Displaying items by tag: Asia

The IS terrorist group has released a disturbing propaganda video in which its fighters are shown stamping on a bust of Jesus, desecrating religious statues, and ripping up photos of Pope Francis, before the church went up in flames. The video, filmed in the Philippines, features a narrator speaking with an American accent; he praises ‘the truthful soldiers of Mohammed’ who have infiltrated the city of Marawi. About 200,000 residents have been evacuated from the city since the start of the conflict in May, but several hundred - many of them Christians - are held captive inside the city. The video narrator claimed that the Philippine government tried to subjugate the Muslims and expel them from the land, and said IS soldiers freed inmates from the local jail and attacked local churches. He added that ‘the religion of the cross’ would be broken.

Thousands of missionaries worldwide depend on our prayers for strength. Afghanistan is just one of the nations where people groups have not yet heard about Jesus Christ. Cultural traditions that have survived centuries of invasion are guarded and observed, like that of offering extraordinary hospitality. A strong national identity and their characteristic hard work ethic will doubtless serve community members well as Afghanistan rebuilds. In addition to Islamic beliefs, spiritism (using charms and amulets) is also widespread. Pray for the Christians in the extra American military soon to be deployed to Afghanistan by President Trump. May God inspire them with a spirit of evangelism as they meet the locals who have known frequent war and internal tribal strife. Ask God to restore political peace and stability among tribes, and call for more Christian workers who are trained in the various language dialects to enter Afghan’s mission fields. Pray for Christian relief workers in Pakistan as they witness among displaced Afghans. See also https://joshuaproject.net/people_groups/14372/AF

It is called the largest mass poisoning in history. Wells drilled in the Indian subcontinent in the 1970s exposed millions to arsenic leaching into their drinking water from surrounding rocks and soil; this has caused skin lesions, cancer, cardiovascular diseases, and neurodevelopmental delays. A new study now suggests that up to sixty million Pakistanis might also be exposed to contaminated water. The World Health Organisation warned in the 1990s that up to 77 million people in Bangladesh were in danger of drinking water with unsafe levels of arsenic, and 200 million people in Nepal, Bangladesh, India and Vietnam were exposed to concentrations exceeding the recommended limit. Experts hope this new study will motivate Pakistan’s authorities to test wells in high-risk areas and to warn communities. If people are aware of the risks they could use water from deeper aquifers that are in contact with older sediments, or invest in treating groundwater to remove arsenic.

The Commission on International Religious Freedom has issued a report on blasphemy laws globally. The five worst-scoring nations are Iran, Pakistan, Yemen, Somalia, and Qatar, while 71 of the world's 195 countries penalties ranging from fines to imprisonment and death. In Indonesia the influence of radical Islam is being felt, with some districts adopting highly restrictive bylaws; but, praise God, a Jakarta Baptist pastor reports that Christianity is growing there. Pakistan’s Christians fear a rise in persecution after the removal of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif. Pray for God to cover them with His canopy, particularly the growing 24/7 prayer cells. The Iranian government is particularly concerned about the rise of Christianity, especially among youths. Islamic seminary officials are calling on the government to ‘stop the spread’ of the faith. Ask God to release even more of His angels into the battle between dark and light over Asia.

CBN News joined 46 Christians from Russia going to remote Mongolian provinces where few have heard of Christ's love. 17-year-old Alena Barsokov said, ‘What I am attempting to do is raise a new generation of Russian believers who will have an understanding of Christ's love for the world and the role they must play in bringing that Good News to the unreached.’ This is her third visit to Mongolia. She has wanted to be a missionary since the age of 9. Accompanying her was Natasha Gorodnuk, on her first trip. She wants to serve as a missionary to Nepal. ‘Every time I think about it, my heart breaks because I know the calling on my life and I know what I'm supposed to do,’ Natasha said. For several weeks Natasha, Alena and 44 other Russians partnered with Mongolian Christians to hold evangelistic camps for young people in remote regions of the country.

