AUSTRALIAN PRAYER NETWORK NEWSLETTER * YOUNG GIRL HEALED FROM CRIPPLING DISEASES * CHIEF TORTURER IN KHMER ROUGE NOW PREACHES THE GOSPEL * THE CONTINUING THREAT OF ISLAM * MORE THAN 63,000 FEARED DEAD IN BURMA FROM DEVASTATING CYCLONE * CAMBODIA BANS CHRISTIAN EVANGELISM * UNITED METHODISTS VOTE TO UPHOLD TRADITIONAL MARRIAGE ----------------------------------------------- YOUNG GIRL HEALED FROM CRIPPLING DISEASES Reports of amazing healings taking place are coming in from Lakeland in Florida. One such report centres around a 14-year-old girl, Kelsey Hays, who was healed from multiple immune diseases. Kelsey's mother, Lesley, said that at the age of 9, Kelsey was diagnosed with Hashimoto's disease, an immune related thyroid condition. Later she acquired Hepatitis C, which her mother says she "fought off," but in the process it left her body weakened and subject to other immunological diseases. In October last year, Kelsey fell victim to a variety of increasingly serious illnesses. Her gall bladder was removed and during the surgery doctors noticed that her liver was scarred and infected. Later, the infection entered the lining of her stomach and attacked her central nervous system. By April, she was in continual, intense, and severely crippling pain, taking up to 30 pills a day to try and manage it. Kelsey had a significant vision on Easter Saturday this year. In the vision, Kelsey said she found herself connected to an IV, standing before the Throne of God. Jesus came down and cut the IV tube and then God the Father came down, removed the IV from her hand, took off her hospital gown and said, "It's done!" (The day after the vision, noted Lesley, was the worst day of pain Kelsey had ever had.) Someone at the Hays' church suggested they take Kelsey to Lakelands where there had been reports of miracles happening at a Healing Crusade being run there. By the time Kelsey and her parents arrived at the Church in Lakeland it was 6:00 in the evening. The lines of people stretching for blocks outside of the church told them that it was filled to capacity and they would not be able to get in. Standing in the crowd, the Hays heard story after story of healings and miracles happening even to those not present in the meetings. Somehow, Lesley and Kelsey were finally able to get in but Mr. Hays remained outside. Kelsey was in so much pain and so fatigued she couldn't walk. Her mother literally dragged, and half carried, her up to the only space available in the balcony. It's all they could do, she said. Standing next to them were a man and woman; complete strangers. The woman turned to Kelsey and said, "I believe God wants to give you new organs." (Kelsey's gall bladder had been removed.) The man looked at Lesley and said, "I just saw you in a dream recently. I saw myself carrying your daughter down to the stage to get prayer." Even though at the time testimonies were being taken from people who had been healed, the man offered to help take Kelsey down to get prayer. Lesley, unfamiliar with the type of meeting she was in, was afraid of breaking protocol and hesitated. Moments later, the testimonies were stopped and the ministry leader Todd Bentley said, "I see someone with an IV pain drip in their left arm. Who is that?" Remembering Kelsey's vision of standing before the throne with her IV, her mother took up the man's offer. He carried Kelsey down to the stage. Todd prayed a simple prayer, touched Kelsey's forehead and she fell out under the power of the Spirit for about 45 minutes, said Lesley. According to her mother, Kelsey said while she was "out" she was taken to Heaven. She found herself in a celestial surgical room where Jesus stood next to her looking down at her, directly face-to-face. He said to her, "Keep your eyes on me, Kelsey. It'll be ok." She saw angels all around her; she felt them kneading her stomach, doing deep massage on her entire body, especially her legs and arms which had been so weak. When Kelsey finally came to and stood up, Todd asked her how she felt. "I feel nothing," said Kelsey. "I feel NO PAIN!" At the time of writing this article, it has been four days since Kelsey has experienced God's extraordinary touch of healing and she is still without pain. She's feeling just like a 14-year old should feel. Such is the healing power of God. Source: Breaking Christian News ----------------------------------------------- CHIEF TORTURER IN KHMER ROUGE NOW PREACHES THE GOSPEL The Khmer Rouge was one of the most evil regimes of the past century. It was a Maoist guerrilla group run by a despot named Pol Pot. They overthrew the Cambodian government in 1975 before falling in to the Vietnamese in 1979. During their reign of terror they brutally massacred nearly 2 million people. After their overthrow, the Khmer Rouge returned to the jungles and fought the Vietnamese occupiers until they withdrew in 1989. The Khmer then disbanded and its members moved back