Easter: A Time to Pray for the Persecuted, a Time to Defend Life

Like many others, when I gather with my family on Easter, we will celebrate the risen Savior. At the same time, we are in the midst of the Passover season, the season of freedom for the Israelites.

With Easter and Passover, we celebrate life, we celebrate freedom, and we celebrate our eternal hope.

Yet as we celebrate, our brothers and sisters in Christ are suffering for their faith. In Egypt, Christians are facing the turmoil and oppression of upheaval, still reeling from the oppressive rule of the Muslim Brotherhood and facing an uncertain future. In Syria, radical jihadist rebels have destroyed Christian villages. In Iran, many Christians face prison, or worse, merely because they’re Christian.

American Pastor Saeed Abedini has become the face of Christian persecution around the world. Thankfully, he is now in a hospital, and not his prison cell. But he desperately needs medical care for internal injuries he received from prison beatings, and more importantly, this U.S. citizen needs to be returned home to his loving family in America.

But it’s not just those who are suffering for their faith who we should remember, but also the hundreds of thousands of innocent lives that are snuffed out each year by the horrors of legalized abortion right here in America.

Not only are we constantly working to stop this travesty, but we’re fighting to defund Planned Parenthood, America’s largest abortion business, which our tax dollars fund to the tune of half a billion dollars each year. We’re also in court in places like New York City to defend pro-life pregnancy centers. These pro-life centers provide hope to women in their greatest time of need while literally saving the lives of unborn children.

We are resolved to defend religious liberty, those who are persecuted for their faith, and the innocent lives of the unborn.

This Easter, please pray for Pastor Saeed, the persecuted Church, and all those working to save the lives of the unborn.

Indeed, He is risen! And through His life we have hope. Happy Easter.