Morning Star News, 12 February 2021

Renowned French film-maker, journalist, and philosopher Bernard-Henri Levy, hardly a right-wing “Islamophobe,” is among those who have made reports that indicate funding from Islamist organizations abroad is behind the radicalization of mosques in Nigeria.

Radical mosques and Islamic schools contribute to the kind of violence perpetrated by Fulani herdsmen, leading to the well-founded fear of slaughter that many Christian villagers in north-central Nigeria experience each night.

“Such fear is hardly ‘phobic.’ It indicates a very real and increasing danger that cannot be overlooked,” writes Lela Gilbert, senior fellow for religious freedom at the Family Research Council, in a recent report. “And such danger should not be ignored by those who have the power and means to confront and contest it.”

In her report, “The Crisis of Christian Persecution in Nigeria,” Gilbert notes that international media contribute to the ignorance of the ongoing slaughters in Nigeria among people in the United States.

“Because many reporters and others in the media often operate from a secularist worldview, religious concerns are frequently overlooked by ill-informed commentators and analysts,” she reports. “Worse yet, far too many incidents remain unreported altogether. This lack of reporting is occurring while one of the 21st century’s worst atrocities unfolds.”

The Voice of the Martyrs, 11 February 2021

After Muslim mobs destroyed 12 churches in the Alaba zone in 2019, believers waiting for their churches to be rebuilt report an increased dedication to missions and outreach in their communities.

In a single day, extremists moved through the town of Alaba Kulito and destroyed 12 church buildings. Two years later, church leaders and evangelists now report that their congregations are more motivated than ever to share the gospel with their persecutors.

One congregation sent five evangelists to an unreached people group. Another evangelist reported that more people responded to the gospel message in the previous two months than in six months of previous work.

“The persecution has awakened the churches for missions. We were prioritizing buildings, furnishing them and buying other materials. But now our number one priority is missions,” one of the church elders said.

“After the persecution we haven’t raised funds for church buildings and other materials but for missions.” Praise God for the attitude of the believers and pray for changed hearts as a result of their efforts.

Barnabas Fund, 15 February 2021

Prosecutors in Muslim-majority Somaliland were granted extra time on 10 February to detain in custody a Christian couple and their new-born baby and two other Christian women on suspicion of “spreading Christianity”.

Somaliland’s small Christian community is feeling “very vulnerable” following the arrests of five Christians by police in the capital Hargeisa

On 21 January, police from the capital Hargeisa arrested and detained in custody Mohamed and Hamdi with their baby, as well as Aster, an Ethiopian woman.

Their lawyer said that on his initial visit they all appeared in good health and were being well treated. However, he has since been denied access, despite his verbal complaint and subsequent assurances from the public prosecutor’s office.

Many believers are reported to have fled abroad after the arrest in September 2020 of a Christian couple detained for being “apostates and evangelists spreading Christianity”. The couple, who have three children, were unexpectedly released and deported two months later after European government representatives raised the case with the Ministry of Religious Affairs.

Islam is the official religion of Somaliland, which declared independence from Somalia in 1991. Its constitution states that individuals have the right to freedom of belief. However, the constitution also prohibits Muslims from converting to another religion.

Morning Star News, 28 January 2021

Muslim villagers on Sunday attacked the wife and children of a pastor in eastern Uganda who is still receiving hospital treatment for a previous assault.

Previously a group of area Muslims beat Pastor Nabwana with sticks and a blunt object on his head, back, stomach and chest.

A church leader visited Naura, wife of Pastor Nabwana, and her family at their thatched-roof dwelling on January 22. He said they need protection as well as financial assistance.

So far the church has paid medical bills of about $1,000 for the couple, and the church leader said further medical bills for them will amount to about $950.

Naura had been hospitalized for five days after the previous attack, incited by mosque leaders announcing that a local imam had left Islam for Christianity. A group of Muslims beat her and Pastor Nabwana and demolished parts of their church building.

The former imam, whose name is withheld for security reasons, put his faith in Christ on Dec. 5 and on Dec 27 joined the church worship. The new Christian was given the opportunity to share the journey of how he came to faith in Christ, and when mosque leaders heard the celebration, they announced the apostasy.

The Voice of the Martyrs, 28 January 2021

A group of Turkish believers who produce Christian literature ask for prayer as they operate in Turkey’s tense climate for believers. After nine years of publishing a theological magazine, “we are still able to do our job in this dark atmosphere,” they wrote.

A reader, Tolga, wrote to tell the group the difference the magazine made in his life. Tolga lived a life of crime and drugs growing up and was constantly in and out of jail. In prison, he heard about “missionaries” who spy on Turkish people, and it made him curious. He covered his face and snuck into a church to get a Bible.

In 2018, he subscribed to the Christian magazine to help him understand the Christian faith more fully; now he belongs to Christ and is saved.

The believers who create the Christian magazine ask for prayer that they will be able to continue producing it.

They also plan to produce content for the growing number of those living in Turkey who speak Persian. “Pray that the hearts of the people we reach would be open to the Lord,” they wrote. “Our aim is only to serve the gospel.”