Secret Police Raid Church in Uzbekistan

5/15/2012 Uzbekistan (Worthy News)-- Secret police officers and other officials raided the Sunday worship service of an unregistered ethnic Korean Baptist Church in the town of Chirchik in Tashkent Region on Feb. 5.

Police Inspector Otabek Alimov, Urtachirchik District and Nurmina Askarova, Chair of the local Mahalla Committee, were among the 10 officials who raided the 9 a.m. worship service; they confiscated a sound amplifier, microphone, keyboard, projector, hymnals, audio cassettes and DVDs.

The officials said that the confiscated items would be sent to the state Religious Affairs Committee for "expert analysis"; they then charged Pastor Vyacheslav Kim under Administrative Code Article 184-2: Illegal production, storage, or import into Uzbekistan with a purpose to distribute religious materials.

"We warned them many times that they should register with the state," Askarova told Forum 18. When asked why the Korean Baptists can't meet in private homes for worship, she said they should instead attend a registered church(Source).

First-Grader Allowed To Perform Christian Song After Idaho School Reverses Ban

05/19/2012 United States (Christian Post) - An Idaho first-grader's plan to perform a song by worship singer Chris Tomlin using sign language for a talent show is back on track after the school's principal originally banned the entry, deeming the song "too religious."

Lena Whitmore Elementary School reversed its decision after the Alliance Defense Fund sent a letter to the school and district officials pointing out that banning the performance would be unconstitutional.
The Christian-based lawyers group released a statement on Friday that said ADF remains concerned about a district policy that will allow free speech violations to continue if it is left unchanged.

"Public schools should encourage, not shut down, the free exchange of ideas. Removing the voice of faith from schools sends a message to all students that religion is something to be ashamed of," said ADF Litigation Staff Counsel Matt Sharp. "The school district is off to a good start in allowing this performance to occur, but it needs to revise its unconstitutional policy so that this doesn't happen again."

The first-grade student decided to participate in her school's annual talent show by performing sign language to the song "We Fall Down" by Tomlin, according to ADF. Although an audition panel responded positively to her audition performance of the song, the school's principal later contacted the student's mother to let her know the song was "too religious" to be performed in the talent show.

The principal cited a district policy on "Private Religious Expressions" that ADF lawyers say inaccurately states that "the right of private religious expression in school buildings, on school grounds or at school sponsored events does not include the right to have a 'captive audience' to listen(Source)."

Iranian Government Tightens the Noose on Christians

It never ceases to excite about the growth of Christians in Iran. I pray that the Lord will continue to grow the number of brethren over there.

5/17/2012 Iran (MohabatNews)-In addition to the increased restrictions against Iranian Christian converts, the Ministry of Intelligence has now ordered the leaders of the central AOG church in Tehran to compile a list of the names and National ID numbers of its members and submit it to the security authorities.

According to Iranian Christian news agency, Mohabat News, reports from Tehran indicate that leaders of the central AOG church of Tehran asked their congregation in Sunday May 6 service to voluntarily present them with a list of their names and National ID numbers so that they submit the list to the officials. This reveals the identity of Christian converts and enables security authorities to record detailed information about the Christians.

It is clear that such a decision by the leaders of the AOG church, is a result of pressures the security authorities have been imposing on them. This seems to be a precautionary move by the security organizations to identify Christians and possibly use the information later to arrest Christian converts and watch the activities of the church even more closely, especially to prevent them from receiving new people. Such orders by security authorities make Christians' relationship with their church riskier than ever.

This security move by Iranian authorities reveals that even after cancelling the Farsi services in some churches, they have not been successful in reducing the number of Christian converts and the trend by other people to attend the church. In recent months, organizers and operational groups of the Ministry of Intelligence ordered the last two churches in Tehran still holding Farsi services, to cancel these services. However, this has not stopped Christians from attending church services and illustrates the failure of all these repressive plans and threats which were designed to deal with spread of Christianity in Iran.

In February, 2012, the Farsi services in two churches in Tehran were cancelled following an order issued by the Ministry of Intelligence of the Islamic Republic. The two churches were the Protestant Church of Emmanuel and the Evangelical Church of St. Peter. These two were the only churches in Tehran offering Farsi services on Fridays. Prior to this, in 2009 the same thing happened to the central AOG church in Tehran and its Farsi services on Friday were discontinued.

