Update: Coronavirus fears prompt releases in Iran

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Friends, the BBC reports that Gholamhossein Esmaili, Iran’s judiciary spokesman, said that more than 54,000 prison inmates have been let out of prison in order to prevent the spread of coronavirus. Iran has seen a significant number of cases and has the highest death toll outside of China from coronavirus.

This news means some Christian imprisoned for their faith have been freed. On February 26, believer Ramiel Bet-Tamraz was released from prison early while serving his sentence for his participation in house churches. He will not have to return to prison to serve the remainder of his sentence.

Christian convert Fatemeh (Mary) Mohammadi was released on conditional bail on February 26, pending a hearing on March 2. Yesterday, Mary shared on Twitter that her court date has been postponed and no new date has been set at this time. She had been arrested on January 12 and spent 45 days in brutal detention, charged with “disturbing public order by participating in an illegal rally.”

Please thank God that Ramiel was released from prison early and pray for healing for him and his family as they are reunited.

Thank God that Mary was released from Qarchak Prison.

Pray Mary’s court date is scheduled soon and that justice is served for her.

Pray leadership in Iran and around the world have wisdom in how to stop the spread of coronavirus.

Photo: Ramiel Bet-Tamraz with his parents Pastor Victor Bet-Tamraz and Shamiram Issavi courtesy of Article18

Update: Asia Bibi thanks you for your prayers

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Friends, international Open Doors staff met with Asia Bibi on February 28 in France. If you recall, in June 2010, Asia Bibi was convicted of blasphemy charges in Pakistan and sentenced to die. She waited eight years for an appeal hearing that was delayed repeatedly. Ultimately, Pakistan’s Supreme Court held a hearing and ordered her release, saying that the prosecution had failed to prove its case beyond a reasonable doubt. After nine years of prayers from Christians around the globe, Asia was freed on October 31, 2018.

She now lives with her family in Canada but has also been invited to live in France by French President Emmanuel Marcon. She longs to return to Pakistan one day.

Our Open Doors teammates were able to give her a hug, some meaningful gifts and a message from one of the many believers who prayed for her for years. She seemed very moved. We showed Asia a video of persecuted women and men praying for her. The video starts with images of watches and clocks. At one o’clock, the people stop doing what they are doing. They form circles and they pray for Asia.

Asia is almost speechless. “Wow, you all stopped your day to pray for me?”

When she was asked if she had a message for those who prayed for her while she was in prison, Asia responded, “Yes, I have a message for them: God is with them in the exact way He was with me. You are in God’s hands and you are vital.”

Please continue to pray for Asia Bibi and her family as they make decisions about their future.

Pray that Asia and her family continue to receive emotional and mental healing from the years they were separated and all they have endured.

Pray for your sisters and brothers who remain under extreme persecution in Pakistan today.

Thank God for the powerful witness of Asia Bibi—and that the same God is also with you.

Pictured: Asia Bibi at a press conference in France on February 28.

Christian teen commits suicide in Bangladesh

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Friends, we are sad to share that Chongya, a 16-year-old believer from a Buddhist background, committed suicide on February 7. According to a local partner with Open Doors, this tragedy was the result of the ongoing persecution he faced from his parents.

Sadly, it’s common for believers who convert from other faiths in Bangladesh to face persecution from their families, friends and the society at large. Young believers are particularly vulnerable due to their dependence on family.

Chongya and his older brother Singya (19) were born and raised as Buddhists, but came to faith in Jesus last year through their grandparents and uncles. When their parents learned of their conversion, they tried to force them back to Buddhism, but Chongya and Singya refused.

Then their parents kicked them out of their home. Recently, Chongya asked his parents for the money he had been saving and given to them for safekeeping, but instead of giving him the money, his parents verbally abused him.

A few days after, he committed suicide.

His brother, Singya, is traumatized by the unexpected death of his younger brother. He is now staying with his grandparents.

Please pray for God to comfort Singya and heal him from the trauma he has experienced. Pray he will be able to forgive his parents.

