An open letter to Pr. Ted Wilson, President at the SDA General Conference

Dear Elder,

Grace be to you and peace from God the Father, and from our Lord Jesus Christ.

I’m Patrick Miller, a brother from Jamaica (I would use my Church address but I was cut off from the Church as I shall show you in the next paragraphs).

Currently, I’m alone at my cold house which used to be warm when my lovely wife was still with me, a wanderer at the sheer edge of the church where I used to be a Deacon, Men’s Ministry Leader, Elder in Training and certified Sabbath School Teacher.

The Church disowned me and right now I’m wondering: so, I don’t belong to my brothers? Am I really disfellowshipped to belong to others where I am a bird of different feathers?

Dear Elder and Brother, I and Lavern Brown Miller married in 2012 at Moneague Seventh-day Adventist Church, North Jamaica Conference, Jamaica Union of the Inter-American Division with high hopes of starting a new life in a church where we became “new creatures”.

Things started changing in 2016 when misunderstandings broke out between me and my wife Lavern on grounds I cannot tell here (may the Holy Spirit reveal them to you).

My immediate Pastor Fitzroy Bailey at Moneague SDA Church came several times to our house at the invitation of either himself or my wife to counsel us which was okay for me to receive the man of God.

Unfortunately, nothing improved as our relationship worsened to the knowledge of Pastor Dr. Karl Archer President at the North Jamaica Conference.

Pastor Archer ordered Pastor Bailey to stop coming to our house (for reasons I can’t confirm), advising that our family matters be tabled before the church board.

For reasons I cannot say here, it became clear that Pastor Bailey was actually not helping to change our bad relationship and perhaps had it not been for him, I and my wife would most likely be still together.

A couple of weeks after Bailey’s coming to our house, my wife left and went to live at her mother’s house where I continued visiting her and other people I counted capable of counselling us in an attempt to bring her back.

At this time, I was becoming very unhappy with Pastor Bailey for his unscrupulous interference into my marriage which left me a grieved broken soul, losing grip of the life I had for long longed to live.

Some of us started questioning how Pastor Bailey got ordained for ministry when his character seemed to be not matching the ministry and I was willing to spearhead the act of asking the Conference to remove him from our church.

I openly criticized him about his behavior and asked Pastor Archer at the Conference to revisit Pastor Bailey’s behavior and act appropriately.

I found out that Pastor Bailey and some other five in the conference had campaigned for Pastor Archer to become President of the Conference and so, he recommended their ordination as a reward.

I talked to the Union and then to Pastor Balvin Braham at the Inter-American Division, asking them to look into Pastor Bailey’s matter.

Pastor Braham advised me to submit the case to the local church board such that it would ascend to the Conference, Union and then to him at the Division which I did but the Union blocked the case from proceeding to the Division.

In early 2017, I met with Pastor Bailey and openly warned him that his days were numbered, a word that made him take me to the state authorities seeking prosecution against me.

Pastor Bailey immediately orchestrated the idea of removing me from the church membership such that he would bear no fault for taking a brother in the courts of law.

Church members demanded that I should be tried in the presence of the whole congregation and on the day, the congregation defended me, overwhelming the aggressive church leaders.

Instead of ruling in my favour, they declared another trial and thereafter launched an undercover campaign against me among the church members such that the second trial nailed me to the wall of the unworthy.

On 21^st March 2017, the letter that disfellowshipped me was issued with hypocritical words: "most painful decision"

After the church had disfellowshipped me, Pastor Bailey pursued his initial plan to have me prosecuted on charges of life-threatening but the allegations were substantiated and dismissed at the court of law.

I won under the laws of the Republic but the same motive had already had me disfellowshipped at my church on grounds of insubordination, violating church protocol, disrespect of church authority and threatening church leadership.

As you’re aware, Elder, a Seventh-day Adventist, even when one stops identifying him/ herself with the Church, cannot find another satisfying church or be free to associate with non-believers.

I feel drained in my soul. I’m living with the friction of thoughts that has worn the substance of being in me.

I know I’m a victim of a system that favours corruption and the dominance of the will of the few top leaders upon the majority of church members.

I’m sure, Seventh-day Adventists around the world know how the Church system can seal fates of innocent individuals, groups and can favour top leaders to do their will upon those below them.

