Update on wave of arrests of Christians in Iran

The Voice of the Martyrs received the following from Middle East Concern this afternoon:

Iranian Christians have requested our continued prayers for a number of believers from a Muslim background (BMBs) who are currently in prison or under other forms of pressure.

In the following three incidents, BMBs remain detained:

1. Seven BMBs arrested on 31st August in Amameh, near Tehran, remain detained in Tehran's Evin prison. They were part of a house fellowship meeting attended by 25 people. Recall that all were arrested initially, and that the others were quickly released (though some were subsequently questioned again).

2. One BMB remains detained after being arrested in Rasht in late July. Seven other BMBs from Rasht, arrested at about the same time, had been quickly released.

3. Two BMBs, Maryam and Marzieh, remain detained in Evin prison following their arrest on 5th March. Recall that they appeared in court in early August when they resisted pressure to renounce their faith. No charges have been brought against them.

One new report concerns the arrest on 3rd August of Marzieh Fesahi. She too has had possessions confiscated and is being held in Evin prison.

A second new report concerns a number of BMBs being ordered to attend hearings at their local Ministry of Information offices within the western Kordestan province. Each was detained for several hours and intensely questioned. This has happened in several towns.

Iranian Christians supporting these believers request our prayers that:

a. Those detained will know the presence and peace of Jesus

b. They will be released soon

c. Those detained and released will not be harassed further

d. The current wave of pressure against BMBs would not spread further

e. All believers will be able to meet with others for worship, prayer, fellowship and teaching

f. All officials involved will be exposed to the gospel of Jesus and respond to His love for them.

Please remember these brothers and sisters in your prayers and post a prayer on our Persecuted Church Prayer Wall as a sign of solidarity with them.

If you want to know more about the plight of Christians in Iran, check out this resources from The Voice of the Martyrs.

This week in persecuted church history (September 6-12)

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

September 6, 1620: With 101 colonists and 48 crew members aboard, the Mayflower sails from Plymouth, England. Thirty-five colonists board ship, Separatists from Leiden, Holland, and later known as the Pilgrims.

September 6, 1914: Orthodox priest Maxim Sandovich is executed in the village of Grab in the Carpathian region of Ukraine. He was denied any form of Church burial and his father buried him with his own hands.

September 7, 1678: Macarius the Archimandrite of Kanev and Pereyaslavl is beheaded. During an invasion of Ukraine, Turkish soldiers came to the monastery where Macarius served and demanded the monk hand over to them the monastery treasury. When he replied that his treasure was in Heaven, the furious soldiers hung him hand and foot between two posts for two days before beheading him.

September 7, 1807: English missionary Robert Morrison, 25, becomes the first Protestant missionary in China. Catholic missionaries had already been there for some 225 years—Jesuit Matteo Ricci first arrived in 1582.

September 7, 2003: Twelve evangelical Christians are arrested in Asmara, Eritrea while worshipping in a private home.  They are told that they will stay in detention until they deny their faith.

September 7, 2006: Ali Mustaf Maka'il, a convert from Islam, is shot and killed in Mogadishu, Somalia by Islamists when he refuses to join them in their Muslim prayers

September 8, 1955: Chinese communists arrest Bishop Ignatius Kung Min Pei and about 320 other Roman Catholics. Many of these people would suffer long years in prison, known no longer by their names, but by numbers. For five years, Bishop Kung was held in prison without a trial. Finally he was convicted of treason and sentenced to life. While in prison, Bishop Kung was named a cardinal. The Communists finally released him after three decades of captivity and placed him under house arrest. In 1988, Cardinal Kung was permitted to leave China and take up residence in the United States.

September 9, 1990:  Father Alexander Men is killed with a blow to the back of his head from an axe, the traditional Russian weapon of revenge, while walking along the wooded path from his home in the Russian village of Semkhoz to the local train platform. Called “the apostle to the intellectuals,” Men was one of the most popular Russian Orthodox theologians of the 20th century.

September 9, 2007: Bishop John Han Dingxian (71), an underground Chinese bishop who was repeatedly detained for his faith since 1960 and who had been placed in solitary confinement in an unknown location for the last two years, of his life, dies under suspicious circumstances.

September 10, 2008: Rayan Nafei Jamooa is killed by a group of armed militants in Mosul, Iraq. The murder occurred only two weeks after his Christian father, Nassar Jamooa, was kidnapped and killed by unidentified assailants. Although there are often financial motivations behind the kidnapping of Christians in the country, a local clergyman noted that ransom money was not requested in either case and maintains that these men were targeted strictly because of their faith in Christ.

