Maldives – Christians losing the few rights they have

Barnabas Fund 09/21/2017 17:00

The government of the Maldives is increasingly controlling the courts and simply ignoring the law, leaving Christians in an even more vulnerable state.

56 lawyers who tried to petition the Supreme Court for the rule of law to be respected have been suspended from practising by the government.

Despite being a popular tourist destination, the Maldives is one of the most difficult places in the world to be a Christian. The 2008 Maldivian constitution bans Muslims from becoming Christians.

In 1998, the government arrested 50 Maldivians suspected of having become Christians, and is thought to have tortured them. Any Maldivian even found to have a Bible in their house faces a prison sentence.

The Maldivian government appears to be pursuing a slow process of Islamisation, last year passing in effect an Islamic blasphemy law.

Australia: Christians facing unprecedented violence

Barnabas Fund 28/09/2017

An Australian media outlet has published a shocking catalogue of violence, hate speech, discrimination and attempts to silence those opposed to the redefinition of marriage, most of whom it says are Christians. On 22 September Mercatornet stated:

“Everyone should be concerned over the growing discrimination, persecution and vilification of Christians which is occurring in Australia.”

Some of the threats and actual acts of violence include:

A meeting of four Christian groups had to be cancelled due to physical threats by LGBT activists. 

Protesters vandalized the office of a senator who supported traditional marriage and menaced his children’s school.

The Australian Christian Lobby’s headquarters was rammed last December by a vehicle filled with explosives driven by an LGBT activist who said he wanted to destroy ACL while he committed suicide.

Four weeks ago, LGBT activist and TV star Benjamin Law mused online about raping MPs opposed to same-sex marriage.

What Christians are being subjected to is very similar to some of the abuse suffered by LGBT people in the past.

NORTH KOREA: ‘SO MANY COMing TO FAITH’

Open Doors 05 September

“The spiritual battle always intensifies when God is doing something amazing.”

These are the words of an Open Doors contact who has worked with North Korean refugees in China for many years. He has asked us to pass on this message to all those who pray for North Korea and ministries like his:

“Please know that your prayers have been answered. Yes, North Korea is still a very dark country and the people suffer day in, day out. Yes, there’s extra tension because of North Korea’s missile and nuclear tests. But never before have I seen so many North Koreans come to faith as nowadays.”

Many North Koreans risk their lives to make the dangerous and illegal journey over the border into China in search of work or food to take back to their families.

But it’s in China that many North Koreans hear the gospel for the first time.

Austria: Jihadism based on Islamic theology

Barnabas Fund August 2017

A major academic study has shown that many jihadists and other radical Islamists have a deep understanding of Islamic theology.  It comprehensively refutes the claims made by many politicians and other public figures in the West that radical Islam is a perversion of Islam and jihadists have little knowledge of Islamic theology.

The 310-page study, by Ednan Aslan, professor of Islamic religious education at the University of Vienna, was based on 29 in-depth interviews with radical Muslims in Austria.

Western governments must grasp the fact that the jihadists’ persecution of Christians and other non-Muslim minorities is primarily driven by interpretations of Islamic theology that go back centuries.

Church growing in North Korea despite strong persecution

Christian Institute 18 August

Christianity is growing in the despotic state of North Korea despite the horrendous persecution of dissenters.

A North Korean defector who works with the country’s underground church said that people are refusing to worship the Kim family, as they were told to do in the past and that, people “are looking for something else to sustain their faith”.

The man’s testimony coincides with an annual report on global religious freedoms by the US State Department, released yesterday.

In some cases, the persecution of religious dissenters can be as extreme as execution, torture and imprisonment.

Open Doors believes that the number of Christians killed or imprisoned is increasing, estimating that around 70,000 are in labour camps.

Kenyan Christians killed for refusing to recite Shahada

August 22, 2017 By World Watch Monitor 

Three Kenyan Christians were hacked to death by Al-Shabaab militants on 18 August after they refused to recite the Islamic prayer of faith.

