Welcome to this weeks Persecution Blog Carnival - I am thrilled that you came! Due to a few unforeseen appointments I had yesterday I wasn't able to get this up, so for those of you who were wondering, never fear - I'm back!

Sabina Wurmbrand, wife of Pastor Richard Wurmbrand, wrote a book called The Pastor's Wife. There are a lot of great themes in this book, and if you have not read it, I strongly recommend that you do. To find a brief overview of the Wurmbrand’s testimony, visit the “about” page on persecution.com. Their lives are marked by bravery, hope and unexplainable joy. But there are two traits of the Wurmbrands that truly set them apart: forgiveness and a love for enemies.

The following pictures are from VOM Media and are pictures of the Christians mentioned in the previous post. I want you to look at these precious saints and remember them in prayer, and also remember that there is a militant enemy in the Muslim world that wants to kill you if you follow Christ. This is just a tidbit of visual evidence.

The following news is not uncommon in most of the world. If you are an American Christian I want you to remember that for the most part, our nation does not persecute Christians. Most of the world does persecute Christians. Please read this story, and then let it inspire you to stand firm for Jesus and tell people the truth about salvation, sin and the future. You were called for such a time as this.

The following was released exclusively through VOM Media.

One of the stories I wrote about last year that I still remember to this day was the story of the girls in Indonesia who were mercilessly beheaded. You may remember that I posted pictures of one of the girls who was beheaded, and you need to know that to this day people still find that post and read it. And for some reason, people actually do a search for "beheading pictures" and find that post. That aside, I wanted to give you an update on the survivor of that attack.

Today I wanted to share with you a very special prayer assignment that I came across this morning as I was going through all of my email. All last week I was on vacation in Washington DC and I have to tell you that it is great to be back...but now we have to catch up.

Hebrews 9:27 tells us that, "... it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment." and I love this passage because it gives me confidence in knowing that the Lord will not take me home to be with Him until that appointed time. So the story of John is inspiring and also draws us back to worship the One who made us. Be encouraged as you read this Extreme Devotion, and remember you can sign up to get devotions just like this in your email everyday by simply going to www.vomgroups.com and signing up.

In a day and age when there is a top ten list for virtually everything under the sun, not many of us are familiar with such a list for religious persecution. This is because religious persecution, especially against Christians, is not a very politically correct topic in a world that is pushing cultural diversity and "tolerance." As Christians in a culture where entertainment is given more media coverage than the treatment of our fellow believers, it is no wonder that most of us are probably more geared to recite the top ten college football teams or box office hits than the top ten persecutors. Below is a list of the ten worst offenders in the world, according to Open Doors International: