Burma: Conquerors in the Midst of Chaos

"Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? As it is written: 'For your sake we face death all day long; we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered.' No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord." Romans 8:35-39

When our world is in chaos, we can hold tight to the promise that nothing can separate us from the love of God that we have in Christ. For Christians in Burma, this is a truth to cling to. Most of the Christians in Burma are from the minority tribal populations. The Burmese ethnic group which makes up the majority of the population, generally considers people from the tribal groups to be inferior to them. This attitude in the culture hinders the spread of the gospel message because of the Burmese' unwillingness to listen to a tribal person. Tribal members also face hostilities from the government for other reasons. The Karen minority group has been at war with the Burmese military government for years. They are not only fighting for demoncracy but for their very lives. They do face death all day long in so many different ways; be sure to check out the videos below to give you a better understanding of what life in Burma is like. Also, in the GCC library there is the biography of Adoniram Judson, one of the first Protestant missionaries to ever set foot in Burma. It's part of the Christian Hereos Then and Now Series and is a wonderful testament to how our God loves to do impossible things. This book will help give you a better understanding of the Burmese culture and how Christianity came to be established in Burma. Christianity may be outnumbered in Burma, but the Christians that remain are a remnant and a testament to what faith and persistance can do to transform the hearts in a culture. This month lets focus our prayers on praying that Christians in Burma will conqueror everything that the prince of this world brings their way and that they will have and know victory in Christ from a God who loves them and will not be separated from them.


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Burma/Myanmar

General Info: The name of this country in Southeast Asia is a point of debate. Known as Burma since the time of British colonial rule, the military government officially changed the name to Myanmar in 1989. However, many opposition groups and countries still refuse to acknowledge the name change since they do not recognize the ruling military government as being legitimate. The country is slightly smaller than Texas and consists of central lowlands ringed by steep, rugged highlands. It also has a strategic location near major Indian Ocean shipping lanes. Over half of Burma’s 48,137,741 population is made up of diverse ethnic groups who have substantial numbers of kin in neighboring countries. Thailand deals with Karen and other ethnic refugees, asylum seekers, and rebels. Despite being a country with rich resources, most of the public is in poverty due to the government’s strict controls, mismanagement, and the exploitation of military leaders and businesses. The business climate is widely perceived as corrupt and highly inefficient. Burma is the world’s second largest producer of illicit opium, and methamphetamine and heroin are produced for regional use. The government is currently unwilling to take on major narcotrafficking groups. Burma is also a source country for women, children, and men trafficked for the purpose of forced labor and commercial sexual exploitation. Burmese women and children are trafficked to East and Southeast Asia for commercial sexual exploitation, domestic servitude, and forced labor. Burmese children are subjected to conditions of forced labor in Thailand as hawkers, beggars, and work in different industries. Trafficking within Burma is a significant problem occurring primarily from villages to urban areas. Military and civilian officials are directly involved in forced labor and the unlawful conscription of child soldiers, with reported cases increasing annually.

Government: After Japanese occupation in WWII, Burma gained independence from Britain in 1948. In 1962, the army overthrew the elected government and established what has been called an iron-fisted rule against any democratic movements. In 1988, an estimated three thousand pro-democratic demonstrators were killed when the military gunned them down and imprisoned thousands more. Two years later, the first democratic elections in three decades took place. When the opposition National League for Democracy won 392 of the 485 seats, the ruling party jailed hundreds of NLD members, refusing to give up power. After the ruling junta in 2007 unexpectedly increased fuel prices, tens of thousands of Burmese marched in protest, led by prodemocracy activists and Buddhist monks. One month later, the government brutally suppressed the protests, killing at least 13 people and arresting thousands for participating in the demonstrations. Since then, the regime has continued to raid homes and monasteries and arrest persons suspected of participating in the pro-democracy protests. The government consists of Executive, Legislative, and Judicial branches. There is no guarantee of a fair public trial because the judiciary is not independent of the executive, and 25% of both houses in the legislative are to be reserved for appointed members of the military. The government strictly controls the media, censoring not only criticism of the government, but most ‘bad news’ like natural disasters and even defeats of the national football team. They do report on the daily official and religious ritual activities of the ruling generals, accounts of progress in the implementation of policies, and denunciations of alleged US and UK plots against Burma.


Religion: Buddhist 89%, Christian 4% (Baptist 3%, Roman Catholic 1%), Muslim 4%, animist 1%, other 2%

After the military take over, most Christian missions were expelled in 1966 and the military regime maintains controls over religious activity. There have been many cases of forced conversion from Christianity to Buddhism as well as violence against Christians. All gatherings of more than five people are illegal (not just for Christians) and all houseguests must be reported or face imprisonment. Many of Burma's Christians are part of ethnic minorities (northern Chin groups, Lisu, and Karen) who are opposed for ethnic, political, and religious reasons. The minority Karen people are among the most discriminated against in Burma. Buddhism is strongly entrenched in the Burmese majority and only about five percent of Christians in Burma are converts from Buddhism. Christian sites and graveyards are frequently demolished and replaced with pagodas, often using Christians as forced labor. Christians have been raped, tortured and murdered. In the aftermath of Cyclone Nargis, which devastated the country in early May 2008, Burmese authorities reportedly denied relief aid to several Christians. In an act of opposition to the presence of Christianity in Burma, government forces defaced and then destroyed a fifty-foot concrete cross on a hilltop on Matupi Township of southern Chin State on January 3, 2005. A cross had been in that location for two decades as a testimony to their faith in Christ.

The leading form of Buddhism is Theravada and that belief holds that the path to nirvana is an individual pursuit making it totally dependent on self-effort and it is primarily atheistic. The folk religion of Burma was ‘Nats’ and that was incorporated into Buddhism with Buddha himself being seen as a nat. Nat refers to any number of animistic spirits, but there are inside and outside nats. The inside nats are made up of 37 figures who were humans who died violent deaths, either royalty or connected to royalty in some way. Outside nats are spirits such as those in fields, rivers, and trees. All nats can cause harm and sometimes offer protection, but they must always be respected and appeased in order to ward off evil. Mount Popa is the most important center of nat worship and is considered the home of the most powerful nats. They form a structured system made up of four levels: the territorial nats reign over a region; the village nats guard a human settlement; the mizaing and hpazaing are nats at the family level inherited from the mother and father; and there are nats connected with special activities such as travel, domestic protection, and other mundane activities. Nats are often represented in carved figures or other symbolic modes such as the coconut and red cloth of the house-protecting nat, found on a house pole in almost every Burmese home. There are also festivals held to honor certain nats. The most important nat festival, of national prominence, is the celebration consecrated to the Taungbyon brothers, a pair of nats. At some nat festivals, and at other occasions where many people are gathered, there is often dancing by natgadaws. These nat wives are said to be possessed by their nat spouses, and in the trance of possession they offer fortunes for onlookers who feed them strong drink and tobacco. The natgadaws do not take actual husbands, since the nats are said to fill that particular role and is a common practice.


Information compiled from CIA WorldFactBook ‘Burma’; VOMC ‘Burma’, BBC ’Burma’, Encyclopedia Brittanica ‘Nats’


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Video from Burma: Shoot on Sight(Warning)



Opressive government in Burma



A Secret Genocide



A Quick Look at Myanmar / Burma




Political Context of Burma