September 11: The annual feast of Nayrouz celebrated worlwide by the Coptic Orthodox Church commemorating church martyrs and confessors (someone who has suffered persecution and torture for the faith but not to the point of death). The Feast of Nayrouz marks the first day of the Coptic calendar year (identified by the abbreviation A.M. for Anno Martyrum or "Year of the Martyrs"), year one being 284 AD, the year Diocletian became Roman emperor. His reign was marked by a massive persecution of Christians, especially in Egypt.

September 12, 1795: Metropolitan Dositheus is tortured and killed by Persian soldiers who had conquered Tbilisi, Georgia, slaughtering its population and completely destroying the city. He is killed after he refuses their demand that he renounce his faith and defile the cross the cross.

September 12, 2006: A U.S. judge dismisses the lawsuit against Canadian petroleum company, Talisman Energy which accused it of complicity in human rights violations in Sudan.

(sources: Christianity Today, Glimpses of Church History, The Voice of the Martyrs, www.abbamoses.com)

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)

The risk of building relationships

One of the challenges I am increasingly taking very seriously in my role as CEO is that of find ways of building significant relational links between 1) the persecuted Christians and our constituency, 2) within members of our constituency base, 3) between ministries who work with the persecuted and even 4) between the persecuted Christians themselves. We want to create conduits through which relationships, communications, expertise and resources can flow from one to another.  We are still taking baby steps in this process but I think we are making progress.  But it has to be deliberate if it is to happen.  And larger steps will take place only if we create an environment where such multilevel communication can take place.

Take for example last Thursday.  In an attempt to build some community within our Twitter readers, I decided to send out a message that encouraged a response and promised one on our part.  I sent out the message:  Complete this sentence. The persecution of Christians is.... (your reply will be RT).

Most Twitter users are looking to be “retweeted” (RT), so I knew that this would probably strike a chord with some.  I also knew that having made a promise to retweet, I also was taking the risk of having to forward on messages that I might not agree with.  However, I decided that trying to building relational links was worth the risk.

I was delighted by the response.  We received back such responses as:

• The persecution of Christians is the rage of the dragon who knows his time is short.
• The persecution of Christians is happening today. Not to others but to us who are part of the Body of Christ.
• The persecution of Christians in America is over-exaggerated by those in the church
• The persecution of Christians is a gift from God. May we praise Him for all His gifts. Acts 5:41
• The persecution of Christians is a blessing from God. Matt 5:11
• The persecution of Christians is.... pain that should inspire of the entire Body of Christ. (Romans 12)
• The persecution of Christians is expected. We're no greater than the Master
• the persecution of Christians is a driving force for the gospel.
• The persecution of Christians is promised by Jesus.
• The persecution of Christians is terrible & we should remember to pray for our brothers & sisters in Christ
• The persecution of Christians is partaking in the sufferings of Christ. Seemingly foolish to man, but wisdom to God.
• The persecution of Christians is an abomination...
• The persecution of Christians is too often ignored by the free church

Not one of the answers is complete in itself and none of them were entirely wrong. Persecution is a multi-faceted topic and the varied responses revealed that.  It was exciting to witness as the responses came on.  It gave me an opportunity to interact with some over what persecution is from a biblical perspective (click here) which I probably would not have had the opportunity to do otherwise. And our Twitter followers were able to reach out and teach each other.  I am increasingly convinced that the topic of persecution cannot be one that is best left with the the experts.  It for everyone to understand and experience.  We need to initiate opportunities for ongoing, meaningful discussions that arise from exercises like that on Thursday.

Relationship building is risky. People tend take ownership of ministries they value. That can be uncomfortable at times. Discernment, commitment to core values and a clearly defined mission become vital to keep from being high jacked by personal agendas. It is time-consuming. It is far easier just to put out an advertisement or a fundraising letter and try to build support for your ministry that way. It’s even possible to use social media tools like Twitter in this way, shouting out your message to the dark, blowing your own horn.  There are a lot of people who use Facebook and Twitter that way. It’s much harder to use it to develop relational links between your organization and your constituency.

However, as I mentioned in my blog yesterday, I easily tire of reading or listening to someone (or some group) that can only promote their own programs or agendas. I suspect many people are.  We are becoming immune to being viewed primarily as a living ATM machine whose only value is to pray and give.

We want to find ways of building relational links between members of the persecuted church within countries and from country to country; providing opportunities for believers to share their stories, their struggles and failures, their successes and common experiences.  They can help meet each other’s needs, both materially and spiritually.

When it comes to serving the persecuted church, I am convinced that the competition that is often found between ministries that work with the persecuted is disastrous, destructive and grievous to the Holy Spirit.  It only hurts the persecuted.  It also builds a competitive spirit within persecuted Christians who quickly learn that every group wants to have the “inside track” on reports and pictures. Every group wants the “scoop” and wants to be able to take credit for helping.  Leaders within the church soon learn that the key to funding is to let each group think that they are the only ones who are helping and that without their help, the persecuted would surely be destitute. In some countries, persecution has become quite profitable for certain well-placed, English speaking brokers who know how to make and sustain contacts with groups in the West.

