Five Faith Reports You May Have Missed

Burmese Buddhists Arrested by Myanmar Dictatorship for Praying

YANGON, Myanmar - Two members of detained pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi's political party were arrested and charged with insulting religion after they prayed for the release of political prisoners, a party spokesman said Friday.

National League for Democracy spokesman Nyan Win said authorities arrested Chit Pe, the party's deputy chairman, and party member Aung Saw Wei in Twante on Tuesday. Both took part in a prayer service for the release of political prisoners which was held at a pagoda in the township, about 20 miles south of Yangon.

Nyan Win said the two were charged with insulting religion, which carries a possible two-year jail sentence.

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Atheists Avidly Reading Evangelist’s Best Selling Book

A well-known evangelist continues to infuriate atheists with a new book.

Ray Comfort's newest book -- You Can Lead an Atheist to Evidence, But You Can't Make Him Think -- has been on Amazon.com's bestseller list and has been popular with atheists. Comfort says he has received a stack of "snail mail" from atheists upset with his book and with a related billboard that carries the following phrase: "Atheist: Someone who believes that nothing created everything -- a scientific impossibility."

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Twittering Churches Spread the Gospel

Not everything people see on Twitter is gospel — but some of it is.

In an effort to spread its message in the world of social networking, Trinity Wall Street Episcopal Church in New York married microblogging and social networking with the Gospel on Friday when it told the Passion of Christ, the story of the crucifixion, in posts of 140 characters or fewer.
From noon to 3 p.m., a church worker posted 18 tweets adapted from the Gospel of Mark. The story was largely told through the eyes of six characters: Jesus, Mary, Mary Magdalene, Peter, a serving girl and Pontius Pilate.

One tweet read, "ServingGirl: is so tired. Caiaphas and the priests have been up all night questioning a man who claims to be the Messiah. And I wait on them."

That was soon followed by one from Jesus: "Let the scriptures be fulfilled. It is as the prophets wrote. I am who you say I am."

"What we are trying to do at Trinity Wall Street is to communicate the story of Christ in as many ways as we can," said Linda Hanick, Trinity's vice president of communication and marketing.

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Mexican Churches Seek Protection for Speaking Out Against Cartels

MEXICO CITY — Mexico's influential Roman Catholic Church is seeking protection for its priests who fear they will be targeted in drug violence, a document said Thursday, after an archbishop said "everybody knows" where the nation's most-wanted trafficker lives.
Amid almost daily drug attacks, in which more than 7,000 have died since the start of last year, the archbishop of the northern state of Durango said last week that the alleged leader of the powerful Sinaloa cartel lived in his state, and "everybody knows it except the authorities."

The comments, for which Archbishop Hector Gonzalez Martinez quickly apologized, sparked fear among the region's clergy.

"In various parts of the country (priests) have been intimidated or threatened in relation to the growing wave of violence," said a document from the Archdiocese of Mexico Thursday.

"The Church is obliged to raise its voice against those criminals who damage society while priests and soldiers risk their lives amid impunity," said the document.

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If Not for the Holocaust…

If it were not for the Holocaust, the number of Jews in the world would likely today be at least 26 million, and perhaps even as much as 32 million, says Prof. Sergio DellaPergola of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.

"The Holocaust struck a deep blow to the demographic, cultural and social fabric of the Jewish people in many ways and with long-range consequences," says DellaPergola. In 1939 there were 16.5 million Jews in the world, and in 1945 the number was estimated at 11 million, he said. In an article to be published soon in the journal Bishvil Hazikaron of the International School for Holocaust Studies at Yad Vashem in Jerusalem, Prof. DellaPergola provides his analyses of the demographic damage to the Jewish people resulting from the Holocaust.

He points to several long-term consequences that occurred during that period: First, the destruction of cultural frameworks, an element which prevented Jews from marrying and having children over an extended period. Second, a rise in intermarriages, seen as a relatively safe way of escaping the oppressors. Third, the number of male victims outnumbering the female ones, leading to lower fertility and also in some cases to intermarriage. Fourth, the murder of so many children in a population which had a high proportion of young people.

