UPDATE AND CALL FOR CONTINUED PRAYER AND NEW ACTION, Jan. 28: After a short sham trial, Iran has convicted American Pastor Saeed Abedini – a U.S. citizen – and sentenced him to eight years in one of Iran's most brutal and deadly prisons – merely because he is a Christian.Iran has violated Pastor Saeed's human rights, violated its own constitution, and violated multiple international treaties and covenants that it voluntarily and willingly signed. At the ACLJ, we are mobilizing a domestic and international effort to pressure Iran to abide by its treaties and agreements. We are calling on the United Nations and the Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights to directly intervene and demand Pastor Saeed's release.Morere than 250,000 of you signed our petition to ask the Obama Administration to intervene, and the White House and State Department responded. PLEASE CONTINUE PRAYING for him, his release and for his family AND Sign this NEW petition to mobilize the international community. http://aclj.org/iran/save-american-pastor-from-iranian-prison-sentence
PRAY FOR JOHN DAY - Super Bowl Sunday ( scroll down to post #429 below)
PLEASE CONSIDER: I am participating in the annual fundraiser Walk for Lifeon Feb. 9 for a local pregnancy resource center that ministers to girls and women who might otherwise abort their baby. My goal is $213. If you can make a pledge of $10 or more, please go to http://www.razoo.com/story/Stan-M-Yonashiro, THANK YOU for whatever you can pledge. (I'd especially appreciate your prayers that I (and all the walkers) will meet my goal.)
"The Scandal of Silence - Our Persecuted Brethren;" John Stonestreet, Breakpoint.org; Jan. 04, 2013 http://www.breakpoint.org/bpcommentaries/breakpoint-commentaries-search/entry/13/21164[NOTE: I have used a daily prayer guide for persecuted believers for several years (see notation at the end of this post) and try to give to Open Doors that ministers to such believers as often as I can. There is nothing like praying for those who suffer greatly for their faith to put my own problems and struggles in perspective. - Stan]
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
It may be the scandal of 2012. And God forbid that it becomes the scandal of 2013.
Think back over this past year. What grabbed the attention of evangelical Christians? The presidential election. Mitt Romney’s Mormonism. Remember “Linsanity”—the excitement over the New York Knick’s Christian basketball star? There was the fight over religious freedom and the HHS mandate (although, let’s be clear, it’s taken many evangelicals far too long to pay attention to that threat). Social justice is a recurring theme, especially among younger Christians.
All well and good.
But something’s missing on the list. Something that should have the Church shouting from the rooftops. But instead, like the Obama Administration and the media, American Christians for the most part remained stone silent about the outrageous, brutal, and systematic persecution of Christians—especially in the Islamic world.
Look, I’m guilty too. This wasn’t on my radar until I recorded this weekend’s “BreakPoint This Week” radio show with WORLD magazine columnist Mindy Belz and Ed Stetzer of LifeWay Research. As we looked back at all the issues that Christians focused on in 2012, Mindy pointed out that the persecution of Christians is perhaps our biggest blind spot.
And she’s right. Mindy’s done a great job reporting on the murderous rampage of the Islamic group Boko Haram against Christians in Nigeria. Church bombings, machete attacks, targeted killing of church leaders. You name it. Yet the Administration was silent. Or worse. A recent Wall Street Journal article quoted an administration official, who “sanitized the intentions of this murderous group” by claiming that "The bulk of the Boko Haram movement is . . . trying to do everything in its power to show that the (Nigerian) government is ineffective.” But as the article points out, however, “two months before the official spoke, Boko Haram had claimed responsibility for the murder of dozens of Christians in the city of Jos—just one of many such attacks.”
And of course, it’s not just Nigeria. Entire Christian communities have disappeared in Iraq. In Syria, Christians are being targeted by Islamist radicals mixed in with the Syrian opposition forces. Mindy reported on this way back in February of 2012. As Mindy reported, “According to … sources, Islamic militants fighting the regime of President Bashar al-Assad have killed more than 200 Christians in [Homs)… in recent days, including entire families with young children. They’ve also kidnapped Christians and demanded ransom payments.”
And that was almost a year ago! How many Syrian Christians have perished since? Just three days ago, the UK’s Daily Mail reported that Islamists beheaded a Christian taxi driver.