It is only as ministry groups like The Voice of the Martyrs start communicating and building relationships with each other that this destructive competitiveness will be overcome. It’s one of the reasons we are members of the Religious Liberty Partnership.

The kind of relational links that I mention in this blog will be only built taking small steps over a period of time, developing trust and showing that we are willing to take the risk of building relationships.  There will be setbacks, mistakes made, territorial attitudes rising up when someone feels slighted.  But, are we prepared to value the cause of serving the persecuted as more important than our own organization?

[You can follow us on Twitter at www.twitter.com/vomc]

Enough about you… let’s talk about me

Ever known or worked with someone who only seemed to be able to talk about one subject…themselves?  I’m sure you have.  A while back I worked someone who had the amazing ability to steer almost every conversation back to herself in some way.  On the rare occasion when she was unable to, she would discreetly exit herself from the conversation and walk away.  It was actually humorous to witness, if a little sad.  From time-to-time, I found myself deliberately bringing up obscure topics just to see if and how she could possibly manoeuvre the conversation to her favourite subject. I know, that sounds a little mean, but she rarely failed!  In general, however, most of us tend to avoid such one-sided conversationalists after a while, don’t we?

Sadly many Christian organizations are like that.  And they wonder why people aren’t listening.

What got me thinking about this was a notice I received today from an organization that has specialized in broadcasting Christian programming around the world in a number of ways. For years now, they have sent out an interesting weekly news update by email on missions, trends within Christianity and the persecution of believers around the world. They have been a tremendous help in raising a voice for the persecuted and I have been grateful for the assistance. 

Today, however, they notified their subscribers that since there were other organizations who have similar summaries to what they have been sending out, that they are going to shift their focus to…themselves.  Starting today, their weekly email will feature news and organizational updates about themselves.

I am rather saddened by this, as I have been a subscriber to this group’s email list for many years.  I can’t remember when I didn’t receive it, it’s been so long.  I may not have read it every week, but I noticed it and I was glad that such a prominent ministry felt it was important to share significant stories of how God was at work in the world. 

Their new email format does that too. But now it only tells how God is at work through them in the world.  There is a difference. 

And so, after probably 10 years, I have reluctantly unsubscribed from their email list.  I receive so many emails already and, to be honest, I am more interested in the mission of God that I am in the mission itself. Undoubtedly they think that this new format will help them fulfill their mission better.  I’m not so sure.

This decision reminded me of a US denomination that my friend Eric Foley mentioned in a recent blog that decided that the solution to their declining missionary giving was to send more missionaries to churches to tell others about who they were and what they did.

But in the long run, who wants to listen to anyone (or any group) who can only talk about themselves? 

Anyway, I think I’ll switch over to this organization’s Twitter account.  Looking it over, it looks far more interesting than their new email format. At least for now.

Update on Christians kidnapped in Yemen. Please keep praying!

There continues to be no reliable news on the condition of the remaining six expatriate Christians kidnapped in mid-June by unknown assailants in Yemen.  On June 12, nine foreigners were abducted — four German adults, three small German children, a British man and a South Korean woman — after they ventured outside the city of Sa’ada.  Shortly afterwards, the bodies of Rita Stumpp (26) and Anita Gruenwald (24), German nurses in training, and Eom Young-sun (33) of South Korea were found.  Still missing are German doctor Johannes (36), his wife Sabine (36), their three children Lydia (4), Anna (3) and Simon (1) and British engineer Anthony S. Their whereabouts remain unknown. Tony is married but his wife did not accompany him on this trip.

Middle East Concern released a prayer update yesterday in which they note that since Muslims are observing Ramadan, a month of fasting during daylight hours, it is likely that the missing adults, assuming they are alive, will be obliged to observe the fast.  They also note:

Violence has flared up again in region around the town of Saada where the missing team and their murdered colleagues were working. The intense fighting between government forces and the Houthi rebel group is a major hindrance to efforts to locate the missing foreigners. The government continues to suspect the Houthi rebels of involvement in the abductions and murders and has made information about the six one of their conditions for a ceasefire. However, the Houthi rebels deny any involvement. It remains the case that there has been no credible claim of responsibility.

In June we reported concerns that the South Korean government might restrict their nationals from travelling to Yemen, a move which would have an impact on several Christian ministries. Recent reports suggest that the South Korean government is currently considering restricting travel to Yemen and other Middle Eastern countries.

