Pastor Roman Abramov and his wife worked diligently for three years to plant a church in Ismailly, Azerbaijan. But within a year of moving to the village, officials arrested them in an attempt to force them out of town.

This week we have a few entries for our carnival. Take some time and savor each one of the entries and then please tell a friend. I know these will bless you as you continue to grow in your love for the persecuted church.

This week a woman from Asia shared with us. She and her husband, who are house-church leaders, are often targeted by government officials because of their bold stand for Jesus.

On the night of August 5, more than fifty Hindu militants stormed the House of Hope orphanage in Dantewara, Chhattisgarh state in an attempt to forcibly close it. According to VOMC sources, the mob was armed with clubs and bamboo sticks. They beat the director, Suresh (35), and threatened to kill him if he continues with the orphanage. They also questioned and threatened several of the children.

The following information is taken from this weeks Canada's Persecution & Prayer Alert As you read through this prayer need, please remember to pray for those doing the persecuting.

I was thinking this morning about how I might encourage all of us to be serious about praying for the persecuted saints, as well as just nurturing our prayer life in general and I started to think about kneeling.

In the spirit of Bill O'Reilly's famous Most Ridiculous Item of the Day segment I just had to share that when you do a Google search on the term "christian persecution" this very blog comes up in the number 3 slot....ridiculous...I don't think so. :)

As I was going through some news on persecution today, I stumbled upon this interesting article from Spero News.

Earlier today VOM Media released the following information. As you read this, please and I say this emphatically, please pray for these believers in Ethiopia. I think here in the West we have no clue how serious the persecution is for our family in Christ. As I read through this I was reminded that when one part of the body suffers, we all suffer. And while we can rejoice that many of our martyred brothers are with Christ now, we need to remember this guy did not die of crucifixion, as Glenn Penner of VOM Canada reminded me earlier. Please pray for everyone there who has to deal with the wickedness all around them. Please write Ethiopia on your prayer list today, and pray for them often.