... newer stories
Mittwoch, 7. März 2018
SAUDI ARABIA IS MODERNISING, BUT WILL THIS MEAN GREATER FREEDOM FOR RELIGIOUS MINORITIES
fero, 18:01h
The political landscape in the strict Islamic Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is changing, and quickly. A charismatic crown prince seems determined to modernise his country and even speaks of a shift towards a more “moderate” Islam. But will the changes taking place in Saudi also ease the situation for members of non-Islamic faiths?
Continuation
https://www.mojakomunita.sk/web/persecutedchristians/other-world/-/blogs/saudi-arabia-is-modernising-but-will-this-mean-greater-freedom-for-religious-minorities-
Continuation
https://www.mojakomunita.sk/web/persecutedchristians/other-world/-/blogs/saudi-arabia-is-modernising-but-will-this-mean-greater-freedom-for-religious-minorities-
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Samstag, 20. Januar 2018
NORTH KOREA: ILLEGAL BIBLE LED KIM SANG-HWA TO JESUS
fero, 19:49h
Kim Sang-Hwa* is the daughter of a North Korean church leader. She now lives in South Korea; the most fortified border in the world separates her from her parents and her North Korean brothers and sisters in Christ. This is her story.
I come from a Christian family, although for a long time I wasn't even aware my parents were believers. Like so many Christian families, our family was banished in the 1950s to a remote village. However, my father was very good with his hands. I cannot share what his job was, because I don't want to endanger him now. But he was able to make good money. And my mother had relatives in China.
My parents continued to hide their faith from the outside world, but I remember waking up one night when I was six. Our house was very small, so we all slept in the same room. When I opened my eyes, I saw my father and mother under the blanket and I could hear the soft noise of the radio. Later I learned they were listening to a broadcast from a Christian radio station.
You can send a message of encouragement to believers in North Korea, which will be broadcast over the radio.
'I WAS AFRAID TO TOUCH THE BIBLE'
In our house was a hidden closet. When I was 12, I accidentally found it. I don't know why, but I started to feel inside the cabinet with my hand and I felt a book. I pulled it out, opened the book and began to read:
In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters. And God said, Let there be light: and there was light...
I began to shiver and dropped the book. I was so scared. My discovery could cost me my life. I was afraid to touch the Bible, but I couldn't just leave it there. I closed my eyes, picked up the book and put it back.
I weighed up my options. Should I tell my teacher? Should I visit the local security official? For fifteen days I couldn't think about anything else. I knew it was my duty to report this illegal book. But it was my family which was involved. And I also had all these questions: Who is this God? Or 'what'?
Finally, I had the courage to ask my father. He was very surprised and sat next to me. "Do you see those old trees?" he asked me. "Who made those?" I said I didn't know.
My father explained the story of creation to me, including how God had made Adam and Eve. Then he turned to me and asked me another question. "What is the most dangerous animal?" I did not know why, but I answered: "The snake." He told me how sin came into the world.
It was the first of many conversations we had about the Bible, about God, Jesus and the Gospel. He explained many Bible stories to me. I was not a real believer yet, but they did make a lot of sense to me. I felt sorry for all those people who didn't know the truth. Even my older siblings were unaware.
My mother taught me to memorise Bible verses and the Apostolic Creed and also explained the gospel to me. My grandfather showed me how to pray. "It is just talking to God. Nothing more, nothing less." He spoke a lot about Jesus' Second Coming. He really longed for that.
To me all those stories and ideas were so interesting. I also read the Bible for myself. But I realized it was dangerous. My father always emphasised not to share anything with anyone else. Then he would start to pray in whispers, almost inaudible. "Father, help the North Korean people to seek your Kingdom first."
Every £20 can provide Bible study materials for two courageous North Korean believers, to build their faith and bring them comfort.
Continuation is on:
https://www.mojakomunita.sk/en/web/persecutedchristians/other-world/-/blogs/north-korea-illegal-bible-led-kim-sang-hwa-to-jesus
I come from a Christian family, although for a long time I wasn't even aware my parents were believers. Like so many Christian families, our family was banished in the 1950s to a remote village. However, my father was very good with his hands. I cannot share what his job was, because I don't want to endanger him now. But he was able to make good money. And my mother had relatives in China.
My parents continued to hide their faith from the outside world, but I remember waking up one night when I was six. Our house was very small, so we all slept in the same room. When I opened my eyes, I saw my father and mother under the blanket and I could hear the soft noise of the radio. Later I learned they were listening to a broadcast from a Christian radio station.
You can send a message of encouragement to believers in North Korea, which will be broadcast over the radio.
