AUSTRALIAN PRAYER NETWORK NEWSLETTER

* CRUEL STATE SPONSORED PERSECUTION IN LAOS

* EVANGELICAL CHRISTIANS AT RISK FROM RUSSIAN GOVERNMENT

* PRO-CHOICE ADVOCATE HAILS PRO-LIFE SUPER BOWL AD

* FOCUS ON THE FAILING STATE OF SOMALIA

* CHRISTIAN POLITICIAN PAYS BACK 20 TIMES WHAT HE OWES

* TWO MORE EMOTIONAL RESCUES FROM THE RUBBLE IN HAITI

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CRUEL STATE SPONSORED PERSECUTION IN LAOS

Officials have stationed police at the entrance of Katin village in Laos in order to keep Christian believers out. Unable to return to their village, 48 displaced persons, including women and children, have been sleeping on the ground in a forest. They have been left to starve by the government without food, extra clothing, shelter, or any means of survival, and forbidden to construct even temporary shelters. Despite human rights efforts to protect religious minorities in Laos, Laotian government officials continue violating the religious rights of the Christian community in Katin.

Indigenous missionaries who are in constant contact with Christian Aid sent a report of on-going acts of cruelty toward Christians in Katin. This is the third urgent plea for help received within the past 12 months from a Christian leader in Laos on behalf of the group. In 2003, government officials confiscated their church building and the believers met outside in the open air. Then in 2006, their Pastor was murdered but the believers continued to worship in their homes. Now they have been forced out of their homes to live in the jungle.

The persecution began early this year in the village of Katin. Last month officials from the District Centre invaded a morning worship service of 48 Christian men, women, and children. The officials forced them at gunpoint to walk six kilometres from their homes where they were left along the roadside. Meanwhile, back in the village, other Lao authorities seized personal belongings from 11 homes and scattered them in an open field. They confiscated a pig from one believer’s home, and then destroyed 6 of their 11 bamboo homes. A week later religious affairs’ officials showed up at the site where the believers were staying. The officials ridiculed the faith of the villagers and tried to persuade them to renounce their faith saying, “Why do you believe in the Bible? It’s just a book.” The believers responded by saying it was “not just a book but a gift from God.” But the officials only continued their mocking. One of them said, “The other poor people from your village are receiving assistance from the Government because they do not believe in the Christian faith. But you believers, will not receive any help?”

When one of the believers replied that he had been given “new life by the Holy Spirit”, the officials again derided the believers with more threats: “See what happened to you because of your belief? You are left in the middle of nowhere without any home, food, or help,” said one of them. “You should deny your Christian belief and then you will be allowed to return to your village. “None of the other 56 villages in this district wants you either. They have said they would rather live with lepers and the demon possessed than to have Christians residing among them,” he continued.

Ministry leaders have sought help from the Human Rights Watch for Lao Religious Freedom. They are asking the central government to order district officials to stop the cruel and inhuman acts of starvation, destruction of homes, property, and livelihoods. The leaders insist that incidents like the persecution in Katin are becoming more and more frequent. “Our brethren in Laos have been enduring this kind of treatment for a long time and they need our help,” says a spokesman for Christian Aid Mission.

Source: ASSIST News Service

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EVANGELICAL CHRISTIANS AT RISK FROM RUSSIAN GOVERNMENT

Evangelical Christians may be at risk in Russia as Orthodoxy gains more and more governmental favour. The Liberty of Conscience Institute recently discovered that the Russian government is cozying up to the Russian Orthodox Church in ways that may inhibit religious freedoms. Joel Griffith of Slavic Gospel Association says there is reason to be concerned. “Russia’s president has taken the initiative to permanently assign orthodox priest to army units, and they’re also wanting to introduce religious education classes into state schools.”

The more power the Orthodox Church gains, the more risk there is to the religious freedoms of all minority religions, no less evangelical Christianity. Griffith says history proves that evangelical Christians may well be targeted if such legislation is passed. A sizeable evangelical movement could be viewed as an encroachment on Orthodox territory. If this is the case, the evangelical movement could be very much hindered in Russia. As it now stands, some evangelical churches experience virtually no opposition at all from the government, while others experience a great deal.

If national legislation should pass, opposition will likely extend to every evangelical church. “If it becomes national policy to freeze out evangelicals, obviously that’s going to have a pretty big impact not only on freedom of worship but also on the proclamation of the Gospel” cautions Griffith. Fortunately, in order for any such government-orthodox partnership to be enforced it would have to pass through a significant number of hoops. As it stands, this sort of breach on the separation of church and state goes directly against the Russian constitution, not to mention Western ideals.“

The West is concerned with human rights and the freedom of conscience and the freedom of worship,” notes Griffith. “And under the constitution, there’s supposed to be freedom of religion and worship in Russia. Unfortunately, many Russians consider Orthodoxy as a given. Historically, the Orthodox Church has, more often than not, been considered an arm of the Russian government. Pray that the obvious infringement of government policy on the basis of the constitution would be enough to stop Orthodox alliances with the Russian government from being nationally enforced.

Source: Intercessors Network

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PRO-CHOICE ADVOCATE HAILS PRO-LIFE SUPER BOWL AD

Pam Tebow has a genuine pro-choice story to tell. She got pregnant in 1987, and while on a Christian mission in the Philippines, contracted a tropical ailment. Doctors advised her that the pregnancy could be dangerous, but she exercised her freedom of choice and now, some 20 years later, the outcome of that choice is her footballer son, a chaste, proselytizing evangelical. Pam Tebow and her son feel good enough about that choice to want to tell people about it.

