Persecuted Pastor Saeed's Wife and Kids Request Meeting With President of Iran

 9/3/2015 JAY SEKULOW/ACLJ  charisma news

The picture Rebekka Abedini drew for the Iranian president. (Courtesy/ACLJ)

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American Pastor Saeed Abedini's wife Naghmeh and their two young children, Rebekka and Jacob, are making an impassioned plea to meet directly with the President of Iran when he comes to New York later this month.

It has been over three years since Naghmeh has seen her husband, Pastor Saeed. After three years of missed birthdays, anniversaries, holidays and milestones in their children's lives, Naghmeh has a new unique opportunity to fight for the release of her husband, who remains wrongfully imprisoned in Iran for his Christian faith. 

The 70th session of the United Nations General Assembly is scheduled to open later this month, and the Iranian President and other top Iranian officials will be traveling to New York for the occasion. That's right—Iran's President will be on U.S. soil, where Pastor Saeed belongs.

Naghmeh recently sent a letter to the Iranian Ambassador to the United Nations requesting a meeting with Iranian President Rouhani, Foreign Minister Zarif and the Ambassador himself. 

In the letter, Naghmeh writes:

My husband has great love and respect for Iran, and this why, during the three years before his imprisonment, our family has committed to opening an orphanage for young street children. When Saeed returned to Iran in 2012, as he had done so many times, it was to put in place the final board member, a devoted Shia Muslim from Qom. Though we have lived in the United States with our children since 2005, we have been committed to serving some of Iran's most needy.

Yet, for the last three years, our family has greatly suffered in the absence of my husband and my children's father. Saeed is currently being held in Rajaei Shahr prison in Gohardasht. Saeed is not a criminal. Saeed is not a threat to Iran or the stability of its government. Saeed is a husband and a father. Saeed is suffering from internal injuries incurred during his time in prison that Iranian doctors have indicated need surgery and hospitalization, but which he has not yet received. 

Her letter concludes:

The purpose of the United Nations General Assembly is to facilitate discussion and decision-making that advances peace and security around the world. Yet, my husband remains in prison for nothing more than the peaceful exercise of his faith. Therefore, it is with the same spirit of diplomacy and decency that governs the annual session of the U.N. General Assembly that I respectfully request a meeting for myself and my legal counsel with President Rouhani, Foreign Minister Zarif and yourself to discuss Saeed's situation. I will make myself available at your convenience.

Also included in the letter to the Iranian Ambassador are these hand-drawn letters from Pastor Saeed's children. Click here to see the photos.

This American family is torn apart. Pastor Saeed was trying to help the neediest Iranians, and instead, he sits tormented in one of the world's most dangerous prisons.

Iran wants to be a part of the international community, and they claim they are entering a new era. Here's their chance to prove it.

Meet with Naghmeh and free Pastor Saeed.

We will continue working for Naghmeh, Rebekka and Jacob to bring their husband and father—Pastor Saeed—home. We join them in urging Iran to meet with Naghmeh when the Iranian delegation is on American soil at the U.N. General Assembly.

We are also urging U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon to meet with Naghmeh and Iran's president to put international pressure on Iran to honor its numerous human rights obligations and free Pastor Saeed.

Join our massive letter-writing campaign at the U.N. by writing a letter (or signing ours) at beheardproject.com. It's simple; we have a form you can fill out to write a letter for Pastor Saeed and we'll send it.

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With Kim Davis Ruling, Is Government Working to Ban Christians From Public Service?

9/3/2015 TONY PERKINS  charisma news

Are Christians at risk of losing their religious liberty? (Reuters)

Today we are witnessing what the four dissenting Supreme Court Justices warned of in the Obergefell decision: religious liberty in America is in grave danger.

While five justices on the Supreme Court created this dilemma, it is incumbent upon Congress, and in this case legislators, to ensure orthodox religious beliefs are accommodated. Kentucky Governor Steve Beshear could solve this court-created conflict by immediately calling for a special legislative session and establishing statutory accommodations for clerks like Kim Davis. 

Ultimately, this is about more than same-sex marriage licenses in Kentucky. It is about the ability of Christians and other religious people to serve in positions of public trust. If this is not resolved in a manner that accommodates the orthodox religious beliefs of Clerk Davis, this will, in effect, establish a reverse religious test barring those who hold biblical views of marriage from positions of public service. Such a religious test by proclamation or practice is wrong.

Now a court is jailing someone over this because the governor failed to act. How hard is it to change a simple form to remove her name from it? Isn't that worth doing to keep someone out of jail because of what they believe? Governor Beshear must call for a special session of the legislature and grant an accommodation to Kim Davis.

If governors and legislators thought this threat to religious freedom would go away, the jailing of Kim Davis proves them wrong. The time to protect and accommodate religious liberty is now.

