INTERNATIONAL NEWS 16th October 2006

AUSTRALIAN PRAYER NETWORK NEWSLETTER

* NORTH KOREA AT THE CROSSROADS

* SOUTH KOREAN CHRISTIAN TO REPLACE KOFI ANNAN AS UN SECRETARY GENERAL

* CHRISTIANS ATTEMPT TO TAKE TO THE STREETS OF CAIRO TO PROTEST ABDUCTION OF GIRLS

* WORSHIPPING A MALE GOD LEADS TO WIFE BEATING SAYS CHURCH OF ENGLAND REPORT

* AMISH COMMUNITY FORGIVES KILLER AND RAISES MONEY FOR HIS FAMILY

* NEW ZEALAND PRESBYTERIANS SAY NO TO GAY LEADERS

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NORTH KOREA AT THE CROSSROADS

In the wake of the recent nuclear weapon test in North Korea’s Hamgyong Province, it is a good time to focus on this hermit nation of 25 million people, and ask for your fervent prayers on behalf of the secret believers there. North Korea has experienced more than half a century of bizarre, demonically-inspired rule, which has plunged the nation into economic and social disaster and isolated them from the rest of the world. A powerful cult based around worship and adoration of Kim-Il-sung, who died in 1994, has transferred to his son, Kim-Jong-Il. Many believers around the world are not aware that up until the Korean War, North Korea was a strong place of Christian revival. The capital city, Pyongyang, was even known as the “Jerusalem of the East.” There were hundreds of churches, but these were brutally suppressed by the Communists. Tens of thousands of Christians were slaughtered by the mad leader, and hundreds of thousands more fled south into what is now South Korea. North Korea has been labelled the world’s worst persecutor of Christians by Open Doors in their annual World Watch list. There are an estimated 300,000 people suffering in North Korean prison camps. The most recent edition of Operation World says, “over 100,000 Christians are interned in labour camps.” Large numbers of North Koreans have attempted to flee across the river into northeast China in the past decade. Many have succeeded in the risky venture, only for the Chinese authorities to round them up and send them back to North Korea, where they are executed. Although the condition of North Korea seems depressing, there is a sign of hope. A number of Chinese missionaries have been praying for and focusing on ministry opportunities into North Korea in recent years. In addition, thousands of South Korean Christians have a great burden for their compatriots in the north. Many have been in training to take the Gospel into North Korea as soon as the country opens up.

Realizing that our fight is not against flesh and blood, please pray for North Korea…. 1 Pray that multitudes of North Korean’s would soon find life and freedom in Jesus Christ. 2 Ask God to move mightily to bring genuine and sustained revival to North Korea. 3 Pray all structures in North Korea that keep people from hearing and understanding the Gospel would collapse. 4 Fervently pray for those Christians from China and elsewhere who are risking their lives to reach out to North Korea. 5 Cry out to the Lord to protect and sustain the thousands of believers suffering in prisons throughout the country. Source: Back to Jerusalem

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SOUTH KOREAN CHRISTIAN TO REPLACE KOFI ANNAN AS UN SECRETARY GENERAL

“Polite when he speaks, smiling easily, he may not seem charismatic, but he has inner strength.” This is how the Korean Herald introduced Ban Ki-noon, South Korea’s foreign affairs minister who has been confirmed as the next UN secretary-general, succeeding Kofi Annan.

John Bolton, US representative at the UN said, “knowing the personality of the South Korean foreign affairs minister, many analysts take the view that the Security Council could not have found a better person to succeed Kofi Annan.” The report states that “Ban Ki-moon was born in 1944 to a rural family in South Korea. He is married with three children. A Christian, he is member of a ‘group without Church’, a serious organization that emerged in Japan at the beginning of last century. Its members, mostly intellectuals, make the Gospel a source of inspiration for their private and public life.

Source: Asia News

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CHRISTIANS ATTEMPT TO TAKE TO THE STREETS OF CAIRO TO PROTEST ABDUCTION OF GIRLS

Thousands of Coptic Christians have attempted to take to the streets of Cairo, but have been stopped by the Clergy in fear of sectarian violence. Christians are becoming increasingly frustrated over the ongoing abduction of teenage Christian girls by Islamists. The girls are believed to be abducted so they can be forcefully married to Muslim men, sometimes up to twice their age. In a number of recent cases the Egyptian Authorities and Police have been aware of the location of the abducted girls but have forbidden affected families from seeing or talking to their child. Neither have they brought any of the kidnappers to justice. One victim was Laurance Wagih Amin, a 15 year old who was kidnapped by Islamic fundamentalists for the purpose of conversion to Islam, but fortunately escaped from her kidnappers and told of her story. In July this year another young girl, Demiana Makram Hanna, suddenly disappeared. After much toil her family were informed that their daughter had declared a change of religion to Islam and that she had married Mouhamad Alsaid Zaky. As usual the family were refused access to their daughter. Two months after the incident, a relative of the husband approached Demiana’s family and demanded 20,000 Egyptian Pounds to release her to them – when the family accepted the offer they requested support from the church in one of the suburbs of Cairo. As it was in close proximity to where the girl was supposed to be – the church sent four youth workers with them – not knowing that they were being setup. The group proceeded to the flat where they were being led, and within five minutes of arriving, they were overwhelmed by the interior security police who imprisoned all the men and accused them of a number of serious charges. This incident has sparked anger amongst thousands of the youth in El-Moukatem leading to the attempts at street protests. It is reported that the situation is very tense in the region. More and more the Copts in Egypt are being marginalised and their basic human rights threatened.

