‘I am very discouraged’ says American Pastor Marking 500 Days in Turkish Prison

American pastor Andrew Brunson has been locked up in a Turkish prison for 500 days. The anniversary of Brunson’s captivity passed quietly Monday, but the American Center for Law and Justice is still aggressively working on his case.

 On Oct. 7, 2017 Andrew Brunson and his wife, Norine, were summoned to a local police station in Izmir, Turkey. At the time, this didn’t seem like anything to be worried about. The couple, originally from North Carolina, had lived for 23 years in Turkey’s third largest city, where Andrew was the pastor of the Izmir Resurrection Church, a small protestant congregation of about 25. The Brunsons had raised three children in Turkey and had applied for permanent residency. They went willingly to the police station, thinking they were finally going to get it. Instead, Andrew and Norine were taken into custody, accused of missionary activities “against national security,” and told they would be deported. Norine was released on Oct. 9 and so far has been allowed to stay in Turkey, but more than six months later, Andrew remains locked up. On Dec. 11, he was moved to a counter-terrorism center and charged with “membership in an armed terrorist organization.” A judge ordered that he be detained rather than deported.

 

“He still remains merely a suspect of alleged crimes; no indictment has yet to be handed down,” CeCe Heil, executive counsel for the non-profit organization, told CBN News.

The ACLJ is fighting on Brunson’s behalf and reports the pastor wrote a heartfelt note to his wife through an embassy official this month.

“I am very discouraged. Please have prayer for me,” Brunson wrote. “I love you – can’t handle the thought of growing old in this place, without you.”

“I think being trapped in a Turkish prison with really no end in sight has been hard on Pastor Brunson,” Heil said. “Of course he has his faith to sustain him and the prayers of faithful believers all over the world… but as you can imagine, this 500 days in prison, he’s lost quite a bit of weight.”

“He’s obviously gone in and out of just kind of discouragement, wondering what’s going to happen, what’s the end game here,” she added.

Heil said the accusations against Brunson range from membership in an armed terrorist organization to espionage and overthrowing the government. “So very ridiculous claims against an innocent pastor,” she said.

Heil explained to CBN News that under Turkish law, Brunson can remain in prison for seven years without ever being charged. 

Testifying at the US Helsinki Commission hearing late last year, she said, “Pastor Brunson maintains his innocence and denies all the accusations.”   

 Inside of a prison in Turkey

It seems that Brunson is a political hostage of Turkey. Last year, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan seemed to indicate that the pastor will only be released when Washington gives Turkey a Muslim cleric living in the US who is Erdogan’s rival.

“..they (the US) get up and say… ‘Give us so and so cleric,'” Erdogan said at a police academy graduation ceremony in Ankara in September, referring to Brunson.

Erdogan then brought up Pennsylvania-based Muslim cleric Fethullah Gulen, saying, “You have a cleric there. You give him to us and we’ll give you this one.”

Turkey has been seeking the extradition of Gulen, who was once Erdogan’s ally, and whose supporters have been blamed for trying to overthrow Erdogan’s government in 2016. Gulen has denied any role in the coup attempt.  Heil said Erdogan even recently talked about a swap.

“It certainly seems that Pastor Brunson has become a political pawn,” she told CBN News. “He lived 23 years in Turkey without any incident, without any problem.”

“After the failed coup attempt in July of 2016, then Pastor Brunson’s suddenly arrested as a national security threat and then remains in prison,” she continued.

“And just recently, President Erdogan has demanded a swap, basically saying a cleric for a cleric or a pastor for a pastor,” Heil said. “You have Fethullah Gulen; we have Pastor Brunson. Let’s do a swap.”

But she doesn’t believe the US will agree to the deal.

“I don’t believe that the US will ever trade prisoners; that’s not the way that we typically operate,” she told CBN News. “So I believe they’ll keep following through with Turkey, who is a NATO ally and continuing to demand his release.”

