PERSECUTION

VIDEO:

Live footage showing the anti-Christians destroying Christian buildings and a summary of David's first trip inside the worst-affected area to bring relief to some of the Believers.

OTHER TESTIMONIES

Jesus said, “Blessed are you when men revile you and … for righteousness sake. Rejoice and be glad, for great is your reward in heaven.” There is a strange dynamic in persecution; on the one hand we are very sad and upset because we are suffering unjustly, and we do everything possible to obtain justice and freedom to practice our faith. On the other hand though, there is a strange and overwhelming joy, because in suffering for Christ there is a partnership with Him that can be had no other way. Tertullian said, “The blood of the martyrs is the seed of the Church.” This is true, as wherever there is persecution, it results not in the Church diminishing, but rather in it becoming stronger.

Here are a few testimonies from recent occurrences. You will be inspired by the courage of these simple village pastors as they have laid down their lives for Christ…

Pastor Rajinder is a simple man. He knows only his native language, and hasn’t had much education. But he God has anointed him to preach the Gospel and with the gift of healing. He has been conducting “megachurch” meetings, with several thousand people attending every Sunday.  The gospel is being preached and God is confirming the message through signs and wonders.  The pastor has been working in this area for the last two decades and has faced opposition many times before, but in March 2007, anti-Christian gangs determined to stop the work once and for all.  The pastor was dragged out of his meeting, beaten severely and handed over to the police.  The police, who are also against Christian work, arrested him on charges of forcing people to convert to Christ, and for “disturbing the peace.” The fact is, those gangs who attacked him were the ones disturbing the peace, and the people attending the meeting had come entirely of their free will. So these are totally false charges.  Even on Easter, the meeting was stopped and some gangs planned to have the pastor killed.            

David, our coordinator of that region, and several other organizations got the pastor out of jail, and then we proceeded to fight the multi-fronted battle to clear him of charges. The first step was to find a lawyer who would represent us. Since all the lawyers are Hindus and mostly anti-Christian, this is a challenge. Then David stood as the authority behind him as he went through the ordeal of fighting the unjust legal proceedings and petitioning for permission to continue his church meetings.  By God's grace, we have now cleared him of all accusations.  Protecting his physical well-being has also been an issue. At one point, we took him to another city for safety because there were threats on his life.

In the past, there have been many other large church gatherings that have been forced to close because of similar opposition.  However, we believe God that this one will triumph and remain open, that many more people should come to the knowledge of Christ. 

Only a week following all the above battles, we came to know of yet another pastor - this one leading a church of 400 - who had also been jailed with the same accusations. He had been in the jail already 14 days, and no one had come forward to help him get released. So now we have also obtained his release. We are thankful to the Voice of the Martyrs for providing financially for all the above actions. Please stand with us prayerfully for all the persecuted Believers around the world. Pray that they would have the courage to stand for Christ and the character to love their enemies and to be a witness even in the time of persecution.

ALMOST A MARTYR

Pastor Virendra Singh leads a church of about 500 members, with up to 1,000 in attendance on Sunday. Early in September, a phone call came and he was told that he would be beaten up if he kept on holding his church meeting. The police promised to protect him, however on Sept 16, Pastor Virendra and his wife were riding their motorcycle to go to the church when they were stopped on the road by a mob of about 150 men. They pulled both of them off the motorcycle and began to beat them with fists, sticks and rocks.

Meanwhile all the believers were gathered at the meeting place, unaware of what was happening. But one believer happened to be coming along the road just as one member of the mob raised a large rock over the pastor's head as he was lying on the ground, intending to smash his skull. The believer was able to push the rock backward, saving the pastor from death. At another point someone was ready to smash his head with a large stick, but his wife intercepted it and he was again saved from death. The beating went on for 15-20 minutes. Finally the pastor and his wife managed to get to their motorcycle. The crowd had damaged the motorcycle, but with the mob still beating him, Pastor Virendra was able to get it started and he and his wife escaped. The attackers then went to the meeting place and began to verbally abuse the believers. They snatched their Bibles and burned them, and set everything on fire. The thatch-roof church building and everything in it was burned. 

