Maldives: Charges filed against college for playing a Christian song

Posted on February 8, 2022 by Pastor Foley

A college in the Maldives which claims it played a Christian song by accident during a children’s sports festival is now facing a police investigation.

According to the Times of Addu, the Maldives media source which first reported the incident, Clique College says it had no desire to promote Christianity and no intention to play the Christian song, which they say auto-played from a playlist during a Taekwondo exhibition. The song’s lyrics reportedly included the words, “We believe in Jesus. We believe in Holy Spirit.” College officials say the song was changed as soon as the mistake was detected. The Taekwondo academy responsible for the exhibition similarly disclaimed responsibility on a Facebook post, saying that the music that was played was “out of their hands”.

The Times of Addu quotes an unnamed representative from the Maldives Islamic Ministry of Culture as saying, “[The Islamic Ministry has] filed the case of a Christian religious song played at an event held at the Hulhumalé Central Park at the police as a very serious matter. [We will] take legal action against organizers for such activities.”

The Times report added, “The Religious Unity Act (Act No. 6/94) prohibits the practice by citizens of any religion other than Islam.”

The U.S. State Department has previously raised concerns about restrictions on religious freedom in the Maldives, noting in its 2020 religious freedom report on the country that “Propagation of any religion other than Islam is a criminal offense, punishable by two to five years in prison or house arrest” and that the Maldives constitution “designates Islam as the state religion, which it defines in terms of Sunni teachings. It states citizens have a ‘duty’ to preserve and protect Islam.” The State Department report also notes that the legal code of the Maldives “prohibits the establishment of places of worship for non-Islamic religious groups.”

A Facebook post from a Taekwondo academy in the Maldives disclaimed responsibility for a Christian song being played at a children’s sports exhibit in the officially Muslim country.

Voice of the Martyrs Korea Representative Dr Hyun Sook Foley says her organization is currently monitoring the case against Clique College, as well as reports of an increased crackdown by Maldives authorities on Christian Internet and social media content in December 2021. “There have always been restrictions on Christian activity in the Maldives, but local media sources in the Maldives are reporting on a new criminal court order that was requested by police to ban online non-Muslim religious content, including Christian content, that is in the Dhivehi language of the Maldives,” says Representative Foley. She says the government’s action against Clique College does not surprise her. “We first learned about Clique College and the investigation into the Christian song simply from our organization’s regular daily global monitoring of news reports about Christian persecution. But as we have monitored the Maldives for years, we have seen time and time again how officials there have resisted and reacted against even the smallest signs of possible Christian activity. A group that recently wanted to do Christian radio broadcasting into the Maldives told us that they were dissuaded from their plans by the possibility of the Maldives taking diplomatic action against the country where the group was planning to originate the broadcast.”

But Representative Foley says that such crackdowns against Christianity often spread Christianity rather than eliminating it. “God never leaves himself without a witness,” says Representative Foley. “It doesn’t even have to be a person. When there are no people to make a faithful witness, God can raise up rocks to cry out, as Jesus says in Luke 19:40. He can use a song that somehow plays by accident, like in this incident in the Maldives. Then a government files a complaint, a newspaper reports about it, and then God gives the readers of the newspaper report a curiosity in their heart to learn more. They ask, ‘Why is our government banning this? Why is it so dangerous?’ It’s human nature to seek out what is banned.”

A photo from the Clique College website. The College said it had no desire to promote Christianity and no intention to play Christian music at its event.

Representative Foley says that her organization has seen a similar phenomenon at work in North Korea. She pointed to the example of workers sent abroad by the North Korean government. “North Korean Workers have told us that they received a briefing from the government before they were sent abroad in which they were shown a Bible and told, ‘This is a Bible. Do not read this book.’ And then they were showing a picture of a church building and told, ‘This is a church building. Do not go here.’ The workers tell us that the first thing they want to do when they arrive in the new country is to find a Bible and a church building.”

Representative Foleys says she expects a similar outcome in the Maldives. “Our experience at Voice of the Martyrs Korea is that when we see a government institute a new wave of crackdowns on Christianity, it’s frequently because they are responding to a new wave of Christian growth, and they panic and are afraid. Christians should rejoice when we hear about these crackdowns, because when God opens the hearts of people in a particular country to the gospel, no government can shut them.”

