International Christian Response

HOUSE DESTRUCTION TESTS NEW BELIEVER'S FAITH

Syria, May, 2013 (ICR Network)

Daily Christians are helping and reaching out to people in Syria. They use the adversity they face as an opportunity to reveal Jesus Christ.

A Muslim man was suicidal because of his daughter’s terminal illness. He was desperately seeking help. With nowhere to turn, he sought the help of his Christian neighbors; they prayed for the daughter, the lord healed her. Overjoyed, the man decided that he and his family should become followers of Jesus.

As in many Muslim communities, when his friends discovered his conversion, they became angry and tried to convince him to revert back to Islam. His “friends” finally gave him one more chance, revert or have his house destroyed. He stood fast refusing to deny Jesus, he knew the truth of Jesus. His Muslim friends destroyed his house.

During the process of destroying the house, the new Christian did not attempt to stop them, he did not yell or berate them, he just watched. A couple of days later, one of the men who was part of the destruction came up to the new Christian and asked why he did not get mad nor make an effort to stop the men. Who Jesus is, the the love of Jesus was conveyed to the Muslim man. Because of the actions (or inaction) of a new Christian, another person was brought into the Kingdom.

“And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, …” Romans 8:28 NIV

The history of hostility goes deep into the social fabric. By Ann Buwalda and Emmanuel Ogebe, Esq. April 17, 2013 (Morning Star News) – The publicly reported Christian casualties in Nigeria last year were greater than the Christian casualties of Pakistan, Syria, Kenya and Egypt combined. In fact, Nigeria alone accounted for almost 70 percent of Christians killed globally. This makes Nigeria the most lethal country for Christians by a huge margin.   While media reports do not tell the whole story, and death tolls are not the only factor in persecution, such a great list of martyrs demands our attention. In 2012, over 900 Christians were killed in Nigeria in attacks that specifically targeted Christians for their faith. By the first quarter of this year, at least 128 people have been killed in northern Nigeria, mostly Christians.   Much of the violence in 2012 was attributed to the Jihadist terror group Boko Haram. With 3,000 casualties affecting citizens from a dozen countries in three years, Boko Haram has earned a dubious distinction as one of the top five lethal terrorist organizations in the world. In the last three years, however, the three most deadly incidents of anti-Christian persecution – with triple- digit casualties – in Nigeria were the March 7, 2010 massacre in Jos, Plateau state, the April 16, 2011 pogrom in the country’s sharia (Islamic law) states and the Jan. 20, 2012 onslaught in Kano. Two out of these three incidents were not the handiwork of terrorists but of average northern Nigerian Muslims.   While Boko Haram’s bloody terrorist tactics certainly merit serious concern, the focus on this group has overshadowed a pattern of systemic religious violence in Nigeria. It obfuscates the pervasive history of the killing of Christians by Muslims in northern Nigeria going back over a quarter century.   Transferred Aggression In 1999, after a pro-democracy movement successfully ended military dictatorship and a Christian was elected president, 12 Muslim-controlled states in northern Nigeria reacted by imposing Islamic sharia law in open violation of Nigeria’s constitution. This resulted in horrific violence the following year that left thousands dead when Christians protested peacefully.   Such acts of violence continue to this day with virtual impunity. In November, for instance, the mispronunciation of a dress style by a non-Muslim tailor led to his death – along with several other Christians – and church burnings in spontaneous riots. This ultimately fatal fashion mistake was not the handiwork of terrorists but of average northern Nigerian Muslims.   Persecution in Nigeria is discernible in three widening concentric circles: sect, state and street levels. While much has been said regarding the smallest circle – sect-level actors such as Boko Haram – most analysts overlook the ongoing and serious persecution in the wider state and street circles, which provide an enabling environment for groups like Boko Haram.   Street-Level Aggression Let us first consider the street level. The most serious attack on the Christian community in Nigeria’s recent history was not carried out by Boko Haram or any organized Islamic sect. Rather, it was an act of ordinary Muslims across most northern states. This Anti-Christian pogrom, referred to as the “post-election violence,” deserves examination as a bellwether of the real conditions in Nigeria’s tottering political union.   