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Apr. 5, 2019
Save The Persecuted Christians brings you news of anti-Christian violence in today’s SaveUs Minute
China offers cash rewards for turning in Christians
Christians in China have a price on their head. The Chinese government is offering a cash reward for those who turn in members of its vast network of underground churches and lead authorities to “unofficial” places of worship.
Betrayers, who help the government to identify and arrest preachers and believers, can be paid the equivalence of up to two months salary for informing on their neighbors.
The cash incentives, reports a U.K. Christian rights organization, are part of a renewed nationwide effort to bring all religious groups under the control of the Communist Party.
The head of a national committee for Government-approved Protestant churches, recently accused the West of trying to use independent churches to subvert the Communist regime.
He said: “Anti-China western forces seek to upset our country’s social stability or even overthrow our government through Christianity.”
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Apr. 4, 2019

Save The Persecuted Christians brings you news of anti-Christian violence in today’s SaveUs Minute

Church Vandalism in France increases

In France, vandalism of churches is on the rise with nearly three churches per day targeted over the past three years. According to the French Ministry of the Interior, the number of acts of vandalism rose to 1,063 in 2018.

In one week alone this year France saw twelve churches vandalized, including attackers attempting to set fire to a church in Paris. Vandals smeared feces on the wall of the church of Notre-Dame des Enfants and stole objects from the altar. In March, the over 800-year-old Basilica of Saint-Denis in the now heavily migrant-populated suburbs of Paris was seriously vandalized.

Some have actively spoken out against the rise in anti-Christian acts in France, such as Cardinal Robert Sarah, who said: “They are the sad reflection of a sick civilisation that lets itself be swept away in the nets of evil. The bishops, priests, and the faithful must keep up their strength and courage.”

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Catholic bishop arrested in China

SaveUS Minute
Apr. 3, 2019
Save The Persecuted Christians brings you news of anti-Christian violence in today’s SaveUs Minute

A Chinese bishop has been arrested in China for allegedly failing to abide by the agreement signed between China and the Holy See six months ago.

Bishop Augustine Cui Tai was arrested March 29.

A priest from his underground Catholic community who wished to remain anonymous said, “The government’s aim is to paralyze the diocese. If the diocese fails to manage the community then the government will use this as an opportunity to take it over.”
Critics say the Vatican has adopted a go-soft policy in China, with negotiations aimed at restoring ties between Beijing and the Holy See taking precedent over the plight of members of the underground church. The situation of clergy in detention remains unresolved. Religious liberties have been subjected to a crackdown over the past year across the country, with strengthened government oversight of religious activities.

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11/27/2018

Save The Persecuted Christians brings you news of anti- Christian violence in today’s SaveUs Minute

Twelve Christian men from Darfur have been arrested by officers of the Sudan National Intelligence and Security Services (NISS) for mingling with the local Muslim community.

Darfur is a predominantly Muslim, war-torn region with strict adherence to Sharia. Christians in Sudan who convert from Islam often face discrimination, hostility and imprisonment as a result of their faith. Known as “apostates,” they face danger from their families, neighbors and the state. The penalty for apostasy in Islam is death.

Sudan is ranked number 4 on the World Watch List of the top 50 countries where it is most dangerous to be a Christian. Open Doors says persecution in Sudan comes from the government and radical Muslims and is systematic and reminiscent of ethnic cleansing.

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Nov/26/2018

Save The Persecuted Christians brings you news of anti- Christian violence in today’s SaveUs Minute

On November 10, Chinese Pastor Huang Xiaoning from Guangzhou Bible Reformed Church was detained for five days by the police for ‘disrupting public services.

China Aid, a human rights watchdog, reports Pastor Huang decided to fast and pray inside the police station for the five-days to protest increased government harassment of Christians following new regulations on religious affairs published in February. He is the fourth pastor in China who has been detained for ‘disobedience.’

China Aid also reported that police officers were stationed outside of the church to discourage members from attending worship and the church doors were sealed off by authorities.

“Disturbance of church services and detention of Christians are becoming much more frequent,” said Gina Goh, “as the Chinese government continues its campaign to crack down on Christianity.”

