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Today I had to tell you that there is a very inspiring post over on our Kids of Courage website that I'd love for you to click here and go and read.
What you'll read about is a pastor who took time to answer a Muslim's questions because a Muslim teacher had some Christian students who prayed.
Make sure to look around all of the Kids of Courage website and use all of the free resources there for your ministry to children.
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Yesterday we asked you to keep the Coptic Christians in Egypt in your prayers because of the recent elections going on and the coming turn of leadership. Today our friends at Mission Network News have filed the following report.
Egypt (MNN) ― The world expects to see some kind of violence despite the official outcome of Egypt's election. The country's presidential election results are expected tomorrow, but the country appears to be equally divided between the Muslim Brotherhood candidate, Mohammed Morsi, and the secular candidate, Ahmed Shafiq.
According to reports, protests were called across Egypt on Tuesday against the ruling military council's bid to grab new powers. Meanwhile, the United States and Britain wants a swift transfer of leadership once the announcement is made.
Tom Doyle with e3 Partners says Egypt is a tinder box. "If the situation isn't figured out soon, I mean there could be a very strong civil war that could last a very long time in Egypt. We already know that there was a whole bunch of corruption in the midst of this election, so politically it's an absolute mess."
Doyle agrees that it doesn't matter who wins the election. "Shafiq, if he's declared the winner, no question I think there's going to be riots. If the Brotherhood wins, Christians, born again believers, nominal Muslims -- all of them live in fear. And I think there will be a lot of activity, too -- a lot of protests, probably rioting -- just like we saw during the revolution."
What's Doyle's prognosis? "I think it's just beginning in Egypt to really unravel with more protests and riots and killings."
While many would believe the evangelical church is stymied, Doyle says the uncertainty has "actually accelerated things. When we were in Egypt, we were hearing stories of more Muslims coming to faith in Christ this year than in any of the Christian leaders could remember in several years past."
e3 Partners supports the church in the Middle East, including Egypt. Your support is vital to providing them the resources they need to help with evangelism and discipleship. Doyle says they also need your prayers. "Pray for boldness for opportunities. And pray that God would stem the tide -- that He would just push it back so there wouldn't be this regional war because it would be very ugly if it breaks out."
Source: Mission Network News
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A few days ago we let you know about a special offer that The Voice of the Martyrs is offering for the month of June, to anyone who donates to us and specifies their donation to help our ministry in North Korea.
For a limited time, when you give to help us in North Korea, where Christians are severely persecuted, we'll send you a book called Restricted Nations: North Korea (while supplies last).
Click here to give your most generation donation today, before the end of June.
To learn more about North Korea, please visit our Restricted Nations page and pray accordingly.
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Some of you may have heard today that Egypt's ousted leader, Hosni Mubarak is on life support and some are saying that he is brain dead. This is happening at a time when Egypt is in the midst of an election that could make Coptic Christians living in Egypt be subjected to more Christian persecution from the government.
Please say a prayer for Hosni Mubarak during these last hours of his life, and also pray for the Coptic Christians in Egypt who are waiting to see if the Muslim Brotherhood's candidate is going to "officially" win or whether or not Ahmed Shafiq, the former prime minister of ousted leader Hosni Mubarak is going to win.
According to Lilly Fowler from The Christian Century, The Muslim Brotherhood has already projected themselves the winners, while Mubarak's old regime, issued an interim constitution that granted itself broad power.
One thing is certain - Coptic Christians are in danger regardless of who ends up replacing Hosni Mubarak.
Please pray today for the Christians in Eygyt who are serving the Lord. Pray for their protection and also for them to stand firm in their faith, as they await the final pending results in this election.
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The cost of following Christ is often very high in nations where the gospel is restricted and Christians are persecuted.
Today our friends at Compass Direct share a story of a man who was married to his wife, in a non-religious wedding, and who has now lost custody of his children.
At the time this Christian man married his wifes, she was neither "a Christian nor a Muslim" - Compass Direct reports. And the bride's Muslim family who knew that Khalil (the husband) was a Christian and had no objection to it.
Compass Direct goes on to report:
By 2010 the couple had joined an undisclosed church and had become visibly active in it; opposition from their families grew, leading to the couple’s flight to Egypt in early 2011.
Last February, Khalil decided to appeal the divorce ruling. His wife had presented a copy of the UNHCR certificate showing Khalil’s testimony as a Christian, however, and that was proof enough for a judge to rule in March that the marriage be annulled and the children automatically handed over to the spouse professing “the popular religion” – Islam, the supposed faith of Hassan.
Please pray for this family in crisis and ask the Lord to bring justice to the situation.
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Every month we offer extra media to complement our monthly newsletter and so if you haven't seen some of our extra media for June yet, please click here so you can see everything.
What I wanted to bring to your attention today is the two countries that we have highlighted on our media page - Somalia and Sudan. Here's something that may surprise you...
Did you know that Somalia is second only to North Korea as the world’s worst persecutor of Christians? It's true... Somalia’s tiny community of Muslim-background believers (MBBs) is estimated at fewer than 200 people, and all are viewed as apostates by the Muslim majority. When Christians are discovered by al-Shabab (a militant Islamist group that controls much of southern and central Somalia), they are sometimes beheaded on the spot.
Which is why, we all really need to keep Somalia believers in our prayers.
