TD Jakes on Saeed Abedini

Bishop TD Jakes is speaking out in support of Pastor Saeed Abedini. Please join him in this international movement to help free American Pastor Saeed from an Iranian prison.

 

Go to SaveSaeed.org, and send Pastor Saeed your message today.

Learn how you can help be the voice for Saeed Abedini

Nearly two weeks ago Pastor Saeed Abedini and his family passed the 200th day of his imprisonment in Iran's Evin prison.  He is being held there not because he stole something or assaulted someone.  He is being held in the hell hole of Evin prison not because he illegally entered Iran or made statements against the Iranian government or the Ayatollahs.

Pastor Abedini is being held, beaten, denied basic health care for his injuries and subjected to physical and psychological intimidation and torture because of his thoughts and beliefs.  Because those beliefs aren't shared by the government of Iran Pastor Abedini is not allowed to hold them himself.

He is accused of, and convicted in an Iranian court where proper legal counsel of his choosing was denied him, sharing his beliefs during the period of 2001 through 2005. From the time he started to hold his beliefs until it became illegal for him to share them. That was in 2005 when the current government came into power.


It is important to understand that it was legal under Iranian law for Pastor Abedini to share his faith between 2001 and 2005. When the law was changed Pastor Abedini, out of respect for those in authority, stopped his activities and complied with the law.  Now, when he was arrested in August 2012, the charges against him were not for activities he was currently doing, that is working to build an approved orphanage. No, those charges were for activities that he had done when those activities were legal.

Pastor Abedini is an American citizen. He moved to the United States, married and American citizen, Naghmeh, and in 2010 obtained his US citizenship. He loves his new country and the freedoms it gives him to worship as he pleases.  At the same time he loves the  people of Iran, his country of birth.  His family, his parents, his siblings and extended family still live in Iran and he would not abandon them.

Pastor Abedini needs his fellow citizens of his adopted nation to stand with him and fight for him. His Iranian family and friends cannot, if they do they too could find themselves in Evin Prison.  But we, his fellow Americans can speak out, we can write our politicians and lobby them to work harder for his release.  We can speak out by calling and writing news outlets, by signing petitions like the one at SaveSaeed.org and writing letters to Pastor Saeed that will be seen by his guards and fellow prisoners and the leaders of Iran. Letters that will by their presence tell those who hold his freedom in their hands that Pastor Saeed is not alone.  He is not forgotten.  And the injustice that is being done to him will not remain hidden.



Pastor Saeed needs your voice to speak for him.  Others have already spoken out, and continue to speak out.  But every time a new voice is added the volume increases and the combined voices of hundreds of thousands, even millions, cannot be ignored.

In a few short week, on May 7, Pastor Saeed will have his 33rd birthday and 10's of 1000's are sending letters to encourage and support him.  If you have not added your voice to ours, now is the time. If not your voice, then whose?  If not now, then when.  Pastor Saeed is suffering physically from the abuse and beatings.  While his faith remains strong and his spirit resolute, his body is weakening.  Speak out now, before it is too late.

If the president

"We understand from people who have been in prison, anytime they're spoken about in the press or the news, their condition changes in prison.  If the president would do that, it would make a difference for them right away."~David Yeghnazar, Elam Ministries

Go to SaveSaeed.org, and send Pastor Saeed your message today.

Learn how you can help be the voice for Saeed Abedini

Something that gave us hope

"...we knew there was a large group supporting us. This was a huge encouragement to us and helped us to stand firm. We heard from our guards that forty to fifty letters were coming every day. They saw how Christians stood together to support their own. This was something that gave us hope." ~Maryam Rostampour

 

 

Go to SaveSaeed.org, and send 

Pastor Saeed your message today.

 

Learn how you can help be the voice for Saeed Abedini

You ROCK!

"You ROCK!!"  That was my co-worker and long distance friend declaring, in her usual ebullient way, her appreciation for my technical and social skills.  Yes, those with long time and direct knowledge of the latter will scratch their heads in disbelief, but there it is.  Still, mom always said, “never dispute a compliment, just accept it.”  So thank you Janet.

Janet’s declaration came to mind during a recent conversation.  As the millions of florida ramblings readers, well, perhaps millions of bits anyway, will recall, in a recent post I called “Xbox’s, bones and the pen” I related my encounter with a carpet, an encounter that resulted in the 5^th metatarsal of my left foot becoming spirally bisected.

Today marks the beginning of the second week of the third leg of that journey. The first leg was when that bone snapped like a chicken bone. The second began the day of surgery to securely attach to two parts to each other.

The third leg began last Monday.  Up to that point, from the day, or evening, I broke my foot; I had been unable to allow my foot to touch the floor, either due to the pain, or on pain of extending my recovery time and getting a severe scolding by my doctor.  For a week now I have been bipedal in amounts that are increasing daily.

Granted, it isn’t perfect. I am still required to wear my AirCast walking boot anytime I’m in any position other than seated or horizontal, that’s sleeping to those who are positionally challenged.  But with it I can move across the floor in some semblance of a walk.

And that brings us to the point of this post.  For 6 weeks I was able to motivate myself only with the assistance of either crutches or by using the “Turning Leg Caddy” so generously donated by a cousin-in-law.  I got really good at scooting across wide expanses on the four wheels of the “caddy,” able to cover some distances quicker than was possible with both healthy feet unless I was running.

Now, after two days, I’ve all but set aside the “Leg Caddy” depending only on my two feet, one encased in the AirCast, and a cane, actually a SwissGear walking pole.  But as happy as I am to be bipedal again, it is not without some shortcomings, temporary though they may be.

The AirCast, being a cast, restricts the motion of my ankle giving me a very stiff legged gait. Additionally, the AirCast adds a couple inches to the length of my leg. The resulting differential between left and right legs results in an ambling stride.  (I’m thinking that can be mostly rectified by a visit to the local western wear store for ½ of a pair of, say, Lucchese® 1883 Barnwood Tan Full Quill Ostrich Exotic R-Toe Western Boots.)

Coupled with the aforementioned immobile ankle these restrictions give me a very ungainly and idiosyncratic side to side motion while walking. I’m reminded of the old toy commercial with the theme song that went, “Weebles wobble but they don’t fall down.”  Well, so far I’ve been able to maintain the point of that theme.

All that to say, as I was relaying to dearly beloved the difficulty of walking in my current configuration, especially compared to the ease of transport provided by the “scooter,” I said something to the effect of, “I can walk but it sure is a lot more difficult and takes a whole lot more effort.

Her retort was something to the effect of “you may not be able to walk, but you rock.”  Somehow I don’t think her meaning was along the same lines as Janet’s.

Thank you honey.

Naghmeh's Song

Original song by Credenda

Go to SaveSaeed.org, and send Pastor Saeed your message today.

Learn how you can help be the voice for Saeed Abedini

"A state of mind that sees God in everything is evidence of growth in grace and a thankful heart."

~Charles Finney

 

 

 

 

 

Go to SaveSaeed.org, and send 

Pastor Saeed your message today.

 

Learn how you can help be the voice for Saeed Abedini