Pray for Sudan!

The Country of Sudan is ranked number 35 on the list of most persecuted states. I don't know exactly how this is true because of all of the killing that has gone on in the past two decades. Despite this violence, wherein the Islamic North has repeatedly attacked the Christian (and pagan) South, the church has grown. According to The Voice of the Martyrs, Sudan is 23% Christian. Most of the expatriate Christian witness is gone from the country, yet local leaders continue to evangelize and grow.

Today a vote is taking place that will enable the Southern Sudanese Christians to separate from the more belligerent North. Independence has come by the spilling of much blood, but hopefully this is a step of hope.

Ironically, by the vote going the way of the Southern Christians, the North also gets to profit. For example, according to The Washington Post, the North would be able to impose Sharia Law in the North, something they couldn't do with a huge Christian population in the South.

I took some heat last night from a guy I used to serve with on the USS Mobile Bay. He was baiting me about the idea of Christian Independence. I don't expect this to become a Christian Nation (Southern Sudan). I expect that the animists that live there would prevent it at any rate. What I am hoping for is freedom for the church there to get a breather and regroup.

Al Jazeera reported that the president of the North thought the South was not ready for independence. Be that as it may, independence is coming. This is a relief for believers in the South, as well as unbelievers in the South who will also be more free from the belligerents in the North.

This is big, Christians. Please pray for this.