Dr. Sara says, “Nobody expected the escalation to happen this way. Of course, as people who are for peace [and] justice for both peoples at the same time, really we lament the loss of innocent lives on all sides. It’s very hard. Everybody is in prayer, to be honest.

(Photo courtesy of Bethlehem Bible College)

“We have several students who are in Gaza who are in communication with us, and they’re afraid. They have families. They have little kids. It’s a terrible situation.”

United Nations representatives warn of a dire humanitarian crisis for innocent Palestinians affected by the Israeli government’s siege.

“It’s not only Gaza,” says Dr. Sara. “Israel has already taken measures to close on the West Bank and cut off a lot of resources from the West Bank which means, besides the millions of people that live in Gaza, another 3 million people in the West Bank as well will suffer.

“This is added to the act of retaliation that some individuals or people will do against Palestinians here and there…. Around Palestinian towns, there are already reported attacks against Palestinians.”

Please pray for wisdom as Bethlehem Bible College represents Christ among suffering Palestinians in an overwhelming crisis.

Dr. Sara says, “Emotions are very high and young people are very angry. They need people to calm them. They need voices to calm them down and give them a Christian perspective.”

(Photo courtesy of Bethlehem Bible College)

Learn more about Bethlehem Bible College and how to support their Gospel-centered education work at their website here.

Send a prayer or message of encouragement to our Palestinian Christian brothers and sisters at Bethlehem Bible College.

Pray for a true, Gospel-driven peace over the region.

Header photo courtesy of Bethlehem Bible College.

Months of horrific violence have followed, with thousands of soldiers and civilians losing their lives. The invasion has proved a strategic disaster for Russia, but conditions in Ukraine remain difficult.

Wayne with the ministry Operation Mobilization says, “This is the country I’ve called home for the last 28 years. My wife is Ukrainian, and my four sons are Ukrainian. Here we have precious partnerships, and I’ve seen God do amazing things. For example, we’ve seen many new and vibrant churches planted over the last eight years in war-affected communities in Ukraine’s furthermost eastern regions. I’m heartbroken at what is happening now.”

The invasion followed seven years of war in Eastern Ukraine between Ukraine and Russian-backed separatists.

God at work

Despite the invasion, Wayne says God is very much at work in Ukraine. OM workers and other Ukrainian Christians continue ministering to those in need. Churches are filling up with people touched by Jesus’ love.

Wayne asks readers to join him in prayer. “Pray the war would end and that justice and righteousness would prevail. Pray leaders in Ukraine and around the world will act with godly wisdom and selflessness as they make decisions. And pray that people hear might come together in a mighty way and find that their refuge and strength is the Lord.”

“OM is determined to continue to serve here as we can for as long as possible.”

Ask God to sustain those in occupied cities or cities under siege. Pray they will get the food and fuel they need as winter approaches.

Header photo courtesy of Mvs.gov.ua, CC BY 4.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0>, via Wikimedia Commons.

Last October, government forces finally brought to an end a brutal five-month scourge of the radical group. However, as the fight to eradicate ISIS has shown us in other countries, just because they lost the fight does not mean they have lost the war. There is evidence that fighters are trying to regroup.

This struggle is not just a fight for political power. It is a war of ideologies, and that is one of the toughest to root out.

To reports that Islamists might be targeting Christians in Mindanao, AMG International’s Bill Passons says there is nothing to suggest that the tension is anything new. “This has been an ongoing situation for quite some time. When we speak about Mindanao, Mindanao is a large area, but there are definitely pockets where that statement would be true.”

How do Christians survive the hostility?

The reality for Christians living in areas populated by a radical Islamist element is that they’re aware of the tension, but, “They live in a context where people strongly disagree and would desire them not to be living as a Christian witness. But as God has called them there, they depend on His grace and they navigate those waters on a daily basis.”

(Photo courtesy of AMG International)

A recent report from International Christian Concern suggests security forces are targeting Gospel workers for harassment and prejudice. For those operating under the title ‘missionary’, that might be true, especially if they stand out.

Passons explains that AMG does not send missionaries from the Western world. Rather, “We send national leaders throughout the country to plant churches and spread the Gospel. We also have a variety of different child and youth development programs where we invest and try to meet the deepest needs of the community by being the hands and feet of Christ in any way we can.”

That helps manage the risk. However, sometimes word gets out that things are changing.

“Generally speaking, we do see increased persecution as more people in a community will come to Christ. Sometimes it’s driven by things that are outside of the actual individual Christian’s control: political environment things that are popping up.”

On the political front, he says that can also play a role in triggering more incidents. “They’ve had some changes in the autonomous region in the way that the government is viewing them and looking at them and allowing them to govern themselves, and so some of those political things change. Sometimes, it can just be world events that excite people and make them respond in ways that would be more radical.”

