The past few weeks, I’ve given you background on Burma, aka Myanmar. Now, some updates.
It should come as no surprise that Burma has been stalling the “trial” of Aung San Suu Kyi. Then, Burma jailed several of her supporters.
Britain has threatened tougher sanctions against Burma on The Lady’s 64th birthday. Prime Minister Gordon Brown called upon her release prior to a visit to Burma by UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon. On 30 June 2009, Ki-moon urged Burma to release all political prisoners, including Aung San Suu Kyi. On 4 July 2009, Ki-moon did press for the release of over 2,000 political prisoners.
Whatever comes of this, I don’t think we can count on justice from a government that has so little regard for its citizens that it won’t even accept foreign aid during a crisis (Cyclone Nargis). It is unlikely that we will see just treatment from a government that reacted in violence to protests by peaceful Buddhist monks. I doubt we can expect fair treatment from a government that persecutes Christians, particularly of the Karen tribe.
I also don’t believe it is any coincidence that the highest proportion of Church of God believers in Myanmar are in the most persecuted minority in the country.
The enemy, if left unrestrained, would destroy the Church of God. However, Jesus promised the gates of Hades would not prevail against it. Yet, we truly need to pray for the persecuted brethren wherever they may be in the world. They need supernatural strength to endure.