An Assemblies of God church in Senegal was recently attacked three times in one week by a mob of young Muslims, causing injuries to several members. According to The Barnabas Fund, a band was playing in Bethel Church in the town of Dakar, when the youths pelted the church with stones. Many of those inside the church were hurt and at least two members suffered serious injuries. The building also sustained extensive damage. Pastor Mignane N'Dour filed a complaint with local police, but they reportedly did not respond. During a prayer meeting several days after the Sunday service, the mob returned and shouted that they would burn the church down if services continued there. The same group of attackers returned last Sunday, again while the band was leading a worship service. Besides destroying some railings surrounding the church, they went inside the church and again threw stones at parishioners. Three members of the congregation were seriously wounded. The West African nation is comprised of 94 percent Muslims, while Christians number 5 percent.

China Arrests Church Leader's Adviser

Fri Oct 10, 3:51 PM ET
By CHRISTOPHER BODEEN, Associated Press Writer

BEIJING - The legal adviser to an imprisoned leader of China's unofficial Christian church has been arrested along with a prominent church activist and his wife, international human rights groups reported Friday.

Xiao Biguang, a longtime campaigner for religious freedom and workers' rights, was seized Sept. 26 by police in central Henan province's Lushan County and is being held at an undisclosed location, said Bob Fu, president of the China Aid Association based in Pennsylvania.

Arrested with Xiao was Zhang Yinan, a leading historian of the unofficial church movement, Fu said. Zhang's wife, Ding Guizhen, a doctor, was arrested separately.

Xiao had coordinated the legal defense for Gong Shengliang, who founded the South China Church in the early 1990s and is serving a life sentence after being convicted last October of rape and assault. Supporters say Gong denies the charges.

Fu gave no possible motives for the arrests, although Gong's case is considered highly sensitive and has long been shrouded in secrecy. The lawyer had contacted foreign reporters about the case and passed on allegations that Gong was abused in custody and that his health was failing.

The aid group president said Zhang also had authored an appeal to the government and official church on behalf of four of the largest unofficial churches with 20-30 million members.

The New York-based Human Rights in China, said Xiao and Zhang had been arrested while attending a friend's wedding. It said police searched Zhang's home and confiscated his computer and other property.

An officer with the Lushan County police said he had no information on the report. Calls to the county government and provincial Religious Affairs Bureau rang unanswered.

Communist authorities allow worship only in state-monitored churches.

Millions of believers, however, belong to unauthorized congregations and are subject to arrest and harassment. The South China Church at one time claimed to have 50,000 followers in central China.

Fu said the families of those detained haven't been informed of their arrests or their whereabouts, in violation of Chinese statutes.

Source: AP/Yahoo

China Christian Church Activist Detained

Oct 20, 11:49 AM (ET)
By CHRISTOPHER BODEEN

BEIJING (AP) - An activist for China's unofficial Christian church has been detained after investigating the destruction of churches by authorities in eastern China, human rights groups say.

Liu Fenggang, 43, was detained on Oct. 13 in the city of Hangzhou while visiting with leaders of the destroyed churches who had just been released from almost two months in detention.

Police who searched Liu's home in Beijing later that week confiscated two computers, an address book, cameras, documents and other items, said Bob Fu, of the China Aid Association, based in Pennsylvania.

Police told Liu's wife, Bi Yuxia, that Liu would be charged with revealing state secrets, but did not present her with the official notification of arrest needed to hire a lawyer, Fu said.

"This is outrageous and absurd," Fu said. Liu was simply trying to help hire attorneys for the Christian activists and pass on assistance from other unofficial churches, he said.

Similar reports were also issued by New York-based Human Rights in China and other overseas rights monitoring groups.

Authorities haven't confirmed Liu's arrest and calls on Monday to local government offices rang unanswered. A man who picked up the phone at the Xiaoshan District Jail where Liu is reportedly being held said he "doesn't provide such information services." The man declined to give his name.

Since July, at least 10 Christian churches have been torn down by authorities in the Hangzhou area who labeled them "illegal religious venues," the Hong Kong-based Information Center for Human Rights and Democracy said.

Since China's officially atheistic Communist authorities allow worship only in state-monitored churches, such venues and their worshippers are subject to frequent harassment.

