[2023 Ramadan Day 19] Spiritual leadership of the Early Church, from death to life! Libya & Algeria

<Libya>

Libya is located in central North Africa and was named after the tribes that lived in eastern Cyrenaica in the 2000s B.C. Most of the area west of the Nile in North Africa was called Libya. In ancient times, Libya was a trading hub of the Mediterranean, but suffered a long period of colonization due to continuous foreign invasions from Phoenicia, Ottoman Turkey, and Italy.

Libya saw revival in the early church after being incorporated into Rome in 64 B.C. and overcoming the persecution of the Roman Empire, but from the 7th century A.D., it was Islamized due to the Arab Empire invasion. After Gaddafi’s military coup in 1969, Libya was under the dictatorship of the Gaddafi regime for 42 years, but as the January 2011 Middle Eastern Democracy protests started in Tunisia and spread to Egypt, Yemen and all Arab regions, a civil revolution started to overthrow the Gaddafi’s dictatorship.

Amidst fierce attacks by NATO forces and anti-government forces, Gaddafi’s policy was to use young people as human shields. So, young people were killed indiscriminately, and on October 20th 2011, the revolution ended with Gaddafi’s death, but there were more than 50,000 casualties. More than 1,700 Islamic militants, including the Maghreb branch of Al Qaeda and Ansar al-Sharia, took advantage of the lack of security and control in Libya to set up training camps, train youth to become Islamic fighters, and lead terrorism and civil war. The long civil war destroyed key infrastructure in Libya, and struggling Libyans are fleeing to Europe even now. There are frequent accidents as hundreds ride on small, worn-down boats across the Mediterranean and drown. Refugees rescued from drifting boats are being sold into the slave market. In the Libyan slave market, adult African men are sold for a mere $400, women are sold as sex slaves, and it is said that even children are being sold.

On December 5th 2013, a 33-year-old American missionary was martyred in Libya. As an English teacher in the eastern Libyan city Benghazi, he was someone who introduced himself as Libya’s best friend, but as he was jogging in the morning, he was shot and killed by an armed gunman. Also in February of 2014, seven Egyptian Christians were killed in Benghazi. According to eyewitnesses, a man with a gun went door to door asking if they were Christian or Muslim, dragged the Christians away and killed them by shooting them in the head.

“During those many days the king of Egypt died, and the people of Israel groaned because of their slavery and cried out for help. Their cry for rescue from slavery came up to God. And God heard their groaning, and God remembered his covenant with Abraham, with Isaac, and with Jacob. God saw the people of Israel—and God knew. (Exodus 2:23-25).”

The Libyans, who are in chaos and spiritual darkness, are weary of the long war and desire peace. There will be great revival and restoration in Libya through the blood of countless martyrs that was offered on this land. God will receive the blood of the martyrs in Libya and allow for the end of the history of darkness and chaos in this land, allowing a year of grace when the light of life will shine.

<Algeria>

Algeria has a population of 45 million, has the 10th largest area in the world and is a land of great mountains and valleys. Nevertheless, for a long time foreigners were not easily allowed to enter, including ministers. Over time the ministers serving in the land came out, so the gospel spreading movement came to a stop.

The Algerian government has firmly closed the door of entry and restricted visits by tourists and other foreigners, but God is still looking at and taking care of this. Despite legal sanctions by the government authorities, the Algerian Church is seeing great revival. In 2008, the number of Christians—mostly from the northern “Berbers”—was only about 10,000, but it increased to 380,000 in 2015 and is now expected to reach 500,000. Because of threats and oppression from the government, Christians move from place to place, between the mountains and homes in order to worship God. Many people, primarily from Muslim backgrounds, are coming back to Christ. Also thankfully, a tourist visa to enter Algeria was recently released.

In June 2021, Angie Saad, an Algerian woman who converted from Islam to Christianity confessed, “As the number of Algerian Christians increased, so did the number of churches. I am not saying this to simply quote international reports published by European or American commissions on religious freedom. I am saying this because I am living in this country, and I myself have also experienced persecution and oppression before.” In addition, though the Algerian church is small and only has 500,000 Christians, the they have proclaimed that they will commission 1,000 missionaries by 2025.

There is a couple who is ministering in Algeria where the husband is Algerian and the wife is Chinese-Malaysian. While serving in Algeria for nearly 40 years, they have hosted many meetings with many young people in attendance. While thinking about what they should do for the revival of Algeria, they went to Mauritania, where they met a pastor who was the leader of the African church. Through this pastor, they were able to meet with Korean ministers, and through this meeting, mission vision and YG mission movement was able to be shared. They said that this kind of YG mission movement was what they had truly desired, and that they wanted to participate in the missions training and conference.

“But the land that you are going over to possess is a land of hills and valleys, which drinks water by the rain from heaven, a land that the Lord your God cares for. The eyes of the Lord your God are always upon it, from the beginning of the year to the end of the year. (Deut. 11:11-12)”

Hallelujah! Algeria seems to have completely shut the door to the gospel, but our Lord’s eyes have always been upon this land. Though it looks like a barren land without anyone preaching the gospel, God who is the master of Algeria is doing a new work! Though the enemy is trying to interfere with God’s work by making the church illegal, we proclaim that no darkness can block the advancement of His gospel history.

[Today’s Prayer]

1. Lord, we believe that you hear the groans of the souls crying out in Libya and Algeria and that you remember these nations. Lord, ruler of all nations, would you take control over all the situations in Libya and Algeria and rescue them from the history of pain and sorrow. Would you open the doors that were closed to the gospel and may the global church serve these nations!

2. Lord, would you remember Libya, that opened the door of missions by first preaching the gospel to the Hellenists. Remember the people of Cyrene (Libya) who carried the cross instead of Jesus to the hill of Golgotha, and restore the spirituality of the Early Church so they would rise up as your holy army to prepare the way for Jesus’ return. As we head towards the end times, would you awaken the Algerian church to unite in spiritual alliance with the global church and rise up, carrying the vision of your kingdom!