100 Huntley Interviews Geoff Tunnicliffe regarding recent murder of Shahbaz Bhatti

Jim Cantelon from 100 Huntley interviews Geoff Tunnicliffe, the International Director of World Evangelical Alliance about the murder of Pakistan's only Christian Cabinet minister. He was gunned down by the radical Taliban because of his attempt to change the blasphemy laws. www.worldevangelicals.org

Sunday November 14, 2010. The International Day of Prayer for the Persecuted Church

See the faces and hear the cry of persecuted Christians by watching this year's 5-minute IDOP video

Persecution Index:

The Persecution and Endurance of Christians, Pt 2

We return in our study of the Word of God to the twenty-first chapter of Lukes gospel. Luke is the predominant historian of the New Testament, having written this gospel as well as the entire book of Acts. And, of course, the focus in Lukes writing is on the person and work of Jesus Christ and the spread of the gospel of Christ after His ascension and sending of the Holy Spirit.

The Persecution and Endurance of Christians, Part 1b

Before the end comes, the gospel is going to go to the end of the world. How could that possibly happen? How could it possibly happen that the gospel could go to the end of the world when were going to be arrested, imprisoned and killed? Thats only part of the story. Its going to create opportunity for your testimony. Persecution of Christians has allowed Christians to give, strong, bold, confident, faithful testimony to the glory of the gospel. You read Foxes Book of Martyrs, Ive been reading it my whole life, just pieces and bits, and pieces, and over and over again. And you hear these incredibly stirring, beautiful testimonies of those who were brought to the edge of the flames, about to be burned to death, or to the edge of the sword, the guillotine for their love for Christ and how powerful their testimony is now resounding.

The Persecution and Endurance of Christians, Part 1a

Fire is not new to us. Weve seen it before here in Southern California, the world has seen it throughout all of its history, really. In fact, the world has a long history of fire. Though we cant do without fire, even the ancient world was dependent on fire for warmth, dependent on fire for cooking, fire could also destroy and fire can also kill.

International Day of Prayer for the Persecuted Church

John Piper: How God can use persecution

Text: Acts 7:55–8:8
Introduction:

• Illustration: Piper tells the story of a Bulgarian pastor thrown in jail. The pastor later declared that he had a more fruitful ministry there than he could have expected in the church.
• We can find encouraging truths in a biblical account of church persecution.

Encouraging Truth #1 is that God makes persecution serve the Great Commission.

• Persecution launches the church into outreach.
• By contrast, comfort, ease, and security cause spiritual stagnation.
  • Illustration: Piper cites a recent study showing that the poorest give more than the wealthiest. Hard times beget more resources than easy times, because easiness anesthetizes.

Encouraging Truth #2 is that trouble for the sake of truth brings honor.

• Illustration: Piper imagines a dialogue among Jerusalem church members incensed that Stephen's caustic speech has caused persecution.
• Stephen's speech brought persecution upon the church; nevertheless, Luke honored him, along with all devout people.
• The devout will honor you, too, when your faithfulness to God brings trouble for yourself and other Christians.

Encouraging Truth #3 is that sometimes our worst enemies become our best friends.

• First, Saul ravaged the church; later, he led it. If Saul can get saved, then anybody can get saved!
• Acts 9:1–19
  • Illustration: Piper tells of a parishioner praying for an enemy who seems beyond hope.

Encouraging Truth #4 is that persecution brings joy.

• Persecution brings joy because it causes the preaching of "good news."
• Persecution brings joy because it moves us to embrace Christ, our eternal source of joy.

To see an transcript of Piper's sermon, click here.

Christians Flee to Forests as Mob Violence Escalates in Indian State

Watch the video report HERE.

http://www.puritanfellowship.com reports on Mob violence in India's Orissa state continues to escalate, and reports coming from Gospel for Asia leaders in Orissa say that as many as 20 GFA-related churches were destroyed and hundreds of Christian families have been burned out of their homes. At least a dozen members of GFA-related churches have been murdered, but no one knows the overall death toll.

"The Christians in Orissa have fled for their lives into the forests," GFA President K.P. Yohannan said, "and some have been in hiding for three days without food or water.

"Several of our pastors are in the forest along with their church people, and one said that he could have escaped, but would rather die with his people than leave them."

Dr. Yohannan called the situation "unprecedented in his 30 years of ministry in South Asia."

"I have never seen persecution so bad in my life," Dr. Yohannan said, "and I have seen a lot of opposition to the Gospel over the years."

