It was only one of several meetings that Lebanon’s Chief of Defense General Rodolphe Haykal attended, but it was probably the shortest — five minutes, according to US Senator Lindsey Graham.

Senator Graham says he asked Gen. Haykal whether the militant group Hezbollah is “a terrorist organization.” Gen. Haykal replied, “No, not in the context of Lebanon.” This stands in stark contrast with over two decades of US policy toward Hezbollah. The meeting ended after that point.

Rep. Gregory Meeks (center) held a productive meeting with Gen. Rodolphe Haykal (left) to discuss progress disarming Hezbollah and other non-state militias as well as improving control over Lebanon’s borders. (Photo courtesy of House Foreign Affairs Committee Dems via Wikimedia Commons)

Nuna* with Triumphant Mercy Lebanon says the general’s statement has sparked contention in Lebanon. “Some people, of course, from [the] Hezbollah area are praising this general for his stance. But all the others are just saying that he is bringing the ruin of Lebanon because of that.” 

The issue comes down to disarmament and funding. Last summer, Lebanon’s government pledged to disarm Hezbollah by the end of 2025. The US swiftly authorized $230 million to support Lebanese security forces in this goal. But now, US support may be in question.

After a season of hope for change in Lebanon, the continued uncertainty is crippling many, says Nuna.

“We don’t know if they’re going to take parts of Lebanon and annex it to Syria or annex it to Israel. We don’t know if the US is with us or against us. We’re not sure of the stand of the United Nations. What is the stand of the economic world bank? It’s all intermingled.”

She points to the biblical phrase “deferred hope” in Proverbs 13:12. “It brings sickness to the heart,” she says. “Our job as a ministry is to keep bringing God there. God is sitting on the throne, God has a solution, and God has a plan, and we are not left alone.”

Pray for hope in Christ to guard people in Lebanon against fear. Pray for God’s purposes to be accomplished in this nation.

“I pray that this will happen with no more bloodshed, with no more delays, with no more wars and tensions and hardship,” says Nuna. “It is so hard for people to live — living every day not knowing what’s going to come, living every day knowing that there’s something that is happening behind closed doors [in the governments].”

*Pseudonym

Header photo courtesy of Triumphant Mercy Lebanon. 

So how will the U.S. label the Houthi terrorist group in their upcoming 2025 Report on International Religious Freedom? USCIRF recommends that the Houthis remain listed as an Entity of Particular Concern, which comes with sanctions.

“Obviously, the State Department has to factor in lots of other angles, lots of other priorities into that conversation as well,” said Todd Nettleton with The Voice of the Martyrs, USA.

The Houthis (also known as Ansarallah) were already redesignated in March by the U.S. as a foreign terrorist organization. The State Department’s 2025 Report on International Religious Freedom should come out later this year.

(Photo courtesy of Lara Jameson/Pexels)

“The Iranian government has encouraged, supported the Houthis to make trouble — make trouble in the [Red Sea] shipping lanes, make trouble for Israel,” said Nettleton. “There is definitely a connection between the two countries.”

Yemen as a whole is in a worsening humanitarian crisis. Nettleton explains that followers of Christ face intense persecution on top of the physical dangers and struggles. With that in mind, please pray that entire families will come to faith together. 

“The reason I say that is because, typically, the first line of persecution is your family,” said Nettleton. “That’s true in Yemen. It’s true in other Islamic contexts as well.”

Finally, pray for wisdom and discernment for international leaders working with Yemen.

“[Pray] for them to be able to make wise recommendations and to understand when it’s best to use a carrot and when it’s best to use a stick to try to create more religious freedom and, frankly, other kinds of freedom in Yemen,” said Nettleton.

Header image is a stock photo of fishing boats in the port of Sfax in Aden, Yemen (courtesy of Yuksel Ozdemir via Pexels)

Syria’s government says it thwarted a recent bombing attempt on a Catholic church. According to a report, the would-be attackers were on their way to Mar Elias Maronite Church in the city of Tartus. When security forces apprehended the men, they found an explosive device, a black flag and papers with written threats.

“They don’t say exactly when [they stopped the attack]. They don’t say a lot about the people who were captured, other than the fact that they identify them as loyalist[s] to former President Bashir al-Assad,” said Todd Nettleton with The Voice of the Martyrs, USA. 

Even with those unanswered questions, the government report is an answer to prayer for protection for Syria’s Christians. The nation’s bigger picture remains grim. Christian, Druze and Alawite minorities have endured multiple attacks in recent months.

“When you see the attack in June, you see the pastor from a Druze background that was killed in late July, then you hear of another attack on a church that apparently was prevented, [you see the pattern of danger],” said Nettleton. 

