AUSTRALIAN PRAYER NETWORK NEWSLETTER

May 11 2009

* INDONESIA REJECTS EXTREMISM

* 200,000 MEN ATTEND CONFERENCE IN SOUTH AFRICA

* PAKISTAN ERUPTS INTO VIOLENCE AS GOVERNMENT SEEKS TO CONTROL TALIBAN

* EMERGENCY PRAYER ALERT FOR SRI LANKA

* CHINA PREDICTED TO BE A CHRISTIAN NATION WITHIN 10 YEARS

* STAKES HIGH FOR CHRISTIANS IN INDIAN ELECTIONS

INDONESIA REJECTS EXTREMISM

A largely peaceful parliamentary election was held recently in Indonesia. The top three parties in the new parliament, President Bambang Yudhoyono's Democrat Party, former president Megawati Sukarnoputri's left-leaning Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle, and Suharto's former political machine, Golkar, are all non-sectarian. They stand for the country's founding ideology, the live-and-let-live doctrine of Pancasila, and draw their supporters from each of the country's five major faiths. Mr.Yudhoyono is the overwhelming favourite to win July's presidential election.

Islamic parties saw their vote shrink from 38% five years ago to about 20%. The Prosperous Justice Party (PKS) which seeks to institute Shariah law, particularly suffered. Five years ago, Mr. Yudhoyono was forced to rely on PKS support in parliament. This time around he may be able to exclude PKS from the governing coalition and deny it the chance to grow under the umbrella of state power. PKS is still the fourth-largest party in parliament. It also controls several important governorships, including the provinces of West Java and North Sumatra.

In the short term, striking a deal with PKS may be expedient,.but in the long term, as the experience of Pakistan and Sudan shows, trucking with Islamists is a high-risk gamble. PKS continues to infiltrate mainstream Islamic organizations, and to replace Indonesia's tolerant, homespun Islam with an arid import from the Middle East. It will take much more than a single election to dent PKS's access to Saudi funding and its network of mosques and madrases, or to diminish the appeal for many newly educated Indonesians of its starkly utopian message: Islam is the solution.

Since it burst into prominence PKS has done little to dispel fears that it is the dark bloom at the heart of Indonesia's democratic flowering. Party leaders are outspoken supporters of Abu Bakar Bashir, the spiritual head of Jemaah Islamiyah, the group responsible for the suicide bombing in Bali. Last year, PKS piloted through parliament a harsh antipornography bill that legalizes vigilante violence and forces non-Islamic communities to conform to Islamic norms. The party's attitudes toward women's rights are captured by its obsession with dress codes and support for polygamy.

PKS makes emotive appeals to Islamic causes. Among the party rank and file, 9/11 conspiracy theories, anti-Americanism and anti-Semitism are rampant. If Indonesia is to fulfil its potential as a moderate, modern Muslim democracy, politicians must not legitimize this party. It must not give PKS the vice-presidential spot on President Yudhoyono's ticket. It is clear that Indonesia's struggle with radical Islam is not about to end soon. That struggle will be won not by embracing PKS, but by working to banish it to the margins of political life, where it belongs.

Source: Intercessors Network

200,000 MEN ATTEND CONFERENCE IN SOUTH AFRICA

Two hundred thousand men, 3.5 million square meters of camping area, 1.2 tons of grass cut and baled, and eight kilometres of underground water pipelines installed to supply 333,000 litres of water an hour for the showers. These are the statistics surrounding a "Mighty Men" Conference led by farmer Angus Buchan in South Africa recently. No crops were planted this year as neighbouring farmers opened their farms as campsites for the men. The Conference has grown in just a few years into a phenomenon, becoming one of the largest Christian gatherings of its kind.

Men flocked from all corners of South Africa to the rolling fields of Kwazulu-Natal to hear the gospel of Buchan.Over three days, the participants - all male and most of them white - camped on land adjacent to Buchan's farm and walked twice daily to his open-air chapel. Many men enjoy the event's atmosphere, but it is Buchan's message that draws them. By urging them to surrender their life to Jesus and by promoting the importance of their role as the heads of their families, Buchan provides white males with the order and structure some crave in a rapidly changing South Africa.

