Persecution Update: Pay a Fee, Become Muslim or Be Killed; Obama Signed Congressional Passed Bill for Envoy for Religious Liberties but Left Position Vacant; Satellite TV Brings Gospel to Iran; Sudanese Pastors Face Death; a Man from Chad Sees Egyptian Christians' Faith and Dies with Them as New Believer

ISIS to Mosul's Christians:

"Pay a fee, become Muslims or be killed"

Iranian viewers' testimonies of SAT-7 TV

Two Presbyterian Pastors Face Death Penalty in Sudan, Persecuted for Their Christian Faith

"Almost all pastors have gone to jail under the government of Sudan. We have been stoned and beaten. This is their habit to pull down the church. We are not surprised. This is the way they deal with the church."

"This case in particular, we feel the charges are trumped up. These are just good citizens practicing their Christian faith, but the Sudanese government is using any tactic they can to push Christianity out of the market place and out of daily life, and unfortunately they are having some success," he said.

People of the Cross
From the article:  For Mary Sameh George, a 25-year-old Christian girl from Cairo; the cross would cost her very life. In March of 2014 she was attacked and killed after pro-Muslim Brotherhood supporters noticed her gold cross necklace. Her fiancé's mother was so overcome with grief that she died shortly after learning of Mary's brutal death.

Also:  While it was reported that all of the men where Coptic Christians from poor villages in Upper Egypt; it was later discovered that this wasn't the case. One of the men martyred that day was identified as Mathew Ayairga; a young man from Chad. He is believed to not have been a Christian before kneeling in the sand beside the 'people of the cross.' Witnessing the courage and faith of the Egyptian Christians he also chose to follow Jesus. Mere moments before Matthew was executed, His executors are seen asking "Do you reject Christ?" His reply was "Their God is my God." Matthew joined his brothers that day — and laid his life down alongside them. He and the other 20 men joined the ranks of those of whom the world is not worthy.

Ask President Obama to take immediate action for persecuted Christians by appointing a Special Envoy for Religious Minorities in the Near East and South Central Asia within the US State Department. Congress passed the Special Envoy bill last summer, and President Obama signed it into law. But since then, the position has been left vacant.