The blessing of being able to talk to God anytime we want is miraculous! Have you ever really thought about that? Wow...the King of the Universe, the unconditional lover of our souls and the One we owe our very breath to...wow...amazing isn't it...
Well, today we have another great opportunity to bless the Lord and thank Him for what He's done and also to interceed on behalf of our suffering siblings in Christ. In fact, if you haven't signed up yet to get the VOM magazine or their weekly prayer updates, please do. Here are only a few from this weeks alert from VOM Canada.
House Church Pastor Abducted and Murdered in Iran
According to a November 28 report from Compass Direct, an Iranian convert to Christianity was kidnapped on November 22 from his home in Gonbad-e-Kavus. A few hours later, Ghorban Tori's body was dumped outside of his home. The 50-year-old pastor of an independent house church had been stabbed to death. Ghorban's congregation is made up of Muslim coverts to Christianity and in the past year he had received numerous threats from Islamic militants vowing to kill him if he did not stop sharing his faith.
Within hours of his murder, the secret police raided Ghorban's home in search of Bibles and other banned Christian books. They then proceeded to raid the homes of all the known Christians in the city. One source states that ten other Christians in several Iranian cities were arrested and tortured in the days following the murder. All were later released. Middle East Concern reports that other house church leaders have been visited by members of the Ministry of Security and Intelligence and warned that they are being watched.
We ask you to plead the case of these Iranian believers before the Father's throne.
Pray that those who knew and loved Ghorban Tori will know comfort, peace and boldness as deep as their grief. Pray that those who were arrested in the aftermath of the murder will experience a speedy recovery. Pray also that the severe opposition against Christians in Iran will be replaced with a true knowledge of God that sweeps across their nation. Pray that God will raise up leaders for the growing Church in Iran. For more information on the persecution of Christians in Iran, go to http://www.persecution.net/country/iran.htm.
Dear Sir :
Yes, this spirit of the antichrist is still alive and thriving. I call it the spirit of Herod. Not that it's his spirit or anything but it's the same attitude-technique that Satan used when controlling King Herod to annihilate The real coming KING JESUS CHRIST. Of course he failed as none can defeat our Omniscient LORD ALMIGHTY GOD and His wisdom and power. But the voice of Rachel could still be heard weeping as hundreds or perhaps thousands of innocent babies were killed (sound like abortion ?). This persecution of CHRIST continues as prophesied about in The Word of GOD. And it will only get worse. No I'm not a pessimist, I am an optimist and believe it's already over with the victory being won at Calvary by The LORD of GLORY. These things will happen to separate the sheep from the goats as all things work for the glory of GOD and His purposes as well as our good (Rom. 8:28) Oh Come LORD JESUS, joel
Posted by: Joel R. Anthony Jr. | December 16, 2005 at 06:26 PM