Newsletter: 2011-11 Pray for the Persecuted

Greetings from HomeWorship 101™

“In a time of universal deceit,
telling the truth becomes a revolutionary act.”
- George Orwell

Sunday, November 13th, is the International Day of Prayer for the Persecuted Church.
“It is a time set apart for us to remember thousands of our Christian brothers and sisters around the world who suffer persecution, simply because they confess Jesus Christ as Lord.” http://www.idop.org/

Christian persecution is growing at an alarming rate around the world - one every five minutes. From the middle east, to the orient, the non-violent Faithful, are being imprisoned, tortured, and murdered by the tens of thousands, and their churches are being burned down – their only crime is what they believe. Do you want to know what the really sad part is? Most pastors do not even want to talk about it because it is a bit of a “downer” (sic). I’ll quote:

Persecuted Christian? Don't expect these pastors to speak up

Half don't plan to mention martyrs – but 3 in 4 members say they want to know

About half of all the pastors in America's churches today do not want to tell their congregations that there are forces in the world that persecute Christians for their beliefs, because it's a "downer," according to the results of a startling new poll.

The Barna Research Associates survey, commissioned by Open Doors USA, says a significant majority of American Christians, some three out of four, want to hear about the persecuted church.

But the same study showed that 52 percent of America's pastors don't want to talk about persecution and have no plans to talk about it….

Clay said the reality about Christian persecution isn't popular.

"That's a difficult teaching to swallow in some American churches today that are centered on self-improvement and feel-good sermons. And, perhaps pastors fear that the topic of Christian persecution will drive complacent Christians or those who are unsure what they believe out of the church," Clay said.

http://www.opendoorsusa.org/

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Report: Christian dies for their beliefs every five minutes.

The number is shocking.

Massimo Introvigne, a human rights representative for the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, has told an OSCE meeting in Bodollo, Hungary, that 105,000 people are killed every year because of their Christian faith.

Introvigne recently declared to the crowd gathered in the Budapest suburb that the statistics mean that an average of one Christian is killed every five minutes.

"Those figures are accurate that we published in the International Bulletin of Missionary Research. We report that … over the last 10 years, on average 100,000 Christians have been killed every year," Hickman explained.

"This doesn't count Christians who are killed incidentally because of other causes, so that does work out to be about one every five minutes," he said.

Hickman said his figures have credibility because the numbers come from people who are actually in the troubled territories. He said the sources are missionaries, human rights activists and aid workers.

"The numbers come from multiple sources," he observed.

Racho says the heaviest persecution is from other religious groups.

"So far, the main persecution of Christians is in Muslim countries. The primary number of Christians persecuted and killed are those living in Islamic countries," Racho said.

However, Racho added that even though figures indicate that most of the anti-Christian persecution comes from Muslim countries, Christian persecution is also the product of political ideologies.

"There are also a significant number of persecuted Christians living in communist countries like China, North Korea, and Eritrea. In all of these countries persecution is widespread," Racho declared.

"There are other countries like India, for instance, where persecution is rampant. This is because of Hindus who believe that India belongs to the Hindus," he said.

"So persecution is going on because of Islamic radical teachings and practices, because of communist ideologies and because of other radical ideologies like the Hindu radical ideas," Racho summarized.

Hickman added that the absence of persecution news in the media doesn't mean that anti-Christian violence isn't happening.

Voice of the Martyrs: http://www.persecution.com/public/homepage.aspx?clickfrom=bWFpbl9tZW51

Remember them that are in bonds, as bound with them;
and them which suffer adversity, as being yourselves also in the body.
- Hebrews 13:3


Take care. Peace and blessings, Errol.
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Errol Mueller, chronicler extraordinaire
e-mail: errol@homeworship101.com
website: www.homeworship101.com
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WSC Newsletter 2011-11, posted 11/11/11.

Copyright © 2011 Errol Mueller. All rights reserved. Short quotations, page copying, or redistribution for personal or non-commercial group study is permitted and encouraged, provided they are copied in total with no alterations or deletions. Author’s name, website address, and copyright notice must be included. If any other use is desired, written permission is required.
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Scripture quotations are from the New King James Version of the Holy Bible.

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