Pakistan — An International Christian Concern (ICC) analysis of data from the United States Commission on Religious Freedom (USCIRF) found that 20 Christians have remained behind bars in Pakistan for a total of 134 years for the crime of blasphemy.

USCIRF is a U.S. governmental commission that monitors religious freedom rights abroad. Due to the secrecy surrounding many foreign governments, USCIRF maintains that “it is difficult to obtain, confirm, and verify comprehensive information about all victims. It is also impossible to capture all incidents of victimization.”

Between 2002 and 2023, the Christians were detained or imprisoned in separate cases for alleged crimes, including “insulting the Prophet Muhammad,” a crime punishable by death under Pakistani law, “desecrating the Quran,” and “intending to outrage religious feelings.” All 20 remain incarcerated to this day.

Ten of the 20 Christians have received their sentence, with nine being sentenced to death and one individual receiving life imprisonment. The other 10 remain jailed as they wait for verdicts in their cases. Though death sentences don’t result in actual executions in Pakistan, they leave the accused languishing in prison for years or even decades.

One of the Christians, Asif Pervaiz, reportedly sent a text message to his manager at a factory that was deemed insulting to the Prophet Muhammad. Pervaiz was detained in 2013 and sentenced in 2020. The court order in Pervaiz’s case, reportedly viewed by Reuters, stated that the Christian “shall be hanged by his neck till his death” for “misusing” his phone.

In another case, friends Adil Babar and Simon Nadeem, both teenagers at the time of their arrest in 2023, were detained for allegedly calling a dog “Muhammad Ali.” According to USCIRF, they were charged with “insulting the Prophet Muhammad” and are awaiting sentencing.

Christians often feel the brunt of Pakistan’s stifling laws against religious freedom. According to ICC’s new Global Persecution Index, its latest report on Christian persecution around the globe, Pakistan’s restrictions on religious freedoms are expanding and growing more oppressive.

“Despite years of international advocacy to overturn or soften these [blasphemy] laws, Pakistan has only doubled down on the law, with legislation to increase punishments for blasphemy passing handily in the legislature in 2023,” the report stated.

Pakistan’s blasphemy laws allow authorities and mobs of Muslims to imprison, threaten, and attack Christians for their faith.

According to one ICC staffer, “The persecution of Christians in Pakistan, whether due to blasphemy or forced conversions, is increasingly common, and it often goes unpunished. Persecution will continue to increase until the persecutors are held accountable under the law.”
Sources:persecution

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Matthew Barnett, pastor and CEO of the Dream Center in Los Angeles, California, is seeing incredible spiritual hunger in the wake of devastating California wildfires that have killed at least 24 people and destroyed more than 12,000 structures.

Barnett, whose organization is feeding and housing those impacted by the inferno, told CBN News he has seen a massive outpouring of resources and volunteer staff — people from all walks of life who are flooding to his campus to help the Christian nonprofit bring relief.

In the process, these people are hearing — and experiencing — the Christian Gospel.

“They’re not just open,” Barnett said of the spiritual fervor unfolding. “They are telling you stuff that you’re not even asking them. I mean, they are volunteering … their lives … and, just by listening and asking them questions, and then you say … ‘God is with you.’”

Volunteers have been flooding to the Dream Center to help hand out food and resources — people from “every type of demographic you could imagine.”

“As people are working 10 hours a day so joyfully … I’m talking to them as they’re serving … we’ll play worship music and … they’ll be like, ‘I like the song. I never heard before. What is it?’” Barnett said. “And then we’re just talking about God while we’re working together with this whole new community.”

He said prayer has also been on full display, as he and volunteers ask individuals and families coming through the food line if they can pray for them.

As it turns out, the spiritual needs are as plentiful as the physical.

“Everybody wants prayer,” Barnett said. “It really is kind of a revival in action where people just want to know that God is there, but I’m really seeing it in a very unusual way through a lot of the volunteers rubbing shoulders all day long and asking questions … like, ‘Why do you do what you guys do?’”

He said some people go through the food line to be prayed for and to experience the positive, spirit-driven Dream Center staff and volunteers.

“It really is a gathering place, it’s a revival place, it’s a place where people are being told about Christ, it’s a place of people being prayed for,” Barnett said. “It really reminds me of an Acts 29 type of church in action.”

Right now, Barnett said the Dream Center is in phase one of its outreach, providing emergency food, housing, and guidance. As time goes on, there will be new, longitudinal needs that the organization will need to meet.

“We’re feeding people,” he said. “They’re coming through the line. We’re learning a lot about what they’ve lost.”

Despite Barnett’s longstanding work in Los Angeles helping the poor and those in need, he said this experience is different — and it’s something he’s not really prepared to tackle.

“I’ve never been encountered by anything like this,” he said.

Barnett said the Dream Center is planning to honor the hundreds and hundreds of volunteers who have shown up to help and plans to share the Gospel with them while expressing their gratitude.

“Serving is the greatest way to engage people that do not know the Lord because everybody can rally around that,” he said. “Everybody can get behind the fact that the Gospel inspires you to do great things and to love people in practical ways, and it’s an unbelievable open door to be able to share why you do it and what inspires you to make that change.”
Sources:faithwire

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A traveling Christian preacher known for carrying a cross through every nation of the world has died. Arthur Blessitt “departed to heaven” on Tuesday, according to an announcement on his ministry page.

The 84-year-old is widely recognized for carrying a 12-foot, 45-lb cross over 43,000 miles in 324 countries, major island groups, and territories.

Blessitt was known internationally as the “Pilgrim with the Cross” and dedicated his life to spreading the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

In his book The Cross, Blessitt wrote, “After having carried the cross in every nation, I can say that the world is open to and hungry for the good news of Jesus and the cross. The only problem is that the laborers are few, as Jesus said.”

“My goal has been to get the cross off the wall and into people’s minds and hearts, where they can understand and experience its message,” he continued. “A large cross being carried makes an unforgettable impact on the mind of the person who sees it. Years later people still remember when and where they saw the cross being carried.”

Blessitt was born in October 1940 in Greenville, Mississippi, and grew up in northeast Louisiana. According to his website, he began preaching at the age of 15 and was ordained as a minister at the age of 20. By the age of 29, he set out on his journey to share Jesus with the world.

He left from Hollywood, CA on Christmas Day in 1969 and for the next 56 years he carried the cross more than 86 million steps and carried a total weight of 19 billion pounds. The feat landed Blessitt into the Guinness Book of World Records as the “World’s Longest Walk.”

Blessitt had written a farewell message in advance, to be published on his social media pages at the time of his passing.

“I’ve really been looking forward to this walk in Glory. These feet that walked so far on roads of dirt and tar will now be walking on the streets of gold. Ready to see Jesus again! I rejoice in Jesus, now, and in the hour of my passing,” his last message read in part. “I am home at last, this was my last trip!”

Along his journey around the world, he met his wife Denise Irja Blessitt, who has traveled with him on 294 journeys. She now oversees the Arthur Blessitt Evangelistic Association.

“I have prayed over Denise and ordained her as my successor in taking the cross and the message of the cross to the world,” he wrote before his death.

Blessitt is also survived by his seven children, 12 grandchildren, and one great-grandchild.

Before his death, Blessitt shared the Gospel message one last time writing, “Everyone knows that death brings us face to face with God…Here is my final call for you to receive Jesus as your Savior…He is waiting for you. How? Simple, but life-changing. Call on Him now!”

Blessitt requested there be no funeral or memorial service in his honor, but rather told his followers to “go out and lead one more soul to be saved.”
Sources:CBN News

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