By Morning Star News ISTANBUL, Turkey, (BP) - Iranian President Hassan Rouhani Monday (Sept. 30) declined to meet with the wife of imprisoned American pastor Saeed Abedini during his trip to the United Nations, days after the Christian's wife learned her husband had recently been tortured. Rouhani instead said in a television interview that releasing Iranian criminals held in U.S. prisons would change the "atmosphere and environment," hinting that such a change would be necessary for possibly freeing prisoners such as Abedini. The Iranians in question were sentenced to prison for violating the international trade embargo placed on Iran for trying to develop nuclear weapons, Rouhani said. "There are a number of Iranians in the United States who are imprisoned, who went to prison as a result of activities related to the nuclear industry in Iran. Once these sanctions have been lifted, why keep those folks in American prisons? So they must be freed," he said Sept. 27 on CNN through an interpreter. "If the Americans take the appropriate actions vis-a-vis Iranian citizens who are being imprisoned here, then the right atmosphere and environment will be created for reciprocal action perhaps." Rouhani left New York Monday … [Read more...]

By Kelly Ledbetter, Christian Examiner KATHMANDU, Nepal (Christian Examiner) – Two Nepal churches were bombed in a series of focused attacks suspected to be releated to extremist Hindu groups who wanted a "Hindu" constitution in mid-September -- an action that had just failed to muster legislative action. Instead Nepal was kept a secular state just prior to the attacks. The bombs detonated in two churches, while a bomb found at another church exploded later after it was taken to a police station, injuring three police officers. The churches were targeted in a Sept. 15 attack in Jhota, an eastern district of Nepal, in the likely retaliation for legislation that was supported to keep Nepal a secular state. To read the rest of the article, click here. … [Read more...]

By Julie Walters, WMU BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (BP) -- As International Mission Board personnel who are eligible for the organization's voluntary retirement incentive prayerfully consider God's leading, Woman's Missionary Union leaders are calling for more intense prayer and support for Southern Baptist missionaries. "Ongoing, focused prayer for our missionaries has always been a foundational component of missions discipleship through WMU," said Wanda S. Lee, executive director of national WMU. "It is both a privilege and responsibility to lift up our missionaries in prayer, and so vital right now as they are making potentially life-changing decisions." National WMU will host a special time of prayer for international missionaries during an observance of the Week of Prayer for International Missions at WMU's headquarters in Birmingham, Ala., Dec. 3. In addition to prayer, WMU is seeking to help missionaries who decide to return to the U.S. with housing and transportation. Missionary housing has long been a ministry provided by WMU through a password-protected database of available housing for missionaries. WMU provides counsel to those who want to learn more about starting a missionary house ministry and facilitates … [Read more...]

By Diana Chandler, Baptist Press NASHVILLE (BP) - The wife of imprisoned American pastor Saeed Abedini is on a 21-day "Daniel" fast and is organizing prayer vigils internationally Sept. 26, the third anniversary of her husband's imprisonment in Iran for his Christian faith. Naghmeh Abedini, in asking Christians to pray for her husband and the persecuted church, also is promoting a letter-writing campaign to ask United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon to advocate for Abedini's release when Iranian President Hassan Rouhani speaks Sept. 28 at the U.N. General Assembly in New York. Naghmeh Abedini will attend a prayer rally for her husband and other persecuted Christians at 7 p.m. Sept. 28 at Calvary Chapel in Old Bridge, N.J. In advance of the U.N. sessions that began Sept. 15, she addressed over 100 members of parliaments from 50 nations who held a meeting on international religious freedom in New York, urging the lawmakers to take action in their home countries to encourage her husband's release. Imprisonment is taking its toll on 35-year-old pastor, his wife said on Facebook today (Sept. 16), but he was encouraged to learn of the prayer vigils today from a family member, the first visitor Iran has allowed him in … [Read more...]

By Travis Wussow, Southern Baptist Ethics & Religious Commission EDITOR'S NOTE: A FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions) about the Syrian refugee crisis follows this article.</i> NASHVILLE (BP) - Turkey's shores received the body of 3-year-old Aylan Kurdi minutes after a small boat capsized while carrying him into the Mediterranean in early September with his father, mother and 4-year-old brother and other refugees from the Syrian Civil War. They left with hope of finding safety and security. Instead, Aylan and his brother became two of more than 11,000 children -- at least 230 of whom were also 3 years old -- killed as a result of the war, as recounted in a Washington Post report on Sept. 5. Aylan's mother also died. But Aylan will never be forgotten, because a nearby photographer made him an international symbol of the Syrian refugees' plight. Also not to be forgotten: the reports of systemic rape and sexual slavery of women across Syria and Iraq. The so-called Islamic State continues to wreak havoc in the region, its campaign of terror emanating from Raqqa, Syria, its de facto capital. The world is presented with the worst refugee crisis since World War II. Nearly 8 million Syrians have been internally … [Read more...]

ERUSALEM (Christian Examiner) – A spokesman for the Palestinian terror group Hamas, which claims in its charter its desire to annihilate Israel, said Hamas militants are ready to commit "martyrdom" operations to defend the Al Aqsa mosque on the Temple Mount, the Iranian News Agency has reported. Hamas spokesman Mushir al­-Masri said the mosque needed to be defended from the "occupiers," or the Jews, after Israeli police and soldiers raided the Temple Mount Sunday, Sept. 13, while Muslim worshippers were inside the mosque. “Any more provocation in Jerusalem will affect the relationship between Jordan and Israel.” - King Abdullah II of Jordan The police took action after Palestinian youths tried to disrupt the visit to the Temple Mount of both Jews and foreign tourists on the eve of Rosh Hashanah, which began at sunset. Rosh Hashanah is the Jewish New Year.] To read more, go to the Christian Examiner website. … [Read more...]