JOS, Nigeria, December 15 (CDN) — Joshua Dabo, like other young Christians in this city in central Nigeria, had dreams for his life. He had graduated from a Christian high school, Mt. Olives Secondary School, and at 31 was finally looking forward to attending university. Apart from commitment to his fellowship at Nasara Baptist Church at Tirji Junction near the University of Jos, Dabo ran a barbershop to earn income as he awaited admission to college, and he was an ardent soccer player and fan. As such he made sure to be among the 120 people from the Christian community on Bauchi Ring Road who paid to watch a classic soccer rivalry, Barcelona FC v. Real Madrid, on TV at an outdoor bar (called a “viewing center” in Nigeria) on Saturday night (Dec. 10). A few minutes into the match, televised in the hall of corrugated sheet metal at Yangwava Television Viewing Center at Ukadum village, a bomb went off. “It was shocking for me,” said viewing center owner Emmanuel Exodus Nimkun, 30, of the Ukadum congregation of the Church of Christ in Nigeria (COCIN). “I saw Joshua Dabo standing without a head. I have never seen a thing like this – a human being standing but with his head blasted off, and he was struggling to move.” Dabo was the lone fatality in three bomb blasts targeting viewing centers in predominantly Christian areas of Jos during the Spanish soccer match; at least 10 others were injured in the blasts, leaving four in critical condition, including two in a coma.

A few days ago I was reading The Voice of the Martyrs monthly newsletter for December and I was both saddened and encouraged as I read about the life and testimony of Asia Bibi and her family. As you may know, Asia has been in prison since 2009 and sentenced to death under Pakistan's blasphemy law. I am encouraged by Asia because she has not recanted her faith or denied Christ during this time of trial. I am saddened because she's being persecuted for the same beliefs that I have in Christ, and she's in jail for them.

When I was relatively young in the faith, I remember talking to a few of my friends who were raised in Christian homes. I remember someone telling me once that they often received a new bible every time something of significance happened to them. I believe one of those times was when someone is baptized and another is often when a person is married. This way they have a family bible where they can record all the deaths and births and other family history, so that everyone has a bible to pass down from generation to generation.

Every month we have special video and audio that we post on the main The Voice of the Martyrs website as a compliment to our monthly newsletter. This month we highlighted Yubelina (which we talked about yesterday here) and also this wonderful video of Iranian Christians, dancing together while chanting the many names of God. The faces have been pixelated to conceal the identity of the Christians involved, as Christians in Iran are in continual risk of persecution by government authorities. Enjoy!

Yesterday I received an email from The Voice of the Martyrs with a nice reminder about the way we can help persecuted Christians during Christmas. In case you may have missed that email, I wanted to share it with you. Here it is...

A man who planted a bomb at the home of a Messianic Jewish family in the West Bank has been declared fit to stand trial. Yaakov “Jack” Teitel, 39, is accused of bombing the home of Pastor David Ortiz in March 2008. He is additionally charged in connection with the murder of two Palestinians and with other serious offenses. Teitel’s lawyers had argued that he was not mentally competent, but a district court judge in Jerusalem ruled that he is competent to stand trial. In May 2010, Teitel had said, “I don't know if I’m sane. I don’t recognize the jurisdiction of this court. I feel good.”

Turkey (MNN) ? A startling plot involving Al Qaeda and an attack on churches in Turkey came to light Friday.

Recently we posted a new video highlighting Yubelina giving thanks to all of you who have written her letters and giving her encouragement this past year.

Last week we invited you to write a letter of support to Yang Xuan who is in prison for organizing a prayer rally. Our goal is to have two hundred more letters written to him by Christmas. Last week we started at 804 letters and as of the time of this writing we have 814 letters written to our brother.

The following is from Mission Network News and highlights the continuing persecution of Christians in Burma (Myanmar). Please pray for our brothers and sisters in this nation as daily they suffer persecution for their faith. Pray for the missionary teams that help the orphans, and other displaced people.