Dear VOM website member,
Thank you for your interest in receiving this VOM News and Prayer Update. We appreciate your commitment to pray for the persecuted church.
While spring is fast approaching in the United States, it is still quite cold in Pakistan and Afghanistan. Why not order an Action Pack and fill it with a warm blanket, sweater or clothing for our needy brothers and sisters in Christ? Click here* to learn more.
Have a Blessed weekend!
VOM Web Editor
* Action Pack Link: http://www.persecution.com/actionpacks.htm
Prayers for March 7, 2003
From The Voice of the Martyrs
AFGHANISTAN
(Religion Today - RNS)
The US Commission on International Religious Freedom, an independent federal agency, said it was "seriously concerned" about reports of continued human rights abuses. There are numerous concerns about reported efforts to deny equal rights to women and religious minorities in Afghanistan's new constitution, and continued abuse of women and children, sometimes with support from local authorities. It cited coercive measures by "religious police" that require Afghans to follow specific religious practices. The commission recommends that President Bush appoint a high-level human rights monitor "to promote, coordinate, monitor and report on the implementation of international standards of human rights, including religious freedom." A report about Christians in Afghanistan is featured in VOM’s April 2003 newsletter. You can read a portion of the story by clicking here*. Pray God will give Afghanistan's President Karzai the political and military strength to overcome the power of the warlords and religious conservatives. Pray the Christians will set the Lord always before them and not be moved from their faith in Jesus.
VOM's April Feature Story Link: http://www.persecution.com/feature/03-04_feature.cfm
CAMBODIA
(Charisma News Service)
Christian groups have been banned from door-to-door witnessing and handing out tracts, according to Agence France-Presse (AFP). The move is intended to head off potential religious conflicts stirred up by what the government sees as "overzealous preaching of the faith" in some Khmer communities. A directive says that Christians knocking on people's doors "is an interruption of daily life or may intrude on privacy in the community." The Undersecretary of State said that some Christian groups "are not good" because they "force people to believe in Christianity." Pray Christians will seek God's will in this matter, and follow His directives.
EGYPT
(ASSIST News Service)
In a repeat verdict, the Sohag criminal Court has acquitted nearly all 96 suspects charged with atrocities in connection with violence which broke out in the village of El Kosheh in January 2000, leaving 21 Christian and a Muslim dead. Only four men received sentences, according to Christian Solidarity Worldwide (CSW). One was sentenced to 15 years for killing the sole Muslim victim, the other three, all Muslims, received much lesser sentences for setting alight a truck. The acquittals are a deep disappointment to Egypt's Christian minority, who had hoped to see justice done at the retrial. During the trials, police suppressed vital evidence such as fingerprints and suspected murder weapons. Coptic Bishop Wissa sees this final verdict as a green light to kill Christians. Pray the Spirit of God will convict the murderers and bring them to repentance. Pray God will protect his people in Egypt.
INDIA
(Charisma News Service)
A Gospel for Asia (FGA) missionary is recovering after being beaten unconscious by a group of men who attacked him as he tried to show a film on the life of Jesus to villagers, last month. The evangelist, known only as Titus, was strangled, punched and beaten with sticks in the Feb. 18 attack. Other members of the film team were also severely beaten, but managed to escape. Elsewhere, police in a village in northern India joined radical Hindus in recently expelling a native missionary who graduated from a Bible training institute in that region. According to Christian Aid Mission (CAM), in the last two years this man of God had established a congregation of more than 40 believers and had another 40 who were being prepared for baptism. Titus’ story is featured next month in the Overcomers, our daily one-minute radio update on the persecuted church. Click here* to listen. You can help the persecuted church by calling your local Christian radio station and requesting that they air these daily stories. Pray the courage of Titus will draw the hearts of many to Christ. Pray God will strengthen the new believers to prepare many more to enter His Kingdom.
Overcomers Link: http://www.persecution.com/download/03-04_OvercomersTrack13.wav
SAUDI ARABIA
(VOM/Canada)
The U.S. State Department is not including Saudi Arabia on its list of countries that violate religious freedom. The annual report lists nations subject to diplomatic action for "systematic, ongoing and egregious" violations of religious freedom. According to Freedom House, placing Saudi Arabia on this list would not require specific diplomatic actions by the US, since the policies surrounding it are very broad. However, critics believe that the US is concerned about keeping Saudi support in the Middle East. Christians in Saudi Arabia face constant danger. There is documented evidence of Christians who have been held, tortured, killed and expelled from the country, often without charge, because of their religious beliefs and practices. Pray Saudi Christians will be wise as serpents and harmless as doves as they continue to meet, worship and share their faith with Muslim friends. Pray that countries around the world, including the US, will put pressure on the Saudi government to stop the systematic oppression and torture of Christians.
www.persecution.com