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Compiled by Les Tepper ([email protected], www.weebly.HisWorldMissions.com)
June 2016 Persecution News
Special Interest Articles:
Bill In Kaduna State, Nigeria Would Criminalize Street Evangelism
Christians In Burma Patiently Endure Building Of Pagodas On Church Lands
Hindu Extremists In Uttar Pradesh, India Torture Christian Convert
Islamic University In Minnesota Is Alleged To Be Breeding Extremists
Persecuted, but not forsaken; cast down, but not destroyed 2 Cor 4:9
KADUNA, Nigeria, May 4, 2016 (Morning Star News) – Street evangelists would be fined and “offensive” preaching at church services would send pastors to jail for up to two years under legislation proposed by the Muslim governor of Kaduna state, church leaders said.
As discussion of the legislation heated up in the past month, Christian leaders voiced alarm over the bill Gov. Nasir El-Rufai sent to the state assembly last October, which would also require clergy to obtain a preaching permit renewable every year. Church leaders said the Religious Regulation Bill, which would apply to all religions including Islam, is a ploy to stifle and persecute Christians under the guise of quelling extremists and charlatans.
“The proposed law is in contravention of the Nigerian Constitution and shall inhibit the
preaching of the gospel when it becomes
Bill In Kaduna State, Nigeria Would Criminalize Street Evangelism
Christians In Burma Patiently Endure Building Of Pagodas On Church Lands
YANGON, Burma, May 3, 2016 (Morning Star News) – Striving for a peaceful legacy, Christians in Burma (also called Myanmar) are choosing to patiently endure an influential Buddhist monk’s campaign to build pagodas on church proper-ties.
Initially social media and news media registered an outcry from Christians when U Thuzana, a powerful monk better known as Myaing Kyee Ngu Sayadaw, rallied supporters to build a Buddhist pagoda on Anglican church property in southeastern Karen state on April 23 – the third Buddhist shrine that he has erected on church lands.
A bishop at St. Mark Anglican Church, where the pagoda was built in Kun Taw Gyi village, said Christian leaders don’t want to inflame religious and ethnic conflicts in a country where a newly-elected democratic government is striving for national reconciliation; besides trying to quell ethnic separatist movements, officials have had to deflect Burmese Buddhist rancor over the Assembly-election of an ethnic Chin Christian as
operational,” the Rev. George Dodo, chairman of the Kaduna State Chapter of the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) and Roman Catholic bishop of Zaria Diocese, told Morning Star News. “We have reservations over the bill and believe that it will curtail religious freedom of the people, particularly, Christians in Kaduna state.”
Under consideration by the Muslim-dominated Kaduna State House of Assembly, the bill stipu-lates that clergy would lose preaching rights if the state government or its agencies consider any of their words to be offensive. Preachers found guilty could be imprisoned for up two years or fined 200,000 naira (approximately US$1,000), or both.
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vice president, Henry Van Thio.
“The new democratic government that came into power is trying for national reconciliation and ending armed conflict,” Bishop Saw Stylo told Morning Star News. “If we ignite [religious dispute] while the country is moving forward to a new chapter of the journey, it is likely that we will pass down a bad inheritance to our next generations. We don’t want to pass down this kind of inheritance, so we don’t respond.”
Christians wish peace to prevail, he said, and they also have a faith-based reason for graciously bearing up under injustice.
“We have to forgive each other,” Stylo said. “We can only see God if we forgive. So we always have to keep forgiveness with us.”
If the new government doesn’t take action against the illegal constructions, however, the menace will likely grow, as Buddhist organizations are among the most powerful institutions in Burma, he said.
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Guides
Operation World 2
Prisoner Profile 5
Unreached People Groups
5
Additional Stories 6
Prisoner List 6
Extreme Devotion 7
Links 7
Videos 7
Martyr’s Profile 8
Persecution News Page 2 of 8
NEW DELHI, May 6, 2016 (Morning Star News) – Police in India initially declined to take action after Hindu extremists tortured one Christian and severely beat another, sources said.