Heil said President Donald Trump has repeatedly asked for Brunson’s release. In addition, just last week, she said Secretary of State Rex Tillerson met with Erdogan and Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu and again asked for the pastor to be freed   

“It seems like this meeting last week between Tillerson, Erdogan and Cavusoglu, it seems like they came out of that meeting hopeful that the US-Turkey relationship will be restored,” Heil said. “So we’re hopeful that Pastor Brunson will be part of that resolution.”

In the meantime, Heil said the most important thing people can do for Brunson is pray for him, but she also encourages taking action by signing an ACLJ petition, “Free Pastor Andrew,” which has more than 426,000 signatures so far.

“That’s very helpful because as we speak to our government as well as Turkish government and European government, it’s very helpful just to show the mass amount of people who have their eyes on this matter and are concerned about this matter and are demanding his release,” she said.

EDITORS NOTE: I wonder if Jakes, Olsteen, Dollar, Copeland, the pope and the other filthy rich “men of G-d” have signed that petition! I wonder if they even took up an offering to help support this man’s family.  I wonder if they’ve even used their resources to bring any significant attention to this matter. I wonder if they held any “night vigils,” I wonder if this man will even be thought of or mentioned during “lent,” I wonder what they would do if this were Oprah, Just wondering…….

Bolivia Bans Evangelism and Calls Sharing the Gospel a Form of ‘Human Trafficking’

Bolivia adopted a new penal code on December 15th called Article 88. The measure states that “whoever recruits, transports, deprives of freedom, or hosts people with the aim of recruiting them to take part in armed conflicts or religious or worship organizations will be penalized 5 to 12 years of imprisonment,” the Evangelical Focus, a Spanish media organization, reported. 

Although Bolivia is run by an atheistic socialist government, most of its population is Christian with 77% identifying as Catholic and 16% Protestant. Now, many Christian leaders are concerned that even more of their rights will be taken away. 

“Will they denounce us if we bring a group of people to a Christian camp?” one pastor told Evangelical Focus. “Will I no longer be able to preach the Gospel on the streets?”

According to the Inter-American Federation of Christian Journalists and the Bolivian Association of Christian Journalists, the law compares sharing the gospel with human trafficking. 

“The article says that one commits the crime of human trafficking who: captures, transports, transfers, welcomes, or receives people, with the purpose of participation in religious or worship organizations,” the organizations stated. “This means that one can be punished: a) who carries out proselytizing activities, in public or private, because they are ‘capturing people’; b) who transports a person from their home to their church or religious temple, or simply invites them to the church; c) who welcomes or receives people to participate in a religious or worship organization, that is, who would commit this crime are pastors, rabbis, priests, parents, leaders, etc.” 

 Birmingham diocese visit to Bolivia in 2015

Evangelical leaders say this is a violation of human rights. 

“It is deplorable that Bolivia becomes the first Latin American country to persecute the rights of freedom of conscience and of religion, which are protected by the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the declaration of San José de Costa Rica, and our Constitution,” the National Association of Evangelicals in Bolivia said in a statement. 

The new penal code comes after Bolivia’s government abolished term limits, allowing President Evo Morales to stay in power indefinitely. 

Knife Attacker ‘Wanted to Kill As Many Christians As Possible’

German prosecutors say a Palestinian man who fatally stabbed one person and wounded six others at a Hamburg supermarket in July wanted to kill as many Christians as possible to avenge what he considered injustices against Muslims worldwide.

 

Federal prosecutors say 26-year-old Ahmad A., whose last name wasn’t published due to German privacy rules, considered his actions a “contribution to a worldwide jihad.”

In a statement Friday, prosecutors said they were formally indicting the failed asylum-seeker, who was born in the United Arab Emirates, on one count of murder, six counts of attempted murder and six counts of serious bodily harm.

 

The man walked into a supermarket, grabbed a kitchen knife from a store shelf and started attacking people before he was subdued by passers-by and arrested.

 

Prosecutors said investigators found no “credible evidence” that A. was involved with or under the direction of a terrorist group such as the Islamic State.

