“Never, never was there a time when the truth will suffer more from being misrepresented, belittled, demerited through the perverse disputings of men than in these last days.” Letter 136a, 1898.
According to South Korea’s Chosun Ilbo, which cites sources in China, singer Hyon Song-wol was among other singers, musicians, and dancers arrested and publicly put to death by firing squad [August 20, 2013]. Mum Kyon-jin, head of the Unhasu Orchestra, was also executed, along with members of both that orchestra and the Wangjaesan Light Music Band. Family members and bandmates watched as authorities killed the dozen performers with machine guns, one source said. A source told South Korea’s largest daily newspaper that some of the victims also faced accusations of possessing Bibles. All were regarded as political dissidents, and their families have been shipped off to prison camps, according to the source. www.spin.com, August 29, 2013.
Kafr Hakim, Egypt (CNN) – For 67 years, the Virgin Mary Church has been a peaceful refuge for Shenouda El Sayeh, much like the Giza province village of Kafr Hakim where it rests and where he has lived all those years. But, as he swept its floors on Thursday, it was painfully obvious things had changed. The night before, a mob—chanting against Coptic Christians had torched and looted the Virgin Mary Church.
Christians all around Egypt are cleaning up in the aftermath of a spate of attacks, which came on the country’s deadliest day since the 2011 revolution. Bishop Angaelos, the Cairo-born head of the Coptic Orthodox Church in the United Kingdom, said he was told by colleagues in Egypt that 52 churches were attacked in a 24-hour span, as well as numerous Christians’ homes and businesses. www.cnn.com, August 16, 2013.
Christians and Muslims used to peacefully coexist in Syria. Unfortunately, the last two years of civil war have erased this peaceful coexistence, leading Christianity to face an “existential threat” in Syria. According to reports, over 300 Christians have been killed during the civil war, even though they did not participate in hostilities. Christian leaders, including priest and monks have been targeted by extremists and hundreds of thousands of Christians have fled the country seeking safety as a refugee outside Syria’s borders. Please pray for these persecuted people. www.persecution.com, August 21, 2013.
Peru has been urged to investigate the mass killing of Christians and other civilians. Over the course of two decades of guerrilla warfare in the 1980s and ’90s between left wing rebel groups and the Peruvian government an estimated 100,000 dead, most of whom were civilians. Massacres also targeted Christians and church leaders opposed to the group. Ten years after a groundbreaking 2003 report was published on the atrocities committed, the Peruvian government has yet to prosecute many of those responsible for the deaths, including the abduction, torture and murder of a Protestant pastor in 1989. www.persecution.com, August 2013.