* LEBANON FALLS AMIDST A DEAFENING SILENCE * MIDDLE EAST NUCLEAR CRISIS INTENSIFIES AS CHRISTIANS ARE TARGETED FOR THEIR FAITH * MAJORITY OF CHRISTIANS SAY BUSYNESS HINDERS THEIR RELATIONSHIP WITH GOD * CHINA: THE CHRISTIAN COLOSSUS OF THE EAST * BOY TURNS FIVE DOLLARS CHURCH GAVE HIM INTO NEARLY $3000 TO HELP CANCER VICTIM * TWO-THIRDS OF AMERICAN YOUNG ADULTS QUIT CHURCH AFTER LEAVING HIGH SCHOOL ----------------------------------------------- LEBANON FALLS AMIDST A DEAFENING SILENCE Editors note: Readers may recall a relatively brief upheaval in the nation of Lebanon 2/3 months ago that passed without a great deal of exposure in the Australian media. The implications however were enormous and the following report gives something of the background to the crisis and a forward projection of the impact upon Middle Eastern and World politics. Your prayers for this critical situation would be valued. Iran-sponsored, Shiite dominated Hezbollah does not want to govern Lebanon. What Hezbollah wants -- indeed demands -- is freedom to ignore UN resolutions and re-build, re-organise and re-arm for war with absolute impunity. In a cabinet meeting held back in May 2008 the Lebanese government (which is dominated by the Sunni Muslims) declared that Hezbollah's extensive and independent communications network must be integrated with the government's. Of particular concern was an "illegal and unconstitutional" communications and surveillance system that had been installed on Runway 17 of Beirut airport by Shiite Muslim Wafiq Shuqayr at Hezbollah's request. The cabinet voted to remove Shuqayr -- a known supporter of Hezbollah -- from his position as chief of airport security. Hezbollah's response was immediate, swift and devastating. Hezbollah blockaded all the roads to the airport, seized Sunni West Beirut and shut down all the Sunni-owned pro-government media. After two days of fighting in Beirut, Hezbollah moved its fight to Druze areas of Mount Lebanon. Eventually, with the state at the brink of civil war, and with their homes under siege, both Hariri (Sunni leader) and Jumblatt (Druze leader) were forced to negotiateon Hezbollah's terms. It was a most impressive blitzkrieg. The Lebanese Army under the direction of General Suleiman (who was appointed when Syria controlled Lebanon) did not resist Hezbollah. Once Hezbollah had proved its power, it handed its gains to the Lebanese Army. The government revoked its cabinet decisions and transferred the contentious issues -- Hezbollah's communications network and Wafiq Shuqayr's position as chief of airport security -- over to the Army commander General Suleiman. Then the Lebanese government capitulated to Hezbollah's conditions and surrendered its sovereignty. Lebanon had fallen. Hezbollah now has veto power over all Lebanese government decisions; their candidate, General Suleiman, has been installed as president; they control one-third of the cabinet; and they have authority to gerrymander and create smaller electorates in order to ensure victory at the next elections. The UN has endorsed the agreement. Lebanon is now part of the Iranian bloc and Hezbollah is free to advance its war agenda unhindered. Lebanon's fall will probably go down as the most geo-strategically significant event of 2008. Yet there was barely a sound. Instead of crashing like a major tsunami-inducing earthquake, the fall of Lebanon was more akin to a small, weak, abandoned man being kicked into quicksand by a pack of bullies. And as darkness envelopes this poor sinking man, his supposed friends, from the comfort and safety of their faraway palaces, praise all parties for avoiding war and making peace. The fall of Lebanon has horrendous implications not only for Lebanon but for religious liberty and security in the whole Middle East. Hezbollah is without a doubt preparing the ground for regime change. It is only a matter of time before the weak, abandoned and subservient pro-Lebanon, pro-West, "moderate" Sunni-led government is replaced with one that is pro-Syria, pro-Iran, pro-Hezbollah and pro-jihad. In the mean time we will doubtless see many "moderate" Sunnis, Druze and even some Christians falling into line behind Hezbollah for survival purposes. As Shiite power rises and advances across the region, and as US influence declines, US "allies" in the region -- that is the Sunnis (great respecters of power) - are switching sides. Recent reports from Compass Direct reveal a sudden ominous and dramatic rise in religious repression and hostility from the formerly progressive and West-friendly regime in Jordan. Having demonstrated its power so profoundly, Hezbollah will not have to work too hard in Lebanon to get the Sunnis to line up behind its anti-Semitic, anti-Christian, pro-Sharia, pro-jihad "Islamic" agenda. Both the Shiite ascendancy and the decline of US influence do not augur well for the religious liberty and security of Christians in the Middle East. Over recent decades, US influence in the region (which extends most from America's economic power) has forced Arab states to constrain Islamic forces. As circumstances change and the constraints disappear and as the repressive and apocalyptic Iranian cleric-led regime assumes the role of regional hegemon, the future for Christians and all non-Muslims in the Middle East is extremely precarious. Source: World Evangelical Alliance Religious Liberty Commission ----------------------------------------------- MIDDLE EAST NUCLEAR CRISIS INTENSIFIES AS CHRISTIANS ARE TARGETED FOR THEIR FAITH Christians are encouraged to pray for Iran as the Middle East nation's nuclear crisis has intensified, sparking fears of conflict in the region. President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has again vowed that Iran will not yield in the five-year crisis over its nuclear drive as world powers awaited a response from Tehran to a proposal aiming to end the standoff. "The Iranian nation does not value your threats. You are mistaken if you think you can force this nation to back down with sanctions, threats and pressure," Ahmadinejad told a rally in Iran. Iran is already under three sets of U.N. Security Council sanctions over its refusal to halt sensitive uranium enrichment work, which observers believe are for making nuclear weapons. Open Doors USA's Carl Moeller said Christians are in a precarious position. "The government itself is actually responding to this internal political pressure and the external realities of Christian influence in Iran with greater repression." Islam is the state religion of Iran—98 percent of the nation's 66 million inhabitants are Muslims—and Islam has governed most aspects of life since the 1979 Islamic revolution that toppled the Shah of Iran. Christians make up less than one-half of one percent of the population and the persecution has forced Believers underground. "It is important that we remember that it's a spiritual battle and that we engage the forces of the enemy that would seek to use these political pressures and these tortures and these arrests to stop the growth of the church," Moeller said. Under a draft law under discussion in July in the Iranian parliament, the "optional" death penalty now in force for apostasy would become obligatory. Iran is ranked No. 3 on Open Doors' 2007 World Watch List of nations where Christians are persecuted for their faith. Iran actively sponsors terrorism in the 10/40 Window. Pray for: • Iran to abandon its nuclear plans. • The demonic forces that are using President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and the terrorists in the region like puppets to be toppled. • Religious freedom to be written in the constitution, and that true religious freedom would be practiced. • The release of all jailed Christians. Pray that persecuted Christians will experience God's protection, provision, and encouragement. • The salvation of President Ahmadinejad. • Pray that the Kingdom of God would be greatly advanced in this nation. Source: 10/40 Window International Network ----------------------------------------------- MAJORITY OF CHRISTIANS SAY BUSYNESS HINDERS THEIR RELATIONSHIP WITH GOD Almost 60% of Christians around the world feel their hectic schedule prevents them from spending more time with God. That's what Michael Zigarelli, a Charleston Southern professor, found after polling more than 20,000 Christians from 139 countries about the busyness of their lives and how it affects their relationship with God. His report, which concludes almost six years of data collection, echoes the obvious: yes, we're busy people; and yes, our hectic lives prevent us from spending more time with God. A few elements to Zigarelli's study are particularly fascinating. **American Christians aren't necessarily the busiest. Japan, the Philippines, South Africa, the United Kingdom, Mexico and Indonesia all had a higher percentage of believers who stated they often or always rushed "from task to task." **African Christians are most likely to claim their busyness gets in the way of developing their relationship with God. (Two out of three South African and Nigerian believers stated this.) **The United States is the only country where women topped men in saying they were 1) almost always busy and 2) that busyness affected their spiritual walk. While a whopping 72 percent of Christian lawyers said their overloaded pace of life interfered with growing in the Lord, almost two out of every three pastors made the same claim. A Pastor, Marcus Yoars, commenting on the survey concluded: "We are far too busy and we don't need statistics to tell us that. Of all people, we must find a way to place the Lord above every urgent need, pressing appointment, or desperate cry. The Bible is explicit in stating that as pastors and spiritual leaders, our standards are higher. Virtually everything we do stems from a God-given desire to minister. That's good. But the greater truth is, how can we truly minister without first being ministered to by God and receiving His empowerment? We must place Him above all." Source: ASSIST News Service ----------------------------------------------- CHINA: THE CHRISTIAN COLOSSUS OF THE EAST Ten thousand Chinese become Christians each day and 200 million Chinese may comprise the world's largest concentration of Christians by mid-century, and the largest missionary force in history. China may be for the 21st century what Europe was during the 8th-11th centuries, and America has been during the past 200 years: the natural ground for mass evangelization. Once Chinese Christians turn their attention outward they will shake the earth like an earthquake. Christianity is a great unifier of people calling them out of their tribes and nations to join the ecclesia, which transcends race and nation....Not for more than a thousand years have so many people in the same place been asking "What is the purpose of my life?" The World Christian Database estimates the number of Chinese Christians at 111 million, of whom 90% are Protestant, mostly Pentecostals. The number of Christians may now exceed the 75 million members of the Chinese Communist Party and in a generation they will be the most powerful force in the country. Some Chinese evangelicals and Pentecostals believe that the basic movement of the gospel for the last 2,000 years has been westward: from Jerusalem to Antioch, from Antioch to Europe, from Europe to America, and from America to China. Now, they believe, it's their turn to complete the loop by carrying the gospel [east to completion], eventually arriving in Jerusalem. Once that happens, they believe, the gospel will have been preached to the entire world." Source: Asia Times ----------------------------------------------- BOY TURNS FIVE DOLLARS CHURCH GAVE HIM INTO NEARLY $3000 TO HELP CANCER VICTIM 9-year-old William Miller was one of several youth attending Lawrenceville Church of God who was given $5 with the admonition not to spend it on themselves, but to do something charitable with it and make it grow. William did just that, raising nearly $3,000 to help his 29-year-old cousin, Melissa McLaughlin, who has stage 4 breast cancer. First of all, with the help of his parents and grandmother, William had a cake sale. He kept saying he wanted to make $2,000 even though his parents told him he should shoot for $500. "We decided to make some candy and sell it to the family, and from there it just snowballed," said William's grandmother. "It went beyond family and friends and into the community. Everyone supported him 100 percent." Then, an aunt sent an e-mail about William's project to friends and he started receiving monetary donations from all over the nation. When the money was collected, family and friends gathered around and watched William present Melissa with a small pink and white Igloo lunch cooler filled with bills totalling $2,755. Source: Springfield News ----------------------------------------------- TWO-THIRDS OF AMERICAN YOUNG ADULTS QUIT CHURCH AFTER LEAVING HIGH SCHOOL A new survey has found that more than two-thirds of young people, between the ages of 18-22, who have attended a Protestant church regularly (at least twice-a-month) for a year, will stop going to church after leaving high school. Most of the reasons given in the survey, for leaving church, involved "life changes." Although, the number one reason, at 27 percent, was "I simply want a break from church." Source: Lifeway Research
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