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11/07/2018

Save The Persecuted Christians brings you news of anti- Christian violence in today’s SaveUs Minute

Armed separatists have kidnapped at least 78 students and their principal from a Presbyterian school in Cameroon's restive northwest region.

A video purportedly of the kidnapped children has been released on social media via men who call themselves Amba boys, a reference to the state of Ambazonia that armed separatists are trying to establish in Cameroon's northwest and southwest regions.

The incident follows only one week after U.S. citizen and missionary, Charles Wesco, was shot and killed in front of his wife and son. Paul Wesco, who had only recently arrived in Cameroon with his wife and 8 children was the brother of Indiana Legislator Timothy Wesco.

At least 400 civilians have been killed in violence since civil unrest broke out in 2016. Tens of thousands have fled the country as refugees, and many are internally displaced.

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11/05/2018

Save The Persecuted Christians brings you news of anti- Christian violence in today’s SaveUs Minute

The joy over the acquittal of Asia Bibi lasted barely 24 hours.

Threats by vigilante mobs who called for her death and warned of national unrest evidently worked. Pakistan's government, is preventing Asia Bibi from leaving the country.

"[B]arring her from leaving the country grants tacit permission to hunt her down and murder her," wrote Robert Spencer, a human rights activist and author.

Asia Bibi's husband, Ashiq Masih, has applied for asylum in the United States, Canada and England.

"I am requesting the president of the United States, Donald Trump, to help us exit from Pakistan", Masih said. "The agreement has sent a shiver down my spine. The current situation is very dangerous for us. We have no security and are hiding here and there, frequently changing our location".

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11/02/2018

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The population of Iraq’s Christians has gone from 1.5 million in 2003 to just 200,000 reports the National Catholic Register with faith leaders saying more is needed to ensure survival of this ancient Christian population.

USAID Administrator Mark Green announced last week a pledge to spend more than $178 million in U.S. foreign assistance to support Christians and other vulnerable communities in Iraq, bringing “total U.S. assistance for this population to nearly $300 million since 2017, implemented by both the State Department and USAID.

“What we’re trying to do is make sure that we’re working with groups that are on the ground,” Green emphasized, “those that are working with communities, and faith communities right on the ground in northern Iraq, so that we can mobilize those resources, get them out most quickly, but, also, have the demonstrable results.”

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11/01/2018

Save The Persecuted Christians brings you news of anti- Christian violence in today’s SaveUs Minute

Christians around the world are rejoicing today, as Asia Bibi—the Pakistani Christian woman who had been on death row for blasphemy for eight years—has been acquitted.

Joining in the celebration is the Save the Persecuted Christians (STPC) Coalition, which in recent months has featured Bibi along with Pastor Andrew Brunson as examples of the Prisoners of Conscience who have been incarcerated for their faith. Like the pastor, her safety must be assured by removing her beyond the reach of those who would murder her and her family.

“Angry mobs are already protesting her release,” says Dede Laugesen, director of the Save the Persecuted Christians Coalition. “We won’t breathe easy until she is safely reunited with her husband and children and secure outside of Pakistan.”

The Coalition believes that it may be possible to discourage such harm by ensuring that persecutors know they will be held accountable and punished for their crimes against humanity.

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Oct/30/2018

Save The Persecuted Christians brings you news of anti- Christian violence in today’s SaveUs Minute

In Kenya, more than 20 Islamic militants ambushed a school in Mandera East and bombed the teachers’ house. As a result, two teachers were killed, and three others were severely injured. The teachers were targeted by Muslim radicals because they were Christians.

The two victims, Johnstone Okumu and Simon Wekesa, taught at Arabia High. Several teachers have expressed their concern about the continued hostility and spate of attacks targeting teachers who live and work in northeastern Kenya.

“It is unfortunate that innocent teachers who are out to bring light and open up the northeastern region are being slaughtered time after time just because of their faith,” said Mr. Martin Kamutu, a teacher in Mandera.

This is not the first killing of teachers in Northern Africa, last month they lost five teachers to the same anti-Christian violence.

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Oct/29/2018

Save The Persecuted Christians brings you news of anti- Christian violence in today’s SaveUs Minute
In Uganda, Dorika Kabuo and her four children were chased from their home by Dorika’s husband after Dorika and her children committed their lives to Christ and left Islam together.