Buchan seeks to instil new life into existing Christians, according to Yolanda Dreyer, a professor of practical theology at the University of Pretoria. South Africa's white males have had it tough since the end of apartheid. They have found it difficult to find and hold well-paying jobs they previously monopolized. Under South Africa's new employment laws, white men rank at the bottom of the barrel. That's why white South African men are particularly attracted to Buchan, who advocates that once men find their place as leaders of their families, the country will be better off, said Dreyer.

"Afrikaans culture is conservative as well as patriarchal so his message appeals to Afrikaner men," she said. "It's an identity crisis for Afrikaner men if the woman is the breadwinner." Born in Zimbabwe to Scottish parents Buchan packed up his belongings and family in 1976 and moved to South Africa. There, he built up a new farm but was prone to anger and fits of temper. Close to a breaking point, he went to a small Methodist church. "A miracle happened. Jesus came into my life,." Buchan wrote in his best-selling autobiography, "Faith Like Potatoes."

Many more miracles followed from bumper crops in the middle of a drought to rain putting out runaway fires. Gradually, Buchan transformed himself from a farmer into a full-time preacher. He built a home for AIDS orphans on his farm and took his gospel to stadiums across South Africa and as far away as Britain and Australia. While Buchan's following is mostly white, he has also made inroads into black communities. He is fluent in Zulu, allowing him to convey his message to the local black population, with whom his healing sessions are especially popular.

Source: Inspire Magazine

PAKISTAN ERUPTS INTO VIOLENCE AS GOVERNMENT SEEKS TO CONTROL TALIBAN Helicopter gunships and artillery have swung into action against the Taliban in Pakistan. An estimated 800,000 people are on the run as the government trys to pound the Taliban back into line. While many of the refugees are heading for relatives' homes, humanitarian agencies are struggling to accommodate the thousands pouring into refugee camps. Todd Nettleton with Voice of the Martyrs notes that the stakes are high for believers. "The Taliban do not want a Christian presence in the area that they control. They do not really want a Christian presence in Pakistan, at all."

The 3-month-old truce didn't work. Rather than lay down their arms, the Taliban expanded its reach. Their constant forays were an apparent land grab designed to test the government's resolve. When the Taliban came through to enforce sharia law, beheading officials and burning girls' schools, Christians were hit, too. Nettleton says, "I have heard of direct attacks against Christians. I think it is only natural that as the Taliban advances, churches and the homes of Christians will be targeted. And people will be asked to pay the protection tax to stay in the area."

Compass Direct reports that on April 21, as members of a congregation erased pro-Taliban graffiti on their church near Karachi, armed men intervened to stop them. Soon 30-40 others arrived as support and began to fire indiscriminately at the crowd. Among those seriously injured were three Christians, including a child. Police stood by as a Taliban mob attacked the Christians. "The Christians do not have guns, they do not have weapons, but only a little bit of property and the few things in their houses," said Sohail Johnson, chief coordinator of Sharing Life Ministry Pakistan.

After firing on the crowd, Taliban fighters went through Christian houses, ransacked them and burned one down. They burned Bibles and beat women on the street. Christians fear taking a stand against elements connected with the Taliban.

* Pray for their protection and pray for the boldness of the evangelists and church planters during this time. * Pray that Pakistani Christians will remain unshaken from the Lord's work, trusting Him to bring eternal results. * Ask God to give healing to those injured. * Pray that those mourning for the martyred believers will find comfort in Christ.

Source: Intercessors Network

EMERGENCY PRAYER ALERT FOR SRI LANKA Intercessors are asked to pray for Sri Lanka after the Tamil Tigers declared a unilateral cease-fire on Sunday, April 26, 2009, and called on the government to halt its offensive to spare the tens of thousands of civilians trapped by the fighting. However, the Sri Lankan government rejected the appeal and accused the rebels of stalling its defeat as the military stands poised to rout them and end the 25-year civil war that has plagued this Indian Ocean island nation. Meanwhile, furthering the volatile situation in Sri Lanka, members of Parliament may soon enact an anti-conversion bill designed to restrict religious conversions, Compass Direct News reported.

