Jesus is Lord, A Worshipping Christian’s Blog

We need to continue to pray for Christians who face very real and deadly persecution for their faith. As usual, Islam seems to be the root of the problem.

Michelle Malkin has more:

Update 11:40am Eastern. Taliban wants an 8-for-8 hostages for jailed jihadis trade.

I know I shouldn’t been stunned by the lack of attention being paid to this story, but I am. The 23 South Korean Christians, including 18 women, kidnapped by the Taliban in Afghanistan are scheduled to be put to death tonight. The hostages are mostly medical workers and teachers. The ultimatum has been pushed back three times now:

Qari Yousef Ahmadi, who claims to speak for the Taliban, said the militants had extended the deadline on the fate of the kidnapped South Koreans another day after the Afghan government refused to release any of the 23 Taliban prisoners the insurgents want freed.The militants have pushed back their ultimatum at least three times.

The Independent reports on the underground Afghan Christian movement. Apostates, as you’ll remember from the Abdul Rahman case, are subject to the death penalty for abandoning Islam:

The kidnapping of South Korean church volunteers by the Taliban has sparked vigils in Seoul, and shone the spotlight on Afghanistan’s small, underground Christian community. In Mazar-e-Sharif, home to one of Islam’s most revered shrines, Ahmedi, 33, says he would be killed instantly if his faith were exposed. In this staunchly traditional society, conversion from Islam remains reviled by many Afghans – and by government officials. “If the war had not happened, if the Americans and foreigners had not come to Afghanistan, we would not have this freedom and we would not have this office,” says Ahmedi, who was fearful of giving his full name. The “office” is a community centre set up by a Christian charity, and Ahmedi is one of 100 or so Christians living in the northern city.Rumours abound here that many aid organisations are used as a cover by foreigners to indoctrinate people into Christianity. And in Ahmedi’s case, there is an element of truth – he converted from Shia Islam three years ago after meeting an American evangelical. Now his wife and four children are also Christian, and he is the priest of a local church. He has even helped convert other Afghans.

The 23 South Koreans were kidnapped last week at gunpoint from a bus in Ghazni province, and belong to the Saemmul Church in Bundang, which says they are working as volunteer nurses and English teachers. However, boasts from some evangelical church leaders in South Korea about unofficially sending missionaries to Afghanistan has muddied the water between Christian volunteers doing humanitarian work, and those whose primary mission is to seek converts overseas.

In Mazer-e-Sharif, a recent convert called Abdullah recalled how his family reacted when he revealed his change of faith. “When I received Jesus, I went to my house and I didn’t say prayers any more like other Muslims,” he said. “One night my father asked me to get up and pray, but I told him I can’t. He asked me why, and I told him I was a Christian. He started to fight with me.”

Abdullah’s parents have come to accept his religion, but his oldest brother continues to ostracise him, and most other people do not even know he has converted. “If I go out and say I am a Christian they will curse me, hit me and kill me,” he said, matter of factly…Despite the dangers they face, Afghan Christians refuse to give in to the fear that they will be found out. “If I am afraid I will never receive Jesus,” said Abdullah.

As of 8:30am, there is nothing on the front page of the Human Rights Watch website about the plight of the South Korean Christian volunteers. Instead, the lead story is an article lambasting U.S. mandatory deportation laws regarding convicted criminal aliens. I kid you not.

Update: Reader Ken writes that he lived in Mazar-i-Sharif, Afghanistan “for most of 2002 and the Christian Charity there is called ‘Samaritan’s Purse’ based in North Carolina. They did wonderful things with very few resources unlike much better-funded organizations like ‘Save the Children.’ I am not surprised to hear they’ve converted 100 Muslims to Christianity as they simply do good things everyday. They give out shoes and food to the endless orphans abandoned by Islam to the backdrop of their revered ‘Blue Mosque.’ I specifically remember ‘Nina’ bravely walking through the streets of MeS (that what we called Mazar-i-Sharif) minus even her head scarf. Men glared at her but she was very strong and carried herself with the full knowledge men can only kill her body but not her spirit.”

Original Link.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, July 24th, 2007 at 10:57 am and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.