Source: http://rlprayerbulletin.blogspot.com/
Date: August 2, 2023
Religious Liberty Prayer Bulletin | RLPB 704
WHEN CHRISTIANS GO MISSING: LET THERE BE LIGHT.
By Elizabeth Kendal
Christians who, through their witness or advocacy, become an irritant to religious or political tyrants routinely end up jailed, dead, or disappeared/missing. There are many more victims than we will ever know; fortunately, however, they are known to God – their plight, fate and whereabouts cannot be hidden from HIM who loves us (Romans 8:35-39). It is not known if the following missing Christians are dead or alive. Regardless, their loved ones need to know the truth. Please choose a case and pray that the Lord will intervene to either liberate the captive(s) or illuminate the truth concerning their fate and whereabouts. Lord have mercy!
BURMA: CHIN PASTOR AND FOUR ELDERS TORTURED
…two weeks missing.
Chin State has been under heavy aerial bombardment for months, with junta forces targeting villages, infrastructure, schools and churches. With the number of Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) soaring, the junta allowed the church in Mindat Township to be used as shelter for IDPs. However, on Sunday 16 July, ‘drunken junta troops from Infantry Battalion 274 based in Mindat abducted the pastor and three church elders’ on the pretext that too many motorbikes were parked there (The Irrawaddy, 28 July). When family members and church officials inquired of the military as to the whereabouts of the believers, they said they were still being interrogated. Tragically, residents living near the military base reported hearing the detainees being tortured. On Wednesday 26 July, when the families inquired again, military officials denied having any knowledge of the detainees. Mindat Township administration suspects all four Christians have been tortured to death. When the families asked the military to return the bodies of their loved ones, the military again denied any knowledge of the detainees.
INDONESIA: CHRISTIAN THEOLOGIAN AND APOLOGIST ARRESTED
…seven months missing.
A Coptic Orthodox Christian, Gratia Pello (40), taught theology at Nusantara Bible School in Malang, East Java. With a wealth of knowledge on Christian theology, eastern Christianity, Arabic language, Islam and the Arab world, he also ran an apologetics YouTube channel where he critiqued Islam, answered questions, facilitated debates, defended Christianity, promoted the Bible and shared the Good News of Jesus Christ. On Tuesday 6 December 2022 Pello was arrested and taken to East Java Regional Police Headquarters where he was charged with blasphemy and imprisoned [see RLPB 685 (15 March 2023)]. Nothing has been seen or heard of Gratia Pello since his arrest.
MALI: CATHOLIC PRIEST ABDUCTED
…seven and a half months missing.
On Sunday 20 November 2022 Islamic jihadists snatched Reverend Hans-Joachim Lohre as he prepared to go and celebrate the Mass [see RLPB 673 (30 Nov 2022)]. Affectionately known as Father Ha-Jo, the German priest had served in Mali for more than 30 years and was a champion of inter-religious dialogue. It was the first abduction of a foreigner from the capital, Bamako, since the Islamic insurgency began in 2012. Father Ho-Jo served with the international Roman Catholic Missionary Society, ‘Missionaries of Africa’. His fate and whereabouts remain unknown.
BURKINA FASO: CATHOLIC PRIEST ABDUCTED
…four and a half years missing.
On Sunday 17 March 2019 gunmen – presumed to be Islamic jihadists – ambushed and abducted Father Père Joël Yougbaré, a priest with the Parish of Djibo in Burkina Faso’s terrorist-infested northern Sahel Region. The priest had travelled from Djibo to Bottogui to celebrate the Mass there, but never returned [RLPB 501 (8 May 2019)]. There has been no news of him ever since [see RLPB 656 (3 Aug 2022)].
CHINA: CHRISTIAN HUMAN RIGHTS LAWYER ‘DISAPPEARED’
…five years and nine months missing.
An internationally acclaimed human rights lawyer and religious liberty champion, Gao Zhisheng is without a doubt China’s most severely persecuted Christian of this era. Since 2006, Gao has been forcibly ‘disappeared’ numerous times, brutally beaten and horrifically tortured, held for extended periods in solitary confinement, isolated and denied access to medical care – all because he refuses to be silenced. When Gao Zhisheng emerged from three years secret detention in August 2014 severely malnourished and traumatised, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) thought it had finally and irretrievably broken him.
But the CCP was mistaken. Despite being under house arrest in a remote location with no medical care, Gao rallied and secretly managed to write both a memoir and a 40-page human rights report. He also managed to have both documents smuggled out and published in Hong Kong in June 2016. In August 2017 Gao escaped from his government minders with the assistance of two friends who were desperate to get him medical care. After 23 days on the run, Gao and his friends were found by police. His friends were arrested, and Gao was ‘disappeared’ into a secret prison in the northern province of Shaanxi [see RLPB 432 (15 Nov 2017)]. No-one has seen or heard from him since.
(right) China Aid Association's Bob Fu with Geng He, 20 April 2023.
In early April 2021 the Yulin police department in Shaanxi Province told Gao’s wife, Geng He, that they were holding Gao, but would not let her see or speak to him. She told Radio Free Asia (RFA, 20 April 2021), ‘I now have a premonition that is getting stronger and stronger, which is that Gao Zhisheng has been persecuted to death… I only hope that the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) can return Gao Zhisheng’s ashes to me for humanitarian reasons.’ On 20 April 2023 Geng He testified before a US Congress hearing entitled, ‘China’s Political Prisoners: Where is Gao Zhisheng?’ She wrapped up her testimony by asking the US embassy in China to visit her husband and confirm his condition. However, she recognised her requests might not be possible. ‘It’s okay to have [Gao] give me a call and tell me he’s still alive. Just knowing he’s alive is enough.’ Lord have mercy!
PLEASE PRAY THAT OUR MERCIFUL GOD WILL:
- hear the cries of our Christian brothers and sisters who have been arrested or abducted yet remain alive, ‘disappeared’ into a nightmare of isolation and darkness. May the Lord intervene to protect, deliver and restore them; may his presence be palpable, to comfort, encourage and sustain them. Where shall I go from your Spirit? Or where shall I flee from your presence? If I ascend to heaven, you are there! If I make my bed in Sheol, you are there! (Psalm 139:7-8 ESV)
- hear the cries of the families, friends and colleagues of Christians who are officially missing/disappeared; may the Lord intervene to bring to light the truth concerning the fate and whereabouts of these missing believers – be they dead or alive. The Lord is near to the broken hearted and saves the crushed in spirit (Psalm 34:18 ESV).
- grace the gift of conviction of sin, fear of God, and transformative repentance to those who persecute Christians so cruelly in the mistaken belief that God does not see. May those who resist the Spirit in this be held to account. And no creature is hidden from his sight, but all are naked and exposed to the eyes of Him to whom we must give account (Hebrews 4:13, see also Psalm 10:12-14).