VOM Prayer watch

 

SOMALIA: Christian Community Leader Murdered by Extremists

A Christian community leader in Somalia was shot to death earlier this month by members of the Islamic extremist group al-Shabab while closing his pharmacy for the evening.

'Abdikhani Hassan' was shot seven times in the chest by two young men who approached him with handguns. The respected community leader was both a pharmacist and director of a community clinic.

Authorities have arrested several men in connection with the murder and continue to investigate. Abdikhani leaves behind a pregnant wife and five children.

Source: Voice of the Martyrs USA

Prayer Points

• Please uphold Abdikhani's wife and children as they come to terms with the enormity of their loss. Pray the Lord will protect and provide for them.
• Ask the Lord to bring the perpetrators to justice in this life and true repentance for the next.
• Pray for our brothers and sisters in Somalia, who have counted the cost to follow Christ.

NORTH KOREA: Bible Owners among Dead in Mass Public Executions

In the first known large scale executions under the still new regime of Kim Jong-un, as many as 80 "criminals" were publicly killed by authorities across the country. Among those executed were individuals guilty of "possessing a Bible", said the South Korean newspaper which reported on the executions.

According to the newspaper, the executions took place in about eight different cities. In Wonsan, eight individuals were reportedly tied to stakes at a sports stadium and riddled with machine gun bullets as around 10,000 people, including children, were forced to watch.  Relatives or accomplices of the execution victims implicated in their alleged crimes were sent to prison camps.

Sources: International Christian Concern, Fox News

Prayer Points

• Pray for Kim Jong-un and all those in authority in North Korea. Ask the Lord to send His Holy Spirit to the most restricted nation in the world to bring genuine change through the light of His Gospel.
• Pray for those who have lost loved ones and for the many who are in North Korea's notorious labour camps.

TURKEY: Pastor Arrested on Human Trafficking Accusations

A Turkish Protestant pastor arrested by police in the Black Sea province of Samsun last week is accused of involvement in prostitution and the human trafficking of refugees.

Pastor Orhan Picaklar of the Samsun Agape Church was summoned to local police headquarters for questioning on Monday 11 November. The pastor was detained until Wednesday evening in a police investigation led by the Morals Bureau of the Public Order Division. The criminal case was reportedly based on a telephoned complaint from an unidentified person.

'It is obviously a deliberate plot,' a spokesperson from the Alliance of Protestant Churches in Turkey told World Watch Monitor, saying that Picaklar had been harassed for years by local media and city authorities who openly opposed the church's existence.

Picaklar and his congregation have been accused repeatedly of 'illegal missionary activities' by local TV channels and newspapers, claiming the church used bribery and prostitution to deceive young people and convert them to Christianity. The church building itself has been vandalised, stoned and its windows broken a number of times. The pastor continues to receive death threats over the telephone and internet, and was once kidnapped by men posing as plainclothes policemen.

Picaklar told Ihlas News Agency on the night of his release that he would not leave Samsun or stop his ministry in the church over this.

Source: World Watch Monitor

Prayer Points

• Pray the Lord will bring the truth to light in this case; pray against any corruption or deception.
• Pray the Lord will grant wisdom and strength to Pastor Picaklar and the members of his congregation.
• Pray for all believers in Turkey, that they will rejoice in the opportunity to grow in Christlikeness through the ongoing opposition they face (James 1:2-4).