Iranian Pastor to be Executed

Please pray for this man and the thousands of persecuted Christians throughout the world.

(CNSNews.com) – An Iranian pastor who refuses to renounce his Christian faith could be hanged as soon as Wednesday, after a trial court ruling this week upheld his death sentence for “apostasy.”

Religious freedom advocates are calling urgently for governments to take up the case of Youcef Nadarkhani, a 32-year-old evangelical first sentenced to death late last year. If the sentence is carried out he will be the first Iranian Christian known to have been executed for his faith in 21 years.

Nadarkhani embraced Christianity at the age of 19, and since his Supreme Court appeal last June, proceedings focused on the question of whether he was a practicing Muslim at the time.

According to Christian Solidarity Worldwide (CSW), although a court subsequently determined that he was not a practicing Muslim adult when he became a Christian “the court has decided that he remains guilty of apostasy because he has Muslim ancestry.”

Back in court on Sunday and Monday this week, Nadarkhani faced renewed pressure to disavow his faith, on pain on death. CSW cited sources close the case as saying two more sessions have been scheduled, for Tuesday and Wednesday – and “if he continues to refuse, he will be executed thereafter.”

Pray for our Brothers & Sisters in Iraq

SULAIMANIYAH, Iraq – A car bomb outside a Christian church wounded 23 people on Tuesday morning, police said, as security forces found and disabled vehicles packed with explosives outside two other parishes in northern Iraq.

The bombing and the two averted attacks in the northern city of Kirkuk signal continued violence against Iraqi Christians, nearly 1 million of whom have fled since the war began in 2003.

"The terrorists want to make us flee Iraq, but they will fail," said the Rev. Haithem Akram, the priest of one of the churches that was targeted. "We are staying in our country. The Iraqi Christians are easy targets because they do not have militias to protect them. The terrorists want to terrorize us, but they will fail."

Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/world/2011/08/02/police-23-wounded-in-church-attack-in-north-iraq/#ixzz1TrjbjMZQ