SIGN A PETITION TO THE UN FOR THE PROTECTION OF CHRISTIANS :" The church in Syria has shone brightly for 2,000 years. But today violence and persecution threatens its survival. Thanks to an incredible response, Open Doors is helping 8,000 families in Syria survive each month. We believe the signatures and prayers of 500,000 people will encourage the UN to act and protect the rights and lives of all Syrians, especially the vulnerable Christian community." Go to: http://lp.opendoorsusa.org/emails/nov-13-action/save-syria.html?utm_source=action&utm_medium=email&utm_content=button&utm_campaign=november
WORLD-WDE PRAYER REQUESTS:
"Missionary in Philippines: 'Bodies Laying Everywhere'- By Dale Hurd and Heather Sells, November 12; http://www.cbn.com/cbnnews/world/2013/November/Truckloads-of-Bodies-Filipinos-Plead-for-Help/ - [PRAY that relief supplies will get to the needed area in time to help the tens of thousands who are in great need. PRAY that security can be established in the midst of looters causing problems in the midst of the devastation. - Stan]
NEWS ALERT: Oct. 23: "Christians Fleeing IRAQ Area Once Considered Safe," - CBNNews.com, http://www.cbn.com/cbnnews/world/2013/October/Christians-Fleeing-Iraq-Area-Once-Considered-Safe/ PRAY that believers in Iraq will know God's protection and provision; that believers will know[ whether they are called to flee or remain and persevere; and that their persecutors may come to hear the gospel and come to faith in Christ. - Stan]
Continue to Pray for EGYPT - Continue to pray for the tense situation in Egypt and especially for the Christian believers who are being targeted with violence by Muslim Brotherhood members.]
Update on Kenneth Bae: "US Ready to Bargain with N. Korea for Bae's Release,"- CBNNews.com, Aug 14, 2013 http://www.cbn.com/cbnnews/world/2013/August/S-Ready-to-Bargain-with-N-Korea-for-Baes-Release/ - The United States is willing to engage North Korea to secure the release of imprisoned American Christian Kenneth Bae. State Department spokeswoman Marie Harf said the United States is "willing to consider a number of different options" to bring him home.In a video recently released by a North Korean newspaper, Bae requested the United States send a high-ranking official to North Korea to seek his pardon. It is unclear if he spoke of his own volition in the video. Bae, 45, was sentenced to 15 years of hard labor for sharing his faith. He suffers health problems such as diabetes and is currently hospitalized.[PRAY for 1) God's healing of and presence with Pastor Bae, 2) His earliest release by the North Korean government, and 3) God's comfort for his family and friends.]
NEWS ALERT: Monday, November 04, 2013 - Saeed's Life in [Greater] Jeopardy After Prison Transfer - CBNNews.com, ; http://www.cbn.com/cbnnews/world/2013/November/Saeeds-Life-in-Jeopardy-after-Prison-Transfer/ IRAN - Vigils Mark One Year Imprisonment of Pastor Saeed - CBNNews.com, Thursday, September 26, 2013 - Today marks one-year that American pastor Saeed Abedini has been held in an Iranian prison. He is serving an eight-year sentence because of his Christian faith. It has been a year of torment as he has suffered beatings, physical pain from untreated medical conditions, and separation from his wife and two children... The suffering has not dampened his passion for Jesus. Pastor Abedini has led more than 30 prisoners to Christ during his time in prison. This afternoon, thousands of Americans from coast to coast will pray for his release. Events will be held in 40 states at capitols, city halls, parks and churches. Thousands more will join from 15 nations around the world
PRAY: - For comfort and peace for Saeed’s wife and children here in the U.S.\
- For a strong witness and testimony from Pastor Abedini in the prison where God has placed him
- For Christians around the world who are being persecuted for their faith in Christ
- BOLDly (Beside Our Leaders Daily) for leadership from the White House and State Department in defending the freedoms of Abedini and other Americans
- GO TO SaveSaeed.org to sign a petition over 600,000 others asking for his immediate release
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"We Didn't Choose This Battle, But . . . - Religious Freedom in 2014," By: John Stonestreet|Published: January 2, 2014 5:30 AM
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The future of religious freedom in the United States may well be defined during 2014.
On the Tuesday before Thanksgiving, the Supreme Court agreed to hear Sebelius v. Hobby Lobby, the challenge to the HHS mandate brought by a Christian-owned family business based in Oklahoma. It’s also agreed to hear a related case, Conestoga Wood Specialties v. Sebelius, which involves the issue of whether a business, as well as its owners, has a right to religious freedom under the First Amendment.While most commentators have treated the news as part of the larger story about the legal challenges to the Affordable Care Act, the far more important story is the battle for religious freedom.
Two thousand and fourteen is shaping up to be a momentous, perhaps even defining, year when it comes to religious freedom in the United States. What’s at stake in these cases goes far beyond healthcare—it’s about what we mean when we say “freedom of religion.”
The trend over the past decade has been to equate “freedom of religion” with “freedom of worship,” that people are free to believe—or not believe—whatever they want. And with a few exceptions, they may also practice with other like-minded people whatever rituals they think their belief requires of them, provided these rituals remain private. Once they cross the threshold of the church or their home, however, the ability to put their beliefs into action is increasingly circumscribed.
As a New Mexico Supreme Court justice wrote this past summer, for religious believers, compromising “the very religious beliefs that inspire their lives” and “[channeling] their conduct, not their beliefs, so as to leave space for other Americans who believe something different” is the “price of citizenship.” It should be noted that the requirement to “leave space” and “channel conduct” only flows in one direction: non-believers are under no similar obligation. And so, we’ve arrived at a point where what once was considered the “first freedom” is now, at best, a second-class right that can be set aside at the behest of the currently-favored interest group.
That’s why the upcoming Supreme Court cases are so important. The Court can either solidify religious freedom’s second-tier status or, hopefully, arrest its slide. It can either sign on to the fallacious distinction between belief and conduct or insist that the First Amendment requires reasonable accommodation to “the very religious beliefs that inspire [people’s] lives.”
Needless to say, we must be in prayer about this momentous issue, not only concerning the cases, but more importantly, our response to this challenge. As Chuck Colson said concerning another important Supreme Court case, “the Supreme Court justices don't live in a sheltered cocoon. They read newspapers, editorials, and letters-to-the-editor. So Christians ought to be talking publicly about what's really at stake.”
Folks, nearly all of us grew up in a society where there was little, if any, conflict between the requirements of faith and the requirements of citizenship.We didn’t need television networks and activists of various stripes to teach us about tolerance. We fully knew that people disagreed with us on some, if not most, issues and yet we—and they—could treat each other with respect.
This kind of tolerance has been replaced by a relentless scrubbing of an ever-growing public square of any dissent from the reigning secularist orthodoxy. “Secularist,” in this case doesn’t mean “non-sectarian,” as it does, for example, in India. It means hostility to religion itself, especially when it escapes the confines of worship services.
This is the landscape in which the battle for religious freedom will be fought this year. It’s a battle we didn’t choose, but it’s one that we have no choice but to wage. So may God be with us.
[bold and italics emphasis mine]
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