RLPB 703. July Update, incl. Vietnam, Eritrea, India, Iran, Nicaragua, Nigeria

Religious Liberty Prayer Bulletin | RLPB 703 | Wed 26 Jul 2023
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JULY 2023 UPDATE & ROUNDUP
By Elizabeth Kendal

UPDATE: DURING JULY WE PRAYED CONCERNING

VIETNAM [RLPB 700 (5 July)], after the ruling Communist Party of Vietnam deployed massive military force into the Central Highlands province of Dak Lak in response to the deadly 11 June attack on two government offices in Dak Lak’s Cu Kuin district. We prayed specifically for the Central Highlands’ indigenous, predominantly Christian hills tribes who feared the deployment could herald an escalation in ethno-religious persecution and displacement. We also prayed for imprisoned Protestant Pastor and religious liberty advocate Nguyen Trung Ton (51), whose health continues to deteriorate as the authorities continue to withhold medical care.

UPDATE: On 21 July the Director of Dak Lak’s provincial police announced that all six suspected ringleaders of the 11 June attacks had been arrested. In total, more than 90 people have been arrested on multiple charges including terrorism. Please pray that the situation will now settle and that the government will withdraw its forces. Pray that no innocent, wrongly arrested person will be condemned; may justice prevail. Pray that the government will not exploit the situation to advance the ethno-religious persecution and displacement of the Central Highlands’ Montagnard/Degar Christians. Pray for the Church in Vietnam.

PHILIPPINES [RLPB 701 (12 July)], where the government of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr and Vice President Sara Duterte appear set to continue the dangerous practice of ‘red-tagging’ its critics. Since the May 2022 elections, religious workers – including priests, bishops and missionaries – associated with the Protestant Iglesia Filipina Independiente (IFI, an independent member of the worldwide Anglican Communion), the United Church of Christ in the Philippines (UCCP) and the Roman Catholic Rural Missionaries of the Philippines (RMP) have been ‘red-tagged’ – i.e. falsely accused of recruiting for or financing the New People’s Army (NPA; the armed wing of the Communist Party of the Philippines). Victims of ‘red-tagging’ are often arrested, murdered or disappeared – mostly at the hands of the Philippine Armed Forces, and mostly for doing nothing more than criticising government policy. Please pray.

AZERBAIJAN AND IRAQ [RLPB 702 (19 July)], where remnant indigenous Armenians in Azerbaijan’s Nagorno-Karabakh (N-K) and remnant indigenous Assyrians in Iraq’s Nineveh Plains now face political (as distinct from military) efforts to drive them from their lands. While the besieged Christians of N-K face a government-induced humanitarian catastrophe, the displaced Christians of the Nineveh Plains face a political conspiracy of dispossession. If these Christians are forced to surrender their lands – lands they have inhabited for millennia – they will be replaced by land-grabbing Muslims backed by colonising governments. Those colonising Muslims will move quickly to erase millennia of Armenian, Assyrian and Christian heritage, as if it never existed. For up to 400,000 already traumatised Armenians and Assyrians, this is a Christians crisis of existential proportions. Please pray.

JULY 2023 ROUND-UP – ALSO THIS MONTH

* ERITREA: PASTORS MARK 7000 NIGHTS IN PRISON

On Saturday 22 July, as noted by Voice of the Martyrs (USA), Pastors Haile Nayzgi and Kiflu Gebremeskel spent their 7000th night in detention. Arrested on 23 May 2004, the pastors were leaders in the Full Gospel/Kale Hiwot Church of Eritrea, one of the many Protestant denominations banned in May 2002. Pastor Haile Nayzgi also served as chair of that denomination, while Pastor Kiflu Gebremeskel also served as chair of the Eritrean Evangelical Alliance. While Pastor Nayzgi is reported to be in good health, Pastor Gebremeskel has been seen ‘visiting hospital frequently under tight security’. Neither man has ever been charged with any crime. Both are believed to be held in the maximum-security Wengel Mermera Central Criminal Investigation Interrogation Centre. An estimated 400 Christians in Eritrea are currently imprisoned for their faith, many in appalling conditions in shipping containers in military camps, in unsanitary over-crowded prisons, and even in underground cells in the desert [see also RLPB 671, The Horror of Eritrea, 16 Nov 2022]. Please pray for the Church in Eritrea; and may God intervene to deliver Eritreans from tyranny.

Make haste, O God, to deliver me! O Lord, make haste to help me! (Psalm 70:1 ESV)

* INDIA: MANIPUR TEARING APART

On 19 July footage emerged from Manipur showing a mob of hundreds of ethnic Meitei Hindu men parading two naked ethnic Kuki Christian women through the streets. The horrific crime, which took place on 4 May (one day after the violence erupted), went far beyond mere humiliation. According to a report by British Asian Christians (21 July), the terrified women – aged 50 and 19 – were abused, groped and assaulted, before the younger woman was taken into a field and gang raped. When her father and brother tried to rescue her, they were bludgeoned to death. It is alleged (unconfirmed) that the women – who had been hiding in the bush as the Meitei burned their village – were betrayed by police who, instead of helping them as promised, led them into the hands of the mob.

Kuki 'Rally for Separate Administration',
Churachandpur, 20 July. (India Today)

The human toll – which is overwhelmingly Kuki – now stands at: at least 140 dead and 60,000 displaced; with over 4400 Kuki homes and 357 churches (Kuki and Meitei) burned, many razed to the ground. Convinced their relationship with the Meitei Hindus of the Imphal Valley is now damaged beyond repair, the Christian Kuki of the Manipur hills are demanding a separate state. On Thursday 20 July some 10,000 ethnic Kuki gathered in Lamka Public Ground in Churachandpur (in the hills, 63km south-west of Imphal) for the ‘Rally for Separate Administration’. Please pray!

Let them be put to shame and confusion who seek my life! Let them be turned back and brought to dishonour who delight in my hurt! Let them turn back because of their shame who say, “Aha, Aha!” (Psalm 70:2-3)

* IRAN: 50 CONVERTS ARRESTED IN A WEEK

Article18 reports (18 July): ‘More than 50 Christian converts have been arrested in a rash of new incidents across five Iranian cities over the past seven days, with fears the number could rise much higher as fresh reports keep coming in. At least 51 of those arrested at their homes or house-churches – in the cities of Tehran, Karaj, Rasht, Orumiyeh and Aligoudarz – remain in detention on unknown charges, while others have been released on bail.’ The evident crackdown on converts and house-churches comes as the Shi’ite regime re-instigates (after a brief pause) its aggressive policing of Islamic norms. On Sunday 16 July the regime announced its morality police patrol units would resume operations. Of particular concern to the regime is women’s compliance concerning the hijab, which has been compulsory since the 1979 Islamic Revolution. Christian fear this wave of arrests heralds the beginning of a renewed effort to crush dissent, enforce Islamic norms and revive the values of the Islamic Revolution. Please pray for the Church in Iran.

