Donna-Marie Rowe, Contributor"IN MANY parts of the world today, experiencing suffering and tribulation for your beliefs is still a daily part of life," reads the blurb to Foxe's Christian Martyrs of the World, the first publication of which was in 1563.
It continues by saying "for most of us," suffering or dying for ones beliefs "is thankfully not the case."
Interestingly, in the early days of 2003, the world was jolted by the news story of three US missionaries who were killed when a man burst into a hospital in southern Yemen and opened fire with a semi-automatic weapon. "The victims", the report says, "all worked at the hospital, which is operated by the International Mission Board, a group operated by the Southern Baptist Convention."
David B. Barrett and Todd M. Johnson in their Global Mission in the International Bulletin of Missionary Research (Vol. 26, No. 1) estimate that approximately 164,000 Christians are now being martyred every year. This compares to 160,000 martyrs in mid-2000 and 34,400 at the beginning of the 20th century. If current trends continue, Barrett and Johnson estimate that by 2025, an average of 210,000 Christians will be martyred annually.
And according to the World Evangelical Alliance, over 200 million Christians in at least 60 countries are denied fundamental human rights solely because of their faith. The statistics support the assertion made by The Voice of the Martyrs' website, which says, "The persecution facing Christians is the largest "human rights" violation issue in today's world."
The Voice of the Martyrs was founded in the mid-1960s by Pastor Richard Wurmbrand, who was imprisoned and tortured by Communist authorities in his native Romania for 14 years. While in prison, Pastor Wurmbrand envisioned a ministry that would focus on the plight of the persecuted Church, raise a voice on their behalf, and provide encouragement and assistance to them. The story of Richard Wurmbrand and his burden for persecuted Christians around the world is recounted in his many books, most notably in the bestseller Tortured for Christ.
But the news reports are still coming in from The Voice of the Martyrs' correspondents. "Christian family beaten and left in the cold in China" came in last week. It is reported that at about 8:00 p.m. on Sunday, January 5, 2003, approximately 10 unidentified men burst into the home of Brother Hua Huiqi and his wife, Ju Mei in Beijing. Forcing all of the members of the household, including Hua's elderly parents, to lie on the floor, the attackers savagely beat the family, breaking one of the legs of Hua's 80-year-old father.
The men then confiscated all of the home's portable heaters, leaving the family to suffer from the cold of winter. It is believed that the intruders were either sent by the police or could even have been plain-clothes policemen. When Hua went to the police on Monday to request the return of the heaters, he was detained for several hours during which time he was beaten again. He did not receive the heaters. In a conversation with Ju Mei on Monday night, she told The Voice of the Martyrs that it was presently minus 14 degrees Celsius in Beijing.
The attack, the report says, followed a peaceful protest by the family in the early hours of January 4, as they and other members of their neighbourhood objected to the disconnection of the electricity and water to their homes.
Chinese authorities had taken this action when they were unable to obtain the names of various house church members from Hua when they learned that he had been responsible for collecting approximately 10,000 pieces of used clothing for distribution among poorer church members in the rural countryside. Hua Huiqi is an active member of the house church movement in Beijing. His wife, Ju Mei was a fulltime evangelist before her marriage to Hua. They have one young daughter. Hua has been arrested and beaten several times because of his activities with the house church in China. They share their home with Hua's parents who are also Christians. Hua believes that these tactics are part of a campaign to drive him and his family out of their home and into the streets, where they will be more susceptible to arrest and detention for vagrancy.
Bob Fu, China analyst for The Voice of the Martyrs and a personal friend of this couple says, "It is such a tragedy that this family who only wanted to help families in need should now find themselves left beaten, cold, and potentially homeless in the winter weather. As we begin this New Year, we need to remember how much more we need to pray for the thousands of persecuted church brothers and sisters in China like the Hua family."
Of note is the fact that in recent years, Christmas has consistently been a time for violence against Christians. During the recent Christmas season, it is reported that it "has again become a season stained with blood."
Reporting from India, The Voice of the Martyrs correspondent says that during a service in the village of Malipota near the India-Bangladesh border, a mob of approximately 30 men armed with machetes, homemade guns, and crude bombs attacked a church with 1200 worshippers. The attackers set off several bombs, then grabbed valuables from the congregation and raided a church safe before fleeing. While the motive for the attack may have been robbery, the report says, attacks on Christians are common in many parts of India.
And recently in Pakistan, three girls between the ages of six and 12 were killed in a church bombing prompting the question from Christians, "Where should we go? Should Christians quit Pakistan?" The bombing took place in Chianwala, about 40 miles northwest of Lahore.
The report says that four persons were detained following the attack. One is a cleric who told his congregation three days before the attack, "It is the duty of every good Muslim to kill Christians." According to police, Afzar told people "you should attack Christians and not even have food until you have seen their dead bodies."
Following the recent attack on the missionaries in Yemen, Cable News Network (CNN) listed other news stories that were related to attacks on Christians and there were 13 of them from 1981 that were brought to international
attention.
