Today I thought that I would give you a recap of the stories we shared with you this week, just in case you missed something.   We have so much to pray for and rejoice in the Lord over.  Please share this with your friends and family who care about the persecution of Christians around the world.

Monday we shared with you a devotion called He Actually Chooses Affliction, a story coming out of Laos and the persecution happening there, and and Persecution Podcast 103 where we focused on prayer for Laos, Pakistan and Azerbiajan.

Tuesday was Valentines Day so we shared with you a letter from Tom White about Asia Bibi, a little history about Valentines Day in our post Valentinus Beheaded in Rome, and
and about a revival happening in Egypt.

Wednesday we shared some news from Pakistan and a new blasphemy charge for Dildar Youcaf , we asked you to help us write 416 more letters to Gao, who is still in prison and we gave you more information on the blasphemy charges from our friends at Mission Network News, concerning Dildar Youcaf.

Thursday we shared some praise coming out of China because of our Bibles Unbound program, as well as some news about a few priests who were abused and released from prison in South Sudan, and a video report from CBN News about the 200 Christians who died in fire in Honduras.

Thank you for reading our blog and for caring about the needs of Christians worldwide.  I pray the Lord blesses you, as you remember that we are bound with them!

 Yesterday the Voice of the Martyrs received some sad news from North Korea that suggests that  Christian Son Jong Nam has died in prison.  Christian Son Jong has been highlighted on the Voice of the Martyrs Prisoner Alert page since 2006.

We ask now that you would keep those who loved him in your prayers, and also remember to pray for the other prisoners who are serving time for Jesus in chains.

Here is the comment left on the Prisoner Alert page -We are thankful for all those who prayed for and wrote letters to Son Jong Nam; we are also thankful for his example of faithfulness to Christ. He’s arrived safely Home.

This is a new story from Compass Direct, as you read it, please say a prayer for our brother who is living in fear of the Egyptian government.  Please share with your prayer lists and church.

Convert from Islam tried to leave country to save his life.

ISTANBUL, March 15 (CDN) — An Egyptian court last week refused to return the passport of a convert from Islam who tried to leave Egypt to save his life, the Christian said on Friday (March 12). 
 
On Tuesday (March 9) the Egyptian State Council Court in Giza, an administrative court, refused to return the passport of Maher Ahmad El-Mo’otahssem Bellah El-Gohary. El-Gohary said he was devastated by the decision, which essentially guarantees him several more months of living in fear.

“I am very, very disappointed and very unhappy about what happened,” he said, “because I am being threatened – my life is being threatened, my daughter’s life is being threatened very frequently, and I don’t feel safe at all in Egypt.”   FULL STORY HERE.

Last weekend The Voice of the Martyrs had a conference out here in Southern California, and unfortunately I wasn't able to attend, but a dear friend of mine was. So I asked Kathi Macias, to share with us her experience at the VOM conference.  Click here to visit Kathi's website and to learn more about her, she's a great writer.

For Southern California, it was a cool morning...sun shining with the temperature hovering just above sixty. Anyone who flew in for the “Bound with Them” conference from anywhere east of Murrieta no doubt thought they had landed in the tropics.

      Registration began at eight, though the conference itself wasn’t scheduled to start until nine, so when I drove into the Calvary Chapel parking lot at 8:10, I thought I’d be the first one there. Not so. The main parking lot was already filling up…and still they kept coming. Before long people were parking in the lower parking lots and hiking up the street to the beautiful campus, making their way inside to register and mingle, to have a free cup of coffee and a breakfast snack, to pray and wait expectantly.

      By nine o’clock, the large auditorium was filling quickly…but still they kept coming. Parents brought their children, couples came arm-in-arm, the elderly and infirm came on walkers and in wheelchairs. Those of us already seated squeezed together and made room, as the number of attendees grew and the level of expectancy continued to rise.

      Melodious harp music filled the air as we came together for a brief time of worship…and then the speakers began to present their testimonies, their stories, their calls to action. And people responded, as passion for the lost and compassion for the suffering flowed from hearts afire with love for the Savior.

      “Remember them that are in bonds, as bound with them; and them which suffer adversity, as being yourselves also in the body” (Heb. 13:3) was the rallying cry…and still they kept coming, some who had been unable to break away from prior commitments to arrive in time for the opening sessions but who came as soon as they were able. All were of one accord, as we discovered while talking and sharing during breaks and lunchtime, or just visiting at the resource tables.

