Three recent attacks against Christians in India reflect an increase in animosity against believers throughout the country.

Today I wanted to give you an update on our letter writing campaign for Gao Zhisheng who is serving time in a China prison for defending Christians and for being a Christian. A few weeks ago we asked you to help us reach a goal of 5000 letters written to Gao, and I'm happy to share with you today that, as of the time of this writing, 5010 letters have been written!

On the March 12th edition of In the Market with Janet Parshall, Todd Nettleton from The Voice of the Martyrs USA, updated Janet and her audience about the plight of persecuted Christians around the world.

We are happy to share with you all that the efforts of The American Center for Law & Justice have made to bring awareness about Pastor Youcef Nadarkhani and his situation is reaping over a million tweets with over one million tweeting about Pastor Youcef every single day.

The Rev. Makarious Bolous of the Mar Gerges Church in Aswan was sentenced on Sunday (March 4), but neither the imams who called for the attack nor the Muslim villagers who destroyed the church building last September have been charged with any crime.

Iranian authorities continue to raid worship meetings and arrest Christians in a systematic series of arrests that began two months ago. Authorities launched the operation in hope of countering the growth of Christianity and stamping out the house church movement. Those arrested are rarely given a reason for their arrest. Their personal property is seized, and they are often transferred to unknown locations without notification of family.

ISTANBUL, March 5 (CDN) — Tensions remain high in an Egyptian village where as many as 5,000 mostly Salafi Muslims went on a rampage over a false rumor that a church was holding a girl against her will in order to convert her back to Christianity. Dismissing media reports of 20,000 rioting Muslims, sources told Compass that between 2,000 and 5,000 hard-line Muslims, most of them from the Salafi movement, last month harassed Christian villagers in Meet Bahsar in the Nile Delta, attacked a church building in a misguided effort to “save” the girl, damaged a priest’s house and then destroyed his car. The 14-year-old girl’s father, an ethnic Copt who converted to Islam, had stirred them up on the mistaken notions that his daughter had converted to Islam and that Christians had kidnapped her, the church priest told Compass. Full story here.

This week we have some praises and prayer requests that you can share easily with your friends, family and church members. We rejoice that Li Ying has been set free from her prison sentence and we pray for God's hand of blessing to be on her. We also pray for Pastor Youcef, Asia Bibi, Gao and others who remain in prison.

A religion law adopted last October has been used to revoke registration from religious groups of fewer than 50 adults, and small churches are now struggling to maintain legal status. In the past, authorities fined those who met without registration, but the new religion law officially bans all unregistered religious activity. The number of religious groups in Kazakhstan has declined 13 percent, from 4,551to 3,972, since the government began enforcing the stricter regulations. A complementary law increased penalties for religious offences.