PRAY FOR AMERICA: THANK GOD for His many blessings on America throughout it's history. May we then ask that AMERICA once again be a blessing TO GOD, by once again submitting to HIS will in our affairs - both personal and national - that He may truly "heal our land." (2 Chron. 7:14)
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:
LATEST SAHEED NEWS! May 22 - "Pastor Saeed Forcibly Returned to Prison after Beating" - By Caitlin Burke,CBN News, May 22, 2014;http://www.cbn.com/cbnnews/world/2014/May/Pastor-Saeed-Beaten-Sent-Back-to-Iran-Prison/ "Saeed Abedini, a U.S. pastor imprisoned for his faith, was severely beaten at an Iranian hospital before being returned to the brutal Rajai Shahr prison. His Iranian family claims the transfer was unexpected and the reason is unclear. But one of the guards involved in the transfer suggested recent Iranian nuclear talks could be a motive, the family said...""
We need to continue to pray for Pastor Saeed - that his health will improve and that he will be re-united with his wife and two young children who live in the United States. We also remain hopeful that in addition to getting the medical care he so desperately needs, that Iranian officials display the kind of humanitarian treatment that often accompanies the start of the Iranian New Year which began on March 21st. This is the time of year when the Iranian government frequently offers clemency to prisoners of conscience. [If you have not yet, please sign the petition for his clemency- http://beheardproject.com/saeed#sign]
PRAY ALSO : - 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
- 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
The U.S. State Department believes the Russian army is now prepared to launch an invasion of eastern Ukraine if President Vladimir Putin decides to pull the trigger, according to a senior Administration official."At this point, they are amassed and they could go at a moment’s notice if Putin gave the go ahead," the official said...Top Ukrainian security officials said Thursday that Russia now has 100,000 troops on its side of the Russia-Ukraine border.(Sources: CBS News, Washington Post, Huffington Post, Daily Beast)
As the Lord leads, please pray:
*For God to suppress President Putin’s ambitions to "restore" the Soviet empire.
*For the people of Ukrainen [esp. for the church 'to be THE church'] as they wait to see if the Russian troops will advance.
*About President Obama and to use wisdom in crafting our foreign policy, and wisdom for his advisers.
NEWS/PRAYER ALERT!"Kim Jong-un Calls for Execution of 33 Christians" - 3/7/2014; http://www.presidentialprayerteam.com/Prayerwatch?pw=3651 "North Korea tyrant Kim Jong-un has reportedly ordered that 33 Christians believed to be working alongside South Korean Baptist missionary Kim Jung-wook be put to death. The South Korean missionary - who was arrested last year - and his accomplices have reportedly started 500 or so underground churches..."[PRAY that the plans for execution would be rescinded, and these believers released.] [Che\ck out: They'll Be Dead By Morning (What Difference Will It Make) http://loristanleyroeleveld.blogspot.com/2014/03/theyll-be-dead-by-morning-what.html
NEWS ALERT/PRAISE! "Iran Allows Surgery on Ailing, Imprisoned Pastor" - CBNNews.com,March 07, 2014;http://www.cbn.com/cbnnews/world/2014/March/Iran-Allows-Dire-Surgery-on-Ailing-Imprisoned-Pastor-/ The Iranian government has finally allowed doctors to perform surgery on imprisoned Pastor Benham Irani.Irani suffered from a herniated disc and bleeding intestines and urgently needed medical care. PRAY for the final release of Pastor Irani and others imprisoned for their faith.
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/ - 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.]
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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/ - 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.]
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Meriam Yahia Ibrahim Ishag and her husband, Daniel Wani. (Photo: Martin Bloem via Twitter)
The mother sentenced to death in Sudan for her Christian faith gave birth to a baby girl in prison today, the Daily Mail reported in an exclusive. Meriam Yahia Ibrahim Ishag, who has spent four months shackled to the floor of a cell, delivered the baby five days early in the hospital wing at Omdurman Federal Women’s Prison in North Khartoum, the Mail reported. “This is some good news in what has been a terrible ordeal for Meriam,” lawyer Mohaned Mustafa Elnour told the newspaper. “I think they are going to call the baby Maya.”
