Christian Solidarity Worldwide – 13 May 2022 (excerpts)

CSW condemns the murder of Deborah Yakubu, a student in Sokoto state, northwest Nigeria, who was lynched on 12 May, following an unproven blasphemy allegation.

Ms Yakubu was a Level 200 Home Economics student and a member of the Evangelical Church in her home state of Niger.  She was accused of blaspheming the Prophet Mohammed in a WhatsApp group chat, where she reportedly expressed frustration at the discrimination experienced by Christian students.  There are also unconfirmed reports that she had rejected the advances of a Muslim student, who later made the allegation.

Video footage circulating on social media shows an unconscious and bloodied Ms Yakubu being stoned, beaten, and then immolated in a pile of tyres by a predominantly male mob who chanted “Allahu Akbar,” and continued to stone her and fuel the flames.  In a video, a young man claims responsibility for Ms Yakubu’s murder, which he describes as good and justified.  The college authorities had hidden Ms Yakubu in the security room following mounting threats to her life.  However, her killers had dragged her out and burnt the building after killing her.

The Sultanate Council of Sokoto state “condemned the incident in its entirety” and “urged the security agencies to bring perpetrators of this unjustifiable incident to justice.”  The Catholic Bishop of Sokoto Diocese Mathew Kukah also condemned the murder “This matter must be treated as a criminal act and the law must take its course.”

Forum 18 – 13 May 2022 (excerpts)

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has resulted in even stricter censorship and control of Russian religious communities – by newly created offences of “discrediting the Armed Forces” or “disseminating false information” about them, or pressure not to condemn war.

Lutheran Archbishop Dietrich Brauer, who has left Russia for Germany, said that, at the start of the war, President Vladimir Putin’s administration made “a clear demand” of religious leaders to speak out in favour of the invasion.

A pastor in a different Protestant church described how FSB security service officers visited clergy to warn them not to say anything critical in sermons or on social media.

Endorsing the invasion, however, the Russian Orthodox leader, Patriarch Kirill holds that Russia, Ukraine, and Belarus all constitute a single spiritual and cultural space in opposition to the liberal and secular West.

On 6 March, he claimed that Russia was protecting the Donbas from outside pressure to abide by liberal values, especially as expressed in gay pride parades, arguing that this “indicates that we have entered into a struggle that has not a physical, but a metaphysical significance”.

Despite this official support for the war, some Patriarchate priests have resigned from their jobs after opposition to the war brought them into conflict with their dioceses.

Church in Chains – 5 May 2022 (excerpts)

A Baptist couple could face 100 lashes after being charged with “adultery” because a Sharia court had annulled their marriage due to the husband’s conversion to Christianity.

Hamouda (34) and Nada (25) were Muslims when married in 2016, but when Hamouda became a Christian in 2018, Nada’s family won a Sharia court decision to annul the marriage.  Apostasy was then punishable by death, though now decriminalised in 2020 after Islamist president Omar al-Bashir was ousted in 2019.

In 2021, Nada also converted to Christianity and returned to Hamouda with their two children, whereupon her brother accused them of adultery.

Police arrested the couple in August 2021.  They were charged under Sudan’s 1991 criminal law, based on the Sharia court’s annulment of their marriage.  Article 146 calls for a sentence of flogging and expulsion from the area in the case of adultery by an unmarried person, and death by stoning if the person is married.

They were detained for 4 days before being released on bail.  Their next hearing is for 12 May.

Their lawyer stated, “I told the court that the marriage is legal.”  He added that the couple is facing growing threats from hard-line Muslims, in particular Nada’s brother.

Christian Solidarity Worldwide, 29 April 2022 (excerpts)

16 Protestant Christian families, comprising 32 adults, attend a church in Chiapas State, Mexico and belong to the Tzeltal indigenous group.  They are being forced to pay an illegal fine for a 4^th consecutive year as a consequence of their refusal to participate in an upcoming syncretic Roman Catholic festival, the Santa Cruz Festival, referred to locally as ‘Convivio de Agua’, which is held 3 May.

The first fine was issued in 2016, and since 2019 they have been issued annually to those who do not participate.  Six of the families in the community who declined to participate in the festival have been forced to pay an illegal fine of approximately GBP £12 or have their water supply cut off until they were able to pay it.  In some years, members of the religious minority community have been without access to water for five months, until they were able to gather the money to pay the fine.

Pastor Miguel Gómez Pérez confirmed that the local authorities have a list at the police station with the names of every member of the Presbyterian church, and that they have visited each individual family to request the payment of the fine.  He confirmed that the funds collected through the fines will be used to purchase supplies for the celebration of the festival, including alcoholic beverages.

International Christian Concern, 29 April 2022 (excerpts)

A Christian website in China with more than 20 years of history has ceased to exist recently amid the ongoing crackdown against Christianity in cyberspace.

On April 12, “Jona(h) Home” published a notice on its website, which reads “Due to reasons known to everyone, from now on our site can no longer serve brothers and sisters in Christ.  Thanks to all for your company and support in the past 21 years!”

It continues, “The disappearance of a website is merely a disappearance of a website, it does not carry any meaning.  Need not to be concerned, and just keep walking.”

While no one dared to mention the crackdown of the government, some responded, “[The closure] has nothing to do with your laptop.  You should know the reason.”

On March 1, the Chinese government officially placed a ban on unauthorized online religious activities.  Even before the ban was put in place, Bible Apps and many Christian WeChat accounts were shut down in China.

Father Francis Liu from the Chinese Christian fellowship told Radio Free Asia, “I feel sad from the bottom of my heart about the closure of such a website.  Certainly, this is the most direct result of how China is currently persecuting and oppressing religious freedom.”