The cease-fire declaration came amid a chorus of international appeals for a pause in the fighting to allow the estimated 50,000 ethnic Tamil civilians remaining in the war zone to escape. The government and aid groups accuse the Tamil Tigers of using civilians as human shields to blunt the government offensive, a charge the rebels deny. Recent reports have detailed growing cases of starvation and civilian casualties. The United Nations says nearly 6,500 civilians have been killed over the past three months and has called for a cease-fire.

It is hoped that cessation of hostilities will enable humanitarian groups, including Christians, to help everyone that's caught in the middle of this inferno. Meanwhile, the Religious Liberty Partnership (RLP), a coalition made up of evangelical agencies such as Open Doors International and Christian Solidarity Worldwide, have launched a campaign to pray for the crisis in Sri Lanka. They have called on the Church worldwide to pray not only for the situation of the people who are caught in the middle of this conflict, but also against the potential of anti-conversion laws."

Sri Lankan Believers continue to battle legislation outlawing the "inducing of voluntary conversions from Buddhism." The anti-conversions bills in question would punish, with jail terms, those caught "spreading the faith." According to the most recent government census, Protestant Christians number less than 1 percent of the total population in Sri Lanka, but they remain the primary target of religiously motivated violence and intimidation.

Pray for: * A peaceful end to Sri Lanka's 25-year civil war. * Humanitarian aid and assistance to reach displaced refugees. * the anti-conversions bills not to be passed or enforced. * Protection and boldness for Believers and ministries working in Sri Lanka. * the Gospel message to continue to grow and that Sri Lankans will come to Christ.

Source: Windows International Network

CHINA PREDICTED TO BE A CHRISTIAN NATION WITHIN 10 YEARS

Jonathan Shibley, Vice President of Global Advance says there has been substantial growth in the number of Christians in China, especially in Chinese business circles and predicts that within ten years China could become a Christian country. "All of a sudden, there are hundreds, if not thousands, of small businessmen fellowships taking place, both within major corporations in China, and within homes," reports Mission News Network.

"So businessmen are beginning to get a glimpse of what the Gospel looks like, transforming not only their own lives, but transforming the culture around them and becoming salt and light." It is estimated that around 8% of China's population are adherents of Christianity. In some provinces and regions it goes as high as 10%. Previously, 80% if not more of new people were becoming Christian because of healing miracles. Now they are attracted because of the clean and joyous lifestyle.

Most new Christians in urban areas are white-collar professionals, college students and youth. They are often very influential in society and contribute positively to economic development and therefore are well accepted by their peers The house church movement in China, is by and large, an indigenous phenomenon. It is not generally instigated nor sustained by external factions. For a long time now, China's xenophobic authorities have blamed the West for the infiltration of Christianity through its mission activities but this view is gradually breaking down in official circles.

Source: Christian Today and Asian Report

STAKES HIGH FOR CHRISTIANS IN INDIAN ELECTIONS

With elections underway in India, its 2.3 percent Christian minority - which faced a deadly spate of attacks in the eastern state of Orissa last year - is praying for a secular party to come to power. Along with the Muslim community, Christians fear that if the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and its allies form the next government or an ideologically loose coalition comes to the helm, their already compromised welfare may further deteriorate.

Dr. John Dayal, secretary general of the All India Christian Council, said that the end of the Congress Party's hold on power in the 1990s led to the rise of several major individual groups, including the BJP, political wing of a Hindu conglomerate. "The rise of regional and linguistic or caste-based parties spells a danger for minority parties with a narrow and localized outlook." Dayal told Compass. "What is at stake now is the stability and consistency of India's constitutional institutions to correct wrongs and protect the welfare of the weakest and the lowest."

Religious minorities, Dayal said, were hoping for a strong showing by a secular party, "possibly the Congress Party," supported by regional groups of a secular character. "Certainly, a BJP-led government is the least desirable, as we fear major erosion and even regression in issues of freedom of faith, Dalit liberation and affirmative action for the poor." With the BJP already in power, directly or as part of the ruling alliance, in 10 states, Christians believe it is important that a strong, secular government comes into power at the federal level.

Source: Intercessors Network