Reverend Ben Cooper: 0:37

Good morning, wherever you are across the earth, whatever the time may be where ever you are across this beautiful world may God bless you and strengthen you. We thank God for your lies. We thank God that you are listening and you are sharing everything that comes out from here from Elim church. My name is Reverend Ben Cooper, and we got Sandra Robson with us today, it is Thursday. And this is the day that the Lord has made we shall rejoice and be glad we thank you for joining us from everybody that shares in the world of podcasting from Amazon, Amazon Music sorry, to I Heart Radio, to bass bow to Spotify, to all the major platforms that this is pushed out upon. We thank God for your lives. And we are looking at this morning and continuing most Thursdays as often as we can gather. Just straight out of the barrel of truth straight out. No editing, no messing about no shaping, just complete raw conversation. The past security Church, the displace church. That is where I see God really moving. Sandra, good morning.

Sandra Robson: 1:39

Good morning.

Reverend Ben Cooper: 1:40

Good morning to you. How are you?

Sandra Robson: 1:42

I'm well. Thank you. Yeah, enjoy my rest. getting on with some housework.

Reverend Ben Cooper: 1:47

Oh, yeah. You've had a lot of work going on ever. Yeah. Yeah. So right, here we go. Remembering China. Yes.

Sandra Robson: 1:54

So last week, we were talking about China, and the things that are going on there and an update on early rain Church and the sort of things that they're dealing with, but how that persecution has also galvanized others to step up and to look at the example of those who are carrying on despite all these hardships. And so, so that's where we left it. And we talked about God's ways being higher than our ways. The kingdom of God is not of this world. And it is growing. And it's being built in all sorts of places. And you know, the surprise is everywhere. So I thought that there's lots of stories that I look at. And I think, oh, there's not enough for, you know, for a podcast. But then I thought, well, maybe it seemed, and I was to do a noose around the world. And so I've got lots of bits and pieces here, a lot from open doors, and on things that are happening. And one thing that I noted last time, was about the freedom of religion and belief ministerial, in London. And we never we didn't get round to just saying what happened with that. And so this this week, they released statements on Open Doors about what happened. And it's quite interesting because I didn't really appreciate what this was part of. And apparently the reason this ministerial was being held in London was part of the recommendations of the bishop true row review, which happened in 2019. And apparently one of the things was to hold a conference on freedom of religion and belief. And this was actually an international conference being hosted in London. So there were people from other countries involved, and many MPs did attend, including Liz truss as the foreign secretary, and Fiona Bruce as our envoy. And one of the things that the bishop Turow Ruth review recommended was to have this advocate, which is Fiona Bruce at this time. And so apparently, on the first day, open doors advocacy team were there and they highlighted three trends and had a stand as part of this. They the day that they could the MPs could walk round and and look at different things. And they co hosted an event with Aid to the Church, which we've heard of before, where they talked about the persecution of women and how gender persecution is very high. You know, because There are women. And also, they lose everything. So they're doubly persecuted. And we talked about that. So there was a panel, and the focus was on Nigeria, Pakistan and Egypt. And MPs were asked, what more could they do? So they've gone away to think about that. Then there was an event on Nigeria, with the International Organization for peace and social justice, and speakers, detailed issues and how life has deteriorated sharply, and ask for urgent action on that. And then on the second day, open doors launched their new report, digital persecution, the new frontier for freedom of religion and belief. And the discussion was chaired by Raman Christie, who's an MP as well. And also 25, open door advocacy reps and supporters attended an event and spoke with MPs and some for an hour. And commitments were made to increase the highlighting of persecution in Parliament, particularly on Nigeria, so that was very encouraging. And MPs said that they were very challenged and very taken by what these representatives from Open Doors talked about just general people from the public. Now, advocacy reps, or supporters of Open Doors who've decided that particularly, they want to keep in touch with MPs. And this has been going on for some years now. And so they've built up a rapport with their MP, they let them know about events and what's going on. And yeah, and now that this has now enabled them to be at this event, and to, you know, talk about their passion and why they're involved and and what they're concerned about. Yes. So

Reverend Ben Cooper: 7:12

enormous things have happened. A lot has gone on. Yes. With MPs, with conferences, with decisions. Really interesting stuff that's going on. So there is a lot of movement isn't there under the surface? Above? Yeah. Above that, that we're that we're just talking about we have open doors doing a lot more we have Trans World Radio, we have released international we have all their ministers above all that as well. So those are there is a lot of reaction at the moment isn't? Yeah, there's a lot going on.

