Christians arrested and churches closed in Algeria

 

While Muslim mosques can now reopen after a decree that closed all temples in the country due to Covid-19, evangelical churches remain closed, without operating authorization and Christians who insist on meeting are arrested

Luís Alberto Alves

Hamid Soudad was arrested on January 21 in the northern province of Oran on charges of insulting the prophet of Islam, Mohammed. A day later, the court in Erzwe found Soudad guilty of blasphemy based on a social network post three years earlier, in which he shared a cartoon of Muhammad. He received the maximum sentence of five years in prison, a decision he said he would appeal.

Two other ex-Muslim Christians have also recently been convicted for similar reasons. They received six-month and three-year prison sentences, respectively, as well as a fine between $ 375 and $ 1,900 each.

Meanwhile, the forced closure of a dozen Protestant churches in recent years remains a serious concern, according to the World Evangelical Alliance during a presentation to the UN Human Rights Council last week. “The 13 sealed Protestant churches since November 2017 have remained closed. All other Protestant churches in Algeria are still closed due to COVID-19 measures, while authorities have allowed more than 180 mosques in the province of Tizi Ouzou and some Catholic churches to reopen, ”said the Alliance.

In August 2020, the Algerian Prime Minister announced that mosques with a capacity for more than 1,000 worshipers could be reopened, but made no reference to churches, causing them to remain closed due to the pandemic.

Serious consequences

Most Algerian Protestant churches are members of the Algerian Protestant Church network, known as EPA. The group is still waiting for its new formal registration under a 2006 law that requires all non-Muslim places of worship to be licensed, as well as its member churches that have also applied for registration.

The national commission that oversees the licensing process is not operating during the pandemic and has so far not granted a license to any of the churches that have applied, giving authorities an excuse to force the churches to close.

In December, three UN special rapporteurs expressed their concerns about the situation in a letter to the Algerian government. “Currently, a total of 49 places of worship and churches are threatened with closure,” which they said appeared to be a “campaign that would have serious consequences for the rights of the Protestant Christian minority to manifest and freely practice their religion or belief. . "

Reminding the government of its obligations under international law, UN representatives also said they were concerned about "alleged acts of repression and intimidation by state officials against followers and representatives of Protestant churches".

Algeria is the 24th country on the 2021 World Persecution List and Christians face severe persecution in various spheres of life.

Do you seek Jesus Christ for blessings or for believing in eternal life? 9

Luís Alberto Alves

So, if you were up to the present day concerned with chasing the material world, it's time to open your eyes and set out on the search for the spiritual. Saving time with Jesus Christ. Guarantee your place in eternity, in the golden streets and billionaire presence of the Lamb.

Do not be more deluded by the cheap advertisements made by Satan that it is better to be happy here on earth, because nobody knows how Heaven works. Be smart and be mindful of the thoughts of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Seek more and more the spiritual. Feed your mother the quality meal offered by Jesus Christ through his Word of life. Escape the deception of Satan. He can only borrow, because he does not own anything. Not even the key to the door to hell.

Luís Alberto Alves is a pastor.

Do you seek Jesus Christ for blessings or for believing in eternal life? 8

Luís Alberto Alves

Satan did this to Jesus when he told the Master that if He lay at his feet He would give everything that exists in this world. But Jesus rebuked him. See that the devil has the strength to put some good-looking things in your life.

Luxury cars, mansions, beautiful women or men, he lends a good job to satisfy his professional vanity, romances with disturbed but beautiful people. However, to enjoy this flash of happiness, he will have to abandon the ways of the Lord.

Several people, unfortunately, do this. They leave Jesus Christ in the background to satisfy the desires of the flesh. Exchange eternity for seconds in this world. That will soon pass. And then there will come happiness or eternal nightmare.

Luís Alberto Alves is a pastor.

Do you seek Jesus Christ for blessings or for believing in eternal life? 7

Luís Alberto Alves

We know that in this world, where we are passing through, we need to satisfy our hunger to keep the physical body functioning. However, your focus cannot be exclusively on the material, leaving the spiritual in the background.

Today many people forget this detail and pay a high price in the future. The devil, knowing your material need, will invest heavily so that you stay away from the spiritual. At this moment, spiritual cooling begins. Communion melts.

The work gains more space than its presence in the church. Let job worries take Jesus' place in your life. In doing so, the way to leave the presence of Jesus began to be opened and soon it will end.

Luís Alberto Alves is a pastor.

Do you seek Jesus Christ for blessings or for believing in eternal life? 6

 

Luís Alberto Alves

It is sad to realize that the people continue to behave in the same way as the beginning of our era. He is not interested in opening his heart to Jesus Christ to live forever. They just want to kill the hunger for the material, not seek the spiritual. For these people, it is difficult to obey God.

