IN MY DARKNESS HOURS: 2015

Monday, December 28, 2015

Wild Accusations Torment Christians in Laos

September 24, 2015

Unless an appeals court overturns a ruling, praying for the sick is illegal in Laos. (File Photo)

A Christian in Laos accused of being an "illegal doctor" because he prayed for a sick woman who later died was jailed for nine months without treatment for his diabetes. Last week, six months after he was released pending appeal, he died from his condition.
Tiang Kwentianthong was one of five Christians arrested in Saisomboon village, Atsaphangthong District, on June 24, 2014 after an aging woman who had long been ill asked them to pray for her. He was 61.
"While awaiting the verdict in prison in Savannakhet Province for almost nine months [before sentencing on Feb. 12 of nine months in prison and hefty fines], Mr. Tiang continued to suffer severe diabetes," said an advocate for Human Rights Watch for Lao Religious Freedom (HRWLRF). "Mr. Tiang requested permission to be treated for his worsening diabetic condition, but the prison officials denied his request."
The advocacy group helped win their freedom pending appeal on March 20, and immediately after his release from prison, Tiang began receiving treatment for his severe diabetic condition, said the advocate, who requested anonymity. The People's Court of Savannakhet Province had found the Christians guilty of acting "without proper medical authorization."
The Christians filed their appeal on March 6 as the verdict had no factual and legal basis, the advocate said. The woman they had prayed for was later admitted to a hospital, where she received treatment before she died. The appeals court was supposed to deliver a ruling within 45 days of receiving the petition, but it had not done so at the time of Tiang's death more than six months later.
"The HRWLRF demands that the Lao government, along with the Savannakhet provincial prison officials, take responsibility for the death of Mr. Tiang, who was arrested and imprisoned illegally and who was denied request for medical treatment for his worsening diabetic condition," the advocate said.
Arrested along with Tiang were pastor Kaithong Khounphaisan, Puphet Phanmalaithong, Muk Boulakham and Hasadee Thammathoun. Two of the other prisoners also suffer from diabetes, and two others had kidney infections requiring medications that were denied them in prison, the advocate said.
"Two were bordering on kidney failure," he said. "So they spent about a month to two months just to recover from the very bad health conditions they had, and then after that they continued to start holding worship service again in their home."
Police have continued harassing the Christians, demanding payment of the fines even though the case remains under appeal, and last month about 20 officers surrounded the house where the church was meeting on a Sunday morning. Ignoring the threat of arrest, the group decided to continue worshipping. When they came out an hour later, the police were gone, the advocate said.
"They now have the freedom to meet in their homes, and also they're traveling to new locations, and other people are coming to know Christ," he said. "They have planted two new churches."

Church growth in Laos threatens village officials' sense of control. (File Photo)

Until there is an appeals court ruling, though, any Christian in Laos who prays for the sick could be subject to the charge of illegal medical practice, he said. Another area of Savannakhet Province saw an even more draconian measure. Becoming Christian left an entire family open to the charge of angering murderous village spirits. A village chief who believed their conversion was responsible for local spirits visiting illness and death on his daughter illegally sentenced the family to death.
The head of Atan village in Nong District, identified only as Bounchen, sought to execute the Christian family on Aug. 31, but a Communist Party official in the area managed to stop him, the HRWLRF leader said. A village religious affairs official identified only as Pousone planned to help Bounchen carry out the illegal verdict and sentence.
The head of the family, identified only as Lahoie, and six relatives embraced Christ in April. When Bounchen's daughter died in the middle of August, the village chief blamed the Christians.
"He believed that her death was caused by angry village spirits who were oppressed by the Spirit of Jesus that the Christians brought into the village when they embraced the Christian faith," the advocate said.
Bounchen called an obligatory meeting in which village households concluded the Spirit of Christ was evil and harmful, and that therefore the Christians had to be killed to appease the village spirits. Bounchen, Pousone and the village security force tried unsuccessfully to get the backing of the area Communist Party official for the execution of Christians.
Unable to execute them, on Sept. 4 village officials led by Bounchen went to the Christian family's home and seized a pig and a goat worth $85 and $45 respectively, the equivalent of about two months' wages, according to the HRWLRF advocate. The officials slaughtered and ate the animals.
"After the confiscation of the pig and goat, a Christian leader, Pastor Agom from Nong District, reported the incident of their death penalty and the confiscation of their animals to the Nong District's Religious Affairs Office," the advocate said. "The Religious Affairs Office has yet to bring actions against the Atan village officials who acted in violation of the law."
The HRWLRF is urging the Lao government to respect the right of the Lao people to religious freedom and the accompanying rights as guaranteed in the Lao constitution and the U.N. International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, ratified by Laos in 2009. The Covenant upholds the individual's right to adopt a religion/belief of choice, as well as the right to manifest that religion/belief in a corporate worship (Article 18).
"Additionally, the HRWLRF urges the Lao government to punish the Atan village officials who acted unlawfully, thus bringing harm to the lives of the citizens of Atan village who are of Christian persuasion," the advocate said. "The HRWLRF furthermore demands that the village officials be made to compensate for the loss of the animals of the Christian family."

To help indigenous missionaries meet needs, you may contribute online using the form below, or call (434) 977-5650. If you prefer to mail your gift, please mail to Christian Aid Mission, P.O. Box 9037, Charlottesville, VA 22906. Please use Gift Code: 730CFL. Thank you!

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Christians pray for victory over forces of darkness in Laos, where political, religious and societal powers oppress Christians. Making up slightly more than 3 percent of the population of the communist country, Christians face hostilities from Buddhists and animists, often a syncretistic mix of the two. Local officials uphold the status quo; in Khounkham District in Khammouane Province, five policemen in Nong-hang village on Sept. 2 arrested two men for spreading the Christian faith. Bountheung Phetsomphone, a Christian leader from another province, was visiting a Christian identified only as Neuy, and a Christian family invited them to their home to encourage and prayer for them. As they were eating lunch with the host family, the officers stormed in, arrested the two visitors and incarcerated them at Khounkham District prison. Both Christians are married, and each has three children. An indigenous ministry group assisted by Christian Aid Mission advocated for their release, and they were freed on Sept. 12. (File Photo)

Saturday, December 26, 2015

Oregon Gunman Tells Christians They Will See God in ‘One Second’

A gunman carrying four weapons — three pistols and a rifle — entered an Oregon college Thursday and opened fire on several victims. Ten innocent people were killed and several others were wounded in the mass shooting.

