Voice of the Martyrs, Jun. 24, 2021

On May 4, three families in one village in Laos accepted Christ, for a total of 13 new believers. The three families, who are related, decided to follow Jesus after one of the relatives experienced a miraculous healing following prayer from a pastor.

With 40 of the village’s 120 families already Christian, village police informed the leaders, fearing the whole village could become Christian.

The men from each family were taken into custody and interrogated. Authorities told them if they continued following the foreign religion, they would have to obtain official documentation from a government office or be jailed. The families’ case is now with provincial authorities.

Pray that the families are able to obtain proper documentation without any further threats. Pray that their new faith is a testimony to their new life in Christ, and pray that their village will see other families come to know the Lord.

Voice of the Martyrs, 10 June 2021

A Persian house church leader had two boxes of Farsi New Testaments in the trunk of his car. When he saw that he was approaching a police checkpoint, he pulled over and left the boxes of Bibles on the side of the road.

Later that night, the police chief saw the boxes on the roadside and thought they might contain contraband, so he put them in his truck and took them home.

Once he got home and opened the boxes, he discovered the boxes were filled with Bibles and wasn’t sure what to do with them.

Since the Persian New Year was approaching, he decided to give the Bibles to each family member and guest at his home.

A Voice of the Martyrs worker reported that when one of the women who received a Bible called the contact information inside of it and was asked who gave her the New Testament, she replied, “My family friend. He is the police chief.”

Pray that the police chief and those who received the Bibles will find salvation in Christ through them. Pray that Bible distributors in Iran will continue to find creative ways of delivering Bibles into the country.

World Watch Monitor, 14 June 2021 (excerpts)

This week, a coalition of over 120 Nigerian NGOs, including Action Aid, issued a plea that President Buhari act over the decline in security. Following what it referred to as “a sharp increase of 43 per cent in mass atrocities 2020” it had “recorded an all-time quarterly high of almost 2000 fatalities from mass atrocities incidents across the country” from January to March 2021.

The NGOs noted how the government had downplayed the severity of “large scale terrorist attacks in the North West” by tagging the criminality as “banditry”.  They had in a February statement charged President Buhari to halt the drifting of Nigeria to what they called a ‘state of anarchy’.

On 13 May, President Buhari pledged that his administration will “use all available resources and manpower in dealing with bandits”.

During Eid prayers, Bauchi State Governor urged the Federal Government to improve the security architecture. “Most of the criminality is coming from us as members of the Islamic faith, such as banditry, kidnapping and the rest. We must be very courageous to say it. It’s not something acceptable in the tenets of Islam … Apparently, the Federal security architecture has failed not because of any compromise but because the situation is overwhelming”.

Barnabas Fund, 14 June 2021 (excerpts)

A 17-year-old Ethiopian Christian has been shot dead without trial in broad daylight at a roundabout in Dembi Dollo, Oromia region on 11 May.

Oromia regional special forces claimed that Amanuel Wondimu belonged to the banned Oromo Liberation Army (OLA).  They arrested, beat and paraded him, forcing him to shout, “I am a member of the OLA. Don’t do what I did. Learn from me.”

The town’s administration posted a video on social media in which security forces taunt the bloodied teenager with a handgun tied around his neck.

He was shot twice in the head at a roundabout in the town. Witnesses said local police and armed forces ordered vehicles to stop and compelled local residents and business owners to watch the killing.

Since the killing, government authorities have further intimidated Dembi Dollo residents, including Amanuel’s family members and friends.

Amanuel’s father asserted that his son had no links with the OLA, he was a devout Christian and served as a deacon in his local church.

Another relative said that Amanuel never had any involvement in politics, adding, “He spends most of his time in the church. The accusations against him are absurd.”

Morning Star News, 26 May 2021

Fulani herdsmen on Sunday, May 23, killed 14 Christians in a village near Jos, Plateau state and 8 others in another village, sources said.

Herdsmen attacked Kwi village near Jos, at about 11 p.m., said area resident Solomon Mandiks, a Christian rights activist.

“14 Christians were butchered to death, including children,” Mandiks told Morning Star News in a text. “8 members of one family have all been killed … besides an additional six other Christians killed by the herdsmen in the village.”

Earlier that night in Dong village, Jos North County, armed herdsmen attacking at 8 p.m. killed eight Christians, area residents said. Asabe Samuel, 60-year-old member of the local Evangelical Church, said that a large number of herdsmen invaded as residents were about to go to sleep.

“I was by the central area of the village when I heard Fulani gunmen shooting around my house,” she told Morning Star News. “This forced us to run to hide.”

As the sounds of gunshot were coming from the direction of her house, others advised her not to return home.

“I still rushed to my house, and just as I was getting closer to my house, I found … a corpse was lying beside my house,” Samuel said. “We heard the attackers retreating and shouting ‘Allahu Akbar [Allah is greater].’ The herdsmen were communicating with themselves in the Fulani language.”