"Kenneth Bae, Jeffrey Fowle, and Matthew Miller called on the White House to send a high-ranking official to negotiate their release, and delivered messages to their families back home, the Associated Press reports..."
"Three Americans being held in North Korea were allowed to speak to the media on Monday, and plead for their release.
"Kenneth Bae, Jeffrey Fowle, and Matthew Miller called on the White House to send a high-ranking official to negotiate their release, and delivered messages to their families back home, the Associated Press reports..."
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"...According to the Libya Herald, “They were in a vehicle with three other Egyptians, who are Muslims, and had just passed through Sirte when they were stopped at a checkpoint. Armed men asked to see the passengers’ papers and passports. Then they began asking each passenger about his religious beliefs”.
"According to one of the other passengers, when the armed men realized that four of the Egyptians were Christians, they ordered them to disembark and ordered the driver to depart with the other three. "One of the passengers and the driver tried to asked what was going to happen to the victims. The abductors became angry and began to threaten them, telling them to leave immediately. "When the remaining passengers reached Egypt, one of them informed the family of the victims. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs has been notified and has promised to take action..." "...National missionaries are doing everything they can to help those who were told by ISIS to convert to Islam or die. “They are displaced. They have no work. They left everything behind. The basic need would be food and water. The temperatures have been up to 120 degrees [Fahrenheit].”
"There are spiritual needs, too. Many of those forced from their homes are being called Christians because they’re non-Muslims. VanValkenburg says many are “cultural Christians, and this is a real wake-up call for them spiritually, to search themselves in terms of what they really believe and if they really do trust in Christ...'" "...So, is the situation tragic? VanValkenberg says yes, but “it’s a time when people’s spiritual antennae are up, and they’re very much listening and willing to hear. They’re very, very open to finding out what is an answer to the way they look at the world and deal with ‘my own walk with God.’” "While Christians are providing much-needed aid, Scripture, testimonies, and love come with that aid. It’s making a difference..."
Unravelling the Hidden Persecution in Vietnam
By ICC Correspondent for Vietnam 09/02/2014 Washington D.C. International Christian Concern On September 2, 1945,Vietnam declared its independence and, in a speech, Ho Chi Minh invoked the United States Declaration of Independence and the French Revolution's Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen. Tragically, 69 years later, the Vietnamese government is still trying to crush the rights, especially the religious rights, of its minority tribes, including Hmong, Montagnards, and Khmer Krom. The Christian-majority Hmong tribes are suffering under extreme persecution at the moment. The Hmong tribe helped the U.S. fight the Communists during the Vietnam War and were considered traitors. They are being pushed further and further into the mountainous areas of the central highlands, facing poverty, unemployment, contaminated water, malaria, lack of medical facilities and lack of education. "The government is deliberately keeping them poor, uneducated and away from any contact with the West," a local contact in Vietnam told ICC during an interview. "The soil is rocky, infertile and barren, so eking out even subsistence living is very difficult." Tourists or foreigners are forbidden to mix with people from villages by the Vietnamese government. "The Vietnamese government's approach to religion is 'deceitful.' On one hand, they allow state-sanctioned churches in cities to grow," Dr. Thang D. Nguyen, the President of the Boat People SOS, explained. "On the other, they clamp down independent underground churches of minorities." The Vietnamese government appoints the 'pastors' of state-sanctioned churches with government officials and is able to show the outside world that there is a growing number of Christian churches in Vietnam, in order to placate international pressure. However, the "real Christian churches" are seriously oppressed. Moreover, the past year has seen religious persecution growing in Vietnam's minority tribes. ICC obtained a list of 50 imprisoned pastors in Vietnam, and their family members, all of whom are living in poor conditions. Many pastors have reported experiences of being imprisoned and tortured and some vanished without a trace. "A year ago, I was able to meet Hmong pastors in a populous area, but not this year," a local contact told ICC. "They were too scared to travel or draw attention to themselves. They told us stories of being followed, searched and beaten." Despite the persecution, the Hmong churches are growing quickly and an ICC reporter met with some pastors with churches of 300 people. "Those churches want to grow and need Bibles," said ICC's local contact, "People there are so poor that they also need the basic necessities of life- clean water, sanitation, and food on the table." ICC's Regional Manager for Southeast Asia, Sooyoung Kim, said, "The Vietnamese government fails to respect its citizens' religious beliefs. The government intimidates, harasses,arrests, beats, and even kills people from religious minorities, leaving them in a desperate situation. ICC calls on the Vietnamese government to stop hiding its brutal tactics toward Hmong, Montagnards, and Khmer Krom people from the international community. We urge the government to take measures to guarantee that its citizens' rights to religious freedom are upheld among religious minorities." For interviews, contact Sooyoung Kim, Regional Manager for Southeast Asia: [email protected] # # # You are free to disseminate this news story. We request that you reference ICC (International Christian Concern) and include our web address, www.persecution.org. ICC is a Washington-DC based human rights organization that exists to help persecuted Christians worldwide. ICC provides Awareness, Advocacy, and Assistance to the worldwide persecuted Church. For additional information or for an interview, contact ICC at 800-422-5441. "Just as a crucible can withstand very high temperatures, so is Cameroon being tested by the heat of persecution.
"Bruce Smith, President and CEO of Wycliffe Associates, explains that the country is wedged in between Nigeria and the Central African Republic. “The borders of these countries are somewhat porous. This is the situation that Cameroon is starting to experience: they’re being impacted from the West from the Boko Haram terrorism, and they’re being impacted by the East from the Seleka rebels and things like that in the CAR.” "Violence from both insurgencies is disruptive, but rather than stopping Gospel workers, it’s spurring them to greater action. Smith explains that because so many people are facing their mortality, there’s an increased appetite for Truth. "The national translation team remains focused on one thing: “We’ve got to act now to get God’s Word to our people so that these outside pressures don’t overcome us...'” "Even as some prominent Christians are calling on the U.S. to take more forceful military action against Islamic extremists in Iraq and Syria, more than 50 mainly Catholic and Protestant leaders are telling President Obama to halt American airstrikes and pursue solely peaceful means to resolve the conflict.
“'While the dire plight of Iraqi civilians should compel the international community to respond in some way, U.S. military action is not the answer,” the 53 clergy, theologians and religious sisters and brothers write in the Aug. 27 open letter. “'Lethal weapons and airstrikes will not remove the threat to a just peace in Iraq,” they continue. “As difficult as it might be, in the face of this great challenge, we believe that the way to address the crisis is through long-term investments in supporting inclusive governance and diplomacy, nonviolent resistance, sustainable development, and community-level peace and reconciliation processes.” "The signatories note that while Pope Francis recently said it was “licit to stop the unjust aggressor” — referring to the Islamic State, or IS — the pontiff underscored that he was not endorsing bombing or warfare..." |
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