REMINDER: Check out this week's "Truth That Transforms broadcast at http://www.truthinaction.org/index.php/truth-that-transforms/ This week's broadcast is about believing God to do great things through us entitled “The Great Adventure.” Also presented is a special feature bout having a Biblical worldview. Don’t miss it
PRAISES AND PRAYER REQUESTS:
PRAISES AND PRAYER REQUESTS:
ATTENTION: TODAY is the 29th day of the 30 days of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan. (see link below for resource material you can download.) Please join me in focusing your prayers EVERY DAY for these over one billion people who need to hear the gospel of Jesus.[NOTE: 1) You can download a page of helpful basic information about Islam and Ramadan at: http://www.opendoorsusa.org/downloads/pdf-downloads/Islam_reference_guide-1.pdf ; and 2) The following is from a 30-day prayer guide you can download at: http://www.opendoorsusa.org/downloads/pdf-downloads/2013-ramadan-prayer-calendar-1.pdf (The following is from that prayer guide August 6 – 29th Day of Ramadan - TRUTH (Tanzania) “‘I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.’” (John 14:6) Once a role model for peace in Africa, Tanzania is no longer considered “safe” after an increase in inter-faith violence. The push toward Islam is less violent on the mainland, but on the predominantly Muslim Zanzibar archipelago, Islamic militants, bent on wiping out all Christians from the islands, have burned and looted churches and threatened Christians with death. PRAY for the struggling Christian community in Zanzibar. Also pray for all Tanzanian Muslims, as they seek God during Ramadan, to find the Truth.
"Angry Islamists Turn Wrath on Egypt's Christians," By George Thomas, CBN News Sr. Reporter http://www.cbn.com/cbnnews/world/2013/July/Angry-Islamists-Turn-Wrath-on-Egypts-Christians/ Friday, July 12, 201 - "Egyptian Christians are facing growing retaliation by angry Islamists for opposing ousted President Moham3med Morsi. His supporters say Christian leaders were behind his removal from office....On Thursday, the body of a Christian merchant was found decapitated in a cemetery. Last Saturday, a Coptic Christian priest was shot by gunmen in an outdoor market. Also, days after the military coup that removed Morsi from office, Muslim extremists in southern Egypt burned dozens of Christian homes and stabbed four believers to death. "It's part of the Brotherhood's mobilization that they are targeting Christians, that they are renouncing them as behind this. If the Brotherhood is able to portray what happened as a Christian-dominated or Christian-driven protest, then they get to gain massive support in the streets," Tadros explained.PRAY for the nation of Egypt, as it faces a crucial moment, 1) that the recent events would result in its becoming a true democracy and NOT an Islamic state; 2) that the peoples' freedoms, in particular the religious freedom of its minorities (specifically its oppressed Christians) would be protected; 3) for peace and stability to return; 4) that the U.S. will effectively reach out to the new government, and 3) for safety for Americans living in Egypt.
"American Pastor Saeed: 300 Illegal Days in an Iranian Prison," - by Jordan Sekulow, July 23, 2013 http://aclj.org/iran/american-pastor-saeed-300-illegal-days-iranian-prison ''Today [7/23] is the 300th day of American Pastor Saeed Abedini’s illegal imprisonment in Iran – 300 days away from his wife and kids, 300 days of torment for his Christian faith, 300 days and counting...Pastor Saeed’s wife, Naghmeh Abedini, responded to this positive step:"Thank you to all of the individuals who have prayed, written letters, signed petitions, called government officials, run benefit races, tweeted, and shared Saeed’s story. Thank you to all the government officials from around the world who have stood for my husband. Iran has listened to your pleas. While I am encouraged that Saeed is finally getting medical care, the fight is not yet over. It has been a difficult 300 days – 300 days of torment simply because Saeed loves Jesus Christ. I am hopeful Iran will do the just and honorable thing and release Saeed.'' ...We continue to work in this country and in the international community to secure Pastor Saeed’s freedom. And more than 600,000 people around the world now stand in solidarity with Pastor Saeed at SaveSaeed.org. [ I urge you to pray DAILY for this courageous brother in Christ and his family and the hundreds of thousands of other Christians worldwide suffering persecution for their faith. - Stan]
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"Angry Islamists Turn Wrath on Egypt's Christians," By George Thomas, CBN News Sr. Reporter http://www.cbn.com/cbnnews/world/2013/July/Angry-Islamists-Turn-Wrath-on-Egypts-Christians/ Friday, July 12, 201 - "Egyptian Christians are facing growing retaliation by angry Islamists for opposing ousted President Moham3med Morsi. His supporters say Christian leaders were behind his removal from office....On Thursday, the body of a Christian merchant was found decapitated in a cemetery. Last Saturday, a Coptic Christian priest was shot by gunmen in an outdoor market. Also, days after the military coup that removed Morsi from office, Muslim extremists in southern Egypt burned dozens of Christian homes and stabbed four believers to death. "It's part of the Brotherhood's mobilization that they are targeting Christians, that they are renouncing them as behind this. If the Brotherhood is able to portray what happened as a Christian-dominated or Christian-driven protest, then they get to gain massive support in the streets," Tadros explained.PRAY for the nation of Egypt, as it faces a crucial moment, 1) that the recent events would result in its becoming a true democracy and NOT an Islamic state; 2) that the peoples' freedoms, in particular the religious freedom of its minorities (specifically its oppressed Christians) would be protected; 3) for peace and stability to return; 4) that the U.S. will effectively reach out to the new government, and 3) for safety for Americans living in Egypt.
