Pastor Saeed Sentenced to 8 Years
Posted: 28 Jan 2013 08:46 AM PST
Pastor Saeed Abedini, previously mentioned on our blog, was put on trial last Monday in Tehran, Iran. Handling his case is Judge Abbas Pir-Abbassi, infamous for harsh rulings and sentences, and thereby deemed a “hanging judge.” The American Center for Law and Justice reported that ”the regime alleged that Pastor Saeed intentionally sought to sway the minds of Iranian youth by turning the youth toward Christianity and against Islam, the official religion of Iran.” In addition to this, he is also being accused of creating “a network of Christian house churches.” Perhaps this was the scariest thought to the current Iranian regime. The growth of the Christian church there.
It seems that Pastor Saeed has remained faithful. According to a post from his wife on the “Pray for Pastor Saeed Abedini” Facebook page, “Saeed was able to share from the Bible to the Judge and say that he was not a political person and had no political intentions, but he was a follower of His Lord Jesus Christ. There will be no more hearings and the formal charges and sentences will most likely be announced next week according to his lawyer in Iran. There seemed to have been moments when the judge was moved by Saeed’s testimony. Please continue to pray for the Judge and Saeed’s release and his return back to our family. We should be hearing some news next week.”
On Sunday, we learned more about this story, and Pastor Saeed was sentenced to eight years in one of Iran’s most notorious prisons, Elvin. Let us pray hard for Pastor Saeed, his wife, and his two children (pictured above).
Pray for the Abedini family to be comforted by God and remain confident in their faith.
Pray that Pastor Saeed is faithful to proclaim the gospel boldly and clearly in whatever platform he is given.
Pray that he and his family’s faith is strengthened.
Pray that God would use this situation to display His glorious power to the world.
Pray for Pastor Saeed’s release and that the power of his witness would only increase as a result.
Pray for other brothers and sisters in prison for their faith like Pastor Saeed, but who don’t receive the same international media attention.
Pray that his persecutors will see the light of Christ in him and that they would repent and trust in Jesus for their salvation.
Information for this post was gathered from Open Doors, ACLJ, and Fox News.