Kenya — Islamist villagers in eastern Uganda burned a pastor and his family to death after he led three Muslims to faith in Christ, the pastor’s brother said.

Pastor Weere Mukisa, his 25-year-old wife, Annet Namugaya, and their two daughters, 7-year-old Judith Banirye and 4-year-old Sylvia Bamukisa, died when the assailants set fire to their home shortly before 3 a.m. on Oct. 13, said the church leader’s brother, James Tusubira. Pastor Mukisa was 30.

The tragic attack took place in Kibale village, Mpumiro Parish, Bulange Sub-County, Namutumba District. Pastor Mukisa had led the Muslims to Christ in September.

“When the three young Muslims converted to Christ, my brother started receiving threatening messages that he should stop any contact with the three young converts, and that the act committed is against the teaching of Islam to not join the religion of infidels,” Tusubira told Morning Star News.

Tusubira said he saw flames and smoke coming from the family’s home at 2:48 a.m.

“We rushed to the scene of the incident and found the house torched and the five bodies burned beyond recognition,” he said. “Many people started arriving till the break of the day. Plastic bottles of petrol were found outside the house.”

The assailants were from a neighboring village and were known to the pastor, Tusubira said.

The killings have been reported to the police in Kibale. Officers were hunting for the suspects, who have absconded, Tusubira said.

Villagers were in great shock and fearful over the gruesome attack, he said.

“Please pray for us so that these radical Muslims who destroyed my brother and the entire family can be brought to book,” Tusubira said.

Mother burned with acid

In Nankoma, Bugiri District, a mother of three children was beaten and burned with acid by her Muslim husband after he learned she had put her faith in Christ.

Hidaaya Nabafa, 27, was receiving hospital treatment for severe burns after the attack by Juma Nsibambi, 42, she said.

Nabafa had received Christ in August at a church in Nankoma village, undisclosed for security reasons. Keeping her faith secret, she had gone to a worship service on Oct. 9 while her husband was in Kampala.

“When I came back at 4 p.m., I found my husband at home, and he asked me about where I have been; I kept quiet for a while,” Nabafa told Morning Star News from her hospital bed. “At last, I decided to tell him the truth that I gave my life to Jesus.”

She had Christian tracts about the life of Christ, she said.

“Upon hearing my confession, he got annoyed and boxed me and started beating me up,” Nabafa said. “I tried to make an alarm for rescue, but all in vain.”

Nsibambi momentarily left, leaving her on the ground, and when he returned he poured battery acid on her, she said.

“I lost consciousness, only to find myself in the hospital bed,” said the mother of three children, ages 7, 5 and 2.

Neighbors arrived and took her to a hospital in Bugiri, where she was expected to continue treatment for a few more weeks due to the severity of the burns. She is expected to need reconstructive surgery for some parts of her body badly injured by the acid.

These attacks were the latest of many instances of persecution of Christians in Uganda that Morning Star News has documented.

Uganda’s constitution and other laws provide for religious freedom, including the right to propagate one’s faith and convert from one faith to another. Muslims make up no more than 12% of Uganda’s population, with high concentrations in eastern areas of the country.
Sources:Christian Post

http://theendtimeradio.com

Pakistan — A court in Pakistan on Friday returned custody of a 16-year-old Christian girl to her parents after a Muslim man had kidnapped and forcibly converted and married her, sources said.

Diya Iftikhar was abducted from her home in village Chak No. 126-GB Sheroana in Jaranwala, Faisalabad District, Punjab Province, by Ghazaal Jutt and two accomplices, Afzal Jutt and Ramzan Jutt, on Sept. 12, according to her parents. Additional Sessions Judge Jaranwala Azhar Iqbal Ranjha today granted the petition for recovery of custody filed by the girl’s mother, Shahida Iftikhar.

“Diya Iftikhar was targeted by Ghazaal Jutt because of his hatred against Jaranwala’s Christian community,” said Asher Sarfraz, chief executive of Christians True Spirit (CTS), which provided legal support to the victim’s family. “The girl was abducted against her will and coerced on gunpoint to record a statement claiming that her conversion to Islam and marriage to Jutt were voluntary.”

Sarfraz said CTS had filed a habeas corpus petition in the Lahore High Court for Diya’s recovery, which the court had dismissed on Oct. 10 due to a misleading statement by Diya under pressure of her captor.

“It was clear that Diya was suffering from abuse and violence at the hands of her abductors, who were using marriage and conversion as a means of self-protection,” Sarfraz told Christian Daily International-Morning Star News.

CTS then submitted another habeas corpus petition in the Jaranwala Sessions Court on Thursday, he said.

“The judge noticed Diya’s fear and anxiety and ordered all persons present to vacate the courtroom so that the girl could freely record her statement,” he said. “Once Diya felt secure, she told the court that she had been converted and married against her will and wished to return to her parents’ house. Hearing this, the court handed her custody to her parents.”

Police later escorted the girl and her parents from the court as there were fears that the suspects and his relatives could attack them, Sarfraz said.