Many members of the central AOG church in Tehran have been martyred by terrorists of the Islamic regime of Iran and the church itself has been under close watch for a long time. Some 20 years ago, also, the security authorities of the Ministry of Intelligence demanded such a list of names and personal details of the members of the church, but the church leaders at that time refused to submit to this demand.

Although the threats, arrests, imprisonments and tortures of Christians converts have backfired, and instead of preventing it the growth of Christianity in Iran has increased.The Ministry of Intelligence believes that the implementation of newer tactics and restrictions such as demanding Christians personal details would put them in quandary and confuse them whether give their information to the church or not. They assume that these would cause people to stop attending church services.

On the other hand, as part of their anti-Christian strategies, the officials in the think tank of the Ministry of Intelligence, design these orders to terrorize Christians and somehow show that the Islamic republic has sufficient power to identify Christian converts and summon or arrest them whenever it chooses to do so.

It is also obvious that the Ministry of Intelligence is giving a signal to dissuade Christians from attending church services by requesting their personal details, and thereby cause a drop in the number of attendees at church services. Some of those converted to Christianity are students at universities or are employed by government-run organizations, and thus it would certainly impact both their record and their future.
- The other side of the coin
However, the positive point in such actions is the spread of "House-churches". Christians who are forced out of official churches would attend house churches which help spread Christianity among families. This has created an opportunity for Christians to have a house church in every corner of the city.
- Why the Islamic Republic cannot shut down churches
Considering the prevailing situation in Iran, one wonders why the Islamic republic has not been successful in closing churches despite all the measures it has taken to achieve this goal? The Islamic republic pressures and restricts churches and uses different tactics to empty churches. At tines, security authorities attend Sunday church service to spy on Christians. It is also said that they have installed hidden CCTVs in some church hallways and yet they have not been successful in their anti-Christian plans.

One of the answers could be that it seems the official churches are only exist in the Islamic Republic for display purposes to be able to say that churches are operating in Iran and to create a positive image from the regime in the international community and also to show them off to the few tourists who travel to Iran and make them believe Christians enjoying freedom in Iran and announce that the doors of churches are open to Christian minorities and have played a fundamental role in religious coexistence(Source)!

Muslims Rape Girl, Brutally Beat Relatives For Prosecuting. Police Do Nothing.

The Quran prescribes implied rape:
Forbidden to you are married women, except those whom your right hand possess.
Sura 4:24

Therefore we should be unsurprised when things like this happen to our sisters in Christ as seen in this article:

5/21/2012 Pakistan (CDN)- Aunt of 13-year-old victim loses twins to miscarriage after beating. A band of Muslims this month severely beat a pregnant Christian woman in Punjab’s Narowal district – causing her to lose female twins to miscarriage – in an effort pressure her family into dropping charges of raping her 13-year-old niece, the woman’s husband said.

Asher Masih of Dhamala village told Compass by phone that the men attacked his home on May 8.
“All three male members of our family, including my father, brother and myself, were out for work when Irfan Safdar and his accomplices trespassed into our house and started beating up my mother, sister-in-law and my wife, who was in her fifth month of pregnancy, mercilessly,” he said.

Masih’s elderly mother said she pleaded for the attackers to spare his wife, but they did not listen.
“They murdered our children, they raped our daughter,” she said. “We have nothing left with us.”

In a country where Muslim criminals believe police and courts will give little credence to the complaints of Christians, the family accuses three Muslims of gang-raping the girl at an outhouse on March 29.

“She had gone to a nearby field to use the toilet when she was forcibly taken away by three men later identified as Irfan Safdar and Shahid. Their third accomplice remains unidentified as yet,” Masih said. “At first we thought that she might have stopped at some neighbor’s house, but when she did not return after a long time, we set out to look for her.”

He said a villager informed the family that he had seen Safdar and two others taking the girl to an outhouse. The family rushed to the site, but Safdar and his accomplices fled, Masih said.

“We found [name withheld] inside the outhouse, raped and badly injured,” he said.

Masih said the family tried to register a First Information Report (FIR) with local police, but officers turned a deaf ear, as Safdar is the son of former police inspector Safdar Bajwa.
“They also refused to register [the victim’s] statement under Section 164, which is mandatory in such cases,” he said.
Police refused to file their complaint for more than a week, during which time the suspects repeatedly threatened the family, he said.
“They told us we were poor and weak and could not face them no matter how much we tried,” Masih said. “There are about four or five Christian families in the overwhelmingly Muslim village, but almost everyone is fed up with the Bajwa family because of their criminal activities.”
Safdar Bajwa first denied that his son was involved in the case, but when several Muslim villagers started visiting the police station with the victim’s family, the accused surrendered a servant identified as Shahid to police, saying he had raped the girl, Masih said.