Pray for Singya to find hope to go on living and grow in his faith in Christ.

Pray for God to give wisdom to his grandparents and other believers on how best to care for and encourage him.

Pray for the church in Bangladesh, that they will stand alongside young believers so that they will not lose hope like Chongya. Pray for God to give them strength to endure persecution.

Pray for our partners as they find ways to encourage young believers who are facing persecution from family members.

*Representative names and photos are sometimes used to protect identity.

Praise: Pastors released from captivity in Myanmar

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Friends, today we thank God the for the release of five pastors who were held captive by an insurgent group in Myanmar since April 2019. The captured pastors were released in January 2020. For security reasons we can’t share any more details about these pastors, but we would really like to ask for your prayers for them and some other believers.

Please praise the Lord for the safe release of the five pastors—and thank Him for sustaining and protecting them while in captivity.

Pray the pastors will be strengthened by the Lord.

Pray for the Lord to continue to protect the pastors and the believers.

*Representative names and photos are sometimes used to protect identity.

New believers in Laos shunned by community

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In 2019 just before Christmas, Loe* gave his life to Christ through a pastor he met in the city where he studies. Excited about his new faith, he went home to his village in Laos and shared the gospel with his family, friends and neighbors. About 10 of them gave their lives to Christ!

However, only a month later the village chief summoned the new believers to a meeting where, unbeknownst to them, the whole village had gathered to tell them to leave. “You now belong to your Jesus,” they shouted, “you are no longer allowed to live in this community!”

A few of the 10 denied Christ out of fear of losing their homes, but others stood strong, declaring their commitment to Jesus. Because they follow Jesus, the community has shunned them and continues to threaten them to deny Christ or leave the village.

Loe asks you to encourage these believers through your prayers.

Please pray that God will continue to protect them from any harm and that despite the opposition they face, they will stand firm as they express God’s love and become pillars of light in their village.

Pray their new faith will be strengthened.

Pray that as people see the agape love in the words and actions of these believers, more people in the village will ask questions and realize their need for Jesus.

Pray their oppressors will personally encounter God and be changed.

Please click on the “Submit prayer” button to share your prayers using the new feature in our app and we will share them with Loe.

*Representative names and photos are sometimes used to protect identity.

Iranian prisoner shares powerful request

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Friends, Iranian Christian convert and prisoner, Nasser Navard Goltapeh, recently wrote a letter requesting prayer from the notorious Evin Prison in Iran.

In his letter dated January 31, he writes, “I am confident in all hardships and I believe I will become free by Him who I have hope to (my Lord) because the Lord our God does not forget his children … so let me be bold and say, ‘The Lord is my helper.’”

Nasser and three visitors from Azerbaijan were arrested in 2016 at a private gathering in Tehran. They were held in solitary confinement for two months in Evin Prison and endured intense interrogation. After losing an appeal to his conviction of “action against national security and establishing house churches,” he began serving his 10-year sentence in January of 2018.

“Remember me in your prayers always—you know that your prayers are a sweet smelling offering to God and a sacrifice which is accepted and pleasing to him,” he writes.

He also challenges Christians to remain firm in their faith and to show concern for one another, not to give up meeting together and to work hard to spread the Gospel.

Please join us in praying with Nasser for his requests:

Please pray for his family to come to know and follow Jesus.

Pray God will bless the people of Iran and that the gospel will continue to advance, despite the many obstacles.

Pray God will encourage and strengthen Nasser and all other Christian prisoners and that they will know His continued help.

