Prayer Request:
Listed here just a
few of the Christian persecutions for the month of December
2012.
*Tehran, Iran- Arrest and
imprisonment, Rev. Saeed Abedini. Incarcerated in Tehran's, Evin
Prison. This Christian, married pastor with two children, faces a
lengthy prison sentence and possible death sentence.
What was pastor Abedini's crime? He
converted to Christianity in his native country Iran, and spoke of
his faith.
*Soudan- In June 2011, Southen
Soudan, separated from Sudan proper, (and its forced conversion to
Islam). And in June bombings were issued from Sudan to squash
Southern Soudan, and it's Christians and non Arab people. Soudan has
bombed homes, farms and their animals.
Scores of Christian people have been killed. Thousands of people have
taken refuge in the mountain caves of Nuba.
The Coptic Orthodox Church of Sudan accused of baptizing, Eman Abdel
Shakoor. The priests have been arrested and imprisoned, while Eman
tried to escape to a nearby airport, she was arrested and imprisoned.
No one knows the fate or location of the priests or of the woman
(Eman).
*Sri Lanka, 80 Buddist Monks
lead an attack on the Jeevanalokaya Sabhawa Church located in the
Weeraketiya area of Southern Province's Hambantota district.
The Monks destroyed the church's
equipment, furniture and vehicles and beat up it's pastor, sending
him to the hospital.
Buddhist monks had threatened the
church saying that they needed permission from them for Christian
meetings. The church responded that their constitution grants
religious freedom.
Over 50 attacks on Christian worship
has been reported, sending workers and pastors to hospitals.
A Buddhist organization (Bodu Bala
Sena), has warned monks of Christians and their churches.
Buddhist National Heritage Party, has
pushed for a law against all Christian conversions.
*Pakistan- A seventy year old
lady Christian worker recently died in Pakistan. For many years a
Bible school teacher, Birgitta Almby, was gunned done by Islamic
extremists of Lahore.
Having served the Pakistani Christian
community for some 38 years, she was shot done by two armed men, at
her home in Lahore.
Police maintain that Islamic extremists
did the killing.
*Somalia, East Africa, a father
of five was gunned done, his crime, he left Islam.
Mursal Isse Siad, 55, a father of five,
had turned to Christianity. Siad's youngest daughter testified, that
he was killed because he failed to attend mosque prayers and that he
shared his love for Jesus.
Siad's wife stated that their two sons,
and three daughters have fled the area, fearing for their very lives.
Al Shabaab rebels have sworn to rid the
country of Christianity.
Siad, has not been alone, earlier,
Al-Shabaab gunmen killed Farhan Haji Mose, a 25 year old Christian,
by beheading him.
*Borno Yobe, Nigeria. Ten
Christians had been killed here earlier, now Islamic extremists (Boko
Haram) in Nigeria's Borno State took the lives of six Christians at
the First Baptist church, other gunmen killed six more Christians in
Yobe, at the Evangelical Church in Peri, and it's pastor.
Boko Haram militants also torched 20
Christian village homes. (Scores of Christian people have been and
are being killed in Nigeria.)
*Syria- Syrian Islamic
extremists, beheaded, Christian Andrei Arbashe 38, of Ras Al-Ayn.
After his beheading, they fed his body
to their dogs.
Andre Arbashe, had recently married,
and was about to be a father.
--------------------
A 60 year old Carmelite nun, Sister
Agnes-Miriam, mother superior of the Monastery of St. James the
Mutilated, had condemned Britain and the West, for supporting rebels.
“Murder, kidnapping, rape and robbery
are becoming commonplace.” she said.
“The free and democratic world is
supporting extremists.” “They want to impose Sharia Law and
create and Islamic state in Syria.”
“The uprising has been hijacked by
Islamist mercenaries who are more interested in fighting a holy
war than in changing the government,” she said. “It has turned
into a sectarian conflict. One in which Christians are paying a high
price.” “Rebel fighters, are targeting Christians in Syria in a
bid to make it a Muslim state.” Some 300,000 Christians have been
displaced. Over 44,000 have been slain since the rising of the Al
Assad regime began.
