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Taliban gunmen killed a Christian aid worker in Kabul on Monday, and the militant group said it targeted the woman because she was spreading her religion.
The dual South African-British national worked with handicapped Afghans and was killed in the western part of Kabul as she was walking to work around 8 a.m., officials said.
The gunmen, who were on a motorbike, shot the woman in the body and leg with a pistol, said Interior Ministry spokesman Zemeri Bashary. The Taliban claimed responsibility for the slaying.
“This woman came to Afghanistan to teach Christianity to the people of Afghanistan,” militant spokesman Zabiullah Mujahid told The Associated Press. “Our (leaders) issued a decree to kill this woman. This morning our people killed her in Kabul.”
The woman’s aid group SERVE — Serving Emergency Relief and Vocational Enterprises — identified her as Gayle Williams, 34, in a statement on its Web site.
“She was a person who always loved the Afghans and was dedicated to serving those who are disabled,” it said.
The group describes itself as a Christian charity registered in Britain. The Web site says it has been working with Afghan refugees since 1980 in Pakistan.
“SERVE Afghanistan’s purpose is to express God’s love and bring hope by serving the people of Afghanistan, especially the needy, as we seek to address personal, social and environmental needs,” the site says.
Rina Vamberende, a spokeswoman for SERVE in Kabul, said the group is a Christian organization “but they are definitely not expressing this on purpose. They are here to do NGO (aid) work.”
“It’s not the case that they preach, not at all,” she said.
Afghanistan is a conservative Islamic nation. Proselytizing is prohibited by law, and other Christian missionaries or charities have faced severe hostility. Last year a group of 23 South Korean aid workers from a church group were taken hostage in southern Afghanistan. Two were killed and the rest were released. In 2001, eight international aid workers, including two Americans, were imprisoned and charged with preaching Christianity. The eight were freed by Afghan mujahedeen fighters attacking the Taliban after the U.S.-led invasion.
Monday’s attack adds to a growing sense of insecurity in Kabul. The capital city is now blanketed with police checkpoints. Embassies, military bases and the U.N. are erecting cement barriers to guard against homicide bombs.
Source : Fox News
Egypt’s most well-known convert to Christianity is still hiding a year after he filed the landmark case to become the first Egyptian Muslim to sue the government for rejecting his application to officially change his religion.
Mohammed Ahmed Hegazy, 25, had lost his case in January when an Egyptian judge ruled that a Muslim who converted to Christianity cannot legally change his religious status.
Now, eight months after his case was closed and a year after he filed the case, Hegazy is still hiding out of fear for his life.
Since January 29 when the court ruled against him, Hegazy, his wife and baby daughter have had to move five times, according to the persecution watchdog agency, Compass Direct News.
“The verdict for my case was discriminatory [on the part] of the judge,” Hegazy told Compass in an interview last month. The judge had based his decision on Islamic law that says someone can convert “up”, or to more recent religions, such as from Judaism and Christianity to Islam, but not vice versa.
But even after the media stopped reporting on his case, Hegazy said he still remains a target – as all converts do – of Islamic militants.
During the trial, Hegazy’s face was splattered across TV channels and newspapers, making him easy to recognize to any extremists.
“The most difficult thing for me is that the lives of my wife and daughter are in danger all the time,” Hegazy said.
He recalled last October that a friend had called and said one of his lawyers had given authorities his address and he should quickly move.
Hegazy and his family moved immediately and within a day the fundamentalists came to attack them. The extremists camped around his former house for several days and set fire to the apartment next door to his, killing the female resident inside.
The female neighbour was his wife’s best friend who had helped them during their difficult time in hiding.
“The church denied that she was killed, and it was never reported publicly,” he said.
Hegazy dreams that he and his family can leave the country someday, but they do not have passports. Obtaining passports would require them to go back to their hometowns where Hegazy says they will be killed as soon as they arrive.
“Even if it’s not family, others will do it, so I can’t take that risk,” he said.
A convert is “stuck” between the pressure from an Islamic government, Islamic society, and a weak church, Hegazy said.
He does not think his case alone can be resolved, but thinks a change is possible if Egyptian converts overseas and in Egypt filed a joint case.