May all who seek you rejoice and be glad in you! May those who love your salvation say evermore, 'God is great!' (Psalm 70:4)

* NICARAGUA: BISHOP CHOOSES JAIL OVER ROME

Having already chosen jail over exile in the USA, Bishop Rolando José Álvarez (56) has now chosen jail over Rome. Bishop Álvarez was arrested on 19 August 2022, ostensibly for his outspoken criticism of the regime of President Daniel Ortega. On 9 February 2023 the Nicaraguan government forcibly exiled 222 political prisoners, stripping them of their citizenship and putting them on a flight to the USA. Despite being given the option of exile, Bishop Álvarez chose to stay in his native country to be with the Catholic community under repression by the Ortega regime. The next day, on 10 February, the regime stripped Bishop Álvarez of his citizenship and sentenced him to 26 years in prison [see RLPB 681, 22 Feb]. Christian Solidarity Worldwide (CSW) reports that, on 4 July, Bishop Álvarez was taken from prison to meet with a mediator ‘assigned by the Vatican who tried to persuade him to go to Rome. The bishop refused the offer and called on the government to grant his unconditional release and that of five other imprisoned priests, to unfreeze the bank accounts of Roman Catholic dioceses throughout the country and to halt its targeting of religious groups and leaders.’ The next day, on 5 July, Bishop Álvarez was returned to La Modelo Tipitapa prison, where he will continue to share in the suffering of the Nicaraguan Church. Lord have mercy! Please pray.

But I am poor and needy; hasten to me, O God! You are my help and my deliverer; O Lord, do not delay! (Psalm 70:5)

* NIGERIA: CHRISTIAN CRISIS IN PLATEAU STATE

Since mid-May, Christians in central Plateau State have been under sustained attack as large bands of Muslim Fulani herdsmen have attacked village after village, seemingly with impunity. Morning Star News (MSN) reports (7 June) that between mid-May and early June at least 300 Christians, including two pastors, were killed and 30,000 residents were displaced, while some 2,000 homes and 28 churches were destroyed in Mangu Local Government Area (LGA), central Plateau. In June the killings continued and spread west to Barkin Ladi and Riyom LGAs in Plateau’s north-west bordering some of the most conflict-stricken LGAs of south-east Kaduna. On 4 July, Truth Nigeria warned that ‘several hundred terrorists’ were ‘massing in the Fulani ethnic settlement of Bangai [in Riyom LGA] … They are moving on motorbikes, 3 men to a bike and may number as many as 800.’ On Sunday 9 July the new governor of Plateau State, Caleb Mutfwang imposed a 24-hour curfew on Mangu LGA in an attempt to restore order as the army sent reinforcements.

TVC News Nigeria, 13 July 2023,
video 3:13mins

On 17 July Governor Mutfwang labelled the wave of killings ‘a clear genocide’, adding, ‘what we are seeing is a deliberated and orchestrated plan to wipe out numbers of people’. As he noted, these killings cannot be described as ‘herder-farmer clashes’, for the villages are attacked at night and the residents are slaughtered in their beds. On 20 July Truth Nigeria warned that the ‘mother of all invasions’ was being prepared. According to intelligence they had received, the ‘invasion’ would start in Mangu LGA, and spread into neighbouring Barkin Ladi, and on through Riyom, Jos South and Bassa, employing not only Fulani herdsmen, but jihadists and mercenaries recruited from across Nigeria and the Sahel. By 24 July officials were reporting that Mangu LGA was housing some 80,000 Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) in eleven makeshift camps, relying mostly on donations from local churches. One IDP, Grace Emmanuel (70) laments: ‘The crisis has made us homeless, our farmland has been destroyed and we have to manage to live in this primary school. It’s not easy, we don’t have anything to eat. We go and fetch water from the well, [but] sometimes the water is not enough for thousands of us.’ Lord have mercy! Please pray.

Make haste, O God, to deliver me! … O Lord, do not delay! (first and last words of Psalm 70).

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Elizabeth Kendal is an international religious liberty analyst and advocate for the persecuted Church. The Religious Liberty Prayer Bulletin (RLPB) is a donor funded ministry. To support this ministry visit www.ElizabethKendal.com

Elizabeth 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). She is also an Adjunct Research Fellow at the Arthur Jeffery Centre for the Study of Islam at Melbourne School of Theology.

For more information see www.ElizabethKendal.com

RLPB 700. Vietnam: Religious Liberty Continues to Deteriorate

Religious Liberty Prayer Bulletin | RLPB 700 | Wed 05 Jul 2023
RLPB is published weekly to facilitate strategic intercessory prayer.

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VIETNAM: RELIGIOUS LIBERTY SITUATION CONTINUES TO DETERIORATE
By Elizabeth Kendal

BACKGROUND: Vietnam is a one-party state ruled by the Communist Party of Vietnam (CPV). To be legal, religious groups must be approved by, registered with, and subservient to the Marxist-Leninist CPV. The state engages in and tolerates ‘severe violations of religious freedom’ (US Dept of State 2022 Report on International Religious Freedom, published 15 May 2023). The worst persecution occurs in the remote Central Highlands, home to roughly 30 ethnic minority, indigenous hills tribes collectively known as Montagnard or Dega. In particular, the Central Highlands provinces of Dak Lak and Gia Lai have long been a hotbed of repressive and violent persecution. The predominantly Christian Montagnards are routinely deemed ‘reactionary’ and ‘separatist’, simply because they demand religious freedom and the right to retain control of their ancestral lands and culture. Persecution includes intimidation, harassment, threats and extreme violence; along with Cultural Revolution-style kangaroo courts where believers are publicly shamed and pressured to ‘confess their crimes’ and renounce their faith. Initially, persecution comes at the hands of plain-clothed, government-sponsored ‘Red Flag’ thugs. If that fails to have the desired effect, then local officials and security personnel will step in to escalate pressure and make arrests. Information is scarce, since a raft of new laws made getting information out of Vietnam a very risky business indeed [see RLPB 650 (22 June 2022)]. Tension in the Central Highlands has been boiling for decades as the CPV works to crush dissent, control resources and colonise the region with pro-government ethnic Kinh/Vietnamese.

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VIETNAM (1): TENSIONS EXPLODE IN DAK LAK

Circled: Dak Lak Province
Map source

On Sunday 11 June an estimated 40 ‘reactionary subjects’ launched a rare attack against government institutions in Dak Lak Province. Wearing camouflage vests, riding motorbikes and armed with guns, knives and molotov cocktails, the ‘reactionaries’ split into two groups and conducted pre-dawn raids on police stations and the offices of the People’s Committee [Uỷ ban Nhân dân (UBND), which administers Communist Party of Vietnam (CPV) policy at the local level] in Ea Tieu and Ea Ktur communes on the south-eastern outskirts of the provincial capital, Buon Ma Thuot. Four police officers, two commune officials, and three residents were killed in the raids. At least two other police officers were seriously wounded, and hospitalised with multiple knife wounds, gunshot wounds and burns.

The government responded by deploying overwhelming military force – including tanks and attack helicopters – to Dak Lak. The authorities have arrested and are preparing to prosecute 84 people they accuse of ‘conducting terrorist acts against the people’s government’. Some of those arrested claimed they had been offered ‘large sums of money’ to kill officials. Dak Lak has been placed in ‘lock-down’ and anyone found disseminating ‘false information’ (i.e. anything contrary to the government narrative) faces a hefty fine. The military crackdown has sent Montagnards fleeing over the border, which Cambodian PM Hun Sen has now closed. What is more, presumably to curry favour with the CPV, Hun Sen is forcibly repatriating all Montagnards who have sought refuge in Cambodia since the clashes erupted.

Fear abounds that the CPV will exploit the situation to escalate repression and persecution of the Central Highlands’ largely Christian Montagnard/Dega tribes. Morning Star News reports (25 June): ‘A 12-minute Facebook video circulating strongly implies that Montagnard Christian young people were involved in the [11 June] attacks. The clip, using helicopter or drone photography, shows several well-known church buildings and Montagnard congregations of the Evangelical Church of Vietnam South (ECVN-S) and the Christian Mission Church (CMC), both well established and legally recognised by the government… The commentary is highly suspicious of and derogatory toward Montagnard evangelicals. The video’s origins are unclear, but it appears to be thinly disguised government propaganda.’ 