Photo: Nasser Navar Goltapeh

Scripture of the Day

Luke 10


29. But he, willing to justify himself, said unto Jesus, And who is my neighbour?
30. And Jesus answering said, A certain man went down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and fell among thieves, which stripped him of his raiment, and wounded him, and departed, leaving him half dead.
31. And by chance there came down a certain priest that way: and when he saw him, he passed by on the other side.
32. And likewise a Levite, when he was at the place, came and looked on him, and passed by on the other side.
33. But a certain Samaritan, as he journeyed, came where he was: and when he saw him, he had compassion on him,
34. And went to him, and bound up his wounds, pouring in oil and wine, and set him on his own beast, and brought him to an inn, and took care of him.
35. And on the morrow when he departed, he took out two pence, and gave them to the host, and said unto him, Take care of him; and whatsoever thou spendest more, when I come again, I will repay thee.
36. Which now of these three, thinkest thou, was neighbour unto him that fell among the thieves?
37. And he said, He that shewed mercy on him. Then said Jesus unto him, Go, and do thou likewise.

Two pastors murdered on Christmas in CAR

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Open Doors has just learned that two pastors of an evangelical church in the Central African Republic (CAR) were brutally murdered. Members of a rebel militant group shot and killed pastors Michel Archange Redimo (64) and Paul Orosio (51) as they were returning from a Christmas service on December 25. Because of continued security issues, both pastors had to be buried in the village they died in rather than in their home villages.

Pastor Redimo (64) was married and the father of 16. His widow and children are being cared for by a church in another village. Pastor Orosio (51) was married and father of 6.

Central African Republic is 25th on the 2020 World Watch List, with 924 Christians killed across the country during the reporting period.

Please pray for the families of the murdered pastors. Pray the Lord will comfort them and provide for them.

Pray for the believers who are left without pastors to teach and lead them as a result of the murders.

Please pray for peace in CAR, as it is ravaged by insecurity that keeps people in need of assistance.

Photo: Pastor Michael Archange Redimo (64)

Christian activist denied education in Iran

Friends, a young Iranian Christian convert has been kicked out of her Tehran university without explanation. Fatemeh Mohammadi (21), who prefers to be called Mary, converted to Christianity from Islam as a teenager. She served six months in prison at the age of 19 for being a member of a house church in Iran and is now a Christian activist.

Last month, according to Article 18, Mary tweeted that she had been kicked out of Azad University the night before exams and had not been told why. The day before being kicked out of school, Mary tweeted about the cases of ten Christian converts currently serving prison sentences in Iran because of their nonviolent practice of their religious beliefs.

Iran is ranked #9 on the 2020 World Watch List.

Please pray Mary continues to have courage and boldness to speak up on behalf of all Christians in Iran.

Pray she is able to pursue her education.

Pray all Christians in Iran would be allowed to attend church and practice their religious beliefs.

Scripture of the Day

Psalms 1361. O give thanks unto the LORD; for he is good: for his mercy endureth for ever.
2. O give thanks unto the God of gods: for his mercy endureth for ever.
3. O give thanks to the Lord of lords: for his mercy endureth for ever.
4. To him who alone doeth great wonders: for his mercy endureth for ever.
5. To him that by wisdom made the heavens: for his mercy endureth for ever.
6. To him that stretched out the earth above the waters: for his mercy endureth for ever.
7. To him that made great lights: for his mercy endureth for ever:
8. The sun to rule by day: for his mercy endureth for ever:
9. The moon and stars to rule by night: for his mercy endureth for ever.

Scripture of the Day

Hebrews 8

7. For if that first covenant had been faultless, then should no place have been sought for the second.
8. For finding fault with them, he saith, Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah:
9. Not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day when I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt; because they continued not in my covenant, and I regarded them not, saith the Lord

An Open Letter to God

–> Full transcript–> The Challenge of our Day

In an open letter to God fearing Christians and Jews in the west, Head of American Alliance of Jews and Christians, Rabbi Daniel Lappin warns of a war on the Judeo-Christian culture in the west. the letter in its entirety states the following:

….

Tyranny comes when citizens are seduced into trading freedom for the promise of safety and security.

Considerably more intellectual energy is being pumped into the propaganda campaign against Christianity than was ever delivered to the anti-smoking or anti-drunk-driving campaigns. Fervent zealots of secularism are flinging themselves into this anti-Christian war with enormous fanaticism

….

For a full transcript please read the link at the top.

