AUSTRALIAN PRAYER NETWORK NEWSLETTER * NEW PRESIDENT OF SOUTH KOREA AN OUTSPOKEN COMMITTED CHRISTIAN * KENYAN CHILDREN PRAY FOR THEIR COUNTRY AND GET MIRACULOUS RESULTS * CHAD: ISLAMIC JIHADIST COUP POSES MAJOR THREAT * GAZA BELIEVERS, IN FEAR, CONTINUE TO PROCLAIM JESUS * BIBLES CONFISCATED AT AIRPORT IN MALAYSIA * NEW DRAFT LAW PROPOSING DEATH PENALTY FOR APOSTASY IN IRAN ----------------------------------------------- NEW PRESIDENT OF SOUTH KOREA AN OUTSPOKEN COMMITTED CHRISTIAN The new president-elect of South Korea, Lee Myungbak, is a committed Christian. As mayor of Seoul in 2004, Myungbak declared: "Ideclare that the City of Seoul is a holy place governed by God; the citizens in Seoul are God's people; the churches and Christians in Seoul are spiritual guards that protect the city...I now dedicate Seoul to the Lord." Myungbak was born into a devout Christian family and later became an elder in his church. His unconcealed Christian faith could have undermined his presidential candidacy because South Korea historically has a huge Buddhist population, in spite of the very aggressive evangelism outreach of Christians, seen in its recent history. Koreans generally have a positive image of Christianity, particularly after the Korean War in the 1950s when American church groups and missionaries helped the poverty-stricken nation by providing food, setting up hospitals and schools. During the dictatorship period under President Park Chung-hee, church leaders fought for the nation's democracy. And many Christians volunteered to hand in their gold and other jewellery in a mass effort to bail out the bankrupt nation during the Asian financial crisis in 1997-98." The president-elect attends the Somang Presbyterian church. Some non-Christian detractors are already complaining, saying that the new government should be called the "Somang government" after the name of the church, but ironically, the word somang means "hope" in Korean. Pray that this new president will allow God to use him to achieve His purposes. Source: Asia Times ----------------------------------------------- KENYAN CHILDREN PRAY FOR THEIR COUNTRY AND GET MIRACULOUS RESULTS "Father, our country is in trouble. We pray for peace to come," an 11-year-old boy prays. "Protect us and teach people to love one another and not to fight anymore." For the last two weeks children in this small slum area have gathered to pray for their country. "The church's pastor says the children started gathering on their own, so he let them in the church. The daily prayer meeting now attracts more than 200 children ranging in age from three to 17." Ever since the children started praying there have been no deaths, houses burned or even violence in their section of this slum. Adults recite this fact in amazement. To the children, however, it's exactly what they expected to happen. "Pastor told us that there is power in prayer 12-year-old Boniface explains.. "He said we can change the country through prayer, so that is what we are doing." He prays for President Mwai Kibaki and opposition leader Raila Odinga to sit at one table and talk peacefully. Another young boy prays for the people hurting others who are not from the same tribe, referring to reports of ethnic animosity throughout the country. He asks God to help them all to be brothers and sisters. When it's time for the "babies" to pray, a four-year-old clasps his hands and closes his eyes so tight that his face scrunches up. "God, people die," he says in prayer. "Please do not let anyone die in front of my house." As soon as 'amen" is said the church buzzes with little voices and bottled-up energy spurts out freely. Laughing and holding hands, the children rush into the rain and head home. The rain itself is an answer to prayer." The children had prayed about a three-day countrywide protest called by the opposition party. They had asked God to take control and keep people from dying. Because of the rains, turnout for the protest was much smaller than expected. While there was still a lot of property damage, it was much less than predicted. Death tolls for the week were the lowest since the incidents started. "See," seven-year-old Natasha whistles through her missing two front teeth, "God answers prayers." Source: Assist News ----------------------------------------------- CHAD: ISLAMIC JIHADIST COUP POSES MAJOR THREAT Chad is a religious fault-line nation in central Africa. The Muslims (55 percent) live mostly in the north while the non-Muslims - Christians (28 percent) and followers of African traditional religions (16 percent) - live in the south. During the colonial era, the northerners resisted French rule and the southerners did not, so while the north was wracked with fighting, the south developed an economy and civil administration. Historically the northerners had enslaved the southerners but after independence (1960) southerners dominated the government. By 1965 disaffected northern Muslims had started revolting and eventually civil war erupted. France sided with the government, but after Colonel Gaddafi came to power in Libya in 1969 he backed the Muslim insurgents. By 1979 Chad was effectively (but not legally) partitioned. Libya had annexed