In the northern state of Uttar Pradesh, Hindu extremists in Tewardih, Varanasi who have long insisted that a 30-year-old convert from Hinduism, Joginder Gold, stop worshipping Christ took him to a farm house on April 9 and tortured him.
“They tied me upside down on a tree and started verbally abusing me for my faith in Christ and started to beat me on the soles of my feet,” Gold told Morning Star News.
One of the assailants beat Gold for three hours and then inserted a
Hindu Extremists In Uttar Pradesh, India Torture Christian Convert
MINNEAPOLIS, MN (ANS - May 6, 2016) -- An Islamic university in Minnesota is alleged to be led by a man who espouses writings in the Hadith that have motivated Muslim terrorists to kill Jews and believes Sharia [Islamic] law should supersede man-made law.
Waleed Idris al-Meneesey is the president and chancellor of the Islamic University of Minnesota (IUM), located in Minneapolis.
He also serves as an imam at a Bloomington, Minn. mosque where at least five young men left the U.S. to fight with ISIS and al-
Islamic University In Minnesota Is Alleged To Be Breeding Extremists
Eritrea State of Eritrea Asia
Geography Area: 121,100 sq km
Arid, temperate highland plateau and a strategic desert plain along the busy Red Sea Coast shipping lanes Population: 5,223,994 Annual Growth: 3.15% Capital: Asmara Urbanites: 21.6% HDI Rank: 165 of 182 (UN Human Development Reports 2009)
Peoples: 19(47% unreached)
Official language: Tigrinya. Tigre, Arabic and English Languages: 18
Religion Largest Religion: Muslim
Religion Pop % Ann Gr
Christians 2,471,472 47.31 3.3
Evangelicals 111,400 .2.1 4.6
Operation World
stick into his mouth while two others sat on his chest. During the assault, the Christian vomited blood three times before losing consciousness.
Thinking that he had died, the radical Hindus put Gold in a shallow pit and covered him with hay and leaves, an area church leader said. A villager who witnessed the assault took Gold into his home and called his family and police.
The man lay Joginder on a Charpoy [traditional woven] bed and thereafter put the bed out on the road, and the villagers gathered up to see Joginder lying almost dead on the bed.
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Shabaab, according to a report by John Rossomando, senior analyst at The Invest-igative Project on Terrorism.
“During a sermon in November 2015, al-Meneesey referred to the Hadith, a saying from Islam’s prophet Muhammad, describ-ing how Jews had been punished by God repeatedly for “corruption,” Rossomando notes.
In the sermon, al-Meneesey said, “God Almighty has promised them (the Jews) destruction whenever they cause corrupt-tion.” History will repeat itself, he added.
“The Prophet related that in the Last Days his Umma [people] would fight the Jews, the Muslims East of the Jordan River, and they [the Jews] west of [the Jordan River] … Even trees and stones will say: O Muslim, this is a Jew behind me, kill him…”
Jerusalem “remained in the hands of the Muslims until it fell into the hands of the Jews in 1387 AH [1967], and has been a prisoner in their hands for 34 years, but the victory of God is coming inevitably,” al-Meneesey declared.
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Muslim 2,625,579 50.26
Challenges for Prayer
Pray for the less reached, specifically for:
a) The Tigre, mostly Muslim, and one of only a few Eritrean or Ethiopian Semitic peoples who are not Orthodox. They are related to the Tigrinya, but culturally distant from them. The Bible is available, but there are few Christians.
b) The Jabarti – a Muslim minority among the Tigrinya. Pray that the unrest might create opportunities for Tigrinya Christians to engage this related but previously distant group.
c) The Afar and related Saho peoples, largely nomadic pastoralists in the southeast with few Christians.
d) The Beja and Nara peoples of the northwest with no known witness. Many are nomadic.
e) The Arab Rashiada, who migrated from Saudi Arabia in the 19th Century. Recent work among these peoples has been reported, but there are still no known churches.
PrayerCast: http://prayercast.com/eritrea.html
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Persecution News
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JUBA, South Sudan, May 10, 2016 (Morning Star News) – Sudan today released one of two church leaders jailed since December, sources said.
