A few months ago I shared with you that I have two friends who recently went to China on long term missions trips. One is a young man who decided to go to China to teach English who recently sent me a note and asked for prayer. Another friend is a young woman who went to China to also teach English, but she did it with a missions group and has also recently shared with me that her experience with the underground church in China, was amazing. She told me the church was thriving.

“Munira, you have five minutes before I kill you. Whom do you choose—your family or Jesus?”

This is a heartbreaking story to have to share with you all, so as you read it, please keep the family of the martyred in your prayers. The father that was shot and murdered in cold blood was a devout follower of Christ and leaves behind a grieving wife, three daughters and two sons. Pray for the Lord's comfort to be upon the family and also that his death is not in vain.

A team from The Voice of the Martyrs traveled to Washington, D.C., in November to make the first delivery of Call For Mercy petitions to the Pakistani Embassy. The team received a courteous response from Pakistani Embassy personnel, who accepted the more than 400,000 signatures that had been collected at that time, including the initial 150,000 from Christians inside Pakistan.

The following is from our friends at China Aid and was posted on November 14th on their blog. Please keep our Chinese brothers and sisters in your daily prayers as they endure ongoing persecution for their faith and relationship with Christ Jesus.

In a story on The Christian Post today titled Burma Christian Persecution: Orphanage Owner Detained in Connection to Deadly Bombing we read that the owner of an orphanage, Dayaung Tangoon, was detained for allegedly throwing a grenade at his orphanage.

On this episode of the Persecution Podcast one of the things that we really wanted to encourage you to do is pray. Pray for those in Afghanistan who are bringing bibles to the Christians in that area, because there is a huge need for bibles.

HANOI, Vietnam, November 16 (CDN) — A gang of men attacked leaders of a Baptist house church network near Hanoi on Sunday (Nov. 13), leaving one pastor unconscious and seriously injuring several others, including women and teenage children. Leaders of the Agape Baptist Church were participating in a spiritual renewal meeting at the home of pastor Nguyen Danh Chau in Lai Tao village, Bot Xuyen commune, My Duc district, when the gang intruded at 9:30 a.m., sources said. Beating people and smashing property, the gang seriously injured more than a dozen participants and warned Nguyen Danh Chau that they would kill him if he continued gathering Christians, the sources in Vietnam said. With the attack underway, the sources said, some gang members ran outside and announced to the neighborhood, “Oh heavens, the Christian pastors are savagely beating up people!” This attracted a large crowd, which the gang hoped would prevent any Christians from escaping. The seriously injured Christians included five male pastors, four female pastors and other church leaders, and several of the leaders’ teenage children. The worst wounded, Nguyen Danh Chau, lay unconscious for many hours, and as of midnight Tuesday (Nov. 15), he was still suffering severe chest, stomach and head pain. One pastor’s wife, Nguyen Thi Lan, was still unable to walk and function normally at press time after she was struck in the stomach and groin. Others remained weak from loss of blood. The Christians were punched in the mouth and face, the chest and the back. Some were savagely kicked as they lay on the floor.