A respected Christian leader from Cairo updates us on what the latest developments in his homeland:
“When a million ordinary and non-violent Egyptians from all walks of life camped for 18 days in Liberation Square, the world was mesmerized by their remarkable and unprecedented show of courage and willingness to suffer for the human rights of all Egyptians.
Yet none of those who were in Liberation Square could have imagined that their defiance would not only result in undermining most authority in the country, but would also pave the way for radical Muslim groups to begin restricting true freedom and equality for all Egyptians.
BREAKDOWN OF AUTHORITY
If you challenge the President and win, you no longer fear any authority. One logical - yet unintended – result of this successful show of defiance is that nearly every sector of society is now challenging those in authority above them…
• Students challenge their teachers or educational administrators
• Employees challenge their bosses
• Ordinary citizens challenge civil authorities
• There is little respect for the police
• Even the respected and formerly- feared Army is now being challenged
The many acts of violence, burning of churches, shops, and factories - not to mention the spate of kidnappings for ransom and increased petty theft - are partly the result of a misunderstanding of freedom and a lack of fear towards anyone to whom these people could be held accountable!
A sad example of this is when criminals are arrested to await trial, their friends and relatives come in the hundreds, storm the jail, overcome the police, and free the prisoners. In the past, respect - or fear - of the police’s authority would have made such acts inconceivable. Now, they are frequent occurrences. Another example is that the two men who plotted to assassinate President Sadat in 1981 have been released from jail and are now popular talk show guests!
POTENTIAL TAKEOVER BY MUSLIM BROTHERHOOD
Another unintended result of the Revolution has been the paving of the way for the new Parliament to be overtaken by the well-organized Muslim Brotherhood. Having officially renounced violence many years ago, this group will protect Christians from the violent attacks we have been experiencing lately. But in establishing an Islamic state, they will undoubtedly seriously curtail what Christians can do outside their houses of worship. Undoubtedly they also will allow even less freedom than was previously available for Muslims to have religious freedom of choice.
FEARS AND FAITH
The increasing violence and danger has led to a general spirit of fear. Many Christians yearn to leave Egypt.
Please pray for Church leaders, to know how to comfort and encourage oppressed believers and yet challenge them to hold on to their faith and live according to true, Christian principles of love and forgiveness even in the face of injustice.”
A local evangelist writes: “There are so many difficulties nowadays and circumstances of our nation are being even worse. Some Mullas (Islamic priests) filed a case in the High Court against the Bible that it should be banned because there is blasphemy in it against the prophets since it talks about the sins of the prophet while prophets are innocent, etc. The rights of the Christians as nationals are being violated badly. Mullahs are making it too hard, asserting that Christians should follow their religion, Islam.”
“There is hate against Christians more than before. More people are being violated by the blasphemy law [often used to target people with false accusations they have spoken disparagingly of Mohammed]. There are a lot of seekers of the truth, but it has become very difficult to recognize who is genuine and who is not. Everywhere is corruption even religiously and physically. There are so many problems but we are busy in equipping believers and sharing the gospel with lost in spite of these difficulties.”
Continue to pray for the very strategic nation of Pakistan that Christ’s people will be strong and courageous in fulfilling their mission in their volatile and dangerous context.
“Once again we are facing the nightmare of genocide of our people in a final attempt to erase our culture and society from the face of the earth. It is not a war between armies that is being fought in our land, but the utter destruction of our way of life and our history, as demonstrated by the genocide of our neighbors and relatives in Darfur. This is a war of domination and eradication; at its core it is a war of terror by the government of Sudan against their people.
As we approach the July 9 day of independence for the New South Sudan, President Bashir has declared for all the world to hear that Sharia will be the law of the land for the North, refusing to recognize the legitimate presence of the Christian minority. It is a declaration of their determination to also end the remembrance of our Christian heritage that dates back two thousand years to the story of the Ethiopian eunuch (who was from modern day Sudan)…There is a meeting in Ethiopia with the different parties of Sudan, the African Union and other international parties seeking to find a true path of peace that recognizes our right to survive and thrive as a people, both Muslim and Christian alike, with equality and justice for all. Please pray and fast with us as you are able for a solution to this crisis.”
According to reports we are receiving on the email from concerned brothers and sisters who are close to the scene, the “escalating violence against civilians in Sudan’s South Kordofan state is a major humanitarian catastrophe in the making, with an estimated 300,000 people besieged, cut off from relief aid, and unable to escape fighting.” Estimates are that up to 40,000 people have fled fighting between Sudanese government troops, Sudan Armed Forces (SAF), and members of the former southern rebel group, the Sudan People’s Liberation Army (SPLA), in Kadugli, the capital of Sudan’s oil-producing border state of South Kordofan. Shelling and aerial bombardment has been going on in civilian areas. People have locked themselves in their homes without food or water, for fear of being killed. Others have fled to the Nuba mountains, where they are being hunted down like animals by helicopter gunships, says the Sudan Council of Churches, an umbrella organization representing all Sudanese churches.
Compass Direct News reports that: “Military intelligence agents killed one Christian, and Islamic militants sympathetic to the government slaughtered another last week after attacking churches in Sudan’s embattled South Kordofan state… Armed conflict in Kadugli broke out between southern and northern militaries on June 6 after northern forces seized Abyei last month. On June 8, Islamic militants loyal to the SAF slaughtered a young Christian man by sword in Kadugli Market, the sources said… The Islamic militias were heard shouting Allahu-akbar (God is greater) as they began shooting at a Roman Catholic Church building the same day… On Sunday (June 12), North Kordofan Gov. Mutasim Mirghani Zaki El-deen declared jihad (holy war) on the Nuba people, most of whom are Christians. Christians in the area said they are still traumatized as result of the atrocities committed against them by Sudan security forces and militias loyal to the government military. Sources in Sudan said Christians are calling their brothers and sisters worldwide to pray for the crisis in South Kordofan.” Let us join them in praying that the spirit of violence and death will be bound and that peace will be restored between North and South Sudan.
