On Tuesday night, Amina Ali Nkeki wandered out of a forest, asking for help, accompanied by a baby and a man who claimed to be her husband and the father of the baby. Amina was in poor physical condition, as were the baby and man. They were part of a group asking for help. The man said he had been kidnapped by Boko Haram from the town of Mubi, taken to Sambisa Forest, and married to Amina. Amina was taken to her house in Mbalala, where she was reunited with her mother, Binta Ali. The Sambisa Forest is an ideal hiding place for militants and their explosive devices:recently soldiers have infiltrated the forest and driven many out of their territory, but some are still hiding there. Stop press: the army has rescued a second Chibok girl, Serah Luka, and 97 other women. See:
Iran: further harassment of Christians
20 May 2016
Iranian Christians request prayer for three Christians belonging to the self-styled ‘Church of Iran’ network who were arrested on 13 May and remain in detention in Rasht. Security agents raided the home of Yousef Nadarkhani, a church leader who had attracted international attention after he was charged with apostasy and sentenced to death in 2010. He was finally acquitted of apostasy charges, but sentenced to three years' imprisonment for evangelising. He was eventually released on 7 December 2013. He and his wife Tina were arrested, along with Yasser Mossayebzadeh (who remains in detention - the other two were released). In addition, Saheb Fadaie and Mohammedreza Omidi were summoned to report to the security offices. Their homes were then raided and phones, computers and Christian literature were confiscated. The two men were detained, and are thought to be in Lakan prison near Rasht. Omidi was also one of four Christian converts sentenced in 2013 to receive eighty lashes for drinking communion wine and possessing a satellite receiver and dish.
Canada: Alberta wildfire and a call to prayer
20 May 2016
Officials are rethinking their plans to let people return to Fort McMurray after the fires gained new life this week and destroyed a 665-room oilsands work-camp north of the city. Oilsands facilities and work-camps north of Fort McMurray were ordered to evacuate. Nineteen work-camps and as many as 8,000 people were affected by the new evacuation order. Oilsands facilities are used for processing bitumen. They have separate teams of firefighters and are surrounded by gravel to keep the fire out. Canada’s prayer network ‘Ears to hear’ has called for a forty-day prayer focus on Alberta, from 16 May to 24 June. They are focusing prayer from across Canada, praying for the people who lost everything in Fort McMurray; for rains for the fire and the rain of the Spirit; and for the Church to awaken and experience wholehearted turning so that blessing will come. See:
Brazil: disaster or opportunity?
20 May 2016
Crowds have taken to the streets of Brazil in recent months. Fed up with corruption and the realities of a declining economy, many called for President Rousseff's removal. This week her presidency was officially suspended. The country stands in the midst of a political crisis and severe economic recession, but the issues are far deeper. Brazil is the second highest consumer of illegal drugs globally, and has the highest rate of firearm homicides. There are seven million child labourers and 600,000 girls in prostitution. However, Brazil also has one of the largest evangelical populations in the world, with large and growing movements of prayer and missions. The mounting political and economic crisis contrasts with the reality of the growing and influential Brazilian Church.
Venezuela: public health emergency
20 May 2016
‘The death of a baby is our daily bread,’ said a Caracas surgeon, referring to Venezuela’s collapsing hospitals. The economic crisis has exploded into a public health emergency, claiming the lives of untold victims. The unravelling has become so severe that the President has imposed a state of emergency and raised fears of a government collapse. In hospital wards there are no gloves or soap, and cancer medicines are only found on the black market. There is so little electricity that the government works just two days a week. At a hospital in Mérida there is no water to wash blood from operating tables, and doctors clean their hands with bottles of seltzer water. It is criminal that a country with such large oil reserves allows people to die for lack of antibiotics. The food shortage, due to a variety of government-imposed problems, is so severe that the opposition party is organising street protests to demonstrate the people’s needs. They need food, and the government is not getting it out fast enough. See:
Pakistan: Muslim threats, and forced marriage
20 May 2016
In a Punjab village, 28-year-old Imran Masih has been accused of keeping a ‘blasphemous’ video clip on his cell phone. He is an illiterate man with no knowledge of the internet. Local Islamists have issued a fatwa (Islamic death edict) against Masih, and have told the 300 villagers that they must either produce Masih, leave the area, convert to Islam, or be killed. Police thwarted an attempt to burn down all their homes. Elsewhere in Pakistan Maryam Mushtaq, a 24-year-old Christian woman, was abducted by Muslims and forced to convert to Islam and marry one of her kidnappers. Maryam’s mother (who lost her husband to cancer in 2013) reported her daughter’s kidnapping to police, but nothing has been done yet. A hearing will be held about Maryam’s case, but justice is unsure: unfair treatment of Christians by Pakistani officials is a frequent occurrence. See also:
In a week when the UK has hosted a conference around ending corruption in high places across the nations, International Justice Mission UK reports, ‘On 28 April 2016, over six years after the initial crime, a police officer was found guilty of manslaughter for violently killing an innocent citizen. IJM Kenya supported the public prosecutor (working with the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions) to represent the family of the deceased. There were a number of setbacks in bringing the case to trial, including the first judge disqualifying himself. After years of perseverance, IJM Kenya celebrates this ground-breaking conviction and hopes it sends a message that those in power will be held accountable in court if they abuse that power.’ The sentencing for this manslaughter conviction will take place on 18 May.
China frees imprisoned pastor
13 May 2016
Christians have been praying for protection and justice for Chinese Christians who have taken a stand against the government’s forced demolition of Christian crosses and churches. Last week the authorities released a pastor who had been imprisoned for eight months for speaking out frequently against this ongoing persecution of Christians in the country. Some suggested that Zhang Chongzhu might have also been singled out for meeting a US diplomat in Shanghai last year. We can praise God for this breakthrough and continue to pray and ask God to bring about a complete end to the Communist party’s targeting of places of worship with building code bureaucracy.