“We Will Cut Him Into Little Pieces”
Michelle Malkin is paying close attention to an Afghani Muslim convert to Christianity and his trial which looks likely that he’ll receive the death penalty. Apparently in Afghanistan (and I believe it is the same in Turkey), you can exist as a Christian provided that you did not convert from Islam. To convert brings the death penalty, whereas simply being a Christian does not. Our brother Abdul Rahman has been quoted as saying,
Rahman said he had surrendered himself to God. “I believe in the [H]oly [S]pirit,” he said. “I believe in Christ. And I am a Christian.” … “He is standing by his words,” said Sayad Miakel, 30. “He will not become a Muslim again.”… Another cellmate said Mr. Rahman seemed depressed. “He keeps looking up to the sky, to God,” said Khalylullah Safi, 31.
“Testifying to the gospel of the grace of God,” says John Piper, “is more important than staying alive. Acts 20:24: ‘But I do not account my life of any value nor as precious to myself, if only I may finish my course and the ministry that I received from the Lord Jesus, to testify to the gospel of the grace of God.’” {reference}
Pray for Abdul’s joy that it might not be shaken. Pray for his deliverance. Pray that Jesus Christ would be magnified in his living or his dying. Pray for his family who has had the gospel of grace preached to them. Pray for his cellmates and his prison guards.
May the grace and peace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit, Abdul. I repeat what Piper said back in February.
The work of Muhammad is based on being honored and the work of Christ is based on being insulted…. For Christ, enduring the mockery of the cross was the essence of his mission. And for a true follower of Christ enduring suffering patiently for the glory of Christ is the essence of obedience. “Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account” (Matthew 5:11). During his life on earth Jesus was called a bastard (John 8:41), a drunkard (Matthew 11:19), a blasphemer (Matthew 26:65), a devil (Matthew 10:25); and he promised his followers the same: “If they have called the master of the house Beelzebul, how much more will they malign those of his household” (Matthew 10:25)…. How should his followers respond? On the one hand, we are grieved and angered. On the other hand, we identify with Christ, and embrace his suffering, and rejoice in our afflictions, and say with the apostle Paul that vengeance belongs to the Lord, let us love our enemies and win them with the gospel. If Christ did his work by being insulted, we must do ours likewise. {reference}
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