Turkmenistan: Fined for Having a Bible
June 29, 2012 at 6:30 am | Posted in VOM Fridays | Leave a commentTags: fine, persecution, Protestant, Turkmenistan
For more news on what’s really happening to Christians around the world go to the Voice of the Martyrs website: www.persecution.com
Turkmenistan: Fined for Having a Bible
Four Protestants in Turkmenistan were arrested and fined in late February after police discovered Bibles in their possession. Although the judge initially refused to hear the case against the four Christians, citing a lack of evidence, she later changed her position and fined them for “violation of the law on religious organizations.”
The Bibles were discovered when police searched a home where three believers were staying with a fourth Christian. During the search, a police officer found a Bible in each of the three visitors’ bags. He confiscated the Bibles and took all four Christians, who asked not to be identified, to the police station. Continue Reading Turkmenistan: Fined for Having a Bible…
Sermon Sunday – Charles Spurgeon – The Bible
June 24, 2012 at 7:01 am | Posted in Sermon Sunday | Leave a commentTags: ateasetees, sermon, Spurgeon
“I have written to him the great things of My Law, but they were counted as a strange thing.”
Hosea 8:12
This is God’s complaint against Ephraim. It is no mean proof of His goodness, that He stoops to rebuke His erring creatures. It is a great argument of His gracious disposition that He bows His head to notice terrestrial affairs. He might, if He pleased, wrap Himself with night as with a garment. He might put the stars around His wrist for bracelets and bind the suns around His brow for a coronet. He might dwell alone, far, far above this world, up in the seventh Heaven and look down with calm and silent indifference upon all the doings of His creatures. He might do as the heathens supposed their Jove did, sit in perpetual silence, sometimes nodding his awful head to make the Fates move as he pleased. Continue Reading Sermon Sunday – Charles Spurgeon – The Bible…
Laos: Rewarded Faith
June 22, 2012 at 6:30 am | Posted in VOM Fridays | Leave a commentTags: Laos, persecution, Voice of the Martyrs
For more news on what’s really happening to Christians around the world go to the Voice of the Martyrs website: www.persecution.com
Laos: Rewarded Faith
Eleven orphans in Laos who were threatened with expulsion from a government school because of their Christian faith have continued to attend church. They slip away one by one on Sunday mornings and walk to church unnoticed.
In August, the boys’ headmaster called them into his office and told them to stop attending church. Initially, seven of the boys stopped attending, but four of the boys refused to obey the headmaster despite the possibility that they could be expelled from the government-sponsored school. After seeing the faithfulness of these four boys, the other seven eventually decided to continue going to church as well.
School officials haven’t said anything to the boys in recent months, and those caring for the orphans think officials may have given up after seeing the strength of the boys’ faith. While school officials seem to be looking the other way, the boys are still careful to leave school one at a time to attend church. If they leave together, they will be stopped.
The threats from school officials began after one of the boys attended a local church and came to trust in Christ. He shared the gospel with others, and 10 other boys turned to Christ. When the principal heard of the conversions, he told the boys repeatedly to stop attending church. After pressuring them with no results, the principal threatened to expel them.
Please continue to pray for these brave young believers. They are safe, but their situation could change at any moment. Also pray for God’s direction as they make plans for life after graduation.
Sermon Sunday – Thomas Watson – The Evil Tongue
June 17, 2012 at 6:30 am | Posted in Christianity, Sermon Sunday | Leave a commentTags: preach, sermon, Thomas Watson, truth, words
The Evil Tongue
byThomas Watson
(1620-1686)
“And the tongue is a fire, a world of iniquity.” (James 3:6) Continue Reading Sermon Sunday – Thomas Watson – The Evil Tongue…
Nigeria: Religious Civil War?
June 15, 2012 at 6:30 am | Posted in VOM Fridays | Leave a commentTags: civil war, Nigeria, persecution, Voice of the Martyrs
For more news on what’s really happening to Christians around the world go to the Voice of the Martyrs website: www.persecution.com
Nigeria: Religious Civil War?
Yet another Islamist attack on a church and a violent reaction Christian youth provide more evidence that Nigeria is closer than ever to sliding into a religious civil war. Thus far, authorities have been unable to stem the tide of violence, and in some cases, officials themselves are biased by their religious persuasions. Nigerian Christians are split between wanting to fight back and trying to follow Jesus’ teaching to turn the other cheek.
On Sunday, March 11, suicide bombers approached St. Finbar’s Catholic Church by car during the 10:30 a.m. service before they were stopped by several youths on security detail. A wary policeman shot out the car tires and the bombers were forced to detonate their bomb early, killing at least nine church members.
