Bombs and Floods Hit Karenni Christians

While the world fixes its attention on wars in Gaza and Ukraine, the peoples of Myanmar have endured genocide, rape, and endless burnings of their villages, churches, schools and hospitals in a horrific civil war. (See our November 20 post and dedicated Pray for Myanmar page.)

Various ethnic and other resistance forces have now banded together and actually gained ground in their fight against General Min Aung Hlaing‘s brutal military regime, which gained rulership of Myanmar in a 2021 coup. In April this year, most of Karenni State (Kayah) had finally been liberated. But this summer, the military recaptured the key Karenni town of Loikow, and has been bombing camps for the internally displaced (IDP) and Karenni villages for several weeks now, killing countless civilians and children.

On top of all this suffering the Karen and other minorities have endured, heavy rains and flooding from the past few weeks hit persecuted Christians and displaced families all the harder. In fact, when a Karenni Christian died in an IDP camp because of lack of medicines and medical care, friends waded through waist-deep water, carrying his body in a casket on their shoulders for many hours until they finally found a place with dry ground where they could bury him.

Getting food into such inundated areas has been difficult, but loving Christians have labored to reach those in need, not only with needed provisions, but with the gospel. Sadly, after several IDPs gave their lives to Christ in one village, it was bombed the next day by the junta.

Such terror tactics have become commonplace in Karenni areas. Burmese fighter jets bomb villages and IDP camps. As the people run away, soldiers fire at them with automatic weapons. The next day, they return to attack again. Potentially hundreds, even thousands have died in these brutal attacks on the innocent, many of them Christians. Now, yet more storms have passed through the area, flooding at least eight Karenni IDP camps.

The Karen peoples number about 4.5 million in Thailand and Myanmar, and are divided into at least 16 different groups speaking three main languages — S’gaw Karen, Western Pwo Karen and Eastern Pwo Karen, as well as many dialects. Most of their tribes are Buddhist, but many of those have converted to Christianity in recent decades. These converts have been hard hit by persecution in the ongoing civil war of more than 80 years, not only because of Buddhist extremists, but because of their minority status.

Lord, please give the Karenni and all the people groups of Burma courage, hope and especially new LIFE. So many thousands have died without ever hearing Your good news. Please make the way for every person to receive the Word that brings life before it’s too late. Have mercy on those who are displaced, wounded and battle-weary. Provide food, water and shelter and a dry place to sleep for those in need, and protect them from further attacks. O Merciful Father, so many lives have been lost, so many orphans and widows made already in this war. Please protect the innocent. Be a Shield around those in danger. Get them to safety and provide for all their needs. Protect Christians who are aiding those in need, and empower them to share Your good news and shine Your love to the lost. Please, Lord, make a way for the violence to end soon, and for the people of Myanmar to at last live in peace. Awaken every heart to You. So many evil acts have been committed in this war. Please break the chains that bind General Hlaing and all his evil-doers to demons of lust, cruelty, death and violence. Set them free to hunger for Your love instead. Lift the veil from their eyes so they can see You as You truly are. Visit them in their dreams, talk to them throughout the day. Destroy the darkness with Your light. Assign Your angel armies to guard the innocent and block evil attacks. Make those angels visible to those who seek to carry out Satan’s purposes, and bring evildoers to their knees in fear of the Lord. And please, Father, make a way for every person in Myanmar to hear of Your great love in their native languages, especially among the 52 unreached people groups. Don’t let even one more person die without knowing the good news of Your salvation. Awaken all of Myanmar to You, O God. For only in You will they know true freedom. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

Mikaela Vincent and her husband are missionaries who live by faith, trusting in God to provide for their needs as they pray for and share Christ with the nations. If you would like to help their ministry through a donation, or by shopping at Mikaela’s online bookstore, click the buttons below:

For a free guide to knowing God’s voice, 30 Days of Prayer for Global Awakening Vol 2, Dare to Be a Mighty Warrior, and other books to pray for Christ’s protection over nations and our families, visit MoreThanAConquerorBooks.com.

Any proceeds this author receives from the sale of the deep devotional Bible studies and other MoreThanAConquerorBooks.com books mentioned in this post go to shining Christ’s light in the darkness and seeing the nations come to Him.

Thank you for your support! If you have any questions or want to help with this ministry, please contact Mikaela.