Compiled by Les Tepper (lestepper@hotmail.com, www.weebly.HisWorldMissions.com)

November 2016 Persecution News

Special Interest Articles:

Burning of Pastor's House in Zanzibar, Tanzania Leaves Family of 11 Homeless

Church in Northern Kenya Fearful after Gruesome Attack on Christians

Pakistan: Brick Kiln Slave Family Beaten and Daughter Kidnapped for Failure to convert to Islam

Pakistan Supreme Court Delays Ruling on Asia Bibi Case as Islamist Pressures Mount

Persecuted, but not forsaken; cast down, but not destroyed 2 Cor 4:9

NAIROBI, Kenya, October 5, 2016 (Morning Star News) – A pastor, his wife and their nine children have been sleeping on the floor of their small church building on the island of Zanzibar since Muslim extremists set their house on fire in August.

Pastor Damson Maonesho has seen his 9-month-old baby contract pneumonia since his family had to take refuge in the 42-foot by 21-foot structure outside Zanzibar City, on the semi-autonomous island of Zanzibar off the coast of Tanzania.

“Sleeping on the cemented floor, which is very cold at night, made our 9-month-old child catch pneumonia,” he told Morning Star News, adding that church members have brought them a few mattresses as well as some food. “We are appealing for friends to settle us in a rented house, which will require about $500 dollars,

Burning of Pastor's House in Zanzibar, Tanzania Leaves Family of 11 Homeless

Church in Northern Kenya Fearful after Gruesome Attack on Christians

NAIROBI, Kenya, October 7, 2016 (Morning Star News) – Church members in a northeastern town in Kenya fear for their lives after Islamic extremists targeted Christians in a grenade and gun attack early Thursday morning (Oct. 6) that killed six people, sources said.

Targeting predominantly Christian migrant workers from Kenya’s interior, rebels from Somalia’s Al Shabaab group reportedly took responsibility for the attack at a residential compound in Mandera, with a spokesman for the militants saying it was designed to drive Christians from the area.

The attack in Mandera, tucked in Kenya’s northeast corner near the Somali border, reportedly wounded several others. Among 27 people rescued were Christians who arrived at their church traumatized and in shock.

“The loud grenade woke me up, and I heard one of the attackers saying the ‘infidels’ should leave the Muslim area of Mandera,” one survivor told Morning Star News. “There were loud cries for help as the attackers were shooting from all

because I have a large family.”

The 53-year-old pastor of the Calvary Assemblies of God church of 25 people said that Muslim extremists from outside the area came to his home in Kidimuni on Aug. 13 and burned it down at 2 p.m. Sources suspected the assailants had connections with local Muslims who objected to his evangelistic work and who have also harassed other churches.

Previously Pastor Maonesho had found leaflets near his door warning that he should stop evangelizing Muslims and leading them to Christianity, he said.

Unknown people also left messages on his phone, such as, “Your Christian activities will not be tolerated here – if you continue, then soon you will regret it,” he said.

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directions.”

The pastor of an area church told Morning Star News that two members of his congregation were among those killed in the attack.

“Two of my church members were brutally murdered, and then their heads were chopped off,” he said. “The government needs to beef up security, especially in areas where non-locals who are mostly Christians reside, otherwise we are opting to leave the area for the sake of our lives.”

Earlier this year, in a pre-dawn raid on a predominantly Christian area in coastal Kenya, Al Shabaab rebels on Jan. 31 killed at least four Christians, beheading one of them, and they have carried out previous attacks in the Mandera area. An attack on a bus and a truck near Mandera by Al Shabaab insurgents took the lives of two Christians in December 2015, and on July 7, 2015, Al Shabaab killed 17 quarry workers near Mandera, including several Christians.

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Guides

Operation World 2

Prisoner Profile 5

Unreached People Groups

5

Additional Stories 6

Prisoner List 6

Extreme Devotion 7

Links 7

Videos 7

Martyr’s Profile 8

In northern Iraq, radical Muslims (ISIS) spray-painted

the Arabic letter ن, or “N,”

on the homes and busi-nesses of Christians. The property owners were publicly identified as Christ-followers and given a choice to convert to Islam, leave or die. The courageous be-lievers refused to deny their faith, and more than 100,000 fled with little more than the clothes on their backs.