Muslim extremist sect Boko Haram claimed responsibility for the bombing, telling reporters it was to avenge the killing and dehumanization of Muslims. “We attacked simply because it’s a church, and we can decide to attack any other church,” spokesman Abu Qaqa told United Press International (UPI). “We have just started.” The group also claimed responsibility for a bombing two weeks earlier at a major Protestant church in Jos, as well as multiple bombings around the region on Christmas Day. Continue Reading Nigeria: Religious Civil War?…
Sermon Sunday – Charles Spurgeon – Teaching Children
June 10, 2012 at 6:30 am | Posted in Sermon Sunday | Leave a commentTags: family, parenting, raising children, Spurgeon
TEACHING CHILDREN
by
Charles Haddon Spurgeon
(1834-1892)
“Come, my children, listen to me; I will teach you the fear of the LORD.”—Psalm 34:11
It is a noteworthy, that good men frequently discover their duty when they are placed in the most humiliating situations. Never in David’s life was he in a worse dilemma than that situation which prompted this Psalm to be written. It is, as you can read at the beginning, “A Psalm of David, when he faked insanity before Abimelech, who drove him away, and he left.” Continue Reading Sermon Sunday – Charles Spurgeon – Teaching Children…
Palestine: Church Disapproved by PA
June 8, 2012 at 6:30 am | Posted in VOM Fridays | Leave a commentTags: Palestine, persecution, Voice of the Martyrs
For more news on what’s really happening to Christians around the world go to the Voice of the Martyrs website: www.persecution.com
Palestine: Church Disapproved by PA
Officials from the Palestinian Authority (PA) have informed pastor Naim Khoury of Bethlehem’s First Baptist Church that his church lacks the authority to function as a religious institution under the PA. The church can still gather to pray for now, but the PA’s decision, conveyed on Saturday, March 10, will have a real effect on church members.
“They said that our legitimacy as a church from a governmental point of view is not approved,” said the pastor’s son, Steven, who serves as an assistant pastor at First Baptist. “They said they will not recognize any legal paperwork from our church. That includes birth certificates, wedding certificates and death certificates. Children are not even considered to be legitimate if they don’t have recognized paperwork.”
The irony, Steven said, is that the PA’s announcement comes right after the Christ at the Checkpoint Conference. The conference, which took place from March 5 through March 9, was a gathering of approximately 600 evangelical Protestants from across the globe (mostly from the United States) to discuss the theology of Christian Zionism, which some evangelicals believe increases the prospect of violence in the Middle East and gives support to Israeli policies that they do not like. Continue Reading Palestine: Church Disapproved by PA…
Sermon Sunday – J.C. Ryle – The Duties of Parents
June 3, 2012 at 7:25 am | Posted in Sermon Sunday | Leave a commentTags: ateasetees, parenting, Sermon Sunday
The Duties of Parents
by
J. C. Ryle
(1816-1900)
“Train a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not turn from it.”
[Proverbs 22:6]
I believe that most professing Christians are acquainted with our sermon text. The sound of it is probably very familiar to your ears, like an old tune. It is likely that you have heard it, or read it, talked of it, or quoted it, many times. Is that not true? But, despite it being a well-known Bible verse, how little do we regard its truth! The doctrine it contains appears scarcely known, the duty it puts before us is seldom put into practice. My friends, am I not speaking the truth? Continue Reading Sermon Sunday – J.C. Ryle – The Duties of Parents…
India: Animosity Increasing
June 1, 2012 at 6:30 am | Posted in VOM Fridays | Leave a commentTags: India, persecution, Voice of the Martyrs
For more news on what’s really happening to Christians around the world go to the Voice of the Martyrs website: www.persecution.com
India: Animosity Increasing
Three recent attacks against Christians in India reflect an increase in animosity against believers throughout the country.
In Kerala state, a pastor and his children were attacked on Feb. 21. Pastor Titus Ignatius Kapan and his family were eating dinner at the house of a Hindu convert when Hindu extremists entered the house. They abused the pastor and his children before dropping huge boulders on the pastor’s car.
Just days earlier, Hindu extremists disrupted a prayer service in Pandhi village, Chhattisgarh state. Although the church had reportedly obtained police permission for the event, 15 to 20 extremists interrupted the service on the first day, threatening attendees and slapping one of the pastors.
The next day, 50 extremists tore down the believers’ tent and began assaulting them. One of the pastors required stitches. The extremists returned later that night, beating church members and another pastor with their fists and leather belts. They also damaged a motorbike. Continue Reading India: Animosity Increasing…
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