Religious Liberty Prayer Bulletin | RLPB 685 | Wed 15 March 2023
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REMINDERS
EGYPT: critical adoption case in court, Saturday 18 March; please pray.
For Background see RLPB 682 (1 March).
RAMADAN: 18 March to 18 April 2023.
Recommended: https://30daysprayer.com
INDONESIA: CHRISTIAN APOLOGISTS JAILED
by Elizabeth Kendal
Gratia Pello (40) – a member of Indonesia’s small Coptic Orthodox community – teaches theology in the Nusantara Bible School, a small Christian college in Malang, East Java, some 93km south of the regional capital, Surabaya. With a wealth of knowledge on Christian theology, eastern Christianity, Arabic language, Islam and the Arab world, Gratia Pello (also known as GP) had become known for his highly effective and growing apologetic ministry. In 2013 he established a YouTube channel – Inyo Manis – which now has 383 videos uploaded and 51,000 subscribers. In these videos Pello can been seen engaging in Muslim-Christian debates, critiquing Islam, answering questions, defending Christianity, promoting the Bible and sharing the Good News of Jesus Christ.
Theologian and apologist, Gratia Pello
(screenshot from YouTube)
A controversy erupted in February 2022 after Pello alluded to Muhammed’s coveting of and subsequent marriage to Zainab (his daughter-in-law). Muslims were furious and Pello received much hate mail, some of which slandered the Bible and even denigrated Jesus as ‘unclean’ and illegitimate. In response, Pello produced Episode GP248 in which he compared Islam and the Bible – specifically, how the Quran legitimises Muhammad’s act [Allah said he could have her; Sura 33:36-43], while the Bible always condemns sexual impropriety as sin requiring repentance. Now the Muslims were even more furious; none more so than Hanny Kristianto, a Muslim convert from Christianity and member of the Indonesia Mualaf Center (MCI). [A mualaf is someone who officially converts to Islam.] The group had reportedly tried to take legal action against Pello in the past, but without success. This time however, thanks to a high-level contact inside East Java Regional Police Headquarters, they would finally have the success they craved.
At 10:30 am, on 6 December 2022, police showed up at Pello’s home demanding to question him on the content of Episode GP248. They questioned him and left, only to return around four hours later with summons demanding that Pello present himself to police headquarters for further questioning on 9 December. However, at 8:30pm that same day (6 Dec) a team of 29 police officers stormed Pello’s home. Pello and his wife, Rosa Christina, were not home as they had gone out for dinner. Without a warrant, the officers proceeded to search and ransack the house. When the couple returned home at 11pm, Pello was arrested and taken to East Java Regional Police Headquarters, where he was charged with blasphemy and imprisoned. The charge was approved on 9 January. Nothing has been heard of Gratia Pello since his arrest; no trial date has been set. The deathly silence covering this case is both lamentable and indicative of the fear that grips politicians, journalists and religious leaders whenever Islamic fundamentalists are involved. Violence works! No-one wants to be the target of Islamic fundamentalist wrath.
Meanwhile, in Medan, the provincial capital of North Sumatra, a young Christian named Rudi Simamora has been sentenced to one year in prison for committing blasphemy on his YouTube channel. According to Tribun-Medan, Simamora – alias Anak Batak (Batak child) – used his channel to question the history of Muslim beliefs and compare Islam with Christianity. Little information is available, but it seems Simamora was arrested on 6 November 2022, and sentenced in the Medan District Court on 23 February after the judge ruled that Simamora had violated a provision in the 2008 Electronic Information and Transactions (ITE) Law, specifically Article 28(2), which prohibits knowingly spreading ‘hate speech’. Violations carry a maximum prison term of 10 years. Simamora’s sentence was lenient because he confessed to his ‘crime’, expressed remorse and ‘explained’ he was only doing it for the money! (Tribun-Medan). The family is also expressing remorse in the hope of pacifying the Islamist community.
PLEASE PRAY THAT OUR GOD WILL INTERVENE:
* for Gratia Pello, to ensure his safety and well-being; and to ensure he has access to the very best lawyers, and regular contact with his family and ministry colleagues. Lord have mercy.
* for blasphemy prisoner Muhammad Kece [RLPB 619 (13 Oct 2021)]. A convert from Islam, now Christian apologist, Kece was arrested in August 2021 and subsequently sentenced to 10 years in jail (reduced on appeal to six years). Kece’s health is frail. May God intervene to ensure Kece’s safety and well-being; may he receive all the medical and spiritual care he needs to endure this trial; may his release come early. Lord have mercy.
‘Remember those who are in prison, as though in prison with them, and those who are mistreated, since you also are in the body’ (Hebrews 13:3 ESV).
* for Rudi Simamora and all Indonesia’s blasphemy prisoners, many of whom belong to religious minorities or movements advocating liberty and reform; may the Lord redeem their suffering.
* to save Indonesia from its descent into intolerant Islamic fundamentalism; may the Lord raise up voices for liberty – especially in the Church; may fear and reluctance be replaced with courage and conviction; may defeatism and hopelessness be replaced with energised faith and hope for the future. Indonesian belongs to the Lord!
‘He [God’s Servant, the Lord Jesus Christ] will not grow faint or be discouraged till he has established justice in the earth; and the coast-lands wait for his law’ (Isaiah 42:4 ESV).
SUMMARY FOR BULLETINS UNABLE TO RUN THE WHOLE ARTICLE
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CHRISTIAN APOLOGISTS JAILED IN INDONESIA
In August 2021 Muhammad Kece – former Muslim scholar, now Christian apologist – was arrested in West Java and charged with blasphemy over his YouTube channel. He was subsequently sentenced to 10 years in jail (reduced to six years on appeal). On 6 November 2022 a young Christian YouTuber named Rudi Simamora was arrested in Medan, North Sumatra, and charged with blasphemy for his YouTube channel. He was sentence on 23 February to one year in jail. On 6 December 2022 police arrested Gratia Pello and charged him with blasphemy for his YouTube channel. Pello (40) – a Coptic Orthodox theologian and apologist with an extensive knowledge of Biblical theology, Eastern Christianity, Arabic language and Islam – taught at Nusantara Bible School in Malang, East Java. Nothing has been heard of Pello since his arrest. Please pray.
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Elizabeth Kendal is an international religious liberty analyst and advocate for the persecuted Church. The Religious Liberty Prayer Bulletin (RLPB) is a donor funded ministry. To support this ministry visit www.ElizabethKendal.com
Elizabeth has authored two books: Turn Back the Battle: Isaiah Speaks to Christians Today (Deror Books, Melbourne, Australia, Dec 2012) which offers a Biblical response to persecution and existential threat; and After Saturday Comes Sunday: Understanding the Christian Crisis in the Middle East (Wipf and Stock, Eugene, OR, USA, June 2016). She is also an Adjunct Research Fellow at the Arthur Jeffery Centre for the Study of Islam at Melbourne School of Theology.
For more information see www.ElizabethKendal.com