An appeals court judge in Morocco today overturned a conviction against a Christian convert from Islam who had been sentenced to 30 months in prison for alleged proselytizing.
The judge in the Court of Appeal in Fez dismissed the case against Mohamed El Baladi, 31, because of lack of evidence, sources close to him said.
In the remote town of Ain Aicha, Taounate Province, 50 miles from Fez, security officials arrested El Baladi for alleged proselytizing of two Muslims after someone complained to police about a conversation he allegedly had with them about his faith.
Having a conversation about one’s faith is not generally considered proselytizing in Morocco, but sources confirmed reports that El Baladi was set up by an uncle with whom he had a previous dispute. The uncle hired two teenage boys to feign interest in Christianity, and police were on hand to arrest him for proselytizing minors when he met with them a second time.
The below is from “Pierre,” who has asked me to ask you to get involved. It’s incredibly humbling to read – what he and his family have gone through, the love and commitment he has for his nation and for Muslims, his unshakeable trust in the Lord – all are profoundly challenging. Day after day he sends me updates of arbitrary lynchings, rapes, and wanton destruction. The scale of this crisis is horrific.
“Some time ago, I was helping to try to alert and educate the body of Christ concerning the rise of Islam, but religious leaders and Christians said it could never happen here. What seemed like a utopia yesterday has become reality today. The church in the CAR is poorly prepared, very poorly prepared to face persecution, and now it is paying a heavy price for its earlier lack of concern.
“For nearly a year now, the ministry has no longer functioned according to schedule. Various programs had originally been planned to be held at intervals throughout 2013. Everything has been postponed indefinitely. The rise of the Seleka followed by that of the anti-Balaka has constituted a major obstacle and created a situation of chronic insecurity, preventing us from getting out to visit our brothers in the field.
“The work among our converts from the other faith kept going until the last quarter of 2013. Unfortunately, the arrival of the anti-Balaka in Bangui undermined everything. Almost all Muslims have been driven from the capital, and the converts have also suffered from the situation. We are sheltering some of them and have rented a house elsewhere to hide some of the (as yet unconverted) Muslims who are in danger.
“This week we lost two converts, who died in the vehicle in which they were supposed to be traveling to Chad, after a grenade was thrown into it. So Habib and Abdel Kader are now with the Lord. It is really sad, what is going on here. The devil is making the work among Muslims impossible. But we remain confident in the Lord, who wants all men to be saved and come to a knowledge of him.
“Sister Nathalie, who cares for the orphaned children, has been in Chad for some months for surgery. The children and the families they are staying with are often moving about, and the meetings with them can no longer be held regularly; nevertheless we continue to follow them up and assist them. We enrolled some of them in school for the new academic year; unfortunately, as mentioned earlier, the schools are still not running. Pray for the children to persevere in faith.”
» Continue reading Pierre’s report, view pictures, and learn how you can help.
Missions Catalyst is a free, weekly electronic digest of mission news and resources designed to inspire and equip Christians worldwide for global ministry. Use it to fuel your prayers, find tips and opportunities, and stay in touch with how God is building his kingdom all over the world. Please forward it freely!
About Shane Bennett
Shane has been loving Muslims and connecting people who love Jesus with Muslims for more than 20 years. He speaks like he writes – in a practical, humorous, and easy-to-relate-to way – about God’s passion to bring all peoples into his kingdom.
Why people gravitate to God’s global purposes and why they run away.
By Shane Bennett
Who wouldn’t want to have a book in the Bible named after themselves? My guess is that Jonah wouldn’t. As far as I can tell, though, he’s the only one to get four eponymous chapters dedicated solely to himself. And it couldn’t be the recounting of noble exploits or sharing of time-honored, God-revealed truth. Not even an angelic visitation. No, it had to be a giant, unmitigated foul-up. It may be Jonah’s one and only foul-up, but it’s preserved so we can read it, raise our eyebrows, cluck our tongues, and judge poor Jonah.
Or maybe he’s not so much “poor Jonah.” He clearly disobeyed. And in the process, he may provide mission mobilizers with a moral on a silver plate: “Obey God. Become a missionary. Don’t be a dope like Jonah.” Powerful stuff if wielded well, but not as interesting to me as the “why?” behind the “what?”
