The Persecution & Prayer Alert The Voice of the Martyrs, Canada http://www.persecution.net Tuesday, December 31, 2002

A summary of news concerning the Persecuted Church and how you can respond.

*********************************** Contents: 1. Families of Bombing Victims to Receive Compensation (Pakistan) 2. Prison Sentences for Montagnard Christians (Vietnam) 3. Books Promoting Same-Sex Parents to Kindergartens Ruled Acceptable (Canada) 4. Christmas Day Officially Recognized (Egypt) 5. Looking Ahead.Way Ahead (Editorial) 6. Question of the Week

*********************************** 1. Families of Bombing Victims to Receive Compensation (Pakistan)

Provincial authorities have announced that 100,000 rupees (around $2700 CDN) will be paid to the families of each of the four girls killed in the bomb attack on Christmas Day in the village of Chianwala. Around $675 CDN will also be paid to the fourteen people injured in the attack.

Three girls between the ages of 6 and 16 were killed when an explosive was tossed into a church during a service particularly for children on Christmas Day. A fourth girl died the next day from her injuries. See http://www.persecution.net/pnparchive/arch2.htm for more details on the attack.

Three police officers have been suspended for failing to provide protection for the church. According to reports from the Pakistan Christian Post, the police station house officer in Chianwala and two aides were not obeying orders to provide security. Two churches considered vulnerable to attacks were left without protection on Christmas Day.

Pray for the recovery of those injured physically and emotionally in the attack, particularly the children.

The feature article of the January 2003 edition of The Voice of the Martyrs Newsletter focuses on the persecution facing Christians in Pakistan today. You will not want to miss this important report. To subscribe to this free publication, go to http://www.persecution.net/nlorder.htm.

*********************************** 2. Prison Sentences for Montagnard Christians (Vietnam)

Seven men from the mostly Christian tribe known as the Montagnards were sentenced to eight years in prison. An eighth, a church leader named Y Thuon Nie, 30, was sentenced to ten years for an attempt to flee Vietnam for Cambodia on Christmas last year.

According to a New York Times article on December 28, the sentences were announced this past week by Vietnam’s official news agency, as the men were found guilty of “organizing illegal migration to Cambodia” and “undermining state and Communist Party policy.”

The Montagnard people are predominantly Christian and have been facing severe persecution from Vietnamese authorities in recent months. Hundreds fled to Cambodia, but that country has now completely closed its borders to refugees from Vietnam. Hundreds have been returned to Vietnam to face almost certain persecution.

Pray for Christians in Vietnam facing this persecution. Pray for those sentenced to jail, that they might stand strong in the strength of the Lord. Pray that the Vietnamese government will change its policies of oppression against the hill tribes.

*********************************** 4. Christmas Day Officially Recognized (Egypt)

In a surprising development, Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak has recently declared that Christmas Day is to be a national holiday in Egypt. Following the Orthodox tradition, Coptic Christians celebrate Christmas on January 7 and starting this year, the date will now be an official public holiday. Until now, Christian holidays have not been recognized in this mainly Muslim country, even though ten percent of the population is Christian.

Thank God for this decision and pray that it will be one more step in helping the Christians in Egypt gain respect and recognition as equal citizens of Egypt.

*********************************** 4. Looking Ahead.Way Ahead An editorial by Glenn Penner

I have cancer. There, I’ve said it. I’m not sure why I’ve been hesitant to state it publicly. A number of my friends and colleagues around the world have known since last September that I have been diagnosed with a chronic, slow growing but incurable form of non-Hodgkin ‘s lymphoma. I am grateful for their concern and prayers on my family’s and my behalf. But I have hesitated to come out and talk about it much beyond that. Part of the reason, I suspect, is my earnest desire not to focus attention to myself and my own needs; my life’s passion is to draw the world’s attention to the needs of today’s Persecuted Church around the world. How inappropriate it would be for someone who serves the Persecuted Church to make his/her own problems and desires the centre of their own little universe.

But the more I have thought about it recently, the more I realize that I have probably been guilty of responding to my own needs like many of us do when we learn of the persecution and suffering faced by thousands of believers around the world. I compare my own needs to theirs and I conclude that my needs are so small in comparison that God certainly must not be as concerned about mine; that somehow I should just be a brave soldier and carry on without comment or complaint.

There is a certain degree of truth to that, I suppose, but God has been reminding me of a couple of things that perhaps some of you need to hear as you look ahead to an uncertain 2003 like I do. First, God has been reminding me that He does not love persecuted Christians more than He loves me, nor is He more concerned about their needs than mine. The promise never to leave and forsake His people may be claimed by believers regardless of their circumstances. If anything, the testimony of today’s Persecuted Church should be a keen reminder that God’s grace is sufficient for all circumstances and that if my suffering sisters and brothers can remain faithful in their circumstances, then so can I, by His grace. And this is truly a wonderful thing to be reminded of and a tremendous source of hope.

Second, not knowing my future has finally caused me to start thinking about heaven. I really haven’t given heaven much thought for several years except when someone I know dies. I think that this is something that many of us in the West are guilty of. We don’t think much about heaven. Over the last couple of weeks, I’ve been reading a phenomenal book by Josef Ton entitled, “Suffering, Martyrdom, and Rewards in Heaven” in preparation for a course that I am scheduled to teach at Colombo Theological Seminary in Sri Lanka this summer. Ton reminded me that the Bible teaches a great deal about appearing before the judgment seat of Christ and receiving rewards in heaven, in accordance to how a Christian has responded to God’s grace in living a life of sacrificial service to God and others. Faced with my own mortality, it has become so apparent that I need to pour out what is left of my life (and I have no idea how long that will be, whether 20 years or 2 years) in service of my God and His priorities. I need to live now in the light of eternity. Right now, I’m not certain how that will be worked out. But just as the promises of God in the future compel persecuted believers to live obediently and sacrificially in their situations, I know that this is God’s call for me as well.

As you can imagine, looking ahead to a new year feels different for me this year. And this is not a bad thing. If anything, I think that I am gaining a more biblical perspective on the future.

*********************************** 5. Question of the Week

In light of Glenn’s editorial, we’d like to ask you this question: How often do you think of heaven?

a) At least once a day b) Every now and then c) Hardly at all d) Never

Do you think Christians should think of heaven more often? Why/why not?

To participate in our poll and discussion, go to http://www.persecution.net and click on “Discussion Forum.” If you have not registered on our forum in the past, click on “Register” and select a username and password.