AUSTRALIA - Southern Nigeria is predominantly Christian whilst northern Nigeria is predominantly Muslim. An ethnic-religious fault-line runs through the center. Rising Islamic fundamentalism and zeal spurred on by the legitimization of Sharia Law in the northern states has caused persecution of Christians to escalate in the north. It has also led to devastating sectarian conflicts across the religious fault-line middle belt where many towns are almost equally divided between Muslims and Christians.

Jos, the capital city of Plateau State in central Nigeria, sits atop this religious fault-line. When local officials refused to publish the results of council elections held Thursday 27 November, rumurs circulated that the Christian-dominated People’s Democratic Party had won a majority of the seats. Muslims accused Christians of rigging the result and, propelled by incitement from their mosques, went on an anti-Christian rampage / jihad, attacking churches, Christians and Christian properties. At least 16 churches have been burnt and four pastors are confirmed killed. Several mosques were also burned. On Saturday officials announced that the PDP had indeed won 16 of the 17 seats, defeating the Muslim-dominated pro-Sharia All Nigeria Peoples Party.

International secular media are reporting that Muslim-Christian clashes have left up to 400 Muslims dead, but fail to report that the armed Muslim rioters died in clashes with the police and security forces who were struggling to restore order. The number of Christian fatalities is as yet unknown but it is believed to be over 100. Christian Solidarity Worldwide reports that of the 500 Muslims to be arrested, most are outsiders who arrived days in advance and some were wearing fake military uniforms. Local Christian leaders believe the violence was preplanned and that the Muslims had been waiting for an excuse to unleash it. There is real danger that anti-Christian violence could spread as Muslims seek revenge for the large Muslim death toll. The misleading and provocative reportage from swaths of international secular media makes this situation especially dangerous.

PLEASE PRAY SPECIFICALLY FOR

• The Christians in Jos who have lost their churches, their pastors or other loved ones: may they know the comfort of Christ (2 Corinthians 1:3-5); may they have inner healing from the Spirit (Isaiah 57:15); may their merciful heavenly Father deliver them from evil (Matthew 6:13) such as the danger of Islamic jihad and from the destructiveness of a bitter, unforgiving heart. ‘He restores my soul.’ Psalm 23:3a ESV
• God to infiltrate President Umaru Yar Adua’s administration with heavenly wisdom and strength to tackle rising Islamic fundamentalism and the destructive intolerance and violence that it produces. (Proverbs 21:1)
• The Holy Spirit to flood the free and more prosperous churches of southern Nigeria with selfless love and a zeal for mission that compels them to witness to northern Muslims and serve their persecuted northern brethren. (Isaiah 58)

Chauhan was on outreach ministry in Madhya Pradesh, India, when he was kidnapped by a mob of about 40 anti-Christian extremists. He escaped from his captors the next day.

“On November 24 at 11 a.m., while I was going for outreach ministry in a village 20 kilometers (12 miles) from my home, a group of young people belonging to an extremist group stopped me. They asked me several questions, such as what was I doing and where was I going. Then they opened my bag and found Gospel literature and teaching CDs.

“The extremists started to beat me. They took my bicycle, mobile phone and two thousand rupees (US$40). They forcefully took me on their bike to a remote village, where around 200 people had gathered, and made me sit in the middle of the crowd. They asked me several questions and told me to read Hindu literature, leave the Christian faith and worship one of their gods. I said no, so they started to beat me again.

“Then the crowd called for their leader. They took me to a small hut and locked me inside. They kept me locked up from 1 p.m. to 8 p.m.

“During that time, I was praying to the living God. I remembered the verse where Jesus said, ‘In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world.’ Through this Bible verse, I got courage to face any problem.

“When they took me out of the room at 8, I was very hungry and cold. They took me to a road to meet the extremist leader. But I was thinking and looking for some way to escape. So I told them I needed to use the bathroom and they let me walk into the forest. I walked a little ways and then started to run. Some started to chase me and loudly told the others that I was running away, and so many people ran after me.