 

Officials in Hamburg have said that he was known to authorities as a suspected Islamic radical but not as a “jihadist.” They also considered him psychologically unstable but decided he did not “pose any immediate danger.”

 

Federal prosecutors said he decided on the day of the attack to kill Christian Germans indiscriminately, and that he cited tensions over a contested Jerusalem holy site as his motivation.

written by Dale Hurd

Christians Hospitalized in Critical Condition After Brutal Assault on Church in India

International Christian Concern (ICC) has learned that Christians attending a worship service in Jaripara village, located in the Dantewada District of India’s Chhattisgarh State, were brutally assaulted by suspected Hindu radicals on Sunday, October 15. According to witnesses, a mob of more than 300 attacked the Bastar for Christ Movement (BCM) Church and beat the congregants, leaving nine seriously injured, including two in critical condition at the government hospital in Dantewada.

According to witnesses, more than 300 people encircled the BCM Church around noon on October 15 as a worship service was being conducted. The mob then disrupted the service, dragging Christian worshipers out of the church and into the street. There, the mob ordered the Christians to renounce their faith. When the Christians refused, the mob attacked and beat the Christians with sticks and slippers. Christian women were stripped by the mob and even Christian children were not spared. The mob then vandalized the BCM Church and set fire to the church’s furniture.

As a result, many Christians were injured, including Raju Sodi and Sangetha Kartami who sustained serious injuries to the head and hands. Both Raju and Sangetha were rushed to a nearby hospital following the attack and were later transferred to the government hospital in Dantewada as their conditions were deemed critical.

“The attack on Jaripara’s Christians is inhuman and highly condemnable,” a local pastor, who wished to remain anonymous, told ICC. “These attacks are popping up on the backdrop of the state elections that are nearing. The BJP, who is in power in the state, makes it all the more easy for the Hindu radicals to carry on the hate campaign against religious minorities for the political gains.“

 

Local police refused to file a First Information Report (FIR) when the Christians contacted the police. According to local Christians, Hindu radicals had filed an FIR on the Christians prior to the attack. Jaripara’s Christians had to protest for more than 24 hours to have police accept their complaint about the brutal attack and it remains doubtful that local police will bring the perpetrators to justice.

 

Attacks on Christians and their places of worship have continued to escalate under the rule of the current BJP-led government. Anti-minority rhetoric used by BJP leaders for political expedience coupled with an atmosphere of impunity for those who attack minorities is much to blame for this escalation in violence. According to Open Doors USA, Christians in India were attacked 410 times in just the first six months of 2017. This marked a dramatic increase from the 441 attacks recorded over the entire year of 2016.

 

William Stark, ICC’s Regional Manager, said, “Attacks on Christians and their places of worship in India are becoming an almost daily occurrence. Hindu radicals across the country seem to have been given a wide berth by local authorities to pursue their hate campaigns against Christians and other minorities. This inability or unwillingness to protect and enforce the rights of Christians must come to an end. While Article 25 of India’s constitution guarantees full religious freedom for all citizens, the lack of India’s enforcement of this freedom leaves Article 25 as just words on paper. India’s leaders must do more to confront the issue of growing religious violence. Until then, Christians across India will continue to feel like second-class citizens vulnerable to religiously motivated assault.“

[Photo courtesy: ©Thinkstock/Thomas Brown]

 

Confronting White Supremacy In Christianity As A Christian South Asian

“Oh, really? I didn’t expect that…” a puzzled reaction plenty of people have had after realizing that I’m a Christian. I can’t say that I blame them, given that even today I don’t necessarily fit the standard ideal of what a Christian looks like on the outside.

 

Christianity as a practice has long been a whitewashed glorification of fabricated superiority, its history of white supremacy manifested through colonialism and genocide across the globe. Yet, it is in part because of such monstrosities that people like me have been pushed into the Christian circle and remained there fueled by confusion, frustration, sometimes anger, and most importantly, faith.

