Religious Liberty Prayer Bulletin | RLPB 169 | Wed 25 Jul 2012
By Elizabeth Kendal
'Pour out your heart like water before the presence of the Lord! Lift your hands to him for the lives of your children . . .' (from Lamentations 2:19 ESV)
JULY 2012 UPDATE -- During July we prayed concerning . . .
* KENYA (RLPB 166), where Islamic militants had attacked two churches in Garissa, eastern Kenya (80km from the Somali border), killing 17 worshippers and wounding over 60.
UPDATE: Stratfor Global Intelligence reports that the Somali-based terror group al Shabaab has threatened to carry out attacks in Kenya during Ramadan. On 20 July, the first day of Ramadan, the Nairobi Provincial Police chief urged the public to remain vigilant. Security has been intensified.
* SYRIA (RLPB 167), where the region's largest and oldest Christian communities -- remnants of indigenous communities that have survived Arab and Ottoman Islamic imperialism -- are now struggling to survive amidst civil war, regional sectarian conflict and international Islamic jihad.
UPDATE: Some of Syria's most senior Christian officials were recently assassinated by rebel forces. They included Defence Minister Gen. Dawoud Rajha, killed in the 18 July suicide bombing at security headquarters, possibly perpetrated by a bodyguard. Brig-Gen. Nabil Zougheib also was assassinated along with his wife and son at their home in a Christian neighbourhood of Damascus on 21 July.
Jesuit priest Father Dall'Oglio, who has spent time in Qusayr negotiating with rebel leaders for the release of Christian hostages, describes the rebels as Syrian men wearing long beards and Afghan-style traditional dress. He wrote they are not representative of the majority of Sunnis and are totally out of control (Wall Street Journal, 22 July). The terror is causing massive displacement. Fides reports that jihadists ambushed and massacred an entire Christian family on 23 July in the Damascus suburb of Bab Touma.
Syria has become a magnet for international terrorist organisations, including al-Qaeda in Iraq, the al-Nusrah Front, the Abdullah Azzam Brigades, the al-Baraa Ibn Malik Martyrdom Brigade, the Omar Farouq Brigade and others. German intelligence estimates that in the first six months of 2012 'around 90' terror attacks were committed inside Syria 'by organisations that are close to al-Qaeda or jihadist groups'. Many of these are 'false flag' operations where the jihadists massacre unsympathetic civilians and then present them to the media as victims of government forces. One German MP has slammed this tactic as 'massacre-marketing'. Whilst the German government acknowledges receiving these reports, it explains that their content remains classified 'by reason of national interest' (i.e. along with France, the UK and the USA, the German government is supporting the rebels, terrorists, and jihadists).
Tragically, the sectarian nature of the conflict has inflamed Islamic zeal and radicalised many previously tolerant Sunnis. Christian refugees in Lebanon told Sam Dagher (Wall Street Journal, 22 July) they fear that Christians will have no place in Syria if Assad leaves power. 'They say the conflict has uncovered the true feelings their former neighbours had kept hidden for years. "We ate from the same plate," said one of the displaced Christians. "And then they stabbed us in the back." '
Further to this, thousands of Iraqis who fled al-Qaeda terror and sectarian war in 2005-06 for sanctuary in Syria are now fleeing back to Iraq. However, emboldened by advances in Syria, al-Qaeda has launched a new offensive in IRAQ named 'Breaking Down the Walls'. On Monday 23 July, at least 28 attacks on 19 Iraqi cities left 111 dead and more than 230 wounded.
* NIGERIA (RLPB 168), where Fulani Muslims, Boko Haram terrorists and rogue elements within the military are co-operating in the escalating terror being inflicted upon Christians in the north.
JULY 2012 ROUND-UP -- also this month . . .
* ACEH, INDONESIA: CHURCHES ATTACKED (updating RLPB 159)
On 30 April local officials in Aceh's Singkil regency yielded to Islamist pressure and ordered the closure and demolition of at least 20 mostly Protestant 'undung-undungs' (prayer chapels and places of worship). Seeking redress, most have not complied with the demolition order. Frustrated by this lack of action and emboldened by the government's appeasement policies, Islamists have begun attacking the chapels. On Sunday 17 June some 300 Islamists invaded a store in Kuta Alam sub-district where some 60 Christians had gathered for worship. Whilst the ground floor was thoroughly ransacked, police arrived in time to prevent the attackers from reaching the besieged Christians on the third floor. No arrests were made but the Christians were taken in for questioning. According to the Jakarta Globe, this was yet 'another' attack on a 'storefront church'. Then on 18 July an Islamist mob launched a dawn attack on the Pakpak Dairi Christian Protestant Church (Gkppd) house of prayer in Singkil, dowsing the interior with petrol and setting it on fire. Furniture and musical instruments were destroyed but prompt intervention by local Christians saved the building from complete destruction.