Tony Perkins is president of the Washington, D.C.-based Family Research Council. 

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Gazans Risking It All To Reach Israel

Thursday, September 03, 2015 |  Israel Today Staff

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Gaza

Palestinians raised in the Gaza Strip are taught to believe Israel is a blood-thirsty monster that desires nothing more than their destruction. Apparently, many aren’t buying the lies, as the number of Gazans risking it all to seek asylum in the Jewish state is growing.

Every day, Palestinians are crossing the border, and telling of impossible living conditions under the Hamas regime.

Initially, IDF soldiers guarding the border feared the rising number of infiltrators was a new wave of terrorist activity. But interrogations revealed that most of those crossing the fence are fleeing in fear of Hamas, willing even to risk imprisonment in Israel, where at least they’ll receive three meals a day.

Hamas itself is working to stem this tide by establishing a security strip patrolled by its gunmen, forcing the asylum seekers to crawl long distances and then under the fence. Those who are captured on the Gaza side are executed.

“We were afraid of Hamas, and the patrol road they built is meant to prevent us from leaving Gaza,” said one escapee in remarks published by Israel’s NRG news portal. Hamas reportedly worries those who leave Gaza could become “collaborators” with Israel.

Since last summer’s Gaza war, sparked by increased Hamas rocket fire on southern Israel, the socio-economic situation in the coastal enclave has reached an all-time low. Residents suffer from a lack of food and basic supplies, and nearly all the aid entering Gaza is confiscated by Hamas. For instance, nearly all of the cement sent to Gaza to repair and rebuilt homes damaged in the war has instead been used to construct new smuggling and terror tunnels.

Most of the asylum-seeking infiltrators are immediately captured by the IDF and other security forces. Following questioning, nearly all are sent back to Gaza.

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Believing Is Hard - Now Think On This by Steve Martin

Believing Is Hard

- Now Think On This

by Steve Martin

"Immediately the boy's father cried out and said, "I do believe; help my unbelief."

Mark 9:24 NASU

Believing is hard. Having trust that the Lord is going to do what the Lord has said He was going to do, or what today He is saying He will do, is hard at times. Is that true with you? It can be for me.

But just think – weren’t the apostles, the chosen ones who had walked with Jesus for three years right here on earth, yet very doubtful and afraid after Jesus was crucified? They couldn’t, or wouldn’t, believe all that He had told them, about His coming back to life after death, did they?  As it is written in Mark 16:14, “Afterward He appeared to the eleven themselves as they were reclining at the table; and He reproached them for their unbelief and hardness of heart, because they had not believed those who had seen Him after He had risen.” NASU

And even later still, just before He ascended, again we read, “But the eleven disciples proceeded to Galilee, to the mountain which Jesus had designated. When they saw Him, they worshiped Him; but some were doubtful.” Matt. 28:16,17 NASU

Some of them had even gone back to their previous jobs, not believing what He had told them directly while with them. Peter, the one who seemed to proclaim the most faith often when walking with Jesus at his side, went back to fishing almost immediately after the crucifixion.

Reading in John 21:1-14, “After these things Jesus manifested Himself again to the disciples at the Sea of Tiberias, and He manifested Himself in this way. Simon Peter, and Thomas called Didymus, and Nathanael of Cana in Galilee, and the sons of Zebedee, and two others of His disciples were together. Simon Peter said to them, "I am going fishing." They said to him, "We will also come with you." They went out and got into the boat; and that night they caught nothing.

But when the day was now breaking, Jesus stood on the beach; yet the disciples did not know that it was Jesus. So Jesus said to them, "Children, you do not have any fish, do you?" They answered Him, "No." And He said to them, " Cast the net on the right-hand side of the boat and you will find a catch." So they cast, and then they were not able to haul it in because of the great number of fish. Therefore that disciple whom Jesus loved said to Peter, "It is the Lord." So when Simon Peter heard that it was the Lord, he put his outer garment on (for he was stripped for work), and threw himself into the sea. But the other disciples came in the little boat, for they were not far from the land, but about one hundred yards away, dragging the net full of fish.

So when they got out on the land, they saw a charcoal fire already laid and fish placed on it, and bread. Jesus said to them, "Bring some of the fish which you have now caught."  Simon Peter went up and drew the net to land, full of large fish, a hundred and fifty-three; and although there were so many, the net was not torn.” NAS

David had to seek the Lord’s face often. Scripture lets us see his uncertainty in faith, when he questioned the Lord, needing help for his troubled soul:

“Why do You stand afar off, O Lord?

Why do You hideYourself in times of trouble?

