AUSTRALIAN PRAYER NETWORK NEWSLETTER * NORTH KOREA RETURNS TO ISOLATION * ZIMBABWE PLEADS FOR HELP AS CRISIS BITES * OFFERINGS DROP AS ECONOMIC DOWNTURN HITS CHURCHES * PRAYER ALERTS FOR INDIA, NIGERIA AND SOMALIA * EMERGENCY PRAYER ALERT FOR BANGLADESH ----------------------------------------------- NORTH KOREA RETURNS TO ISOLATION Reform without bloodshed for North Korea can only be achieved through gradual openness alongside a strategy for maintaining stability. The State is highly militarised and its civilian population is terribly weak due to starvation, isolation, brainwashing and repressive State-terror, making it highly unlikely that a "people's revolution" would ever be attempted, let alone be successful. Every step therefore that increased openness, equity and engagement with the outside world was seen as a positive step towards building a foundation upon which a brighter future could be built. These positive steps, such as: proliferation of public markets and cross-border trade; Korean unity under the unification flag at the Olympic Games; the May 2007 opening of the north-south cross-border rail link; and the benefits of the Kaesong Industrial Park - were presented as "'handles' to take hold of in prayer for North Korea". Sadly, virtually all these positive steps have now been reversed. In its efforts to regain total control over people's lives, the regime has increasingly cracked down on public markets and is attempting to re-Stalinise the state. In August 2008 escalating north-south tensions led to the two Koreas competing in the Beijing Olympics under separate flags. On Monday 1 December 2008, the regime closed the north-south rail link, put an end to South Korean tours to the Mount Kumgang tourist resort, and sent about half the South Korean staff of the Kaesong Industrial Park home to South Korea. North Korea has returned to isolation. North Korea expert Andrei Lankov writes "Were North Korea to reform, the disparities with South Korea would become only starker to its population. This might produce a grave political crisis, so the North Korean government seemingly believes that in order to stay in control it should avoid tampering with the system. Maintaining the information blockade is of special importance, since access to the overseas information might easily show the North Koreans both the backwardness of their country and the ineptitude of their government." Lankov notes that aid has been used to feed the "politically valuable parts of the population -- such as the military and the police". Lankov regards the real "backward movement" as starting around October 2005 when the regime re-introduced the Public Distribution System and outlawed the sale of grain in the markets. Since December 2007 only women over the age of 50 have been permitted to trade in markets. The men and younger women are being pushed back to the factories primarily, Lankov says, for the purpose of surveillance and control. Border security has been stepped up. Venues where information could be exchanged are being raided and closed. There has been a crackdown on mobile phones. In September 2007 a crackdown was launched to halt the spread of religion amongst North Korean soldiers. The crackdown against the Kaesong Industrial Park is tragic. Kaesong Industrial Park -- which opened in Kaesong, North Korea, in December 2004 -- housed 88 South Korean firms and provided jobs for some 35,000 North Koreans. Tensions escalated in October after rumours circulated about Kim Jong-Il's health. North Korea complained to the south about South Korean NGOs sending leaflet-laden balloons across the border. It made it clear that if the NGO's were not stopped the North would retaliate by closing down the Kaesong Industrial Park. Lankov believes the north used its supposed indignation over the NGO leaflets as a pretext to the crack down after determining the economic benefits that Kaesong provides to North Korea are not worth the risk that Kaesong presents to regime survival. The era of openness is over. This is likely to prolong the agony of North Korea. The regime can survive in isolation - actually, it can survive only in isolation. Starving people do not rebel; they just die. From January 2009 North Korea's markets will only open once every ten days. It remains to be seen if Kim Jong-Il and/or the military regime around him can successfully drag North Korea back a decade. Not everyone will submit. There will certainly be a massive increase in violent repression and death. Religious liberty is not coming to North Korea any time soon. Source: World Evangelical Alliance Religious Liberty Commission ----------------------------------------------- ZIMBABWE PLEADS FOR HELP AS CRISIS BITES Zimbabwe is in a national emergency over a cholera epidemic and the collapse of its health care system and is in urgent need of international help to pay for food and drugs to combat the crisis. The failure of the nation's health care system is one of the most devastating effects of the country's economic collapse. Facing the highest inflation in the world, Zimbabweans are struggling just to eat and find clean drinking water. The United Nations says cholera has killed more than 500 people because of a lack of water treatment and broken sewage pipes. Residents are getting little help from the government, which has been paralysed since disputed March elections as President Robert Mugabe and the opposition wrangle over a power-sharing deal. "Our central hospitals are literally not functioning," Minister of Health David Parirenyatwa said at a meeting of government and international aid officials. "International aid agencies and donors must step up their response," Matthew Cochrane, regional spokesman for the International Federation of the Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, told Associated Press. "This is about supporting the people of Zimbabwe," Cochrane said, adding that aid should include water treatment plants and more medical staff. British Prime Minister Gordon Brown, long among Mugabe's sharpest critics, agreed that Zimbabwe was facing a national emergency and nations must step in to help. "Mugabe's failed state is no longer willing or capable of protecting its people," Brown said. "The international community's differences with Mugabe will not prevent us doing so - we are increasing our development aid, and calling on others to follow." Britain has offered £3 million pounds and set aside a further £7 million for Zimbabwe to provide medicine, basic health services and help prevent more cholera outbreaks. The European Commission is providing more than $12 million for drugs and clean water and the International Red Cross has shipped in more supplies. Even cash is scarce. A new 100 million Zimbabwean dollar note has been put into circulation in an attempt to ease the cash crunch, and the daily withdrawal limit was increased to ZW$100 million a week - enough to buy just over 40 litres of clean water. Walter Mzembi, the deputy water minister, said his ministry has only enough chemicals to treat water nationally for 12 more weeks. High levels of cholera are common in the region, but Cochrane said it was hitting a population already