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» Christian Message Boards   » Bible Studies   » End Time Events In The News   » Eritrean Evangelicals Face Neighborhood ‘Spying,’

   
Author Topic: Eritrean Evangelicals Face Neighborhood ‘Spying,’
BORN AGAIN
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quote:
Who are the demonic forces you speak of?
Those working through the animist-witchdoctors.

God bless, [Cross] BORN AGAIN [Cross]

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Niedziejkore
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Who are the demonic forces you speak of?

--------------------
Worker bees can leave
Even drones can fly away
The queen is their slave.

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BORN AGAIN
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Eritrea was formerly the northmost province of Ethiopia. Ethiopia has for a long time been Christian-animist in a region of Islamic countries.

In the 1860s, King Theodore of Ethiopia imprisoned European missionaries, eventually causing the English army under Lord Napier to invade Ethiopia from Zanzibar island, until the English army defeated the Ethiopian irregulars at Masindi, the then-capital of Ethiopia.

England then installed a Galla Queen as proxy for England over Ethiopia, but not until England carried away centuries' worth of Ethiopian treasures.

Ethiopia always remained as much animist (witchdoctor) as Christian, so it is little wonder that true Christianity is being withstood in both Ethiopia and Eritrea by demonic forces.

God bless, [Cross] BORN AGAIN [Cross]

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helpforhomeschoolers
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It borders the Red Sea between the Sudan and Ethiopia. That is in eastern Africa and across the Red Sea from Saudi Arabia.
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ephesian
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Hi so where is Eritrea’s ?
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helpforhomeschoolers
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Eritrean Evangelicals Face Neighborhood ‘Spying,’ More Arrests
Government ignores Protestant attempts to register churches.

LOS ANGELES, January 30 (Compass) -- Eritrea’s outlawed Protestants confirmed to Compass this week that their neighbors are now being hired to report to the security branches of the police any known gatherings of evangelical believers in their local communities.

Civilians who cooperate as “spies” for the police have been granted special benefits, including exemption from military service, allotments of sugar and flour and other luxuries.

Although Eritrea’s 12 independent Pentecostal and charismatic churches were closed by government order in May 2002, their 20,000 or more members continue to gather secretly in small groups of seven to 10 people in private homes.

During the past 21 months, hundreds of lay men and women, students, soldiers and church leaders have been arrested for weeks at a time for holding these underground worship services, possessing Bibles or witnessing about their faith. Currently at least 286 Eritrean evangelicals are known to be imprisoned in nine different locations; two of the locations are in isolated military regions closed to civilians.

At present 67 soldiers, most of them jailed almost two years ago for attending an evangelical worship service, remain in custody at the Assab Military Prison. According to the most recent information, their treatment has improved slightly, although the soldiers are subjected to hard labor projects at the nearby port and a local hospital construction site.

But last April, a pastor was among several Christians arrested and incarcerated with the soldiers for trying to take them food and clothing. Prison authorities have since tried in vain to force the pastor to persuade the soldiers to recant their evangelical beliefs. “They are all adults, old enough to make their own decisions,” he reportedly told his jailers.

The pastor has been refused any visitors in recent months, raising fears that he may now be incarcerated in solitary confinement in an underground cell. “Physically he is becoming weak,” the most recent report stated, “but spiritually he remains strong.”

In Asmara, 12 evangelical students at the Barka Secondary School were put under arrest in mid November at Police Station No. 1 at the instigation of their principal, who accused them of witnessing and conducting other Christian activities on school premises. After two weeks’ detention at the police station, they were released back to their parents, who were required to promise to “control” them to prevent any repetition of such “illegal behavior.”

On December 14, a total of 13 Christians were arrested in the town of Adi-Kihe, 70 miles south of Asmara. One pastor from a local church was picked up by police while walking alone along the street.

In a separate incident the same day, the pastor and 10 members of the Faith of Christ Church were arrested along with an assistant evangelist from the Evangelical Lutheran Church. The 12 were attending a worship service in the local church building of the Evangelical Lutherans, who have official government recognition.

Two days later, after Evangelical Lutheran leaders from Asmara intervened, the detained evangelist was released. The other 12 Protestants from unregistered churches remain jailed.

Although Protestant pastors continue to inquire regularly with the Department of Religious Affairs, there has been no reported progress on the official registration of their churches. “The only answer we get is that our applications are with the president,” one pastor remarked.

One evangelical leader was told that the threatening potential of another war with Ethiopia over the Badme boundary dispute is “much more serious” a concern than registering this handful of churches. This indicated to him, he said, that the authorities were not in any hurry to answer them, if ever.

In a January 6 press release entitled “A Secular Country with Absolute Freedom of Belief,” the Eritrean Embassy in Washington, D.C., flatly denied what it called “unsubstantiated accusations” in the U.S. State Department’s report released last month on the “deteriorating” religious freedoms in Eritrea.

Although Eritrea’s 1997 Constitution guarantees the freedom to practice any religion, “its provisions have not yet been implemented,” the U.S. report noted. “The government restricted this right in the case of numerous small Protestant churches and the Jehovah’s Witnesses.” Eleven members of the Jehovah’s Witnesses remain jailed without charges, some for more than eight years.

Of the four “official” religions recognized by the government, “only the Catholic Church has publicly defended the right of freedom of conscience,” the U.S. report stated.

Near the end of 2003, the local Catholic bishop reportedly refused a new government order to leaders of the authorized Eritrean Orthodox, Roman Catholic and Evangelical Lutheran churches, as well as the Muslim mufti, to submit regular bi-monthly reports on their activities to the Department of Religious Affairs.

According to local sources, the Catholic bishop’s written response declared that his church reported only to the Vatican; he called for separation of religion and the state and for religious freedom in Eritrea. Government officials subsequently warned the bishop, “Be a priest, not a politician.”

Across the now underground Protestant communities, “Some individuals are ruled by fear,” a recent visitor confirmed. But nevertheless, he said, “One-on-one evangelism is taking place, and new converts are being added.”

Posts: 4684 | From: Southern Black Hills of South Dakota | Registered: Jun 2002  |  IP: Logged | Report this post to a Moderator


 
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