Since that time Alok, our coordinator of that region and our team here have taken up this case and are standing with Pastor Virendra. Alok filed court cases against those who led the attack, and some of them have been put in jail. He also met with the police, and obtained police protection for Pastor Virendra. Since that time, hundreds of people continue to come to the service, and many are receiving miraculous healing and deliverance from demons. The police, who are now required to stand guard, are also hearing the Gospel and some are joining in the worship! And, that’s not all: Voice of the Martyrs is enabling us to reconstruct his church shelter... Only this time it will be built of concrete and steel... not so easily burned down!

Photos: Pastor Virendra leading his church... notice the burned area where his church once stood.

LADY MINISTER BEATEN ON GOOD FRIDAY

On Good Friday 2008, one of our churches was having a special ladies program. Someone complained that they were converting people to Christianity. The police came and arrested four women leaders including Sister Meera who was the speaker. They took them to the police station and interrogated them, demanding to know why they were departing from the Hindu traditions and following this "foreign God". They then beat Sister Meera with a stick. Our Varanasi Coordinator David immediately went to the police station and got the ladies released. Since then much more persecution has flared up in nearby Jaunpur District, where a South Indian missionary was badly beaten and his jeep destroyed and literature burned. Also, our Pastor Rajendra Chowhan has been issued a death threat if he continues to lead his 3,000 member church in Jaunpur. Pray for his safety and for all the believers.

CHRISTIAN LAWYERS NEEDED!

When a pastor or church planter is persecuted in North India, here is what usually happens:

1) The gang comes and attacks the pastor while he is preaching. They beat him up, destroy things, tear up or burn Bibles, and the believers are scattered.

2) The police come and file legal charges against the pastor, accusing him of forcibly converting people to Christianity. They drag the pastor to jail, where often they continue beating him.  

3) Our leaders go to the jail and pay money to get him bailed out. If he is hurt badly, they take him to the hospital.

4) Our leaders proceed to go to court to try to get the pastor cleared of the charges. There are no Christian lawyers, so we have to pay a Hindu lawyer terribly high prices.

5) Even then he sometimes doesn’t deal fairly with us because anti-Christian groups inside the court put pressure on him saying “you are a Hindu, so why are you helping Christians?” This makes it very hard for us to get any just decision in the court.

The solution to this problem is to take good young men who are already strong Christians, and train them as lawyers.  These lawyers will do much more than just defend pastors who are being persecuted; they will also work to get anti-Christian and discriminatory laws revoked, with the goal of putting an end to persecution in North India.

One of our best rising national leaders, Omprakash, is now enrolled in Law School. Please pray for him and for the persecuted believers in North India.

PHOTO: The only Christian lawyer we know in North India is Surendra Charan. Despite only a simple education, he is able to help us in many small areas. In the above photo, we have organized a meeting where he is teaching believers their rights as Christians. He helps them to understand that to accept Christ does not mean they are doing wrong according to the law of their land, which is what the Hindus constantly try to make them think. He also encourages them to take a bold stand for their Faith.

RECONVERSION-The behind-the-scenes story

 Last year 30,000 people in a particular area of North India made a decision to work against Christians. 10,000 of these received a license to carry guns for the purpose of stopping the Christian work. Already this year persecution has flared up. One anti-Christian leader came to the villages and commanded everyone to put up the “Om” symbol - representing veneration of Shiva and rejection of Christ - on their doors and windows.  In this way they are trying to find out who is a follower of Christ in each village. Once they have identified the followers of Christ who refuse to put up the Om symbol, they then come in a gang to that house. They threaten the family, saying “Do you want to remain in this village? Then you have to stop following Christ otherwise we will throw you out of the village.” If the Christian family refuses to put up the Om symbol, then they severely beat them. When they are half dead then they perform the religious rituals to “re-convert” them to Hinduism. The following day it will be declared, “In so and so village we have re-converted this many people to Hinduism.” This is happening in many villages, causing much fear. But we continue to lead people to Christ, because “the word of God is not bound.” Though they may kill our bodies, they cannot kill our souls. Please pray for us, as we stand for Christ in these difficult times. Please pray for all our brothers and sisters out in the remote villages, that they will remain courageous to stand for Christ despite this persecution.

 ~ David, Coordinator of this region