Today is the day we remember Jesus’ birth. He came to set captive sinners free from the tyranny of death and sin.

As you celebrate today with friends and family, exchanging gifts, hugs, smiles, laughter, food, music, and more, please take time to pray for:

People around the world who sadly have no reprieve from their pain, such as:

- Pfc Bowe Bergdahl, held captive by the Taliban since June 30 (pictured)
- Christians who suffer loss and persecution in hostile lands like Iraq, Iran, North Korea, Cuba, Vietnam, various parts of North Africa, China, and elsewhere
- Christians who are imprisoned around the world simply because of their unwavering commitment to Jesus
- Those who ache with physical hunger and starve in spiritual hunger
- Those who have lost loved ones this year, whether through accidents, crimes, or war

People who have offered up their lives for the spread of the Gospel, such as:

- Street evangelists who daily receive insults, jeers, and taunts as they preach Christ crucified
- Missionaries working in lands as translators, church planters, computer specialists, managers, mechanics, school teachers, etc.
- Itinerant preachers who still circuit travel to exhort, rebuke, teach, and challenge churches full of believers to greater commitment to and intimacy with Jesus Christ
- The few and rare godly pastors who hold fast to Biblical truth and sound doctrine

And, of course, people who continue, even today, to “suppress the truth in unrighteousness”; adamantly refusing to repent and believe.

I’m sure I’m missing many people, but you get the idea.
Of all the gifts we could give today, the gifts of your time and prayers for these people are priceless.

Merry Christmas,
Anthony

Posted: December 25th, 2009 under Announcements, Current Events, Persecuted Church, Prayer, State of the Church, The Church, World Events, World Missions.
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words fail me.
pray for Isaac.

Posted: May 30th, 2009 under Challenge, Persecuted Church, Testimony, World Missions.
Comments: none

94 cents.  That’s all it costs to mail a standard single-page letter envelope from the United States to many parts of the world.  That may not seem like much at all, but what if a stranger on the other side of the planet thought enough to write, print, and mail you a letter of encouragement while you were alone in jail for being a Christian?

Would you be that stranger to someone today?

PrisonerAlert.com, a ministry of Voice of the Martyrs, is a website that enables you to create letters to imprisoned believers around the world.  After first reading the process and precautions, you pick the person, then select the sentences you would like to include in your note, print it, and mail it.  In less than 10 minutes you can offer a cup of cold water, as it were, to a brother or sister in jail on the other side of the world.

One way you can make your letter “your own” is to use as your paper’s background an encouraging, inspiring landscape photo you have taken. I figure they may not get to see much, so pasting the letter text into a Microsoft Word document with a neutral, serene image background is a quick way to enhance the letter to make it personal and special.

Imagine if you received not just one letter–but literally almost 10,000 such letters from Christians all around the world! You can bless someone else like that by taking time to send an encouraging word to them.  I can’t think of a better use of a postage stamp…can you?

Posted: January 21st, 2009 under Challenge, Persecuted Church, The Church.
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