“Open your mouth for the mute” –Proverbs 31:8

An update about the campaign to show solidarity with persecuted Jehovah’s Witnesses in Eritrea:

“Open your mouth for the mute, for the rights of all who are destitute.” (Proverbs 31:8)

By making a public pledge of solidarity with the persecuted, you have opened your mouth for the mute–for the rights of the destitute.

Throughout the month of September (the 20 year anniversary of the imprisonment of  first Jehovah’s Witnesses) 239 Eritreans have signed the pledge acknowledging the inhuman treatment of Jehovah’s Witnesses by the Eritrean government and expressing their solidarity with the victims.

This pledge will have informed many, and reminded others, about the suffering of people back home and the level of human rights abuses in Eritrea.

Hopefully this pledge will encourage many to take a firm stand against human rights abuses and stir their hearts to do something about it.

Open letter to Jehovah’s Witnesses

Date: September 1, 2014

To:
Jehovah’s Witnesses
25 Columbia Heights
Brooklyn NY 11201-2483
USA

Deeply ashamed by the cruel and inhumane treatment of Jehovah’s Witnesses in my country, I am writing you this letter to express my solidarity with the persecuted Jehovah’s Witnesses in Eritrea. This September it will be 20 years since Isaac Mogos, Negede Teklemariam and Paulos Eyassu were imprisoned on Saturday, September 24, 1994. The first members of your congregation to suffer extended imprisonment and torture in Eritrea.

Since becoming an independent country in 1993, my country consistently harasses, imprisons, and tortures Jehovah’s Witnesses.

I have lived all my life in Eritrean capital, Asmara. A small city that was once upon a time the home town of Isaac Mogos, Negede Teklemariam, Paulos Eyassu, and many other imprisoned members of your congregation. Asmara has not been my home since I fled my country recently. I am not a Jehovah’s Witness but my family and I have friends who are; I am a witness to the integrity and high moral standards that members of your faith have.

Although I (and the Eritrean society in general) have very little to do with the actions of my government, it is never the less my pain when innocent members of my society are subjected to such inhumane torture and imprisonment, and it is my responsibility to at least stand in solidarity and be vocal when such atrocities are being committed in my home country.

The right for everyone to choose their own religion and to practice it is a God given right. It is also a basic human right stated in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. No human being has the right to torture another human being. No one has the right to take away the freedom of others and to force them to change their religion.

Sincerely,

Signed: Samuel N.

___________________________________________________

Left to right: Paulos Eyassu, Isaac Mogos, and Negede Teklemariam; in-chains for their faith since September 24 1994. Photo taken sometime 1996 (photo source here )

List of Jehovah’s Witnesses in Eritrean prisons: 20 years in prison without being charged or sentenced

Take the pledge to show your support and solidarity with the persecuted Jehovah’s witnesses in Eritrea.

Click image to show your solidarity.

List of Jehovah’s Witnesses currently in prison in Eritrea

(None have been charged or sentenced. Data retrieved from JW.org on September 2014. Download list in PDF here: List of JW in Eritrea.)

God Desires Good Government

{Excerpt from article by Derek Prince}

In his First Epistle to Timothy, Paul instructs Timothy in the proper order and administration of the local church, which he calls “God’s house” (See 1 Timothy 3:14-15). In chapter two he gives directions for the church’s ministry of prayer:

¹I exhort therefore, that, first of all, supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks, be made for all men; ²for kings, and all that are in authority; that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and honesty. ³For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Saviour; ⁴Who will have all men to be saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth. (1 Tim. 2:1-4)

“First of all,” Paul calls for “supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks….” If we were to choose one term to cover all four activities, it would be prayer. The first duty of Christians meeting in fellowship is prayer. It is also their primary outreach.

In verse two Paul says that prayer is to be offered “for all men.” This agrees with the prophecy of Isaiah 56:7 where God says, “…Mine house shall be called an house of prayer for all people.” God is concerned with “all men“ and “all people,” and He expects His people to share His concern.

After “all men,” the first specific topic for prayer is “kings, and all that are in authority.” This may be summed up in the single word, the government. When praying for the government, what specific petition are we exhorted to make? Paul’s answer is: “…that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and honesty.” Does the kind of government we live under affect the way we live? Obviously it does. Therefore, if we desire a good way of life, logic and self-interest alike indicate that we should pray for our government.

