This week in persecuted church history (September 27-October 3)

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

September 28-29, 2007: At least nine Christians are killed by local Muslims in a series of violent attacks in the Tundun Wada region of Kano State. They also burn churches and destroy believers' homes and businesses.

September 28, 929: King Wenceslas of Bohemia is killed by his brother and an accomplice on the way to a church service.

September 29, 1413: Archbishop Arundel condemned Sir John Oldcastle, a follower of John Wycliffe, of heresy. He was given 40 days to recant, during which he escaped and hid in Wales. He remained hidden for a year, until the offer of a large reward prompted someone to betray him. He was then captured and roasted to death.

September 29, 2008: Christians fleeing weeks of Hindu violence seeking refuge in three relief camps in Kandhamal district are the targets of bomb attacks. The explosions begin at approximately 7:00 p.m. and go off in the villages of Nuagoan and Mahasinghi and the town of Baliguda.

September 30, 2005: A wave of arrests begin in Eritrea with over 200 Christians detained within a week in coordinated raids on churches, workplaces, homes and off the streets.

September 30, 2008: Muslim militants demolish a Catholic church in Kismayo, a town in southern Somalia that had been in the control of a militant Islamic organization affiliated with Al-Qaedafor over a month. The militants vow to launch similar attacks on all other local non-Muslim places of worship.

October 1, 1558: Joris Wippe is executed for his Anabaptist beliefs by being drowned in a wine cask filled with water in Dordrecht, Holland. His body was publicly hung on the gallows by his feet by an object of derision.

Ocotber 1, 2007: Pastor Oqbamichael Tekle-Haimanot, a well-known and senior leader of the Kale-Hiwot Church in Eritrea, is arrested and imprisoned. He was released ten months later after being subjected to hard labour and solitary confinement.

October 1, 2008: An elderly Christian, Lalji Nayak, dies from axe wounds he received when a mob of Hindu militants attacked the village of Hrudangia, India the previous day. His wife, also attacked with an axe, was seriously injured in the head and his brother was hospitalized with multiple gunshot wounds.

October 2, 1417: Catharine Saube is sentenced to death for her faith as a heretic and executed the same day by being burned at the stake in Montpellier, France.

October 2, 1551: Pieter Bruynen, Jan Pleunis, and two other Anabaptists are put to death in Antwerp, Holland.

October 2, 1792: A dozen English ministers form the Baptist Missionary Society "for the propagation of the Gospel among the Heathen, according to the recommendations of [William] Carey's Enquiry"

October 2, 2008: Two Christian men are dragged from their home in Sindhipankha village, India by Hindus, shot and then dismembered. The assailants also massacre cattle belonging to village Christians and burn Christian-owned houses.

October 3, 1574: In a desperate attempt to lift the siege of Leyden, William of Orange (the leading Protestant magistrate of the Netherlands) had his troops raise the sluices of the dikes that protected the low-lying lands from the sea.  This desperate act was a turning point in the rebellion of Holland against the political and religious tyranny of Spain.

October 3, 1692: Puritan clergy in Salem, Massachusetts, agree there would be no more executions resulting from the witch trials. More than 150 suspected witches had been put on trial in the previous year, and 19 had been hanged

October 3, 2005: Fifty-three-year-old Christian an, Pamilton Tadoa, is shot in the head and killed as he rode his motorbike to the school where he served as treasurer in the village of Pantengolemba in Poso, Indonesia.

October 3, 2008: Christians gathering for a three-day prayer meeting in Dumarbhavna village, Surguja district, Chhattisgarh state, India are viciously beaten when a mob of Hindu militants enter the house where the meeting was being held and attack the sleeping Christians. Three believers -- Muneshwar Ekka, Beik, and Ravi Devangan – are forced into vehicles belonging to the militants and brought to a secluded place where they are further beaten. Muneshwar Ekka and Beik are  then told to beat Ravi Devangan or face their own death. In fear for their lives, they beat Devangan until he is unconscious.

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)