Brady Winder, a 23-year-old student, said people were “scrambling “like ants” when the gunman opened fire around 10:38 a.m.

The gunman, whose name we have chosen not to share, was later shot and killed in a shootout with police outside one of the classrooms, according to Douglas County Sheriff John Hanlin.

Students told authorities the gunman entered one classroom told everyone to get down the floor before having them stand one at a time asking them if they were a Christian. One witness told reporters she saw the gunman asking a teacher about religion before shooting them in the head.

At least one witness told CNN the shooter was targeting Christians:

“[He started] asking people one by one what their religion was. ‘Are you a Christian?’ he would ask them, and if you’re a Christian, stand up. And they would stand up and he said, ‘Good, because you’re a Christian, you are going to see God in just about one second.’ And then he shot and killed them,”

Stories of extraordinary heroism are starting to emerge. Army veteran Chris Mintz risked his own life to save others by running towards the gunman. Mintz was shot seven times and was still in surgery for his injuries earlier this morning.
Thousands of people attended a vigil in an Oregon park last night to pay tribute to those who lost their lives in this tragic school shooting.

President Obama quickly responded with a plea for more gun control, calling America “the only advanced country on Earth that sees these kind of mass shootings every few months.”
Please join us in praying for the victims and families attacked in this terrible shooting.

Syrian Christian Boy Crucified by ISIS

Christians in Syria have suffered at the hands of ISIS because they have refused to denounce their faith. They’ve endured being robbed at checkpoints, many have been tortured, raped or sold to the sex slave market. On August 28 in a village near Aleppo, Syria, twelve Christians were brutally murdered including a 12-year-old boy and his ministry leading father.
Christian Aid wrote,

“The relatives said ISIS militants on Aug. 7 captured the Christian workers in a village whose name is withheld for security reasons. On Aug. 28, the militants asked if they had renounced Islam for Christianity. When the Christians said that they had, the rebels asked if they wanted to return to Islam. The Christians said they would never renounce Christ.
The 41-year-old team leader, his young son and two ministry members in their 20s were questioned at one village site where ISIS militants had summoned a crowd. The team leader presided over nine house churches he had helped to establish. His son was two months away from his 13th birthday.
In front of the team leader and relatives in the crowd, the Islamic extremists cut off the fingertips of the boy and severely beat him, telling his father they would stop the torture only if he, the father, returned to Islam. When the team leader refused, relatives said, the ISIS militants also tortured and beat him and the two other ministry workers. The three men and the boy then met their deaths in crucifixion.”
“All were badly brutalized and then crucified,” the ministry leader said. “They were left on their crosses for two days. No one was allowed to remove them.”

The ministry director had asked the ministry leaders to leave for their safety, but they all insisted on staying. They felt like God wanted them to stay and share the gospel.

“The martyrs died beside signs the ISIS militants had put up identifying them as “infidels.”
Eight other ministry team members, including two women, were taken to another site in the village that day (Aug. 28) and were asked the same questions before a crowd. The women, ages 29 and 33, tried to tell the ISIS militants they were only sharing the peace and love of Christ and asked what they had done wrong to deserve the abuse. The Islamic extremists then publicly raped the women, who continued to pray during the ordeal, leading the ISIS militants to beat them all the more furiously.
As the two women and the six men knelt before they were beheaded, they were all praying.
“Villagers said some were praying in the name of Jesus, others said some were praying the Lord’s prayer, and others said some of them lifted their heads to commend their spirits to Jesus,” the ministry director said. “One of the women looked up and seemed to be almost smiling as she said, ‘Jesus!'”
After they were beheaded, their bodies were hung on crosses, the ministry director said, his voice breaking. He had trained all of the workers for their evangelistic ministry, and he had baptized the team leader and some of the others.”

Syrian Christians and indigenous missionaries are in great danger every day. Pray for surviving families, for the work of the gospel and for the safety and hope of Christians and missionaries.
Christian Aid works to meet the needs of indigenous missionaries and to help the persecuted to escape. Give to their work here.

How to Pray for the Syrian Refugee Crisis

Advice for when you don't know what to say.

image: http://cdn1.relevantmediagroup.com/sites/default/files/styles/node_author/public/user/Kimberly%20Hunt.jpg?itok=TVfiFvn4

By Kim Hunt

October 12, 2015

Kim Hunt is communications manager with Micah Challenge USA and contributor and co-editor of Live Justly. She currently resides in Portland, Oregon. She loves to travel, sew, sing, explore the outdoor... Read More

Over the last few months, the world has been watching tragic stories of refugees fleeing the Middle East. And I suspect that many of us feel overwhelmed by the incredible need of the refugee population right now.
I’ve been reading the Humans of New York stories shared over the previous few weeks, and I can’t help but break down as I do so. It hurts my heart to see so many people struggling to simply find a safe place to lay their heads at night. I can’t even imagine some of the horrors they’ve had to go through, just because of where they were born and where they live.
It’s hard to know how to really help. I’ve donated money to organizations helping those in need, I’ve spoken to my political representatives about helping, but I want to do more. What else can I do?
While I read about the refugee crisis, I’m prompted to give and advocate, but I sometimes forget that prayer is a powerful way to help, as well. I can pray for peace. I can pray for protection. I can pray for our leaders to open their hearts and our borders to take in those fleeing unimaginable circumstances. I can pray for safety. I can pray for changed hearts. I can pray.
Along with giving and raising awareness, please pray with me. God is our ultimate help in these times of uncertainty. Prayer can make all the difference.
Here are some ideas on how you can pray (or join me in this guided prayer). Do not let this moment pass without praying something. Together our voices make a difference. Let God hear our souls cry out for those in need.

Pray for the Refugee Community

Take a moment to consider the individual people, the families and the communities that have been torn apart by war and economic hardship. Try to place yourself in such a situation, just for a minute.