“Diya is one of the few girls who gather the courage to expose their abductors in court, otherwise a majority of the victims are too intimidated and fearful to speak against their oppressors,” he said. “We also appreciate Judge Ranjha for making the courtroom safe for Diya so that she could speak freely. If other victims are also provided with a similar environment in courts, they, too, can return to their families without fear.”

Sarfraz said they were considering moving Diya to a safe house.

“The accused lives in the same village, and it will not be safe for Diya to return to her home so soon,” he said. “We are also very concerned about the psychological and physical trauma the child has suffered over a month-long ordeal, and we think she needs counsellor support.”

Iftikhar lauded CTS for the legal support and Christian Daily International-Morning Star News for raising the family’s voice over her daughter’s ordeal.

“My husband and I are truly grateful for the efforts made for Diya,” Iftikhar said. “She is very happy to be back with her family. She has endured a lot of suffering, but we have faith that God’s grace will help her in recovering and leading a normal life again.”

Typically, kidnapped girls in Pakistan, some as young as 10, are abducted, forced to convert to Islam and raped under cover of Islamic “marriages” and are then pressured to record false statements in favor of the kidnappers, rights advocates say. Judges routinely ignore documentary evidence related to the children’s ages, handing them back to kidnappers as their “legal wives.”

Recorded cases of abduction and forced conversion numbered 136 in 2023, the highest annual total ever, according to the Center for Social Justice. Among these, 110 Hindu girls were abducted in Sindh Province and 26 Christian girls in Punjab Province. A majority of incidents took place in Sindh, where 77% of the abducted females were minors younger than 18, according to the center.

Unofficial sources suggest that forced religious conversions linked to forced marriages affect as many as 1,000 girls belonging to religious minorities annually.

Church leaders and rights activists say it’s imperative for Pakistan to address cases of forced marriage and forced religious conversion promptly, fairly and objectively, guarantee protection for the rights of the victims and ensure prosecution of perpetrators.

Pakistan ranked seventh on Open Doors’ 2024 World Watch List of the most difficult places to be a Christian, as it was the previous year.
Sources:Christian Post

http://theendtimeradio.com

കുവൈറ്റ്‌ സിറ്റി : ചർച്ച് ഓഫ് ഗോഡ് (ഫുൾ ഗോസ്‌പെൽ) ഇൻ ഇന്ത്യ കുവൈറ്റ്‌ റീജിയൻ ആനുവൽ കൺവെൻഷൻ & യുണൈറ്റഡ് വർഷിപ്പ് സർവീസ് 2024 നവംബർ 13, 14, 15 (ബുധൻ, വ്യാഴം, വെള്ളി) ദിവസങ്ങളിൽ കുവൈറ്റ്‌ സിറ്റിയിലുള്ള നാഷണൽ ഇവാൻജെലിക്കൽ ചർച്ച് കോമ്പൗണ്ടിലെ (എൻ ഇ സി കെ) ചർച്ച് & പാരിഷ് ഹാളിൽ വച്ച് വൈകിട്ട് 7 മണി മുതൽ 9 മണി വരെ നടക്കും.
ചർച്ച് ഓഫ് ഗോഡ് (ഫുൾ ഗോസ്‌പെൽ) ഇൻ ഇന്ത്യ കേരള സ്റ്റേറ്റ് ഓവർസീയർ ബഹുമാനപ്പെട്ട കർത്തൃദാസൻ പാസ്റ്റർ വൈ റെജി ഈ മീറ്റിംഗിലെ മുഖ്യ പ്രഭാഷകനായിരിക്കും. ചർച്ച് ഓഫ് ഗോഡ് (ഫുൾ ഗോസ്‌പെൽ) ഇൻ ഇന്ത്യ കുവൈറ്റ്‌ റീജിയൻ ക്വയർ പ്രയ്‌സ് & വർഷിപ്പ് നയിക്കും.
കൂടുതൽ വിവരങ്ങൾക്ക് : പാസ്റ്റർ എബ്രഹാം സ്കറിയ (പ്രസിഡന്റ്‌) 97157635, പാസ്റ്റർ വി റ്റി എബ്രഹാം (വൈസ് പ്രസിഡന്റ്‌) 50106564, പാസ്റ്റർ എബി റ്റി ജോയ് ((റീജിയൻ പാസ്റ്റർ) 65679191.
കുവൈറ്റിലുള്ള എല്ലാ പ്രിയപ്പെട്ടവരെയും ഈ മീറ്റിംഗിലേക്ക് ദൈവനാമത്തിൽ സ്നേഹത്തോടെ ക്ഷണിക്കുന്നു. ഈ മീറ്റിംഗിൽ കടന്ന് വന്ന് സംബന്ധിക്കുവാൻ താല്പര്യമുള്ള എല്ലാവർക്കും വേണ്ടി കുവൈറ്റിലെ എല്ലാ ഭാഗങ്ങളിൽ നിന്നും വാഹന സൗകര്യം ക്രമീകരിച്ചിട്ടുണ്ട്.
Sources:Middleeast Christian Youth Ministries

http://theendtimeradio.com