* INDIA: HINDU NATIONALISM INCITES VIOLENCE
On 24 June the Indigenous People's Forum (IPF) in Imphal, Manipur (north-east India), conducted a one-day workshop entitled 'Lure and Proselytization and Constitutional Interpretation of Freedom of Religion'. The IPF is recommending that the Manipur state government enact the Manipur Freedom of Religion bill (Anti Conversion Act). There is little doubt that Hindu nationalist forces are behind the IPF's call. Hindutva forces want to ensure that the traditionally non-Hindu indigenous tribals do not become Christian while they are busy working to convince the tribals that they are actually Hindus. If the law is enacted it will rob all Manipur citizens of their religious freedom, cause Hindutva militancy to escalate and further entrench the racist Hindu caste system to the benefit of the Hindutva-promoting upper castes. Pray that the bill will be rejected.
The Evangelical Fellowship of India reports that on 6 July, in Ramagundahally village in Karnataka (south-west India), Hindu extremists forcefully entered a house church, accusing the Christians of forceful conversion. The Hindus tore up Bibles and savagely beat the believers before calling the police, who came and took Pastor Mounesh away for questioning. When Pastor Mounesh was released in the early hours of the following morning, the Hindutva forces were enraged. Returning later that day they bashed Pastor Mounesh and the believers praying with him. Four believers beaten unconscious required hospitalisation. Such violence is commonplace in states where Hindu nationalism holds sway.
* IRAN: TWO MORE IMPRISONED PASTORS NEED PRAYER
Protestant pastor Farshid Fathi Malayeri (33, married with two children) was one of many Christians arrested during the sweep of 26 December 2010. Tried in January 2012 for crimes against national security, a Revolutionary Court in Evin Prison in Tehran sentenced him to six years in prison on 5 March 2012. On 3 July, an Iranian court upheld both the verdict and six-year prison sentence. Farshid will serve the remainder of his sentence in section 350 of Evin Prison. He has already spent some 100 days in solitary confinement.
Protestant pastor Benham Irani (41, married with two children) is imprisoned in Karaj's notorious Ghezel Hesar Prison. Arrested in April 2010 for his Christian ministry, Pastor Irani was convicted in January 2011of crimes against national security and sentenced to one year in prison. That term was later extended to five years because of a previous conviction. The verdict denounced him as an apostate, a label that marks him out as one who may be killed. Due to frequent severe beatings from guards and inmates, Pastor Irani now has great difficulty walking and seeing. He has bleeding ulcers and other intestinal problems. Pastor Irani lost consciousness around 14 July due to declining health, a consequence of the harsh treatment he has endured. Though he has been transferred to the prison hospital, advocates fear he may not survive.
'If the world hates you, know that it has hated me before it hated you. But all these things they will do to you on account of my name, because they do not know him who sent me.' (John 15:18,21 ESV)
Tuesday, July 24, 2012
Tuesday, July 17, 2012
RLPB 168. Nigeria: terror in Plateau state
Religious Liberty Prayer Bulletin | RLPB 168 | Wed 18 Jul 2012
NIGERIA: TERROR IN PLATEAU STATE
By Elizabeth Kendal
Numbering around 30 million, the Fulani (also known as Fulbe) are the largest nomadic tribe in the world, with around half living in northern Nigeria. Like the traditionally nomadic Tuareg who are mostly based in northern Mali, the Fulani are spread over the Sahel, occupying a large area mostly south and east of the Tuareg zone. Just like the Tuareg, the Fulani have been impacted negatively by desertification and modernisation. As the desert has migrated south, so too have the Fulani. Traditionally nomadic cattle herders, they either urbanise or seek out new lands to graze their cattle. This brings them into conflict with the 'indigenes': settled, agrarian, mostly Christian tribes. Over recent decades, resurgent Islamic fundamentalist political ideology has been added to the volatile mix, paving the way for Islamists and jihadists to hijack local issues strategically for their own ends.
On Saturday morning 7 July some 100 ethnic Fulani (Muslim) herdsmen launched attacks on nine ethnic Berom (Christian) villages in Riyom and Barkin Ladi Local Government Areas (LGAs) of Plateau State. Sources told Channels TV that around one hundred attackers stormed the villages commando-style, dressed in black attire with bullet-proof vests and sophisticated weapons. Sixty-three people were killed, dozens wounded and more than 60 homes were burned. The next day Christians and sympathetic Muslims, along with several political dignitaries, gathered in Matse village for a mass burial. During the funeral procession Fulani gunmen swept in firing indiscriminately, aided in their attack by uniformed soldiers. Whilst at least 22 mourners were killed, Nigerian security forces were able to repel the assailants, killing at least 16 of them and capturing one. A further 50 bodies were discovered later in Matse in the home of a Church of Christ in Nigeria (COCIN) pastor. It appears that the victims had been killed the previous day after they fled to the COCIN church for refuge. The pastor took them in but when the Fulani got word of it they surrounded the house and set it on fire.