Sandra Robson: 7:45

Yeah. And you know, need to undergo this with prayer. Yeah, you know, we have this opening, we've got to use it, we've got to make the most of it. You know, because we see openings happen. And then they close as in like Sudan, which I'm going to talk about next week. What's happening? They're very sad going back into is isn't list. Yeah.

Reverend Ben Cooper: 8:12

And when these windows when, when sorry, when these windows open, as you said they closed quite quickly. But also they open very quietly, don't they? Sometimes they open and you don't realize they're open, you've got to be quite alert to make sure that you're on top of the game and be awake, be awake, be alert, be I'll obviously if we pull it up to biblical terminology, we would say be a watchman on the wall. Keep keep your eyes focus, be alert of everything that's going on. Because when the government's open this window, yeah, and then it's open and they do it so quietly, and then they close it. And then they say, Well, you had an opportunity. Exactly. So it's you've got to be alert. And that's why the US in the West, that we are alert of everything that's going on. And we pray and we pray as Sandra said that we there is a foundation of prayer for the ministers for the politicians for open doors, really all these ministries that are involved in this, that that there is literally excuse the pun, but there is an open door. Yeah, always an open an open

Sandra Robson: 9:17

walkway. Yeah. Oh, yeah. Just thank the Lord for that, that light that's been shown on these situations that they're not in the darkness. You know, this is the thing we pray for everything that goes on in the darkness to be brought into the light is being brought into the light, a lot of the things that are going on, and obviously that causes great embarrassment to governments and they don't like it and you know, so sometimes they will do things because of that. You know, and, and it's changing hearts as well, because you know, these MPs, they need to hear about Jesus as well. We just don't know.

Reverend Ben Cooper: 9:52

We don't know the impact. Yeah, of the message of Christ's message of the persecution, how that will affect them. Yeah, how they think about their family, their livelihood, their situation. So this is all good.

Sandra Robson: 10:05

And other people abroad as well, those who came from other places, as well. I mean, they don't detail everything, everybody, because of security reasons. So, you know, some people were there. Trauma counselors, were there, you know, to give their stories. So, yes, so yeah, it seems to have been a success. They do say that, the, the review of the Bishop of Troy rose report, that was an independent review. That was a couple of days beforehand. And they say that there is need for further discussion further input. But it's a good start. That's what the report said, this should have been good moves forward. But there was need for more, if we're going to have any impact. So then, somebody here, as I was leaving, told me that a friend of his had sent him a little link on India. And I hadn't heard about this. And it was an email that just come up from open doors, about the fact to pray for India's Supreme Court who were going to look into violence and attacks on Christians. And this was supposed to have happened on the 15th of July. And then it got adjourned until the 26th of July. So hopefully, it did happen. And it was a petition to look at the sinister phenomena of violence, and targeted hate speech against Christians. And apparently, in May, the been 57 attacks and petition was filed in March by Bishop of Bangalore, and the National Solidarity forum, and the evangelical fellowship of India. And this is interesting, because sometimes we don't actually know these organizations exist, and then we find out that they do in these situations. But the Chief Justice refused an early her hearing, saying there was no urgency how ever Colin gone slobs, I hope that's how you say it. That's a gons, a LVS, Senior Advocate of the court and founder of the Human Rights Law Network, brought the petition to the attention of the vacation bench. Now, although the Chief Justice wasn't going to look at it in his absence, because he said he was going on holiday. And the summer bench, there's a different bench that is available jaws to look at things during the summer break of the court. And so he gave it an urgent this listing mazing this live law, which is a program, a TV thing that in India has reported an increase in attacks. And they spoke to him the the judge, not this chief justice, but this other chief who is there for the summer break. And he said that it would be looked at and the petition asks for a creation of a special investigations team to register criminal cases and prosecute groups responsible for attacks on Christians provide police protection, identify and prosecute political and social groups responsible for the violence. Oh, so it's very important or important.