weakened by hunger and poverty. The death toll could be much higher than the official figures, he added, because many deaths in rural areas were not being recorded at medical facilities. Increasing numbers of Zimbabweans are also seeking cholera treatment in neighbouring South Africa. Source: Compiled by APN from Associated Press reports ----------------------------------------------- OFFERINGS DROP AS ECONOMIC DOWNTURN HITS CHURCHES Tens of millions of Americans have already suffered substantial financial losses in the wake of the sub-prime mortgage crisis and subsequent financial challenges. In what could be a warning sign for the Australian Church, a new survey from The Barna Group shows that more than 150 million adults said they have been affected by the economic crisis, and most of them expect it to take several years before the nation fully recovers. Americans are now passing on their financial pain to churches and other non-profit organizations by cutting back substantially on their giving. Two out of every three families - 68% - have been noticeably affected by the financial setbacks in America. Nearly 22% said they have been impacted in a "major way," almost 40% have been affected "only somewhat" and about 8% say they have not been affected too much. Interestingly, the people least affected have been those under 30 years of age - perhaps because relatively few of them have retirement funds - as well as Asian households and those who describe themselves as mostly conservative on social and political issues. During the past 3 months, 20% of households have decreased their religious and charitable giving. The study revealed that many churches have attempted to help their congregants understand and address the current financial challenges. The survey found that 35% of churches had offered special advice about the financial situation and ways to respond to it. A similar proportion, 37% of churches, had offered specific opportunities for personal financial counselling. Providing special prayer support for those who were struggling financially was offered by 73% of churches. Nearly 33% of all adults surveyed said they have already reduced the amount of money they are donating to charities. The giving patterns evidenced by the survey suggest that churches will receive some $3 billion to $5 billion dollars less than expected during the fourth quarter of 2008. The revenue of the average church will dip to about 4% to 6% below normal. It is anticipated that a greater percentage of church-goers will decrease their giving levels over the coming year. This is a time for church leaders to demonstrate restraint and wisdom in their financial decision making. Source: Compiled by APN from information supplied by Barna Group ----------------------------------------------- PRAYER ALERTS FOR INDIA, NIGERIA AND SOMALIA “Mumbai’s people need prayer,” according to a Christian worker based there. “The recent terrorist attacks has numbed the city’s population of more than 18 million,” the worker said. “Please pray for God to work in this horrible human tragedy to draw people of all religions to the end of themselves.” The Mumbai attacks came in the wake of many violent incidents in India over the past year, including ongoing terrorism in Kashmir, bombings in multiplecities and extremist Hindu attacks on Christians in Orissa and other states. At least 60 people were murdered in recent anti-Christian riots in Orissa. At least 50,000 people were displaced and normalcy still has not returned to the violence-hit areas. An All-India Christian Council spokesman said that extremist groups have offered a bounty to keep killing Christians, including a $250 reward for each pastor murdered, (which is equivalent to almost one half a year salary, on average, for an Indian worker). They are also being offered foreign liquor, chicken, mutton and weapons. Meanwhile in Nigeria, following local elections, hundreds of people were killed and an estimated 7,000 to 10,000 fled their homes in two days of rioting between mainly Muslim Hausa people and mainly Christian Berom people in Jos, the capital of Plateau State, Nigeria. Senior Christian leaders in Jos believe that the riots were coordinated and planned, and that the political events were used as a pretext for anti-Christian violence. Elsewhere, there has recently been an increase of piracy in Somalia. "There really is not an effectively-functioning central government, and so warlords and anarchy seem to prevail in Somalia,” Vice President Lee DeYoung said. Somalia has not had a functioning government since 1991, when warlords overthrew a socialist dictator and turned their clan-based militias on each other. Please pray: * for God to close the door to demonic activity and violence in India. Pray that leaders of Lashkar-e-Taiba and other terrorists will experience conversion to Christianity. * that all planned terrorist acts will not occur and for justice to be served to the terrorists in these nations. * for peace and communal harmony as well as healing in Mumbai and for protection, courage and hope for Indian believers. * for Psalm 91 protection for Believers in Jos, Nigeria, who are targeted by Muslims. * for Christian leaders in Nigeria to be able to help the Christian population to react in a Christ-like way to such provocation. * for the Somalian government to be convicted to stop the growing incidences of piracy. * for a Somalian government to be established that will be based on Biblical principles and for God to establish peace and stability as well as healing to Somalia. * for the protection of Muslim background Believers in Somalia. Source: Windows International Network ----------------------------------------------- EMERGENCY PRAYER ALERT FOR BANGLADESH Urgent prayer is needed for Bangladesh which faces potentially divisive national elections on December 29. The last time Bangladesh prepared for elections in 2006, months of strikes and street violence forced the army to step in. Militant Islamists have been quietly taking ground in Bangladesh. Terrorist incidents and assaults against Christians have been increasing with the Talibanization of the country. A Christian Church leader predicts that full Shariah law will be implemented if the situation does not change. The prayers of the international community is very much needed. Please pray for: * political stability in Bangladesh, and for wise and godly leaders to be elected. Pray for peace and an end to corruption in the government. * the government to strongly enforce, not only religious freedom, but also the freedom to convert from one belief system to another. Pray that Shariah law will not be enforced. * the police that they will protect Christian converts. * the toppling of the demonic forces in operation in Bangladesh so that people will be set free to worship the Lord. * unity among Bangladesh's Christians. Pray for wisdom and protection of Christian Believers. * Muslim militants who target Christians to be brought to justice, and that God will change their hearts, and open their blind eyes to receive Jesus as Saviour and Lord. Source: Windows International Network
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