Despite the government’s accusations of foreign interference, diaspora groups in the USA deny any involvement. Pastor Nguyen Cong Chinh, the U.S.-based co-founder of the Vietnam Evangelical Church of Christ, told RFA (13 June) that he didn’t think any Montagnards were involved in the attacks. ‘Montagnard people are commoners who live with their religious faith,’ he said. ‘When their religious faith or land is violated, they, of course, will have to voice up. However, I don’t think Montagnard people in Dak Lak province were capable enough to organise such an armed force of 30 to 40 people.’ When he contacted church members in the area, they expressed confusion and said they did not know what was happening.

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VIETNAM (2): PASTORS IN PRISON; DIEM DIES AS TON DETERIORATES

(left) Pastor Nguyen Trung Ton in better days.
(right) Pastor Dinh Diem, during his trial in 2018

Protestant pastor and religious liberty advocate Nguyen Trung Ton (51) has been imprisoned in Gia Trung Prison, Gia Lai Province, since April 2018 when he was sentenced, under Article 79 of the 1999 Penal Code, to 12-years in prison for ‘carrying out activities aimed at overthrowing the People’s administration’ [see RLPB 450 (11 April 2018)]. Ton’s health continues to deteriorate as the authorities continue to deny him access to medical care. According to Radio Free Asia (27 June) Pastor Nguyen Trung Ton has for two years been suffering from a persistent cough (a long-term effect of COVID-19), along with a progressive eye disease which has caused a near total loss of vision. His leg injuries – the result of a severe beating by government-sponsored ‘Red Flag’ thugs in 2017 [see RLPB 479 (31 Oct 2018)] – have never been treated.

Ton’s wife, Mrs Nguyen Thi Lanh, told RFA that she fears her husband will die in prison, as did Lutheran Pastor Dinh Diem. Pastor Diem died in Nghe An Provincial Prison No. 6, on 5 January, aged 60, five years into a 16-year prison sentence for ‘carrying out activities aimed at overthrowing the People’s administration’. Diem was a Vietnam-United States Lutheran Union Evangelical Church missionary, and a member of the Vietnamese People’s Evangelical Fellowship, a charity that ministers to ethnic minority communities in the Central Highlands. The founder of that charity, Pastor Nguyen Cong Chinh, spent six years in prison [see RLPB 359 (1 June 2016)] before being released in 2017. He now lives in exile in the USA.

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PLEASE PRAY THAT OUR MERCIFUL GOD WILL:

* intervene to end the military violence in Dak Lak and the religious repression and persecution that is currently escalating at the hands of the ruling Communist Party of Vietnam which seems convinced it can persecute with impunity. Rise up, O judge of the earth; repay to the proud what they deserve! (Psalm 94:2 ESV)

* grant Vietnam’s Christian pastors great wisdom and discernment as they seek to lead their flocks along a difficult path lined with hardship, oppression, persecution and injustice. Lord have mercy.

* protect and sustain Vietnam’s numerous imprisoned pastors and Christian human rights advocates and activists as they serve time in prison for their faith-based ministry and advocacy. May the Lord be their advocate and their defender. May violent hands be restrained; and in mercy, may all necessary medical care be provided.

O Lord, you hear the desire of the afflicted; you will strengthen their heart; you will incline your ear to do justice to the fatherless and the oppressed, so that man who is of the earth may strike terror no more. (Psalm 10:17-18 ESV)


SUMMARY FOR BULLETINS UNABLE TO RUN THE WHOLE ARTICLE
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VIETNAM: RELIGIOUS LIBERTY SITUATION CONTINUES TO DETERIORATE

On 11 June some 40 ‘reactionary subjects’ in Vietnam’s Central Highlands launched a rare attack against government institutions. They attacked with guns, knives and petrol bombs leaving a trail of destruction and nine fatalities. In response, the ruling Communist Party of Vietnam has deployed massive military force into Dak Lak. The mostly Christian indigenous hills tribes are fearful the government will exploit the crisis to escalate its ethno-religious persecution across the region. Meanwhile, Vietnam continues to mistreat its many imprisoned pastors and Christian human rights / religious liberty advocates. The health of Protestant Pastor Nguyen Trung Ton (51) continues to deteriorate as authorities continue to withhold medical care. Lutheran Pastor Dinh Diem (60) died in Nghe An Provincial Prison No. 6 on 5 January, five years into a 16-year prison sentence. Please pray.

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 Elizabeth Kendal is an international religious liberty analyst and advocate for the persecuted Church. The Religious Liberty Prayer Bulletin (RLPB) is a donor funded ministry. To support this ministry visit www.ElizabethKendal.com

Elizabeth 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). She is also an Adjunct Research Fellow at the Arthur Jeffery Centre for the Study of Islam at Melbourne School of Theology.

For more information see www.ElizabethKendal.com

RLPB 650. Vietnam: New Draft Decrees on Religion Floated

Religious Liberty Prayer Bulletin | RLPB 650 | Wed 22 June 2022
RLPB is published weekly to facilitate strategic intercessory prayer.

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VIETNAM: NEW DRAFT DECREES ON RELIGION FLOATED
... if passed, the Church would be like 'a small candle facing a typhoon'
by Elizabeth Kendal

Hmong believers in Vietnam's Central Highlands.

In early June Vietnam's ruling Communist Party (CPV) published two draft decrees on religion and posted them online, inviting input from government departments and the public. On 7 June the authorities held a seminar to gather comments on the decrees. Morning Star News (MSN) reports (14 June), that over 12-14 June, religion authorities in Hanoi held an information seminar for unregistered house-churches in northern Vietnam, where they propagandised the draft decrees in the hope of convincing more groups to register. This only shows how incredibly disconnected the authorities are from reality. In Vietnam, as in China, the reason churches refuse to register with the authorities is because the conditions they would be obliged to comply with are unreasonable, onerous and, for most, unacceptable. Furthermore, because the onerous registration process requires that the names, contact details and movements of members be recorded, registration can set churches up for government surveillance and targeted persecution.

One draft decree would replace Decree 162/2017, which provides implementation guidelines for Vietnam's repressive Law on Belief and Religion (enacted 1 January 2018). While unregistered churches would remain illegal and subject to severe criminal penalties, the new draft decree would worsen the situation for registered churches by extending and tightening government regulation over all their religious activities, including online meetings. MSN reports: 'There are extremely onerous reporting requirements. All local church activities must be reported and approved a year in advance. Every office address change and reassignment of church staff must be reported within short time limits, or churches would face fines. Mandatory study of Vietnam's "revolutionary history" and Vietnamese law must be included in all training curriculum for clergy... Foreigners are limited in their activities with Vietnamese co-religionists. The amount a foreigner puts into an offering plate at a worship service must be reported, as must all financial contributions from abroad... Most significant is the continued reference to nebulous "crimes" such as "taking advantage of belief and religion" or "causing social division" or "violating public morality" or "disturbing social order". There are no definitions as to what these forbidden things actually mean, leaving them completely open to subjective interpretation.'

The other draft decree stipulates remedies and punishments for administrative infractions of the Law on Belief and Religion and other rules. According to MSN, 'It is already nicknamed the "Punishment Decree".' MSN reports that when an original version of this 'punishment decree' was floated three years ago it received such a negative response that it was never passed or enforced; and 'The current draft is hardly better.' The punishments range from warnings through fines to the shutting down of organisations and institutions.