In pride the wicked hotly pursue the afflicted;

Let them be caught in the plots which they have devised.” Psalm 10:1-2 NASU

Everybody has their times of doubt and moments of unbelief. Even when I was on staff with a minister who had the gift of healing and miracles, I know he had times when he questioned the Lord’s ability to act or move in a situation.

Each of us wants to have bold faith. We want to believe all that the Lord has spoken, and be a strong Christian, not only for others but for ourselves. We want to experience those situations when the Lord has told us to believe, and we do just that.

But even as the Lord encouraged the apostles each time after their times of unbelief and wavering, He will also have mercy on us, knowing our human frailty and difficulties we endure. That is one reason He has told us to call upon the Holy Spirit, to help us as the Comforter, and the One who will get us through those faith testing times.

It is good to look back months and years later, and see how the Lord has strengthened our faith. It is good to know that even though believing is hard at times, once we have passed through those times, our faith has been exercised and we have grown because of it.

We will be able to believe for even more next time we are called upon to believe.

Steve Martin

Founder

Love For His People. Inc.

Love For His People, Inc. is a charitable, not-for-profit USA humanitarian organization started in 2010 to share the love of the Father in the nations.

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Now Think On This #177 “Believing Is Hard” by Steve Martin 

Date: In the year of our Lord 2015 (09.03.15) Thursday at 6:30 pm in Charlotte, NC

All previous editions of Now Think On This can be found on this Blog, and on the website: Now Think On This

KY Clerk Ordered to Jail over Gay Marriage Licenses

Kim Davis - Kentucky County Clerk standing on God's Word

KY Clerk Ordered to Jail over Gay Marriage Licenses

By Gary Lane

CBN News Chief International Correspondent

Thursday, September 03, 2015

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A federal judge has ordered a defiant Kentucky county clerk Kim Davis to jail after she refused to issue marriage licenses to gay couples.

U.S. District Judge David Bunning told Davis she would be jailed until she complied with his order to issue the licenses.

Davis said "thank you" before she was led out of the courtroom by a U.S. marshal. She was not in handcuffs.

Earlier, Davis had filed an emergency motion to stop the governor from ordering her to issue same-sex marriage licenses.

Davis says issuing those licenses would violate her beliefs and, she argues, God's authority trumps even the Supreme Court.

Police are now guarding the Rowan County clerk's office, making sure order is maintained. Tempers are flaring from people on both sides of the gay marriage issue.

Davis' supporters say federal courts have violated her First Amendment rights.

"I'm here for religious freedom because it's been stripped away," supporter Serena Smith said.

At the heart of the controversy is disagreement over belief. Davis, a Democrat, refuses to issue marriage licenses to anyone at this time, including homosexual couples.

"We're here to get our marriage license," a gay couple recently told her.

"So, presently we are not issuing marriage license pending an appeal to the system," Davis replied.

Davis is now asking a U.S. district court judge to block an order from the Kentucky governor requiring county clerks to issue marriage licenses to gay couples.

She's set to appear before another judge at a contempt-of-court hearing. Davis could face jail time or at least a major fine for refusing to issue the licenses.

Same-sex couples have been challenging Davis all week.

"Under whose authority are you not issuing licenses?" one gay couple asked her.

"Under God's authority," she responded.

Davis says her religious convictions prevent her from signing the licenses. She proposes that other Rowan County officials sign them instead.

Some Republican presidential candidates have weighed in.

Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul suggests governments get out of the marriage license issuing business. He proposes all couples, heterosexual and homosexual, sign marriage contracts that could be used instead of licenses.

But other candidates, like South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham, say government employees must comply with the rule of law or resign.

Kentucky Senate President Robert Stivers, a Republican, has also weighed in. Stivers is asking the federal judge to withhold a ruling on the governor's order until the state passes a new marriage law. The state legislature will not be in session again until January.

Kentucky law, like many other states, must be revised after the Supreme Court's decision in June to legalize same-sex marriage in the United States.

"The Supreme Court ruling has completely obliterated the definition of marriage and the process for obtaining a marriage license in Kentucky," Stivers said in a press release. "The General Assembly will be compelled to amend many sections of Kentucky law, not just for the issuance of marriage licenses, to comply with the recent Supreme Court decision."

Meanwhile, Davis insists she's ready to suffer the consequences rather than compromise her beliefs.

"I'm willing to face my consequences," she told her critics. "And you all will face your consequences when it comes time for judgment."

Stealing God's Best Treasures

Thursday, September 03, 2015 |  Charles Gardner   ISRAEL TODAY

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Topics:

Israel

A scene from the movie Woman in Gold offers a graphic illustration of the plight faced by Israel today.

As flowers are thrown at the invading Nazi soldiers in pre-war Vienna, no-one lifts a finger to help the real victims of the day – the Jewish people desperately trying to escape the brutality being meted out to them.

