Posted on 04/22/2002 7:09:05 AM PDT by xzins
This is a prayer and story list to inspire the Christian faithful. It is NOT an opportunity to discuss the theology of the different denominations that might post stories and prayer requests for missionaries. I believe that all of us can agree to pray for someone's safety even if we might disagree with their theology.
As mentioned in the title please post the missionary's name(s), situation, country, and/or story of martyrdom. If you can provide a media link so much the better. If not, then tell the story anyway.
I trust we will all be in prayer for Christian missionaries.
BBC News Online: World: Middle East
Link to article, click here Monday, 9 April, 2001, 15:27 GMT 16:27 UK
Dubai arrests US missionaries
By Julia Wheeler in Dubai
Three American missionaries could face up to 10 years in prison in the United Arab Emirates after being arrested in Dubai and accused of promoting Christianity.
UAE federal law states that anyone abusing Islam, or calling Muslims to other religions, faces between five and 10 years in prison
They are believed to have travelled to Dubai after answering an advertisement placed by a radical Christian group based in the US state of Arizona. The three men are understood to have volunteered for missionary work through Frontiers, a US-based organization that specifically aims to convert Muslims to Christianity.
The group advertises for likely candidates and expects each missionary to pay a share of their costs.
Mission
The advertisement which brought the three to Dubai - one of the seven states that make up the UAE - did not mention where in the Middle East the missionaries would travel.
But it encouraged prospective applicants to "join a small team to distribute strategic materials and to make new friends".
It described the mission's destination as a country with "little real access to the Gospel".
Each participant was expected to pay $3,200 for the two-week mission to the Emirates.
The three men were arrested in the centre of Dubai, allegedly distributing Christian literature on one of the main thoroughfares.
The group also works by befriending Muslims and using what it describes as "aggressive friendship evangelism" to convert them to Christianity.
Its members are expected to be willing to be deported or imprisoned. The UAE is an Islamic State which allows Christians to worship freely.
There are churches in several Emirates which cater to the large numbers of Christian expatriates from the West and Asia.
Despite Dubai's cosmopolitan image, lively nightlife and thriving tourism industry, the culture and traditions of the Emirates are still very much based around Islam.
UAE federal law states that anyone abusing Islam, or calling Muslims to other religions, faces between five and 10 years in prison.
Saudi Arabia – Twelve Christian prisoners have been deported since January. However, many of them are without jobs in their home countries. Most of them have families to support. Three Ethiopian Christians who received 80 lashes with a steel cable continue to suffer from some health problems.
Prayer Points: Pray that the Lord would provide jobs for these Christian men and heal them from any physical affliction. Also, ask that God would open doors for these men to tell their story so that Saudi government policies against Christians would be revealed.
What can anyone say about those that have the courage and faith to go to the Arab Nations X?
Acts 5
18 And laid their hands on the apostles, and put them in the common prison. 19 But the angel of the Lord by night opened the prison doors, and brought them forth, and said, 20 Go, stand and speak in the temple to the people all the words of this life........We have a God that is in charge..He opens doors and sets the prisoners free. So eithor God wil be glorified in the prison and preached there or God will be glorified in the miracles ...Thanks for the post!
FAITH UNDER FIRE
Sudan rebels capture bishop, missionary
Believed to be 'renegade element' charging men with treason By Art Moore © 2002 WorldNetDaily.com
Rebel forces in southern Sudan detained an Anglican bishop and a missionary on charges of "treason and insurrection," according to a U.S.-based evangelical Protestant group.
Rev. Peter Hammond, director of Frontline Fellowship, and Bishop Bullen Dolli of the Episcopal Church of Sudan were arrested Saturday in Yei Province by the Public Security Office of the SPLM, the Sudan People's Liberation Movement, said In Touch Ministries International of Tempe, Arizona, a sister organization to Frontline Fellowship.
Frontline Fellowship announced today that the two men have been released. On Saturday they were dragged out of a church seminar at which they were teaching and interrogated for three hours by military intelligence of the Sudan Peoples Liberation Army, according to Frontline Fellowship.
