AUSTRALIAN PRAYER NETWORK NEWSLETTER

December 8, 2008.

* WEST SEEKS SAUDI FUNDING TO HELP ECONOMIC BAILOUT AS ISLAM PUSHES SHARIA LAW IN RETURN

* KYRGYZSTAN PASSES RESTRICTIVE RELIGION LAW

* WHO WAS BEHIND THE MUMBAI TERRORIST ATTACK?

* UNITED NATIONS BANS DEFAMATION OF RELIGION AS ISLAM TRIES TO CURB FREE SPEECH

* VIETNAM: AUTHORITIES PRESSURE NEW CHRISTIANS TO RECANT

* WHY MUSLIM CONVERTS STRUGGLE TO STAY CHRISTIAN

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WEST SEEKS SAUDI FUNDING TO HELP ECONOMIC BAILOUT AS ISLAM PUSHES SHARIA LAW IN RETURN

A week ago British Prime Minister Gordon Brown went cap in hand to Saudi Arabia and the Gulf states to ask them to help bail out the stricken economies of the West by pumping billions into the International Monetary Fund. Asking for help from Saudi Arabia is not like tapping your friendly neighbourhood bank manager for a bigger overdraft. No, this loan comes with a devastating IOU — nothing less than a big slice of control over Britain and the West by a regime at the heart of the attempt to bring about the Islamisation of the free world.

This latest move is yet more alarming evidence of the failure of the west to acknowledge the true nature of the threat from global Islamism. Saudi Arabia is at the root of the Islamic onslaught against the West. It is Saudi’s Wahhabi form of Islam which aims to restore the dominance of Islam in the world and destroy rule by ‘unbelievers’. It is Saudi money which has fuelled the enormous spread of Wahhabi mosques, teachers and educational institutions in many countries, delivering the message of holy war and radicalising countless thousands of Muslims.

And it is this Saudi ideology which was the inspiration for Al Qaeda. True, Al Qaeda turned upon Saudi itself on account of its ties with the U.S. As a result, Saudi regards Al Qaeda as its mortal enemy, and as such co-operates with Britain and the U.S in combating it. But sometimes, to rephrase the old adage, our enemy’s enemy is not actually our friend, but our enemy as well. Saudi Wahhabism seeks to conquer the West through a pincer movement comprising violence on the one hand and cultural infiltration and takeover on the other. At the very least, Saudi Arabia speaks with the most lethal of forked tongues, and we should actively be seeking to diminish its influence over our affairs. But instead our Prime Minister is effectively offering it yet more opportunity to control us. Mr Brown claimed he did not want such investment to be used to gain political influence but acknowledged that the Saudis and other Gulf states would expect a bigger role in global institutions in return.

The Islamic world is buying a financial stake in increasing numbers of Western institutions. Among its latest acquisitions are Manchester City Football Club, and Barclays Bank, which has secured an almost £6 billion capital injection from Abu Dhabi and Qatar. Extremist Islamist ideas are also being spread through Islamic study centres attached to our universities. Eight universities, including Oxford and Cambridge, have accepted more than £233.5 million from Muslim sources since 1995, spreading radicalism and helping create within Britain two separate identities and sets of allegiance.

Seemingly oblivious to this, Mr Brown has pledged to make London the global centre of Islamic banking. Britain’s major banks are eagerly embracing sharia finance, on the basis that it is a source of vast wealth. What they fail to realise is that sharia is also a project for Islamising society, and wherever it is embraced it will use its position to do precisely that. Sharia banking is also a beachhead in the attempt by radical Islam to infiltrate Western society. Sharia financial institutions may not be making this clear for fear of frightening people away — but at some future time they may do so.

There are already examples of sharia regulations over-riding commercial decisions. Citibank, for example, launched the Saudi American Bank (SAB) in Jeddah and Riyadh. In 1980, the Saudis abruptly seized the SAB, denied Citibank all future profits and ordered it to train Saudi staffers because the bank was judged insufficiently Muslim. When trillions of pounds and dollars become locked into Islamic banking and Saudi and other Islamic institutions, who will be in a position to argue with the Islamists when they finally call in their IOUs?

But our politicians and financiers seem blind to this prospect being as they are mesmerised by the seductive prospect of so much wealth. Moreover, the British establishment does not believe that what we are being subjected to is a religious war. That is why their response to the steady encroachment of Islamic radicalism in our society is so weak. And that is why I fear the British Prime Minister is in danger of selling this country to those who are intent upon undermining our most treasured freedoms.

Source: Article by Melanaie Phillips, British Journalist

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KYRGYZSTAN PASSES RESTRICTIVE RELIGION LAW

Urgent prayer is needed for Kyrgyzstan after the country’s parliament unanimously passed legislation to strengthen government control over religious groups, a move critics have attacked as a breach of human rights. Proselytism would be strongly curtailed in the impoverished, mostly Muslim Central Asian nation under the bill, which is expected to be signed into law. Faith organizations will be obliged to disclose financial information to the authorities and the bill requires religious organizations to have a minimum of 200 members whose identities have been confirmed by local authorities.

The law bans religious teaching at all levels of education and outlaws private religious schools. The dissemination of religious literature in public places will also be prohibited. The measures are seen as a government attempt to quell the influence of foreign Christian groups. Religious advocacy groups say the measures violate Kyrgyz commitments on protecting human rights. “Many provisions of this law flatly contradict international human rights standards that the government has freely signed up to,” said Felix Corley, editor of Norway-based Forum 18 News Service.

The European Parliament recently signed a joint declaration with Kyrgyzstan that stressed the need to respect freedom of conscience on religious matters. The U.S. State Department says that Kyrgyzstan has generally respected religious freedom, but that the government has harassed and refused to register some Christian churches. “This law makes it impossible for smaller churches to function legally.” Voice of the Martyrs CEO Glenn Penner said. History shows that these Believers have good reason to be nervous about registering their names with the government.”

Please pray for:

* The bill to be rejected by President Kurmanbek Bakiyev.

* God to give Christians in Kyrgyzstan strength and boldness (Acts 4:29-31).

* The salvation of President Bakiyev and other government leaders- especially Zainidin Kurmanov, and all of the lawmakers who proposed this anti-religious – freedom bill.

* More Kyrgyz to learn the Truth of the Gospel of Jesus Christ and in turn share His Light many times over with their friends and families.

* multiple thousands of new Believers coming to the Lord in the next 30 days, and for the new Believers to be properly discipled in the Faith. * The dark spiritual forces that hold Kyrgyzstan in darkness to be banished, and that Jesus will reign as King over this land.

Source: Windows International Network

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WHO WAS BEHIND THE MUMBAI TERRORIST ATTACK?

Gospel for Asia President K.P. Yohannan has lamented the terrorist attacks on India’s financial capital of Mumbai.“I am deeply saddened over these inhumane, brutal acts of killing innocent people. My beautiful land is beautiful no more.” In coordinated attacks, gunmen opened fire in at least seven locations, including the main train station, two luxury hotels, a restaurant frequented by foreigners and a hospital where wounded would be treated. Dr. Yohannan said that while news reports are blaming Islamic terrorists, he has doubts about who is truly behind the attacks.

“It was a well-planned and executed attack designed to bring instability in the run-up to the national elections”. he said. “But I have real reservations about placing blame on the Muslims.” Dr. Yohannan pointed out that there have been at least eight major terrorist attacks within India this year, and all were initially attributed to Islamic terrorists. “But upon further investigation, they all turned out to have been perpetrated by radical Hindu extremist groups led by radical priests. So I am not ready to blame the Muslims. Anyone can take a Muslim name for their group,” he noted.

Lending credence to the doubts was the fact that among those killed in the attacks was a leading anti-terrorism official who played a role in uncovering the Hindu connections to the previous attacks. The attacks across the city once known as Bombay seemed to be aimed at foreigners, with multiple witnesses reporting that the terrorists were seeking out people with British or American passports. “This is definitely going to scare foreign investment,” Dr. Yohannan noted, “and that is ultimately going to hurt the Dalits and others at the bottom of India’s caste system.

Source: Gospel for Asia

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UNITED NATIONS BANS DEFAMATION OF RELIGION AS ISLAM TRIES TO CURB FREE SPEECH

By a vote of 85 to 50, with 42 abstaining, the UN General Assembly has adopted a draft resolution calling on all countries to alter their legal and constitutional systems to prevent “defamation of religions,” asserting that “Islam is frequently and wrongly associated with human rights violations and terrorism.” The decision, sponsored by Islamic states with the support of Venezuela and Belarus, drew immediate protests from human rights activists and legal experts.

“This is just the latest shot in an intensifying campaign of UN resolutions that dangerously seek to import Islamic anti-blasphemy prohibitions into the discourse of international human rights law,” said Hillel Neuer, executive director of UN Watch, an independent human rights monitoring group in Geneva. “Human rights were designed to protect individuals — to guarantee every person free speech and free exercise of religion — but most certainly not to shield any set of beliefs, religion included.”

“These resolutions legitimize the criminalization of free speech in countries like Sudan, Egypt, Pakistan, and Saudi Arabia,” said Neuer. “Muslim moderates, bloggers, women seeking basic freedoms — all of these will be the first to suffer from the worsening climate of state repression in the name of state-supported Islamic orthodoxy.” “No less is the enactment aimed at the Western world, to intimidate anyone from criticizing radical Islam and those who commit violence in its name,” said Neuer.

Source: European News

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VIETNAM: AUTHORITIES PRESSURE NEW CHRISTIANS TO RECANT

In violation of Vietnam’s new religion policy, authorities in Lao Cai Province in Vietnam’s far north are pressuring new Christians among the Hmong minority to recant their faith and to re-establish ancestral altars. Local authorities have warned that they will come in force to the villages where the Christians reside, but they did not say what they would do. Christian leaders in the area said threats included being cut off from any government services and being driven from their homes and fields, physically harmed and put in prison.

When the Christians refused to buckle under the threats, one of the Christian leaders, Chau Seo Giao, was summoned to the commune headquarters for interrogation. He refused instructions to lead his people back to their animistic beliefs and practices. Giao was held for a day and night without food and water before being released. The rapid growth of Christianity among Vietnam’s ethnic minorities has long worried authorities. There were no Protestant believers in the region in 1988, and today there are an estimated 300,000 in many hundreds of congregations.

As recently as 2003, official government policy was the “eradication” of Christianity. Under international pressure, however, a new, more enlightened religion policy was promulgated by Vietnam beginning in late 2004. Part of the new approach was an effort to eliminate forced renunciations of faith. The provisions and benefits of such legislation, however, have been very unevenly applied and have not reached many places such as Ban Gia Commune. “The unavoidable conclusion is that it is still acceptable in Vietnam for officials to force recantations of Christian faith.”

Source: Intercessors Network

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WHY MUSLIM CONVERTS STRUGGLE TO STAY CHRISTIAN

According to Ziya Meral, it’s the converts from Islam to Christianity who are some of the most forsaken on Earth. The police don’t help them; their families hate them; and their friends want to kill them. “Egypt is one of the worst countries in terms of torture,” Mr. Meral said. “Once you are detained the security services can keep you without charges for six, seven months, and then renew those charges.” 70 percent of all Islamic converts to Christianity give up their adopted faith in two years. “Your society, your family, everyone is against you and you are completely alone,” Mr. Meral said.

Of the world’s 2 billion Christians, 200 million are persecuted in some way. Many of them are in Islamic countries or in rabidly anti-religious regimes such as North Korea. These countries ignore the 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which grants people freedom to choose their religion. The persecution from Muslims is so intense once their switch to another faith is made known, converts first lose their jobs. Angry parents will seek to have their children taken away from them. Others are told their marriages are no longer valid.

Jeje Baki was a nomad from Chad who converted to Christianity. His father-in-law took custody of Mr. Baki’s wife and children and when the convert tried visiting his family, the father-in-law killed Mr. Baki’s oldest son to teach the father a lesson. Or Nissar Hussein, a British citizen living in a majority-Pakistani community in Britain who converted to Christianity along with his wife. When groups of Asian men began smashing the windows of their home, throwing garbage at their front door and driving a car into Mr. Hussein’s parked automobile, the police refused to protect them.

Source: Washington Times

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