by Russell Board<\/p>\n
Thousands of Pakistani Christians gathered in Karachi on December 21<\/span>st<\/span><\/sup>, preparing gifts and costumes, and decorating floats using wagons, trucks, and camels. On the following day, a grand procession passed through the major streets of the capital city, a public celebration of Christmas in the Islamic Republic of Pakistan!<\/span><\/p>\n Rev. Asher Mansha leads the IPHC work in Pakistan, which is registered as Christ Holiness Church. Asher served on the organizing committee for this historic event, and he rode with his fellow leaders on the huge truck leading the parade. More than 100 believers, dressed as Santas, passed among the traffic and the crowds sharing holiday greetings and special gifts. <\/span><\/p>\n Tragically, several hundred Christians in Pakistan have been killed or injured this year in well-publicized attacks by extremists. The city government approved this Christmas Rally as a public testimony to constitutionally recognized religious freedom, and provided police protection for the event, which by God\u2019s grace was completed without incident. <\/span><\/p>\n The rally was promoted on Shine Star TV, a newly established television broadcast ministry founded and led by Asher. The US Consulate General in Karachi posted a report and photos of the event on its Facebook page<\/a>, and BBC reporter Catrin Nye posted a video on her Twitter account<\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n In spite of the real climate of danger for believers in many areas of this country, Asher is encouraged by a renewed desire among government authorities to proclaim and protect religious freedom. He and other Christian leaders were invited to a special meeting with the Prime Minister at the President\u2019s House in Islamabad on Christmas Day. <\/span><\/p>\n Asher believes that 2017 will provide new opportunities for Christians in Pakistan to show themselves to be a People of Promise creating a Place of Hope in this nation. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" by Russell Board Thousands of Pakistani Christians gathered in Karachi on December 21st, preparing gifts and costumes, and decorating floats using wagons, trucks, and camels. On the following day, a…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":15,"featured_media":1362,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[170,1],"tags":[205,204,198,196,197],"class_list":{"0":"post-1358","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-phpp","8":"category-uncategorized","9":"tag-205","10":"tag-january","11":"tag-people-of-promise","12":"tag-phpp","13":"tag-place-of-hope","14":"entry"},"title_es":"Santas brindan esperanza para los cristianos paquistan\u00edes","content_es":"por la Junta de Russell\r\n Miles de cristianos paquistan\u00edes se reunieron en Karachi el 21 de diciembre,<\/span><\/sup><\/span><\/span> preparando regalos y disfraces, carrozas y decorar usando carros, camiones, y camellos. Al d\u00eda siguiente, una gran procesi\u00f3n pas\u00f3 por las principales calles de la capital, una celebraci\u00f3n p\u00fablica de Navidad en la Rep\u00fablica Isl\u00e1mica de Pakist\u00e1n!<\/span><\/p>\r\n Rev. Asher Mansha dirige el trabajo de la IISP en Pakist\u00e1n, que se coloca como la Iglesia de Cristo de Santidad. Asher sirvi\u00f3 en el comit\u00e9 organizador de este evento hist\u00f3rico, y \u00e9l mont\u00f3 con sus compa\u00f1eros l\u00edderes en el enorme cami\u00f3n que lleva el desfile. M\u00e1s de 100 fieles, vestidos como Santas, pasaron entre el tr\u00e1fico y la multitud compartiendo felicitaciones y regalos especiales.<\/span><\/p>\r\n Tr\u00e1gicamente, varios cientos de cristianos en Pakist\u00e1n han sido muertos o heridos este a\u00f1o en ataques muy publicitados de los extremistas. El gobierno de la ciudad aprob\u00f3 este rally de Navidad como un testimonio p\u00fablico a la libertad religiosa constitucionalmente reconocido, y proporcion\u00f3 protecci\u00f3n policial para el evento, que por la gracia de Dios se complet\u00f3 sin incidentes.<\/span><\/p>\r\n La manifestaci\u00f3n fue promovido el brillo de la estrella de televisi\u00f3n, un ministerio de difusi\u00f3n de televisi\u00f3n de reciente creaci\u00f3n fundada y dirigida por Asher. Los EE.UU. consulado general en Karachi ha publicado un informe y fotos del evento en su p\u00e1gina de Facebook<\/a> , y el reportero de la BBC Catrin Nye public\u00f3 un video en su cuenta de Twitter<\/a> .<\/span><\/p>\r\n A pesar del clima real de peligro para los creyentes en muchas \u00e1reas de este pa\u00eds, Asher est\u00e1 animado por un deseo renovado entre las autoridades gubernamentales para anunciar y proteger la libertad religiosa. \u00c9l y otros l\u00edderes cristianos fueron invitados a una reuni\u00f3n especial con el Primer Ministro en la casa del Presidente en Islamabad el d\u00eda de Navidad.<\/span><\/p>\r\n Asher cree que 2017 ofrecer\u00e1 nuevas oportunidades para los cristianos en Pakist\u00e1n para demostrar que son un pueblo de la promesa que crean un lugar de esperanza en esta naci\u00f3n.<\/span><\/p>","author_name":"","jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/iphc.org\/missions\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2017\/01\/pakistan-article.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pb62Ar-lU","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/iphc.org\/missions\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1358","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/iphc.org\/missions\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/iphc.org\/missions\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/iphc.org\/missions\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/15"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/iphc.org\/missions\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1358"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/iphc.org\/missions\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1358\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/iphc.org\/missions\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1362"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/iphc.org\/missions\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1358"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/iphc.org\/missions\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1358"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/iphc.org\/missions\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1358"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}