“If you are a Christian in Syria right now, you are understandably nervous. Because while the government has said all the right things about protecting religious minorities, it is not clear that they are committed to [making] that a reality.” 

But even traditional Christian communities (such as Catholic or Orthodox) have it better in Syria than Muslim-background believers.

“When the government is talking about Christians in Syria, they are talking about those traditional Christian communities. They are not in any way talking about Muslim converts to Christianity,” said Nettleton. “Those people, in the eyes of the government, do not have protection. They don’t even talk about protecting them.” 

Praise God for answering prayers for protection for the Catholic church in Tartus. Ask Him for continued protection. 

Pray for Syria’s government to be held accountable to uphold religious freedom. “We need to pray for strong leaders who will do that as they interact with the Syrian government,” said Nettleton.

A minaret and a church steeple side-by-side in Syria. (Photo courtesy of Ali Wassouf/Unsplash)

Header photo courtesy of Linus Schütz via Pixabay.

“The idea was that Pakistan would have mostly Muslim people. The nation of India that was left would have mostly Hindu people. Kashmir is mostly Muslim people, but India claims the territory as their own,” he says.

Map of Kashmir region, courtesy of Wikimedia Commons.

India’s Hindu nationalist government has been exerting more control over the region in recent years.  

“And I think that has brought fresh attention to some of the scars and the wounds from the decades past,” Nettleton points out. 

The recent conflagration escalated quickly. 

“By the same token, it also seems to have been settled very quickly, and hopefully this ceasefire will hold,” he says. 

Nettleton says this particular border is often the site of international tensions. 

“I think it’s sort of dry tinder all the time, and then you have something like the terrorist attack that happened, and it’s very easy for that dry tinder to catch fire.” 

The situation affects the body of Christ in Kashmir, who are often caught in the crossfire. What’s more, Nettleton says unrest such as this can serve as cover for religious targeting. 

“If there are missiles being dropped and a church building is destroyed, you don’t think the church was targeted for persecution. You think there were missiles falling and a church got hit,” he says.

Kasmir is known as “India’s Switzerland” for its natural beauty. (Photo courtesy of Samed via Unsplash.)

Please pray that this kind of persecution will not happen as a result of ongoing tensions. Pray for Christian brothers and sisters affected by the violence, that they would continue to hold out the Gospel of hope to their warring neighbors. 

“They have so many reasons to lay low and not be involved in ministry, and yet so many of them are stepping up and actively being involved in ministry,” Nettleton says. 

Pray for peace in the region of Kashmir. 

Featured photo courtesy of Divya Agrawal via Unsplash

Infiltrating a Stronghold with the Scripture

Jason Woolford with Mission Cry explains the initial scope. “The initial project was setting feet down on Osama bin Laden’s compound in Abbottabad, claiming that land back for the Lord Jesus Christ, and then distributing 2000 Bibles to the closest homes surrounding that compound.”

(Image courtesy of Mission Cry)

After they saw people coming to the Lord they began discipleship using the Mission Cry G300 program. Recently they followed up again with more Bibles. “We went back, of course, to Abbottabad, the areas of Karachi, Quetta, and Lahore,” Woolford says.” We went back with Bibles to give to 600 people in that area. 200 people asked Jesus Christ to be their Lord and Savior and received a Bible.”

One amazing story Woolford shared was of a 27 year old woman who had been praying for a Quran. She never got one. However, she was given a Bible and now believes in the one true God.

“It Feels Different.”

The missionaries on the ground report that the change in the area since this most recent initiative has been amazing. They say it just feels different around the area.

“When you look at an area that has been – the people have been – oppressed or possessed by false religion, demons, and now you have people that are spirit-filled – filled with a part of God – living their life for the Lord. It changes everything. It changes things physically, spiritually. And because of it, it feels different. And when they say it feels different, they they mean that there’s a joy, where there was never a joy. There’s there’s a peace where there was no peace. And you know, and we find that in the Word of God. That’s what the Lord does for us.”

Prayer and Support

The change is remarkable and yet the danger and persecution in this area is still very real. Last year one of Mission

(Image courtesy of Mission Cry)

Cry’s missionaries was badly beaten and suffered many broken bones as a threat against further Gospel outreach. Praise God, he is healed and back to sharing the good news.  Yet, radical organizations still have a following and readily oppose the spread of the Word of God. Woolford asks for prayer.

“Be praying for our people on the ground. Be praying for us as a missions organization, my wife and I, as the President, the executive director running this, and protection of our family. We’re going into areas where other people just are not going and this is is costly.”

