also harassing and threatening Christians. This is because Jharkahand's Hindu nationalist (BJP) state government is exploiting the issue of religious conversion deliberately to divide the tribals. The BJP's goal is to set the Adivasi animists against the Christians who have been leading a campaign for land rights, justice and equity. [See: The Shameful Politics Behind Jharkhand's Anti-Conversion Law, Religious Liberty Monitoring (1 Sep 2017).] Pray for the Church in Jharkhand.

Pastor Gideon (left, in white)
photo: Morning Star News.

TAMIL NADU: Morning Star News reports that on 20 January, church members discovered the body of their Pastor Gideon Periyaswamy (43) who had been murdered. It seems that upper caste Hindus in the area had been unhappy that persons of lower caste were entering the area, drawn in by Pastor Gideon's Gospel ministry. Only one week earlier, Pastor Gideon informed police that Hindu nationalists were threatening him. Pray for the Church in India.

* IRAN: MORE BELIEVERS INCARCERATED

On 6 January, in a Revolutionary court in Tehran, Shamiram Isavi, the wife of Assyrian Pastor Victor Bet Tamraz, was sentenced to five years in prison. Judge Ahmadzadeh found Shamiram Isavi guilty of 'acting against national security by organizing home churches, attending Christian seminars abroad and training Christian leaders in Iran for the purpose of espionage'. Isavi denies that she ever acted against Iran's national security. Isavi and her husband were arrested in their home in Tehran on 26 December 2014, along with their son, Ramin Bet Tamraz, and 12 Christian converts. In June 2016, Pastor Victor and three converts were sentenced to 10- and 15-year prison terms [see RLPB 414 (11 July 2017)]. Their appeals are pending. Furthermore, On 28 December converts Eskandar Rezaei and Pastor Soroush Saraei were each sentenced to eight years in prison for 'acting against national security'. Pray for the Church in Iran.

* KYRGYZSTAN: PERSECUTION CULMINATES IN CHURCH BLAZE

Kaji-Sai Baptist Church
photo: World Watch Monitor

Located in Kyrgyzstan's north-eastern Issyk-Kul [Ysyk-Kol] Region, Kaji-Sai Baptist Church (established 1990; registered 1994) has long endured harassment and threats. Led by government-appointed imams, local Muslims are resisting the Christian presence. The police unashamedly back their fellow Muslims. Forum 18 reports that in January 2011 the police in Karakol responded to one attack by convening what was essentially a 'reconciliation session' (as occurs in Egypt). Under duress, the Christians were coerced to write a letter of forgiveness, essentially absolving their Muslim attackers. With Muslims now confident of impunity, persecution has only escalated. The persecution culminated on 2 January when unidentified attackers attempted to burn down the church. On Sunday 7 January the Baptists worshipped in the ashes. They have vowed to continue services and restore the church. Without police protection, this situation could get much worse yet. Please pray.

Whoever dwells in the shelter of the Most High will rest in the shadow of the Almighty. I will say of the Lord, 'He is my refuge and my fortress, my God, in whom I trust.' (Psalm 91:1-2 NIV)

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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