Good News for the Abedini's

I've been praying for a long time for Pastor Saeed Abedini to be released from prison in Iran, Encouraging news last week - President Obama met with Naghmeh Abedini and her children.

The American Center for Law and Justice (ACLJ), which is working to secure the release of American Pastor Saeed Abedini from an Iranian prison, said today a private face-to-face meeting between President Obama and American Pastor Saeed Abedini's wife, Naghmeh, and their children elevates Pastor Saeed's plight on the world stage and should send a powerful message to the Iranians: It is time to release this U.S. citizen so he can return home to his family.

President Obama met with Naghmeh and her two young children, 6-year-old Jacob and 8-year-old Rebekka, during a stop in the Abedini's hometown of Boise, Idaho.

"I am extremely thankful the President took the time to meet with our family and told us that securing the release of my husband is a top priority," said Naghmeh Abedini. "The President was focused and gracious—showing concern to me and my children. I know that this meeting could not have occurred without prayer, and I am grateful to the many people around the country and world who continue to pray for Saeed's release. The President repeated his desire to do all that he can to bring Saeed home. That means the world to me and my children and has given me a renewed sense of hope."

The private meeting, which lasted about 10 minutes, occurred in an office at Boise State University, just moments before the President addressed an audience about education.

"We're grateful that President Obama took the time to meet with Naghmeh and speak with her and the children," said Jordan Sekulow, Executive Director of the ACLJ, which represents Naghmeh and her two children. "Pastor Saeed has been wrongly imprisoned for nearly 2 1/2 years. He has been separated from his wife and children. The pain experienced by the Abedini family is impossible to imagine. The meeting between President Obama and the Abedini family is a very welcomed development. It demonstrates the president's concern and compassion for this family. It also underscores the mportance of Pastor Saeed's case, a U.S. citizen imprisoned in Iran merely because of his Christian faith. The face-to-face meeting elevates Pastor Saeed's plight on the world stage—and should send a powerful message to the Iranians: It is time to release Pastor Saeed so he can return home to his family."

Regarding the meeting, Naghmeh said President Obama entered the room, greeted the children and immediately told her that securing the release of Pastor Saeed was a top priority for him. He recalled the phone call he had some time ago with Iranian President Hassan Rouhani and told Naghmeh that Saeed was part of that conversation. The President reiterated that bringing Saeed home is a top priority for him.

Naghmeh told the president that she prays for him often. The president smiled when Naghmeh told him that she had refrained from food and had fasted for days praying that God would grant this meeting with him—and that the meeting itself was the result of that prayer.

Naghmeh told the president that she knows that he cares about families and that the face-to-face meeting with the president reflected the care and concern he has for the Abedini family.

Naghmeh told the president that her son, Jacob, had something to ask him. Jacob asked: "Mr. President, can you please bring daddy home for my birthday?" The President responded, "When is your birthday?" Jacob told him March 17th, when he will turn 7. The President said he will try very hard to bring his father home.

The meeting between the president and the Abedinis occurred after more than 100,000 people signed on to an ACLJ letter urging President Obama to meet with the family. Pastor Saeed's two young children—Jacob and Rebekka—have recorded a personal plea asking President Obama to bring their father home. That video is available here

Let's all continue to pray for our brother and his famil.

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Easter Greetings From Iranian Prison

From his prison hospital bed in Iran, American Pastor Saeed Abedini sent Easter greetings and prayers through a letter smuggled out by his wife:

Crucifying the resurrected “self” with Christ and resurrects our dead faith with Christ.

Happy Resurrection Day.

On the Eve of Good Friday and Easter I was praying from my hospital room for my fellow Christians in the world.  What the Holy Spirit revealed to me in prayer was that there are many dead faiths in the midst of Christians today. That Christians all over the world are not able to fully reach their spiritual potential that has been given to them as a gift by God so that in reaching that potential, the curtain can be removed and the Glory of God would be revealed.