Expatriate Christians in Yemen give thanks that some in Saada are showing increased openness to the Gospel. They request our continued prayers that:

a. The missing six (assuming they are still alive) will know the peace and presence of Jesus and be released unharmed soon

b. The families and colleagues of those missing will know the peace of Jesus amidst the intense uncertainty

c. Efforts to discover the missing six will continue and will be successful

d. The families and colleagues of Anita, Rita and Young-Sun (the three murdered ladies) will continue to know the comfort of Jesus

e. The deaths of the three women who served the local people selflessly may cause many to come to accept God's love and forgiveness

f. Efforts to end the violence in the Saada province will be successful, and the root causes addressed

g. All expatriate Christians in Yemen will know the Lord's guiding and protecting at this time, and His wisdom concerning future involvement in Saada in particular

h. The South Korean government will not prevent its citizens from working in Yemen

i. The perpetrators will be convicted by the Spirit and drawn to the forgiveness, love and true life offered by Jesus.

Please make these prayer requests a matter of urgency.  We certainly want to believe that the hostages are still alive.  Please share these prayer requests with others at your church and prayer groups, and with your family. We invite you to post prayers on our Persecuted Church Prayer Wall to show your solidarity with the hostages and their families. 

Let it not be said that we sinned against these brothers and sisters by ceasing to pray for them (1 Samuel 12:23)

Appeal from the Episcopal Church of the Sudan

The following is a press release by Archbishop and Primate of the Province of the Episcopal Church of the Sudan on recent attacks on civilians in southern Sudan.  There are legitimate concerns that the peace agreement signed in January 2005 is at risk of failing. Please pray that the parties involved will continue to work towards a sustainable peace in Sudan. Please consider posting a prayer on our Persecuted Church Prayer Wall to let our Sudanese brothers and sisters around the world that we have not forgotten their country during these uncertain time.

PRESS RELEASE

A statement by the Most Rev. Dr. Daniel Deng Bul Yak, Archbishop and Primate of the Province of the Episcopal Church of the Sudan on the recent atrocities in Jonglei and Western Equatoria States: 

On Saturday 29th August 2009 I received reports from Wernyol, Twic East County, Jonglei State, that there had been another attack on the peoples of the area in which over forty people - men, women and children - were killed. Amongst the dead were Ven. Joseph Mabior Garang, Archdeacon of Wernyol and Archbishop's Commissary in the new Diocese of Twic East, who was shot at the altar of the church in Wernyol during a service of Morning Prayer. Tens of others have been wounded, some very seriously with gun-shot wounds and broken limbs. Only a few of these have been taken to Juba Military Hospital, whilst the rest are still in Bor Hospital.

I have leant from Episcopal Church sources on the ground that the attackers were well armed with new automatic weapons, dressed in army uniforms, and appeared well-organized and properly trained. Instead of attacking a cattle camp, this was an attack on a Payam headquarter town. Consequently in the view of the Church, this was not a tribal conflict as commonly reported, but a deliberately organized attack on civilians by those that are against the peace in Southern Sudan. These reports confirm the suspicions that I aired in my May 2009 appeal to the diplomatic and international community in Sudan.

Last week I received the news from Ezo, Ezo County, Western Equatoria State, that there had been another devastating attack by the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) on Ezo town on 12th/13th August in which three people, including an Episcopal Church lay reader had been murdered. The attack included the abduction of children from the Episcopal church building in Ezo, and several thousand more people have been displaced into Ezo town - people that the local churches are struggling to care for. Ezo Hospital was also attacked, medicine stolen and equipment destroyed.

I hear from Bishop John Zawo of the Episcopal Diocese of Ezo that the attack could have been avoided if better military security had been given to the town.

I am therefore appealing to the government and the international community at large to act swiftly in order to prevent such atrocities from occurring in future. Continuing violence such as this is not only a crime against the innocent people killed and injured, it is a crime against the peace of the Sudan and if left unchecked will do great damage to the smooth implementation of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA).

This is especially the case given the strained political situation whereby the two parties to the CPA - the National Congress Party (NCP) and the Sudan People's Liberation Movement (SPLM) - are still not coming to an agreement regarding the laws governing the elections and referendum. The time frame given for the elections and referendum is already too short for the democratic processes to be effectively organized, and by the provisional dates chosen for voting in the elections, much of the South will already be suffering from logistics problems caused by the onset of the wet season.

This is an indication to the citizens of the Sudan that the people on the ground are not being regarded or included in the politics of peace and that we are vulnerable to future violations of the CPA and an uncertain future for peace in the Sudan.

I refer the government and international community to my May 2009 appeal to the diplomatic community in Sudan, and now strongly reiterate my plea to urge your countries' governments to do more to guarantee the implementation of the CPA at all levels. As shown from the Twic East example, there is now accurate evidence to suggest that such violence is deliberately perpetrated as I implied in the May appeal. So long as all violence such as that in Jonglei and that perpetrated by the LRA continues - violence which is preventable by better use of security personnel - there is no hope of conducting free and fair elections in these areas in 2010 and no hope of a fair referendum on Southern secession in 2011.