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4 Minute Devotions: The Quiet Life

Paul urges us to lead a quiet life, minding our own business, and working with our hands. It's a Christian pipe dream, because the world always invades our space. In China, a Christian businessman has been arrested for national security reasons because he was letting other Christians worship there. The crime is punishable by death.

Podcast version here

1 Thessalonians 4:11 Make it your ambition to lead a quiet life, to mind your own business and to work with your hands, just as we told you.

It sounds like the ideal way to live a Christian life. Wouldn’t it be great if we could all just get along together? Leading a quiet life and minding my own business seems like an idyllic way of existing. No squabbles, no arguments, no worries, and no concerns. Just keeping your head down, working at your business, and getting on with life. It would be heaven on earth.

But then reality invades my world and I realize that this is just a Christian pipe dream of Paul’s. Life is far from quiet and is in fact much too noisy. No matter how hard I try to mind my own business, someone always says or does something that affects me. And often, when I go to do my work, something occurs which changes my schedule and I have to set aside the projects I wanted to accomplish. I would love for Paul’s Utopia to exist, but unless I joined a silent monastery in a far off place, I’m never going to accomplish it.

I’m also reminded that Christians around the world don’t have it so easy either. Take Alimujiang Yimiti for example. He was quietly working at his business in Uyghur, China in September last year, when Chinese government officials closed it down. They stated that he was using his business as a cover for “preaching Christianity among the Uyghuri people.” Four months later, Alimujiang was arrested and accused of “subversion of the national government and endangering national security.” This crime is punishable by death. Ali has been in prison for six months awaiting trial.

So much for just living a quiet life and working with your hands! Ali became a Christian more than ten years ago and has been an active member of the growing Uyghur Church.

We Westerners get so upset in our churches when things don’t go our way, but I really wonder what we would do if we were threatened with arrest for national security reasons just because we are Christians? The things that are perhaps important to us pale into insignificance when we put them beside what Alimujiang and thousands of other Christians in China are enduring.

Prayer: Lord Jesus, we all want our lives to be smooth and trouble-free. We want our needs to be met and our desires to be fulfilled. Sometimes we forget that our wishes and ways are not what You ask of us. Sometimes we need to be reminded that faith isn’t a leisure pursuit or a group activity; it’s a serious life commitment and one that others are being imprisoned, tortured, and even killed for, across the world. In Your Holy Name, we humbly pray. Amen.

John Stuart is the pastor of Erin Presbyterian Church in Knoxville, Tennessee. If you would like to comment on today’s message, please send him an email to: pastor@erinpresbyterian.org

Why I’m Boycotting the Olympics - Reason #3: Christians being targeted

Breaking news from China reveals that authorities are clamping down on Roman Catholics who wish to worship at a Marian shrine during the month of May. The xenophobic Chinese leaders fear Christians mingling together for worship because they are afraid that it might lead to protests.

Here’s what Bernardo Cervella had to write in yesterday’s edition of Spero News

There is a subtle war underway against pilgrimages to the Marian shrine of Sheshan, the national Chinese shrine that is typically visited during the month of May. The war is being waged by the government and by the Patriotic Association (PA). Both "recommend" (meaning: order) that people not visit Sheshan for the entire month of May.

The government cites safety problems, while the PA does not give any reason, but wants to block any mingling among official and underground Catholics, who meet each other every year at the shrine, above all on May 24, the feast of Mary Help of Christians, to whom the church of Sheshan is dedicated. Moreover, this year Benedict XVI has asked Chinese Catholics to celebrate May 24 as a Day of Prayer for the Church in China, praying for its unity and for its persecutors (cf. Letter to the Chinese Catholics, no. 19).

For the entire month of May, the local government of Shanghai has placed restrictions on traffic and the movement of the faithful on the roads to Sheshan, about 50 kilometres southwest of the city.

According to reports sent to AsiaNews, the authorities have also asked the various dioceses, especially Shanghai, Wenzhou, Ningbo - the dioceses closest to the shrine - not to go on pilgrimage this month.

Read the rest of the report here…

Religious Battles and Illegal Conversions in India

Christians in Northern India threatened with fines and imprisonment for converting local Hindus. Governor of Rajasthan vows to fight punitive religious legislation.

