Morning Star News, 8 September 2022 (excerpts)

Muslim extremists killed 5 Christian workers by throwing them off a boat into Uganda’s Lake Kyoga.

The evangelists were traveling on a commercial transport boat with plans to plant a church in the Aduku area, a Christian survivor of the attack told Morning Star News.

The survivor, Amos Kyakulaga, who was acting as a guide, said the five evangelists began proclaiming Christ to a group of 10 Muslims in Islamic attire aboard the boat.

“On our way, Tonny Ankunda started preaching to the people on the boat, which resulted in a huge argument between Muslims and the missionaries concerning the Sonship of our Lord Jesus Christ.”

One of the Muslims, identified only as Bashir, threatened the Christians, saying, “If you continue insisting that Jesus is the Son of God, then Allah will kill all of you.”

Citing Scripture, the evangelists continued affirming the sonship of Christ and Bashir told them, “We are giving you one last minute to stop your blasphemy and to convert by confessing the shahada (Islamic creed), or else your lives are at risk.”

When the 5 evangelists refused to renounce Christ, the Muslims pushed them off the boat one by one, Kyakulaga said.  While the lake is only 4 to 5.7 meters deep, they were 200 meters from shore, and all five Christians drowned.

The 10 Muslims aboard were in agreement that the Christians should be killed.

The Muslims asked him if he was one of the missionaries, sparing him when he said he was not part of the church-planting team.

Release International, 11 August 2022 (excerpts)

A year after the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan, Christian TV companies report deeper religious persecution and restrictions in every area of life in Afghanistan.

One Christian viewer of SAT-7 said, ‘The security situation for someone like me who has accepted another faith is extremely concerning.  Pray for us.’

Another viewer said: ‘Fear and dread have taken all of Afghanistan, especially affecting religious and ethnic minorities. At checkpoints, mobile phones are checked.’

‘Christians live under daily threat and in danger,’ said Shoaib Ebadi, president of Square One World Media.

The latest report by the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom stated: ‘Converts who already faced ostracization and the threat of honour killings by family and village members are now at heightened risk with the Taliban in power.’

Shoaib Ebadi added, ‘In the midst of darkness, Christian followers of Jesus are still trying to help the poor and be salt and light.’

‘They are questioning everything: their own faith, their past, their present, their future.  And all of them have mobile phones. Short videos about Jesus’ teaching and his life are being watched by hundreds and thousands.

Shoaib Ebadi believes the spread of the Christian faith in Afghanistan has overtaken even that of Iran, where it has been growing rapidly – despite or because of persecution. ‘The growth of the church in Afghanistan is ten times faster than in Iran,’ he claimed.

Church in Chains, 6 September 2022 (excerpts)

Islamic State terrorists shots dead two Copts, Hany Moussa Waheeb (40) and his father Salama Moussa Waheeb, in northwest Sinai on 30 August.

The shooting took place in a village where the two Christians had been working in fields on their family farm. They were seemingly shot at random – police discovered their bodies after family members lost contact with them.

Hany leaves behind a wife and two young daughters, while Salama was father to two sons and three daughters.

In mid-August, Islamic State militants reportedly entered the area and began fighting police and military there.

Christian Solidarity Worldwide reports that in recent weeks Islamic State has increased its operations in North Sinai and that many Islamic State operatives have moved into cities on the west side of the Suez Canal.

The army has been engaged in counter-insurgency operations against Islamist militias in Sinai since 2011, and the jihadists have killed scores of security force members and also many Christians.

In 2017, most of the Coptic residents of Al Arish, capital of North Sinai governorate, fled their homes following the killing of seven Copts by Islamic State militants.

Voice of the Martyrs, 25 August 2022 (excerpts)

During the last week of May 2022, Eritrean police arrested 17 Christians who had gathered for prayer.  A week later, authorities arrested 25 more believers, including eight children. All 42 Christians remain in detention.

Located on the Red Sea, Eritrea is governed by a totalitarian regime that seeks to control every aspect of life.  Some have compared Eritrea to the “hermit kingdom” of North Korea, as it is one of the most secretive and isolated countries in the world.  In 2002, the government outlawed every form of religion except Islam, Orthodox Christianity, Roman Catholicism and the Lutheran Church.

Years of communism, required military service and economic depression have caused many Eritreans, including evangelical believers, to flee the country.  Travel for Eritreans is restricted by their government.

Over the past year, the government has released some Christian prisoners while arresting several new groups.  

Despite these hardships, the underground church in Eritrea continues to grow due to the faithfulness of church leaders inside and outside the country.

Voice of the Martyrs, 25 August 2022 (excerpts)

In Chiapas, Mexico’s southernmost state, Christian families often lose their livelihood when those opposed to their faith confiscate their land and expel them from their village.  A ministry called Houses of Refuge provides one-room homes with a porch and outhouse for such families, and they may stay for up to a year as they try to relocate in an area where they can live free of persecution.

The families receive spiritual encouragement as well as hands-on training in cultivating coffee, raising livestock and farming corn and other crops to help them support themselves.  Some of the women receive training in how to start and operate a small convenience store. After sensing God’s call, Pablo, a resident at the Houses of Refuge, was commissioned to return to the area where he had previously lived to proclaim the gospel to his persecutors.

Specific areas within southern Mexico have a high concentration of indigenous minority groups.  These minority communities, which maintain a separate identity and language, are systematically oppressed by local authorities.  Christians among them are persecuted by Marxist and animist groups as well as village leaders. These communities are remotely located and difficult to reach.  Despite persecution, the number of Christians has continued to grow in these areas.

In difficult areas within southern Mexico, evangelical Christians make up about 3 percent of the population.