MexicoAG.org

Federal law in Mexico gives each individual a right to worship freely. So why are indigenous people in Mexico who come to faith persecuted, thrown out of their villages, or even martyred without any justice?

Because federal law stops outside the borders of the indigenous culture. Each indian village operates according to their own law. Earlier this month in Oaxaca State, catholic Indians in a Zapotec village burned the pentecostal church to the ground. The thirteen families that make up the congregation were either detained from leaving the village or forbidden to reenter. They were also threatened with lynching.

The pastor filed a lawsuit, but the local prosecutor’s reply was that evangelicals can’t be trusted and the pastor was fabricating stories, even though evidence was concrete: a heap of ashes where the church stood only days before. Neither could the congregants depend on help from their local authority, since he himself had been one of the perpetrators.

This story is repeated with varying circumstances throughout the indigenous pueblos of Mexico. It rarely makes the news however, since it is considered a private village matter.

Let’s pray for the indigenous believers throughout Mexico:

• comfort in suffering – “Remember your word to your servant, for you have given me hope. My comfort in my suffering is this: Your promise preserves my life.” Psalm 119:49,50 NIV
• encouragement – “From the ends of the earth I call you, I call as my heart grows faint; lead me to the rock that is higher than I. For you have been my refuge, a strong tower against the foe.” Psalm 61:2,3 NIV
• endurance – “God blesses those who are persecuted because they live for God, for the Kingdom of Heaven is theirs. God bless you you when you are mocked and persecuted and lied about…be happy…for a great reward awaits you in heaven. And remember, the ancient prophets were persecuted, too.” Matthew 5:1012 NLT
• defense – “Give us aid against the enemy, for the help of man is worthless. With God we will gain the victory, and he will trample down our enemies.” Psalm 60:11,12 NIV