Murder attempt on Palau leads to Christ

Lima, December 3rd, 2004 (ACPres.net). 
She was trained as a guerrilla in Cuba in the 1960s, became a member of Ernesto ‘Che’ Guevara’s outfit, and was involved in an assassination attempt on evangelist Luis Palau. Yet Rosario Rivera is now herself a Christian and runs a network of ‘food stations’ which feed hundreds of poor children and adults in the suburbs of Lima.

Rivera’s story came to prominence last month when Palau revealed that an ex-advisor of ‘Che’ Guevara’s had attended a campaign with the intention of killing him but instead had found Christ. Rivera slipped out of last month’s meeting but a journalist tracked her down at one of the food stations preparing lunch, along with a group of women, for 512 extremely poor children. She runs 7 such stations, or kitchens, in the foothills surrounding Lima which vehicles cannot reach.

Rivera said her passion for justice began when she saw four workers in chains in an Andean village. Policemen had put a plate of food near them but when they tried to reach it, the police beat them. She became a Left-wing militant through reading revolutionary works and received instruction on guerrilla warfare and the use of arms in Cuba, shortly after the revolution which brought Fidel Castro to power. There she met Guevara and later, in 1967, worked with him when he travelled to Peru to prepare the insurrection in Bolivia which cost him his life. Rivera says she told Guevara it was not the right moment for the rebellion and he ordered her to be removed from his circle. “I suppose that is why I am still alive.”

In 1971, Rivera was going to kill a woman who was on the point of betraying Rivera’s attempt on Palau’s life. She had nightmares. Two months earlier someone had given her a Bible but she had not opened it. However, now she decided to read it. She had a vision of someone in white clothes with wounded hands visiting her house and speaking to her. ‘ could not resist’ she says. She started working with the church and her ex-colleagues tried to murder her three times. Two of them were converted. She has been working with children in Comas for 19 years. As well as the kitchens, she has organised carpentry, locksmith and other workshops for the unemployed. The women who work with her respect her talent for hard work and organisation, as well as her firm character.

Lima, December 9th, 2004 (ACPres.net). 
The President of the Peruvian Congress, Doctor Ántero Flores-Aráoz, received the formal visit of Colombia’s Ambassador to Brazil, the evangelical leader Claudia Rodríguez de Castellanos, who was in Peru for a women’s conference.

Flores spoke about the close links which exist between their two nations, mentioning the ‘Cartagena Agreement’ signed by both Colombia and Peru. He also said that both nations have suffered a loss of values, while Castellanos said that she thought it vital that Brazil, Colombia and Peru worked together on such projects as the eradication of poverty, Christian values, border issues and commerce. She also had a private meeting with the Peruvian Prime Minister, Alejandro Toledo, accompanied by her husband, César, who is a pastor in Colombia. Toledo said he believed spirituality was of great importance as were values in the development of peoples, and thanked them for their visit. He noted the mission which Christian ministers are carrying out. Castellanos reminded Toledo of the great responsibility God had given him as leader of Peru.

Almost 60,000 women gathered in a sports stadium to hear Castellanos speak on ‘Conquering your place’. Among the crowd were two women MPs and the wife of the previous Prime Minister, Pilar Nores de García.

Brussels, December 9th, 2004 (ACPres.net). 
A Cuban MP who is also a Protestant pastor, Raúl Suárez, has condemned the “political manipulation of human rights” conducted by the USA and the European Union in attempts to bring down the regime of Fidel Castro.

Suárez said that the West should treat all countries in the same way. “A small conflict in Cuba is news all over the world, but the murder of a whole community in Acteal, Mexico is not news.” He said he lamented the situation of 75 political opponents who have been imprisoned since last year, and wishes for their release, although he does not share their political ideas. “As Christians, we wish they were freed, but the fact is that if these people had done what they did in Cuba, in any country in the world, they would be arrested and, in some cases, killed.

The pastor added that opposition from abroad, including the previous Spanish government, had encouraged the formation of political parties on the island, when “there has never been a Christian Social Democracy movement in Cuba. There was no human rights movement until 1988 because Cuba had reached (economic and social) levels it had never reached before.” Suárez criticises the European Union because he believes it does not really desire Cuba’s improvement. “You cannot expect a country, which is blockaded by the most powerful countries in the world in order to get rid of its system and harm its economny, that it develops on all fronts.”

“As a Christian pastor, I cannot agree when the European Union joins the American blockade strategy and creates a social crisis for Cubans. This has no ethical foundation at all. What concerns me even more is that they are countries which have been part of Western Christian civilisation and consider themselves to be Christian.” Suárez does think the elimination of the dollar from commercial transactions in Cuba in November has been a “blessing”. He thinks this will increase respect for the Cuban Peso and the removal of a ‘double currency’ on the island.

In a final sideswipe at American policy, he expressed his concern at what he called “religious fundamentalism”, reflected in such issues as abortion and homosexual marriage, which influenced the re-election of George Bush in the USA. He thought the Americans were trying to export this kind of thinking to Latin America, and that the appointment of mission founder Claudia Rodríguez de Castellanos to the post of Colombian Ambassador to Brazil was a sign of this policy.

Puerto Rico, December 9th, 2004 (ACPres.net). 
The Christian music business is booming and the latest artist to produce an album heavily influenced by Christian lyrics is Edwin Rivera. His CD entitled ‘I offer you the best of me’, says that 7 out of 10 tracks on it have a Christocentric message. The cover track thanks God for His love and mercy.