“The police tried to give a clean sheet to Irfan in the initial investigation, because of his father’s influence, but then registered FIR No. 145/12 under Section 376 against three men, including Irfan, when the villagers insisted,” he said, adding that police still did not arrest Safdar. “In April, Irfan and his accomplices illegally grabbed a piece of land owned by us. They did this to pressure us into giving up the case, but we stood our ground. We are poor, but we chose not to compromise on our honor.”

Masih said the Muslim family used various tactics to compel the victim’s family to drop the charges, and when all efforts failed, they attacked their house.
After neighbors informed the men at work of the attack, they took the injured women to a hospital.

“The doctors tried to save the babies, but Nosheen had a miscarriage because of the severe injuries inflicted by the attackers,” he said, adding that his wife was still in a state of shock and grief.
Masih said that the family has registered case No. 184/12 against Irfan Safdar and nine others, but the suspects managed to get pre-arrest bails with the help of police.

“Their interim bails end on May 22, and we know they will be able to influence their way out of this case as well,” he said. ‘There is no justice for the poor and helpless in Pakistan, especially if you belong to a minority community(Source).”

Convert in Pakistan Brutally Beaten, Tries to Rebuild Life. Islam Hunts Him

5/16/2012 Pakistan (Compass)-Muhammad Kamran isn’t sure who sent the men to beat him after his Muslim wife told both her family and his that he had become a Christian. The 34-year-old native of Karachi said his wife’s brothers had begun coming to his office to threaten him before unidentified assailants attacked him as he was returning home two years ago. “I don’t know who sent those men,” Kamran said. “It could have been my family or hers. They beat me up mercilessly, the effects of which I’m suffering even today. My pelvic area and groin were badly injured by their kicks and punches, and still today I’m suffering from pain.”

Two years later, he still has a pelvis injury from the beating that requires treatment. But even help from a local politician has not been able to procure medical treatment funding for a convert from Islam in Pakistan’s current religious climate.

“The biggest hurdle I’m facing is his name,” said the politician, who spoke on condition of anonymity. “Being a minorities leader, I can only recommend government funds for people belonging to minority communities, but seeking money for a man with Muhammad in his name and ‘Christian’ in the religion column of an official form is a recipe for disaster, and frankly the situation in Pakistan is not such where anyone will be willing to take such a big risk.”

Raised in an ultra-conservative Muslim family, Kamran was baptized in September 2009 and began his life as a covert Christian, though he continued to openly question Islam.

“In 2010, my family started trying to force me to marry, hoping that marriage would keep me from questioning ‘the faith of my forefathers,’” he said. “I gave in to their constant prodding and was married to a girl from a Sunni Syed family.” At first he had hoped that he would be able to bring his wife to Christianity, he said.

“After some days of our wedding, I shared my faith with her and was delighted when she told me that she would stand by me,” he said. “But my hope was dashed the very next day, when she told both of our families that I had turned away from Islam and had become a ‘murtad’ [apostate deserving death].”
Kamran said his wife’s revelation angered both families.

“Every other day, I was threatened either by my family or hers that if I ever renounce Islam I would be killed, and that I should mend my ways,” he said.

Quarrels with his wife over religion became commonplace, he added. “After a couple of months of continuous fights, I asked my wife to leave me if she could not live with someone who was having a conflict with faith,” he said. “She refused, and instead told both families that I wanted a divorce.”
Kamran said the dilemma quickly reached a crisis point. “No one was willing to let me live the life I wanted – they say Islam is not a religion of compulsion, but no one has been able to tell me why Muslims who don’t find satisfaction in the religion become liable to be killed.”

After the torturous beating, Kamran said, he decided he would no longer remain in Karachi. He told the pastor who baptized him, whose name is withheld for security reasons, that his predicament had become unbearable. The pastor arranged a visitor’s visa to Dubai for him. Upon reaching Dubai, he contacted his family and told them that he would not be returning to Pakistan.

“In the next few days, my wife’s family sent me divorce papers, to which I readily agreed, and hence my marriage ended after nearly four months,” Kamran said. After the expiration of his one-month visa, however, Kamran returned to Karachi.

