STOP PRESS:

George Santayana said something to the effect that those who don’t attend to the mistakes of history are bound to repeat them.

Elizabeth Kendal’s new book, Turn Back the Battle: Isaiah Speaks to Christians Today, might be summarized as: ‘Those who don’t learn from both history and the revelation of God’s will in the Bible and try to find their security in naive ‘pacts with the devil’ of various kinds, are bound to miss the most important attitude one can have in times of persecution: trusting God to keep his promises to be faithful, even when times are hard, and yes, even in the hour of death.

Elizabeth’s approach is didactic and devotional, with Questions for Discussion and Reflection, and a Prayer at the end of   most chapters. Her approach to finding mentors is interesting: I’ve never seen A W Pink and Walter Brueggemann in the same list of recommended authors/Bible scholars!

She applies Isaiah’s wisdom to various trouble-spots in our world. I especially found her summary of the situation in Lebanon the best I’ve ever read.

If you appreciate the prayer-points in these posts on our website   (mostly with the title ‘Pray for the World’) and the special gift of scholarly research Elizabeth brings to her advocacy for those persecuted for their faith, you’ll like her book. It’s something to read slowly, and thoughtfully, and prayerfully.

Publisher: Deror Books, Melbourne.

More: [email protected]

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Religious Liberty Prayer Bulletin | RLPB 191 | Wed 02 Jan 2013

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FROM CHRISTMAS TO NEW YEAR – PERSECUTION CALLS FOR FAITH
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by Elizabeth Kendal

Before Christmas we prayed for God’s divine hand to be over several
regions where gathered Christians risked terrorism and mob violence. While
Christmas was not without incident, we can thank God that the violence was
minimal and that the heightened security was effective.

UPDATING RLPB 190

* NIGERIA: Despite increased security, gunmen (presumed Boko Haram)
managed to attack two churches in the north-east: one in Yobe and one in
Borno. In each case, the pastor and five worshippers were killed: a total
of 12 believers slain in worship. Pray for the bereaved and for the
traumatised congregations. ‘Weep with those who weep’ (Romans 12:15b ESV).
Pray for God to intervene in Nigeria.

* INDONESIA: Security in Indonesia was high, with police protection
provided to 38,499 registered churches throughout the religious ‘hot-
spots’. While there were no casualties, rioting Muslims were able to
prevent members of the Filadelfia Batak Christian Protestant Church
gaining access to their land in Bekasi, West Java, where the local
authorities refuse to allow them to build. More than 380 police did little
to uphold religious freedom and stop the Muslims from hurling rotten eggs
and bags of sewerage at the believers. However, the police did convince
the Christians eventually to abandon Christmas celebrations and return to
their homes.

OTHER CHRISTMAS PERSECUTION

* SUDAN: KHARTOUM. Just days before Christmas, the racist and Arabist-
Islamist regime in Khartoum arrested two Coptic priests for baptising an
Arab convert from Islam. A group calling itself Al-Qaeda in the Nilien
States has threatened violence against Copts in Sudan unless the woman
convert is ‘returned’, claiming she has been ‘kidnapped’.

* SUDAN: SOUTH KORDOFAN. Christian villages in South Kordofan spent
Christmas Day under aerial bombardment, with at least eleven fatalities. A
Nuba Christian leader told Morning Star News, ‘We are surprised why the
international community is so silent about the killing in South Kordofan.’

* LIBYA: MISRATA. After Christmas, on Saturday 29 December two Egyptians
were killed and others wounded when a bomb exploded in Mar Girgis (St
George) Coptic church in the town of Dafniya in Misrata Province just as
believers were emerging from evening mass. Reports indicate that a home-
made bomb or grenade may have been thrown into the church.

* TANZANIA: ZANZIBAR. A few months ago the Islamist separatist group
Uamsho issued a death threat against all Zanzibar’s Christian pastors. On
Christmas Day, militants (presumed to be Uamsho) ambushed and shot Rev.
Ambrose Mkenda through the face as he arrived at his home in Tomondo on
the outskirts of Zanzibar city. He is now fighting for his life in
intensive care in Dar-es-Salaam.

* IRAN: RASHT. Pastor Youcef Nadarkhani (35) was released from death-row
in September after spending nearly three years in prison on charges of
apostasy. On Christmas Day he was taken back into custody when authorities
maliciously decided that the remaining 45 days of his 3-year sentence for
evangelising should be spent in prison rather than on probation. This is
nothing but pure harassment, doubtless aimed at driving the family from
Iran and also sending a message to all Iranian Christians that the regime
can and will persecute them with impunity. This includes those presently
in prison, one of whom is US citizen Pastor Saeed Abedini. Two more
Christians, Behzad Taalipasand and Mohammadreza (Johann) Omidi, were
arrested in Rasht on 31 December.