Sudan is also a restricted nation and Islam is the de facto state religion, even though the Interim National Constitution claims to provide religious freedom. Muslims are given preferential treatment, and non-Islamic proselytism is prohibited. It is difficult for Christians to obtain permission to build churches. Converts face social pressure and harassment from security services. Of the 246 people groups in Sudan, 137 are unreached by the gospel.
Please keep believers in your prayers in the Sudan and don't forget to pray for those who are persecuting believers to come to know the love of Jesus Christ.
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It has been quite some time since I've shared with you anything concerning religious freedom and what some may say is "light" Christian persecution happening here in America, but I saw this story today at CBN News and thought you may be interested in knowing about the latest happening with churches in New York City who have been kicked out of public schools.
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Last week we shared with you more of the horrific news coming out of Nigeria where our brothers and sisters are suffering horrible persecution.
Sadly, this past Sunday, Boko Haram is claiming responsibility for the attacks that have reportedly killed at least 50 - mostly children, according to Mission Network News and Compass Direct and injured at least 100 individuals.
Please read the full report at Mission Network News. Here's an excerpt:
Terrorist group Boko Haram claimed responsibility for the June 3 and June 10 bombings, and sources say the group has now owned up to the June 17 attacks as well. Boko Haram has been clear about its intentions to wipe Christians off the map of northern Nigeria.
"It's becoming more and more the norm when Christians gather for worship to have bombings and have car bombings in northern Nigeria," says Voice of the Martyrs' Todd Nettleton.
Nettleton says as a result, churches are upping their security. "More and more of the churches in Nigeria are posting guards at the gate. They are building gates to the church property. They are trying to minimize the danger that they face from this type of attack. At the same time, the very message of the Gospel is a message for everyone."
It's difficult to think this way when families are in danger, though. Some believers are going as far as to retaliate. Reuters reports that after the Kaduna bombing, Christian youths blocked the highway. Witnesses claim the young people were pulling Muslims out of cars and killing them.
Nettleton notes, "It's easy to sit in a comfortable church in the United States and feel safe and say, ‘They really shouldn't strike back. They really shouldn't try to get vengeance.' But if you think about if your family was being attacked -- if your wife, if your children are being attacked -- the drive to protect them, and the drive even toward vengeance would be very strong."
Please keep praying for Nigeria!
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As we always do on Monday, I like to share with you all an inspiring devotion taken from the best selling book Extreme Devotion. My prayer is that reading this devotion will inspire you to pray for the persecuted church.
Local newspapers described the scene as “savage.” It wasn’t a murder scene or car wreck; it was a Bible study.
The story appeared in a Communist Russian newspaper around 1960. It read in part, “Young boys and girls sing spiritual hymns. They receive the ritual baptism and keep the evil, treacherous teaching of love toward the enemy.” The story went on to disclose the shocking reality that many young people in the Communist Youth Organization were secretly Christians.
“We must believe our Savior as the first Christians did,” Pastor Serebrennikov told his youth group. “For us, the principal law is the Bible. We recognize nothing else. We must hurry to save men from sin, especially the youth.”
The pastor was thrown in prison when the Communists discovered a letter written by one of his converts. The teenage girl had written, “I send you blessings from our beloved Lord. How much he loves me!”
Newspaper editorials wondered how Communist students could choose to follow Christ and accused the Communist school of being “powerless” and “deprived of light.” They said that Christianity could “snatch away its disciples from under the nose of their indifferent teachers.”
It wasn’t the teachers’ indifference. It was the call of Christ’s love as presented by Pastor Serebrennikov and the members of his youth group—Christians who let their light shine in a darkened land.
“This little light of mine, I’m gonna let it shine . . .” This familiar childhood song has a simple melody with not too many words to remember—it can stick in one’s mind for days after it’s sung. Young children find the song easy to learn, but it’s much more difficult to live, especially as we get older. How many chances do we have in a day to let our lights shine and honor God? One or two? Ten? Twenty? The exact count doesn’t matter. What does matter is our response to the events we face everyday. Who knows? Your light may be just what others need to find their way home.
Source: Extreme Devotion - Buy a copy today at www.vombooks.com
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Iran (MNN) ― Last week, June 10, Christian brother Mehdi "Petros" Foroutan was released from prison in Iran reports Voice of the Martyrs, Canada.
Foroutan served for about a year in an Iranian prison for crimes against national security. In other words, he did time for following Christ.
Foroutan, 27, was one of five Iranian Christians and ministers who were convicted of crimes against the Islamic Order. They were convicted March 8, 2011 for telling Muslims the truth about Jesus Christ. Their technical crime was blasphemy.
Although the judge ruled that the five were not guilty, the prosecutor appealed the verdict.
At the time of the sentence, one of the five believers was seven months pregnant.
Now Foroutan at least has been released from prison though. His time spent was hardly enjoyable, especially as only about a month into his sentence, Foroutan was put in solitary confinement for a period. Pray that he would overcome all of the after-effects of his imprisonment.
This is one small victory for the persecuted church in Iran, but many others remain imprisoned for their faith. Most notably, Pastor Youcef Nadarkhani remains on death row in Rasht, Iran. He is still awaiting an official response from the local court regarding his September 2011 trial.
Voice of the Martyrs has several ways for free believers to encourage their persecuted brothers and sisters. Through their PrisonAlert.com, Christians can advocate on behalf of individual believers, write letters to prisoners and become better versed in worldwide persecution.
Encourage Youcef Nadarkhani or Behnam Irani, another imprisoned Iranian pastor, here.
Source: Mission Network News
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