 

I was born into a Christian home long after my parents and grandparents had converted from Hinduism. I had a christening, volunteered at my church, and attended Sunday School regularly as a child followed by Youth Group throughout my adolescence. I spent just as much time doing Sunday School projects and assignments as I did my regular homework, memorized Bible verses to win church competitions, participated in holiday plays, sang in the choir, and soaked up as many of Jesus’ teachings as I could. Most importantly, I did so eagerly, not only because it pleased my parents and pastors but because I wholeheartedly wanted to.

 

As I got older and transitioned between junior church and the congregation, I noticed a distinct shift. Instead of learning how to more accurately follow Jesus I was now required to obey Paul, the Apostle. Depending on the church and pastor, instead of hearing more about the Gospel or understanding the contextual teachings of the Old Testament, I was being instructed on how to convert my non-Christian friends and taught that homosexuality for some, was the reason why the world would end in 2012 (Spoiler Alert: it didn’t). I easily dismissed much of what I’d heard within my own interpretation of the Bible.

 

I was never convinced that spreading the Gospel meant actively trying to convert others at each and every turn, nor could I ever fathom that Jesus would reject someone simply because of who they loved while on Earth, it fundamentally wouldn’t make sense based on what I knew about Him, and I’ve never wavered from my stance. The issue that I felt most conflicted with personally, was the notion that any reference or adherence to my Hindu background and Indian culture was viewed as both religious and blasphemous.

Christianity in India highlights a violent history of white supremacy through colonization and mass conversion by Europeans including, the Portuguese, Irish, Dutch, Italian, French, and English many of whom hold cultural influence that has remained to this day in places like Kerala, Pondicherry, and Goa. Similarly, there doesn’t appear to be much of a difference in the diaspora. For instance, my family converted to Christianity while living under the Apartheid regime in South Africa, an entire system of white supremacy supported by ‘Christian’ values.

This idea that maintaining a connection to my ethnic background meant that I was committing a sin has consistently challenged me to this day. Why could I not sing songs of praise to Jesus and also find a different sort of comfort in hearing the Gayatri Mantra play in the background of some random Indian film? Was it really such a big deal that some people had both Hindu and Christian wedding ceremonies? How does one just ignore their entire culture based on the Western classification of what ‘religion’ is? Further, it perplexed me that people who were not Indian decided that I essentially needed to be whitewashed and dismiss the very things that God bestowed upon me Himself. Even now, whenever I meet white Christians – regardless of denomination – there is a never-ending attempt to convert because to them my brown skin screams Hindu, Muslim, or Sikh. If I walk into a new church they always assume I’ve never even heard of Jesus before instead of treating me like they would any normal visitor whereas, Christians of color have never confronted me with such racist assumptions.

 

It wasn’t until I went to university and devoted part of my degree to studying Christianity in the global context while within a supposedly less biased environment that I truly realized the extent to which white supremacy in Christianity transcends church, denomination, and geography. Rather, it is engrained into the Western manifestation of the tradition at its very core. As a student, I was finally able to objectively critique and understand the problematic nature of evangelism in South Asia and could examine how traditional Indian customs were being stripped away in favor of Eurocentric-Christian traditions. However, I also found that I was usually the only non-white person in my classes and at the very least, the only one who would willingly argue against the narrative that, the result of witnessing Indians come to Christ justifies the horrors of colonialism. A position that to my predominantly religious classmates, implied I was certainly not a believer.

 

To list every single issue with white supremacy in modern Christianity would take far too long and differ greatly, from the lack of diversity within church leadership to problematic mission trips in developing countries. All the while there are a plethora of Christians of color who have to endure it, often in silence. How to navigate this rhetoric openly is another challenge altogether, one that I’m not sure I know how to combat other than by calling it out. If no one admits that there remains a problem then how can we possibly resolve it? In 2016, 81% of white, evangelical Christians voted for Donald Trump in the American election which in my opinion, pretty much sums up the existence of white supremacy within the North American context.