Take a moment to pray for safety for refugees. Pray for safe passage over land and sea. Pray for God to instill hope into a seemingly hopeless situation.

Think what it might mean for you to leave everything behind and travel to a new place in the hope that you may be able to find peace for yourself and your family. You’d have to start over from scratch, but at least you’d be alive. You would be trying not to dwell on everything you saw and hoping the nightmares would go away in time.
People are living that reality right now.
Take a moment to pray for safety for refugees. Pray for safe passage over land and sea. Pray for protection from those who would take advantage of them. Pray that human traffickers and ISIS rebels would be kept at bay. Pray for shelter and good weather as they make their journeys. Pray for God to instill hope into a seemingly hopeless situation.

Pray for the Caregivers

Countless people have given money, time and space in their homes to help create safe passage and ease of transition for these refugees. The sacrifices many have made to help others truly astounds me and helps restore my faith in the goodness of humanity amid the crisis.
Pray blessings of peace and love over those providing assistance. Pray for strength as they hear heart-wrenching stories, bandage wounds and provide care. Pray that enough resources are available to help any and every refugee caregivers encounter. Pray for protection and the knowledge that their kindness and love is not going unnoticed.

Pray for Political Leaders

In a time where budgets are tight and political leaders are under strain, it can be incredibly tempting to ignore those most in need. Power and greed can be irresistible, and assisting refugees fulfill neither. To help a refugee is a singularly selfless act.
Pray for wisdom for our world leaders, that they would open borders and find ways to help refugees fleeing from war. Pray for freedom from pride, greed and political trappings. Pray for open eyes and hearts to find ways to best assist the refugee populations around the world.

Pray for Boldness

Then you have us. Sitting here, staring at our computers/smart phones at a loss for what to do. We have voices. We should use them.

Ask God to put His calming hand upon the hearts of those who are sowing animosity among people groups.

Pray for God to show you how you can best offer assistance. Pray for a lack of complacency. Pray for courage and tenacity to seek change in a system that favors profit over people. Ask God to remove any apathy you may feel toward those in need.
Pray for daily reminders that each individual is a person with hopes and dreams and a future. Pray for guidance to become the servant God has called each and everyone one of us to be. Pray for God’s love to flow through you and to those in need. Pray for the boldness to do what is right even when it’s not easy.

Pray for Peace

God is the God of peace. We can talk. We can beseech one another. We can make treaties and sign papers, but God—God is true peace.
Pray for God’s hand to be upon situations fraught with discord and anger and hatred. Ask God to put His calming hand upon the hearts of those who are sowing animosity among people groups. Pray for His love to descend upon the battlefields, so that understanding and enlightenment causes those who were harming families and communities to set down their instruments of war in favor of seeds and plows and bricks and mortar in an effort to rebuild.

Do More

To donate to help the Syrian refugees, you can visit organizations such as World Vision or the International Rescue Committee.
Please call your government representative via the switchboard at (202) 224-3121 or visit house.gov and senate.gov to find the direct line to urge them to support Syrian refugee assistance.

Read more at http://www.relevantmagazine.com/reject-apathy/how-pray-syrian-refugee-crisis#Bj6HvLoGKcLhkFjl.99

Arguments for the Creator Point to Inconsistent Worldviews

Both Christians and non-Christians see evidence for a Creator. How does this belief affect our lives?

Bill Anders / NASA

Earlier this week, LifeWay Research released new data from a recent study on how Christians, and all Americans, think about the existence of a creator. A friend of mine, Mary Jo Sharp, wrote a blog post for me on her reaction to the data and what it tells us about the people around us. Mary Jo is a former atheist from the Pacific Northwest who thought religion was for the weak-minded. She now holds a Masters in Christian Apologetics from Biola University and is the first woman to become a Certified Apologetics Instructor through the North American Mission Board.

Be sure to read her post, and then scroll down to the bottom to see a graphic depicting some of the most fascinating data from the survey, which you can download in full here.

The Nagging Feeling of a Creator

As a Christian, I doubted my belief in God. This doubt was born of inexperience with the Christian community as well as inattentiveness to the life of the mind. I set out to answer my doubts and found that there were many arguments for belief in the existence of a Creator. One of the main arguments that brought me back around to belief was the argument from the Moral Law. According to a recent survey by LifeWay Research, I’m not alone. The majority of 1,000 people surveyed appear to believe that the existence of good and evil—from where we derive morality—points towards the existence of God, as the standard of goodness and as the moral lawgiver.

Beyond merely theorizing on the existence of good and evil, we live as if there are good and bad things to do in a day, even if we profess to deny the existence of good and evil. We strive to do what is good; at the very least, what we perceive is “good for us.” We humans have a nagging concept of goodness present in our lives, regardless of how we describe it. From where does such an idea come? For a majority of those surveyed by LifeWay Research, the idea of a standard of goodness derives from the nature of a perfectly good Creator, “who defines morality.”

We must dispel any irrational fear that Christianity is opposed to scientific discovery.

For the non-religious, according to the survey, the existence of morality is a less convincing argument, with 53 percent disagreeing with the statement, “Since people have morality, I think there is a creator who defines morality.” While that statistic is no surprise, the surprising statistic is the 33 percent of the non-religious who agreed with this statement. From the statistic, without reading too far into the results of this general survey, we can take away that discussion on the existence of good and evil, and discussion about how we know what is good (what is the standard of goodness), are valuable apologetic tools.

The survey further discovered an age gap in the view of morality as a positive argument for the existence of God. Three-quarters (75 percent) of those aged 45 or higher while only 57 percent of those aged 44 and younger agree that morality offers proof of a creator. Though there are many considerations for the age gap, such as life experiences, education, and generational culture, the statistic was also reminiscent of a prediction by C.S. Lewis in The Abolition of Man. Lewis predicted that as a society let go of its belief in objective morality, our beliefs would be habituated, instead of reasoned. Younger generations are exposed to more humanistic and atheistic philosophy than ever before. The exposure, without the necessary caveat, or instruction, that the philosophy is overtly atheist or humanistic, can produce conflicting views in an individual concerning morality. Therefore, the statistic from LifeWay Research demonstrates that the Moral Law argument, which includes the case for objective moral truth, should be addressed in at least junior high and high school age students; and earlier, if possible.

