The Persecution Times » Archive
Missionary Chased Down While Waiting to Vote
When he went back to his home village to vote in India’s recent elections, Gospel for Asia missionary Jadesh Kour faced an array of opposition and never got to cast his ballot. Jadesh serves the Lord in Chhattisgarh near the border of Orissa, India. On November 14, he travelled with his wife and children 19 miles to his hometown—where he was the only Christian. He and his family had to stand in line on the side of the road to wait for his turn to vote. When the villagers heard Jadesh was in town, they started stirring up complaints against him. Trying to scare the missionary, a villager drove his tractor down the road and purposefully sped toward Jadesh. Then the driver, with a gang of young people, surrounded Jadesh and started … Read entire article »
Filed under: Christian, Gospel for Asia, India, Persecution
Violence Forces Church and Center to Close
An anti-Christian extremist group has physically forced a church building and a Bridge of Hope center to close down in Uttar Pradesh, India. The leader of the radical organization plans to replace the church building—where a Gospel for Asia missionary serves as pastor—with a Hindu temple. With a mission to bring India back to Hinduism, the leader of the group is also plotting to force all the local Christians to convert. These “reconversion” ceremonies often include physically and mentally abusing believers until they bow to traditional idols and deny Christ. And often, those forced into Hinduism were not even followers of that religion before they became Christians. Many teenage Dalit (“Untouchable”) boys are drawn into the radical group by offers of a better life—the very inducements that the extremists falsely accuse Christians … Read entire article »
Filed under: Christian, Gospel for Asia, HIndu, India, Persecution
Vietnamese Authorities Pressure New Christians to Recant
Compass Direct News reports from Ho Chi Minh City (Sài Gòn): In violation of Vietnam’s new religion policy, authorities in Lao Cai Province in Vietnam’s far north are pressuring new Christians among the Hmong minority to recant their faith and to re-establish ancestral altars, according to area church leaders. Local authorities have warned that on Sunday (Nov. 23) they will come in force to Ban Gia Commune and Lu Siu Tung village, Bac Ha district, where the Christians reside, but they did not say what they would do. When the authorities in Bac Ha district in Vietnam’s Northwest Mountainous Region discovered that villagers had converted to Christianity and discarded their altars, they sent “work teams’ to the area to apply pressure. Earlier this month they sent seven high officials – including Ban Gia … Read entire article »
Filed under: Christian, Compass Direct, Persecution, Vietnam
Christians Arrested, Shops Looted in Egypt
Compass Direct News reports that Authorities in an Egyptian village arrested 50 Coptic Christians, whose shops were then looted, to pacify Muslims following violence that erupted on Nov. 4 over a Christian boy’s unwitting break with custom. Muslim villagers attacked the homes and shops of Coptic Christians in violence-prone Tayyiba, a town with 35,000 Christians and 10,000 Muslims, after 14-year-old Copt Mina William failed to dismount his donkey as a funeral procession passed. William was watching the procession in Tayibba, 220 kilometers (137 miles) south of Cairo, with Nathan Yaccoub, also 14. William’s failure to dismount violated a local custom of showing respect, Copts United reported, and members of the procession reportedly beat him before completing the procession. Read the full story at Compass Direct News. … Read entire article »
Filed under: Christian, Compass Direct, Egypt, Muslim, Persecution
Two Churches Destroyed in Bauchi State, Nigeria
Tension is rising in the northern Nigerian town of Yelwa, Bauchi State after two churches were attacked and destroyed within a three day period. … Read entire article »
Filed under: Christian, Muslim, Nigeria, Persecution
