…he bowed his head and gave up his spirit.

I’ve had this is my drafts folder for a good while. Thought it was time I posted it.

…he bowed his head and gave up his spirit. These remarkable words are from the Gospel of John chapter 19, verse 30. They follow on from three other remarkable words ‘it is finished‘ found in the same verse.

In the annals of history was there ever a more horrific means of death designed to inflict maximum pain and suffering on another human being than Crucifixion? If you have seen the film Spartacus you will remember the defeated slave army suffered the crucifixion of 6000 captured men at the hands of the Romans. The Romans were expert at Crucifixion. In Jesus’s day under Roman occupation this was the ultimate degradation and death. To those sentenced to death by crucifixion there was no going back, it was a one way ticket to the after life.

J C Ryle writes on this:

[And He bowed His head] This is the action of one dying. When the will ceases to exercise power over muscles and nerves, at once those parts of the body which are not rigid like the bones, collapse and fall in any direction to which the centre of gravity inclines them. The head of a crucified person would naturally in death droop forward on the breast, the neck being no longer kept stiff by the will (my emphasis). This is what seems to have happened in the case of our Lord.

May we not gather from this expression, that our Lord up to this moment held up His head erect, firm, steady, and unmoved, even under extreme pain?

Alford remarks how this little incident was evidently recorded by an eye-witness. The miraculous darkness must have now passed away, in order to let this movement of the head be seen.

J. C. Ryle ‘Expository Thoughts on the Gospels’ John: Volume III, James Clarke & Co. Ltd. p. 363-4.

This is extremely powerful. Jesus drank to the dregs the fullness of the wrath of God right up until when He could say those amazing words: It Is Finished. By an act of His loving will He fully purposed to consciously bear in His own body the full weight of God’s wrath – even for my sin! In the Greek ‘it is finished’ is the one word Tetelestai and is always used when something is completed. The root of the word is Telos, end.

From Strongs numbers G5056; to end, that is, complete, execute, conclude, discharge (a debt): – accomplish, make an end, expire, fill up, finish, go over, pay, perform.

There were many words that He could have used but He used this one (Tetelestai ) to proclaim the work of Salvation is done, complete.

What this gloriously means is that there is nothing, nothing at all the sinner need do, but come. There is nothing to add to the work of Christ – all is done. Sinners need bring nothing but their sin. Not only is there no need to bring any good works but it would be an insult to Christ after having done all on the cross and then to contribute our pathetic so-called good deeds. No matter where you find yourself in life, no matter what you have done – you, you, may come to Christ for forgiveness and full Salvation. Now that’s what I call good news!!

Then, and not till then does the work of sanctification begin – not before.

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LORDS COULD VOTE DOWN MARRIAGE BILL ON 3 JUNE

Just had the following email come through from Colin Hart – Coalition for Marriage.

 

Dear marriage supporter,

Lord Dear, an independent cross-bench Peer and respected former police Chief Constable, will lead a vote against the Government’s same-sex marriage Bill at Second Reading in the House of Lords on Monday 3 June.

If he wins, the Bill will be defeated outright. It will be a decisive blow for the Government’s undemocratic plans to redefine marriage. But don’t worry if Lord Dear doesn’t achieve a majority. There will still be other opportunities to defeat the Government at later stages in the Lords.

Opposition to the Bill is growing. Last night on BBC Question Time, Defence Secretary Philip Hammond said the plans to redefine marriage had “upset vast numbers of people” and generated a “real sense of anger” among voters.

He said: “I have just never felt that this is what we should be focusing on. This change does redefine marriage. For millions and millions of people who are married, the meaning of marriage changes. There is a real sense of anger among many people who are married that any government thinks it has the ability to change the definition of an institution like marriage.”

WATCH the video

The Government is in disarray. Today they’ve announced another U-turn on the Bill. They will hold a review to decide whether heterosexual couples should be allowed to opt for a civil partnership rather than marriage. That would cost the nation between £3bn and £4bn in public service pensions alone.

We’ve been right all along. This Bill is about unravelling the place of marriage in our society, regardless of the social or financial cost. While the rest of us struggle to pay our bills, the political elite are unpicking marriage rather than sorting out the economy.