Persecution News Page 2 of 8

PAKISTAN (ANS-October 7, 2016) -- The British Pakistani Christian Association (BPCA) has rescued a brick kiln family who had been severely beaten in Pakistan for refusing to convert to Islam.

Brick kiln workers are the equivalent of modern day slaves.

According to a release from the BPCA, a daughter who was kidnapped during the attack has not been returned.

The BPCA said that police are refusing to start an investigation, despite eyewitness accounts from many of the local Christians. They are fearful of similar incidents happening to them.

On Sept. 15 at 11:30 p.m. near the village of Samanyala near Kasur, BPCA said Fiaz Masih and his family were awakened by the noise

Pakistan: Brick Kiln Slave Family Beaten and Daughter Kidnapped for Failure to convert to Islam

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan, October 13, 2016 (Morning Star News) – As Islamist groups warned of reprisals for a possible acquittal in Pakistan’s highest profile blasphemy case, the country’s Supreme Court today delayed ruling on an appeal against the death sentence given to Christian mother of five Aasiya Noreen.

The ruling on the death sentence given to Noreen, commonly known as Asia Bibi, was postponed when one of the judges recused himself. Justice Iqbal Hameedur Rehman announced the recusal at the beginning of

Pakistan Supreme Court Delays Ruling on Asia Bibi Case as Islamist Pressures Mount

Romania Europe

Geography Area: 238,391 sq km

Balkan state on the lower Danube River, a mix of mountains, hills and plains. Population: 21,190,154 Annual Growth: -0.41% Capital: Bucharest Urbanites: 54.6% HDI Rank: 63 of 182 (UN Human Development Reports 2009)

Peoples: 29 (21% unreached)

Official language: Romanian Languages: 23

Religion Largest Religion: Christian

Religion Pop % Ann Gr

Christians 20,545,973 96.96 -0.2

Evangelicals 1,149,647 5.4 2.3

Challenges for Prayer

The Romanian diaspora in Europe can be regarded as both crisis

Operation World

coming from a group of people entering their home.

Their home is a mud house with no door, so forced entry is easy.

Fiaz, 54, and his wife Mumtaz, 50, have six daughters and two sons ranging in age from 14 to 31.

Six men and a woman from the area known to the family, armed with guns, sticks and metal poles began to beat them, telling them to convert to Islam or die.

Despite the pain and threats, the family refused to convert. BPCA said this infuriated the Muslim attackers even more.

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the hearing on grounds that that he was part of the bench that heard the case of the assassination of former Punjab Province Gov. Salmaan Taseer, who was gunned down in 2011 after speaking in favor of Noreen.

“I was a part of the bench that was hearing the case of Salmaan Taseer, and this case is related to that,” Rehman said, urging the chief justice of Pakistan to form a new bench to hear the case.

Up to 3,000 policemen had been deployed in the Pakistani capital of Islamabad ahead of the appeal hearing as several Islamist

groups, including the Pakistan Sunni Tehreek and ultra-Islamist Shuhada Foundation of the Lal Masjid (Red Mosque), had vowed severe repercussions if the court acquitted Noreen, 51, of the charge. About 100 police in riot gear were stationed outside the Supreme Court premises to thwart possible Islamist protests.

Taseer’s assassin, Malik Mumtaz Qadri, was hanged on Feb. 29 in a step liberals hailed as progressive, but which brought hardliners into the streets calling for Noreen’s death.

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and opportunity. Looking for a better life, between 10 and 20% of Romanians have left the country since 1990, a trend accelerated by EU entry in 2007. Combined with urbanization, this damages social structures and many families and churches. The exodus of the younger generation and the brain-drain of intellectuals and professionals will have a serious effect on the nation as will the trend of parents leaving their children with grandparents while they move abroad.