Reverend Ben Cooper: 14:09

Yeah, anybody wants to find find this article. It's on live law.in. So you can find it on live on on sorry, the internet very, very quickly. And it's really easy to find just type in live law. And it comes up it's got so much stuff on there. There's a lot of information on there. It's got updates, it's got stories, he's got so much on the front page, you've got the breaking news, a top story so yeah, what Sandra is saying you can find that and you can capture all that. And all the updates and everything that's happening in India is quite an interesting read there. So you can you can find that yeah, live law.in It's very simple to find.

Sandra Robson: 14:48

So again, this could be some light. Yeah. You know, focused on that darkness which has been highlighted by open doors with the you know, there He posts about, you know, lies, destructive lies that they brought out. And those videos. And so yeah, I pray that he will have an open mind and when he is

Reverend Ben Cooper: 15:14

faced with the evidence, because remember this is all the evidence Yeah, that something will be done and really important. Oh, god. Yeah, as you know, given this time he's opened the door, as we've said the other guy wouldn't wasn't interested. But the there was another way the Lord works in mysterious ways. Yes. So. So you're right there. So and what we've got to remember is that the law is goes on fact, data and measures, it goes on fact, nothing to do with here, savy go well, certain certain ones doing in certain areas that are a little bit more dangerous. But India goes on fact. So it's really important that we pray that the fact and the truth will come out. That's what we want, because there's 660 9 million Christians in India is an enormous place and majorities The Hindu. Most of the population. Yeah. It's quite a threatening place to live. Is Number 10. On the world watch lists

Sandra Robson: 16:26

now. Yes. It's creeping up. Yeah. So you know, see Christian forum 2021 said it had been the most violent year there were 406 cases, which they feel is under reporting. And that means there was a 75% increase from 2020 75% increase in violent attacks and violent.

Reverend Ben Cooper: 16:49

Yeah. Oh, law play. So

Sandra Robson: 16:52

yeah.

Reverend Ben Cooper: 16:52

So there we go. Whoa, there we go for this installation. We've got the fact. So there we are a little quick recap there. You know, time is absolutely just flying. And you mentioned something about China earlier. Yeah. So how are we going in China? What's happening in the world of China? We've got we've added India, we've got Iran. We've got this all out with so much to talk about sound really isn't there? What's happening around the globe?

Sandra Robson: 17:19

Yeah, well, we looked at China last time. So we're gonna look at Iran. These are little things out of my prayer booklets that have been they've been talking about, and just an encouragement about Iran, that so going to a house church in Iran carries huge risks and can lead to imprisonment. But a recent acquittal of nine converts has given believers welcome encouragement. The Supreme Court had ordered the review of the five year prison sentence given to nine Christians and they were arrested in February 2019. And in 2021 November the Supreme Court said that sharing the Christian faith in a private home is not gathering and collusion against into internal or external security as it was originally alleged the member release pending a review this was a surprising welcome developments so yeah, so they're saying that now you know, house church worship is not a get a security threat.

Reverend Ben Cooper: 18:40

Okay, but it's not a security so it's number nine as well as in Iran is number nine on the list. That's an increase so we got 85. Is that by is up by 85%? Is it is it accelerated that much? So there's a lot going on. So how many Christians we got out there there is there are believed to be just 800,000 Christians in Iran, making them a tiny majority in a Muslim majority country. That's not a lot is it?

Sandra Robson: 19:11

No so it there's still issues with this and they said the signs of religious freedom are tentative, and there's much to praise God but there are still many in prison and what we got to remember it's a farsi language, they don't like preaching in the Farsi language in, you know, in churches, so people pastors are put in prison because they're because of the language in a language that is outlawed. That you know, they they have the native language before you know, the, the Muslim ban powers and government. So they don't, they don't like this language is Persian language. And so they you know, get into trouble for that. And also, obviously, they're concerned about Muslim believers who've become Christians, and any sharing. So they're saying, Okay, if you're in your house and you're praying and you're with a group, you're private, that's private, but it's when they then evangelize or do other things, which are outward, which are then seem to be challenging the authorities or challenging Islam or challenging. Yeah. So so there's still issues.

