AUSTRALIAN PRAYER NETWORK NEWSLETTER * CHRISTIAN PERSECUTION RIFE IN TROUBLE TORN BURMA * AUSTRALIANS JOIN CHRISTIANS FROM 49 NATIONS IN UN PRAYER INITIATIVE * DREAM ABOUT COW TURNS VILLAGE TO CHRIST IN INDIA * BRITAIN INSISTS GUEST HOUSE OWNERS TREAT HOMOSEXUAL COUPLES THE SAME AS MARRIED COUPLES * DOES GOD ANSWER PRAYER FOR HEALING? * HIGHEST COURT IN FRANCE UPHOLDS TRADITIONAL MARRIAGE ----------------------------------------------- CHRISTIAN PERSECUTION RIFE IN TROUBLE TORN BURMA Editors note: We apologise for the length of this report however we believe it is important to provide the kind of information we are doing which is not readily available through the secular media. The US State Department lists Burma as a "Country of Particular Concern" for severe violations of religious freedom. Burma (renamed Myanmar by the ruling military junta against the wishes of the people), is a Buddhist-dominated country with close to 90 percent of its 54 million people being Buddhist. Religious persecution is linked to the current military government that has governed without a constitution or legislature since 1988.Burma does not have a state religion, but in practice promotes the Theravada line of Buddhism, and persecutes ethnic Christian and Muslim minorities as well as those belonging to certain sects of Buddhism. Christians form about six percent of the total population or 3.24 million and include mainly Baptists, Anglicans and Roman Catholics. Christianity is the dominant religion among certain ethnic groups of the country, such as the Kachin in the North, and the Chin and Naga in the west. Amongst the Karen and Karenni ethnic groups in the southern and eastern regions, Christianity is widely practiced, though it is not a dominant religion."In Burma all religious organizations have to register with the Government. The government monitors meetings and activities of religious organizations and actively discourages minority religious groups. The government bans the importation of the Bible in indigenous languages and enforces restrictions on local publication of the Bible and Christian publications. The government has not allowed permanent foreign religious missions to operate in the country since the mid-1960s, when it expelled most foreign missionaries and nationalized all private schools and hospitals. Christian groups have brought in foreign clergy and religious workers for visits as tourists, but have been careful to ensure that the Government did not perceive their activities as proselytizing.Non-Buddhists are rarely promoted to upper levels in government jobs. Christian military officers who aspired for promotion beyond the rank of major are "encouraged" to convert to Buddhism. Commenting on the current crisis a senior Burmese intelligence official who has defected, claims thousands of protesters are dead and the bodies of hundreds of executed monks have been dumped in the jungle. Other exiles reaching the frontier with Thailand confirm that hundreds of monks have simply "disappeared". Others hiding along the Burma border say thousands of monks had been locked up and were being beaten inside blood-stained temples. One of the biggest challenges in reporting on Burma is trying to understand what the country's rulers really think. The regime is essentially a secretive group of 12 generals called the State Peace and Development Council (SPDC). Very few foreigners know what is really happening at the upper echelons of Burma's closed, xenophobic and vehemently anti-Western regime. Its fierce nationalism is reinforced by the sense that Burma is threatened by imperialism from abroad and ethnic rebels from within.The generals' bunker-mentality has been in place since 1962 when they took power from Burma's last democratically-elected government. The top generals have dug themselves deeper into isolation in recent years, following an internal power struggle between military intelligence and the hard men of the army. The generals are not only brutal and insular but increasingly rich. While most people survive on as little as $1 a day, Burma's top leaders control, or at least receive a cut, from all major business in the country. The profits from Burma's vast natural resources finance a lavish lifestyle for the generals at the top. Despite the dodgy deals there are many eager to do business with the regime. China wants strategic minerals, oil and gas, raw materials. That upsets India, which tries to counter that influence. The ruling junta plays them off against each other with relative skill. China has for years provided international diplomatic cover for Burma's regime. It has repeatedly vetoed attempts to have Burma even discussed in the United Nations Security Council. But the beating and shooting of monks and protesters on the streets of Rangoon may now change that, especially as China is seeking the international respectability it so desperately craves from next year's Beijing Olympics.In a telephone call from within Burma Christians have told of how they are subject to a curfew, only being allowed out of their homes from 6 A M to 9 A.M daily. Emails are not working and people cannot go out in groups of more than 3 as soldiers have been ordered to fire shots at people who are out in the streets in groups of 4 or more.Those who have made contact with the outside world report they can hear gunshots and bomb explosions everywhere. Churches are not holding services as it is too dangerous to gather in one place. Food is not an immediate problem with enough supplies in hand for one month. The rice supply is ok for 4 months. In the meantime the Australian Government is contributing $3 million to the World Food Programme's emergency appeal for Burma. It will also give funds to CARE Australia ($800,000) and the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees ($500,000) to support basic health, water and sanitation for vulnerable people. Total Australian aid to Burma is an estimated $14 million in 2007-08. Source: Intercessors Network ----------------------------------------------- AUSTRALIANS JOIN CHRISTIANS FROM 49 NATIONS IN UN PRAYER INITIATIVE Some 450 Christian leaders from 50 nations, including 30 child intercessors took part in the recent United Nations Prayer Initiative and Prayer Cruise around Manhattan. Australia was represented by a team from the Australian Prayer Network including our National Coordinator Brian Pickering and Pastor Ben Gray from the National leadership team and two other Intercessors, together with Children's Prayer Network Co-ordinator Jane Mackie and two members of her network.Twenty