Pray for:

a) The southeast regions. On average, the 15 counties in the north-west have many times more evangelicals than the 27 counties in the southeast. There are 7,000 villages in the southeast without an evangelical church. Pray that believers might be burdened for these less-reached areas and bring the light of the gospel to them.

b) Ethnic groups that are less evangelical include Hungarians, Russians/Lipovens and Serbs – all a significantly lower proportion than ethnic Romanians.

c) The Muslim community is not large, but it is in need of Christian witness.

PrayerCast: http://prayercast.com/romania.html

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Persecution News

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GODOGODO, Nigeria, October 19, 2016 (Morning Star News) – Muslim Fulani herdsmen killed more than 40 Christians in an attack in this town in northern Nigeria on Saturday (Oct. 15) and left another eight dead in an assault three weeks earlier, area leaders said.

Besides the eight slain on Sept. 24-26 in Godogodo, a predominantly Christian community in Kaduna state, the Muslim Fulani herdsmen also wounded eight Christians by gunshot and machete cuts, the leaders said.

Godogodo residents said that the second massacre began at 5 p.m. on Saturday (Oct. 15), barely two hours after Morning Star News left after investigating the September attack. The Rev. Thomas Akut of the Evangelical Church Winning All (ECWA) Good News Church in Godogodo said the assailants burned houses and shot Christians dead in the attack over the weekend.

More than 48 Christians Killed in Kaduna, Nigeria Massacres

October 21, 2016 (Morning Star News) – A Christian family of six and 10 other relatives are facing hunger and illness in Chiapas, Mexico after local officials drove them from their land for non-compliance with a “traditionalist” mix of indigenous pagan and Catholic rituals, according to a Mexico City-based news outlet.

The family patriarch, identified only as Fernando H., put his trust in Christ in 2008, and soon local authorities began devising plans to pressure his family and force them to leave their native village (undisclosed for security reasons) near Las Margaritas, Christian news portal Noticiero Milamex reported.

The family head has steadfastly refused to renounce his faith in Christ, leading to eight years of death threats, incarceration and 32,000 pesos (US$1,725) in fines to free family members from jail, the news service reported, culminating in August when local authorities expelled the family from the village.

“We will never leave the Word of God, because we know a living God,” he told Milamex. “We will continue fighting.”

Having left their farmland and relocated to Las Margaritas, where the extended family is crammed into a small, rented house, they have lost their source of income and have yet to find jobs. The family would like to sell their land but have been offered only 30,000 pesos (US$1,616) for the 22 hectares (about 54 acres).

“Their economic situation is so precarious that they can hardly find food for everyone,” Milamex reported. “One of the children has severe malnutrition and seems to be 2 months old rather than 2 years old. Various family members have serious health problems but

Extended Family Expelled From Village In Chiapas, Mexico

The 41-year-old Pastor Akut and his family escaped harm, sleeping on the ground outside town until Sunday morning (Oct. 16), when they made their way to Kafanchan, he told Morning Star News by phone.

“We fled into the bushes, and some of us escaped to safer areas,” he said. “The attackers were in the hundreds and were well armed. Some of them wore army uniforms, while others wore police uniforms. Some of them exchanged gunfire with the few soldiers stationed at the post office in the town, while others burned down houses of Christians.”

Initially he saw 22 Christians had been killed, he said.

“This casualty figure is only those I saw the following morning, but the number of deaths may be higher as many were killed in the bushes too,” Pastor Akut said.

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no resources to go to a doctor.”

In May local officials arrested the family head’s 22-year-old son, later jailed two other sons ages 18 and 14, and finally also put his wife and youngest son in the primitive, wooden facility, according to Milamex. Even with loans, the patriarch was unable to come up with the 6,000 pesos (US$323) authorities demanded for their release.

“They have seen miracles,” Milamex added. “Officials poured 20 liters of gasoline around the jail. They used up a book of matches trying without success to set them on fire.”

The family members were later released.

Advocacy organizations in Mexico estimate there are hundreds of such cases of persecution of evangelicals. Christian support organization Open Doors notes that “denominational protectionism on the part of Roman Catholicism affects all non-traditional forms of Christianity,” as does organized crime. Drug cartels have particularly targeted “those Christians who actively engage in social transformation and therefore constitute a threat to the hegemony of this engine’s drivers.”