Some times we want to experience the Glory and Resurrection with Jesus without experiencing death with Him.  We do not realize that unless we pass through the path of death with Christ, we are not able to experience resurrection with Christ.We want to have a good and successful marriage, career, education and family life (which is also God’s desire and plan for our life). But we forget that in order to experience the Resurrection and Glory of Christ we first have to experience death with Christ and to die to ourselves and selfish desires.

Jesus said to His Disciples:  “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. (Matthew 16:24)

Let us continue to pray for our brother and his family, and for all persecuted Christians everywhere.

HT: Thinking Out loud

How to Pray For Pastor Saeed

From a good post by Dr. Gary Tuck at Trans-formed:

Pastor Saeed Abedini. If you don’t know that name, you should google it and learn at least some basic facts … because, if you are a Christian, he is you. That’s right. There is a fundamental solidarity of all followers of King Jesus. But Saeed Abedini is just the single best known of, I don’t know, hundreds? thousands?

What I want to speak to is the issue of how we can help. Like many of you, I have read many updates over the past several months on Pastor Saeed’s situation and efforts to persuade the Iranian government to release him and efforts to get our government to pressure Iran. (Thanks especially to Jay Sekulow and ACLJ.)

As we continue to pray for him and his family to be strong, to grow stronger not weaker in his faith, and to be bold as long as he is incarcerated, I should think Paul’s words in Ephesians 6:19-20 might have some legitimate application to Saeed’s situation: “[Pray] for me, that words may be given to me in opening my mouth boldly to proclaim the mystery of the gospel, for which I am an ambassador in chains, that I may declare it boldly, as I ought to speak.” (ESV).....

Please read the whole thing at the link. He then concludes:

.......I think we need to include these stories and people more regularly in our prayer lists. I am praying that God will lead me and my wife to a particular connection (as yet unknown to me) of His choice for us to support by prayer and who knows what other way to alleviate some suffering by our Lord’s family, our brothers and sisters.

One more thought: I urge you to begin becoming informed about mistreatment of fellow Christians. I have started with “Voice of the Martyrs,” persecution.com and persecutionblog.com.

Pray for Pastor Saeed Abedini

Let us not forget that there is a Christian Pastor, who is also an American citizen, in prison in Iran for the crime of simply being a Christian. Our brother and his family need our prayers and support. From a post at  National Review by David French:

Today marks the “Grand Day of Death to America” in Iran – the anniversary of the 1979 embassy takeover  – and one American pastor held captive in Iran is facing an immediate threat to his life.

Saeed Abedini, an Iranian-American pastor from Idaho who visited Iran to assist in building an orphanage, has been imprisoned for more than a year simply because of his Christian faith. Initially held in Evin Prison – where Iran holds hundreds of political prisoners – he’s been abused and pressed to sign “confessions” and convert to Islam. Showing courage few American Christians can comprehend, he’s steadfastly refused to “confess” (to crimes he didn’t commit) or convert.

At the American Center for Law and Justice, we represent Pastor Abedini’s familyand have worked closely with members of Congress, the administration, and countries in the European Union and beyond to bring pressure on the Iranian regime. These efforts culminated not merely in a series of strong congressional statements and statements from Europe but also in the president of the United States directly addressing Pastor Saeed’s plight with Iran’s president Rouhani.

While these developments raised hopes for Pastor Saeed’s release, today brought devastating news. As the Revolutionary Guard appears to be flexing its muscles,Pastor Saeed was transferred from Evin Prison (which is brutal enough) to Rajai Shahr prison outside Tehran. Here’s how a Dutch diplomat described Rajai Shahr:

Rajai Shahr is the place where political prisoners who are seen as a nuisance, are stowed away. Going to Karaj is a severe punishment. Once in there one stops to be a human being. One is put out of sight, even of human rights activists and the press. In Rajaï Shahr, political prisoners have to share cells with dangerous criminals like murderers, rapists and drug addicts who don’t hesitate to attack their cell mates. They have nothing to lose: many of them are condemned to death anyway. Murders or unexplained deaths are a regular occurrence.

