Thirteen-year-old Simon laughed with his cousin Adil about which of them would win in a fight. One said he could punch like Muhammed Ali, and the other jokingly responded, “You are not Muhammed Ali. You are a dog.” A Muslim police officer inaccurately overheard the conversation as disrespect for the Islamic prophet Muhammad and beat them.
Soon after she heard what happened, Simon’s mother Samina attempted to hide her son, but the officer had already spread word of the incident throughout the community. Three police vehicles — along with a mob of angry neighbors demanding Samina hand her son over to them to be beheaded — showed up at their home. The Christian mother begged the officer for nearly eight hours to spare Simon, but to no avail. Both boys were arrested and are now in jail awaiting trial for breaking Pakistan’s blasphemy law. (See the Global Christian Relief story by Tim Dustin on July 5.)
With 828 unreached people groups, Pakistan is nearly 98% Muslim, ranking seventh on the World Watchlist of most dangerous countries for Christians.
“Pakistan’s notorious blasphemy laws target religious minorities (including Muslim minorities), but affect the Christian minority in particular – roughly a quarter of all blasphemy accusations target Christians, who only make up 1.8% of the population. The number of blasphemy cases is increasing, as is the number of Christian (and other minority religion) girls being abducted, abused and forcibly converted to Islam.
“In addition to social hostility, Christians also experience apathy from the authorities who should protect them. The police force is more interested in appeasing local strongmen than implementing the law and protecting minorities. Courts have a slightly better track record in enforcing the law fairly, but lengthy delays are commonplace. Christians often languish in prison for years before judgment is handed down, and it is then too late to bring about change.”
Open Doors
Lord, we ask You for mercy for these two boys. Bring out the truth and make the way for their quick and safe release. As Simon and Adil await trial, please be a Shield around them, protecting them from harm. Guard them with Your angels, made visible to the guards around their cell. Comfort the boys. Strengthen their faith. Give them courage to withstand. Let them feel You close. Remind them of all they have heard from Your Word. Speak to them constantly throughout the day and in their dreams at night. Chase away their fear with Your perfect love, and use them to shine that love to those around them. Perform a miracle, Lord, and lead those in charge to drop the case and let the boys go free now. Please also keep the families of these boys safe. We ask You, Lord, to invade the dreams of the police officer who misheard them. Show him the truth. Point him to Christ. Grip him with fear of the Lord and bring him to his knees in repentance. We ask the same for all who were in the mob, the other police officers and every person involved with Simon and Adil’s case. Show them Jesus is the only Way to salvation. Convict them of their sin and save them, Lord. Awaken all of Pakistan to Your love. Break apart and eliminate the laws that cause harm to the people of that country. Remove from office all those who do the work of Satan, and replace them with leaders who follow Your ways. For every Christian who is persecuted, bring 1,000 Muslims to faith. Flip the government of that country upside down and open wide the doors for all to hear Your Good News in a way they can easily understand. Bring Christians to translate the Word so that every person who speaks the languages yet unreached will hear of Your love and open wide their hearts to choose Jesus as Lord. In Your name. Amen.
Mikaela Vincent and her husband are missionaries who live by faith, trusting in God to provide for their needs as they pray for and share Christ with the nations. If you would like to help their ministry through a donation, or by shopping at Mikaela’s online bookstore, click the buttons below:
For 30 Days of Prayer for Global Awakening and deep Bible studies on overcoming adversity and breaking free from fear and trauma, visit MoreThanAConquerorBooks.com.
To easily access the daily posts from your mobile phone screen, go to https://prayerwallforthenationandtheworld.wordpress.com in your browser, then click your browser’s drop-down menu, and press “Add to Homescreen.” (These instructions may differ according to your browser.) You can then place the icon wherever you like on your screen. Press it daily to pray through each new post in your quiet times.
Any proceeds this author receives from the sale of the deep devotional Bible studies and other MoreThanAConquerorBooks.com books mentioned in this post go to shining Christ’s light in the darkness and seeing the nations come to Him.
But please ignore unrelated advertisements WordPress places here. The author has not approved those links and does not receive any money from them.
Thank you for your support! If you have any questions or want to help with this ministry, please contact Mikaela.
PRAYER WALL 