Displaying items by tag: Asia

On 26 December intelligence agents raided Pastor Matthias house church during Christmas celebrations. Matthias and two other converts were arrested and transferred to Lakan Prison in Rasht. On 3 January Matthias’ wife Anna was summoned to intelligence offices, arrested, and also transferred to Rasht. Matthias was jailed in January 2022 for a six-year sentence on national security charges, saying that he was an enemy of the state. Although detained in prison, he was allowed regular leave, and continued to minister in the local house church. Friends are concerned about Anna’s health in detention as she has back problems. They request prayer that God will strengthen and encourage them, and that their teenage daughter will be adequately cared for while her parents are in prison. Criminal charges will not be brought against Matthias and Anna or the two other converts arrested at the Christmas gathering.

Forgotten Missionaries International (FMI) recently visited Saudi Arabia to explore potential for future ministry. Saudi Arabia has recently issued tourist visas to be open to the West. FMI expected to see more opulent wealth from Saudi petroleum dollars. But a third of the cars they saw had significant damage, indicating one of the reasons for opening up to the West is to develop tourism and business opportunities. The oil industry is drying up. FMI freely interacted with friendly Saudis. There were few women out and about , all wearing black veils. There are underground churches for foreign workers, each with 15 - 30 members as venues are small hotel apartments. The government forbids citizens to leave Islam. FMI hopes to visit more congregations on future trips and identify the key leaders of Saudi Christians.

A group of Armenian organisations has appealed to the UN, warning about ethnic cleansing of the population of Nagorno-Karabakh by Azerbaijani Muslims. Their letter stated, ‘Two years have passed since the war against Nagorno-Karabakh started, but security issues are not resolved yet. Many fundamental rights are continually violated, plus significant and increasing risk of new conflicts and atrocities. Ethnic cleansing of native Armenians of Nagorno-Karabakh is especially alarming. The Azerbaijani government's extreme hatred and belligerent rhetoric, destruction of Armenian monuments, appropriation of cultural heritage, exceptional brutality by Azerbaijani armed forces, continuous threats of violence, and intimidation are characteristic of genocidal atrocities. The scenario of ethnic cleansing may become a reality if Azerbaijan’s crimes remain unaddressed and effective pressure is not put on Baku to refrain from violence.’ Armenian Christian families in villages across the enclave need prayer, hope, and practical help. If their pasturelands are not seized by armed forces, they are too dangerous to use because the military are so close. See

Saudi news channel Al-Hadath reported that hundreds of Iranian missiles armed with the lethal chemical thionyl chloride have arrived at a warehouse in Syria, with a bird’s eye view of Lebanon’s border nine miles away. They were transferred there by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. The recipient was Hezbollah, the Iran-backed Lebanese terror army on Israel’s northern border. According to Saudi media, Hezbollah has Iran and North Korea to thank for the arsenal. Plans are reportedly in place to move them to a site three miles from Israel’s border. Israel’s defence ministry identified ten Syrian locations where Iran has facilities producing advanced weapons for its proxies in the region. Pray for Israel’s defence force to constantly look to God for guidance. May the Lord enable them to think outside the box as Gideon did when he divided the men into companies with trumpets and companies with jars containing torches (Judges 7:16).

Mount Semeru on Java has erupted and sparked 2,500 evacuations, mostly on motorcycles. The volcano’s warning status escalated to the highest level on 4 December. The next day a giant cloud of grey ash engulfed the mountain and surrounding rice paddy fields, roads and bridges, turning the sky black, and a pyroclastic flow of lava, rocks and hot gases gushed down the mountainside. Volcanic ash mixed with monsoon rain fell on six nearby villages, and everyone was evacuated by rescuers. Semeru is the highest and most active Java volcano. Pray for the evacuated who do not know what they will discover when they return from the high alert situation.