“I don’t know from where I got such power to run. The mob even took their jeep and bike to catch me, but as I was running through paddy fields, they couldn’t catch me. I even fell in a small well, but God helped me to get out. And again I started to run through the forest.

“Up until midnight, I was sitting in the forest. My whole body was in severe pain, but God gave me strength to walk 12 kilometers (7.5 miles) through the forest without fear. I found a village where I know a Christian family.

“Around 3 a.m., I reached their house and told them what had happened to me. They gave me a place to sleep and kept me there for two days, until I went to another village and got some medicine. On November 27, I safely reached a GFA district office. Now I am in the office resting, but I still have pain in my chest and legs.

“I thank God that He has saved my life. I also want to give thanks to all those who sincerely prayed for me. Kindly keep remembering me in your prayers.”

The legislation will now be sent to President Nursultan Nazarbaev for his approval. According to Forum 18 News Service, Kazakhstan’s parliament completed its consideration of the new law on 26 November 2008, despite an agreement reached on 25 November 2008 for the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) to conduct a legislative review of the latest text of controversial new amendments.

The “Law on Amendments and Additions to Several Legislative Acts on Questions of Freedom of Conscience and Religious Associations,” amends numerous articles of the current Religion Law, the Code of Administrative Offences and several other laws. It has been amended on several occasions but the revision process has been criticised for its secrecy and specifically for a lack of consultation with civil society.

Government officials refused to make the revised text public prior to 26 November, but it appears that the latest changes include a requirement for permission from both parents for children to attend any religious event. It also increases the punishment for individuals found guilty of holding religious services, conducting charitable work, importing, publishing or distributing religious literature, or building or opening places of worship in violation of “demands established in law”. With large fines anticipated and the fear that many religious groups will be unable to re-register, there are widespread fears about the impact on religious activity. Even the work of faith based charities may now be under threat.

Concerns over the draft law were expressed by the EU in a statement at the OSCE Permanent Council on 23 October 2008, which called on the Senate to reconsider the draft legislation to ensure its consistency with OSCE commitments, specifically those made at the OSCE Ministerial Council in Madrid last year when it was also decided that Kazakhstan would hold the chairmanship of the OSCE in 2010.

According to Forum 18 New Service, the President now has a month from receipt of the law to sign it, reject it or send it to the Constitutional Council.

Tina Lambert, Advocacy Director at Christian Solidarity Worldwide (CSW) said: “We are very concerned that the new legislation, if adopted, will represent a significant step backwards for Kazakhstan, removing fundamental rights to freedom of religion as upheld by international standards. We urge President Nazarbaev to reconsider and to send this legislation back for revision, under the guidance of the OSCE. It is inconceivable that Kazakhstan could take on the chairmanship of the OSCE in 2010 without addressing this situation and ensuring that religious freedom is protected”.

TOBA TEK SINGH, PAKISTAN (ANS) - Police on November 17, 2008 arrested a Pakistani Christian man, who fled to safety after he was named in the police First Information Report (FIR) in April last year as a alleged blasphemer.

Trouble began for Rashid, 16 in April last when Muslims across Pakistan were celebrating birth anniversary of Prophet Muhammad. ANS has learned that trading of harsh words between Rashid’s younger brother and a Muslim resident of Bakshi Park in Toba Tek Singh ended up at a scuffle between the two men.

The Muslim man was wearing a shirt with a sticker bearing caption in respect of Prophet Muhammad. The sticker fell down on the ground during the scuffle, giving the Muslim man a pretext to implicate Rashid and his family members in a blasphemy case.

The scene of scuffle was close to the site where hundreds of Muslims were observing Eid Milad-ul-Nabi (the birth anniversary of the Prophet Muhammad).

