We are all complaining lately about how screwed up our country is right now. Being one of the complainers, I would like to take a moment to appreciate and Thank God that we still have our Religious Freedom!
Reading an article this afternoon, I realized that there are so many people in the world who don't have this freedom. Maybe I'm naive, but I really thought that except for a few countries, this was a thing of the past. But, it seems that Christian persecution is still wide spread even in this day and age.
The article I read was about 4 men in Iran being sentenced to 80 lashes for drinking alcohol at a communion. You can read the full article here.
The article goes on to say that it is against the law to drink alcohol in Iran. Maybe if Iranians DID drink alcohol they'd be a little less "hostile". But, I think that's a blog for another day. On this point, I just think that if the men know it's against Iranian law to drink alcohol, they should have drank grape juice or something else like we do at our church services. They can follow the law and still perform the service. Although, I have a strong suspicion that they would have been arrested for something else.
The main reason I felt the need to blog about this is because of the little paragraph at the end of the article. Stuck in at the end and almost glossed over. This paragraph has me truly upset!
"Protestant Pastor Saeed Abedini, a U.S. citizen, has been in Iran's notorious Evin Prison for more than a year on charges of threatening national security by evangelizing in the Islamic country. His wife said in September that the pastor has been told he would be freed if he denies his Christian faith."
Why have we not heard about this? We can hear about who the latest Kardashian is dating or what the 1st lady is wearing to dinner. But, we don't hear about how there is a US Citizen trapped in a prison in Iran because he won't deny his Christian faith??!! Why is our government not doing anything about this! Why are we not demanding that he be deported back to the US? How can WE do anything about this? I think I am most upset about this because I don't believe the government is doing anything to help a US Citizen in a foreign country and also because I know about it and I don't know what I can do to help!
If you have heard about this Pastor or know how I can help him, please share the information here!
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