* IRAN: TEHRAN. Middle East Concern reports that regime authorities raided
a Christmas celebration in Tehran on 27 December. Some 50 believers,
mostly converts from Islam, were interrogated and forced to provide
numerous personal details including computer passwords and social media
accounts. They also had to state how they came to convert from Islam to
Christianity. Phones were confiscated and the believers were advised that
they would be summonsed individually when investigations were complete.
Pastor Vruir Avanessian, an ethnic Armenian, was taken into custody. His
home was subsequently raided by security agents, causing great distress to
his wife and children. Pastor Avanessian, who has chronic kidney disease,
has been incarcerated in Evin Prison.

* PAKISTAN. At noon on Christmas Day, riotous Muslims attacked believers
as they emerged from various churches in Iqbal Town, Islamabad. While no
fatalities were recorded, numerous believers received bullet wounds and
various blunt force injuries. Christians of Iqbal town spent the rest of
Christmas Day under siege until Mr Basharat Khokhar, a human rights
activist, came to their aid. Muslim clerics had issued a fatwa banning any
Muslim participation in Christmas celebrations ‘because it is against the
concept of monotheism in Islam’.

SPEAKING OF CHRISTMAS FATWAS – A number of Islamic clerics in free (non-
sharia) states also issued fatwas banning Muslims from participating in
Christmas in any way. In Indonesia a fatwa from the Ulema Council was over-
ridden by the government. In Australia a fatwa from Lakemba Mosque was
withdrawn after an outcry. Muslim clerics will doubtless learn from this
and be better prepared to make their fatwas stand in 2013. Failing to
comprehend the Christian doctrine of the One God as a Trinity, Islam
regards Trinitarian Christianity as both polytheism and blasphemy. (See
http://quran.com/5/72-75)

PERSECUTION CALLS FOR FAITH. As we prepare to face another year of
advancing enemies and escalating persecution with soaring casualty rates
and death tolls, may 2013 also be a year of advancing faith and increasing
prayer. A mighty flood of persecution is upon us and we cannot turn back
the battle in our own strength. Persecution calls for faith! And so we
stand firm, exalt the Lord and pray! ‘. . . blessed are all those who wait
for him.’ (Isaiah 30:18 ESV)

PLEASE PRAY SPECIFICALLY THAT GOD WILL –

* bring comfort and healing to those who start this new year filled with
grief, trauma and anxiety. May the Lord comfort and encourage their
hearts and provide all their material, emotional and spiritual needs.

‘For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor
things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor
anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love
of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.’ (Romans 8:38,39 ESV)

* fan our fragile, flickering faith into flame and fill our hearts with
his love, that we as followers of Jesus Christ might stand as one body,
firm in faith against the flood, that the devil might have no victory
over us; may the Church of Jesus Christ entrust her security to Christ
alone who lives and loves, sees and hears, answers prayers and
intervenes with grace in response to faith.

~~~~

SUMMARY TO USE IN BULLETINS UNABLE TO RUN THE WHOLE ARTICLE
———————————————————–

FROM CHRISTMAS TO NEW YEAR – PERSECUTION CALLS FOR FAITH

Having endured State and vigilante terrorism, war and violent persecution,
multitudes of Christians will enter 2013 filled with grief, trauma and
anxiety. Over Christmas, Christians were violently attacked in Nigeria,
Zanzibar and Pakistan; bombed in Sudan and Libya; arrested in Iran and
abused in Indonesia. This was the tip of the iceberg. Furthermore, 2013
holds no promise of relief. Rather, the situation is set to escalate
further with Christians in South Kordofan (Sudan) and right across the
Middle East at risk of genocide. A mighty flood of persecution is coming
upon the Church and we cannot turn back the battle in our own strength.
Yet Christ is building his Church! And he lives and loves, sees and hears,
answers prayer and intervenes with grace in response to faith.

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To view this RLPB with hyperlinks and to access more information, visit
the Religious Liberty Prayer Bulletin blog at
http://rlprayerbulletin.blogspot.com

——————–

We suggest that churches and fellowships using the above Summary might
also provide a copy of the listed prayer points to be used in their
worship by people who are leading in prayer.

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.

Elizabeth Kendal is the author of
‘Turn Back the Battle: Isaiah speaks to Christians today’ (Deror Books,
Dec. 2012)  http://turnbackthebattle.com/thebook.html

Elizabeth is Adjunct Research Fellow in the Centre for the Study of Islam
and Other Faiths at the Melbourne School of Theology.

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