That’s why the Lords vote on Monday 3 June is a big day for the nation and for our campaign.

Before the Bill gets to the Lords, MPs in the House of Commons get the chance to vote on amendments to the Bill on Monday and Tuesday. At the end of Tuesday’s debate they’ll have a chance to vote once more on the Bill as a whole at Third Reading. We will keep you posted with the latest news.

We are shifting the debate, and we believe it is possible to win in the Lords. So let’s keep going. Together we can keep the real meaning of marriage.

 

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BBC Question Time – 16/05/2013

Question Time (TV series) (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

I started watching ‘Question Time’ last evening but fortunately fell asleep only to come round in time for a question on changing the definition of marriage. I wonder why I watch this program sometimes, but I do as a way to stay try to be ‘informed’.

There used to be a transcript of the program so this is just from memory. The question was: an online petition has been signed by 650,000 (approx) people, is it time for the government to have a re-think? My brief answer – not a chance. The only thing that will make a government or MP re-think is if they think it will gain them votes. In other words, they want to keep their job.

Question Time is a good name because Answer Time it ain’t! Defence Secretary, Philip Hammond MP gave a sort of answer saying he had voted against it but expected the bill to be passed. Shadow Immigration Minister, Chris Bryant MP got quite emotional at one point as openly Homosexual.

Not one of the panel answered the question – well I suppose they did. The answer was no. What they didn’t do was give any rationale for it. Basically, nice people let other people do anything they like because it makes them happy. Oh, and it’s what the people want. Funny how the people want a Referendum on the EU, the people, I believe, would like to see the return of the death penalty – don’t see any sign of ‘the people’ getting those. But because homosexuals want to re-define marriage, suddenly it’s because the people want it.

It’s those nasty intolerant bigoted Christians that believe the Bible – that’s the real problem. And so it was left to the questioner to have his say. Once he started to speak, it was clear he was a Christian – man, did the heat turn up in that place or what!. The poor bloke ended up nearly shouting to get a hearing.

The bill is to be voted on next week I think. So we can look forward to any combination coming together in ‘marriage’. Except it won’t be marriage. Marriage was given by God. So here we see probably the clearest act of autonomy and rebellion towards God. The basic building block of society given by God is rejected. We ought to expect a perversion of what God has graciously given. The Bill will probably go through – whether this is (further) evidence that God is handing us over as a Nation is up for discussion. But a scary prospect all the same. Let’s pray Parliament will come to their senses and vote it out.

Related articles

• Hammond: ‘Sense of anger’ over gay marriages (itv.com)
• No huge demand for gay marriage, says Philip Hammond (guardian.co.uk)
• ‘No great demand for gay marriage’ (belfasttelegraph.co.uk)

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Church on the move

We are moving!

On Sunday we had the last service in the building as it is now. The Church has prayed for a couple of years now about either moving or altering the current building. We are doing the latter, as there seems to be no suitable plot or building available. The reason is we have simply outgrown the current building and our current facilities, to be frank, are pretty useless. Though a fairly small Church by US standards, over here it’s encouraging and a privilege to be part of a growing and thriving Church. A considerable amount of money has been collected to fund the project and this has involved some sacrificial giving in order to achieve the £900,000 approx that’s needed. At the current exchange rate for US readers that’s $1,373,485.97.

We are expecting to be out of the building for about 9 months. During this time we will be meeting at two venues across the city (Coventry). Hillfields Evangelical Church and Durbar Avenue Evangelical Church both offered their buildings for our use over the course of the alterations.

There’s no doubt it will be a challenging time for us all. The morning service(s) will take place at Hillfields with ministry being shared between our two Pastors and two Pastors from Hillfields. The majority of our people will gather at the 9.30 service and the lazy ones – I include students – will meet later at 11:15. From what I understand Hillfields have a different worship style and this could be problematic for some. Having said that, Hillfields are making a considerable sacrifice for the Gospel in order to accommodate us for the next 9 months and this act of fellowship and love in Christ is very much appreciated. Durbar Avenue normally meet in the afternoon and so our evening services will be as normal, albeit in a different location.

