Converted Christians in Morocco Need Prayers
Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ, please pass on this prayer request….May the Lord be with you and your loved ones and bless you always….
“GOD, THE FATHER ALMIGHTY, GIVE US THIS DAY OUR DAILY BREAD THROUGH YOUR ONLY BEGOTTEN SON AND OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST BY THE HOLY SPIRIT. AMEN.”
Converted Christians in Morocco Need Prayers
December 14, 2006
Vox PopuliBy Paul Ciniraj
Converted Christians in Morocco Need Prayers
Rabat (Morocco), SVM News, 13 December 2006: More than thousand people converted into Christianity from Islam in Morocco. Salem Voice Ministries requesting prayers for the converted christians of Morocco to be protected from the persecutions and also to be growing in the Spirit.
Islam is the state religion in Morocco, a country of 30 million people that counts only 5000 Jews and 1000 Christians, according to figures given by the two groupings.
There are Catholic, Orthodox and Protestant churches are recognized by Morocco, but they are only for foreigners living in the country. Moroccan Christians have no right to pray in these churches.
The converted Christians of Morocco are worshipping Lord Jesus around fifty independant churches across the big cities of the Kingdom. Out of it, six churches are in the city of Casablanca, five churches in Rabat and one church in El Ayoun, the regional capital of the western Sahara.
Seven of these are “Free Churches” in Marrakesh, having no links with any international Protestant churches. But all 50 churches tried to make a spiritual co-ordination as Evangelical Protestant Group.
“Television and the Internet are very efficient methods and in our church a soldier became Christian through the Al Hayat channel,” said 30-year-old Yousuf, who preferred to use a pseudonym.
“As we are tolerated, but not recognised (by the state) we must, for security reasons, conduct ourselves as a clandestine organisation,” said the 57-year-old, who also preferred to use a pseudonym.
“As soon as a church has 20 worshippers it splits in two,” said Dr. Abdul Halim, who converted to Christianity 16 years ago when he was living abroad. At the beginning of the 1990s there were only 400 christians in Morocco. But when he returned home seven years ago, he was astonished by the growing number of converts around 700 and today more than 1000. Abdul Halim told SVM News.
Though they are Christians, in the eyes of the state they remain Muslim. And their names also like Muslim names.
Dr. Abdul Halim said, “Officially, my son and I are Muslim. We hold Christian marriages and bless the young couple but this is not recognized by the state. They must go before the Muslim clergy and marry according to Sharia (Islamic law). If they don’t do this, they can be charged with adultery.”
The same goes for death also. They cannot be buried in a Christian cemetery, only in a Muslim one.
“We have to be careful because ordinary people cannot understand that we can be Arabs without being Muslim. For us the biggest danger is ignorance,” Dr. Halim added.
Discretion is the order of the day for Morocco’s Christians, with the faithful holding services in their homes, against a background of suspicion from the Islamic world.
The Christian converts also have article 220 of the penal code hanging over their heads, which provides for prison sentences of between six months and three years for anyone who tries to undermine a Muslim’s faith or to convert him to another religion.
“For many of us, Islam is perceived as a social straitjacket and not as a real faith, and Christianity as a religion of tolerance and love,” said the businessman, who converted at the age of 19 and was later followed by his family.
Christians in Morocco badly need prayers from the children of God around the globe for their spiritual gowth and physical protection.
Salem Voice Ministries spreading Gospel and planting churhes in India and the third world nations, especially among Muslims.
Pastor Paul Ciniraj, Director,
Salem Voice Ministries.
Pastor Paul Ciniraj: I was born and brought up in an orthodox and fanatic muslim family. While I was studying in the university, I was touched by the Lord Jesus Christ and accepted Him as my personal saviour and my Lord. And He called me for His ministry to win India and the muslim world unto the redeeming love of Jesus Christ and I obeying Him since last 32 years.