Dear Elder, we the Protestants have no hidden agenda in this world and therefore don’t fear to talk about such bad things in our church because our goal is to win souls and not to win seats in this world.

This is why I have no problem telling this.

May you receive the salve that the Holy Spirit applied to Elder James’ eyes to see what was fit for the Church of God at his time and may you examine my matter at my local church.

May the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit.

Your Brother,

Patrick Miller

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Faith Reporters

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Afghan Christians: no hope for freedom after 20 years in hiding

In Afghanistan, living openly as a Christian is impossible. Converts have two options: flee the country or risk being killed by the state or the tribesmen.

Christians in Afghanistan are counting over 20 years of worshiping in hiding and there is no hope of religious freedom as the Taliban took power on 15^th August 2021.

The international watchdog for religious freedom has condemned the Taliban regime for murder, intolerance of religious liberty and Shari’a laws that don’t give space for freedom of conscience.

“Religious freedom conditions in Afghanistan have deteriorated since the Taliban seized control of the country,” says the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) report released Thursday 29^th October 2021.

The report mentioned the Taliban Ministry for the Propagation of Virtue and Prevention of Vice sanctioned on September 2021, which uses a notoriously violent hard-line Islamist policing system.

“The ministry recently banned barbershops from shaving or trimming men’s beards and warned hair salons not to give Western-styled haircuts,” the report says emphasizing how religion is only practiced as the Taliban dictate.

Afghan Christians converted from Islam, all are considered “apostates” and according to Afghan law, apostasy is punished by death.

Families and communities can disown and persecute converted members for fear of being counted accomplices or for the honour of their families and communities.

USCIRF report screenshot: Apostasy is when one denounces Islam. Converting to Christianity carries the death sentence in Afghanistan

Christian networks estimated 10,000 to 12,000 Christian converts throughout Afghanistan who have practiced underground over the past 20 years.

The Christian persecution is also worsened by a feeling that those who convert to Christianity find it easy to receive refugee status in countries with high numbers of Christians especially the West, making Christianity a political issue.

“According to reports received by USCIRF, the Taliban have reportedly gone door-to-door looking for U.S. allies, former government workers, rights activists, and Christian converts,” the report said.

One leader of a house church network received a letter on August 12 from Taliban militants threatening him and his family. Some Christians have turned their phones off and moved to undisclosed locations, the report said.

The Open Doors report ranked Afghanistan second after North Korea in suppressing religious freedom before the Taliban took power.

“In Afghanistan, living openly as a Christian is impossible. Converts have two options: flee the country or risk being killed by the state or the tribesmen. Christians from a Muslim background can also be sent to a psychiatric hospital because leaving Islam is considered a sign of insanity” the Open Doors report said.

Freedom watchdog demands China to release Hu Shigen convicted with baptism picture

Religious prisoners: father, sons in Uzbekistan’s prison

North Korea barbaric regime wants to wipe out Christians

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Faith Reporters

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Jamaica: pastor in human sacrifice case dies in car crash, details yet to be public.

A Jamaican pastor accused of human sacrifice in his church died in a police car accident as he was being transported from one detention to another, according to Jamaica Observer.

Pastor Kevin Smith said he was preparing “a Roman Catholic Sacrifice”

Kevin O. Smith, pastor at the Pathways International Kingdom Restoration Ministries died along with a police officer and others who escorted him injured on Monday in St Catherine from Montego Bay to the capital Kingston.

Details about the cause of the accident are yet to be revealed by police that had arrested him at his church where two followers (man and woman) had been slaughtered on Sunday25 October 2021.

“We are not sure exactly what transpired. What we know is that from the vehicle that was overturned, there were four people that were seriously injured and two of them succumbed to their injuries,” Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Stephanie Lindsay Jamaica Police spokesman told the press.

Jamaicans on social media have started questioning what really happened to the pastor, given the meagre information available for the public about the cause of the accident.

The motive of moving the suspect from Montego Bay to Kingston is still unclear as some reports allege that it was due to the behavior of the police officers at Montego Bay but are not specific while others say he was going to be officially charged.

The 39-year old man who called himself a prophet was arrested for allegedly slashing the necks of two of his 41 followers who were present at the church, dressed in white, ready to be sacrificed including a policewoman and other influential people, according to the Sun.