Angry local Muslims alleged that five local Christians desecrated Prophet Muhammad’s name by hurling the sticker on the ground. They also accused the Christians of passing derogatory remarks against Prophet Muhammad. ANS has learned that several Christians suffered injuries after they were manhandled by enraged Muslims.

Salamat father of Rashid was arrested on the same day while other Christians fled to avoid arrests. Police arrested three other Christians later. Police on Nov. 17, 2008 arrested Rashid on a tip when he went to see his family in Toba Tek Singh.

Sohail Johnson of the Sharing Life Ministry Pakistan visited Toba Tek Singh jail on November 18.

Lamenting over arrest of Rashid, Johnson said his ministry team had developed emotional attachment with the blasphemy-accused. The news left them sad, he said.

“The SLMP is very much concerned about his life, as it has been experienced in the past that some blasphemy-accused have been killed even in police custody”, said Sohail Johnson.

The ministry has urged Christians across the world to pray for Rashid’s protection.

“Please also keep his family in your prayers as it is a great shock to his family too. Please pray for early release of Rashid and others detained in this case”, said the prayer request. Please pray for SLMP team when they go for court hearings or to meet Muslim clergymen for reconciliation,” it said.

LIPETSK, RUSSIA  (ANS) - In what they believe is targeted state action against them, two Baptist congregations in the regional center of Lipetsk (approximately 400km south-east of Moscow) have lost their legal status and a third has lost its rented prayer house.

The news was reported in a story by Geraldine Fagan on the Forum 18 News Service.

“There’s been nothing like this in Lipetsk for 20 years,” Vladimir Boyev, pastor of one of the congregations, told Forum 18. “They’re taking the last of what we have!”

The state’s methods may not be those of the Soviet period, when religious believers could end up in prison, Boyev admitted. “But they have found a different way – a bureaucratic way – to put our Church in a terrible position,” he pointed out to Forum 18. “We are defenseless!”

Lipetsk’s regional religious affairs official, Olga Fyodorova, defended the state’s recent treatment of the Baptists to Forum 18. They have been offered a number of solutions to their situation over the past decade, she claimed, “but they refuse to accept them on purpose, in order to aggravate the situation.”

Currently, Lipetsk’s 200-strong first Baptist congregation is still able to meet at the former Orthodox church it was allocated by the local authorities in 1989.

“But the situation is very tense right now,” Boyev told Forum 18. Vandals broke 28 of the building’s windows in the wake of this year’s Nov. 4 National Unity Day celebrations, he pointed out.

Introduced in 2005, National Unity Day is a state holiday commemorating Russia’s 1612 expulsion of invading Polish-Lithuanian forces. Forum 18 said it has become a focus for public demonstrations by nationalist and far-right activists.

Forum 18 reported that Lipetsk Regional Arbitration Court has begun hearing a suit for control of the former Orthodox church, filed three months ago by the Orthodox diocese of Lipetsk and Yelets, added Boyev. The Baptists are prepared to vacate the building, he told Forum 18, but want another as compensation for their substantial renovation work.

Instead, he said, the local authorities have offered what he described as “semi-ruins” and responded to the Baptists’ objections with the words “Let the Americans help you!.

The church has no wealthy foreign sponsors, however, Boyev told Forum 18. “We’re Russian people, just like them!”

The Baptist congregation worshiping at the former Orthodox church is now without legal status. The tax authorities removed it from the Single State Register of Legal Personalities in June 2007 for failing to file its annual tax return on time, Boyev told Forum 18.

Under Article 21.1 of the 2001 Law on the State Registration of Legal Personalities and Individual Entrepreneurs, an organization may be removed from the State Register without any court proceedings if it fails to file a tax return or use its bank account in the course of a year.

Forum 18 said that a Baptist church in the Black Sea port of Tuapse managed to overturn a similar decision in May 2008 on the grounds that it did not take into account the fact that the aims and functions of a religious organization differ from commercial legal personalities.

