IRAN
Iran’s President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is driven by his Shiite ideology. He believes the Mahdi (Islamic messiah) will soon return to Iran to lead the apocalyptic battle between good and evil. According to the myth, the Mahdi will return during a time of world chaos. Jesus will return from heaven to be the Mahdi’s follower and pray behind him.
Jesus will fight against the Dajjal, the deceiver or false messiah. There will be an apocalyptic battle between good and evil and Jesus will declare Islam to be the true religion and convert all Christians to Islam. Then the Day of Resurrection will come. Hezbollah, an Iranian asset, holds the same ideology.
Ahmadinejad believes he is called to hasten the Mahdi’s coming and prepare Iran to receive him. Accordingly, he has vowed to rid Iran of Christianity and all other offensive non-Islamic influences and practices. He is also agitating world chaos by inciting anti-Semitism, advocating genocide, bolstering his arsenal, courting dictators and stoking tension across the globe.
Persecution against the Iranian Church increased as soon as Ahmadinejad was elected. Iran’s Ministry of Interior is run by former leaders in Iran’s Ministry of Intelligence and Security (MOIS) secret police in the blood-soaked, post-revolution purge years.
While Iranian Christian leaders are facing increased risk of imprisonment and murder, Christians in general are being systematically driven into unemployment and hardship in what appears to be a government strategy to drive them from the country.
Pray for God’s Holy Spirit to do an amazing, powerful work in Iran, revealing Christ as Messiah, Redeemer, Saviour and friend. Pray for our persecuted brethren. May God give them strength and a profound experience of His presence and that God will provide them bold lawyers to defend their cases.
LEBANON
It can be easy for Christians to tune out violence in the Middle East. Yet, the dimensions of any conflict in the region can affect Christians differently.
Lebanon has the largest percentage of Christians of any country in the Middle East, and fighting between Hezbollah and Israel in the country affect Christians differently than in Gaza, where Hamas and Israel are also fighting.
Pray for the displaced, injured, and mourning who are living in areas that have been devastated by heavy bombings.; for the Church in Lebanon to be “salt and light” to the community, that God would be glorified in all that is said and done.
CUBA
About half of Cuba’s 11.2 million inhabitants are Christians, mainly Catholics. Over 35% are without religious affiliation and 17% are spiritists.
The country has been ruled by 79-year-old Communist dictator Fidel Castro since 1959. On Aug 1, he handed over provisional power to his younger brother, Raul, to undergo intestinal surgery. (He is now recuperating from the surgery.)
The change does not signal any change in the human rights situation, according to the International Society for Human Rights (ISHR).
In fact, Raul Castro is said to be even more of a Communist than Fidel.
ISHR, said the Communist regime is one of the worst violators of basic liberties in the world. Freedom of speech and religion are seriously impaired. Christian leaders are often arrested for alleged political opposition.
Pray for the Church to stand firm; for courage for Christians to continue sharing the Good News; and for God to protect new believers.
Pray the Holy Spirit will bring a great revival to Cuba, leading Cuban authorities to repent of their brutal attacks against its people.
AZERBAIJAN
There is growing sectarian tension between the Muslim 30% Sunnis and the 70% Shiites who are unlike Iranian Shiites. They are Turkic Azeri Shiites who mostly embrace secular government and look to Turkey, Israel and the West.
However the Sunnis, who are mostly ethnic minorities, are widely adopting the extreme Islamist Wahhabism and becoming politically active and threatening to the government and the Shiites whom they regard as heretics.
The threat of domestic terrorism and Iranian intervention seem real. Around 20 million ethnic Azeris live in Iran, more than double Azerbaijan’s population. Iran’s Supreme Leader, the Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, is an ethnic Azeri.
Azerbaijan’s Christian minority is mostly Russian or Armenian so Azerbaijanis tend to view Christianity as the religion of the Russian and Armenian ‘enemy’. Due to security issues arising from political Islam, Azerbaijan is now amending its already repressive Religion Law. With all ‘sects’ under scrutiny, Christians, especially Protestants, are likely to be targeted.
Pray for wisdom for the government and for the Church. Pray God will open the eyes of the leaders to the non- political, non-threatening, peaceful nature of Christian worship and fellowship. Pray for Azerbaijan’s churches to be endowed with great spiritual wisdom and grace, and that they be united.
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