Watching, praying for the persecuted at Christmas

By Carl Moeller, Open Doors USA. Article posted at Christianity.com.

As much of the world becomes more dangerous for Christians each day, many in the persecuted church defy the threat of terrorist violence and arrest by religion police simply by worshipping as a community of believers.

Last year violence marked Christmas celebrations in Egypt for the second consecutive year. Just days before Coptic Christians celebrated Christmas (Jan. 7 on the Julian calendar Coptic Christians use), as midnight Mass adjourned at a church in Alexandria, Egypt, a suicide bomber killed 24 Christians. Approximately 100 were injured in the New Year’s Day massacre. Militant Islamists also murdered six Christians and wounded nine others as they left Christmas Eve services at St. John’s Church in Nag Hammadi, Egypt.

In Jos, Nigeria, last Christmas Eve the al Qaeda-affiliated Boko Haram terrorist group killed at least 86 Christians with bombs and attacks that primarily targeted worship services. The victims included church choir members hacked to death with knives. On Christmas Day last year in the Philippines' Sulu province, Islamists detonated a bomb inside a chapel, injuring a priest, a 9-year-old girl and nine others.

Christmas is a favorite time for Iran's religion police to harass Christians. Two years ago Iran's mutaween, or religion police, carried out a wave of arrests of Christians, jailing dozens in a sweep of house churches in the days surrounding the holiday. On Dec. 23, 2009, in Mosul, Iraq, a bomb exploded near a church, killing two people; in Mosul on Christmas Eve, Islamists shot a Christian to death at his home.

In a season that for Christians represents great joy and peace, prevailing tension and strife may squelch the celebration. Christmas, like Easter, represents a window for abuse of Christians by persecutors. Believers in Iraq told me that in recent years even hanging traditional decorations in their homes has proven increasingly risky because it draws up reservoirs of hatred toward the church. That's why some Christians in Iraq and elsewhere have curtailed visible observation of Christmas such as lights, decorated trees and Nativity scenes.

This year Christians in the Middle East will mark Christmas for the first time since Arab Spring uprisings toppled entrenched dictators Hosni Mubarak of Egypt and Moammar Gadhafi of Libya. As popular revolts geared up last year over Christmas we saw no decrease in violence against Christians. Indeed, attacks on Egypt's Coptic Christian minority have soared, even perpetrated by that nation's military.

Unrest continues in much of the region. Violence targeting believers is ongoing in far-flung places around the globe such as Iraq, India, Nigeria, Sudan and Indonesia. Christians are experiencing persecution in Vietnam, Burma and China. In mid-December North Korea threatened to bomb Christmas trees that South Korean Christians had erected at the nations' volatile border. Turkish authorities have uncovered a sweeping al Qaeda plot to bomb all churches in Turkey's capital, in addition to the Turkish Parliament and U.S. Embassy.

We are never privy to what lies around the bend, but we can pray to the Lord who is. As we hear the Christmas songs of joy and peace, we must remember the persecuted and support them through concerted prayer. Pray that new governments replacing toppled dictators in Egypt, Libya and Tunisia will give Christian minorities a proper and protected place in society. Pray that the hope that led to the Arab Spring uprisings will produce real fruit in the form of true freedom of worship. Should violence erupt, may Christians be protected.

Though the signs for Christians in places hostile to the gospel are not encouraging, the Holy Spirit can redeem any situation for God's glory. May the redemptive power of the baby Jesus born in Bethlehem transform these fears into a season of great hope and true peace.

Christians fear civilian casualties in Burma

Burmese Christian minorities suffer
greatly at the hands of the military.

Civilians in two ethnic minority states with large Christian populations fear their lives will be in danger as skirmishes between rebels and a Burmese junta bent on instilling Buddhist nationalism threaten to escalate into war.

“It is likely that the military junta will carry out a military offensive against ethnic armed groups now that the elections are over,” Nang Mya Naddy, ethnic program coordinator of the Democratic Voice of Burma radio program, told Compass Direct News.

Christians fear that full-scale civil war in Burma (also known as Myanmar) could result in either ethnic cleansing or total subjugation of minorities. Persecution of Christians in Burma is part of a wider campaign against ethnic minority tribes to create a uniform society in which the only accepted religion is Buddhism.

Pray for intervention that will bring justice. Pray also for repentance of those who use their power in wicked ways. Burma is a deeply fractured nation on a political, ecclesiological and especially ethnic level. Pray for seemingly impossible ethnic harmony, effective federalism and peace. There are many causes of division among Burmese Christians—ethnic, political, passivism/military activism and doctrinal. Pray for spiritual unity.

You can read the full report here.

Clothing choice closes church in Burma

Burma

When is the last time you saw your church leader wear an accessory—a t-shirt, ball cap or lapel pin, etc.—that revealed his political preferences?

Officials in Burma ordered a Baptist church to cease holding worship services after the pastor refused to wear an election campaign t-shirt supporting the military government’s Union Solidarity and Development Party.

The Chin Human Rights Organization (CHRO) reported Wednesday that the election commission summoned 47-year-old Pastor Mang Tling of Dawdin village, Gangaw township, Mergui division on November 9, two days after the election and ordered him to stop holding services and discontinue the church nursery program.

Pastor Mang had received a t-shirt from his village leader. When he refused to wear it, the leader filed a report with local authorities accusing the pastor of persuading Christian voters to vote in favour of an opposing party.

Compass Direct News reports that, under Burmese law, religious leaders can be penalized for “engaging in politics,” which gave the pastor a solid legal reason to decline the t-shirt. The law also bans leaders of religious groups from voting in national elections, according to the CHRO, although lay members of those groups are able to vote.

Officials interrogated Pastor Mang in Gangaw until Sunday, November 14, when he was allowed to return home.

Pray government tactics would not intimidate that Burmese Christians and that they would continue to seek Christ and share Him with those around them.

You can read the full story here.