People who convert from Islam to Christianity often face similar persecution from relatives like Dorika’s. Uganda’s extremist Muslim population has a history of attacking churches, pastors, and other Christian families.
Dorika says, “Although life has not been easy after converting to Christianity, we are determined to finish the race and keep the faith.”

According to Open Doors, a human rights watchdog for Christian persecution, Islamic Oppression fuels persecution in 8 of the top 10 countries where it is most dangerous to be a Christian.

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Oct./17/2018

Save The Persecuted Christians brings you news of anti- Christian violence in today’s SaveUs Minute

President Donald Trump welcomed Pastor Andrew Brunson back to America at the Oval Office over the weekend. Pastor Brunson, released from Turkey having been convicted on charges of Christianization, responded in gratitude and on bended knee layed hands on the President to offer a prayer for his continued leadership and for the nation and leaders who fought so hard for his release.

Meanwhile, in Pakistan, mobs of angry protestors have gathered to demand the execution of Asia Bibi who remains on death row and sentenced to hang anytime now for the crime of Blaspheming Islam for defending her Christian faith. Sources say her execution could take place before the end of the month. Others are hopeful that Asia will be rescued or pardoned. Mob violence towards Christians and anti-blasphemy law protestors is expected to increase.

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Oct./08/2018

Save The Persecuted Christians brings you news of anti- Christian violence in today’s SaveUs Minute

American Pastor Andrew Brunson is Free.

The New York Times reports A Turkish court has ordered the release of the American pastor Andrew Brunson from house arrest, a move that will end his 24-month imprisonment and allow him to fly home, signaling a truce of sorts in a heated diplomatic dispute between Turkey and the United States.

Mr. Brunson was sentenced to three years, one month and 15 days in prison. But the judge lifted all judicial controls — including a ban on travel — because of a reduction for good behavior and in view of time served, making him free to leave the country immediately.

He left the courthouse by car shortly after the decision was announced, and American officials following the case said he would depart for the United States soon.

The Trump administration had pressed hard for the release of Mr. Brunson, an evangelical pastor who runs the small Resurrection Church in Izmir.

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SaveUs Minute
09/27/18

Save The Persecuted Christians brings you news of anti- Christian violence in today’s SaveUs Minute

Speaking at the Values Voter Summit, U.S. pastor Andrew Brunson’s daughter said Turkey’s indictment against her father explicitly names “Christianization” as his terrorism-related crime.

Pastor Brunson was arrested in 2016 in the wake of a failed coup attempt against the Erdogan regime and is scheduled to return to court on Oct. 12.

“The entire last two years has really shown that these are just baseless charges, stated the pastor’s daughter Jacqueline Furnari. It’s a sham trial, and my dad is being used as a bargaining chip and suffering for Jesus Christ.”

Speaking on the same panel, Secretary Pompeo said, “We are sparing no effort to return Pastor Brunson to the United States … he has been wrongly held, and his proper place is to be able to return here to once again practice his faith in our great nation. Know this, President Trump will never forget about our own.”

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SaveUs Minute
09/26/18
Save The Persecuted Christians brings you news of anti- Christian violence in today’s SaveUs Minute

In February, the Muslim terrorist group Boko Haram, stormed Leah Sharibu’s Nigerian middle school kidnapping her and 109 of her schoolmates. After a month in captivity, they were released…all but Leah.

Leah was left behind with her captors because she refused to renounce Jesus even knowing that her decision for Christ would almost certainly mean physical death or even worse – years of torture as a slave to these terrorists.

In mid-September, Boko Haram sent notice with the videotaped execution of a nurse midwife, that Leah is next and will be killed in October if Nigeria doesn’t meet their demands.

Coalition member and author Dominic Sputo says, “I want her to feel our prayers of support…to feel like she’s not forgotten. I want you to share her story, so all know of the brave 15-year-old girl that refuses to disown her faith.”

