I have discussed on this blog before the problem of Christian girls and women being raped. And today I wanted to just remind you that it's really easy to look at the word rape and not feel anything. Yet, it is vital that we remember that rape is a horrific act that not only violates the body of a woman or girl, but also her mind, and her very soul. Victims of rape often suffer for a lifetime from this vicious act, and so when you see the word rape and read about our sister being raped by brutal thugs, please PRAY for these women and girls.

Ten members of a Christian aid team were murdered in northern Afghanistan on Aug. 5 after spending three weeks providing medical care to villagers, according to The New York Times (NYT).

Asif’s leg was broken when a car hit him on a Pakistani street. In the midst of pain, he felt a hand on his leg. He looked up to hear a woman praying for Jesus to heal him. Asif began to get angry because he was Muslim. Then a strange energy began running through his body. His leg straightened, and the bone came back into place. He eventually walked home from the accident.

Earlier this week we shared the sad story about the medical missionaries that were murdered in Afghanistan. After a few days, Compass Direct now has an update on some thoughts about the motive or lack of knowledge of a motive for the killings.

Prayer is the number one thing that persecuted Christians all over the world ask for, so today we share with you again, this weeks prayer requests. If you are interested in receiving weekly prayer requests via email, you may subscribe at our VOM Groups page.

As we all know, persecution comes in many forms, sometimes it involves Christians being martyred, and other times it's not as life threatening. Today I wanted to highlight a few news items I found interesting coming from America. These focus more on attacks on prayer, free speech and vandalism at churches, and while they might not be persecution at the level we see in communist or Islamic nations, there is definitely hostility to the gospel, and in some cases people who are supposedly following the gospel, who are doing some very wrong things.

Today we have another story from Mission Network News in which VOM's Todd Nettleton shares about how common it is for Christians to be accused of proselytism when they are doing humanitarian aid work. Click here for the full story.

This week Todd, Mark, and Mary Sue talk about Iran, Vietnam, and China. Also, we get an update on VOM’s PSP program.

You may also read more at China Aid.