christian persecution – Divine Council

Believers

Nepalian Christianity: Church Evictions, Providence, & Online Exorcisms

By Theo Theo June 14, 2019

Jai Mashi from Nepal!

In my last two updates, we discussed a US lady being possibly deported from Nepal. That news has gone global and been reported in a recent edition of Decision Magazine. So, readers of this blog may be getting more up to date information from this “scholar on the ground” than mainstream sources. Bear in mind, however, that gleaning the truth from Asia’s version of “fake news” is no easy task. As I wrote in my last update, the lady has not yet been deported. Christians have rallied, and with prayer and support from around the world, the authorities chose not to pursue the case.

The same police official in charge of investigations in Eastern Nepal and the closing of a Christian school was the in charge of this case in Western Nepal. He had been transferred and is using his post to attack Christians. You can find all of this in my previous posts. God is good!

Spring Teaching Term Complete

I have completed my present teaching term and my students are now pursuing the secular requirements for their degrees. Upon completion of those exams, they will graduate in August. My students are concerned about how they will share what they’ve learned with their local village churches. Please keep this in mind in your prayers for them.

During the break, I’ll be continuing my Ph.D. Studies, which need lots of attention. I’ve also been taking courses to train myself up in many new tools to meet the growing need to get content out both here and abroad. These are truly is exciting times!

God’s Providence: An Ever-present Reality!

God’s providence continues to make itself known as an ever-present reality. For example, I’ll have a conversation with someone only to find out that another has been secretly working on a project to address the same need! Also, the Lord keeps putting people in my path at just the right time to assist in learning the things I need to move forward.

Fledgling Nepalian Christianity

Christianity is still a fledgling faith in Nepal. Christian academics must be vigilant to properly serve the church in the wake of many cults from Korea and the US. Many believers here have a limited understanding of Christianity and are challenged by new ways of thinking, especially within Christian scholarship. It is essential to help guide them towards the best ways of thinking and those ways are not always well-received. Those of a simplistic mindset resist the vastness of the content in which they’re engaged.

The pastors in the villages are often merely those who can read Nepali and translate it into the local language. They have little to no formal training and my teaching on Christianity is inevitably more profound than what they were previously led to believe. This makes it especially urgent to make content available to fight heresy within and outside of the church. Also, the youth of my students is a cultural barrier to the acceptance by their elders. Previously held doctrines are held in high regard despite obvious inferiority to modern scholarship. Elders tend to think my doctrinal clarifications require them to deny some aspect of Christ. It’s hard for them to let go of wrongful or imprecise thinking to embrace the greater riches within our faith.

Churches Being Evicted or Destroyed

Land is extremely expensive in Nepal, most churches cannot afford it and it’s especially difficult for Christians to find a place to rent for worship. In the wake of the Easter 2019 attacks in Sri Lanka, a nearby church was evicted when pressured to do so by locals and police (who were afraid that what took place in Sri Lanka could happen in their neighborhood.) The church is now meeting in separate small groups spread among rental houses also subject to eviction should landlords find out they’re being used for worship. Many pagans here find Christian worship offensive and will use any means available oppress minority religions.

Another land-owning church is under consideration to be forcibly razed. With the new constitution, and subsequent laws and amendments concerning preserving Nepalese culture, any property that was formerly, at any time, temple grounds can be “redeemed” (especially if any competing religious institution has been erected.) Therefore, a local church, one of the oldest in Nepal, had purchased land nearby a temple but that land had also initially belonged to a temple and had exchanged many hands subsequently. The church bought the property from private owners decades ago. Now people are deeming it worthy of “redemption.” The church in question will be forced to leave, receive no compensation and lose their entire investment.

This anti-Christian attack, ironic considering the mandate of the preservation law, is a blow to Christian morale. How does one preserve history by destroying one of the hallmarks of Nepalian Christianity? The message is clear: State forces in Nepal are as willing to destroy the historical roots of Christianity as their counterparts in the Middle East.

Nepal is doing the very thing they say they are opposed to: destroying Christian landmarks while claiming to have a policy of preservation. It is how the current party in power in India began when the same issue over a Hindu temple was raised concerning a Muslim mosque.

State News

In the past week, we’ve had a series of bomb blasts in the capital; a sad reminder of the decade long civil war that plagued Nepal after its recent overthrow of the monarch. Maoists continue to be a problem: their leader is honored by the current administration for “maintaining peace” despite the thousands they’ve killed in the process.

Indian elections have concluded and, despite media predictions, the Hindu party in power has prevailed. Nepal wants to follow the same trend. The majority are Hindu; however, the communists won the majority and have formed the new government.

An Online Exorcism?