Whilst the al-Qaeda-linked terror group Boko Haram claimed responsibility for the weekend's attacks, the violence does not bear the hallmarks of Boko Haram. Rather, it bears all the hallmarks of a Fulani raid. These raids have become all too common around the Plateau's ethnic-religious fault-line. It has long been suspected that partisan rogue elements within the Nigerian military are assisting both the Fulani in their raids and Boko Haram in their terror and that Boko Haram is inciting belligerent Fulani to kill Christians and is probably also participating in the attacks. Boko Haram terror receives attention because Boko Haram is demanding that Sharia Law be enacted across the nation. Because the Fulani's terror raids have local aims -- ethnic cleansing and colonisation -- they receive little attention. Consequently the Fulani -- now with help from Boko Haram and rogue military -- are inching south, village by village, terrorising, killing and displacing many thousands of Christians in the process.
On Saturday 14 July the Nigerian military ordered that residents be temporarily relocated out of five Fulani-dominated villages in Barkin Ladi and Riyom LGAs where terrorist elements are believed to be hiding out. A further five villages are on stand-by. Fulani leaders initially encouraged the Fulani to defy the military order and stay put even though a military sweep was imminent. However, on the Monday a deal was brokered that enabled a peaceful relocation of thousands of Fulani into temporary camps. It remains a very difficult and tense situation.
Christians of the Plateau are living in a state of fear, a state of siege. Bombed in their churches, slaughtered in their homes, they are not even safe in their beds at night. There is more to this than meets the eye: as Christ builds his Church, the spiritual battle intensifies. This trauma has its origins -- and its victory -- in heavenly realms!
PLEASE PRAY SPECIFICALLY THAT GOD WILL --
* draw Christian individuals, families, churches and communities ever closer to him -- the LORD of hosts -- for only in him is there comfort, restoration, encouragement, wisdom, justice and 'strength to turn back the battle at the gate'. (See Isaiah 28:5,6.)
* work through Nigerian political, civic and religious leadership to address practical issues of governance and security for the sake of his Church and the spread of the Gospel.
* bind the forces of evil in heavenly realms that seek to exploit human sinfulness to erect bulwarks against the gospel and send the Holy Spirit with quickening power to open eyes, minds and hearts across Nigeria, that Jesus will be exalted and troubled communities might be transformed.
'Truly, I say to you, whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.' (Matthew 18:18 ESV.)
SUMMARY FOR BULLETINS UNABLE TO RUN THE WHOLE ARTICLE
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TERROR IN PLATEAU STATE, NIGERIA
On Saturday 7 July some 100 Fulani (Muslim) herdsmen launched attacks on nine Berom (Christian) villages in Riyom and Barkin Ladi Local Government Areas of Plateau State. Wearing bullet-proof vests and armed with sophisticated weapons, they killed 63 people, wounded dozens and torched more than 60 homes. The next day they attacked the funeral, killing another 22. A further 50 bodies were found later in the burnt-out home of a local pastor who had sheltered fleeing Christians. Boko Haram claimed responsibility but the terror bears all the hallmarks of a Fulani raid aimed at ethnic cleansing and colonisation. Boko Haram incites and participates in the killings, with rogue elements in the military aiding both Boko Haram and the Fulani. Christians are not safe anywhere. Please pray.
Ramadan (Muslim month of fasting) commences on 20 July.
Please visit http://www.30-days.net/ and pray for Muslims through Ramadan.
NIGERIA: TERROR IN PLATEAU STATE
By Elizabeth Kendal
Numbering around 30 million, the Fulani (also known as Fulbe) are the largest nomadic tribe in the world, with around half living in northern Nigeria. Like the traditionally nomadic Tuareg who are mostly based in northern Mali, the Fulani are spread over the Sahel, occupying a large area mostly south and east of the Tuareg zone. Just like the Tuareg, the Fulani have been impacted negatively by desertification and modernisation. As the desert has migrated south, so too have the Fulani. Traditionally nomadic cattle herders, they either urbanise or seek out new lands to graze their cattle. This brings them into conflict with the 'indigenes': settled, agrarian, mostly Christian tribes. Over recent decades, resurgent Islamic fundamentalist political ideology has been added to the volatile mix, paving the way for Islamists and jihadists to hijack local issues strategically for their own ends.