In the mean time I am appealing for humanitarian assistance to those 24,000 displaced and wounded people in Twic East County and those 15,000 displaced and wounded people Ezo County. I would like to especially appeal for help for the widow and children of Ven. Joseph Mabior Garang, who now require food and education.

Unless the guarantor governments of the CPA act now the peace is in grave danger. As the Church, we look for the upholding of the rights of every Sudanese to a peaceful future.

An outstanding book in helping to understand the situation in Sudan from someone who lived and served there for many years before he died of cancer is the autobiographical story of Marc Nikkel, Why Haven’t You Left? available from The Voice of the Martyrs.

Identifying with Him in His death

 

It is interesting to note the presence and actions of two relatively unknown yet vitally important men who took tremendous risks in associating with Christ at His death. I am speaking on Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus.

Both were influential Jewish leaders of their day, members of the Sanhedrin Council.

Joseph was a respected and wealthy leader who had become a disciple of Jesus. Following the death of Jesus, Joseph, in effect, accepted Him into his own family by boldly obtaining His body from Pilate, wrapped it in fine linen and buried it in his own tomb.

Understand the risk involved in such actions. Jesus was a condemned criminal who had been publicly executed for the highest crime. Some early traditions such as that contained The Gospel of Nicodemus, a text appended to the Acts of Pilate (an early, though not always unreliable work which is part of what is known as the Pseudepigrapha), held that Joseph was punished and imprisoned for his bold actions. Whether this is factual or not, I have little doubt that he incurred the displeasure of his fellow Sanhedrin members for what he did and that he did what he did knowing that he would face their rejection and wrath. But this is the cost of discipleship.

Nicodemus was a Pharisee and, like Joseph, an important member of the Jewish Sanhedrin Council. He appeared three times in the gospel of John. First, we read how he went to Jesus one night early in Jesus’ ministry to get a better grasp of what Jesus was teaching. I believe that his search was genuine. He knew Jesus was from God but he just couldn’t get his head around some of what Jesus was talking about. The second time he appeared was in 7:45-52 when he questioned the illegal procedure that his fellow Pharisees were proposing for Jesus’ arrest and was promptly accused of being Jesus’ follower.

How Nicodemus responded to this accusation, we have no record, just we never read of his response to Jesus’ words in John 3. Was Nicodemus a man who, when pushed, tended to back off and fade away? We don’t know, but in both stories, Nicodemus appeared, asked questions, was challenged and we never hear his response.

But that changed in chapter 19, when we find Nicodemus beside Joseph, bringing a small fortune in myrrh and aloes for Jesus’ body and together they identify with the crucified Christ by taking responsibility for his burial. Like Joseph, this identification would have come with a cost; one he was now apparently prepared to pay.

On this weblog site you often read the testimonies of men and women in China, Iran, Cuba, and elsewhere around the world who are paying a great cost for identifying with Christ. Like Joseph and Nicodemus, they had to choose between comfort or Christ, sacrifice or self-preservation. This is our calling too.

Are we prepared to identify with a Christ who is marked by shame, humiliation, and death? This is the Christ of the Persecuted Church. The Christ who is saving the world through His suffering Body; men and women like Joseph and Nicodemus who step up when the everyone else flees; men and women who are prepared to face humiliation, rejection, and danger by being associated with a convicted criminal or labeled as criminals themselves.

There are many today who want to follow Christ at the front of the parade, waving to the cheering crowds like a conquering victor. There are few who want to walk in the back, as was common with Roman triumphal processions, where the prisoners walked in chains, facing the jeers of the hoard (1 Cor. 4:9), marked for slavery, mistreatment and even death. These are the kind of men and women that God is looking for.

What is the difference between a human rights commission and a human rights tribunal?

Often in the discussion about the human rights commissions and tribunals in Canada and its provinces, the terms get confused or interchanged.  So what is the difference between the two?  Here is what their respective websites say:

What is the Canadian Human Rights Commission?

The Canadian Human Rights Commission is empowered by the Canadian Human Rights Act to investigate and try to settle complaints of discrimination in employment and in the provision of services within federal jurisdiction. Under the Employment Equity Act, the Commission is responsible for ensuring that federally regulated employers provide equal opportunities for employment to the four designated groups: women, Aboriginal peoples, persons with disabilities, and members of visible minorities. The Commission is also mandated to develop and conduct information and discrimination prevention programs.

What is the Canadian Human Rights Tribunal?

The Canadian Human Rights Tribunal (CHRT) is much like a court. It was created by Parliament to inquire into complaints of discrimination and to decide if what is alleged to have occurred is a discriminatory practice under the Canadian Human Rights Act. As an administrative tribunal, the CHRT has more flexibility than regular courts. This allows those who appear before it a chance to tell their cases more fully without having to follow strict rules of evidence. The Tribunal's main goal is to ensure that the Canadian Human Rights Act is interpreted and applied fairly and impartially at all hearings. The Tribunal is not an advocate for human rights issues: That is the role of the Canadian Human Rights Commission.