Lastly, a recent attempt to rape a 7-year-old girl (while asleep in our church) was thwarted and the girl was unharmed. The father is Hindu and has been known to be demon possessed. He had turned to Christ to be set free but returned to his Hindu roots shortly after that. After this incident with his daughter, he was repossessed. After many prayer meetings, we were able to coordinate several believers, both here and in the US, and engage in a “real time” exorcism. Amy “Beth” of Hesed Place, a former guest on the NakedBible podcast, and the indigenous pastor here who translated Supernatural into Nepali worked together to help the victim in finding meaningful peace and deliverance. We also consulted with Doug Overmyer from Seers See Ministry for guidance as the event lasted over several days. Doug is part of Mike’s Peeranormal Podcast and also was featured on the Bible Over Brews Podcast on episodes 36 & 38.

The father has joined our church to be alongside his family and be discipled in the faith. They’ve moved closer to the church to get away from the place where the rape attempt occurred. I also conferred with Fern & Audrey of Discovering MErcy for some further advice and will coordinate with our own local pastor to see he gets further assistance in his journey. We hope to get Mike’s next book translated, as well, to assist us until I can devote time to producing much-needed content upon completion of my doctoral degree in Biblical Studies. We are also planning a conference here in conjunction with the release of the translation to get the book out to the people. Thanks to everyone who supported us behind the scenes.

Thanks to all who continue to support us in the work we do here. It is exciting to take the light of Jesus into the dark kingdoms of this world as a beacon of hope! As we get the time, we hope to be keeping you abreast of the new avenues of content production with which we presently have in the works. God continues to confirm our present trajectory.

Believers

Christian Arrests in Nepal, Hindu Nationalism, and How Young Believers in the East are Affected by those Older in the Faith in the West

By Theo Theo May 28, 2019

Those arrested recently in Western Nepal have finally been released by the authorities. Earlier it was reported that the US woman was deported and had pledged to return. I’m not sure if she’d be allowed. As I mentioned earlier the attacks of Sri Lanka (a new article with more understanding) and how it has affected many in the region by empowering some to rise against Christians and causing others to be wary. Here’s a good article to catch you up on all the recent ramifications. It additionally tells of the release of all involved in those arrests after a week. It seems to report that she was not deported after all. It is hard to get proper details at times, even in the media. I try my best to document what I report, but my sources are not failproof. Nepali press is reporting that the consulate/embassy actually intervened. I find that quite doubtful. Apparently, though, she is still in Nepal regardless. It would seem as this article reports that locals demonstrated and paved the way for a better outcome. It would also seem the earlier reports were not entirely accurate.

Muslims in Nepal

Someone asked me about Muslims in Nepal, so I’ve posted the above video on Hindu Nationalism. Here’s a more recent article on Muslims in Nepal. Hopefully, this article and a few of the earlier ones can help anyone interested to see what it is like to be in the minority here. You can see how Muslims are affected and how it compares with the treatment of Christians. Religious freedom in Nepal is tricky at best.

Bird Flu

Also, here is an update on the bird flu situation. People have now died. We are still avoiding chicken. If everything tastes like chicken, I suppose one just should eat everything else until the flu flies because the chickens can’t fly all too high. Go figure!

Cat 4 Storm

Additionally, this morning, a category 4 storm hit India named Cyclone Fani and has sent more rain our way. Nearly 100 million appear to be affected in India. Many of those had to be evacuated. They have been doing well at these pre-storm maneuvers recently as I recall. We sure didn’t need any more rain and certainly are in no danger as compared to those in India.

They have not been hit by such a storm for almost two decades. In the wakes of severe persecution and the death of Australian missionary Graham Staines and his two young sons, a similar storm belted the same area back then. Here are two updated article revisiting those events two decades ago, and this one. While visiting the region myself during the 2008 persecutions, I was told by an Indian pastor that a member of parliament while in session begged for Jesus’ forgiveness for the persecution seeing the storm as some form of Biblical judgment. I could not find anything to document that claim.

How Young Believers in the East are Affected by those Older in the Faith in the West

As you can begin to see, what affects neighbors in the region here has a significant impact on Nepal. What happens to Christians in the world affects Christians here to a much stronger degree than per se those in the West. Even what happens to Western Christians significantly impact those in the East here. Conversely, what other groups do to Christians also affect what others end up doing to believers here. It is quite a relationship and sets a strong measure of responsibility on those “older in the family of the faith” to act wisely as those “younger” are watching and deeply affected.

Christians here look with “honor” upon others in the family all across the globe. They also connect to any “shame” and share it more than Westerners can imagine. I can only point to David deSilva’s book on this topic to advise one on how to better understand such connections that are still very much alive here that go all the way back to antiquity. It is crucial to understand the world here and also the worldview and culture of the Bible as a whole.

There is a certain amount of this idea of momentum, whether up or down that affects people in general over here. It is to a much larger extent here than I realized when I lived in the West. It seems to me to be much more inherent here. People here are well communal.

It carries even beyond Asia. I cannot discern if I’ve changed personally by living here. Or, perhaps my studies of authors like DeSilva has made me aware that it’s the same in the West. Maybe people here are just that much closer to the Biblical worldview and the West is more removed. It was reported in India that 19 students committed suicide over their exam results. I cannot fathom if the shootings in the West are somehow similar in some sense that people keep doing this because they feel connected to those who did such violence in the past. Many see suicide as their only option to tell the world here that it needs to change. Apparently, they feel that they have no other way in which to express the need for that change to come. Let’s hope their deaths matter in bringing some sort of change.

