Dear Friends,

Over the weekend I received an urgent request for prayer from Khmu believers facing persecution in the communist nation of Laos. I want to pass it on to friends like you who care deeply for our persecuted brothers and sisters around the world.

Please pray for 11 orphans in the city of Luang Prabang. The principal of their government-run school is trying to force them to stop going to church and renounce their faith.

The Christian orphans were called into his office on Friday, August 19. He has told them many times to stop going to church, but this time he escalated his threats against them. The orphans, all teenagers, currently have their needs provided by the government through its orphan-care program. They would likely lose all support or face prison sentences if they do not comply with the principal’s demands.

Over the weekend, seven succumbed to the pressure, promising that they would not go to church anymore—but they have not renounced their faith. (If you want to pray for them by name, they are Lieuth, Seuk, Nay Song Hmong, Lawh Hmong, Ko Lee Hmong, Tao Mua Hmong and Khamla.)

Four stood strong and said they would not renounce their faith and that they would keep going to church. (Their names are Sinuan, Aben, Sang and David.)

Please pray that all their hearts will be encouraged so that they can resist these pressures and be true to their faith, no matter what happens. We also pray that they would know that their provision and protection are from the Lord, trusting that He will make a way for them. On their behalf, thank you.

Together with Him,

Carole J. Collins
Director, Persecuted Christians Fund

Iranian sisters Marzieh and Maryam, two years after their release from Tehran’s Evin Prison

Dear Friends,

Looking at the radiant smiles of sisters Marzieh and Maryam, you wouldn’t realize that, two years earlier, they endured 259 days in the notorious Evin Prison in Tehran, Iran for practicing their Christian faith. In the months before their arrest they talked about what it would be like to be put in prison for Jesus’ sake. The daily suffering and frequent death threats in Evin Prison, however, were beyond anything they could imagine. In their own words:

Before prison we talked about execution [for our faith], but when we got to prison and experienced the fear of it, our way of talking changed. The atmosphere there and what happened to us frightened us beyond our expectations. We were confined to a dark and dirty room and paralyzed with fear. We could see fear in each other’s faces. We prayed, and what calmed us was the presence of God and the peace He gave us.

As weeks turned into months, one of the most difficult experiences was learning about the execution of their fellow prisoners: “After these executions a spirit of sorrow and death hung over the prison. The sadness was overwhelming.”

Illness also took its toll on their spirits. Their treatment by the guards was initially harsh as Marzieh and Maryam were labeled “unclean apostates.” However, as time passed and the guards observed their behavior, hostility turned to curiosity, and the sisters were even able to share their faith and pray with many of them. These opportunities gave them encouragement, knowing that the Lord was using them even in such a dark place.

Marzieh and Maryam fled Iran since their release two years ago, but their testimony has helped to fuel a fire of spiritual hunger inside their homeland—even under the oppressive regime of President Ahmadinejad and Iran’s Ayattolahs. God is also getting His word to the hungry people of Iran through the use of modern technology like the internet, and through the lives of believers like Maryam and Marzieh.

Please continue to pray for the Christian leaders of the underground house church, a movement that is spreading like wildfire in Iran. Pray especially for Iranian believers still in prison for their faith.

Thanks also for your gifts to the Persecuted Christians Fund. They are helping Heaven’s Family to provide monthly assistance to support our Iranian brothers and sisters in Christ as they persevere in faith.

Together with Him,

Carole J. Collins
Director, Persecuted Christians Fund

Dear Friends,

We have just received this update from Intercessors Network:

Burmese soldiers are systematically using forced labor, torture and rape to persecute majority-Christian residents of Chin state in western Burma, according to a report released today. Entitled, “Life Under the Junta: Evidence of Crimes Against Humanity in Burma’s Chin State,” the report by Physicians for Human Rights documented “extraordinary levels of state violence” against the Chin ethnic population.

The Chin are estimated to be 90 percent Christian, and the study indicates that it is therefore difficult to separate religious attacks from ethnic and other human rights abuses. Persecution of Christians is reportedly part of a wider campaign by the Burmese junta to create a uniform society in which the only accepted religion is Buddhism, according to a 2007 government memo circulated in Karen state giving instructions on how to drive Christians out of the state.

Respondents specifically targeted for their Christian faith and ethnicity said soldiers had threatened them with the destruction of their homes or villages and threatened to harm or kill family members. A total of 71 households from 13 of 90 villages and towns surveyed also said government authorities had destroyed their local church buildings.

The most brutal attacks included the forced conscription, abduction or murder of children under the age of 15, and the rape of men, women and children. Burmese soldiers were responsible for 94.2 percent of all specifically ethnic and religious incidents in the survey.

