Unidentified terrorists hurled grenades into a Protestant worship service in the diplomatic quarter of Pakistan’s capital city yesterday, killing five worshippers and wounding another 40 members of the congregation.
Terry Madison, U.S. president and CEO of Open Doors with Brother Andrew has said that Saudi Arabia’s treatment of two expatriate Christians is further proof of why this desert Kingdom is among the world’s worst persecutor of Christians.
Christians in Vietnam are virtually being denied the right to exist, according to a visit there by a representative of a Washington, DC, based ministry recently.
Christians in Laos still suffer from strict oppression of religious activity, according to recent reports, while at least one brother’s Christian work is being tolerated.
Most Christians understand the threat posed by Islamic fundamentalism around the world, but few are aware of a virulent strain of Hindu radicalism targeting believers in India.
Sources of the The Voice of the Martyrs in Indonesia say members of the militant Islamic group Laskar Jihad are likely responsible for a bus bomb blast near Poso on Wednesday. VOM has learned more details about the attack that killed at least four people and injured 17 others.
Christian Aid’s contact in Indonesia said Sunday that Christians in some villages that have been taken over by Laskar Jihad militant Muslims are being offered the opportunity to leave their villages, but on one condition: They must relinquish all right to their homes, businesses and properties, and never return to their villages again.
An American missionary couple held hostage in the southern Philippines for eight months by the Muslim rebel group Abu Sayyaf has cried out for help, at a time of emotional and physical pain.
Two Christians have been killed in the Chinese government’s crackdown on pastor Gong Shengliang and his South China Church in central Hubei Province, according to a letter from members of the underground church revealing graphic details and new information about the persecution.
Christians in Vietnam face oppressive, often brutal, persecution from authorities. Despite official measures to kill Christianity, the church of Jesus Christ continues to grow.
A refugee camp on the Thailand/Burma border has been overrun by troops sent by the Burmese military junta.
Word has just been received out of China that authorities there recently martyred a member of the South China Church. Voice of the Martyrs sources have learned that the Public Security Bureau (PSB) informed family members of sister Zhong Ju Yu last summer that she was beaten to death while imprisoned in Hubei Province.
The forty-six-year-old founder of the “South China” house church movement, Gong Shengliang, was granted a reprieve from his death sentence, which was due to be carried out on Saturday, January 5. Gong was given a stay of execution, relatives said.
The Voice of the Martyrs is making an urgent appeal to Christians around the world to pray for Pastor Gong Shengliang. Pastor Gong was reportedly sentenced to death last month after a court in Hubei Province declared him guilty of using an “evil cult” to “undermine the enforcement of the law” and of “complicity of rape.”
Saudi Arabian authorities transferred the last five of 14 foreign Christians from their Jeddah prison cell to a deportation center yesterday, according to nine other Christian prisoners already moved there on December 22 and 23.
The founder of the South China Church was sentenced to death after a secret trial on December 18, a Hong Kong-based human rights group said.
Christian Aid’s contact in Indonesia has just returned from a visit to the Poso and Tentena area and shares the following update on the current situation.–John Lindner, Editor
The Miracle of Answered Prayer
Radical Islamic warriors are continuing their rain of terror on the Christians of Sulawesi Island, Indonesia. A VOM source has confirmed that 21 Christian villages in the Poso coastal area have been burned and destroyed and at least 7 people have been killed within the past week.
Over 50,000 Christians are in grave jeopardy as they are surrounded by jihad terrorists in central Sulawesi Island, Indonesia.
Jihad terrorists have mounted a campaign on Christians in Central Sulawesi, according to reports from Indonesia. For the past three months, jihad militants have been pouring into the area.