Source:  http://rlprayerbulletin.blogspot.com/

Date:  December 2, 2020

- in two countries with a history of Christmas terror.

Also updates on Papua and Uganda

By Elizabeth Kendal

BACKGROUND: Recent events in France, where President Emmanuel Macron dared to defend free speech, reason and dialogue after a teacher was beheaded in the street by a militant Islamist supposedly for 'blasphemy', has sent Islamic indignation and anti-blasphemy sentiment soaring throughout much of the Muslim world.

Indonesia and Egypt are two Muslim majority states with significant Christian minorities (comprising at least ten percent) who are in the main ethnically distinct from the Javanese and Arab majority. Both states struggle to contain sizeable Islamist movements, accelerating grassroots Islamisation, violent Islamic insurgencies and simmering sectarian tensions. Terrorists in both states routinely target churches, especially during Easter, Advent and Christmas (25 December for Catholics and Protestants and 7 January for the Orthodox). Due to recent events and elevated risk, this RLPB will focus on Indonesia and Egypt. However, Christians throughout the Muslim world - and indeed anywhere there are significant Muslim minorities (in particular Western Europe) - may well face increased risk throughout this Christmas season.
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INDONESIA: SALVATION ARMY WORKERS RITUALLY SLAUGHTERED

On Friday 27 November at least ten Islamic militants armed with firearms and machetes attacked a Salvation Army mission outpost in the jungle-clad village of Lemban Tongoa, 90km south-east of the provincial capital, Palu, in Central Sulawesi's Sigi Regency. Four men from one family - Yasa, Pinu, Naka, and Pedi, all Salvation Army church workers - were killed in what can only be described as a savage Islamic terrorist attack. One victim was decapitated, another almost decapitated, while two had their throats slit before being burned to death. Six homes - including those of the victims - and the Salvation Army church were torched. Yasa's son, Ulin, escaped and reported the attack to the authorities. Some 150 families (around 750 men, women and children) have since fled the area.

Preliminary investigations, including interviews with eyewitnesses, led police to conclude that the Islamic State affiliated, Sulawesi-based terror outfit East Indonesia Mujahidin (MIT) was responsible. Despite this and the fact that the victims were all servants of Jesus Christ, Indonesian military, police and government officials insist that 'the event had nothing to do with SARA [suku, agama, ras, antargolongan; or ethnicity, religion, race, intergroup relations]'. This narrative is being perpetuated through numerous Muslim media outlets. Terrified of provoking Jakarta's re-energised Islamists [see RLPB 577, 'Blasphemy and Threats' (25 Nov)], Indonesian President Joko Widodo retreated into paralytic silence. It took until Monday 30 November for Widodo to finally respond to social outrage and condemn - without making any reference to religion - the 'terrorism' perpetrated against 'four brothers'.

Indonesian officials may or may not be correct in their assessment that MIT's motive was primarily that of sending a message to the police: 'We're still here!' Regardless, they obviously chose their victims carefully. MIT chose to target a Church mission outpost. MIT chose to ritually slaughter servants of Jesus Christ. While it is not known whether MIT was inspired to act on the basis of Rizieq Shihab's incendiary words of 15 November in which the controversial firebrand preacher warned the Indonesian government to act against 'blasphemers', or else 'don't blame the Muslims when a head is found on the streets' [see RLPB 577 (25 Nov)]; in reality, that is irrelevant. For MIT didn't need Shihab's incitement when it chose to 'cast terror into the hearts of disbelievers' and 'strike their necks' as commanded in the Quran, Sura 8:12 (https://quran.com/8/12 ). Remember, Islam deems as blasphemy absolutely anything that indicates irreverence towards the Quran or Muhammad.

While MIT comprises only around a dozen core members, it is known to have attracted many thousands of sympathisers, locally and in high places [see RLPB 550, Terror Threat Rising (20 May)]. This is doubtless why Operation Tinombala - a joint military-police operation established in January 2016 to capture and/or eliminate members of MIT - has been so spectacularly ineffective. Choosing his words carefully, Central Sulawesi Christian leader, Rinaldy Damanik responded to the Lemban Tongoa slayings by urging security forces to root out the remnants of MIT: 'We believe that there are still many military and police members who are sincere, professional, and capable of cracking down on the group, but perhaps the policies of their superiors are problematic.'

EGYPT: ANTI-BLASPHEMY RIOTS IN UPPER EGYPT

Riots erupted in Upper (southern) Egypt's Minya Governorate on 25 November, after rumors spread that Girgis Sameeh (22), a poor and uneducated, barely literate Coptic youth, had posted a message to his Facebook account that Muslims deemed insulting to Islam (i.e. blasphemous). In the man's hometown of al-Barsha, hundreds of Muslims attacked the homes of Copts with stones and Molotov cocktails. Coptic businesses were looted, ransacked and torched; Mrs Estolia Faragallah (80) was hospitalised for facial burns suffered when a fireball struck her home. Rioting Muslims also beleaguered the church of Abou Sefin, where the congregation was celebrating the beginning of the Coptic fast which runs through Advent from 25 November to 6 January. A minibus belonging to the church was torched in what must have been a truly terrifying ordeal.

Girgis Sameeh's brother told Watani he could not believe Girgis would insult Islam's Prophet or do anything to hurt Muslim feelings: 'We have always lived peacefully by their side, and we work with and for them. How can my brother ever do such a stupid thing? That's not how he was taught to behave.' Indeed, when the mob attempted to ransack the family's home, their Muslim neighbours came to their defence and shielded them. Police eventually intervened to restore order, arresting both Muslims (Arabs) and Copts (the indigenous people of Egypt, most of whom are Coptic Orthodox Christian).

On the evening of 29 November, a-Barsha's angry Muslims had grown tired of being restrained by the presence of security forces in the village, so they took to the surrounding countryside to burn sheds and huts holding cattle feed on the Copts' agricultural lands. Muslims are also boycotting Christian businesses. General Osama Al Qadi, Governor of the Minya Province, has called for tolerance while making clear that measures will be taken against 'anyone who offends others'. It is a measure that does nothing to help Christians, who follow a suffering Saviour and are taught to turn the other cheek and love their enemies, yet hands a weapon to Muslims who take offence so very easily and are taught the very opposite. On 28 November the Vice Chair of the US Commission on International Religious Freedom, Tony Perkins, tweeted: 'The Egyptian government must stop the horrific mob violence against Copts in al-Barsha, Minya, and bring the actual perpetrators to justice, instead of blaming victims & allowing mob rule to supplant rule of law.'

PLEASE PRAY THAT OUR ALMIGHTY GOD WILL

  • be a shield and fortress for his besieged and threatened people; we pray especially for the Church in Indonesia and Egypt where Islamic zeal and indignation are currently soaring, but also for Christians throughout the Muslim world; may Advent and Christmas pass without incident so that joy might prevail and the message of peace be heard.
  • grace the families of the Salvation Army workers slain in Central Sulawesi with an abundance of supernatural comfort and peace; may the Lord provide all their needs, and supply the region with new Gospel workers; may evil have no victory there.

'Therefore, my beloved brothers and sisters, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord your labour is not in vain' (from 1 Corinthians 15:50-58 ESV).

  • raise up leaders and advocates in Indonesia and Egypt - in government, in security and especially at the local level - who will have the courage and conviction to uphold religious liberty, defend Christian security, and demand justice when Christians are persecuted. 'Ask, and it will be given to you ...' (promise, from Matthew 7:7-8).