NOTE: THIS PAGE IS IN THE PROCESS OF BEING MOVED OVER TO MY NEW BLOG, CHRISTIAN WITNESS UNDER FIRE; PLEASE SEE THAT BLOG FOR THE LATEST ON CHRISTIAN PERSECUTION. THANK YOU!
This page will serve as my "voice" for issues such as the persecuted church, human traffiking, and any other issue that I feel is worthy of campaigning. Please use the information presented on this page to help our fellow Christians. In addition to acting on these issues, I also encourage you to pray for each situation and those involved. I'm going to make a running list of email addresses (for my own personal use only; I will not give away your information) to send "Campaign" petitions to; if you would like to keep updated on these issues, please send me an email titled "Campaign." Thank you.
This page will serve as my "voice" for issues such as the persecuted church, human traffiking, and any other issue that I feel is worthy of campaigning. Please use the information presented on this page to help our fellow Christians. In addition to acting on these issues, I also encourage you to pray for each situation and those involved. I'm going to make a running list of email addresses (for my own personal use only; I will not give away your information) to send "Campaign" petitions to; if you would like to keep updated on these issues, please send me an email titled "Campaign." Thank you.
"But whoever has this world's goods, and sees his brother in need, and shuts up his heart from him, how does the love of God abide in him?" ~ 1 John 3:17
"Remember the prisoners as if chained with them--those who are mistreated--since you yourselves are in the body also." ~ Hebrews 13:3
"Remember the prisoners as if chained with them--those who are mistreated--since you yourselves are in the body also." ~ Hebrews 13:3
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Monday, December 27, 2010
UPDATE ON PAKISTANI WOMAN'S CASE
The latest on Asia Bibi's case can be found here.
Monday, December 27, 2010
UPDATE ON PAKISTANI WOMAN'S CASE
The latest on Asia Bibi's case can be found here.
IRANIAN WOMAN TO BE EXECUTED: SIGN THE PETITION
I was first made of aware of Sakineh's case in August, when Lisa Bevere put out a tweet asking people to sign a petition from her son that would save her from stoning. Her crime? Allegedly commiting adultery! This is a sham; her husband was already dead at the time -- how could she then be guilty of adultery?! Many people raised their voices on this issue; OUR VOICES WERE HEARD, and Sakineh's execution was haulted. Last night, I heard that Sakineh was to be executed that very day! This time, her crime is for murdering her husband! So far, our voices have again haulted her execution with a staggering 500,000 people sending petitions and calling government officials on her behalf! And the number of people speaking out is increasing even as you read this; so far, the total is over 700,000! However, it is clear that authorities want her executed as soon as possible, and they will stop at nothing until this is accomplished! Sakineh's son and his lawyer are imprisoned for standing up for her rights, and all three have also been tortured. I have posted all the details that I have received via Avaaz.org.* Please raise your voice on this important issue and help save Sakineh!
UPDATE: Sakineh is still alive, thanks to the over 900,000 people who signed the petition! There has also been much pressure in Iran "from Conservative forces about the treatment of Sakineh and the way her case has been handled by the Iranian government. Some are calling for her acquittal of all charges." But Sakineh's life still hangs in the balance; if you remember, Sakineh's lawyer was forced into exile, and her son and his lawyer were imprisoned. Therefore, Avaaz is calling for the next step: "The next step towards freeing Sakineh is to fund international experts to strengthen her legal defense and work with officials in Iran to resolve this shameful situation. If thousands of us donate in the next three days we can hire an elite team of advocates, keep campaigning to free Sakineh and work on behalf of others facing brutal injustice." They propose that we can use the dissent in Iran to help free Sakineh:
A team of diplomatic and legal experts could build on this dissent and work within Iran to secure Sakineh's release. Our call, 900,000 voices strong, in combination with pressure from inside Iran for Sakineh's release is the best chance we have to save Sakineh. Now is the moment to give whatever we can to end her brutal persecution:
Please do what you can to help!
Sakineh's story
It's Thursday, and Sakineh is still alive. A staggering 500,000 of us contacted leaders in one day -- and they're instantly making calls to Iran! Our pressure is working, but we need to ramp it up to keep her alive -- forward this email to everyone:
Dear Friends,
Iran could execute Sakineh Ashtiani tomorrow. We saved her from stoning, now we have 24 hours to get key powers to take emergency action to stop this shameful killing.
Tomorrow, Iran could execute Sakineh Ashtiani.
Our global outcry stopped her unjust stoning sentence in July. Now we have 24 hours to save her life.
Iran's allies and key UN powers are our best hope -- they could persuade Iran of the serious political cost of this high-profile killing. Click below to send them an urgent call to action and send this to everyone -- it only takes three minutes and we are her last chance:
Sakineh's adultery case is a tragic sham stacked with human rights violations. First, she was to be stoned to death. But the Iranian government had to revoke the sentence after her children generated a worldwide outcry against the farcical trial -- she could not speak the language used in court, and the alleged incidents of adultery took place after her husband's death.