Telahoon Nogose Kassa, head of discipleship at the embattled Khartoum Bahri Evangelical Church, was released after Sudan’s National Intelligence and Security Services (NISS) arrested him without charges on Dec. 13, 2015, according to church members.
“Finally, Telahoon is released, thanks for your prayers and hope the rest will be released,” Kassa’s brother wrote on his Facebook page.
It was unclear why Kassa was released, but NISS can hold detainees for up to four and a half months without judicial review, according to Human Rights Watch. Sudan was also subject to a United Nation’s Universal Periodic Review on human rights abuses last week.
Historically holding wide-ranging powers to arrest people without cause, NISS was further empowered in January 2015 by amend-
Sudan Releases One Of Two Church Leaders Arrested In December
LAHORE, Pakistan, May 13, 2016 (Morning Star News) – Muslims in Pakistan have told 300 impoverished villagers they must either produce a Christian accused of blasphemy, leave the area, convert to Islam or be killed, sources said.
Imran Masih, a 28-year-old resident of Chak 44 village in Punjab Province’s Mandi Bahauddin District, was accused on April 19 of keeping a “blasphemous” video clip on his cell phone. Area Christians said he is an illiterate man with no knowledge of the Internet.
Tensions flared after a local Islamist outfit issued a Fatwa (Islamic edict) against Masih and sanctioned his killing. Masih, a sweeper at a rural health center in nearby Bosaal, and his family have since fled the village. Some 44 Christian families are now left at the mercy of the 2,000-plus Muslim population, which has imposed a social boycott on the community after police thwarted an attempt to burn down their homes on May 6.
While some details surrounding the blasphemy accusation remain unexplained as Masih and his family were not available for comment, a Christian who represents the villagers told Morning Star News that Masih was accused of possessing a video clip offensive to Islam. Amir Yaqub said that Masih was working at the health center on April 19 when a Muslim pharmacy worker identified only as Bilal arrived.
“According to Masih, he had left his cell phone on a desk for charging the battery, and when he came to the room he saw Bilal and a couple of other men inspecting the device,” Yaqub said.
Muslims In Pakistan Threaten Christians After Fatwa Issued Against 'Blasphemer'
ments to Sudan’s constitution, which designated it a regular security force with a broader mandate to combat “political and social threats.” Said to be staffed by hard-line Islamists, NISS is known for its torture and other abusive tactics.
NISS agents went to the home of the 36-year-old Kassa the night of Dec. 13, 2015 and told him to report to their offices, sources said. When he went to a NISS office the following day, they said, officials arrested him and took him to a detention center in Khartoum.
NISS officials gave no reasons for the arrest, though they questioned him for five consecutive days about his relationship with a foreign missionary who had attended a discipleship class, sources said. They
believe he was targeted for his Christian activities and his opposition
to government interference with his church.
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“Masih told me that as soon as they saw him, the three men accused him of possessing a blasphemous video in his phone. The men later pounced on the Christian sweeper and beat him black and blue despite denials that he did not know anything about the video clip.”
Yaqub previously told a local Christian outfit that Masih had handed over his phone to a Muslim coworker, but in two interviews with Morning Star News, Yaqub clarified that he had been misinformed about that. He reiterated that Masih had left his phone unattended on a desk to charge the battery.
The Muslim assailants locked Masih in a room, Yaqub said, and from there Maish contacted his family through a second phone, informing them about the accusation against him.
“The family contacted the local Catholic church committee, and a delegation from the village immediately left for the health center where Masih was being held hostage,” he said, adding that he was part of the team that went to rescue Masih. “We assured the Muslims, including the doctor in-charge there, that no Christian could even think of committing blasphemy against Islam’s prophet, and that Masih, an illiterate man with no knowledge of the Internet, had been wrongly accused by his colleagues of downloading a sacrilegious sermon.”
Yaqub said that during the attack, Masih’s phone was destroyed.