the uranium-rich Aouzou strip, with Muslim forces controlling the capital, N'Djamena, and eventually the government, business and the military as well. Chad's current president, Idriss Deby, a former military colonel of the Sudan-based, Libyan-backed Patriotic Salvation Movement, seized power in 1990 in a military coup, ostensibly to advance democracy. While Chad is officially a democratic, secular state with religious liberty, Deby's regime is repressive, dictatorial, tribalist and corrupt. On Saturday 2 February, rebels attacked the Chadian capital of N'Djamena. These rebels are being sponsored by Khartoum and Saudi Arabia to effect regime change in Chad and install a pro-Arab Islamist regime that will be loyal to Khartoum and thus resistant to 'occupation' by 'infidels'. If these rebels are successful in taking N'Djamena it will be a major coup for Sudan, Wahhabi Islam and Arabism, with Libya possibly benefiting also. It would be a crushing blow for liberty and security in Chad and the wider region and would doubtless herald an era of unprecedented persecution for the Chadian church. Source: Intercessors Network ----------------------------------------------- GAZA BELIEVERS, IN FEAR, CONTINUE TO PROCLAIM JESUS Hundreds of people crowded around a small stage on the sidewalk in Bethlehem. Traffic slowed not only to dodge those dancing in the street but so passengers could listen to the musicians publicly proclaiming God's love for the nations. A visiting Gaza woman nervously looked around, checking the crowd for troublemakers at the outdoor praise and worship concert by Bethlehem Bible College students. "We couldn't do something like this in Gaza. People are always watching," she whispered, afraid someone might hear. "Ever since our dear brother was killed for his faith, Gaza Christians live in fear." Rami Ayyad, a prominent Baptist, was kidnapped and found dead less than a mile from a Christian bookstore he managed for the Palestinian Bible Society. Officials say there has been no progress in the investigation of the October incident. The bookstore was bombed last April but no one was injured. Life has been increasingly difficult for Christians in Gaza since Hamas seized control of the coastal strip last June. Attacks against Christians have been rare; however, the Baptist community has been a target for extremists because of its evangelical work. (bpnews 2/6/08) Source: Intercessors for America ----------------------------------------------- BIBLES CONFISCATED AT AIRPORT IN MALAYSIA A customs officer has confiscated two boxes containing 32 Bibles from a Christian woman in the Kuala Lumpur airport as she was returning from the Philippines. When the officer asked Juliana Nichols to open the boxes she was carrying and declare their contents, she produced a letter from her parish priest stating that the English Bibles were meant for use in her church. The officer told her that the texts needed to be cleared with the Internal Security Ministry's Control Division of Publications and Al-Quran Texts and seized them. The General Secretary of the Council of Churches of Malaysia, Reverend Hermen Shastri, issued a press statement on February 4 that called for the immediate release of the Bibles and asked for an official apology from the Royal Malaysian Customs Department. "The Council of Churches is flabbergasted that such acts are happening in our country with such frequency and impunity," said Shastri. "We want to state categorically that the Bible is Holy Scripture for Christians.... No authority on earth should deny Christians the right to possess, read and travel with their Bibles." The Bibles have since been returned to Nichols, according to reports received this week. This is only the most recent in a number of troubling incidents in Malaysia that would seem to signal a declining level of religious liberty for religious minorities. Pray that freedom of religion will be upheld for all people in Malaysia. Pray that Christians in Malaysia will rest in the promises of God's provision and strength as they serve Him amid rising opposition. Source: Voice of the Martyrs ----------------------------------------------- NEW DRAFT LAW PROPOSING DEATH PENALTY FOR APOSTASY IN IRAN The Iranian Parliament is reviewing a bill that legislates the death penalty for apostasy, according to a report from the Institute on Religion and Public Policy. The draft law, which defines an apostate as "any Muslim who clearly announces that he/she has left Islam," is clearly aimed to deter conversion from Islam. The proposal contravenes Article 18 of the United Nations' Universal Declaration of Human Rights (of which Iran is a signatory) that states, "Everyone has the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion; this right includes freedom to change his religion or belief." Pray for strength, wisdom, and grace for Iranian Christians as they continue to spread the Gospel despite sustained pressure from the Islamic government of the nation. Ask God to frustrate the attempts of those who hinder the expansion of His Kingdom. Despite tremendous oppression in Iran, many are coming to Christ. Source: Voice of the Martyrs
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