The American Center for Law and Justice (ACLJ) blasted the U.S. State Department for its lack of action in helping the case of American pastor Saeed Abedini, in particular for failing to appear at a congressional hearing on Friday.

The law group, who is representing Abedini's wife and two children back in the U.S., called out the State Department for an email it sent claiming, "We believe we are doing everything we can publicly and privately," when the department didn't even send a single person to the hearing on Friday.

Furthermore, Congressman Trent Franks (R-Ariz.) said that the State Department should be "utterly ashamed" of its "deafening and almost cowardly silence" over the pastor's case. more >>

The Libyan embassy located in Cairo, Egypt, has re-opened days after protests over the death of an Egyptian Christian in a Libyan prison rocked the country's capitol.

The embassy originally announced its plans to temporarily close on Saturday, citing safety reasons. 

 "The embassy suspended all its consular and citizen services because [our] Coptic brothers demonstrated," embassy media adviser Abdul Hamid al-Safi told Reuters. more >>

Naghmeh, the wife of U.S. Pastor Saeed Abedini, who is serving eight years in a deadly prison in Iran for his faith, broke down as she testified on Capitol Hill, saying she has no heart to tell their kids that daddy might never survive if the government fails to protect him.

"Saeed is a husband and amazing father," Naghmeh told a standing-room only crowd at the Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission of the U.S. Congress on Friday. "The kids and I miss him terribly. Our kids hold onto the hope of seeing their daddy very soon," she said, struggling unsuccessfully to hold back her tears.

Pastor Abedini and Naghmeh have two kids, Rebekka Grace, 6, and Jacob Cyrus, 4. "A day does not go by that they do not ask for their daddy. A day does not go by that they do not long for him. Most nights they cry themselves to sleep, wanting daddy home." more >>

The Executive Committee of the World Council of Churches has voted to accept the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Jordan and the Holy Land as a full member of their organization.

Concluding a two-year process wherein the WCC leadership considered the application of the ELCJHL, the committee voted unanimously earlier this month to accept the church.

In a speech given to the WCC after their vote, ELCJHL Bishop Dr. Munib A. Younan pointed to the longstanding cooperation his church has had with the WCC. more >>

The U.S. State Department did not to show up on Friday during a congressional hearing on the case of American pastor Saeed Abedini, who is currently serving eight years in prison in Tehran, Iran.

"It is amazing," Rep. Frank Wolf (R-Va.), co-chair of the Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission in the House, told Fox News. "I can't, almost, believe it."

American Center for Law and Justice Chief Counsel Jay Sekulow, who testified at the hearing, called the State Department's absence "offensive." more >>

A Christian ministry worker who encourages and equips believers and the local church inside Pakistan to face persecution, said that the recent rioting against a Christian colony in Lahore, in which 150 homes were burnt, was further evidence of increased Islamization in the country.

"The event did not come as a surprise to the residents of the area called Badami Bagh, in which there is a smaller colony called the Joseph Colony where Christians live," Hana, whose real name was not given for her protection, told The Christian Post earlier this week.

Even though Pakistan's National assembly condemned the action, Hana said it will take more than a proclamation by the government to help curb the problem. more >>