Open Doors President Carl Moeller on Prime Time America

Carl Moeller, President of Open Doors USA will do an interview on Wednesday, July 1, on Prime Time America- Moody Radio Network. This broadcast can be heard on www.primetimeamerica.org. The broadcast is at 5pm CT and 3pm PAC time. The subject of this interview will be an update on Iran. If you have any questions email usa@opendoors.org.

Family of Kidnapped Pastor Flee Home in Colombia

According to Compass Direct News, the wife and children of pastor William Reyes, who was kidnapped last September in Colombia and is still missing, have moved from their home to another city due to threatening strangers presumably linked to his kidnappers. The Pastor had been receiving extortion threats from illegal armed groups operating in the La Guajira peninsula. Family members have not heard from Pastor Reyes since, nor have his abductors contacted the family to demand ransom.

Two incidents earlier this year alerted his wife that she and her children were in danger from the kidnappers. First, an unidentified man appeared at their Church in Maicao and asked for Pastor Reyes wife, Idia Miranda Reyes. When he was told she was not there, the man asked for her address and cell phone number, which church workers refused to give him. Before he left, the man said testily, “It is in [her] best interest to get in touch with me, than for me to have to find her.” Six days later, Pastor Reyes daughter, Luz Nelly Reyes was approached by a stranger on the street (the family believes it was the same man), who told her that if she wanted to see her father again, she should come with him. The girl declined the invitation. When he attempted to grab her by the arm, Luz Nelly fled. “I have not reported this to police, because I’m afraid,” her mother said after the incident. “They could do something to me.”

As I heard about this story, I empathetically tried to put myself in this family’s position. I tried to imagine coming home from school to find out that my father had been kidnapped. I imagined trying to go on with daily life, not knowing where or how he was for more than half a year. I thought about receiving threatening comments from a stranger, who tried to kidnap me as well. Then, I thought about having to pack up as many of my personal belongings as I could, from the home I grew up in and fleeing in the middle of the night. I would not know when I would see my friends and loved ones again; I just knew that staying would mean certain danger.

It is always hard for me to hear about stories like these, but it always puts it in a new perspective when I put myself in my suffering brother and sister’s shoes.

Lord, please be with this family who is going through so much. Be their strength and shield. Protect them from future threats or dangers and please bring their father back to them. In your name we pray. Amen.

The Remaining Few

Many Iranians feel frustrated by the Islamic rule 30 years after the Islamic Revolution – Anyone can see this by the current rioting in Iran after the controversial re-election of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. They seem to be searching for spiritual truth and are finding it in Jesus. More than 100,000 are Secret Believers from a Muslim background and meet together in rapidly growing house churches. These believers are actively targeted by Iranian authorities. In 2008 at least 50 Christians, mostly Muslim converts, were arrested, interrogated, tortured, intimidated and some even killed. It marked the toughest year for Christian persecution since the Islamic Revolution. Coincidently, the number of official Christians has decreased by half from 250,000 Armenian and Assyrian Christians before the Islamic revolution of 1979 to around 125,000 now. Many have left Iran as a result of discrimination and persecution. Since the election of President Ahmadinedjad in 2005, Christian persecution has increased with security forces rigidly enforcing anti-Christian legislation.

The people of Iran are very much in need of our prayers, especially the remaining Christians. I can’t even begin to comprehend what it must be like to live in such a repressive society. A society in which there is legislation against your religious beliefs, legislation promoting interrogation, torture and sometimes death. Yet the few remaining believers remain strong.

How do you think you would react to such a society as a Christian? Would you seek asylum elsewhere? Would you try to live your life as a secret believer?

Iranian Christians Refuse to Accept Election Results

Here’s the latest Open Doors USA press release on the Iran situation:

 

SANTA ANA, Calif., June 16 – In Tehran many Iranians haven’t accepted the results of the presidential elections held last Friday. News reports show protesters streaming through the streets of Iran’s capital. There are also reports that Ayatollah Khamenei has directed the Guardian Council to examine claims of election fraud after President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was declared the runaway winner.

Open Doors learned through its contacts that voters are frustrated and have lost trust in Iran’s government in cities outside of Tehran.

Iranian Christian Daryush (not his real name) from Shiraz reports: “In my neighborhood there is no evidence of any skirmishes or demonstrations and also no celebration from the elections anymore. The streets have been swept clean. But the evidence that we have trouble in Shiraz is the constant presence of the various security forces and the military helicopter I saw flying overhead. But I have only driven around my own neighborhood, so I can’t speak for the entire city.” 