'I WAS AFRAID TO TOUCH THE BIBLE'
In our house was a hidden closet. When I was 12, I accidentally found it. I don't know why, but I started to feel inside the cabinet with my hand and I felt a book. I pulled it out, opened the book and began to read:
In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters. And God said, Let there be light: and there was light...
I began to shiver and dropped the book. I was so scared. My discovery could cost me my life. I was afraid to touch the Bible, but I couldn't just leave it there. I closed my eyes, picked up the book and put it back.
I weighed up my options. Should I tell my teacher? Should I visit the local security official? For fifteen days I couldn't think about anything else. I knew it was my duty to report this illegal book. But it was my family which was involved. And I also had all these questions: Who is this God? Or 'what'?
Finally, I had the courage to ask my father. He was very surprised and sat next to me. "Do you see those old trees?" he asked me. "Who made those?" I said I didn't know.
My father explained the story of creation to me, including how God had made Adam and Eve. Then he turned to me and asked me another question. "What is the most dangerous animal?" I did not know why, but I answered: "The snake." He told me how sin came into the world.
It was the first of many conversations we had about the Bible, about God, Jesus and the Gospel. He explained many Bible stories to me. I was not a real believer yet, but they did make a lot of sense to me. I felt sorry for all those people who didn't know the truth. Even my older siblings were unaware.
My mother taught me to memorise Bible verses and the Apostolic Creed and also explained the gospel to me. My grandfather showed me how to pray. "It is just talking to God. Nothing more, nothing less." He spoke a lot about Jesus' Second Coming. He really longed for that.
To me all those stories and ideas were so interesting. I also read the Bible for myself. But I realized it was dangerous. My father always emphasised not to share anything with anyone else. Then he would start to pray in whispers, almost inaudible. "Father, help the North Korean people to seek your Kingdom first."
Every £20 can provide Bible study materials for two courageous North Korean believers, to build their faith and bring them comfort.
Continuation is on:
https://www.mojakomunita.sk/en/web/persecutedchristians/other-world/-/blogs/north-korea-illegal-bible-led-kim-sang-hwa-to-jesus
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Dienstag, 19. Dezember 2017
THE STORY OF AN UNDERGROUND CATHOLIC PRIEST IN CHINA
fero, 20:37h
Fr. Joseph of Jesus is a Chinese priest, faithful to the Catholic Church. Life is not easy for Catholics in China. Those who adhere to Rome are persecuted by the Chinese government, which only grants freedom of worship to those belonging to the state-controlled Patriotic Church.
Fr. Joseph recently shared his story on the “In the Footsteps of the Nazarene” program by the EUK Mamie Foundation, run by the Home of the Mother of Youth congregation of religious sisters.
His back faces the camera in the interview, and the precise details of his life in China, as well as his precise location – he is currently in Europe – are withheld for security reasons.
Fr. Joseph described what it was like growing up in a Catholic family in China. He is the third of five children, despite the rigid one-child policy instituted by the Chinese government.
“From time to time when the police would come into town, my parents had to go into hiding, away from us,” he said. “My older brother took care of us, we also had to hide everything we had in the house, because if the government discovered there was more than one child, they could take everything away from us.”
“Because they had more than one child, some Catholic parents had their houses destroyed and they were left with nothing,” the priest said.
“It was a test of faith, because as a child you don't understand why it is that because you're Catholic you have to live on less food and be separated from your parents,” he said.
However, he still persevered in his faith. His brother is also a Catholic priest.
The Catholic faith was maintained through “the domestic Church,” with families praying Lauds or Vespers secretly, and especially the Rosary.
“The Rosary is what gave us the strength for years because we didn't have the sacraments or priests; but the faithful prayed every day at least one Rosary in the early morning and another one at night,” and at the end they said a “prayer to Our Lady of Fatima who gave us the strength to live as true Christians,” he recounted.
At age 15, Fr. Joseph felt that he was being called to the priesthood.
“I was thinking that in China there are a lot of people who don't know Christ and the Catholic Church because we Christians are a minority,” he said. “So I thought that when I finished my studies I would go to the seminary and become a priest. That moment changed my life because I saw what the Lord wanted for me.”
He was inspired in his decision by the local pastor in the area, a dedicated priest responsible for 60 villages, who would celebrate Mass in the five largest villages, traveling from one to the next by bicycle.
“He's an example of faithfulness to Christ and the Church because he didn't want to be part of the official Chinese church and consequently he had to spend some time in prison or under house arrest,” Fr. Joseph said.
However, the priest accepted the sufferings that came to him, Fr. Joseph said, adding that at more than 80 years of age, that priest still wakes up at 3:30 every morning to pray and celebrate Mass.
