Salafi Muslims’ Agenda behind Christian Persecution in Egypt

June 19, 2011 Leave a Comment

A recent spate of violence in Egypt, mostly incited by conservative Salafi Muslims after President Hosni Mubarak’s downfall, has left over 24 killed, more than 200 wounded and three churches destroyed.

According to a report by the World Evangelical Alliance’s Religious Liberty Commission (WEA-RLC), the perception of threat to Christians is so severe that many of them are reportedly seeking to move out of the country.

WEA-RLC said while for the youth and moderate Muslims of the country the Jan. 25 uprising was about democratic freedoms, the Salafis who had been inactive for decades quickly saw it as an opportunity to push an Islamist agenda. Read more of this post

Filed under Africa, Egypt

Cybermissions: Using computer and internet technologies to impact lives for Christ

June 18, 2011 Leave a Comment

Imagine packing 500 hours of Bible college training on a $13 chip that plays from a cell phone. Add speakers to the cell phone for only $20 and a group of pastors can be trained in places far-removed or unreachable by conventional means.

Cybermissions training in the Amazon River basin

“I don’t need a visa to get into these countries,” says John Edmiston, founder of Cybermissions. (www.cybermissions.org) “We tunnel in and then we blast away.”

Edmiston started Cybermissions in 2001 to serve the church in Southeast Asia, especially pastors who had no training. Now their reach is global, with more than a million people each year making use of training materials they provide.

Through one of their contacts in Bhutan –- a country governed by a Buddhist-dominated monarchy hostile to the Gospel, Cybermissions materials are training dozens of pastors. “We’re reaching underground Christians,” Edmiston notes. “Through one man we’ve reached Bhutan.” Read more of this post

Filed under Africa, Asia, Europe, Latin America, North America, Oceania, South America

Pastor, Church Official Shot Dead in Nigeria

June 12, 2011 Leave a Comment

Muslim extremists from the Boko Haram sect shot and killed a Church of Christ in Nigeria (COCIN) pastor and his church secretary in Maiduguri, in northeastern Nigeria’s Borno state.

The killing occurred on June 7.

Usman and his wife during his 2009 graduation. (Photo courtesy Compass Direct News)

According to a story by Compass Direct News, Rev. David Usman, 45, and church secretary Hamman Andrew were the latest casualties in an upsurge of Islamic militancy that has engulfed northern Nigeria this year. The violence has resulted in the destruction of church buildings and the killing and maiming of Christians.

Rev. Titus Dama Pona, pastor with the Evangelical Church Winning All (ECWA) in Maiduguri, told Compass that Pastor Usman was shot and killed by the members of the Boko Haram near an area of Maiduguri called the Railway Quarters, where the slain pastor’s church is located. Read more of this post

Filed under Africa, Nigeria

Genetics Analysis of Jews Confirms Genesis

June 8, 2011 Leave a Comment

A team of geneticists recently analyzed 6,529 individual genomes, representing 107 different human populations.1 They found genetic traces of African ancestry in various people groups and estimated the timing of the ancient African/non-African intermarriages. The results of their analysis of Jewish populations will come as no surprise to those who believe in the literal history of Genesis. Despite their extensive statistical analyses of reams of genetic data, the researchers relied on traditional historical sources to anchor their results to actual time. And along the way, what the authors termed a “striking finding” would actually have been anticipated by a more biblically literate investigation.

The team, led by researchers from Harvard Medical School, compared differences in DNA sequences between the individuals and processed the data with several focused analyses. For example, one algorithm called the 3 Population Test compared three populations at a time to detect whether or not one of them was ancestral to the other two. Read more of this post

Filed under Africa, Middle East

Former Egyptian Interior Minister Accused of Collusion in Alexandria Church Bombing

June 5, 2011 Leave a Comment

The Egyptian attorney general has reopened the investigation into the bombing of the Two Saints Church in Alexandria on New Year’s Eve, which killed 24 Copts and injured more than 90.

In a story for the Assyrian International News Agency (AINA), Mary Abdelmassih wrote that on May 25 Coptic Church attorney Joseph Malak presented a petition to the Attorney General to reopen the investigations into the church bombing. The petition accused former Minister of Interior, Habib el-Adly, of criminal responsibility and collusion.

AINA reported that the Attorney General assigned the case to the Supreme State Security Prosecution to question the former Minister of Interior. He is currently in prison on other charges, including ordering the shooting of more than 900 protesters in Tahrir Square on Jan. 28. Read more of this post

Filed under Africa, Egypt

Oxfam calls for global food-system reforms as churches demand food and fuel price cuts

June 4, 2011 2 Comments

As Global South church leaders heighten demands on governments to lower food and fuel prices, a U.K. charity has called for urgent reforms of the global food system.

