Let’s pray for Pastor Youcef Nadarkhani

“‘But before all this, they will lay hands on you and persecute you. They will deliver you to synagogues and prisons, and you will be brought before kings and governors, and all on account of My name.’”

--Luke 21:12

Over the past three years, Pastor Youcef Nadarkhani has become a household name. People around the world are praying for Nadarkhani, a 34-year-old Christian pastor in Iran who was arrested in October 2009 after he protested a government policy that required children, including his 8- and 9-year-old sons, to study the Quran in school. In November 2010, he was sentenced to death for apostasy.

Nadarkhani refuses to deny his Christian faith when the Iranian trial court demands that he recant his faith or die. He responds, “I cannot.”

As of July 13, Nadarkhani was still in prison. According to the Prisoner Alert fact sheet published by Voice of the Martyrs, the death sentence against the Iranian pastor has been dropped, but he will be charged with new crimes against Iran’s national security.

Nadarkhani has been in prison more than 1,000 days, separated from his wife and two sons, and very little contact has been allowed with them.

For detailed timeline information on Nadarkhani, go to the American Center for Law and Justice website. Led by chief counsel Jay Sekulow, the ACLJ focuses on constitutional and human rights law worldwide. The timeline will show when and how many countries around the world, including the United States, condemned Iran for this unlawful imprisonment and death sentence and called for Nadarkhani’s immediate release.

Please pray for Nadarkhani as he waits in the Iranian prison. Pray God keeps giving him the strength to withstand the attacks on his Christian faith. Pray for comfort and needs for his body and mind, for health and for peace. Please pray for his wife and two sons who are separated from him.

How are they managing financially, spiritually, emotionally? I don’t know, but God is faithful and He is answering prayer. The death sentence has been dropped, and God is able to deliver Pastor Youcef Nadarkhani from further charges against Iran.

Let’s claim it!