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'Our soul waits for the Lord; he is our help and our shield. For our heart is glad in him, because we trust in his holy name. Let your steadfast love, O Lord, be upon us, even as we hope in you.' (Psalm 33:20-22 ESV)
SEPTEMBER 2016 UPDATE -- this month we prayed concerning ...
* PAKISTAN (RLPB 374), after militants from a faction of the Pakistani Taliban failed in their attempt to massacre the Christians of Warsak Dam Colony north of Peshawar. After considering the religious hatred inherent in the attack and the vulnerability of Christians, we praised God for his mercy and deliverance.
UPDATES: Video footage has emerged of the Pakistani Taliban's 'Special Group' undertaking military training in Swabi district, north-west Pakistan. Swabi district is on the eastern edge of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Province, only some 80 km from Islamabad and Rawalpindi. The Taliban are back!
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| Arif Masih World Watch Monitor |
On 18 September Nabeel Chohan, a 16-year-old Christian boy from Dina Nath village, Kasur District, Punjab Province, was arrested and charged with defaming and disrespecting Islam, and hurting the religious sentiments of Muslims. The complainant accused Nabeel of having 'liked' a Facebook image that showed the Kaaba in Mecca in a disrespectful light. As soon as the Christians of Dina Nath village heard that Nabeel had been accused, they fled their homes in fear of the Muslims. The police have secured the village and are calling on Christians to return.
One of Pakistan's leading Christian human rights lawyers, Mushtaq Gill, has finally succumbed to pressure and fled the country with his young family. Over the course of a decade, Gill received numerous death threats and survived several assassination attempts. Mushtaq Gill and his family now join the many thousands of displaced and destitute Pakistani Christians in exile, hoping to find sanctuary outside their homeland. Pakistani Christians will mourn this loss. May God raise up new advocates to defend the cause of his suffering Church.
* RUSSIA, JORDAN, UZBEKISTAN (RLPB 375), praying for those in authority, that religious liberty might be restored or realised.
UPDATES -- RUSSIA: On 5 September a court in St Petersburg found Archbishop Sergei Zhuravlev of the Reformed Orthodox Church of Christ the Savior (Kiev Archdiocese) guilty of illegal missionary activity; he was issued a fine. On 10 September two American citizens were arrested for participating in worship at Kaluga's Word of Life Pentecostal church; they were fined but not deported. On 17 September police arrested participants at a Pentecostal youth conference in Samara; all were later released. On 23 September in what is finally a win for common sense and justice, the Novosergiev district court of Orenburg Province issued a decision in favour of Pastor Alexander Demkin of the Church of Evangelical Christians-Baptists (EKhB), rejecting the ridiculous charges brought against him by the prosecutor's office. As had quickly become evident, the Baptist church's summer programs for children have overwhelming community support.
On 20 September Russia's Civic Chamber -- a 126-member oversight committee with consultative powers -- conducted a hearing on the anti-mission measures. While the law's shortcomings were debated, statements made in support of the measures indicate that this law -- particularly as it applies to Protestants -- has more to do with geo-politics than religion. Pray for strategic Russia.
UPDATES -- JORDAN: Having boycotted elections in 2010 and 2013, Islamists now hold 15 of 130 seats. So while the Muslim Brotherhood is back and Islamists have a voice in parliament again, it is a small voice -- diluted, as was intended. None of the Christians who ran on Islamist tickets was elected. However, nine Christians did win seats, the minimum 'guaranteed' to the Christian minority from the electoral quota system.
On Sunday 25 September prominent Jordanian writer, Nahed Hattar (56) -- who, though raised a Christian, professed atheism -- was assassinated on the steps of the court where he was fighting charges of insulting Islam. Hattar had posted a cartoon on Facebook which he said only mocked the jihadist view of paradise. Unfortunately, the jihadist view of paradise is the Qur'anic view of paradise, which is precisely why so many Muslims were angry enough to want Hattar dead. Hattar, a strong supporter of Syrian President Bashar Assad and outspoken critic of ISIS and al Qaeda, had accused his Islamist opponents of using the cartoon as a way of settling scores with him.
On Monday 5 September King Abdullah and Queen Rania launched a program aimed at combating Islamic radicalisation. The government intends to reform education and increase management of mosques. To modernise and secularise the school curriculum, all Qur'anic references will be removed from non-religious texts. There are even plans to replace religion with art and philosophy. Islamic fundamentalists will surely resist. Pray for strategic Jordan.
* CENTRAL AFRICAN REPUBLIC (CAR) (RLPB 376), which is French-speaking majority Christian (mostly Protestant), remains divided with around half the country occupied by foreign-backed mostly Arabic-speaking Islamic jihadists. For Christians living in rebel-held territory, security is tenuous and massacres persist. May God intervene in CAR.
SEPTEMBER ROUND-UP -- also this month ...
* ALGERIA: CHURCH PURSUES JUSTICE FOR PRISONER
Updating RLPB 372 (23 Aug): On 6 August Algerian Christian Slimane Bouhafs (49) was found guilty of blasphemy against Islam and its prophet after he opined on social media that the light of Jesus was overcoming the 'lie' of Islam and its prophet in the Kabyle region. For this, Bouhafs received the maximum penalty: a hefty fine and five years' imprisonment. Middle East Concern reports that on 6 September an appeals court reduced the sentence to three years. However, this is not good enough. The Protestant Church of Algeria will now appeal to the Supreme Court.
* CHINA: ZHANG KAI RE-ARRESTED
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| Zhang Kai (centre) in Wenzhou, 25 Aug 2015 |
* GERMANY: NO SANCTUARY FOR CONVERTS
On 18 October 2015 Iranian convert asylum seeker Amir H. (24) was seriously injured in a German refugee shelter when he was beaten unconscious by an Afghan Muslim asylum seeker armed with a telescopic baton [RLPB 333 (Oct 2015 Update)]. Between 15 and 20 men intervened to restrain the Afghan and then help him flee the scene. The Afghan was arrested in December 2015 and charged with attempted homicide. On 5 September a Hamburg court acquitted the Afghan, citing 'lack of evidence'. Though the Iranian victim had testified that the accused attacked him for converting to Christianity (motive), and that he had shouted 'Allahu Akbar' and threatened to kill him (intent), none of the witnesses -- all of whom were Muslim -- would support Amir (an apostate) or testify against a fellow Muslim. Consequently, the court ruled that a motive had not been established, meaning it had to accept that the assailant may have acted in self-defence. The Christian Police Union reports that attacks against Muslim converts continue to be a problem.
* SYRIA: WAR SHIFTS TO A WHOLE NEW LEVEL
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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).