into Cambodian society where many of its former leaders still walk free. The International community has repeatedly encouraged Cambodia deal with its dark history. Finally after nearly 30 years, the government said it will hold trials in 2008 to bring to justice those responsible. One who has already faced justice is Khang Khek Ieu. Ieu was leader of the Khmer Rouge's secret police and oversaw the country's notorious prison camp system used to torture and execute those considered enemies of the state. Christopher LaPel - a Cambodian pastor, was involved in a leadership seminar where he met a man, named Hang Pin who had been encouraged to attend the meetings by a friend. LaPel described him as withdrawn and gaunt. Hang made a commitment to Christ and was baptized. After his conversion, Hang Pin returned to his village and started a church. On the other side of Cambodia journalist Nic Dunlop, was reporting on its Khmer Rouge past. In a museum he saw a picture of the camp commander - Ieu.. He obtained a copy of it and kept it in his wallet thinking it might prove useful in identifying Ieu if he ever came across him. In 1999, Dunlop met Hang Pin in a village in Western Cambodia. Based on the photo, Dunlop was convinced he had found Ieu and struck up a conversation with him. He told the journalist of his conversion and his desire to start a school and a church in the community. He asked him if he ever worked for the Khmer Rouge secret police. Dunlop said Hang Pin deflected the question stating he currently worked with ARC and was translating school text books. He asked the question twice more and finally Hang Pin paused and said, "It is God's will you are here. I have done very bad things in my life," he told them. "Now is the time to bear the consequences of my actions." Dunlop said Ieu confessed fully to his involvement with the secret police. After Dunlop and Thayer broke the news they had found the infamous commander, Ieu went into hiding for a couple days before finally turning himself in to the police. Dunlop has no doubt that Ieu's commitment to Christ played a big part in his confession and arrest. To date, Ieu is the only major leader of the Khmer Rouge to confess to his crimes. Ieu has been in prison since 1999 in Phom Penh where he is still preaching and sharing God's word with people around him." Source: OpentheWor.org - Article written by Dean Smith ----------------------------------------------- THE CONTINUING THREAT OF ISLAM The Vatican's 2008 world religious statistics yearbook released recently, reported that Islam has replaced Roman Catholicism as the world's largest religious denomination. Muslims now make up 19.2% of the world's population, with Catholics representing 17.4%. Even more significant is the fact that those figures are for 2006. Given Islam's continued rapid growth, today's figures would be much more dramatic. However, all of Christendom - Catholics, Orthodox, Protestant, Anglican - is still the largest religious body, representing some 33% of the world's population. These facts should not surprise us. As reported in the Brussels Journal, German author Henry Broder recently predicted that Europe as we now know it will no longer exist in 20 years."We are watching the world ofyesterday," he said, "Europe is turning Muslim." The number of Muslims in Europe is something over 50 million, but is expected to double in less than 20 years. By 2025 one third of all European children will be born to Muslim parents. Tom Bethell, writing in the American Spectator, said, "If faith collapses, civilization goes with it. That is the real cause of the closing of civilization in Europe. Islamization is simply the consequence." Christianity was once the solid faith of Europe. But as secularism took hold, and the centuries old Christian ideals began to be forgotten, Islam was ready to meet the peoples' need. Bethell feels that many Europeans have already become Muslims; they just do not realize it or they are not yet ready to admit it. In the Netherlands, film maker Geert Wilders released a 15 minute movie, "Fitma," a startlingly clear presentation of Islam's teachings of violence against non-believers. The reaction to the film was not unexpected. Islamic websites called for Wilders to be killed, an immediate reminder of the murder of Theo van Gough by a jihadist in Amsterdam in 2004 after he released a film critical of Muslim treatment of women. After his own website was closed down, Wilders began to air the film on "Liveleak" but two days later he was forced to cancel the film due to threats from Muslims. "Liveleak" said, "This is a sad day for the freedom of speech, but we have to place the safety and well being of our staff above all else. It is obvious the fear of death has become more meaningful to Western leaders than the value of free speech. Radical Islam is a dangerous threat, but the real danger to our way of life may be the loss of the