Myanmar, or the Union of Myanmar, is the largest country by geographical area in mainland Southeast Asia. It is still known as Burma, or the Union of Burma, by many nations and people. The population of the nation is around 53 million people. Approximately 90% of the people consider themselves Buddhist, with additional tribal religious practices added on in many instances.

This unique country has often been in the news during the past few years due to the harsh and powerful military regime that has been in control since 1992. It is now considered one of the world’s most brutal regimes.

Water baptism in Myanmar

On January 21, 2007 the country again made headlines. In the London paper, the "Sunday Telegraph," the headline told the horrid story: "Burma ‘Orders Christians to be Wiped Out.’" The story was based on a secret document believed to have been leaked from a government ministry.

The document, titled, "Program to destroy the Christian religion in Burma," starts with the line: "There shall be no home where the Christian religion is practised." Further to that ultimate purpose, the document provides point by point instructions on how to drive Christians out of the state. Most of the instructions are based on the fact that Christianity is a very gentle religion, and persecutors should "identify and utilise its weakness."

Along with this overt movement by the military junta to wipe out Christianity, recent reports have surfaced of Buddhist monks in some regions being commissioned to "forcibly convert" the populace. In another area, a monk working for the regime, burned down a Christian church.

This is part of a sustained pattern of persecution that is aimed at removing all Christian minority groups. The ultimate intention seems to be a society in which the race and language is only Burmese, even though there are 135 recognised distinct ethnic groups in the country, and the only religion is Buddhism.

Recently Searchlight has been able to publish and distribute 4,000 copies of a Burmese edition of our magazine, "Light for Life." When we contacted one of our associates in Myanmar regarding the Telegraph article, his response was the following:

Thank you very much for your email and pray for us. The below article is really true in Chin State and other places. In Yangon [the capital] some areas are not allowed to worship service and closed some home churches. By the grace of God we all family and ministry are very well till today. But we need to educate and take care ourselves.

Please pray for our country and ministry. We believe prayer changes things. In this our problem time "Light for Life" magazines is encouragement for all believers, ministers, and missionaries.Therefore, we are praying not only for more "Light for Life" magazines, but we also need to distribute other materials from you.

We do appreciate your prayer and support. We love you. Please visit again, and we want to see you all.