Nepalese authorities appear to be threatened by the rapid growth of Christianity in that country According to the Orthodox Christianity website, “In 1951, Nepal’s census showed no—that would be zero—Christians in the country. Ten years later, it showed just 458. Forty years later, the number had risen to 102,000 and ten years later, i.e., in 2011, it had risen to 375,000. What’s more, according to a report by the International Institute for Religious Freedom, Nepalese Christian leaders believe that this last figure underestimates the number of Christian by a factor of six: instead of 375,000 Christians there are closer to 2.3 million.” Please continue to pray that the hearts of Nepalese authorities would be opened, and they would end their harassment of Nepal’s growing Christian community.
“Christian crackdown: Elderly man jailed in Nepal for handing out bibles,” by Emily Prescott, Express, August 9, 2019:
AN ELDERLY Christian who was arrested in Nepal for distributing bibles has ended up in hospital after spending two traumatic weeks in jail, as criminal treatment against the religion intensifies.
Christian leaders in Nepal are issuing pleas for unity against the persecution which is rising to “near-genocide” levels in some parts of the world. Cho Yusang, 73, was arrested on July 23 for allegedly forcefully converting Nepali locals to take Christian literature.
Pastor Sagar Baiju, a senior Christian leader in Nepal warns police and politicians are targeting Christians, he said: “When I travel to foreign counties, I carry my identity with me – and my identity is that I am a Nepali, but apart from being a Nepali.
“I am a Christian, so I always carry my Bible with me.
“How is it a crime, when foreign tourists come to Nepal to tour the country or to visit their friends, and carry their Bible in their hands?”
After his arrest, police raided Mr Yusang’s room and confiscated all bibles and Christian literature.
B.P. Khanal, General Secretary of Janajagaran Party Nepal, a Christian political party told Morning Star News: “Carrying a Bible should not be and must not be a criminal offense.”
He said: “In this case the law is discriminatory, because it is not an offence to have Bibles in your room.”
He said: “The recovery of some Bibles and Christian literature from Yusang’s personal belongings is an offense and as a crime.
“Anybody can have a Bible – it is not a drug or an explosive.”
Pastor Baiju said Christians are being ghettoized like criminals in Nepal.
He said: “In schools run by Hindus, they make the children perform Saraswati Vandana [a common Hindu mantra] in their morning devotion, and nobody objects to it.
“Then why is it a crime, if a Christian school makes the children say The Lord’s Prayer in the assembly?
“Why are objections raised and Christians ghettoized as criminals?”…