Representative Foley says that more information on Christian persecution in the Maldives is available from Voice of the Martyrs Korea at www.vomkorea.com/en/maldives.

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BREAKING NEWS: Jeju “Mayflower Church” final asylum appeal denied

Posted on January 27, 2022 by Pastor Foley

Pastor Pan’s “Mayflower Church” final asylum appeal has been denied by the Gwangju High Court. The court denied the appeal without additional comment, referring to the previous judgment. The decision could mean the group is required to leave Korea in as little as two weeks, according to Voice of the Martyrs Korea Representative Dr Hyun Sook Foley, whose organization has provided ongoing persecution-related training to the members of the church since their arrival.

May be an image of 2 people, people standing, people sitting, indoor and text that says '순교자의 소리 Voice Martyrs 一'

The 60 members of Shenzen Holy Reformed Church, including its Pastor Pan Yongguang, have been dubbed the “Mayflower Church” by global religious freedom advocates. The group fled China in 2019 for Jeju Island, where they have been supporting themselves by doing menial labor during their asylum process.

May be an image of 1 person, standing, outdoors and text that says '순교자의 소리 The oice Martyrs'

According to Voice of the Martyrs Korea Representative Dr. Hyun Sook Foley, the group’s plans remain unclear. “Some difficult decisions lay ahead for Pastor Pan and the congregation members,” says Representative Foley. She says the church members continue to trust God despite the denial of their asylum request. “They are a well-trained congregation, not only by us through our persecution training but also by Pan Yongguang, their pastor. The pastor and church members continue to pray that God may yet open a door for asylum in another country like the U.S., but they are fully prepared to be faithful witnesses to Christ no matter what the cost if the Lord sends them back to China.”

Representative Foley says that Pastor Pan founded the church in 2012 under the oversight of Philadelphia Bible Reformed Church in the United States. Because of his connection to the foreign religious group, Pastor Pan began to be interrogated by authorities at least twice a week beginning in 2014. “When Pastor Pan refused to affiliate the church with the Chinese Communist Party-approved Three-Self Patriotic Movement (TPSM), authorities pressured the landlord of the building where the church-run elementary school was located to evict them. Church members didn’t want to send their children to state-run schools to be indoctrinated into atheism and communism, so they voted to flee China as a whole church in 2019.”

Representative Foley says that the group, which consists of twenty-eight adults and thirty-two children, posed as tourists and arrived on Jeju Island with almost nothing. “In order to avoid being detained during their departure, they had not communicated their plan to anyone, including us,” says Representative Foley. “We learned about them and met them for the first time after they arrived. Along with China Aid and other international organizations which help persecuted Christians, we’ve done what we can to help them. Churches in Jeju have also done a lot. Everyone who meets this group loves them, because they are completely non-political and they are all hard-working. They really just want to worship God freely and educate their children to love and serve the Lord.”

Representative Foley says that in June, the South Korean government denied their original asylum request. They filed an appeal shortly afterward, but according to Representative Foley they were denied a second time on October 5th. Facing a deportation to China on October 19th, they filed yet another appeal, in order not be sent back to China. “That appeal was rejected today,” says Representative Foley, noting that South Korea only accepted an estimated 0.4% of refugees in 2020.

Representative Foley says Voice of the Martyrs Korea concurs with other China persecution watchdog groups China Aid and Christian Solidarity Worldwide that if the “Mayflower Church” returns to China, they will be subject to extreme punishments including imprisonments, forced disappearances, and torture. “Recently, the CCP has questioned three of the church’s members who remained in China when the group fled, demanding information about the group and also demanding that the members break off all contact with them.”

Representative Foley says Voice of the Martyrs Korea will continue to stand with the church and share their story, no matter where they are sent. “We’ve come to deeply love and respect Pastor Pan and each of the church members since we first met them and learned of their story when they arrived here in 2019. We’ve trained not only the adults but even the young children again and again what the Bible teaches about persecution in the life of the believer. We know that even if God sends them back to China, it is only because he has an even bigger plan and purpose for them, and they will be faithful. Four hundred years after the original Mayflower Pilgrims, Christians still remember and are inspired by their story. We will do our best to continue to tell the story of these ‘modern Mayflower Christians’ to inspire and challenge people here in our country and around the world.”

