AP

HEALTHCARE CONSCIENTIOUS OBJECTORS ENDANGERED IN NEW SOUTH WALES

“New South Wales healthcare workers who object to abortion and voluntary assisted dying (VAD), face growing pressure, raising serious questions about conscience rights, employment and moral injury,” Liberal MLC Susan Carter told a gathering of doctors and lawyers recently. She disclosed that she has detected hostility towards conscientious objection and a growing endorsement of “authoritarian majoritarianism” among her constituents and her colleagues in Parliament. “Anyone who would stand in the way of health care — for example, by declining, on conscience grounds, to participate in a surgical abortion — must be an obstruction to be removed by any effective health system, rather than a practitioner with a strong ethical compass who should be supported,” she observed. And this is what Christian Healthcare workers have found and fear. Three years ago, by forcibly acquiring Calvary Public Hospital because it wouldn’t perform abortions, the ACT government undermined Australia’s longstanding tradition of religious freedom and freedom of conscience.
Last year, the CEO of Murrumbidgee Health District told the budget estimates committee that they would prefer to employ people in key roles based on their views on whether or not they object to abortion. Where does this leave people who believe that abortion and VAD are unethical? “On very shaky ground,” Carter warned. “Doctors with a conscientious objection are obstacles to be designed around — and employment conditions structured in such a way that they are unemployable,” she said. “It is denial of a conscience right.”
But it goes further than that. Michael Quinlan, an emeritus professor of law at the University of Notre Dame Australia, agreed with Susan Carter that: “Being forced to violate one’s conscience could cause ‘moral injury’. Moral injury raises the possibility that the underlying moral nature of traumatic and significant events can lead to lasting psychological, biological, spiritual, behavioural and social impacts.” Quinlan added: “Conscientious objectors can face these kinds of psychosocial injuries, if they are bullied or forced to participate in — or witness — activities like abortion or VAD which are contrary to their conscience.” So where does this leave Christians? [Sources: The Daily Declaration and Reddit]

WHY ABORIGINAL CEREMONIES ARE INCOMPATIBLE WITH CHRISTIANITY: AN INDIGENOUS MAN’S JOURNEY IN THE CHRISTIAN FAITH.
Anderson George is an Aboriginal who now resides in Beswick – located 110 kilometres east of Katherine in the Northern Territory. He is married to Emeriah and has two sons, a daughter and an adopted son. His extended family also live in Beswick, a place where their identities are deeply established. He gives thanks for his strong Christian grandmother, who would read the Bible to him, and for his sister Loretta, who kept praying for him, even when Anderson was an alcoholic and sniffing petrol.
Anderson describes his Christian conversion as follows: “In 1981, I was in the Darwin prison when God said, ‘Wake up Anderson, wake up’ – to stop sinning.” And his Christian walk to this day: “I didn’t have time to be a baby Christian. God just raised me up. I had to really focus on the Lord. The Holy Spirit has revealed this to me, because He is the Teacher, Comforter, Counsellor and Helper, and He knows the Word. It has been 19 years. Being a Christian means being part of the largest tribe of the world.”
Anderson continues: “Reflecting back to when I was a teenager in 1982, and undergoing the ‘ceremony of initiation’, I asked God in Kriol (his tribal language) – ‘Can I worship You Father God; can I worship You and worship my ceremony?’  It was not long before God made me realise that these ‘sacred’  ceremonies promoted a wooden object and that in these ceremonies we were worshipping idols. From that point on in 1998, I didn’t want to believe and be involved in the old way or interfere with them. This has led to total transformation, freedom, healing and blessing. Now for 19 years I have been healed from witchcraft.
Since then, he has had a heart to share and preach the Gospel among his indigenous people, whether it is welcomed or not. Anderson  explains the revelation that he received from God about who to serve and his refusal to participate in ‘ceremony’: “In Matthew 6:24, Jesus says, ‘No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money and man’s things’. That’s why we need to think about who we are serving and what we are doing – which means we need to leave all traditional ceremonies.”
Explaining as to why he will not participate or be present at a ‘smoking ceremony’: “It may seem a harmless act…..(but) it’s about sending the dead spirit back home to his or her country….It’s connected to spiritual things (and) that’s why I don’t join in.  Because in Hebrews 12:2, Jesus Christ is the author and the finisher of our faith. When we die, our spirit is not going back to our own homeland but to God’s Homeland (Heaven), a better place.”
Anderson acknowledges that not all Aboriginal Christians have come to the same Biblical conclusion on the relationship between indigenous ceremonies and the Christian faith. His approach is in stark contrast to  those who express a desire to ‘redeem’ traditional ceremony, many of whom profess a sincere Christian faith.  “I was sharing with my cousin-sisters who have been serving the Lord for years and my brothers, where I originally come from. They said, ‘God gave us ceremony’. I said, ‘Show me in the Bible, maybe I am reading the wrong Bible. God showed me what I now believe about ceremonies, and I will stick with it”.
It is important to note that Anderson’s position is not so much about rejection of these ceremonies, as it is about demonstrating his allegiance to the Christian faith as an Aboriginal man. He is at pains to articulate that his acceptance and practice of a Christian faith should not imply that he is trying to be a ‘white man’. He is in no way renouncing his Aboriginality at all. He will sit and watch public ceremonies, but will not be painted up or become involved. He will not encourage his sons to participate in sacred ceremonies, including the circumcision ceremony, because of the scriptural passage, ‘as for me and my household, we will serve the Lord’ (Joshua 24:15). [Source: From an article in The Daily Declaration, written by Rachel Borneman in January, 2020]

THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH IN THE MALDIVES
The Island nation of the Maldives, is to the southwest of India. It is one of the least evangelized countries in the world. According to the Association of Religion Data Archives, 0.3% of the population is Christian as of 2020 (roughly split between Catholic and Protestant). Christians are mainly composed of foreign workers; it is believed that the number of native Maldivian Christians is very low.
The Maldives is among the countries with the least tolerance towards Christians. Citizens of the Maldives who attempt to convert to Christianity automatically lose their citizenship; public practice of the Christian religion is prohibited. Foreign workers are allowed to practice their religion but only in private. Floyd Brobbel with Voice of the Martyrs says it is the bitter reality for Christians in the Republic of the Maldives. He told Mission Network News that missionary activity is low, and the support that does come is through the internet and radio broadcasts. Converting a citizen to another religion is illegal.
In the late 1990s, the Supreme Council for Islamic Affairs warned people that they would face arrest if they listened to radio programmes broadcast in the Dhivehi language by the Far East Broadcasting Association, based in the Seychelles. In 1998, 50 Maldivian Christians were arrested and held on the prison island of Dhoonidhoo, and Christian foreigners who were suspected of missionary work were also expelled from the country. The Church of South India, the Evangelical Mennonite Church,  the Seventh-day Adventists and Roman Catholics are present in this country
Most of the country’s 500,000 people live on its central island, with many of the surrounding islands operating as resorts. So while holiday makers rarely see it, daily life for locals is centered around Islamic practices, such as Ramadan fasting and the call to prayer. [Source: Mission Network News and other sources.]

MORE CHRISTIANS KILLED IN NIGERIA, DESPITE THE RELIGIOUS HARMONY ACCORD
Morning Star News – A few weeks back, we reported that on August 13th this year, more than 50 Muslim and Christian leaders signed an interfaith peace accord in Abuja, launching a new body to promote religious harmony across Nigeria. Various government officials were present at the signing, including the Deputy Senate President, representing President Bola Tinubu. At the conclusion of that article, we commented: “While the accord proposes to counter extremist groups, it remains to be seen whether government forces can, or will curb, attacks on Christians and their properties.” Sadly nothing has changed as the following will prove:
*Following attacks on Sunday (Sept. 20) that left a church pastor and others dead, terrorists killed at least 15 more Christians in several villages in the same county in Plateau state, Nigeria from Monday through Friday (Sept. 21-25), sources said. In one of the townships involved, a Christian high school – Bethany Christian Academy on the outskirts of Barkin Ladi, was threatened during these attacks, as a Christian was killed a few meters away from the school. Solomon Mwantiri, a lawyer and community leader in the County, identified them as ‘Fulani terrorists’.
*Fulani assailants on Tuesday (Oct. 6) broke into homes near the capital of Kaduna state and kidnapped five Christians and a 6-month-old baby. Residents reported that the assailants abducted the Christians in home break-ins that began at 3 a.m. The bandits are demanding a ransom of 350 million naira [$263,000] for this family of three to be released.”
*Fulanis also attacked a Chikun County village on Oct. 1, killed a Christian and kidnapped several others.
*Islamic terrorists attacked three predominantly Christian villages in Adamawa state, Nigeria, on Oct. 8, killing at least one person and torching at least one church building .
The continuation of these  unending killings and kidnappings – with no or little intervention by government forces – reinforces the view that the much vaunted launching of a new body to promote religious harmony across Nigeria, was a ploy by the Nigerian Islamic government, to shore up support from Christians for the coming elections in 2027. This election will break Nigeria’s long-standing practice of balancing presidential tickets between the country’s two main faiths. – Islam and Christianity – and running a presidential ticket of two Muslims.
Open Doors’ 2026 World Watch List (WWL), shows that 72% of the 4,849 known Christians killed in the world last year (3,490), were killed in Nigeria, and ranks Nigeria as No. 7 on the WWL list of the 50 countries where it is most difficult to be a Christian.