What is the difference between the Tribunal and the Commission?

For a better understanding of the different roles of the Tribunal and the Commission within the federal human rights process, it helps to look at our criminal justice system. Similar to the police, the Commission receives and investigates complaints. If it believes that further inquiry is warranted, and a resolution between the parties cannot be reached, it refers the case to the Tribunal for formal hearing. At this stage, the Commission will take one of three positions:

1) It may act like a crown attorney and fully participate at the hearing in the public interest by leading evidence to prove a case of discrimination;

2) It may participate as above, but in a limited capacity by addressing specific issues or legal questions, but will not by present during the whole hearing; or

3) It may choose not to participate in the hearing process at all.

In the last two scenarios, the complainant, through a lawyer or on their own, will be required to lead the evidence necessary to prove their case to the Tribunal. The Tribunal's role in all situations is comparable to that of a judge, deciding the case fairly and impartially by weighing all the evidence introduced by all parties and deciding if discrimination under the Act has occurred. If yes, the Tribunal will determine an appropriate remedy.

If it all seems a bit Byzantine, I agree. Another helpful article can be found here, if you are still a little unclear about defining and distinguishing these two bodies.

Personally, I think that, as they stand, these quasi-legal bodies have outlived their usefulness as the Criminal Code addresses most, if not all, of the concerns that these bodies were created to deal with.

Canada’s human rights hate speech law is ruled unconstitutional

In an astonishing decision this morning, the Canadian Human Rights Tribunal ruled that Section 13, Canada's human rights hate speech law, is an unconstitutional violation of the Charter right to free expression because of its penalty provisions.

This decision by Tribunal chair Athanasios Hadjis, in effect, strips the Canadian Human Rights Commission of its legal mandate to pursue hate on the Internet, which it has strenuously defended despite accusations that this activity amounts to censorship. Mr. Hadjis found that that the pursuit of Section 13(1) cases "can no longer be considered exclusively remedial, preventative and conciliatory in nature the law" and the section has “become more penal in nature."

It is now up to the government and Canadian Human Rights Commission, which can appeal the ruling to Federal Court, to take the next step.  My hope is that the government will move to repeal Section 13 entirely and leave the prosecution of hate crimes in the criminal system where it belongs.

Section 13(1) of the Canadian Human Rights Act is an anti-hate law that was conceived in the 1960s to target racist telephone hotlines and then expanded in 2001 to include the entire Internet. For the last decade, one man, Ottawa lawyer Richard Warman, has been its almost exclusive complainant. [Click here for more information on Section 13 and its history]

This month, The Voice of the Martyrs is featuring Ezra Levin’s bestselling book, Shakedown: How Our Government is Undermining Democracy in the Name of Human Rights.  Shakedown is a shocking and controversial look at the threat that radicalized human rights commissions pose to Canadian values, by one of the country's most plain-spoken political activists and is a convincing, passionate plea to Canadians to reclaim their basic liberties. Click here to order your copy for only $17.

Pastor horrifically killed in Oklahoma

A 61-year-old pastor who was killed on August 23 in a rural Oklahoma church was found lying behind the altar with her arms outstretched in a "crucifix position", according to various reports. This is just one of the latest details to emerge in the killing of Carol Daniels, whose nude body was found in the Christ Holy Sanctified Church in Anadarko, Oklahoma, in a crime scene the district attorney described as "horrific." Her clothes were taken from the scene, and a dissolving agent had been sprayed around her body. The coroner's report indicated that she had tried to fight off her attacker before her throat was slashed and she was nearly decapitated. Severe lacerations were found on her back, chest, hands, neck and stomach. Several of the wounds had been inflicted post-mortem – after she died . It is becoming obvious that this was far more than just a robbery gone wrong but that the attacker was enraged and his attack deliberate.

Here is a brief interview with a couple members of her family.

Please pray for the family of Pastor Daniels as they grieve her loss. Pray, too, that the killer(s) may be found.  Post a prayer for them on our Persecuted Church Prayer Wall.  You can read Pastor Daniel’s obituary and send your condolences online by clicking here.

Collect Air Miles for the Persecuted Church

Did you know that you can help the Persecuted Church through collecting Air Miles? 

Thousands of Canadians are enrolled in the popular Air Miles program. But many people never redeem their rewards.  Some folks rarely or never fly, or it simply isn't convenient for them to use their Air Miles points in this way. Others feel it takes too long to accumulate the required number of Air Miles to make redeeming them worthwhile.  Many simply forget.