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"God had an only Son, and He was a missionary and a physician." David Livingstone
"Why should anyone hear the gospel twice before everyone has heard it once?" Oswald Smith
"Today Christians spend more money on dog food than missions." Leonard Ravenhill
"How little chance the Holy Ghost has nowadays. The churches and missionary societies have so bound Him in red tape that they practically ask Him to sit in a corner while they do the work themselves." C.T. Studd
Persecution News Page 4 of 8
DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF THE CONGO (ANS – May 15, 2016) -- At least a further nine people have been killed in another attack by suspected Islamist militants in the eastern extremes of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), bringing the total killed recently to nearly 50.
World Watch Monitor had previously reported that between 20 and 40 villagers had been killed in an attack late in the evening on May 3, 2016, in a village in North Kivu province.
Another attack late on May 6th, in the province of Ituri, slightly further north, saw between nine and 15 killed, including the worship leader and deaconess of a local church. They were part of the mission organization Eglise du Rocher, or Church on the Rock, which also lost a pastor and his wife to an attack in October 2014 in
Cadeau.
That church, and the school attached to it, have yet to reopen. The church has also since abandoned its mission amongst Mbuti Pygmies.
“We are heartbroken, questioning our faith, half-terrified, but determined, and carrying on,” said Mike Anticoli, the founder of Eglise du Rocher. “We are a small but growing church organization, founded in 2005, and have 13 churches and three ministry training schools in the danger zone of North Kivu. We may be targeted due to the fact that we train local leaders and aspiring missionaries from several churches and denominations.”
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Pakistani Christian Woman Abducted While Walking With Her Brother
LAHORE, PAKISTAN (ANS- May 15, 2016) -- A 24-year-old Pakistani Christian woman was abducted by four people as she walked with her 11-year-old brother.
According to a news release from the Center for Legal Aid, Assistance and Settlement (CLAAS), Marriam Mushtaq was snatched by four unidentified suspects on May 12 in Bahar Colony, Lahore.
For the last year she had been studying adult education at the Excel Educational Institution, and was on her way there with her brother Youhan at about 2 p.m., when a white car pulled up next to them.
A man with his face came covered got out and dragged Marriam inside the car before it sped off.
Youhan started shouting and called out for help. A few people
gathered around, and boys on motorbikes started following the car. They followed the car, but it was too fast and even hit a young girl crossing the road.
The youngsters followed the car until Muslim Town (another town in Lahore), and then the car vanished.
Marriam's family visited the local police station to register a complaint, but CLAAS said the police did not respond to them. Afterwards the family and local Christians held a protest. They blocked the road for two hours, and finally the police agreed to file a report about the abduction.
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DR Congo death toll nears 50 after second attack
Infant Boy Killed in Sudanese Air Force Bombing of Christian Family JUBA, South Sudan, May 26, 2016 (Morning Star News) – A Sudanese Air Force bombing of civilians in the Nuba Mountains town of Heiban on Monday (May 23) struck a Christian family, killing a 6-month-old boy and wounding six others, a rebel source said.
One of several bombs dropped from a Russian-made Antonov plane on the town in South Kordofan state killed infant Kacho John and wounded 4-year-old Kuku John, 7-year-old Zainab John and Kaka John, 20, of the Sudanese Church of Christ. Others injured were identified as Hafida Abdurahman Banat, 10, Hani Saeed Kori, 35, and Ismail Alnur.
A spokesman for the rebel Sudan People’s Liberation Army-North (SPLA-N), which is battling government forces in southeastern Sudan, noted the bombing in a press statement on Facebook. There was no independent confirmation of the bombing as of this writing. The area’s predominantly black ethnic Nuba believe that since South Sudan split from Sudan in a 2011 referendum, the government’s goal of quashing SPLA-N rebels is also meant to rid the area of non-Arabs and Christianity.
Since April 2012, Sudan has dropped 4,082 bombs on civilian targets, according to Nuba Reports. This week’s killing follows bombing of Heiban on May 1 in which six children ages 4 to 13 were killed,
including four from a Muslim family.