Reverend Ben Cooper: 20:37

So when we're saying encouraging, encouraging, a bit, yeah, it can go on behind closed doors, where we can't see it, you can do what you want beyond the flow. But soon as you start bringing it into the public arena, and you start using that language, we're not gonna we're not going to tolerate that.

Sandra Robson: 20:53

Yeah. So yeah, so there's a tolerance issue

Reverend Ben Cooper: 20:57

isn't there, there's a tolerance of of you, we'll keep you down and indoors. But that's the worst thing anyone could.

Sandra Robson: 21:06

Anyway, it's just encourage, you know, that this is this is happening. So it says, give thanks that the nine men have been acquitted of the charges. And for the encouragement, this is for the family. And then pray for matters, Baca, and Ben ham, and they will also be acquitted. So there's other people who they're calling to be acquitted. But they haven't been as yet. And, and these tentative steps towards religious freedom in Iran will be built upon in the coming months. So these men face six year prison sentence of a charge dating back to 2014. Yeah, so they've been calling for Christian converts to be freely allowed to gather in worship.

Reverend Ben Cooper: 22:02

There's quite a lot going on. Isn't this 100? When you when you go, when I say? It's difficult, isn't it? Some people might not understand what do you mean good things? Well, for a start, what we're finding is that we're living in times. So what we are seeing in the world of persecution is exactly as God said, it would be through his word at the end. And what we are seeing is a ramping up of Christianity around the world being targeted. So we should draw a lot of strength. I know it sounds strange, but we should draw a lot of strength of, of seeing and hearing what is happening in the real church of Jesus Christ, because we are told very clearly, there's a great falling away. There will be persecution, there will be ruptures, there will be pain, there will be everything that we are seeing in the world of the persecuted church, is a clear indicator to see where we sit in the coming of Christ. And we know the scripture says no one knows the hour nor the day, only the Father in heaven. But Jesus said on the mound, he said, look out for the signs, look out for the signal. So the one of the big signals is Israel, and the persecution to the believers. So we are, we are on track for Christ's return. And we can see these increases and just look at the acceleration. And you gotta praise open doors for the for the work that they do and release International. And not not taking anything away from one or the other one, and Barnabas and all that they all work in their own fields, but we just got to lift up these ministries, these ministries that right on the front line, and the Bible smugglers and everything that goes along. And we just thank God that for this information, and you can find all this online, you can go straight to open doors, release International, Transworld all this stuff Barnabas, you know, it's all out there. It's easy, isn't it? To get the now it is an easier time than ever. Yes. Because everything

Sandra Robson: 24:08

email sent to you because one of the things we're going to talk about was through an email. It wasn't something I could find in one of the booklets or anything. I had to sort of look for it. Yeah, so yes, it's definitely there. And it's really good. And just to be aware of, of all the different things that are going on things to pray about things to praise God for this time. I want people you know, particularly to be encouraged, keep praying and praise God for what's going on. So, I mean, at the moment here in the UK, we've got the Commonwealth Games beginning today in Birmingham, we have and there are 54 countries participating and at Those are on the World Watch List. They want us to be aware of that Cameroon, Mozambique, Nigeria, Bangladesh, India, Malaysia, Maldives, and Pakistan. They are all taking part and they're all on the World Watch list. And just say ask the Lord to bless these nations and give their leaders wisdom to build a safer, fairer and more prosperous future for all their citizens. And we do pray that we know that churches are involved in Birmingham in this and we pray that they will have opportunities to speak into people's lives as well. Yes, well, we pray, particularly for people that have come from another country where it's more difficult, you know, to hear about the gospel, that God will make away while they're, while they're here, you just don't know. Again, but we pray that prayer Lord, that there'll be openings and, and also the Perhaps those who are maybe hard to the gospel might see something in coming here and taking part in these games. And take back and have some questions as well. So yeah, so that's something to think about. So that's today's prayer, for open doors is to pray about the Commonwealth Games, and then the next couple of days are all to do with those places that are taking part those eight places and prayers for them.