Now you can help us take the message of the Persecuted Church across Canada when you use an Air Miles card from The Voice of the Martyrs whenever you do your everyday shopping!  You would be surprised how fast these points add when you have dozens of people involved!

In the past several years, The Voice of the Martyrs has saved literally thousands of dollars in airfares through this program.  These savings are then able to be used to directly help our suffering brothers and sisters around the world.  Because of this program, our representatives are also able to travel to more places in Canada with the latest news of persecuted Christians.

This is a unique and wonderful way to help the work of The Voice of the Martyrs in a very practical sense.  It may not seem like much but it makes a big difference.

Join the many Canadians who are collecting Air Miles everyday for The Voice of the Martyrs.  Ask us to send you a special VOMC Air Miles card today!

To Get Your Card

Click here for our online form or contact us through our toll free number.  You can also download a printable application form and mail it to us.

We will send you a card right away!  To use it, simply present the card whenever you make a purchase at a participating Air Miles sponsor.  It is that easy!

DVD review: Richard & Sabina Wurmbrand - The Underground Pastor and His Wife

Our thanks to Katie Elias for this review of our new DVD, Richard & Sabina Wurmbrand - The Underground Pastor and His Wife

"A FAITH THAT CAN BE DESTROYED BY SUFFERING IS NOT FAITH." - Richard Wurmbrand

Many years of reading the Persecution & Prayer Alert updates and Persecuted Weblog from The Voice of the Martyrs has recently brought me to watching a DVD called “Richard & Sabina Wurmbrand – The Underground Pastor and His Wife” that I received from The Voice of the Martyrs. This video, with much testimony from Richard & Sabina’s son, tells the story of this couple who were born into pre-World War II Romania. They preached the Gospel of Jesus Christ to all those they came into contact with, both in word and deed, endured many years of torture and imprisonment (almost dying) at the hands of the communist government that took over after WWII and were eventually ransomed and ended up in the U.S.A. where they started The Voice of the Martyrs to tell the story of what happened to Christians in Eastern Europe under communist rule.

“Let this be recorded for a generation to come, so that a people yet to be created may praise the LORD.” (Psalm 102:18). It is difficult to sum up what an encouragement and inspiration the life of Richard & Sabina Wurmbrand has been to me in a short 50-minute video. I praise God for the work He did in and through their lives to save many others, including communist prison guards who were their torturers.

The video did a great job of providing a lot of information in so little time (at least it felt like a short time!). The Romanian accents are difficult to understand at some points and you have the choice of subtitles in a three languages, so that's great. There isn’t anything I didn’t like about the video, but the background music could use a little improvement – at times it reminded me of cheesy educational videos in high school 20th century history class. Richard Wurmbrand mentions listening to Bach and Beethoven during his lifetime, so perhaps some of their pieces would have been good to include (maybe some of it was included and I didn’t pay close enough attention).

Anyhow, the point is that I highly recommend videos or books like this to all of you out there. A good place to start looking for resources like this is at The Voice of the Martyr’s online resource catalog, so check it out!

You can order this DVD online from The Voice of the Martyrs.

Would you like a free book or DVD on the Persecuted Church? Would you like to share what you have read or watched by writing a review and having it posted on our weblog?  Let us know what resource you would be interested in writing about that we are currently offering online (discounts excepted).  If it is a book or DVD that hasn’t been reviewed recently, we will probably send you a copy for free!

How about that!  A free book or DVD and all you have to do is write a review of it afterwards. This is a great way to expose you and others to the life-changing testimonies of persecuted Christians.  Contact us for more information. Sorry but this offer is only good for those who live in Canada.

Book review: The Aquariums of Pyongyang

Our thanks for Jen Nixon for the following book review of The Aquariums of Pyongyang: Ten years in the North Korean gulag, by Kang Chol-Hwan.

I thought this book might be a hard read. The Aquariums of Pyongyang chronicles the life of the author as a boy who, at the age of nine, was wrongfully imprisoned with his family in a North Korean concentration camp. Not exactly most people's choice for summer reading. I picked it up mostly because of those two American women journalists who had just been released from a North Korean prison a couple days before, and I thought it would be, at the very least, relevant to world events. I thought, well, maybe I'll educate myself on the basics and then skim the details. I didn't. I read each page enthralled by this man's heroism and resolve during this time of horrific injustice.

I was drawn in by what I found most unexpected, and couldn't help being fascinated by the author's amazing struggle for survival. What struck me most was that this family weren't anti-communists, weren't revolutionaries who were bent on overthrowing the government. Instead, they were communists, originally North Korean, but drawn back from settling in Japan with the hope of an even better life in North Korea. They chose North Korea based on the images that Kim Il-Sung projected to the world of a thriving communist lifestyle. What they found there shocked them. It was nothing of the sort. A country of severe poverty and militarism, they were slowly and systematically stripped of their possessions. Then one day the police stormed their house, and placed all the family, except the author's mother, in the Yodok prison in the wilderness and mountains for a ten-year sentence, facing brutal treatment, inhumane living conditions, and severe malnutrition. His terrible ordeals were well written, but told in such a way that it made it not too burdensome or gruesome for the reader to bear. Thankfully. I breathed relief every time he triumphed over each adversity.

