Daily Prayer Requests
| Restrictions on Religious Instruction of Children | Wed, Mar 10, 2010 |
| Pastor Robbed and Threatened | Tue, Mar 9, 2010 |
| Bill to Ban Churches | Mon, Mar 8, 2010 |
All Christians must be killed according to Islamic law. Such people do not have a place in Somalia, and we will never recognize their existence and we will slaughter them."
-- Islamic leader in Somalia
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Persecution News
Sharia Law and Christians: Persecution in Nigeria
"God is great!" chant militants from the Islamic terror group Boko Haram as they carry out attacks on Nigeria's civilians. Innocent Nigerians are pulled from their cars and shot, corpses left strewn about the streets. Hundreds abruptly and maliciously killed.
The militant group is only one of many in Nigeria that actively seeks to continue the spread of Islamic sharia law. Islamic law governs all aspects of daily life, with harsh punishment, such as flogging, exile, or execution, for any deviation from what sharia dictates.
Africa's most populous country, Nigeria has roughly equal populations of Muslims and Christians. Violence between religious groups has increased dramatically throughout the past decade, as the country's Muslim north began strict enforcement of sharia law. Muslims in Nigeria had argued that the introduction of sharia law would not affect Christians.
Instead, Nigeria's Christians have experienced unthinkable persecutions. The Nigerian church has suffered greatly, similar to our brothers and sisters across the world in other predominately Islamic nations. Christians are imprisoned illegally, tried in sharia courts without the right to appeal. Blame is cast upon Christians for illegal acts. Over 100 churches have been destroyed, many torched and razed. Islamic extremists have taken Christians hostage and beheaded pastors when they refused to convert to Islam. Since 1999, more than 10,000 people have died because of Muslim and Christian conflicts in Nigeria.
Yet the hope and steadfast faith of Nigerian Christians is a testimony to the power of Jesus Christ. As one Nigerian Christian proclaimed, "God never makes a mistake. His work in our lives is perfect."
by brittany
To lay down one's life
January 16, 2010
In late October, an Islamic suicide bomber tried to attack the women's area of the International Islamic University in Islamabad, Pakistan.
But as the suicide bomber made his way to a cafeteria of some 300 to 400 women students, a Christian janitor named Pervaiz came between him and his goal. Like many Pakistani followers of Jesus, he was relegated to the most servile of jobs. Yet this simple man refused to let the bomber pass. In the altercation that followed, the bomb detonated, killing Pervaiz, the bomber, and three girls nearby. But several hundred other Muslim girls were kept from harm.
A professor the university stated that Pervaiz "rose above the barriers of caste, creed and sectarian terrorism. Despite being a Christian, he sacrificed his life to save the Muslim girls."
Perhaps it would be more accurate to say, not "despite being a Christian," but because of being a Christian, Pervaiz laid down his life.
Pray that Pervaiz's heroic actions will help Pakistani Muslims to see Christians in a different light. And pray that Islamic extremists would have their eyes opened to what it means to be a true martyr -- not suicidal bombings, but giving one's life so others might live.
~ adapted from the Christian Post
Villagers attack showing of Jesus video
December 23, 2009
Some 50 Muslim villagers attacked a showing of the “Jesus Film” in Punjab Province on December 9, injuring three evangelists -- two of them seriously -- and four attending Christians. The Muslim hardliners also damaged a movie projector, burned reels of the film and absconded with the public address system and donations from Christian viewers.
Eyewitnesses report that numerous Muslim villagers and their clerics had gathered outside the church compound as the film played, some of them climbing trees to get a clearer view of the screen. The church compound was crammed with Christian villagers clapping as the film showed Jesus Christ performing miracles, raising the dead, casting out evil spirits and healing ailments. As soon as the Muslim attackers watched the resurrection and ascension of Christ, they became enraged and attacked. Although Muslims hold Christ as a prophet, they do not believe he was crucified.
The evangelists showing the film said from their clinic beds that a Muslim cleric instigated the Muslim villagers, who were armed with clubs, spades and axes.
“They charged on us deadly and swiftly and left us injured and broke all our appliances and took away funds collected by congregants to help us. Muslim men also injured those Christian villagers who tried to intervene and stop them.”
Intervention by the village headman resulted in the rescue of the Christian evangelists and the surrender of the Muslim mob. The Muslims were forced to evacuate the church grounds, but only after a stand-off of nearly two hours.
A local Christian leader says the assaulted Christians tried to register a case against their Muslim attackers, but police scornfully rejected their application. Officers peremptorily told them to settle the dispute in a local jury of village elders.
~ adapted from Compass Direct
Sudanese flees persecution
December 14, 2009
Howida's Muslim brother and her ex-husband began searching for her in Cairo earlier this year after a relative reported her whereabouts to them. While there, her brother and ex-husband tried to seize her 10-year-old son from school.
“I’m afraid of my brother finding us,” said the 38-year-old Howida, who has moved to another area. “Their aim is to take us back to Sudan, and there they will force us to return to the Islamic faith or sentence us to death according to Islamic law.”
“In 2004, I started to see a vision of Christ speaking to me,” she said. “When I shared it with my friend, who is a Muslim, she said that she used to hear these things from Christians.” This comment spurred Howida to seek out a Christian friend who told her about Jesus Christ and prayed with her.
“After that time, I begun to see more visions from Christ saying, ‘He is Christ the Good Shepherd,” she said.
Fearing that relatives might discover she was a Christian, in 2007 she escaped with her then-8-year-old son. They tried to prevent her leaving. “They destroyed my passport, but through the assistance of a Christian friend, I acquired a new passport and secretly left,” she told Compass by e-mail.
