Friday, 17 September 2010 Special to Compass Direct News News – Featured News
Nearly five years into the prison sentence of the only Christian in Morocco serving time for his faith, Moroccan Christians and advocates question the harsh measures of the Muslim state toward a man who dared speak openly about Jesus.
By the end of December Jamaa Ait Bakrim, 46, will have been in prison for five years at Morocco’s largest prison, Prison Centrale, in Kenitra. An outspoken Christian convert, Bakrim was sentenced to 15 years prison for “proselytizing” and destroying “the goods of others” in 2005 after burning two defunct utility poles located in front of his private business in a small town in south Morocco.
Advocates and Moroccan Christians said, however, that the severity of his sentence in relation to his misdemeanor shows that authorities were determined to put him behind bars because he persistently spoke about his faith.
“He became a Christian and didn’t keep it to himself,” said a Moroccan Christian and host for Al Hayat Television who goes only by his first name, Rachid, for security reasons. “He shared it with people around him. In Morocco, and this happened to me personally, if you become a Christian you may be persecuted by your family. If you keep it to yourself, no one will bother you. If you share it with anyone else and start speaking about it, that’s another story.”
Rachid fled Morocco in 2005 due to mounting pressure on him and his family. He is a wanted man in his country, but he said it is time for people to start speaking up on behalf of Bakrim, whom he said has “zeal” for his faith and speaks openly about it even in prison.
“Our Moroccan brothers and sisters suffer, and we just assume things will be OK and will somehow change later by themselves,” said Rachid. “They will never change if we don’t bring it to international attention.”
Authorities in Agadir tried Bakrim for “destruction of the goods of others,” which is punishable with up to 20 years in prison, and for proselytism under Article 220, which is punishable with six months to three years in prison.
“Jamaa is a manifestation of a very inconvenient truth for Moroccan authorities: there are Moroccan converts to Christianity,” said Logan Maurer, a regional director at U.S.-based advocacy group International Christian Concern (ICC). “The government wants to ignore this, suppress it, and when—as in Jamaa’s case—the problem won’t go away, they do whatever they can to silence it.”
Proselytism in Morocco is generally defined as using means of seduction or exploiting weakness to undermine the faith of Muslims or to convert them to another religion.
Recently Morocco has used the law to punish any proclamation of non-Muslim faith, contradicting its pledge to allow freedom to manifest one’s faith under the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, to which it is a signatory. Article 18 of the covenant affirms the right to manifest one’s faith in worship, observance, practice or teaching.
The covenant also states, however, that “freedom to manifest one’s religion or beliefs may be subject only to such limitations as are prescribed by law and are necessary to protect public safety, order, health, or morals or the fundamental rights and freedoms of others.”
There are an estimated 1,000 Moroccan Christian converts in the country. They are not recognized by the government. About 99 percent of Morocco’s population of more than 33 million is Muslim.
Between March and June authorities expelled 128 foreign Christians in an effort to purge the country of any foreign Christian influences. In April nearly 7,000 Muslim religious leaders backed the deportations by signing a document describing the work of Christians within Morocco as “moral rape” and “religious terrorism.”
The statement from the religious leaders came amid a nationwide mudslinging campaign geared to vilify Christians in Morocco for “proselytism”—widely perceived as bribing people to change their faith.
In the same time period, Moroccan authorities applied pressure on Moroccan converts to Christianity through interrogations, searches and arrests. Christians on the ground said that, although these have not continued, there is still a general sense that the government is increasingly intolerant of Christian activities.
“They are feeling very bad,” said Rachid. “I spoke to several of them, and they say things are getting worse. …They don’t feel safe. They are under a lot of disappointment, and [they are] depressed because the government is putting all kinds of pressure on them.”
From Europe to Prison
Bakrim, a Berber from southern Morocco, studied political science and law in Rabat. After completing his studies he traveled to Europe, where he became a Christian. Realizing that it would be difficult to live out his newfound faith in Morocco, in 1993 he applied for political asylum in the Netherlands, but immigration authorities refused him and expelled him when his visa expired.
In 1995 Bakrim was prosecuted for “proselytizing,” and spent seven months in jail in the city of Goulemine. In April 1996 he was transferred to a mental hospital in Inezgane, where authorities ordered he undergo medical treatments. He was released in June. The psychiatric treatment caused side-effects in his behavior and made it difficult for him to control his hands and legs for a period of time, sources told Compass.
Two years later authorities put him in jail again for a year because he publicly displayed a cross, according to an article by Moroccan weekly Le Journal Hebdo published in January 2005.
“He has a zeal about his religion,” said Rachid. “He never denied his faith through all these things, and he even preached the gospel in prison and the psychiatric place where they held him. … They tried to shut him [up], and they couldn’t.”
In 2001 Bakrim again attracted attention by painting crosses and writing Bible verses in public view at his place of business, which also served as his home, according to the French-language weekly.
Between 2001 and 2005 he reportedly wrote to the municipality of Massa, asking officials to remove two wooden utility posts that were no longer in use, as they were blocking his business. When authorities didn’t respond, Bakrim burned them.
