An American tourist in North Korea was detained Friday for “hostile activities” after he left a Bible in his room after checking out.
Jeffrey Edward Fowle is now the third American being held captive by North Korea’s oppressive regime.
The official Korean Central News Agency said that Fowle is being questioned for violating his tourism visa regulations.
“US citizen in custody for committing anti-DPRK (North Korea) hostile activities,” the report reads. “[Fowle] acted in violation of the DPRK (North Korea) law, contrary to the purpose of tourism during his stay. A relevant organ of the DPRK detained him and is investigating him.”
The U.S. Department of State has issued an official warning to Americans who want to visit North Korea. The warning reads in part that being a part of a tour with a North Korean tour guide does not guarantee you will not be detained and arrested by North Korean authorities for actions perfectly legal in the U.S. such as carrying a Bible.
A ministry that works with Christians in North Korea says that those in that country who follow Christ do not believe that their country is the worst in the world for Christians.
The Reverend Eric Foley says that North Koreans actually embrace their sufferings as a means to show their love and dedication to Christ.
“If you are a Christian in a country where no Christians are suffering for Jesus you probably ought to be more concerned than if you are a Christian in a country where nearly every Christian is suffering for Jesus,” he said. “Christians are ambassadors. If one truly understands one’s identity as an ambassador, one glories in that identity rather than grumbling about the country where one got posted.”
North Korea has been listed at number one on the Open Doors list most oppressive countries for Christians for the last 12 straight years.
North Korean Christians have told Open Doors that despite the persecution, God is moving strongly in their country.
“Of course God is at work! Of course prayers help. I am such a weak person. I hardly had any Bible knowledge, but God used me to explain the Gospel to others. Sometimes, God sent me on the road. I clothed my six-month-old baby, fastened him on the back and I walked for miles and miles and miles,” a refugee identified only as Hana told Open Doors. “Until I saw some stranger and I knew this was the person I needed to talk to. Because of him or her God had sent me out on the road. I said what I needed to say and went home. Do you think that would be possible without God? Please, tell your friends that they need to continue to pray. God is answering their prayers.”
While the international community has been focused on a group of almost 300 girls kidnapped by the Islamic terrorist group Boko Haram, the same terrorists have quietly been conducting a killing spree of Christians in northern Nigeria.
The terrorists killed at least 29 Christians in the last two days in assaults on both churches and Christian communities in Borno state.
At least 21 people are dead from an attack on the Church of Christ in Nations church in Gwoza. The church was in the middle of a worship service when the Islamic terrorist invaded and began to systematically gun down anyone inside the sanctuary. Rev. Moses Thliza of the Church of the Brethren in Nigeria in the same village said that several dozen were injured and the death toll is likely to rise.
The next day, the terrorists attacked several Christian villages. At least six churches were burned to the ground, eight Christians killed and several dozen seriously wounded. One Christian leader said the number of burned homes of Christians could not be counted.
A legendary West Virginia high school football coach has been banned from speaking at graduation because a few people objected to his references to God in last year’s speech.
Despite an overwhelming majority of students, parents and faculty wanting Leon McCoy to speak at the 2014 graduation of Winfield High School, he was told he would not be welcomed back because a few people didn’t want to be exposed to someone mentioning God.
“There were complaints on me allowing prayer and so forth. Unfortunately, the law says we can’t do that,” school principal Bruce McGrew told the Charleston Daily Mail. “I don’t like it and by no means agree with it. … It’s a difficult situation when I am forced to do something as part of my job.”
McCoy said he understands the decision. He said that in the past Christians were allowed to speak in public with their views but now laws keep them from being able to share their beliefs.
Several students and parents plan to protest graduation, saying that a handful of anti-Christianists should not be able to dictate a ceremony for everyone else.
The husband of a Sudanese woman jailed and sentenced to death for her belief in Christ has denied a series of stories in the western press that his wife is on the verge of being released by Sudanese authorities.
Daniel Wani, the American husband of Meriam Ibrahim, said that despite reports in various western news outlets, “only the appeals court” can free his wife and that no release is imminent.
The BBC had reported the possibly release along with comments from Abdullah Alzareg, undersecretary of the Sudanese Foreign Ministry, who said that Sudan guarantees religious freedom and vowed to protect Ibrahim.
Ibrahim was turned into authorities by Muslim relatives after she would not convert to Islam at their demand.
Wani said despite the false reports of his wife’s imminent release, he believes that her conviction will be overturned on appeal.
