>> today on "christian world news" a mother fights for her life. why this pakistani christian got a death sentence for defending her faith. >> plus church attendance in england is on the decline. see how they are meeting the needs of their communities. >> and the gateway to typhoons, why the storm-ravaged area in the philippines the struging to recover and a team of doctors is showing the love of christ to those that need it the most. christians worldwide rally around a pakistani mother sentenced to death.

i am george thomas. >> and i am wendy griffith. asia bibi is a wife and mother and a christian in jail sentenced to death for blasphemying the prophet mohammed. believers around the world are taking action on her behalf. gary lane traveled to pakistan and brings us this exclusive interview with asia's husband and children. >> 10-year-old e sham and her sister play a popular pakistani board game with their father. one important part of their family game night is missing, their mother, asia bibi. she hasn't played with her daughters for two years. she is confined to a prison cell awaiting possible death. she was arrested in june 2009.

she was accused of insulting the prophet mohammed and arrested soon after. a low cool judge found her guilty and sentenced her to death by hanging. cbn news talked to her husband. >> how has this effected your faith? >> i was strong in my faith before this incident. after the incident, i am more encouraged. in my name you will face persecution. people will blame you and curse you. we are facing that. asia never left her faith. she is faithful and never denied her faith. >> asia's case has caused

turmoil in pakistan. two people that came to her defense were murdered. this man gunned down by his own bodyguard. murder now hailed a hero by muslim extremists. pakistani judge that found him guilty has had to flee for his life. asia's other advocate shabaz baty. he said he would prefer to die for his principles, including opposing sharia rather than give into the threats of islamists. >> i believe in jesus christ who has given his own life for us. i know what is the meaning of cross and i am following the cross and ready to die for a cause. >> her children have rarely seen

their mother. the bars of the prison cell keep them from hugging and kissing her. recently they were granted a visit outside her cell. >> this time we hugged and kissed momma. then momma and isa were both crying. i was encouraging mama, don't cry. god will help us. >> help is coming through prayer and advocacy and other believers around the world. more than 400,000 people have signed a petition asking the pakistani government to have mercy on asia bibi and release her from prison. call for mercy campaign sponsored by voice of the martyrs. they have asked to create a

video. here is a clip from the winning entry. >> her life on the line, we have a voice and with god we can achieve even the impossible. go to callformercy.com right now and sign a petition for asia bibi release. >> she said i pray for them that are signing and i hope i will be released soon. >> what does little isam say? >> i want to say thank you to the people who are signing. thank you very much you are doing so much for my mama. >> how can we pray for you? >> pray for us, pray for our family, pray for asia bibi that she may soon come back home and say thank you to the entire

world when she returns home. >> we know god is alive. we know he is with us. he will be with us forever! >> gary lane, cbn news, lahis or her, pakistan. >> joining us is paul marshal from the hudson institute and co-authored, silenced how apostasy codes are choking people worldwide. hundreds of thousands of people are signing a petition calling for her release. paul, do you think it is going to make any difference? >> i think it might make a difference. often what happens when these cases, under international pressure, the government looks for a way out. they are mentally unstable and smuggled out of the country.

that is not the best ending, we want freedom. i am hopeful she will not be executed. >> paul, in your book, western nations are inacting milder forms of blasphemy laws, tell us about that. >> often under pressure from muslim countries through international organization of islamic cooperation, they are pushing the west to adopt similar sorts of laws. in european countries or in places such as canada and austral australia, we are seeing similar laws in the west as well. >> what are the effects of these laws on western society? >> what happens is western countries, you know, starting to arrest people for things that say about islam. in austria, elizabeth wolf was convicted of insulting mohammed.

but actual religious offense. >> organization for islamic corporation, oaic, is it a specific country or other individuals behind these attempts to impose sharia law within these western societies? >> it is both, organization of islamic corporation has 56 muslim nations. in the united nations, for 20 years has been pushing to outlaw anything which could be thought as criticism of islam. which also includes criticism. if you criticize them, you are going against our religion. for them it is very much political control as well. >> any push back from the united states? white house pushing back?

>> very little. within the united nations. americans would resist and vote no against resolutions to out law defamations of religion. we have a situation in december, the united states government, state department, with the blessing of the president is planning to have a conference with the organization of islamic corporation about how we can cut down on what are called insults to islam in the west. why is, my question is why is the u.s. government cooperating with this reactionary organization whose leading members sentenced to death people for criticizing islam or in other cases imprez them. on this issue, this is a terrible organization. the u.s. should not be partnering with it at all. >> book is called silenced how

apostasy and blasphemy codes are choking the world. thanks for being on the broadcast. >> if you would like to sign the voice of the martyr's petition to help free asia bibi, you can go to cwnews.org. what to do about dwindling church attendance. how congregations in england are trying

>> anglican leaders in the united kingdom are concerned about the future of the church of england. the next 20 years decides if it dies out. >> peter wooding shows us some are not giving up without a

fight. >> reporter: anglican churches in england are struggling with the challenges of dwindling attendance. near nottinghamshire, services have dropped to 20 people, most retired. reverend tony walker says the biggest challenges that people no longer feel a commitment to be a regular part of the church community. >> plenty of people who see this as their children. it is their church they don't come to very often. they want it there for weddings and funerals and baptisms. church members are unhappy seeing it reduce to such low numbers. >> there is only a handful. that obviously makes you a little bit sad. >> a lot has to do with families not being as they were. so many other things.