"American Pastor Saeed: 300 Illegal Days in an Iranian Prison," - by Jordan Sekulow, July 23, 2013 http://aclj.org/iran/american-pastor-saeed-300-illegal-days-iranian-prison ''Today [7/23] is the 300th day of American Pastor Saeed Abedini’s illegal imprisonment in Iran – 300 days away from his wife and kids, 300 days of torment for his Christian faith, 300 days and counting...Pastor Saeed’s wife, Naghmeh Abedini, responded to this positive step:"Thank you to all of the individuals who have prayed, written letters, signed petitions, called government officials, run benefit races, tweeted, and shared Saeed’s story. Thank you to all the government officials from around the world who have stood for my husband. Iran has listened to your pleas. While I am encouraged that Saeed is finally getting medical care, the fight is not yet over. It has been a difficult 300 days – 300 days of torment simply because Saeed loves Jesus Christ. I am hopeful Iran will do the just and honorable thing and release Saeed.'' ...We continue to work in this country and in the international community to secure Pastor Saeed’s freedom. And more than 600,000 people around the world now stand in solidarity with Pastor Saeed at SaveSaeed.org. [ I urge you to pray DAILY for this courageous brother in Christ and his family and the hundreds of thousands of other Christians worldwide suffering persecution for their faith. - Stan]
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"American Pastor Saeed: 300 Illegal Days in an Iranian Prison," - by Jordan Sekulow, July 23, 2013 http://aclj.org/iran/american-pastor-saeed-300-illegal-days-iranian-prison ''Today [7/23] is the 300th day of American Pastor Saeed Abedini’s illegal imprisonment in Iran – 300 days away from his wife and kids, 300 days of torment for his Christian faith, 300 days and counting...Pastor Saeed’s wife, Naghmeh Abedini, responded to this positive step:"Thank you to all of the individuals who have prayed, written letters, signed petitions, called government officials, run benefit races, tweeted, and shared Saeed’s story. Thank you to all the government officials from around the world who have stood for my husband. Iran has listened to your pleas. While I am encouraged that Saeed is finally getting medical care, the fight is not yet over. It has been a difficult 300 days – 300 days of torment simply because Saeed loves Jesus Christ. I am hopeful Iran will do the just and honorable thing and release Saeed.'' ...We continue to work in this country and in the international community to secure Pastor Saeed’s freedom. And more than 600,000 people around the world now stand in solidarity with Pastor Saeed at SaveSaeed.org. [ I urge you to pray DAILY for this courageous brother in Christ and his family and the hundreds of thousands of other Christians worldwide suffering persecution for their faith. - Stan]
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"Tortured in the Sinai: 'I Was Hanged for Days'" - By Chris Mitchell, Aug. 2, 2013, http://www.cbn.com/cbnnews/insideisrael/2013/July/Tortured-in-the-Sinai-I-Was-Hanged-for-Days/[PRAY for the many thousands - many of them Christians - who are the objects of the incredible torture and misery in the Sinai desert, an area under the control of Egypt, a nation that continues to receive US aid. PRAY that the aid would be made conditional on these human rights atrocities being addressed.]
JERUSALEM, Israel -- From the West Coast of Africa to the deserts of Sinai, Bedouin tribes are conducting a human trafficking trade on a massive scale. It's no secret. The trade reaps millions of dollars and deals with human misery. It could be stopped but so far no one has dared.