Hammond's affiliate called the charges "trumped-up." "Such an accusation needs only to be stated to be dismissed as ridiculous," said Bill Bathman, president of In Touch Ministries International, or ITMI.
Kristi Messick, ITMI administrator of African affairs, told WorldNetDaily she believes the arrests were made by junior officers of the SPLA, against the wishes of senior officials.
In January, a "renegade element" of the SPLA arrested ITMI missionary Tim Keller of Arizona, Messick said. He was released in 24 hours after being marched 20 miles by gunpoint.
Hammond and Dolli might have been detained by a similar element, Messick suspects.
"My opinion is that this must have to do with money," she said.
Messick explained that Frontline Fellowship, which has helped train chaplains for the SPLA for the past seven years, has been viewed by the rebel army as a friend.
The SPLA is fighting for autonomy from Khartoum's militant Islamic regime, which has declared a jihad against the mostly Christian and animist south. Since 1983 about 2 million people have died from the fighting and war-related famine.
The brick cathedral in Lui where Bishop Dolli ministered was bombed into rubble last year by Khartoum forces. His brother was taken from home by government agents who tied a rope around his neck and dragged him from a military jeep for three miles. With skin ripped to shreds, agents poured gasoline over him and burned him alive. Dolli now cares for his brother's four children.
Hammond has helped bring attention to the Khartoum regime's "holy war" against the south, which has been characterized as genocide. Last year the government issued a personal threat, warning that he should expect to be bombed and shot when in the country.
Related stories:
Ex-cop champions persecuted in Sudan
Sudan jihad forces Islam on Christians
Sudan Islamists kill more women, children
Related Special Offers:
The March edition of WorldNetDaily's magazine Whistleblower examines the untold story of Christian persecution worldwide.
"Sudan: The Hidden Holocaust"
Art Moore is a news editor with WorldNetDaily.com.
Missionary, sons set afire
by Srimoy Kar & Bijay Chaki
BHUBANESWAR, Jan 23: The campaign against Christians, so far largely limited to Gujarat, took an ominous turn with an Australian missionary and his two sons being torched to death in Keonjhar district early this morning.
Based in Baripada since 1965, Graham Stewart Staines, 58, ran a leprosy hospital and was the secretary and treasurer of the Evangelical Missionaries Society in Mayurbhanj. Staines was sleeping in his jeep with his two sons, nine-year-old Philip and seven-year-old Timothy, when a group of 100 people allegedly poured petrol and set the vehicle ablaze. The incident occurred in Manoharpur under the Anandpur police station.
According to reports from Baripada, another Australian, Gilbert Venge, and a lecturer, Rajendra Swain, who accompanied Steins to Manoharpur, escaped as they were sleeping inside the village church. The attackers spared the church.
Subhas Chouhan, convenor of the state unit of Hindu Jagaran Samukhya, alleged that Staines was killed because he was ``proselytising.'' Sayingthat people may have killed him in a ``fit of rage,'' Chouhan said that the issue should not be communalised.
Janata Dal president Ashok Das has blamed the Bajrang Dal and the Vishwa Hindu Parishad for the incident. He also criticised prime minister A B Vajpayee for giving a call for a national debate on conversions.
The incident has sent shockwaves through the Government and the Congress party. While no official word came from either, both the Home Ministry and the Congress high command are keeping a close tab.
Home Ministry sources said a report from the Orissa Government would be sought. Vajpayee has also been alerted about the incident. Meanwhile, Australian High Commission officials told The Indian Express in New Delhi that they were still awaiting details. A consular official is planning to fly to Calcutta en route to Orissa tomorrow while the High Commissioner has spoken to Home Secretary B P Singh about the incident.
This is the second incident within the last two months when Christianshave been killed in Orissa. Two undertrial prisoners, both Christian, were dragged out from prison by a tribal mob and burnt to death in front of the police at R. Udaygiri on December 8. Besides, 111 houses belonging to the community were also burnt to ashes. Sources said some villagers tried to prevent the mob from setting Staines's jeep ablaze but were chased away. It was regular for Staines to spend the night in the jeep whenever he was on tour, sources said. Staines, described by local residents as ``popular and affable'' was well known for his charity work. He had gone to Monaharpur yesterday afternoon to attend a camp organised by the local church. He is survived by his wife Glades and daughter Easter, 13, both of whom were at Baripada.