Drug lords have not been ruled out as suspects in the kidnapping and killing of three Catholic priests, one in Michoacan state and two in Veracruz state, in September. The Rev. Jose Alfredo Lopez Guillen was abducted from his home on Sept. 19, and his body was found on Sept. 25 near Las Guayabas on a remote road between Puruandiro and Zinaparo. He reportedly had five bullet wounds in his stomach.

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"God had an only Son, and He was a missionary and a physician." David Livingstone

"Why should anyone hear the gospel twice before everyone has heard it once?" Oswald Smith

"Today Christians spend more money on dog food than missions." Leonard Ravenhill

"How little chance the Holy Ghost has nowadays. The churches and missionary societies have so bound Him in red tape that they practically ask Him to sit in a corner while they do the work themselves." C.T. Studd

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A Christian politician was stabbed to death in a church in the South Indian state of Tamil Nadu on Sunday (2 October). Dhanasekharan was at a church service when a phone call lured him outside, where five men were waiting for him. The 34-year-old ran into a nearby church but was caught and killed. Elsewhere in India, in Kanataka state, Christian volunteers were assaulted and Bibles destroyed as around 20 Hindu extremists attacked a Gideons International stall during a festival which began on 24 September.

Dhanasekharan was a member of the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK), a state political party. He served the party locally as both a councillor and youth wing secretary. He was also involved with sand supply and lorry transport. He was murdered in Padappai, a small town near Chennai. After being drawn outside by the phone call, he

was chased for around 150 metres before being caught. He was attacked with sickles and other sharp weapons. Other Christians attending the church at the time of the attack fled for fear of their lives.

A senior police official reported, “Preliminary inquiries have given us clues and we will arrest the killers soon.” He continued, “Either business or political rivalry could be the reason for the murder.”

However, Sajan K. George, president of the Global Council of Indian Christians, has told Agenzia Fides, "This killing is yet another proof that Christian minorities are particularly vulnerable.” He adds, “Police are investigating but we believe Dhanasekharan was also killed because of his faith.”

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Pastor, Family in Pakistan Evicted from Home with Police Help after Muslims Attack

LAHORE, Pakistan, October 22, 2016 (Morning Star News) – Defying a court order, police in Punjab Province forcibly evicted a pastor and his family from their home this week after Muslims attacked in a bid to seize the property, sources said.

Pastor Michael Robert of the Seventh-day Adventist Church in Farooqabad, Sheikhupura District, about 55 kilometers (34 miles) from Lahore, was at home with his family in the Mohalla Sadiqabad area on Wednesday night (Oct. 19) when more than 50 armed men led by local Muslim Hameed Gaadi stormed their house and beat them, an attorney for advocacy group The Voice Society told Morning Star News.

“The attack left Pastor Robert, his father Robert Masih and his wife seriously injured,” Aneeqa Maria said. “The assailants arrived in the

dark of night and started firing in the air with their weapons to terrorize the locals. They then forced open Pastor Robert’s gate and attacked the family, thrashing them violently as they threw households items out in the open.”

Maria said the assailants sought to seize the property, which is already the subject of a legal dispute. Christians in 96-percent Muslim Pakistan are commonly deprived of rights by Muslims who believe they can act against the minority community with impunity.

“Gaadi and his men could have killed someone that night, but fortunately a local informed the police on the emergency helpline, and a police contingent arrived on the scene” Maria said.

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Christian Politician Stabbed To Death In India

Islamic Extremists Kill 12 More People in Mandera, Kenya

NAIROBI, Kenya, October 25, 2016 (Morning Star News) – Islamic extremists targeted Christians in the shooting deaths of 12 non-local Kenyans at a guest-house in Kenya’s northeastern town of Mandera early this morning, sources said.

Somali Al Shabaab rebels took responsibility for the pre-dawn attack on the guest-house, where a Kenyan theatre troupe from outside the area was staying, according to the militants’ radio affiliate. An area pastor told Morning Star News that Christians were targeted.

“Some of the students who died had visited my church for Sunday worship and had requested prayers,” he said. “The attackers knew exactly whom they were attacking, that is, the Christians.”

