On Feb. 4, Moroccan military authorities raided a Christian meeting and arrested 18 people. The authorities also confiscated Bibles and personal belongings, according to The Voice of the Martyrs contacts.“We were surprised by more than 60 Moroccan Gendarmes attacking the house [where we had just started our Bible study],” a VOM contact said. “Eleven believers (including an American), two non-believers and five children… were [held] by the Moroccan government for 14 hours.”After 14 hours in detention, the American was deported and the others were released. Authorities kept the American’s laptop computer, along with Bibles, books, a laptop, a digital photo camera and a cell phone that belonged to the others arrested.“It’s the first time in our current Moroccan church history that the Moroccan government used this size of a legion to attack a small Christian meeting,” VOM contacts added. “All the time they kept repeating that this was ordered personally by the new Moroccan Justice Minister [Mohamed Naciri] and by the highest level General of the Gendarmerie [Housni Benslimane].”The Voice of the Martyrs encourages you to pray for believers in Morocco. Pray that God will protect these believers and grant them peace as they face these new challenges. Also pray that the authorities will return their confiscated belongings. Ask God to draw the persecutors into fellowship with him. “Our Moroccan brothers and sisters have asked believers here in the US to speak out on their behalf,” said Todd Nettleton, VOM’s director of media development. “They believe international attention and pressure can make a difference in getting their possessions returned, and in protecting future Christian activities.”VOM encourages you to write to the Moroccan Embassy at the address below to protest this abuse of religious freedom:Moroccan Ambassador: H.E. Aziz Mekouar1601 21st St. NWWashington, DC 20009Fax: 202-265-0161

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“O most merciful Christ,” John Huss wrote while awaiting his execution, “give us a courageous spirit, so that it may be ready. And if the flesh is weak, may your grace go before it, for without you we can do nothing, and above all, without you we cannot face a cruel death. Give us a bold courage and upright faith, a firm hope, and perfect charity, that we may give our life for you in all patience and all joy. Amen.”

In his editorial for The Voice of the Martyr’s May newsletter, Dr. Tom White talks about how parents facing persecution decide to involve or not involve their children in suffering. What would you do? After all, children are young. They have their whole lives before them. Why should they suffer for their parent’s decisions? Read the May newsletter to hear what some parents have chosen.

The following news is from our friends at China Aid. This is an inspiring testimony. Be sure to read the whole thing.

This is a great piece from our friends at Mission Network News.

New details are also beginning to arise out of the recent church shooting that took place a few weeks ago at a Northern Church in California.

More details are emerging about the two men suspected of setting fire to eleven churches in east Texas. According to CNN, shoe prints, surveillance tapes and some witness accounts have led investigators to the current suspects.