Voice of the Martyrs, 28 April 2022

On February 13, a Christian named Nin died, leaving behind two daughters, Neung and Nom, and a son, Ram.  Since 2009, the three teenagers also lost their mother, a sister and their grandmother, all of whom were believers.

After Nin’s death, his older brother and sister-in-law blamed the deaths on the family’s belief in God.  They offered to care for the teens only if they rejected Christ.

The teens refused, saying they could never reject Jesus.  Angered by their decision, the uncle said he wouldn’t care for them.  Nom, 16, and Ram, 13, moved in with their pastor’s family.

Neung has graduated high school and lives on her own.

Pray for the 3 teenagers to remain firm in their faith and ask God to provide for their needs.  Pray the Holy Spirit convicts their uncle and aunt and leads them to Christ.

The Communist government, in conjunction with Buddhist monks, persecutes Christians, with the exception of the government-controlled Lao Evangelical Church.

Poverty, lack of infrastructure and mountainous terrain make evangelistic outreach challenging.  Thanks to bold evangelists, churches continue to grow even as they experience ongoing persecution.

Barnabas Fund, 11 April 2022 (excerpts)

An Egyptian church minister was stabbed to death by an unnamed assailant in Alexandria on the evening of 7 April.

Arsanios Wadid, 56, the minister of a church in the Muharram Bek district of Alexandria, was stabbed three times.  The attack took place on the seaside promenade in the Sidi Bishr district of Alexandria, where Wadid was supervising an outing for children from the church.

The attacker, described as a 60-year-old man, fled the scene but was quickly apprehended by the Alexandria Security Directorate.   A statement from the Egyptian Ministry of the Interior confirmed the attack and said that an investigation was under way.

Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi has been quick to give verbal and practical support to the Christian community whenever anti-Christian incidents occur.  In November 2021 two Muslim brothers were sentenced to life imprisonment for the murder of a Christian shopkeeper, also in Alexandria.

Ask that the Lord will comfort the grieving family and friends of Arsanios Wadid.  Pray for the congregation in Muharram Bek, that the Holy Spirit will minister to them at this dark time.  Ask that justice will be done, and that our brothers and sisters in Egypt will be protected from extremist violence.

Barnabas Fund, 8 April 2022 (excerpts)

A Muslim-background Christian in Indonesia was sentenced to ten years in prison, found guilty of “blasphemy” and hate speech by a court in West Java.

Muhammad Kace, formerly an Islamic cleric, was accused of making disparaging remarks about Muhammad, the prophet of Islam.

Tight security was required at the court during sentencing, as thousands of Muslims gathered outside to protest against Kace.

Kace was arrested and imprisoned in August 2021 for his YouTube videos that critique Islam and its teachings.

On 26 August 2021 he was brutally beaten by several other prisoners, an attack that was allegedly covered up for several weeks by prison authorities.

Indonesian President Joko Widodo has taken steps to combat Islamism, including dissolving two hard-line Islamic organisations.

In recent years, however, Indonesia as a whole has seen a rise in hard-line Islamic ideology.  In December 2021 almost 180,000 police officers were deployed to guard churches and public places against terrorist attack over the Christmas period.

Pray for Muhammad Kace, that the Lord will strengthen him in this time of difficulty.  Ask that “blasphemy” laws in Indonesia will not be misused, and that the work of Islamist extremists will come to nothing.

International Christian Concern, 18 April 2022 (excerpts)

The Kandhamal anti-Christian riots changed everything in 2008.  Lives lost, homes destroyed, futures gone.  About 52,000 Indian Christians were displaced and, though over a decade has passed, most have not returned home.  The Christian community needs rebuilding, a mission which Pastor Nayak believes he is specifically called to fulfil.

His dedication to God is reflected in a lifetime of service to take part in an extraordinary outreach effort.  He knows each village personally.  “I had a burden to reach out to the people with the gospel in 42 villages in Raikia block because there is a very little scope for people to hear the gospel.”

He is the only church planter faithfully ministering to these eastern-central Indian villages in the last 19 years.  Throughout most of his ministry, he travelled on foot to most of these villages.  The solution was simple: a bicycle.

“I am so thankful that my ability to visit these villages has increased many times.  Because of the bicycle provided to me by ICC, my desire even grew, and I am much more motivated,” said the pastor.

ICC’s Bikes and Bibles programme was launched to empower 1,000 rural church planters in India – their ministry limited to how far they can travel by foot.  A bicycle allows church planters, such as Pastor Nayak, to access more villages on a regular basis.  They are also gifted Bibles so that new disciples can have access to the written Word of God.

Morning Star News, 16 March 2022  (excerpts)

A young woman preparing to be baptized in Erbil, Iraq last week was instead killed in a possible “honour” killing for converting to Christianity, with Muslim family members reportedly suspected, according to local media.

The body of Eman Sami Maghdid, 20, was found on March 7 bound with tape and discarded among the vacant, sandy fields surrounding Erbil International Airport, in northern Iraq’s Kurdistan region.  She had been stabbed multiple times.

Arabic-language media reported that Maghdid’s father is a prominent local mosque leader.  Her uncle was taken into custody in connection with the slaying, but it was unclear if he was charged or merely questioned.  Reports were conflicting about the possible arrest of another relative.

A few weeks before she was killed, she had announced her conversion to Christianity on one of her social media accounts, according to Middle East Concern.

Maghdid, who went by the Christian moniker Maria, enjoyed a wide following across several social media sites where she extolled the values of equal rights and women’s freedom to almost 50,000 followers.

She had not only put her faith in Christ but also had been a longstanding, outspoken critic of Islam. She appeared in some of her videos wearing a cross on a necklace.

Maghdid also sang Christian hymns on a video on Tik Tok, according to another advocacy group.