Why an International Day of Prayer for the Persecuted Church?

11-12-2010
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Why should you pray this Sunday, or perhaps daily for persecuted Christians? Why not?

They need and covet your prayers.

Think about it. Here are just a few of the Christian persecution headlines CBN News brought you in just the past three weeks:

--A Pakistani Christian is sentenced to death for telling Muslim co-workers that Jesus died for their sins…

--58 Christians are killed in Iraq as Islamic militants attack their church….

Less than two weeks later, grieving Christians are killed by bomb attacks targeting their Baghdad homes…

--Eight months after his release from a North Korean prison, American missionary Robert Park--for the first time--speaks out about the suffering and torture he endured at the hands of his captors…

--The People's Republic of China prohibits 200 house church leaders from attending the Third Lausanne Congress on World Evangelization in Cape Town South Africa. Conference organizers fear computer hackers from the PRC were responsible for shutting down their website for the first five days of the gathering….

If anyone tells you that militant Muslims and communists are becoming more tolerant of Christians, don't believe them.

As I travel the world to meet with suffering believers and listen to their testimonies, I can tell you persecution is not lessening, it's intensifying. Why? I don't know for sure. Perhaps it's because Christians are doing a better job of sharing the gospel these days. Maybe it's because television and the Internet are helping to bring Jesus to many societies previously closed to other beliefs and faiths.

Christians around the world—perhaps 200 million or more will be praying for their persecuted brothers and sisters this Sunday during the annual International Day of Prayer for the Persecuted Church (IDOP).

I recently talked with John Wilson, Director of The Voice of the Martyrs Australia about the suffering church and why we should pray. View his response by clicking on this video:

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