Where’s the American press? Again, why is this Administration silent? Writer Jeffrey Goldberg at the Atlantic may have the answer. He wrote: “The most under-covered story these days is the sustained assault by Islamist terrorists on Christians . . I don't know precisely why this story, and stories like it, disappear so quickly, though I assume it has something to do with the seeming unwillingness of Christian churches in the West to stand up for their persecuted brethren in countries like Nigeria.” God have mercy on us if that’s true.
OK. So now what? What do we do? First, learn more about the issue. [Go to the web address listed above that is the source of this article and there are a number of articles listed that you can go to.]... Second, talk about Christian persecution to your family and friends. Support groups that help persecuted Christians. Spread the word on Facebook and Twitter. Write or phone your congressman and the administration. Letters to the editor. Hey pastors, how about highlighting the persecuted church once a month from the pulpit? Whatever you can think of, do it.
But most of all, pray for our brothers and sisters persecuted for their faith. For their sake, we cannot remain silent.
[bold, italics, and underline emphasis MINE]
---------------------------------------------------------
OPEN DOORS: Persecuted believers ask for prayer more than anything else, even rescue. You can download a monthly prayer alert that lists a specific request for persecuted believers of a different country. Go to > http://blog.opendoorsusa.org/prayer-force-alert-signup/ You can also go to http://blog.opendoorsusa.org/prayer-force-alert-signup/ to get a daily devotional about a persecuted believer.
All well and good.
But something’s missing on the list. Something that should have the Church shouting from the rooftops. But instead, like the Obama Administration and the media, American Christians for the most part remained stone silent about the outrageous, brutal, and systematic persecution of Christians—especially in the Islamic world.
Look, I’m guilty too. This wasn’t on my radar until I recorded this weekend’s “BreakPoint This Week” radio show with WORLD magazine columnist Mindy Belz and Ed Stetzer of LifeWay Research. As we looked back at all the issues that Christians focused on in 2012, Mindy pointed out that the persecution of Christians is perhaps our biggest blind spot.
And she’s right. Mindy’s done a great job reporting on the murderous rampage of the Islamic group Boko Haram against Christians in Nigeria. Church bombings, machete attacks, targeted killing of church leaders. You name it. Yet the Administration was silent. Or worse. A recent Wall Street Journal article quoted an administration official, who “sanitized the intentions of this murderous group” by claiming that "The bulk of the Boko Haram movement is . . . trying to do everything in its power to show that the (Nigerian) government is ineffective.” But as the article points out, however, “two months before the official spoke, Boko Haram had claimed responsibility for the murder of dozens of Christians in the city of Jos—just one of many such attacks.”
And of course, it’s not just Nigeria. Entire Christian communities have disappeared in Iraq. In Syria, Christians are being targeted by Islamist radicals mixed in with the Syrian opposition forces. Mindy reported on this way back in February of 2012. As Mindy reported, “According to … sources, Islamic militants fighting the regime of President Bashar al-Assad have killed more than 200 Christians in [Homs)… in recent days, including entire families with young children. They’ve also kidnapped Christians and demanded ransom payments.”
And that was almost a year ago! How many Syrian Christians have perished since? Just three days ago, the UK’s Daily Mail reported that Islamists beheaded a Christian taxi driver.
Where’s the American press? Again, why is this Administration silent? Writer Jeffrey Goldberg at the Atlantic may have the answer. He wrote: “The most under-covered story these days is the sustained assault by Islamist terrorists on Christians . . I don't know precisely why this story, and stories like it, disappear so quickly, though I assume it has something to do with the seeming unwillingness of Christian churches in the West to stand up for their persecuted brethren in countries like Nigeria.” God have mercy on us if that’s true.
OK. So now what? What do we do? First, learn more about the issue. [Go to the web address listed above that is the source of this article and there are a number of articles listed that you can go to.]... Second, talk about Christian persecution to your family and friends. Support groups that help persecuted Christians. Spread the word on Facebook and Twitter. Write or phone your congressman and the administration. Letters to the editor. Hey pastors, how about highlighting the persecuted church once a month from the pulpit? Whatever you can think of, do it.
But most of all, pray for our brothers and sisters persecuted for their faith. For their sake, we cannot remain silent.
[bold, italics, and underline emphasis MINE]
---------------------------------------------------------
OPEN DOORS: Persecuted believers ask for prayer more than anything else, even rescue. You can download a monthly prayer alert that lists a specific request for persecuted believers of a different country. Go to > http://blog.opendoorsusa.org/prayer-force-alert-signup/ You can also go to http://blog.opendoorsusa.org/prayer-force-alert-signup/ to get a daily devotional about a persecuted believer.
No comments:
Post a Comment