"John Yakubu had nothing. When he and his family were forced to flee Attagara, a village in northeastern Nigeria, after a Boko Haram attack, they were just barely surviving in a refugee camp. Boko Haram terrorists have viciously killed thousands, destroyed villages, burned homes, businesses and churches, and kidnapped hundreds of women, including more than 200 girls from a Chibok school in April, intent on creating an Islamic state in northern Nigeria.

"The attacks against Attagara were well-planned and carried out with typical brutality. Over 100 militants dressed in military uniforms swarmed the predominantly Christian village just as Sunday church services were beginning on June 1. The rebels opened fire on the village and went after people with their machetes. 55-year-old Sawaltha Wandala witnessed the Boko Haram slaughtering children at a church as he arrived for the second service. He saw the men throw one child into a ditch. More concerned for the child than his own safety, he picked up the 6-year-old boy, who had survived being severely slashed, and immediately rushed to take the child to the hospital in Cameroon. Sawaltha was stopped by five insurgents, who grabbed the boy from his arms and beheaded him, before turning to beat Sawaltha with tree branches. They finished their attack striking him in the head with a large rock, leaving him for dead with blood running from his nose and mouth.

"After decimating the village and sending residents fleeing, Boko Haram returned two days later in a second series of attacks on several other villages in the Gwoza district. The back to back attacks left an estimated 200 people, including small children, dead. John Yakubu and his family were among those who fled across the border into neighboring Cameroon..."

"A group of suspected Shebab Islamist militants have beheaded a Kenyan driver after kidnapping a group of traders on Kenyan soil near the resort island of Lamu, police said Saturday.

"The militants kidnapped the traders on Wednesday and took them to the dense Boni forest area in Lamu county. The militants released three of them who were Muslims and beheaded a Christian.

"Local police said the body of the victim was found in the forest on Friday. According to police, the survivors said the attackers were well armed and had identified themselves as Shebab members on a mission to fight security forces inside Kenya..."

"Calling for change, Israel’s Christian educators might go on strike next week to protest the government’s sharp cutbacks (up to 35 percent) for their schools, which are “recognized, but not official.”

"At a press conference in Nazareth today (Aug. 27), Catholic, Orthodox, and Protestant school administrators said in a joint statement, “Over the last several years the Ministry of Education has taken unilateral steps that have hurt the Christian schools and their independence. The Ministry has shown disrespect to its unique needs, like the vacation calendar, Christian feasts and other matters.”

"School administrators said that if the Israeli Ministry of Education continues its current policies toward their schools that “a strike will be declared.” At this time, there has been no official response from the Ministry of Education. Monday, Sept. 1, is the first official day for attendance at these schools. The schools operate with government financial support, parents’ payment of tuition, and in some cases, overseas support..."

"At least ten leaders from house churches across Hunan province in central China have been detained in what appears to be an ongoing crackdown.

"The ten were accused of organising ‘cults’ and ‘sects’ and ‘undermining law enforcement’. They have been criminally detained, which Release partner China Aid says is the first step towards a formal charge which ‘almost inevitably’ leads to a conviction. Four other Christians have been taken to Shaoyang city for a month of ‘compulsory study’.

"The arrests have been linked to an incident in which a Christian woman handing out Gospel tracts on the street gave one to a government employee from a local police station. A local Christian said ‘the entire police forced was mobilised’ to round up the Christians; money, Bibles and church equipment were confiscated from homes and churches..."

"A Chinese pastor faces up to 10 years in prison for "gathering to assault a state organ", having condemned state officials attempting to remove his church's cross.

"Huang Yizi, 40, was arrested by police from his home in Wenzhou on August 2, the Telegraph reports.

"His arrest is thought to be in connection with arranging a protest against the removal of the cross from Salvation church, Wenzhou. It follows a crackdown on a number of churches in Zhejiang province in eastern China..."

"...Pastor Huang had criticised the demolitions on a blog, saying they were an example of "severe persecution" and an "insult" to China's Christians.

"In an interview with the South China Morning Post before his detention, Huang said he was prepared to face jail for his faith.

"'I have decided to sacrifice for my beliefs. I am serious. I have been prepared for the worst since I posted many messages opposing the authorities' campaign to remove churches and crosses," he said.

'"I know I will be put in jail one day. The authorities detained me twice in April, but they released me under public pressure. That just meant the time was not yet right...'"

"...Good News Church in Slavyansk was taken over by Russian separatists. Rakhuba says, “Their Sunday School classes were stuffed with explosives and weapons.”

"After Ukrainian soldiers retook the city, church members pooled finances and bought billboards. “The billboard was saying, ‘Hope is still here. Hope is in God. Slavyansk  citizens, believe, and God will come and rescue you.” So, there is hope.”