 

My father used to say, “I go to church for God, not for other people” and perhaps he was right. How else can one stomach walking into a space we were brought into based on a racist interpretation of the Bible? Personally, I know there’s more to my life than what’s on this Earth and I’ll continue to uphold my faith while equitably critiquing its downfalls. If white people (Christian or not) can practice “yoga” with goats and beer, there’s no way I’m giving up the rest of my culture for their vision of my faith.

 

Black Christian University Professor Suspended After Saying Some BLM Members ‘Should Be Hung’

A Black professor at a Christian university in Phoenix has been suspended after a video clip revealed him making troubling remarks about activists in the Black Lives Matter movement.

Prof. Toby Jennings, of Grand Canyon University, was recorded in September 2016 speaking during a panel discussion called “God’s concern for the poor: What’s missing in social justice” when he was asked about Black Lives Matter. During his answer, Jennings openly stated he believed some members of the group “should be hung.”

After Jennings made the comment, several people in the room gasped, and Jennings said he was alright with his opinion even though he knew he was on camera.

Jennings said activists in the Black Lives Matter movement are different; some work for good, and some do not.

After the video was recently posted to GCU’s website and received tremendous backlash, the university’s College of Theology told professor Jennings his statements were offensive. Although Jennings apologized for his remarks, BLM was not satisfied and took matters into their own hands.

As a result, GCU suspended Jennings for the rest of the semester, yet members of BLM in Phoenix want more action to be taken.

“My heart is broken, not because GCU is our enemy, but they claim to be our brothers and sisters. Brothers and sisters please stop avoiding talking about ways racism… makes us uncomfortable,” Pastor Warren Stewart Jr. told Fox 10.

The president of Grand Canyon University said Jennings’s comments should be looked at as a reflection of the entire institution.

“Yes, it was wrong, but it is an isolated incident and it does not represent who our faculty is and it does not represent who our students are,” Brian Mueller, GCU’s president, told Fox 10.

“You have folks that participate in it on one side that are very thoughtful about the matter and then on the other side, you have people on the opposite side of that who frankly should be hung and I did say that on video… they are saying things that are not helpful in any shape or form or human dignity or flourishing,” Jennings said.

[Photo, story and video by Fox 10 News]

• Be honest staff members of GCU, didn’t this man say openly what many of you said in private with your friends and family? I’m sure at some time in your [recent] life you have said even worse than this in private! You without sin CAST THE FIRST STONE! It’s all about being politically correct, this man was not fired/suspended because the staff members of GCU are so pure and holy, his job is in jeopardy because the school doesn’t want to lose donors and students!  You’re not fooling God you Philistines!

Pastors Arrested in Sudan as Government Moves to Take Over Church

According to Morning Star News Sudan Correspondent, 

Police in Sudan arrested and interrogated seven church leaders last week in Omdurman, Sudan before releasing them on bail, sources said.

The Christian leaders were jailed for six hours on Wednesday (Aug. 23) and charged with refusing to comply with an order to turn over leadership of their congregation to a government appointed-committee. Omdurman lies across the Nile River from Khartoum, the capital.

The Rev. Ayoub Mattan, Sudanese Church of Christ (SCOC) moderator, and Kwa Shamaal (also transliterated Kuwa Shamaal), head of missions at the SCOC, were among the church leaders arrested. Pastor Shamaal was previously arrested on Dec. 18, 2015 and acquitted on Jan. 2 this year of charges ranging from spying to inciting hatred against the government.

Sudan’s Ministry of Guidance and Religious Endowments had written a letter dated Aug. 14 ordering them to hand over church leadership to the committee appointed by the government ministry, sources said. When they refused, police opened a case against them, though it was unclear under what law.

“Police asked if we still maintain our stance on our refusal to acknowledge the committee appointed by the Ministry of Guidance and Religious Endowments, and we said yes, because it is not the work of the [government] ministry to appoint committees for the church,” Pastor Shamaal told Morning Star News.

Police said that in arresting them they were implementing orders from the Ministry of Guidance and Religious Endowments to impose its committee as new SCOC leadership, presumably to sell off the church property in Sudan’s bid to rid the country of Christianity. The pastors said the committee was contrary to SCOC’s constitution, which calls for general elections every three years to appoint new leadership.

