ഒർലാന്‍റോ∙ ഇന്‍റർകോളേജിയറ്റ് പ്രയർ ഫെലോഷിപ് (ഐസിപിഎഫ്) ഒരുക്കുന്ന ഏകദിന കോൺഫറൻസ് ജനുവരി 18 ന് രാവിലെ 9 മുതൽ വൈകിട്ട് 8 വരെ ഒർലാന്‍റോ ഇന്ത്യാ പെന്തക്കോസ്ത് ദൈവസഭയിൽ വച്ച് നടക്കും.

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Sources:nerkazhcha

http://theendtimeradio.com

Persecution continues to rise across the globe, with a staggering 380 million Christians experiencing persecution and discrimination as a result of their faith, according to a new report from Open Doors US.

This number is up substantially from the 365 million found to be under the same duress in last year’s “World Watch List” report, an annual ranking of the worst places in the world for Christians.

The current numbers in the “2025 World Watch List,” released Jan. 15, indicate a staggering 1-in-7 believers across the globe experience such horrors — and there’s no end in sight to the chaos.

“We continue to see that these issues are rising and that the trends are alarming,” Ryan Brown, CEO of Open Doors US, told CBN News in the lead-up to the report’s release.

The persecution watchdog said North Korea remains the most difficult place in the world for Christians, with the reclusive nation claiming the top spot on the “World Watch List.”

“We did even see some movement in some of their violence indicators this year, which continues to … drive those things forward,” Brown said. “After 32 years that we’ve been reporting this data, it’s been the majority of those years that North Korea has been on top of the list.”

The 2025 “World Watch List” paints a terrifying picture of what persecution looks like inside North Korea under Supreme Leader Kim Jong Un, with restrictions increasing throughout 2024.

“If your Christian faith is discovered in North Korea, you will either be immediately executed or deported to a horrendous labor camp that few survive,” the report reads. “The Kim regime relies on tightly controlling people’s behavior and beliefs.”

One news report alleged that 30 teenagers were killed simply because they watched a South Korean drama — an event that shows the lengths to which an extremist regime will go to punish and subjugate.

“Allegiance to anything other than the state [is seen] as a threat to the state,” Brown said. “And, so, any expression of Christianity … typically is looked to be stamped out and with great severity.”

He continued, “If they’re found in possession of a Bible, if they’re engaged in any type of Christian worship, it’s generally expected if that’s not a death sentence, it is a life sentence for imprisonment and in work camps that are deplorable conditions.”

China, where persecution is also intense, has also moved up the “World Watch List,” ranking 15th on the 2025 ranking as the most difficult nation for believers; it was previously in the 19th spot.

Brown said much of the growth of the Christian church in China has been centered on small house churches — unregistered houses of worship.

“And the Chinese government, over the last couple of years, has had a very intentional and deliberate effort to stamp out many of those unregistered churches,” he said. “For those churches that are registered, there is a lot of ideological control that the state is looking to exert, looking for your pledges to the Communist Party there.”

Another nation making waves in the persecution sphere is Nigeria, an African country where radical Islamists are continuously killing innocent Christians.

“I often point to Nigeria as really kind of a snapshot of a pattern that we’re seeing echoed throughout the continent of Africa and in so many places, unfortunately,” Brown said. “Persecution doesn’t exist in a vacuum. It’s impacted by the greater societal context in which it exists, and when that greater societal context is one where there is inherent instability … there can be vacuums of power.

Too often, he said Islamic militants step into those vacuums to “perpetuate the instability.” Tragically, Christians are often the victims in these scenarios, either becoming prey or simply seeing their rights eroded or ignored.

“There were more Christians that were killed because of their faith in Nigeria this last year than any other place in the globe,” Brown said.

Despite the dire state of affairs, Brown said nations like Indonesia have seen some improvements, with the country dropping off this year’s “World Watch List.”

“The score actually did lower … it dropped by several points,” he said. “And so that’s an encouraging, specifically some of the things that curbed there were some of the expressions of violence, and so that is a good trend, and it appears that officials there are really trying to address those issues of violence.”
Sources:faithwire

http://theendtimeradio.com

Sunday was a big day for the YouVersion Bible app.

The faith-based app’s founder, Bobby Gruenewald, told The Christian Post the YouVersion team “saw 18.2 million people engage in the Bible and more than 798,000 installs” this past Sunday.

“We tend to see a seasonal uptick in Bible engagement at the beginning of the year as people start new habits and are interested in reading the Bible for the first time,” he said. “What’s interesting to us is that this year’s increase is even higher than this same time last year, and it’s a trend we’re seeing globally.”

The number of downloads at the beginning of the week set a new record, besting the record set on the first Sunday of last year. What’s most interesting, though, is where in the world YouVersion saw the greatest increase in downloads.

To name a few, the Scripture-reading app saw a 198% increase in Ethiopia, a 94% increase in Egypt, a 74% increase in Turkey, a 65% increase in Ghana, and a 48% increase in Pakistan. North Africa saw an overall engagement increase of 297% while the Middle East saw an uptick of 166%.

Launched in 2008 by Life.Church, the app has been installed on more than 850 million devices globally and is accessible in 2,100 languages.

These trends are in keeping with how YouVersion has seen its app grow over time. According to CBN News, the app saw more engagement in 2024 than in any year prior, revealing Philippians 4:6 was its most-searched passage.

The verse reads, “Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God” (ESV).

Gruenewald said he believes the popularity of the passage shows people turn to God in times of stress.

“In many cases, our anxiety comes from holding onto worries that we aren’t meant to carry,” he said in a press release from YouVersion. “To me, this verse being sought out the most this year is an illustration that our community is seeking God in prayer and choosing to trust Him to carry their burdens — and we’re seeing that supported in the data.”

Within the app, Gruenewald said he’s seen the greatest growth in the Bible Plans feature, which guides users through Scripture and gives them the opportunity to connect with friends as they study the Bible.

“Every time someone opens the Bible is an opportunity for the power of God’s Word to change their life,” he said.
Sources:faithwire

http://theendtimeradio.com