Christian Persecution Jul/Aug 2017

INDIA—A Christian in Jharkhand state, India, recently succumbed to illnesses incurred when villagers immersed him and his wife in a cold pond because they had left their indigenous religion and refused to deny Christ.

Tribal residents bound and forced Bartu Urawn and his wife into frigid water up to their necks for 17 hours—from 5 p.m. to 10 a.m.—when temperatures often drop below freezing, reported their son, Beneswar Urawn.

“All throughout the night, they were in the cold water shivering, and I, along with 15 to 20 villagers, were witness to the brutality,” Beneswar told Global Christian News. “The villagers kept asking my father if he is ready to forsake Christ and return to the Sarna fold. He reiterated every time, ‘I will not deny Christ….I will continue to believe until my last breath.’”

The torture came after villagers abused Urawn and his family for three years for leaving the practice of Sarna Dharam, or “Religion of the Holy Woods,” which requires blood sacrifices to a supreme god and ritual service to other gods.

Previous to the torture, villagers had forced Urawn to attend their worship, in which they sacrificed an animal. They forced a portion of the sacrifice down his throat and made him drink fermented liquor.

Besides assaulting Urawn and his wife, a village mob attacked Beneswar Urawn, his wife, and his younger brother, locking them inside their house for hours. They also polluted the family’s drinking water source, Beneswar said.

Bartu Urawn and his family had placed their faith in Christ 10 years ago, and when the villagers realized they would not renounce Christ after years of threats and assaults, they told Urawn that demons would not let him live. They tied the hands of Urawn and his wife behind their backs and put them into the pond.

After pulling them out the next morning, the villagers hit Urawn and his wife and again pressured them to renounce Christ, his son said. The couple fell seriously ill. Urawn’s wife recovered, but Urawn became paralyzed due to nerve damage and later died.

Initially, villagers refused to let Beneswar bury his father. They stood around Urawn’s body with wooden sticks, prepared to attack if he tried to recover it for burial. But the next day, he and four other Christians were able to carry the body six miles to government land for a funeral service.

Upon their return, villagers demanded the family prepare a meal for the village inhabitants in accordance with Sarna Dharam ritual. Beneswar refused, saying they would hold a prayer meeting instead, and the villagers threatened to kill him as they had killed his father, he said.

Relatives informed police, but officers called Urawn’s death a “natural death” and merely suggested villagers attend peace talks and cease attacks on the Christian family.

Beneswar and his family fled for a time, but they are now back in their village, where they face constant threats because of their faith.

India ranks 15th on Open Doors’ 2017 World Watch List of the 50 countries where Christians experience the worst persecution.

by Morning Star News
To read the full report, go to Morningstarnews.org.

Leave a Reply

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Features

Antique fountain pen on parchment.

From the Editor Jul/Aug 2017

Every Wednesday, we have chapel at The Friends of Israel headquarters. It’s a wonderful time when we pray together, hear a brief message, and sometimes connect via Skype with one of our workers overseas who...

FOI Canada Goes Up to Jerusalem

A look at the first-ever FOI Canada Up to Jerusalem trip to Israel and some of the wonderful experiences God provided. It is eleven days’ journey from Horeb by way of Mount Seir to Kadesh Barnea. Sounds simple enough. Forty years later...

A Trail of Carcasses

Camped at Sinai for 12 months, the fledgling nation of Israel received God’s Law, constructed His Tabernacle, and established the Levitical priesthood. It had great dreams and high expectations of entering a land that flowed “with milk and honey” as it set out from...

Rebels Without a Cause

It didn't go well for Korah and crew when they complained against God. In fact, the ended up in what people today might call a giant sinkhole. Anyone who knows a little Yiddish probably knows the word kvetch. It means complain and whine habitually.

The Covert Conspiracy

Many things happen behind the scenes that affect our lives and the history of nations. The Israelites fell prey to the enemy's devices, and it cost them dearly. If you think you know everything going on around you, think again. Life is not always what it seems. Sometimes circumstances are orchestrated...

Satisfying God’s Wrath

The biblical doctrine of propitiation is under attack in our culture. Adherents of postmodernism and even some people within the church have rejected biblical teachings they perceive to be too harsh—such as judgment, hell, and the doctrine of propitiation.


Share Your Story.
Has God used The Friends of Israel Gospel Ministry in your life? Share your story with us!
 

Subscription Options

1 Year Digital Subscription

  • Free PDF Book Download - "What on Earth is God Doing?" by Renald Showers

  • Free Full-Issue Flipbook & PDF Download of Current Issue

$9.99 every 1 year

1 Year Digital with Archive Access

  • Free PDF Book Download - "What on Earth is God Doing?" by Renald Showers

  • Free Full-Issue Flipbook & PDF Downloads of Current Issue & select Archives

  • Complete Access to our Growing Archives

$19.99 every 1 year

2 Year Digital Subscription

  • Free PDF Book Download - "What on Earth is God Doing?" by Renald Showers

  • Free Full-Issue Flipbook & PDF Download of Current Issue

$19.99 every 2 years

2 Year Digital with Archive Access

  • Free PDF Book Download - "What on Earth is God Doing?" by Renald Showers

  • Free Full-Issue Flipbook & PDF Downloads of Current Issue & select Archives

  • Complete Access to our Growing Archives

$39.99 every 2 years

3 Year Digital Subscription

  • Free PDF Book Download - "What on Earth is God Doing?" by Renald Showers

  • Free Full-Issue Flipbook & PDF Download of Current Issue

$29.99 every 3 years

3 Year Digital with Archive Access

  • Free PDF Book Download - "What on Earth is God Doing?" by Renald Showers

  • Free Full-Issue Flipbook & PDF Downloads of Current Issue & select Archives

  • Complete Access to our Growing Archives

$59.99 every 3 years