Christian Mini-Round-Up

Stacy Harp over at Persecution Blog has an incredible story of God’s power in Pakistan.

On May 7th anonymous letters were delivered to churches and Christian homes in the towns of Charsadda and Mardan, Pakistan. The letters demanded that the Christians close their churches and convert to Islam within the next ten days. While some of the letters did not specify what would happen if the Christians refused, others threatened bombings or execution of all Christians.

Christians throughout Pakistan responded to the threats by observing ten days of fasting and prayer, beginning on 17th May, the date that the ultimatum ended. At the time of writing there have been no reports of coming from Pakistan that any of the threats have been realised. The authorities have condemned the threats and called for the protection of the Christians.

At the same time as the letters were being received, other Pakistan Christians had also received threats. In Peshawar two Taliban-style militants put a gun to the head of a junior staff member at the Pakistan Bible Institute. They threatened him, saying “We hear you are converting Muslims”. Thankfully they were disturbed and fled before they carried out their threat.

Pray with Pakistani Christians that God will protect them from harm. Pray that their faith in God to protect them will be a witness to those who wish them harm, that the one who is with us is greater than the one who is in the world (1 John 4:4).

Also, Mark Galli has an interesting piece on Christian education that raises many interesting questions. It doesn’t answer them, but if we an open our hearts to thing, we may find solutions.