five ambassadors, including the ambassador who now leads the organization that monitors the Millennium Development Goals, joined in the initiative. One UN official said, "An event like this has never happened in the history of the UN." Others described the initiative as having been truly "historic" and having a "world impact".One of the delegates present added: "It was amazing to see so many ambassadors attend, engage and receive personal prayer. I don't think the UN will ever be the same. Jesus Christ was surely present at this influential international gathering. An ambassador from a Muslim country said that he was "deeply moved" and wanted to be part of any future similar prayer events. As another delegate said "God was glorified and Satan lost ground!" There is no question that the Lord gave great favour, and those present believe there will be open doors for the future as He leads His Church to further engage through prayer with this significant world body.For those present one of the joys of the initiative was working with other Christian organizations whose ministries involve them in working on an ongoing basis within the UN. Two of the organizations who were part of the initiative, Christian Embassy and Christian Ministries to the United Nations, bring together many diplomats for an annual prayer breakfast that happens inside the UN at the start of each sitting year.Whilst many see the United Nations as being firmly in the grip of anti-Christian forces, it seems that God has not given up on reforming this potentially powerful international body by bringing it under His Lordship. Let us continue to pray He has His way amongst all the nations of the world represented in that body and upon and through the United Nations itself. Source: Australian Prayer Network ----------------------------------------------- DREAM ABOUT COW TURNS VILLAGE TO CHRIST IN INDIA A Christian lady in Jaipur, India, had a dream about a cow. In the dream she was seeing the cow being bound to a pole. The cow made a terrible sound as if in great pain crying for help. Then she was given the name of the district and the name of the village.She had never heard of the village before, but the following day she asked the milkman if he knew about any village with that name in the district she was given. He knew the place and told her how to get there.She went by bus to the village the very same day. Arriving in the village she started to talk to people asking them if they knew of any cow in trouble in the village. Then they told of a cow that had been making noise several days. She asked them to take her to the cow and they did. The cow looked exactly as she had seen in the dream and was making a terrible loud sound as if in great pain and crying for help.The lady approached the cow, laid her hands upon it and prayed for it. The cow was instantly healed and calmed down. The villagers were amazed at this miracle. Then the lady shared the good news of the Kingdom of God and the love of Jesus Christ. The message she brought went straight to the hearts of the villagers and they received it gladly. They prepared a nice meal for her and asked her to stay for a while to tell them more about this God who loved people and even cared for their cow. Source: Mission Without Borders ----------------------------------------------- BRITAIN INSISTS GUEST HOUSE OWNERS TREAT HOMOSEXUAL COUPLES THE SAME AS MARRIED COUPLES Muslim or Christian guest house owners who refuse to accept homosexual couples must impose a "sleeping together ban" on all other guests, the Government says. Meg Munn, a junior minister, has emphasised that it is illegal to allow married couples to share a room at a guest house or hotel while not allowing homosexuals the same right. If homosexuals are turned away, the only way a Christian or Muslim guest house owner can lawfully stay in business is if he or she offers single bedrooms to all guests - straight or homosexual. Miss Munn said a wedding photographer who refused a homosexual wedding booking should take up portrait photography instead, while a chauffeur who declined to work with homosexuals must specialise in corporate travel. The remarks raise concerns that legislation on equality, which came into effect in April, means people with strongly-held and genuine religious beliefs are being forced to condone homosexuality. Norman Wells, the director of Family Education Trust, said: "To tell guest house owners who object to offering a double room to a same-sex couple that they must offer only single rooms is in effect to tell them, if they won't conform to the Government's new morality, they must face going out of business." Source: Telegraph UK ------------------------------------------- DOES GOD ANSWER PRAYER FOR HEALING? The answer is "yes." David R. Hodge, an assistant professor of social work in the College of Human Services at Arizona State University, conducted a comprehensive analysis of 17 major studies on the effects of intercessory prayer -- or prayer that is offered for the benefit of another person. He found a positive effect.Hodge's work is featured in Research on Social Work Practice, a disciplinary journal devoted to the publication of empirical research on practice outcomes. "This is the most thorough and all-inclusive study of its kind on this subject that I am aware of," said Hodge. "It suggests that more research on the topic may be warranted, and that praying for people with psychological or medical problems may help them recover." Whilst the analysis indicates that prayer is effective the study concluded that patients should not be treated only by prayer. Standard medical treatments should be used as the primary method of treatment." Source: Science Daily ----------------------------------------------- HIGHEST COURT IN FRANCE UPHOLDS TRADITIONAL MARRIAGE France's highest court has upheld the decision of a lower court and rejected the 2004 'marriage' of two homosexual men. The court declared the marriage annulled: "Under French law, marriage is a union between a man and a woman." The decision came as a result of a year-long commission called Information Mission, which investigated where, if at all, French law should be updated to better protect the rights of children and to reflect changes in the French family. The report arguing that due to the procreative nature of marriage, natural marriage must be preserved. In deciding against homosexual marriage and adoption the court ruled that children rights had primacy over adults aspirations." Source: LifeSiteNews
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