This week Todd and Mark talk about Kazakhstan, Iran, and Vietnam. Also a classic Wurmbrand moment from the VOM archives.

Speaking of prayer, the The Freedom From Religion Foundationis taking the Birmingham City Council to task for prayers in the name of Jesus. So please take some time to pray for another victory in that case.

As some of you may know, we have been covering some of the prayer battles in the city council meetings across the country. One of the most popular, in recent days, is the battle to keep prayer in Lancaster.

NAIROBI, Kenya, April 15 (CDN) — Evangelical Christians in an area of Ethiopia unaccustomed to anti-Christian hostility have come under attack from Ethiopian Orthodox Church (EOC) members threatened by their existence, Christian leaders said.

I was going to write about this yesterday but I decided to save it for today because I wanted to raise the question - does this fall into the category of Christian persecution? What do you think?

The following news is from Compass Direct today. This is so sad. Please say a prayer for Sonia right now if you can. The full story is here.

Yesterday Maryam and Marzieh went back to court and initial reports from Elam Ministries says that they were both released after the court hearing, but the case is not settled.

In light of the previous post about Christian discrimination in Britain, here is a perspective from Ruth Gledhill, who says she is a liberal Christian and is reluctant to wear a cross because she doesn't want to be seen as a victim. Click here to view the video (Sorry they didn't provide the html code)

Our friends from China Aid are asking for prayer for Chinese prisoner Hu Jia who is seriously ill and needs medical care. Please also pray for his wife and all of those involved in making the decisions regarding his release for treatment. Please also pray for the salvation of Hu Jia as he is a Buddhist. Thank you everyone.