Then her lawyer was forced into exile, and the prosecution conjured up a new trumped-up charge for which she would be executed -- the murder of her husband. Despite this being double jeopardy, as she is already serving time for alleged complicity in this crime, Sakineh was tortured and paraded on national television to 'confess', and was found guilty. Since then the regime has arrested two German journalists, her lawyer and her son, who has bravely led the international campaign to save his mother. All remain in prison and Sakineh's son and lawyer have been also tortured and have no access to lawyers.
Now Iranian human rights activists state an order has just been issued from Tehran to implement her killing immediately. She is on the list and tomorrow is execution day.
Our persistent campaigning led Iran to drop Sakineh's stoning sentence and captured the attention of leaders in countries with influence on Iran, like Turkey and Brazil. Now let's urgently raise our voices to stop her killing and inhumane treatment and free her, her lawyer, her son and the jailed German journalists. Send a message and share this emergency call with friends and family:
A massive public outcry has the moral authority to stop heinous crimes. Let's use these 24 hours to send a clear message -- the world is watching and we all stand together today to save Sakineh's life and against injustice everywhere.
With hope and determination,
Alice, Stephanie, Pascal, Giulia, Benjamin and the whole of the Avaaz team
Sources:
Iranian woman could be stoned Wednesday
Guardian article on Avaaz emergency campaign:
Brazil President Elect speaks against Iran stoning
Sarkozy threatens to suspend dialogue if Sakineh was executed.
Canada condemns possible execution:
UK calls for halt of execution
US demands no execution:
Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani: A life in the Balance (Amnesty International)
*Avaaz.org is a 5.5-million-person global campaign network that works to ensure that the views and values of the world's people shape global decision-making. ("Avaaz" means "voice" or "song" in many languages.) Avaaz members live in every nation of the world; our team is spread across 13 countries on 4 continents and operates in 14 languages. Learn about some of Avaaz's biggest campaigns here, or follow us on Facebook or Twitter.
Esther's Story
Recently, I talked about my dream to help a woman named Yang. She is being held in a Chinese labor camp for 2 years, simply because she is a follower of Christ. The sad thing is that she has arthritis, and she is being sentenced to 15-hour workdays each day for two years! The Voice of the Martyrs encourages people to send letters to Yang, at the request of her daughter Esther. Please do your part to help! In addition, please keep Esther and her family in your prayers.Thank you for your support!
UPDATE: It's been a year since Esther's parents were imprisoned. I just saw Esther's appeal to her brothers and sisters in Christ. I encourage you to read it! Do what you can to help today!
UPDATE: It's been a year since Esther's parents were imprisoned. I just saw Esther's appeal to her brothers and sisters in Christ. I encourage you to read it! Do what you can to help today!
Tuesday, July 27, 2010 Update
I promised to update on the why behind this campaign. Well here it is! I have actually slightly modified my campaign to be easier for me and for those who would like to participate. Please take action on this important issue – We cannot be silent!
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A (Non-profit) Campaign To Free Yang Caizhen
Some of you may be wondering, “Why are you doing this campaign?” The answer to this question is quite simple, although it requires a great deal of explaining.For those of you who do not know, here is the story in brief:
In the early morning hours on Sunday, September 13, 2009, more than 400 Chinese officials and hired thugs stormed the grounds of the Linfen Fushan Church, destroying buildings and injuring more than 100 church members. Weeks, later, 10 Linfen Church leaders were arrested, convicted and sent to prison, including Esther’s parents, Yang Xuan, and Yang Caizhen.
Esther’s mother, stricken with arthritis, was sentenced to two years at a re-education through labor camp, where reportedly her job is to make cigarette lighters. Esther worries her mother’s health will worsen under the stress of 15-hour days spent working in the labor camp.
Her father was sentenced to three-and-a-half years. His whereabouts are unknown. The other Linfen Church leaders received two to seven years in prison for shepherding their 50,000 member unregistered church.
This is not just an isolated instance, as some might think; I have heard of numerous instances where Christians were sentenced to 10-15 years in a labor camp or up to 20 years in prison for their Christian witness! This is happening all the time in China and around the world! And while it is true that many people suffer for their faith on a daily basis and I wish that we could help every single one of them, Yang’s story is a special case in that she has arthritis. Many times, Christians are imprisoned and sentenced to hard labor, as Yang was, regardless of physical ailments that limit them or make it impossible for them to complete their daily quotas. In Yang’s case, she has to use her hands for 15 hours per day for the two-year sentence! Anyone with arthritis will tell you that this is quite a difficult feat! Esther, Yang’s daughter, worries about her mother’s health worsening under such conditions; she requests that Christians send a letter of encouragement to Yang.