Church leaders said a government jet fighter dropped four parachute bombs at about 6 p.m., and one struck next to a foxhole where the children had taken cover. There are no military installations in the area.
“One of the bombs exploded at my house, and I knew my kids and other children were dead,” Al-Sheikh Abdelrahman Ibrahim Al-Toum told area journalists.
The other two children killed belonged to Yacoub Omar and his wife, Hanan Ismail, who was also wounded and received hospital treatment, according to Nuba Reports.
The attack triggered protests within Sudan as hundreds of people signed a petition calling for a halt to government bombing of civilians, Nuba Reports stated. The petition includes 620 signatories from 29 opposition parties, 31 civil society organizations and 560 individuals that “call for the re-awakening of the Sudanese national consciousness to take campaign actions in response to this crime … and make Heiban the last aerial bombardment against civilians,” according to Nuba Reports.
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Persecution News
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PRISONER NAME LOCATION ARRESTED REVISED
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Maryam Naghash-Zargaran Iran 2012 July 2015
Iranian Christian convert, Maryam Naghash-Zargaran, also known as Nasim, was initially arrested in late 2012, and is currently serving a four-year sentence in the women’s ward of Evin prison. Maryam, who has been linked to the ministry of fellow prisoner of faith, Saeed Abedini, was charged under article 610 of the Islamic penal code with ‘conducting propaganda against the Islamic regime and acting against the national security.’ These are charges routinely levelled against Iranian Christians in order to criminalise any expression of their Christian faith. In Maryam’s case the court determined that she had converted from Islam to Protestant Christianity, set up house churches, evangelised Muslim women and youth and propagated Christianity. She was found guilty and sentenced to four years’ imprisonment on March 9, 2013. For some time it was not known that Maryam had been sent to jail.
Since her incarceration, the 37-year-old believer has experienced some serious health concerns. Her arrest, imprisonment and treatment in prison have proven to be emotionally, spiritually and physically challenging. On September 29, 2013, Maryam was transferred from Evin prison to Modares hospital to be treated after an apparent heart attack. Although Maryam underwent cardiovascular surgery several years ago and has a history of heart problems, the pressure and stressful conditions have exacerbated
Please address card to: Maryam Naghash-Zargaran Evin Prison Saadat Abad Tehran Islamic Republic of Iran
Prisoner Profile
Kurd, Central in Iran
The Kurds are a large ethnic group of about 25 million people who have always lived in the same region, and who trace their roots back to the Medes of ancient Persia more than 2,500 years ago. In fact, the Magi, or wise men, who traveled from the East to deliver their gold, frankincense, and myrrh to the newborn Jesus in Bethlehem were most likely Zoroastrian priests, ancestors of the modern Kurds.
The Kurds are tribal people and many of them lived, until recently, a nomadic lifestyle in the mountainous regions of Turkey, Syria, Iraq and Iran. Their refuge has always been the mountains, with their steep pastures and fertile valleys. They are Kurmanji speakers.
What Are Their Beliefs?
It has been said that Kurds "hold their Islam lightly", meaning that they are not so strongly committed to Islam, and do not identify as closely with it as Arabs do. This is perhaps due to several factors, one being that many Kurds still feel some connection with the ancient Zoroastrian faith, and they feel it is an original Kurdish spirituality that far predates the seventh century AD arrival of Muhammad. Nonetheless, most Kurds are Muslims, and today about three quarters are members of the majority Sunni branch (at least nominally). As many as four million Kurds are Shiite Muslims, living mostly in Iran where the Shiite faith is predominant.
What Are Their Needs
In Turkey, where the largest contingent of Kurds live, the Kurds are seen as a threat by the Turkish government which has continually sought to assimilate the Kurds into Turkish society through forced
Unreached People Groups
resettlement. Until recently, it was a crime to speak Kurdish in public.
Tribalism is still a factor among Kurds, promoting many different factions which weaken the possibility of an independent homeland.
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Luoluopo, Central in China
The name Luoluopo means "tigerdragon people" in the Luoluopo language. It is not the same name as Lolo, which was used by the Chinese in a derogatory manner to describe all Yi people until recently. The Central Luoluopo are one of more than 100 subgroups of Yi in Yunnan.
