Letters from American Christians prompted prisoners’ release
Praise God! Officials in Eritrea, Africa released 13 Christians from prison two weeks ago. The prisoners included seven women and six men who had been detained for 10 years for their faith.
The African Christians were released after American Christians wrote letters urging the Eritrean Embassy in Washington, D.C. on behalf of their imprisoned brothers and sisters in Christ.
Christian ministry Open Doors estimates at least a thousand Christians are indefinitely detained in the African nation. Two pastors have spent 19 years in prison. Since 2002, the government has ordered the closure of any churches outside the Orthodox, Catholic, and Lutheran denominations.
Eritrea is ranked 4th on the Open Doors World Watch List of nations where it is most difficult to be a Christian. The persecution of believers in Eritrea is covered with a veneer of religious diversity, as much of it is perpetrated by or sanctioned by the three State-allowed “Christian” denominations in the nation.
Praise the Lord for this release! Please continue to pray for those who remain in captivity in the nation of Eritrea.
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Info on Christianity in Eritrea
A Christian teacher in India arrested on false charges of trafficking, conversion of students
The Christian Post reported this week that Police in central India beat a Christian educator on July 26 and filed baseless charges against him of human trafficking and fraudulent conversion of eight Christian students he was escorting to a Bible institute.
While brother Liju Kuriakose was helping the students - ages 15-22 - make their way to a Bible Institute in his home state of Kerala, police stopped the bus and took him into custody. They beat him all night, trying to get him to admit to the false charges, and attempting to get the students to agree to false statements saying they had been kidnapped and coerced.
The students courageously refused, telling police they had been Christians for some time, and were not being forced in any way. They were sent to a Child Welfare Committee’s home without early notification of their parents, and it was 6 days before the parents were able to get custody of their children again, according to a local pastor.
They have released brother Liju on bail, but have filed a First Information Report charging him with human trafficking and luring children to convert by offering them money, he said, adding that the students refused to make any statement against him. That was key in the Police not having enough evidence to keep him in prison.
Praise the Lord for the courage of all these believers! Praise the Lord that the students were willing to stand for the name of Christ and love their brother in Christ more than their own safety. Pray for brother Liju, who has his first hearing before a judicial magistrate on August 18th - that the Lord’s will would be done, and he would be freed from these false accusations.
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