The idea that registration would prevent persecution and facilitate co-operation must surely now be laid to rest. Can a totalitarian Marxist-Leninist atheistic regime ever be the Church's trusted friend or partner? 'Can a leopard change its spots?' (Jeremiah 13:23). Vietnam's ruling Communist Party under General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong appears to be following the lead of China's ruling Communist Party under Chairman-of-Everything Xi Jinping which has, over recent years, passed one set of 'Regulations' or 'Measures' after another to regulate the Church to the point of suffocation. MSN reports (encouragingly) that when the draft decrees were made public, 'even ranking staff members of the Government Bureau of Religious Affairs were taken by surprise and encouraged religious leaders to strongly object'. One knowledgeable Vietnamese observer told MSN, 'If these decrees are passed in their present form, both legally recognised and unrecognised religious organisations will be like a small candle facing a typhoon.' That would simply drive more churches/candles 'underground'.

Breaking News:
An ethnic Hmong family of 13 in Vietnam’s Nghe An province has been expelled from their village by local authorities on account of the family's refusal to renounce Christ and return to traditional religion. It is the culmination of three years of relentless persecution, which began after the family applied to join a registered church.
Full story:
Protestant family of 13 expelled from their village
By Truong Son for RFA Vietnamese, 21 June 2022.

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BACKGROUND: As noted in RLPB 626 (1 Dec 2021), Vietnam's long-suffering Church has entered a time of 'deepening darkness'. Religious liberty exists in theory - i.e. in the constitution (a facade to appease the West) - but not in practice as a plethora of vague laws exist precisely to strangle freedom and silence dissent. The darkness has intensified under Communist Party General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong (78), a 'hardliner' who has held the premier office since 2011, despite party rules which set the age of retirement at 65 and limit power to two consecutive five-year terms. Persecution is most intense in ethnic minority areas. Dozens of pastors are in prison for their faith; others have had their passports confiscated, or been dispossessed; and most have suffered violence at the hands of security personnel or their 'Red Flag' proxies. Compounding the crisis, Vietnam's revised national security laws (enacted January 2018) and its new Cyber Security Law (enacted January 2019) have made getting information out of Vietnam a very risky business indeed. Consequently, Vietnam has essentially 'gone dark'. Like the ruling Communist Party in China, the ruling Communist Party in Vietnam is less committed to ideology than it is to retaining power and privilege.
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PLEASE PRAY THAT OUR SOVEREIGN GOD WILL

* continue to build his Church in Vietnam. As repression intensifies and the darkness deepens, may the Holy Spirit lead and empower the Church to grow in faith, wisdom, prayerfulness, and obedience. May the devil have no victory here!

The Lord who walks amongst the lampstands says: 'Fear not, I am the first and the last, and the living one. I died, and behold I am alive forevermore, and I have the keys of Death and Hades' (from Revelation 1 ESV).

* intervene for the dozens of Christians cruelly incarcerated in horrific conditions simply for leading unregistered house-churches, speaking out against injustice and corruption, and/or promoting righteousness, liberty and human rights. We pray also for pastors who have been beaten, threatened, intimidated and dispossessed of their homes and lands. Lord in your mercy, encourage, sustain and deliver them!

* grant the officials, who were shocked at the new draft decrees, the confidence, courage and clarity required to promote religious liberty in a country where peaceful religious groups contribute disproportionately to the provision of humanitarian services for the masses: including education, healthcare and pastoral care. Lord have mercy!

* awaken a multitude of Vietnamese to the moral depravity of atheism, the deadness and insufficiency of false religion and the sufficiency of the living Christ to transform and renew. AMEN


SUMMARY FOR BULLETINS UNABLE TO RUN THE WHOLE ARTICLE
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NEW DRAFT DECREES ON RELIGION FLOATED IN VIETNAM

Vietnam's ruling Communist Party has published two draft decrees that concern the implementation of Vietnam's repressive Law on Belief and Religion and the punishments that can be imposed for administrative infractions. While unregistered churches would remain illegal and subject to severe criminal penalties, the new decrees would worsen the situation for registered churches by extending and tightening government regulation over all religious activities, including online meetings. Vietnam might be following China, which has in recent years passed numerous 'Regulations' and 'Measures' designed to regulate the Church to the point of suffocation. Morning Star News (MSN) reports that shocked officials have urged Church leaders to object. One Vietnamese observer told MSN, 'If these decrees are passed in their present form [the Church] will be like a small candle facing a typhoon.' Please pray.
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Elizabeth Kendal is an international religious liberty analyst and advocate for the persecuted Church.

Elizabeth 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). She is also an Adjunct Research Fellow at the Arthur Jeffery Centre for the Study of Islam at Melbourne School of Theology.

See www.ElizabethKendal.com

RLPB 626. Vietnam: Great Suffering Amidst Deepening Darkness

Religious Liberty Prayer Bulletin | RLPB 626 | Wed 01 Dec 2021
RLPB is published weekly to facilitate strategic intercessory prayer.

Subscribe (free) or view archives at: Religious Liberty Prayer Bulletin (RLPB) blog.  The RLPB is sponsored by Christian Faith and Freedom Inc. 

VIETNAM: GREAT SUFFERING AMIDST DEEPENING DARKNESS
by Elizabeth Kendal

click on map to enlarge

Christians comprise 9.43 percent of the population of Vietnam (Catholics, 7.7 percent; Protestants, 1.3 percent; plus Independents). Since the 1990s, conversions to Protestant Christianity have escalated markedly among the ethnic minorities of the Central Highlands as communities have gained access to Gospel radio and scriptures in their own languages. Despite their minority status, Vietnamese Christians are massively over-represented among the country's pro-democracy and human rights advocates and activists. Unfortunately, religious freedom is but a mirage: it appears in the Constitution but is eviscerated by law. The Communist regime justifies its persecution by falsely accusing Christians of crimes against national security: e.g. 'undermining the unity policy' (penal code Article 116) and spreading anti-state propaganda [i.e. negative/critical reporting] (penal code Article 117). Vietnam's revised national security laws (enacted January 2018) and its new Cyber Security Law (enacted January 2019) have made getting information out of Vietnam a very risky business, especially as Vietnam develops into a heavily militarised surveillance state.

PRISONERS: The Vietnam Human Rights Network's 2020-2021 report lists 288 prisoners of conscience. Among them is Protestant pastor and religious liberty advocate Nguyen Trung Ton (50). Ton was arrested at his home in Thanh Hóa, north Vietnam, on 30 July 2017 and charged with 'carrying out activities aimed at overthrowing the People's administration'. On 5 April 2018 a Hanoi Court sentenced Ton to 12 years in prison [RLPB 450 (11 April 2018)]. Before his arrest, Ton was abducted and severely beaten with police batons, leaving him with serious leg injuries [RLPB 479 (31 Oct 2018)]. Denied medical care, Ton's legs have never healed, leaving him barely able to walk. Also on the list is music teacher Nguyen Nang Tinh (45). Tinh was arrested at his home in Nghe An, north Vietnam, on 29 May 2019 [RLPB 509 (3 July 2019)]. On 15 November 2019 a lower court in Nghe An sentenced Tinh to 11 years in prison and five years house arrest for 'conducting propaganda against the state', ostensibly for Facebook posts deemed 'anti-state'. Authorities have repeatedly refused Tinh (a devout Catholic) access to a priest. In March 2021 Tinh's wife raised concerns about his deteriorating health - specifically joint pain, decaying teeth and kidney stones. 