When asked why the Burmese army acted as it did, 15 percent of respondents answered, “Because we are Christians.” Another 23 percent replied, “To persecute us,” and a further 23 percent said, “Because we are Chin.”

Heaven’s Family is involved in many areas of ministry assistance in Chin State: food distribution during famine times, national missionary support, village development and safe water funding. When the government demolished one of the orphanages we support, we funded its reconstruction. Now we ask that you join us in continued prayer to see how the Lord would lead us in further ways to aid our Chin brothers and sisters who are being so severely persecuted.

In His service with you,

Carole J. Collins
Director, Persecuted Christians Fund

Some of the persecuted Christians who live in remote villages in northern Laos

Dear Friends,

Laos, a nation that borders Vietnam, Cambodia, and Thailand, is one of the world’s few remaining communist countries. The government runs a campaign against Christians in an attempt to force them to renounce their faith. Although their preferred method of coercion is to use the “stick” (beatings and imprisonment), they have also shrewdly begun to use the “carrot” (bribes of promised food and clothing). In a land of severe shortages and economic hardship, the latter can be hard to resist.

Heaven’s Family has been able to help coworkers in Thailand smuggle rice across the border into Laos for several months now to help feed our hungry brothers and sisters in Christ who have remained faithful. This generosity from their spiritual family abroad has provided a testimony of Jesus’ love to their non-Christian neighbors and the cruel government officials (who have yet to fulfill any of their promises to the few families who took their offer). We’ve also been able to help meet their hunger for spiritual food as well.

At left, life-sustaining rice is unloaded; at right, widows who benefit from Heaven’s Family’s “lifeline”

Twice a day the Khmu Christian Connection, our friends in Thailand, send radio broadcasts to strengthen and encourage our brethren across the border in Laos. They also train Khmu leaders in their Bible college and through teaching seminars. KCC can hardly keep up with their hunger for more instruction and guidance. As one KCC leader says, “The Khmu Christians [in Laos] cry out for our team to visit them and teach them.” Even their children are hungry to know more about the Bible.

Old and young are eager to learn: Bible classes are held across the border in Thailand (left), and in remote villages (right)

Your contributions to the Persecuted Christians Fund are helping to train leaders in 300 underground churches in northern Laos. Thanks to you, a generation of Christian leaders is being fed rice for their bellies and the Word of God for their minds and hearts.

In His service with you,

Carole J. Collins
Director, Persecuted Christians Fund

Some of the Indian families who lost their homes because of the persecution in Orissa. They were driven from their villages when they were attacked by Hindu fanatics. Heaven’s Family is helping them build new homes on new land.

“There is no limit to the joy these poor persecuted believers had at the ground breaking of each of their houses,” Pastor John Vincely wrote. He was reporting about Christians who were affected by the recent persecution in Orissa, India. Their homes were destroyed by radical Hindu mobs in August 2008.

Because of your gifts to the Persecuted Christians Fund, believers are rejoicing who lost everything in violent rampages aimed at eradicating Christianity from the Indian state of Orissa. The Hindus were so bold that they burned down houses and took over the Christians’ land. For nearly two years, these Christian families—displaced by the persecution in Orissa—have been living in tents at refugee camps.

Extended families have been living in tents at refugee camps for nearly two years while praying for a break-through

Although the Indian government has not afforded them justice, it has recently provided help for refugees to obtain property near a neighboring village. Twenty-four families have been able to purchase their own tiny plot of land (50 x 15 feet) and begin construction of their new homes, helped, in part, by Heaven’s Family. Twenty-five other families from the same village are working to save enough money to complete the purchase of their land. We hope to help them with their new homes as well, which are quite inexpensive by Western standards.

Construction of new homes for twenty-four Christian families who lost everything in the August 2008 attacks

At a groundbreaking ceremony, the families rejoiced at what our Lord has done to provide for their needs. Materials have been purchased in bulk, and labor on all twenty-four houses is being done at the same time. Soon, families will be living in their new homes.

Raj Kumar (2nd from right), his wife, and five daughters had their home burned to the ground and lost their farm land when Hindu fanatics attacked. The morning after, the mob returned while Raj was at the police station pleading for help. His wife and daughters survived by locking themselves in a concrete building with iron gates, which the attackers could not penetrate. Here they pose with Pastor John (far right) at the groundbreaking ceremony of their new home.

Thank You for Standing with Our Spiritual Family During the Persecution in Orissa

Thank you for sharing in the sufferings of our brothers and sisters in Christ. Your contributions to the Persecuted Christians Fund have expressed the love of Jesus, and have touched the hearts of those who have endured hardship for their faith in Him.

Together in the Master’s Plan,

David Warnock
Director, Persecuted Christians Fund