rights that we have always claimed and defended so readily." Source: EPOCH Commentary ----------------------------------------------- MORE THAN 63,000 FEARED DEAD IN BURMA FROM DEVASTATING CYCLONE More than 63,000 people are believed to have been killed and many more missing in a devastating cyclone that has hit western Burma Foreign Minister Nyan Win has said on state TV. He said his government was ready to accept international assistance. Aid shipments are now on the way to the country. Hundreds of thousands of survivors of Cyclone Nargis are lacking shelter, drinking water, power and communications. None of the casualty figures have been independently confirmed. Thousands of buildings have been flattened, power lines downed, trees uprooted, roads blocked and water supplies disrupted. A Rangoon resident who spoke to relatives in Laputta told BBC Burmese that 75% to 80% of the town had been destroyed. Houses along the coast had been reduced to skeletal structures, 16 villages had been virtually wiped out and no help had reached Laputta, he said. Shortages of power and water were particularly critical. The United States offered to increase aid if Burma agreed to allow a US team access to assess the situation. First Lady Laura Bush, who takes a special interest in Burma, urged Burma to accept $250,000 (£126,000) already allocated for emergency aid, and said more would be available if the team was allowed into the country. She also accused the Burmese authorities of failing to give a "timely warning" about the approaching storm, after which five regions - home to 24 million people - have been declared disaster zones. Expressing his sadness at the scale of the disaster, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon confirmed that UN officials were meeting Burmese government representatives to discuss how to help. If the toll is confirmed, Nargis is now the world's deadliest storm since a 1999 cyclone in India killed 10,000 people. Nargis hit the south-east Asian country with wind speeds reaching 190km/h (120mph). It brought with it a sea surge that smashed through towns and villages. Source: BBC ----------------------------------------------- CAMBODIA BANS CHRISTIAN EVANGELISM Cambodia has banned Christian groups from door-to-door evangelism and is seeking to limit other religious activities by non-Buddhist organisations, which it says disrupt society. A directive from the Ministry of Cults and Religions says: "Christians are prohibited from visiting people's houses by knocking on the door and waiting to say 'the Lord has arrived'." Distribution of religious literature will also be confined to churches, which now must be approved by the ministry before they can be built, the directive said. The ruling applies to all non-Buddhist groups, but is aimed at curbing Christian evangelism in largely Buddhist Cambodia. Missionaries are reportedly offering cakes and sweets to children in exchange for abandoning Buddhism. Food, clothing and free English lessons are also offered by churches, which then introduce religion into their activities. "It is prohibited to use money, or any other means to convince followers to convert to a different religion" the ministry directive said. Groups violating the directive face possible prosecution, the ministry said. Cambodia's non-Buddhist minority, which is mostly Catholic but includes evangelical groups and also Mormons, lives largely at peace in the country, but tensions have flared in the past. Last year, hundreds of villagers shouting "Long live Buddhism, destroy Christians" tore down a house belonging to a Christian teacher outside the capital. Church houses were also attacked in 2003 and 2004. No one was hurt in the incidents. Source: Intercessors Network ----------------------------------------------- UNITED METHODISTS VOTE TO UPHOLD TRADITIONAL MARRIAGE The United Methodist General Conference in America has voted down a committee report that would have changed The Book of Discipline to explicitly condone homosexual practice. Instead they adopted a Minority Report by a vote of 501-417 which affirms that marriage can only be between a man and a woman. The conference, United Methodism's chief rulemaking body, occurs every four years and brings together delegates from around the world. A spokesman for the Church commented: "The vote in affirmation of traditional marriage, represents the will of the international United Methodist Church. Those who demand acceptance of homosexual behaviour maximized their campaign this year, knowing it was their last chance to win due to the ever increasing influence of the African and overseas members in United Methodism who this year numbered almost 30% of the delegates and who voted almost unanimously against homosexual marriage. By 2012 the African membership is expected to rise to 40%. Source: Institution on Religion and Democracy
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