On Saturday morning 7 July some 100 ethnic Fulani (Muslim) herdsmen launched attacks on nine ethnic Berom (Christian) villages in Riyom and Barkin Ladi Local Government Areas (LGAs) of Plateau State. Sources told Channels TV that around one hundred attackers stormed the villages commando-style, dressed in black attire with bullet-proof vests and sophisticated weapons. Sixty-three people were killed, dozens wounded and more than 60 homes were burned. The next day Christians and sympathetic Muslims, along with several political dignitaries, gathered in Matse village for a mass burial. During the funeral procession Fulani gunmen swept in firing indiscriminately, aided in their attack by uniformed soldiers. Whilst at least 22 mourners were killed, Nigerian security forces were able to repel the assailants, killing at least 16 of them and capturing one. A further 50 bodies were discovered later in Matse in the home of a Church of Christ in Nigeria (COCIN) pastor. It appears that the victims had been killed the previous day after they fled to the COCIN church for refuge. The pastor took them in but when the Fulani got word of it they surrounded the house and set it on fire.
Whilst the al-Qaeda-linked terror group Boko Haram claimed responsibility for the weekend's attacks, the violence does not bear the hallmarks of Boko Haram. Rather, it bears all the hallmarks of a Fulani raid. These raids have become all too common around the Plateau's ethnic-religious fault-line. It has long been suspected that partisan rogue elements within the Nigerian military are assisting both the Fulani in their raids and Boko Haram in their terror and that Boko Haram is inciting belligerent Fulani to kill Christians and is probably also participating in the attacks. Boko Haram terror receives attention because Boko Haram is demanding that Sharia Law be enacted across the nation. Because the Fulani's terror raids have local aims -- ethnic cleansing and colonisation -- they receive little attention. Consequently the Fulani -- now with help from Boko Haram and rogue military -- are inching south, village by village, terrorising, killing and displacing many thousands of Christians in the process.
On Saturday 14 July the Nigerian military ordered that residents be temporarily relocated out of five Fulani-dominated villages in Barkin Ladi and Riyom LGAs where terrorist elements are believed to be hiding out. A further five villages are on stand-by. Fulani leaders initially encouraged the Fulani to defy the military order and stay put even though a military sweep was imminent. However, on the Monday a deal was brokered that enabled a peaceful relocation of thousands of Fulani into temporary camps. It remains a very difficult and tense situation.
Christians of the Plateau are living in a state of fear, a state of siege. Bombed in their churches, slaughtered in their homes, they are not even safe in their beds at night. There is more to this than meets the eye: as Christ builds his Church, the spiritual battle intensifies. This trauma has its origins -- and its victory -- in heavenly realms!
PLEASE PRAY SPECIFICALLY THAT GOD WILL --
* draw Christian individuals, families, churches and communities ever closer to him -- the LORD of hosts -- for only in him is there comfort, restoration, encouragement, wisdom, justice and 'strength to turn back the battle at the gate'. (See Isaiah 28:5,6.)
* work through Nigerian political, civic and religious leadership to address practical issues of governance and security for the sake of his Church and the spread of the Gospel.
* bind the forces of evil in heavenly realms that seek to exploit human sinfulness to erect bulwarks against the gospel and send the Holy Spirit with quickening power to open eyes, minds and hearts across Nigeria, that Jesus will be exalted and troubled communities might be transformed.
'Truly, I say to you, whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.' (Matthew 18:18 ESV.)
SUMMARY FOR BULLETINS UNABLE TO RUN THE WHOLE ARTICLE
----------------------------------------------------------------------
TERROR IN PLATEAU STATE, NIGERIA
On Saturday 7 July some 100 Fulani (Muslim) herdsmen launched attacks on nine Berom (Christian) villages in Riyom and Barkin Ladi Local Government Areas of Plateau State. Wearing bullet-proof vests and armed with sophisticated weapons, they killed 63 people, wounded dozens and torched more than 60 homes. The next day they attacked the funeral, killing another 22. A further 50 bodies were found later in the burnt-out home of a local pastor who had sheltered fleeing Christians. Boko Haram claimed responsibility but the terror bears all the hallmarks of a Fulani raid aimed at ethnic cleansing and colonisation. Boko Haram incites and participates in the killings, with rogue elements in the military aiding both Boko Haram and the Fulani. Christians are not safe anywhere. Please pray.
Ramadan (Muslim month of fasting) commences on 20 July.
Please visit http://www.30-days.net/ and pray for Muslims through Ramadan.
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