The Central Luoluopo speak a language belonging to the Central Yi language group, which in 1987 contained a total of 470,000 speakers. The Yi script is not used by the Central Luoluopo.
What Are Their Beliefs?
The Central Luoluopo celebrate the Tiger Festival between the eighth and the 15th days of the first lunar month. The Luoluopo believe they are descended from tigers..
What Are Their Needs:
A hindrance when scripture becomes available is the lack of people who are interested in getting involved in literacy and evangelism for this group. Another hindrance is their low self and language esteem.
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Persecution News Page 6 of 8
Country Prisoner Link
China Alimujiang Yimiti http://www.prisoneralert.com/pprofiles/vp_prisoner_185_profile.html
China Lacheng Ren http://www.prisoneralert.com/pprofiles/vp_prisoner_228_profile.html
China Yang Rongli http://www.prisoneralert.com/pprofiles/vp_prisoner_199_profile.html
China Huang Quirui http://www.prisoneralert.com/pprofiles/vp_prisoner_244_profile.html
China Li Jiatao http://www.prisoneralert.com/pprofiles/vp_prisoner_243_profile.html
Egypt Mohammed Hegazy http://www.prisoneralert.com/pprofiles/vp_prisoner_241_profile.html
Eritrea Dr. Kiflu Gebremeskel http://www.prisoneralert.com/pprofiles/vp_prisoner_159_profile.html
Eritrea Haile Nayzgi http://www.prisoneralert.com/pprofiles/vp_prisoner_142_profile.html
Eritrea Kidane Weldou http://www.prisoneralert.com/pprofiles/vp_prisoner_146_profile.html
Iran Behnam Irani http://www.prisoneralert.com/pprofiles/vp_prisoner_218_profile.html
Iran Farshid Fathi http://www.prisoneralert.com/pprofiles/vp_prisoner_221_profile.html
Iran Ebrahim Firouzi http://www.prisoneralert.com/pprofiles/vp_prisoner_246_profile.html
Kazakhstan Yklas Kabduakasov http://www.prisoneralert.com/pprofiles/vp_prisoner_245_profile.html
Pakistan Asia Bibi http://www.prisoneralert.com/pprofiles/vp_prisoner_197_profile.html
Pakistan Imran Ghafur http://www.prisoneralert.com/pprofiles/vp_prisoner_204_profile.html
Uzbekistan Tohar Haydarov http://www.prisoneralert.com/pprofiles/vp_prisoner_205_profile.html
Vietnam Nguyen Van Ly http://www.prisoneralert.com/pprofiles/vp_prisoner_219_profile.html
Story Link
Preparing My Daughter For Persecution In Iran http://tiny.cc/PN-Jun2016-14
India - Convert Hanged Upside Down And Left For Dead http://tiny.cc/PN-Jun2016-15
Christian Women Targeted For Their Faith http://tiny.cc/PN-Jun2016-16
Pakistan - Punjab Christians Flee After Blasphemy Accusations http://tiny.cc/PN-Jun2016-17
The Day ISIS Arrived In Mosul (Page 25) http://tiny.cc/PN-Jun2016-18
Pastor Re-Arrested In Sudan Could Face Capital Crime Charges, Sources Say http://tiny.cc/PN-Jun2016-19
Christian Women And Children Arrested For Terrorism, Seek Justice http://tiny.cc/PN-Jun2016-20
Prisoner List
Additional Stories
Persecution News
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Ref Link
1 http://tiny.cc/PN-Jun2016-01
2 http://tiny.cc/PN-Jun2016-02
3 http://tiny.cc/PN-Jun2016-03
4 http://tiny.cc/PN-Jun2016-04
5 http://tiny.cc/PN-Jun2016-05
6 http://tiny.cc/PN-Jun2016-06
7 http://tiny.cc/PN-Jun2016-07
8 http://tiny.cc/PN-Jun2016-08
9 http://tiny.cc/PN-Jun2016-09
10 http://tiny.cc/PN-Jun2016-10
11 http://tiny.cc/PN-Jun2016-11
12 http://tiny.cc/PN-Jun2016-12
13 http://tiny.cc/PN-Jun2016-13
Story Link
Stories of Christian Persecution - Iraq's Refugees
http://tiny.cc/PN-Jun2016-21
Stories of Persecution - Hannah From Pakistan
http://tiny.cc/PN-Jun2016-22
Are You Ready To Die For Your Faith In Jesus Christ
http://tiny.cc/PN-Jun2016-23
Helen Berhane Khartoum, Sudan
http://tiny.cc/PN-Jun2016-24
SoundCloud – Voice of the Martyrs
http://tinycc/PN-SC-VOM
Links Extreme Devotion Turkmenistan: Shageldy Atakov
“Break him morally or destroy him physically!” The Turkmenistan bureaucrats had no more patience for this street preacher.