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091718

Save The Persecuted Christians brings you news of anti-Christian violence in today’s SaveUs Minute

In the midst of a campaign by the Chinese Government to “Sinicize” religion and demand unswerving loyalty to the Communist Party, Chinese Christian leaders have declared instead their loyalty to Jesus Christ with a public statement signed by 279 leaders affirming religious freedom and issuing a call to repentance and salvation.

Their concluding statement is a sober one, “For the sake of the gospel, we are prepared to bear all losses—even the loss of our freedom and our lives.”

Bob Fu, founder and president of ChinaAid, warns that China is waging “the most severe systematic suppression of Christianity in the country since religious freedom was written into the Chinese constitution in 1982.”
Faith McDonnell with the Institute for Religion and Democracy reports that once before, in 1998, Chinese Christian leaders bravely signed a joint statement of faith while in the throes of intense persecution.

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090718

Save The Persecuted Christians brings you news of anti-Christian violence in today’s SaveUs Minute

A Coptic diocese in Upper Egypt last week saw its eighth church closed following mob violence and attacks by villagers protesting against the church building being legally recognized. Five Copts were then arrested for worshipping in an “unrecognized” church.
Across Egypt, there are thousands of worship spaces informally acknowledged as ‘churches’.

Two years ago, the government introduced a new common law granting church buildings the same rights as mosques. About 3500 pre-existing ‘churches’ were waiting to be legalized at the time: some had been waiting for over 20 years.

In January this year, Egypt’s Ministry of Housing announced that Christians are allowed to continue to meet in unlicensed churches, pending the legalization process.

However, as government inspections proceed, violent Islamic mobs gather to protest, allowing local security forces to then shutdown unlicensed Coptic churches for “safety concerns.”

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SaveUs Minute
090418

Save The Persecuted Christians brings you news of anti-Christian violence in today’s SaveUs Minute

Nicaragua’s president has ordered a UN Commission to leave the country after it criticized the government for human rights abuses committed during its six month clampdown on anti-government protestors.

The situation was the topic of a recent UN Security Council meeting. The government of Nicaragua denies the UN report.

While Church leaders have been trying to broker peace, the Church in Nicaragua has also criticized the government, denouncing its totalitarianism, corruption and the crimes it is committing against humanity, said Rossana Ramirez, an analyst with Open Doors’ World Watch Research unit.

That is why “the government has labelled Christian leaders ‘coup plotters’ and ‘enemies of the regime’… and why churches, church leaders and even bishops have been targeted as though they were terrorists,” she explained.

“In fact, no citizen or religious denomination is safe from attack now that paramilitary groups have publicly threatened to ‘blow the head off‘ anyone protesting against the president,” she said.

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SaveUs Minute
090418

Save The Persecuted Christians brings you news of anti-Christian violence in today’s SaveUs Minute

Four Christians in Iran, including two converts, have appealed their prison sentences for alleged missionary activities, arguing that they're innocent of the charges.

"Fondness for Christianity and conducting religious services cannot be the basis for incarceration," said Dabrina Bet Tamraz, the daughter of Assyrian pastor Victor Bet Tamraz and Shamiram Isavi, who were both sentenced by a Revolutionary Court in Iran to 10 years and five years in prison respectively.

The couple is currently free on bail along with their two codefendants, Christian converts Hadi Asgari and Amin Afshar Naderi, who had been sentenced to 10 years and 15 years in prison respectively.

Charges include “acting against national security by forming home churches, and insulting the sacred.”

Iran's Christian community, particularly converts to the faith, faces systematic state persecution.

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082918

Save The Persecuted Christians brings you news of anti-Christian violence in today’s SaveUs Minute

In Nigeria’s Plateau State, Fulani militants have burned to death a Pastor, his wife and their three children along with several others.

The pastor, Rev. Adamu Wurim, from the Church of Christ in Nation was trapped with his family in their home as militants surrounded them and burned their house to the ground.

News of the most recent violence is still coming in, but at least 10 persons were killed in the Barkin Ladi attacks between Tuesday and Wednesday, Aug. 28 and 29.

International Christian Concern reports the attack lasted for over four hours before security personnel arrived on scene. This was well after the attackers had razed much of the villages of Abonong and Ziyat, and looted valuables such as mattresses, food, electronics, and domestic animals. Three churches were targeted during these attacks.

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