While Pakistani Christian Asia Bibi — the mother of five — continues to sit in prison awaiting a presidential pardon, news just came in to us from The Voice of the Martyrs that a church has been bulldozed in the Pakistan city of Lahore.
According to VOM, militant Muslims attacked the King of Kings Church at Asif Town, Raiwind Road, Lahore on Monday Nov. 15.
The bulldozed church, injured three-year old Khalil and mom.
Two thousand Muslims and about 60 Christian families reside in the town.
Apparently evangelists Zahoor and Arshid have held daily prayer meetings at their home for the past 14-months. They've also gathered Christians together at the house for fellowship on Wednesday nights and Sundays when they are joined by Pastor Zafar Iqbal. Church attendance grew, so a house adjacent to Arshid's home was purchased from a Muslim owner. The Christians removed an interior wall to make a large room for worship.
According to VOM, when Mohammed Habib Bhatti, a Muslim neighbor discovered that his neighbor's home had been purchased and used as a church, he came to the property and threatened the pastor Sarwar Masih and said, "You cannot build a church building in this area, we have a mosque in this village, there is no need to build a church."
Bhatti allegedly made good on his threat. According to witnesses, at 1:15 p.m. on Nov. 15, he and eight men (impersonating police officers) came to the church property and verbally abused the Christians. One witness said Muslims threw stones at the Christians as they attempted to stop the assault on their church.
"While the Muslims were throwing stones and bricks, a three-year old boy named Khalil was hit on his head with a brick. They were chanting and threatening us saying if somebody will come out of his home to stop us, we will kill him."
A bulldozer moved in and demolished the church building. Pages of a bible were torn and the church sound system was smashed.
Angry Muslims tore the pages of this bible.
Later, one local official offered to pay church members 50,000 rupees ($584) to forget the incident. The Christians refused and demanded that the perpetrators be arrested and brought to justice. The Christians say many of their Muslim neighbors had no objection to the prayer meetings or the church building.
Here's a copy (in Urdu) of the complaint filed against Mohammed Habib Bhatti and eight unknown perpetrators:
Please pray for the Christians of Pakistan. Not only do believers like Asia Bibi and her family suffer because of the archaic Section 295 Blasphemy Law, they also face daily persecution and discrimination against them and their places of worship.