In other districts of the southwestern city of Shiraz the situation is grimmer. Daryush shares: “Friends told me that young people in Shiraz are being arrested and that they’ve seen young men and women being beaten or worse. A friend who lives near the university and student dorms told me she heard screaming, shouting and gunfire in the early hours of the morning. The predominately young demonstrators are calling Ahmadinejad a dictator and yell chants like ‘Ma dolate zoor nemikhaim’ meaning ‘we don’t want a government of force.’ They also yell at the security forces and call them traitors and vote-stealers. A friend said that within the security forces are pro-Mousavi followers, saying ‘beechareh shodim!’ or ‘we are without hope.’”

Daryush shares that the “majority of people I spoke with consider the elections a fraud and don’t accept the results at all. A friend of our family lives in Shahe Cheragh, which is a predominantly religious and conservative district of Shiraz. He said that even in that district a huge numbers of votes went to Mousavi.”

Daryush continues: “There are those who have never voted, didn’t vote this time and will never vote under this regime. They look at the rest of us as naive ones and say, ‘See, we told you that the one who had been previously selected would win the election.’ Others I speak with say they will never participate in an election again because ‘it was a total fraud.’”

While some Iranians never accepted this form of government, a certain percentage has considered the Islamic Republic of Iran to being a “limited democracy.” Daryush explains that “although the candidates were hand-picked and had the regime’s stamp of approval, at least we had a choice within those limits. This election, however, showed us that the Iranian people don’t have a ‘limited democracy,’ but as some are now saying ‘no democracy at all…we have an Islamic dictatorship.’”

Open Doors spokesman John Fox observes that Christians in general voted for Mousavi and hope for new elections: “We cannot generalize our observations to all Christians, but we asked 29 Christians from Tehran, Shiraz and Isfahan and all voted for Mousavi. One of them said, ‘for us bad is better than worse. Mousavi also promised more religious freedom, so I hope he does not lie.’”

Open Doors USA President/CEO Carl Moeller adds that “we need to continue to pray for the situation in Iran, especially for the Christians caught in the crossfire. This could be a pivotal point in the history of Iran and the future of believers who live there.”

(For more information or to set up an interview, please contact Jerry Dykstra at JerryD@odusa.org).

Please Pray! Two U.S. Journalists Sentenced to Labor Prison in North Korea

North Korea jails US journalists

The reporters were held while working on the China-North Korea border A court in North Korea has sentenced two US journalists to 12 years’ hard labour, state media say. Euna Lee and Laura Ling were found guilty of “hostile acts” and illegal entry into the communist state. They were arrested in March after allegedly crossing into North Korea from China. The US said it was “deeply concerned” by the sentence and called for the release of the two women on humanitarian grounds. The trial comes amid growing tensions over North Korea’s nuclear programme. “The trial confirmed the grave crime they [the reporters] committed against the Korean nation and their illegal border crossing as they had already been indicted and sentenced each of them to 12 years of reform through labour,” state-run KCNA news agency said in a brief report. The news agency gave no further details. Outside observers were not allowed to witness the hearing at Pyongyang’s court. The verdict means that the journalists face the prospect of spending years in one of the North’s prison camps, where conditions are reported to be extremely harsh, the BBC’s Chris Hogg in Seoul says. ‘Bargaining chips’ In a statement, the US State Department said: “We are deeply concerned by the reported sentencing of the two American citizen journalists by North Korean authorities, and we are engaged through all possible channels to secure their release.” Euna Lee and Laura Ling were arrested by North Korean guards on 17 March while working on the China-North Korea border on a story about refugees for California-based internet broadcaster Current TV. Some reports have suggested that the women were held while on Chinese soil, but Pyongyang’s state media say they had illegally entered North Korea. The pair have been held in detention since their arrest. There are fears they will now be used as “bargaining chips” by North Korean leader Kim Jong-il in his efforts to win concessions from Washington, our correspondent says. The women’s families have appealed for clemency and asked Pyongyang and Washington not to link the case to the current diplomatic stand-off between them. Copyright BBC NEWS | SPECIAL REPORTS

North Korea Prayer Vigil

The situation in North Korea is one that weighs heavily on my heart. As I continue to watch North Korea in the news, I ache for my brothers and sisters who are over there and are suffering. In times like these, the most important thing we can do as believers in the West is to come together and pray for those in North Korea.

The Korean Church Coalition for North Korea Freedom (KCC) will hold an International North Korea Prayer Vigil on Friday, June 5, 2009 at Bethel Korean Church 18700 Harvard Ave. Irvine Ca. 92620. “Crossing” with be shown at 4:30 p.m. (At Vision Chapel). The main “Prayer Vigil” will commence at 6:30 p.m. (At 2500 seat new main sanctuary). What better way to help those in North Korea, then to lift them up before the one who cares for our every need?

 

Something Extraordinary is Happening!

Something extraordinary is happening!  Prayer groups are forming, disciples are being trained, and God’s word is changing lives!  Freedom is being pursued, and it begins with you!  To learn more on how you can become involved, please visit www.OpenDoorsUSA.org.