“His exemplary life was decisive for me in finding my vocation. He is a priest for everyone, with such exemplary dedication.”
For more than 60 years, Catholics have faced persecution in China. The government-endorsed church, known as the “Chinese Catholic Patriotic Association” is loyal to Chinese communist authorities, who claim the right to decide whom to appoint as bishops, an authority that the Catholic Church reserves to the Pope.
Continuation on
https://www.mojakomunita.sk/en/web/persecutedchristians/other-world/-/blogs/the-story-of-an-underground-catholic-priest-in-china
Fr. Joseph recently shared his story on the “In the Footsteps of the Nazarene” program by the EUK Mamie Foundation, run by the Home of the Mother of Youth congregation of religious sisters.
His back faces the camera in the interview, and the precise details of his life in China, as well as his precise location – he is currently in Europe – are withheld for security reasons.
Fr. Joseph described what it was like growing up in a Catholic family in China. He is the third of five children, despite the rigid one-child policy instituted by the Chinese government.
“From time to time when the police would come into town, my parents had to go into hiding, away from us,” he said. “My older brother took care of us, we also had to hide everything we had in the house, because if the government discovered there was more than one child, they could take everything away from us.”
“Because they had more than one child, some Catholic parents had their houses destroyed and they were left with nothing,” the priest said.
“It was a test of faith, because as a child you don't understand why it is that because you're Catholic you have to live on less food and be separated from your parents,” he said.
However, he still persevered in his faith. His brother is also a Catholic priest.
The Catholic faith was maintained through “the domestic Church,” with families praying Lauds or Vespers secretly, and especially the Rosary.
“The Rosary is what gave us the strength for years because we didn't have the sacraments or priests; but the faithful prayed every day at least one Rosary in the early morning and another one at night,” and at the end they said a “prayer to Our Lady of Fatima who gave us the strength to live as true Christians,” he recounted.
At age 15, Fr. Joseph felt that he was being called to the priesthood.
“I was thinking that in China there are a lot of people who don't know Christ and the Catholic Church because we Christians are a minority,” he said. “So I thought that when I finished my studies I would go to the seminary and become a priest. That moment changed my life because I saw what the Lord wanted for me.”
He was inspired in his decision by the local pastor in the area, a dedicated priest responsible for 60 villages, who would celebrate Mass in the five largest villages, traveling from one to the next by bicycle.
“He's an example of faithfulness to Christ and the Church because he didn't want to be part of the official Chinese church and consequently he had to spend some time in prison or under house arrest,” Fr. Joseph said.
However, the priest accepted the sufferings that came to him, Fr. Joseph said, adding that at more than 80 years of age, that priest still wakes up at 3:30 every morning to pray and celebrate Mass.
“His exemplary life was decisive for me in finding my vocation. He is a priest for everyone, with such exemplary dedication.”
For more than 60 years, Catholics have faced persecution in China. The government-endorsed church, known as the “Chinese Catholic Patriotic Association” is loyal to Chinese communist authorities, who claim the right to decide whom to appoint as bishops, an authority that the Catholic Church reserves to the Pope.
Continuation on
https://www.mojakomunita.sk/en/web/persecutedchristians/other-world/-/blogs/the-story-of-an-underground-catholic-priest-in-china
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Sonntag, 8. Oktober 2017
EGYPT: EX-KIDNAPPER ADMITS ‘THEY GET PAID FOR EVERY COPTIC CHRISTIAN GIRL THEY BRING IN’
fero, 18:41h
“I remember a Coptic Christian girl from a rich, well-known family in Minya. She was kidnapped by five Muslim men. They held her in a house, stripped her and filmed her naked. In the video, one of them also undressed. They threatened to make the video public if the girl wouldn’t marry him.”
‘G’, an Egyptian, admits he was in a network actively targeting Coptic girls for years before he left Islam; he says that the kidnapping of such girls is now at an all-time high. “Salafist networks began in the seventies and it’s reached its highest levels now, in the era of President Sisi… A group of kidnappers meets in a mosque to discuss potential victims. They keep a close eye on Christians’ houses and monitor everything that’s going on. On that basis, they weave a spider’s web around [the girls],” he says.
Strategies can be subtle. “A Muslim boy tells a Christian girl he loves her and wants to convert to Christianity for her,” ‘G’ explains. “They start a romantic relationship until one day they decide to ‘escape’ together. What the girls don’t know is that they are actually being kidnapped. Most of the time they will not marry their kidnapper, but someone else.”
KIDNAPPING OF A MINOR
This summer there were two ‘kidnap’ incidents within two days.
