This morning as I was going out to get my morning cup of coffee my neighbor was walking by my driveway with her grand daughter and her little dog and so we decided to talk for a few minutes. During our conversation my neighbor asked me if I had a vacuum cleaner with attachments because she said that she had some bed comforters that she wanted to ship to the Philippines and needed to suck the air out of the plastic bags that she was going to pack the comforters in. I told her I did and would be happy to let her use my vacuum cleaner.

ISTANBUL, May 9 (CDN) — A judge in Upper Egypt has dismissed all charges against a group of Salafi Muslims who cut off the ear of a Christian in a knife attack and tried to force him to convert. The Salafists, who say they base their religion on the practices of the first three generations of Muslims after Muhammad, had falsely accused 46-year-old Ayman Anwar Metry of having an affair with a Muslim woman, the Christian told Compass. On April 22 the judge exonerated the assailants only after Metry, under intense pressure in a “reconciliation meeting,” agreed to drop charges, said his attorney, Asphoure Wahieb Hekouky. “Him dropping the case and accepting the reconciliation meeting is shameful,” Hekouky said of the Egyptian justice system. The same Salafi Muslims who attacked Metry terrorized him and his family for a year, Hekouky said.

Every week we like to highlight a prisoner that you can encourage by writing a letter to them using our Prisoner Alert system.

Extremists killed 19 Christians, including two professors, as they worshiped on the grounds of Bayero University in Kano, Nigeria, on Sunday, April 22. An additional 22 people were injured.

Today on In the Market with Janet Parshall, award winning talk show host, Janet Parshall discussed the latest news concerning the persecuted church with Todd Nettleton who is the Director of Media Development at The Voice of the Martyrs USA.

Today we have a wonderful video with Todd Nettleton who is interviewing Brad Phillips of Persecution Project Foundation about the current difficulties Christians are facing in Sudan and South Sudan.

Last week we posted our 113th Persecution Podcast and in case you missed it, I wanted to remind you that you can listen to this very short podcast here.

I would like to thank our faithful partner, Mission Network News for their continued support and friendship. Here is the latest article they have written in support of Pastor Youcef and The Voice of the Martyrs.

A few days ago we posted this news on our main The Voice of the Martyrs website and I wanted to make sure you had the opportunity to read it, in case you missed it. Full story here.

Even when Romanian pastor Richard Wurmbrand was placed in a solitary prison cell devoid of light and sound, he continued to preach to an unseen audience.