Religious Liberty Prayer List – No. 212 – Wed 26 Mar 2003

WELCOME to the 45 intercessors who have joined the list this month.

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DURING MARCH WE HAVE PRAYED CONCERNING –

INDONESIA: where peace is tenuous.

Indonesia, especially due to the war in Iraq. On 23 March the Islamic Defenders Front (FPI) signed up over 430 volunteers to fight in Iraq. Several Islamic groups have threatened to topple the government if it does not sever all ties with USA. Islamic leaders are labelling Americans ‘kaffir harbi’ (unbelievers who may be killed) and say they may not be able to control their followers. In this climate of Muslim anger, all Christians, foreign and Indonesian, are at serious risk.

Meanwhile, Jubilee Campaign USA observers at Rev Renaldy Damanik’s trial in Poso are shocked at the ‘glaring factual inconsistencies in the testimony of the prosecution’s key witnesses.’ They request prayer for justice.

IMMINENT WAR BACKLASH: particularly in Muslim nations, especially where Christians are already persecuted, and most seriously on Muslim/Christian ‘fault-lines’ where peace is already fragile.

Muslim anger. To maintain peace the Nigerian government has put the nation on a ‘red’ security alert and banned all demonstrations. Its security service reports Nigerians are being recruited to fight in Iraq. Violent anti-war demonstrations have been staged in Egypt, Jordan, Bahrain, Yemen, Khartoum (Sudan), Djibouti and Pakistan. Their rhetoric is not simply anti-war but strongly pro-jihad, with growing support from ‘moderates’. Risk of backlash remains high.

THE SMALL ARMS that kill Christians: whilst acknowledging weapons of mass destruction are a serious world problem, Christians are killed every day with small arms like handguns and grenades, mostly smuggled to terrorists, jihad militias and Islamic rebels.

for ‘God to “frustrate the plans of the wicked” (Ps 146:9), so that illegal small arms do not reach zones of civil or religious conflict’. Significant caches of illegal arms have been discovered and seized in South Philippines – a container of weapons in a port south of Manila and Abu Sayyaf dynamite stocks on Basilan Island. Also Kenya, in an unprecedented step, destroyed its entire haul of 7,227 confiscated weapons to remove them permanently from circulation.

* MORE: In December 2001, terror attacks planned for Singapore were foiled. However the explosive, four tonnes of ammonium nitrate purchased by an al-Qaeda operative with Jemaah Islamiah (JI), had never been found – until now. Last week, Malaysian police located the chemical after arresting the only JI member who seemed to know where it was hidden – on his father’s plantation in Johor. He was arrested on 12 March, the day we started praying.

* MORE AGAIN: Several arms caches belonging to al-Qaeda and the Taliban have been found in Afghanistan in the past few days. On 19 March, experts destroyed two large dumps of explosives, and at the weekend a highly significant weapons cache was discovered by the allied troops fighting terror in Afghanistan. Their senior operations officer described the cache as ‘extremely large’ and ‘too much to count’. These are weapons that will NOT find their way into the hands of Islamic militants or out into Pakistan.

ALSO IN MARCH –

INDIA: ANTI-CONVERSION BILL UP FOR APPROVAL

The Gujarat, India, state government has presented its anti- conversion legislation called the Gujarat Freedom of Religion Act. It bans conversion by ‘force or by allurement or by any fraudulent means’. According to the definitions in the Act, ‘force’ includes ‘threat of divine displeasure’, ‘allurement’ means offer of any material benefit (i.e. education, health care, paid work or a gift) and ‘fraudulent means’ includes ‘misrepresentation’ (which is open to interpretation). Anyone who converts another or assists in a conversion will be sentenced with up to three years in prison and a fine. If the convert is a minor, woman or low-caste person the sentence and fine are increased. The Act is expected to be approved by the government before the end of next week.

BE ENCOURAGED TO PRAY IN THESE TROUBLED TIMES – ‘I love the Lord because he hears and answers my prayers. Because he bends down and listens, I will pray as long as I have breath.’ Psalm 116:1,2

PRAY WITH CONFIDENCE AND FAITH – ‘For nothing is impossible with God.’ Luke 1:37

PLEASE PRAY SPECIFICALLY FOR

* Reverend Renaldy Damanik to receive justice in Poso (Central Sulawesi, Indonesia), and that his evidence will lead to the disarming of the population, the removal of Javanese and foreign militants and to reconciliation and peace.

* God to protect his children in regions of tenuous peace and rising Muslim anger, surrounding them with his angels and keeping their eyes fixed on Jesus.

* God to ‘frustrate the plans of the wicked’ (Psalm 146:9) and prevent small arms from reaching zones of religious tension and conflict; may they be intercepted or discovered, and destroyed.

* Indians to realise that anti-conversion laws actually rob them of their freedom. May the people reject this law, making it politically unacceptable.

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The WEA Religious Liberty Commission sponsors this RL Prayer List to help individuals and groups pray specifically and regularly for religious liberty issues, and in particular to uphold the Church where it is suffering persecution.

RL Prayer is moderated by Ron Clough, a commissioner of the WEA RLC and convenor of the Australian EA RLC.

Elizabeth Kendal researched and authored this message.

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