Another Pakistani Christian Pastor Kidnapped and Beaten please pray

His Muslim captors told Pastor Yousaf Masih, 33, that they were taking revenge for the United States’ military presence in the country and ordered him to stop “praying for Muslims” in his Baptist church in Jacobabad.

The Baptist minister was abducted off a back street near his home after dark on Sunday evening, September 12. Walking home from a worship service, Masih was confronted by a bearded man who held a revolver to his side, warning, “If you try to resist me, I will shoot you and your wife and children.”

With the help of another accomplice, the man forced Masih into a red car parked along a nearby main street. Although the men spoke Urdu with Masih, he said they spoke with each other in Pashto, the language of the tribal Pathans living in southern Afghanistan and the northwest territories of Pakistan.

Although Masih was blindfolded, he understood from the shouts of transport hawkers along the way that they were driving through Sukkur. “After this they turned left [north], but then the car turned many ways, so I had no knowledge where I was being taken,” Masih told Compass by telephone today from Jacobabad.

When the car stopped, Masih said he was taken into a room where his head was shaved, and his shirt and trousers exchanged for traditional “shalvar kamiz” clothing. “Then they injected something into my right arm, and I went unconscious,” he said.

When he came back to his senses, he said he found himself in another room with an iron girder, where his captors suspended him by his legs, with his hands tied behind his back.

“They beat me on my legs and arms and back with long wooden sticks, shouting, ‘Christians are dogs!’” Masih said.

The pastor said his captors denounced the “Christian” American military for killing “many, many of our Muslim people,” complaining specifically about the U.S. contingent based at Shahbaz Air Force Base near Jacobabad.

“You are a Christian, and the Americans are also Christians. So tell the Americans to leave this airbase. Otherwise, we will continue to give trouble to you and other Christians,” they warned.

In addition, the kidnappers ordered Masih to stop praying for Muslims at his church. Masih said he told them that Hindus and Muslims and people from the Christian community all come to visit his home. “So I pray with them over their problems,” he said.

After the threats and extended thrashing, he was taken down and given some bread, lentils and water. Soon afterward he again fell unconscious, causing him to suspect they had drugged the food. He awoke in yet another room, where he was whipped on the soles of his feet and fed bread and vegetable curry.

When he next regained consciousness, he said he found himself lying on the ground outside, in the dark of night. “My whole body was seriously swollen, my feet and my legs, but I started to walk slowly,” he recalled. After he came to a small road, a Suzuki pickup came along and stopped for him.

Masih explained what had happened, asking where he was. The driver told him they were just a half-hour’s drive to Bannu City, some 600 miles north of Jacobabad. So he agreed to take the injured pastor to the Bannu Christian Hospital, where he was admitted shortly before midnight on September 14.

According to a medical report issued by the Bannu hospital, the effects of the heavy beatings caused serious swelling and damage to the pastor’s leg tissues and injury to his back. His blood pressure continues to drop as low as 100/40 at times, he said.

Masih was transferred on September 17 under police protection back to his home in Jacobabad, where the small government hospital continues to monitor his treatment. It has been recommended that he go to the Agha Khan Hospital in Karachi within the next week for an advanced medical checkup.

Although local police resisted initial attempts to file a report on his disappearance, an official First Information Report was registered on September 14. Since Masih’s return home, Jacobabad’s senior superintendent of police has insisted it was a faked kidnapping, and that his alleged captors were Christians, not Muslims. “You were not kidnapped,” Din Mohammed Baloch reportedly told Masih on September 23. “You were doing a drama.”

Married with a nine-year-old son and four-year-old daughter, Masih admitted, “My wife is really feeling very troubled now. So pray for us.”

Masih is the second Protestant pastor subjected to kidnapping and torture at the hands of Islamist extremists in Pakistan within the past four months. Pastor Wilson Fazal of the Pakistan Gospel Assembly in Quetta was abducted, shaved and beaten in May by a group of fanatic Muslims who tried to force him to convert to Islam. He escaped 40 hours later by jumping out of the jeep while being transported in the direction of the Afghan border.