While the official Protestant church, the awkwardly named "Three-Self Patriotic Movement," claims 10 million followers, up to 50 million are believed to worship in unofficial Protestant congregations.

Among the buildings destroyed in Hangzhou's Xiaoshan District was the "Tedusan" church, a converted warehouse that could hold 500 people, the Information Center reported. Although the congregation paid rent and had permission to remodel the interior, the building was flattened by police with bulldozers on Sept. 20, the center said.

In separate report, Fu said unofficial church activist Zhang Yinan is being held on suspicion of "conspiracy to subvert the national government and socialist system."

Zhang was arrested on Sept. 26 with another activist, Xiao Biguang, while the men were attending a friend's wedding in the central province of Henan.

Formal notice of Liu's arrest was handed on Saturday to his wife, Ding Guizhen, who was also detained for several days, Fu said.

Source: AP/MyWay

125 Christian Meeting Halls in China Shut

BEIJING - Authorities in an east China province have sealed off 125 Christian gathering places since July, cutting off 3,000 believers from their places of worship, a human rights organization said Thursday.

The makeshift churches in Jiangsu province were ordered closed by local officials seeking to crack down on what they deem to be underground religious activity, the Hong Kong-based Information Center for Human Rights and Democracy

End Times News Update
Sign: Persecution (Christian village attacked in Nigeria)
Scripture: Matthew 24:8
News Source: Reuters
URL: http://www.reuters.com/news.jhtml
Date: 01-01-02

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At least 20 killed in attack on Nigerian village

LAGOS, Jan 1 2002 (Reuters) - More than 20 people were killed and scores injured in a reprisal attack on a central Nigerian village by ethnic Hausa-Fulani militiamen, police said on Tuesday.

Police said more than 3,000 ethnic Hausa-Fulani hersdmen had now been evacuated to a military barracks as tension mounted in the region.

More than 50 heavily-armed militiamen attacked Dagwom Turu village in Jos South local government area of Plateau State on Sunday, police said.

End Times News Update
Sign: Believers Persecuted (update on SNI arrests)
Scripture: Matthew 24:8
News Source: Reuters
URL: http://dailynews.yahoo.com/h/nm/20010811/wl/afghan_children_dc_1.html
Date: 08-11-01
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Saturday August 11 2001 11:39 AM ET

Afghan Taliban Free Children and Imprison Fathers

KABUL (Reuters) - Afghanistan (news - web sites)'s ruling Taliban movement on Saturday released from detention 65 children accused of receiving Christian teaching and imprisoned their fathers instead, official media reported.

End Times News Update
Sign: Believers Persecuted
Scripture: Matthew 24:8
News Source: Religion Today
URL: http://news.crosswalk.com/religion/item/0,,356431,00.htm
Date: 07-11-01
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'Hit List' of Christian Evangelists on Hindu Extremist Web Site

A militant Hindu hate Web site displaying the names of international evangelists, secular and Christian scholars from India, and other "enemies of Hinduism" on its "hit-list" was back online after it was salvaged by a radical Jewish organization in Brooklyn, New York. The Web site calls on militant Hindus to commit violence against the men and women listed.

End Times News Update
Sign: Believers Persecuted
Scripture: Matthew 24:8
News Source: AP
URL:http://dailynews.yahoo.com/h/ap/20010727/wl/religion_in_the_news_1.html
Date: 07-27-01
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Friday July 27 2001 12:01 AM ET

Religion in the News

[ My Suggested Headline: Vietnam Targets Christians...Ed.]

By CHRIS DECHERD, Associated Press Writer

SEN MONOROM, Cambodia (AP) - The Rev. Y-Lei Buon Krong gripped his Bible, thought of God and blanked his mind out to the shouting voices of his interrogators.

It was his 12th grilling in nine months at a police station in Vietnam's Central Highlands. The 47-year-old pastor again refused to sign a pledge to stop leading Christian gatherings and to stop advocating the rights of Vietnam's ethnic minorities.

After they failed to break him, the police let him go but ordered him to return in three days. Instead, the pastor, his wife and four children fled

End Times News Update
Sign: Believers Persecuted
Scripture: Matthew 24:8
News Source: Reuters
URL:http://dailynews.yahoo.com/h/nm/20010803/wl/philippines_kidnapping_dc_2.html
Date: 08-03-01
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Friday August 3 2001 9:00 AM ET

Philippine Muslim Rebels Behead Four Christians

ZAMBOANGA, Philippines (Reuters) - Hooded gunmen from the Abu Sayyaf Muslim militia beheaded four Christian villagers on a southern Philippine island after kidnapping more than 30 people, the army said on Friday.