During his defense at the Agadir court in southern Morocco, Bakrim did not deny his Christian faith and refuted accusations that he had approached his neighbors in an attempt to “undermine their Muslim faith.”
The judge ruled that “the fact that Jamaa denies accusations of proselytism is inconsistent with his previous confession in his opening statement when he proclaimed he was the son of Christ, and that he wished that Moroccans would become Christians,” according to Le Journal Hebdo.
Bakrim did not appeal the court sentence. Though there have been other cases of Christians imprisoned for their faith, none of their sentences has been as long as Bakrim’s.
“They will just leave him in the prison so he dies spiritually and psychologically,” said Rachid.
“Fifteen years is too much for anything they say he did, and Jamaa knows that. The authorities know he’s innocent. So probably they gave him this sentence so they can shut him [up] forever.”
Rachid asked that Christians around the world continue to lobby and pray that their Moroccan brothers and sisters stand firm and gain their freedoms.
“The biggest need is to stand with the Moroccan church and do whatever it takes to ask for their freedom of religion,” said Rachid.
Praise God for a man who is not afraid to stand by His faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. Paul was shut up in prison and was prepared to die for his faith. Paul said that he may be imprisoned but the gospel is not imprisoned, he may be in chains but the gospel is not in chains.
We should be praying that this man will continue to speak boldly for his faith in Jesus and to be willing to die for his faith. Unless a grain of wheat falls to the ground and dies it dies alone, when it falls to the ground and dies it will produce much fruit perhaps this brother being in prison and sharing his faith and if he should die for his faith he will produce much fruit because the gospel is going out and he is proclaiming Christ. They will not be able to keep him quiet, Jesus in his end time discourses in the gospels told us that we will be persecuted for our faith, we will be taken before, kings, magistrates, judges and synagogues for the early Christians were Jewish and they were thrust out of the synagogues and were beaten and imprisoned for their faith. Jesus told us not to prepare what to say beforehand before we appear in courts or before kings etc but to wait on the Father that when we appear before these people He the Spirit will give us the words to say and they will astound them by the wisdom and authority in the words that will be spoken.
Jesus also warned us that people will kill us for our faith thinking that they will be doing God a favor. He also told us to rejoice when we are persecuted as our reward in heaven will be great, He also told us that if they hated Him they will also hate us a pupil is not above the teacher if they persecuted Him they will persecute us also. The early Christians were persecuted and tortured for their faith and it is still happening all over the world and it will increase more so as the dark days of tribulation draw near. Those who are for God will listen to us; those who are not for God will not listen to us
There are two kingdoms one is of light and of God and the other is of darkness and the devil you either belong to one or the other and as Christians we shouldn’t be surprised when we suffer persecution because that is the nature of the devil to persecute those who belong to God and Yeshua because He hates God and Yeshua.
The church should stop looking to the government the world’s system to support them and to put pressure on the governments’ of the world it will only work for a little while but overall what the true Christians want will be ignored. As the world’s system is under the control of the devil and it will continue to be so until the Lord Yeshua returns to set up His millennial kingdom.
We should be looking to YHVH for our protection, not man and definitely not the governments of this corrupt world system. It is YHVH in the long run who will look after us and protect us from the hour of testing that is coming upon this planet.
Let me tell you something we are not going to escape persecution, imprisonment, death we in the west will one day very soon experience these things and we better be prepared for when these things start to happen and take place. The church will need to go underground like it did in Russia and China and other countries. We better get to know people now who we can trust, we better start to get to know the Lord intimately now to know His voice and leadings by His Spirit, we better start to know our Bible by heart because our Bibles will be confiscated and destroyed as will our churches. War is coming in the Middle East, deep darkness is coming upon the earth, economic upheaval and natural disasters are increasing and these will be from the hand of God as He brings His judgments upon the earth. Satan is about to set up his unholy kingdom on this earth and he will have power over the saints, we will be given into his hands, this is part of the judgment that is coming upon the house of God so that YHVH can purify the bride in readiness to bring her home. Those who are faithful to the end and keep their garments clean will go into the Marriage Supper of the Lamb.
God is in control but how dare we think that we should escape persecution, our brothers and sisters in third world countries have gone through untold horrors for their faith and they stayed faithful to the Lord even unto death. Now it is the turn of the western church to undergo persecution, God is going to severely judge the western church and to purge it and cleanse it from its filth and we better be ready for these trying times ahead. Those who know their God will be protected and He will use us to do exploits in Him but some may be required to die for their faith. If Jesus, was willing to lay down His life for us and He paid a huge price for our salvation, shouldn’t we be willing to lay down our lives for Him. Paul and all of the apostles except for John died horrible deaths in honor for their lord as did the early Christians and others down through out history.