I’m hoping to post about our progress and should have some pictures. We have to clear the building, and we’ll be doing this over the next couple of weeks before handing it over to the builders. Part of our building is going to be demolished so I might even manage a bit of video.

To be continued….

 

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One Way Freedom of Speech

Along with thousands of other people I received an email today from Christian Concern about a bus campaign in London. I’d already heard about it though on BBC’s ‘Today’ programme on Radio 4. Basically though, some time ago Stonewall (Homosexual pressure group) ran a bus campaign in London with ‘Some are Gay – Get over it’ on the side and with Stonewall’s name attached to the poster.

Another group are wanting to launch a similar campaign but with ‘Not Gay! Ex Gay, Post-Gay and Proud – Get Over It’ on the side with links to http://www.anglican-mainstream.net & http://www.core-issues.org clearly displayed on the side.

Boris Johnson Conservative party ‘Character in Chief’ all round personality and Mayor of London has other ideas. Consequently,

On Thursday (28 February) the High Court will hear claims that Boris Johnson, Chair of Transport for London denied a Christian group the freedom to express its views on the legitimacy of therapy for those dealing with unwanted feelings of same-sex attraction.

I know that if a homosexual were to call some counselling organisations and ask for help to change from what they believed to be a sinful lifestyle they would find a frosty and hostile reception. And so in the same piece e read:

Any alternative to the homosexual lifestyle is deemed unacceptable and TfL are arguing that Christian hope must be suppressed for the ‘protection of morals’.

Didn’t you know, Free Speech only works one way! I’ll be delighted but staggered if they win the right to have the campaign. They certainly ought to be allowed to have it. If that happens it’ll 3 cheers for common sense and consistency. So,

On Thursday, the Trust will ask Judges to reverse the ban on the basis that the Mayor had unlawfully restricted free speech, and had discriminated against the Trust by stifling one side of the debate on the issue.

Related articles

• Christian group challenges ban on gay poster campaign (telegraph.co.uk)

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Is this Goodbye to Free Speech?

View of the House of Lords Chamber in the Palace of Westminster, London, looking from the galleries towards the Throne (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

The second reading of the Same-Sex Marriage bill was passed a couple of weeks ago but I wrote most of this on the day of the vote but for some reason didn’t post it – so here it is!

Will this vote see the end of Free Speech. It should concern any lover of Democracy, that the freedom to disagree with the Same-Sex legislation will end. I believe it will see the beginning of a Witch-Hunt to find and root out ‘deniers’ of Same-Sex Marriage.

Stonewall and other ideological lobby groups will over time entrap unsuspecting believers (Christians)  into saying something that will force a prosecution. This is already happening. Stonewall, I suggest, will not rest until everyone sees Homosexual & Lesbian practice and therefore Same-Sex Marriage as normal.

I haven’t heard or read (please correct me) about any protection for individuals in the work place or any other place for that matter that disagrees or believes that not only same-sex marriages but homosexuality & lesbianism is sinful according to the Bible. There looks to be only protection for Individual Ministers & Religious Organisations (if it happens) but nothing for the ordinary individual Christian, e.g. in the workplace. Not just Christians, but anyone that agrees with the phrase ”I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it” (attributed to Voltaire) ought to be concerned. I’ll certainly be writing to my MP (and PM) again about this.

With Martin Luther then we must surely say:

“Unless I am convinced by proofs from Scriptures or by plain and clear reasons and arguments, I can and will not retract, for it is neither safe nor wise to do anything against conscience. Here I stand. I can do no other. God help me. Amen.”

Where this leaves the Bible in all this will be interesting to see because the Bible teaches the very opposite of what could soon be enshrined in UK Law.

Will the Bible be outlawed? Will some passages of the Bible be outlawed and will those that believe those passages and indeed all the Bible be outlawed?

Where to now? The Bill now passes through to the House of Lords and to further scrutiny by Parliament  There is then – I think – a third reading before it becomes law. The Bill will come under intense critical reading as it moves through the Parliamentary process.  Whether this will be the opportunity to build into legislation protection for those that disagree I can’t say. But to not prosecute ‘deniers’ raises the question about what it was all about in the first place. It seems to me prosecutions will follow.