Contrary to the common perception (‘Syria’s situation has settled, so Syrians no longer need urgent humanitarian aid’) conditions especially in the rebel-held northwest have been worsening. The Assad regime and Russia continue to block access to food, medicine and other vital necessities. The Covid pandemic, the war in Ukraine, and the consequent global economic downturn have exacerbated the crisis. Soaring inflation in neighbouring Turkey has also had a devastating effect on the economy in the region, where the Turkish lira is widely used along with the US dollar. Four million people in north-western Syria urgently need aid. Over 3.1 million internally displaced persons are food-insecure. Clean water is scarce. Cholera is spreading and there is a sharp decline in humanitarian aid. Pray for unconditional access to vital food and water to be guaranteed for all Syrians; International media coverage and fundraising campaigns to boost donations for the Syria crisis; and in the longer term, for Syrians to be able not merely to survive but to rebuild their lives and livelihoods.

On 27 November thousands protested in Shanghai against Covid restrictions, shouting slogans against the government. In Beijing, Tsinghua, and Nanjing, students were arrested. The unrest began when lockdown was blamed for ten deaths in a tower block fire. Protesters held blank white banners, symbolising defiance against censorship. Such direct criticism of the president and government could result in harsh penalties, but by 30 November protesters in Guangzhou were throwing debris and glass at police wearing hazmat suits and clutching riot shields. The government has drastically misjudged growing discontent over zero-Covid restrictions. Millions have endured three years of movement restrictions and daily Covid tests. The anger has galvanised university students, factory workers, and ordinary citizens, all calling for President Xi to step down. Televised reports of the World Cup in Qatar have helped millions of Chinese to realise that Covid and social freedoms are not incompatible. On 1 December China finally shifted its stance and eased some virus restrictions as the vice-premier announced that the country was facing a ‘new situation’.

Narendra Modi, India's prime minister, has called for the Ukraine war to end. He warned that geopolitical struggles could ‘lead to humanitarian crises’. In a thinly veiled swipe at the Russian president, he said, ‘Our era need not be one of war. Indeed, it must not be one!’ The comments echoed his previous criticism of Mr Putin in September. India has abstained from condemning Moscow’s actions in Ukraine at the UN as the government balances its ties with Russia and the West, but has shifted its stance as the war intensifies and energy and food shortages pose greater global threats. Mr Modi said the world’s greatest challenges ‘can be solved not by fighting each other, but only by acting together’. India hosts the next G20 summit, whose theme is One Earth, One Family, One Future.

A magnitude 5.6 earthquake hit Indonesia, killing 271 with hundreds still missing 3 days later. Around 22,000 houses were damaged. 169,000 people were affected, 1,000+ injured, and 58,000 scattered to evacuee points. One village was buried under a landslide. Landslides and rough terrain blocked roads and damaged bridges, preventing rescuers for 24 hours from reaching survivors with excavators and equipment to move concrete and dig them out. Pray for patients needing immediate treatment or surgery; for the health ministry implementing emergency triage procedures; for frame tents, folding beds for carrying patients, operational kits, medicines, masks for adults and children, and body bags. See Six-year-old Azka Maulana Malik was rescued from the rubble of his family home three days after the earthquake destroyed the area. There are still 151 people missing. Pray that more people, not bodies, will be found in the debris, as monsoon rain hinders rescuers.

Governments in both Iraq and Lebanon struggle to function and pass legislation. Political parties tied to ethnic and religious groups vie for control. Iran-backed militias hold more power than the military. There are many parallels between Lebanon, Syria, and Iraq because the nation-state borders were drawn around them by colonial nations around a hundred years ago. Ethnic groups thrown together by these borders often find it difficult to make their own voices heard and cooperate. It is an ongoing process that is only successful if there has been a dictator or authoritarian government. There is government corruption. Young Iraqis are dissatisfied and  are opening their eyes to opportunities for truth. South Iraq is seeing a time of harvest among the Shia community.  Even though they face persecution by larger religious groups, they are boldly proclaiming the Gospel repeatedly to all peoples and all backgrounds or ethnic minorities or majorities in their communities. God is doing amazing things in the south.