      Everyone agreed that it was a joy and a privilege to gather together with so many who shared in their love and support of the persecuted Church around the world. What an honor to hear speakers who had actually been a part of that persecution and who now love Jesus more than ever!

      I for one will never be the same. Though I have long supported VOM, this was my first opportunity to attend one of their conferences; I pray it won’t be my last. I encourage anyone who has a chance to do so in the future to be sure you are numbered among those who “kept coming.” It is an experience you won’t soon forget.

One of the areas of faith that is coming under attack more and more here in America is the simple act of praying in the name of Jesus.  In recent months there have been numerous stories about city councils in various parts of the country that have been under attack from atheistic foundations and individuals  suing the councils for praying in the name of Jesus.  Today I wanted to share with you the latest story in which a judge is saying that sectarian prayers should be banned.

A magistrate is recommending that Forsyth County be barred from allowing sectarian prayers at meetings of the board of commissioners.

Magistrate Judge P. Trevor Sharp made the recommendation yesterday to U.S. District Court, which will rule on an issue that surfaced more than two years ago after several people filed a lawsuit against the county. If the court upholds Sharp's recommendation, it would issue an injunction to prevent sectarian prayer.

Sharp rejected the county's argument that its policy of allowing clergy to give any kind of prayer on a first-come, first-served basis is fair.

Sharp found that the "overwhelming frequency" of references to "Jesus, Jesus Christ, Christ or Savior" in the prayers at commissioners' meetings indicates that the board demonstrates a "preference for Christianity over other religions by the government."

Click here to read the full story.

Click here to read the PDF of the actual judgement.

 

Central Assemblies of God Church has been forced to close down its regular Friday afternoon services and can only hold two services on Sundays, Farsi Christian News Network (FCNN) reported.
   

The Assemblies of God authorities announced at the conclusion of their Oct. 30 service that Friday worship services would no longer take place and only Sunday services, in two separate shifts, would be conducted. The church, which is the largest public and formal gathering of Iranian Christians in Iran, was forced to close by the Iranian Ministry of Information.

   The church has faced extreme pressure from government authorities. “Reverand Soorik … has been under ongoing pressure from the officials of the Ministry of Information to close down the church on Fridays, the official weekly holiday in Iran, and lately was warned that the Pasdaran Militia (The Revolutionary Guards) had been demanding the closure of the church,” FCNN reported. 

   The Rev. Soorik decided to voluntarily close the church instead of waiting for security officials to close it. Central Assemblies of God Church is the latest church to be forced to close services in Iran. According to FCNN, the Assyrian Pentecostal Church of Shahrara was shut down in 2008. It had offered services on Fridays and Sundays in the Farsi language to Farsi speaking Iranians for more than eight years.

   Even though the government has not given reasons for shutting down the services, believers in Iran think the recent wave of media and Web-based attacks on Christian media, satellite channels, and evangelistic activities demonstrate the Iranian government’s intent to prevent Christians from worshiping. 

   The Voice of the Martyrs stands with and supports persecuted believers in Iran. VOM encourages you to pray for believers who face challenges daily as they live for Christ with courage and faith.

OneNewsNow has a great article today that highlights VOM's Todd Nettleton.  Click here to read the full article.

According to Voice of the Martyrs (VOM), students at the school in Jakarta began facing persecution when it was violently attacked by radical Muslims in July 2008. Neighbors complained, asking government authorities to evict the students due to supposed safety concerns. Now students at the Arastamar Bible School face eviction from a west Jakarta mayor's office building, where they were living temporarily.
 
Todd Nettleton of VOM says persecution is commonplace in Muslim nations.
 
"It's interesting to also note the response of the students," notes Nettleton. "These are theology students. They're future pastors and mission workers in Indonesia, and they see this very much as a part of their training.  As they look ahead to their ministry life, they know that they'll face persecution. They know that they'll face hardships, and so they simply say, 'Hey, this is great preparation because when we go out and begin to minister, we're going to face situations like this all the time.'"

There is a lot of commentary on the President's speech and here is a very interesting article, from the Assyrian International News Agency, and also posted at National Review online.

Nina Shea is director of the Hudson Institute's Center for Religious Freedom. She talked to National Review Online's Kathryn Lopez about President Obama's Mideast trip and Thursday speech in Egypt.  Click here to read the full interview.  Here's a snip...