Conflicting Views

The LifeWay Research survey also found conflicting views from the atheists, agnostics, and non-religious surveyed when it came to the evidence for a Creator from the natural world. This group was more likely to believe that there is a Creator based on design of the universe than they were likely to believe in the existence of a creator based on the origins of human life. Without a more extensive and detailed survey, only speculation as to the discrepancy can be made. However, in the 20th century, as mentioned previously, our society was exposed to much more atheistic philosophy; a philosophy which entails that there is no ultimate meaning, purpose, or value to the universe and, therefore, to human life. Humans, according to this philosophy, are specks of dust in the enormity of a vast, indifferent universe. The undermining of the ultimate value of human life has most likely negatively influenced the view of the existence of human life as evidence towards an intelligent, personal Creator.

Conversely, the 20th century ushered in so many new technologies, affording our society an explosive century of scientific discovery. These new discoveries and the depth of knowledge we have gained about the detailed orderliness of our universe could be positively influencing our view of the existence of an intelligent, designing Creator. However, it would seem that atheistic philosophy would also negatively influence our view of the universe as being designed and purposed by a Creator (not considering origins of human life). Therefore, the statistics seem to suggest an inconsistency in worldview.

Both of the statistics on the view of evidence from the natural world demonstrate the need for an informed Christian view on the nature of science and religion. We must dispel any irrational fear that Christianity is opposed to scientific discovery and reclaim our knowledge tradition in the exploration of God’s creation.

Evidence for the Existence of God

When I had doubt about my belief in God, considering the arguments for His existence didn’t repel me towards atheism. Rather, I began to see, for the first time, the vast riches of evidence available to me for the existence of God. As the church experiences a renaissance of the life of the mind, we must also consider that we should never need another renaissance when it comes to apologetics. The discipline of apologetics is a necessary aspect of the Christian life providing one part of a solid foundation in which trust in God flourishes. The LifeWay Research survey has touched on this very thought: apologetics, as was present in the preaching and teaching of the earliest believers, impacts the life of the believer as well as the life of the non-believer in God.

11 Christians Are Killed Every Hour, Says Irish Catholic Bishop Who Warns Persecution Has Reached 'Unprecedented' High

By Vincent Funaro , Christian Post Reporter

May 19, 2015|5:47 pm

image: http://images.christianpost.com/full/76222/displaced-iraqi-christians.jpg

(Photo: Reuters/Ahmed Jadallah)

Displaced Iraqi Christians who fled from Islamic State militants in Mosul, pray at a school acting as a refugee camp in Erbil, Iraq, September 6, 2014.

Bishop John McAreavey, chair of the council for Justice & Peace of the Irish Catholic Bishop's Conference, told the Joint Committee on Foreign Affairs and Trade that Christian persecution is at an "unprecedented" high, pointing to statistics that show 11 Christians are killed every hour of the day.
Citing a Pew Research survery, McAreavey told the committee that Christian persecution is being gravely underestimated, as "Christianity is now the world's most oppressed religious group, with persecution against them reported in 110 countries."
He continued: "Many of these countries have significant trade links with Ireland. Persecution is increasing in China. In North Korea a quarter of the country's Christians live in forced labour camps. Saudi Arabia, Yemen, and the Maldives all feature in the 10 worst places to be Christian.
"According to the International Society for Human Rights, a non-religious organization, 80 percent of all acts of religious discrimination in the world today are directed against Christians."
At least 100,000 Christians are killed every year because of their faith in Jesus Christ, McAreavey said, adding that an even greater number of believers are "being tortured, imprisoned, exiled, threatened, excluded, attacked and discriminated against on a widespread scale."
The bishop also shared statements from the Chief Rabbi of Britain, Jonathan Sacks, who recently said that the suffering of Christians in the Middle East is "one of the crimes against humanity of our time," comparing it to Jewish pogroms in Europe and asserted that he's "appalled at the lack of protest it has evoked."
The killing and torturing of Christians in the Middle East is "a threat to our common humanity and to the religious and cultural patrimony of the world" and places "peace and stability of the entire planet" at risk, the bishop continued.
McAreavey also addressed leaders of Western nations who've so far refuse to commit to helping Christians in the Middle East.
"Perhaps because of a fear of being seen as less than aggressively secular in their own country," he said, many governments of majority Christian countries in the West seem reluctant to give direct aid to churches and religious minorities."
He went on to argue that the West risks losing its own understanding of the importance of religion by ignoring the conflict in the Middle East and urged his fellow Catholics to appeal "to all governments and societies to affirm the vital importance of respecting the right to religious freedom and conscience as a fundamental principle of genuine pluralism in a tolerant society."
Some Christian leaders in the West have spoken out about the lack of aid persecuted Christians are receiving in the Middle East, including Rev. William Devlin of Infinity Bible Church in Bronx, New York.
Devlin has traveled to over 11 different countries including Kurdish Iraq where the persecution of Christians is rampant. He's urged other leaders to help by traveling to these nations with him, but told The Christian Post in an interview last week that he's disappointed in some of the excuses he's heard, with the number one reason being that the pastors cannot afford it.
As an answer to their excuses, Devlin said he will pay for pastors' airfare to travel to persecuted nations.
"My efforts are bearing fruit, and just hope that we can continue to get the call out there because I think it is a total embarrassment, it's a black eye in the face of Jesus that we are not going over there," said Devlin told CP.
Devlin plans to return to Iraq in July and hopes other pastors will go along with him.
Christian leaders from the East, such as Sister Diana Momeka, an Iraqi Catholic nun who was driven out of her home by ISIS in August of 2014, are also speaking out.
Momeka recently traveled to the U.S. to address Congress on the militant Islamic group's persecution of Christians in the region, and said the killing of believers could lead to the destruction of commonality between the Eastern and Western cultures if it continues.
"This is cultural and human genocide," she said during a congressional hearing on Wednesday, adding that the eradication of the Christian community has "placed the whole region on the edge of a terrible catastrophe."
"Christians have for centuries been the bridge that connects Eastern and Western cultures. Destroying this bridge will leave an isolated, inculturated conflict zone emptied of cultural and religious diversity."