Continuing in 1 Timothy 2, Paul says in verse three, “For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Saviour….” The pronoun this refers back to the topic of verse 2, which we have summarized as “good government.” If we replace the pronoun this by the phrase to which it refers, we arrive at the following statement: “Good government is good and acceptable in the sight of God.” More simply still, “Good government is the will of God.”

Here is a statement with the most far-reaching consequences. Do we really believe it? To judge by the words and actions of many Christians, they have little or no expectations of good government. They are more or less resigned to the fact that the government will be inefficient, wasteful, arbitrary, corrupt, unjust. For my part I have studied this question long and carefully in the light of logic and of Scripture, and I have come to a deep conviction concerning God’s will in this area: The will of God is good government.

Why God Desires Good Government

Moving on to verse four, we find that Paul states the reason why good government is the will of God: God desires “…all men to be saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth.” God desires the salvation of all men so intensely that He made it possible by the supreme sacrifice of history, the atoning death of Jesus Christ on the cross. Through faith in Christ’s atonement, salvation has been made available to all men. However, for men “to be saved,” they must first “come to the knowledge of the truth” concerning Christ’s atonement. This is possible only if they have the Gospel preached to them.

Paul presents this issue very plainly in Romans 10:13-14: “For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. How then shall they call on Him in whom they have not believed? And how shall they believe in Him of whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without a preacher?” Unless the Gospel is preached to them, men cannot avail themselves of the salvation purchased for them by Christ’s atonement.

We may sum up the logic of this very simply. God desires “all men to be saved.” For this it is necessary for them to “come to the knowledge of the truth.” “Knowledge of the truth” comes only through the preaching of the Gospel. Therefore God desires the Gospel to be preached to all men.

What kind of government makes it easier to preach the Gospel? Good government or bad government? To obtain an answer to this question, we may briefly contrast the effects of good and bad government, in so far as they relate to the preaching of the Gospel.

On the one hand, good government maintains law and order, it keeps communications open, it preserves civil liberty, it protects freedom of speech and freedom of assembly. Good government, without becoming involved in religious controversy, provides a climate in which the Gospel can be preached effectively.

On the other hand, bad government allows the breakdown of law and order, permits unsafe travel conditions and poor communications, and imposes unjust and arbitrary restrictions. In all these ways, although in varying degrees, bad government hinders the effective preaching of the truth. At its worst, bad government either restricts or totally suppresses the universal right of all men to believe in God and to express their faith by public worship and proclamation. In one degree or another, we see these conditions in countries today.

Our conclusion therefore is that good government facilitates the preaching of the gospel, while bad government hinders it. For this reason, good government is the will of God.

Read full article at Herald of His Coming web page–Praying for our government.

Religious Tolerance — the only way to ensure peace does not come at the expense of freedom

Asmara City

In Eritrea you can find Mosques which teach that “there is only one God and Mohammed is his prophet”  a few blocks away from Churches that  teach “no one comes to the Father except through Jesus Christ”. The fact that such mutually exclusive religions co-exist peacefully without any compromise speaks of a tolerant society.

Much like the concepts of racial equality or democracy, everybody is for religious tolerance these days. But the term is not well understood among many. It is not uncommon to hear people using the term religious tolerance synonymously with open-minded or liberal. Such use is utterly mistaken. Why would you need ‘tolerance’ if people are not so convinced about their own religion’s correctness? If you are already open minded about religion, or even appreciate the value of having a multi-religious society, then there is no need for tolerance.

A religious tolerant society is when a person who believes that Jesus is the Messiah can respect and befriend a person who is convinced that Jesus is not a Messiah. Tolerance is when  a person who believes Muhammad is the Prophet can respect and befriend another who says Muhammad is not a prophet.

Tolerance requires a rejection of the others’ religion and lifestyle while at the same time accepting and accommodating them in society.

Tolerance implies no lack of commitment to one’s own beliefs. Rather it condemns the oppression or persecution of others. -John F. Kennedy

Since religious tolerance, or any kind of tolerance for that matter, does not exist among groups that don’t mind the others’ beliefs or lifestyle.  Religious tolerance exists only between people who are fully confident that that their religion is the correct and the others’ is incorrect. When people with such conviction choose not to impose their religion on each other, that is tolerance.

Religious tolerance is the only way to accommodate mutually incompatible faiths and ensure that peace and stability do not come at the expense of freedom and personal rights. Only in a society that respects and tolerates diversity can people truly make the choices they really want.

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