Iranian Pastor Youcef Nadarkhani is Released!

Just wanted to share the great news with those of you who haven't heard about the release of Iranian Pastor Youcef Nadarkhani from prison this week.  Thank God for this important step toward the recognition of religious freedom.  Let us continue to pray for those who are still held for their faith in Iran and throughout the world.  And let us pray for the peace of God and the mind of Christ to prevail in Iran during these trying days.





This dear brother had numerous chances to recant his faith to achieve his freedom, but he refused, choosing to die for Christ and never see his wife and children again in this world rather than to deny his Savior.  And now, after repeated death sentences and more than three years behind bars on charges of apostasy, he has been released for time served for the lesser crime of "evangelizing Muslims."  What a testimony!

Related Post: Praying for Iranian Christians

Did Jesus Preach the Gospel?

This is an important (12 minute) video that helps clarify how we read the gospels and talk about the kingdom.  I find the reason why Jesus’ Lordship replaces the “kingdom” talk in the epistles to be a very helpful reminder.  It is so wrong to pit the “gospel of Paul” and the “gospel of the kingdom against each other!!!

The article Keller refers to is Simon Gathercole, "The Gospel of Paul and the Gospel of the Kingdom" in God's Power to Save: One Gospel for a Complex World? ed. Christopher Green (UK: Apollos/Inter-Varsity Press, 2006).

Did Jesus Preach the Gospel? from The Gospel Coalition on Vimeo.

Related Posts:

• Does the “Kingdom” Make Sense to Muslims?
• The Kingdom, the Cross, and the Church 

The World's Muslims: Unity and Diversity (Pew Forum Infographic)

Here is a great infographic from The Pew Forum (HT: PL).

Depravity and Defilement

“Islam considers defilement more important than depravity.”

-Larson, Warren. 1996. "Critical Contextualization and Muslim Conversion." International Journal of Frontier Missions no. 13:189-191