Human rights groups also need to push harder for convert cases, he said.
Egypt has the largest Christian population in the Middle East, which makes up about 10 per cent of the country’s population.
Source Christian Today
The world’s former only official Hindu country is now open to the preaching of the Gospel, a Christian missionary working in the country shared this past weekend with joy.
Formerly, Christians were reportedly arrested and imprisoned for preaching the Gospel in Nepal. Speaker Narayan Sharma, Gospel for Asia’s Nepal country leader, said at the GFA “Renewing Your Passion” Conference in Dallas, Texas, on Friday [July 11th 2008]. He recounted when he himself was arrested and put into a dungeon-like prison cell because he shared his faith.
“In all this darkness, there was no imagination that the country would ever be open,” Sharma said.
But in April, Nepal held its first election for a new legislative assembly, and in May lawmakers legally abolished the monarchy and declared the country a republic. The king was previously considered to be a god. Newly elected officials also promised to allow religious freedom in the government.
Now, Gospel programs are aired over the same government-owned radio stations that used to carry reports of Christians being arrested, Sharma said.
“The Bible says that after the night, joy comes in the morning, and morning has come to Nepal!” Sharma told the audience of more than 1,000 people.
Missionaries from Myanmar (also known as Burma), Sri Lanka, India, and the United States also spoke.
The Myanmar missionary shared about how locals saw the heart of God when missionaries and volunteers brought them food and supplies after the recent cyclone disaster.
“Buddha did nothing while we were suffering. But your Jesus loves us,” the missionary recalled a family telling him. “Now every Sunday they are coming to church and worshipping the Lord,” he added.
Following a message about the importance of prayer, GFA leaders and attendees held a late-night prayer vigil on Saturday.
GFA says it has 16,500 native missionaries working in about 11 south Asian countries.
Source – Christian Post
The world’s leading audio Bible ministry announced Wednesday that it now offers recordings in 311 languages.
Faith Comes By Hearing ministry released 15 more languages for the Audio New Testament recordings, which now makes the Word of God available to an additional 13 million people in their own language.
“God’s Word is going forth to the nations, reaching those with the least access – namely those too poor to afford a Bible and those who cannot, will not or choose not to read,” said Jerry Jackson, the ministry’s president and founder, in a statement.
According to estimates, more than 3 billion people cannot read and therefore do not have access to Scripture.
In Peru, Quechua Huaylas is spoken by about 300,000 people but less than five percent of the people can read their own language.
“There’s such a need and a hunger for God’s Word in audio,” Jackson said, reflecting on the 300 language milestone.
“This milestone is a testimony to the eternal life of God’s Word and shows that the Bible continues to be the most sought after book in the world,” he said. “It is sobering to be allowed to make His Word in audio available to every person in the world free of charge.”
The new languages are Aceh from Indonesia, Alladian from Cote de Ivoire, Bali from Indonesia, Dagara from Burkina Faso, Gude from Nigeria, Gourmanchema from Burkina Faso, Mbundu from Angola, Mofu-Gudur from Cameroon, Ixil de Nebaj from Guatemala, Nias from Indonesia, Pijin from Solomon Islands, Quechua Huaylas Ancash from Peru, Quechua Southern Conchucos from Peru, Ronga (Xhirhonga) from Mozambique, and Woun Meu from Panama.
Faith Comes By Hearing’s goal is to record Audio Bibles in 2,000 languages by 2016, reaching 97 percent of the world’s population.
“Continue to pray for us and those working around the world. Continue to support this ministry as we take on new languages, new challenges and new technologies,” Jackson said.
Source – The Christain Post
In the African nation of Burkina Faso, another kind of war is taking place. It’s the spiritual battle between light and darkness.
Drissa led an ordinary life in his village in Burkina Faso. He grew millet and took care of his wife and two daughters.
But beneath his calm exterior lay a man who was both empty and full of rage.
“I was born a Muslim but that left me empty,” Drissa said. “So I began practicing the local rituals–with charms and fetishes. Still, I had no joy.”
Almost everyone in his village believed in the fetishes that could bring power and blessing, or curses upon oneself or one’s enemies.