As reported by Religious Intelligence

By: George Conger.

THE CHURCH of North India has welcomed assurances from the governor of Rajasthan that he would block an anti-conversion bill passed by the state legislature.

Speaking at All Saints Cathedral in Ajmer, Gov Shailendra Kumar Singh said India’s secular government respected “all religions equally.” Last month the Hindu nationalist BJP party, which controls the Rajasthan state assembly, passed a bill over the protests of the opposition Congress Party prohibiting conversions to Christianity by “use of force, allurement or fraudulent means.”

Those found guilty of procuring “fraudulent” conversions would be jailed for up to five years and face a fine of £600.

"Some religious and other institutions, bodies and individuals are found to the involved in unlawful conversion from one religion to another by allurement or by fraudulent means or forcibly which at times has caused annoyance in the community belonging to the other religion," stated the bill. "In order to curb such illegal activities and to maintain harmony amongst persons of various religions, it has been considered expedient to enact a special law for the purpose."

However social harmony between faiths “could be brought only through our good behavior and not by bills and legislation,” Gov. Singh told the Easter congregation.

Drawing from the Bhagavad Gita, Gov Singh noted that the Hindu god Krishna had told Prince Arjuna that all are equal in society, and that one’s true “dharma,” or right way of living, is to fulfill one’s responsibilities.The free practice of one’s faith “brings mutual confidence,” he noted, and would “create an atmosphere of love and brotherhood.”

The Bishop in Rajasthan, the Rt Rev Collin Theodore said the Governor’s words “came as a reassurance” as Christian leaders in the northwestern Indian state fear the new law would be used to persecute missionaries.

Read the rest of the story here…

Erin Church Devotions: Real faith

Audio version here

A couple of weeks ago, I wrote to you about Pastor Daniel, an evangelist from Indonesia. He, along with 40 other Christian leaders, has been sentenced to five years of imprisonment, just because he prayed for the Muslim community to be open to Christ’s Gospel. I informed you that I was handwriting a letter to him in phonetic Indonesian, so that his family and friends could hold on to their hope in Christ.

Two weeks have passed and Daniel has received over 1400 letters from pastors and people around the world. The authorities are beginning to sit up and take notice. Daniel’s family are heartily encouraged by the amount of international support that he is being given. It truly is a wonderful way of sharing and expressing the Gospel to people in other lands. I hope and pray that Daniel and the others are released soon.

Daniel is a God-fearing Christian, who takes Christ’s message to heart and is unwilling to compromise its integrity. A week on Tuesday, I am going to our local Presbytery meeting and already I am feeling torn by it. Two new pastors will be presented at the meeting for approval. I’ve read their statements of faith online and once again, I am bewildered. I’ll have to ask one of them what is meant by salvation and is Christ the Only Savior of the World. The other one does not mention God as Father, nor of Christ as being His true Son.

It may just be a slip of the pen or keyboard, and to other people this will not seem important, but when I think of Pastor Daniel languishing and suffering in an Indonesian prison for not compromising his faith, I feel really ill at ease with those pastors amongst who all too readily set aside traditional beliefs and replace them with what they’ve learned from seminary professors, instead of holding fast to the words and teachings of Christ and His apostles.

I’ll probably endure some criticism again for asking these questions and voicing my concerns, but it will be nothing compared to what Daniel is experiencing. I hope and pray that my passion will not overload my reason; and that my heart will not overwhelm my head.

Prayer: Lord Jesus, You are the Son of God and He is Your Almighty Father. We are adopted as daughters and sons of God through our allegiance to You and by Your sacrificial death. Help us to value our salvation and keep us revering Who You really are. In Your Holy Name, we pray. Amen.

Verse for the Day:
Titus 1:4 To Titus, my true son in our common faith:
Grace and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Savior.

