A member of a royal family in the Middle East is now in prison and facing a death sentence because of his faith in Christ.

High-ranking authorities reportedly ordered the man to give up his faith, but he would not do it. Instead, he clung to Jesus and even gave his support to Christian ministries that were doing evangelism work in the country, according to Bibles4Mideast.

Bibles4Mideast is a ministry that plants churches and distributes Bibles in the most restricted countries in the Middle East, Asia and Africa. It is led by Pastor Paul Siniraj, a former Muslim from India whose eyes were opened to the gospel many years ago and has committed himself to the underground work of reaching out to people of other faith.

“The topmost people asked him to give up that faith. But he did not want to leave his faith. And he gave encouragement for Christian ministries,” the ministry reported.

The man’s refusal to give up Christianity led the authorities to dig up a crime he committed many years ago, one that he had already confessed and repented of. They used it to file a criminal case against him, making sure he would land in prison and be given the capital punishment.

They also hid the truth about his conversion.

Bibles4Mideast likened the man’s case to that of Christ himself, who was crucified even though the authorities could not find any fault in him. Like Pilate who ordered Jesus’ crucifixion because he feared the crowd and did not want to risk cutting off his ties with Caesar, officials in the country where the man lived acted the same way: they chose to please the people and to hold on to their positions.

Apparently, the man was not the only member of the royal family who had turned his back on Islam to follow Jesus. There were also others, some of whom had been martyred for their faith.

Just recently, another male member of the family was thrown into prison for embracing Christianity and leaving Islam. Others had received death threats.

Bibles4Mideast said they had been praying about the man’s case for months, but they took precautions and did not let the word out for security reasons. However, believing that “the blood of Jesus is the seed of the church,” they finally posted the story about him on their website so others would also pray for him.

Bibles4Mideast asked believers all over the world to pray for the man and other members of the royal family who had become targets of persecution because of their conversion to Christianity.

“Pray for the victims that our Lord Jesus may protect them in His Mighty Hands,” Bibles4Mideast said. They also asked for prayers for those involved in the ministry and the work that they are doing in the region.