The Voice of the Martyrs, an organization dedicated to encouraging the persecuted church and spreading the word about religious persecution, previously sent out pre-made letters to be signed and sent to Esther's mother, Yang. The letters read,
On my letter, I have added, “Jesus loves you. We love you. We pray daily for you.” I encourage you to copy it or print it up and send it out (I will be posting the letter in PDF for printing soon)! You can also make your own letter by choosing and rearranging phrases provided by VOM; the phrases will be translated into Chinese so that Yang will be able to read the letter.Dear Yang Caizhen,
We are praying for you, your family and the other prisoners. We are also praying for your release soon! Please know that we care about you very much. God has said, ‘I will never leave you nor forsake you.’” – Hebrews 13:5
So why do we want to send out these letters?
Firstly, the Chinese government has told us time and again that Christians enjoy full religious freedom in China. If this is true, why is Yang arrested for being a Christian and the leader of a church? The China Embassy claims that “No single person in China has been or will be detained or imprisoned simply because of their religious beliefs or their legal religious activities,” and goes on to state that as long as it is “legalized” with the Chinese officials, the Christians are fine. (Of course, they smooth it over quite nicely, so that anyone who does not know about the numerous accounts of religious persecution will think that it is non-existent!). On the grounds that Yang Caizhen is the wife of Yang Xuan, the pastor of Linfen Church, she could be arrested simply because her church was not registered (which does seem to be the case)! The China Embassy endorses such acts, stating that it is not a problem to register a church. However, many churches in China are never registered, because the government uses this to gain control of what the church can and cannot say; many times, spies are sent into the congregations, and if anything is said or done that is deemed to be offensive, the church is in serious trouble! One Chinese man told a VOM worker, “The Great Commission says we are to preach to all nations, so their teaching contradicts the Bible. If you join a Three-Self [government-registered] church, they will control you and control your church activities. You will not have… free worship time or free service.” The Christians don’t want to be censured, so they don’t register; it’s just as Peter said (Acts 5:29), “We ought to obey God rather than men.” We can obey men when they are not in conflict with God’s Word; but the minute they step over the line and start imposing restrictions and regulations, we must be careful to only obey the Lord!
And this brings me to the second point: many times, Christians under such governments will not receive their mail. Why, then, should we send out these letters? Because even if the government gets them but does not deliver them to the recipient, it sends the message that people know about the situation; it places pressure on the government. In many cases, this has resulted in better treatment of the prisoners and possible release. For this reason, I am also including a sample letter to the Chinese government requesting the swift release of Mrs. Yang. Feel free to use it; I have also provided the email address of the Chinese officials. Please contact them on behalf of Mrs. Yang!
I believe that these letters will be a tremendous blessing for Yang -- to see the body of Christ unite together in prayer for her! And this brings me to the most beautiful point of all, and it is the underlying motive for this campaign: The Bible states, “The effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much “(James 5:16). And Jesus said, “For where two or three are gathered together in My name, I am there in the midst of them” (Matthew 18:20). This means that when the body of Christ unites together in prayer, as we will be doing for Yang, the Lord hears! I heard a beautiful story that demonstrates just how much prayer can help a Christian who is going through persecution: Three men were imprisoned on false charges, the real charge being that they were Christians. A campaign to put pressure on the government for their release and to get commitments to prayer from Christians around the world was started. A few months later, upon hearing that thousands of people had been praying for them, one of the men said, “That explains it. There were times when I felt I couldn’t go on anymore, and then I would feel a power beyond me as though there were others who were taking my suffering and carrying it for me.” One prayer can make a tremendous difference; how much more can many prayers make?
And here is the final purpose for this campaign: often, officials tell Christians in restricted nations that they are unloved, forgotten, and nobody cares. One letter can mean the world to them. It can show them that somebody does indeed care. The Voice of the Martyrs has reported numerous testimonies where Christians were encouraged by the letters they received. Yakov Skorniakov is one of these people. He wrote, “During my eight years of imprisonment I received 9,546 letters! …They were a tremendous source of encouragement. They gave me new life and hope …Those letters are probably the only earthly treasure which I would like to take to heaven with me…” Although the officers censored the amount of letters he received, Gintautus Iesmantas, a persecuted Christian who served six years in a Soviet prison and five years in Siberia as an exile, wrote, “I feel that the senders exist, helping me to live and not to lose faith and hope. For five years now, your words and good wishes have kept me company on the difficult road of suffering. They have given me strength and the comfort that my sacrifice has not disappeared in the darkness of anonymity [secrecy], and that there are people who are concerned for the fate of someone they don’t know.” This is why it is so important that we send out these letters to Yang: to be an encouragement to her, to share the love of God with her, to let her know that we care and are praying for her– that we haven’t forgotten her.
