Displaying items by tag: Persecuted Church

Marziyeh Amirizadeh spent her first 33 years under a restrictive regime that curtailed freedoms following the 1979 revolution. Raised as a Muslim, she experienced a profound spiritual transformation after encountering God in a dream, leading her to embrace Christianity. Despite the severe risks, Marziyeh and her friend Maryam began evangelising in Tehran, distributing Bibles and sharing Jesus' love. Their activities attracted the attention of authorities, and in 2009 they were arrested and sentenced to death by hanging for apostasy and promoting Christianity. Initially confined in an underground dungeon, they endured inhumane conditions, but throughout their imprisonment Marziyeh held on to the promise of Matthew 10:19, which assures believers that the Spirit will provide words in times of persecution. Their unwavering faith and international advocacy eventually led to their release. Her story is a testament to steadfast faith amid persecution.

In Saudi Arabia, a nation historically closed to the Gospel, Christianity is growing faster than the global average. Despite strict bans on evangelism and the threat of severe punishment, including execution for apostasy, underground churches thrive, with some estimating Christians could represent up to 10% of the population. Oswaldo Magdangal, who pastored an underground church for eleven years, reports remarkable growth, particularly among younger Saudis. The secret congregations include native Saudi believers, with some becoming pastors. Recent reforms under Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman have softened the kingdom's religious rigidity, including curbing the religious police and allowing Bible printing. Testimonies like Ahmed Joktan’s, who encountered Jesus in a dream, and the bravery of Christian tentmakers and underground leaders highlight the Spirit’s work in this challenging environment. Revival stirs as Christians boldly share their faith, while global prayers continue to support this growth. Oswaldo’s own story of near execution in 1992 underscores the resilience of faith under persecution, inspiring hope for the church’s future.

For many Christians, times, location and form vary greatly as they seek to worship God safely. On Sunday morning in a village in Colombia Gabriel, an indigenous Christian wakes up to prepare a service which he will lead later that day. Shortly afterwards, he leaves his house and goes to a deserted place, in the middle of the forest, hidden from everyone. In his village, being a Christian results in persecution. Christians do everything to keep the peace by participating in local activities, meetings, and traditional rituals. The latter is an obligation that Christians must fulfil, otherwise they are arrested, questioned, punished and detained until they renounce their faith. They want to stop engaging in traditional rituals that go against Christianity, but it is not easy. They gather in hidden places to pray, sing, and study the Bible.

UK Christian politician Jeremy Hunt read Brother Andrew’s book ‘God’s Smuggler’ in his youth. This gave him a lifelong prayerful concern for the persecuted church. When he was appointed foreign minister, he looked into what the foreign service was doing to help persecuted Christians worldwide. What he discovered made him uncomfortable: there had been very high-profile interventions supporting Rohingya Muslims in Myanmar, Bahai in Yemen, and Yazidis in Iraq - but little UK and international diplomatic assistance for suffering Christians, even though NGOs and churches were advocating on their behalf. Mr Hunt identified possible blind spots for persecuted Christians by his staff: awkwardness about bringing God into politics, post-colonial guilt, and fearfulness of being seen to impose our faith on others. He called it ‘misguided political correctness’ in his independent review. Now Boris Johnson has appointed a special envoy on freedom of religion or belief to head up the process of dealing with Christian persecution. The UN and the EU have similar envoys.

Hindu World 15 Days of Prayer - 20 Oct - 3 Nov 2019

www.15daysprayer.com

Day of Prayer for the Persecuted Church – Sun 3 Nov 2019

https://www.frc.org/get.cfm?c=REMEMBER_PERSECUTED

WEA General Assembly 2019 - 7-12 Nov 2019 - Jakarta

https://jakarta2019.org/en/

The Balkan Call - Nov 7-9, 2019 - Thessaloniki, Greece

https://www.balkancall.org/

Welcoming the King of Glory into Florida – 8-10 Nov 2019
https://www.facebook.com/events/975347866131244/