Deluded by Satan, they imagine that on the day of the White Throne Judgment, the Lord will act like a lamb, calmly, running his hands over the rebels' heads. He will come as a judge. Lawyer defends, judge condemns or acquits. It's time for face-to-face. Eye to eye, face to face with the Lord.

Do not seek Jesus Christ because of your blessings, but to gain eternal life. To be able to live in Heaven forever. No material food remains eternally within us. Soon he will be expelled. The spiritual will remain within you forever. Has your concern so far been to satisfy material or spiritual hunger?

Luís Alberto Alves is a pastor.

Do you seek Jesus Christ for blessings or for believing in eternal life? 5

Luís Alberto Alves

Few seek eternity. The business is to satisfy the current need. Make dreams come true, which in the vision of Jesus Christ will become nightmares later on. It is to conquer something to fill the ego, feed the vanity and show that you are a well-off person.

There is no concern to think about the future with God in Heaven.

Just filling up your checking account with money to clog up shopping in shopping malls or even in designer stores on the streets frequented by millionaires. Helping others is a discarded subject.

When the news spreads that a man or woman is used a lot by God, that evangelical church will soon be full. All for profit. Improve earthly life, especially if you are in a crisis marriage or without a job. The solution is to get rid of these problems.

Luís Alberto Alves is a pastor.

Do you seek Jesus Christ for blessings or for believing in eternal life? 4

Luís Alberto Alves

The situation is no different today. In evangelical churches that watch over the Word of God, without using subterfuge of groups of praises that seem more like musical bands in the world, singing self-help lyrics, screaming, jumping, circus techniques and even the occult, the frequency is small.

Many people want revelations, especially that they will become millionaires, that the unfaithful husband or wife will be crushed by Jeovah, the millionaire boss will leave the company as an inheritance for her, a dealership will put a new car in the garage of that "believer".

It is what I call “evangelical circus”. Without any commitment to the teachings of Jesus Christ. It is the crowd looking for bread that only the Lord can give. After killing hunger, through healing and liberation, they disappear from that place. Christ was used only as a ladder.

Luís Alberto Alves is a pastor.

Do you seek Jesus Christ for blessings or for believing in eternal life? 3

Luís Alberto Alves

When Jesus Christ appears in the 30th year of our age preaching Peace, He is not understood. How to enjoy these moments of calm, with someone sick inside the house? Or forced to work hard hours to pay taxes to the Romans, set aside the tithe for the Treasury and keep the family?

When he saw Jesus speaking about the Kingdom of God, of not living anxiously for tomorrow and imitating his meekness, he did not retaliate violently the attacks suffered in the streets and even at home through family members and relatives, the Lord's speech provoked anxiety.

It is because of this posture that Jesus says in John, chapter 6 / 26-27: “Truly, truly, I say to you, you seek me not because you saw the signs, but because you ate the bread and were satisfied.

27 Work, not for the food that is lost, but for the food that remains for eternal life, food that the Son of Man will give you; for God the Father has placed his seal upon Him. ”

Luís Alberto Alves is a pastor.

Do you seek Jesus Christ for blessings or for believing in eternal life? two

Luís Alberto Alves

During evangelization in the streets, I heard profanity and answers filled with irony: “I don't need God, but money” !, “Ask your Jesus to give me a rich husband” !, “If your God owns the money, why is your clothes beaten? ” Anyway, many questions.

That is why one rarely seeks shelter in Jesus Christ when the situation is well resolved. In this person's mind, abundant money can solve any kind of problem that suddenly appears in your life. She will rely on the strength of her arm, never on the Word of God.

At the time when Christ lived as a person here in this world, this same situation was repeated every day. The Jews awaited the return of God to free them from the yoke of the Roman Empire and the Gentiles wanted to improve their lives. Enjoy something better in that context.

Luís Alberto Alves is a pastor.

Do you seek Jesus Christ for blessings or for believing in eternal life? 1

Luís Alberto Alves

In the gospel of John, chapter 6, verse 2, it is written: "Then a large crowd followed him, because they had seen the signs that He performed in the sick." Since that time, Christ was followed because of solving problems.

When the Lord arrived at a certain location, the sick and troubled were soon brought in to be healed and delivered. The text does not inform that after the restoration of health, people remained listening to his teachings.

Jesus Christ, after freeing the multitude from their countless problems, ministered his Word. According to scholars, the master preached around 6 hours! It was not “the flash” cult, instantaneous. Something time-consuming, but intense so that his teachings were kept.

Luís Alberto Alves is a pastor.

