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Pray for the Persecuted Church

  While many in Nigeria are still celebrating the victory of Christian presidential candidate Goodluck Jonathan, Christians in northern Nigeria are grieving over mass graves filled with the bodies of their loved ones. The death toll is estimated to exceed 500 — Christians murdered because Muslims did not like the outcome of the national election. In the…

Chinese underground Catholics have decided to challenge their government’s ban on the World Day of Prayer for the Church in China. The Communist government has forbidden the underground Catholic community in Shanghai from visiting the shrine of Our Lady of Sheshan on 24 May — a day the Pope has called for Catholics worldwide to…

In the ongoing violence against Christians in Iraq, a 29-year-old father of three was kidnapped for ransom, then when his family did not have the $100,000 demanded, he was tortured, his eyes gouged out and he was beheaded. The horrific death of Ashur Yacob Issa was decried by the Archbishop of Kirkuk, who called it an “inhuman…

The United Nations has written to the Indonesian government expressing its “concern” about the increasing number of reports about violence committed against religious minorities, reports the Jakarta Globe newspaper. The Indonesian government denies any such violence — or having received any such letter. “The Ministry of Foreign Affairs,” reports the Globe, “says it is yet to…

The pastors of 17 large “underground” churches throughout China have taken a risky step in petitioning the People’s National Congress to give China freedom of religion. Todd Nettleton of the Canada-based support group Voice of the Martyrs says, “What the petition says is, ‘Chinese Government, please follow the law.’ They’re not asking for new freedoms…

More than 1 million Christian children are victims of persecution worldwide, according to the international support group Open Doors. “Children often pay a high price for their own faith or for the fact that their parents are faithfully following Jesus,” says Makus Rode, head of the Open Doors operation in Germany. In such countries as…

Christian businessmen Gulzar Masih and son Suleman are in hiding after a business rival invoked Pakistan’s notorious blasphemy law to accuse them of defiling the Koran. Meanwhile, a Christian leader says “extremist elements are getting stronger” in his nation. Increasingly, the law — which provides the death penalty for anyone who speaks ill of Islam or Mohammed or…

Will you fast and pray with your persecuted brothers and sisters in China? In an unprecedented move, clergy from dozens of mainland Chinese house churches have announced that they are taking the dangerous action of  petitioning China’s legislature, asking that the Communist Party guarantee freedom of religion and to peacefully resolve an on-going church-state conflict involving one of the…

The following has been smuggled out of China, past what is called the “Great Firewall of China,” which the Communist Chinese government uses to block e-mail, Facebook, Twitter and other communications between its citizens and the rest of the world.   It is the first-person account of a young professional woman who was arrested last…

Aasia Bibi, 45-year-old mother of five sentenced to death in Pakistan for sharing her faith in Jesus, will spend Mother’s Day in solitary confinement. However she is greatly encouraged upon hearing of prayers being offered worldwide on her behalf. On April 20, Christians around the world prayed for her release. Although she is seldom allowed visitors, a Christian…
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