In Lipetsk, meanwhile, the case to determine who has use of the former Orthodox church was adjourned when the judge realized that the Baptist congregation has no legal personality, Boyev told Forum 18. The Baptists responded by filing a separate suit with the same court in an attempt to restore their legal status and so continue their defense. The latest hearing in this case took place on Nov. 26.

Asked about the pressure on the Baptist congregation at the former Orthodox church, Olga Fyodorova, the religious affairs official, told Forum 18 that they were “sitting there, doing nothing” while the building had “essentially” already been given to an Orthodox parish. She then admitted that she did not know whether a court had decided the issue.

Fyodorova also said she did not know how the Baptists would defend themselves in court after losing their legal status. She told Forum 18, “That’s their problem!”

Asked about compensation, she maintained they “could find another place, or build using donations.”

Forum 18 said that a second Lipetsk Baptist organization – Good Shepherd Mission – was also removed from the State Register in Sept. 2007 for failing to file its tax return on time and correctly. Boyev insisted to Forum 18 that both organizations filed their tax returns on time as in earlier years, and had never had problems with the tax authorities previously.

“We supposedly needed more documents for the Good Shepherd Mission, but they didn’t warn us – they should have explained to us what they wanted,” he told Forum 18. “They told us we should have looked on the internet, or in some journal or other, but we’re God’s people, not a business, we don’t know how to do this.”

Forum 18 reached an official in the relevant tax office on Nov. 28, but she refused to give any information by telephone.

The authorities also took issue with the de-registered Baptist organizations because neither kept a bank account, Boyev told Forum 18. “But we spend any money as soon as it comes in,” on church activities, bills and building materials, he explained.

Olga Fyodorova told Forum 18 that the Baptists had been de-registered because they “didn’t pay tax - not a single kopeck - and you know how every state in the world is scrupulous about tax.” They claim not to have any income as a cover for not paying tax, she suggested.

Led by Boyev, Lipetsk’s second 200-strong Baptist congregation, Holy Trinity, retains its legal status, but the land and building where it worships come under Good Shepherd Mission, he told Forum 18.

The Lipetsk authorities closed the Good Shepherd Mission building for several months in early 2007 on the grounds that it had not been formally declared fit for use, and also fined Boyev.

A third Baptist congregation, the 60-strong Golgotha, has rented a traditional wooden house in central Lipetsk since 1989 and carried out substantial repairs to the building, Boyev told Forum 18. The city authorities are gradually replacing the living accommodation, and the owner was recently allocated a new apartment as compensation, he said.

On Sept. 11, the state’s confiscation of the building was upheld when no one representing Golgotha appeared at Lipetsk’s Soviet District Court. “They said they sent us a summons,” Boyev told Forum 18. “But we didn’t get one.”

Fyodorova directed all further questions to Larisa Loshkareva, a regional official dealing specifically with the Baptists’ situation. On Nov. 27 Loshkareva asked Forum 18 to seek permission for this from her departmental director on Nov. 28. His telephone went unanswered, however, Forum 18 said.

In another long-running struggle by Protestants to retain control of their worship premises, Pastor Albert Ratkin told Forum 18 that for the last six months the local authorities have not troubled his Pentecostal Word of Life Church in Kaluga (150km south-west of Moscow). The current financial crisis “probably means they aren’t getting round to dealing with us,” he joked.

Word of Life Church has come under pressure from Kaluga’s municipal authorities – including numerous bureaucratic inspections and threats to cut off its power supplies - because the building and land it bought for worship in 2002 are now situated in the middle of a shopping mall construction site.

Forum 18 said that various Russian Protestant web sites highlighted an Oct. 15 public hearing in Kaluga’s municipal Architecture and Town-planning Department, which discussed a possible change of use for land owned by Word of Life Church. At the meeting, a local representative of the Swedish firm behind the shopping mall development reportedly suggested that sales of alcohol from the mall might result in drunken violence against church members if the Pentecostals remained at their current site.

