On October 13th, I had the honor and privilege of presenting information about Religious Persecution in Mexico at the VOM/USA office in Oklahoma, for the first time representing our own office, VOM en Mexico. Actually getting there was the battle... on the way to the border in San Luis Colorado, where I planned on visiting my daughter Jaimee and grandson Lonney Ray (pictured here with the Lion), my wallet will all my money and documents was stolen... just before I arrived. I found out when we went to Mac Donalds and ordered, only to find that my wallet was gone! Passport, Maine ID, credit card, prison visitation ID, checks, immigration permission... EVERTHING. No money... no phone to contact people... no way to get on a plane from Yuma to Tulsa without passport or picture ID. Now if you know me, you have heard about my wild travel by bus stories of things that have happened to me that shouldn't. I have actually some VOM fame in Oklahoma that I shouldn't deserve. Why, when anyone mentions traveling by bus, does everyone who knows me or has heard of me, start laughing? It's a toss up of being known for my "strong" personality (who: sweet and kind little ole me?) or the infamous bus trips I've experienced. And actually, without apologies, I'll say that now British owned Greyhound bus service in the States could learn alot from the luxury, and reasonably priced buslines in Mexico and Central America, where one can ride in comfort, and be treated politely! Since I couldn't get to OK on time, I set about doing what I needed todo to get my report written and sent in, with the help of a young man I'd never met before, who was visiting at La Sombra Baptist Church in San Luis, Sonora, Mexico. And on Sunday morning, after church, this "strange" young man told me that the Lord had told him that I should get to that conference. So when nothing else was feasible, he offered to drive me in his car and pay the costs for the 30 hour straight trip to Bartlesville. Well, at that rate, Jaime asked if she could tag along, and bring her son, Lonney. So off we went, on a journey made a bit longer by my grandson's tendency to carsickness, but with Allan and his fiancee, Hayley showing patience and kindness all the way. We arrived at 1:30 am... and were received with typical VOM love and graciousness. I believe that the information from our office was rather different, and that many heard for the first time, or at least explained in a clearer manner, what is the actual situation relating to religious discrimination and persecution in Mexico, now even recognized by the US State Department last week. I'd say that the higher indices of persecution are a result of several issues... and not until the August Supreme Court release of 20 Acteal Massacre Prisoners, due to increased resentment or hatred for evangelical believers by those of the majority church. Those two causes would be: 1. increased activism in reporting cases as they happen, and 2. workshops taught since 2007, teaching the indigena believers that they have guarenteed religious liberty under Article 24 of the Mexican constitution. That due to people like Oscar Moha, journalist/human rights defender in Mexico City and Esdras Alonso, leader & human rights defender in Chiapas. We would attribute the persecution in general to: the 1. disinterest of the Mexican federal government to promote religious equality and to stand by the laws that guarantee it, and the 2.position of the majority church as a favored body, loathe to give up its political and spiritual influence, and the increasing loss of its followers to the evangelical movement, and 3. indigena groups or traditional rural communities who believe they are legitimately defending the Religious, Traditional,Economic and Cultural Identity of their communities... VOM en Mexico has been able, through the documentation and strong advocacy efforts of Oscar Moha to call attention to these issues... both inside and outside Mexico. Now to work more closely with those who have been on the front line, suffering for their evangelical faith in Jesus Christ as Lord and Saviour. Above in the photo, you will see my grandson, who has already made his first missionary trip to Chiapas, and feels a connection with it's indigena peoples. He says his best friend is Brother Tom White. He certainly is in good comapny! God bless, Tom White and all the others like him, who love and sacrifice to be a Voice for those who don't have one!