In April 2011, in what was dubbed one of the “freest and fairest” elections in Nigeria’s recent history, Goodluck Jonathan was elected president. Before his victory was announced, violence erupted in the 12 northern sharia states – again.   The final toll for the Christian community was staggering. In a 48-hour period, 764 church buildings were burned, 204 Christians were confirmed killed, more than 3,100 Christian-operated businesses, schools, and shops were burned, and over 3,400 Christian homes were destroyed. While there have been similar death tolls in certain incidents in terms of scope and coordinated scale of destruction, there has been no equivalent attack against the church in recent decades, with the possible exception of government-backed genocides in Sudan.   Yet this was not a government-backed endeavor. Instead, thousands of Muslim youths in 12 states gathered together with machetes, knives, matches and gasoline and carried out this pogrom. The “freest and fairest” elections resulted in one of the “fiercest and most ferocious” violence against innocent Christians that Nigeria has seen.   In several states that our fact-finding teams visited, taxis were randomly stopped by rampaging Muslims and the Christians ferreted out for murder. In one instance a taxi driver, despite the pleas of sympathetic Muslim passengers, drove a pastor to a mob and handed him over to be killed.   While the homes of certain prominent ruling People’s Democratic Party (PDP) politicians and a few PDP offices were attacked in the initial spate of violence, this was clearly an anti-Christian pogrom. Muslim rioters in Zaria would enter a federal campus and attack only the Christian chapel, leaving the other buildings untouched. People were randomly required to recite the Koran or be killed. Throughout northern Nigeria, this violence was carried out along religious lines, with Muslims attacking unsuspecting Christians. More church buildings were destroyed than any properties associated with the ruling party, the government or any other category.   The post-election violence only scratched the surface of the street-level persecution suffered by northern Nigeria’s Christians. In several months of fact-finding across northern Nigeria, investigators from aid and advocacy organization Jubilee Campaign interviewed pastors whose church buildings have been burned half a dozen times or more in the last decade. In one case, police even watched as Christian women were raped on church premises and did nothing. State-Level Oppression The U.S. State Department, among others, claims that the Muslims of northern Nigeria have been marginalized politically and economically by the federal government and have responded to “legitimate grievances” with violence. This has been used to give unconscionable justification to violence against Christians in northern Nigeria, whether by terrorist actors such as Boko Haram (sect level) or the Muslim community at large (street level). The facts surrounding state-level persecution reveal this undeserved justification.   For most of its independent history, Nigeria has been ruled by dictators from prominent northern Muslim families. Suspect census figures and dubious redistricting have bloated the federal revenues that go to northern states. On an economic front, the corruption of these dictators and the amounts of money that they funneled back to their home states – as well as to Swiss accounts – is a matter of public record. Africa’s richest billionaire, according to Forbes magazine, is from northern Nigeria. Inspired by this decades-long hegemony, many in the north reject Western education, leaving their children in the hands of wandering mallams (Islamic clerics) to be instructed in Islam while begging for their bread.   This practice has produced millions of unemployed and unemployable youths who in anti-Christian riots are ready foot-soldiers – and, with the rise of Boko Haram, suicide bombers.   The true victims of marginalization in northern Nigeria are Christians who are totally disenfranchised politically, economically and socially in their own states and by their own ethnic groups due to their religious identity. Discrimination against indigenous Christian communities is endemic in at least 16 of the 19 northern states (three Christian majority or co-equal states did not report state-level persecution), encompassing more than just political disenfranchisement. Christians are denied equal rights, most state jobs and promotions. The level of discrimination is such that many Muslim managers refuse to hire a Christian outright.   Christian neighborhoods are frequently overlooked for development or basic maintenance. In Sabon Gari, a Christian ghetto in Kano City, the roads, water lines and other basic services have not been updated for decades. Many northern cities leave such outer enclaves to “infidels” as a way of separating them out.   