Reverend Ben Cooper: 26:31

So a lot of information good stuff. Yeah. Sorry, when

Sandra Robson: 26:36

we go to lay, is it Laos, L A OS on it, Laos, that. I was reading about the this. When some became a Christian she burnt the commonest idols she used to worship, but this angered villages who destroyed her house in the same village Sasa and me here were severely beaten for refusing to deny Jesus. But thankfully, Opendorse partners have been able to help them and then I was lucky in a couple of days. Well, it's a while ago now it's the beginning of July at this picture on the front of the prayer shield for release international showed interest in booklet and I wondered I was thinking oh those there's two sisters in the doorway. I wonder what that's about. And then I read and it said Christian friends V and son are passionate about sharing the gospel in Laos, despite it costing them everything I thought, oh, okay, their friends off. So then I read a bit further and it said, Christians in now so I've often severely persecuted by relatives when they turn to Christ. Pray that God will grant believers a steadfast spirit that will cause the persecutors to seek Christ to pray for Christians, such as V and sun in the picture. They're from particular province. lugan Prabang. So that's L U, a n g. And then prabang is p. R. Abang. Who have been housemates, since they were rejected by their families and evicted from their village. They have little but passionately share the Gospel. Pray for new believers fam. annuum David were evicted from farms parents home when the couple turned to Christ, local Christians are supporting them. And yeah, so. And there's Lucien is 101 years old and is still heavily involved in needing a 500 Strong church for Khumbu ethnic minority believers join him in praying that the young people of Laos will experience the love of Christ 101 101 Many Laio Christians are a tiny minority in their village pray that God will equip them to share their faith, even in the face of hostility and pray that God will add to their number. And then this email that I had was about soil story. And at the age of 14, she was in prison for six days with some others for not worshipping local gods. And she refused to stop worshipping Jesus and even in prison under pressure refused with these others, and she's now 16 And when she was really she was bullied by friends and teachers, and she's moved now. to another city to continue our studies. And she says she thanks supporters for the generosity because of God's love, I receive financial support to buy food and school supplies to continue my studies. And so I found out that last is number 26 on the World Watch List, and it's 3% of the population 203,000 Christians there. And the issues are communist communist and post communism, oppression, and clan oppression, which is what we've been talking about this thing of, you know, not supporting what the locals do, and they're not worshipping the local gods, and the majority of Buddhist, but it was just that little story about this 14 year old and they said that what was amazing was she shouldn't have been arrested, she was underage, but she was just, you know, herded in with with the rest of these people and then put in prison for six days. So yeah, so that was another story. And as I say, there's small places and making get forgotten. But then I was reminded about what Paul says about the body doesn t. And he says about the you know, the smaller parts are just as important as the bigger parts, and we mustn't forget them. And I felt low saying, No, I want you to send a lot. There's only a little bits of this in there. And then there's a fit in here at that.

Reverend Ben Cooper: 31:36

That's the detail is the little bit of information.

Sandra Robson: 31:39

So we'd like you to know about this guy that I found out about now as in this booklet, ideally near the booklet got her as well, from my that's the power. I'll go and do this one first. And again, I know he's he's from Columbia. Pages are sticking together. Here we go. Hide and Seek David's search for God. You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart. Jeremiah 2913. When David was born, his whole family had already been his whole life had been planned out for him, because he was the son of Malmo. And that was the authority in his area. And his father was that a man I am a mo. And the mammoths are religious leaders of the Savior, sera, sera, Nevada, this Santa Marta in Colombia. And they follow an amethyst religion, worshipping different spirits. That's why I put them sort of together because it's again, this thing of, you know, these false gods they follow. So different spirits, and David's father introduced him to the different rites and rituals from an early age. But David began to question him about the different religious aspects, and he never heard a satisfactory answer. I never wanted to be a Malmo, David recalls, I wanted to be different. Believe in other things. I never saw the results of what my father did. David desperately wanted to leave, leave to study and eventually convinced his father to let him attend a Christian school outside the community. And there he learned to pray and worship and seek God. And one day, he was hit in the stomach by a ball, which caused a hernia. A Christian man prayed for him, and he was healed because of a Lord here, because the Lord healed my illness. I knelt down before God and said, I always doubted but you are with me. The Lord has healed me. David says at that moment, I started to believe and preached my testimony. But of course, it hasn't come without struggle and difficulty. Due to the difference in beliefs. Indigenous Christians in the community are deprived of basic rights. Christians are denied a space to meet and worship David says, the torrent goes this way. If you believe in God, ask God for a piece of land. So maybe they will, and I'm sure they are and I'm sure God will give them

