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Prayer

PRAY FOR THE WORLD (Feb-Mar 2013)

Religious Liberty Prayer Bulletin | RLPB 198 | Wed 20 Feb 2013

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LIBYA & SUDAN: CHRISTIANS FACING DEATH FOR THEIR WITNESS
– plus vigilant prayer requested for Tanzania
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by Elizabeth Kendal

Islam is a totalitarian, all-encompassing system of life. Blasphemy
(criticism) and apostasy (rejection) are punishable by death for not only
are blasphemers and apostates regarded as enemies and traitors to Islam,
they are also a source of fitna. Fitna is anything that could test or
challenge the faith of Muslims and so cause ‘chaos’. Rather than
encouraging and equipping its adherents to face, endure and overcome
fitna, Islam mandates that fitna be eliminated – see http;//quran.com/8/39
. Nothing challenges Muslims to doubt Islam’s superiority more than the
presence of reasoned, joyful, thriving non-Muslims – especially apostates.
This is why Sharia Law requires Christians to be subjugated and
humiliated. This is why Muslim-majority states have long prohibited
Christian witness amongst Muslims. This is why in Islamic states apostates
may be murdered with impunity – see http://quran.com/2/190-191 . Jesus
said, ‘And they will do these things [persecute you] because they have not
known the Father, nor me.’ (John 16:3 ESV.) Therefore if persecution is to
cease it is imperative that Muslims come to know the triune God of the
Bible.

LIBYA: FOUR FOREIGN CHRISTIANS ARRESTED

On 12 February four foreigners – a Swedish-American, Egyptian, South
African and South Korean – were arrested in Benghazi, the capital of
Cyrenaica, Libya. They were arrested by Preventative Security, an
intelligence unit of the defence ministry, at a publishing house where
they were found with 45,000 books about Christianity. The authorities
believe that some 25,000 books had already been distributed. As The
Guardian reports (17 February), the new, post-‘Arab Spring’ Libya has
retained ‘a law from the Muammar Gaddafi era that makes proselytising a
criminal offence potentially punishable by death’. ‘Proselytising is
forbidden in Libya,’ explained security official Hussein Bin Hmeid. ‘We
are a 100 percent Muslim country and this kind of action affects our
national security.’ [In other words, providing information risks
unleashing ‘chaos’.] The Christians will face court in the coming days and
their prospects are grim. When addressing crowds in Benghazi on 17
February, the president of the General National Congress, Mohammed El
Magariaf, promised that the new Constitution would enshrine Islamic Sharia
Law as the principal source of legislation. Furthermore, Salafi groups –
who have bulldozed Sufi mosques, destroyed war cemeteries, bombed Red
Cross offices, fired shots at a Greek Orthodox church and bombed a Coptic
church killing two Egyptian Christians – will doubtless demand these
‘enemies’ receive the maximum penalty (death), to make an example of them.

SUDAN: TWO COPTIC PRIESTS ARRESTED

In December 2012 a high-profile Arab woman fled the country after
converting to Christianity. The Islamist regime responded by arresting two
Coptic priests who stand accused of baptising her, as well as the six
Coptic women they claim were involved in her conversion. Then the regime
arrested the Coptic Bishop of Khartoum, Bishop Anba Elia, demanding that
he apologise for the ‘isolated incident’ (as if no other Muslim had ever
converted). He refused. Eventually and doubtless under duress, the Coptic
bishop of Omdurman issued the apology to secure Bishop Elia’s release,
preserve ‘relations between Muslims and Copts’ and ‘maintain the security
and integrity of the state’. The two Coptic priests remain in detention,
their condition and whereabouts unknown. Being local citizens, they are
without consular access and deportation is not an option, hence their
situation is more serious. Furthermore, a little-known group calling
itself Al-Qaeda in the Nilien States sent a statement to Sudanese
journalists  threatening violence against Copts unless the woman who fled
from Sudan is returned, maintaining she has been ‘kidnapped’ by
Christians. This incident comes at a time when Khartoum is escalating
persecution, having promised to incorporate Sharia Law into a new, fully
Islamised constitution.

PLEASE PRAY SPECIFICALLY THAT THE LORD WILL –

* fill these prisoners – the four foreigners in Libya and the two Coptic
priests in Sudan – with spiritual, emotional and physical strength that
they might know the powerful sustaining presence and love of Christ
amidst this severe trial.

* thwart any wicked plots against his Church: plots by terrorists,
totalitarian regimes or intolerant neighbours. ‘Break the arm [the
means] of the wicked and evildoer . . . (Psalm 10:15a ESV)

* redeem this suffering to awaken many to the reality of the
repressiveness of Islam and of their own ‘captivity’. ‘Therefore, my
beloved brethren, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work
of the Lord, knowing that your labour is not in vain in the Lord.’ (1
Corinthians 15:58 NKJV)

With this in mind, especially pray for those Libyans who have already
received scriptures: ‘For the word of God is living and active . . .’
(Hebrews 4:12); For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of
God for salvation to everyone who believes . . .’ (Romans 1:16)

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SUMMARY TO USE IN BULLETINS UNABLE TO RUN THE WHOLE ARTICLE
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CHRISTIANS IN LIBYA & SUDAN FACING DEATH FOR THEIR WITNESS

Four foreign Christians have been arrested at a publishing house in
Benghazi, Libya. They were found with 45,000 books on Christianity. Some
25,000 books are believed to have been distributed already. Their
situation looks grim, with the new regime promising to incorporate Sharia
Law in the new constitution and belligerent Salafi Islamists perpetrating
all manner of religious violence with impunity. In Libya the maximum
penalty for evangelising Muslims is death. Also, in Sudan two Coptic
priests have been imprisoned for their role in baptising a female Arab
Muslim convert to Christianity. Their condition and whereabouts are
unknown. Because they are local citizens and not foreigners, their plight
is particularly serious. Please pray that the Lord will sustain and bless
these prisoners and redeem their suffering.

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URGENT UPDATE – VIGILANT PRAYER NEEDED

TANZANIA: ASSASSINATIONS AND THREATS

As Fr Evarist Mushi was parking his car at the Catholic church in Zanzibar
on Sunday 17 February he was ambushed by three men on a motorbike and
murdered. This assassination comes after the Christmas Day shooting of Fr
Ambrose Mkenda (RLPB 191) who is still in hospital. On 11 February
Protestant Pastor Mathayo Kachili was beheaded in the north-western region
of Geita, on the Tanzanian mainland (see Religious Liberty Monitoring for
details and context). Claiming responsibility for assassinating Fr Mushi,
a group calling itself ‘Muslim Renewal’ has vowed to make this Easter
season ‘one of disaster’.

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