The events in Florida and Washington have at different times made me red with anger and joyful with expectation. Yet, today I paused to put things into perspective and drew up the following list to remind myself of what is important in life. Take a moment to look at the list and perhaps Washington will seem like a fading memory, and hopefully your prayer lives will be expanded. Blessings,
Ian
1. In China, this year, nearly 500,000 girls will be executed. Their crime: being girls.
2. In Congo, nearly 600,000 children under the age of five have perished due to the ongoing civil war.
3. In 1997 500 + Christians were either beheaded or had their throats cut in Algeria by militant Moslems.
4. In Al Kosheh, Egypt, last summer, two slain Christian men were dumped in a Christian village by militant moslems.
5. In Kuwait City, Kuwait, a judge recently ordered the execution of a man for converting to Christianity.
6. In Algeria seven Christian monks were beheaded by Moslem extremists recently.
7. In India, in the last five years, 17 priests and nuns have been brutally murdered, sometimes raped by those opposing Christianity.
8. Last year, 3 Protestant Evangelicals were beaten to death by Chinese Police following a crackdown on unregistered churches. Between February and June 1996, some 15,000 temples, churches and tombs were burned to the ground in Zhejiang province alone. And government goons regularly enter other churches to beat out the teeth of the oldest female worshippers as a signal of the regime’s displeasure. Across China, at least 3,000 leading pastors have been imprisoned.
9. In Sudan, another nation torn by a religiously influenced civil war, one Western Christian has visited the open slave markets and personally redeemed (purchased the freedom of) the lives of more than 1000 Christians who were being sold into slavery in the past three years.
10. The most dangerous place on earth is a mother’s womb.
Sources:
Speech given by adoption proponent regarding foreign adoptions.
http://chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/article/0,2669,ART-48612,FF.html
http://www.persecution.org/humanrights/algeria.html
http://www.geocities.com/CapitolHill/Congress/5598/cristperse.htm
http://www.persecution.org/concern/1996/06.html
http://www.leaderu.com/common/india.html
http://www.axionet.com/bcreport/web/971006f.html
http://www.watch.pair.com/CSW.html
Focus on the Family commentary.
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