Magic Statistics

The pastor of a house church in Somaliland was imprisoned and tortured last month after an official’s niece was converted to Christ under his ministry.  All the members of his church fled to Ethiopia to avoid arrest, but he stayed behind.

On the order of one of Somaliland's high-ranking government officials, [Pastor] Mohammed [not his real name] was imprisoned on December 3, 2007, for leading the official's niece to Christ. Though Pastor Mohammed was released on December 7, 2007, he has been placed under 24-hour surveillance by Somaliland security officials.

During his imprisonment, Somaliland's Criminal Investigation Department tortured Pastor Mohammed in order to obtain the names of the members of his house church, but failed to obtain any information from him.

The Republic of Somaliland broke away from Somalia in 1991, but its independent existence is not recognised by any country.  The state religion is Sunni Islam.

International Christian Concern has received information that the country’s Criminal Investigation Department has been infiltrated by militant jihadists from the Salafi movement, whence Al-Qaeda was born.  They are said to be working to neutralise several church leaders.

Food prices are rising around the world, but not because of crop failures or other supply disruptions.  Rather, demand for agricultural products has increased, due largely to government programmes to encourage use of plants as fuel sources.

Record prices for grain from corn to rice have ignited food riots from Jakarta to Rome. In Pakistan, troops now guard wheat stocks. China and Russia have imposed price controls. Connect the dots and there's a need for a fix to a crisis that, strangely, isn't caused by smaller harvests.
. . .
One reason is an ill-conceived dash by both the United States and Europe to use grain and valuable farmland for biofuels, motivated more by powerful farm lobbies than concerns about global warming. (Telling factoid: To fill up the tank of one SUV with ethanol would require enough grain to feed one person for a year.)

Riots over food prices have erupted in Mexico, Morocco, Senegal and other countries.  In Indonesia, riots were triggered by a tripling of soybean prices over the past year.  Soybean production has been increased by leveling and burning dense forests, discharging enormous quantities of carbon dioxide.

Environmental groups have started to campaign against biofuel production.

The evidence against biofuels marshalled by [UK Green Party councillor Dr Andrew]  Boswell and other environmentalists appears quite damning. Advertised as a fuel that only emits the amount of carbon dioxide that the plants absorb while growing — making it carbon neutral — it actually has resulted in a profitable industrial sector attractive to countries around the world. Vast swaths of forest have been felled and burned in Argentina and elsewhere for soya plantations. Carbon-rich peat bogs are being drained and rain forests destroyed in Indonesia to make way for extensive palm oil farming.

Because the forests are often torched and the peat rapidly oxidizes, the result is huge amounts of CO2 being released into the atmosphere. Furthermore, healthy peat bogs and forests absorb CO2 — scientists refer to them as "carbon sinks" — making their disappearance doubly harmful.

An agricultural expert with Greenpeace says encouraging use of biofuels is “causing a climate catastrophe”.

h/t: Greenie Watch and Brussels Journal

Previous related posts:

• Pay us or we’ll burn our own forests: Indonesia
• Biofuel craze could disrupt food supply
• Biofuels emit more GHGs than do fossil fuels

The collect for today, the Feast Day of St Polycarp, Bishop of Smyrna, Martyr (source):

Almighty God,
who gave to your servant Polycarp
boldness to confess the name of our Saviour Jesus Christ
before the rulers of this world
and courage to die for his faith:
grant that we also may be ready
to give an answer for the faith that is in us
and to suffer gladly for the sake of our Lord Jesus Christ,
who is alive and reigns with you,
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever.

For The Epistle: Revelation 2:8-11
The Gospel: St Matthew 20:20-23

Church tradition holds that Polycarp was born c. AD 69 of Christian parents and was a disciple of St John the Apostle and Evangelist, who ordained him Bishop of Smyrna.  Polycarp was arrested during a pagan festival in Smyrna (present-day Izmir, Turkey) and brought before the Roman pro-consul.

[W]hen the magistrate pressed him hard and said, "Swear the oath, and I will release you; revile the Christ," Polycarp said, "Eighty-six years have I been His servant, and He has done me no wrong. How then can I blaspheme my King who saved me?"

But on his persisting again and saying, "Swear by the genius of Caesar," he answered, "If you suppose vainly that I will swear by the genius of Caesar, as you say, and feign that you are ignorant who I am, hear you plainly: I am a Christian. But if you would learn the doctrine of Christianity, assign a day and give me a hearing."

He was burned at the stake for refusing to renounce Christ.

The Martyrdom of Polycarp was written down by the church of Smyrna and sent as a letter to the church at Philomelium.  It is the first Christian martyrology.  Several translations of the text can be accessed via this page.