Glades said she was ``greatly shocked but not angry.'' She is believed to have told the Australian High Commission that she and her daughter ``are not stranded in Baripada and the locals are sympathetic.'' The funeral is scheduled for tomorrow.
Prayer halls attacked
A group of about 25 persons attacked two prayer halls in tribal-dominated Doswada village under Songadh rural police station in Surat on Friday evening.
According to the police, the miscreants destroyed furniture, musical instruments and walls of the prayer halls managed by the governing bodies of the Indian National Gospel Churches Federation and Good News Ministries Churches of Northern India for the last one decade.
The University of Nebraska made it to the Rose Bowl this year. Although they were crushed by Miami, Nebraska for decades has been one of the premier teams in college football. So it is little wonder that its coaches are always in demand at some of the more prestigious universities in the nation.
Nebraska Assistant Coach Ron Brown was recruited by Stanford University in California to be interviewed for the head coaching position. But Brown didn't get very far. Surely he was not discriminated against because he is black. Not at liberal Stanford. No, his race was not a deal breaker. Indeed, it was likely an asset. Ron Brown's problem at Stanford is that he is a Christian.
Alan Glenn, Assistant Athletic Director at Stanford told the Daily Nebraskan that Brown's religion "was definitely something that had to be considered. We're a very diverse community with a diverse alumni. Anything that would stand out that much is something that has to be looked at...."
Courtney Wooten, the Director of the Queer Straight Social and Political Alliance, told the University of Nebraska student newspaper: "He would be poorly received by the student body in general."
Brown, himself, said he didn't know how he would fit in at Stanford. "The truth is the truth," Brown said, "I don't believe you compromise any truth for whatever job." Ironically, Brown's wife earned a degree from Stanford and his niece has just been admitted there. "If I'd been discriminated against for being Black, they never would have told me that. They had no problem telling me it was because of my Christian beliefs."
Brown, who holds a bachelor's degree from Brown University in Providence, R.I., and a Master's degree from Columbia University in New York City, says "the source of truth is the Bible." Specifically, Brown has said that homosexuality is not Biblically correct.
That led Courtney Wooten to advise that there would be a "huge number" of football players who would be uncomfortable with Brown's views on homosexuality. According to sophomore Julie Fitzgerald, Stanford is a "queer friendly campus." She added that Brown would not fit in very well at Stanford. "If someone with those views came onto campus, there would be a lot of activism about those views."
The Brown episode illustrates once again that the only discrimination that can be tolerated these days is discrimination against Christians. Stanford prides itself in being in the vanguard of institutions which value "inclusion" and "diversity." Their faculty has been out front fighting Ward Connerly in his attempt to bring colorblind admission policies to California public education. But when it comes to an outspoken Christian, there is no room at the inn.
Fortunately Brown, even after 15 years, is still welcome at the University of Nebraska in Lincoln, which is easily the most liberal city in Nebraska. Even when Brown revealed some of his more controversial religious views on a Christian radio talk show in 1999, his job was not in jeopardy.
Does this mean, however, that people with Biblically based religious views need to be confined to a certain part of the country?
The voices on the Stanford campus that can whip up a demonstration against alleged racial or ethnic (even anti-Muslim) discrimination in a matter of minutes have been silent regarding Brown. It is perfectly acceptable to discriminate against people whose views are not politically correct.
Brown said it is ironic that a prestigious school founded on religious principles is no longer welcoming to born again Christians. "They seemed to have no notion of squelching or eliminating one because of his representation of Jesus Christ." Brown remarked.
Ryan Wilkins, the President of the Association of Students at the University of Nebraska, told the Daily Nebraskan, "The Stanford decision sends a dangerous message." Wilkins added: "He's a football coach. Judge him on whether his players play well on the field, whether his players respect him or whether his players graduate. Don't hire or disrespect a man because he carries a Bible in his suitcase."
Well said, but not acceptable at Stanford, where politically correct views are more important than Brown's ability to coach.
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