Please Pray for New Believers – Christian Persecution: The High Price of Conversion

Peanut Gallery: Grace is a free gift from God… but many who receive it around the world pay a high personal price. And yet – what other hope is there for the world around us?

“And the result of God’s gracious gift is very different from the result of that one man’s sin. For Adam’s sin led to condemnation, but God’s free gift leads to our being made right with God, even though we are guilty of many sins.” Romans 5:16 NLT

Please pray for those new believers in unbelieving countries who are paying a heavy personal price to follow Jesus… shining God’s light in a very dark world.

Please click on following link to Public Catholic – Christian Persecution: The High Price of Conversion.

Christian Persecution: The High Price of Conversion
September 28, 2012 By Rebecca Hamilton

India: Converting from Hinduism
An Indian state’s draconian “anti-conversion” law has been partially struck down in a legal challenge brought by Christians and celebrated as “a triumph for religious freedom” in the country.

The Evangelical Fellowship of India (EFI) took its case against the Himachal Pradesh Religion Act 2006 to the state’s high court, which ruled on 30 August that some provisions of the law were unconstitutional.

Supreme-court-of-India — Supreme Court of India

The court removed a section that required a person intending to convert from one religion to another to give 30 days’ notice to the district magistrate. Failure to do this was punishable with a fine.

Two rules regarding the implementation of the act were also struck down. One required the district magistrate to give notice of the conversion request to any affected party before granting approval, and the other required a police case to be registered if the conversion was thought to have taken place using force or inducement or without notice.

The EFI challenged the law because of the ways in which it was being used, especially by Hindu extremists, to stop people from converting to Christianity. Continue reading “Please Pray for New Believers – Christian Persecution: The High Price of Conversion” →

Speak out for Rimsha Masih today! – Open Doors

Speak out for Rimsha Masih today! – Open Doors

On August 17th, Rimsha Masih, a young Christian girl with learning disabilities, was arrested on charges of ‘blasphemy’ in Islamabad, Pakistan.

Rimsha was accused of burning pages of the Quran, a serious crime under Pakistan’s infamous blasphemy laws. After an initial court appearance, Rimsha was held in detention for about 3 weeks before being granted bail and released.

Christian Persecution: In the West, Where the War Is Forced Upon Us

Peanut Gallery: I am pleased to re-blog Rebecca Hamilton’s article on Christian Persecution in the West. With my earlier appeal for prayer for American believers I barely scratched the surface of the “soft persecution” facing Americans. Hamilton goes into much more detail making the point that what begins “soft” ends “hard”… we are at war.

Christian Persecution: In the West, Where the War Is Forced Upon Us.

September 7, 2012 By Rebecca Hamilton 18 Comments

Hearings on a discrimination suit filed by four British Christians against their government began September 4 in the European Court of Human Rights. The Christians say that they have lost their jobs because they would not comply with demands that they violate their Christian faith.

Their complaints range from a woman who was fired because she wore a cross on a necklace to work, to a registrar who lost her job because she refused to conduct same-sex cvil partnerships. These people have been the object of ridicule for filing these claims. But they have persisted, even in the face of predictions that they will ultimately lose the case. This article from The Telegraph gives more details:

By David Barrett, Home Affairs Correspondent

9:00PM GMT 10 Mar 2012

In a highly significant move, ministers will fight a case at the European Court of Human Rights in which two British women will seek to establish their right to display the cross.

It is the first time that the Government has been forced to state whether it backs the right of Christians to wear the symbol at work.

A document seen by The Sunday Telegraph discloses that ministers will argue that because it is not a “requirement” of the Christian faith, employers can ban the wearing of the cross and sack workers who insist on doing so.

The Government’s position received an angry response last night from prominent figures including Lord Carey, the former Archbishop of Canterbury.

He accused ministers and the courts of “dictating” to Christians and said it was another example of Christianity becoming sidelined in official life. (Read more here.)

It appears that Britain has crossed the line into active legal discrimination against people of faith. This lawsuit and the attitude of intolerance toward Christians that caused it should be harbingers for the rest of us.

