Voice of the Martyrs Prayer Update for week of August 19, 2011

The Voice of the Martyrs USA: www.persecution.com

“Or what woman, having ten silver coins, if she loses one coin, does not light a lamp, sweep the house, and search carefully until she finds it? And when she has found it, she calls her friends and neighbors together, saying, ‘Rejoice with me, for I have found the piece which I lost!’ Likewise, I say to you, there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents.” Luke 15:8–10

Saudi Arabia—House Church Christians Released—BosNewsLife

1 Corinthians 3:9
For we are God’s fellow workers; you are God’s field, you are God’s building.

On July 24, two Indian Christians were unexpectedly released from prison in Saudi Arabia, and the men are now returning to their homes in India. Vasantha Skhar Vara, 28, and Nese Yohan, 31, were detained in January for organizing a Bible study. After Vara and Yohan were arrested and charged with proselytizing, they were held in a police station for 45 days before being transferred to jail without a trial. The jail was reportedly so overcrowded that the men could barely sleep. An elder of the men’s 70-member church told BosNewsLife that the men were forbidden to pray openly or read the Bible. Vara was pressured to convert to Islam, but he refused. “If I have to die for my God, I will die for him here,” Vara reportedly said. Yohan was allegedly denied medical treatment for tuberculosis. Thank God for the release of Vara and Yohan, and pray for Christians in Saudi Arabia who must worship secretly.

Tanzania—Churches Burned—Compass Direct News

Joshua 1:9
Now all things are of God, who has reconciled us to Himself through Jesus Christ, and has given us the ministry of reconciliation.

Muslim extremists burned two churches last month on Zanzibar Island, located off the Tanzanian coast in east Africa. On Saturday, July 30, extremists burned the Evangelical Assemblies of God-Tanzania church as they shouted, “Away with the church — we do not want infidels to spoil our community, especially our children.” Three days earlier, on July 27, extremists burned the Free Evangelical Pentecostal Church. The attacks have frightened members of both churches. “We request prayers at this trying moment,” said a pastor of one of the burned churches. In predominantly Muslim Tanzania, it is becoming extremely difficult for Christians to worship or otherwise publicly exercise their faith. Christians on other islands in the Zanzibar archipelago have also experienced attacks. Pray for the members and leaders of the two churches, and pray that the Christian community in Zanzibar will remain firm in faith.

Sudan—Ongoing Conflict in Border Region—Persecution Project Foundation

Psalm 23:4
Now all things are of God, who has reconciled us to Himself through Jesus Christ, and has given us the ministry of reconciliation.

While South Sudan celebrates its independence, people living near the border in Sudan’s Nuba Mountains face regular attacks from Sudanese military forces. The government has cut supply routes into the Nuba Mountains and has begun a daily bombing campaign to terrify the Nuba people into abandoning their crops and homes. “They are not bombing our military,” said Amar Amoun, a Nuban member of parliament. “They are bombing our civilians; they are terrorizing our people.” Because the Nubans reside on Sudan’s southern border, they are seen as threats to Sudan’s control of valuable resources like arable land and oil. “Please continue to pray for the persecuted people of the Nuba Mountains,” asked Brad Phillips, VOM project worker and president of the Persecution Project Foundation.

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Scripture taken from the New King James Version. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.