Watch an interactive slideshow:
Thousands of Karen Christians Forced to Flee (July 7, 2006)
christianfreedom . org / images / Alerts / Aiding%20Karen%20Christians . html

Remember the persecuted in Communist Laos...CFI helps these persecuted Christians with food, healthcare, medicine, and hope....

Christian Freedom International operates dozens of schools for persecuted Karen Christians inside the troubled war-zones of Burma. Sending supplies to each school is extremely difficult. It can takes days or weeks to hike-in from Thailand with much needed paper, pencils, books, food, and medicines to these very needy, isolated Karen villages in Burma. Courageous Karen men and women serve as teachers. They do their best in the most difficult of enviroments to teach children about Jesus Christ and basic education....

Bangladesh is one of the poorest nations in the world. Christians make up less than two percent of the population in this mostly Muslim country. But Christianity is growing rapidly, and Muslims who convert to Christ face severe persecution. They need our prayers and help. Most new converts want to learn more about Jesus, but they don't have a Bible.

....Persecuted Karen orphans from Burma had been praying for a home and school. We chose a site to build our school near a refugee camp....Orphans grow and learn...many subjects....taught by volunteer teachers from America....Most important of all, they learn about Jesus....

Watch Online:
The People of the Golden Book -- the true story of the Karen People of Burma
(please adjust the sound on your computer):
The People of the Golden Book
christianfreedom . org / Videos / Golden_Book_Legend2 . html

Burma's Almost Forgotten
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By Benedict Rogers, a consultant to Christian Solidarity Worldwide (csw . org . uk)
Christianity Today, March 2004

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North Americans rarely read about Burma (also called Myanmar) in their newspapers, though the courage of Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi garnered a few stories last year. Neither the plight of the 5 million Karen and the few hundred thousand Karenni nor the persecution of Burmese Christians is likely to see much news coverage. That news gap is troublesome because the situation in Burma is one of the most brutal in the world. The nearly 4 million Christians in Burma are among the 250 million members of the worldwide persecuted church....But the persecution is tied up with politics. The Karen, Karenni, Chin, and Kachin ethnic minority groups, struggling for freedom from a brutal Burmese regime, include substantial Christian populations. In an effort to terrorize the ethnic groups into submission, the Burma Army uses religion as a weapon of war. When it is convenient to do so, the army cloaks itself in Buddhism and stirs up anti-Christian sentiment. Churches are often the first targets in attacks on ethnic villages, while more often than not Buddhist temples are left untouched....Burma does not affirm Buddhism as the official state religion, though Buddhists total nearly 83 percent of the population. But it is not only Christians who suffer. The Burmese regime, known as the State Peace and Development Council (SPDC), oppresses all who oppose it....Burma practices a dismaying variety of human rights abuses. The army compels people to become human minesweepers, sends men into forced labor, and turns children into soldiers. Rape as a weapon of war has been well documented....Amid this suffering springs incredible faith and hope. A Karen known only as Pastor Simon, for example, gave up his position as a seminary professor and theologian when he fled to the camps in Thailand. But once there, he put his time to good use. Seeing the needs of young people for education, he started a Bible school, which today offers bachelor's degrees in divinity recognized by the Baptist World Alliance. Pastor Simon composes meditations that speak of his people's suffering—and hope:
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They call us a displaced people,
But praise God; we are not misplaced.
They say they see no hope for our future,
But praise God; our future is as bright as the promises of God.
They say they see the life of our people is a misery,
But praise God; our life is a mystery.
For what they say is what they see,
And what they see is temporal.
But ours is the eternal.
All because we put ourselves
In the hands of the God we trust.