The pastor added that survivors told him that during the attack, the assailants were shouting, “Get rid of these infidel actors.”

The theatre group was made up of university students who reportedly travelled to the mainly Muslim area of Mandera to perform plays in local schools.

“This is a deadly attack targeting us Christians here in Mandera,” the pastor said. “Ten of the people who were killed were university students visiting Mandera for set-book [curriculum-related] performances at schools in the county for stage plays for Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education (KCSE) exam candidates. This is a

well-calculated attack on Christians, as this was the last day for the performers in Mandera.”

The BBC reported that the group’s producer said they had received threats. He told BBC that the gunmen set off explosions and fired at them repeatedly as some off the theatre members hid in bathrooms.

Earlier this month, suspected Al Shabaab militants targeted Christians in a grenade and gun attack in the early morning of Oct. 6 that killed six people, sources said.

Targeting predominantly Christian migrant workers from Kenya’s interior, Al Shabaab reportedly took responsibility for the attack at a residential compound in Mandera, with a spokesman for the militants saying it was designed to drive Christians from the area. At least one of the victims was reportedly a Muslim.

The attack in Mandera, tucked in Kenya’s northeast corner near the Somali border, reportedly wounded several others. Among 27 people rescued were Christians who arrived at their church traumatized and in shock.

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Persecution News

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PRISONER NAME LOCATION ARRESTED REVISED

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Behnam Irani Iran May 2011 October 2016

Behnam Irani, a 41-year-old pastor from Karaj, Iran, was convicted of crimes against national security in January 2011 and sentenced to one year in prison. After voluntarily surrendering to authorities on May 31 to begin his sentence, he learned that he would be forced to serve five years in connection with a previous conviction.

Officers from the Ministry of Intelligence and National Security (MOIS) raided Irani’s house church on April 14, 2010, and assaulted him before taking him into custody. Although he was released on bail two months after his arrest, he later received the one-year prison sentence.

When Irani voluntarily began serving his sentence in May 2011, he was prepared to spend one year in prison. But he received a letter in October stating that he must now serve five years from his previous sentence.

Behnam Irani Released! – Oct. 17, 2016

Behnam Irani was released from prison on Oct. 17, after spending six years in prison.

Behnam was originally given a five-year suspended sentence in 2008 after being charged with action against national security. He was re-arrested in 2010 during a house church service, and in May 2011, he was summoned to serve a one year prison sentence. Authorities later added his original five-year sentence to his detainment.

During his imprisonment, Behnam spent time in solitary confinement and suffered serious health problems.

Please pray for his continued spiritual, emotional and physical recovery.

Prisoner Profile

Bashgali in Pakistan The Bashgali reside in the Northwest Frontier Province, an area of much turmoil. Since ancient times the region has been invaded by numerous groups including Persians, Greeks, Scythians, Kushans, Huns, Arabs, Turks, Mongols, Mughals, Sikhs, and the British.

What Are Their Beliefs?

In ancient times the region was a major center of Buddhism, but of course today is very strongly Muslim.

What Are Their Needs

Persistent prayer is needed for all people groups in the Northwest Frontier Province of Pakistan. Spiritual battles are intense.

There likely are no followers of Jesus among the Bashgali tribe. But pray for those the Lord will one day call to himself. Pray for their protection in a dangerous region, and pray for Scripture and other resources to help them grow into Christ-likeness.

Pray for peace in the Northwest Frontier Province, and for the Bashgali community to be able to send their children to school.

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Muong in Vietnam

The Muong are one of the largest ethnic minorities in the Indochina region, as well as the second largest ethnic group in Vietnam. They inhabit the mountainous slopes of north central Vietnam, from the lower reaches of the Da River to the upper reaches of the Ma River. The Muong speak a Mon-Khmer language that is closely related to Vietnamese.

The Muong have an extraordinarily unified culture. One can pass

Unreached People Groups through large areas of Muong territory without ever passing through

the territory of another ethnic group. There is also a strong feeling of mutual aid within the Muong villages. Villagers willingly help one another in local projects, and depend on each other for mutual support and help during times of trouble.

What Are Their Beliefs?