Erin Church devotions: Daniel - An imprisoned pastor in Indonesia

Audio version here

1 Corinthians 9:25 Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training. They do it to get a crown that will not last; but we do it to get a crown that will last forever. (NIV)

This morning, I’ve been busy hand writing a card to a pastor in Indonesia. His name is Daniel and he is an evangelist in a country that is predominantly Muslim. Daniel was videotaped earlier this year praying for the local madrassa (Islamic school) and its teachers. His prayer was as follows:

“Father, we pray for the leaders of the madrassa, so their hearts would be open to the Gospel.”

What was the outcome of that prayer? Pastor Daniel and forty other pastors were arrested. Whilst we were all celebrating Easter over here, Daniel was sentenced to five years in prison. I was writing to him this morning to let Daniel and his family know that he is in my heart and prayers. I was writing to tell him that God will bless him for his commitment to Christ and the Gospel.

This is one of the reasons why I have been so hard recently on Progressive Christians in America. They want to dilute the Gospel, and diminish Christ’s message throughout the world. Their desire is harmony and peace between all religions, but at a cost that I am not willing to pay. They denigrate Christ and His ministry by casting aside their loyalty to Him and His Kingdom, worshipping instead their own god. They do this from the comfort of their academic beds and theological ivory towers, whereas pastors like Daniel are languishing in prison for preaching, teaching, and praying the true Gospel.

That’s why it is crucial for Christians in America to firmly hold on to our faith, and not be sidetracked into universalism. We may not be persecuted for our faith in our lifetime, but there are millions of Christians throughout the rest of the world who are enduring unjust punishment and unfair prison sentences just for preaching the Gospel and praying for their persecutors.

(If you would like more information about Daniel, please visit the following website: www.prisoneralert.com)

Prayer: Lord Jesus, protect Daniel and his family and keep them safe each day. Let their faith be strong and enable them to persevere. Release him from this unfair captivity and grant him the courage to continue preaching the Gospel amongst those who guard him, and those who are imprisoned with him. In Your Holy Name, we pray. Amen.

Effective Resistance: Why American Christians need to be serious about their faith, in order to help persecuted Christians around the world

1 Peter 5:9 Resist him, standing firm in the faith, because you know that your brothers throughout the world are undergoing the same kind of sufferings.(NIV)

Peter’s first letter was written at a time when Christians were being persecuted throughout the Roman Empire. Christianity was a fledgling faith and because it was beginning to spread all over the Mediterranean, civil and religious authorities sought to target it and crush it out of all existence.

Peter’s letters were written during the persecutions of Nero, the infamous emperor who reputedly fiddled while Rome burned. Christians were arrested and publicly executed. Even Peter, the Big Fisherman, was eventually crucified during these persecutions. His letters were important because they contained warnings of what Christians were going to experience and what the faithful community had to endure.

In our cozy Western society, Christians are more often ignored as opposed to being persecuted. But in other places throughout the world, followers of Christ are being hunted down and harmed, arrested, tortured, and executed. Yesterday, our Sunday School class was watching a video clip about a Pakistani girl who was assaulted and raped for being a Christian. Despite her unjust beatings and painful victimization, Safeena still holds tenaciously to her faith. She understands what it means to really suffer as a Christian. She knows what it is like to stand firm in the faith.

For most of us, we are going to be busy this week attending to our own homes, work, and life. Persecution is not something that we will experience, however our spirits will undergo satanic attacks and we will be faced with a plethora of temptations. For the sake of Christ, and for our persecuted Christian brothers and sisters around the world, we need to be strong, resolute, and faithful. If we are going to continue making a difference in our communities and societies, then we’ve got to start taking our faith seriously. It will require a revival of faith in our hearts and a focused application of Christian beliefs in our homes. In order to help Christians in other lands, we will have to change the world. We change the world a small bit at a time at a time – and that change begins with us.

Prayer: Lord Jesus, we hardly ever suffer for our faith and we often forget the price that other people pay to witness effectively as Christians in communities throughout the world. Help us to understand that this is not a game or a pastime. Keep us from diminishing Your words, or trivializing Your ways through our indifference and inaction. By the power of Your Holy Name, we make these prayers. Amen.