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A few years ago, Meredith Nunu was in her village in Karenni state when she saw Burmese soldiers shoot her husband in his rice paddy. Gathering up her children, she fled to Thailand. But she did not surrender to despair. In the camp, she discovered many children who had been separated from their parents. Some were orphaned. Nunu started a school and an orphanage to care for them. On the walls of her bamboo hut, alongside words of Scripture (and quotes from Albert Camus and Albert Einstein), are the words of YMCA missionary Howard Walter, which sum up the spirit of the Christians under fire in Burma: "I would be true, for there are those who trust me; I would be humble, for I know my weakness; I would be strong, for there is much to suffer."
...I visited a Karen resistance army base in Burma. The Karen National Liberation Army is a tiny, poorly equipped guerrilla force that can do little more than temporarily stave off the Burma Army. "We fight with love, not with hate," said the battalion commander, Colonel Nerdah Mya. "We fight simply to defend our people." A Karen known as Pastor Timothy spoke to the soldiers as they lined up. "We cannot depend on men, on nations, or on the United Nations," he said. "But with God, all things are possible." Holding up a Bible, he said: "Only this book can deliver freedom for our people." I was asked to speak to the soldiers. I read Psalm 91. After Pastor Timothy preached Christ as the one whose death and resurrection saves people from sin, he invited forward any soldier who wanted to give his life to Jesus. Eleven men came forward; three were baptized in the river. I was asked to pray for each one individually. (It was the first time I had ever prayed for someone with an M-16 on his back and a hand grenade on his belt.) I prayed for their protection.
The Karen struggle has been going on since the end of World War II; it is the world's longest civil war....During a public speech a few years ago, a senior Burmese general spoke of the regime's desire to eliminate all opposition. "In 10 years, all Karen will be dead," he threatened. "If you want to see a Karen, you will have to go to a museum in Rangoon." Another Burma Army commander, speaking after he had led an attack on a village—slaughtering people and urinating on the head of a villager—summed up the spirit of the SPDC: "I do not respect any religion. My religion is the trigger of my gun."
Some organizations questing after dispersed Jewish descendants of the Assyrian captivity regard the Karen as remnants of "the lost tribes of Israel." The Karen are often described as a "Christian tribe" (though only 40 percent are Christian), due in part to legends that are eerily similar to Old Testament narratives. These stories predate the arrival of missionaries by hundreds of years, yet they tell of one creator God named Y'wa who made man and woman. The Karen have poems that tell of a man and a woman who lived in a garden, and a snake who gave the woman some forbidden fruit. And they believe they once possessed a "Golden Book" that contained the truth about life. This book was lost, they believe, but one day a young white brother who lived across the seas would come and return it. So when Bible-bearing missionaries, led by American Baptist Adoniram Judson, came to Burma in the 19th century, the Karen welcomed them warmly. More "young white brothers" armed with the Golden Book have come to the Karen since Judson first set foot in Burma. One is an American missionary, a former U.S. Special Forces officer, known as Tha-U-Wah-A-Pah ("Father of the White Monkey"). He leads a missionary group known as the Free Burma Rangers, which aims to bring "help, hope, and love" to the internally displaced people in the conflict-ridden jungles of Burma. He and his teams frequently risk their lives, often working in close proximity to the Burma Army, to provide medical assistance and deliver medical supplies, Bibles, and prayer to the internally displaced. They let the people know they are not forgotten. And they bring packs of supplies donated for displaced mothers and children by individuals and churches around the world, as part of what they call the Good Life Club. On every mission, which usually covers hundreds of miles, they treat an average of 2,000 patients in the jungle. The Free Burma Rangers include medics, videographers, photographers, pastors, musicians—and armed soldiers to protect their efforts....The Rangers' key Scripture is Zechariah 4:6: "'Not by might nor by power, but by my Spirit,' says the Lord." In 1996, Tha-U-Wah-A-Pah was able to visit Rangoon, where he met with Suu Kyi, who is a practicing Buddhist, but whose mother was a Christian. A regular reader of the Bible, Suu Kyi told the missionary that her favorite verse was John 8:32: "You shall know the truth, and the truth shall set you free." She asked him to urge Christians around the world to pray for Burma. He responded to that request, started Christians Concerned for Burma, and organized an annual Global Day of Prayer for Burma, which takes place on the second Sunday of March.
Six months after the village on the banks of the Moei River was burned down, I visited the new settlement a few miles upriver. A new church had been built. The people gathered, dressed in their traditional red tunics and sarongs or longyis, and sang. Hymns ranged from "Amazing Grace" to "Onward Christian Soldiers." Hanging on the wall above the platform in the church were words from Revelation 2:10: "Be thou faithful unto death, and I will give thee a crown of life." The Christians of Burma are indeed faithful, often literally unto death. Although they may often feel as though the world has forgotten them, they are not entirely alone. Actively helping for several years are Christian groups such as Partners Relief and Development, which provides humanitarian relief along the Thai border; the U.K.-based Karen Action Group, which sends teams of British Christians several times a year; and Christian human rights advocacy groups. U.S. Congressman Joseph Pitts and British parliamentarians Baroness Cox and Lord Alton have taken up the cause, visiting the Thai-Burma border several times. Martin Panter, a British doctor practicing in Australia, has been visiting the Karen and Karenni twice a year since 1989 on medical training and fact-finding missions. In 1995, soon after the Burma Army and its Karen militia, the Democratic Karen Buddhist Army, overran the Karen headquarters at Manerplaw, the Karens lost their last significant outpost at Kawmoora. Panter visited the home of Colonel Taou Lo, Karen commander of Kawmoora, during some of the heaviest fighting, and prayed with his wife and daughter while the colonel was on the front line. Colonel Lo, a Christian, would often pray with his troops on the front line via two-way radio. Some months earlier, the commander had twice dreamt of seeing an elderly man with his hands raised in front of him. On his left hand was the number 16, on his right 85, and above his head 101. After praying about what this might mean, he concluded that he needed to read Psalms—the only book in the Bible with either 101 verses or chapters. He looked at Psalms 16, 85, and 101. Then he plastered the walls of his bunker with these and other verses, and renamed his troops Battalion 101, after Psalm 101's first verse: "I will sing of your love and justice to you, O Lord."....
christianitytoday . com / ct / 2004 / 003 / 7 . 52 . html