Why did Jonah, on hearing God’s call to Nineveh, head to Tarshish? Sometimes we go for a secondary moral: “Jonah was afraid of the Ninevites, so he ran away. Don’t be a baby like Jonah. Be brave. Follow God to where there aren’t even any Starbucks!”
But Jonah tips his hand at the end of his short bio and shows us it wasn’t fear that made him run. It was his conviction regarding the character of God: “Isn’t this what I said, Lord, when I was still at home? That is what I tried to forestall by fleeing to Tarshish. I knew that you are a gracious and compassionate God, slow to anger and abounding in love, a God who relents from sending calamity. Now, Lord, take away my life, for it is better for me to die than to live.” Essentially, “If I preach, they might repent. If they repent, you’ll relent. Ergo, no Ninevite carnage.”
Apparently Jonah was compelled by his logical conclusion that dead enemies are less likely to visit their nefarious plans on your beloved homeland. He prioritized his perceived national security over God’s glory and Ninevite salvation. He didn’t go because he didn’t want them at the party.
What about us? What about us? What causes us and our people to run away from or toward obedience to God’s purpose?
In the course of my job, I ask tons of people to jump into God’s global purposes. Many of them don’t say yes. And since I can’t stomach the possibility that it might be me or the way I ask, I have to wonder why. I frequently ask students the following question in Perspectives classes: “What are some of the reasons people, perhaps including you at some point, run from involvement in God’s purposes for the world?”
A bright class will generate a long list. Long enough sometimes that we have to stop before we all get convinced to bail out! Here are some of the top reasons.
Reasons to Run away from God’s Global Purposes
I can’t learn a language.
I don’t measure up.
I’m really happy here and don’t want to leave what’s comfortable.
I’m engaged in ministry locally.
I can’t (won’t?) raise support.
I don’t understand what it looks like. No role models.
I don’t really care.
I don’t like foreign stuff.
Life is so full and crazy, it’s all I can do just to get by.
I just don’t see the need.
I didn’t know God was into that stuff.
It feels so imperialistic, intolerant, and non-pluralistic.
Reasons to Run toward God’s Global Purposes
I want to obey what the Bible says.
I feel compassion for people in need.
I sense an opportunity for adventure.
I honestly think I can help.
I want to join in what God’s doing.
I want to live a life of purpose.
I believe God is worthy to be followed by all peoples.
For people like us, these lists do a couple of things. One, they give us language to articulate our judgmental, Pharisaical attitudes. I don’t recommend using them that way. (Although I should probably add, “Do as I say. Not as I do!”) But they also give us a window of understanding into the people we hope to mobilize for God’s global purposes. And maybe if we’re smart and work together, we can mitigate some of the first list and maximize the second one.
That said, I’d like your help. Can you take one minute right now and do something for me? Pick an item from each list and suggest a way to decrease its impact (first list) or increase its effect (second list). Because I’d really like this exercise to change things, pick items you feel have the best combination of “easy to address” and “high potential to make a difference.”
This article is a full 25 percent shorter than normal! Whoop! Please use the extra time that just landed in your lap to share you smarts with the tribe. I’ll follow up next month.
Editor’s note: For some more on Jonah, listen to a message from Shane, “In the Steps of Jonah or Jesus?”
By the kind gift of a gracious God, I happened to get to do some good work this past weekend at one of the 15 largest churches in the U.S. It got me wondering about mobilizing mega-churches.
I’ve got to be honest, I was a little dazzled by the scale of the operation and the staggering quantity of resources they bring to bear on the world. This church in particular is hitting missional home runs on a regular basis. But maybe they could be more strategic (Read: Hit into my section of the stands – unengaged Muslim peoples!).
So I’m looking for some friends who’d like to kick around best-practice ideas for mobilizing mega-churches. If you’d like to contribute to that conversation, shoot me a quick email introduction. I’ll float out some questions to the pool and we’ll go from there.
Missions Catalyst is a free, weekly electronic digest of mission news and resources designed to inspire and equip Christians worldwide for global ministry. Use it to fuel your prayers, find tips and opportunities, and stay in touch with how God is building his kingdom all over the world. Please forward it freely!