Nov 3, 2009
Christians Still Die And there IS Religious Persecution in Mexico
On October 13th, I had the honor and privilege of presenting information about Religious Persecution in Mexico at the VOM/USA office in Oklahoma, for the first time representing our own office, VOM en Mexico. Actually getting there was the battle... on the way to the border in San Luis Colorado, where I planned on visiting my daughter Jaimee and grandson Lonney Ray (pictured here with the Lion), my wallet will all my money and documents was stolen... just before I arrived. I found out when we went to Mac Donalds and ordered, only to find that my wallet was gone! Passport, Maine ID, credit card, prison visitation ID, checks, immigration permission... EVERTHING. No money... no phone to contact people... no way to get on a plane from Yuma to Tulsa without passport or picture ID. Now if you know me, you have heard about my wild travel by bus stories of things that have happened to me that shouldn't. I have actually some VOM fame in Oklahoma that I shouldn't deserve. Why, when anyone mentions traveling by bus, does everyone who knows me or has heard of me, start laughing? It's a toss up of being known for my "strong" personality (who: sweet and kind little ole me?) or the infamous bus trips I've experienced. And actually, without apologies, I'll say that now British owned Greyhound bus service in the States could learn alot from the luxury, and reasonably priced buslines in Mexico and Central America, where one can ride in comfort, and be treated politely! Since I couldn't get to OK on time, I set about doing what I needed todo to get my report written and sent in, with the help of a young man I'd never met before, who was visiting at La Sombra Baptist Church in San Luis, Sonora, Mexico. And on Sunday morning, after church, this "strange" young man told me that the Lord had told him that I should get to that conference. So when nothing else was feasible, he offered to drive me in his car and pay the costs for the 30 hour straight trip to Bartlesville. Well, at that rate, Jaime asked if she could tag along, and bring her son, Lonney. So off we went, on a journey made a bit longer by my grandson's tendency to carsickness, but with Allan and his fiancee, Hayley showing patience and kindness all the way. We arrived at 1:30 am... and were received with typical VOM love and graciousness. I believe that the information from our office was rather different, and that many heard for the first time, or at least explained in a clearer manner, what is the actual situation relating to religious discrimination and persecution in Mexico, now even recognized by the US State Department last week. I'd say that the higher indices of persecution are a result of several issues... and not until the August Supreme Court release of 20 Acteal Massacre Prisoners, due to increased resentment or hatred for evangelical believers by those of the majority church. Those two causes would be: 1. increased activism in reporting cases as they happen, and 2. workshops taught since 2007, teaching the indigena believers that they have guarenteed religious liberty under Article 24 of the Mexican constitution. That due to people like Oscar Moha, journalist/human rights defender in Mexico City and Esdras Alonso, leader & human rights defender in Chiapas. We would attribute the persecution in general to: the 1. disinterest of the Mexican federal government to promote religious equality and to stand by the laws that guarantee it, and the 2.position of the majority church as a favored body, loathe to give up its political and spiritual influence, and the increasing loss of its followers to the evangelical movement, and 3. indigena groups or traditional rural communities who believe they are legitimately defending the Religious, Traditional,Economic and Cultural Identity of their communities... VOM en Mexico has been able, through the documentation and strong advocacy efforts of Oscar Moha to call attention to these issues... both inside and outside Mexico. Now to work more closely with those who have been on the front line, suffering for their evangelical faith in Jesus Christ as Lord and Saviour. Above in the photo, you will see my grandson, who has already made his first missionary trip to Chiapas, and feels a connection with it's indigena peoples. He says his best friend is Brother Tom White. He certainly is in good comapny! God bless, Tom White and all the others like him, who love and sacrifice to be a Voice for those who don't have one!
Sep 28, 2009
Aug 14, 2009
A Miracle for the Innocent Evangelical Prisoners from Chiapas Highlands
Praise God for His Mercy and Faithfulness to His most Forgotten Children!
20 Tzotzil Indigenas detained illegally and sentenced on the basis of falsified and maliciously manufactured evidence have finally been heard by the Mexican Supreme Court, which stopping short of declaring them innocent, decided in favor of their release after almost 12 years because of patently falsified evidence by the government investigators and attorney general's office. 20 more remain from the same list of appeals, and 56 more who will have their cases re-evaluated. The decision by the judges is an unheard of reverse by the Court, and although merited because of the many irregularities through out the investigation and trials, many thought the judges would not have the courage to make the decision they did. Although 9 suspects had confessed, and stated that the evangelicals had nothing to do with the Acteal Massacre in '97 of 45, mostly women and children, the police and judges consistently had willfully ignored the confessions and the alibis for the majority. The majority of the detained were evangelicals not in agreement with the rebel Zapatistas that had taken possession and control of their region. Their lands have been taken over, homes lost, families denied government aid due them, families broken up, and destroyed. Their families have suffered rejection and condemnation, malnutrition and loss of all dear to them. Apparently the men have remained firm in their faith, even winning to Christ some of the other prisoners who were not evangelicals at the time of the arrests. (Evangelical believers still suffer religious intolerance and persecution in the highlands and surrounding areas of Chiapas, Mexico.) The prisoners have been abandoned in the past by the Mexican people who believed the calumny against them, still do, and even by the Body of Christ in Mexican and around the world. We praise the Lord for the teams of lawyers who have come to their defense, and those in the Body of Christ, including children, who have supported them in their years of suffering in the name of Christ, and treated them as political prisoners by their own government, who allowed them to be framed. Praise the Lord for His Mercy and Faithfulness, to us, and tho those who need it most! Lord have Mercy on those who presented false testimony and evidence to promote their own causes, and develop a propaganda machine that has made millions of dollars from the misfortune of the victims, the survivors, and the falsely accused!