The Muong practice their traditional ethnic religion, worshiping ancestral spirits and other supernatural deities. They are primarily animists, which means that they believe that non-living objects have spirits. They also deify local heroes who have died. However, with the introduction of modern medicine, adherence to many folk beliefs has declined.

What Are Their Needs:

More men than women were killed in the Vietnamese War, creating a skewed sex ratio among the Muong. Today, mostly widows and orphans remain. The women are now required to perform duties that once belonged to the men.

The Muong need emotional healing from horrors of war. This will only come when they meet Jesus, the Prince of Peace. Christian laborers, additional evangelistic tools, and intercession for the Muong are all desperately needed.

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Persecution News Page 6 of 8

Country Prisoner Link

China Alimujiang Yimiti http://www.prisoneralert.com/pprofiles/vp_prisoner_185_profile.html

China Huang Quirui http://www.prisoneralert.com/pprofiles/vp_prisoner_244_profile.html

China Lacheng Ren http://www.prisoneralert.com/pprofiles/vp_prisoner_228_profile.html

China Li Jiatao http://www.prisoneralert.com/pprofiles/vp_prisoner_243_profile.html

China Yang Hua http://www.prisoneralert.com/pprofiles/vp_prisoner_247_profile.html

China Yang Rongli http://www.prisoneralert.com/pprofiles/vp_prisoner_199_profile.html

Eritrea Dr. Kiflu Gebremeskel http://www.prisoneralert.com/pprofiles/vp_prisoner_159_profile.html

Eritrea Haile Nayzgi http://www.prisoneralert.com/pprofiles/vp_prisoner_142_profile.html

Eritrea Kidane Weldou http://www.prisoneralert.com/pprofiles/vp_prisoner_146_profile.html

Iran Ebrahim Firouzi http://www.prisoneralert.com/pprofiles/vp_prisoner_246_profile.html

Kazakhstan Yklas Kabduakasov http://www.prisoneralert.com/pprofiles/vp_prisoner_245_profile.html

Pakistan Asia Bibi http://www.prisoneralert.com/pprofiles/vp_prisoner_197_profile.html

Pakistan Imran Ghafur http://www.prisoneralert.com/pprofiles/vp_prisoner_204_profile.html

Sudan Hassan Abduraheem http://www.prisoneralert.com/pprofiles/vp_prisoner_249_profile.html

Sudan Kuwa Shamal http://www.prisoneralert.com/pprofiles/vp_prisoner_250_profile.html

Sudan Petr Jasek http://www.prisoneralert.com/pprofiles/vp_prisoner_248_profile.html

Uzbekistan Tohar Haydarov http://www.prisoneralert.com/pprofiles/vp_prisoner_205_profile.html

Story Link

Persecution Magazine – Oct 2016 http://tiny.cc/PN-Nov2016-14

Nigeria: Rebecca’s Story - Held Captive For Two Years By Boko Haram http://tiny.cc/PN-Nov2016-15

Persecution Of Church In China To Escalate As Zhejiang Experiment Goes National http://tiny.cc/PN-Nov2016-16

The Cost Of Sharing Christ http://tiny.cc/PN-Nov2016-17

Church Leader Operating In Middle East, Receives Death Threats, Asks For Prayer http://tiny.cc/PN-Nov2016-18