"Rakhuba was able to worship with these brothers and sisters. “Half of the congregation are mostly new people that came because of the crisis. The church helped them during the crisis, and they expect the church to double in size.”

"What was it like to worship with them? “I could not hold my tears back, hearing that congregation of over 500 or 600 singing Hallelujah to God, Holy, Holy, Holy. They were praising God that He saved their lives...'”

China's Zhejiang Government Flexes Its Muscles: Two Church Crosses Removed in One Day
Over 200 Church Crosses Removed in Five Months

08/27/2014
Washington, D.C.
International Christian Concern

International Christian Concern (ICC) has learned that, on August 27, two more church crosses in Zhejiang Province, China were forcibly removed by city government's demolition squad, injuring at least five senior church members. As of now, more than 200 church crosses have been forcibly removed by the provincial government since early April.

On the morning of August 27, two church crosses were forcibly removed from Ruo Heng Church in Wenling City and Cheng Xi Church in Wenzhou City. In the meantime, a demolition team of more than 100 police officers and SWAT personnel was sent to remove the cross of Shangzhou Church in Wenzhou City. At least five senior church members were hospitalized after suffering injuries for trying to defend their church's cross. Local Christians expressed anger toward Wenzhou police for brutalizing church members. "Are they really the police paid by citizens' tax money or violent mobs?" a local Christian asked over Chinese social media, through which Christians in Zhejiang Province have been sharing information and prayer requests in response to the cross demolition campaign.

In early August, Zhejiang Provincial government's two state-church leaders endorsed the cross demolition campaign through a press conference that "the government removes and modifies illegal construction according to law. Religious buildings are not exception." However, they have never provided the legal basis by which the government has torn down hundreds of church crosses.

"Who is illegal? The government's demolition team who beat up people or Christians who are defending their church cross?" a local Christian asked ICC rhetorically during an interview. "We are Chinese citizens respecting our law," they continued, "but the government ignores it." In late July, ICC reported the bloodshed caused by the government demolition team's second attempt to forcibly remove Jiu En (salvation) Church's cross. Seven Christians were severely injured in the conflict when congregants clashed with demolition crew members in an effort to stop the defacement. Their lawyers have since urged the government to find and punish the assailants responsible for their clients injuries to no avail.

ICC's Regional Manager for Southeast Asia, Sooyoung Kim, said, "In response to today's cross demolitions, we once again call on the Zhejiang Provincial government to end its disgraceful cross demolition campaign and to investigate the brutalization of congregants by police and SWAT personnel. For months, Zhejiang provincial authorities have ignored their own people's cry for justice, refusing to provide the legal basis by which it has torn down hundreds of church crosses. All Chinese Christians hold a human right to exercise their religion publicly, free from abuse and harassment. The baseless demolition of hundreds of church crosses and the brutalization of dozens of peaceably assembled congregants are clear and reprehensible breaches of that right and cannot go unaddressed."

For all concerned individuals, please sign the ICC petition and join Chinese Christians' efforts to stop the destruction of churches and crosses.

For interviews, contact Sooyoung Kim, Regional Manager for Southeast Asia:  RM-SEAsia@persecution.org 

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You are free to disseminate this news story. We request that you reference International Christian Concern (ICC) and include our web address, www.persecution.org. ICC is a Washington D.C.-based human rights organization that exists to help persecuted Christians worldwide. ICC provides Awareness, Advocacy, and Assistance to the worldwide persecuted Church. For additional information or for an interview, contact ICC at 800-422-5441.

"...Much of Iraq’s Christian population—halved and halved and halved again since the 2003 U.S. invasion—now finds itself shoved into the Kurdish corner of Iraq with nowhere else to go but cities like Erbil and Duhok, cities isolated from the rest of the country and surrounded by mountains with limited transit routes. War in Syria, hostility in Iran, and a closed border to Turkey all leave the Christians forced from Mosul and Nineveh Plain this summer with next to no options—and so they have crowded into church courtyards, sleeping in streets and parks, living out of tents or on open ground.   

"Over 1.5 million Iraqis have been displaced in three waves of ISIS onslaught starting in January in Anbar Province. Most brutal was the third wave Aug. 1-6 across Nineveh Province: It forced out up to 33,000 families, according to the UN, and killed thousands, leading to genocide for Yazidis and other minority populations in Iraq. On Aug. 13 the UN declared Iraq a “Level 3 Emergency,” its highest category for humanitarian crisis..." 

Christian women continue to face a unique and brutal form of persecution in Pakistan's religiously intolerant society. Christian women are among Pakistan's poorest and most vulnerable citizens due to the face that they are both the "wrong" religion and the "wrong" gender. Abductions, forced conversions to Islam, forced marriages to Muslim men and rapes are just some of the issues faced Christian women in Pakistan. Living on perhaps the lowest rung of society, many Christian women have their futures destroyed by these heinous acts of violence visited upon them simply because of their faith.