Shageldy Atakov was offered his freedom under President Saparmurat Niyazov’s December 23, 2000, amnesty, provided he would swear the oath of allegiance to the president and recite the Muslim creed. Shageldy refused the amnesty again.
Shageldy had been threatened by state officials before to stop preaching. He was arrested in December 1998 and sentenced to two years in jail, but a prosecutor appealed the verdict as “too lenient.” He was then sentenced to two additional years in prison. Shageldy was in such pain from the harsh beatings that he asked his children not to touch him.
In February 2000, his wife and five children had been forcibly taken from their home and exiled to remote Kaakhka where they remained under “village arrest.”
When his family visited him in early February of 2001, Shageldy said his farewells. His wife noticed that “during the visit he was bruised and battered, his kidneys and liver hurt, and he was suffering from jaundice. He could barely walk and frequently lost consciousness.” He did not expect to survive much longer.
Despite this, Shegeldy was still not broken. He would not give in, and though release was within his reach, he would not accept it if it meant forsaking his allegiance to Christ.
North Korea: Soon Ok Lee
“I never knew what these prisoners were singing until I became a Christian.”
Soon Ok Lee was a prisoner in North Korea from 1987 to 1992. She did not become a Christian, however, until she escaped to South Korea. When she first received Christ, she was overwhelmed by her memories of what she had seen and heard in prison.
It was the simple things, like the Christians who sang as they were being put to death. At that time, she did not understand and had thought they were crazy. She was not allowed to talk, so she never had the chance to speak with a Christian. She does remember hearing the word, “Amen.”
“While I was there, I never saw Christians deny their faith. Not one. When these Christians were silent, the officers would become furious and kick them. At the time, I could not understand why they risked their lives when they could have said, 'I do not believe,’ and done what the officers wanted. I even saw many who sang hymns as the kicking and hitting intensified. The officers would call them crazy and take them to the electric- treatment room. I didn’t see one come out alive.”
It was the singing that stuck with her. Perhaps it was the singing of these precious saints that planted a seed in her spirit and eventually led her to Christ.
Pastor Noble Alexander, Imprisoned In Cuba For Twenty-Two Years
In spite of the painful reflections and memories, I have no time for bitterness. My life is filled with too much happiness, too many loving, caring people to allow myself to be devoured by the cancer of hate. I rejoice. I sing. I laugh. I celebrate, because I know that my God reigns supreme over all the forces of evil and destruction Satan has ever devised. And best of all-my God reigns supreme in me!
“Thou shalt not be a victim.
Thou shalt not be a perpetrator.
But, above all, thou shalt not be a bystander.”