This incident here shows the communal nature of Asians in their thinking. This is only a recent example. Each felt the need to end their own life because the pressure they would face ended any chance of a proper life. Stereotypes had already made them out to be failures before the truth could be known. They also now have made them as a statistic.

As I stated in a previous update, it is akin to what one sees in a game where things seem to work for or against a particular team, and it carries or drags on the rest of the members. Sort of an ebb and flow type atmosphere that seemingly is ingrained in thinking in those religious over here that drives them positively or negatively into their actions. They are in “communion or fellowship” with all those of like faith across the planet. In the West, we tend to stereotype. Here in the East, they join in any group whom they feel indebted because of the kind of patronage DeSilva describes in that same volume. They also very much stereotype others based upon any group that others share in.

Atheism

What Christians Face in a Neo-Marxist World

By Guest Post April 30, 2019

By Alfred Kentigern Siewers

Two weeks ago, an elderly abbot of a Russian Orthodox Monastery in the U.S. Pacific Northwest was punched in the head while pumping gas.

The assailant, unknown to him, reportedly zeroed in on the cross he was wearing and then said, “How’s Trump?”

“I don’t know,” replied the gentle but traditional monk, not known for being political.

Then came the debilitating sucker punch.

With political extremism on the rise in the U.S., and leftist-anarchist groups denouncing the First Amendment as a legacy of white supremacy, expect anti-religious violence to continue to be normalized as public discourse keeps dehumanizing traditional Christians.

Normalization of leftist violence is seen in how CBS touts online a TV show that, as TAC senior editor Rod Dreher notes, “affirms and justifies the violent physical assault of a living American who was peacefully stating his opinion… to promote its own programming by rallying potential viewers to the episode.”

Dreher also cites how Villanova University Professor Billie Murray’s work theorizes a political tolerance for violence on the Left by “’challenging the violence/nonviolence binary’ and arguing that we ‘should imagine activism as combative’—this, as a counterpoint to ‘traditional nonviolent activism.’”

Middlebury College recently cancelled a speech by former Polish Solidarity activist and philosopher Ryszard Legutko because they reportedly could not guarantee his safety. Ironically, Legutko studies how liberal democracies are becoming “soft totalitarian” regimes. He too, has espoused conservative Catholic views of marriage and sex. This in part has led, we can only guess, to the Facebook rants against him ahead of his planned appearance, and a statement by protesting students who called him a homophobe, misogynist, racist, sexist, “and practically everything an ideological sinner can be today,” according to Legutko’s own detailing of the events.

Meanwhile, Washington Post columnist Richard Cohen suggested that Vice President Mike Pence should resign because his wife is teaching at a conservative Christian school that opposes secular sexual anthropology, and this puts him beyond the pale of acceptable social morals. In recent years, Christian restaurant chains, bakers, and high-tech executives have fallen prey to campaigns to chase them from the economy, a kind of professional execution in a capitalist society.

On a small scale, as a Russian Orthodox Christian like the aforementioned Abbot, I’ve experienced a kind of attempted social erasure in our small college town. For example, I was headed into a small restaurant when a progressive colleague inside called out that the establishment should be cleared because I was coming to “kill all gays and heretics.” That was a reference to my religious identity and not a reflection of my personal respect for LGBTQIA-identifying colleagues.

The larger social and professional ostracism that my family and I have experienced in a small university community was amplified by anti-Russian sentiments in the anti-Trump “resistance,” related to hatred of resurgent traditional Christianity in Russia. Ironically, this occurs in a region that once saw activity by the Ku Klux Klan, which targeted Orthodox Christians among other minorities.

Such dehumanization has deep roots. In the classical revolutionary philosophy of Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels, religion is an ideology by which “the ruling class has sought to maintain and legitimate the status quo and so sought to keep other classes in subjection to itself,” notes the intellectual historian James Thrower. But Leninism, he notes, made “the active struggle against religious ideology” crucial to “a successful struggle against political and economic oppression.”

Since World War II, “cultural Marxism” in the West sought to reverse-engineer Marxist revolution through cultural change, following the lead of the Italian theoretician Antonio Gramsci, who argued in his influential prison notebooks that “proletarian hegemony” needed to imitate religion by repeating cultural messages incessantly and establishing its own intellectual elite in influential institutions. This “war of position” to establish conditions for revolution is better known from post-1960s intellectuals as the “long march through the institutions,” analogous to Mao’s guerilla-style “long march.”

Such ideological efforts have spawned not only attempted social ostracism but a culture ripe for anti-Christian violence by the mentally unhinged. At Umpquaa Community College in Oregon in 2015, 10 people were killed in a tragedy where the shooter reportedly asked people if they were Christian and shot them if they were.

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