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PERSECUTION

Eritrea Cracks Down on Evangelical Christians

By Greg Musselman
Courtesy Voice of the Martyrs Canada
For CWNews


CWNews.org"Persecution is not sweet, but it's useful" is how one pastor described the suffering of Evangelical Christian believers in the East African nation of Eritrea. .

Though churches have been closed and Christians persecuted in Eritrea, most people in the Western World are not familiar with this East African nation.
But, in the last two years, Christians worldwide have started to learn more about this small nation-because of the plight of Jesus' followers there and the persecution they face.

The persecution comes from their own government. By the way, the Eritrean government flatly denies persecution is taking place.

Yet, in the midst of the Evangelicals' suffering, there has been an unprecedented Christian unity in the church.

Eritrea is beautiful and diverse country, located in East Africa on the Red Sea. It's one of the newest African nations, but also has remnants of some of its oldest civilizations.

Eritrea is also a very poor country, with run-down housing, and some people still use horses and carts. The effects of poverty are seen everywhere. Eritrea is a former Italian colony, and has known the pain of war.

After 30 years of bitter struggle, in which tens of thousands of it's people were killed, Eritrea gained independence from Ethiopia, in 1991, due to a stunning defeat of the occupying Ethiopian forces.

In 1993 Eritrea officially became a nation, but there is still hostility to Ethiopia.

The Evangelical churches suffered under the Soviet-backed Socialist regime in the 1980's. After independence, Evangelicals were left alone for the first few years, due to drought and the ongoing struggle with Ethiopia.

But that changed in 1997. The Eritrean Orthodox church put pressure on the dictatorial, communist-style government to stop the growth of the Evangelical church. The government then started arresting Evangelical pastors and church members.

Then, in May 2002, all Evangelical churches in the country were told by the government to suspend all spiritual activities until they filled out the appropriate registration requests. Which the Evangelical churches did.

But in the two years since, not one Evangelical church has been granted registration. Some Evangelical churches outside the capital city of Asmara had already been forced to close, prior to that time.

The only groups allowed to openly practice their religions were the Orthodox, Catholics, Lutherans and Muslims.

Evangelical leaders claim the reasons for the persecution is that the Eritrean government has the wrong perception of who they are.

The government sees the Evangelical church as a dividing force in the country, as undermining unity. The government thinks the Evangelicals do not want to defend the country. The Christian leaders say all this is not true, they are very patriotic.

Evangelical Christian believers are seen as spies for the Ethiopian government, the CIA and other Western Intelligence services. The government considers Christians lazy who spend their time in prayer and worship. Evangelical Christians are also falsely accused of being sexually immoral and transmitting AIDS throughout the country. In addition, Evangelicals are also lumped with Islamic fundamentalists.

As a result of the misunderstanding, the government has cracked down and hundreds of Christians were arrested. But the Evangelicals deny any truth to these charges.

Some Evangelicals were placed in stuffy shipping containers and given very little food and water. Dozens of young adults were put in these containers after it was discovered they had brought their Bibles to a military training camp.

Other Christians were beaten and tortured and their property destroyed.

Letay was a nurse in a military prison in the desert city of Assab. When she saw how her Christian brothers were suffering in prison, because of their faith in Jesus, she and another nurse were moved to help.

She said, "There were detained brothers in Assab. Me and another sister, who were working together, we tried to support these brothers by getting them money and clothing and some food. But later on, when we sent them some money, security found the money and arrested my friend. She was interrogated and finally she spoke about me. We were arrested together because of that money."

As a result, Letay spent the next six months in a hot prison. She said, "Prison is not easy, it was very difficult, because they interrogated me. And were also saying a lot of bad words. I was afraid at first. Two or three days. And they separated me from everybody. I was in a separate prison, in a very small room. But later on, they sent me to a bigger room, with five other women. We had a good time. We had plenty of time for prayer and to encourage each other. There were two ladies who were there for different reasons. We shared with them the Gospel and they accepted Jesus Christ and we taught them to follow Jesus Christ."

As a result of her time in prison, Letay says she no longer has fear of what might happen to her. She was warned, on her release, to stop reading the Bible and meeting with other Evangelicals. She also doesn't have a job now.

She said, "I know I have to obey the authorities, as I read in the Bible, but there is a limit. Since this concerns my faith, I have to follow Jesus Christ and have fellowship with my Christian brothers and sisters."

Pastor Ghebre also suffered from the government crackdowns on Evangelical Christians. In January 2002, Ghebre went to meet an Orthodox priest who had been born again and was sharing with the priest's family about salvation in Jesus Christ, when military police showed up and raided the home.

Ghebre said, "That night in the house of the priest I had been preaching and I was just about to finish the prayer, they came in and took me, along with the priest. They took us to a military camp. The priest went to a separate place."

He added, "First what they do is tie the hands and legs from behind, and put you face down, your chest and your face are on the ground. So they can beat you from behind, and they use sticks to do this. They take turns. You are not beaten by one person, these people are very young and aggressive. They beat with anger. It was a painful thing. Also with a very thick strong rope, they tie the mouth and join it with the legs from behind and when you move it causes your mouth to bleed. It's a very painful experience. They continued to beat me with sticks and also kick me in the head. They kick you everywhere.

While he was being beaten and in pain, Ghebre was praying for his friend the Orthodox priest who is a very thin man.

Ghebre said, "While they were beating me I was praying: if this priest is being beaten like me, then he won't bear the pain. I was praying that somehow the torture would be easier for him. I praise the Lord that they didn't beat him as severely as they beat me. They kicked him and slapped him and tied him, but it wasn't as severe. I thank the Lord for that."

Yonatan Hiruy pastors an Eritrean congregation in Toronto, and is upset by what's happening to his fellow countrymen back in Eritrea. In Canada, Yonatan and his church enjoy religious freedom.

Hiruy said, "Think about freedom, that freedom that I have. And my brothers and sisters back home, they are denied that freedom. It really hurts! And that's why we do prayers every Saturday, especially. Not a single Saturday passes but we mention them in our prayer meeting."

Pastor Yonatan, in partnership with Voice of the Martyrs and Bible Voice Broadcasting, is producing a short wave radio program that goes into Eritrea twice a week and helps to encourage the persecuted church there.

He said, "What we need to pray about, forthose Christians that are undergoing a great persecution, is not that the persecution continue, but stop, and we do pray that the Lord Jesus gives them the wisdom they need during this time of trouble."

Ghebre said,"Suffering for Christ is the way we have to go from glory to glory. Christ Himself suffered and was glorified. We have to follow in His steps. I remember everything with joy."

The Voice of the Martyrs in Canada and the U.S. are standing with Christians in Eritrea, and ask Christians around the world to pray for the Church in Eritrea.

We talked with a pastor in Eritrea who said "Persecution is not sweet, but it is useful."

Another pastor told of the positive results produced in this country: the faith of many believers has been strengthened, new people are coming to Christ, and there has been a unifying of the Church.

They were also very encouraged to know Christians in other parts of the world are concerned about them and praying for them.

Visit the Voice of the Martyrs Canada Web site.




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