Full report and Video Here.

World Watch

North Korea is the worst place in the world for Christians to live, according to Open Doors’ 2008 World Watch List. North Korea has led the list for 6 years in a row with more arrests of Christians in ’07 than in ’06. Saudi Arabia is in 2nd place followed closely Iran, Maldives, Afghanistan, Yemen and Uzbekistan.

CR Online 2/10/08

Persecution

The Voice of the Martyrs invites you to stand with our persecuted brothers and sisters on November 11, 2007, The International Day of Prayer for the Persecuted Church (IDOP). Your prayers of encouragement make a difference and are a blessing in the lives of our brothers and sisters around the world.

See a video clip of Sarah’s story, here.

This is a video by The Voice of the Martyrs about persecution. So many people today do not realize that persecution of Christians happens every single day, but it does and we need to think about them and pray for them!

WE ARE ONE

Hostages' Pastor: 'Remorse Is the Face of the Church'

Hostages' Pastor: 'Remorse Is the Face of the Church'
Interview with Park Eun-jo: 'I don't want this to be a stumbling block for missions.'
Sarah Pulliam

Silently Martyred: Missionary blood spills, the world yawns.

By Michelle Malkin @ http://article.nationalreview.com

The blood of innocent Christian missionaries spills on Afghan sands. The world watches and yawns. The United Nations offers nothing more than a formal expression of “concern.” Where is the global uproar over the human-rights abuses unfolding before our eyes?
For two weeks, a group of South Korean Christians has been held hostage by Taliban thugs in Afghanistan. This is the largest group of foreign hostages taken in Afghanistan since Operation Enduring Freedom began in 2001. What was their offense? Were they smuggling arms into the country? No. Inciting violence? No. They were peaceful believers in Christ on short-term medical and humanitarian missions. Seventeen of the 23 hostages are females. Most of them are nurses who provide social services and relief.

Over the past few days, the bloodthirsty jihadists have demanded that South Korea immediately withdraw troops from the Middle East, pay ransom and trade the civilian missionaries for imprisoned Taliban fighters. The Taliban leaders have made good on threats to kill the kidnapped Christians while Afghan officials plead fecklessly that their monstrous behavior is “un-Islamic.”

Two men, 29-year-old Shim Sung-min and 42-year-old Pastor Bae Hyeong-gyu, have already been shot to death and dumped in the name of Allah. Bae was a married father with a nine-year-old daughter. According to Korean media, he was from a devout Christian family from the island province of Jeju. He helped found the Saemmul Church south of Seoul, which sent the volunteers to Afghanistan.

Across Asia, media coverage is 24/7. Strangers have held nightly prayer vigils. But the human-rights crowd in America has been largely AWOL. And so has most of our mainstream media. Among some of the secular elite, no doubt, is a blame-the-victim apathy: The missionaries deserved what they got. What were they thinking bringing their message of faith to a war zone? Didn’t they know they were sitting ducks for Muslim head-choppers whose idea of evangelism is “convert or die”?

I noted the media shoulder-shrugging about jihadist targeting of Christian missionaries five years ago during the kidnapping and murder of American Christian missionaries Martin and Gracia Burnham in the Philippines. The silence is rooted in viewing committed Christians as alien others. At best, there is a collective callousness. At worst, there is outright contempt — from Ted Turner’s reference to Catholics as “Jesus freaks” to CBS producer Roxanne Russell’s casual insult of former GOP presidential candidate Gary Bauer as “the little nut from the Christian group” to the mockery of GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney’s Mormon faith.

Curiously, those who argue that we need to “understand” Islamic terrorists demonstrate little effort to “understand” the Christian evangelical missionaries who risk their lives to spread the gospel — not by sword, but through acts of compassion, healing and education. An estimated 16,000 Korean mission workers risk their lives across the globe — from Africa to the Middle East, China, and North Korea.

These are true practitioners of a religion of peace, not the hate-mongers with bombs and AK-47s strapped to their chests who slay instead of pray their way to martyrdom.

Korean Hostage Crisis Should Impel, Not Deter

By The Christian Post @ http://www.christianpost.com

The recent kidnapping of 23 South Korean Christians in Afghanistan has not only incited fervent efforts to save the lives of the 22 remaining men and women, calls for prayers, and expressions of concern, but it has also incited criticisms from those who question the group’s decision to enter one of Afghanistan’s most insurgency-hit regions.