Read more at http://www.christianpost.com/news/11-christians-are-killed-every-hour-says-irish-catholic-bishop-who-warns-persecution-of-believers-is-at-an-unprecedented-high-139312/#rLFb4BSkZ5t7XQWf.99

Monday, December 21, 2015

Kurdish Refugees Suffer as War in Turkey Escalates

October 15, 2015

Syrian refugees stuck in Istanbul, Turkey appeal to the government to let them proceed by land to Greece.

The escalation in Turkey's fight with Kurdish rebels has made life harder for Kurdish refugees from Syria, and indigenous Christians are working to keep them from the same fate as the drowned toddler – a Kurd – whose lifeless body woke the world in a photograph that went viral.
Kurdish and leftist groups at a peace rally were targeted in the worst terrorist attack in Turkey's history on Saturday (Oct. 10), when twin suicide bombings in the capital city of Ankara killed at least 128 people. Those responsible for the Ankara blasts are unknown (the government suspects the Islamic State). It hit as Turkish forces increased bombing of Kurdish rebels in the southeast.
A Kurdish refugee family recently found the Turkish government was unwilling to help them when officials discovered they were from the Kobani, located in a predominantly Kurdish area of Syria, said the director of a ministry indigenous to Turkey.
"The Turkish government had opened a new branch to help the refugees, so when he went there, they asked him, 'Where are you from?' and he answered, 'From Syria,'" the director said. "They asked where in Syria. When he said from Kobani, they refused to help them, so now they have another problem: They are Kurds, and now the Turkish government and Kurds are at war in the southeast."
The family had no place to go and didn't know what to do, he said.
Abdullah Kurdi, father of the drowned 3-year-old boy whose photo shocked the world, had another surname before officials dubbed him "Kurdi" upon his arrival to Turkey because of his Kurdish ethnicity. He too had come from Kobani. Finding it difficult to be accepted as a Syrian Kurd in Turkey, Kurdi had opted to go to Greece. His toddler son Aylan, 5-year-old son Galip and wife Rehan perished in the Aegean Sea on Sept. 2 trying to make it to Greece on a refugee boat from Bodrum in southwestern Turkey.
The ministry director said he would like to take his team to Bodrum, as refugees continue to trek to the resort area to make the perilous trip across the waters to Greece. In a tent camp where the ministry serves, five families sold all they had and recently went to Bodrum, the ministry director said.
"Three of the families made it to Greece, but two of the families didn't make it," he said. "All of them died in the water."
The director had spoken to the families while giving away food boxes in July, he said. The two families that drowned included three children.
"We have to be fast to help these people; otherwise, many will die when they are trying to flee to Europe," he said. "We pray that we can reach many more people as fast as we can. Please pray for us and pray for them, so no other kids die in the water."
The ministry seeks assistance for transportation to make more trips to the refugees, and the director said he would also like to open a school. In the course of their work, 16 refugees have received Jesus, he said.
"We are praying for the opportunity to reach more people, and we want you to pray for us, as well, that God open our way and we can serve Him even more," he said. "We believe that the Lord will work here to save more people."

A refugee mother gathers up food for her family in Turkey.

In one refugee camp in Adana in south-central Turkey, most of those who have fled Syria's civil war and the terrorist advances of the Islamic State (ISIS) are Kurdish. Many are working in nearby fields, but they are having difficulty collecting their pay, said the director of another indigenous ministry. His ministry has been distributing food and other items to the camp in Adana twice a month, and on their last visit, team members saw a level of hunger and desperation they had not seen before.
The refugees are angry and without hope, said the director, whose name is withheld for security purposes. Recently a Kurdish grandmother came to him and other team members with her grandson, who appeared to be about 15 or 16, he said.
"She told us that ISIS killed the child's father," the director said. "The mother had gone and married a Turkish person."
Assuming the ministry leader was wealthy, she told him to take the boy.
"I told her that we cannot do anything like that, but that of course we will pray for him and Jesus loves him," he said. "She got more angry at me, and she asked, 'Where is He? How does He love us? If He would love us, we would not be angry.' She was so mad at me."
Because ISIS had terrorized her family in the name of God, the ministry leader sensed that she was angry at God and didn't want to hear anything about God.
"I just thought about what to say," he said, "and I told her, 'ISIS hit you, but Jesus sent me to you. He told me, 'Go and take bread to them, take shoes to them, take food and vitamins to them for their health.' Here I am. Jesus sent me to you."
The grandmother turned and walked away, but as the leader was about to leave, he heard her shout in Arabic, "Thank you!"
"She came to me, held my hand and showed her heart," he said. "She said, 'So many wounds. Tell Jesus to save us.' Please pray with me for Jesus to save this woman and all the refugees."
The ministry was able to distribute food to 72 of the 164 tents at the camp. It seeks assistance to reach more tents with items such as oil, pasta, cheese, cleaning supplies, chick-peas, lentils, chocolate for children and vitamins for the elderly.
"The refugee children who see us are running to us shouting, 'The church came,' because their families are telling them that this help for them is coming from church people," the ministry leader said. "Please continue to pray that the Lord will touch their hearts and bring them into His fold. Please pray for my country, since there is a lot of bloodshed going on in the eastern regions. May the Almighty stop all terrorist actions and give us peace."

Surprised by Joy

Surprised by Joy

Amid the darkest time of their lives, a moment of merriment sneaks up on Syrians who have fled to a refugee camp in Suruc, in southern Turkey, to escape civil war and the terrors of the Islamic State. Suruc is a few miles from the war-ravaged city of Kobani on the Syrian side. The leader of an indigenous ministry providing aid in Suruc recently received an urgent plea from a Christian worker who said they had run out of diapers and had only a week's supply of baby food left. "Please pray," his co-worker told him. "There are also 81 parentless babies on the Kobani side; they are waiting for support." The ministry leader said a generous donation from Christian Aid Mission supporters was nothing short of miraculous. "I told my co-worker I would bring enough baby food and diapers, as well as vitamins for the elderly," he said. "There are four camps in the Suruc area, and a total of 184 babies. With the 81 more on the Kobani side, in total there were 265 babies, and we have given enough to them to provide for two months of needs, plus vitamins for the elderly." That was six weeks ago, and the opportunity to bring such intervals of joy continues.

