Religious Liberty Prayer Bulletin | RLPB 152 | Wed 28 Mar 2012

By Elizabeth Kendal

‘Out of my distress I called on the Lord; the Lord answered me and set me free. ‘ (Psalm 118:5 ESV)

WELCOME to the intercessors who have joined the list this month.

MARCH 2012 UPDATE — During March we prayed concerning . . .

NIGERIA (RLPB 149), after the al-Qaeda-linked terror group Boko Haram

declared its intention to ‘end the Christian presence’ in much of

Northern Nigeria by means of co-ordinated terror attacks and the

kidnapping of Christian women. Please continue to pray for the Church

in Northern Nigeria.

SUDAN (RPLB 149), after Sudan president Omar al-Bashir declared that the

Sudan Armed Forces (SAF) would ‘purge South Kordofan’ of ‘traitors’

(i.e. the non- Arab, non-Muslim, predominantly Christian Nuba).

According to Sudan Vision, some 80,000 Islamic volunteer paramilitary

‘mujahideen’ are ready to fight and die in ‘defence of the country and

its Islamic belief’.

* UPDATE: Sudan continues to withhold humanitarian aid from hundreds of

thousands of Nuba and other non-Arabs fleeing genocide in South

Kordofan and Blue Nile. Once the rainy season sets in (April-October)

roads will become impassable and delivery of aid impossible.

Consequently it is imperative that aid be delivered now if mass

starvation is to be averted. The lack of international pressure is

difficult to understand. According to reports, Khartoum has bombed the

Kauda Valley through which displaced Nuba are fleeing south.

Furthermore, Khartoum bombed close to the Bentiu oil fields in South

Sudan’s oil-rich Unity State on Tuesday 27 March. There have also been

bombings and cross-border clashes at the border town of Jau (formerly

held by Khartoum, but liberated by the Kauda Alliance / Sudan

Revolutionary Front on 26 February: see RLPB 148). The US government is

opposed to regime change in Khartoum, saying it would rather see

democratic reforms. May God, who knows that the racist, Islamist regime

of Omar al-Bashir is genocidal and treacherous to the core, bring

peace, equity and liberty to Sudan. (Isaiah 59:15b-19)

Further to this, Easter Sunday (8 April) is the deadline for some

700,000 ‘Southerners’ (i.e. non-Arab, non-Muslims) living in Sudan to

register as citizens of Sudan. If they fail to register, they will be

treated as foreigners, stripped of their citizenship rights and

expelled as illegals. Consequently, thousands of ‘Southerners’ — many

of whom were born and raised in the north — are heading for South

Sudan despite there being few jobs and limited services.

LAOS (RLPB 150), where Christians continue to suffer serious persecution

at the hands of Communist officials and animist villagers.

* UPDATE: On Sunday 25 March five Lao Christians from various villages in

Palansai district, Savannakhet Province, were arrested while

worshipping with believers in Boukham village, Ad-Sapangthong district.

The arrested Christians have been charged with ‘leading a religious

movement without official approval’. According to Human Rights Watch

for Lao Religious Freedom the arrests are part of a wider crackdown

against the spread of Christianity in Savannakhet Province. Pray for

these believers and for all Christians in Laos for whom the cost of

faith can be very high.

MIDDLE EAST (RLPB 151), where the region’s Christian minorities, from

Iran through Iraq and Syria to Lebanon, face the prospect of being

trampled by Islamic blocs battling for regional hegemony and Islamic

supremacy. Pray for the Christians of the Middle East.

MARCH 2012 ROUND-UP — also this month . . .

* CHINA: BELIEVERS ARRESTED IN XINJIANG

On Sunday 18 March police raided a house church in China’s far west

Xinjiang Province, arresting more than 70 Christians. The church in Aksu

prefecture, which has been meeting regularly for nearly 20 years, was

gathered for worship in the home of Pastor He Enjun when more than 10

police and Domestic Security Protection agents stormed in. Each believer

was photographed before being taken away for interrogation. Some believers

were held for two days. Everyone’s Christian materials were confiscated,

without receipts (i.e. they were stolen — pray that God will put them to

good use!). Pastor He Enjun and his wife were threatened and ordered to

stop holding ‘illegal’ meetings.

