Christians worldwide will pray for the persecuted church on Sunday with special emphasis this year on Christians in India and Iraq.
As part of the annual International Day of Prayer, the hundreds of thousands of Christians expected to participate will pray for God to give strength and protect believers in nations hostile to the Gospel.
India and Iraq, which have been making headlines around the world for the mass persecution of Christians, are among the most urgent prayer topics this year.
In India, over 50,000 Christians have been made homeless by the violence in the eastern state of Orissa with some 30,000 living in refugee centers. The anti-Christian violence – the worst in the country’s 60 year history – has been raging since August and shows no signs of stopping. According to the All India Christian Council, more than 4,500 Christian homes have been burnt, 140 churches destroyed, and 13 Christian schools and colleges damaged over the past few months.
Meanwhile in Iraq, more than 13,000 Christians were displaced in the northern city of Mosul within two weeks in the month of October. The massive exodus in a country where Christians make up only two percent of the population was sparked by a series of murders and death threats by unknown Muslim militants.
Other IDOP-recommended countries of prayer include the Philippines, where Muslim militants angry over a failed government deal to hand over control of a state have attacked Christians in rural areas.
Prayer is also requested for Somalia, where Islamic militants have assassinated some 24 aid workers this year, including a man who was a former Muslim that converted to Christianity. The convert was not just killed, but beheaded in public to strike fear so that people would not leave Islam.
Christians have also been asked to pray for Sudan, where a legislative election will be held by July 2009, when the mainly Christian and animist South could vote to secede from the Islamist military regime in the North.
“Please pray [that] Christians who have been imprisoned for their faith will be release safely,” a Voice of the Martyr IDOP newsletter read. “[And that] new converts may be protected and provided for should their family turn against them.”
RSS
"Faith without works is death". We are not able to confront the Vishwa Hindu Parishad in so called Christian countries, so do not expect any help from Christians out of India, except colorful rhetoric. Chrsitians in India and elsewhere have to fend for themselves. We are only good enough to wear our three piece suits and spout scriptures with no real meaning and love for the Lord JESUS CHRIST. Many will faint in these last days.
Its appalling that the Vishwa Hindu Parishad ( Bajrang Dal) are allowed to operate freely under tax exempt status .
www.vhp-america.org
www.vhp.org.au
www.vhp.org.uk
in Orissa, (India) even though the resports tells that
40 people are killed, but recent report gives more
horrifying news; that 500 people are killed, 50000 people
are displaced from there homes and hundreds of churches
are totally demolished. In 13 other States of India,
Christians are under severe persecution for their faith.
Please visit www.persecution.in or www.aiccindia.com,
and those websites keep posted daily persecutions.
Christians are being persecuted around the world, and the
Christians of the western countries must pray and stand
with them before it get too late. We are living at the
end times and persecution of the Christians is another
sign of the end times.