On Trial for Following Christ

His name is Pastor Youcef Nadarkhani and he is awaiting his sentence after being found guilty in an Iranian court.  His charge?  Apostasy in a religion he's never been part of. 

Pastor Nadarkhani was first sentenced to death in November 2010 and in order to avoid the death penalty, he is being asked to recant his beliefs and convert to Islam. Yes, you read that right.  The Iranian officials who have convicted this man for following Jesus Christ wants him to renounce Christ and follow a religion he's never been a part of.

There is a chance that Pastor Nadarkhani could be sentenced to death and executed by Iran as early as tomorrow.  Please keep this Shepherd of Christ in your prayers and pray with me that Iran will stop this madness and release Pastor Nadarkhani.  If they do execute him, then pray that God uses his martydom in a way that glorifies God and brings more followers to Christ.

Eric

Pray through Ramadan With Open Doors USA

Today starts Ramadan for millions of Muslims worldwide and runs through September 9.  During this time, most Muslims will fast from dawn until dusk, seeking to rid themselves of their sins through acts of restraint. They believe this is a time of purification accomplished through good deeds and self control.

I mention this to you for a couple of reasons.  One is that I blog at times for and about the persecuted church, and two, Open Doors USA has published a calendar for 2010 to help you pray for the Muslim people of the world during this time especially to encounter Christ during this time.  So for this month, I will be posting everyday from that calendar specifically what it is asking us to pray for.  If you wish to download the calendar, the link is here.

Here is the first day:

Aug 11 | Iran
Growth in number of believers from Muslim background has resulted in church monitoring and closures.
Pray for Christians in Iran to walk without fear and have peace of heart through Jesus.
“The Spirit of the Lord is on me...He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners.” (Luke 4:18)

Please join me in praying this month for this specifically.

Persecution

A state in India has thousands of people murdered and displaced. Homes and buildings are burned to the ground and the people burned out are herded into refuge camps. There they are still bullied by those that persecute them.

In China thousands are persecuted for meeting together. Their leaders are jailed for years without trial, or in some cases, tried in a kangaroo court, their guilt predetermined. They are kept from their families and sometimes, they never make it out.

In North Korea, these people are used in unspeakable ways when they are caught. Subjected to torture as subjects to chemical and biological warfare experimentation.

Yet, you never really hear about this in the main stream media.

Why?

Because they are Christians.

Since the main stream media will not report, it is up to the lesser known media to get this out and yes, this includes bloggers. I will be writing more on the Persecuted church in the days ahead, but I wanted to simply point out to you that this is happening now and in our world. You may not have heard, but it is there.

My next post on the persecuted church will focus on how you can help. For now, pray. Pray for those who are persecuted for strength and boldness. But pray.

Eric

Persecution in Vietnam

I read an article a short time ago about persecution happening in Vietnam even though Christianity is recognized in that country. One of the issues is that churches must be legally recognized by the state.

One of the legally recognized churches is the Evangelical Church of Vietnam (South), which held a very large outdoor Christmas gathering on Dec. 12-13 of this year. Contrast that with the fact that the government of Vietnam destroyed a church that had been built to house a small congregation of Hmong Christians in Cu Hat village which is in the norther province of Dak Lak.

The government accused the congregation of building the church without the proper permits, even though the vast majority of the buildings there are built in this manner. The local authorities accused the Christians of “illegal construction” and ordered the congregation to “voluntarily” tear it down. On Dec. 2, Krong Bong district officials made a formal decision to demolish the church within two weeks if the Christians would not do so themselves.

Government officials arrived early in the morning to raze the building and brought with them police wielding electric cattle prods who beat back hundreds of distraught Christians who rushed to the site to protect the building being torn down. Five people were seriously injured, including a child with a broken arm, and a pregnant woman who had a cattle prod used against her abdomen.

The good news is that Christianity is allowed in this communist nation but only under the watchful eyes of the government. Most churches, especially the smaller congregations do not register for fear of having to report to the authorities of who are members, what they say and so forth. But the people of Vietnam are hearing the Good News. I would ask that you would pray for those who aren't recognized, and are persecuted for that, as in the example above.

You can read more about this story here.

The Persecuted Church

You might notice that I have a new banner on the left side of my blog; a banner that supports the persecuted church, in particular the blog written by bloggers for the Voice of the Martyrs.

We take for granted our freedom to worship as Followers of Christ here in America. I am guilty of that as well. After reading a sample chapter about Iranian Christians living in Iran, I am ashamed of how we take our freedom for granted.

Imagine hiding in a cave to be able to worship God, to sing praises to Christ...that is what has to happen in China at times. Imagine being in church only to have the state police charge in and arrest the pastor taking him away to prison, simply for preaching the Word of God. It has happened in many countries.

From time to time I will be blogging about people and places that concern the Persecuted Church. I hope you will read and think on these posts. For right now, I would urge you to click on the title of this post to go to the Persecuted Blog now and read more.