I kept having to set my book down for a minute and grasp the fact that this wasn't a story from the 1940's, with lessons of history learned from the Holocaust, but that it was the 1980's and 90's. That it was real. I think of where I was during this same time. I had no idea. And that this very thing occurs today I can't fully comprehend. This book serves its purpose well in bringing attention to the oppression and isolation to North Koreans, and gives a voice to a nation of people whose voice has been taken away from them by a ruthless dictatorship.

This book is available from the Voice of the Martyrs catalog.

Would you like a free book or DVD on the Persecuted Church? Would you like to share what you have read or watched by writing a review and having it posted on our weblog?  Let us know what resource you would be interested in writing about that we are currently offering online (discounts excepted).  If it is a book or DVD that hasn’t been reviewed recently, we will probably send you a copy for free!

How about that!  A free book or DVD and all you have to do is write a review of it afterwards. This is a great way to expose you and others to the life-changing testimonies of persecuted Christians.  Contact us for more information. Sorry but this offer is only good for those who live in Canada.

Update on Malatya trial

Middle East Concern released an concise and helpful update today on the trial of the five men charged with the murder of three Christians, Necati Aydin, Ugur Yuksel and Tilmann Geske, at the Zirve Christian publishing house in Malatya, Eastern Turkey, in April 2007. The five men, aged 19 and 20 at the time, were arrested at the scene and have been held in custody ever since. Their trial opened in November 2007.

Here is the latest:

The most recent hearing took place on 21st August. The two witnesses who had failed to attend the previous hearing were in attendance. There were several notable developments.

First, one of the defendants admitted perjury for the second time. The defendant had previously named two people as having been involved in planning the murders, including one of the witnesses present on 21st August.

However, the defendant now said that this witness had not been involved. He told the judge that he had implicated him previously in an attempt to lessen his own punishment. At a hearing on 21st May he had also admitted perjury, retracting his implication against another man.

Second, these two men who had previously been implicated were released from detention in connection with this case (though one remains detained on unrelated criminal charges). This happened in spite of contradictions within the testimony given by one of them. Lawyers acting for the victims' families suspect that the two men had been involved in planning the murders, and believe that this defendant is acting to protect those truly behind the attack.

This turn of events continues to undermine the hopes of Turkish Christians that those behind the three murders will be identified and brought to justice. The concern of Christians is not only for justice concerning the murders, but also for effective challenge to the wider structural injustice whereby Christians are regarded as potential enemies within the state.

Recall that compensation claims lodged by the two widows, Semse and Suzanne, in September 2008 cite various government ministries as having (i) failed to detect the plot and prevent the murders, and (ii) created a culture conducive to violence against Christians because religious minorities are presented as "an internal threat, a danger and an enemy". These claims remain outstanding.

Third, the judge ordered an intelligence officer from the local gendarmerie headquarters to testify at the next hearing concerning his dealings with one of the two released witnesses.

Fourth, it has emerged that an informant in the military intelligence division of the Malatya gendarmerie headquarters sent a detailed report to state prosecutors two months ago describing the alleged role of the local gendarmerie commander in instigating the murders and the handling of the immediate aftermath on the day. It is not known how seriously local prosecutors are handling this development.

The next hearing was set for 16th October.

Turkish Christians request our continued prayers that:

a. Family members and close friends of the victims will know the presence and enabling of Jesus throughout the trial process

b. Justice will be done concerning the perpetrators, and that those behind them will be identified

c. Semse and Suzanne's legal team will know the Spirit's enabling, guiding and equipping

d. A positive outcome in this case and the compensation claim cases will in turn be instrumental in improving religious tolerance throughout Turkey

e. There would be renewed international attention towards this trial

f. The five perpetrators would feel a true and deep conviction about what they have done, and understand that their wrong-doing is not too great for Christ's forgiveness

g. The judges, other officials, lawyers and journalists involved will hear the gospel of Jesus, feel the Spirit's conviction of sin and be drawn to the Father's love, forgiveness and acceptance

More information can also be found from Compass Direct. 

You can also order the moving documentary Malatya from The Voice of the Martyrs, recounting the lives and martyrdom of Necati Aydin, Ugur Yuksel and Tilmann Geske. Includes moving interviews with their friends and families. Order your copy today!

Please uphold this trial and the families involved in your prayers.  We invite you to post a prayer on their behalf on our online Persecuted Church Prayer Wall.