Focusing on the big picture

However, for the team with which AMG works, they’re not looking at the circumstances, but the bigger picture of Christ. Passons asks, “Pray that they would continue to keep their eyes focused on Christ. Pray that they would remain faithful and that their testimony would just bring glory and honor to God.”

There is antagonism and extremist risk in the Southern Philippines, Passons acknowledges, but military intervention isn’t likely to solve the instability problems these issues create.

(Photo courtesy of AMG International)

“Ultimately, what’s going to change this community is just that the Gospel goes out and that these people — maybe even some of these people who have radical ideas now — are confronted with the Gospel and it transforms their lives. That’s what ultimately changes community, so just pray that the Gospel will continue.”

As groundbreaking for rebuilding one of the siege-ravaged communities begins tomorrow, Passons reminds us what we can do to come alongside believers in the Philippines. “As you’re being made aware, I think there’s an obligation that we have to pray and lift up our brothers and sisters around the world.”

He closes with one last thought: “We believe that God’s grace is sufficient.”

Header photo courtesy of Mark Jhomel/CC.

Philippines Siege

It left over 1,100 people dead, a number which is supposed to include over 900 militants. About 350,000 people have been displaced as a result.

Reserve soldiers in the Armed Forces of the Philippines. (Photo courtesy of Wikimedia Commons)

The siege, which began on May 23 earlier this year, was a response to a takeover by Islamic extremists in an attempt to establish a foothold for ISIS in the southern Philippines.

For weeks, the ISIS black flag flew over the city and the extremist group reigned. But over the last five months, Philippines military has been fighting to regain control over the city, and it did. But with this victory comes a word of caution.

“For this city, this particular battle is over. I think some of the rhetoric that has been issued around this, the fact that the defense minister of the Philippines, said now terrorism has been defeated, I don’t think we can quite go that far,” Voice of the Martyrs’ Todd Nettleton shares.

“I think we can say this battle has been won. Anybody, I think, who watches the Philippines, who knows the situation in the southern Philippines, knows there’s going to be other battles. Thankfully this one has been won, but it doesn’t mean the war is over.”

Battle Won, War Not Over

For example, the Philippines’ government is still in the process of working towards putting a law, the Bangsamoro Basic Law (BBL), in place that would create an Islamic autonomous region in the south. The region would be given its own executive, legislative, and fiscal powers.

“If it is passed though, you can sign an entire area over to Islamic law, Islamic control. So, that raises some questions,” Nettleton shares.

“Obviously, questions of religious freedom. Questions of how Christians in that area will be treated. So, there are a lot of questions that the Philippines is still going to be answering in the coming months.”

(Photo Courtesy Steve Conover via Flickr https://flic.kr/p/2i1XAC)

Despite fighting terrorism being a high priority, the Philippines still has terrorist roots, animosity, and extremism within the Islamic minority.

And while Christians may sometimes seem to be the main target of Islamic terrorists, everyone in Marawi City has suffered from the recent siege.

And if such a situation can’t be prevented in the future, it’s worrisome what the reality of an Islamic autonomous region could look like. Still, the potential law is an attempt by the Filipino government to keep peace in the country.

Get Involved

However, Nettleton shares that despite what’s happening, Christians have still been ministering, witnessing, and winning Muslims to Christ in the region.But with ministry success can come persecution.

Please pray for the Christians in the Philippines– for their safety, and for peace. Pray also for justice and wisdom for the government. Ask God to continue bringing people to Christ and for the Gospel to go forth into the country. And finally, pray for the terrorist roots in the Philippines to be eradicated.

For more ways to pray for persecuted Christians, click here!

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(Photo courtesy of Voice of the Martyrs)

Government forces are forging progress toward peace, but it’s slow-going. Earlier last week, about 200 suspected members of the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters (BIFF) took hostages and holed up for hours inside a school, then took five civilians with them after fleeing. Some say the attack could be a diversion for the Islamic State to gain more ground in Marawi.

“That is a common perception because the BIFF is sympathetic to the radical group,” says Herman Moldez with Asian Access, an organization that trains and equips Christian leaders throughout Asia. “In fact, there had been some effort for reinforcement coming from Salou and these areas, and so one of the reasons for the declaration of martial [law] of the entire [island of] Mindanao is for the military to be able to respond quickly and not to complicate the whole matter in Marawi City.”

Moldez recently visited Zamboanga City on the island of Mindanao. He says that for the most part, violence isn’t affecting Christians or impeding their efforts in spreading the Gospel.

“It’s very, very safe. Christian communities are very safe. [The violence] is only in Marawi City, really,” Moldez says. “They feel safe because the military is just there to protect and to monitor people coming in and going out.

