July 24, 2009
by John M. Lindner, D.Miss.

I’d rather tell you success stories, but it’s also wise to realize how the devil is on the loose and is working. As I reviewed my news sources wondering what to share with you this week, I came across the following. Be enlightened and pray.

Pastor jailed in Cuba

Pastor Gude was jailed in Cuba in March this year on false charges of human trafficking. Even though the court in Camaguey ruled there was no evidence, Pastor Pérez was not released. In April he was charged with “falsifying documents and illicit economic activities,” as well as “counter-revolutionary conduct and attitudes.”

Pastor Gude Pérez and his wife, Kenia. CSW photo.

Christian Solidarity Worldwide said they have received information indicating that more than 20 additional church leaders were detained and threatened in the last two months. Months before his arrest he and others were warned to curtail their religious activities.

CSW said they believe he was targeted because of his role in starting a Bible school and being active in Apostolic Reformation, a fast-growing independent Christian movement. Read the whole story at www.csw.org.uk.

Human rights advocate tortured in China

Human rights attorney Gao Zhisheng was legally defending the Falun Gong when he was kidnapped by the Chinese police on August 15, 2006. They beat and tortured him, and refused to allow him to retain defense counsel.

After his release, he made known his treatment to the international community and wrote a letter to the U.S. Congress. This further enraged authorities, who kidnapped him again in September, 2007. They put a black hood over his head, took him to an undisclosed location, and for 59 days beat and tortured him, using electric prods and bamboo sticks on and in every part of his body.

Gao Zhisheng's wife, Geng He, and their daughter, Geng Ge, 16, and son, Gao Tianyu, 5. CSW photo.

He said the pain was so excruciating he made up four confessions of raping women to escape the maddening pain. The authorities figured they could use that signed false confession to ruin his career and released him.

Then on February 4 of this year he was kidnapped again and has not been heard from since.

His wife, Geng He, and her daughter, Geng Ge, 16 and son, Gao Tianyu, 5, shown above, fled that “horrific country,” found asylum in the U.S., and told their story to the U.S. Congress. Her testimony was banned in China, but you can read her testimony, read Gao’s letter to Congress, and send an e-mail or sign a petition to the Chinese Embassy in Washington, D.C. at www.freegao.com. You may also hear an interview with her on You Tube.

Vietnamese church destroyed

This MFI photo of the Degar Church that was destroyed was taken Dec. 24, 1974.

According to Scott Johnson of the Montagnard Foundation, Inc., from this church, Christianity spread throughout the Central Highlands, resulting in hundreds of thousands of Degar people converting to Christianity.

The Degars, sometimes called Montagnards (mountain people or “hillbillies”), are the original inhabitants of Vietnam, and were driven to the highlands by the invading Vietnamese and Cambodians in the 9th century. They responded well to Protestant missionaries in the 1930s, and most of them sided with the Americans during the Vietnam War, which is one reason why the government is hostile to them.

Degar people. MFI photo

According to Johnson, the church at Buon Ale “A,” as well as all other Degar churches in the Central Highlands, were forcefully closed by the Vietnamese communists after 1975, leaving the Degar Christians no means to practice their faith.

“Whoever dared to assemble more than two people would be arrested and sent to prison, tortured or killed,” Johnson said. “There was nothing that Degar believers could do except conceal their faith and begin running underground house churches.”

Puih H'Bat, imprisoned for being a Christian. MFI photo

He said, “The corrupt Vietnamese government continues to prevent Degar Christians from assembling for the purpose of worship.” A Christian woman, Puih H’Bat, was arrested on April 11th of 2008 for allegedly violating the ban on worship. “We still do not know her whereabouts or her condition; no one can tell us if she is even alive or dead,” he said.

You can read the entire news release at
montagnard-foundation.org.

Documentation on Vietnam’s persecution of the Degar people can be found at www.deathinthehighlands.com.

Iran revolution

Joseph Hovsepian, son of martyred Iranian pastor Haik Hovsepian, said that he recalled seeing the bloody body of his murdered father in the morgue as he watched the death of Iranian bystander Neda Agh-Soltan, 26, killed by a bullet while standing on a Tehran street during a protest following the controversial June elections.

“Many leaders have been arrested,” he said. “People live in fear. The danger could be even greater for Christians.” If the Iranian government cracks down brutally on its own Muslim citizens, you can imagine what they would do with a Christian protestor.

For more on martyred Bishop Haik Hovsepian see www.hovsepian.com. His life and testimony was also touched on briefly in our May 29 article, “Iran’s Hidden Revolution.”

The Jerusalem Post ran a story July 19 saying that unmarried girls arrested and put in prison are raped the night before they are executed. It is against Islamic law to execute a virgin, so the young women are “wed” the night before they are executed, thus making their murder legal. You can read the entire story at www.jpost.com. It lets us know what kind of an antichrist we are up against.

Next time I will try to bring you more joyful news. But once in a while we, especially we in America, have to be reminded how wicked the world really is. “We know that we are of God, and the whole world lies under the sway of the wicked one" (1 Jn. 5:19 NKJ).