Sixteen-year-old Marilyn was kidnapped through this ‘love’ tactic, as her family priest, Father Boutros Khalaf, explains, when we meet in their village, Balansora, Minya province, as her desperate parents cry nearby. “On Wednesday evening [28 June, 2017] at 5pm, Marilyn disappeared. Her mother searched everywhere but couldn’t find her. Some people told us that she had been kidnapped by a young man named Taha. He had taken her to a farm where he works,” says Fr Khalaf.
An Egyptian researcher, who wants to remain anonymous, confirmed to World Watch Monitor over the phone: “Marilyn was seduced by a recruit of a Salafi organisation. She was involved in a love affair; he was then able to convince her to run away with him. Marilyn isn’t 18 yet. So even if she had agreed to go with Taha, in our law this is clearly a case of kidnapping a minor.”
The day before, 15-year-old Neveen Adly Beshai Sawiris was pushed into a car with force by two men as she walked along a street in Cairo. Her 38-year-old kidnapper later confessed he had forged her papers to show her as an over-18 and married her.
He was charged with kidnapping a minor, forgery, and inciting sectarian strife.
PRESSURE TO CONVERT
‘G’, who knows the groups from the inside, says, “The kidnappers receive large amounts of money. Police can help them in different ways, and when they do, they might also receive a part of the financial reward the kidnappers are paid by the Islamisation organisations. In some cases, police provide the kidnappers with drugs they seize. The drugs are then given to the girls to weaken their resistance as they put them under pressure. I even know of cases in which police offered helped to beat up the girls to make them recite the Islamic creed.
“And the value of the reward increases whenever the girl has a position. For example, when she is the daughter of a priest or comes from a well-known family.”
Many girls are handed over to extremists, ‘G’ explains. “The Salafist group I knew rented apartments in different areas of Egypt to hide kidnapped Coptic girls,” he says. “There, they put them under pressure and threaten them to convert to Islam. And once they reach the legal age, a specially arranged Islamic representative comes in to make the conversion official, issue a certificate and accordingly they change their ID.”
Marilyn’s father, Medhat Saad Edward, shares: “I filed a report in two police stations, and I gave the names of the kidnappers and the place where they hid my daughter. But the police haven’t arrested them. They didn’t even get in touch with Taha’s brother, who lives in the village and is in touch with Taha.”
“If all goes to plan, the girls are also forced into marriage with a strict Muslim. Their husbands don’t love them, they just marry her to make her a Muslim. She will be hit and humiliated. And if she tries to escape, or convert back to her original religion, she will be killed.”
Continuation:
https://www.mojakomunita.sk/en/web/persecutedchristians/other-world/-/blogs/egypt-ex-kidnapper-admits-%E2%80%98they-get-paid-for-every-coptic-christian-girl-they-bring-in%E2%80%99
‘G’, an Egyptian, admits he was in a network actively targeting Coptic girls for years before he left Islam; he says that the kidnapping of such girls is now at an all-time high. “Salafist networks began in the seventies and it’s reached its highest levels now, in the era of President Sisi… A group of kidnappers meets in a mosque to discuss potential victims. They keep a close eye on Christians’ houses and monitor everything that’s going on. On that basis, they weave a spider’s web around [the girls],” he says.
Strategies can be subtle. “A Muslim boy tells a Christian girl he loves her and wants to convert to Christianity for her,” ‘G’ explains. “They start a romantic relationship until one day they decide to ‘escape’ together. What the girls don’t know is that they are actually being kidnapped. Most of the time they will not marry their kidnapper, but someone else.”
KIDNAPPING OF A MINOR
This summer there were two ‘kidnap’ incidents within two days.
Sixteen-year-old Marilyn was kidnapped through this ‘love’ tactic, as her family priest, Father Boutros Khalaf, explains, when we meet in their village, Balansora, Minya province, as her desperate parents cry nearby. “On Wednesday evening [28 June, 2017] at 5pm, Marilyn disappeared. Her mother searched everywhere but couldn’t find her. Some people told us that she had been kidnapped by a young man named Taha. He had taken her to a farm where he works,” says Fr Khalaf.
An Egyptian researcher, who wants to remain anonymous, confirmed to World Watch Monitor over the phone: “Marilyn was seduced by a recruit of a Salafi organisation. She was involved in a love affair; he was then able to convince her to run away with him. Marilyn isn’t 18 yet. So even if she had agreed to go with Taha, in our law this is clearly a case of kidnapping a minor.”
The day before, 15-year-old Neveen Adly Beshai Sawiris was pushed into a car with force by two men as she walked along a street in Cairo. Her 38-year-old kidnapper later confessed he had forged her papers to show her as an over-18 and married her.
