Religious Liberty Prayer Bulletin | RLPB 136 | Wed 30 Nov 2011
NOVEMBER 2011 UPDATE
By Elizabeth Kendal
WELCOME to the intercessors who have joined the list this month.
We must understand the times in which we live (Luke 12:54-56):
persecution is escalating at an alarming rate. So: 'Stay alert and be
persistent in your prayers for all believers everywhere.' (Ephesians
6:18b NLT)
NOVEMBER 2011 UPDATE -- During November we prayed concerning . . .
BURMA (RLPB 132), where ethnic Kachin Christians are being driven from
their lands behind a smokescreen of mini-'reforms'.
* UPDATE: Ten people were killed (all children) and 27 were injured on
Sunday evening 13 November when a parcel bomb was thrown into an
orphanage in Myitkyinar, Kachin State, during a study. The
owner-manager of the orphanage, Dayaung Tangoon, was away travelling
with Christian pastors at the time. Though Tangoon, a leader in the
Kachin community, lost a son, a daughter and grandchild in the attack,
he was arrested. Meanwhile the 27 wounded, including Tangoon's wife,
are in hospital, barred from receiving visitors. Furthermore, the
regime is deploying chemical weapons against the Kachin. Residents of
Mai Ja Yang village recently fled their homes reporting toxic and
caustic 'yellow rain'. Likewise, residents fleeing Prang Ngawn village
in western Kachin also reported that a plane had delivered 'yellow
rain' to their village. On 17 November the Association of Southeast
Asian Nations (ASEAN) announced that Myanmar (Burma) will chair ASEAN
in 2014. Pray for the besieged Christian Kachin of northern Burma.
NIGERIA (RLPB 133), where the al-Qaeda-linked terror group Boko Haram,
which wants Nigeria run as an Islamic State, is escalating its campaign
of terror against Christian, educational and democratic institutions
across the north.
* UPDATE 1: BOKO HARAM STRIKES IN YOBE STATE. On Saturday 26 November
Boko Haram unleashed another wave of terror, this time targeting Geidam
Local Government Area, Yobe State (north-east Nigeria). Armed with
Kalashnikov rifles and explosives, the militants bombed Geidam police
station, freeing suspects and looting the armoury before rampaging
through the town, robbing a bank and looting a shopping complex. They
torched numerous businesses, an abandoned beer parlour, a court, the
local government secretariat and at least eight churches. Four police
were killed. When claiming responsibility for terrorising Geidam, Boko
Haram warned: 'Until all our members in detention are released and the
Yobe state government stops intimidating and harassing our members we
will continue carrying out attacks in the state.'
* UPDATE 2: MUSLIMS MASSACRE CHRISTIANS IN PLATEAU STATE. Compass Direct
News reports that Fulani Muslim herdsmen, backed by Muslim soldiers,
recently killed 45 ethnic Berom Christians around the town of Barkin
Ladi in Plateau State. After accusing the Berom Christians of stealing
cattle, the Fulani Muslims started randomly killing Christians: three
on 20 November, two on 21st and another beheaded on 22nd. On Wednesday
23rd the Muslims attacked a church in Barkin Ladi, killing four
Christians. The next day, straight after the morning call to prayer,
hundreds of armed Muslims joined forces in a major assault. Chanting
'Allahu akbar' (Allah is great) they massacred nine Christians in
Barkin Ladi and 26 Christians in nearby Kwok village. Please pray for
the Church in Nigeria.
SUDAN (RPLB 134), where genocidal ethnic cleansing continues in the
north, in South Kordofan and Blue Nile, while an oil war looms over
South Sudan, threatening to engulf not only the whole nation but the
wider region.
UGANDA (RLPB 135), which is launching a fresh offensive against the LRA,
assisted by 100 US Special Forces troops. It is urgent that we pray for
a spiritual breakthrough so that multitudes of the LRA -- most of whom
are just kidnapped, traumatised, brainwashed children -- might be
spiritually and physically freed to leave the LRA for rehabilitation.
Pray for the religious leaders who are working to this end, especially
for the Acholi Religious Leaders Peace Initiative. Pray that Ugandan
Christians will unite across tribal lines to address historic
injustices and inequity, for the sake of long-lasting peace and for
the glory of God.
NOVEMBER 2011 ROUND-UP -- also this month . . .
'ARAB SPRING': ISLAMIST POWER RISES ACROSS NORTH AFRICA
* TUNISIA: EVIDENCE OF RADICAL IDEOLOGY SLIPS OUT
Last month, Tunisia's Islamist, long-banned Ennahda party emerged
victorious winning 89 of 217 assembly seats in the first election of the
'Arab Spring'. Ennahda has been striving to present itself as 'moderate'.
Yet on 13 November Tunisia's new Prime Minister, Ennahda's Hamadi Jebali,
told a rally, 'My brothers, you are at a historic moment in a new cycle of
civilisation, God willing. We are in a sixth caliphate, God willing.' With
a Hamas MP by his side, Jebali declared that 'the liberation of Tunisia
will, God willing, bring about the liberation of Jerusalem'. When this
upset his prospective coalition partners, Jabali simply said his words had
been misunderstood and taken out of context.('Moderate' and jihadist
Islamists have the same radical goal and differ only regarding tactics.)
Pray for the Church in Tunisia.