The man with a beautiful church and a Bachelor's degree in Psychology had prior to the human sacrifice ritual announced on his social media that the bloodbath day was “a Roman Catholic Sacrifice”.

The law enforcement rescue the situation at Pastor Kevin Smith's Church where he was murdering his followers in what he called the "Roman Catholic Sacrifice"

It was for the disobedience of one woman who refused to be sacrificed and alerted police.

The sacrifice ritual had been preceded by a two-days fasting ritual called “Noah’s Ark” in which about 50 members of the congregation participated, according to reports by the Black Enterprise.

Some of the infamous Human sacrifices cults

In 2000, in Uganda in East Africa, 700 followers of the Movement for the Restoration of the Ten Commandments of God by Joseph Kibwetere a former staunch Roman Catholic

USA 1997: Marshall Applewhite in his Heaven’s Gate burned 38 in California.

USA 1978 Jonestown massacre: Jim Jones instructed his 909 followers to kill themselves by drinking a cyanide-laced punch.

Jamaica-pastor-Kevin-Smith-Roman-Catholic-human-Sacrifice-Pathways-International-Kingdom-Restoration-Ministries-Montego-Bay-Kingston

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The first Protestant against the Roman Catholics in Central Africa

Faith Reportes found this interesting story from Rwanda which questions the motive of some Christian missionaries when they claim that they are preaching the gospel of the Kingdom of Heaven.

Rukara rwa (son of) Bishingwe, Rwandan native, comes out of the Roman Catholic Prison in 1912

This story, which makes sense anywhere in the world, is about an encounter between a Rwandan native called Rukara son of Bishingwe and a Roman Catholic Missionary Pere Paulin Loupias.

Rukara son of Bishingwe questioned the presence of the Catholic missionaries in the central African country in 1910 when a Catholic Loupias accused him of removing landmarks for the boundaries of a church’s massive land.

The Roman Catholic Church used to grab the land of the natives and so when they did it to a relative of a man Rukara, he removed the landmarks they had put as boundaries.

The Roman Catholics summoned Rukara for the crime and sin he committed against the “holy ones” but he refused to go and instead sent them a wonderful message: “I heard and thought that you came to preach about the Kingdom of Heaven, why are you grabbing land and making yourself judges in the Kingdom of Rwanda?”

Rukara who had never seen or heard any Protestant missionaries was questioning the Roman Catholic Church’s intention in Rwanda, indirectly saying that they were there for political motives not for the gospel of the Kingdom of God just like the reformers did.

Rukara later went to meet his accuser the Roman Catholic Missionary Loupias who greeted Rukara with contempt and slapped the native in the presence of his fellow countrymen which made Rukara to reciprocate Loupias action.

A fight broke out and the Roman Catholic Missionary sought Rukara’s throat but the son of Bishingwe was stronger and overwhelmed Loupias suffocating him to the last breath.

The native killed two more in the process of arresting and hanging him for killing Loupias.

On his last day, the “pagan uneducated” man managed to reason to the Roman Catholic missionaries that his children were innocent and pleaded on their behalf not to be victimized for their father’s crime which was called a “sacrilegious sin”.

Instead of showing love and forgiveness to the children, as people of the Kingdom of Heaven, the Roman Catholic missionaries denied education to Rukara’s children and many relatives were exiled into neighbouring Uganda which was peaceful under the Protestant British.

The Roman Catholics gained dominance in the country, exiled the king and assassinated him in exile, forced a new king to dedicate Rwanda to the Queen Mother of heaven and his son.

We found so many more stories in Central and East Africa which explain the great controversy between Catholics and Protestants almost as it was in the William Tyndale time in England and we will share them with you.

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Rwanda allows children to church after 1.5 years restrictions

The government of Rwanda in Central Africa has allowed children to attend church services and eased some restrictions that limited church operations for the last 1.5 years.

Children at a place of worship in Rwanda

In new guidelines released on Wednesday by the Local governance ministry, “Children are allowed to attend church services along with their caretakers”, according to the guidelines Faith Reporters has seen.

Since the country declared Coronavirus directives in March 2020, children had been barred from attending church services even when churches have been slowly reopening to a restricted number of worshippers.

