Several months ago a church in Florida planned to publicly burn the Quran as a statement against Islam. I hope you were appalled, as I was, that this church chose to send a message of hate in the name of Jesus instead of reaching out in love. The story gained immediate attention in the media, and Christians came out on all sides of the issue. The pastor, Terry Jones, took advantage of opportunities to further proclaim his views through talk show and morning news invitations. In the end, the Jones and his church did not hold the Quran burning, and a local car dealer rewarded Jones with a new Hyundai.

In my previous blog post, I mentioned that the Washington Times reported that they were not sure if the gunman who shot down the Christian on the train was intentionally targeting Christians. Dan Wooding from Assist New Services writes a compelling article outlining numerous times that it was very evident, that the shooter, did indeed target Christians. Click here for the full article.

The following news item is from The Washington Examiner, and I find it interesting because apparently there was a Christian shot and also a suicide bombing of a Christian church that happened on New Year's Day in the port city of Alexandria in Egypt.

OneNewsNow.com is reporting on the State Department being deeply concerned about the rise in Christian persecution worldwide.

We are still seeing stories about persecution some of our brothers and sisters have gone through during the Christmas season. Compass Direct is highlighting what happened in Indonesia. Click here for the full story.

Elam Ministries is reporting that at least 70 Christians were arrested in Iran the day after Christmas. The Christian Broadcasting Network has the full story here.

Mission Network News is reporting on the tragic kidnapping of a bible translator from Whycliffe Bible Translators.