About Us
Missions Catalyst is a free, weekly electronic digest of mission news and resources designed to inspire and equip Christians worldwide for global ministry. Use it to fuel your prayers, find tips and opportunities, and stay in touch with how God is building his kingdom all over the world. Please forward it freely!
Pat Noble has been the “news sleuth” for Missions Catalyst since 2004. In addition to churning out the news, she is working to create a SWARM (Serving World A Regional Mobilizers) in Northern New York using the NorthernChristian.org website. You can connect with her at www.whatsoeverthings.com.
Three years after the “Arab Spring” started in Tunisia, the country’s National Constituent Assembly is close to passing a new constitution which rejects Islam as the “main source of law,” but states it is the State’s duty to “protect the sacred.”
The new constitution, which has taken two years to conclude, comes almost three years to the day since the fall of President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali, itself 10 days after the death of a Tunisian vegetable seller which began the movement that would sweep across North Africa and into the Middle East.
Since the revolution of 2011, the question of whether the State would be seen as the “protector of the sacred” has caused great controversy between the moderate Islamist party which came to power after the first post-Ben Ali general election and the broadly secular opposition.
As well as being the “protector of the sacred,” the constitution appoints the State as “guarantor of religion” and “guarantor of freedom of conscience” and promises the “neutrality of places of worship in relation to political manipulation.”
» Read full story, which discussing reactions to these decisions.
» For a long view on the Arab Spring, hear seasoned diplomat and ambassador Marwan Muasher speak at Yale on The Second Arab Awakening and the Battle for Pluralism. Well worth your 30 minutes. Jump to 6:30 where he begins (YouTube).
A Central African Republic priest has opened his church as a shelter to Muslims fleeing the Christian militias terrorizing his community.
“I am not going to let anyone hurt the people inside my church; it doesn’t matter whether they are Christians or Muslims,” Xavier Fagba, who leads a church in Boali, a city northwest of the capital Bangui, told FRANCE 24.
At the service on Sunday, Fagba told his congregation to make their Muslim counterparts feel comfortable and greet one another with a “kiss of peace.”
“We just stop causing people pain,” he said.
Jean-Claude, a Christian, encouraged Ahmad – his Muslim neighbor for years – with a hug at the end of the service.
“You need to be strong. Stay positive,” Jean-Claud told his neighbor, who recently had his house destroyed in the violence.
Ahmad said that although he felt that there were individuals trying to protect him, he felt that he would not be fully safe unless he made it to the capital.
“There are people here who are good to us,” Ahmad told The Daily Nation. “But we can’t stay here any longer. We have to leave. I want to go to Bangui. At least there is still some safety there.”
Currently about 70 French troops are guarding Fagba’s church, where 700 Muslims, mostly women and children, are staying. The volume of people has put a strain on the church’s resources, especially its sanitary conditions, however, without a method to evacuate the people safely, they are planning to remain sheltered there.
Eight months after his arrest and despite his failing health, 67-year-old retired Presbyterian Pastor Bakhytzhan Kashkumbayev was brought from prison in handcuffs [on the 22d of January] for the first hearing in his criminal trial in a court in Kazakhstan’s capital Astana. He faces charges of harming health, inciting hatred, propagating extremism, and leading an organization that harms others, Forum 18 News Service notes. The charges carry a maximum penalty of eight, seven, ten and six years’ imprisonment respectively. He denies all wrongdoing.
About 70 people were present in court to support retired pastor Kashkumbayev, among them foreign diplomats.
The alleged “religious extremism” is possession of two books entitled Healing the Broken Family of Abraham and “New Life for Muslims,” his lawyer told Forum 18.
Athletes, sport fans, and tourists from around the world are gathering in Sochi, Russia for this year’s Winter Olympic Games (February 7-23). What a great opportunity to pray for all those in Sochi and the countries they represent! Many Christian ministries have also been planning and preparing for outreach events for many months. Will you join us in lifting them up?
Engage Sochi includes three virtual prayer walking guides to take you around the Sochi region and the Olympic venues where the games will be held.
Athletes in Action‘s website features stories about the journeys of some of this year’s competitors.
Russian Ministries and more than 500 Russian churches are partnering in a scripture distribution effort; pray for that!
» Know about other ministry efforts, prayer campaigns, or interesting stories related to the Olympics? Let us know.