If you would like to join the ministry of Mission Cry, click here.

Header Image courtesy of Wasim 5560, CC BY-SA 4.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0>, via Wikimedia Commons

It also happened to be Easter, making it an especially pointed attack. Christians are a minority in Sri Lanka, making up 1.7 million, or 7.7%, of the population (source: Joshua Project).

(Screenshot)

In the years since then, the government has largely met calls for thorough investigation with inaction and silence. A trial of suspects in the bombing began in late 2021 but to date no one has been convicted or punished for the killings. Many people gather each year to protest this silence.

Greg Yoder with Christian World Outreach (CWO) says, “It is a time to remember. Being a believer is not not necessarily a safe thing. It’s a battle, and I think that’s part of what was going on (in Sri Lanka).”

The gospel continues to be opposed in Sri Lanka, but Christians are resilient.

“There’s been physical attacks on Christians, (people) attacking them if they do open a church, if they do any kind of evangelism,” Yoder says.

“But what’s impressed me is the desire (of) those who know the Lord to not let any of that deter them from sharing the gospel, and especially discipling others — helping them grow in their faith so that they can share the gospel with others.”

Since 2021, the CWO team serve kids and families by offering education programs and meeting tangible needs. (Learn more here.) They do their work with sensitivity to the culture, in order to build relationships where they can then share the gospel. 

“We’ve had parents of some of our children in the after-school program (whose) concern was, ‘You’re going to make our children believe the way you do.’ We’ve reassured them, ‘No, but we use Bible stories to help the kids learn to read,’” Yoder says. 

Ministry in Sri Lanka. (Photo courtesy of Christian World Outreach)

“So they’re relieved by that, but then that opens the door because they want to hear, ‘Why do you want to love us? Why do you want to help our kids, if you’re not going to push the gospel on it?’ It just opens that door, and so people are willing to listen in the ministries that we do there.”

Now that you know more, will you pray? 

“Pray for the believers in Sri Lanka as they openly share the Gospel, as our staff there disciple others to grow in their faith so that they can share the gospel with others, share the love of Christ,” Yoder says.

Pray also for those still grieving for the people who were killed in 2019. Ask God to bring His perfect justice to those responsible for the attacks. 

Header photo of Sri Lanka is a representative stock photo courtesy of Vinnath Satharasinghe via Unsplash.

Nehemiah with FMI says, “There [are] no rescue services available there. There [are] no hospitals. So the Pakistan Army had to intervene and they were helping with injured people and they were trying to transport the dead bodies.”

Islamic State Khorasan (ISKP) has claimed responsibility for the attack on the rally for a pro-Taliban political party. This is the first suicide attack claimed by ISKP in this area.

(Photo courtesy of FMI)

When terrorist groups attack each other in Pakistan, Nehemiah says it boils down to a power struggle.

“These types of terrorist organizations, they don’t believe in political parties. They claim that democracy or politics is not the solution so the only way to move forward is to enforce Sharia law.

“They are trying to keep killing each other to win. This is just like a tug-of-war going on. Who is going to enforce Sharia law? So this is a very, very complex situation.”

The shrapnel of these attacks also leave spiritual wounds.

More and more Pakistani Muslims are dissatisfied with the failures of their religion when they witness these terrorist activities, and are leaving Islam in search for spiritual truth. FMI church planters meet them with the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

Nehemiah asks, “Pray for our partners who are serving and working in very, very difficult situations so they can take the Word of God with them and reach out to these places. These are highly unreached places, but we have an opportunity to share the Word of God with them.”

Header photo courtesy of Abuzar Xheikh/Unsplash.

Notorious terrorist Osama bin Laden hid in his Abbottabad compound until U.S. Navy Seals killed him in 2011. A year ago, Mission Cry started handing out Bibles in the area near bin Laden’s old compound.

Since then, people have accepted Christ and now they’re being discipled with Mission Cry’s G300 program. Through military language, G300 disciples learn to pursue Christ and live by God’s Word. 

Members of the Mission Cry team standing on the remains of Osama bin Laden’s compound. (Photo courtesy of Mission Cry)

Rev. Jason Woolford, president of Mission Cry, explains, “To become a G300 disciple, you have to be discipled in the ways of memorizing general orders and a code of conduct. When I was in the Marine Corps, we had general orders that were the staple of things that we remembered we had to do. So I wrote general orders [as] a part of the G300 so people would know this is generally how I’m supposed to act. For instance, general order number one would be to fear not my enemies.