"Religious groups should realize once and for all that dangerous missionary and volunteer activities in Islamic countries including Afghanistan not only harm Korea's national objectives, but also put other Koreans under a tremendous amount of duress," the right-leaning Chosun Ilbo newspaper stated in an editorial this past week.

"I cannot believe that they ignored the warning sign at the airport," one person wrote in a chatroom on Naver, Korea's most popular internet portal. The Web user was referring to the widely-circulated photo on the internet of three of the women hostages posing next to a Korean airport noticeboard advising against travel to Afghanistan.

As a number of publications have already noted, the hostage crisis in Afghanistan has caused introspection in churches across South Korea – the world's second largest missionary sending nation (after the United States).

The East Asian nation, which has seen a dramatic rise in Christianity within just a few decades of the twentieth century, sends one missionary for every 4.2 congregations – placing it 11th in the world, according to Christianity Today. (The U.S. does not rank in the top 10.) And of the estimated 17,000 South Korean Christian missionaries that have been sent abroad, many are in volatile regions.

South Korean missionaries are particularly prevalent in 10/40 Window nations that are hostile to Westerners.

After this latest incident, however, some are wondering if that should and/or will change.

"We need to reconsider our missionary works as a result of this kidnapping incident," said Park Seung-cheol of the Korean Council of Churches, according to the Financial Times.

Another large church umbrella group in Korea, the National Council of Churches in Korea, has stated that all "missionary activity in Afghanistan, where abductions and dangers to life continue, must be stopped," as reported by the Japanese online edition of the Korean newspaper JoongAng Daily.

Did the 23 South Korean Christians cross the line when they went over to Afghanistan despite warnings from the South Korean government?

Are there places that missionaries should not go to, even if it’s for humanitarian efforts?

In short, no.

As Jesus commanded, believers are to “[g]o … and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I commanded you” (Matthew 28:19-20).

Christians should not be confined to only going to places that are “safe(r)” or where there are little or no problems. On the contrary, it is in those countries with the greatest needs that missionaries are needed even more.

And anyone who is willing to step out of their zone of comfort and security to provide for the neediest should not be criticized for doing so nor restricted from doing so.

Think about it. If humanitarian groups that are in areas like Afghanistan – such as the Salvation Army or World Vision – were to avoid such places, the workers may be better off, but those countries and the world would most likely not be.

And what about the journalists and photographers who are going into those same regions? Is their presence more justified or acceptable than those who help the needy, tend to those suffering, or provide food for the malnourished.

In this world that we live in, violence and dangers are very much a reality.

An incident such as the one now in Afghanistan, if any thing, should remind believers of the troubles plaguing today’s world and the great need for Christians to be the light of the world and the salt of the earth.

Korea (and any other country, for that matter), therefore, should not stop outreach efforts in such regions, and concerned individuals – especially believers – should not be critical but supportive of those willing to go there.

Notably, however, believers who go to volatile areas should not just go in blindly but should be well aware of the country’s situation, laws, customs, and pitfalls. Neither should they go in arrogantly, selfishly, or recklessly.

Doing so, certainly, is a recipe for disaster.

While it’s not yet certain whether the 22 remaining hostages in Korea went in under the aforementioned circumstances, regardless of whether or not they did, their current situation should not dissuade South Korea or any other nation from allowing missionaries to go out to all parts of the world.

Hopefully, it will serve as a reminder of how very needed missionaries are to bring hope and healing to a world torn by hate and violence. And a world in desperate need of change is first of all in need of those whom God has called to change it.

Faces of persecution

Faces of Persecution

This is a video by The Voice of the Martyrs about persecution. So many people today do not realize that persecution of Christians happens every single day, but it does and we need to think about them and pray for them!

Persecution in Israel: Does Our Theology Shut Our Ears and Mouths?

by Glenn Penner @ http://persecutedchurch.blogspot.com

Every time we release a story or two on the persecution of Christians in Israel (like we did last week), I am nervous. When we added Israel to our prayer map this year, I also expected to get questions about it (and we did). It seems that evangelicals in Canada just can't grasp the fact that Israel is not nearly as friendly towards evangelicals as we are towards them. Oh sure, they love for us to come and visit as tourists. And Israel understands full well that evangelicals in much of the western world will exert great pressure on their governments to support Israel politically. And so, in the West, Israel makes great overtures to evangelical leaders while, at the very same time, refusing to protect their own Christian population adequately.