KJV Psalm 16:1 Preserve me, O God: for in thee do I put my trust. 2 O my soul, thou hast said unto the LORD, Thou art my Lord: my goodness extendeth not to thee; 3 But to the saints that are in the earth, and to the excellent, in whom is all my delight. 4 Their sorrows shall be multiplied that hasten after another god: their drink offerings of blood will I not offer, nor take up their names into my lips. 5 The LORD is the portion of mine inheritance and of my cup: thou maintainest my lot. 6 The lines are fallen unto me in pleasant places; yea, I have a goodly heritage. 7 I will bless the LORD, who hath given me counsel: my reins also instruct me in the night seasons. 8 I have set the LORD always before me: because he is at my right hand, I shall not be moved. 9 Therefore my heart is glad, and my glory rejoiceth: my flesh also shall rest in hope. 10 For thou wilt not leave my soul in hell; neither wilt thou suffer thine Holy One to see corruption. 11 Thou wilt shew me the path of life: in thy presence is fulness of joy; at thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore.

KJV Psalm 85:1 LORD, thou hast been favourable unto thy land: thou hast brought back the captivity of Jacob. 2 Thou hast forgiven the iniquity of thy people, thou hast covered all their sin. Selah. 3 Thou hast taken away all thy wrath: thou hast turned thyself from the fierceness of thine anger. 4 Turn us, O God of our salvation, and cause thine anger toward us to cease. 5 Wilt thou be angry with us for ever? wilt thou draw out thine anger to all generations? 6 Wilt thou not revive us again: that thy people may rejoice in thee? 7 Shew us thy mercy, O LORD, and grant us thy salvation. 8 I will hear what God the LORD will speak: for he will speak peace unto his people, and to his saints: but let them not turn again to folly. 9 Surely his salvation is nigh them that fear him; that glory may dwell in our land. 10 Mercy and truth are met together; righteousness and peace have kissed each other. 11 Truth shall spring out of the earth; and righteousness shall look down from heaven. 12 Yea, the LORD shall give that which is good; and our land shall yield her increase. 13 Righteousness shall go before him; and shall set us in the way of his steps.