May be an image of 13 people, people standing and people sitting
Dr Foley and the Voice of the Martyrs Korea team has provided ongoing persecution-related training to the Mayflower Church since they arrived in Jeju Island, South Korea.

Individuals interested in donating to Voice of the Martyrs Korea’s work in partnership with the house church Christians of China can visit www.vomkorea.com/en/donate .

Please note “China” on all donations 

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Chinese street evangelist calms Christians in the face of new Internet restrictions

Posted on January 18, 2022 by Pastor Foley

In China, new restrictions on religious Internet content are set to go into effect on March 1. Observers are noting that the restrictions are already having a chilling effect on Chinese Christians’ online activity. But one Chinese street evangelist is taking his bold message online and encouraging Chinese Christians to stay calm and keep on posting.

Chinese street evangelist Chen Wensheng

Evangelist Chen Wensheng, who was detained more than six times in 2021 for his street preaching in Hengyang, Hunan, took to social media earlier this month with a post entitled, “How Should Christians Respond to the Measures for the Administration of Internet Information Services”.

In his post he rebuked Chinese Christians for already changing their chat names and online IDs and shortening or dropping words like “Jesus”, “God”, and “Amen” from their online posts, and even dropping out of online Christian groups completely. He shared scriptures to encourage the believers to be bold, and he gave them a strong challenge to bring their light to the darkest place they can find, which includes the Chinese Internet.

Evangelist Chen’s online message was more than fiery street preaching, however.

Evangelist Chen said Chinese Christians need to have a basic understanding of law. He noted that the new regulations were technically “measures” and did not yet have the force of law, nor had they yet been enforced to persecute Christians. He sees the new measures as a “win-win” situation for Christians: If they continue to preach about Jesus online, any efforts to stop them can be declared illegal because the measures are unconstitutional. But if they are persecuted, then they can joyfully testify about Jesus to their persecutors.

This is the strategy Evangelist Chen uses in his own street ministry.

Chinese street evangelist Chen and his 84-year-old mother on the streets of Hengyang preaching the Gospel

On December 27, the community and local police, State Security officers, United Front Work Department, other government department officials, and the newly appointed district party committee secretary went to Chen Wensheng’s home to speak with him about his street preaching. Evangelist Chen saw it as a great opportunity to preach the gospel to them. This is what he did in each of his many prior detainments, so his advice to Chinese Christians comes from his own experience of joyfully testifying to the authorities in response to their efforts to stop him.

The scriptures Evangelist Chen shared in his recent online message to Chinese Christians included 2 Timothy 1:7 (“For the Spirit God gave us does not make us timid, but gives us power, love and self-discipline”), Hebrews 10:35 (“So do not throw away your confidence; it will be richly rewarded”, and Ephesians 6:10 (“Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power”).

Evangelist Chen says, “The darkest place is where light is most needed. The place with the worst persecutions is the place where the gospel is most needed. The place with the least justice is where God’s righteous judgment is needed the most! Do you dare to come to such a place? Dare to come to preach the gospel?”

Chinese street evangelist Chen Wensheng and a family of Christians at church

In the Bible, the Lord raised up judges each time his people faced trouble. Evangelist Chen Wensheng seems to be the unlikely “judge” that the Lord is raising up to calm Chinese Christians in the face of these sweeping new Internet restrictions. Years ago he was a drug addict. When he heard the gospel, he became a new creature in Christ and began preaching the gospel on the streets. He is a member of a small church, and yet because he has been faithful through his many detentions in Hengyang, the Lord is giving him more responsibility, to calm and challenge Christians across China in this crucial hour.

Individuals interested in learning about Voice of the Martyrs Korea’s work in partnership with the house church Christians of China can visit https://vomkorea.com/en/china/.

Individuals interested in donating to Voice of the Martyrs Korea’s work in partnership with the house church Christians of China can visit www.vomkorea.com/en/donate or give via electronic transfer to:

KB Bank: 463501-01-243303

Account Holder: (사)순교자의소리

Please note “China” on the transfer

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