Church in Chains, 15 March 2023 (excerpts)

The Algerian authorities’ ongoing crackdown on Christians has seen more church buildings shut down and sealed in recent months and by March only eight Protestant churches remained open in the entire country.

In Algeria, which is 98 percent Muslim, since 2006 no church affiliated with the Algerian Protestant Church (EPA), has received a licence and the National Commission for Non-Muslim worship has ignored all applications.

In November 2017 the Algerian authorities began a crackdown on the EPA, demanding that affiliated churches prove they have licences.  Since then over 20 churches have been shut down and their buildings sealed.  Once a court orders a church to close, police put wax on the door so that no one can enter the building without breaking the seal.

The authorities may not admit to closing churches for religious reasons but they find some reason to close down a church.  They want all churches to register, and they want them to meet only in a specific, approved location.

Members of closed churches have been forced underground and can only meet as illegal house churches or online.  Many Algerian church leaders are receiving online training.  What is happening in Algeria is what happened to the first Church in Acts.  They are closing down the buildings, but the Church is a group of people who believe in Jesus Christ, and they can meet wherever.

Since the crackdown began at least 12 Algerian Christians have been convicted on faith-related charges, including blasphemy and proselytism, and have received prison sentences of between 6 months and 5 years.

The Voice of the Martyrs, March 24, 2023 (excerpts)

Owning, printing, importing or distributing Bibles in Iran is illegal.  Since they are so difficult to obtain, Bibles are treasured by Iranian believers, and few have their own copy of God’s Word.

Despite the prohibitions and scarcity, Christians in Iran are working on placing copies of God’s Word into people’s hands.  When they receive a shipment of Bibles, our Iranian brothers and sisters hand-deliver the Bibles to strangers. They knock on the doors of people they don’t know and give Bibles to anyone who will accept the gift, sometimes placing the Bibles in mailboxes.

Front-line workers have shared numerous stories of Iranian Muslims who read the Bible for the first time after unexpectedly receiving one in their mailbox and later became followers of Christ.

The Islamic Revolution of 1979, led by Ayatollah Khomeini, created the world’s only Shiite Islamic theocracy and profoundly changed every aspect of life in Iran.  Today, many of those who committed their lives to Islam and Islamic rule are filled with despair.

This disillusionment has opened new doors for the gospel, which is sweeping across the nation via Christian media and bold evangelists in Iran’s growing house church movements.

However, the government continues its attempts to thwart this move of God.  Christian leaders and pastors are often arrested, tortured and imprisoned, and their families are harassed.  Some, left with no other options, choose to flee the country.

The Joshua Project, 28 March 2023

Linguistically, the Paxi are members of the Tai Lu language group.  While almost all Tai Lu are Theravada Buddhists, the Paxi are Muslims.  The Paxi are a fusion of the Tai Lu and the Hui, who converted them to Islam 200 years ago.

Since then, the Paxi have struggled against continual persecution and prejudice from the Buddhist community. They do not observe any of the Theravada Buddhist festivals and refuse to intermarry with non-Muslims. The Paxi have been ostracized by the Tai Lu Buddhist community and forced to live in their own villages as socially distinct. 

Strictly adhering to the Sunni Muslim way of life, the Paxi follow Islamic teachings and traditions.  They receive frequent visits from Hui teachers who help them in their faith and understanding of the Koran.

A small number of Tai Lu follow Christ.  Pray these believers would go to the Paxi, testifying to Christ’s power and love.

Pray for the spiritual blindness and bondage to the evil one to be removed from the Paxi people, so they can understand and respond to Christ.  Pray that the Paxi people would have a spiritual hunger that will open their hearts to the King of kings.  Pray for an unstoppable movement to Christ among them.

Joshua Project, 14 March 2023

Bathari is a language of southern Oman, but few people speak Bathari.  The remainder have switched to speaking Omani Arabic, Oman’s trade language.

The Bathari people are Sunni Muslims who believe that Allah spoke through his prophet Mohammed and taught mankind how to live a righteous life through the Koran and the Hadith.  They seek to live righteously according to Mohammed’s teachings.  They have never understood that they need a sinless saviour.

One of the main holidays for Sunni Muslims is Eid al Adha, the celebration of Abraham’s willingness to sacrifice his son to Allah.  They already understand the value of the sacrifice of a son; this can be a connection to the ultimate sacrifice of the ultimate Son.

“As a deer pants for flowing streams, so pants my soul for you, O God.”  Psalm 42:1

Pray for this kind of longing for the Lord among this people group!

The Bathari people need to put their identity in Christ, especially as they are in the process of losing their identity as a distinct people group.  Pray they would have a spiritual hunger that will open their hearts to the King of kings.  Pray for workers who are driven by love and by the boldness of the Holy Spirit.  Pray for a disciple-making movement among them to begin soon.

Voice of the Martyrs, 9 March 2023 (excerpts)

Benin is a small country bordering western Nigeria and is considered the birthplace of Voodoo.  Occult practices, including idol worship, sacrificing animals, and wearing special talismans believed to ward off evil, are widespread.  Voodoo is so commonly practiced in Benin that it has a National Voodoo Day on January 10. 

This year in a small Benin town, Voodooists burned down a church when local Christians refused to honour the village idols during the celebration.  The pastor asks for prayer that the village people will be freed from bondage of Voodoo, that the church will be rebuilt, and that the congregation will be strengthened despite persecution.

Every village and many homes in the north have a designated place for animal sacrifice (and sometimes human sacrifice).  Voodoo is an official religion and Witchcraft is deeply ingrained and openly practiced.  Christianity is considered a foreign religion that steals a community’s youth from being properly initiated into the local tribes.  Every village chief serves as both a political leader and a voodoo priest.