Violent persecution of a group of people doesn’t spring fully grown from nowhere. It grows from smaller things and lays down roots of acceptance in our minds and hearts in an incremental, almost invisible fashion.

Christians in much of the world are subjected to the brutality of violent discrimination that often approaches genocide. We haven’t gotten to violent persecution here in the West. But I believe we are moving in that direction. Continue reading “Christian Persecution: In the West, Where the War Is Forced Upon Us” →

Good News: Answered Prayer – Youcef Nadarkhani Freed from Iranian Prison

Peanut Gallery:Youcef Nadarkhani Thanks Praying Supporters, God After Being Freed From Iranian Prison – Please click on link to read full story from the Christian Post | Middle East –
Youcef Nadarkhani Thanks Praying Supporters, God After Being Freed From Iranian Prison#rggjxMoYv1F1Q52v.99.

Youcef Nadarkhani’s Sept. 8, 2012 “Thank You Letter” in Full:

Not to us, LORD, not to us, but to Your Name be glory, for Your faithfulness, for Your loyalty… Psalm 115:1

Salaam ! (Peace be upon you !)

I glorify and give grace to the Lord with all my heart. I am grateful for all the blessings that He gave me during my whole life. I am especially grateful for His goodness and divine protection that characterized the time of my detention.

I also want to express my gratitude towards those who, all around the world, have worked for my cause, or should I say the cause that I defend. I want to express my gratitude to all of those who have supported me, openly or in complete secrecy. You are all very dear to my heart. May the Lord bless you and give you His perfect and sovereign Grace.

Indeed I have been put to the test, the test of faith which is, according to the Scriptures « more precious than perishable gold ». Continue reading “Good News: Answered Prayer – Youcef Nadarkhani Freed from Iranian Prison” →

Morning Prayer: Stand for What is Right

STAND FOR WHAT IS RIGHT – Open Doors

“Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me.” Matthew 5:10-11)

Jesus assures his followers there is blessing in suffering for what is right. This blessing may take the form of inner peace and joy. This is the meaning of the word translated “blessed” or “happy” in Jesus’ teaching called the Beatitudes (Matthew 5:1-12).

The New Testament writer, James, indicates that pressures are blessings in disguise and should be responded to with joyfulness (James 1:2-3). The Message paraphrase translates the verses this way, “Consider it a sheer gift, friends, when tests and challenges come at you from all sides. You know that under pressure, your faith-life is forced into the open and shows its true colors.”

Helen Berhane was severely persecuted in Eritrea’s prison system because she would not deny her faith. No matter what they did, she refused to give in.

She explains, “I told the chief, ‘I cannot abandon my faith. If you puncture a sack of grain, the only thing that pours out is the type of grain that was in the sack. It is the same with me. I can only say what is inside me; everything that is in my heart must come out of my mouth…The more you punish me, the stronger I will be. If you keep hammering on a nail’s head it just becomes harder to pull out of the wall…’

I could not understand how they expected me to stop believing; it was impossible for me. In fact, the guards were making their own situation worse, because people began to ask what was so special about this religion that Christians refused to give it up, and they also believed. Our suffering became a glory for our faith…I am convinced that the number of Christians has doubled or tripled since they closed the churches. So perhaps God is using this terrible situation for his glory.”

RESPONSE – Today I will stand for what is right, because I know Jesus will be glorified, and I will receive a blessing.

PRAYER – God give strength and courage to me and to those around the world being pressured to deny their faith today. I ask it in Jesus’ name. Amen

ERITREA (Open Doors) – All evangelical churches were closed following the government’s ban on all religious groups other than Orthodox, Catholic, Lutheran or Islamic in 2002. Anyone discovered to be an evangelical is tortured and forced to revert to the registered denominations. If they don’t, they are held in military camps without trial. Around 1500 are believed to be imprisoned; at least five died in 2011. Others were released so they wouldn’t die in custody. In 2011 there was a renewed crackdown on house churches; at least 23 believers were imprisoned.

Standing Strong Through The Storm (SSTS) A daily devotional message by SSTS author Paul Estabrooks