* CHINA: COMMUNIST PARTY DEMANDING LOYALTY

On 19 March Chinese Communist Party (CCP) officials seized Bishop Peter

Shao Zhumin (49) and Father Paul Jiang Sunian of the ‘underground’

Catholic Church in Wenzhou, whisking them away for ‘learning classes’.

Government officials have told the church that if Bishop Shao and Father

Jiang are ‘intelligent enough in their learning’ they will be allowed back

soon, indicating that their release will depend on their willingness to

accept CCP ideology and serve CCP interests. Similarly China’s Justice

Ministry has recently announced that all lawyers obtaining or renewing

their licence will now be required to take an oath of allegiance to the

CCP. Who will defend the CCP’s victims and critics now?

* CHINA: EASTER AT SHOUWANG CHURCH

Last Christmas the battle between the CCP and Beijing’s large,

unregistered Shouwang Church intensified as church leaders sought premises

in which to hold Christmas services. While several landlords were

initially willing to lease their premises, CCP pressure ensured they

eventually backed out. One place reneged at the very last minute, ensuring

that numerous church members arrived for Christmas services unaware they

would be met by hoards of police. With Easter approaching, the Shouwang

Church is requesting prayer. For a full year now, the believers — around

1000 mostly young professionals — have suffered harassment, intimidation

and persecution as they make a stand for religious liberty. Having seized

their property, the CCP will not let them gather for worship anywhere.

Still, the faithful turn up each Sunday to be dispersed and arrested by

CCP agents, waging a quiet battle of attrition. Pray for Beijing’s

Shouwang Church this Easter. May God provide all their needs and bless

their witness. See http://www.facebook.com/prayforshouwang

* EGYPT: ISLAMISTS TO DOMINATE CONSTITUTION PANEL

On Saturday 24 March Egypt’s democratically elected Islamist-dominated

parliament appointed a 100-member panel to write Egypt’s new constitution.

The panel’s clear majority of 60 Islamists will ensure that Christian and

secularist voices will be inconsequential. Several Christian and

secularist members have already resigned from the panel, denouncing it as

a farce designed only to legitimise the drafting of an Islamist

constitution.

* EGYPT: SLIDING INTO A DARK AGE

When Pope Shenouda III (88), the head of Egypt’s Coptic Orthodox Church,

died on 17 March, Salafi Muslim clerics responded with a barrage of

hateful, offensive and even slanderous insults. Their rejoicing over the

death of the ‘head of the infidels’ has shocked Christians, compounding

their sense of vulnerability. Meanwhile, serious anti-Christian violence

is escalating. On Sunday 4 March some 1500 armed Muslim villagers in Abu

Al-Reesh village, Aswan Province, Upper Egypt, launched a pogrom against

the local Notre Dame Language School. They were responding to calls

emanating from local mosques to attack this privately run public school,

falsely claiming that a church was being built there. Two nuns were

besieged in the school’s guesthouse for some eight hours by a murderous

mob threatening to burn them alive. The entire property was ransacked and

looted. The next day the Muslims returned and terrorised the children.

Consequently, school attendance has dropped by at least one-third. By 8

March one of the nuns had suffered a major nervous breakdown requiring

hospitalisation. Pray for Egypt’s minority Christians.

‘Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we

ask or think, according to the power at work within us, to him be

glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations,

forever and ever. Amen.’ (Ephesians 3: 20,21 ESV)

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To view this RLPB with links, go to Religious Liberty Prayer Bulletin blog

http: //rlprayerbulletin.blogspot.com

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We usually provide a summary to use in news-sheets unable to

run the whole of an RLPB. As a summary is not practicable with

this monthly update posting we suggest one or more of the above

items be used instead.

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For more information, updates and helpful links see Elizabeth Kendal’s

blog ‘Religious Liberty Monitoring’ <http://elizabethkendal.blogspot.com>.

Previous RLPBs may be viewed at <http://rlprayerbulletin.blogspot.com/>.

This RLPB was written for the Australian Evangelical Alliance Religious

Liberty Commission (AEA RLC) by Elizabeth Kendal, an international

religious liberty analyst and advocate, and a member of the AEA RLC team.

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