Sunday, December 13, 2015

Two Indigenous Missionaries Slain in Philippines

December 10, 2015

Feliciano Lasawang, "Pastor Cris," at home a month before he was killed.

An indigenous missionary working in a remote mountain area of the southern Philippines and his 24-year-old son were shot dead as they bathed in a river on Nov. 27. A communist death squad is suspected.
Feliciano Lasawang, known locally as Pastor Cris, and his son, Darwin, were bathing at 6 a.m. in the Culaman River, where they used to conduct baptisms, when gunmen believed to be members of a death squad of the Communist Party of the Philippines fired on them. Pastor Lasawang was 50.
"Pastor Cris was shot three times in the body, and his son once only in the face, and they died on the spot," said a native ministry leader on the island of Mindanao, citing relatives in the pastor's nearby parsonage who heard the gunshots.
The executions took place on the country's southern-most island near Culaman, north of Jose Abad Santos in Davao del Sur Province (technically Davao Occidental Province, but still governed by Davao del Sur until elections in 2016).
Pastor Lasawang leaves behind his wife and seven surviving children, the youngest two girls, ages 13 and 15. The father and son were evangelists and led food and medical relief efforts in an area of southern Mindanao where both Islamic insurgents and Communist Party rebels pose dangers. The ministry leader said the communist militants are hostile to Christians because church growth hampers their cause.
"We become a hindrance to their mass recruitment of young people, to adults and children joining in their armed struggle against the government," he said. "In the areas where we have a ministry, a church and pastor, they become unfruitful, and they hate that."
Pastor Lasawang and his son, natives of the B'laan tribe, were reaching predominantly Muslim Kalagan and Sama tribes, as well as ethnic Manobo. The church they planted had sent out three evangelists to share Christ with other little-reached peoples in remote areas, the director said. Though Islamic extremists also are active in the area, local Christians believe communist militants pose the greater threat.
The church is stunned and in mourning, but the director said he expects the killings will help it to mature rather than wither.
"They were in shock at first when I talked to them, and they are in pain, but also with hope about what the Lord is going to do next," he said. "My heart is in deep sorrow knowing how they died, yet glorifying God, knowing where Pastor Chris and his son have gone."
Normally the ministry director visits churches he's planted once a month, but due to the dangers in Davao del Sur, he had been unable to visit Pastor Lasawang and his team for two years. The pastor had said the director could visit in October, however, if he exercised vigilance. After a long, rough trip over tortuous mountain paths and across rivers, the director on Oct. 27 was able to visit with the pastor he had discipled and trained.
"We arrived with the ministry's medical team to distribute medicines and challenge them to keep on fighting the good fight of faith," he said. "It was a short but very sweet fellowship. We talked about the future of the work, how we are going to accommodate the increasing attendance at church and continue the discipleship and evangelism program."
Pastor Lasawang asked the director to return in December to speak at the church, dedicate children and baptize new believers.
"We both had lively plans, full of hopes, accelerating desires to serve the Servant King," he said, "not knowing in God's plan that that would be our last fellowship here on earth."

Pastor Lasawang prays at baby dedication.

Since 2006, the ministry has worked in areas where both Islamist and communist terrorists are present, as the director and his indigenous teams reach pockets where foreign missionaries would be quickly kidnapped or killed. The ministry has planted 18 house churches, 37 churches with buildings and 11 underground fellowships.
The ministry team trains church leaders and evangelists at their center at an undisclosed site in Mindanao and also visits remote areas to conduct week-long trainings. Those wishing to help the church now bereft of two of its leaders can give toward the living expenses of the surviving family members through Christian Aid Mission. They can also contribute toward the costs of young people in the fellowship who wish to attend Bible school and toward the expenses of former communists who now serve as evangelists, the ministry director said.
"We hate communism, but we love the communists, just like we love the Muslims but hate Mohammedanism," he said. "Jesus did not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance. We will continue to proclaim the gospel and build biblically sound churches anywhere the Holy Spirit of God leads us."

Preparing the Way

Preparing the Way

A ministry worker helps clear away undergrowth for a church building under construction that will also serve as a training center for a ministry based on the island of Mindanao in the Philippines. Three house churches the ministry has planted plan to consolidate and meet in the building in Surallah, South Cotabato Province. Indigenous evangelists in the area are reaching T’Boli, Antiqueno and Ilonggo tribes, as well as ethnic Ubo, Manuvo and B’laan. As a training center, the building will reduce costs by shortening the distance that new Christians in southern areas will have to travel for instruction. “Lord willing, it will also cater to former Muslims from nearby Maguindanao Province and Sultan Kudarat Province and the rich ethnic and multicultural provinces of South Cotabato and North Cotabato,” the ministry director said. “The Lord has heard our prayers for a lot to be donated, and the church building will be completed in January 2016.” The ministry seeks funds for completion of the building.

Persecuted Christians in India Need Your Help

Persecuted Christians in India Need Your Help

#FreetoWorship

In India, hundreds of Christian families from over 50 villages have been unlawfully banned from practicing their faith. Hindu radicals have been on the rise in India and have only been emboldened by the election of Prime Minister Narendra Modi who himself has had a checkered past of tolerating violence toward religious minorities. Over 50 villages in the Bastar District of Chhattisgarh State, led by both local leaders and local ruling party officials, are persecuting religious minorities and defying India's constitution, which guarantees religious freedom.

Please take just a moment and click on the link to sign our petition on behalf of persecuted Christians in India.

Petition Calling for the Immediate End to Persecution of Christians in India

Since the passage of the village proclamation, Christians in Chhattisgarh have suffered brutal assaults and prosecution for crimes based on little to no evidence. In addition, Christians in this region have been victimized by social boycotts; the practice of denying food, clean water, and employment, but attacks and denial of basic necessities are but the physical acts of persecution against the Christian community. Forced conversion is on the rise as these same Hindu radicals are coercing Christians to return to Hinduism through unbinding documents, illegal fines, and a promise to end the social boycott.

