Prayer Request for Persecuted Christians

Mrs. Ratna, Mrs. Eti and Dr. Rebekka
Indonesia
Arrested: May 2005
Days Imprisoned: 443

"Remember those in prison as if you were their fellow prisners,and those who are mistreated as if you yourselves were suffering." ---Hebrews 13:3,NIV

Hundreds of men and women are in prison serving sentences that range from a few months to life. They are not criminals who have robbed or murdered other citizens but Christians who were put on trial for their faith in Christ and found guilty.

Through extreme pressure and threats against witnesses, the accused, the judges and the courts to ensure favorable verdicts, such as in the case against three ladies, Rebekka Zakaria, Eti Pangesti and Ratna Bangun, running a Sunday School called “Happy Sunday” where on September 1, 2005 , they were found guilty in the Indramayu Court, West Java, of “deceitful conduct, a series of lies and enticements to seduce children to change their religion against their wills”. Their crime was to run a Sunday School in an area infested with prostitution. The Sunday School began as part of the local church program for the Christian children.

One elderly Muslim women, a former prostitute whose daughter was also a prostitute, did not want her grandchildren to go down the same path, asked the three ladies to accept her grandchildren in their program. They accepted. These children told other children what a great time they were having. More Muslim children came. The three ladies told them they had to have family permission which they obtained.

Once the radical Islamic Council (MUI) heard about it they had the ladies put in prison.

Each court session they trucked in hundreds of young radicals, many who carried weapons into the court, even took over the court threatened witnesses, the accused and the judges. They even brought a coffin to the court and said that if they did not get a satisfactory verdict then they would take over, dispense Islamic justice and bury the women. They were duly convicted and have now begun a three year term of imprisonment. This is terrorism of the judicial process and a perversion of justice.
The irony of this case is that the women launched the “Happy Sunday” children’s program in September of 2003, in response to a request by a local elementary school for assistance to meet legal requirements to comply with the National Education System Bill.

TRIAL -VIDEO

Please pray for protection and spiritual strength for Mrs. Ratna, Mrs. Eti and Dr. Rebekka while they are in prison.

Over the last several years there have been over 150 churches destroyed or closed down in Jakarta and throughout the island of Java. From May to July ,2005 , there have been 60 churches closed down, mainly in West Java. This escalation is part of the process to implement Islamic Shariah Law. In this recent escalation, samurai wielding Islamic radicals, accompanied by Government officials and Police, and with letters of authority from the Mayor and Chief of Police have broken into churches in the middle of services, demanded the pastor stop preaching and ordering him and the congregation out of the church and forcing the pastor to sign a statement that the building would no longer be used for Church services.