Her peace in Egypt was short-lived; earlier this year, while Howida secretly attended church as she stayed with a Muslim relative in Cairo, the relative found out about her conversion to Christianity and notified her brother and ex-husband in Sudan.
They arrived in Cairo in July. She had found lodging at a church in Cairo that houses a refugee ministry, but as it became clear that her brother and ex-husband were searching for her, ministry officials moved her and her son to an apartment. The two Muslim men went to her son’s school to take him back to Sudan. It was a Christian school, and the director refused to hand the boy over to them. Since then she has been in hiding, and all familial financial support has vanished.
Howida said her brother and ex-husband sought to kill her for apostasy, or leaving Islam – with the support of relatives back in Sudan and others in the community, members of the Shaingia tribe who practice a strict form of Islam.
Fearing forcible repatriation to Sudan, Howida tried to go to Israel; Egyptian authorities arrested her at the border and jailed her for two months. During that time her son was put in an Islamic children’s home. A Muslim family had adopted him, but she was able to win back custody after leaving jail in October.
“We have stopped going out of the apartment or even going to church,” she said. “My son can no longer go to school daily as before. We cannot live our lives as before. I cannot now participate in the Bible study or fellowships – I’m now depending only on myself for growing spiritually, and for prayer and Bible study.”
~ adapted from Compass Direct News
Women's Prayer Meeting Goes to Jail
December 10, 2009
Thirty older Christian women were arrested in Eritrea's capital, Asmara. According to one report, "The Christians were praying at a house at the time Eritrean officials raided the prayer meeting, arrested all of the people, and took them to the police station."
Their children and grandchildren are concerned about the safety of their loved ones. Eritrean believers in Jesus face harassment and torture for their faith.
Most of the detainees are members of Faith Mission Church. This body has been carrying out evangelistic and development activities in Eritrea for over five decades. It was forced underground in 2002 after Eritrean officials required all religious groups to register.
Since 2002, officials have imprisoned more than 3,000 Christians, keeping them in underground dungeons, metal shipping containers, and military barracks. Several have died inside prisons due to torture and lack of medical treatment.
Eritrea is a Marxist nation, and also has a substantial Islamic population. Yet, while the atrocities against Christians are significant and increasing, the underground church is growing. People are coming to Christ because they are desperate, because there is rampant poverty and starvation. People are finding hope in Jesus Christ, and they know that is the only hope that they have.
~ adapted from Mission Network News and International Christian Concern
Somali pastor martyred
11-30-09
Pastor Ali was returning home from a worship service when two masked members of al-Shabab, an Islamic militant group, ambushed and shot him. Left for dead, the pastor was eventually taken to a hospital, but died of bullet wounds ten days later. His grieving wife and daughter are now in hiding fearing for their own lives.
Ali had converted from Islam to Christianity ten years ago while working in Mogadishu, Somalia’s capital. In 2002, he started pastoring an underground house church.
Al-Shabab has previously declared Somalia an Islamic state and vowed to eradicate followers of Jesus. This year alone, the group has killed a dozen Somali Christians. Several believers have fled the country due to intense persecution. Yet despite the growing number of martyrs, the Somali church is growing rapidly.
Please continue to pray for the underground church in Somalia.
~ adapted from International Christian Concern
Christian Executed in Prison
9-16-09
A Christian man in Pakistan courted a Muslim girl, a classmate, for three years. Her mother was determined to break up the relationship. She tore pages out of a Koran and threw them on the ground in front of the young man’s house. Then, she went to local Muslim authorities and accused the man of desecrating the Koran.
The man was arrested. “Muslims cannot stand the idea that a Muslim woman might fall in love with a Christian.” In response to this unthinkable situation, Muslims rioted and burned a church as well as two houses. In the face of this violence a Christian leader reported, “We are actually glad that the 19-year-old boy is in jail at the moment—at least there he will be safe. It means he won’t be killed by the fanatic Muslims.”
Their hopes were brutally dashed.
The young man was found dead in his prison cell two days after his arrest. Police claimed that the young man committed suicide by hanging himself. However, there are signs of torture on his body. The evidence indicates he was first tortured, and then quietly executed in prison.
This tragic incident illustrates just how easy it is for a Christian to be framed under the blasphemy laws. These laws, “hand people—Muslims in particular—an invisible sword enabling them to take revenge on anybody they like.”
Pray for this young man’s family and that the Christian community will not be punished further. Pray also that these blasphemy laws will be repealed.
~ adapted from Asia News
Pastor Deported
9-15-09
A native pastor in
~adapted from Forum 18 News Services
Militants Kill Three Pastors and Raze Twenty Churches
9-14-09
An extreme Islamic militant group is moving into
~adapted from International Christian Concern
Christian Shopkeeper Beaten for Blasphemy
8/21/2009
On a normal workday, a young Christian shopkeeper took the garbage out to be burned on the sidewalk—a common practice in Pakistan. A Muslim neighbor saw him and reported to other Muslims that the Christian had burned a Koran.
A crowd of Muslims gathered immediately. They attacked the Christian and beat him severely: the police arrived, broke up the mob, and arrested the Christian.
Imams announced through the mosques that a Christian had blasphemed. Hundreds of Muslims gathered; they blocked roads, burned tires, and demanded that the Christian be killed. The Church is requesting calm and asking the Muslims to allow the police to investigate the incident. So far, the police have taken no action and are holding the Christian with no proof.
Christians are shocked. They say, “We have lived in the area peacefully with Muslims for decades and nothing like this has ever happened here. There must be a conspiracy behind this."
~adapted from International Christian Concern
