INTERNATIONAL NEWS 12th March 2007

AUSTRALIAN PRAYER NETWORK NEWSLETTER

* TO OBEY GOD OR MAN – CHRISTIAN MAGISTRATE CHOOSES TO OBEY GOD AND LOOSES HIS JOB

* CHRISTIANS BATTLE SATANISTS IN INDIA

* CHARLES WANTS A MULTI-FAITH CORONATION

* SPIRITUAL PRIDE LEADING CAUSE OF ABORTIONS AMONGST CHRISTIANS

* LARGEST GATHERING OF CHRISTIANS IN KAZAKHSTAN’S HISTORY A SIGHT TO BEHOLD

* GELDOF BACKS ABSTINENCE PROGRAM IN AFRICA

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TO OBEY GOD OR MAN – CHRISTIAN MAGISTRATE CHOOSES TO OBEY GOD AND LOOSES HIS JOB

Christian Magistrate Andrew McClintock has lost his case to have his freedom of conscience recognised when practising as a Justice of the Peace. The decision by the Sheffield Employment Tribunal means that Mr McClintock, will not be able to serve on the Family Panel, even though the Tribunal recognised his “unblemished record and the high regard in which he is held by the Department of Constitutional Affairs”.

Difficulties first arose for Mr McClintock when he considered the implications of same-sex adoption on which he was forced to rule. He became concerned that a tension existed between his Christian beliefs in the Biblical model of the family and his work as a Magistrate. In March 2004, Mr McClintock raised his difficulties with the Chairman of the Family Panel at Sheffield. Mr McClintock was not asking for a change in the law, rather he was requesting that his religious conscience should be accommodated, and that he should be “screened” from cases which might require him to adopt children in to same-sex households. He also expressed his concern that children could be put at risk by the untried social experiment of same-sex adoption, in which vulnerable children were being used as “guinea pigs”. The Employment Tribunal rejected Mr McClintock’s claim that he had been discriminated against because of his religious beliefs.

Commenting on the judgment, Andrea Williams of the Lawyers Christian Fellowship said: “This is yet another example of the repression of Christian conscience and signals the erosion of Christian values at the expense of our children’s welfare. Andrew McClintock believes that the best interests of the child are served by placing them in a situation where they would have both a mother and a father and therefore he could not agree to participate in gay adoption. This case demonstrates what will happen as greater numbers of men and women of integrity are forced to choose between applying a law which runs contrary to their fundamental Christian belief or obeying their conscience. The imposition of secular values in every aspect of our lives will force those who hold Christian beliefs out of jobs.”

Andrew McClintock commented: “This ruling is going to make it harder for many conscientious people. Anyone who holds seriously to traditional morals and family values will think twice before taking on such a job. There will be more children now whom the courts remove from one kind of harm, but only to face another hazard. So, more needy children will be fuelling this experiment in social science, and suffering what the experts call mother-hunger or father-hunger.”

Source: Intercessors Network

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CHRISTIANS BATTLE SATANISTS IN INDIA

Satan-worshipping groups in the Christian-majority Indian state of Mizoram are waging an anti-Christian campaign by burning Bibles, vandalizing churches and defiling cemeteries. One such group recently entered a church and burned Bibles, urinated on the pulpit and tore up pictures of Jesus.

“It appears they sacrificed an animal on the pulpit and splattered its blood on the altar and chair of the worship leader,” said the Rev. B. Sangthanga, the head pastor of the church in the Kolasib district of the northeastern Indian state. Mr. Sangthanga said the attack on our church proves that the number of Satanists is growing in the area. Other recent incidents have led to the arrests of young Satan worshippers on charges of vandalism at religious places. Most were briefly detained and released with a scolding. The youths-most in their late teens or early 20s-tend to be high-school dropouts and often are drug users, a police investigation found.

More than 50 cases have been reported in which groups have vandalized churches, burned Bibles or defiled cemeteries. Some of them conduct midnight gatherings at isolated cemeteries, where they are reported to dance naked, slash their wrists in ritual blood offerings and chant invocations to Satan. Church leaders blame high unemployment and “bad Western influences” for the growth of the groups. A church leader in the Aizawl district said “Lots of graduates and postgraduates are jobless in this state, and so, many younger students are getting disenchanted with their studies. Muana, a 25-year-old former Satan worshipper said young people were joining the groups out of frustration over the tens of thousands of highly educated people who are jobless. “Most members of our group were intravenous drug users she said. We wanted to rebel against the society, and so we targeted the Church.”

Source: Intercessors Network

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CHARLES WANTS A MULTI-FAITH CORONATION

Prayers and readings from other denominations and religions, including from the Muslim, Sikh and Jewish faiths, are being considered for inclusion in the ceremonies marking Prince Charles’s accession to the throne. Canon John Hall, the Dean-elect of Westminster Abbey, said that the traditional Church of England coronation service must be revised to reflect society’s changes since the Queen’s coronation in 1953.

“The coronation service needs to find the right way of including people of other faiths,” Canon Hall told The Sunday Telegraph. “It must be different in some ways because of the nature of society and how things have changed.” Canon Hall suggested that the revised service should follow an inclusive style similar to the Commonwealth Observance, a Church of England ceremony in which people from other denominations and faiths take part by saying prayers and sharing testimonies. The proposed changes follow comments already made by Prince Charles, who has said that he wants to be “Defender of Faith” – not “Defender of the Faith” – when he succeeds to the throne. Canon Hall praised the prince’s success in reaching out to “other communities” within our society and welcomed his desire to be “Defender of Faith”.

Although at 80, the Queen remains in good health, preliminary discussions have already begun over possible alterations to the service. Lord Carey, the former Archbishop of Canterbury, has said that he thinks that the Queen may abdicate if she becomes seriously ill.

Alison Ruoff, a member of the General Synod, the church’s parliament, voiced concern about the plans. “We should not pander to political correctness,” she said. “There is no way that other faiths should be involved in the service. This is a Christian country and so the coronation service must remain exclusively Christian and we should not apologise for that.”

Source: Telegraph UK

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SPIRITUAL PRIDE LEADING CAUSE OF ABORTIONS AMONGST CHRISTIANS

Spiritual pride was a leading cause of abortion among Christians. Many had abortions for ‘image maintenance’ as they didn’t want people to find out that they had sin in their lives. About half the 150 women counselled about their abortions by a Christian counselling practice had been Christians when they ended their pregnancies. A survey of nearly 10,000 abortion patients, conducted by the Alan Guttmacher Institute, revealed that Catholics were as likely as women in the general population to have an abortion, while Protestants were 69 percent, and evangelical or born-again Christians were at 39 percent. Abortions among believers should sound the alarm for churches to get involved in the issue, especially in prayer and education.

Receiving God’s forgiveness is crucial in healing, but along with that there also is “the need for recognition that these women have suffered the death of a child.” Many post-abortion women in churches are living in silent torment, the report revealed. They are slowly self-destructing and taking their families with them…They believe that if their church friends knew what they had done, they would reject and condemn them. The report encourages Pastors to “preach it straight, but with a broken heart. If a woman does not see mercy in the heart of a pastor, she will not trust him with her secret.”

Source: Charisma News Service

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LARGEST GATHERING OF CHRISTIANS IN KAZAKHSTAN’S HISTORY A SIGHT TO BEHOLD

World Evangelical Alliance’s Geoff Tunnicliffe says the spread of Christianity in Kazakhstan — a primarily Muslim country — is a site to behold. “I remember visiting Kazakhstan in the early 90’s and there were very few Believers among the Kazakh people themselves, but God has done a marvellous work in these last 10 or 15 years. I was able to speak at the largest gathering of Kazakh Believers in its history.”

4,000 Believers gathered in Almaty for worship and teaching, says Tunnicliffe. He added that most of the new Believers are 40 years old and younger. “Most of these people are from Muslim backgrounds, and have been under tremendous pressure since they became Christians. They have had to make great sacrifices for being followers of Jesus.”

While many believe religious freedom is being curtailed in Kazakhstan, Tunnicliffe is optimistic. “I had some very encouraging meetings with political leaders, urging them to promote pluralism and protection for the religious minorities. And every indication is that they’re willing to commit to that. We’re going to, obviously, follow up on that, and make sure they keep their word as well.”

Source: Mission Network News

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GELDOF BACKS ABSTINENCE PROGRAM IN AFRICA

The “no sex” campaign to stop the spread of Aids has been hailed by Bob Geldof as a highly effective initiative which gave women “a weapon” for protecting their health. The program is highly effective as an Aids combatant mechanism,” he said. “It works. It’s uncomfortable for people to speak these unspoken truths but a lot of that stuff is working.

In general in rural Africa women have no power. They also cannot refuse sexual favours. But I’ve seen marked in chalk on these rural huts – ‘safe sex, fidelity.'” It’s giving women a weapon they can use,” he concluded.

Source: Telegraph UK

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