Reverend Ben Cooper: 34:57

God will provide

Sandra Robson: 34:59

so Thanks to you, David is receiving spiritual and practice circles support from open doors and he has not given up he is fighting to give everyone the chance to seek and find the living God, we strive to remain in the faith to attain eternal life. He says, God shows us the way of truth of life, we fight for it. Jesus promised that like David, we will find him when we seek Him. So just again, a little story

Reverend Ben Cooper: 35:27

about a little tiny grain.

Sandra Robson: 35:30

You know, a man far away,

Reverend Ben Cooper: 35:32

very powerful story. A little tiny story has a massive impact. That's brilliant sounded so good. Lots of information coming out today, if we got anything to finish on, or you got your your side of the table is awash with information today. And over the table.

Sandra Robson: 35:51

I'll keep Nepal until next time about that, SriLanka, it was just to say that, you know, the Christians were praying and seeking the Lord for, you know, a way through all the difficulties and the, you know, the they, you know, again, that's what was being done, and the darkness will come out

Reverend Ben Cooper: 36:18

into the light shine again, and what's been done in the darkness, isn't it? And, you know,

Sandra Robson: 36:23

because there was a lot of wrong things going on in the government. They were misusing the money and things. But they many of I don't know if all but anyway, the people that I had an email from, and they've got a very big prayer following in Sri Lanka. And they were just praying and and while they people were on the streets, they were praying. And they said that they walked from church to church, and they prayed, and they gave out leaflets and people took leaflets about Jesus. And they said, there was a great opening, because there's, we know, there's been difficulties there with other groups. You know, there was some terrorism wasn't there, there was a bomb attack. And so, you know, but they said they had the freedom to give these leaflets out, even to the security forces that were there, and the police and they prayed. And they prayed in the churches, and they prayed that, you know, God would enable a change. And they said that it was a good thing. They said that they had a piece they weren't bothered. But um, you know, I don't know, like, what the update is now? Because I know some of them aren't happy with. Things haven't gone far enough. But anyway, so yeah, so that was something from the people that I get a prayer thing through. Open doors have got a little bit of an update. But maybe we'll look at that next time. Because I need to sort of read it through a bit more. So that's where we're up to. Yeah,

Reverend Ben Cooper: 38:16

you've done really, really fantastic as always, you brought so much stuff to the table. And so we can find all of this information. It is up for grabs, Assange has been speaking and sharing all this and God has been leading. I've been flicking through the socials. And there is so much on the internet so much on the internet that you can find out the persecuted church. As Sandra mentioned something very, very important. You know, nothing is hidden in the darkness anymore. It is coming to light. So we thank God for the social networks and the power of the internet, that everything is that is accessible, and what the enemy meant for hard harm. Sorry, God is turning for good. So wherever you are this morning, across this earth, may God be with you, whatever your timezone is, whatever is your stretch, whatever your thoughts are, you know, let's pray for the persecuted church wherever they are across the world. And there are so many. God bless you. We'll see you next time. Have a wonderful week and make God continue to carry you. In Jesus name, amen. Sandra. Thank you so much. God bless you. Okay.

Close: 39:28

Thank you for listening to Elim church Swanleys latest podcast. You can find us on Buzzsprout Spotify, Apple music, iHeart radio, Google Play, Alexa Mixcloud, Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube.