REMEMBER: As always on Sunday in Orlando, I encouarge you to tune into the weekly broadcast of "Truth That Transforms" at 5 pm. Or you can catch it at www.truthinaction.org
NOTE: Though millions of Christians worldwide united LAST weekend to pray for persecuted Christians worldwide, the entire month of November and actually anytime is a good time to be praying for our suffering brothers and sisters in Christ. I use a prayer guide provided by Open Doors ministry (see link below) to pray daily for believers in a different country as well as try to help them financially anytime I can. I invite you to do the same.
AS I SEE IT: In a post #349 on 10/15 (note in particular the second article posted), I noted the growing threats to religious liberty in this country. Of course it's nowhere what exists in many countries (its been said that the last century saw more Christians persecuted worldwide than all of human history before!). And I don't want to sound like a crazed alarmist, but it is not a long way from being denied basic religous liberty to experiencing persecution. With pastors in some places in Europe and in Canada being arrested under so-called "hate-crime" laws, all I'm saying is don't be surprised when such things start happening in the U.S.-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"N. Korean Believer's Tale of Persecution Survival" - By Gary Lane, CBN News Sr. International Correspondent; , November 08, 2012 http://www.cbn.com/cbnnews/world/2012/November/Hermit-Kingdom-A-N-Korean-Believers-Tale-of-Survival/
Millions of Christians around the world will unite this weekend to mark the International Day of Prayer for the persecuted church.The annual event is a time for standing with those who suffer for following Christ.
Attacks against Christians in countries like Nigeria, Pakistan, and Egypt are increasing, yet the worst place to be a Christian is in North Korea's Hermit Kingdom.
Christians are under intense pressure in Muslim countries, but North Korea tops the Open Doors (http://www.opendoorsusa.org/) list each year as the world's worst persecutor of Christians.
Christians are under intense pressure in Muslim countries, but North Korea tops the Open Doors (http://www.opendoorsusa.org/) list each year as the world's worst persecutor of Christians.
Nearly one year after the death of Kim Jong Il, little has changed. His son and successor, Kim Jong Un, is continuing efforts to rid the nation of Christianity. Christians are arrested, imprisoned, and even executed simply for believing in a faith other than the state religion known as Juche, or self-reliance.
CBN News protected one North Korean Christian by hiding his face and calling him by a different name: "Mr. Bae." Bae was imprisoned for evangelizing a friend. "There were interrogations, tortures," he told CBN News. "But the most difficult thing was sit still on the floor without moving my neck, arms, legs for more than a year." Bae said his faith grew deeper as time passed. "I felt as if God was with me. I would not die," he recalled. "I came to have faith and at the end I was released without any charges, so that I knew that it is not the work of man, but it is the work of God that I am alive." (Bae told his story to Rev. Eric Foley, CEO of the Colorado-based ministry Seoul USA. His family experience of Christian suffering is detailed in the new book, These Are the Generations.)
[bold and italics emphasis mine]
[bold and italics emphasis mine]
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International Day of Prayer for the Persecuted Church - IDOP http://www.idop.org/
"There are many countries in the world today where Christians are martyred for their faith. Believers in Afghanistan are facing death threats; Christians in Uzbekistan, Nigeria and many other countries all around the world face violence, imprisonment and even death. There are other places in the world such as North Korea where acts of persecution take place, but we don’t see or hear of it. Brother Andrew of Open Doors once said, 'Our heroes are not with us simply because they are in prison.' "
IDOP is a time set apart for us to remember thousands of our Christian brothers and sisters around the world who suffer persecution, simply because they confess Jesus Christ as Lord.We invite you to explore [the] website http://www.idop.org/ and hope you will join Christians worldwide in praying for persecuted Christians this entire month of November.
(Please note that while Sunday, November 4, 2012 is the designated date for IDOP, you are free to choose another date if you wish.)
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