Muqadas Liaqat, a 15-year-old Christian girl, was gang raped by two Muslim men on August 2 at Baghwanpura, a neighborhood in Lahore. The FIR number 991/14 was registered against the two Muslim attackers, Ashraf and Muhammad Ghafoor, at the local police station shortly after the attack. According to sources, both of the accused were arrested and are reported to still be in police custody.

Talking with ICC's Pakistan correspondent, Muqadas, who works as maid (domestic worker) in several Muslim homes, said, "I was coming home in the afternoon along with my elder sister Asma, when four people including two men and two women stopped us on the road and started beating us and abusing us. They beat my sister and dragged me into an auto-rickshaw. The kidnappers forcefully put some liquid into my mouth, which made me unconscious for a while."

"Both the men took turns raping me and the women threatened me and my family if I spoke out against them," Muqadas continued.

Mukhtaran Bibi, Muqadas's mother, informed ICC that, "Muqadas was to be baptized on the day of the incident. She was very happy for this blessing since the morning; however, this incident has affected her spiritual and social life."

"This incident has brought Muqadas to become very depressed. She is continuously on edge and cries during the whole night. I demand justice and protection of all the Christian women in Pakistan," Mukhtaran added.

Liaqat Masih, Muqadas's father, was reluctant to share information regarding the case due to threats by what he termed were "other parties." Despite the threats, he told ICC, "My family is under pressure and facing countless challenges because of this inhuman incident. We Christians are being persecuted in this society because of our faith. However, nothing can separate us from the love of Christ."

Gulnaz Yousaf, Chairperson of DIGNITY First, an organization engaged in promoting dignity, rights and protection for all Pakistani citizens, condemned the incident and demanded justice and security for the victim family. "Christiansare treated as 'untouchables' in this country and do not enjoy equal rights. The dignity of women, especially Christian women and women from other religious minority groups, must be recognized and promoted in Pakistan," Gulnaz said in an interview with ICC.

Unfortunately, the attack endured by Muqadas is only the latest in a pandemic stretching across Pakistan in recent years. Christian women are too often the targets of brutal attacks because of their low social status caused their religious identity and gender. With a society and legal system that are both biased against non-Muslims and women in general, pursuing justice is near impossible, especially for Christian women who often come from meager financial backgrounds.

Because of stories like Muqadas's, International Christian Concern (ICC) has made it a priority to help Christian women in Pakistan. From projects aimed at empowering Christian women to pursue justice, to assisting Christian women to achieve higher social and financial standing, ICC hopes it can help make stories like Muqadas's a part of a horrific past for Christian women in Pakistan.

*If you are interested in assisting Christian women in Pakistan, please check out and donate to ICC's Save Our Sisters Fund at http://www.persecution.org/.

For interviews, contact William Stark, Regional Manager for South Asia:  RM-SAsia@persecution.org  

# # #

You are free to disseminate this news story. We request that you reference International Christian Concern (ICC) and include our web address, www.persecution.org. ICC is a Washington D.C.-based human rights organization that exists to help persecuted Christians worldwide. ICC provides Awareness, Advocacy, and Assistance to the worldwide persecuted Church. For additional information or for an interview, contact ICC at 800-422-5441.

"There are Muslims speaking against the Islamic State in defense of Christians even while their neighbors rally in support of the IS. These brave Muslims are being killed because of it. The Barnabas Fund shares their stories and the growing plight refugees and displaced people are facing elsewhere, saying more than 1.2 million Iraqis have been driven from their homes.

"EFCA ReachGlobal Crisis Response shares the following news story on what their ministry is doing this week to help in the face of this violence and suffering:

"...We have heard of the homes and businesses of Mosul Christians marked with the Arabic letter I (a derogatory reference to Nazerene) to subject them to a list of impossible choices: pay an extortionately large ransom/tax for protection (jizya), convert to Islam, flee, or die.

"For most, the answer was flee, with only what they could hurriedly pack in a car. For those who were slow to leave, everything they carried was confiscated. There were yet others–handicapped, elderly, and their caretakers–who had no choice but to stay and face death.

"One woman spoke of the fear of facing ISIS at a checkpoint as her family left Mosul. ISIS took away their extra clothes, their money and gold. She was terrified for her 17-year-old daughter, afraid they might take her and hurt her. But God was merciful, and they seemed to not take notice. Soon, masses had gathered with a shared story, but many with a different hope.

"It wasn’t just Assyrian and Chaldean Christians, but also other minorities such as Turkmen and Yazidis, literally unreached people who have never heard the Gospel of the risen Christ..."