RELIGIOUS CONFLICT ZONES
Christians caught in religious conflicts are generally located at the edge of the Muslim world in places where Islam is expanding. The conflicts often take on the status of ethnic conflicts and are usually reported as such. In other situations such as Chechnya and Iraq, the jihad does not descend or advance on a Christian people, but rather wells up from within a Muslim nation. The battle is for a classic Islamic state under Sharia (Islamic) Law, and all who oppose this outcome finish up as victims. The most significant zones of religious conflict that affect Christians today are:
- Chechyna in Southern Russia, and Iraq where hardline Islamists are struggling to create an Islamic state under Sharia Law.
- Central Sudan, Central Nigeria and Central Ivory Coast where Arab and Fulani Muslims are pushing southward to impose Islamic domination and eventually Sharia Law upon the Christian, animist and secular Africans.
- Eastern Indonesia (Central Sulawesi, Maluku and Papua) where Javanese Arab-influenced Muslims are advancing eastward to spread Islamic hegemony and ultimately Sharia Law among Christian and tribal peoples. Papua is probably the world’s most serious hot-spot for jihad. Papuan church leaders fear that genocide might be imminent.
- Southern Philippines where Moro, Arab-influenced Muslims, are fighting the predominantly Catholic government for an independent Islamic State under Sharia Law.
As in any war, religious war brings immense suffering and grief. Women are widowed, children are orphaned, and in some places captives are enslaved. Survivors, including the frail and elderly, are left homeless, while many are disfigured, disabled, debilitated and traumatised. Pray for our suffering brethren in these places that God will enable them to joyfully bear their trials. James 1:2-4). Pray too that the suffering will draw the churches together grow in unity and faith. Pray for the Church worldwide to respond by providing help, such as the orphanage run by Voice of the Martyrs in Nigeria for orphaned children of Christians killed in Kaduna, Central Nigeria.
ISRAEL/PALESTINE
THE conflict in this tiny strip of land is more than just a fight to liberate Palestine from Israeli occupation. The battle is not against flesh and blood but against evil principalities that seek to destroy both Jewish and Palestinian believers by pitting one against the other through hatred, fear and anger. It is also trying to destroy the unity of the International Body of Christ when Christians begin to take sides in this conflict.
There are no sides to take here. Instead, we need to stand with both Messianic Jewish believers as they face harassment from the ultra-orthodox groups and also for Palestinian Christians who are suffering from the conflict. For the Palestinians, the conflict has not only taken countless lives but has also caused severe hardship for the living. The unemployment rate is now 70% and rising. When life is hard, many families are fleeing to the West. The result is the Palestinian Church is dying.
Pray for the Messianic believers to withstand the harassment of the ultra-orthodox Jewish groups and that they will continue to boldly share their faith. Pray for the Palestinian Church to be anointed with courage and power from the Holy Spirit, so it may be salt and light to the Palestinians. Pray too for God to open the way at the border so that food and medical aid will quickly reach the suffering Palestinians. Pray for groups that are in the reconciliation ministry, such as Musalaha, which seeks to reconcile Messianic believers and Palestinian believers.
COMMUNIST COUNTRIES
Since Christianity cannot be eradicated, the best option is to control it. This is what Cuba, China, Vietnam and Belarus are doing, through state-sanctioned and Communist-controlled ‘official churches’ that adhere to the Communist Party’s rules. All worship and witness outside the government-designated churches is illegal. The governments of Laos and North Korea are committed to eliminating Christianity. In Laos, the government is using extreme hardship, imprisonment and torture to force Christians to renounce their faith. In North Korea, collective punishment (the incarceration of three generations of the offender’s family) is used to eradicate political dissent, including Christianity.
Pray for an end to the violent Communist oppression of Christianity; that the Church in these countries will continue to do good and be a blessing to their communities despite being perceived by their governments to be a threat to national security; for healing, courage and grace for all our suffering brethren. Pray too for the Church of North Korea, which exists primarily in horrendous prison and underground, that the cruelly abused believers will be preserved and strengthened in their faith and hope.
ERITREA
ERITREA is an example of a nation where Christians are being actively persecuted for reasons of jealousy and political expediency. More than 400 evangelicals are imprisoned for their faith. Most of them are kept in metal shipping containers that have been brought from the ports to accommodate the overflow of prisoners. The containers are hot, overcrowded and unventilated.
Pray that our persecuted brethren will experience God’s divine presence in their boxed prison and that though they are confined, their spirits will soar in worship. One source of persecution is jealousy from the Eritrean Orthodox Church, of which about 40% of all Eritreans are members of, giving it a significant political influence. During the 1990s, this Church experienced a revival but frustrated by resistance from the leadership, the renewed evangelicals left to plant churches which have grown and multiplied. Pray for a great sweeping revival in the Eritrean Orthodox Church. Pray that the government will restore full religious freedom. |