CHURCH-LESS BELIEVERS STAND STRONG IN NORTH KOREA
North Korea — You may have heard rumors that North Korea’s heavy surveillance and internment of Christians have destroyed the underground church. Floyd Brobbel with the Voice of the Martyrs Canada says those tactics stop traditional gatherings, but the church is far from dead.  “We need to change our whole thinking when it comes to the persecuted church in North Korea,” Brobbel says. “It’s better to think of individual Christians trying to live out the faith that’s been passed down to them from family members very carefully.”
Ministries serving North Korea testify to under-the-radar Christian activity. Estimates say there could be more than a hundred thousand secret Christians. Voice of the Martyrs and other ministries broadcast Christian programming over the radio to encourage and strengthen hidden believers.  Talking about the North Korean Christians, Brobbel says, “They have a prayer life. The Ten Commandments, for example, have been passed down from generation to generation. They know the story of Jesus. Some may have access to a Bible.” Calls are coming from the country for more Bibles, but when being caught means you and your family are sent to state labor camps for life, believers must be hyper-cautious about practising their faith. “North Koreans are very suspicious of each other. There’s a saying ‘where two or three are gathered, one of them is a spy’,” Brobbel says.
But unlike what the state claims, God’s people remain steadfast. “Despite these dangers, the underground church in North Korea is alive,” says a North Korean Christian, according to Open Doors. “It worships not with sound, but with whispered prayers and memorized Scripture. Believers continue to follow Christ with quiet courage, deep faith and a willingness to give everything for the sake of the gospel.” Pray for God to resource and protect hidden believers. [Source: Missionary Network News]

IRAN’S TURMOIL GROWS, BUT CHRISTIANS ARE PRAYING FOR A DEEPER TRANSFORMATION
Iran—Lana Silk, President and CEO of Transform Iran, says that the Iranian Regime and its military arm, have lost legitimacy a long time ago. “When people are taking to the streets and aggressively confront their own government, when they’re chanting ‘death to the dictator’, when they’ve been told to chant ‘death to Israel and America’ for so many years, I think that is a government that has lost its standing in people’s minds and its ability to convince people that it knows what it’s doing, that it wants good for its own people,” Silk says.
Recently,  a pro-government Muslim cleric in southeastern Iran was shot and killed by unidentified gunmen. Silk believes incidents like this will spread as Iranians are losing hope for outside help. “There was a lot of trust in the West intervening, and I think that trust has been lost. So there is a sense that if we want to get this done, we’re going to have to try to do more drastic things ourselves,” she says. She says Iranians are angry at “Islamic voices” such as clerics, who are seen as supporters of the Islamic Republic. She has seen videos in recent months of Islamic clerics changing out of their Islamic robes in back alleyways so that people will not recognize them as clerics. The anger extends to the government’s military arm as well. Many banks have closed in Iran, purchasing power is basically gone, and lines at gas stations are extensive.
“Believers in Christ must remember that God remains in control of every detail of Iran today, and He is good. Please continue to pray for Iran during a volatile time when ‘the fight for survival is very serious’,” Silk says.
Edwin Abnous with Heart4Iran agrees with Silk: “Many ordinary Iranians have become disillusioned with Islam. Gospel doors are opening, and people are dialing into Heart4Iran’s call center to learn more about the Bible and Jesus!” Christians are asked to pray in partnership with the Iranian church that is really in the front lines, paying a heavy price to be bringing the gospel to that nation. Pray for peace in their hearts, and pray for their friends that they are reaching out to, that they would come to a saving faith.   [Source: Missionary Network News]

– compiled by Guido Kettniss