Once again I was amazed at the means God uses to care for His children. One of Open Doors’ remarkable projects, provided for a miracle in the lives of Amer and Adil. The project: In cooperation with a local church and pastor we started the taxi project in 2008. The objective was to provide Secret Believers from the “underground” church who don’t have jobs, with the opportunity to become a taxi driver. It was important that they take responsibility and make a success. The taxi will be owned by the project and leased to the taxi driver. The driver is responsible for all the costs and is obliged to pay back the loan over a certain period of time. The driver joins a taxi station to insure that he gets customers. The extra funds generated, are used to buy more cars in order to help more people. The project provides the driver with a decent income and gives them the chance to support their families. Another important aspect is that the drivers have the chance to talk to their passengers and share about their faith. The drivers also hand out Christian materials, like Bibles and the Jesus film. The taxi drivers have a cross hanging in their car, which often initiates significant conversations.
Meet one of the drivers… and his new friend Adil is one of the taxi drivers. He is 33 years old, but still single because his current financial situation prevents him from having his own family. However, Adil works very hard and is doing quite well. He hopes that he’ll be able to get married soon. Adil’s testimony is short, but powerful: “I have grown up in a fanatic Muslim family, but Islam has never fulfilled my dreams. I ended up being addicted to drugs. But when I came to Christ, I was completely set free. I like to witness to my passengers about what God is doing in my life and how Jesus Christ has restored me. Hallelujah!” Adil also likes to testify about the day he witnessed a carefully orchestrated miracle: “One day I received a call to pick up a passenger in a desolate part of town. There are many criminals and it is dangerous to go there. At first I didn’t want to go, but after I prayed about the situation, I felt that I should go after all. While driving around aimlessly in this part of the city, searching for my passengers address, my car broke down. I was stuck and had nowhere to go. I started questioning God. I couldn’t understand why I had to go to this part of town and now my car was broken too... I did not feel safe at all and wasn’t sure what to do, so I sat in my car and started praying. Suddenly, a man stood next to my window and asked whether I had a problem. Praise God, he turned out to be a car mechanic. He had a look at my car and knew exactly how to fix the problem. He said that the broken part would be difficult to obtain on the market, but he might have that specific part in the trunk of his car and could help me right away. What a miracle!
“When the man had finished fixing my car, he saw the cross hanging from my mirror. He asked me whether I was a Christian. Of course I was more than happy to tell him that I was indeed a follower of Christ. The man wanted to know if I had a Bible for him and as it turned out I had one hidden in my car, so I gave it to him.”
Then this man, called Amer, told me his story.
“For a long time I’ve been secretly searching for Jesus and I knew that I would find Him in the Bible, but I did not know how to obtain one. It was too dangerous to ask around for a Bible. One day I was prompted in my heart, probably by God, to drive out to quite a dangerous part of my city. Despite the danger, I decided to go because the prompting was so strong. While I was driving, I suddenly saw a car next to the road which clearly had some problems. I stopped in order to help the man; little did I know that this man was a Secret Believer and had a Bible in his car. How great is our God! I fixed his car on the spot and God fixed my heart... He gave me His precious Word. What a miracle...”
“God used a strange way to lead me to Jesus and provide me with a copy of His Word.” – Amer
“We want to thank everybody who is helping in this ministry. It is a great encouragement and comfort to us.” – Adil
A convert from Islam who has led a push for Muslim-Christian understanding in Ethiopia has been in jail for nearly ten months since his arrest for “malicious” distribution of Bibles.
Christian sources in Ethiopia said that, contrary to Ethiopian law, 39-year-old Bashir Musa Ahmed has not been formally charged since his arrest on 23 May 2009 in Jijiga, capital of Somali Region Zone Five. This is a predominantly Muslim area in eastern Ethiopia. Zonal police arrested him after he was accused of providing Muslims with Somali-language Bibles bearing covers that resemble the Qur’an.
