PERSECUTION
Eritrea Cracks Down on
Evangelical Christians
By Greg Musselman
Courtesy Voice of the Martyrs Canada
For CWNews
CWNews.org – "Persecution
is not sweet, but it's useful" is how one pastor described the
suffering of Evangelical Christian believers in the East African
nation of Eritrea. .
Though churches have been closed and Christians persecuted in
Eritrea, most people in the Western World are not familiar with this
East African nation.
But, in the last two years, Christians
worldwide have started to learn more about this small nation-because
of the plight of Jesus' followers there and the persecution they
face.
The persecution comes from their own government. By the way, the
Eritrean government flatly denies persecution is taking place.
Yet, in the midst of the Evangelicals' suffering, there has been
an unprecedented Christian unity in the church.
Eritrea is beautiful and diverse country, located in East Africa
on the Red Sea. It's one of the newest African nations, but also has
remnants of some of its oldest civilizations.
Eritrea is also a very poor country, with run-down housing, and
some people still use horses and carts. The effects of poverty are
seen everywhere. Eritrea is a former Italian colony, and has known
the pain of war.
After 30 years of bitter struggle, in which tens of thousands of
it's people were killed, Eritrea gained independence from Ethiopia,
in 1991, due to a stunning defeat of the occupying Ethiopian
forces.
In 1993 Eritrea officially became a nation, but there is still
hostility to Ethiopia.
The Evangelical churches suffered under the Soviet-backed
Socialist regime in the 1980's. After independence, Evangelicals
were left alone for the first few years, due to drought and the
ongoing struggle with Ethiopia.
But that changed in 1997. The Eritrean Orthodox church put
pressure on the dictatorial, communist-style government to stop the
growth of the Evangelical church. The government then started
arresting Evangelical pastors and church members.
Then, in May 2002, all Evangelical churches in the country were
told by the government to suspend all spiritual activities until
they filled out the appropriate registration requests. Which the
Evangelical churches did.
But in the two years since, not one Evangelical church has been
granted registration. Some Evangelical churches outside the capital
city of Asmara had already been forced to close, prior to that
time.
The only groups allowed to openly practice their religions were
the Orthodox, Catholics, Lutherans and Muslims.
Evangelical leaders claim the reasons for the persecution is that
the Eritrean government has the wrong perception of who they are.
The government sees the Evangelical church as a dividing force in
the country, as undermining unity. The government thinks the
Evangelicals do not want to defend the country. The Christian
leaders say all this is not true, they are very patriotic.
Evangelical Christian believers are seen as spies for the
Ethiopian government, the CIA and other Western Intelligence
services. The government considers Christians lazy who spend their
time in prayer and worship. Evangelical Christians are also falsely
accused of being sexually immoral and transmitting AIDS throughout
the country. In addition, Evangelicals are also lumped with Islamic
fundamentalists.
As a result of the misunderstanding, the government has cracked
down and hundreds of Christians were arrested. But the Evangelicals
deny any truth to these charges.
Some Evangelicals were placed in stuffy shipping containers and
given very little food and water. Dozens of young adults were put in
these containers after it was discovered they had brought their
Bibles to a military training camp.
Other Christians were beaten and tortured and their property
destroyed.
Letay was a nurse in a military prison in the desert city of
Assab. When she saw how her Christian brothers were suffering in
prison, because of their faith in Jesus, she and another nurse were
moved to help.
She said, "There were detained brothers in Assab. Me and another
sister, who were working together, we tried to support these
brothers by getting them money and clothing and some food. But later
on, when we sent them some money, security found the money and
arrested my friend. She was interrogated and finally she spoke about
me. We were arrested together because of that money."
As a result, Letay spent the next six months in a hot prison. She
said, "Prison is not easy, it was very difficult, because they
interrogated me. And were also saying a lot of bad words. I was
afraid at first. Two or three days. And they separated me from
everybody. I was in a separate prison, in a very small room. But
later on, they sent me to a bigger room, with five other women. We
had a good time. We had plenty of time for prayer and to encourage
each other. There were two ladies who were there for different
reasons. We shared with them the Gospel and they accepted Jesus
Christ and we taught them to follow Jesus Christ."
As a result of her time in prison, Letay says she no longer has
fear of what might happen to her. She was warned, on her release, to
stop reading the Bible and meeting with other Evangelicals. She also
doesn't have a job now.
She said, "I know I have to obey the authorities, as I read in
the Bible, but there is a limit. Since this concerns my faith, I
have to follow Jesus Christ and have fellowship with my Christian
brothers and sisters."
Pastor Ghebre also suffered from the government crackdowns on
Evangelical Christians. In January 2002, Ghebre went to meet an
Orthodox priest who had been born again and was sharing with the
priest's family about salvation in Jesus Christ, when military
police showed up and raided the home.
Ghebre said, "That night in the house of the priest I had been
preaching and I was just about to finish the prayer, they came in
and took me, along with the priest. They took us to a military camp.
The priest went to a separate place."
He added, "First what they do is tie the hands and legs from
behind, and put you face down, your chest and your face are on the
ground. So they can beat you from behind, and they use sticks to do
this. They take turns. You are not beaten by one person, these
people are very young and aggressive. They beat with anger. It was a
painful thing. Also with a very thick strong rope, they tie the
mouth and join it with the legs from behind and when you move it
causes your mouth to bleed. It's a very painful experience. They
continued to beat me with sticks and also kick me in the head. They
kick you everywhere.
While he was being beaten and in pain, Ghebre was praying for his
friend the Orthodox priest who is a very thin man.
Ghebre said, "While they were beating me I was praying: if this
priest is being beaten like me, then he won't bear the pain. I was
praying that somehow the torture would be easier for him. I praise
the Lord that they didn't beat him as severely as they beat me. They
kicked him and slapped him and tied him, but it wasn't as severe. I
thank the Lord for that."
Yonatan Hiruy pastors an Eritrean congregation in Toronto, and is
upset by what's happening to his fellow countrymen back in Eritrea.
In Canada, Yonatan and his church enjoy religious freedom.
Hiruy said, "Think about freedom, that freedom that I have. And
my brothers and sisters back home, they are denied that freedom. It
really hurts! And that's why we do prayers every Saturday,
especially. Not a single Saturday passes but we mention them in our
prayer meeting."
Pastor Yonatan, in partnership with Voice of the Martyrs and
Bible Voice Broadcasting, is producing a short wave radio program
that goes into Eritrea twice a week and helps to encourage the
persecuted church there.
He said, "What we need to pray about, forthose Christians that
are undergoing a great persecution, is not that the persecution
continue, but stop, and we do pray that the Lord Jesus gives them
the wisdom they need during this time of trouble."
Ghebre said,"Suffering for Christ is the way we have to go from
glory to glory. Christ Himself suffered and was glorified. We have
to follow in His steps. I remember everything with joy."
The Voice of the Martyrs in Canada and the U.S. are standing with
Christians in Eritrea, and ask Christians around the world to pray
for the Church in Eritrea.
We talked with a pastor in Eritrea who said "Persecution is not
sweet, but it is useful."
Another pastor told of the positive results produced in this
country: the faith of many believers has been strengthened, new
people are coming to Christ, and there has been a unifying of the
Church.
They were also very encouraged to know Christians in other parts
of the world are concerned about them and praying for
them.
Visit the Voice of the Martyrs Canada Web site.
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