“It’s not interfering, because they are minorities, and they’re up on the mountains. So we are not yet feeling or experiencing what ISIS is doing in other countries.”

People wading through the water outside the hospital [in the Philippines, earlier this year]. (Photo, caption courtesy of World Mission)

“The previous government tended to deny the presence of the ISIS in the Philippines, but it’s beginning to come out that they have been operating for quite a while and have gained influence, especially through some of the young people,” Moldez says.

“So pray for vigilance. That’s our prayer, that not only the Christian community, but even the Muslim community, will continue to be vigilant. I think the majority of the Muslim communities want to have the peace process with the government to be established.”

Can you come alongside this country with your prayers? Moldez asks that you pray that situations like the BIFF school attack would not be repeated and the government would respond quickly to violence. Pray also for safety and quick recovery for those affected by the violence.

Reserve soldiers in the Armed Forces of the Philippines. (Photo courtesy of Wikimedia Commons)

Although the Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte said on Saturday the city would be freed in three days, now officials are saying it could be longer. The extremist militants have stockpiled enough supplies in the city to last a couple months or more.

Nearly 1,500 civilians have escaped Marawi so far, but it’s estimated another 2,000 remain trapped in areas held by the Muslim extremists. A report from Reuters says citizens fleeing Marawi were often stopped and asked if there were any Christians among them. Many of these civilians covered for their Christian neighbors to help them escape with groups leaving the city.

Even though the Philippines population is mostly Catholic Christian, Frontiers USA’s President Bob Blincoe says the radical Muslim population in the south is getting more and more attention.

“This part of the Philippines in the south has always been a Muslim population, [it] never became Christian or Catholic as did the majority of the Philippines. So here it is rising in the news, but it always has been a place where radicals have found refuge and have stirred the population for the purposes [and] the cause of militant Islam in the world.

(Photo courtesy of World Mission)

“We shouldn’t be surprised [at this situation], but I tell you, I’ve asked the Lord to make it hurt every time for me, because I don’t want to be desensitized to these terrible things that are happening out there. They must hurt the Lord very much. I want them to hurt the Church and me as well.”

Frontiers USA works to bring the Gospel to Muslims and share the love of Christ. They have 21 sending bases outside the U.S., and one is in the Philippines. Blincoe says true peace can only come as the Gospel message is allowed to spread and freely be shared.

“The best thing you can do is to send missionaries and to bring about the purposes of the Lord…. When you have seen peace achieved in the world, it is in the places where the Gospel has come.

“The way to repair the world, the way to reconciliation, the way the walls will fall down is the way of Jesus Christ. His teachings of the Sermon on the Mount is what the world needs now. So if you want to bring about peace, you want to know what Christians should do — we should be sending, we should be sacrificially giving, and yes, we should be praying.”

So how can you pray for the Philippines today? Blincoe suggests, “Let us pray for the Christians in the Philippines. They are being tested in a way that we have never been tested in our country — for the very soul of their country. Let us be praying that their faith would faileth not and that they might have what it takes from the Lord to bring about a witness of the Gospel, the Gospel of peace, in the Southern Philippines.”

(Photo courtesy of Open Doors USA)

Syria (ODM) — [EDITOR’S NOTE: This is an article posted directly from the website of Open Doors USA. Click here to learn more about how this ministry is assisting persecuted believers around the world.]

Thousands of Christians still live in the government-controlled parts of Aleppo, Syria. For the last 10 days, the city has been under siege. There are no roads open to travel in or out of the city. There is a shortage of everything in the government-controlled areas of Aleppo.

An Open Doors USA contact reports: “There are hardly [any] food supplies. Even the United Nations relief packages have stopped. Vegetables and fruits have disappeared from markets and shops. All the restaurants are closed. There is no gasoline in the stations. Taxi service has stopped and those who saved a little bit of gasoline are asking high prices. Students are walking for more than an hour to go to the university.

“There is no electricity and no water. People are standing in very long lines to fill their buckets. The only time they can collect water is between 6 to 11 p.m. while the generators are working to pump the water out. Shells randomly hit the city from the fighting.”

The contact adds: “People are starting to become more and more hopeless. Some people are selling their apartments for only $10,000. They want to get the money and as soon as the roads open again, they want to leave Aleppo for good.”

Pray that God will comfort and strengthen the Christians trapped in Aleppo. Pray that the people will put their trust in God. Pray that much-needed supplies will get to those in need.

Through local churches of all denominations, Open Doors provides essential monthly support (food supplies, medicine, rent subsidies, medical help, winterization material, etc.) to almost 50,000 people in Syria. An average of over 9,800 families received help during the first eight months of 2015, and they will continue receiving support in the coming months.