We are not going to see nations become Christian it is too late for that the hour is almost upon us when the Lord is going to come back. The church is not going to Christianize the world and rule for a thousand years without Jesus ruling from Jerusalem and then when the thousand years is up and Jesus comes back and give the world to Him on a plate, that is not scriptural it is A millennialism and it is humanistic it is not Godly. Jesus told us plainly in the gospels in the end time discourses see Matthew 24, Luke 21, Mark 13, Paul in 1 Corinthians 15, 1 and 2 Thess, Peter in 2 Peter 3, Jude in Jude, John in his book of Revelation, Daniel in the last chapters of the book of Daniel, Isaiah, Ezekiel, Jeremiah, Malachi and some from the Psalms all proclaim the Day of the Lord and what it will be like. That the man of perdition will come, he will set up rule on the earth and he will control the nations and everyone will be forced to worship him, those who don’t will lose their lives. We are warned not to take the mark, not to get our garments dirty, not to worship the beast or to worship this corrupt world system. That Jesus will descend from heaven on His white horse and wage war with the beast and the false prophet before setting up His kingdom of righteousness from Jerusalem.
Please read the five prophecies that the Lord gave to Lance Lambert you can Google them and they are very specific prophecies about what the Lord will be doing in these last days.
The Lord is going to allow Satan to have his hour on this earth before judging him and casting him into the pit to be locked up for a 1,000 Satan has not been bound yet, he is still going around deceiving, seducing and blinding the eyes of the people to the truth of the gospel. There is no lasting peace on the earth. The devil will be locked up for 1,000 years or almost then people will be free from his tricks and deceptions and corruptions the world will have peace for 1,000 years after Yeshua returns. The nations will be saved those who are the sheep nations will be saved en mass only after Israel has been saved and is brought to her rightful place as the head of the nations when Yeshua returns to rescue her from her enemies. No nation will be totally saved before Israel is totally saved. No nation can rise above Israel as she is God’s chosen nation and He will elevate her and when she is saved then the other nations will saved at the same time in YHVH”s prophetic calendar all of these events will take place, in His time and not ours.
Revelation also states that those who are unclean will remain unclean, those who are wicked will remain wicked and those who are pure will remain pure. There is a divide that is happening between two people groups the just and pure and the unclean and wicked and that divide is getting wider by the day. There are those who will come to the Lord and will hear His voice because the Father has chosen them before time to come to His Son, only those who the Father’s calls and puts the desire in their hearts to do so will come to His Son see John 6 and 7. We don’t know who they are so of course we must preach the gospel to all and those whom God touches will come to Him and He will bring in a great harvest the latter days end time harvest, multitudes will come to Him but with this harvest will come persecution like it did in the early church. Those who are not of God but are of the devil will keep on being corrupt and go further into darkness.
The world is going to plunge into this dark time very soon and the soon coming war in the Middle East is going to accelerate these times and the economic crash is going to usher in the time known as the Tribulation the great Tribulation is the time of Jacob’s Trouble’s through which the Jewish people are going to go through another Holocaust worse than Hitler’s Holocaust it has been prophesized that it would happen in scripture and it will take place for YHVH”s purposes to be fulfilled on this earth. Those who are faithful to the Lord will escape the hour of testing aka Jacob’s Troubles that are coming upon the earth see Revelation 3:10.
We should be praying for those who are in prison to have the courage to speak boldly for their faith to have the strength and courage to die for their faith. For the churches who are facing persecution to look to YHVH and not man to protect them and to lead them by His Holy Spirit.
My question to you who read this comment is are you ready for this time of testing and trial that is soon coming upon the earth? Do you have an intimate relationship with YHVH, the Father, Yeshua the Son and Ruach Har Kadesh the Holy Spirit? Are you Spirit filled? Do you spend time with the Lord each day? Do you read His word? Do you break bread with Him? Do you know His flavor have you tasted Him? Do you know Him as the God of Israel? Do you love His people the kinsmen of His house the Jews? Have you tasted His Hebrew flavor?
Should persecution come and it will even in Australia and New Zealand will you be able to stand? Or will you faint and lose heart and fall away and start to mistrust the very One you need to trust. Read the passages in the scriptures that I gave above esp. the end time passages in the gospels and take them seriously. We are living in these last days and things will not continue to go on as they have been YHVH is shaking the earth see Heb 18 -29 and Haggai ch 2:6-9,21-22, Isaiah 11, 63 Revelation 16 -20. These are warnings to get ready, are you ready, don’t be like the foolish virgins and think the Lord’s return is a long way off and go to sleep, no it is not the Lord is almost at the door and He is ready very soon to burst upon the world scene but first He must shake everything and only He is unshakable are you hidden in Him under the blood of the Lamb? He wrath is coming very soon upon the earth in the form of judgments that are described in Revelation He has to hide us in Himself away from Himself away from His fierce anger against ungodly men and the satanic world system. Only by being born again and covered by the blood of Yeshua can we be hidden in Him, we are hid in Christ see Col 3:1-6.
The Lord is warning those whom He loves to get ready and not to sleep the time for sleeping is past arise oh sleeper and wake up from the dead the and let Christ shine in you Eph 5:10-17, the time of trial and the return of the Lord is at hand, so be ready.