Day: January 5, 2022

What Would Make Heaven’s Headlines?

In This Edition:

  1. Haiti: The Hostages Are Free!
  2. Iran: Court Rules Christians Did Not Act Against National Security
  3. China: The Miracle of Invisible Bibles
  4. Middle East: Why Digital Church Matters in MENA

Read or share the email edition or scroll down for individual stories.

Greetings,

If you have been a Missions Catalyst reader for long, you may have heard us use the phrase “Heaven’s headlines.” Every January, many publish lists of the year’s top stories. What if Heaven had such a list? We like to think it would include some of the stories we highlight.

If I had to choose a top story for 2021, it might have to do with the North American missionaries delivered from captivity in Haiti. Even as this group was eventually delivered, others are still held hostage in Haiti or in danger of kidnapping in Haiti and other countries.

We can continue praying for another American missionary, Jeff Woodke, kidnapped in Niger five years ago. I will be using songs from the Haiti story to pray for Jeff and for his captors, the beautiful desert people of the Sahel. Please join me. You might use a little-known song by Rich Mullins, I Will Sing, to get you started.

The Haiti hostages and their churches, colleagues, and friends depended on singing and praying to get them through their ordeal.

  • Watch the former hostages sing a scripture-based song that got them through the ordeal at 17:25 in the video below.
  • Hear a spokesman explain the role of singing in their tradition starting at 45:46 and join the staff in singing “Nearer My God to Thee.”
  • Don’t miss this song written and dedicated to the hostages and their families in November.

This time of year you may also see articles with the “best photos of 2021.” What would capture Heaven’s eyes? Maybe some of these (Religion News). Please pray for the people and countries in these images.

Blessings,
Pat

Iran: Court Rules Christians Did Not Act Against National Security

Source: Article18, November 25, 2021

Iran’s Supreme Court has ruled that nine Christian converts serving five-year prison sentences for their involvement in house churches should not have been charged with “acting against national security,” in what has the potential to become a landmark ruling.

While the ruling is not enough on its own to set an official “precedent,” nevertheless it has the potential to influence all current and future cases involving Persian-speaking Christians.

The ruling, handed down on November 3 but only communicated to the Christians’ lawyers [November 24], states explicitly that their involvement in house churches and even the propagation of what is referred to as the “Evangelical Zionist sect” should not be deemed against national security. 

This is significant, because in each of the cases involving the more than 20 Christians currently incarcerated in Iran for their involvement in house churches, the charges amounted to “actions against national security.”

See the full story with pictures and read other stories about persecution in Iran from Article18. They report the men were released January 1.

Another encouraging story comes from Africa, where more than 500 Muslims attended a Christmas service to promote religious tolerance in Nigeria (International Christian Concern).

China: The Miracle of the Invisible Bibles

Source: Back to Jerusalem, December 2021

Musfar (not his real name), was recently arrested after the police conducted a surprise raid on his home. Musfar has been handing out Bibles throughout his nation to secret believers and the police have been waiting to arrest him for months.

When the police raided his home, they searched everywhere for his secret stash of Bibles. Musfar’s apartment is small and he had over a thousand Bibles stacked in one of the most obvious locations. Surprisingly, the police found the location of the Bibles, looked directly at them, but never made any motion to touch them, pick them up, or examine them. It was almost as if the Bibles were invisible to the eyes of the police.

Is it possible that the police never saw the Bibles? Could their eyes have been blinded?

Musfar was taken to jail and accused of distributing Bibles, but the police could not provide any evidence, because they were unable to find the Bibles.

Our BTJ partners living in this closed country were able to get access to the apartment in the middle of the night after Musfar’s arrest and retrieve the Bibles. We now have several hundred Bibles to hand out in this country that desperately needs the Word of God.

As the Bibles are delivered, the people are being told about the amazing miracle of the invisible Bibles.

Read the full story.

Middle East: Why Digital Church Matters in MENA

Source: Mission Network News, December 13, 2021

Last year, believers worldwide stayed connected with their home groups and church fellowships by going online, even though COVID-19 restrictions kept them physically apart.

The online church provides more than convenience in the Middle East and North Africa. Sometimes, it saves lives. “I think about the moms who’ve come to faith, and they’re married to someone who is a non-Christian,” MENA Leadership Center CEO Jennifer Murff says. “It’s very dangerous for them and their children to just step into a local church.”

“In many countries in MENA, it’s illegal to change your religion. The digital church provides an outlet [where] they (new believers) can continue to grow in their faith and get discipled until they can step into a physical location,” Murff says.

Read the full story.

Also related to technology and the church, read how Brazilian Christians are ministering to Afghan refugees or consider The Changing Face of Missions in the Digital Age (Phil Cooke/Outreach Magazine).