22 missionary families to be executed in Afghanistan
A little while ago I received a text message telling me that 22 missionary families were to be executed today in Afghanistan, to pray and to forward the message on. My immediate response was to do just that, but as soon as I had hit send I decided to look into it.
There is a bit of discussion on the net about it, but no one can confirm the origin of the message or its authenticity. There is no news coverage despite the fact that this sort of thing would make big headlines, and as the messages started yesterday we could probably assume that any executions may have already occurred. The mission agency and advocate for martyrs “Open Doors” also has no knowledge of such an event, so it is likely that this is a hoax.
In July 2007, 23 Korean missionaries were captured by the Taliban and 1 executed in July 2007, with the threat that the remaining 22 would be executed if demands were not met immediately. The situation was diffused (I don’t have the details I’m sorry - please post them here if you do), but it sounds like the text message could be a re-run of the old one.
It’s a good reminder that we need to pray for our missionaries overseas, but at the same time please make a point of praying about the fact that if this is not true, then a message is going around the world that is likely to stir up a lot of anger against Afghanistan. While such events are a reality, if it’s not happening this time then this is a lie designed to reinforce in ‘good Christian’ minds that Afghans are bad. That’s a hate crime.
Hi Phil,
You are right that we should pray and exercise wisdom to discern if this is a fake or real piece of news. I’m in Singapore, and I’ve too just received the sms (and I also started looking into the Internet for the information seconds after I’ve sent it out to 2 friends -_-”, and found nothing concrete about the ‘news’.
Thanks for your blog entry, a good reminder to us all to pray for our missionaries out there
February 28th, 2009 at 9:31 pmMakes more sense to me to check the veracity of such things BEFORE you hit send. Chain emails or texts are almost always untrue or distortions of a previous truth and it’s unhelpful to simply forward things on to others without checking them first. Just because it mentions Christians doesn’t make it true!
March 1st, 2009 at 12:54 amYou’re exactly right Emma. I broke my own rules in sending it on because of the person who sent it to me, the urgency of the message and the thought “even if it’s wrong we should pray”. It was only afterward that I realised the possible malice behind it.
March 1st, 2009 at 7:27 amThis story is NOT true, the top Google search result leads to a VIRUS! I personally know the missionaries in Afghanistan & have been in contact with them today, they’re all fine.
March 1st, 2009 at 7:51 amThanks a lot Mike, it’s good to hear. It does time suspiciously well with the fact that the US are discussing changing their military strategies for Afghanistan. I encourage you to pray for wise decision making in this area.
March 1st, 2009 at 1:51 pmHi Phil,
Thanks a lot for the message, I am living in Kuwait and just 10 minutes before I got this message and asked to pray for it, immediately I searched the net and landed on your site and got the right answer. Whatever it may be one should not send like this rumor message for the sake of prayer. Anyhow God Bless them.
March 2nd, 2009 at 7:09 amYou know so many interesting infomation. You might be very wise. I like such people. Don’t top writing.
July 7th, 2009 at 4:13 amMy only comment is that indeed one should never react on an sms from someone you don’t know about. We were asked to pray and yet we were mocking God over a situation which is not clear. Christians let us be prudent with our thoughts and words before action. May God forgive those who sent this unfactual sms.
November 4th, 2009 at 3:37 amUnbelievably I got this same text message from two very persons, a friend and a relative, and if you noted this on your blog in February then it is probably a false one then. I decided to check it up on the internet and somehow found nothing concrete about it. If it is true then the missionaries are probably dead by now. I really doubt the authenticity of the message.
November 7th, 2009 at 3:32 amHi everyone,
Same txt i received today (November 7, 2009) early this morning… i dont used to forward chain messages, but when i received the message telling that 22 christian family missionaries will be executed today, i rushed into my computer and find a search engine that would confirm my doubt.
Alas! there i found it. Its totally a hoax.
November 7th, 2009 at 11:41 amBut then I got a lesson on it….. hmmmmmm LETS ALWAYS DO PRAY FOR OUR MISSIONARIES OUT THERE… They need our prayer most… ALWAYS!!
I just received the text from one of my friends, it’s good to know that it’s not true but I will still keep on praying for the missionaries in the harvest field in the Middle East.
November 8th, 2009 at 5:09 pmHi… thanks for the information. I received a text message a few minutes ago asking to pray. I wanted to verify this but discovered it may be a hoax. This message is still being circulated around the world up to this date. My concern is that when real situations arise people may take it for granted that’s it’s just another hoax. We need to pray for discernment and for missionaries.
November 10th, 2009 at 12:17 amHey Mike, Phil… THANKS!!!! I was already in tears before i read your comments. It’s so good to know that our Christian brothers and sisters are safe and sound, all to Jehovah’s praise. Thanks again
November 10th, 2009 at 10:02 pmToday is November 26, 2010 and I received this message about 22 missionary families to be executed in Afghanistan. I searched the internet & arrived at this site. So, I can say it was a hoax (thanks God). Your posts here is 2009 about the same text message. It seems that they circulate this hoax message every November? Are they celebrating some sort of anniversary about something? I’m not sure but still glad it’s not true.
November 27th, 2010 at 5:12 amHi Susan, I haven’t seen any pattern yet except that it comes in bursts, suggesting that it’s not just circulating by itself but is being deliberately released. Please pray for the missionaries but also especially for the Afghan people who are being targetted with this deceptive campaign. It certainly serves certain pro-war agendas, and suggests that these people have no qualms about such uses of propaganda and the divisive effects they will have. Afghanistan are our neighbours and we should love them as ourselves, not stir up hatred which will only be returned. Good on you for looking into it.
November 27th, 2010 at 11:03 amToday is November 30 and i just recieved this message about the 22 families going to be executed. the reply before me says that the recieved it 5 days ago and some people recieved it February 28th!!! this must be a hoax because everybody is recieving it at totally different times and the would have been executed by now!!! THIS MUST BE A HUGE HOAX!!!!! Some people just dont get that these things arent jokes and play around with it:(
December 1st, 2010 at 8:43 amHi all, i just received this text today.. i live in Malaysia.. the text now even reach Malaysia! thank God it was just a hoax..
but all in all, may God continue to bless and protect the missionaries out there in the mission field
December 2nd, 2010 at 9:20 pm