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Prayer & Thankfulness

Posted by in News & Culture

Last week I was reading an article on CNN that a Pakistani court had sentenced a woman to death for blasphemy against Mohammed. According to the article, Asia Bibi (called Asia Noreen in other articles) worked picking fruit and that during a lunch break she dipped her cup into a bucket of drinking water. Other women claimed the water was contaminated because Bibi, a Christian, had touched it. Supposedly an argument broke out among the women and Bibi was accused of saying Mohammed was a false prophet (literally that he “died with worms in his mouth”). Perhaps Strider or Rastis could add additional insight as to what this phrase means to Muslims.

Asia Bibi denied that she ever insulted Mohammad, but an Islamic cleric reported the incident to the police and Bibi was arrested. After almost 15 months in prison, she was convicted and sentenced to death. The cleric who reported her allegedly shed tears of joy at the news. According the article, Pakistan has never executed someone for blasphemy, and I imagine this is because most people don’t get the luxury of a governmental trial (keep reading for more on this).

Bibi appealed the ruling while her family (two girls under the age of 13, one of whom is disabled, and her husband) waited. The family has had to relocate due to death threats against them.

CNN had another article on Monday that said President Asif Ali Zardari of Pakistan asked the Minister of Minority Affairs to investigate the case and his preliminary findings indicated Asia Bibi was falsely accused. Then, on Monday night I read an article from the Baptist Press saying Asia Bibi (Noreen) had been pardoned by the president and she was taken into hiding. They were a little premature. An article on CNN yesterday said that the Minister of Minority Affairs finalized his report and encouraged the President to grant her a pardon. The President, under pressure from Islamic conservatives to not pardon her, has decided to pardon her only if she exhausts the legal process and she is still held guilty. So President Zardari will allow an innocent Christian to remain in prison for who knows how many months just to save some face. But at least he is willing to pardon her.

I was blown away because I didn’t just read the article, I prayed. I prayed for Asia and her family. I prayed that she would be freed and that she would be able to use this notoriety to advance the gospel and bring the world’s attention to the plight of Christians in Pakistan and other nations. Not only did I pray, but I got to see God work immediately in the situation. I became more aware of my brothers and sisters in the Muslim world and I was moved to pray for them, even by name in this case.

I was deeply troubled to see another article from the Baptist Press (though I do begin to wonder at its credibility). A man had also been accused of blasphemy in the same region of Pakistan. After five months he was granted bail because his accuser was having second thoughts. Two men came to his house, got him to come outside, and they shot him to death before riding off on a motorbike. At the end of the article was another report of Christians killed in the Punjab province.

I believe God sovereignly works through our prayers. I prayed for Asia Bibi, but I had not prayed for this other man. I really had no way of knowing of his plight prior to the article, but I did start thinking. I need to be in prayer and intercession for my brothers and sisters in the Muslim world. I need to be in prayer for those in secular Europe, sub-Saharan Africa, Latin America, the South Pacific. And I’m going to be praying for Asia Bibi by name.

As you celebrate Thanksgiving weekend and Christmas with your family, please devote more time to prayer for our brothers and sisters. I greatly enjoy debating various points and reading and interacting with each contributor and commenter here, but let us not forget the essentials of our faith.

Let us be characterized by thankfulness before our great God and Savior. Count your blessings, including the diverse trials we face that produce endurance. Pray for those who are suffering and remember those who are making huge sacrifices in order to be presented blameless to the Bridegroom.

What are you thankful for?

And when he had seized him, he put him in prison, delivering him over to four squads of soldiers to guard him, intending after the Passover to bring him out to the people. So Peter was kept in prison, but earnest prayer for him was made to God by the church. —Acts 12:4-5