Posted on 09/08/2012 10:07:22 AM PDT by Former Fetus
Iranian Pastor Youcef Nadarkhani, who was originally sentenced to death in his native country for his Christian faith, was acquitted of apostasy charges and released from custody.
Nadarkhani, 32, was imprisoned for three years and waiting execution for refusing to renounce his Christian faith. His charges were lowered to evangelizing to Muslims, which carried a three-year sentence. He was released with time served, according to the American Center for Law and Justice, a Washington-based watchdog group that had been campaigning for the pastor's release.
"Today our sources in Iran reported that Pastor Youcef was acquitted of apostasy and released from prison. After languishing in prison for almost three years, he has been reunited with his family," Jordan Sekulow, executive director of ACLJ said in a statement to FoxNews.com.
(Excerpt) Read more at foxnews.com ...
Amen and Amen!
Thank you LORD for hearing the cries of our heart, and for freeing this MAN of Courage and Faith in our LORD and Savior Jesus Christ!!!
Hallelujah!!! What wonderful news to begin Monday!
I posted this on the other related thread also...
I am very glad he has been released and passed the news on to many. I received an email from a friend who said that he was not a Christian, but a Pastor of a cult church, so I did some checking and found this site that explains the Church of Iran and also has a video of him stating his belief:
http://surphside.blogspot.com/2012/02/yosef-nadarkhani-pastor-of-modalist.html
Even if he is not a true Christian, Im glad he was released. Who knows, maybe he came to know the Lord while he was in prison. I pray for his salvation.
I have been keeping up with Pastor Youcef since Voice of the Martyrs first highlighted his case. He was always presented as an Evangelical pastor. However I am not surprised that he would be accused of not being a "true Christian". That is one of Satan's oldest tricks! Jesus was thought to be crazy (Mark 3:20-21) or in league with Beelzebub (Luke 11:15).
At a hearing, Pastor Youcef was asked to deny Jesus and that way save his life. What was his answer? You ask me to recant. Recant means to return. What do you wish me to return to? The blasphemy that I was in before Christ? The judges responded, To the religion of your ancestors, Islam. Youcef replied, I cannot. That says everything I want to know about Pastor Youcef!
I too have been keeping up with him since the very beginning, through VOM, and praying for him. Yes, VOM and others have referred to him as an evangelical pastor; however, his own testimony and other Christian sources have said that the Church of Iran is a cult. You might check out the video in his own words. He denies the Trinity.
I’m surprised he got released.
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