Jun 13, 2009
Justice is Mine, says the Lord! /Prayer Campaign for Acteal Prisoners and Families
To The Acteal Families And Prisoners,
From Buffalo, New York Sunday School Kids, DO NOT GIVE UP HOPE! JESUS LOVES "TU"...WE HAVE NOT FORGOTTEN YOU!
This is one of the dozen or so cards that arrived just in time this week in Mexico City, to be presented to Estela Luna Perez, spokesperson for the Acteal Prisoners Families. She was surprised, and very touched by the interest and Christian love showed by this group of young American kids for her and her people. Please keep our brothers and sisters in Christ in your prayers, and before the Lord...for in the end, "Justice is Mine," says the Lord!
Jun 10, 2009
Prayer and Postcard Campaign for the Acteal Prisoners and their Families
Acteal Prisoner's Prayer Alert & Postcard Campaign
UPDATE JUNE 10, 2009
We are reposting this since the latest happenings, this week, regarding our brothers and their families. Estela Luna Perez led her group of families out of Acteal walking to the Mexican capital, 14 hours away by bus. They were joined by over 300 uninvited marchers, and then attacked and fired on by the state police in Oaxaca.The government in Chiapas and political parties had promised support but backed out at the last moment. The peaceful march on behalf of the Innocent Evangelical Prisoners has now been hijacked by two radical groups...with political, propaganda, y financial clout. The Judges of the Supreme Court has postponed their decisions until after the summer elections. Estela and her group are humbly camped out in the Zocalo while their counterparts are being well cared for by their backers in nice hotels. I am sure that Estela and her people are disheartened and feeled betrayed by their neighbors. In the end, we all knew that justice would only be determined through trusting the Lord to move on behalf of the innocent prisoners. Please continue with us in prayer for both the prisoners and their families, not forgetting the judges who are dealing with a case no one wants to touch because of the political and propaganda machines involved. You can encourage Estela and her people by participating in the Postcard Campaign here. This week an manila envelope arrived with drawings from a Sunday School class in Buffalo, New York, telling the Evangelicals, "Don't worry, Jesus loves You!" You too can be a Voice of encouragement to our people who have suffered for their identification as evangelical followers of Jesus Christ.
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PRISONER ALERT: 2009 Prayer & Postcard Campaign!
Fify six (+/-) of our Evangelical brothers in Christ have now lost 12 years of their lives, and will have to serve another 13 (23 in some cases) years, if justice is not attained for them and the families that were left behind when they were originally detained without evidence. Please pray for all those who were victimized by the Massacre in Acteal (1997). The prisoners and their families often feel abandoned, and as if the Body of Christ has forgotten or is ignoring them. Help us to encoutrage them, and to let them know that we, ae their brothers and sisters in Christ, do care:
/ 1. Buy an appropiate postcard from your part of the world, to show where you are from.
2. If is for a prisoner, write in block ketters to the left, on the message side, Hermano. If it is meant for a family, write in block letters, Familia.
3. Choose and print legibly, a scripture verse of encouragement, with book and verse, which is similar to the Spanish names of Bible books. Do not write a note in English. They are Tzotzil, and most do not even speak Spanish.
4. Sign your name with a cross or a heart after your signature.
5. On the right hand side, put the address of our office and contact.
VOM en Mexico Administracion
Att. Linda Picard
Calle Sixto Osuna # 2
Villa Union
Sinaloa, Mexico 82200
God bless you for reflecting Christ's love to the "least of these " our brethren...
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