However airing it has provided a revealing litmus test for many who declare themselves to be “pro-choice.” A Washington Post sports columnist, Sally Jenkins, whilst acknowledging she has opposing views on the matter to Tim Tebow, has taken a different view. She is pro-choice. But Ms. Jenkins notes a stark difference between advocating a true choice for women—including choosing to keep their babies—and being completely intolerant of anyone “choosing” anything but abortion.

Jenkins states that in light of the screaming voices condemning the ad she is on Tebow’s “side.” Says Jenkins: “Tebow’s 30-second ad has provoked ‘The National Organization for Women to reveal something important about themselves: They aren’t actually ‘pro-choice’ so much as they are pro-abortion. Later in the article, Sally Jenkins points out… “We need a lot more Tebows. Collegians who are selfless enough to choose not to spend summers poolside, but travel to impoverished countries to dispense medical care to children, as Tebow has every summer of his career.

Tebow responded “You know what we really need more of? Famous guys who aren’t embarrassed to practice sexual restraint, and to say it out loud. If we had more of those, women might have fewer abortions.” Although Ms. Jenkins and I have different views when it comes to the subject of pre-born babies, I applaud her for standing up to the abortion-minded feminist image that will not accept any other outcome, and for pointing out that there is nothing wrong with an ad that actually “celebrates life,” and the choice to maintain it.

Source: Washington Post

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FOCUS ON THE FAILING STATE OF SOMALIA

Failing states around the world are hotbeds for terrorism. Because Somalia’s central government is so weak the country remains mostly governed by militant and radicalized regional and local Islamic authorities. Long considered one of the main hotbeds for the breeding of terrorist activities, Somalia has been torn apart by relentless civil strife and failed governments for the past twenty years. Even now, the nation has no permanent government; Somalia is overseen by a transitional government backed by the United Nations in Mogadishu, it’s capital city.

Mogadishu is the site of the failed humanitarian intervention that resulted in the deaths of hundreds of Somalis and eighteen U.S.soldiers which was later retold in the famous film “Black Hawk Down.” Currently, the transitional government in place must not be doing the bidding of radical Islamists because as recently as March of last year prominent terrorists like Osama bin Laden called for the overthrow of Transitional Federal President Sheikh Sharif Sheikh Ahmed.

Indeed, the country has not had a functional national government since 1991, when warlords toppled Siad Barre and then turned on each other. Horrific violence continues to plague this beleaguered nation and Somali pirates demanding large ransoms from passing ships have made international headlines. Such ransom-hunting has been a profitable pursuit: “Somali pirates have made millions of dollars from the hijacking of international vessels transiting in the Gulf of Aden, one of the world’s busiest shipping lanes.

It has been reported that at least three pirates and three civilians were recently killed in a fight over a record breaking ransom of $7 million taken from the Greek oil tanker Maran Centaurus. Such violence is also resulting in lawmakers being murdered. Reuters reports that legislator Mohamed Abdi Daqare was recently shot. His death was just the most recent in a string of similar assassination-style attacks. In November of last year “a legislator and a judge who had jailed pirates and hardline rebels were also assassinated.”

Source: Intercessors for America

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CHRISTIAN POLITICIAN PAYS BACK 20 TIMES WHAT HE OWES

A Member of Parliament well known for his Christian faith, has repaid 20 times more than was required according to reports. The news came as political leaders attempted to draw a line under the UK expenses scandal following the publication of a devastating review of the “deeply flawed” Parliamentary expenses system. The audited MPs’ claims dating back to 2004 recommended that the Northern Ireland office minister, Paul Goggins, repay £1,075.93. However, he repaid almost 20 times that amount, paying £21,307.15.

When the Daily Telegraph first revealed details of MPs’ expenses, it reported Mr Goggins allowed a friend to live rent-free in a home paid for by the taxpayer. The paper said that for the past three years, Mr Goggins had designated the property as his second home and claimed almost £45,000 in expenses for it. The paper claimed he did not tell the Commons fees office that he shared the house. At the time Mr Goggins told the Telegraph he would repay a large amount based on a “thorough assessment” of how many nights his friend stayed there.

Prior to his election he was the director of Church Action on Poverty, a national church-based campaigning organisation. He is also the co-founder of the All Party Parliamentary Friends of CAFOD group and is Secretary of the All Party Parliamentary Group on Poverty. Saint Luke’s gospel records the story of Zacchaeus, a tax collector, who upon meeting Jesus promised to give half his possessions to the poor, and repay four times more to those he had defrauded.

Source: Inspire Magazine

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TWO MORE EMOTIONAL RESCUES FROM THE RUBBLE IN HAITI

Stories continue to emerge of incredible rescues of survivors of Haiti’s earthquake. Here are just two. A husband—desperately searching for his wife amidst piles of rubble that was once a bank—suddenly heard her answer when he called her name. “She’s there, she’s alive,” yelled the man. As the firefighters arrived to help reach the woman, she has a message for her husband, and cries in French from her pocket of refuge amid the destruction. “Even if I die, I love you so much; don’t forget it!” she says.

And then, an American filmmaker named Dan Woolley, was buried under six stories of rubble when his hotel lobby in Haiti collapsed. He was trapped there for 65 hours. During that time, and sensing no rescue near, he began to write “goodbye” notes to his little boys and his wife. “I was in a big accident,” he wrote to his boys, “Don’t be upset at God. He always provides for His children, even in hard times. I’m still praying that God will get me out, but He may not. But He will always take care of you.”

Woolley had been working for Compassion International, making a film on the impact of extreme poverty found in Haiti. A “First Aid APP” was one of those downloaded by Woolley to his new iPhone, and—under tons of rubble—it came in handy; giving him information on how to fashion a tourniquet for his leg and to stay awake to avoid shock. He set the alarm on his phone to ring every 20 minutes to ward off sleep. Sixty-five hours later, Woolley was elated to be extracted from the decimation around him, by a French rescue team.

Source: NBC

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