In other words, Pastor Saeed – an American citizen — may be about to become one of the “disappeared.”

It’s time for President Obama to reengage, to declare definitively that Iran cannot kill an American — either directly or indirectly by knowingly placing him in direct proximity to murderers. Pastor Saeed is “guilty” of nothing but Christianity, and that should not be a capital crime for anyone – least of all one of our own.

Revival in Iran

Quotes below are from Michael at Charismatica

Iran is in the news as a country developing nuclear weapons and preparing for war against Israel and ultimately the USA. However, regular folks in the country do not necessarily support their leaders particularly when it comes to Christianity.

A full blown revival is going on in the country and government officials are trying everything they can to stop it. Authorities continue to arrest pastors and persecute Christians to no avail. Recently the government issued a decree forbidding churches from meeting on Fridays. Friday is the traditional ‘day off’ and the time to worship in the Iranian culture and most of the Middle East for that matter. This decree is only going to affect the ‘official’ churches however since most Iranian Christians meet in illegal house churches in secret.

The Iranian revival continues to expand through dreams, visions, and healing. Some put numbers now at 500,000. This article estimates 370,000 have converted to Christianity through the recent revival. There is no way to get an accurate account since it is all underground......

More confirmation from Open Doors (Brother Andrew's group)

Open Doors staff members recently reported that church growth is “explosive” in Iran; they even speak of a revival.

Iran is the fifth country in the world on Open Doors’ World Watch List for the persecution of believers. The president and the supreme leader of the country openly speak against the growth of house churches, and persecution against Christian converts is highly prevalent.

Interestingly, though, these two government leaders are nearly alone in their disdain for Christianity as a “Western religion,” says one Open Doors staff member. “In the past, Christianity wasn’t popular; it was seen as a Western religion. Now only the government sees it as a Western product, or better: a Western political system,” says the staff member....

 Pray! Pray! pray!

The Real War on Christmas

Despite all the talk about a "War on Christmas" in America, we are all still free to celebrate the birth of Jesus in our homes and churches.  However, many of our brothers and sisters in Christ around the world do not have that freedom.  From Charismatica comes this remeinder:

This is a good time to remember our Iranian brothers and sisters in Christ. Iranian authorities are threatening to arrest any Christians that outwardly celebrate Christmas this year. We have posted in the past about the continuing revival going on in Iran. Like China, it is a house church movement that is increasing through dreams, visions, and healings.

We should also remember Christians in Egypt. The recent election indicates that radical Islamists will soon be running the country. Over 60% of the vote went to Muslim Brotherhood and the more radical Nour Party. Last year during the Coptic Christmas (Celebrated in January) celebration there were several attacks on the Christian community. This year more attacks are expected since the central government no longer even tries to protect the Christians.

Again this year, we should remember Christians in Iraq. The last several years there have been incidences of Churches, Christian businesses, and homes being attacked by radical Muslims during the Christmas season.

Also, the violence continues to rage against Christian communities in northern Nigeria. There seems to be no end in sight as Muslim mullahs continually incite Muslim ‘worshippers’ to attack Christians following Friday services. Literally there is at least one violent incident a week in that country.

Lord, we pray for the day when there truly will be "peace on earth" when Christ is King of all!

Prayers for Yousef Nadarkhani

 Please join me in prayer for Pastor Yousef Nadarkhani, an Iranian follower of Jesus facing execution by the government of Iran for refusing to recant his Christian faith. May the Lord strengthen and save our brother in Christ and be with his family in this time of trial!

News & blog coverage:

Iran: Execution for Apostasy Seems Imminent- National Review Online

Christian Pastor Yousef Nadarkhani faces potential execution: Washington Post

Clock ticking louder in Iran: Get Religion.com

Iranian Pastor faces execution for Christian Faith: Denny Burk