Thank you for praying for our persecuted brothers and sisters around the world. "Always respond to every impulse to pray. The impulse to pray may come when you are reading or when you are battling with a text. I would make an absolute law of this – always obey such an impulse." Martyn Lloyd-Jones "But if serving the LORD seems undesirable to you, then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your ancestors served beyond the Euphrates, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you are living. But as for me and my household, we will serve the LORD." – Joshua 24:15
 

VOM-USA Prayer Update for February 3, 2012
On Thu. Feb 02 2012 at 12:08 PM Moderator wrote:
Vietnam--Four Christian Prisoners Released on "Vietnam
Day"
Sources: VOM Contacts, Human Rights Watch

Psalm 146:6-8
Who made heaven and earth,
The sea, and all that is in them;
Who keeps truth forever,
Who executes justice for the oppressed,
Who gives food to the hungry.
The Lord gives freedom to the prisoners.

The Lord opens the eyes of the blind;
The Lord raises those who are bowed down;
The Lord loves the righteous.

Within the next few weeks, VOM will provide medical checkups
and any necessary treatment to four recently released Christian
prisoners. The four men, who had been serving sentences of
nine to 10 years each, were among 10,244 prisoners released in
celebration of Vietnam's National Day on Sept. 2, 2011. One
prisoner who was not released was 65-year-old Father Nguyen
Van Ly. Father Nguyen received an eight-year prison sentence
in 2007 but was released in March 2010 on medical parole after
suffering three strokes. One year later, the government insisted
that Father Nguyen return to prison, and on July 25, 2011, he
returned to complete the remaining five years. Father Nguyen
requires ongoing treatment for his health problems, which
include a brain tumor and carotid atherosclerosis. Thank God for
the release of the four Christians, and pray for their successful
return to church and family life. Pray also for Father Nguyen's
release and health.

Colombia--FARC Impedes Evangelism in La Macarena
Source: VOM Contacts

Joshua 10:25
Then Joshua said to them, "Do not be afraid, nor be dismayed;
be strong and of good courage, for thus the Lord will do to all
your enemies against whom you fight."

Members of the leftist FARC guerrillas have prevented VOM
evangelist "Rolo" from entering La Macarena region with items
such as radios, Bibles and Christian books, as violence in the
area increases. "Aside from closing churches, they are burning
buses" that try to come to the region, a VOM worker in the
region said. "There are other towns that have the same problem
right now," our worker added. Please pray for believers in the
region around La Macarena, that God will preserve their lives
and give them courage.

Sudan--Evangelist Beaten and Arrested
Source: Compass Direct News

Psalm 121
I will lift up my eyes to the hills—
From whence comes my help?
My help comes from the Lord,
Who made heaven and earth.

He will not allow your foot to be moved;
He who keeps you will not slumber.
Behold, He who keeps Israel
Shall neither slumber nor sleep.

The Lord is your keeper;
The Lord is your shade at your right hand.
The sun shall not strike you by day,
Nor the moon by night.

The Lord shall preserve you from all evil;
He shall preserve your soul.
The Lord shall preserve your going out and your coming in
From this time forth, and even forevermore.

Police beat and arrested a church leader in Khartoum recently,
amid increasing harassment of Christians in Sudan following the
2011 secession of the largely Christian South Sudan. Evangelist
James Kat of the Evangelical Church of Sudan was arrested
Jan. 17 on charges of using church property as his home. He
was released on bail the same day. In a Jan. 3 letter to leaders
of the Sudanese Presbyterian Evangelical Church, Sudan's
Ministry of Guidance and Religious Endowments threatened to
arrest all pastors who carry out evangelistic activities and fail to
provide contact information for church leaders. About 350,000
people, most of them Christians, fled to South Sudan after its
secession, and Christianity is now regarded as a foreign religion
in Sudan. Pray for the few remaining believers in the north.

From VOM