The country is 30 percent Christian, including 8 percent evangelical.  40 percent practice ethnic religions, and 30 percent are Muslim.   Persecution is prevalent in the north.  New converts to Christianity are beaten and sometimes killed, while churches are routinely destroyed.  Villages keep evangelists out and prevent construction of new churches.  Bibles are hard to find in rural areas.

Morning Star News, 13 March 2023 (excerpts)

Muslims in a village in north-eastern Indonesia’s portion of Borneo Island prohibited a church from constructing a worship building.

Local leaders in Tarakan City in North Kalimantan Province, stated in a Feb. 28 letter that the Christian Church’s proposed construction was against state regulations since it would be located amid predominantly Muslim tribes.

Kristianto Triwibowo, coordinator of the Indonesian Christian Student Movement (GMKI), reportedly said the ban defies the Indonesian constitution and the government’s guiding policy of unity and social justice for all of Indonesia’s various peoples.

“The state guarantees the right to worship and embrace the religion of all people,” Kristianto said March 7.  “Instead of rejecting the services of the Church, which should not happen, we must tolerate each other and maintain diversity.”

The GMKI encouraged the North Kalimantan and Tarakan City governments, along with the Ministry of Religion and various state agencies, to fully protect activities of the church, which is registered with the Ministry of Religion.

Voice of the Martyrs, 23 February 2023 (excerpts)

Aaron and Khalil Hassan are two brothers who fled to Lebanon after the self-proclaimed Islamic State (ISIS) chased them from their apricot farm.  While in Lebanon, they heard the gospel and placed their faith in Christ.  When they returned to Syria, they found their farms pillaged; ISIS had chopped down the apricot trees and used them for firewood. 

“Basic life necessities are scarce and horrendously expensive if they can be found,” said a front-line worker.   Christian families remain alert to Muslim extremists: “The threat from Islamic militants remains.”

The churches and believers that have been able to remain in Syria have served as a beacon of hope and a source of peace for both Christians and Muslims throughout the war.  Many Muslims have come to Christ as Christians have reached out with acts of compassion and practical assistance.  And reports that neighbouring countries may send Syrian refugees back to Syria gives believers hope that those who came to faith in nearby countries will return and strengthen local churches.

Syria was once known for religious tolerance, relative to most nations in the Middle East.  However, in recent years Syrian Christians have faced the same restrictions and opposition that are common in the region’s more restricted Islamist nations.

Morning Star News 2 February 2023 (excerpts)

Police in Uganda have arrested two people in connection with the kidnapping of 40 Christian children lured by a Muslim posing as the leader of a Christian charity offering free education.

In Arua, in northwest Uganda’s West Nile Sub-Region, 27-year-old Siraji Sabiri, a Muslim, had lured the children to a hotel with promises of school scholarships and was possibly planning to sell them to a rebel militant group in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

A pastor in Arua first learned of the alleged scam from church members who told him a Christian organization was registering children for scholarships for a school in Luwero, in central Uganda.  Sabiri resides near Luwero.

 “So parents made use of the opportunity to register for the offer of such scholarships,” said the pastor.  “I got concerned and rang the police to check on the children, because I was not involved in the whole process.”

Officers rushed to the hotel, found the children ages 5 to 16 and learned they had been booked on a bus for the Democratic Republic of the Congo.  Interrogations revealed that the leader, Sabiri, was not a Christian but a Muslim.

“The man had disguised himself as a Christian and was able to register over 40 children in the name of offering them bursaries, yet with the intention of selling them to the Allied Democratic Forces in Congo.”

Had the abduction succeeded, the pastor said, the effect on the church and local community would have been devastating.

Morning Star News 22 February 2023 (excerpts)

A local village official in Indonesia stopped a church service on Sunday, February 19.

On Sumatra, the head of a village in Lampung Province, Wawan Kurniawan, leaped over a meter-high fence to intrude into the worship service of the Tabernacle of David Christian Church.

Ignoring the objections of church members and leaders, Wawan took the pulpit and motioned with his hand that the service was over.

A member of congregation said Wawan threatened with harsh words that more people would be brought in and  threatened to weld the church gate.”

More area residents did arrive, she said.  “It happened suddenly.  “Approximately 10 residents came to the church location and asked for the service to be dissolved.”

Wawan later said he only meant to ask the congregation to refrain from worshipping there until they obtain a permit for their building.  “This is not a new problem,” he said, “They have been carrying out worship activities there since 2014 even though there was no permit.”

The church, whose building was constructed in 2009, applied for a permit for a place of worship in 2014, but officials have not responded.

Aid to the Church in Need, February 15, 2023 (excerpts)

There is little – if any – evidence of international aid getting through to Syria, according to a Catholic charity’s projects coordinator reporting from the scene of the devastating earthquakes.

Xavier Bisits, who travelled to Aleppo within hours of the catastrophe, decried an apparent lack of international support in response to a catastrophe whose death toll has risen to at least 41,000.

Reflecting widespread dismay in Syria about the lack of aid from abroad, Mr Bisits said: “There are almost no signs of an international response – the only international volunteers I have seen personally in Syria are from Lebanon.”

The UN has criticised the regime for being slow to open border crossings to allow aid conveys into the worst-affected north-west of Syria, which is under rebel control.

Mr Bisits, who co-ordinates ACN aid in Syria, said: “Many people are in despair.”  Visiting Lattakia at the same time, Cardinal Zenari, Apostolic Nuncio to Syria stated: “After visiting Aleppo, Lattakia and Jableh, my impression can be summed up like this – I saw a sea of pain.”