Activism Change

Pray for Laos

Question:

Religious Liberty Prayer List – No. 123 – Thu 12 Jul 2001 LAOS: GOVERNMENT’S CAMPAIGN TO ELIMINATE CHURCH Laotian Christians have long suffered oppression and persecution under Communism. However, in recent years this persecution has so intensified that it is classified as ‘extreme’, with Laos now appearing with Saudi Arabia, Afghanistan and China as the worst persecuting nations in the July 2001 Open Doors World Watch List. Commenting on a report from WEF’s Southeast Asia correspondent, Mark Albrecht (WEF RLC senior editor) describes the situation as ‘a prime example of aggressive, active persecution by the government’. In 1999, the Laotian Government declared that Christians were the ‘number one enemy of the State’, labelling Christianity as an ‘imperialist foreign religion’ backed by the enemies of Laos (primarily the USA). To ‘eliminate Christianity’, the government has a concerted campaign called ‘The Program’. From this, Laotian Christians have been forced since early 2000 to sign a document headed ‘Voluntary resignation from a foreign religion, into which the enemy has enticed us in past days.’ Security police squads travel the country enforcing this and conducting ‘re-education’. This document believers are being forced to sign acknowledges: 1) regret for actions (belief in and practice of Christianity), 2) the goodness of the (Communist) Party, 3) a resignation from foreign religion, 4) that they do not believe and will no longer participate in the foreign religion, 5) their promise to work for the initiatives of the Party and 6) if found exercising the foreign religion, their acceptance of the consequences (like imprisonment or other serious infringements on their basic human rights, e.g., loss of job, loss of right to education, loss of land). Prison conditions in Laos are appalling, even life threatening. Prisoners are poorly fed on the most meagre rations. They are shackled or put in stocks, beaten and have to endure intolerably filthy, unsanitary conditions. On 31 May 2001, seven church leaders and one member were imprisoned for refusing to sign the document renouncing their faith and for encouraging others not to sign it. This brings the total of those known to be jailed for their faith to 39. Most of these prisoners are held on charges of sedition and national security offences, while some are held purely for ‘believing in the Jesus religion’. It has been reported that the central government has sent secret orders to local authorities to close all the churches throughout Laos, starting in the countryside. This campaign has been evident for some time, with WEF RLC listing 59 churches as having been closed in the last 18 months. PLEASE PRAY SPECIFICALLY FOR: * God to supernaturally sustain imprisoned believers as they   suffer appalling life-threatening conditions and violence. * God to protect Laotian Christians from cruelty and violence by   Communist authorities and police; may God restrain them. ‘The Lord looked and was displeased that there was no justice. He saw that there was no one, he was appalled that there was no one to intervene; so his own arm worked salvation for him, and his own righteousness sustained him.’ Isaiah 59:15,16 * effective international advocacy and political pressure on Laos   (a very poor country) to reform its human rights and religious   freedom practices. * the tens of thousands of believers with nowhere to worship   legally; may God heal them of any bitterness and anger, and   protect them when they do gather at great personal risk. * the witness of persecuted believers to impact powerfully all who   see or hear of it, so that the Church will grow and even   persecutors will come in repentance to Christ. SUMMARY TO USE IN BULLETINS UNABLE TO RUN THE WHOLE ARTICLE: LAOTIAN GOVERNMENT’S CAMPAIGN TO ELIMINATE CHURCH Laotian Christians suffer a Communist oppression that can only be described as ‘extreme.’ According to Mark Albrecht (WEF RLC senior editor) the persecution of Christians in Laos is ‘a prime example of aggressive, active persecution by the government’. A known 39 Christians currently are suffering appalling, life-threatening conditions in Laos prisons on charges cited as sedition, national security or just ‘believing in the Jesus religion’. Christianity is branded the ‘number one enemy of the state’ and an ‘imperialist foreign religion’. The government is closing churches all across the country and forcing believers to sign a ‘Voluntary resignation from a foreign religion, into which the enemy has enticed us in past days’. Those who refuse to sign suffer serious consequences ranging from job loss through to imprisonment. Please pray for them. Please pass this along to others with attribution to World Evangelical Fellowship (WEF) Religious Liberty The WEF Religious Liberty Commission sponsors this RL Prayer List to help individuals and groups pray specifically and regularly for religious liberty issues, and in particular to uphold the Church where it is suffering persecution. — Director, John Mark Ministries: counseling and consulting services for pastors, ex-pastors, church leaders and managers. http://www.pastornet.net.au/jmm (4500+ articles) http://priscillasfriends.org/ (Pastors’ wives)

Response:

- Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – Religious Liberty Prayer List – No. 123 – Thu 12 Jul 2001 LAOS: GOVERNMENT’S CAMPAIGN TO ELIMINATE CHURCH Laotian Christians have long suffered oppression and persecution under Communism. However, in recent years this persecution has so intensified that it is classified as ‘extreme’, with Laos now appearing with Saudi Arabia, Afghanistan and China as the worst persecuting nations in the July 2001 Open Doors World Watch List. Commenting on a report from WEF’s Southeast Asia correspondent, Mark Albrecht (WEF RLC senior editor) describes the situation as ‘a prime example of aggressive, active persecution by the government’. In 1999, the Laotian Government declared that Christians were the ‘number one enemy of the State’, labelling Christianity as an ‘imperialist foreign religion’ backed by the enemies of Laos (primarily the USA). To ‘eliminate Christianity’, the government has a concerted campaign called ‘The Program’. From this, Laotian Christians have been forced since early 2000 to sign a document headed ‘Voluntary resignation from a foreign religion, into which the enemy has enticed us in past days.’ Security police squads travel the country enforcing this and conducting ‘re-education’. This document believers are being forced to sign acknowledges: 1) regret for actions (belief in and practice of Christianity), 2) the goodness of the (Communist) Party, 3) a resignation from foreign religion, 4) that they do not believe and will no longer participate in the foreign religion, 5) their promise to work for the initiatives of the Party and 6) if found exercising the foreign religion, their acceptance of the consequences (like imprisonment or other serious infringements on their basic human rights, e.g., loss of job, loss of right to education, loss of land). Prison conditions in Laos are appalling, even life threatening. Prisoners are poorly fed on the most meagre rations. They are shackled or put in stocks, beaten and have to endure intolerably filthy, unsanitary conditions. On 31 May 2001, seven church leaders and one member were imprisoned for refusing to sign the document renouncing their faith and for encouraging others not to sign it. This brings the total of those known to be jailed for their faith to 39. Most of these prisoners are held on charges of sedition and national security offences, while some are held purely for ‘believing in the Jesus religion’. It has been reported that the central government has sent secret orders to local authorities to close all the churches throughout Laos, starting in the countryside. This campaign has been evident for some time, with WEF RLC listing 59 churches as having been closed in the last 18 months. PLEASE PRAY SPECIFICALLY FOR: * God to supernaturally sustain imprisoned believers as they   suffer appalling life-threatening conditions and violence. * God to protect Laotian Christians from cruelty and violence by   Communist authorities and police; may God restrain them. ‘The Lord looked and was displeased that there was no justice. He saw that there was no one, he was appalled that there was no one to intervene; so his own arm worked salvation for him, and his own righteousness sustained him.’ Isaiah 59:15,16 * effective international advocacy and political pressure on Laos   (a very poor country) to reform its human rights and religious   freedom practices. * the tens of thousands of believers with nowhere to worship   legally; may God heal them of any bitterness and anger, and   protect them when they do gather at great personal risk. * the witness of persecuted believers to impact powerfully all who   see or hear of it, so that the Church will grow and even   persecutors will come in repentance to Christ. SUMMARY TO USE IN BULLETINS UNABLE TO RUN THE WHOLE ARTICLE: LAOTIAN GOVERNMENT’S CAMPAIGN TO ELIMINATE CHURCH Laotian Christians suffer a Communist oppression that can only be described as ‘extreme.’ According to Mark Albrecht (WEF RLC senior editor) the persecution of Christians in Laos is ‘a prime example of aggressive, active persecution by the government’. A known 39 Christians currently are suffering appalling, life-threatening conditions in Laos prisons on charges cited as sedition, national security or just ‘believing in the Jesus religion’. Christianity is branded the ‘number one enemy of the state’ and an ‘imperialist foreign religion’. The government is closing churches all across the country and forcing believers to sign a ‘Voluntary resignation from a foreign religion, into which the enemy has enticed us in past days’. Those who refuse to sign suffer serious consequences ranging from job loss through to imprisonment. Please pray for them. Please pass this along to others with attribution to World Evangelical Fellowship (WEF) Religious Liberty The WEF Religious Liberty Commission sponsors this RL Prayer List to help individuals and groups pray specifically and regularly for religious liberty issues, and in particular to uphold the Church where it is suffering persecution.

Our Father in Heaven, You told us that if two or three of us are gathered in your name that you would be with us. We thank you for being with us as we gather here in this place to pray for our sisters and brothers in foreign lands who are being persecuted for your name’s sake. We ask that you would send your Holy Spirit to speak to their hearts and let them know they are not alone and that you are with them as you promised us. Thank you. Remind them that you will not let anything happen to them that they will not be able to bear. Thank you again, Lord. We thank you too for sustaining them as you promised us. Hide them beneath thy wings of love and we thank you for doing that even now. May their faith and love grow. May your countenance radiate from their faces and your love flow from their voices and eyes so that none can doubt that you are within their hearts. We claim also the promise where you would put enmity between the woman and the seed so that the minds and hearts of the persecutors will be free to make a choice to the Holy Spirits pleas for these our brothers and sisters. May they see the true love and faith of your followers and yearn for the same, and make choices to follow you also. We thank you for hearing and answering our prayers for our loved ones and we praise you for being who you are and your love for all of us. You are so awesome, how can we not love you. You are my heart’s delight. May all bring honor and glory to you. So be it.

Response:

Filed under: Human Rights

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