Today, we are joining our voice with our Indian brothers and sisters in Christ to call on the Prime Minister of India to specifically address the banning of Christianity. We believe in a society which touts religious tolerance and freedom. No one should be banned from practicing their faith freely. Sign our petition and let Christians in India know they are not alone in this fight!

SIGN THE PETITION NOW!

" But the LORD is with me as a mighty terrible one: therefore my persecutors shall stumble, and they shall not prevail: they shall be greatly ashamed; for they shall not prosper: their everlasting confusion shall never be forgotten."-Jeremiah 20:11

Want to do more?

Saturday, December 5, 2015

Hindus in India Scheme against Conversions

December 03, 2015

At a village in Jharkhand state, a woman prays for salvation in Christ.

An evangelist in northern India has to watch out for more than just violent Hindu extremists. The government is increasingly hostile toward Christian conversion, and hard-line Hindus constantly set legal traps for him.
In the northern city of Chandigarh, an evangelist who directs a regional ministry and oversees churches, Kanak Chauhan*, said he receives an average of one call a week from Hindus trying to trick him into making statements that would open him to accusations of coercing or luring people to convert; often the callers are recording the conversations.
"I received a call from this lady who said, 'I have read about Christ, and I want to change my religion,'" he said. "She was pushing me to say something like, 'I will help you to change your religion,' and once I say that, it can become a problem in India."
The pastor, who heads an indigenous ministry that has planted more than two dozen fellowships, said he responds to such calls with prudence.
"We try to use wise words, so instead of 'changing religion,' we say it's not about religion, it's about the heart," he said. "We have to be very careful. I will not say what they're trying to get me to say. I will say, 'Okay, we can talk about this, just come to meet us, and we can sit and we can talk.' If they are genuine, they will come and meet me. They never show up. They try a lot of these techniques and tricks."
India's Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leads a coalition considering legislation in parliament to criminalize forcible and unapproved religious conversions, creating an atmosphere in which Hindu vigilantes feel further entitled to attack evangelists and new converts. While India has yet to pass a law banning coerced or induced conversion, national laws already exist against criminal intimidation, and attempts to force a person to convert to another religion could be prosecuted under these and other provisions.
Thus, although Chandigarh does not belong to any of the five states that have laws against coerced or induced religious conversion, antagonistic Hindus could use the national criminal intimidation laws to try to trap evangelists with false accusations of conversions by force or allurement.
"There are some who will take baptism, and after they're baptized, they'll accuse you, saying, 'This pastor baptized me, and he offered me this much money,'" Pastor Chauhan said. "They will just make these false statements."

Hindus who put their trust in Christ tend to be strong believers, according to the director of a ministry that stages evangelistic events such as this one in northern India.

Two BJP members have introduced bills in parliament outlawing religious conversion not pre-approved by the government and punishing forced and induced (by "allurement") conversions. "Force" would include threat of injury, including "threat of divine displeasure," thus outlawing Christian doctrines of salvation, heaven and hell. "Allurement" could be interpreted as any relief aid for the poor that Christians might offer.
Such legislation would further create an atmosphere of intolerance in India, where the government of Prime Minister Narendra Modi has begun monitoring non-Hindu charitable organizations in search of legal pretexts for withdrawing their legal status as non-profits, according to native Christian leaders based in the country.
"The government is watching all organizations and the kind of work they do, especially those very active in spiritual activities," Pastor Chauhan said. "They've started targeting them and started closing their non-profit accounts, so that's why it's important to have a balance between programs meeting physical needs and spiritual needs. It helps us to attain a good name inside the government."
In Chandigarh, a union territory city that serves as the capital of Haryana and Punjab states, Pastor Chauhan and his team have established 11 churches, as well as six fellowships in Uttarakhand state, and seven in Punjab state. The ministry also provides food to the poor, including parents who work hard but don't earn enough to feed their families. A children's program sometimes provides food, along with clothing and toys. Ministry team members distribute food during regular hospital visits, and a literacy mission helps educate poor children and adults.
The ministry seeks financial support ($200 a month each) for 22 of the 30 team members who are still working on a volunteer basis. As indigenous missionaries, many of them former Hindus like Pastor Chauhan, the team members have knowledge of local languages and religious customs that have helped them plant churches. The fellowships have formed primarily as a result of team members sharing the gospel with friends, but the ministry also organizes evangelistic events, he said.
"Evangelistic campaign events are the riskiest thing now, but risk is the other name of faith, so we have to do that," he said. "Evangelistic events require a lot of resources and finances, but we get big results; 3,000 people attended a campaign in Punjab recently, and around 250 repented the first day."
While such events provide large, easily identifiable targets for attacks, Hindu extremists increasingly strike smaller, private gatherings. Earlier this year in a village slum in Punjab, the pastor of one of the ministry's churches was praying with Hindus who had visited worship services. They were gathered in front of the family's hut when a mob of Hindu extremists descended upon them.
"He was just praying for some people, and suddenly a group of people came all prepared with rods, chains, and stones, and they kept beating him until he was unconscious," Pastor Chauhan said. "When he came to his senses, he was in jail with all kinds of false allegations against him, for example, that he destroyed their religious idols and religious books."
The ministry was able to get the pastor released with the help of political connections, but he was badly injured and couldn't hear out of his left ear for 45 days, Pastor Chauhan said. The assailants also heavily slapped an elderly woman in the attack.
While leveling such false allegations at Christians, Hindu extremists are conducting mass Ghar Wapsi ("homecoming") events designed to coerce people to "reconvert" to Hinduism, he said.
"They are literally threatening people to come back to Hinduism, and no one says anything about it," the pastor said.
In a country whose estimated population of 1.3 billion is said to be about 74 percent Hindu and 6 percent Christian (4.2 percent evangelical), Pastor Chauhan was born in a town in Uttarakhand state where there were no Christians. He was an ardent worshipper of the monkey-faced god Hanuman.
"For Hindus, he's like Superman – he can fly, he has a tail that can grow to any extent, he can be of any size, and he has a he-man kind of body," the pastor said. "There are 330 million gods in Hinduism, so mostly people will say, 'Jesus is okay,' and they will just add one more to the 330 million. They will not hate Jesus. But my experience is that people in India are hungry for God, and once they find out who the true God is, they just follow Him with all their heart."
* (name changed for security reasons)