In Tafawa Balewa, a Christian area of Bauchi state, the state government refused to maintain public schools and finally shut them down, community leaders say, to deprive Christian children, particularly Christian girls, of education. Many private Christian mission schools have historically been confiscated by the governments and stripped of their faith-based roots. The state legislature of Bauchi relocated the capital of Tafawa Balewa, a Christian community, to a Muslim-dominated town in violation of the constitution. When the Hon. Rifkatu Samson, the member representing the community, objected, the state legislature suspended her from parliament. That was a year ago. She was the only woman and the only Christian in the parliament.   Any public signs of Christian identity, such as crosses, bells, or identifiable church buildings, are prohibited in practice. Governments require permits to construct new church buildings or to repair old ones. These permits are not granted while existing church buildings have been seized via eminent domain. The Muslim community is so determined to prevent Christians from having church buildings that, when selling land to Christians, official land deeds commonly include the proviso, “Not to be used for a bar, a brothel, or a church.”   Christians and Muslims Together While enduring these injustices, members of the Christian minority are consistently and blatantly faced with pressure to convert to Islam. Christians are regularly and publicly humiliated for their religious identity, and anything that can be construed as disrespectful or contradictory to Islam is met with immediate violence.   These injustices constitute acts of discrimination and group persecution, which have been outlawed by international laws created following the demise of Nazi Germany and the Nuremberg trials. Since then, the international community has seen again and again that persistent cultures of hate among dominant groups produce mass violence against disenfranchised and despised minorities, eventually leading to genocide.   Regrettably, this is the true state of affairs in northern Nigeria. These practices of discrimination, disenfranchisement and incitement are the root cause of Boko Haram and the real danger to Nigerian Christians – and to Nigeria itself. This is the intersection of a trifecta of evil intolerance – persecution at the street, state and sect levels – and Christians are the primary victims.   Rather than call for compensation for victims, the United States has advocated strongly on behalf of the aggressors, pressuring President Jonathan to give more federal resources and create a special ministry for “northern affairs.” At the same time, these northern states are spending millions in public funds on forced mass weddings for widows, pilgrimages to Mecca and rams for Islamic festivals. The victims of the 2011 violence and countless earlier attacks remain without succor, overshadowed by the 2012 victims of Boko Haram. And even some of the Boko Haram victims have received only meager assistance.   The March 7, 2010 massacre in Jos, the April 16, 2011 sharia states pogrom and the Jan. 20, 2012 Kano onslaught mark three consecutive years of triple-digit casualties, each in excess of 200 lives lost from a single incident. These incidents only scratch the surface of persecution in a country that has the world’s largest population of Christians and Muslims living together setting a stage for unfathomable conflict.   Photo: Regina Luka lost her husband and two children, ages 2 and 4, in Feb. 21 attack in Plateau state. (Morning Star News photo)   Ann Buwalda, Esq. is executive director of Jubilee Campaign, and human rights attorney Emmanuel Ogebe is Nigeria expert for the organization, which promotes the human rights and religious liberty of ethnic and religious minorities; advocates for and assists refugees fleeing religious based persecution; and protects and promotes the dignity and safety of children from bodily harm and sexual exploitation. Jubilee Campaign holds special consultative status with the U.N. Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC). Its researchers conducted over a dozen fact-finding missions to document the recent spike in persecution in Nigeria. This op-ed coincides with the upcoming release of Jubilee Campaign’s Justice for Jos 2012 report on April 25.   © 2013 Morning Star News. Articles may be reprinted with credit to Morning Star News. http://morningstarnews.org   Morning Star News is a 501(c)(3) non-profit corporation whose mission is to inform those in the free world and in countries violating religious freedom about Christians worldwide who are persecuted for their faith. For free subscription or to make tax-deductible donations, contact editor@morningstarnews.org, or send check to Morning Star News, 24310 Moulton Parkway, Suite O # 157, Laguna Hills, CA 92637, USA.