KJV Psalm 101:1 I will sing of mercy and judgment: unto thee, O LORD, will I sing. 2 I will behave myself wisely in a perfect way. O when wilt thou come unto me? I will walk within my house with a perfect heart. 3 I will set no wicked thing before mine eyes: I hate the work of them that turn aside; it shall not cleave to me. 4 A froward heart shall depart from me: I will not know a wicked person. 5 Whoso privily slandereth his neighbour, him will I cut off: him that hath an high look and a proud heart will not I suffer. 6 Mine eyes shall be upon the faithful of the land, that they may dwell with me: he that walketh in a perfect way, he shall serve me. 7 He that worketh deceit shall not dwell within my house: he that telleth lies shall not tarry in my sight. 8 I will early destroy all the wicked of the land; that I may cut off all wicked doers from the city of the LORD.

Telephone numbers of the leaders in charge of the departments involved in the persecution in Xiaoshan:
The deputy Public Security Bureau head: Xuan Zhuolin: +86-138-0575-2568 (he is in charge of almost all the previous persecution events in past years)
The head of United Front Department: Qiu Youlai +86- 139-5716-5***
The head of Religious Bureau: Lan Xiaohua (female) +86-139-6710-5506
Xiaoshan City Government office: +86--571-8289- 8210
Ambassador Zhou Wenzhong,
Embassy of the People’s Republic of China
2300 Connecticut Ave NW, Washington DC 20008
http : //www . china-embassy . org/
TEL: 202-7456743
Fax: 202- 588-0032 ; 202-7457473
Director of Religious Affairs: (202) 328-2512

Urgent Appeal from Xiaoshan Churches

Pray for the rescue of the missing brothers and sisters who were arrested in the July 29th incident in Xiaoshan.
Dear Brothers and Sisters,
July 29th, 2006, the local government employed several thousand military police to demolish the Dangshan church building in Xiaoshan， Zhejiang. More than 60 brothers and sisters were arrested in the conflict. We were informed that some brothers and sisters were seriously injured when they were caught, and some have lost contact with their family members who do not know where to send money or clothing to help them. The lives of some Christians might be in danger and their family members were greatly worried.
Dangshan church was originally built in 1921, in an area of 5 Mu (3333 square meters). After the 1949 liberation the government occupied the property and used it as a hospital. The church has requested the government reimburse them for the land they confiscated in past years, but the government denied the request. As a result, the Christians in Danshan could not meet.
The church has no other choice but to build the sanctuary on a Christian brother’s land. The relative government department suggested that they wait 7 days and they would be given a suitable place to build their church or if they wanted the church could still be built on the original land.
But after 7 days the government did not give permission to build on any of the land that the Christians suggested. The believers felt they had been cheated and they resumed building the sanctuary on the original land.
The Christians had never expected the local government to send several hundred trucks, 4 excavators, and thousands of military policemen to destroy the church on July 29th, 2006. Some Christians were injured, over 60 were arrested in the conflict, and more than 50 are still in the prison.
To this day the government has not provided any legal charges for their imprisonment. What has worried us most is that some Christians disappeared after the conflict. Some are young students that can not be found in either the detention or custody centers. According to reliable sources some may have been beaten to death. If that is true, the government can cover up their actions by destroying the corpses. Their family members are greatly worried.
In the Old Testament, Esther, Mordecai, and all the Jews fasted and prayed to God when they were in danger. In the New Testament, when Apostle Peter was arrested, all the church prayed hard for him.
Now our brothers and sisters in Xiaoshan are in danger. We appeal to you to fast and pray for their lives until they are free. We also appeal to the government to release them.
We request that the government release our brothers and sisters in prison.
We request that the government provide them emergency medical treatment
We request that the government hand over the missing Christians.
We protest to the Xiaoshan government for breaking their promise, the illegal act of destroying the church, and persecuting Christians.
Xiaoshan Brothers and Sisters
August 2, 2006

Christian Newswire
http : //www . christiannewswire . com/

Five Christians Receive Arrest Notifications from Xiaoshan Zhejiang Police;
Three Christians Suffer Broken Ribs in Prison
Christian reporter fired after commenting on the incident