Sister Miriam spoke from a sanctuary in
Lebanon.
*Zanzibar, Tanzania. A Priest
was seriously wounded by Islamist extremists. On the island of
Zanaibar, the Rev. Ambrose Mkenda was shot in the face, and shoulder.
Separatist group Uamsho (Awakening,) the Association for Islamic
Mobilization and Propagation, has threatened Christians.
Uamsho threats have read, “We now
want the heads of all the church pastors in Zanzibar.”
Uamsho have said “kill them by
whatever means.”
-----------------------------
*British author Rupert
Shortt, has recently written a book “Christianophobia: A
Faith Under Attack.”
In which he states that Christianity is
in danger of being wiped out in the Middle East.
“Over the past 100 years, half to
two-thirds of Christians in the Middle East have either been killed
or left their homeland for refuge.”
Shortt has recognized seven countries
that have been known to persecute Christians, through harassment,
imprisonment and or death, and those countries are:
Egypt, Iraq, Pakistan, Nigeria,
Burma, China, and India.
In Rupert Shortt's new book, he asserts
that, “More Christians are imprisoned in China than any other
country in the world.” “In China a Christian may be imprisoned
for up to 3 years without a trial.”
Shortt says that “Worldwide an
estimated 200 million Christians are being actively oppressed to some
degree.”
“Western politicians and media largely ignore the widespread
persecution of Christians in the Middle East and the wider world
because they are afraid they will be accused of racism.”
Dear friend, as you celebrated
Christmas, and the New Year, Christians around the world have been
paying for their Christian confession, with their lives.
Are you praying for your sisters and
brothers, who are suffering under persecution?
Would you be willing to start a “Prayer
for Persecuted Christians” prayer group in your home, business or
church?
Write us and let us pray with you.
(TheBiblePrayerLine@gmail.com).
God's people are to stand together,
strong in the Lord.
Galatians 6:2 KJV
Bear ye one another's burdens, and
so fulfil the law of Christ.
Christian Persecution:
Matthew 10:32-40 KJV
32 Whosoever therefore shall confess
Me before men, him will I confess also before My Father which is in
heaven.
33 But whosoever shall deny Me
before men, him will I also deny before My Father which is in heaven.
34 Think not that I am come to send
peace on earth: I came not to send peace, but a sword.
35 For I am come to set a man at
variance against his father, and the daughter against her mother, and
the daughter in law against her mother in law.
36 And a man's foes shall be they of
his own household.
37 He that loveth father or mother
more than Me is not worthy of Me: and he that loveth son or daughter
more than Me is not worthy of Me.
38 And he that taketh not his cross,
and followeth after Me, is not worthy of Me.
39 He that findeth his life shall
lose it: and he that loseth his life for My sake shall find it.
40 He that receiveth you receiveth
Me, and he that receiveth Me receiveth Him that sent Me.
Romans 8:35-39 NLT
35 Can anything ever separate us
from Christ’s love? Does it mean He no longer loves us if we have
trouble or calamity, or are persecuted, or hungry, or destitute, or
in danger, or threatened with death?
36 (As the Scriptures say, “For
your sake we are killed every day; we are being slaughtered like
sheep.”)
37 No, despite all these things,
overwhelming victory is ours through Christ, who loved us.
38 And I am convinced that nothing
can ever separate us from God’s love. Neither death nor life,
neither angels nor demons, neither our fears for today nor our
worries about tomorrow—not even the powers of hell can separate us
from God’s love.
39 No power in the sky above or in
the earth below—indeed, nothing in all creation will ever be able
to separate us from the love of God that is revealed in Christ Jesus
our Lord.
II Corinthians 12:9,10 KJV
9 And He said unto me, My grace is
sufficient for thee: for My strength is made perfect in weakness.
Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the
power of Christ may rest upon me.
10 Therefore I take pleasure in
infirmities, in reproaches, in necessities, in persecutions, in
distresses for Christ's sake: for when I am weak, then am I strong.
II Timothy 3:12 KJV
Yea, and all that will live godly in
Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution.