I do not believe the majority are for this change - but what is more likely to be true is that the majority just can’t be bothered. Apathy.

There is another possible alternative for the Church to think about. Go here to read about it – but basically the Church itself re-defines marriage and calls it Holy Matrimony.

I only heard snippets from the speeches but was struck that some MP’s said or at least implied something like: ‘I don’t believe God would be against same-sex marriage’ or ‘a God of love would not allow same-sex couples in loving relationships to be barred from marriage’ or similar sentiments. But how can anyone presume to speak for God when He has already spoken plainly in His Word the Bible.

Why anyone would want to claim the name of Christian or follower of Jesus and yet completely ignore what He has to say can only be explained by the words of the Apostle Paul as follows:

2 Timothy 3:1-9

1 But mark this: There will be terrible times in the last days. 2 People will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, 3 without love, unforgiving, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not lovers of the good, 4 treacherous, rash, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God— 5 having a form of godliness but denying its power. Have nothing to do with such people.

6 They are the kind who worm their way into homes and gain control over gullible women, who are loaded down with sins and are swayed by all kinds of evil desires, 7 always learning but never able to come to a knowledge of the truth. 8 Just as Jannes and Jambres opposed Moses, so also these teachers oppose the truth. They are men of depraved minds, who, as far as the faith is concerned, are rejected. 9 But they will not get very far because, as in the case of those men, their folly will be clear to everyone.

2 Timothy 4:3, 8 & 9

New International Version (NIV)
3 For the time will come when people will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear.

8 We know that the law is good if one uses it properly. 9 We also know that the law is made not for the righteous but for lawbreakers and rebels, the ungodly and sinful, the unholy and irreligious, for those who kill their fathers or mothers, for murderers, 10 for the sexually immoral, for those practicing homosexuality, for slave traders and liars and perjurers—and for whatever else is contrary to the sound doctrine 11 that conforms to the gospel concerning the glory of the blessed God, which he entrusted to me.

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David Cameron backs Gay Marriage

BBC News – Gay marriage plan ‘barking mad’ says Tory MP David Davies.

Surprised? Nope

Disappointed? Yes

That’s another broken promise.

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Women Bishops – Intended Consequences?

If you listen to the news, Prime Ministers Question Time, ‘BBC’s Question Time’ & ‘BBC’s Any Questions’ (haven’t listened to ‘Any Answers’ on this yet) you will quickly realise the decision has not gone down well. You will realise the poverty of Gospel input. There is next to no mention of God, certainly no mention of sin in the Gospel sense and no mention of the Bible. Obviously many of the comments are cherry picked to suit particular biases and interviews are mediated through the gatekeepers. We are told ‘the people’ are outraged by this. I’d like to know how they know that – I’m a people and I’ve never been asked! But we do know some surprising views. On Any Question one Rosie Harper said she would like those that are opposed to Women Priests to be ‘thrown out’. Now that wasn’t edited. I’ve been to an Any Questions broadcast and it isn’t edited – apart from a 7 second loop maybe. I’m guessing that view is not uncommon. The problem with the Anglican Church is its connection to the State. It’s the State Church and the State now wants its pound of flesh! In other words, agree politically or we’ll make you agree. What The State wants – whatever it tells you – is a church it can control.

A very good summary report was on the dreaded ‘Sunday:Religious News’ programme this morning. From what I can tell the piece does tell us where the Cof E is at on this topic. If you can get it on iTunes or via the BBC  iPlayer the relevant segment starts at 25m 10s till the end. For those outside the UK I’ll try and edit the segment out and post it up here for you to have a listen.

Now here’s why the title of this post is ‘Intended Consequences’. We all know about the law of unintended consequences but in this case in view of other debates and further decisions ‘coming down the pike’ it really is – I think – intended consequences.

The decisions to be made concern Homosexuals (LGB&T) in the church. Get women priests through first and it should be a formality to get the Homosexual issue sorted. In fact, not getting the women priests vote through actually helps the case. How so? Make the country so sick of all the debates and turn the ‘Traditionalists’ into a pariah and the outcry at the possibility of Homosexuals being barred in any way will be so strong the church will have no other way to go. Why? Because they are more concerned – or even only concerned – at what ‘the people’ think and not what God thinks. You will hear of how the church needs to come into the 21st or even into the 20th Century and at how the decision is not democratic. Well, if it’s a question of what ‘people’ think the church is not concerned about what people think ultimately.

