{"id":1051,"date":"2017-10-30T14:54:47","date_gmt":"2017-10-30T14:54:47","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/safeplacewithruthgraham\/?p=1051"},"modified":"2017-10-30T14:54:47","modified_gmt":"2017-10-30T14:54:47","slug":"persecution-of-christians","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/safeplacewithruthgraham\/2017\/10\/persecution-of-christians.html","title":{"rendered":"Persecution of Christians"},"content":{"rendered":"

This coming Sunday is the International Day of Prayer for the Persecuted Church.<\/em><\/p>\n

Persecution\u00a0of Christians\u00a0is on the rise – 250,000,000 \u00a0(250 million) Christians experience some form of persecution. Did you know that in 2016, 90,000 people were killed because of their faith in Christ? That doesn’t include beatings, rapes, house burnings or intimidation.<\/p>\n

Open Doors is an organization that has the World Watch List that ranks the top 50 countries where the most severe persecution takes place. It is not a surprise that\u00a0North Korea is the #1 place that targets Christians – Somalia is #2.<\/p>\n

This Sunday, please ask your pastor to emphasize the persecuted in his morning prayer. We cannot sit idly by as our brothers and sisters in Christ are suffering in unimaginable ways simply because they profess faith is Jesus. We are all of the same body of Christ. We have to do<\/span><\/strong> something! \u00a0We can all pray.<\/p>\n

I pray for God’s mercy to reign and His grace to enable. And I pray for those who are doing the persecuting that through the witness of those they target, they will see Christ in a powerful way and come out of the darkness.<\/p>\n

Join me on Sunday as we praying for our brothers and sisters.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This coming Sunday is the International Day of Prayer for the Persecuted Church. Persecution\u00a0of Christians\u00a0is on the rise – 250,000,000 \u00a0(250 million) Christians experience some form of persecution. Did you know that in 2016, 90,000 people were killed because of their faith in Christ? That doesn’t include beatings, rapes, house burnings or intimidation. Open Doors…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":466,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[155,198,92],"class_list":["post-1051","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-north-korea","tag-persecution","tag-prayer"],"yoast_head":"\nPersecution of Christians - Safe Place with Ruth Graham<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/safeplacewithruthgraham\/2017\/10\/persecution-of-christians.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Persecution of Christians - Safe Place with Ruth Graham\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"This coming Sunday is the International Day of Prayer for the Persecuted Church. 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Open Doors…\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/safeplacewithruthgraham\/2017\/10\/persecution-of-christians.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Safe Place with Ruth Graham\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2017-10-30T14:54:47+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Ruth Graham\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Persecution of Christians - Safe Place with Ruth Graham","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/safeplacewithruthgraham\/2017\/10\/persecution-of-christians.html","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Persecution of Christians - Safe Place with Ruth Graham","og_description":"This coming Sunday is the International Day of Prayer for the Persecuted Church. 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No stranger to heartache, she seeks to provide a Biblical perspective to her journey of faith. She is warm and talks openly about her own need for a safe place as she journeyed through her husband\u2019s infidelities, her subsequent depression, her divorces, her teenage daughter\u2019s two unplanned pregnancies, another daughter\u2019s bulimia, her son\u2019s battle with drugs, grandson's special needs and returning to school at age 40. Although born into the \"famous\" Graham family Ruth did not feel she had a safe place to unburden the secrets of her life. She felt she had to project and image and wear a mask that she \"had it all together\". She had to meet others' expectations of her. It was not until a mid-life crisis did that she fully discover the unconditional love and grace of God. Her life's passion is to connect people to that same grace and love she found, no matter who they are or what sin. Ruth is an experienced conference speaker and Bible teacher. 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