Finishing the Task Conference 3-5 December 2019

http://finishingthetask.org/

Sunrise Prayer Relay 1st Jan 2020

www.sunriseprayerelay.org   

Seek God for the City Feb 26–Apr 5, 2020

https://waymakers.org/pray/seek-god/  

Go 2020 – Reaching 1 Billion for Christ - May 2020

https://www.go2020.world

One God - One Day - One Africa – 31st May 2020

www.1gda.org

UPRising Events Calendar

UPRising Magpet - November 8-9, 2019 - North Cotabato, Philippines

UPRising Mexico - November 7-10, 2019 - Juarez, Mexico

UPRising Australia - July 14-18, 2020 - Sydney, Australia

UPRising New England - November 19-21, 2020 - New England, USA

Join Christians around the world on Sunday 3 November, the International Day of Prayer for the Persecuted Church - a global prayer meeting for our Christian brothers and sisters who witness for Christ boldly at any cost. Voice of the Martyrs has produced a short film providing a dramatic example of the challenges of following Christ inside North Korea, the world’s most restricted nation. The film will inspire all who watch it to pray for persecuted Christians around the world. It depicts the true story of Pastor Han, who was assassinated by North Korean agents in China because of his effective gospel work among North Koreans. The story is told through the eyes of one of his disciples who has followed in his mentor’s footsteps by continuing to share the gospel with North Koreans, despite the danger.

In December around a hundred Chinese Christians from a church in Chengdu, including the pastor and his wife, were imprisoned on allegations of ‘inciting subversion of state power’ (see). In a public letter, Pastor Wang makes clear that he does not seek to overthrow the state but to worship freely. He writes, ‘Separate me from my wife and children, ruin my reputation, destroy my life and my family - the authorities are capable of doing all of these things. However, no one in this world can force me to renounce my faith.’ Barnabas Fund is urging Christians to pray for the imprisoned pastor through their new webpage ‘Christian Prisoners of Conscience’.

Just days after the Archbishop of Canterbury called on the Government to do more to aid Christian communities in regions facing ‘imminent extinction’ (see), Prince Charles has praised their ‘extraordinary grace and capacity for forgiveness’. Speaking at a special Advent service for persecuted Christians at Westminster Abbey, he said he had been ‘deeply humbled’ by meeting Christians from the Middle East ‘who, with such inspiring faith and courage, are battling oppression and persecution’. He said, ‘Extremism and division are by no means inevitable. In this season of Advent, as we celebrate the birth of our Lord Jesus Christ, who himself knew exile, injustice and suffering, I can only assure you of our steadfast support and most heartfelt prayers as you take forward your works of restoration, justice and healing, so that God's will might be done on earth as it is in heaven.’

2018 has seen a growth in the persecution of Christians, in some cases with a significant increase. There is a battle going on as more people embrace the Gospel. Here are three nations to pray for – two facing persecution and the third traumatised by civil war.

CHINA

• New regulations on religious affairs were introduced in February of this year. Persecution has intensified – churches have been demolished and crosses destroyed, some churches are seeing pictures of Jesus replaced with pictures of President Xi.
• In the western Xinjiang region over a million Uighurs have been put in “re-education centres”. This is a non-Chinese part of China and there are a heavy army and police crackdown. Christian friends just returned from Xinjiang report that Christians have also been sent to the camps. They cite the case of a Christian friend whose husband has been returned to his country of birth and the wife has been imprisoned for 18 years with no charges so no appeals can be made about her sentence.
• The three self-movement who are registered with the government have been told that nobody under 18 can attend their services to stop “indoctrination.”

Pray for strength and boldness for those caught up in this situation and for God’s love to astound their persecutors.

INDIA

• Persecution is intensifying. Extreme Hindus have an aim to eradicate every Muslim and Christian from India by 2021. In some places, they seem to have support from the government and the police. Pastors have been killed and their own family accused of the murder despite eyewitness reports of Hindu extremists.
• This is also a time of unprecedented church growth with many testimonies of miracles and amazing moves of the Holy Spirit amongst young people. The remarkable children’s prayer movement is growing. One district had no Christians 10 years ago and now has 200 churches.
• Persecution is more likely in traditional rural areas and in the north but radical Hindus can, and do, arise anywhere.

Pray for God’s Holy Spirit to blow on his church. Pray for more of you Lord. More miracles, more conversions, more joy, more children and young people on fire for Jesus. Bless your remarkable people in India.

YEMEN

• Houthi Shia Muslim rebel movement seized large areas of Yemen in 2014 when a new president was appointed. The Houthis went on to take Yemen’s largest city Sanaa, forcing President Abdrabbuh Mansour Hadi into exile abroad.
• The conflict escalated dramatically in March 2015, when Saudi Arabia and eight other mostly Sunni Muslim Arab states - backed by the US, UK, and France - began air strikes against the Houthis, with the declared aim of restoring Mr. Hadi's government.
• The Iranians backed the Houthis and this impoverished nation became the surrogate battleground for the Middle East’s big players. The UN fears that up to 14 million Yemenis face famine.