“I’m hoping that, given the way people have come together around the world – which I want to thank them for,” he said. “All the rights groups, all the broadcasters … It’s looking like it had an effect. Perhaps it will result in the judgment being overturned.”
Egyptian officials confirm a group of Islamic extremists attacked the businesses of Christians today in the town of Luxor.
Many of the shops owned by Coptic Christians were burned to the ground.
Authorities investigating the attack said that Islamists marched into the shops in the village of el-Mahmeed and threw gasoline bombs into shop windows. Police say that they have not made any arrested and currently have no persons of interest because of a lack of witnesses coming forward to identify who threw the bombs.
The Islamists are launching attacks ahead of the blasphemy trial of a young Coptic Christian who Islamists claim posted disparaging remarks about Islam on the internet. The trial had been scheduled to begin today.
The young Christian, Kerolos Ghattas, is facing the death penalty if convicted.
A South Korean missionary arrested in North Korea on charges of spying and setting up a network of underground churches has been sentenced to life at hard labor.
Kim Jung-wook was sentenced after a trial where North Korean authorities claim he admitted to “committing anti-North Korean religious acts” and “malignantly hurting the dignity” of ruler Kim Jong-Un.
According to North Korean state media, Jung-wook had a defense attorney but there were no details about whether a defense was actually provided during the trial that international observers called a sham.
Kim Jung-wook had been arrested last October after he entered North Korea from China. When he lived in China, he had been instrumental in helping North Korean Christians escape to South Korea. He had crossed into North Korea to learn about food storages and was caught by authorities.
Prosecutors presented what they called evidence of his actions including religious books. The court could have sentenced the missionary to death but decided to issue the life sentence.
A Hawaiian court has dismissed the majority of a lawsuit that a pair of anti-Christianists brought against area churches saying they were defrauding local public schools of rental fees.
Mitchell Kahle and Holly Huber had filed a lawsuit claiming that five churches had defrauded school districts by coercing them into lower fees on rents and utility charges by submitting false records.
The complaint filed in the First Circuit Court of Hawaii said the churches owe the government $5.6 million because of discounted rates and for use of the facilities longer than allowed by contracts. The anti-Christian duo filed under the state’s False Claims Act.
Judge Virginia Crandall said that there was insufficient evidence that the churches violated any laws.
The Alliance Defending Freedom, which is representing the churches, says that the churches were facing frivolous claims from people who just want to harass Christians.
“The only thing these churches have done is serve the schools and bring great benefit to their surrounding communities,” ADF Senior Counsel Erik Stanley said in a written statement. “No one benefits from this suit except the two atheists bringing it, who stand to gain financially if they are successful.”
A Sudanese woman who was sentenced to death because she refuses to deny Christ gave birth to her daughter while chained to the wall.
Meriam Ibrahim’s American husband Daniel Wani said that while she was actually birthing their daughter Maya her legs were shackled to the wall. The guards refused to allow her to be unchained to make the birth safer for her or the child.
However, Wani said after days of refusing to allow him to see the child, the head of the prison not only allowed him in to see the child but released his wife so they could have a moment as a family together.
The local courts say they are going to delay her 100 lashes for two years to coincide with her execution. Initially, the courts ruled she was to be lashed as soon as she gave birth to her child.
Wani told the London Daily Telegraph that the moment was bittersweet knowing that she likely won’t live to see Maya live past age 2.
“I refuse to change. I am not giving up Christianity just so that I can live. I know I could stay alive by becoming a Muslim and I would be able to look after our family, but I need to be true to myself,” Ibrahim said.
On Sunday, Chinese authorities told Christians in Zhejiang province they are no longer allowed to gather and worship.
The government also demolished 10 church buildings using the same claim that all the buildings had violated “building codes” for the region. The government has now destroyed 64 churches since the forced demolition of a $4.8 million Sanjiang Church building on April 28th.
“There is a church building that also houses a grocery market about 1/3 miles from my home,” a house church worshipper from Yueqing County in Wenzhou told China Aid. “The people were notified to implement an order that all gatherings shall stop from this Sunday. If people there don’t stop their gatherings, the building…will be confiscated.”
Government officals have also been ripping down any crosses they find on buildings or along roadways.
Christians in the Wenzhou area say that the latest crackdown by the government is unlike any previous actions because they are trying to completely obliterate any sign of Christianity. Elderly residents noted in previous crackdowns, even when churches were turned into warehouses for the government, the crosses on the buildings are not removed and destroyed.
Christians who have challenged the government’s action have found themselves suspended from jobs, had their factories and businesses sealed and suffered tax audits that cause great expense.