“For too long governments have put the interests of big business and powerful elites above the interests of the 7 billion who produce and consume food,” said Jeremy Hobbs, Oxfam’s executive director, in a 30 May press statement. “Governments must also ensure that women, who produce much of the world’s food, have the same rights to land, resources and opportunities as men.”

Decades of progress against hunger are being reversed by a broken food system and environmental crises, the charity said in its latest report, “Growing a Better Future.” Read more of this post

Filed under Africa, Kenya

Egyptian Military Courts Do Little to Ensure Justice for Christians

May 31, 2011 Leave a Comment

It seems that no amount of freedom and democracy will help the Christian minority in Egypt. The loose order of things and the chaos we live can only be expected in a country still torn every which way. Every month we are faced with another tragedy, another misfortune, another adversity that reminds us of how far we are from achieving our goals for democracy. Every incident pulls us farther away from our hopes and honest desire for a democratic and prosperous nation free of oppression and corruption.

Leaders of the Coptic Church in Egypt (Photo: Al-Masry Al-Youm)

Again I believe this can only be expected after such a revolution, that not only toppled a dictator but wishes for a complete overhaul of the regime, which the new government seems unwilling to do at the moment. I’m not sure they will go that far in appeasing the people just yet.

Of all the different injustices we’ve seen in the past and which seem to persist no matter what changes unfold are sectarian issues. The oppression and inequality of Christians in the Arab world is no mystery, but you would imagine after the revolution and after witnessing such heartwarming stories and videos of Christians and Muslims holding hands in Tahrir Square it would simmer down, but unfortunately these affections are not shared by many. I think we can all agree that any kind of division can destroy a country, but none other than sectarian divisions; they are the root of all chaos and a disruption to any nation attempting to move forward. Read more of this post

Filed under Africa, Egypt

Algerian Christian Given Five Year Prison Sentence for Blasphemy

May 27, 2011 Leave a Comment

International Christian Concern (ICC) has learned that an Algerian Christian was sentenced to five years imprisonment for blasphemy in Oran on Wednesday after sharing his Christian faith with a neighbor. The verdict came days after authorities forced the permanent closure of seven Protestant churches in Algeria’s Béjaia province.

Siagh Krimo was charged by the Criminal Court of the Djamel District in Oran, who based their decision on Article 144 bis 2 of the Penal Code which criminalizes acts that “insult the prophet and any of the messengers of God, or denigrate the creed and precepts of Islam, whether by writing, drawing, declaration, or any other means.” Krimo has ten days to appeal the sentence. Read more of this post

Filed under Africa, Algeria

Seven Churches Forced to Close in Algerian Province

May 26, 2011 Leave a Comment

International Christian Concern (ICC) has learned that Algerian authorities ordered the immediate closure of seven Protestant churches in the province of Béjaia in early May and demanded that the Algerian Protestant Church Association (EPA) eventually close all churches under their authority throughout the country.

A written notification dated May 8 and addressed to the President of the EPA demanded the closure of seven churches in Algeria’s Béjaia province, located 200 kilometers east of the capital Algiers. The notification was reportedly ordered by Hamou Ahmed Touhami, the president-appointed wali (or governor) of the Béjaia province, and signed by Police Commissioner Ben Amar Salma. A follow-up statement released by the local police department on May 22 further stated that all Protestant churches in Algeria must be closed. “I, Mr. Ben Amar Salma, the High Commissioner of the police in Bejaia, have informed Mr. Mustapha Krim, the President of the EPA … to close down all worship places around the country once for all; the places which are used now and the places which are under construction…  The authorities will make sure that the order will be obeyed, otherwise severe consequences and punishments will be applied,” the statement read. Read more of this post

Filed under Africa, Algeria

Partnerships allow change in Rwanda

May 23, 2011 Leave a Comment

112 partners in 34 African countries for one purpose: recording the New Testament. That seems like a large number of people just to make recordings, but Greg Fisher with Faith Comes By Hearing says the partnerships are vital. “You don’t just walk in sometime with a Bible and a microphone and start recording the Bible.” Partnerships have to be formed first with Bible translation agencies to learn when a New Testament is ready for recording and to get the rights to record it. Once the recordings are complete, other partners are needed for distribution of audio devices. It’s a long process, but the results are worth it. Fisher just got back from Rwanda where “they’re starting listening groups in Rwanda with the local people, and they listen to the New Testament.” The listening groups were born after Rwandans watched the JESUS Film. Thanks to the immense behind-the-scenes work that’s gone on, a war-torn country is falling in love with Christ. Be a part of this transformative work. Get started at our Web site.

Source: Mission Network News

Filed under Africa, Rwanda

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