Pebbles For Christ: January 2013

Thursday 31 January 2013

Voice of the Martyrs Prayer Request: Burma

Tuesday 29 January 2013

Prisoner Profile: Alimujiang Yimiti

Prisoner Profile

PRISONER NAME: Alimujiang Yimiti

LOCATION: China
ARRESTED: February 2008
REVISED: January 29, 2013

In September 2007 Chinese government officials closed Alimujiang Yimiti's business and accused him of using it as a cover up for "preaching Christianity among people of
Uyghur ethnicity." He was later arrested in January 2008 and accused of "subversion of the national government and endangering national security," a crime punishable by
death.

Alimujiang, a former Muslim, became a Christian more than 10 years ago and has
been an active Christian in the growing Uyghur church. On May 27, Alimujiang's case went to trial. His case was referred back to the Chinese Public Security Bureau's prosecutors due to "insufficient evidence." He remains in custody.

A Brief Overview of the Case:

On Sept. 13, 2007, the Kashi Municipal Bureau for Ethnic and Religious Affairs of Xinjiang stated: "Since 2002, Alimujiang Yimiti has been engaging, in the name of employment, in activities of illegal religious infiltration which include preaching Christianity among the people of Uyghur ethnicity, distributing religious materials and converting Christians."

However, on Jan. 12, 2008, the Kashi Municipal Public Security Bureau placed Alimujiang on criminal detention on the two charges of "suspicion of inciting people to secede from China" and "illegally providing state secrets to foreigners." On Feb. 20, he was formally arrested.

On Aug. 6, 2009, the Kashi District Intermediate Court secretly sentenced Alimujiang to 15 years imprisonment on the charge of "illegally providing state secrets to foreign nationals."
It was not until Oct. 27 that the court in Kashi notified Alimujiang's wife, Gulinuer, and his lawyer of the sentence. Alimujiang appealed.

On March 6, 2010, the Higher People's Court of Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region tried the case in private, refusing to let the lawyer appear in court. They upheld the ruling from the Kashi District Intermediate Court, sentencing Alimujiang to 15 years of imprisonment and depriving him of political rights for five years.

On April 12, 2010, Alimujiang's wife Gulinuer got a phone call notifing her that Alimujiang had been transferred from Kashi Detention Center to serve his sentence in No. 3 Prison of Xinjiang in Urumqi.

In Nov. 2010, the Higher People's Court of Xinjiang accepted the appeal by Alimujiang's wife and mother and decided to retry Alimujiang's case of "disclosing top state secrets". After Christmas 2010, the Higher People's Court of Xinjiang told Gulinuer that they had already made the decision through a collegial bench on December 20.

In Feb. 2011, the Higher People's Court of Xinjiang notified Alimujiang, who is serving his sentence, that they upheld the original sentence of 15 years of imprisonment in the reconsideration.

Family Visits to Alimujiang Cut

Prison officials informed Alimujiang's wife, Gulinuer, that her monthly visits to the prison were being reduced to one visit every three months. Gulinuer went to visit her husband on Jan. 23, but was denied entry. Their last meeting in November 2012 lasted just 15 minutes. Since then, she has only spoken to her husband once by phone, on New Year's Day. Gulinuer believes the prison authorities' decision could be connected to her husband's current appeal. His lawyer believes the restrictions are illegal, since the normal allowance for prison visits is once per month.

Please add

Alimujiang Yimiti

to your prayer list.

Release International Prayer Request: Eritrea

Eritrea: Church leaders arrested in capital
Monday, January 28, 2013

Release partners say that more than 20 Christians have been arrested in the Eritrean capital, Asmara, in the past ten days.

Release Eritrea says that officials have been targeting church leaders of various denominations, including the Full Gospel Church and the Mesret Kristos (Mennonite) Church.
All those detained were arrested at home – prompting suggestions that this had been a 'pre-planned' campaign.
These arrests come against a backdrop of mounting political uncertainty in the East African nation. Last week, a group of dissident soldiers reportedly tried to seize control of the Ministry of Information, apparently to demand political change. Three army officers are reported to have been arrested. Strained relations with Ethiopia have worsened since the death of Ethiopian premier Meles Zenawi last August.
Eritrea has been a one-party state since independence in 1993, under the repressive leadership of President Isaias Afewerki.

For more news and a country profile about Eritrea, click here
(Sources: AP, BBC, Christian Post, Release Eritrea)

• Pray God's peace and protection over His people in Eritrea, and in Asmara particularly. Pray that they will draw near to God for His wisdom and guidance.

• Pray for a breakthrough in the struggle for greater religious liberty in Eritrea, where non-conformist Christians are widely considered dissidents and a threat to national security.

Iran Sentences Pastor Saeed Abedini to 8 years in Evin Prison

Pastor Saeed Abedini, who is an American citizen, has been beaten and tortured since his imprisonment last fall and is now facing eight years in Evin Prison, one of the most brutal prisons in Iran. He has been convicted for his involvement in house churches in the early 2000s.

Evin Prison is a prison in Iran, located in Evin, northwestern Tehran. Beatings, torture, mock executions and brutal interrogations are the norm at Evin prison.

Farshid Fathi is also being held at Evin Prison.

You can sign a petition, calling for his release by following this link.

Please pray for Pastor Saeed, his wife Naghmeh, and their two children who live in the U.S.

You can read more at America Centre for Law and Justice's website.

Thursday 24 January 2013

Release David: Release International

A short, fast-paced film from Release International that asks what response Christians should make if fellow believers are unfairly imprisoned.