Copyright © 2013 Morning Star News, All rights reserved.

The Arab spring of 2012 brought two unexpected results in Egypt. First, with the election of the strongly Islamist group Muslim Brotherhood to lead the government, the Egyptian government is redefining its law. The layers of the law from the national government to the local communities are being interpreted through the eyes of Sharia Law (Islamic religious law). This is causing fear and many Egyptian Christians are leaving the country.

The second, better result, is the people of Egypt have had a taste of freedom. One leader stated, “The Arab Spring has allowed many Muslims to taste freedom and that that has given them courage and now they dare question the doubt they had concerning Jesus.”

Although some leave, many Christians feel an urgency to act now. Through all this the church is seeing breakthroughs like never before. A church leader said, “in the crises, people are open to God.” But they need our help.

Take the case of a young Muslim man. He began questioning some of the teachings of Islam, he expressed his opposition to the Imams insulting and speaking against other faiths. This resulted in his father beating him. But a Christian friend at University told him about Jesus, gave him a Bible and prayed with him on a regular basis. The young man had a dream about Jesus that convinced him that He was the light. This courageous decision caused him to be driven from his home and his parents initiated legal steps against him.

He was introduced to Boutros (name can not be given for security reasons) who is helping him with legal advice, spiritual support, and protection from harm.

Because we are here, support can be provided there. In 2012 we partnered with Boutros and provided much needed assistance to 30 people. Each have a name, a face and a story. They all needed help, our lawyer was there.

Are you willing to help? With our INSTANT RESPONSE FUND we are being prepared to react immediately to a call for legal action!

by Pastor Bill H. September 30th 2012 in Indonesia

This morning we heard a personal testimony at CLF in Jakarta from Ribur Manullang, a graduate of a Central Java Training Center sharing how she was beaten by Moslem mobs in Banda, Aceh on May 30th 2012 and imprisoned for 60 days by the Indonesian police. What was her “crime”? She was sharing the Gospel of Jesus Christ with Moslems. There was no arrest warrant issued and neither was there a court decision to be imprisoned. It is an example of unjust suffering of a faithful evangelist sharing the Gospel with Moslems. I cannot imagine how such horrible men can beat up a lady for simply speaking the good news of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. She was not hurting anyone and not causing loss to anyone. She was obeying the commands of the Lord Jesus Christ and for this she suffered.

I made  a brief study of suffering as mentioned in God’s Word, the Bible and I discovered that the believers are called by God to suffer. 1 Peter 2:19-21, “For it is commendable if a man bears up under the pain of unjust suffering because he is conscious of God.  But how is it to your credit if you receive a beating for doing wrong and endure it? But if you suffer for doing good and you endure it, this is commendable before God. To this you were called, because Christ suffered for you, leaving you an example that you should follow in his steps.

I also discovered that God promises to bring deliverance from suffering as stated in Job 36:15, “But those who suffer He delivers in their suffering; He speaks to them in their affliction”.

Ribur testified that God communicated with her in prison and spoke to her through a dream and encouraged and strengthened her.

Another discovery is that God is close to those who suffer and He listens to their prayers.  In Psalms 22:24 we read:  “For He has not despised or disdained the suffering of the afflicted one; He has not hidden His face from him but has listened to his cry for help”.

Ribur testified that she realized that as a disciple of Jesus Christ she could expect suffering because her Savior Jesus Christ was also familiar with suffering and was rejected by men. The servant is not greater than the Master.  In Isaiah 53:3 we read that “He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows, and familiar with suffering. Like one from whom men hide their faces. He was despised, and we esteemed him not”.

