Thursday, December 09, 2010

Pakistani Christian Asia Bibi 'has price on her head'


Ashiq Masih has the look of a hunted man - gaunt, anxious and exhausted.

Though he is guilty of nothing, this Pakistani labourer is on the run - with his five children.

His wife, Asia Bibi, has been sentenced to death for blaspheming against Islam. That is enough to make the entire family a target.

They stay hidden by day, so we met them after dark.

Mr Masih told us they move constantly, trying to stay one step ahead of the anonymous callers who have been menacing them.

"I ask who they are, but they refuse to tell me," he said.

"They say 'we'll deal with you if we get our hands on you'. Now everyone knows about us, so I am hiding my kids here and there. I don't allow them to go out. Anyone can harm them," he added.

Ashiq Masih says his daughters still cry for their mother and ask if she will be home in time for Christmas.

He insists that Asia Bibi is innocent and will be freed, but he worries about what will happen next.

"When she comes out, how she can live safely?" he asks.

"No one will let her live. The mullahs are saying they will kill her when she comes out."

Asia Bibi, an illiterate farm worker from rural Punjab, is the first woman sentenced to hang under Pakistan's controversial blasphemy law.

To read more, click here.

Your prayers are asked for Asia Bibi and her family and the persecuted Christians of Pakistan and other Muslim countries. Please also pray for all the followers of Mohammed especially those who hate and despise Christians and wish them ill.

O God, who hast promised that they that wait upon thee shall renew their strength: We commend to thee all who are suffering persecution for their faith in your Son Jesus Christ, especially those in prison and facing death. Strengthen them, O Lord, with thy Holy Spirit, and send your holy angels to minister to them; we ask it in his name, who bore for us the agony of the cross, thy Son, our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.

Remember, O Lord, according to the multitude of thy mercies, thy whole Church, all who join with us in prayer, and all our brothers and sisters, wherever they may be in thy vast kingdom, who stand in need of thy grace and succour. Pour down upon us all the riches of thy mercy, so that, preserved in soul and body, and steadfast in our faith, we may ever praise thy wonderful and holy name; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

O Lord God Almighty, we pray thee in thy wisdom and mercy to overrule all the events of these days for the advancement of thy kingdom in the hearts of all the peoples of the earth. Let the nations hear thy voice, and the peoples acknowledge thy sovereign claims. Scatter the darkness of sin and unbelief. Break down every barrier that hinders the triumph of thy gospel. And speed the glad day when in the name of Jesus every knee shall bow and every tongue shall confess him Lord, to whom with thee and the Holy Spirit be all honour and glory, dominion and power, for ever and ever. Amen.

Almighty God, our heavenly Father, have mercy upon the Muslims and all others who are strangers to thy redeeming love; and exhibit to them in the fullness of thy power and grace the saving truth of the gospel that they may be brought to confess thy Son Jesus Christ as their Prophet, Priest and King, and to share with thy Church the fellowship of the Spirit, to the glory of thy name; through the merits of the death and passion of the same thy Son, Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Lord Jesus Christ, before whose judgment seat we all shall stand, we pray as thou hast taught us for our enemies; so turn their hearts to thee that they may truly repent; and grant that they and we and all the peoples of the earth, being cleansed from sin, may know and do thy will, who wast lifted up upon the cross to draw all men to thyself, our Saviour, our Lord and our God. Amen.

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