Another Cuban Crisis

Scottish audio version here

Luke 6:22 Blessed are you when men hate you, when they exclude you and insult you and reject your name as evil, because of the Son of Man. (NIV)

There’s a report out this morning that the Stated Clerk of the PC(USA), Clifton Kirkpatrick, has signed a petition urging the present Whitehouse Administration to lift restrictions on travel to Cuba for missionaries and other church workers. Because of the current political climate, American churches that want to work with congregations in Cuba have to get through a lot of bureaucratic red-tape and accept time restrictions. This is hindering vital missions on the island, especially when the church appears to be under-going a revival.

In this morning’s report from Presbynews, several faith leaders expressed their concerns as follows:

Citing a long, shared history of relationship, interaction with and support of Cuban church partners, the American faith leaders say the recent re-interpretations of U.S. travel regulations and the resulting limitations "are unfair and inappropriate, restrain religious freedom and reflect undue governmental interference in the exercise of religion.”

Their concerns are genuine, but the issues involved are not just one-sided. The Cuban people have been restricted by their own government, too; and throughout the decades of Castro’s dictatorship, the church has been persecuted, oppressed and harassed. In 1998, when Pope John Paul II visited the country, he asked that a Christian leader, Jorge Antuñez, be released from prison. He had been held in captivity since 1993 for demanding reforms in the country. Antuñez was only just released in April, 2007.

If releasing the restrictions on travel to Cuba will help the Cuban churches, then we should pray that our own government will be sympathetic to this inter-denominational petition. But we should also remember those whose travel is restricted in Cuba, especially those pastors who are under house arrest or being badly mistreated by prison guards, according to some Christian ministry reports.

As we celebrate Flag Day this week, perhaps we should remind ourselves of the blessings that our freedom has given to our faith, as well as remembering the plight of those around the world whose loyalty to Christ as their Lord and Savior costs them their homes, their livelihood, their liberty, and sadly, sometimes their lives.

Prayer: Lord Jesus, it is so easy for us to become complacent about what our faith is all about. We don’t realize how hard it is for some people to take up Your Cross and walk in Your path. Help us to recognize that unjust things happen to Christians all over the globe. Give us the heart and determination to support them, their families, churches and Christian communities through being aware of these situations, instead of ignoring this information. In Your Holy Name, we pray. Amen.

Babylon 02 - Secret Messages

Scottish accent audio version here

1 Peter 5:13 She who is in Babylon, chosen together with you, sends you her greetings, and so does my son Mark. (NIV)

We tend to forget that our Christian ancestors lived in troubled times and underwent terrible persecutions. This meant that some of their activities and communications had to be kept secret. This verse is encoded with a secret message that only other Christians would understand.

“She who is in Babylon” – what does it mean? Someone that Peter couldn’t name who was secretly working in Persia? Was he referring to Mary the mother of Jesus on a covert mission in Iraq? Did he mean Mary Magdalene and was she doing some sort of undercover work in the Middle East?

As much as these suggestions sound intriguing, the answer is less complicated. The “she” is the Church, the Mother Church. “Babylon” is the Christian code word for “Rome.” So Peter is writing about the underground church that was flourishing in Rome – a church that met in secret underneath the city in the catacombs.

Peter knew that his letters could have been intercepted, read by the Roman authorities, thus bringing their wrath upon the Christian community. Anyone caught with the letter would have been treated like an insurgent, a home-grown terrorist if you like. And if Rome had been specifically mentioned, it would have brought death to the messenger. So, Peter encrypts the end of the letter with a greeting to tell the recipients that, despite persecution, the church in Rome was still flourishing.

It’s not everyday that we get to read spy mail, but today’s passage from Peter’s letter is just that. It really humbles me to think that the first Christians, who practiced the same faith that I have, had to be careful about what they wrote, said, or sent. They were all true heroes and heroines in my book. They were all true believers of Christ.

Prayer: Lord Jesus, we really have an easy time when it comes to matters of faith. We can worship when we like, read scripture without interruption, and even pray without fear of being watched, betrayed, or persecuted. We take our religious freedom for granted and forget the true price of our faith.

Help us to remember that there are others in our world whose Christian faith will cost them their families, their careers, and even their lives today. Keep us from becoming blasé about what our Christians beliefs really mean. In Your Holy Name, we pray. Amen.