The Central Highlands provinces of Dak Lak, Gia Lai and Phu Yen have long been a hot-bed of repressive and violent persecution of ethnic minority Christians. Hmong and Montagnard/Dagar Protestants are routinely, and without justification, treated as subversives and separatists. Persecution includes intimidation, harassment, threats, violence and Cultural Revolution-style kangaroo courts where believers are publicly shamed and pressured to 'confess their crimes' and renounce their faith. The Campaign to Abolish Torture in Vietnam lists 79 'Montagnard Prisoners of Conscience Serving Prison Sentences and House Arrest Amounting to Eight or More Years'. All are Christians - Catholics and Protestants. Most are pastors, priests and religious liberty advocates. Some have been tortured and many are suffering failing health. Almost all have been charged with 'undermining the unity policy' (penal code Article 116). Of particular concern is the prisoner Y Yich. A Montagnard Protestant from Gia Lai, Pastor Y Yich was arrested in 2013 and sentenced to 12 years in prison plus three to five years' probation for 'spreading Dega [Montagnard] Protestantism, using the internet to communicate with Montagnard pastors and "FULRO reactionaries" [i.e. Montagnard Protestants] in the US and meeting with other former prisoners of conscience' (under penal code Article 116). Previously imprisoned from 2006-2011, Pastor Y Yich is in poor health due to torture in detention, high blood pressure, rheumatism and stomach inflammation.

Reverends Loan and Tan 

In May 2021, just as Vietnam's devastating fourth wave of COVID-19 was taking hold, a couple who attended a meeting of the Revival Ekklesia Mission (REM) in Ho Chi Minh City, tested positive for COVID-19. Though the meeting comprised a mere 11 believers (everyone else was participating on-line) and the church had been meticulous in its adherence to health orders, the government seized the opportunity to attack Protestant Christianity. In an appalling case of malicious scapegoating, the REM church was blamed for the outbreak and criminally charged with the crime of 'spreading dangerous infectious diseases in humans' (penal code Article 240). REM's leaders have been publicly blamed and shamed on state-run media and social media. On 14 October police in Go Vap District questioned REM's pastors - the Reverend Vo Xuan Loan and her husband, the Reverend Phuong Van Tan - after 11 other REM members were also interrogated. Aware the regime will be loath to back down and lose face over the issue, Christians are hoping for a face-saving solution, such as the church being fined for an administrative COVID-19 rule infraction rather than a criminal conviction.

PLEASE PRAY SPECIFICALLY THAT GOD WILL:

* continue to build his Church in Vietnam; as repression intensifies and the darkness deepens, may many Vietnamese awaken to the moral depravity of atheism, the deadness and insufficiency of false religion, and the sufficiency of the living Christ to transform and renew.

* intervene for the dozens of Christians cruelly incarcerated in horrific conditions simply for leading unregistered house churches, speaking out against injustice and corruption, and/or promoting righteousness, liberty, and human rights. Lord in your mercy, encourage, sustain, and deliver them! (Psalm 146)

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)

* encourage and bless Pastors Loan and Tan, of Ho Chi Minh City's Revival Ekklesia Mission, and fill them with peace. We pray also for their attorney, Dang Dinh Manh, that the Lord will equip him and use him, that justice may prevail.

The Lord is at hand; do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. (Philippians 4:5b-7 ESV)

SUMMARY FOR BULLETINS UNABLE TO RUN THE WHOLE ARTICLE
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GREAT SUFFERING AMIDST DEEPENING DARKNESS IN VIETNAM

In Vietnam, religious freedom exists in theory but not in practice. The Communist regime views un-registered house churches and ethnic minority Christians as threats to the nation's unity and security. The regime targets these Christians - Catholics and Protestants - with intimidation, vilification, harassment, police brutality and Cultural Revolution-style 'kangaroo-courts' where they are publicly shamed and forced to 'confess their crimes' and renounce their faith. Dozens of Christian pastors, priests and religious liberty advocates are serving long prison terms having been falsely accused of 'misusing religion' to violate national security laws. Some have been tortured; many are in failing health. Vietnam's revised national security laws (enacted January 2018) along with its new Cyber Security Law (enacted January 2019) have made getting information out of Vietnam a very risky business. Please pray.

-------------------------------------------

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

She has authored two books: Turn Back the Battle: Isaiah Speaks to Christians Today (Deror Books, Melbourne, Australia, Dec 2012) which offers a Biblical response to persecution and existential threat; and After Saturday Comes Sunday: Understanding the Christian Crisis in the Middle East (Wipf and Stock, Eugene, OR, USA, June 2016).

See www.ElizabethKendal.com 

RLPB 509. Vietnam: Communist Party Persecutes with Impunity

Religious Liberty Prayer Bulletin | RLPB 509 | 03 Jul 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)

-- Elizabeth Kendal

VIETNAM: COMMUNIST PARTY PERSECUTES WITH IMPUNITY

If the slogan of the Muslim Brotherhood is 'Islam is the solution', then the unofficial slogan of Western parliaments must surely be 'Money is the solution'. As Vietnam has opened up its economy, the West has rewarded it, all the while demanding nothing, but anticipating change. Needless to say, the Communist Party of Vietnam (CPV) has played the game to perfection. Despite twelve years of remarkable economic development, the human rights situation has not improved. In fact, since 2016, human rights have deteriorated markedly as the Communist Party head and President of Vietnam, Nguyen Phu Trọng (75), has moved to consolidate and strengthen CPV control. As in China, so in Vietnam: regime survival depends on money (to satiate the masses and legitimise Communist Party rule) and the snuffing out of all dissent. Soon even more money will be flowing in, for, on 30 June, the European Council signed a free trade agreement with Vietnam, confirming to the CPV that human rights are irrelevant. Despite being a repressed and persecuted minority -- comprising around 9.4 percent (7.7 percent Catholic and 1.3 percent Protestant) -- Vietnamese Christians are at the forefront of pro-democracy, social justice and human rights advocacy.

On 29 April 2019 the US Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) released its annual report and called on the US State Department to re-designate Vietnam as a Country of Particular Concern (CPC), Tier 1. As the USCIRF reports: 'In 2018, religious freedom conditions in Vietnam trended negative.' Police violence and CPV-commissioned thuggery are escalating, draconian laws are accumulating and prisons are filling up with peaceful activists who are being sentenced to increasingly lengthy prison terms. Kidnapped and severely beaten before being arrested and sentenced to 12 years' jail, ostensibly for his religious liberty advocacy, the plight of Protestant Pastor Nguyen Trung Ton (48) is a case in point [see RLPB 479 (31 Oct 2018)].

In May, authorities in north-central Vietnam's Nghe An Province arrested Nguyen Nang Tinh (42), a Catholic parishioner who teaches vocals at Nghe An College of Arts and Culture. A humanitarian known to be active in community work, Tinh was arrested at his home while having breakfast with his sons. His wife, Nguyen Thi Tinh, told Radio Free Asia (RFA) that no warrants for his arrest had been shown and no family members have been allowed to visit him. According to an official police newspaper, Tinh was arrested over a post on Facebook, for 'producing, disseminating or spreading information and documents aimed at undermining' Vietnam.

According to the database of 88 Project, Vietnam is currently holding 263 'activists' (prisoners of conscience). This figure corresponds with the USCIRF's figure of 244 prisoners of conscience as of 31 December 2018, as well as 20 detained activists awaiting trial. RFA carries numerous reports of Vietnamese prisoners of conscience being beaten, choked, held in solitary confinement and forcibly medicated. Many of these prisoners are Christians; some had advocated for religious freedom, democracy and social justice, while others had simply professed or practised their Christian faith.

As the USCIRF makes clear, Vietnam's ethnic minorities face 'especially egregious persecution for the peaceful practice of their religious beliefs, including physical assault, detention, or banishment'. According to the USCIRF, an estimated 2,000 Protestant ethnic Hmong and Montagnard households in the Central Highlands (comprising approximately 10,000 individuals) continue to be stateless because local authorities refuse to issue ID cards, household registration and birth certificates, 'in many instances in retaliation for refusing to renounce their faith'.