The film, starring Helen Mirren, is based on a true story which powerfully reflects the extent to which anti-Semitism spreads its poisonous tentacles. Maria Altmann, who fled Austria for the United States when it was clear that Jewish citizens were in grave danger, discovers six decades later that her family had not only suffered the indignities of Nazi persecution, but had also been victims of stolen art treasures, in particular a famous painting of her auntie – Adele Bloch-Bauer – which had effectively become Austria’s ‘Mona Lisa’.

Today, Israel, and Jewish people the world over, are at least as vulnerable as they were under the Nazis; probably more so. Although now having a home of their own at last where they had hoped to live in peace and safety, they are constantly threatened on all sides by enemies looking to wipe them off the face of the earth!

And with the help of America – supposedly Israel’s closest ally – Iran has effectively been freed to continue developing a nuclear weapon with which to carry out its stated aim of destroying Israel while at the same time arming terrorist groups Hezbollah and Hamas, committed to the same goal.

Tragically, history appears to be repeating itself.

Former U.S. Vice-President Dick Cheney and his daughter Liz have compared the nuclear deal between Iran and the six world powers to the Munich agreement which paved the way to World War II.The Obama agreement – providing a pathway for the world’s worst state-sponsor of terror to acquire nuclear weapons – is tragically reminiscent of British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain’s Munich treaty in 1938, they said. Each was negotiated from a position of weakness by a leader willing to concede nearly everything to appease an ideological dictator.

Dr Mike Evans, a close associate of Israeli leaders and founder of the Friends of Zion Heritage Centre in Jerusalem, writes: “Though the Obama Administration originally insisted on ‘anytime, anywhere’ inspections, they agreed to a deal that left Iran’s military facilities off limits to any inspections and required 24 days’ notice before inspections at other sites. Then we learned that no Americans could be part of any inspection team. Now comes word from Iran that the Iranian government will only allow International Atomic Energy Agency inspectors that they approve. If it were not so tragic, it would be humorous… but it is deadly serious, and the Jewish state and the Jewish people are at risk as never before.”

A Jewish follower of Jesus who also reaches out a helping hand to destitute Holocaust survivors, Dr Evans adds: “On October 6 1943, a delegation of American rabbis arrived at the White House for a personal audience with President Franklin Roosevelt. They planned to present irrefutable proof that the Nazis were conducting a wholesale annihilation of European Jews.”

But they were denied a meeting, no coordinated Allied rescue was launched and the flames consumed six million Jews. Now America is ignoring the appeals from Israel concerning Iran’s plans to wipe out the Jews with atomic bombs. But the Jewish people need to know that they are not alone; that their Christian friends around the world are standing with them.

“Iran’s threats should be taken seriously,” says James Woolsey, director of the Central Intelligence Agency during the Clinton Administration. “The people who have the mindset that they’re just rhetoric are the same types of people who in the late 1920s and early 1930s said that Hitler’s Mein Kampf was just rhetoric.”

But who today will lift a finger if Israel is invaded by her present enemies? Yet, if she should return fire in defence, the wrath of the world may well fall on her. What utter hypocrisy!

In short, what we are witnessing is age-old anti-Semitism, so often disguised as something noble, as with Western support for Palestinians portrayed as victims of bullying occupiers of their land – a land that rightfully belongs to Israel. Not only do they have a history there going back thousands of years, but it is God’s gift to them (Genesis 12.7). And if that isn’t good enough for our politicians, it is also theirs by international treaty signed in San Remo, Italy, in 1920. But Palestinians and their supporters are in the business of pulling the wool over our eyes and attempting to re-write history.

Another movie I watched while keeping an eye on my elderly mum this past week was the 1958 classic musical South Pacific. With a score written by legendary Jewish combo Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein, it wasn’t surprising that the race issue – raising its head in quite an ugly manner in America at the time – played a significant role in the context of romantic liaisons with Polynesian women. The script put it well, that people are “taught to hate” rather than born that way.

In the case of the so-called "Woman in Gold" painting, the Nazis had even stolen Adele Bloch-Bauer’s identity in view of not wishing to disclose her real name because she was Jewish. But with the help of a family member and struggling lawyer, her loyal niece successively took the Austrian government to court. The painting was eventually taken to America and sold to a gallery there for $100 million, thereby achieving a degree of justice and restitution.

But it was of little value compared with the heartache of parting from parents, and all she knew and loved, as Maria and her new husband were about to make their daring escape to freedom.

Followers of Jesus, the Jew, must not make the same mistake again, by effectively walking on the other side of the road as God’s Chosen People are beaten up to within an inch of their collective lives. Now is the time to stand up and be counted, as Dr Evans is doing with his compassionate outreach to Holocaust survivors and others still scarred by the effects of the recent past.

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