He was charged with kidnapping a minor, forgery, and inciting sectarian strife.
PRESSURE TO CONVERT
‘G’, who knows the groups from the inside, says, “The kidnappers receive large amounts of money. Police can help them in different ways, and when they do, they might also receive a part of the financial reward the kidnappers are paid by the Islamisation organisations. In some cases, police provide the kidnappers with drugs they seize. The drugs are then given to the girls to weaken their resistance as they put them under pressure. I even know of cases in which police offered helped to beat up the girls to make them recite the Islamic creed.
“And the value of the reward increases whenever the girl has a position. For example, when she is the daughter of a priest or comes from a well-known family.”
Many girls are handed over to extremists, ‘G’ explains. “The Salafist group I knew rented apartments in different areas of Egypt to hide kidnapped Coptic girls,” he says. “There, they put them under pressure and threaten them to convert to Islam. And once they reach the legal age, a specially arranged Islamic representative comes in to make the conversion official, issue a certificate and accordingly they change their ID.”
Marilyn’s father, Medhat Saad Edward, shares: “I filed a report in two police stations, and I gave the names of the kidnappers and the place where they hid my daughter. But the police haven’t arrested them. They didn’t even get in touch with Taha’s brother, who lives in the village and is in touch with Taha.”
“If all goes to plan, the girls are also forced into marriage with a strict Muslim. Their husbands don’t love them, they just marry her to make her a Muslim. She will be hit and humiliated. And if she tries to escape, or convert back to her original religion, she will be killed.”
Continuation:
https://www.mojakomunita.sk/en/web/persecutedchristians/other-world/-/blogs/egypt-ex-kidnapper-admits-%E2%80%98they-get-paid-for-every-coptic-christian-girl-they-bring-in%E2%80%99
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Samstag, 16. September 2017
Miracle
fero, 17:54h
There are things, which we can not understand. But they happen anyway. The miracle which happend to the monk in Iraq some years ago is very interesting. If you want to know more about it, read
https://www.mojakomunita.sk/en/web/persecutedchristians/other-world/-/blogs/the-miracle-that-saved-a-priest-from-a-jihadist%E2%80%99s-knife
https://www.mojakomunita.sk/en/web/persecutedchristians/other-world/-/blogs/the-miracle-that-saved-a-priest-from-a-jihadist%E2%80%99s-knife
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Freitag, 7. Juli 2017
China
fero, 18:14h
Das Leben in China ist für viele von uns unbekannt. Wir erfahren nur ab und zu etwas davon von Chinesen, die von der Heimat heimlich wegliefen. Hier ist eine englische Geschichte eines Kämpfers für Demokratie, der Angriff auf Studenten auf dem Platz des himmlischen Friedens 1989 überlebte. Er beschrieb sein Leben im Buch.
Mehr davon
http://www.mojakomunita.sk/en/web/persecutedchristians/other-world/-/blogs/how-a-despairing-hate-filled-chinese-freedom-fighter-found-christ
Mehr davon
http://www.mojakomunita.sk/en/web/persecutedchristians/other-world/-/blogs/how-a-despairing-hate-filled-chinese-freedom-fighter-found-christ
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Donnerstag, 6. Oktober 2016
Indien
fero, 15:19h
Es ist unglaublich, wo überall haben Leute Probleme mit ihrem Glauben. Gläubige Christen in Indien überleben jetzt schwere Zeiten. Wer interessiert sich darüber, kann weiter lesen in English auf
http://www.mojakomunita.sk/en/web/persecutedchristians/other-world/-/blogs/hindu-radicals-use-siege-like-tactics-to-choke-christianity-out-of-village-in-india
http://www.mojakomunita.sk/en/web/persecutedchristians/other-world/-/blogs/hindu-radicals-use-siege-like-tactics-to-choke-christianity-out-of-village-in-india
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Donnerstag, 29. September 2016
Verfolgung
fero, 00:06h
Ich weiß dass viele Leute Probleme haben. Schwierigkeiten, die Christen in moslemischen Ländern haben, sind aber viel großer als wir hier in Europa haben. Würdest du imstande sein dein Leben für Jesus wie Deborah geben?
Wenn es dich interessiert, lese weiter in Englisch:
http://www.mojakomunita.sk/en/web/persecutedchristians/other-world/-/blogs/nigeria-update-from-deborah-shettima
Wenn es dich interessiert, lese weiter in Englisch:
http://www.mojakomunita.sk/en/web/persecutedchristians/other-world/-/blogs/nigeria-update-from-deborah-shettima
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