But one day, a CBN evangelist came to their village and showed them a video, a French translation of The 700 Club. The program talked about God -and his Son Jesus. Drissa was in the crowd that evening.
“The CBN evangelist said that everyone who practiced fetishes would not go to heaven. I was enraged! I had a plan,” he said.
Drissa consulted a friend. They plotted against the CBN evangelist and met with a shaman. They asked him to work up a powerful spell they could use against the Christians that night.
After preparing the charm, Drissa decided to take a nap. But sleep escaped him.
“I was restless and had a sensation of heat … like my body was on fire,” he said. “Then I heard an audible voice, like someone was with me in the room. The voice said I should go confess my sins at the church, be prayed for, and accept the Lord. Otherwise I’d die!”
So Drissa got up and went to the meeting where he found people praying. After the meeting, he prayed to receive Jesus as Savior.
Today, Drissa is established in a new church in his village. Now he loves helping the CBN video outreach team whenever they come to share the Gospel in his village.
“I’m so thankful for CBN’s partnership in my village,” he said. “I pray for more people to be saved!”
Source – cbn.com
“While China appears to be making some religious-liberty concessions on the eve of the Olympics, critics in the United States say Chinese persecution of Christians in the country is on the rise.”So wrote Rachel Mehlhaff in a story for Associated Baptist PressShe went on to say, “China is on the U.S. State Department’s list of ‘Countries of Particular Concern’ as one of the world’s worst persecutors of religious freedom. American experts on religious-liberty conditions in China said that, in recent weeks, there has been a significant Chinese crackdown on many dissenting groups — including Christians in churches not officially registered with or sanctioned by the government.”That, the China-watchers said, has resulted in many new arrests.”Chinese officials have also reportedly been cracking down on other dissenting groups, such as human-rights activists and Tibetan independence advocates.”
Rachel Mehlhaff said that Daniel Burton, staff writer at the China Aid Association, said Chinese officials kicked more missionaries out of the country last year than in all of the previous 59 years of communist control. The persecution is taking place, he said, under the internal government code name “Typhoon No. 5.” Some of the missionaries ordered to leave had been there for 20 years.
“We are seeing an increase in persecution across the board,” Burton said. “All foreigners [in China for the games] are going to be closely watched.”
Mehlhaff said that Burton’s group, founded in 2002, keeps track of Chinese persecution of religious groups — particularly Christians in China’s thousands of unregistered churches.
In April 2007, the Chinese Ministry of Public Security issued a general nationwide order urging strict “background checks” on those who apply to participate in the Olympic Games. They banned 43 types of people in 11 categories, Burton said.
The categories focus on those the government considers “antagonistic elements,” he noted. That includes “religious extremists and religious infiltrators.”
She said that Sarah Cook, an Asia researcher for the foreign-policy group Freedom House, said China’s ruling Communist Party doesn’t want to take chances that the games will become a platform for critics of Chinese policies. The recent increase in arrests of dissenting Christians and other groups is intended to reduce that risk, she said.
“It is much more subtle now,” Cook said of the current tactics versus earlier waves of persecution. Officials simply go to offenders’ doors individually, arrest them and take them away.
Rachel Mehlhaff went on to say, “The offenders are sent to detention centers or labor camps. Cook said many average Chinese are not even aware that such crackdowns are taking place.
Source – trivester.com
Christian Solidarity Worldwide has urged the Pakistani Government to take action to ensure the return of two abducted Christian children to their family.Anila and Saba Masih, aged 10 and 13 respectively, were abducted in southern Punjab, Pakistan on 26 June, while on the way to visit their uncle.They are subsequently reported to have been forced to convert to Islam, whilst Saba was married off to one of the abductors.
CSW’s National Director Stuart Windsor said: “This is a tragic case and it is essential that the authorities intervene to secure the release of these two children and their safe return to their family.
“Their abduction, the local authorities’ lack of action, and an increase in similar abductions and forced conversions in recent months is creating a climate of terror and a culture of impunity which must be challenged.
“We call on the international community to raise this case with the Government of Pakistan as a matter of urgency.”
Source – Christianity Today
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