Displaying items by tag: Asia

A car bomb attack has killed at least 11 civilians in Jableh, a government-held coastal town. Thirty-five others were also injured by the blast in a commercial area crowded with people near the municipal stadium, a news agency said.  There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the bombing. Last May, 45 people died in the town in attacks claimed by IS that targeted President Bashar al-Assad's minority Alawite sect. Footage from the scene of Thursday's attack broadcast by state television showed charred, mangled cars, damage to shops, and pools of blood on the road. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a UK-based monitoring group, put the death toll at 15.  See also:

A report by the Iranian Christian news agency Mohabat News showed that persecution worsened in 2016, with a steep rise in organised, government-sponsored anti-Christian campaigns on radio and television, combined with a vicious crackdown on Farsi-speaking fellowships. Dozens of house churches have been investigated, meetings interrupted and members arrested, interrogated and imprisoned. Records show that 92 Christian converts from Islam are currently awaiting trial, although the real number is likely to be far higher. The report also mentioned a number of well-known Iranian Christians being deliberately defamed, portraying them as morally and financially corrupt. Publication of Bibles and Christian literature in the country is banned, whilst there is subsidising of the publication of works which give a false and negative image of Christianity. Lift up in prayer all Christians held in prison. Pray that the authorities in Iran will not see Christians, including converts from Islam, as a threat but rather as a valuable part of Iranian society, and that government efforts to discredit and suppress Christianity will prove futile.

Kong Hee, City Harvest Church Pastor, wants to ignite a revival among Muslims in Indonesia. ‘What a big harvest field Indonesia is. The number of Christians has grown from 1.3 to 24 million in the past forty years, making up around 10% of the country's population. Christianity is Indonesia's second-largest religion and second-largest Christian population in Southeast Asia. With such a ripe harvest field, it is so necessary for church-building work to be done in this wonderful nation, and that is why I love doing missions in Indonesia,’ the pastor posted to Facebook. Kong Hee has been travelling throughout Southeast Asia recently - seeing miracles and healings break out as he laid hands on people. With his sights set on Indonesia, he is fervently praying for Muslim conversions. "During my 5 days at Bandung last week I ministered at El-Shaddai Creative Community (ECC). The pastors are Revs Nala and Evie Widya. In the 1980s, Nala was a champion cycling athlete, but an accident almost cost him his life and he had to retire. The loss for sports was a gain for God's kingdom when Nala became a pastor. I first met Nala in 2003 when ECC had only 150 members. Now, they are 2,000 strong and rapidly growing through actual soul-winning!" Kong wrote. Muslims are rapidly converting to Christianity around the world, according to several reports.

Marvin Lahoud, a 26 year-old volunteer with a Lebanese church serving Syrian refugees, was in charge of food voucher distribution. On this day, Marvin discovered that one of the refugee families returned to Syria leaving him with an extra voucher to distribute to another family.

He scanned the wait list. The first family he called—also returned to Syria. The second family didn’t answer the phone. Further constraints led Marvin to dismiss the third and fourth families from the wait list. Marvin finally decided to make his way over to the house of the fifth family.

A little boy stood at the entrance of the basement space his family called home, looked up at Marvin, and smiled. Matter-of-factly the Syrian boy said, “Come in. We were expecting you.”

Marvin looked at him—puzzled. He hadn’t told anyone he was coming; much less contacted the Muslim Syrian refugee family. How could they have known he was coming?

The young Syrian boy’s mother beckoned Marvin into their home and asked the boy to explain.

“Yesterday”, the little boy said, “I had a dream that was so vivid I thought it was real. I was walking on the shore of the sea and saw a man standing in the sea with water up to his knees. He was clothed in a bright white robe. His face shined so bright, I couldn’t see the details of his face. His hands were noticeably tender. I asked him who he was. He said, ‘I am Jesus.’ I said, ‘What do you want?’ Jesus said, ‘I want you to believe in love, have faith and keep hope.’ And Jesus continued to say, ‘Do not be afraid. Help is on the way. Tomorrow, a man will come over called Marvin and he will help you and your family.’”
And now you are here, said the mother to Marvin.

Source: Providence Magazine

Photo Credit: Rawaa, 21, a mother of three from Aleppo, draws water from a storage tank in her tent at an informal tented settlement for Syrian refugees in the Bekaa Valley, Lebanon, in July 2014. Photo by Sam Tarling for Norwegian Relief Council, posted by Directorate-General for European Civil Protection and Humanitarian Aid Operations (ECHO), via Flickr.