I noticed in Acts 5:41 that the Apostles rejoiced when suffering for Jesus Christ, “The apostles left the Sanhedrin, rejoicing because they had been counted worthy of suffering disgrace for the Name. Day after day, in the temple courts and from house to house, they never stopped teaching and proclaiming the good news that Jesus is the Christ”. In fact after suffering they were even more active sharing the good news!

I realize that we also must rejoice when suffering for Jesus Christ. In 1 Peter 4:12-17 we read, “Dear friends, do not be surprised at the painful trial you are suffering, as though something strange were happening to you. But rejoice that you participate in the sufferings of Christ, so that you may be overjoyed when his glory is revealed. If you are insulted because of the name of Christ, you are blessed, for the Spirit of glory and of God rests on you. If you suffer, it should not be as a murderer or thief or any other kind of criminal, or even as a meddler. However, if you suffer as a Christian, do not be ashamed, but praise God that you bear that name. For it is time for judgment to begin with the family of God; and if it begins with us, what will the outcome be for those who do not obey the gospel of God?

God’s Word clearly explains to us:

·        Expect suffering to come and don’t be surprised by painful trials.

·        Rejoice because you may participate in the sufferings of Jesus Christ.

·        There is even greater joy when you meet the Savior face to face in His glory.

·        You are blessed when insulted because of your faith in Jesus Christ.

·        God the Holy Spirit rests on you so you are never alone in suffering.

·        All praise to God when you are allowed to suffer for Jesus Christ.

·        God’s Word teaches judgement and suffering for the family of God.

·        The suffering will be far greater for those who do not obey the Gospel of God.

Finally I discovered that we must never retaliate when suffering for Jesus Christ. In 1 Peter 2:23-24 we note that, “When they hurled their insults at him, he did not retaliate; when He suffered, He made no threats. Instead, He entrusted Himself to Him who judges justly. He himself bore our sins in His body on the tree, so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness; by His wounds you have been healed”

Live for righteousness means doing the Will of God. What is God’s will?  It is clearly presented in 2 Peter 3:9-13, “The Lord is not slow in keeping His promise, as some understand slowness. He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance”.  God wants no one to perish but wants all people everywhere to come to repentance. It is absolutely necessary for all people to hear the Gospel and it is God’s will that all people in every nation of the world hear the Gospel. We may not discriminate against any people or religion when we preach the Gospel. All Moslems, Hindus, Buddhists, Shintoist, Christians, Roman Catholics, Mormons, Communists, Animist and Atheists must hear the Gospel. We have been commanded by Jesus Christ in Mark 16:15 to go and preach the good news to all creation. “He said to them, "Go into all the world and preach the good news to all creation.  Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned”. All creation involves all human beings created by God. There is no exception! I realize there is a misunderstanding of these orders of Jesus Christ because even the head of the Christian section in the Department of Religion in Banda Aceh explained to reporters that Ribur was in the wrong for preaching the Gospel to those who were adherents of Islam. Ribur was not in the wrong! She was simply obeying the instructions of Jesus Christ who is above all rulers and governments. She was following the example of the Lord Jesus who also preached the Gospel to religious people.

We may be called to suffer when we obey the command of Jesus Christ. But even in suffering there is opportunity for sharing the Gospel.  Ribur testified that in prison she preached the Gospel to police officers, prison guards, journalists and other prisoners. It was her privilege in prison to lead a person to accept Jesus Christ as personal Savior. Nothing may stop us from sharing the Gospel. We hear a lot about human rights these days. I am convinced that the greatest and supreme human right is for people to hear the Gospel. We all must be human rights activists and share the Gospel of Jesus Christ everywhere with all people young and old. No suffering or persecution or government orders may stop the execution of the command of Jesus Christ, the King of kings and Lord of lords. We must be as bold as Martin Luther when he was standing in front of Emperor Charles V at the Diet of Worms in Germany in 1521:   “Here I stand.  I can do no other.  God help me.  Amen."  And the Lord almighty will respond and say “I will never leave you nor forsake you”,  and “surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age."