The Bible – that’s God – says unless a person will repent of their sins and call upon Jesus Christ for Salvation they will be turned into hell forever. Now democracy will not solve that! Except you repent says Jesus, you will perish.

In many ways these debates are really about something else. The issue is really about the place and authority of God’s Word. ‘The People’ do not want the Bible and do not want King Jesus to rule over them. ‘The People’ want to rule themselves, to be in charge of their own destiny but it’s a lie. God is in control and His rule is not a democracy. All people will bow the knee to King Jesus one day either as Saviour & Lord or as Judge. That’s the real issue. And finally, in my view, Evangelicals, Reformed and Bible believing Christians should come out of the Anglican Church and get on with proclaiming the Gospel of the Grace of God. After all isn’t this reason for the Church of Jesus Christ?

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Chinese Abortion Apology – but no UK Apology

From Matt’s Blog at http://wellspentjourney.wordpress.com/2012/06/13/the-roots-of-the-abortion-debate/

Reported on the BBC News over here is a forced abortion in China. Feng Jianmei was injected with a chemical forcing an abortion that took place 36 hours later.

It was kind of weird to hear the sense of shock and outrage by the BBC when their normal position is support for the Pro Choice lobby.

I’m tempted to ask ‘what’s the problem, it’s only a fetus’. We as a country support the taking – murder – of  thousands of unborn children every year. And yet, because China forces a woman to have an abortion there is outrage. We read of ‘shock over abortion photo’ yet where is the shock and outrage over thousands of children being murdered annually in the self-righteous West! Here in the UK!

There is a You Tube video of  Feng Jianmei but the picture of the aborted child is  blurred out. Why? To sanitize the full horror. We should be allowed to see the full horror of this horrible procedure. The picture above is from an excellent post by Matt at Well Spent Journey. Without the moral grounding of the Christian faith, a faith people do not want, a faith a secular State does not really want there is no problem whatsoever with murdering babies. Without a belief in God there is no such thing as Evil. There is no basis for the concept of evil without the Christian God.

See my previous post for more on this subject.

Related articles

• Apology for China abortion woman (bbc.co.uk)
• China suspends officials in forced abortion case (foxnews.com)
• China vows punishment over forced abortion at 7 months – Reuters (reuters.com)
• Shock at China ‘abortion photo’ (bbc.co.uk)

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Wearing the Cross or Preaching the Cross?

Millions of people all over the world wear a cross. A lady here in the UK has been ordered not to wear her cross at work. There is a campaign running and according to the campaigners the case has received considerable media coverage highlighting freedom of expression and the freedom to wear symbols of the Christian faith.

I received an email linking to the campaign. Here’s some of the blurb from the Not Ashamed of the Cross Website:

act now to protect christian freedoms.

Shirley Chaplin was barred from wearing her confirmation cross after nearly thirty years in front line nursing. Now hers is one of four landmark Christian freedom cases going to the European Court of Human Rights. Yet the British Government is not supporting Shirley and has even suggested that the cross is not a generally recognised form of practising the Christian faith.

Please contact the PM and your MP to urge the Government to support Shirley and historic Christian freedoms.

The cross is undeniably a symbol of the Christian faith but wearing one round the neck isn’t. And neither is wearing one a requirement of the Christian faith. I do not find a text anywhere in the Bible that says wearing one is either a symbol of the Christian faith or that wearing one is required of Christians. So on the one hand the campaign is laudable especially in terms of free speech yet on the other it completely – or potentially - misrepresents the Cross of Christ.

What the Bible does speak about very clearly is the ‘Offence of the Cross’. This explicitly refers to the Preaching of the Cross – and it’s this preaching of the Cross that is so hugely offensive to the natural man. My fear about this campaign – I’m aware good people will be involved – is that it may protect the freedom to wear one as a Christian symbol but forbid the preaching of the Cross itself. Why is this so?

