Vietnam: Easter Repression Start of Campaign of Terror

Vietnamese pastors and native missionaries need your help and prayers in this time of persecution. Communist security forces have been particularly brutal to the Degar people of Vietnam's Central Highlands, the majority of whom are Christians.

Approximately 400 people were killed Easter weekend after 400,000 participated in peaceful demonstrations in several cities on Saturday, April 10, protesting governmental restrictions against free Christian practice and rights to land. Many believers in Vietnam live under the constant threat of torture, imprisonment, confiscation of property and even death. The peaceful demonstrators were attacked by soldiers, police, and civilians alike. They were shot at, beaten with electric batons and bombarded with stones.

Reports continue to come in from numerous sources which detail executions, beatings, abandonment, and other means of brutality for those who participated in the demonstration. Reports filed by Vietnamese citizens accuse police of breaking into their homes and abducting loved ones whose whereabouts are now unknown. It is commonly believed now that many, if not all, of those missing have been murdered.

In recent weeks, hundreds of Vietnamese pastors have been imprisoned for preaching the gospel. They suffer deprivation and hardship in prison while their families experience similar problems at home. Many ministers are being kept in secret locations; their families are not able to communicate with them and may not even know where they are being held.

Life for these servants of God is very difficult in a Vietnamese prison. Prisoners must perform manual labor and are often forced to carry heavy bricks even when sick and hungry. The lives of the families of these imprisoned pastors are equally hard. Many live under police surveillance and their children are denied education.  Their wives must work long days in the fields where they earn 50 cents a day on which to feed their families. Vietnam has been experiencing a drought in recent years, which makes conditions even tougher. Many children lie down on floors to sleep at night with their stomachs empty. They are dressed inadequately for the weather conditions, which in turn leads to sickness and disease.

Hundreds - possibly thousands - of Christians from villages which have been particularly hard hit by persecution have gone into hiding in fear for their lives. The Cambodian border has been closed to them and it is believed that they are now suffering from exposure and starvation. Vietnamese soldiers are searching for many of them. Christian leaders in Vietnam are asking believers everywhere to pray for them, that they will stand firm in their faith during this time of crisis.

Several ministries in Vietnam are attempting to meet the needs of those who are affected by this recent campaign of terror by providing food to the prisoners' families and financial support to our Christian brothers and sisters. If you would like to join in ministering to our brethren in Vietnam, please contact Christian Aid and use gift code 740-WMN.

Mission Insider

http://www.ChristianAid.org

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Violence Targeting Christians in Ambon [http://christianfreedom.org]
The death toll in Ambon Indonesia has risen to 23 in three days. Life for Christians is becoming more difficult in Indonesia, the world's largest populous Muslim nation.

Almost 90 percent of Indonesia's population of 234 million people is Muslim; some 7 percent is Christian.

An archipelago comprising some 17,000 islands, Indonesia provides a natural haven for terrorist groups such as Laskar Jihad and Jemaah Islamiyah, but also a backdrop for score-settling and anti-Christian violence.

Christian Community Burned Down
A CFI source in Ambon said, "Since last night there is a full scale attack underway on the Christian neighborhood of Batugantung, Ambon City. All Christians from Batugantung and Mangga Dua have fled the area, leaving the whole place to be burned down."

Christians Left Defenseless
A CFI source said, "There are no security forces on the spot, and the Christians themselves have no weapons to defend themselves."

In the latest violence, a mob of men, many of them wielding knives, attacked dozens of woman and children as they disembarked from a ship at Ambon's main port, residents said.

Pray for Christians in Ambon, Indonesia.

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