PLEASE PRAY SPECIFICALLY THAT GOD WILL

* bless, comfort, sustain and encourage prisoners Nguyen Trung Ton and Nguyen Nang Tinh; may the Lord Jesus Christ bring healing to Pastor Ton's body; may the Spirit lift up Ton and Tinh's heads (Psalm 3:3) and may the God of justice intervene for Ton, Tinh and all Christians unjustly imprisoned in Vietnam (Amos 5:24).

'But he said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." ' (2 Corinthians 12:9a ESV)

* sustain and encourage the Church in Vietnam as repression escalates; may the Lord bless all church leaders with divine wisdom as they seek to lead Christ's precious flock through difficult days; may the Lord flood his Church with all the faith and grace believers will require if they are to 'shine as lights in the world, holding fast to the word of life' (from Philippians 2:14-16 ESV).

* awaken men and women of influence in this world -- in particular those who formulate foreign policy -- to the folly of trusting that 'money is the solution' -- as if money can solve the problem of sin!


SUMMARY FOR BULLETINS UNABLE TO RUN THE WHOLE ARTICLE
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VIETNAM'S COMMUNIST PARTY PERSECUTES WITH IMPUNITY

Since 2016, human rights have deteriorated markedly in Vietnam as the Communist Party of Vietnam (CPV) has moved to consolidate and strengthen its control. Police violence and CPV-commissioned thuggery are escalating, draconian laws are accumulating and prisons are filling with peaceful activists being sentenced to increasingly lengthy prison terms. One such prisoner is Protestant Pastor Nguyen Trung Ton (48), severely beaten and serving 12 years in prison, ostensibly for his religious liberty advocacy. Another is Nguyen Nang Tinh (42), a Catholic parishioner and singing teacher, arrested without warrant in May for a Facebook post deemed anti-state. Ethnic minority, mostly Protestant Hmong and Montagnard Christians face the most egregious persecution, including physical assault, detention, banishment and forced statelessness. Vietnam, her Church and her many courageous Christian advocates need our prayers.

------------------------------------------------------------

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 479. Oct Update. Incl. Burma, Nigeria, Pakistan, North Korea, Sudan (Darfur), Algeria, India, Kenya, Vietnam,

Religious Liberty Prayer Bulletin | RLPB 479 | Wed 31 Oct 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)

----------------------------------------------------
International Day of Prayer (IDOP) for the Persecuted Church
IDOP 2018: Sunday 4 or 11 November
See: Critical Prayer Requests (CPR) for states where Christians are persecuted and/or where religious liberty is threatened.
-----------------------------------------------------

NOTICE: There will be a two-week break in the RLPB ministry as Elizabeth Kendal will be speaking at a conference in Nairobi, Kenya. The Strategic Prayer Network of MANI (Movement for African National Initiatives) will be holding its 2018 conference from Tuesday 6 to Saturday 10 November. The conference -- the theme of which is 'The Convergence of Prayer & Missions' -- will include a special focus on persecution. Please pray for this conference, that all who attend will have safe travel and be greatly encouraged. The next RLPB will be published on Wednesday 21 November. Until then, the material in this RLPB and on the Critical Prayer Requests (CPR) website will provide intercessors more than enough to go on with.

-- Elizabeth Kendal

------------------------------------------------------

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

* BURMA (MYANMAR) (RLPB 475; updated in RLPB 476), where the China-backed United Wa State Army (UWSA) has been destroying crosses, closing and demolishing churches and arresting and interrogating pastors as it moves to exert control over religion in north-east Burma's  unrecognised but de facto independent Wa State.

UPDATE BURMA: On 16 October Catholic media reported that the UWSA had expelled two Salesian priests, three nuns from the Missionary Society of St Paul and three lay teachers from the Wa hills. Furthermore, local believers are now prohibited from reading the Bible and praying together, even in private homes. In a letter dated 22 October, Lahu Baptist leaders called on the UWSA to release the 41 Bible students who had been arrested and forcibly recruited into the UWSA. They also asked that their churches be re-opened and their property returned. According to this later report, a total of 19 Catholics have been expelled, along with twelve pastors from the Lahu Baptist Convention. The Wa region is home to many ethnic groups, with Christians comprising around 30 percent of the estimated 450,000 Wa population. Pray for the Church in Burma's Wa region.

* RLPB 476 of 1000. To commemorate the milestone of 1000 religious liberty prayer bulletins, this RLPB comprised a short article dedicated to those who bear the burden of persecution for Christ's sake as well as those who help bear that burden (see Galatians 6:2) by means of intercessory prayer (i.e. 'advocacy to the highest authority'). RLPB 476 also included updates on Burma; on the Nigerian Christian captive Leah Sharibu (15) whom Boko Haram had threatened to execute; on North Korea; and on Pakistani Christian death-row prisoner Asia Bibi whose Supreme Court appeal had finally been heard.

As the RLPB ministry commemorated the publication of the 1000th religious liberty prayer bulletin, Australian missionary doctor Ken Elliot (84) suffered through his 1000th day in captivity. Dr Elliott and his wife, Jocelyn, had run a 120-bed charitable medical clinic in Djibo, northern Burkina Faso, for over 40 years before they were abducted on 15 January 2016. While Mrs Elliot was subsequently released, Dr Elliot remains captive to a group associated with Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM). He is being held in the Malian desert along with several other foreigners, most of whom are aid workers and Christian. Pray that the Lord will sustain, comfort, encourage and deliver Dr Elliott and his fellow captives.

UPDATE NIGERIA: CHRISTIAN CAPTIVES DEEMED SLAVES

As updated in RLPB 477 (17 Oct), after executing two Muslim aid workers as apostates (for working with the Red Cross), Boko Haram has now officially deemed Christian schoolgirl Leah Sharibu (15) and Christian nurse Alice Loksha Ngaddah (24, mother of two small children) to be their slaves. In its statement, Boko Haram elaborated: 'Based on our [Islamic] doctrines, it is now lawful for us to do whatever we want to do with them.' Pray for Nigeria and in particular for Leah and Alice; may the Lord protect, sustain and deliver them.

UPDATE NORTH KOREA: PRAY THE DOORS WILL OPEN

When North Korean leader Kim Jong-un indicated that he would welcome the Pope if he were to visit North Korea, South Korean President Moon Jae-in agreed to extend an invitation. On 19 October Thae Yong Ho -- the highest level diplomat ever to defect from North Korea -- released a video via Daily NK entitled 'Hoping for a brave decision from the Pope'.  Thae's insights are both fascinating and encouraging. Not only does Thae reveal that North Korean diplomats have been engaged in high level 'under-the-table negotiations' with the Vatican since the late 1980s, he also reports that, whilst Pyongyang's churches are definitely fake – existing purely for propaganda purposes, the fake believers dispatched to attend them have mostly become believers. Following that line, Thae believes that while any welcome extended to the Pope would be similarly fake, his visit could however open the door for love, faith and hope to enter North Korea. Pray that God would intervene in North Korea so that its 'gates' and 'ancient doors' might finally be opened 'that the King of glory [the Lord Almighty] may come in' (Psalm 24).

