A district official in Laos recently summoned all Christians in a village and rebuked them for refusing to heed his prior warning to quit worshiping Christ.
Accompanied by policemen and soldiers, he told the Prai tribal Christians in the village (undisclosed for security reasons) that those who refused to renounce Christ would be imprisoned.
“Christianity is a western religion – it cannot be practiced in our country,” he told them. “I will give you one more chance to renounce Christ. If anyone still wants to believe in God, then just raise your hand.”
Every Christian present raised their hand. The official, police officers and soldiers were shocked. The Prai people follow tribal nature gods, and less than 1 percent are evangelical Christian. The official asked who was the first person in the village to tell the others about God.
They told her that if she continued to believe in God, they would destroy her belongings and livestock and put her in prison.
“The Christians were silent,” the leader of a native ministry said. “They didn’t dare to give an answer. Then a 45-year-old widow named Rina* who was very brave told them, ‘It was me. I was the first person who accepted God in the village.’”
She told them that she had heard about God and accepted Christ through two local missionaries, both church pastors. Asked if they came to the village, she said she sought them out and visited them at their house. He asked how she had met them.
“Rina told them that once a group of police officers came to the village and made an announcement by loudspeaker – they prohibited the villagers to believe in God and Jesus, and from that point she began to have an interest in learning about Jesus and Christians,” the leader said.
The official asked why she had decided to accept Christ, and Rina replied that she had long suffered from a bacterial infection that hospital treatment had failed to relieve, and that since accepting Christ, she had prayed and been healed. Soon many other villagers received Christ after God healed them from illness, she said.
The official, policemen and soldiers ordered the Christians to return to their homes but told Rina to remain. Officers told her that if she continued to believe in God, they would destroy her belongings and livestock and put her in prison.
Rina remained steadfast. The officers didn’t follow through on their threats, but they ordered her not to leave her house, the ministry leader said.
“Since that day, Nov. 2, 2021, there is a policeman standing in front of her house,” he said. “The policeman keeps watch on her. Rina is unable to go anywhere – she cannot go to work.”
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SOURCE: Christian Aid Mission
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