This message was added on 2005-09-27
Polly, Debby and Rebekah are Christians living in
Now the situation they are in the middle of is like another chapter from the
book of Acts. The town of
So for 18 months they have waged a campaign of harassment and intimidation
against the believers in Jesus – banging on their walls, insulting them in the
streets, and throwing rocks at their windows. False accusations have been made
against them – that they kidnap Jewish children and
baptise them by force. The believers in Jesus did not retaliate. They
considered taking legal action, but decided instead to pray.
In April last year the persecution reached a point where hundreds of
ultra-orthodox protested outside the home of one of the believer’s families. It
was very threatening. Imagine a crowd of 700 people protesting in the street
outside your home just because you had a house group meeting there! The police
realised that the situation was getting out of hand. So when the ultra orthodox
wanted to hold another protest of 700 people outside Polly’s house the police
forbade it because of the growing danger to life and public safety.
The ultra orthodox appealed against the ban and in September this year took
their case to the High Court. It was heard on September 12th by the Chief
Justice of Israel sitting with two other justices, one of whom is an Israeli
Arab Christian. The Jewish Christians were able to explain what had happened,
how they were being persecuted and the lives of their children affected by
hate. The ultra orthodox demanded the right to continue their protests as a
matter of free speech. The Chief Justice listened and asked if both sides could
come to a compromise – would they agree to allow more demonstrations if they
were restricted to say 250 people once a year?
Neither side could agree. The ultra orthodox wanted to bring 700
demonstrators. The police were fearful this would cause a riot. For the
Christians the outcome could affect their fellow believers in other towns and
cities – if the High Court allows demonstrations against private citizens in
Meanwhile, there was a sequel. Last Saturday, the believers in
Two weeks ago we reported persecution of Christians in the Palestinian
Authority. Thank God that in
Pray for the situation:
- pray that the believers in Jesus and their children will be able to walk to
the shops and meet for Bible study without being threatened or sworn at;
- pray for Aharon Barak, the Chief Justice, and the two justices sitting with
him, that they will not allow demonstrations against the homes of private
individuals just because they believe in a Jewish Jesus;
- and pray for the ultra orthodox that in their zeal for faith, like Saul of
old, they may have a revelation from heaven and discover the love of the Jesus
they persecuted.