Source: Press release issued b y Coptic Christians Support group

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WORSHIPPING A MALE GOD LEADS TO WIFE BEATING SAYS CHURCH OF ENGLAND REPORT

Church of England leaders have warned that calling God “He” encour ­ages men to beat their wives. They told churchgoers they must think twice before they refer to God as “He” or “Lord” in case it led to domestic abuse. In new guidelines for bishops and priests, the church blamed “uncritical use of masculine imagery” for encouraging men to behave violently towards women. They also warned that clergy must reconsider the language they use in sermons and check the hymns they sing to remove signs of male oppression. The recommendation, endorsed by Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams, puts question marks over swaths of Christian teaching and practice. It throws doubt on whether the Lord’s Prayer should contin ­ue using that name and begin “Our Father.”The guidelines claim abuse is common in marriage and say this is because marriage heightens a sense among husbands that they own their wives. The document prompted an outcry from conservative clergy, who accused the Archbishop’s Council, which produced the guidelines, of distorting theology for a “feminist agenda”. The influential evangelical Reform movement spokesman, Plymouth vicar Rod Thomas, said: “There is a danger this document has veered too much towards political correctness. “The Bible says God has both female and male characteristics but it does not feel inhibited about referring to God as male,” he said. The guidelines “Responding to Domestic Abuse” say that centuries of Christian teaching have led to “questionable assumptions” about the Bible and moral teaching. They quote a feminist thinker saying that “If God is male, then the male is God”.

Source: UK Daily Telegraph

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AMISH COMMUNITY FORGIVES KILLER AND RAISES MONEY FOR HIS FAMILY

In what’s being called a stunning example of “the imitation of Christ,” the Amish community devastated by the cold-blooded murder of five of its schoolgirls is raising money for the killer’s family. Dwight Lefever, a spokesman for Marie Roberts, the killers wife, said an Amish neighbour comforted the killer’s family and extended forgiveness to them after the shooting. Barry Wigmore, reporting for the UK’s Daily Mail wrote, “One of the few non-Amish guests invited to the funeral of seven-year-old Naomi Rose Ebersole, the first little girl to be buried, was Marie Roberts, the killer’s wife. With tears in her eyes, Mrs. Roberts sat in the back of one of the 34 black horse-drawn carriages that were part of the funeral cortege behind Naomi’s horse-drawn hearse. On the way from the church to the hilltop cemetery, the procession passed Mrs. Roberts’ home where her husband, Charles, loaded up his guns before heading for the little village school.” Reacting to the Amish outpouring of support for the killer’s family, columnist Rod Dreher wrote: “Yesterday on NBC News, I saw an Amish midwife who had helped birth several of the girls murdered by the killer say that they were planning to take food over to his family’s house. She said – and I paraphrase closely – “This is possible if you have Christ in your heart.” Journalist Tom Shachtman, who wrote a book on Amish culture called “Rumspringa: To Be or Not to Be Amish,” told the New York Times: “This is imitation of Christ at its most naked. If anybody is going to turn the other cheek in our society, it’s going to be the Amish. I don’t want to denigrate anybody else who says they’re imitating Christ, but the Amish walk the walk as much as they talk the talk.” Amish expert Gertrude Huntington noted. “They know their children are going to Heaven. They know their children are innocent … and they know that they will join them in death. The hurt is very great,” she told the Associated Press. “But they don’t balance the hurt with hate.”

Source: WorldNetDaily.com

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NEW ZEALAND PRESBYTERIANS SAY NO TO GAY LEADERS

Those involved in a sexual relationship outside marriage – whether homosexual, lesbian or heterosexual – have been barred from becoming ministers or elders in the Presbyterian Church of New Zealand. The church’s General Assembly, confirmed its 2004 rule at its recent biennial meeting. The motion that the church “may not accept for training, license, ordain or induct anyone involved in a sexual relationship outside of faithful marriage between a man and a woman” was carried by 230 votes to 124 – a 65 per cent approval. An elated Rev. Stuart Lange, co-chairman of Presbyterian Affirm, which supports a traditional biblical interpretation of sexual morality, told Challenge Weekly after the vote was confirmed that it was a “great relief.” Mr. Lange acknowledged that the “moral controversy won’t just go away” but now the rule was binding. “This enables the church to move ahead in greater unity and to concentrate on becoming spiritually stronger. This is a significant decision for the Presbyterian Church and other churches which have been watching.” Mr. Lange said that while the church was not seeking to legislate society it gave the indication that a majority of Presbyterians wished to remain faithful to the Bible. “This decision wasn’t about sexual orientation, it was about upholding biblical standards about the moral behaviour of our leaders,” Mr. Lange said. He emphasized that the ruling was not about who was welcome or not welcome in the church – because “everyone is welcome.” The Rev. Richard Waugh, leader of the Wesleyan Methodist Church in New Zealand, who watched the proceedings, said the assembly’s ruling was the “best result under the circumstances.” “It’s painful for most and it is not a debate to be taken lightly,” Mr Waugh said. “This was the right decision”.

Source: Challenge Weekly

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