Pray for peace and for food to reach the starving. Pray for people disillusioned with Islam to discover Jesus.

Steve Botham, Director of World Prayer Centre

North Korean Choi Kwanghyuk is one of the lucky ones.

The 55-year-old managed to escape from the work camp where he was sent after being targeted and persecuted by the government for his Christian faith.

“We couldn’t raise our voice during a service, we couldn’t sing out loud during a worship … that was hard,” Choi told Fox News through a translator. “Also, we had to hide so that other people could not see us.”

Despite having to hide his faith in plain sight while living in North Hamgyong province, Choi was still compelled to bring religion to others when he started an underground church.

“There were about nine people,” he said. “I couldn’t do mission work because we had to keep it secret that we had a church.”

“If that information had leaked, we could have faced the death penalty.”

The 55-year-old managed to escape from the work camp where he was sent after being targeted and persecuted by the government for his Christian faith.

“We couldn’t raise our voice during a service, we couldn’t sing out loud during a worship … that was hard,” Choi told Fox News through a translator. “Also, we had to hide so that other people could not see us.”

Despite having to hide his faith in plain sight while living in North Hamgyong province, Choi was still compelled to bring religion to others when he started an underground church.

“There were about nine people,” he said. “I couldn’t do mission work because we had to keep it secret that we had a church.”

“If that information had leaked, we could have faced the death penalty.”

“I never heard the term ‘underground church’ until I got here [to the U.S.].”

In 2008, North Korean authorities caught up to Choi and arrested him. He was held in prison by the state security department where he says he was interrogated about his faith.

“I was tortured there,” he said. “I kept denying it.”

He said that he was about to be sent to one of North Korea’s brutal labor camps when he was able to break free.

“I decided to escape because I thought that once they sent me to the other camp, they could eventually send me to the concentration camp or kill me,” Choi recalled. “I was traveling back and forth between China and North Korea, but they kept searching for me, and I knew it could put my friends in danger too, so I left.”

The North Korean gulag system is notorious for harsh conditions and brutal treatment of its prisoners.

Choi feared being sent to the most notorious camp within the system -- Camp 22.Also known as Hoeryong concentration camp, and part of a large system of prison camps throughout the Communist dictatorship, Camp 22 is an 87-square-mile penal colony located in North Hamgyong province where most of the prisoners are people accused of criticizing the government.

Inmates, most of whom are serving life sentences, face harsh and often lethal conditions. According to the testimony of a former guard from Camp 22, prisoners live in bunkhouses with 100 people per room and some 30 percent show the markings of torture and beatings -- torn ears, gouged eyes and faces covered with scars.

“Unfortunately, it is inexplicably easy to wind up in one of these camps. While someone can be sent to one of these camps for openly evangelizing, someone can just as easily be sent there for simply being in contact with a religious person,” said King of the International Christian Concern.

Prisoners are forced to stand on their toes in tanks filled with water up to their noses for 24 hours, stripped and hanged upside-down while being beaten or given the infamous "pigeon torture” -- where both hands are chained to a wall at a height of 2 feet, forcing them to crouch for hours at a time.

Tiny rations of watery corn porridge leave inmates on the brink of starvation, and many hunt rats, snakes and frogs for protein. Some even take the drastic measure of searching through animal dung for undigested seeds to eat. Beatings are handed out daily for offenses as simple as not bowing down in respect to the guards fast enough. Prisoners are used as practice targets during martial arts training. Guards routinely rape female inmates.

Choi said he finally escaped to neighboring China. While he was figuring out where to go next, he had heard how the general image of North Korean defectors was not positive among those in South Korea.

“So, I applied for asylum in the U.S.,” he told Fox News.

Choi, who was single when he lived in North Korea, was granted asylum in the U.S. in 2013. He first lived in Dallas before eventually moving to Los Angeles where he now lives.

Choi said that as a result of injuries he received while being tortured, he is unable to work but has committed himself to telling the world about the human rights abuses in his native land.

“First of all, every human must have the right to freedom,” he said. “There is no freedom in North Korea. By law, they have the freedom of religion and the freedom of the press, but the reality is very different.”

And despite the hardships he may face, Choi said that life in the U.S. is a vast improvement.

“There is an enormous difference between my life in North Korea and my life in the U.S,” he said.

“The life in North Korea is hell … life in America is heaven.”

Source: Fox News - http://www.foxnews.com/world/2017/10/25/north-korean-defector-describes-life-hell-for-christians.html