Persecution Continues - Here's a report of governmental religious oppression. In Eritrea where the government strongly controls religion, 51 Christians were arrested for meeting illegally to hold church.
Worthy News has the Compass report:
LOS ANGELES, February 23 (Compass) -- Police swooped down on a group of Protestant Christians worshiping in secret in the Eritrean capital of Asmara on Sunday, February 16, hauling off to jail the 51 evangelicals present.
Pastor Mengse Tweldemedhane of the Hallelujah Church was arrested along with his congregation in the Edaga Hamuse district of Asmara at 3:30 Sunday afternoon. One individual from the Philadelphia Church and two members of the Full Gospel Church were also among the Christian prisoners.
The 34 men and 17 women were held under arrest at the Adi-Abyto military camp until February 18, when Pastor Tweldemedhane was separated from the group and locked into an underground cell. He remains under severe pressure to renounce his Protestant beliefs and return to the Eritrean Orthodox Church.
Except for four elderly women who were apparently spared from further incarceration, the remaining prisoners were all transferred that same day to the Sawa Military Training Center.
It was confirmed to Compass today that the 46 Christians taken to Sawa are being detained in metal shipping containers and pressured to renounce their faith. Five of them, two women and three men, are reportedly “very ill” and being refused any medical treatment.
Pray. And do not forget March 5th.
The Great Separation continues.