Protestants in particular – but also Orthodox, Catholics and Muslims – point to an unusually high level of state interest in the fire safety and other technical aspects of worship buildings in recent years, resulting in fines, temporary closures or demolition threats

Glorification Pentecostal Church in the southern Siberian city of Abakan (Khakassia Republic) was forced to demolish its prayer hall in 2007.

Forum 18 reported that the Justice Ministry has also recently begun to initiate the court liquidation of various religious organizations, claiming that they failed to file annual accounts correctly or that they conduct professional religious education without a licence. Most have either managed to retain their legal personality status by providing missing documents or were defunct.

Several, however - such as the Pentecostal Bible Center of Chuvashia - have challenged such action as a deliberate attempt to limit their religious freedom.

For more background, see Forum 18’s Russia religious freedom survey at www.forum18.org/Archive.php?article_id=1196.

Editor’s note. By way of clarification, ANS has received written permission from Forum 18 New Service to re-work any of their stories so they may reach an even wider audience.

SALEM, OREGON ANS — A Youth with a Mission leader has delivered a bombshell to Western missionary organization working in Russia: You may be ‘liquidated’

Al Akimoff, Director of Youth With A Mission Slavic Ministries International, says that he has discovered that on October 15, 2008, a declaration unexpectedly appeared on the webpage of the Russian Ministry of Justice listing 56 religious organizations scheduled for “liquidation.”

Akimoff, in a newsletters to his supporters, said, “These stem from a number of major world faiths and included Buddhists, Jews, Muslims, the Catholic ‘Caritas’ as well as small, dissident Orthodox groups and one organisation belonging to the Kiev Orthodox Patriarchate.

“Yet at least 35 of the 56 listed qualify as Protestant organizations. These include the humanitarian ‘World Vision’ and ‘Youth with a Mission’. At least six Baptist organizations are listed. These include one established by the Russian branch of the ‘Billy Graham Evangelistic Association’ and three regional districts of the ‘Russian Union of Evangelical Christians-Baptists’ RUECB.

“Apparently; several entire churches are up for liquidation, including the ‘Union of Churches of Presbyterian Christians’ and the ‘Assemblies of God’. Even the 26-congregation-strong ‘Union of Churches of Evangelical Christians’ is scheduled for elimination.”

SITUATION IN RUSSIA GETS WORSE

Akimoff went on to say, “The situation in Russia has continued to worsen this past year as the new visa law went into effect. This limits missionaries to three-month stays after which they need to leave for three months then reapply for a new expensive three-month visa. This has made it especially difficult on families and many have been forced to leave. This has affected every mission.

“We have been spared this in some of the rural areas where some of our workers have received residency permits, but in the cities this has been impossible and has reduced our numbers to the nationals themselves.

“Our Russian Ywammers have continued the work in a number of places but further restrictions could be coming.

“Things seem to be heating up for the surrounding countries as well. Georgia remains in somewhat of a delicate state as well as Ukraine. Meanwhile the Central Asian countries where we have seen so many breakthroughs in the last decade are also beginning to follow Moscow’s example.”

CAIRO, EGYPT (ANS) — One thousand Christians were today trapped inside the Coptic Orthodox Church of the Virgin Mary in West Ain Shams, Cairo, after more than twenty thousand Muslims attacked them with stones and butane gas cylinders. The Church’s priest, Father Antonious, said the situation is “extremely dangerous.”

Assyrian International News Agency (www.aina.org ) says the Muslim mob that attacked the church blocked both sides of the street and encircled the church building, broke its doors and demolished its entire first floor.

In its report, AINA says the mob were chanting Jihad verses as well as slogans saying “we will demolish the church” and “We sacrifice our blood and souls, we sacrifice ourselves for you, Islam,” while the entrapped Christians chanted “Lord have mercy.”

According to AINA, the incident started on the occasion of the inauguration of the Church today, when the Muslims hastily established a Mosque in the early hours of this morning, by taking over the first floor of a newly-built building facing the Church and started praying there.