The Transitional Federal Government of Somalia has been given a new opportunity through the killing of Fazul Abdullah Mohammed, Al Qaeda’s top operative in Somalia and one of the most wanted men in Africa who plotted the bombings of the American Embassies in Kenya and Tanzania in 1998 and devised a plan in 2002 that nearly brought down an Israeli airliner in Kenya. He drove into a government checkpoint by mistake last week and died in a blaze of gunfire. The Islamist militant group he helped lead – the Shabaab – has also been “steadily losing ground as African Union peacekeepers and government troops go on the offensive”. Conditions are now ripe for the transitional government, which for years has been boxed into a tiny corner of Mogadishu, the capital, to assert greater control. However, many are doubtful that Somalia’s political leadership will be able to seize the moment. From their perspective, the prognosis for this chaotic, battle-weary nation remains grim.
Pray that somehow the government authorities will be able to act with wisdom and unity to bring Somalia into a new and better future for its long-suffering people.
Christianity reaching Mosques
In uncertain times across the Muslim world, God is working! Abdul, an imam who teaches Islam, is a follower of Jesus. Not only is his conversion a miracle, but after his conversion Abdul kept his faith a secret, allowing him to remain an imam and preach in the local mosque. So when it is his turn to preach he tells how the Koran speaks of Jesus as a great man, and that there is no one like Him. He shares how the Koran speaks of Jesus being holy, compassionate, a miracle-worker, and the person who went to heaven and will come back again one day. This makes Jesus unique and special even in Islam. Friends are now asking questions about Jesus as they get to know Him through Abdul. Even other imams are seeking to know more about Jesus! Once, Abdul was asked jokingly, ‘Are you sure you aren't a Christian?’ Abdul simply replied, ‘I just love Jesus!’
Praise: and thank the Lord for working His purposes out in unimaginable ways. (Ps.104:33-34)
Christianity reaching Mosques
In uncertain times across the Muslim world, God is working! Abdul, an imam who teaches Islam, is a follower of Jesus. Not only is his conversion a miracle, but after his conversion Abdul kept his faith a secret, allowing him to remain an imam and preach in the local mosque. So when it is his turn to preach he tells how the Koran speaks of Jesus as a great man, and that there is no one like Him. He shares how the Koran speaks of Jesus being holy, compassionate, a miracle-worker, and the person who went to heaven and will come back again one day. This makes Jesus unique and special even in Islam. Friends are now asking questions about Jesus as they get to know Him through Abdul. Even other imams are seeking to know more about Jesus! Once, Abdul was asked jokingly, ‘Are you sure you aren't a Christian?’ Abdul simply replied, ‘I just love Jesus!’
Praise: and thank the Lord for working His purposes out in unimaginable ways. (Ps.104:33-34)
Camberley ‘mega-mosque’ appeal rejected
A Muslim group holding extremist views have had their plan to build a huge £3 million mosque in Camberley, England, finally dismissed by local authorities. If the plans had been approved, the mosque would have had two 30-metre minarets overlooking the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst and towering above the parade ground and the adjacent St Michael's Church. The proposal raised serious security concerns, especially in view of the frequent royal visits to Sandhurst. The Bengali Welfare Association had appealed against the rejection of the plan by Surrey Heath Borough Council in March 2010. The controversial plans to knock down the listed Victorian school currently used as a mosque and build the mega-mosque were initially approved by the council's planning committee. The Planning Inspectorate last week described the proposed mosque as ‘little more than a fairly traditional design transposed into Surrey from somewhere in the Near East or the Indian subcontinent.’
Praise: God for this change of plans and for listening to the people's concerns. (Pr.1:5)
Camberley ‘mega-mosque’ appeal rejected
A Muslim group holding extremist views have had their plan to build a huge £3 million mosque in Camberley, England, finally dismissed by local authorities. If the plans had been approved, the mosque would have had two 30-metre minarets overlooking the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst and towering above the parade ground and the adjacent St Michael's Church. The proposal raised serious security concerns, especially in view of the frequent royal visits to Sandhurst. The Bengali Welfare Association had appealed against the rejection of the plan by Surrey Heath Borough Council in March 2010. The controversial plans to knock down the listed Victorian school currently used as a mosque and build the mega-mosque were initially approved by the council's planning committee. The Planning Inspectorate last week described the proposed mosque as ‘little more than a fairly traditional design transposed into Surrey from somewhere in the Near East or the Indian subcontinent.’
Praise: God for this change of plans and for listening to the people's concerns. (Pr.1:5)
India: Dalit Christians to protest for Scheduled Castle status
Churches in India have called for a three-day hunger strike July 25th, 26th and a rally to Parliament on the 27th demanding Scheduled Caste status for Dalit Christians and Muslims. It is a matter of great concern for the Church in India that its own people who belong to the Dalit community are denied Scheduled Caste status, the National Council of Churches in India statement said. NCCI along with Catholic Bishops’ Conference of India have taken many initiatives but now realize it's imperative to step on the gas to achieve the goal. Christians of Scheduled Caste Origin have been seeking the right for equal Constitutional provisions on par with Dalits of the country. The campaign coordinators have obtained the letters of support for the cause from major political parties except the Bharatiya Janata Party.
Pray: for a fair Constitutional mandate that will allow Christian and Muslim Dalits Scheduled Cast status. (Ex.23:6)