We must not and we cannot confuse the cross as a symbol (worn around the neck) and the Preaching of the Cross as revealed to us in the Bible. I’m certainly not ashamed of the cross but wearing it round the neck has nothing at all to do with the Christian faith – that is the Gospel of Christ.

The message of the Cross of Christ tells us very clearly that God Himself has provided the only unique means whereby sinners may be saved from the wrath of God. To first century Jews and Gentiles (everybody else) this message was massively offensive and it is no less so today.

I also fear the campaign at best will give Christians the freedom to wear their faith symbol in the marketplace of ideas, in a society that propagates diversity and where all religions are equal – which of course they are not. Christianity is either true or it isn’t. And as it is in fact the truth ALL other religions are false. Modern sensibilities will not allow this, but is what people and governments need to hear but do not want to hear and will not listen.

What was the cross? It was an instrument of torture, of brutality, of humiliation, of utter degradation! It was a place reserved for criminals, a place of excruciating agony and a place of bloody agonising death! This is the true Cross where my dear Saviour the Lord Jesus Christ stood in my place to suffer the wrath of God upon His holy and righteous soul. The Cross is the only way of Salvation, there is no other! We are either saved by the cross of Christ or not at all.

The Apostle Paul said, ‘For the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God’ (1Co 1:18). It’s the word or the message of the cross not a symbol that’s needed.

If Shirley wins her case and is allowed to wear her cross, how will this advance the Gospel? I think not at all. I wish her well, I wish the campaign well, but I believe it’s a backward step as far as the Gospel of Christ is concerned. Let us therefore not be ashamed of the preaching of the Gospel and as God gives us opportunity let us speak of this cross, this place of propitiation.

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Drawing the line – ‘Somewhere’,

I couldn’t decide what to call this post, as it could so easily have been ‘you couldn’t make it up’. On Sunday morning while preparing the veg for dinner I normally listen to the tortuous  BBC Radio 4 Sunday broadcast. The purpose of listening is to have some sort of idea what’s going on in mainstream religion here in the UK.

It was shocking to find out about a shortage of Donkeys for Psalm Sunday services. What will we do! I jest. Here’s the story. The demand has increased for Donkeys to such an extent – BTW I’m really not making this up – that Llamas are being used instead of the sacred beast. The programme interviewed a woman who runs a Llama farm and we listened in to one of the phone calls – ‘no we don’t have a Llama with a cross on it’s back but I’m sure we can sort something out’.

They interviewed a minister who thought how dreadful this was. I’m paraphrasing but it was along the lines of ‘with all the liberalising of the church where will it stop, it will be bears next – we have to draw the line somewhere‘. I think you will find reverend that the line was crossed a long time ago. If his concern is over the donkey being usurped in a service of worship it only goes to show how far things have really gone.

 

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Mohabat News – Iranian Christian News Agency

I came across ‘The Mohabat News Agency‘ recently and thought it was worth sharing a link to their site with the hope that it would have a wide readership. Who are they? In their own words:

‘We are a group of Bible believing Christians who believe in propagating the word of God. All of us at “Mohabat News Agency” have made the spreading of the good news of God’s love and forgiveness among Iranians and the Farsi speaking peoples of Afghanistan and Tajikistan our primary goal.

Mohabat New Agency, the news agency of Iranian Christians, is NOT affiliated with any Christian or non-Christian organizations. We are a team of professionals who have accumulated years of experience in the gathering, interpreting, and dissemination of news. Our experience arises from years of experience in the field of Christian news and other topics of interest to our Farsi-speaking peoples.

Mohabat News has turned this experience into the voice of the persecuted church of Iran to reach the ears of the world community.

Moreover, we are utilizing this gifting that the lord has placed in our hearts to bring awareness of what is happening in the world to our Farsi-speaking readers. Thus we can help our Christian and non-Christian Iranians raise their awareness of what goes in our world and in their own country.

Mohabat News will continue to act as a cultural and social bridge between the world community and the peoples of Iran, Afghanistan, and Tajikistan and to better inform the worldwide Church of Jesus Christ and Christian ministries around the world about the life and the welfare of Christian minorities in these Farsi-speaking countries’

I’ll try and post News Items from them as time and memory permits.

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