“Then we have a code of conduct — just as we had in the Marine Corps — saying once you’ve earned the title, this is how you’re supposed to carry yourself, walk, talk, think, [and] believe. So I wrote a code of conduct for those Christians that will be discipled through the G300.”

The G300 program has been translated into several languages including Farsi and Urdu, major languages in Pakistan. Whole families are being reached with the Gospel, including one unlikely family tree. 

“Osama bin Laden had four main wives,” says Woolford. “We have had intel that…one of those wives’ grandsons received the Word of God.

“We won’t go any further in that. I’ll let the listeners let their minds run wild with that. We don’t want to get too deep on it, but God is doing the unbelievable through the Word of God and the discipleship program.”

(Photo courtesy of Mission Cry)

You can be part of this amazing Kingdom-building ministry by giving to Mission Cry!

Woolford says, “We produce this Bible and the discipleship program for just $2 and we get it into the hands of someone absolutely free. So we need prayers, and we need support in those areas.

“We need prayer for safety for those that are administering this throughout the world, for our team as we’re stepping out in faith, and then sponsorship of these  Mission Cry Bibles with the discipleship program in the back.”

Learn more about Mission Cry’s ministry here.

Header photo of Abbottabad, Pakistan; courtesy of Amarjajja, CC BY-SA 3.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0>, via Wikimedia Commons.

Pakistan (MNN) — Over 100 people are dead and 217 wounded after a suicide bomber struck a mosque in Pakistan on Monday.

It is one of the deadliest attacks the nation has seen.

The bombing took place in Peshawar, a volatile city in northwestern Pakistan. The mosque is inside a fortified police compound and is mostly attended by law enforcement personnel. There were up to 400 people packed into the mosque for prayers when the bomber detonated.

(Photo courtesy of Nehemiah with FMI)

Nehemiah* with FMI says, “It was learned that a portion of the building had collapsed and several people are believed to be under it.”

It didn’t take long for terrorists with Tehreek-e-Taliban (TTP) to claim the bombing.

Nehemiah says, “The Pakistani Taliban had taken responsibility for the attack and they mentioned that they have taken revenge because one of their commanders was killed last year in August. So this is a revenge attack in Pakistan.”

Situated in a “Red Zone,” it’s supposed to be one of the most secure areas of the city. An inquiry is already underway to find out how the bomber got past several layers of security.

“It is one of the most tightly controlled areas of the city housing intelligence and the counterterrorism bureau, and it is next door to the regional secretariat. More than 1,000 policemen are always there for duty. It is a highly, highly secure place.”

Pakistan is no stranger attacks like this. They often take the form of terrorism, sectarian violence, and religious persecution.

FMI trains and equips local believers in Pakistan for Gospel ministry. Nehemiah says, “Our FMI partners who are serving in these difficult and hard situations — cities like Peshawar or provinces like KPK — are ready to sacrifice their lives. These bomb blasts are not always in the mosques. We have seen that most of these blasts are in the markets and bazaars and museums, everywhere.”

Pakistan (Photo courtesy of FMI)

While Pakistani Christians need to be cautious in ministry, they are the hands and feet of Jesus to heartbroken communities and families in times like this.

Nehemiah asks, “Pray for…our partners so they can testify about Jesus Christ, that He is really the Prince of Peace.”

Click here to learn more about FMI.

*Psuedonym

Header photo courtesy of Kaufdex via Pixabay.

Brian Dennett of AMG International says some in Peru are optimistic that fresh leadership could lead to good things. “A commoner from the mountains was elected president. And what we’re hearing from our people is that’s given some hope to common people that maybe anyone could be elected president.”

Shining Path connections

At the same time, Castillo’s pick of a prime minister created some tension. Dennett says, “This actually even outraged some of his voters. This is a man that has sympathized with terrorists in the past, groups like the Shining Path, and that is really troubling people.”

The Shining Path has a violent history in Peru. This far-left organization was founded in 1970 and carried out numerous terrorist attacks and assassinations until the 90s. At its height, it even gained control over rural and urban districts in central and southern Peru.

Even today, the group still has some presence in Peru, as evidenced by a May attack that killed 16 shortly before the elections.

Help in Jesus’ name

But Jesus remains the true King in Peru and everywhere else. AMG works in His name to provide food and other essential aid to the country. You can get involved at amghelp.org.

Dennett says, “Like most of the Third World, COVID-19 is raging there. We continue to work hard with our church partners and with our schools down there to feed people, to feed families. And you can help by sending support so that we can help Peruvians who are really suffering in the midst of all of this.”

The header photo shows Pedro Castillo giving a speech. (Photo courtesy of Presidencia de la República del Perú, CC BY 3.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0>, via Wikimedia Commons)