07-12-2024 Benjamin Gill
Eleven pastors and ministry leaders are being held in prison in Nicaragua after holding mass evangelism campaigns last year to spread the gospel of Jesus Christ.
As CBN News reported, they were partnering with the U.S.-based ministry Mountain Gateway, and those outreaches were amazingly successful.
After the outreaches, the Christian leaders were imprisoned and convicted on money laundering charges. The government gave the ministers prison sentences ranging from 12 to 15 years and a stunning $80 million in fines.
The Mountain Gateway ministry vehemently denies the allegations, and religious freedom advocates call the trial a “sham” and “persecution.” They say the charges appear to have been fabricated because the authoritarian regime of Nicaragua felt threatened by the success of the outreaches.
Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF) International is supporting the legal defense of the imprisoned pastors, and filed a precautionary measures request with the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights on their behalf, saying they were “fraudulently convicted.”
“No person should be imprisoned or punished for their faith, but that is exactly what has happened with these religious leaders. It is our prayer that Nicaraguan authorities will uphold the human rights and dignity of these pastors, and that they will release them from their wrongful imprisonment,” the legal group declared.
Members of the U.S. Senate, including Senators Rick Scott (R-FL), Ted Cruz (R-TX), Katie Britt (R-AL) and Tommy Tuberville (R-AL), are also advocating on the imprisoned Christians’ behalf, calling on the Biden Administration to “implement strong, targeted sanctions following the repeated & escalating violations of religious freedom in Nicaragua.”
Alabama Rep. Barry Moore is calling on Secretary of State Antony Blinken to get involved, and he’s promoting a House Resolution to apply more pressure on the Nicaraguan government.
“What’s happened to them (the pastors) is a travesty of justice,” Rep. Moore told CBN News.
“This is a ministry that’s been working in Nicaragua for 30 years, and they’ve done a number of disaster relief programs, food, jobs, you name it,” he said.
Rep. Moore says he believes the Nicaraguan government was scared by the sudden, massive movement of God there after hundreds of thousands of people began responding to the gospel over the past year.
PHOTO: Missionary Britt Hancock of the organization “Mountain Gateway” was leading a nationwide revival in Nicaragua before the government cracked down.
***Massive Move of God in Nicaragua: Nearly 1 Million Attend, Thousands Choose Christ, Miracles Abound
“I think in some ways those large numbers, those people showing up for those crusades, coming to Christ, made the Nicaraguan government maybe a little nervous, you know? Christ is about freedom and the opportunity to worship and that sort of thing, and I think that in some ways government likes to control people. I think it made them a little nervous,” he said.
“We’d like for the (Biden) Administration to do more,” Rep. Moore said. “They’re not doing what they can.”
He’s asking U.S. Christians to call their congressmen to ask them to support House Resolution 1019, which has bipartisan support with four Democrats and many more Republicans, to ramp up the pressure to help free the imprisoned pastors.
Congressional Contact Information:
Capitol Hill Switchboard: 202-224-3121
U.S. House of Representatives:
* Website: http://www.house.gov/
U.S. Senate:
* Website: http://www.senate.gov/