I pray,
I blog,
I try to raise awareness on various social networks.

What do you do? I welcome your comments!

Please click on Releases International's logo beneath to comment on this film.

Sunday 20 January 2013

Seek The Lord in Scripture!

Thursday 17 January 2013

Prayer Alert: Younis Masih's Life Sentence for Blasphemy Heard in Court Tomorrow!

Pakistan Christian Younis Masih is scheduled to have his appeal against a life sentence for blasphemy heard in court tomorrow. The Punjabi father-of-four has been detained since November 2005 – after asking local Muslims to reduce noise levels during their worship. Younis is still recovering from a heart attack last week which caused him to be hospitalised. Continue to pray God's protection over him, his family and Release partners supporting them: some fear that Younis may be at greater risk of attack from extremists while he is in hospital.

(Source: Release partners)

Younis Masih, a Christian father of four, is serving a death sentence in Pakistan for blasphemy & suffered a serious heart attack, according to Release International's prayer alert on 8 January 2013.

Younis, who is detained in a jail in northern Punjab, was transferred to a civilian hospital. His wife, Meena, and their children live nine hours' drive away from the prison, which has made visiting hard since his transfer there in July. Meena featured in our DVD, Pray for Pakistan.

Younis has been in jail for more than seven years. He was detained in November 2005 after a Muslim cleric accused him of making derogatory remarks about Islam's prophet, Mohammed. Younis's supporters say he was falsely accused after asking those attending an Islamic religious ceremony in his neighbourhood to make less noise.

Release partners are concerned that Younis could be at greater risk of attack from Islamist extremists while he is in hospital – and have gone immediately to try to visit him. They are also handling his appeal against the death sentence. A court hearing has been set for January 17.

(Source: Release partners)

http://www.releaseinternational.org

But as for me, I watch in hope for the LORD, I wait for God my Savior; my God will hear me.

Do not gloat over me, my enemy! Though I have fallen, I will rise. Though I sit in darkness, the LORD will be my light.

(Micah 7: 7-8)

Wednesday 16 January 2013

SRI LANKA: Pastor Injured in Attack on Church

Please click the link below if you are able to join the Be-A-Voice Network & pray for our brothers & sisters, who are being persecuted for worshipping Jesus Christ.

http://www.be-a-voice.net/

Prayer Alert: Farshid Fathi

PRISONER NAME: Farshid Fathi
LOCATION: Iran (Islamic Republic of)
ARRESTED: 26 December 2010
REVISED: January 16, 2013

Farshid Fathi was arrested on Dec. 26, 2010 in a wave of arrests of believers in Tehran and other areas. Of the 22 believers arrested by security forces in Tehran, 10 were released after intense questioning and after they signed agreements to refrain from Christian activities. Eleven others were also later released. By the end of April, 2011, only Farshid remained in prison, though his family had paid an enormous bail sum. He spent nearly a year in solitary confinement.
Farshid, a Christian convert from Islam, was charged with "acting against national security through membership of a Christian organization, collection of funds, propaganda against the Islamic Regime by helping spread Christianity in the country," and sentenced to six
years of imprisonment on March 5, 2012. Though the charge is for his Christian work,
authorities tried to cast his activities as political offenses.

Farshid's appeal against the charges was rejected in June 2012. He is due to serve the rest of his sentence in Evin Prison.

According to Elam Ministries, Farshid is a shining beacon for Christ in Evin, so much so that the son of an Iranian ayatollah commented on Farshid's sweet nature in a YouTube video. The two shared a cell. The man remarked on how beloved Farshid is among the inmates. Elam described Farshid as "a man after God's own heart."

Farshid is married to Leila, and has two children, Rosana and Bardia. Pray that they will be comforted during this time. Pray for steadfast endurance, deep Godly peace and for protection for Farshid in prison. Pray he will remain a shining light in prison and pray for his release.

35 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ?Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? 36 As it is written: "For your sake we face death all day long;we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered." 37 No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. 38 For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, 39 neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.(Romans 8:35-39)

Ice Flowers

I took these photos this morning of our "sunroom" windows. These ice flowers are beautiful testimony to our Glorious God!

Fox News Update on American Pastor Saeed

Please keep our brother Saeed & his family in your prayers.

Tuesday 8 January 2013

News: Pastor Youcef Nadarkhani Again Free!

Let us thank & praise the Lord for this wonderful news!

"Pastor Youcef Nadarkhani was just released in Iran.

A leader in Pastor Youcef’s church has confirmed to the ACLJ that Iranian authorities released Pastor Youcef from prison shortly after 1:30 p.m. near Rasht, Iran.

He had been re-arrested on Christmas Day in Iran, the first Christmas he would have been able to spend with his wife and two young sons after his nearly three-year imprisonment for his Christian faith.

After initially spending 1,062 days behind bars under a death sentence for apostasy (becoming a Christian), he has now been forced to spend an additional 14 days in prison because of his faith even after his apostasy conviction was absolved.

The ACLJ welcomes his release from this unjust and illegal imprisonment. Iran must not be allowed to persecute individuals because of their faith.

Pastor Youcef has become the face of persecution around the world, and his re-arrest on Christmas Day shows Iran’s intent to make an example of Pastor Youcef to intimidate people of minority faiths.

While Pastor Youcef is now once again free, American Pastor Saeed Abedini remains imprisoned for his faith in one of Iran’s most notoriously brutal and abusive prisons."