This week we are pray­ing for a pas­tor and believ­ers in Bangladesh.

Source
The Voice of the Mar­tyrs’, Be-A-Voice Net­work (orig­i­nal src — pdf)
www.persecution.com

BANGLADESH: Bap­tist Pas­tor Forced to Convert

On April 16, an armed rebel group kid­napped a Bap­tist pas­tor from his home in a remote vil­lage in Bangladesh. The group, called ter­ror­ist activists by locals, ran­sacked the pastor’s church, throw­ing Bibles on the floor, seiz­ing a mobile phone and tak­ing the pas­tor to their leader’s home, accord­ing to VOM contacts.

The pas­tor was allegedly beaten and taken to a Bud­dhist tem­ple where he was told to deny his faith in Christ and believe and obey Bud­dha. Later that day, two Chris­t­ian men were taken by the rebels to the Bud­dhist tem­ple and released when they agreed to the rebels’ demands. The men are now in hid­ing to avoid fur­ther problems.

The pas­tor remains inside the Bud­dhist tem­ple where he is allowed to move about freely, but he is con­stantly sur­rounded by monks who are instruct­ing him in their rit­u­als and teachings.

The vil­lagers were told they would be shot dead if they involved the police.

Please Pray!

Pray for God’s grace and pro­tec­tion over this pas­tor and the Chris­t­ian men who are in hid­ing. Pray that they will not be moved from their faith in Jesus Christ. Pray that the monks and the mem­bers of the rebel group will come to a sav­ing knowl­edge of Jesus Christ.

VOM assists Chris­tians and the under­ground church in Bangladesh by pro­vid­ing min­istry mate­r­ial needs, emer­gency relief, train­ing and discipleship.