“The kind pastor sent me to another pastor in Faisalabad, in Punjab Province,” he said. “He said that it would be safer for me to stay out of Karachi for some time because news of my conversion might put the community at risk.” Kamran returned to Karachi in 2011.

“After some months, the pastor married me to a Christian woman,” he said. “For a few months everything went fine, and we were living a very peaceful life, but one day a cousin of mine saw us in a market and followed us to our home. He then informed my family that I was in Karachi and had a Christian wife. My father came to my house and demanded that I leave my wife and return home, but I refused. He made a lot of hue and cry and cursed me for ‘bringing disgrace to the family.’”

As soon as Kamran’s father left, the couple gathered their belongings and moved, Kamran said.
His family members found out where his wife worked, however, and have been threatening them ever since, he said. Kamran and his wife Asha, now eight months pregnant, have changed residences four times to avoid his family. His wife told Compass they are living in constant fear.

“Every other day, we receive threatening phone calls,” she said. “They just won’t leave us alone. A few days ago Kamran’s family came to know that I was expecting our first child. They are now asking him to abandon us and renounce Christianity, threatening that they will kill me and our child(Source).”

Jesus Loves China, Too

05/14/2012 China (Foreign Policy) - Like most Chinese, I was educated as an atheist. All textbooks, philosophy classes, and conferences taught us that the Christian faith is an "opiate of the people's spirit" that Westerners use to numb and neutralize the creativity of the Chinese mind.

But as a student of English literature at Liaocheng University in Shandong province in 1987, my American teachers after class would sometimes pull out what we Chinese students called a "Little Red Book." It was a pocket Bible. And from it they shared what they called "the Good News."

They were a peculiar group of people -- laughing loudly with big smiles, always looking us in the eye when speaking to us. One day I went to the apartment of a teacher who had been in China for more than three years, and I saw him playing the guitar, crying as he sang. He told me he was homesick for his family in California, and I was touched by his openness -- such a contrast to the stern, cold teachers I had had before. The kindness and love he and his fellow Christian teachers showed was not to change China, but to offer life-giving truth in an authentic manner. Today's would-be missionaries to China could learn a lot from them.

Americans like to see things get done instantly: fast food, Twitter, and even "shock and awe" military campaigns. In the 1990s, one ministry organization put an ad in a major Christian magazine calling for donations with the slogan "one dollar, one soul," the idea being one dollar will purchase one Bible in China, which will help convert one Chinese soul. This instant-noodle approach to the life-and-death decision to accept Christ as one's only Savior and Lord is counterproductive. Chinese souls cannot be harvested like stalks of corn in a field, or iPads on an assembly line.

Missionaries should study China and it's people, culture, and history, which is almost 20 times longer than U.S. history. Especially after 60 years of communism and wave after wave of class struggle, Chinese are desperate for trust. Many of my classmates were more willing to share their personal secrets with our American teachers than with fellow Chinese students because they found the teachers trustworthy and caring. The American teachers I know said it took years living and interacting with the Chinese before their mission bore spiritual fruit.

In the Bible, the book of Romans says, "Love must be sincere. Hate what is evil and cling to what is good and always serve each other in love." With this kind of message, Christianity will blossom. This is the only way freedom -- both individually and nationally -- will spread in China(Source).

Muslim Persecution of Christians: April 2012

As Easter, one of the highest Christian holidays, comes in April, Christian persecution in Muslim nations—from sheer violence to oppressive laws—was rampant: In Nigeria, where jihadis have expressed their desire to expunge all traces of Christianity, a church was bombed during Easter Sunday, killing some 50 worshippers; in Turkey, a pastor was beaten by Muslims immediately following Easter service and threatened with death unless he converted to Islam; and in Iran, Easter Sunday saw 12 Christians stand trial as "apostates."

The persecution of Christians has come to regions not normally associated with it. As in Nigeria, Muslim militants are now also running amok in Timbuktu, Mali—beheading a Christian leader and threatening other Christians with similar treatment. Sharia law has been imposed, churches are being destroyed, and Christians are fleeing Timbuktu in mass.

Categorized by theme, April's assemblage of Muslim persecution of Christians around the world includes (but is not limited to) the following accounts, listed in alphabetical order by country, not severity (Keep on reading to learn of these atrocities against our brethren in Christ).