NEWS ALERT! Pastor Saeed Moved; Condition worsens; http://aclj.org/iran/american-pastor-saeed-abedini-moved-political-prisoner-ward-in-deadliest-prison-iran-health-concerns-grow
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:
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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"What Would Wilberforce Do?; Show the Facts of Abortion" - By: Eric Metaxas| Breakpoint.org: January 20, 2014; http://www.breakpoint.org/bpcommentaries/entry/13/24316----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Sometimes we ask, “What would Jesus do?” On abortion, let’s try asking, “What would Wilberforce do?”
Friends, it’s time to take stock. It’s been forty-one years since abortion on demand became the law of the land. We’ve watched in horror as the lives of fifty-five million human beings have been snuffed out. We’ve seen countless girls and women tricked or pressured into allowing their own babies to die in the antiseptic—and sometimes not so antiseptic—confines of death chambers known as abortion “clinics.” Our once great nation has become, to use the words of Pope Francis, a “throwaway culture,” in which we discard the unborn.
Many of us are trying to fight the good fight, of course. My dear wife runs a crisis pregnancy center here in New York, working with other valiant people to bring hope and healing to mothers and their babies. Others work in legislatures or the courts to put limits to this industry of death. Others pray, or picket, or give money to help women or to pay for ultrasounds. There are a thousand ways to stand up for human dignity and the sanctity of human life. Thank God for each one!
But as much as we’ve done, it hasn’t been enough. So what else can we do to move toward a better, more humane and just future? Well, I suggest we begin by looking to the past.
As you probably know by now, my hero, William Wilberforce, faced similar if not worse circumstances. The whole culture of his day was broken. Of course, the slave trade was the worst of it. So what did Wilberforce do? This may surprise you—it did me—but, despite all the darkness, he started by assuming the best of his fellow citizens.
Wilberforce felt that if he could only get the facts out to the British people about the slave trade, they would understand that it was an abomination. He knew that most of them simply didn’t know what was really going on. It happened far from their eyes.The British ships traveled to West Africa and took their cargoes of slaves to the West Indies, where the sugar plantations were. The British people had no idea what happened on those ships nor in the plantations. So Wilberforce showed them.He used posters and plaques. He got Josiah Wedgewood, the famous potter, to design a plaque of a slave in chains that said “Am I Not a Man and a Brother?” He appealed to people’s sense of decency, justice, and fairness. It took a long time, but Wilberforce, with God’s help, transformed his society, one mind at a time.
So let’s assume that many people—not all—when civilly confronted with the truth of abortion will change their minds, at least in some measure. So we need to tell them, for example, that the U.S. and Canada stand with only China and North Korea as having the most liberal abortion policies in the world. We’ve got to tell them that pro-lifers have been fighting to restrict abortions to twenty weeks in Texas and Arizona while all over Europe abortions are restricted to twelve weeks—the standard in civilized Western nations.
We also need to tell them how so many women who abort walk around with a terrible wound of loss and regret, unable to even talk about it for years because politically correct propaganda labels it “empowering.” e need to tell our neighbors that while we hear so much about “choice,” women actually often have no choice. They would love the choice of being able to keep their baby, but they feel trapped, pressured or often bullied by “boyfriends” or even family members.
John Stonestreet and I will have more to say about all this in the coming days. But we can start by taking a page from the Wilberforce playbook and get these and other facts about the abortion culture to our fellow citizens just as he did with the horrid, entrenched institution of slavery. Let us do it civilly, albeit passionately—and see what God might do.
RESOURCES:
How Abortion Hurts Women (and Men) fact sheet - http://www.breakpoint.org/images/content/breakpoint/Document_Links/How_Abortion_Hurts_Women_fact_sheet_final.pdf) As Eric suggested, it's time to take stock. Click on the fact sheet link to get the real facts about abortion as well as information about organizations that deal with this specific issue. Share what you've learned with those in your circles of influence.
Amazing Grace DVD ( http://www.colsoncenterstore.org/product.asp?sku=5557794182) - Note: This is also one of my most favorite movies and about one of my all-time heroes. If you've never seen this movie, take the time to find it and watch it. Incredibly well-done and inspiring (even though it only tells part of the many things William Wilberforce did in the name of Christ.) - Stan
"Pro-Life Movement to Ban Abortions Follows in the Footsteps of William Wilberforce" - by Carol Tobias | Washington, DC | LifeNews.com | 1/24/14; http://www.lifenews.com/2014/01/24/pro-life-movement-to-ban-abortions-follows-in-the-footsteps-of-william-wilberforce/
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