Remember Ambassadors

Monday morning for Christians in the US is generally a chance to look back at a peaceful day of worship.  Yesterday was a poignant reminder to me of the freedoms that we have, as my church body publicly gathered on the beach for a baptismal service.  We could gather without fear to watch these public expressions of faith in Jesus Christ.

It was a very different weekend for our brothers and sisters in India.  Believers in India know that they risk everything to gather together, and this weekend the forces of evil were at work.

In Shimoga, a city in the southern Karnataka province, Hindu radicals attacked a prayer meeting yesterday, using "clubs, cricket bats, and knives," as reported at Persecution Update India.  The attackers destroyed the furniture, musical instruments, and even the building, but worse yet injured many of the believers.  The number of injured is uncertain, but two pastors and a number of other believers are being treated for their club and knife wounds.  (Update: More information available from the All India Christian Council.)

In northern India, a YWAM worker was attacked by fundamentalists believed to be members of the World Hindu Council.  Kamal Kantu was beaten in front of his wife and children.   This attack is just the latest incident in what appears to be a concentrated anti-Christian propaganda campaign in the Himachel Pradesh province.

In Rajpur, another militant Hindu group attacked a small church service.  They destroyed the Bibles and hymnals, chanting anti-Christian slogans and threatening believers.  The attackers then handed the Christians over to the police, where no one can find out what is happening to them.  The police in this area are known to be sympathetic with the Hindu radicals, and these believers in custody need our prayers.

And back down south, in Andhra Pradesh, two pastors have been threatened with arrest because they prayed for their senior pastor, who was in the hospital with a broken leg.  Hindu radicals, after being "tipped off" that the pastors were praying in the hospital, pressured the hospital administrator into lodging a complaint with the local police office.  That threat was not enough, though, and the hospital discharged Pastor Barnabas immediately, despite his broken leg!

These believers certainly need our prayers. 

After this morning's post, it is appropriate that I should be able to update you with the doors God is opening worldwide for His people.  After decades of hard work by numerous organizations, the Karen people in Burma have had the resettlement door opened to them.  And after months of talk about the opening door, the resettlement is underway.

Mercy Htoo, ready to depart for a new life.

While there are many more to come, the first of the children has departed the Freedom House Orphanage for the United States.  Mercy Htoo is now officially a part of the Unaccompanied Refugee Minor program.  We saw her in Thailand just weeks ago, updated her medical records, and bid her goodbye.  But I am hoping to see her again soon!

I cannot even imagine the life change that this will be for her and the people that will follow her.  I have to wonder whether she has ever been on a bus before–much less an airplane trip halfway around the world to a completely new culture and way of life.  But what a step!  She has left the violence that was described in the Free Burma Rangers report and been presented with the opportunity of a lifetime.

Let us pray for her and the many to follow.

Sadness…and excitement. 

I share the following link with a bit of caution, because it is graphic in its portrayal of the persecution being experienced by Karen Christians in eastern Burma.  With that caution, though, I would encourage you to be aware of the suffering that these men and women are going through.  While it is hard to read, it is worth empowering your prayers with.

Free Burma Rangers Report 

As a word of background, Free Burma Rangers is not a group focusing on Christian persecution, but focusing on the general human rights violations perpetrated by the Burmese government.  Even though some of the people mentioned in this report may not be persecuted believers, these are the circumstances that our Karen brothers and sisters are living in.  Please also pray, though, for the unsaved!  Pray that God would use the violence to turn people's hearts to thoughts of eternity, and the truth of eternal hope.

In continuing with the "Country Focus" bulletin insert series, two more countries are now available for download online (in PDF format).  If you would like multiple copies for your church, let me know!

India

China 

Also, check out the newly updated Projects Page.

China has been a persecution and civil rights violation hotspot for decades, but with the upcoming Olympics next year in Beijing, increasing attention is being focused on the abuses in that country.  And rightly so!  There are many things to focus on.

The government in China has worked very hard to build an image of tolerance and freedom, but the truth is far different.  Under the propoganda, all Christians live in constant threat, and many go through untold suffering.  Just last week, for instance, Chinese authorities raided a Vacation Bible School, using what eyewitnesses described as "brutal force," seriously injuring at least two, arresting 10, and traumatizing 150 children.  Ten police vehicles were involved in stifling this children's group!

The China situation has become such that US Congressman Frank Wolf, a man who has been fighting against persecution for decades, said this month that the "China of today is worse than the China of yesterday, or of last year, or of the last decade."  Persecution is only one of the many human rights abuses that he detailed in China, but many others effect persecuted Christians–the gulags, the overall lack of legal safeguards, and even the trade in human organs "harvested" from executed prisoners.

We need to pray for the Christians of China, and for the leaders that persecute them.  Especially now that the "eye of the world" is following the Olympics to China, it is time to pray.  If you would like a jumpstart on your prayers, visit the Open Doors "China Prayer Countdown."

Cambodia: Evangelism Banned

Officials in strongly Buddhist Cambodia have accused Christians of "disrupting society," and banned them from evangelizing on pain of prosecution.

China: Three House Church Buildings Facing Destruction 

The government of Zhejiang has accused around 800 Christians of being in an "evil cult," and is moving to destroy their places of worship.

Egypt: Security Police Torture Christian Convert Woman

Extremists relatives of her husband, also a Christian convert, have vowed to kill this young woman.

India: Missionaries in Orissa Attacked

Gospel for Asia missionaries are often at the forefront of persecution in the 10/40 Window. 

Lebanon: Church Facing Perilous Times 

Fascinating historical background on the internal struggles of Islam, and how those struggles affect the Christians in Lebanon. 

Pakistan: Mob Confesses to Church Attack

The heart of this story is the response of the persecuted believers.  Despite the injustice, they have forgiven their offenders.