This week in persecuted church history (June 21-27)

Consider the outcome of their way of life, and imitate their faith.
Hebrews 13:7b (ESV)

June 21, 1600: John Rigby is hanged, drawn, and quartered at Southwark, England as one of the 40 Martyrs of England and Wales executed during the reign of Elizabeth I.

June 22, 2007: The five-year vilification case between Pastors Daniel Nalliah and Daniel Scot of Catch The Fire Ministry and the Islamic Council of Victoria is settled in seven hours of mediation between the two parties in the Victorian Civil Administrative Tribunal (VCAT).

June 24, 2008: Pastor Murugan (65) is beaten by Hindu militants who ambushed him and two other believers while returning home from a prayer meeting in Moodalpalya, Karnataka, India.

June 24, 64: Roman Emperor Nero begins persecuting Christians.

June 25, 2006: Four members of the Missionaries of Charity in India -- best known as the organization formerly led by Mother Teresa -- are visiting AIDS patients in a hospital in Tirupati, Andhra Pradesh when they are accosted by Hindu militants. As many as fifty members of Dharma Parirakshana Samithi accuse the nuns of trying to convert the patients to Christianity. 

June 27, 2007: Patras Masih was shot and killed in Lahore, Pakistan for refusing to convert to Islam.

June 27, 2008: Two preteen Christian girls, Saba Younis and Aneela Younis, are kidnapped by Muslims while on their way to visit their uncle in the town of Chowk Munda in the state of Punjab. Two days later, the kidnappers filed for custody of them at the local police station, stating that they had converted to Islam and that their father, Younis Masih, no longer had jurisdiction over them.

(sources: Christianity Today, The Voice of the Martyrs)

Prayer: “Grant that we, who now remember these before thee, may likewise so bear witness unto thee in this world, that we may receive with them the crown of glory that fadeth not away; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who with thee and the Holy Spirit liveth and reigneth, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.” – taken from The Book of Common Prayer, Canada (1962)