A Key Difference Between Communism And Democracy http://tiny.cc/PN-Nov2016-19

Sudan: Christ Is In Prison Again http://tiny.cc/PN-Nov2016-20

Prisoner List

Additional Stories

Persecution News

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Ref Link

1 http://tiny.cc/PN-Nov2016-01

2 http://tiny.cc/PN-Nov2016-02

3 http://tiny.cc/PN-Nov2016-03

4 http://tiny.cc/PN-Nov2016-04

5 http://tiny.cc/PN-Nov2016-05

6 http://tiny.cc/PN-Nov2016-06

7 http://tiny.cc/PN-Nov2016-07

8 http://tiny.cc/PN-Nov2016-08

9 http://tiny.cc/PN-Nov2016-09

10 http://tiny.cc/PN-Nov2016-10

11 http://tiny.cc/PN-Nov2016-11

12 http://tiny.cc/PN-Nov2016-12

13 http://tiny.cc/PN-Nov2016-13

Story Link

A New World http://tiny.cc/PN-Nov2016-21

Treasure http://tiny.cc/PN-Nov2016-22

VOM Staffer Visits Grave of Martyred Relatives

http://tiny.cc/PN-Nov2016-23

Persecution in Paradise; Sri Lanka

http://tiny.cc/PN-Nov2016-24

Soundcloud – Voice Of The Martyrs

http://tinycc/PN-SC-VOM

Links Extreme Devotion Russia: An Unnamed Prisoner

The widow stood near the body of her martyred husband, holding the hands of two of her four children. Her husband had died in prison, and the marks on his body made it clear that death had come slowly and painfully.

The other believers knew this could be their fate too, yet hundreds came to his funeral. He had died for his faith only three months after his conversion, and now they mourned him. The people crowded around the house where the funeral was being held, and many were inspired by his example. Eighty people publicly accepted Christ that day, including many young people who had been part of the Communist Youth Organization. The Christians walked the length of the city to the river, where they baptized the new believers. The crowd had now grown to over fifteen hundred people. Soon, carloads of police arrived. They set out to arrest the leaders of the service, for they couldn’t arrest everyone there. The Christians immediately knelt in prayer, asking God to allow them to finish the service. Then they stood, shoulder to shoulder, blocking the police from coming forward as the baptism service went on. The crowd dispersed only after all the new believers had been baptized, allowing the police to come forward. One thousand people were inspired by the sacrificial example of one new believer.

“Is It My Birthday Today, Or Yours?” The Young Christian Asked, A Twinkle In Her Eye.

“Yours today,” said her father. “Mine was last week.” For Christians in Communist nations, birthdays were a great excuse to get together with other believers. Some families would gather each week for a birthday party that was really an underground church service. Young people used these “parties” to strengthen their commitment to the gospel. In 1966 in Russia, three young boys and four girls were arrested for singing a hymn on a train. In court, the seven young people fell to their knees. “We surrender ourselves into the hands of God,” they said in front of the judge and the gathered witnesses. “We thank you, Lord, that you have allowed us to suffer for this faith.” After their confession, other Christians in the courtroom began to sing the very hymn for which the kids had been arrested. They said, “Let us dedicate our youth to Christ.” The Communists couldn’t stop the church from meeting and growing. One Russian newspaper told of a pastor who had been sent to prison three times. Each time he was released, he immediately went and held Sunday school meetings. These believers used whatever means possible to express their loyalty to God. They risked and suffered the condemnation of their country in service to God’s church.

Pastor Richard Wurmbrand:

Friendship with Jesus is costly. Faith alone saves, but saving faith is never alone. It is always accompanied by great sacrifices for Christ’s sake.

From A Missionary Who Works In China And North Korea:

The church has been and always will be persecuted. Everyone watches us. If we die in faith, hope, and love, it can change the history of nations. If we fail to stand in love and hope for our faith, nations often can reject Christ.

“Thou shalt not be a victim.

Thou shalt not be a perpetrator.

But, above all, thou shalt not be a bystander.”

Yehuda Bauer, Israeli historian and scholar of the Holocaust

Videos

Persecution News Page 8 of 8

Martyr’s Profile

William Fetty

Among the numberless enormities committed by the merciless and unfeeling Bonner, the murder of this innocent and unoffending child may be ranked as the most horrid. His father, John Fetty, of the parish of Clerkenwell, by trade a tailor, and only twenty-four years of age, had made a blessed election; he was fixed secure in eternal hope, and depended on Him who so builds his church that the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. But alas! the very wife of his bosom, whose heart was hardened against the truth, and whose mind was influenced by the teachers of false doctrine, became his accuser. Brokenbery, a creature of the pope, and parson of the parish, received the information of this wedded Delilah, in consequence of which the poor man was apprehended. But here the awful judgment of an ever-righteous God, "who is of purer eyes than to behold iniquity," fell upon this stone-hearted and perfidious woman; for no sooner was the injured husband captured by her wicked contriving, than she also was suddenly seized with madness, and exhibited an awful and awakening instance of God's power to punish the evil doer. This dreadful circumstance had some effect upon the hearts of the ungodly hunters who had eagerly grasped their prey; but, in a relenting moment, they suffered him to remain with his unworthy wife, to return her good for evil, and to comfort two children, who, on his being sent to prison, would have been left without a protector, or have become a burden to the parish. As bad men act from little motives, we may place the indulgence shown him to the latter account.