Pastor Hesron Byiringiro the President at Rwanda Union Mission for the Seventh-day Adventist Church told Faith Reporters on Sunday 24^th October 2021 that the church perceived it as a “positive move”

“Children are the future church. Going to church without children means we are not shaping them for upholding the Church values in future generations” Pastor Byiringiro said today.

Byiringiro said that the church’s Children’s Ministry has so far resumed after it had ceased.

“You know, children are cardinal agents of change and the church has many programmes for children which had been restricted due to the Coronavirus directives. But now everything has resumed” he explained.

A few churches are open in Rwanda, a country that had even before Coronavirus in 2018 had issued directives raising church structure standards and required a Bachelor's degree for pastors which saw about 8000 churches closed especially in the capital Kigali.

Reports said that the Central African nation but also in the East African Community bloc also prosecuted about a dozen pastors for showing unwillingness to respect the government directives in 2018.

The Coronavirus directives found believers already grappling with the contributions of rebuilding churches that meet government standards.

While children were barred from going to places of worship, they have been free to go to markets, schools, travel in buses and group-sporting.

Rwanda children attending Kungsfu in November 2020

Reports from South Africa, Malawi, Uganda in East Africa and all countered in Central Africa say that children had been equally treated as the adults on the issue of church-going.

SDA church celebrated its 100 years of presence in Rwanda in 2019 and launched the School of Medicine, part of the Adventist University of Central Africa project in Rwanda.

School of Medicine, part of the Adventist University of Central Africa

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Religious prisoners: father, sons in Uzbekistan’s prison

The Uzbekistan government is accused of jailing its nationals who practice Islam differently from what the state dictates, according to the USCIRF report

Screenshot USCIRF Report Highlighting Uzbekistan’s Religious and Political Prisoners

A report by United States Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) released on Wednesday 13^th October 2021 condemns the Uzbekistan regime for holding over 2000 political and religious prisoners, documenting stories of 81 individuals.

Father and two sons were sentenced to over a dozen years in prison in a country where many convicts suffer rampant resentencing when the inmate is about to finish their prison term.

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Mukhitdin Saidovich Irgashev, 53, is a religious Muslim who worked as a physical fitness trainer and trader in both his native Bukhara and Yekaterinburg, Russia.

Irgashev is married to Zumrat Irgasheva and has three children, Sardorbek, Otabek, and Khodjiakbar born November 26, 2009.

The two older sons, Sardorbek and Otabek, are both imprisoned along with their father.

For several years before their arrest, Mukhitdin and his two older sons were under surveillance by Russian and Uzbek security services, both in Bukhara, Uzbekistan and in Yekaterinburg, Russia.

On one occasion Mukhitdin and his son Otabek were detained while they attended a mosque in Russia in 2013.

Uzbek security services arranged for several informants to visit Mukhitdin Irgashev’s home, both in Russia and in Uzbekistan, and secretly record conversations with the Irgashev family on religious topics, including the news regarding Syria.

Officers arrested Mukhitdin, along with his son Otabek, in Bukhara Uzbekistan on April 1, 2015, charging them with administrative offenses, before charging them with extremism-related offenses.

Mukhitdin’s wife, Zumrat, reports that both her husband and son Otabek were subjected to severe torture in custody between April and September 2015, when the trial was held.

Both were tortured by security services officers who attempted to force them to sign false confessions to the crime of financing terrorism.

In September 2015, a Tashkent court sentenced Mukhitdin to 15 years, Sardorbek to 12 years, and Otabek to 11 years in imprison.

According to Zumrat, all three were subjected to torture during pre-trial detention.

The three are currently serving sentences in different prison colonies.

Sardorbek Irgashev,31, along with his brother Otabek and father, Mukhitdin, was under surveillance by Russian and Uzbek security services both in Bukhara, Uzbekistan, and in Yekaterinburg, Russia, for several years prior to arrest.

Screenshot USCIRF Report Highlighting Uzbekistan’s Religious and Political Prisoners

On 9 May 2015, Yekaterinburg police officers in Russia detained Sardorbek, deporting him 11 days later to Tashkent.

In September 2015, a Tashkent court sentenced Sardorbek to 12 years, his father to 15 years, and his brother Otabek to 11 years in imprison.

According to his mother, Zumrat, all three were subjected to torture during pre-trial detention.

The three are currently serving sentences in different prison colonies.

