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Source: Back to Jerusalem, February 8, 2025
I came across a social media post and also saw a video of a man named Aadesh Soni calling 5,000 people to gather on March 1, 2025, to join “Gau Nyay Yatra,” which means “cow justice parade.” He is asking to enter three villages in Chhattisgarh, India—Bishrampur, Janakpur, and Ganeshpur, where the majority of residents are Christians.
He is urging the people to invade homes, violate their daughters and their daughters-in-law, and publicly commit obscene acts. He justifies this by accusing Christians of slaughtering cows, which are considered sacred in Hinduism, and claims to have the support of the administration.
In another video, a Hindu priest has called on 1,000 people to kill those accused of cow slaughter, stating that they should kill them first and then get hanged by the government.
Can such incidents happen? Yes, they can.
Please, if you are reading this, take a moment to pray for the protection of these women and our Christian family in this state. What is being threatened is worse than getting arrested or going to jail.
Read the full story and pray for peace in this region.
See also a recent report, Hate Speech Events in India. It states,
“The number of hate speech incidents targeting religious minorities [in India] surged from 668 in 2023 to 1,165 in 2024, marking a staggering 74.4% increase. Dangerous speech—defined as speech that ‘increases the risk that its audience will condone or participate in violence against members of another group’—also saw a significant rise” (Center for the Study of Organized Hate).
Source: Global Partners, February 10, 2025
When living in a secular, Muslim-majority country, we knew about Ramadan and realized that many observed it. However, because the city we lived in was predominantly Catholic, it seemed that it was a minor blip on the radar. Now that we live in a Muslim-majority city in North America, we can more clearly see the impact of Ramadan.
Ramadan is the ninth month in the Islamic calendar and is a special time to hear from Allah. The month is meant to commemorate when Mohammed first received his revelations from Allah. It is spent fasting from food, water (or any drink), smoking, sexual relations and several other things from sun-up until sundown. Once the sun goes down, many will attend a special prayer time at the mosque and then go and break their fast—first by eating dates and then feasting on other things, like various rice and meats, stuffed grape leaves, and lots of bread.
It is during this time of Ramadan that many Muslims believe that their good deeds are multiplied, their prayers are multiplied, and they will cleanse their bodies of impurities to reset [them] for Allah’s will for them. Since Islam is a works-based religion, this time is very important to store up extra “credits” with Allah.
And since Muslims can only eat during sundown, many families will stay up late and wake up early to get in extra meals before dawn. This means that people get little sleep during the month. Some of my friends are quite thankful that Ramadan is starting to fall during our winter months, compared to summer, when it doesn’t get dark until nearly 10:00 pm!
The most interesting thing is the tension between Ramadan hours and “normal life hours.” Just because someone slept three hours each night for the month of Ramadan doesn’t mean that they can skip out on school or work. And yet, many Muslim-owned businesses—particularly restaurants and cafes—shift their hours from 9:00-9:00 to 5:00-5:00. It is fascinating to see much of life shift here in our city.
See also five short prayers, one for each week of Ramadan. I plan to use them all (about six minutes total) repeatedly throughout the month. The images are beautiful, too!
The number of prayer guides for this season keeps growing. Get global guides in digital or print from Pray30Days.org. Follow the links to special editions for kids. Join a prayer campaign focused on a specific group or place. Sign up for daily video-based emails from Prayercast. You may also hear directly from organizations you support, many of which produce their own materials. See the latest from Frontiers USA.
Our friends at OneWay ministries tell the story of a Pakistan pastor whose heart changed after joining one of these prayer efforts. He set a goal with his church to share the love of Jesus with 300 Muslims in the next year. And after that, God gave them a vision to do much more. Wonderful.
Source: Jubilee Campaign, February 12, 2025
Egyptian authorities detained Abdulbaqi Saeed Abdo without trial [for three years, including] several months in solitary confinement solely for exercising his freedom of religion and expression. Today, Abdulbaqi is finally free and reunited with his family in Canada, thanks to persistent international and domestic pressure.
Abdulbaqi Saeed Abdo is a Yemeni Christian from a Muslim background. After threats from family and community members, he, his wife, and children were preparing to leave the country when his wife was tragically murdered. Abdulbaqi, now a widower, and his four children fled Yemen to Egypt in 2014.
Abdulbaqi Saeed Abdo was registered with the UNHCR and later remarried. On December 15, 2021, plainclothes police raided his home at 2:00 am. The authorities confiscated his mobile and laptop and those of his family members. Authorities kept Abdulbaqi under pre-trial detention for more than the two-year limit prescribed by law. This practice has been heavily criticized by human rights experts.
See also two articles related to religious liberty in other regions from International Christian Concern.
Source: Mission Network News, February 14, 2025
In a bustling Afghanistan market, a rug vendor was approached by men whose journey to him had been two years in the making. They spoke with the man, whose hands had woven intricate carpets but whose heart carried deep sorrow. Their mission was to offer him a simple device: an MP3 player loaded with devotional materials and Scripture in his language. As they explained the gift and shared the gospel, tears began streaming down the vendor’s cheeks. He had seen unimaginable pain, including the slaughtering of friends and family who had dared to question Islamic teaching.
For missionaries, handing off the preloaded MP3 players to Afghans marks the completion of the distribution effort. For recipients, it marks the beginning of hope.
After conversing at length with Nehemiah’s partners, the rug vendor, who was also a tribal chief, requested a devotional unit for each family member.
“What began as simple conversation in the marketplace had now become an open door to an entire tribe,” Nehemiah says.
Read the full story and a previous story about creating the recordings: Voice Acting Opportunities Lead Children to Christ in the Middle East.
Source: World Venture, February 7, 2025
[Adama Diouf] was born into a Muslim family among the Serer tribe. And one time when he was a young man, like 13 or 14 years old, he got to see a Christian film in a town near his village.
He thought Jesus was amazing, and he couldn’t understand why Jesus would die on a cross. If he truly was the Son of God, why would he die? And why would God allow that?
So, one night, he and his friends in the village were having a dance party. All of a sudden, he saw a vision on the wall of Jesus on the cross. And Jesus looked at him and said, “I did this for you.”
He was stunned, and they said, “Why aren’t you dancing, Adama? Why, what happened to you?”
And he said, “I just saw Jesus on the wall.”
Read the full story or watch a related video, below. What would your life be like if following Jesus meant being shunned by your family?