We have noticed in the former part of our narratives of the martyrs, some whose affection would have led them even to sacrifice their own lives, to preserve their husbands; but here, agreeable to Scripture language, a mother proves, indeed, a monster in nature! Neither conjugal nor maternal affection could impress the heart of this disgraceful woman.

Although our afflicted Christian had experienced so much cruelty and falsehood from the woman who was bound to him by every tie, both human and divine, yet, with a mild and forbearing spirit, he overlooked her misdeeds, during her calamity endeavouring all he could to procure relief for her malady, and soothing her by every possible expression of tenderness: thus she became in a few weeks nearly restored to her senses. But, alas! she returned again to her sin, "as the dog returneth to his vomit." Malice against the saints of the Most High was seated in her heart too firmly to be removed; and as her strength returned, her inclination to work wickedness returned with it. Her heart was hardened by the prince of darkness; and to her may be applied these afflicting and soul-harrowing words, "can[283] the Ethiopian change his skin, or the leopard his spots? then will they do good who are accustomed to do evil." Weighing this text duly with another, "I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy," how shall we presume to refine away the sovereignty of God, by arraigning Jehovah at the bar of human reason, which, in religious matters, is too often opposed by infinite wisdom? "Broad is the way which leadeth to death, and many walk therein. Narrow is the way which leadeth to life, and few there be who find it." The ways of heaven are indeed inscrutable, and it is our bounden duty to walk ever dependent on God, looking up to him with humble confidence, and hope in his goodness, and ever confess his justice; and where we "cannot unravel, there learn to trust." This wretched woman, pursuing the horrid dictates of a heart hardened and depraved, was scarcely confirmed in her recovery, when, stifling the dictates of honour, gratitude, and every natural affection, she again accused her husband, who was once more apprehended, and taken before Sir John Mordant, Knight, and one of queen Mary's commissioners.

Upon examination, his judge finding him fixed to opinions which militated against those nursed by superstition and maintained by cruelty he was sentenced to confinement and torture in Lollard's Tower. "Here (says honest Fox) he was put into the painful stocks, and had a dish of water set by him, with a stone put into it, to what purpose God knoweth, except it were to show that he should look for little other subsistence: which is credible enough, if we consider their like practices upon divers before mentioned in this history; as, among others, upon Richard Smith, who died through their cruel imprisonment; touching whom, when a godly woman came to Dr. Story to have leave that she might bury him, he asked her if he had any straw or blood in his mouth; but what he means thereby, I leave to the judgment of the wise."

On the first day of the third week of our martyr's sufferings, an object presented itself to his view, which made him indeed feel his tortures with all their force, and to execrate, with bitterness only short of cursing, the author of his misery. To mark and punish the proceedings of his tormentors, remained with the Most High, who noteth even the fall of a sparrow, and in whose sacred word it is written, "Vengeance is mine, and I will repay." This object was his own son, a child of the tender age of eight years. For fifteen days, had its hapless father been suspended by his tormentor by the right arm and left leg, and sometimes by both, shifting his positions for the purpose of giving him strength to bear and to lengthen the date of his sufferings. When the unoffending innocent, desirous of seeing and speaking to its parent, applied to Bonner for permission so to do, the poor child being asked by the bishop's chaplain the purport of his errand, he replied, he wished to see his father. "Who is thy father?" said the chaplain. "John Fetty," returned the boy, at the same time pointing to the place where he was confined. The interrogating miscreant[284] on this said, "Why, thy father is a heretic!" The little champion again rejoined, with energy sufficient to raise admiration in any breast, except that of this unprincipled and unfeeling wretch—this miscreant, eager to execute the behests of a remorseless queen—"My father is no heretic: for you have Balaam's mark."

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Foxe’s Book of Martyrs