The persecution of believers in Christ has intensified as signs of the Lord's return become more pronounced. It seems the enemy knows his time is short and he would wreak as much havoc and destruction as he can before he is arrested in his evil.

Some fingerprints of the enemy upon the works of men include the following:

Christian Lawyer in Pakistan Faces Death Threats for Disagreeing with Blasphemy Law - BosNewsLife

A prominent Christian rights lawyer who has been on the run in Pakistan amid death threats asked fellow believers Thursday, August 1, to pray for his family after armed Islamic militants discovered a hiding address.

Sardar Mushtag Gill told BosNewsLife that six men, some of them carrying guns, on Monday, July 29, visited a family home in the Pakistani city of Lahore where his younger brother opened the door. "They were members of Ahle Sunnat Wal Jamaat, the Islamic group that killed the governor of Pakistan's Punjab province, Salman Taseer, and Christian federal minister Shahbaz Bhatti in 2011 because they criticized Pakistan's blasphemy laws," he said.

"They told my brother they want to meet me, but I am sure they really wanted to kill me. They made that clear in letters I received," added Gill, who managed to escape. "The militants wrote that 'those who support a blasphemer must die'," he recalled.


Open Season on Christians in Nigeria - Christian Post

The pastor met with lawmakers to seek aid in combating Islamic groups that have been continuously attacking Christian communities throughout the past few years. The attacks have come particular in the northern part of the country where Islamist terrorist group Boko Haram are on a mission to fully Islamize Nigeria.

Lawmakers have been told that the most troubling development is that Islamists have begun targeting not only churches, but also schools - firing into classrooms when children are in attendance.

This is because "Islamists have declared all schools except those teaching Islam illegal, and Boko Haram is intent on enforcing that law, as well as others drawn from Sharia Islamic law."

"It is open season on Nigeria's Christians," Oritesejafor told the legislators.

We who are free must lift our brothers who are bound before the Throne of Mercy and Grace. We who are bound must stay free in our spirits, remembering that "He who is in us is greater than he who is in the world," I John 4:4. We must all be mindful that "Our warfare is not against flesh and blood but against spiritual wickedness in high places," Ephesians 6:12.

May we ever be mindful of the promise, "Be faithful unto death and I will give you a crown of life," Revelation 2:10.