The three men were held at machete point and ordered to recite the Shahada. When none of them did, the attackers began to tie them up. When the men resisted, they were hacked to death.

Last month, Al-Shabaab beheaded nine Kenyans. One witness said the attackers were “specifically looking for non-Muslim men”.

Al-Shabaab has targeted Kenyan Christians for years. This has left behind a trail of pain and destruction, and has instilled fear among regions where Christians are the minority.

April 2015, Al-Shabaab attacked Garissa University College, killing 148 people – mainly Christian students.  June 2014, attacks left 52 people dead. The militants struck a shopping mall in 2013 in an attack that left 68 people dead. They separated Muslims and killed Christians in one of the deadliest attacks in the city.

LAOS: HEALINGS LEAD MANY TO FAITH IN CHRIST

Open Doors 18 August 2017

Beun* is a believer in Laos – pictured below, although we can’t show his face for security reasons.

He became a Christian after Christians who cared for his dying brother. “When I heard that Jesus is the King of Kings and that Jesus is love, I decided to follow Him, even though this was the first time I had heard about Jesus,”

He then began to pray for healing for others. One person came to him with kidney stones. “He asked me if Jesus could help him. I said: ‘Jesus can help you, but I can’t.'”

“I prayed for him. At midnight, he had severe pain in his kidney. He had never experienced so much pain before. In a vision or a dream, a man with long hair and white clothes came to him and poured water on him and into his mouth – the more water he got into his mouth the better he felt.

“After the vision, he fell asleep and slept through the rest of the night. When he woke up the next morning and went to the toilet, the kidney stones were no longer there.”

Beun and other Christians travel to distribute Bibles, teach and hold worship meetings in other villages.

*name changed for security reasons

NHS in court attempting to stop staff speaking about their beliefs outside of the workplace

 Barnabas Fund 03/08/2017

This week Richard Page will challenge an NHS ruling that requires employees not to make any comments outside of the workplace contradicting the NHS’s politically correct view of “equality.”

As a magistrate during an adoption hearing, he expressed the view that it was “generally in the best interests” of a child to have both a mother and father.

A panel investigating his continuing as a trustee told him, “It was not in the interests of the health service for you to serve as a non-executive director in the NHS,” his actions “likely to have had a negative impact on the confidence of staff, patients and public in you as a local NHS leader.”

Between 1719 and 1888 the UK abolished “Test Acts” that prohibited anyone from being teachers and university professors unless they publicly subscribed to certain beliefs. This NHS Trust is seeking to turn the clock back on more than 130 years of religious freedom in the UK.

The Daily Telegraph warned that this week’s hearing could have major implications for how public bodies treat staff with religious beliefs. Mr Page will warn that “the loss of his job because of his religious beliefs signifies a worrying shift away from pluralism towards ideological dictatorship in the health service.”

Sweden to deport Christian back to Iran, in violation of UN Convention on Refugees

Barnabas Fund 10/08/2017

Sweden is about to deport back to Iran a well-known Iranian actress who has left Islam to become a Christian, despite this violating the UN Refugee Convention.  Aideen Strandsson came to faith in Christ after watching a video in Iran of a woman being stoned to death. She said, “I decided at that moment I don’t want to be a Muslim anymore.”

She explained how, shortly after this, “I had a dream about Jesus. He was sitting near me and he took my hand.”

Aideen Strandsson

When she came to Sweden in 2014 she asked for a public baptism, saying, “I am not afraid anymore.  I am free, I am Christian, I want everyone to know about that.”

But Swedish officials have told Aideen that becoming a Christian was “her decision” and “her problem”, not theirs. A Swedish official said it wouldn’t be as bad for her as she expects – it would only be 6 months in prison! 

As an apostate from Islam and a nationally known actress, she is likely to be viewed as a major embarrassment to the Iranian government. Her life will be in serious danger and she has already received threats on social media.