LOPEZ: Is Egypt worse than other countries in its region when it comes to religious freedom?

SHEA: Egypt has the largest non-Muslim population in the Muslim Middle East -- between 6 and 10 million Christian Copts -- and because religious freedom is restricted, as well as other human rights, many problems arise: the arrest and torture of those who convert to Christianity; the suppression of building or even restoring Coptic churches; the denial of justice to Copts attacked and robbed by Muslims; the exclusion of Copts from many governmental positions; rampant anti-Semitism in the state media; the harassment of the Muslim Koranist group and the denial of Baha'is right to acknowledge their faith; and the punishment of perceived blasphemers and apostates from Islam, among other issues. Egypt also is in the lead of the effort to universalize Islamic blasphemy laws through the U.N. It has given rise to terrorists like Ayman al-Zawahiri, the deputy of al-Qaeda. It is on the "Watch List" of the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom, an independent government agency on which I serve as a commissioner.

Yesterday I shared with you my brief thoughts concerning President Obama's speech and him not addressing Christian persecution, in a place that is literally a hotbed of Christian persecution, and today I wanted to point you to Todd Nettleton's response to President Obama's speech in Cairo.

Todd's commentary is not on behalf of The Voice of the Martyrs, and is strictly his own personal opinion.

Click here to read his thoughts, and feel free to comment at Todd's blog and here if you'd like.

If you're like me you were waiting to see if President Obama was going to mention the Christian persecution that often takes place at the hands of militant Islam, in his speech in Cairo.  Sadly, but not surprising, Obama didn't say one word about Christian persecution.

What Obama did do however, was tout his Muslim heritage by saying, "Now part of this conviction is rooted in my own experience. I'm a Christian, but my father came from a Kenyan family that includes generations of Muslims.  As a boy, I spent several years in Indonesia and heard the call of the azaan at the break of dawn and at the fall of dusk.  As a young man, I worked in Chicago communities where many found dignity and peace in their Muslim faith."

He also went on to say,

Now, much has been made of the fact that an African American with the name Barack Hussein Obama could be elected President.  (Applause.)  But my personal story is not so unique.  The dream of opportunity for all people has not come true for everyone in America, but its promise exists for all who come to our shores -- and that includes nearly 7 million American Muslims in our country today who, by the way, enjoy incomes and educational levels that are higher than the American average.  (Applause.)

Moreover, freedom in America is indivisible from the freedom to practice one's religion.  That is why there is a mosque in every state in our union, and over 1,200 mosques within our borders.  That's why the United States government has gone to court to protect the right of women and girls to wear the hijab and to punish those who would deny it.  (Applause.)

President Obama did refer once to the Bible, as Holy, and to the Koran has Holy five times.  He also mentioned human rights twice.

Violent extremists have exploited these tensions in a small but potent minority of Muslims.  The attacks of September 11, 2001 and the continued efforts of these extremists to engage in violence against civilians has led some in my country to view Islam as inevitably hostile not only to America and Western countries, but also to human rights.  All this has bred more fear and more mistrust.

...

That does not lessen my commitment, however, to governments that reflect the will of the people.  Each nation gives life to this principle in its own way, grounded in the traditions of its own people.  America does not presume to know what is best for everyone, just as we would not presume to pick the outcome of a peaceful election.  But I do have an unyielding belief that all people yearn for certain things:  the ability to speak your mind and have a say in how you are governed; confidence in the rule of law and the equal administration of justice; government that is transparent and doesn't steal from the people; the freedom to live as you choose.  These are not just American ideas; they are human rights.  And that is why we will support them everywhere.  (Applause.)

If there was one point in the speech where if we squint and pretend just a little bit, President Obama indirectly addressed persecution.  This is what he said,

"Islam has a proud tradition of tolerance.  We see it in the history of Andalusia and Cordoba during the Inquisition.  I saw it firsthand as a child in Indonesia, where devout Christians worshiped freely in an overwhelmingly Muslim country.  That is the spirit we need today.  People in every country should be free to choose and live their faith based upon the persuasion of the mind and the heart and the soul.  This tolerance is essential for religion to thrive, but it's being challenged in many different ways."

I would like to know what you're thoughts were on President Obama's speech.  Comments are open.