“Remember the prisoners as if chained with them--those who are mistreated--since you yourselves are in the body also.” ~ Hebrews 13:3
Note: As of May 5, 2010, VOM reports, "Esther thanks VOM readers for writing to her mom and asks us to continue to write to her and the other prisoners who are in Linfen. Please visit our Prisoner Alert page to write your letters today. Thank you and please tell your friends." Last count was: 360 letters sent and 62 officials emailed! Let's see if we can make the numbers go up!
To learn more about the Linfen Church, go to http://www.helplinfen.com/. If you would like to send out letters to the government on the family’s behalf, you can contact them at:
US Ambassador to China and the Chinese Embassy
Email: chinaembassy_us@fmprc.gov.cn
Permanent Representative of the People's Republic of China to the UN
Email: chinamission_un@fmprc.gov.cn------------------
****SAMPLE LETTER TO CHINESE OFFICIALS****
Subject: A petition for the release of Mrs. Yang Caizhen
To the Honorable Ambassador:
It has come to our attention that a certain Mrs. Yang Caizhen is being held at the Shanxi Taiyuan Female Re-Education through Labor Camp (Shanxi province) simply because she is a Christian and the pastor of a church. Chinese law allows religious freedom; Article 36 (sections 1 &2) of the Constitution of the People's Republic of China states: “Citizens of the People's Republic of China enjoy freedom of religious belief. No state organ, public organization or individual may compel citizens to believe in, or not to believe in, any religion; nor may they discriminate against citizens who believe in, or do not believe in any religion.” In fact, the Chinese Embassy of the United States has stated, “… in China, freedom of religious belief is a fundamental right to which all citizens are entitled by the Constitution and law and the problem of ‘religious persecution’ does not exist in China…. Chinese citizens enjoy full religious freedom.” However, this Christian woman, who suffers from arthritis, is being sentenced to two years of hard labor which entails 15-hour workdays for her Christian activities! We believe that this is unjust and request that you make it a priority to release Mrs. Yang immediately, since she is not guilty of any crimes. Thank you for your prompt attention!
Respectfully,
[Your name]
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Yang’s Prison Address is:
Yang Caizhen
Shanxi Taiyuan Female Re-Education
through Labor Camp
No. 28, Xindian Street, Xinghualing District
Taiyuan City, Shanxi province
PRC 030003
Please email me or leave a comment to let me know that you have taken action! Thank you for your support! “For God is not unjust to forget your work and labor of love which you have shown toward His name, in that you have ministered to the saints, and do minister.” ~ Hebrews 6:10
Thursday, July 8, 2010
First Official Update
Well, here's my first official update on my campaign!
I've had numerous set-backs ever since I decided to do this. I'm still trying to work all the "bugs" out, so it hasn't gone very far yet, but I'm making some progress... Today, I sent out six letters to Yang (one for each of my family members)! That's a good start!
I've also been working on the letter to the Chinese government. I'm not 100% sure how to address it, since there are a few different people that I want to sent it to. My main problem throughout is the mailing cost. The
letter to Yang is $0.98 per letter; so I just spent $6.00 to send my letters! There's even talk of the price going up by January of next year (for US residents)! It's expensive enough as it is! I would be saving money by sending out only one letter with numerous signatures as planned; but add to that the cost of each petition to the Chinese government (3 so far -- one to the Chinese Embassy in D.C, one to the Chinese Embassy in NY, and one to the US Abassador to China). Also, I was planning on spreading the petitions around by having some of my friends pass it out to their friends to sign (not sure whether I'd give them the originals or give them a separate copy for that; if the latter, that would cost more). I'm currently trying to find a way to offset the costs, so any suggestions would be appreciated. Of course, if you sent out your own letters, that would save me money! :D But you know that I was hoping to get lots of signatures on one letter... if nothing else works, I ask two things of those of you who are interested:
1) That you send out just *ONE* letter at $0.98 (and I'm not sure of international costs here), and
2) That you commit to pray for Esther and her family daily whether or not you send the letter.
So I'm not sure how all of this will work out -- there are so many things to sort out... but I'm still going to do my best to get this campaign rolling (and keep it rolling) because I believe it so worth it; However, I'm going to need your support. Please pray for me as I undertake this project (it has been a bit stressful trying to sort so many things out at once); and please join me in prayer that this will be a successful venture. I'll keep you updated. And also, please let me know that you will support Esther and her family with your prayers by sending me a comment. If you have any suggestions, you can leave those in the comment box as well.
I do believe this can happen! We serve a BIG God. Prayer changes things!
Thank you.
~ Miss S.
P.S. Soon, I'll get more into the "why" behind this project... So stay tuned!
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