The plight of the Messianic believers in Arad is a case in point. For the past three years, these believers have experienced almost continual harassment and violence against them. Yet, little has been reported in the Christian media concerning this. I wonder why. I suspect that it has a large part to do with a theology that is bandied about that suggests that to criticize Israel is to not bless her. Christians are admonished to have almost a blind loyalty to Israel.

And so my nervousness every time we fulfill our calling and report on persecution in Israel. If we report on the persecution of Christians by Muslim Palestinians, there is no problem, of course. But to suggest that Israel might be less than angelic in their treatment of Israeli Christians (to say nothing of Palestinian ones) is something many would rather not accept or hear about.

Amazing Grace Sunday

Learn about William Wilberforce's Two Great Objects.
Object 1 - Abolition of slavery
Object 2 - Reforming society

The First Freedom

By Glenn Penner @ http://persecutedchurch.blogspot.com

In last week's Persecution and Prayer Alert, in response to a marriage commissioner in Regina, Saskatchewan facing a human rights tribunal for refusing to perform the marriage of a homosexual couple in 2005, I commented that since same-sex couples have been given the right to marry in Canada, sexual orientation is being treated as a more fundamental right than religious belief.

In today's National Post, Father Raymond J. De Souza makes a similar point, albeit far more effectively in his column "Freedom number one" as he discusses this development in the context of Canada's Charter of Rights and Freedoms.

Freedom number one
Father Raymond J. De Souza, National Post
Published: Thursday, February 15, 2007

What is the most important freedom protected in the Charter of Rights and Freedoms? We could start with the first one listed: "freedom of conscience and religion." This week's series on the 25th anniversary of the Charter has addressed at length equality rights, which have dominated Charter jurisprudence, but what about the first freedom?

Religious liberty and freedom of conscience is not the first freedom by accident. The first article of the Magna Carta in 1215 guarantees "that the English Church shall be free, and shall have its rights undiminished, and its liberties unimpaired." The first amendment of the American Bill of Rights (1789) states that "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof." Article 1 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (1948) speaks of human beings "endowed with reason and conscience" (Article 18 specifies the consequences for religious liberty).

In contrast, the French Declaration of the Rights of Man and the Citizen (1789) gives rather short shrift to religious liberty, which may not be surprising for a document which states: "The principle of all sovereignty resides essentially in the nation. No body nor individual may exercise any authority which does not proceed directly from the nation." The almost immediate descent of the revolution into vicious religious persecution more or less follows from such a totalitarian principle.

But the lamentable French Revolution aside, the long history of freedom recognizes that the first freedom must be religious liberty. If the citizen is not free in his conscience, where else can he be free? If he is not free to pledge his allegiance, as he understands it, to God before the state, then what possible limits can there be on the state? That's why freedom of conscience and religion are the Charter's first freedom.

How has the Charter been used in the intervening 25 years to protect such freedom? The record has not been encouraging. In general, the courts have been more sympathetic to either equality claims or public policy goals rather than defending religious minorities. The trend regarding censorship is also worrying: The courts have been very deferential to government-imposed limits on free speech.

There have been in the last five years a number of clear-cut religious liberty cases that have ended up in the various provincial human rights tribunals. The proximate issue has usually been homosexuality, and the human rights tribunals have been inclined to limit religious liberty in favour of an emphasis on putative equality claims instead. Eventually, these cases will emerge from the shadowy legal world of the human rights tribunals and be litigated as Charter cases in the courts themselves.

It will pose a significant challenge to Charter jurisprudence. The tendency of the courts to favour equality claims over fundamental freedoms would seem to indicate that religious liberty would not fare well. That would likely be the outcome if the rights of Christians were at issue; but the issue would be complicated if religious minorities -- Muslims or Sikhs for example -- were to make claims on both religious liberty and equality grounds.

As the vast apparatus of the Canadian state moves in certain respects toward enforcing a secular orthodoxy, infringements on religious liberty are sure to become more, not less, frequent. This has already happened in education, as students and parents often find themselves confronted in the classroom with moral teachings contrary to their religious beliefs. To date, accommodations have generally been worked out, but as secularist bureaucrats become more zealous, these cases too will soon head to court on religious liberty grounds.

The churches --and mosques and temples -- themselves will likely go to court to test religious liberty claims, as their involvement in health care and social services increasingly encounter state mandates which violate religious freedom. The case of Revenue Canada hassling Bishop Fred Henry of Calgary during the last federal election was unique in its directness, but there will be many other less direct attempts by the bureaucratic state to encroach upon religious freedom. The purpose of the Charter is to prevent just that. The question for the next 25 years is whether it will.