A few weeks ago, on October 9th, you may recall that Egypt's Coptic Christians who were protesting peacefully in Cairo, because their church was burnt to the ground, came under attack by the Egyptian military and Islamic terrorists. For past coverage see here and here and here.

A 17-year-old Christian was beheaded by al-Shabab extremists on Sept. 25 as he prepared for school. Al-Shabab, determined to rid Somalia of Christianity and Western influence, had carefully monitored Guled Jama Muktar and his family since their arrival from Kenya in 2008, a source told Compass Direct News. “I personally know this family as Christians who used to have secret Bible meetings in their house,” the source said.

For the last few weeks we have shared with you about Pastor "Petros" Forouton and asked you to write letters to him while he's in prison. I am thrilled to share with you, that as of today, there have been 389 letters written. This is GREAT news because our dear brother has only been in prison a short time.

The government of Kazakhstan enacted two new laws on Oct. 24, 2011, further restricting freedom of religion. All registered churches must now re-register with the government, and only churches meeting new criteria will be registered.

Chinese Pastor Zhang Rongliang, also known as Uncle Z, reports that the seven years and six months he spent in prison were a fruitful time of ministry. Zhang is still recovering from severe health problems after completing his full sentence on Aug. 31, 2011. He was immediately admitted to a hospital for 15 days where doctors monitored Zhang’s high blood pressure and diabetes.

The following is a news update from our friends at China Aid. Thank you for praying for China and all of those in Inner Mongolia.

The following story is from our sister website Kids of Courage, which we've designed to help you share the faith of Christians with your children. I wanted to remind you that you can download for free the Kids of Courage Magazine by just going to http://www.kidsofcouragemag.com . You may also visit our main Kids of Courage website here and keep up to date on all of the latest news for your children. This site is especially helpful for Sunday School teachers and those who work with youth.

Every week we like to highlight a devotion taken out of the popular best selling book Extreme Devotion. Today's thought isn't a long story, instead it's a very pithy quote that is also very poignant. As I consider martydom and how often a Christian is killed simply for believing in Christ and following Him, the following quote is powerful.

NEW DELHI, October 21 (CDN) — Police in the island nation of Maldives held a teacher from India for about 15 days before deporting him on Oct. 14 for having a Bible in his house, a source said. Shijo Kokkattu, a 30-year-old Catholic and teacher at the Raafainu School in Raa Atoll, had been arrested in late September after police found a Bible and a rosary in his house during a raid, a foreign source in the capital city of Male told Compass by phone. Charging that Kokkattu was preaching his Christian faith in the Muslim nation, which recently tightened restrictions on preaching and practice of non-Islamic faiths, police took him to another island for interrogation and kept him in custody for more than two weeks, said the source, who requested anonymity. Police raided his home after Kokkattu’s colleagues found Christian materials on a school computer he had used and reported it to authorities. While downloading material from his pen drive, Kokkattu had mistakenly downloaded some Catholic songs in the Malayalam language (used in a south Indian state) and a picture of the Virgin Mary. “The videos were in Indian, so I don’t know what they were saying, but the images were Christian,” school principal Mohamed Shiraj told Minivan News, an independent news portal based in the Maldives. Kokkattu, a parishioner from Tellicherry Archdiocese in the south Indian state of Kerala, had been teaching at the school for two years. “He was a very good teacher, we’ve not had any complaints of him in the past,” the principal reportedly said.

It's been awhile since I've mentioned The Voice of the Martyrs mobile phone apps. In case you didn't know we have one for both Android and Apple platforms.