Do you seek Jesus Christ for blessings or for believing in eternal life?

 

Luís Alberto Alves

The world is in crisis, we have no doubt about that. Every day the situation worsens, making Jesus Christ's prophecy come true as the sign of the times, of how he will return to take his bride to Heaven.

In this context, several people go to evangelical churches in search of a solution to their problems, be it illness, unemployment, addictions, unhappiness in marriage, business bankruptcy, etc.

When the callus starts to hurt, the race for Jesus Christ begins, at first. Like taking an analgesic pill to relieve pain. It is the search for relief and being able to rest when lying down.

Luís Alberto Alves is a pastor.

Kidnapping of Malaysian Christian leader turns four

Pastor Raymond, desaparecido há 4 anos na Malásia

Raymond Koh was removed from his car in an operation involving at least 15 encapsulated men

Luís Alberto Alves / Hourpress

On February 13, it is four years since Pastor Raymond Koh was kidnapped in Malaysia. The leader was taken out of the car and taken by at least 15 masked men in broad daylight. To this day, the family has not given up on finding him and searches for the pastor are still active. Over the next few days, we will talk more about the case and invite everyone to pray for the life and family of the missing Christian leader.

According to an eyewitness, masked hijackers arrived in a van and took him away in the morning. At the time, Koh's wife Susanna began a great campaign of prayer and action to find her husband. She leads, along with other leaders, a pressure campaign for the government to provide answers about the husband's whereabouts.

The last time she saw her husband was on the same morning as the kidnapping, at a friend's house, where she works as a nanny and the last words exchanged between the couple was “I love you”.

Protestos a favor do pastor Raymond

“He was late for an appointment, left in a hurry and never came back,” laments his wife. She explains that the calls to Koh's cell phone went straight to voicemail and messages were not being viewed, indicating that the cellphone was turned off. “I later learned from friends that he had been confronted by a group of hooded men, thrown into a black truck and driven away,” she said. The wife further declares that Koh had no enemies and that he was always involved in the work of the church he himself founded 10 years ago.

Other Christian leaders had already been kidnapped in Malaysia and their whereabouts are also unknown. In view of this, a global action was generated to raise awareness among world authorities about the case and thus find the missing. As part of these efforts, the wives of Pastor Raymond Koh and social activist Amri Che Mat sent an open letter to the countryris prime minister, calling for an immediate and independent investigation into the disappearance of their respective husbands. In the letter published in the MalayMail newspaper they also asked for “a safe space for the whistleblower to present what he knows about the kidnapping of husbands.”

The whistleblower is a police sergeant who was willing to testify about police involvement in the activist Che Mat kidnapping but later denied having asked to speak. The day before giving her testimony to the Malaysian Human Rights Commission (SUHAKAM), he backed down, and the inquiry was postponed.

The family cry

The letter said: “We have not seen any effort by the government to ensure that this revelation [of police involvement] is investigated by an independent team. Worse, it appears that the officers involved in the allegations are those responsible for the investigation. Please help us know what happened to our husbands, who has taken them and where they are now. We want them back. We beg for justice, we cry out for the truth. ”

Susanna, esposa do pastor Raymond

Another global action was carried out by the Open Door, to collect signatures and take them in front of Malaysian embassies in countries where the organization operates. In Brazil and other Latin American countries, more than 14,000 people signed the petition, which was delivered to the embassy in October 2018. 

On that occasion, the secretary general of Portas Abertas, Marco Cruz, was received by the first secretary of Malaysia Norliyana Alias, who also signed the petition, heard the demands and questioned the persecution of Christians in her country. Upon learning of this reality, after watching the video of Pastor Koh's kidnapping, the first secretary undertook to communicate the petition to the authorities of her country and follow up the case so that it can be resolved.

Although the Malaysian Human Rights Commission initiated a public inquiry into the case of Pastor Koh and assured that government officials were involved in the disappearance, there was no satisfactory conclusion to the case.

Last year, Susanna reported that she filed a lawsuit against two former police inspectors general, Tan Sri Khalid Abu Bakar and Tan Sri Mohamad Fuzi Harun, over the incident

Susanna received the International Women of Courage Award from the US State Department in March 2020. The award was the result of the Christian struggle for justice in the case of her husband and other victims of enforced disappearance. Despite having no information on Pastor Koh's whereabouts, the wife maintains confidence in God. “We do not know where he is, what condition he is in and whether he is alive or dead. But I have hope, because I have faith,” she concluded.

The book “Where is Pastor Raymond Koh?”, Written by Stephen Ng and Lee Hwa Beng, tells the story of the disappearance of the Christian leader.

The Koh family gave an impactful interview to Portas Aberta, which can be followed in this