On May 30th in Banda Aceh, Indonesia, Christian workers Roy Kalbulan and Ribur Manulang were beaten and imprisoned for sharing the Gospel with local Muslims. They were questioned by the police and suffered repeated beatings. Though through their pain and imprisonment, they still had strength, given by God, to endure.

 

In that moment, Ribur says, “I was thinking of the Lord Jesus also being beaten and suffering for me.” She knows that it is her duty to obey God and to share the Gospel with everyone, no matter the consequences. Ribur and Roy are confident in God’s plan for them.

God has answered the prayers for their release. As of July 30th they were both released and now in safety. Roy and Ribur were risking their life in order to share about Jesus and the Good News.

“…I am in chains for Christ. And because of my chains, most of the brothers and sisters have become confident in the Lord and dare all the more to proclaim the gospel without fear.” –Philippians 1:13-14

I am fairly new to the subject of persecution. I feel I probably represent the average western Christian in how we think about it. I've always known that scripture refers to persecution, and at times when reading the scriptures and I would run across those verses, and would be prompted to pray for them. My prayers for them were 'spotty' to say the least. Over the years however, those scriptures began to show up more often! My spirit within me quickened, and interest in praying for them increased. But I still did not really knowing how to pray, what to pray, and again didn't pray on a regular basis for them.

Recently the Lord grabbed a hold of my heart and drew me into a deeper understanding and devotion to remembering them in prayer. I'm now amazed at just how much scripture refers to the persecuted, and how often we are told by the Apostle Paul to pray for them, and embrace them. Later, I was introduced to International Christian Response (ICR). I met with an Ambassador of ICR, several times and he encouraged me to read several books on persecution. It was through these readings that I began to have a deeper and clearer understanding of who they are, and why they are so set aside by the Lord. The more I read the more they become alive in my heart and mind - I feel connected to them. I have also had the opportunity to hear different speakers from some of these persecuted countries and again, my heart is blessed

I am now finding that instead of praying 'for' them, I am praying 'with' them as brothers and sisters in the Lord. I am constantly challenged by their deep, deep love for the Lord - their boldness in their witness - their zeal to stand strong before Him. I now see how their persecution has driven them even closer to the Lord, and their numbers are growing because of that. One man put it so succinctly - "Remember, as the idols are smashed, the gospel grows." (Faith that Endures, pg 15). In listening to a persecuted converted Muslim believer, I heard that same kind of thought when she said, "When Suddam's reign collapsed it was the best thing that could have happened for Christian growth in the underground churches, because thousands of people were desperate to find 'light' in all that 'darkness'." It actually made them desperate for God.

Many of us in the West are not desperate for God - instead, we take Him for granted. The persecuted are prepared for and ready to die for their Lord. That thought hasn't crossed most of our minds. We have much to learn from them. The persecuted believer understands that their witness for Christ could very well cost them their very life. In Romans 8:35-37 we read, "Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us." In Romans 8:17-18 we read: "Since I am Your child, O God, I am Your heir, and a joint heir with Christ, if indeed I share in His sufferings in order that I may also share in His glory. For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed to me." This is how they face their persecution - as an honor!

Many of those who are persecuted say that their most urgent need is prayer. The prayer they desire is not for relief from suffering but for the strength and ability to endure suffering for the sake of Christ. Not all who are persecuted live a victorious life in Christ. Some are beaten down emotionally and physically and return to their Muslim families 'in disguise' - going back to the safety net of family, but worshipping undercover so to speak.. We are not to judge by any means. They as well need our prayers. I was most surprised when I read how the persecuted believer prays for their persecutor! The Lord has time and again responded to those prayers when something was said or done that stuck in the mind of that persecutor, and he then sought out the Lord and found Him. We have so much to learn from the simplicity of their worship - their devotion to their Lord - their boldness in their living for Him - their determination to share this new found faith with family and friends. I urge you to become acquainted with our persecuted believers all over the world. It' an experience you will never forget!