Persecution Update

PDN

I received the following report today, reminding me that we need to pray for our fellow Christians who are being persecuted for their faith.

Wednesday, June 29, 2011

EGYPT – Mob destroys Christian homes

Large gangs attacked two Christian communities in Egypt in the latest of a series of ongoing attacks on the country's Christian minority.

In the most recent assault, on Saturday, a mob destroyed seven Christian homes near Sohag, 240 miles south of Cairo, after rumours started that one Christian was building a church.

The believer in question, Wahib Halim Atteyah, was attacked and robbed of more than £5,000 before his attackers bulldozed his home and other buildings on his property in Awlad Khalaf village. The gang went on to raid six other Christian homes, burning them to the ground, according to Compass Direct news agency.

Two men have been arrested in connection with the assault on Atteyah's property. Atteyah himself and one other Christian have also been arrested, apparently for using firearms – a charge Atteyah has reportedly denied.

Compass Direct also reports that moderate Muslims in the area intervened to ensure that most of the property that the mob stole from Christian homes was later returned.

Earlier, last Thursday, an armed mob surrounded St George's Church in Beni-Ahmed al-Gharbiya village near the town of Minya, about 130 miles south of Cairo. They threatened to kill its pastor, Gorgy Thabet, unless he left the village. Pastor Thabet was able to leave only when security police arrived on the scene and escorted him from the building.

This is not the first time Pastor Thabet has met with hostility. In fact, he had only recently returned to the village after being forced to leave in March when hard-line Muslims protested about expansion work on a church building. The building project was abandoned – and now protesters are demanding Pastor Thabet leaves the village for good. His opponents are reported to be hard-line Salafi Muslims, a group who model themselves on early generations of Islam's followers.

There have in fact been several attacks on Christians by Salafi Muslims in the post-Mubarak era. In May, 12 people died in the Imbaba district of Cairo when riots broke out following rumours that a church was holding against her will a woman who, Muslims claimed, had converted to Islam (Prayer Alert, May 10, 2011). More than 230 people were injured and St Mary's Church was gutted by fire in the ensuing violence.

Christians in Egypt remain apprehensive about the outcome of parliamentary elections scheduled for September.

(Sources: Compass Direct, Reuters)

• Ask God to protect Christian communities across Egypt from the threat of extremist violence, particularly in the run-up to the elections. Ask Him to bless and restore believers who have suffered attacks.

• Thank God that on several occasions moderate Muslims in Egypt have taken a stand against Islamist extremism after instances of religious persecution against Christians.

Please feel free to post other reports of persecution against Christians so we can pray for them. But please confine these to genuine cases of persecution (not just because someone felt upset when someone laughed at them for being a Christian or similar nonsense).

gimmebroadband

I pray daily for Christians everywhere, especially those who are persecuted.

Islam's Persectution of Christians in Malaysia.

mcmoustache

Don't forget China. Sorry if the website layout hurts your eyes.

wolfsbane

PDN wrote: »

I received the following report today, reminding me that we need to pray for our fellow Christians who are being persecuted for their faith.



Please feel free to post other reports of persecution against Christians so we can pray for them. But please confine these to genuine cases of persecution (not just because someone felt upset when someone laughed at them for being a Christian or similar nonsense).

A Dublin brother put me on to this:
http://www.churchinchains.ie/



*************************************************************
Hebrews 13: 3 Remember the prisoners as if chained with them—those who are mistreated—since you yourselves are in the body also.

Fanny Cradock

Full Story of Youcef Nadarkhani

Here is a brief history of Youcef Nadarkhani, leading up to his current situation.

**UPDATE** – Youcef is under the death sentence for apostasy. An appeal was filed and the Supreme Court upheld the conviction and he is to be executed at any time.

Youcef is 34 years old and is from Rasht, in the Gilan province of Iran. For the past ten years he has been a pastor in a network of house churches. He was previously imprisoned in December of 2006, the charges being apostasy (leaving Islam for Christianity) and evangelism (spreading the message of the Gospel of Jesus Christ), but was released two weeks later.

