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.

Voice of the Martyrs, 24 March, 2022

When a front-line worker was arrested for possession of 30 Bibles that he intended to distribute, a high-ranking official protected the Christian, scolding the police officers who arrested him.  “Why did you take these books from that man?” he demanded.  “I know about this; they are my responsibility.”

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.

Christians are routinely fired from their jobs, and it is difficult for a known believer to find a job or rent a home.  Many Christians gather in secret fellowships and receive teaching through Christian media smuggled into the country and through broadcast media.  Several Christians are currently imprisoned, and many others are under house arrest awaiting sentencing.

International Christian Concern, 28 March, 2022  (excerpts)

She was wrapped in the elegance of an era gone by.  A refugee of the Mexican War, her English was non-existent but her stature spoke of kindness.  Within her arms was an overflowing food basket, which she laid down before the door.  My eyes caught her ghostly frame as she drifted away, the food at the door filling an otherwise completely empty home.  How did she know? Who told her?

Years later, another food basket and refugee.  This time the feet of a curly head child tiptoes around a wheelbarrow that her parents are filling with eggs, pasta, rice, and lentils.  They begin arguing with another family, worried that there is not enough for everyone.  The child’s head turns towards me, her fingers deformed by violence make their way to her mouth as she shyly looks away again. 

Our morning shopping excursion for the food packages was precipitated a few days earlier by a visit to a mass grave where 3,000 Christians, this little girl’s ancestors, were killed because of their faith.  During that visit, my feet were surrounded by adult femurs and jaw bones, as only the children were given the decency of a burial. 

For the Christians who received food packages, this mass grave created 75 years earlier was a warning of the genocide that they themselves would experience.  The inquiries of these Christians are slightly different.  Where were you?  Why did it take you so long to find us?

Voice of the Martyrs, 10 March 2022 (excerpts)

Reem is a Syrian Muslim who lives in Turkey with her husband and children.  After having dreams about Jesus, Reem reached out to front-line workers to learn more about Him.  “If there is anything about God that I do not know, I want to know it,” she said. 

Reem began reading the Bible online, but her family have discouraged her and warned her against believing in Him.  Front-line workers connected her with a pastor and his wife, who prayed with Reem and gave her a Bible.  Reem asked the pastor and his wife to keep praying for her. 

The gospel spread throughout what is now Turkey in the first century, and the region remained under Christian rule for centuries.  Now, however, fewer than 1 percent of Turks are Christians. 

Unfortunately, Islam is considered by most Turks to be part of their national identity.  Christians in Turkey have limited freedom of worship.  While there are few Turkish churches, believers boldly share Christ with their countrymen. 

A missionary was murdered in 2019.  Another missionary and two Turkish believers were brutally murdered in a highly publicized 2007 incident.  Christian converts from Islam are harassed and pressured from all sides. 

Mature expatriate believers — many of whom have lived in Turkey for decades — have long served in Turkish churches; however, the Turkish government has recently targeted these foreign workers for expulsion.

Voice of the Martyrs, 10 March 2022 (excerpts)

Pastor Ebrahim leads an unofficial church in Yemen.  One day, while the church gathered for worship and prayer, a dozen armed men burst into the church and aimed their weapons at Ebrahim and the congregation.  The leader of the armed men pointed a gun at Ebrahim’s head, threatening to kill him.  Ebrahim prayed and encouraged his congregation: “Be at peace; in a few moments we will be with Jesus,” he said.  As peace filled the room, one of the armed men called off the attack, and as the group left, they took all of the church’s equipment and Bibles. 

“Ebrahim is happy that, somewhere in Yemen, stacks of Bibles are laying for someone to pick up and learn about Jesus,” a front-line worker said.  Pray for Ebrahim and his congregation to remain firm in faith amid hostile opposition. 

For many years, the people of Yemen have suffered from civil wars and violence from Islamic extremists, including al-Qaida.  Although the situation has further deteriorated since the start of the most recent civil war, in 2015, Yemeni Christians have become bolder in their outreach efforts, though it is still extremely dangerous to even be identified as a Christian.  Small but steady numbers of Yemenis are continually being added to the body of Christ, and more are gaining interest as Christian media grows.  Most regions of the country include at least one follower of Christ.  

Converting to Christianity from Islam is a crime punishable by death, and families consider it extremely shameful for a family member to become a Christian.  Christians worship secretly in homes or in small groups outdoors.

Morning Star News, 6 March 2022

Church leaders in Sudan were detained and questioned last month after Muslim extremists upset about the presence of their worship building locked it shut.

Hard-line Muslims locked the building of the Church of Christ about 85 miles southeast of Khartoum on Feb. 21, said Dalman Hassan, an evangelist arrested on Feb. 27 and released with the church pastor later that day.

He said the Muslims accused church members of hostility toward Islam by holding gatherings on Fridays, the Muslim day of mosque prayer.

“They cause chaos and disrespect others’ religion,” read a charge against the church presented to officials, he said.

Church member Kotti Dalman said the Muslims also charged the church with providing food to children to win them to Christianity and with taking their land for the worship building.

Church members said the land belongs to a Catholic school, and that Muslims fabricated the land-grab charge because they don’t want a Christian congregation worshipping in the area.  Police requested and received ownership papers showing the land did not belong to the Muslims, church members said.

Following two years of advances in religious freedom in Sudan after the end of the Islamist dictatorship under former President Omar al-Bashir in 2019, the spectre of state-sponsored persecution returned with a military coup on Oct. 25, 2021.

International Christian Concern, 03/02/2022

In the blink of an eye, life can completely and permanently change.  Young Nancy from Kenya knows this all too well.  On one ordinary evening, she and her family were sitting outside when a neighbour approached.  Without warning, he detonated a suicide bomb, killing himself and Nancy’s parents.

In the aftermath of tragedies like this, we’re often left wondering why.  In this particular situation, part of the explanation is that the neighbour had turned to radical Islam and he felt that it was his duty to attack this Christian family.  But on a wider scale, we’re reminded that we are in the midst of a spiritual battle and Jesus told us to expect persecution in this life.

While we may not fully understand why these atrocities take place, we believe that God spared Nancy for a reason.  We are going to stand beside her in the coming years, providing her with educational support to set her up for success in the future.  In turn, we pray that she will see that the church never left her side amidst life’s darkest moments.