UPDATE PAKISTAN: ASIA BIBI STILL WAITING

Always good at talking, the United Nations has issued a lot of statements this past month, but not a single statement on the situation facing Asia Bibi. Fortunately not everyone is maintaining silence. On Sunday evening 21 October Australian MP Michael Sukkar (LNP, Deakin) highlighted the plight of Asia Bibi as he called on the Australian government to cease foreign aid to Pakistan while that country is persecuting Christians and other minority groups. Meanwhile, Asia and her family waits. On 19 October World Watch Monitor released an informative report which highlights some of the gross inconsistencies in the case and includes a video interview with the family. Pray for God to intervene in Pakistan, for the country's vulnerable minority Christians and especially at this time for Asia Bibi.

* THE CHRISTIAN CRISIS IN IRAQ & SYRIA (RLPB 477), where the Assyrian nation [the indigenous Christian nation of Mesopotamia (Syria-Iraq)] is in a struggle for its very survival. Pray for the Church in the Middle East, in particular for the Assyrians of Mesopotamia for whom the Christian Crisis is most severe.

* SUDAN (RLPB 478), where the Islamist Arab nationalist regime in Khartoum continues its campaign to fully Islamise and Arabise all areas under its control.

UPDATE SUDAN: CHURCH IN SOUTH DARFUR DRIVEN UNDERGROUND

Middle East Concern (MEC) has now confirmed that Tajadin Idris Yousef, the leader of the group of 13 Sudanese Christians arrested in the city of Nyala, South Darfur, on 10 October, will be charged with apostasy. Of the 13 arrested, three believers from the Nuba Mountains were released when it became clear they were all from a Christian background; the rest were detained as apostates (converts from Islam). All but one were released ten days later after they had recanted their faith under torture and paid a fine for 'disturbing the peace'. In their hearts they are still believers. Despite beatings and torture, Tajadin Idris Yousef refused to recant, hence the charge of apostasy. He was released on 22 October pending a court hearing. The Church has since gone 'underground'. Pray for the Church in South Darfur. Pray for the believers who under torture recanted with their lips (but not their hearts); may they know the Lord's grace, comfort, healing and restoration (Psalm 23:3a); may the devil have no victory over them and may no division permeate the Church.  Pray for Tajadin Idris Yousef; may the Lord sustain, embolden and deliver him.

'Behold, I am sending you out as sheep in the midst of wolves, so be wise as serpents and innocent as doves. Beware of men, for they will deliver you over to courts and flog you in their synagogues,  and you will be dragged before governors and kings for my sake, to bear witness before them and the Gentiles. When they deliver you over, do not be anxious how you are to speak or what you are to say, for what you are to say will be given to you in that hour.  For it is not you who speak, but the Spirit of your Father speaking through you.' (Matthew 10:17-20 ESV)


OCTOBER 2018 ROUND-UP -- also this month …

* ALGERIA: FIVE TO FACE COURT ON 6 NOVEMBER

Church closed! (MEC)

Five Algerian Christians -- including three from one family -- will face court on Tuesday 6 November accused of 'inciting a Muslim to change his religion' and 'performing religious worship in an unauthorised place'. The complaint was brought by a woman whose husband had converted from Islam to Christianity. In Algeria it is illegal to 'incite a Muslim to change his religion'.  The believers are all from Bechloul town in Bouira Province, 100km south-east of the capital, Algiers. Christians continue to face pressure in Algeria. On 16 October police officers closed and sealed the doors of the Protestant church in Azaghar, a village near Akbou, about 180km south-east of Algiers. The church, which is a member of the legally recognised Protestant Church of Algeria (EPA), has been active for more than five years and has about 300 congregants. As the 2019 presidential poll looms, Islam may well be exploited for political gain. Pray for God to intervene in Algeria.

* INDIA: HINDUTVA ESCALATES IN THE SOUTH

For many decades now, Hindu nationalists have concentrated their activities in the northern tribal belt. Yet Hindutva (militant Hindu nationalism) is escalating in the south. Sources report: 'The southern states of Karnataka, Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and Kerala saw at least 60 cases of persecution of Christians in the first nine months of 2018, compared with 36 such attacks in the first nine months of 2017.' Christian leaders in south India told Morning Star News (MSN) that the escalation of persecution can be attributed to the increased activism of Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) volunteers who incite local Hindus to attack Christians. Furthermore, police are increasingly implicated. On 6 October a police inspector with close ties to the RSS led five police officers in a violent raid on a house church in Aralvaimozhi, Kanyakumari District, Tamil Nadu State. This is but one of many attacks. Christian leaders told MSN that the police are misusing their power to persecute Christians and that 'it is all happening under the supervision of RSS and BJP supporters in the local government'. Pray for the Church in India.

* KENYA: CHRISTIAN TEACHERS TARGETED IN NORTH-EAST

At around 1am on the night of 10 October at least 20 militants -- believed to be affiliated with al-Shabaab – targeted non-local teachers at the Arabia Boys Secondary School in Mandera County, close to the dangerously porous Kenya-Somali border. After overwhelming the four security guards, the militants threw an explosive device into the house where the school's four non-local teachers were sleeping, setting it on fire. Philip Okumu (26) and Daniel Wekesa (39) -- both Christians -- were shot and killed as they fled the flames. The school's other two non-local teachers, Elijah Nderitu and Kelvin Lomusi, managed to escape alive. The militants were clearly working from excellent intelligence; they knew exactly where the Christian teachers would be found. It is not the first time al-Shabaab has targeted Christian teachers in this predominantly Muslim region [see RLPB 411 (21 June 2017)].  Pray for the Lord to protect and bless all Christians working in Muslim-majority eastern Kenya.

* NIGERIA: SLAUGHTER IN JOS 

Blessing Kogi (23),
with bullet wounds
to her neck and shoulder.
(WWM)

On the evening of 27 September gunmen -- some in military uniforms, others in all black -- went on a killing spree in the quiet, residential neighbourhood of Rukuba Road, in the south-western outskirts of Jos, the capital of Plateau State. In total, 15 people were killed. Blessing Kogi (23) lost ten members of her family that night and World Watch Monitor (WWM) names them all in its report.  Twelve members of the family had gathered for a meal when the militants burst in, shooting wildly. Blessing and one cousin survived with injuries. Her father arrived home from work to find most of his family dead. According to Blessing, 'The people wearing black clothes spoke Hausa and Fulani, while the others wearing army uniforms spoke correct English.' What's more, as the gunmen were leaving she heard one of the men in army uniform say, 'We have finished our work; they should come and pay us our money.' Blessing requests prayers for her father, whom she described as a broken man. Questions are being asked as to how gunmen can commit such carnage in a suburb of a state capital and within walking distance of a military barracks. Pray for Nigeria; may the Lord intervene in grace and mercy so the Islamisation and terror will end.

* NIGERIA: CHAOS IN KADUNA

Pandemonium erupted in a market in Kasuwan Magani in the Kajuru Local Government Area of Kaduna on 18 October after a Muslim cried 'thief' to deliberately trigger a riot. The cry quickly changed to 'Allahu Akbar' as Muslims attacked homes and businesses belonging to Christians (mostly ethnic Igbo); one church was also torched. A total of 55 people were confirmed dead, many burned beyond recognition. A later skirmish claimed another 27 lives. On 19 October the revered tribal leader of a majority-Christian area in southern Kaduna came to visit the site of the violence only to be kidnapped; his security detachment was killed. Despite ransom being paid, Raphael Maiwada Galadima, a Catholic, was executed; his body was found on 26 October. The violence has sent ethnic-religious tensions soaring. The Nigerian Air Force has deployed combat helicopters, surveillance aircraft and a detachment of Special Forces to the area to restore order. While commercial activities are slowly resuming, most Igbo businesses remain closed. Pray for Nigeria; may the Lord intervene to save this country from civil war.

