Iranian Pastor Faces Imminent Execution

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Joel C. Rosenberg

(Washington, D.C., September 30, 2011) -- Please pray that the Lord spares the life of Iranian Pastor Youcef Nadarkhani. He's "the head of a network of Christian house churches in Iran" and "could be executed as soon as midnight Wednesday in Tehran for refusing to recant his religious beliefs and convert to Islam," according to media reports. Please pray the Lord uses him to encourage Iranian believers and Muslim Background Believers (MBBs) in the Islamic world to stand strong for Jesus Christ. Pray, too, that the gospel message would spread throughout Iran and the epicenter as a result of the international pressure for Pastor Nadarkhani's release and that many would be saved.

IRANIAN THREAT GROWS -- "Iranian naval vessels to be deployed near U.S. sea borders," new headline asserts.

AMERICAN-BORN AL QAEDA TERRORIST KILLED -- "Anwar al-Aulaqi, a radical U.S.-born Muslim cleric and one of the most influential al-Qaeda leaders wanted by the United States, was killed Friday in a U.S. drone strike in northern Yemen, Yemeni and American authorities said, eliminating a prominent terrorist recruiter who inspired attacks on U.S. soil," reports the Washington Post. "The strike also killed a second U.S. citizen - Samir Khan, the co-editor of an al-Qaeda magazine - and two other unidentified al-Qaeda operatives, the Yemeni government said. In Washington, senior Obama administration officials confirmed that Aulaqi, 40, a dual national of the United States and Yemen, was killed in a drone strike on his convoy."