End Times News Update
Sign: Believers Persecuted
Scripture: Matthew 24:8
News Source: AP
URL: http://www.ap.org/
Date: 12-04-01
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Dec 1, 2001

Thousands of Christians in Indonesia Flee Attacks by Muslim Militia, Reports Say

JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) - Thousands of Christian villagers on Indonesia's Sulawesi island are fleeing attacks by armed Muslim paramilitaries, clerics and media reports said Saturday.

End Times News Update
Sign: Believers Persecuted
Scripture: Matthew 24:8
News Source: AP
URL:http://dailynews.yahoo.com/h/ap/20010908/wl/nigeria_religious_violence_5.html
Date: 09-08-01
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Saturday September 8 10:43 AM ET

Religious Violence Jolts Nigeria City

By GLENN McKENZIE, Associated Press Writer

LAGOS, Nigeria (AP) - Muslim-Christian violence raged Saturday in Nigeria's northern city of Jos, where frightened witnesses described dozens dead, churches burned and residents fleeing their homes or banding together for protection.

End Times News Update
Sign: Believers Persecuted (follow up on church massacre)
Scripture: Matthew 24:8
News Source: AP
URL:http://dailynews.yahoo.com/h/ap/20011028/ts/pakistan_church_attack_7.html
Date: 10-28-01 3:30 PM PT
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Sunday October 28 2:27 PM ET

Gunmen Kill 16 at Pakistan Church

By KHALID TALVEER, Associated Press Writer

BEHAWALPUR, Pakistan (AP) - Gunmen with ``bags of guns and bullets'' stormed into a Christian church in Pakistan during Sunday services and sprayed the congregation with gunfire, killing the minister and 15 others, police and survivors said.

End Times News Update
Sign: Believers Persecuted (church attacked in Pakistan)
Scripture: Matthew 24:8
News Source: Reuters
Date: 03-17-02
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Lone attacker kills five in Pakistan church

By Simon Denyer

ISLAMABAD, March 17 (Reuters) - An attacker lobbed grenades inside a Protestant church during a Sunday service in the diplomatic quarter of Islamabad, killing five people including a U.S. diplomat's wife and daughter.

End Times News Update
Sign: Believers Persecuted (religious violence in India)
Scripture: Matthew 24:8
News Source: AP
List Posted: 04.27.02.11:07 PM PT
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Indonesian Mob Kills 12 Christians

.c The Associated Press

JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) - A mob stabbed and burned to death 12 Christians in the religiously divided capital of Indonesia's Maluku province Sunday, witnesses and officials said, threatening a fragile peace pact forged earlier this year.

End Times News Update
Sign: Believers Persecuted
Scripture: Matthew 24:8
News Source: Religion Today/Christians Unite
URL: http://news.christiansunite.com/religion/religion01116.shtml
Date: 10-08-01
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Crackdown on Christians Intensifies in Saudi Arabia

End Times News Update
Sign: Believers Persecuted
Scripture: Matthew 24:8
News Source: CNS News
URL:http://www.cnsnews.com/ViewForeignBureaus.asp?Page=\ForeignBureaus\archive\200107\For20010712a.html
Date: 07-12-01 6:00 PM PT
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Congress Focuses On Religious Persecution In France

(CNSNews.com) - After France's National Assembly on June 22 unanimously passed a bill restricting the activities of "religious sects," some members of the U.S. Congress are accusing the French government, as well as other western European countries, of engaging in religious persecution.

End Times News Update
Sign: Believers Persecuted & Wickedness Increases (church shooting in NY)
Scripture: Matthew 24:8 & 24:12
News Source: AP
Date: 03-12-02
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Priest Killed While Saying Mass

Tue Mar 12,11:19 AM ET
By SARA KUGLER, Associated Press Writer

LYNBROOK, N.Y. (AP) - A gunman opened fire at a church Tuesday, killing two people, one of them a priest who had just finished delivering the homily, authorities and witnesses said. The Rev. Lawrence Penzes was shot during a 9 a.m. Mass at Our Lady of Peace Church,