Lausanne World Pulse – Believers Face High Price for Their Faith: A Look at the Persecuted Church on the IDOP
By Carl Moeller
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As the 2007 IDOP approaches, Christians around the |
Ostracized in India
Six Muslim Background Believers (MBBs) and their families in the village of Nutangram in West Bengal, India, are being pressured to relinquish their Christian faith. The Muslim mosque committee called for thousands of villagers from nearby areas to rally against the Christian families on 4 September 2007, as they wanted the families to recommit themselves to Islam. The believers, who came to faith a little more than a year ago, are terrified.
A few days prior to 4 September, the mosque issued a ban against anyone communicating with MBBs. As a result, the MBBs were not sold vegetables, workers did not come to do jobs in their fields and customers did not come to their shops. They were told they would be killed and their homes burned if they did not give up their faith in Jesus Christ.
The extremists stirred up some women to attack one of the Christian women. They physically tortured her, examining her body as they searched for “Christian signs” on her.
Recently, Pastor Bashir and the Khoda-e-Jamat ministry, which reaches out to Christians in the area, was threatened by Muslim extremists. The situation is tense. Pastor Bashir believes that the Lord’s grace will sustain every MBB in Nutangram in these difficult days. He requests prayer that not a single family will give in to the pressure to recant their faith.
| Dr. Carl Moeller is president/CEO of Open Doors USA. Open Doors is an international ministry which has supported and strengthened persecuted Christians for fifty years. Moeller formerly ministered with Campus Crusade for Christ and Saddleback Church in Lake Forest, California, USA. |