Rivero says he accepted Christ as his Saviour two years ago. “Since I was converted, my life has taken a very special turn. Sometimes one thinks one has everything, but has nothing. The Bible asks what is the point of gaining the whole world and yet losing your soul. Even though I was surrounded by lots of people, I felt lonely. My marriage was a disaster, my personal life was not going well, I was alone, and this was when Jesus Christ filled my soul. Since then I have taken on board a mission in my life, which is to take a message of hope and joy.”

Rivera’s greatest lesson was “I learnt to set priorities in my life. And my main one is God, my family and later work and ministry, which is to take the message of faith and hope to people. Tell them what the Lord has done in my life.” The singer emphasised that his ministry is not to persuade people to know God, but to be a witness to them of God and through song show them what God has done in him.

New York, December 9th, 2004 (ACPres.net). 
Christian publishing is growing enormously in the USA, as more and more books are being bought and, perhaps, read.

Following the huge success of the film, ‘The Passion of the Christ’, the market for the Christian message has been shown to be much greater than some suspected, if one includes films and books which are based on something to do with Christianity, though in themselves pure fiction, such as the ‘Left Behind’ novels.

The Christian Booksellers’ Association estimates that sales of evangelical fiction alone come to around 2,000 million euros a year. Christian romantic literature (whatever that may be) has increased sales by 25% each year since 2001. In 2004 alone, 2, 200 new titles have appeared on the Christian fiction bookshelves, which is 80% up on those published 10 years ago. If only people read the Bible...

Hubli, December 9th, 2004 (ACPres.net).  
“There are many more ‘Brians’ in Saudi prisons who need your help”, is the cry from Brian O’Connor, a Protestant Christian of Indian extraction who for six long months was tortured, chained and imprisoned by the Saudi Arabian authorities, accused of “evangelising”.

He shared his experiences with ‘Asia News’ after being freed on November 1st, following an international campaign waged on his behalf in India, Europe and America. O’Connor, 36, was born in Karnataka, India and went to Saudi Arabia in 1998 to work for «Saudi Arabian Airlines» in their baggage-handling department. In his spare time, he organised Bible studies in private with Pakistanis and Arabs, and had a hundred or so DVDs with biblical content, 60 preaching videos and a digital version of the Bible on his computer.

In March, he received a phone call from a man claiming to be called ‘Joseph’, a friend of a friend called Orlando, and saying he was Egyptian. O’Connor was suspicious; he didn’t know anyone by the name of Orlando and the man had a strong Saudi accent. He invited him to his house but the man insisted that they met in a café. When O’Connor left his home, he found 3 cars full of religious police outside. They took him to a mosque, tied him up by his feet so that he was hanging upside down and beat him with all they could find for more than an hour.

They tried to force him to sign a confession in between torture sessions, admitting that he was evangelising in Saudi Arabia. O’Connor pointed out his home Bible studies were not illegal but the police simply replied that all practices other than Islam were prohibited. He also refused to sign a false confession saying he sold alcohol. Once in prison, “weak and scared”, he admits, “I did not know what other charges they could press against me. I shared a cell with 17 others, on murder, drug trafficking and other serious charges.” There were cameras everywhere and guards listened in on their conversations, though Brian’s friends did manage to get him a mobile phone so he could make contact with the outside world.

O’Connor thinks that his time in prison was “a blessing in disguise. I feel privileged to have suffered in the cause of Jesus Christ (and) my time in prison led at least 21 people to know Christ. Thanks to this adventure, my faith and my resistance have grown.” Prince Naif, second in importance in the Saudi royal family, sent a written order to the court telling them to stop the trial and drop all charges against O’Connor. However, on October 20th, the court met simply to charge him with selling alcohol.

Peking, December 9th, 2004 (ACPres.net). 
While officially the Chinese authorities say they are open to religious change so long as it does not threaten social stability and harmony, in itself a phrase which could include almost anything, the reality is that Christians are being arrested and imprisoned in increasing numbers.

Ji Wenyuan, sub-director of Religious Affairs in the Chinese government, says there will be change, but not yet. The wave of arrests and flattening of Christian properties suggest the ‘not yet’ may mean quite a while. Persecution was stepped up in September and October; a Christian lady was beaten to death by the police, and four printers’ shops were closed down when the police found they had printed illegal Christian material. All this, yet Colin Powell, then U.S. Secretary of State, said in October that China was ready to re-open conversations on human rights abuses. China may talk, but it seems likely to go on persecuting Christians at the same time. Is it hoping to quieten all the Christians before the 2008 Olympic Games?

Cairo, December 9th, 2004 (ACPres.net).  
Two young Christian sisters in Egypt have gone to court to challenge their forced identity change, which now registers them officially as Muslims, even though they were brought up as Christians.

Imán and Olfat Malak Ayet, now 17 and 18 respectively, were brought up by their Coptic mother. Their father left his wife shortly before the second daughter was born, in 1986, converted to Islam and married a Muslim woman. He changed the official identity of his daughters several years before his death in November 2002. In order to take their final school exams and apply to university, the Christian sisters must receive their identity cards.

The ID cards declare them to be Muslims, unless they can get a court to overturn the decision. The lawyer representing them asked the court, at the third hearing in the case: “How can these girls be forced to be Muslims, when they have never practised Islam in their lives?”

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