MIDLAND, Texas, Aug. 9 /Christian Newswire/ -- China Aid Association learned August 8, that after two weeks of detention the police finally issued five of the fifty Christians who were arrested during the Dangshan church demolition in Xiaoshan, Zhejiang Province, formal notification of “criminal detention.” The five are accused of “interfering with duty of police officers.” Two of the five have decided to engage Mr. Sun Hongye, Dr. Li Baiguang and Mr. Zhang Xingshui as their defense lawyers.
CAA also learned that the Christians were cruelly tortured during interrogation. The methods are very brutal according to the descriptions of Christians who have been released. At least three suffered broken ribs. Female Christians were forced to strip in public.
The family members of these Christians not only endured the pain of their relatives’ arrests but the police searched some of their homes and confiscated their property.
According to statistics, as of August 8th, among the 50 + Christians arrested during the Dangshan church demolition in Xiaoshan, Zhejiang, more than 20 have been released, 5 have been informed of “criminal detention” which means they will very likely face lawsuits. More than 20 are still locked up without any formal charges.
Christians in Xiaoshan said the level of persecution has surpassed that during the Cultural Revolution, and is the most serious in the Xiaoshan churches’ 140 year history. The Xiaoshan churches have engaged “The Association of Human Rights Attorneys for Chinese Christians” as their legal representatives for all of the lawsuits. Dr. Fan Yafeng and Dr. Li Baiguang, members of The Association of Human Rights Attorneys for Chinese Christians, have arrived at Xiaoshan, and are investigating the incident.
According to reliable sources, the government of Zhejiang Province is planning to demolish two other churches in Shaoxing City, Zhejiang Province, we appeal to the international media to pressure the Zhejiang government to stop violating the constitutional right of religious freedom in China.

Newest information acquired by CAA:
Zan Aizong, a Christian reporter in Zhejiang, has been fired from his position at a government newspaper office because of a published comment he made about the Xiaoshan incident. This firing has not been made public.
The five Christians who received formal notification of “criminal detention” are:
Gao Guorong, male, 39 years, from Shaoxing City, has engaged Mr. Zhang Xingshui and Li Baiguang as his lawyers.
W a n g Qiming, male, has engaged Mr. Sun Hongye as his lawyer.
Shen Jian, male
Shen Juke, female
W a n g Enli, female
The three Christians who suffered broken ribs are:
W a n g Xingpu, 3 broken ribs, released
Y a n g Youguang, 1 broken rib, still in detention
Li Jianen, 1 broken rib, still in detention
The Christians whose houses were searched are:
Shen Jian
Feng Guangliang

Government Intervenes into a Three-Self Church in Shanxi Province, Pastor Evicted

(EXCERPT)

MIDLAND, Texas, Aug. 9 /Christian Newswire/ -- China Aid Association learned that a pastor in the Three-Self Church in Pinglu County, Shanxi Province was prohibited from preaching and forced to leave the church by the Religious Affairs Bureau....Zhang Lianjie, the head of Pinglu Religious Affairs Bureau, declared that Pastor Hu Qinghua must leave Pinglu Church immediately, for the following reasons:
1. Pastor Hu Qinghua did not have the approval from the Pinglu Religious Affairs Bureau when he came to Pinglu Church.
2. Pastor Hu Qinghua does not have a preaching certificate
3. Pastor Hu Qinghua was not ordained in China
4. The TSPM and CCC of Shanxi Province was not aware of Pastor Hu’s coming to Pinglu Church
....Pastor Hu Qinghua has left Pinglu at present, but he still tries to comfort and encourage the brothers and sisters in Linglu Church, by phone, to stand firm in the truth.
As a result of the outcome, the brothers and sisters in Linglu Church feel as if knives are piercing their hearts.
“The Pinglu Religious Affairs Bureau seriously disturbed the normal religious activities of the church,” Bob Fu, president of China Aid Association said, “and has greatly hurt the Christians in Pinglu. The local government has violated the principle of religious freedom stipulated in the Chinese constitution and putting Pastor Hu Qinghua under house arrest is completely illegal.”
CAA appeals the Pinglu Religious Affairs Bureau to immediate cease interfering in the religious freedom of the people.

These press releases are available in Chinese at www . ChinaAid . org