He is married and has two sons, Daniel age 9 and Yoel age 7. They were attending a local school when the government decidediran map 1 300x275 Full Story of Youcef Nadarkhani that all children should be taught about Islam, including those from Christian families. Youcef went to the school and protested this based on the Iranian constitution, which allows for freedom to practice religion. As a result, the secret police called him before the political tribunal in Rasht, Iran on October 12, 2009. At that time he was arrested, charged for protesting, and has been in prison in Lakan (which is seven miles south of Rasht) ever since. Later the charges changed to apostasy and evangelism to Muslims.

Youcef is imprisoned in the Lakan prison, a city close to Rasht. Over the time of his incarceration he has mostly has had access to an attorney, and has been allowed visits from his wife, children, and friends. However, for the first month in prison and for several months around the time of his trial he was in solitary confinement. They have used various methods to try to convert him back to Islam, including giving him pills, apparently in an attempt to claim that he was insane.

Because Youcef’s faith remained strong, they decided to arrest his wife in order to place more pressure on him. On June 18th, Fatemah Pasindedih was arrested and placed in prison in Lakan. During this time their boys went to live with a relative. Both Youcef and his wife Fatemah were threatened by authorities that their children would be taken away and given to a Muslim family. Youcef was not swayed to turn back to Islam, so his wife was put on trial without an attorney, and sentenced to life in prison. An attorney was later hired and the sentence appealed. The sentence and conviction were overturned and she was released.

On September 21 and 22, 2010, Youcef was put on trial, and verbally given the sentence of death. A written verdict was delayed and then delivered, on November 13, 2010, by the 1st Court of the Revolutionary Tribunal. He is to be executed by hanging for the crime of apostasy. Twenty days are allowed to appeal the sentence with the Supreme Court of Iran.

The verdict was appealed to the Supreme Court, but on June 28, 2011 we learned that the Supreme Court reached a decision. The third chamber of the Supreme Court in Qom upheld his conviction for apostasy and the death sentence. He will be given another chance to recant and then he will be executed. Currently, there is nothing that can be done within the legal system of Iran.

He could be executed at any time. This is the way that the Iranian government operates with executions. They do not give advance notice and it is done in secret.

We cannot wait another moment, we have to contact our elected officials. We need to fast and pray for his deliverance. Contact the international news media, international human rights organizations and the government. Go to http://presenttruthmn.com/how-can-i-help to get more details on how to contact someone.

We need to fight against the devil for our brother both in prayer and with our voices.

http://presenttruthmn.com/the-ministry/youcef-nadarkhani/

I've heard about this story through the church network. Terrible stuff, really. Perhaps people would be willing to send an email to the Iranian embassy or the Department of Foreign Affairs.

ISAW

i would think Mordechai Vanunu http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mordechai_Vanunu who converted from Judiasm is one such case

JimiTime

I get updates from a ministry from India. Many uplifting stories, but unfortunately some horrible ones too:

MORE PERSECUTION IN INDIA...last Wednesday at 3:00am a masked man went to the home of a pastor in the Paderu tribal area (3 hours from Vizak), broke into the house, dragged the pastor outside and brutally killed him with an axe. The man then went back inside and raped the pastor's wife. PLEASE KEEP THIS LADY AND FAMILY IN PRAYER, AND CONTINUE TO PRAY FOR PROTECTION FOR ALL THOSE WHO MINISTER IN DANGEROUS AREAS.

uck51js9zml2yt

wolfsbane wrote: »

PDN wrote: »

I received the following report today, reminding me that we need to pray for our fellow Christians who are being persecuted for their faith.



Please feel free to post other reports of persecution against Christians so we can pray for them. But please confine these to genuine cases of persecution (not just because someone felt upset when someone laughed at them for being a Christian or similar nonsense).

A Dublin brother put me on to this:
http://www.churchinchains.ie/



***********************David **************************************
[COLOR="Blue"]Hebrews 13: 3 Remember the prisoners as if chained with them—those who are mistreated—since you yourselves are in the body also.[/COLOR]

David turner does a great job with church on chains
he also produces a magazine.