Pastors Mattan, Shamaal and the others are still members of the legitimate executive committee of the SCOC, sources said. The current leadership term expires in March 2018.

Police also arrested the Rev. Yagoub Naway and pastor Musa Kodi, both from the SCOC. The four Christians were interrogated along with the three other church leaders, including SCOC Finance Secretary Abdulbagi Ali Abdulrahaman and SCOC Deputy Finance Secretary El-Amin Hassam Abdulrasool, before they were all released on bail.

Six other SCOC members are in hiding after learning police were searching for them to arrest and interrogate them, sources said.  Pastors Mattan, Shamaal and the others are still members of the legitimate executive committee of the SCOC, sources said. The current leadership term expires in March 2018.

Police also arrested the Rev. Yagoub Naway and pastor Musa Kodi, both from the SCOC. The four Christians were interrogated along with the three other church leaders, including SCOC Finance Secretary Abdulbagi Ali Abdulrahaman and SCOC Deputy Finance Secretary El-Amin Hassam Abdulrasool, before they were all released on bail.

Another SCOC pastor, the Rev. Hassan Abdelrahim Tawor, had received a 12-year sentence earlier this year after being charged with spying and trying to tarnish Sudan’s image, but he was freed along with Abdulmonem Abdumawla of Darfur on May 11 after receiving a presidential pardon.

He had been arrested along with Pastor Shamaal in December 2015. They were convicted on baseless charges of assisting Czech aid worker Petr Jasek – pardoned and released on Feb. 25– in alleged espionage, causing hatred among communities and spreading false information, according to their attorney.

Foreign diplomats and international rights activists took notice of the case after Morning Star News broke the story of the arrest of pastors Abdelrahim Tawor and Shamaal. Their arrests were seen as part of a recent upsurge in harassment of Christians.

Most SCOC members have roots among the ethnic Nuba in the Nuba Mountains of Sudan’s South Kordofan state, where the government is fighting an insurgency. The Nuba along with other Christians in Sudan face discrimination and harassment, as Sudanese President Omar Al-Bashir has vowed to introduce a stricter version of sharia (Islamic law) and recognize only Islamic culture and Arabic language.

In its campaign to rid the country of Christianity, Sudan has designated 25 church buildings for destruction, and on Aug. 2 it demolished a Baptist church in Omdurman. On May 7 Khartoum state authorities in Sudan demolished a church building in the Khartoum suburb of Soba al Aradi, which began as a refugee camp for south Sudanese. A bulldozer sent by Jebel Aulia locality and the Ministry of Planning and Urban Development destroyed the SCOC building.

Authorities had notified church leaders of the impending demolition just a week prior. The government reportedly claimed the churches were built on land zoned for residential or other uses, or were on government land, but church leaders said it is part of wider crack-down on Christianity.

Harassment, arrests and persecution of Christians have intensified since the secession of South Sudan in July 2011. The Sudanese Minister of Guidance and Endowments announced in April 2013 that no new licenses would be granted for building new churches in Sudan, citing a decrease in the South Sudanese population.

Sudan since 2012 has expelled foreign Christians and bulldozed church buildings on the pretext that they belonged to South Sudanese. Besides raiding Christian bookstores and arresting Christians, authorities threatened to kill South Sudanese Christians who do not leave or cooperate with them in their effort to find other Christians.

Sudan fought a civil war with the south Sudanese from 1983 to 2005, and in June 2011, shortly before the secession of South Sudan the following month, the government began fighting a rebel group in the Nuba Mountains that has its roots in South Sudan.

Due to its treatment of Christians and other human rights violations, Sudan has been designated a Country of Particular Concern by the U.S. State Department since 1999, and the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom recommended the country remain on the list in its 2017 report.

Sudan ranked fifth on Christian support organization Open Doors’ 2017 World Watch List of countries where Christians face most persecution.