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Shod with the Gospel

Shod with the Gospel

Members of an indigenous missionary team enter an undisclosed village in Jharkhand state. The ministry runs discipleship and aid projects in northern states that have produced several new churches, but team members are finding it difficult to carry out evangelistic campaigns without a van. "It becomes a challenge to travel all together and transport equipment and instruments," the ministry director said. "A van is pretty much required." A van would cost $12,000. Team members are praying to buy land to start an elementary school that would also serve as a ministry center. "My vision is to have schools in almost every state, so the churches will be self-sustaining," he said.

Paris Attacks Exacerbate Refugee Crisis

November 26, 2015

Families fleeing terrorism and war in Syria are facing unfounded suspicions of being terrorists themselves.

The Islamic State's Nov. 13 terrorist attacks in Paris have further squeezed indigenous Christian ministries serving refugees in the Middle East, as officials in some European countries have called for shutting their doors to Syrians.
None of the terrorists who killed 130 people in Paris have been identified as Syrians, though one had apparently stolen the passport of a Syrian migrant. The Belgian suspected of organizing the operation and five French citizens reportedly involved in the attacks were Muslim extremists from Europe, though they had traveled to Syria, presumably to make contact with Islamic State (ISIS) leaders.
Insecurity following the attacks, combined with reports of ISIS recruiting from among Syrian refugees and infiltrating refugee camps, has led European countries to tighten controls on refugee flows, though the vast majority of migrants are families, women, children and the elderly who are themselves victims of ISIS and other war-related violence.
"The violence we saw in Paris is violence that people in Syria are fleeing," Joel Charny, an official at Inter Action, an umbrella group for aid organizations, recently told National Public Radio. "We're not helping terrorists. We're helping vulnerable people. It's the perpetrators of the violence in Syria that are driving people to flee. Let's not punish the victims."
As word has spread among refugees of greater difficulty in crossing European borders, the Middle Eastern countries that were "already at the breaking point ," according to a United Nations official, are seeing their refugee crises expand – as are the ministries providing relief.
"The Paris attack has affected us in Jordan very much," said the director of one ministry serving refugees. "And it has affected the refugees themselves, because now they have lost hope of going to Europe and starting their lives there."
Before the Paris attacks, most Syrian refugees (more than 4 million) had gone to neighboring countries like Jordan, Turkey and Lebanon, compared with only 700,000 going to European countries – chiefly Germany, Sweden and Serbia, according to online news site vox.com.
While the number of refugees leaving Turkey for Europe has gone down, according to the director of a ministry native to Turkey, the number of refugees fleeing to Turkey has not diminished, especially as Russian airstrikes supposed to be directed at ISIS have driven out more Syrians.
"Those countries in the middle of Europe have closed their doors to receive refugees, and the news is being spread around in the camps here," he said. "So they are choosing to stay in Turkey. Also, now the opportunity to sail by boat to other countries is becoming more difficult for them, due to the agreement between the Turkish and European governments over the past few months, so those choosing to leave Turkey have slowed down considerably."

Syrians in a refugee camp in Adana, Turkey are presenting greater needs as their numbers grow.

Refugees who have tried to flee are doubling back, he said, further burdening indigenous ministries that Christian Aid Mission assists.
"This has increased the need for our help, because a number of families sold all their possessions or gave them away, saying, 'We're going to Europe,' but then they were sent back and are now having to find needed possessions again," he said. "This is particularly the case with those who tried to enter Europe by boat. They may have left from Izmir [in western Turkey], but then returned to the north on the Black Sea, where we are serving them. They need tents, heating devices, and all the other needs for survival."
Leading churches in Samsun and other sites along the Black Sea, the ministry director said the refugees are also testing the young Christian fellowships, where Arabic-speaking or Kurdish-speaking Syrians have few means to explain that they do not constitute a threat.
"Although [Turkish] brothers and sisters don't say it openly, they hold back from being friendly to the refugees coming for aid from us," he said. "One can sense that the refugees themselves are feeling judged and looked over as though they may be affiliated with ISIS and are dangerous. This makes them feel ashamed, when really they want to be connected but can't make that clear to the church members."
Many Turks were wary of hiring Syrians or renting apartments to them even before the Paris attacks, and the refugees are even more vulnerable and in need of aid now, he said.
"With your help in sending finances, we are providing the best we can for those who come," he said. "We will not back down from helping these needy people. And our hope is in the God who turns evil into good, and does miracles to turn the hearts of mankind from terror to searching for God's goodness. There are people having experienced the terror of ISIS who come to me saying, 'I want to be a Christian.'"
In Spain, which agreed in September to accept 15,000 Syrian refugees with larger contingents to come next year, the director of a ministry providing relief echoed the Turkish ministry director's challenges.
"Now they cannot leave Spain to France and Germany, so our job is bigger," he said. "Also we need prayer, because some Christian leaders decided not to work with them because they are afraid, but my team is ready to do what is necessary."

Huddled Masses

Huddled Masses

Arriving in Turkey unable to speak or understand Turkish, Syrians continue to arrive with their few possessions even as prospects dim for transiting to European countries. “Their time here in Turkey is getting worse every other day,” said the director of a ministry providing aid to refugees. “Many of them want to go back to Syria, but not until the terrorism ends.” The refugees are not happy in Turkey as the government cannot keep up with their needs, but tighter controls on refugee flows are keeping some from reaching their European destinations. “People are suffering here, so that’s why they taking high risks to escape to Europe, but European countries didn’t want to take them in, so they’re stacked up in-between,” he said. The ministry provides food boxes, clean water and Bibles in Arabic. “Before we go and preach the gospel, we pray to the Lord to keep us safe and guide us,” he said. “Please pray that we will have God’s provision to provide the physical and spiritual Bread of Life.”