Secret Church

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Pray for the Persecuted: Pastor Youcef Re-Arrested Posted: 08 Jan 2013 04:00 AM PST In Iran Iranian Pastor Youcef Nadarkhani was re-arrested on Christmas day on charges that he still had 45 days left of his three-year-long sentence which he needed to complete.  He had been previously arrested and sentenced to death for converting to Christianity for Islam.  With the help of his attorney, Mohammed Ali Dadkhah, he was cleared of that charge, but sentenced to 3 years for proselytizing Muslims.  He was released early on September 8, 2012 under the understanding that the remainder of his time, about 45 days, would be served in the form of probation.  Although he posted bail and did not violate his probation, 108 days later, he was taken back to the same jail.  Iranian officials say that he will be released in 45 days upon the completion of his full sentence and some paperwork. This means that he should be freed again on February 7.  However, according to Jordan Sekulow, Executive Director of the American Center for Law and Justice (ACLJ), “When you show up in an Iranian jail, you don’t always come out, and we’ve seen that time and time again.  So it’s not a good thing at all.” Since his release in early September, Pastor Youcef’s attorney has been arrested and sent to one of the harshest jails in Iran.  The extreme Iranian Revolutionary Guard has imprisoned another pastor in this same brutal facility. When all is said and done, these are only the cases that we hear about in the media.  The reality is that many more such cases occur than we get wind of, and these Christians and their families need our prayers too.  May we remember the persecuted as we begin 2013 and be inspired by their faith in the toughest of circumstances. Pray Pray for Pastor Youcef Nadarkhani and his family during this trying time.  Pray that by His grace, God would strengthen their faith.  Also, pray that He would use the Nadarkhanis in the lives of believers and nonbelievers who are observing this situation to convict, challenge, and encourage. Pray that Pastor Youcef’s attorney, Mohammed Ali Dadkhah, would come to faith in Christ during this difficult time.  Pray that God would protect him from physical harm.  Pray that God would guard Dadkhah against hardening his heart toward Him in the horrible circumstances he now finds himself and instead, humbly turn to God for refuge. Pray for the other pastors and believers who are in Iranian jails, both the cases we know about and the ones we don’t.  Ask the Lord to give them grace to remain steadfast in their faith and witness and for His gospel to go forth as a result of their current situations. Information for this post was gathered from VOM’s Prisoner Alert and Fox News.

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