On 6 August Patriarch Louis Sako, head of the Chaldean Catholic church, called on Iraqi Christians to unite under one banner and work past their various political affiliations and differing doctrines. In his statement, issued after two armed Christian factions clashed in the Nineveh plains, he said that Christian political parties and armed factions are ‘responsible to a great extent for the suffering and disorder in which Christians live.’ He added, ‘We believe that a huge part of this ordeal is self-inflicted and caused by parties' divisions, their subordination (to Shi’ite and Kurdish groups), and their failure to unite efforts and ranks and make a unified decision.’ Internal Christian divisions have existed for a long time, but they deepened when a number of armed Christian factions formed after IS took over Christian territories in the Nineveh plains.

The annual monsoons in India, Bangladesh, Nepal and Sierra Leone have caused hundreds of deaths, while thousands have fled flash floods and mudslides. In Nepal’s southern plains, the home to much of its agriculture, huge swathes of land and 48,000 homes have been totally submerged by floods. Pray for those stranded on higher ground taking shelter in sheds, unable to move until the water recedes. Pray for the Bangladesh troops shoring up embankments, in places where such severe flooding has not been seen for thirty years. Authorities suggest the flooding is man-made, caused by the dams built on the India-Nepal border. Pray also for those grieving for the many hundreds who were killed by mudslides and floods in Sierra Leone’s capital, Freetown. Many were buried alive as they slept. Pray for governments and NGOs as they work to support those who have lost not only homes but paddy fields, vegetable plantations, and fish farms. See: http://edition.cnn.com/2017/08/17/africa/sierra-leone-mudslide/index.html

Tony Fayez is a freelance singer-songwriter who performs for SAT-7, a media outlet broadcasting in Arabic, Turkish and Farsi. He writes lyrics and composes hip-hop worship songs, to reach out to young people and help young Christians worship in a language they feel belongs to them. ‘The fast rhythm of rap reflects the passion, energy and speed of teenagers’, he says. ‘That’s the music they listen to when they are together. It’s a good way to reach them, using Christian lyrics that they can remember and sing along to.’ Traditional churches and some parents say the language degrades Christian values and encourages poor vocabulary. Tony believes in giving youth freedom to express their faith in ways that are meaningful to them. ‘They can listen to whatever music they choose so instead of trying to fit them into a rigid form, we can reach out to them and speak their language.’

Tajikistan's Sughd Oblast court sentenced Bahram Khalmatov, a 42-year-old Protestant pastor of the San-Maine-san-Bugim evangelical church in Khujand, to three years in prison on an unproven excuse of extremism, according to Mohabat News. The Tajik priest has expressed concern about the situation he faces in jail and called on believers and members of the church to pray for the priest Khalmatov. Officials of the Tajik Religious Affairs Committee state that the followers of this evangelical church were unlicensed and had registration documents, and therefore the churches and centres of this group were closed. Tajik authorities say the website of the Korean Christian Church said that the Christian centre was officially registered in the Tajik Religious Committee in 2009. This is the first time that a non-Muslim country is arrested and imprisoned on charges of extremism. Pray for the pastor’s safety, Tajikistan has been consistently criticised for violating human rights and religious beliefs in recent years.

Eight days after receiving a 15-year prison sentence and nearly a year after he was first detained, Muslim convert to Christianity Amin Afshar Naderi wrote an open letter to Iranian authorities. ‘What have I done against you and our country that made you hate me this much? I have learned from the Bible to love my enemies and to pray for those who hate me,’ his letter began. In July Amin was sentenced to 15 years in prison: 10 years for ‘acting against national security by organising and conducting house churches’” and an additional five years for blasphemy. Two other believers received 10-year sentences at the same time. In his letter, Amin said during his interrogations, he had been spoken to abusively, mocked and insulted, but he prays for the health of his interrogators. He also said his fellow prisoners were forced to sign a false statement against him, and that officials wrongly reported that Amin had insulted their religious beliefs.