December, 2007

CHINA: REPRESSION ESCALATES IN LEAD-UP TO OLYMPICS      
           
plus TURKEY: Critical Update                   

The Olympic Games will open in Beijing at 8.08pm, on 8-8-08 and China is getting ready. In a recent article, 'Faster, higher, censored', Graeme Philipson (The Age, Melbourne) states: 'China will use the 2008 Olympic Games to market itself to the world. All countries do this, but the Chinese example will look more like Berlin 1936 than Sydney 2000.' Philipson's point is that the image will not be real -- it will be a facade or an illusion -- with China using the Olympics to 'airbrush out the full extent of its oppression . . . just like Hitler and the Nazis 70 years ago'. He ominously warns: 'Visitors to China next year will see the new stadiums and the expressways and skyscrapers and apartment complexes. They will probably even be able to access their hometown newspapers on the web. They will probably not stop to think that the 1936 Olympics were followed by the most vicious repression the world has ever seen.'

Human rights advocates and Christian ministries report repression is intensifying in the lead-up to the Games. The government wants to ensure 'subversive' elements or 'reactionary' forces do not spoil the show. Shi Weihan (37) runs a Christian bookshop near the Olympic village. According to Compass Direct, though Shi worships in an unregistered house-church, his bookshop has only ever sold books for which he has had government permission. Recently Shi, his wife Zhang, and several employees were arrested. Whilst most have since been released, Shi and a female employee, Tian Hongxia (whose father was seriously beaten during the arrest), remain in custody.
Shi Weihan is diabetic and there are concerns for his well-being.
As China Aid Association (CAA) notes, this is not an isolated case.

CAA also reports that on 7 December a major police operation raided and detained all 270 house-church pastors meeting for prayer and Bible study in Linyi City in the northern coastal province of Shandong. They were handcuffed in pairs like criminals and taken off for questioning. As of 10 December, 150 pastors were still in custody.

In July 2001 Radio Australia reported China's Vice Prime Minister Li Lanqing as saying at an anti-cult exhibition that winning the
2008 Olympic bid proved the international community appreciated the social stability and economic progress in China and the healthy lives of the Chinese people. He concluded that this justified China's fight against 'cults'.

PLEASE PRAY SPECIFICALLY THAT GOD -

* will protect and keep Shi Weihan and Tian Hongxia in body, mind
and spirit so they will grow in grace and knowledge of him; may
he, the God of justice, sweep away Chinese injustice.

* will sustain and encourage all China's detained pastors and
freedom advocates (including numerous writers and lawyers); by
the working of his Spirit may he grant his faithful imprisoned
disciples the honour of being used as channels of his blessing
and saving grace into dark places.

* will fill China's pastors and influential Christians with great,
divine, spiritual wisdom, insight and grace, so they may lead
not by human inclination but according to his will and purpose.
(Matthew 16:23)

* who is sovereign over all 'kings', will use the Beijing Olympics
for his purpose. 'Many are the plans in the mind of a man, but
it is the purpose of the Lord that will stand.' (Proverbs 19:21
ESV)

 

CRITICAL UPDATE - TURKEY: MALATYA MURDER SCANDAL

As was reported in RLP 454, the files prepared by prosecutors for the Malatya murder trial focus primarily on the 'missionary activities' of the three victims -- Necati Aydin, Ugur Yuksel and Tilmann Geske -- while failing to investigate the crime or its perpetrators. The prosecutors and much of the Turkish media appear keen to find justification for the murders. Furthermore, the prosecutors included in the files (which are public and available to the killers) material downloaded from the personal computers of Necati, Ugur and Tilmann, including the contact details of numerous Christians. We specifically asked God to 'protect Christians, reveal truth, and secure justice'.

Investigation of the prosecutor's files has revealed some ugly truths, resulting in scandal and a media storm. Compass Direct reports it appears the murderers had 'direct, repeated links with local police officers, members of the special military forces, a regional council member of the Nationalist Movement Party and even a chief public prosecutor'. Turkey's Interior Ministry has now opened a judicial investigation into alleged collusion of public officials. Investigators want to know why the prosecutors did not pursue evidence they had, such as cell phone records, video footage (now erased), incriminating letters from informers (including one who was willing to testify) and links to leading ultra- nationalists. 

At the time of the murders, RLP 427 (2 May) commented: 'Turkey at the moment is like a restless sea with several dangerous currents getting stronger and stronger, threatening to create a serious storm.' We prayed for the storm to be stilled (Matthew 8:23-27).
Now these 'dangerous currents' are being whipped up by monsters raging with agitation. The stronger one is 'Turkish nationalism'
and the weaker but growing one is 'Islam'. Please pray that they will be fully exposed, confronted and dealt with.

See Compass Direct (http://www.compassdirect.org/) for a full report. For WEA RL Prayer and News & Analysis on Turkey go to (http://www.ea.org.au) and run a site search for Turkey.