URGENT PRAYERS/PETITIONS:
CONTINUE TO PRAY FOR PASTOR SAEED (Iranian-born AMERICAN pastor who just started an 8 year sentence for helping the underground churches in Iran) [See 3/25 update below!] - "As Iran continues to abuse imprisoned American Pastor Saeed Abedini, its goal is now clear -- force Pastor Saeed to deny Christ.
As the Lord leads, please pray:
PLEASE continue to PRAY TODAY (as well as often in the days ahead as they make their final decisions) that the U.S. Supreme Court will uphold Prop. 8 (the CA law which defines marriage as only between a man and a woman) and the Defense of Marriage Act (signed into federal law in 1996) that does the same. PRAY that the Court will resist any pressure to MAKE new law based on "cultural trends." PRAY as though the very future of the institution of the family is at stake because it is.[ATTENTION: (3/26) As I've prayed every day about this for many weeks now, I have been cautiously optimistic that the Court will do the right thing in their decisions as a result of their review of the 2 cases. HOWEVER, I came across 2 pieces of information yesterday that has shaken that confidence. 1) When the Court ruled 10 years ago to strike down a Texas anti-sodomy, it left the door for the approval of same-sex "marriage" in its ruling; and 2) Chief Justice Roberts - known to be a conservative - has sided with homosexual couples seeking certain rights in the past. After the way he defined Obamacare in such a way that his was the deciding vote last spring that kept it from being ruled unconstitutional (shocking everyone), I am suddenly fearful that he may again shock us with how he decides and therefore swings the court. BOTTOM LINE: PRAY! AND ASK SOMEONE TO JOIN YOU]
CONTINUE TO PRAY FOR PASTOR SAEED (Iranian-born AMERICAN pastor who just started an 8 year sentence for helping the underground churches in Iran) [See 3/25 update below!] - "As Iran continues to abuse imprisoned American Pastor Saeed Abedini, its goal is now clear -- force Pastor Saeed to deny Christ.
As the Lord leads, please pray:
- For Pastor Abedini as he endures one of Iran’s most deadly prisons, potentially beaten and abused regularly, simply because of his Christian faith.
- For the pastor’s wife and family and the Holy Spirit’s comfort upon them.
- For the continuing meetings at the UN meetings in Geneva about Pastor Saeed.
- For the U.S. State Department to get involved in a significant way to obtain the pastor’s release.
PLEASE Continue to PRAY: "Libya Arrests Suspected Christian Missionaries ," February 16, 2013; "Four foreigners were arrested in Libya on suspicion of distributing books about Christianity and proselytizing, a Libyan police spokesman said on Saturday. Spreading Christianity is a crime in the predominantly Muslim North African county. The four were arrested in the eastern city of Benghazi on Tuesday and are under investigation for printing and distributing books that proselytize Christianity. Police said they found 45,000 books in their possession and that another 25,000 have already been distributed. The suspects are from South Africa, Egypt, South Korea, and one holds both Swedish and U.S. Nationality. The U.S. Embassy in Libya has declined comment. "(Sources: CBS News, USA Today, Associated Press) [So much for the so-called "Arab Spring." - Stan]As the Lord leads, PLEASE PRAY: * For the timely release of the arrested missionaries. * For God to use them while in jail to be witnesses of the gospel * For all who share God’s loving salvation in Muslim countries.
"Never Forget Our First Freedom," by John Stonestreet; Breakpoint.org, March 25Others claim that it’s a necessary concession if Republicans are ever going to win again. If granting same-sex couples the right to marry brings in the votes they say, so be it. What’s worth fighting for is economic conservatism, gun rights and other conservative issues. But marriage is not worth the fight anymore, apparently. Better to lose this issue than have to get a real job, I suppose.
And that other pesky issue that comes along with redefining marriage also went largely unmentioned: religious liberty. In fact, few mentioned the numerous threats to our first freedom. Until, that is, my friend and colleague, Eric Metaxas took the stage and delivered one of the best public speeches I’ve ever heard him give (and that’s saying something).“Many people,” he said, “…see disturbing parallels between what was happening in Germany in the thirties and America today on [the issue of religious freedom]. I’m very sorry to agree.”
Then, citing Chuck Colson, he criticized the administration for substituting “freedom of worship” for “freedom of religion.” “Freedom of worship,” Eric noted, “says you can have your little strange rituals and say whatever you like in your little religious buildings for an hour or two on Sundays, but once you leave that building you will bow to the secular orthodoxy of the state! And if you don’t like it, tough luck!”
This, he said, is what’s really going on in the same-sex “marriage” debate. “This has been framed,” he told the crowd, “as an issue of expanding a supposed right to marry whomever one chooses, which it is not… It’s about religious freedom.” “What about the religious freedom of those who dissent on that issue?” Eric asked. “This is not a live and let live issue. . . if marriage is legally redefined, it will utterly cripple religious freedom in America and it’s already beginning to do that….”Eric then argued that if religious conviction is forced out of the public square not only would bad things happen, but—and this is an important point—many good things won’t happen.William Wilberforce’s life, he said, is a “story of what happens when a man drags religion into the public square.” Also Rosa Parks, Jackie Robinson, and most of the leaders of the Civil Rights Movement acted out of Christian convictions. So did Dietrich Bonhoeffer who, Eric suggested, still speaks to America today, “warning us not to let ourselves be silenced.” But instead, we need to “stand up for what is right knowing that the whole country will be blessed.”
In his book A Free People’s Suicide, Os Guinness argues that only virtue can keep freedom from degenerating into lawlessness. And what cultivates virtue? Faith. This, Guinness says, is what made the American experiment so unique. It’s why religious freedom is our first freedom. Remove the influence of religion, and the government must grow to govern people who won’t govern themselves. Religious freedom, as Eric concluded, is “the most important check the Founders put in place against unbridled statism.”Folks, there is no America without religious liberty. As Eric Metaxas told CPAC, “unless we take this seriously, it will be too late and we won’t be able to do anything about it.”
Does the idea that so-called "gay marriage" could threaten our freedom to live as Christians in the public square sound new to you? It's a fact few have considered, ... The reality is, if we stand by as marriage in this country is un-defined to include arrangements besides a man and a woman for life, Christians will have to comply with the new laws and recognize unbiblical unions as marriages. This means serious trouble for Christian employers, those involved with weddings, adoption agencies and legions of others.
[bold and italics emphasis mine]
[Please watch Eric’s speech and share it with others. It’s that important. If you come to BreakPoint.org (http://www.breakpoint.org/features-columns/discourse/discourse-archive/entry/15/21682?spMailingID=5841557&spUserID=MTMyMjM2ODE5OQS2&spJobID=69532775&spReportId=Njk1MzI3NzUS1), we’ll link to it and to the interview Eric and I did with Os Guinness on the very important arguments in his book.]
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