{"id":1368,"date":"2021-10-22T10:00:00","date_gmt":"2021-10-22T10:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.persecution.com\/stories\/?p=1368"},"modified":"2021-10-25T15:57:28","modified_gmt":"2021-10-25T15:57:28","slug":"southeast-asian-converts-persecuted-ask-for-new-bibles","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.persecution.com\/stories\/southeast-asian-converts-persecuted-ask-for-new-bibles\/","title":{"rendered":"Southeast Asian Converts Persecuted, Ask for New Bibles"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Not a single Christian lived among the 30 families in a remote village in Southeast Asia. So when an evangelist arrived one day to share the gospel, many were eager to hear what he had to say. Police took notice as well.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Twenty villagers responded to the evangelist\u2019s message and committed their lives to Christ. They soon made their new faith public and were baptized in a river near their village. For them, there was no turning back to their previous ways. The new Christians began meeting in the home of one of the believers, and they received Bibles<\/a> printed in their native language. They were also given a few hymnals so they could sing worship songs together.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"pastor<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

A small wooden structure with a corrugated metal roof became the first house church to exist in their village, and authorities were not pleased. \u201cPolice do not like it when Christianity spreads to a village that had no Christians before,\u201d a Christian worker in Southeast Asia said. The nearest Christian outside the village lives 10 kilometers [roughly six miles] away.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Less than two months after these villagers placed their faith in Christ, police interrupted a Sunday service and confiscated all 16 Bibles<\/a> and the few hymnals. \u201cYou have no permission to use these yet,\u201d the police said, explaining that they would return the Bibles<\/a> and hymnals after reviewing them to ensure that they were permissible. The believers, however, have not seen their Bibles<\/a> or hymnals since they were confiscated. Police also took the believers\u2019 cellphones to prevent them from calling for help and to make them feel more isolated.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After ordering the church to cease all meetings, police stationed a guard at the front of the house church to ensure that the Christians complied with their order. Police told them that if they even attempted to meet, their leader would be arrested, those living in the house church would be evicted and the building would be demolished. But the new believers were not afraid. In fact, their faith grew even stronger. They responded to police by telling them, \u201cWhether or not you allow us to worship God, we are going to continue to worship God anyway.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\r\n\t