As an Ethiopian national, Ahmed is known as a bold preacher of Christianity and is credited with opening discussion of the two faiths between Christian and Muslim leaders. He is well-known in the area as a scholar of Islam, but his case has gone largely unreported in Ethiopia.
Authorities are secretly planning to transfer Ahmed from his Jijiga cell to Ghagahbur jail, in part to prevent other Christians from visiting him and in part because he has not been charged.
Ahmed’s own relatives and tribe instigated the arrest with the intent of stopping him from spreading Christianity in the region, whose 5 million predominantly Muslim inhabitants are mainly of Somali origin.
Conversion and manifesting one’s faith are not illegal in Ethiopia. “The Ethiopian constitution allows for religious tolerance,” sources said, “but to date Ahmed has not been taken to court. He’s been in jail for nearly ten months now, which is quite unusual for an Ethiopian nationality and the constitutional requirements.”
For providing Bibles with cover pages resembling the Qur’an, Ahmed is accused of “maliciously” distributing Bibles and trying to convert Muslims to Christianity, although conversion and manifesting one’s faith are not illegal in Ethiopia. At issue is whether the Bibles with covers resembling the Qur’an violate copyright issues and disrespect Islam.
Christian converts in the area said the kind of Bible that Ahmed distributed is widely available on the market in Ethiopia and is commonly used by Somali Christians inside and outside of the country.
Following a recent visit to Ahmed, a source said that he looked strong in faith but seemed to have lost weight and was in need of clothes.
“I am doing fine here in prison and I am thankful for those who have taken their time to come and see me as well as advocate for my release,” said Ahmed.
Hostility towards those spreading a faith different from Islam is a common occurrence in Muslim dominated areas of Ethiopia and neighbouring countries. Christians are subject to harassment and intimidation, to stem the rising number of Muslim converts.
“In God’s own time I know I will be set free,” Ahmed said. “Continue to pray for me. I know it is God’s will for me to be here at this time and moment in my life.”
Ethiopia’s constitution, laws and policies promote freedom of religion, but occasionally local authorities infringe on this right. An estimated 40 – 45% of Ethiopia’s population belongs to the Ethiopian Orthodox Church. Evangelical and Pentecostal groups make up an estimated 10% of the population and about 45% of the population is Sunni Muslim.
In Ethiopia’s federal state system, each state is autonomous in its administration, and most of those holding government positions in Somali Region Zone Five are Muslims.
Please pray for this brother, suffering in jail for our faith in Christ.
The reporting period for this version of the World Watch List is from 1 November 2008 to and including 31 October 2009, meaning that the months of November and December 2009 are not included.
The World Watch List is compiled from a specially-designed questionnaire of 50 questions covering various aspects of religious freedom. A point value is assigned depending on how each question is answered. The total number of points per country determines its position on the WWL.
The questions differentiate between the legal, official status of Christians (e.g. Does the constitution and/or national laws provide for freedom of religion?; Are individuals allowed to convert to Christianity by law?) and the actual situation of individual Christians (Are Christians being killed because of their faith?; Are Christians being sentenced to jail, labour camp or sent to a psychiatric hospital because of their faith?). Attention is paid to the role of the church in society (Do Christians have the freedom to print and distribute Christian literature?; Are Christian publications censured/prohibited in this country?) and to factors that may obstruct the freedom of religion in a country (Are Christian meeting places and/or Christian homes attacked because of anti-Christian motives?).
Please note that Kazakhstan has dropped off the list not because the situation has improved, but because other countries where the situation has become worse have ranked higher on the list. This may change again if Kazakhstan implements tougher legislation on religion in the future. Countries where the situation deteriorated
The status of religious freedom for Christians deteriorated in the reporting period in Somalia, Yemen, Mauritania, Vietnam, Azerbaijan, Tajikistan, Turkey, Tunisia and Kyrgyzstan. Countries where the situation improved
The total number of points decreased for Saudi Arabia, Algeria, India, Cuba, Jordan, Sri Lanka, and Indonesia.
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