From a Christian Perspective

((Started as a draft in 2014))

There are several issues today within the proverbial Evangelical community, not only in America but around the world, that I see as nothing more than the collapse of the Biblical Christian faith and a move toward the acceptance of a more globalist view of religion in particular.

I believe we are looking at the fulfillment of a dramatic paradigm shift in the role of the Christian Community in the Western World. Here at this site http://www.letusreason.org/Curren38.htm there is a very good explanation of what it titled as a New Way of Thinking. In this article, one of many, it states, “… For new ideas to replace the old ones one, we must disregard the old and only embrace the new. We have come to identify this by what they call it, “the paradigm shift.”…”

Also we read this statement, “To change the system one must change people’s values and their thinking. Something must be introduced that would bring a new paradigm. Something that would affect not a few, but many at the same time.”

In the Christian communities across the world there seems to have been a change in our way of perceiving the world in which we live. I mean this from the perspective of viewing the world through the eyes of Scripture. As stated in the above article we read this, No truer words can be applied to this paradigm than- “Beware lest anyone cheat you through philosophy and empty deceit, according to the tradition of men, according to the basic principles of the world, and not according to Christ” (Col. 2:6-9). The reason we are warned is because the Bible gives us standards that are based on absolutes from our creator, it is didactic; these are instructions that are based on moral absolutes.

These words dear reader point to the heart of the problem I think personally, we are being deceived through the empty deceit that is coming from our leadership, both national and religious, from our government schools, from our financial institutions. This empty deceit is rearing its head in our acceptance of sin and wickedness, our growing cold and indifference to the welfare of others let alone our lack of spreading the Gospel and witnessing for our Savior. In Matthew 24:12 we read this, “And because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold.”

((Oct.2019 updated))

Today I found this at the bottom of my drafts as I was cleaning house, I thought I would go ahead and finish it.

Five years later:

We have a new President in America, there is more divisiveness shown in various groups, manifesting in an outright hatred being shown by those on both the left and right of the political spectrum.

It seems people, whether political or religious desire to be lied to by their leaders.

  1. Unemployment is the lowest its ever been, lie. It is slowly going down but we are told the U3 numbers, the U6 is what has been traditionally used.
  2. People extol MAGA or KAGA as if its a new religious mantra, citing the POTUS as the greatest President ever, yet he is like the previous ones, ignoring Constitutional limitations on power, growing the policestate, debt increasing, etc

The left in this country doesn’t need a partial list as their lies and deceit is constantly thrown into our faces. From abortion to same sex marriage to sexual perverts dancing in libraries in front of children, and the list goes on.

As I wrote above, ….To change the system one must change people’s values and their thinking… this is what’s happening. Our morals and values are and have been changed, both politically and religiously.

As a Christian the only comfort I can find is found with Christ, because in the end, all things work together for those who love the Lord and are called according to His purpose. We as mere humans are limited to seeing what’s placed before us, but GOD sees all, knowing the desires and intent of the heart. Only HE knows the complete truths surrounding us.

As it is written in Psalms 118:8. It is better to trust in the LORD than to put confidence in man.
9. It is better to trust in the LORD than to put confidence in princes

In the Lord we should trust, not in what we are told by mankind.

With the spectre of an international conflict rising as storm clouds across the Middle East, with the societal breakdown of families, communities, and Biblical norms that have prevailed in western culture for two thousand years being tossed aside, we need to look up, strengthen our faith, pray without ceasing, & put on the whole armor of God because the battles are only going to get harder.

Proverbs 3:5. Trust in the LORD with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding.
6. In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths.

God Bless.

Scripture of the Day

Titus 1

13. This witness is true. Wherefore rebuke them sharply, that they may be sound in the faith;
14. Not giving heed to Jewish fables, and commandments of men, that turn from the truth.
15. Unto the pure all things are pure: but unto them that are defiled and unbelieving is nothing pure; but even their mind and conscience is defiled.
16. They profess that they know God; but in works they deny him, being abominable, and disobedient, and unto every good work reprobate.