"By that time I had lost sense (sensation) in both my hands," an Eritrean torture victim told CBN News. "It was a result of the accumulated torture but mainly because (both) of my wrists were tied up so tightly, (and I was) hanged up from the ceiling for three days, the blood was cut off from my hands and the flesh started to literally drip from my hands."
Torture in the Sinai - This man is just one victim of this widespread modern-day slavery, kidnapping, and torture trade in the Sinai desert. There are many pictures and videos of this horrible practice on the Internet.For this story, this Christian man from the African country of Eritrea is going by "Philip," but that's not his real name. CBN News covered his identity for his protection. "In some cases, we were tortured simply because we were Christians," he told us, his chest trembling slightly as he spoke.
"Sinai was always a place for human smuggling, but since around two years ago -- even a bit more -- it started also to be a place of human torture," Shahar Shoham, director of Physicians for Human Rights, told CBN News.
Shorham has documented more than 1,300 cases of torture in the Sinai. Those survivors, like Philip, made it to Israel. But most of the cases of torture are not documented."They torture them in horrible methods, like hanging upside down from the ceiling, like using electric shocks, like burning them on their bodies," Shorham said.
Kidnapped for Ransom - This story begins in Eritrea, where many like Philip fled from its brutal dictatorship. He traveled to a United Nations refugee camp in Sudan. There he was kidnapped by a Bedouin tribe. They transferred him -- along with many others -- through Sudan, Egypt, and all the way to the Sinai desert and their torture camps. What happens next in these camps is diabolical. "What they make you do is call your family and ask them for the money," Philip explained. "Usually they will do the asking. They will say, 'Either send this money or your brother will die or your father will die or your son will die.' It depends on whoever is picking up the phone."
"While you're talking to your family they would pour molten plastic on your body so that you would scream and perhaps they thought that would persuade your family to pay or collect the money faster," he said.
The tribesmen demand what for most poor Eritrean families is a king's ransom. "The ransom fees can go up to $40,000 for an individual and even $50,000, and until the ransom fees (are) paid, the people will not be released," Shoham explained. The financial burden on the families is devastating."
Killing a Soul - Sister Azziza is a Catholic nun from Eritrea who is based in Jerusalem. She has interviewed many of the Sinai survivors."People are destroyed physically (and) psychologically because of what they know they did to their family, how they are living," Sister Azziza told CBN News. But many do not make it out alive."We estimate that around 4,000 people died in the Sinai, some of them from torture," Shoham said. Many who were with Philip died."We couldn't help them; that was the most horrible thing," he recalled. "Some you know. You have experienced some of the harshest treatment in this world and yet they're dying and you couldn't do anything to help them. That was horrible."
Hanged Like Christ - Yet the torture and the dying go on. CBN News talked with a 35-year-old Eritrean woman named Segen. She is five month's pregnant. Meron Estefanos, an Eritrean human rights activist living in Sweden, arranged our conversation. The kidnappers give them cell phones so they can call their family and friends.We talked via Skype, linking Sweden, Jerusalem, and the Sinai.It was sobering. You could hear the strain in Segen's voice."They are asking for money every minute and they hit us and they put us -- they will make us lie down on the floor and you know their feet would be up and they would hit their feet and melt with melted plastic bags," Estefanos said.
"And so that way they cannot stand because they will torture their feet, and every day they hang them the way they hang Jesus Christ," she said."What does she mean when they hang them like Jesus Christ?" CBN News asked."They hang us the way He was hanged and they take off their clothes. While they are naked they will hang them. And they will just hit them with big bats like all day for hours," she said.
No Secret to the World - Many of the Etritreans, like Segen and Philip, are Christians. Many don't survive. "There are around 7,000 that went through these torture camps and 4,000 that died. Those are huge numbers and I don't think that the world needs to keep quiet about that," Shoham said.Philip miraculously survived and made it to Israel where he received life-saving medical treatment. The location of these torture camps is no secret. "Their location and whereabouts is known already by many high officials," human rights activist Majed El Shafie told CBN News.
"The only way out of this problem is for the international society or the international community to put pressure on the Egyptian government to release the victims, to stop these human traffickers," he said. Shafie believes some of the American financial aid to Egypt could be used -- with conditions -- to help these victims.
"Every American listening to us right now -- not only Americans but anybody in the world -- can make a difference," he said."You can contact your congressman. You can contact your senator. You can show them that you care about these issues," he said. "If you send an email, or fax or make a telephone call, he can save a life." [You can find a link to do just that - AS I HAVE - in the column on the right side of this blog.]
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