when i was grow up, we all went to the family to church. now people seem to go shopping. >> anglican leaders have warned the church of england will cease to exist in 20 years. current generations dies. average age of its members is now 61. by 2020, the crisis of natural waste will lead to the numbers falling through the floor. warnings follow an internal report calling for urgent national recruitment drive to attract more members. the number of adult church goers has declined by 80 percent. many believe the key reason is an increasingly secular society that sees the church is irrelevant to young people. >> they have to open up to the 21st century. you have to have a kind of

worship that people will enjoy and want to come to. >> people perceive them to be hypocritical. i think the church needs to be honest and open with people. >> paul butler says the news isn't all bad. >> church of england is in fact growing in 1/3 of its churches across the board we are seeing growth in all age groups. we also do have a serious issue of some churches which are declining and have been declining quite seriously. we have a mixed scenario. some churches growing, some holding steady and some which are facing decline. >> some congregations fighting back refusing to let the churches die. they faced imminent closure. even the local muslim community

wanted to buy the building. reverend chris rogers has helped turn things around and churches multiplied tenfold to 1700 members. agenda was we are going to teach the good news and want is to be a church that is an explosion of joy and embodiment of good news. >> i think becoming part of the community has helped so, actually, going and meeting the people within the surrounding areas. >> i think it is a sense that they want to establish a community and believe the church should be part of the community and we are living our faith. >> peter wooding for cbn news. nottinghamshire, england. how a team from cbn is ministering to typhoon victims

in a remote town

>> recent flooding in el salvador, waters swept away entire crops, of corn, beans and rice. families fled as the rivers engulfed their homes, more than 6,000 people found safety but when the flood waters overwhelmed shelters, nearby churches opened their doors. >> we appreciate it greatly. that is the supportive spirit of the evangelical churches. we have a a lot of evangelical churches functioning as shelters. they have joined in with family to care for their brothers. >> to see people who were

flooded, they were cold. we couldn't resist. this is a time when you don't work with the mind but you work with the heart. >> relief organizations including operation blessing distributed food, bags full of beans, flour, corn, salt and rice. doctors provided care to patients. rebuilding with will take time. flooding brought losses to 278,000 farmers in el salvador. back to back typhoons ravaged the typhoons. they couldn't receive aid because of bad roads. cbn went to help the people, some of who had never seen a real doctor. here is asian correspondent lucille talusan. >> reporter: province of arrow ra of the philippines could be the gateway to typhoons. for that reason, the roads are

bad making travel difficult. in the recent storm, part of a major bridge was washed away by strong currents making it even harder for disaster relief to get here. despite this, a cbn team drove 16 hours in ruff terrain crossing mountains and streams to bring medical help to the typhoon victims in the distant town of aurora. >> the medical team is serving more than 600 families, a lot of men, women, children and babies. this is the first time they have been attended to by a real doctor. >> this family were among the first to come to the medical mission. they belong to the indigenous tribe called the demagas. it is unusual for them to come here. they feel inferior compared to the people living in the low land. their outlook and low image

changed when church plantar edwardo explained god created them equally with the people of the low land. >> i began sharing the gospel in 2001. in 2009 all of them believed god was real. >> the pastor said god owns our life, so we should honor god. i stopped drinking. >> he is grateful his family can get medical care despite difficult circumstances. >> i am thankful the doctor can check our baby. thank you for the medicine, your team saved our life. >> humedica, a german christian

disaster relief organization partnered with cbn to give aid to the people. >> awill the of partners all over the world. working with cbn is easy. they are providing the basic foundation for our work and we can focus on the medical disaster aid. they have good knowledge about the people living here, what they need, their medical status and also they have a church network, a lot of pastors communicating to them. >> cbn conducted the medical missions to 20 other villages in aurora, serving thousands of families demonstrating god's love is not hinders by long distances.

>> recently i met an 84-year-old new york woman who has spent her time ministering to people. >> you'll find 84-year-old erma who has dedicated her life to

showing people the true life of the world. >> i understand you have been ministering to people for 40 years, why? >> god told me. >> she has been a new yorker since 1964, the brazilian native still struggles with her english. that hasn't stopped her from coming here night after night to hand out tracks, pray and witness for christ. >> time square might seem like an unlikely place to eval generalize. erma says it is the perfect place. >> the hardest part is winter. >> when it is cold out. >> it makes me froze, i have to go home. >> so you read the bible, read the bible, believe in jesus -->> both young and old stop to talk to her who draws people in with

her eyes. she says time square has changed dramatically and replaced by tourist-friendly shops and restaurants. she says there are no time for rest. although she admitted to getting tired sometimes, she says there is much work to be done and many souls still to be won. >> see you in heaven. [laughter]. >> 40 years ks she is 84. >> she has been out there night after night and hardly missed a night in 40 years. she says the lord doesn't want her to give up. >> there is a clear message to all our gray-haired friends around the world, lif living

example sharing the gospel of jesus christ.