* PAKISTAN:  LIFE IN PRISON FOR BLASPHEMY

As Christian death-row blasphemy prisoner Asia Bibi awaits the ruling of the Supreme Court (which heard her appeal on 8 October) harsh and manifestly unjust sentences continue to be handed down to those accused of blasphemy. In June 2015 Yaqoob Bashir, a 25-year-old mentally disabled Pakistani Christian, was accused of burning a booklet that allegedly contained verses of the Quran. On 28 September 2018 the district court in Mirpur Khas, Sindh Province, deemed Bashir guilty of blasphemy and sentenced him to life in prison. His lawyer will appeal, but, as in Asia Bibi's case, the appeal process can take many years during which time the prisoner's survival is not guaranteed. Pray for a breakthrough in Pakistan, and may the Lord protect, sustain, comfort and encourage his Church.

* VIETNAM: IMPRISONED PASTOR'S HEALTH DETERIORATES

Pastor Nguyen Trung Ton after a
beating in February 2017.

 Protestant pastor Nguyen Trung Ton (46) was arrested in July 2017 for his pro-democracy and religious liberty advocacy. At that time, Ton was carrying severe leg injuries acquired during a vicious beating in February 2017 [see RLPB 448 (28 March)]. On 5 April 2018 Ton and five other members of the Brotherhood for Democracy group were tried in a Hanoi Court and charged with 'carrying out activities aimed at overthrowing the People's administration' [RLPB 450 (11 April)]. Ton was sentenced to 12 years in prison. The February 2017 beating left Ton with a torn ligament and crushed leg muscles. Confined to prison and without medical care, Ton's legs have never healed. On 23 October Ton's wife, Nguyen Thi Lanh, told Radio Free Asia that her husband's health is deteriorating. 'Prison authorities have not allowed me to send him any medication, and now he can't walk and is very ill,' she said. On 7 June 2018 two of the Brotherhood for Democracy prisoners -- leader Nguyen Van Dai and his assistant (Ms) Le Thu Ha -- were released from prison and exiled to Germany [RLPB 459 (13 June)]. Pray that God will intervene for Pastor Nguyen Trung Ton.

-------------------------------------------------------------

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 459. Prisoners and Captives: Remember Them

Religious Liberty Prayer Bulletin | RLPB 459 | Wed 13 Jun 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)


PRISONERS AND CAPTIVES: REMEMBER THEM
by Elizabeth Kendal

Prisons in the West are dangerous places because they are full of violent criminals. Fortunately, apart from the occasional miscarriage of justice or irregular abuse of power, citizens are not usually incarcerated for their beliefs or peaceful activity. Meanwhile, in prisons all across the non-Western world Christian prisoners of conscience are threatened, not merely by criminals, but by unsanitary conditions, infectious diseases, untreated illness and extreme mistreatment -- including torture -- at the hands of the authorities. These human rights abuses are enabled by a worldview that diminishes and even negates the Christian's value both as a citizen and as a human being.

Leah Sharibu (15),
 captive of Boko Haram.
RLPB 448 (28 March) 

While thousands of Christians are prisoners of the state, thousands more are 'captives' held by non-state actors -- mainly jihadists. Some captives are girls abducted as slaves and brides. Others are missionaries who were following the model of Jesus, selflessly serving others far from home when they were captured. In such cases the captive's life only has value as long as their bodies can be exploited or the prospect of ransom remains alive.

Compounding the hardship and physical suffering is the crushing heartbreak of separation from family and friends; many have no Christian fellowship and are denied access to the Bible. How vulnerable must these believers be (especially young, new believers) to the devil's fiery darts as he seeks to crush their spirit with doubts about God's presence, faithfulness, goodness and love. Nothing but the shield of faith will do (Ephesians 6:16) ... and this is where we come in. Christian prisoners and captives might grow exhausted and confused, but we will be there, fighting for them.

If a montage of images of today's Christian prisoners and captives were to be assembled, it would form a snapshot of our increasingly global Church. It would be evidence not merely of persecution, but of faith; expressing both the reality of Matthew 10 and John 15:18 - 16:4, and the promise of Genesis 12:3b and Habakkuk 2:14. For today’s prisoners and captives comprise men and women, young and old, Pakistani, Chinese, Indonesian, Nigerian, American, Indian, Colombian, European, Central Asian, Australian, Vietnamese, Iranian, Eritrean, Laotian, Burkinabe, North Korean and more. They are high profile human rights lawyers like Gao Zhisheng (China), humble labourers like Asia Bibi (Pakistan), students like Leah Sharibu (15, a captive of Boko Haram, Nigeria) and foreign nationals like Rev. Andrew Brunson (an American pastor imprisoned in Turkey), Sister Gloria Cecilia Narvaez (a Colombian missionary nun taken captive in Mali) and Dr Ken Elliot (an 83 year-old Australian missionary doctor taken captive in Burkina Faso). There are far too many to name; but praise God, he knows and loves each one and in faithfulness, never ever leaves them (Matthew 28:20).

Jeff Woodke, speaking in the US (l)
and serving in Niger (r).
Background: RLPB 413 (5 July 2017)

We thank God for the confirmation on 4 June that Jeff Woodke -- an American missionary taken captive in Niger -- is alive and being held captive in the Malian desert. We thank God for the 7 June release into exile of Vietnamese human rights lawyer Nguyen van Dai. We lament with believers whose appeals have been rejected, including Pastor Youcef Nadarkhani (Iran) who returns to prison after his 10-year sentence was upheld on 2 May; and Pastor Nguyen Trung Ton (Vietnam) whose 12-year sentence was upheld on 4 June. We lament over the catechist Mathieu Sawadogo, and his wife Alizeta. Jihadists abducted the couple from their home in Soum Province, northern Burkina Faso, at 4 a.m. on 20 May; presumably they have been taken into the Malian desert.


PLEASE PRAY SPECIFICALLY THAT:

* the Spirit of God will powerfully sustain all Christians who are this day prisoners of hostile regimes, or captives of non-state actors. [Captors might be able to control the environment but they cannot control the Spirit of God!] May prisoners and captives find their strength renewed and spirits lifted as if on eagles' wings (Isaiah 40:31); may the Lord intervene for them to provide ministering angels at every turn.  Imagine yourself 'in their shoes' – and pray! 'Remember those who are in prison, as though in prison with them ...' (Hebrews 13:3 ESV)

* the God of justice and righteousness will intervene to deliver justice for his people. 'But let justice roll down like waters, and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream.' (Amos 5:24 ESV).

* our Lord Jesus Christ will subvert all evil and redeem all suffering so that ultimately all things will 'work together for good' (Romans 8:28) and to the glory of his holy name.


SUMMARY FOR BULLETINS UNABLE TO RUN THE WHOLE ARTICLE
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REMEMBER PRISONERS AND CAPTIVES

Thousands of Christians are in prison for their faith, while others are held captive by jihadists. Men and women, who are Pakistani, Chinese, Indonesian, American, Indian, Nigeria, Colombian, European, Central Asian, Australian, Vietnamese, Iranian, Eritrean, Laotian, Burkinabe, North Korean and more. They include human rights lawyers like Gao Zhisheng (China), humble labourers like Asia Bibi (Pakistan) and foreign nationals like Andrew Brunson (an American pastor imprisoned in Turkey), Sister Gloria Narvaez (a Colombian missionary taken captive in Mali) and Dr Ken Elliot (an Australian missionary doctor taken captive in Burkina Faso). Christian prisoners and captives suffer physically, emotionally and spiritually, and are often exhausted and confused. Imagine yourself in their shoes -- and pray! 'Remember those who are in prison, as though in prison with them ...' (Hebrews 13:3 ESV). 

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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