Religious Liberty Prayer Bulletin | RLPB 151 | Wed 21 Mar 2012

By Elizabeth Kendal

The Middle East is undergoing a massive upheaval wherein Islamist powers
are struggling for regional and Islamic supremacy. According to terrorism
analyst Yossef Bodansky, the ‘buffer’ that prevents the Islamic blocs from
‘fratricidal violence’ is the ‘Fertile Crescent of Minorities’ (Defense &
Foreign Affairs Strategic Policy magazine (2/2012)). Thus it is in the
interests of these blocs as they struggle in their quest for supremacy
over the others that the ‘Fertile Crescent of Minorities’ be crushed.
Unfortunately the West is so committed to majority rule that it cannot see
that, by being complicit in the crushing of the region’s minorities, it is
actually setting the stage for a regional war of cataclysmic proportions.

* THE SUNNI ARAB AXIS (led by Saudi Arabia, backed by the West)

A Kuwaiti Member of Parliament, Osama Al-Munawer, has announced plans to
submit a draft law that would ban the building of new churches while
permitting existing churches to remain. On Monday 12 March a Kuwaiti
delegate questioned Saudi Arabia’s Grand Mufti, Sheikh Abdul Aziz bin
Abdullah, on the matter. The Grand Mufti responded by citing Muhammad’s
command: ‘Two deens [religions] shall not co-exist in the Arabian
Peninsula.’ (Al-Muwatta Hadith – 45.18. Note that 45.17 uses the broader
phrase ‘in the land of the Arabs’.) Therefore, said the Sheikh, it is
actually ‘necessary to destroy all the churches of the region’. The Grand
Mufti is Saudi Arabia’s highest official of religious law. He is also the
head of the Supreme Council of Ulema (Islamic scholars) and of the
Standing Committee for Scientific Research and Issuing of Fatwas.
Consequently his decree could unleash a tsunami of persecution. Beyond the
Arabian Peninsula, Christians in the Arab lands of Egypt and Lebanon have
expressed alarm and anxiety over the decree.

On Sunday 18 March militants in Yemen’s southern city of Taiz shot and
killed an American English-language teacher. Al Qaeda-linked Ansar al-
Sharia (Partisans of Islamic Law) claimed responsibility for the targeted
assassination, describing the victim, Joel Shrun (29), as ‘one of the
biggest American proselytisers’. Shrun had lived in Taiz with his wife and
two children since 2010. Church leader Ulf Edstrom told reporters that
threats against the school had increased of late. ‘Al-Qaeda is searching
for Westerners,’ he said. Yemen is home to some 41,000 Christians, more
than half of whom are expatriate workers. Local believers, generally
converts from Islam, are mostly ‘underground’.

* IRANIAN AXIS

In Iran, security officials in Isfahan have arrested 12 Christian converts
over the past month as part of a wider crackdown on Christian symbols and
conversions. As repression and persecution escalate, some local church
leaders allied to the regime are publicly distancing themselves from their
suffering brothers and sisters. (This is a common problem in highly
dangerous non-free states.)

In Syria (where the struggle is currently centred) recent bombings have
hit Christian districts. On Saturday 17 March simultaneous suicide
bombings in Damascus targeting government facilities killed 27 and wounded
more than 100. One car bomb was detonated as the bomber drove through the
Christian neighbourhood of al-Qassa. The ‘martyrdom’ group al-Nusra Front
to Protect the Levant (see RLPB 148) claimed responsibility. Then on
Sunday 18 March a bomb was detonated near a Latin church and two primary
schools in Aleppo’s Sulaymaniyeh neighbourhood, a district heavily
populated with Christians. A security guard and a Syrian-Armenian woman
were killed and thirty people were injured.

In Iraq (which was formerly ruled by Sunni Arabs but is now ruled by Arab
Shi’ites under Iranian hegemony) another church has been bombed. Baghdad’s
Syrian Orthodox Church of St Matthew was one of some 20 sites targeted in
a nation-wide simultaneous bombing campaign on 20 March, the ninth
anniversary of the US invasion. (At the time of writing, no group had
claimed responsibility.)

PLEASE PRAY SPECIFICALLY THAT GOD WILL —

* preserve a remnant of his people in their homeland; may he be their
refuge, provider and deliverer, bringing guidance, healing, comfort and
strength, along with justice and recompense. ‘. . . in the shadow of
your wings I will take refuge, till the storms of destruction pass by.
I cry out to God Most High, to God who fulfills his purpose for me.
[God] will put to shame him who tramples on me.’ (Psalm 57:1b,2,3b ESV)

* facilitate the escape of those who are seeking and needing an escape
route; may asylum be granted without delay.

* draw his people ever closer into communion with him, increasing their
faith so they will know they are never alone, but have as their ally
the sovereign creator of the universe, for whom ‘nothing will be
impossible’ (Luke 1:37).

To see this RLPB with hyperlinks go to
http://rlprayerbulletin.blogspot.com.au

SUMMARY TO USE IN BULLETINS UNABLE TO RUN THE WHOLE ARTICLE
———————————————————–

ISLAMIC POWER BLOCS IN MIDDLE EAST TO TRAMPLE MINORITIES

The Middle East’s minority Christians are being trampled as the region’s
Islamic blocs compete for regional hegemony and supremacy. On Monday 12
March the Grand Mufti of Saudi Arabia decreed that, in line with the
teaching of Muhammad, all the region’s churches should be destroyed. Days
later, an American Christian English-language teacher was gunned down in
Yemen. Repression and persecution are escalating in Iran with 12 believers
arrested in Isfahan in the past month. In contested Syria, recent bombings
in Damascus and Aleppo struck predominantly Christian districts. In Iraq,
Baghdad’s Syrian Orthodox Church of St Matthew was one of some 20 sites
devastated on 20 March as bombs were detonated simultaneously across the
nation. Please pray for the Church in the Middle East.

——————–

We suggest that churches and fellowships using the above Summary might
also provide a copy of the listed prayer points to be used in their
worship by people who are leading in prayer.

For more information, updates and helpful links see Elizabeth Kendal’s
blog ‘Religious Liberty Monitoring’ <http://elizabethkendal.blogspot.com>.

Previous RLPBs may be viewed at <http://rlprayerbulletin.blogspot.com/>.