Yehuda Bauer, Israeli historian and scholar of the Holocaust
Videos
Persecution News Page 8 of 8
Martyr’s Profile
Mrs. Joyce Lewes
This lady was the wife of Mr. T. Lewes, of Manchester. She had received the Romish religion as true, till the burning of that pious martyr, the Rev. Mr. Saunders, at Coventry. Understanding that his death arose from a refusal to receive the mass, she began to inquire into the ground of his refusal, and her conscience, as it began to be enlightened, became restless and alarmed. In this inquietude, she resorted to Mr. John Glover, who lived near, and requested that he would unfold those rich sources of gospel knowledge he possessed, particularly upon the subject of transubstantiation. He easily succeeded in convincing her that the mummery of popery and the mass were at variance with God's most holy word, and honestly reproved her for following too much the vanities of a wicked world. It was to her indeed a word in season, for she soon become weary of her former sinful life, and resolved to abandon the mass and idolatrous worship. Though compelled by her husband's violence to go to church, her contempt of the holy water and other ceremonies were so manifest, that she was accused before the bishop for despising the sacramentals.
A citation, addressed to her, immediately followed, which was given to Mr. Lewes, who, in a fit of passion, held a dagger to the throat of the officer, and made him eat it, after which he caused him to drink it down, and then sent him away. But for this the bishop summoned Mr. Lewes before him as well as his wife; the former readily submitted, but the latter resolutely affirmed, that, in refusing holy water, she neither offended God, nor any part of his laws. She was sent home for a month, her husband being bound for her appearance, during which time Mr. Glover impressed upon her the necessity of doing what she did, not from self-vanity, but for the honour and glory of God.
Mr. Glover and others earnestly exhorted Lewes to forfeit the money he was bound in, rather than subject his wife to certain death; but he was deaf to the voice of humanity, and delivered her over to the bishop, who soon found a sufficient cause to consign her to a loathsome prison, whence she was several times brought for examination. At the last time the bishop reasoned with her upon the fitness of her coming to mass, and receiving as sacred the sacrament and sacramentals of the Holy Ghost. "If these things were in the word of God," said Mrs. Lewes, "I would with all my heart receive, believe, and esteem them." The bishop, with the most ignorant and impious effrontery, replied, "If thou wilt believe no more than what is warranted by scripture, thou art in a state of damnation!" Astonished at such a declaration, this worthy sufferer ably rejoined, "that his words were as impure, as they were profane."
After condemnation, she lay a twelvemonth in prison, the sheriff not being willing to put her to death in his time, though he had been but just chosen. When her death warrant came from London, she sent for some friends, whom she consulted in what manner her death might be more glorious to the name of God, and injurious to the cause of God's enemies. Smilingly, she said, "As for death, I think but lightly of. When I know that I shall behold the amiable countenance of Christ my dear Saviour, the ugly face of death does not much trouble me." The evening before she suffered, two priests were anxious to visit her, but she refused both their confession and absolution, when she could hold a better communication with the High Priest of souls. About three o'clock in the morning, Satan began to shoot his fiery darts, by putting into her mind to doubt whether she was chosen to eternal life, and Christ died for her. Her friends readily pointed out to her those consolatory passages of Scripture which comfort the fainting heart, and treat of the Redeemer who taketh away the sins of the world.
About eight o'clock the sheriff announced to her that she had but an hour to live; she was at first cast down, but this soon passed away, and she thanked God that her life was about to be devoted to his service. The sheriff granted permission for two friends to accompany her to the stake—an indulgence for which he was afterward severely handled. Mr. Reniger and Mr. Bernher led her to the place of execution; in going to which, from its distance, her great weakness, and the press of the people, she had nearly fainted. Three times she prayed fervently that God would deliver the land from popery and the idolatrous mass; and the people for the most part, as well as the sheriff, said Amen.
When she had prayed, she took the cup, (which had been filled with water to refresh her,) and said, I drink to all them that unfeignedly love the gospel of Christ, and wish for the abolition of popery. Her friends, and a great many women of the place, drank with her, for which most of them afterward were enjoined penance.
When chained to the stake, her countenance was cheerful, and the roses of her cheeks were not abated. Her hands were extended towards heaven till the fire rendered them powerless, when her soul was received into the arms of the Creator. The duration of her agony was but short, as the under-sheriff, at the request of her friends, had prepared such excellent fuel that she was in a few minutes overwhelmed with smoke and flame. The case of this lady drew a tear of pity from every one who had a heart not callous to humanity.
Foxe’s Book of Martyrs