* MOROCCO: ISLAMISTS WIN ELECTIONS
Last week Morocco's Islamist Justice and Development Party (PJD) emerged
victorious, winning 107 of 395 assembly seats in the second election of
the 'Arab Spring'. Though being lauded in the West as 'moderate', the PJD
is the political wing of the Uniqueness and Reform movement which
represents the Muslim Brotherhood in Morocco. Earlier this year, as the
Middle East simmered in discontent, Morocco's ruling elite lessened the
risk of mass revolt by enacting constitutional 'reforms'. According to the
new constitution, Morocco is no longer a 'unitary sovereign state', but a
'Muslim sovereign state'. And whilst clause three of the preamble was
amended to include the goal of 'deepening the sense of belonging to the
Arab-Islamic umma [nation/community]', clause two of article 25 that
guaranteed the 'freedom of conscience' was dropped entirely. Of the
Moroccans who voted, 98.5 percent approved the constitutional amendments.
Pray for the Church in Morocco.
* EGYPT: MUSLIM BROTHERHOOD
Egyptians are now voting in what is the third election of the 'Arab
Spring'. The Islamist Muslim Brotherhood's long-banned Freedom and Justice
Party (FJP) is widely expected to do well in a three-stage legislative
election that began on Monday 28 November and concludes in January. There
have been numerous reports of vote-buying and religious sloganeering.
Christians are mostly voting for the Egyptian Bloc list headed by the
liberal Free Egyptians Party, which is strongly opposed to the FJP. They
are anxious about the future. If Islamist power rises in Egypt, the Copts
will be in a very vulnerable situation indeed. Even now the media, the
army, the Salafists and masses of radicalised 'loyal' Muslims are ready to
subjugate the Copts as dhimmis under Islam. According to Islam, any
resistance to dhimmitude may be met with jihad (slaughter). Pray for the
Church in Egypt.
* INDIA: PERSECUTION RAMPANT IN KARNATAKA (south-west India)
Since coming under the rule of the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata
Party (BJP) in 2008, persecution of Christians has escalated in Karnataka.
On Saturday 26 November members of the Bethel Ministry Church were praying
together in a home on the outskirts of Kushalnagar village, Karnataka,
when a mob of Hindu militants burst in. After accusing the Christians of
engaging in forced conversions, the militants called the police who came
and arrested a Mrs Janakiyamma, taking her to Madikeri Prison. This is the
41st case of anti-Christian persecution officially registered in Karnataka
this year.
Two other church groups were attacked in Karnataka during the month, both
in the district of Hassan. On 12 November six members of the Ministry of
Bethel Church were attacked as they waited for a bus after attending a
prayer service. The militants beat the believers and marched them off to
the police station where they were subsequently placed under arrest. After
an intervention by the Global Council of Indian Christians (GCIC) three
women and a child were released but the men are still imprisoned. The
next day Pastor Nagaraj, of the Church of Immanuel Prarthanalaya in
Arkalgud, had just started the Sunday service when a mob of Hindu
militants stormed the church and began tearing up Bibles. When the police
arrived they arrested the pastor and three believers who are still in
prison. This is India! Pray for the Church in India.
* NEPAL: RELIGIOUS LIBERTY UNDER ATTACK
A crude bomb exploded in Thapathali, Kathmandu, on 22 November, outside
the offices of United Mission in Nepal (UMN), a Christian non-governmental
organisation (NGO) that has been working to relieve poverty in Nepal since
1954. Nobody was injured. A second bomb was disarmed. Police found
leaflets at the site from the Nepal Defense Army (NDA), a militant Hindu
nationalist group that has targeted Christians previously. The leaflets
accused the UMN of converting Hindus to Christianity. The following
Sunday a suspicious parcel was found outside the Assemblies of God
Navajiwan Church. The police bomb squad who defused the bomb said it
contained three powerful explosives that would have done considerable
damage had the bomb exploded. On 22 November, two Christian brothers,
Panchman Tamang and Buddhiman, were violently assaulted and expelled from
their predominantly Buddhist village in Sindhupalchowk district, north of
Kathmandu near the border with Tibet. Instead of defending religious
liberty, the government is appeasing the belligerent by drafting anti-
conversion laws. Pray for the Church in Nepal.
* VIETNAM: EXTREME VIOLENCE WITH IMPUNITY
Leaders of the 2200-member Agape Baptist Church (ABC) -- a house church
network near Hanoi -- were violently assaulted on Sunday 13 November,
Compass Direct News reports. They were meeting in Lai Tao village, Bot
Xuyen commune, My Duc district at the home of evangelist Nguyen Thi Lan, a
former Communist Party (female) official who recently converted to
Christianity. Unhappy about conversions in the village, the gang of over a
dozen local thugs (including plain-clothed police) burst in savagely
beating the leaders while looting and ransacking the home.
Nine pastors and other church leaders along with several of their teenage
children sustained serious injuries. Most critically injured was Pastor
Nguyen Danh Chau who was unconscious for several hours. When ABC head
Nguyen Cong Thanh visited on 15 November he said, 'All they could do was
weep, and I also could not prevent my tears from flowing.' With local
hospitals proving reluctant to aid the pastors, ABC eventually evacuated
the most critically wounded to a hospital in Ho Chi Minh City. Nguyen Thi
Lan and Pastor Nguyen Danh Chau have suffered potentially crippling
injuries. No one has been arrested and the gang is threatening to kill
Nguyen Thi Lan if she ever returns. The impunity granted to the
persecutors guarantees that persecution will only escalate. Pray for the
Church in Vietnam.
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We usually provide a summary to use in news-sheets unable to
run the whole of an RLPB. As a summary is not practicable with
this monthly update posting we suggest one or more of the above
items be used instead.
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For more information, updates and helpful links see Elizabeth Kendal's
This RLPB was written for the Australian Evangelical Alliance Religious
Liberty Commission (AEA RLC) by Elizabeth Kendal, an international
religious liberty analyst and advocate, and a member of the AEA RLC team.
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