The AINA report says: “When the security forces tried to disperse the mob, they went to nearby homes and shops owned by Christians, and were armed with sticks, butane, knives and other sharp objects. Witnesses said the mob included children from as young as 8-years old to men of over 50-years old, in addition to women.”

AINA said the Church building was originally a factory that was adapted into its present state. It took over five years to complete and to get the necessary permissions from the authorities to have a Church established.

Human rights organizations and lawyers were refused entry into the besieged Church, according to the AINA report.

GFA leaders in the state report that Pastor N. Chauhan was attacked by a mob of 40 anti-Christian extremists on Monday, beaten severely and then dragged into the forest. Attempts to contact him have failed, and no word of his fate has been received.

When a GFA leader tried to call Pastor Chauhan on his mobile phone, a voice answered, saying, “The same thing is going to happen to you!”

The GFA state leader and other pastors have reported the incident to police, who have promised to take the matter seriously.

The leaders are asking for prayer that God will protect Pastor Chauhan, and that He will give wisdom to all who are handling the situation.

BEIJING, CHINA (ANS) — A Chinese House Church leader is in trouble with Chinese authorities for giving out free silicon prayer bands that remind people to ‘Bless China.’

Pastor “Bike” Zhang Mingxuan has been accused by officials of engaging in “illegal business operations” for distributing the wristbands.

These prayer bands were distributed to house church Christians and other individuals in China as a gift and a way to remember to bless and pray for China during the Olympics.

ChinaAid, together with the ministry The Voice of the Martyrs, offered prayer bands to U.S. supporters. Between 600,000 and 800,000 ‘Pray for China’ prayer bands have been distributed, according to one report.

ChinaAid says Pastor Bike was held by authorities from October 16 until October 27. During this time, his family was evicted from their homes, his sons were beaten, and his wife and her sister were also placed under arrest.

After international outcry, authorities released Pastor Bike, his wife and her sister on October 27, ChinaAid says in an e-mail update.

When ChinaAid spoke with Pastor Bike about his detainment in October, he said that the Shilin Public Security Bureau (PSB) of Yunnan province accused him of engaging in illegal business operations “because he distributed ‘Bless China’ prayer bracelets during the Olympic Games.”

Others have also been harassed for wearing the prayer band, ChinaAid said. The authorities called the prayer band a “nationally politically sensitive item.”

ChinaAid has received reports of Chinese police stopping people on the streets and taking the bands off their wrists. Some individuals have been interrogated and arrested.

When questioned about his involvement distributing prayer bands, Pastor Bike demanded the authorities provide written documentation of their interrogation. Officials gave Pastor Bike a “Notice for Further Questioning.” He said the authorities were in a hurry to make the document, so there are many date and time errors in it. For example, he pointed out the error in the document listing the year as “1951.”

According to ChinaAid, Pastor Bike says he is currently in a perilous situation because authorities have already pressured seven major leaders of the Chinese House Church Alliance. He says these leaders are now under the authorities’ control. He adds that he understands the authorities are trying to intimidate him.

Pastor Bike told ChinaAid that on October 15, someone posted a note on a Christian website in an attempt to discredit him and bringing false charges on him.

He said, “I was attacked on blogs as an Eastern Lightning or Falun Gong-type cultist. They even denounced me as a ‘wolf in a sheep’s skin’ and that I ‘attempted to achieve political purposes through religion.’”

ChinaAid says Pastor Bike has been in Beijing since October 31, but he has been strictly forbidden to rent residences or stay in hotels in Beijing. His two sons, Zhang Jian and Zhang Chuang, who were beaten by police on October 16, are recovering from their injuries and are settled in Nanyang city, Henan province. They are not allowed in Beijing. Zhang Jian is waiting to have surgery on his nose and possibly his eyes.

ChinaAid supporters have sent funds to help this family with the medical expenses.