Otabek Irgashev,27, along with his older brother Sardorbek and father, Mukhitdin, was under surveillance by Russian and Uzbek security services both in Bukhara, Uzbekistan, and in Yekaterinburg, Russia, for several years prior to arrest.

Screenshot USCIRF Report Highlighting Uzbekistan’s Religious and Political Prisoners

On one occasion Mukhitdin and his son were detained while they attended a mosque in Russia in 2013.

Officers arrested Otabek and his father in Bukhara on 1^st April 2015, charging them with administrative offenses before charging them with extremism-related offenses.

Otabek’s mother, Zumrat, reports that both Mukhitdin and Otabek were subjected to severe torture in custody between April and September 2015, when the trial was held.

Both were tortured by security services officers who attempted to force them to sign false confessions to the crime of financing terrorism.

In September 2015, a Tashkent court sentenced Otabek’s father, Mukhitdin, to 15 years, his brother Sardorbek to 12 years, and Otabek to 11 years in prison.

According to Otabek’s mother, Zumrat, all three were subjected to torture during pretrial detention.

The three are currently serving sentences in different prison colonies.

Adventist Pr Jacob Prashanth in India: Authorities indirectly back Christians’ persecution

Pastor Jacob Prashanth from India has said that Authorities in India do not directly participate in the ongoing persecution of Christians but indirectly support the groups that attack Christians.

Seventh-day Adventist Pastor Jacob Prashanth of Vadavathoor Church, Kerala India

In an interview with the Faith Reporters today 15 October 2021, the Seventh-day Adventist pastor at Vadavathoor Church in India's coastal state Kerala said “It’s not only Christians but all other religions that are not Hinduism are facing challenges in some parts of India”

“The northern states, especially Uttar Pradesh, are very hostile to non-Hindus because of converting Hindu followers into other religions,” he said.

“Authorities do not officially attack one for converting to Christianity. It is usually a set of local people who attack Christians while authorities stand by without intervening” Pastor Prashanth explained.

He noted that the evidence that pins authorities’ involvement in the persecution of Christians and other minority groups is the fact that attackers are not held accountable for violating people’s freedom of conscience.

“The outward appearance of the problem is that it is not carried out by authorities, it is blamed on Hindu fanatics and community hatred but when you look at the fact that the groups that attack Christians are not prosecuted, it gives an impression that authorities are behind it and support them in the shadows” Pastor Prashanth highlighted.

Although Pastor Prashanth has never been attacked or seen an attack in his community he casts doubt on the future of freedom of worship in India citing persecution increases steadily to engulf the whole India.

“Kerala is a moderate state, people are not ready to attack neighbours but since 2014 when the administration that is pro-Hinduism and anti the rest, we have realized a sharp increase in persecution of churches and pastors” he commented.

Some states have already passed laws that prevent the conversion of Indians especially to Christianity and this week Karnataka State laid a similar strategy favoured by Narendra Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party.

“One converting from one religion to another of their choice is guaranteed in our constitution but Christians are having a tough time since the new government is Hinduism oriented”

Despite all the evidence of persecution, on the contrary, Pastor Prashanth expressed strength that the church will prevail and he will minister.

“For sure, I am uncertain of what the future holds for Christians in India but we still minister, no matter what authorities do” he concluded.

Vadavathoor Seventh-day Adventist Church in India's coastal state, Kerala

Previous reports

The US Commission of International Religious Freedom’s 2021 annual report ranked India the fourth after Burma (Myanmar), China and Eritrea in the list of countries that oppress religious freedom.

“The government, led by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), promoted Hindu nationalist policies resulting in systematic, ongoing, and egregious violations of religious freedom,” the report commented.

“In late 2020, Uttar Pradesh, India’s most populous state, passed an ordinance avoiding any marriage conducted for the “sole purpose of unlawful conversion or vice-versa,” the report noted.

About India by the Open Doors

The Open Doors, an organisation that tracks religious freedom, in their recent report ranked India in the top ten countries whose regimes oppress religious freedom using religious nationalism to label those who are not reverent to Hinduism as enemies of the state.

“Christians are accused of following a foreign faith and often physically attacked. If they don’t re-convert, their community may boycott them, with a devastating effect on their ability to earn income and buy food” the report says.

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