More members of Congress had been urging the Obama administration to act to rescue Ishag, the wife of an American citizen who was condemned to death in Sudan for refusing to renounce her Christian faith. Her husband, Daniel Wani, says he “doesn’t know” if the State Department is trying to free her. The couple had been waiting in line for Ishag to win U.S. citizenship through her marriage to Wani, also born in Sudan but now a New Hampshire resident who became a naturalized citizen in 2005.
“She’s not good,” Wani said in an interview Friday conducted via Skype from Sudan by Fox News Channel’s Greta Van Susteren. “Prison is not a good place.”
Ishag, a physician, is 27 and was about nine months pregnant with the couple’s second child, wire services report. Visitors to her cell, where the couple’s 20-month-old son, Martin, also is held, told reporters she was shackled.“She is not going to convert … to Islam,” Wani said, when Van Susteren asked about his wife’s state of mind when he visited Tuesday. “Let them do whatever they’re going to do. She’s still a Christian.”
Earlier this month, a judge in the capital of Khartoum sentenced Ishag to 100 lashes for conviction under Islamic law of adultery (marrying a Christian) and death by hanging for apostasy (refusing to renounce her Christian faith) two years after she gives birth.
Sen. Kelly Ayotte, R-N.H., and Sen. Roy Blunt, R-Mo., wrote Secretary of State John Kerry requesting that he confront the Sudanese government and seek Ishag’s release. Rep. Scott Garrett, R-N.J., rounded up 21 fellow members of the House of Representatives to sign a similar letter to Kerry. Ayotte and other New Hampshire lawmakers also called on the Obama administration to grant Ishag political asylum.
Wani, who uses a wheelchair, twice took his wife’s case to U.S. Embassy officials last fall, he told Van Susteren. He said he spoke with a woman there who said “they don’t have time” — and he concluded “they don’t want to listen.” Van Susteren asked Wani whether the State Department is helping the family now. “I don’t know,” he replied.
The couple will appeal the case to a higher court in Sudan that is seen as unlikely to show mercy.
A child when her Muslim father left her Christian mother, Ishag told the court that she did not consider herself to be a Muslim.
Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., and three other senators introduced a bipartisan resolution aimed at increasing international attention on the case. “I am disgusted and appalled by the inhumane verdict Ms. Ibrahim [Ishag] has received, simply for refusing to recant her Christian faith,” said Rubio, a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee who offered the resolution with Jim Inhofe, R-Okla., Chris Coons, D-Del., and Bob Menendez, D-N.J.
Wani and his brother Gabriel fled the violence in Sudan in 1998. He married Ishag in 2011.
The State Department since 1999 has called Sudan one of the world’s worst violators of religious rights, designating it as a “country of particular concern.” Seven other nations on State’s “CPC” list since 2011 are Burma, China, Eritrea, Iran, North Korea, Saudi Arabia and Uzbekistan.
The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom joined dozens of organizations in condemning Sudan’s treatment of Ishag. In previously scheduled testimony Thursday before a House subcommittee on the state of religious freedom around the world, commission Chairman Robert P. George said:
"The government of Sudan led by President Omar Hassan al-Bashir continues to engage in systematic, ongoing, and egregious violations of freedom of religion or belief. It imposes a restrictive interpretation of Shari’ah (Islamic law) on Muslims and non-Muslims alike, using amputations and floggings for crimes and acts of ‘indecency’ and ‘immorality’ and arresting Christians for proselytizing.President al-Bashir and other National Congress Party leaders have stated that Sudan’s new constitution, when drafted, will be based on its interpretation of Shari’ah. Governmental and non-governmental attacks on the Christian community also continue. These religious freedom violations, as well as the violence in Southern Kordofan, Blue Nile, and Darfur, are the result of President Bashir’s policies of Islamization and Arabization"
[bold and italics emphasis mine]
Related: "These Human Rights Abuses Should Enrage Us All " - [http://blog.heritage.org/2014/05/25/christian-persecution-injustice/ - "...All too often injustices such as these are chalked up solely to the patriarchal values of tribal societies. The suggestion is that they have nothing to do with Islam. It’s true that tribal values matter, but so, too, do ones based on a malicious interpretation of Islamic law which most Muslims do not accept.
Human rights activists make a mistake excluding discrimination against religion from their outrage over human rights abuses. Religious discrimination is a human rights problem that touches on all others. Trying to push it off to the side as if it has little or nothing to do with other injustices is not just shortsighted. It is immoral.".
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