URGENT PRAYERS/PETITIONS:
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Same -Sex "Marriage"- PLEASE PRAY WITH ME (every day untill the decision is revealed around mid-June) THAT THE SUPREME COURT WILL VOTE TO UPHOLD THE 2 LAWS REVIEWED SUPPORTING A TRADITIONAL DEFINITION OF MARRIAGE.. 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. PRAY! - for the sake of possibly millions of such children, and for our country if it is to continue to be shown any more favor by our Heavenly Father, who I promise you will be very displeased if homosexual marriage is legalized; "GOD IS NOT [TO BE] MOCKED..." - (Gal. 6:7) - Stan [Be sure to check out my brief essay at post #478.]
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!] If you have not already, please join nearly 500,000 (was recently250,000) who have signed the petition for Pastor Saeed's release and tell your friends about it. http://aclj.org/iran/save-american-pastor-from-iranian-prison-sentence
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 God to visit his tormenters and all in his cell with him with supernatural dreams of the risen Christ, and use the pastor's actions and words to draw them to repent and turn to Christ; that God would use the pastor's time in that prison to spark a genuine spiritual revival that will bring scores of Iranians to Christ..*For the U.S. State Department to get involved in a significant way to obtain the pastor’s release.
[NOTE: The following is information provided by Open Doors ministry. You can learn about them, prayer guides, stories of persecuted Christians, ways to give, and other information at www.OpenDoorsUSA.org]
North Korea (Ranked #1 among nations perscuting Christians)
Leader: Kim Jong-Un
Government: Communist dictatorship
Religion: Atheism/traditional beliefs
Population: 24.5 million (400,000 Christians; about 1/4 est. to be in labor prisons)
Population: 24.5 million (400,000 Christians; about 1/4 est. to be in labor prisons)
For the eleventh year running, this is the most difficult place on earth to be a Christian. One of the remaining Communist states, it is vehemently opposed to religion of any kind. Christians are classified as hostile and face arrest, detention, torture, even public execution. There is a system of labour camps including the renowned prison No. 15, which reportedly houses 6,000 Christians alone. But despite severe oppression, there is a growing underground church movement of an estimated 400,000 Christians.
PRAY: 1) For real political and economic change under the leadership of Kim Jong-Un
2) Spies have reportedly been sent to China to expose networks. Ask God to protect refugees and those helping them
3) Give thanks that Open Doors is able to deliver emergency aid into the country.
[MY additional prayers: 1) Just as God used dreams and visions to reveal truth and in effect Himself to the King of Babylon in Daniel\'s time, pray that he would do the same to Kim Jon Un of North Korea, that he (and those of his leadership team) might be caused to repent and trust in Jesus Christ as their Savior and Lord. 2) That American and South Korean forces will always be more than sufficient to defend against any threat from North Korea.
Auschwitz, Dachau, Auschwitz, Dachau, Bergen-Belsen and Sobibor.
Four names of four Nazi concentration camps that were infamous for holding many political prisoners captive, but most for the systematic torture and killing of Jews, gypsies and others that were seen as impure.We know the names and have images in our memories that we associate with them.
But how many of us are familiar with names as Yodok, Bukchang, Kaechon and Chongori? Neglected by a large part of the international community, several hundred thousand people languish in these Nazi-like death camps, where they are stripped of all humanity.Christians are kept in isolation from other people in the total control zone. What we know specifically about them are only bits and pieces. But Lee Soon-Ok, who was imprisoned in prison facility No. 1 Kaechon, wrote in her book 'Eyes of the tailless animals' about several hundred Christians who were kept there.
"They received less food and were punished harder than others. Once or twice a month all the 6,000 prisoners needed to gather on a Saturday or Sunday and one or two Christians were publicly asked to denounce their faith. If not, they were beaten or stabbed with a sharp bamboo stick. I was amazed the Christians choose to suffer and did not betray their God. Often they just sang songs or said 'Amen'. The guards became furious and frequently killed Christians. The Christians also had to do the most dangerous and hardest work, like working in the rubbery factory. If a guard managed to force a Christian to denounce God, he or she would receive a promotion. Sometimes we had to walk over the Christian until he died."
Iraq [It is tragic that Christians in this country actually face more persecution and hardship today than they did before America first bgan giving so much in aid and livs lost a decade ago.]
Leader: Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki
Government: Parliamentary Democracy
Government: Parliamentary Democracy
Religion: Islam
Population: 33.7 million (330,000 Christians)
Population: 33.7 million (330,000 Christians)
Christians in Iraq are on the verge of extinction. Large numbers have fled abroad or to the (until recently) safer Kurdish region, where they face unemployment and inadequate schooling, medical care and housing. The church faces many challenges – members being killed or abducted, and a lack of capable leaders. In central and southern Iraq, traditional Christians suffer as much as Muslim-background believers, as a result of their visibility. In May 2012, 20 Christian families in Mosul received threats, and the house of another Christian was set on fire.
Pray:
· [For God to visit the leaders with dreams and visions, signs and wonders, to cause them to turn from Islam and to Jesus to be their Savior and Lord.]
· [For the government to grant religious freedoms to minorities, esp. the Christians.] · For the many Christians displaced from their homes by threats of murder or abduction
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Ask God to raise up godly, wise leaders to shepherd the church
·
For Open Doors trauma counsellors working with children and families affected by persecution.
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