AUSTRALIAN PRAYER NETWORK NEWSLETTER

* IN ZIMBABWE A BISHOP STANDS UP TO A DICTATOR

* INTERNATIONAL DAY OF PRAYER FOR ZIMBABWE

* TSUNAMI HITS SOLOMON ISLANDS

* BRITISH CARDINAL WARNS BRITISH GOVERNMENT AGAINST INSTRUSIVE INTERVENTION

* WINKIE PRATNEY IN CRITICAL CONDITION IN SOUTH KOREAN HOSPITAL

* ITALY AND GERMANY PROTEST OMISSION OF CHRISTIANITY FROM EUROPEAN UNION DECLARATION

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IN ZIMBABWE A BISHOP STANDS UP TO A DICTATOR

(Article written by a Zimbabwean journalist. Name withheld for security reasons)

It is always fascinating when a religious leader, frustrated by the suffering of his flock, decides to stand up – even at the risk of losing his own life. This has happened in Zimbabwe. Archbishop Pius Ncube of the Southern Bulawayo diocese has vowed to participate in an anti-government protest, even if it means his life. This phenomenon should not be so intriguing, but it is. Why, because it happens so rarely in modern Christendom.

It is written in the Holy Bible, “For what shall it profit a man to gain the world and lose his soul?” This comes from the Book of Matthew 16:26. In studying the realities of our times however, many Christian leaders fail to live up to this biblical doctrine; instead, many seem more concerned about preserving their social statuses and personal safety.

I recently wrote to a friend: If a political leader is waging an insane war against a religious leader’s flock, how is it logical to stay silent and uninvolved? Religious leaders have a responsibility and a duty to protect their flocks, even it means risking the angst or furore of dictators.”

I congratulate Archbishop Pius Ncube for taking this courageous stand. It is only the right thing to do and I hope other prelates and men and women of the cloth will follow his bold and courageous commitment to fight in this noble revolution – a revolution against dictatorship. It is only through that spiritual commitment that the people of Zimbabwe will gather the strength to fight for themselves. The masses need leaders and this is no time for the Church to remain silent and inactive.

I am convinced that the clergy have a responsibility to intervene in social crises. It is an understatement to say, we are disappointed in the rule of President Robert Mugabe. He was once an honourable member of the vanguard against an unpopular, racist regime. Now, where has his sense of decency gone? Has he gone from being a principled freedom fighter to becoming a rogue and dictator? The answer is apparent.

When we were growing up, Robert Mugabe and other freedom fighters inspired awe in us. They were fighting the good fight and Ian Smith, backed by the apartheid regime of South Africa, was simply abominable. Since then, Robert Mugabe, Comrade Bob as he was affectionately known, has blurred the lines. When and why did a renowned and revered freedom fighter become a dictator?Now the people of Zimbabwe are not fighting against a so-called superior race. The majority black people of Zimbabwe do not live in subjugation to the fair skinned blue eyed race.

Now a new war has begun. This new war pits the former leader of the freedom movement against his former foot soldiers. He is no longer a principled freedom fighter. He has become a pariah, a paranoid, senile dictator unwilling to accept the principles of freedom and democracy for which he fought for so long.

The good people of Zimbabwe must not stand idly by as this cancer destroys the entire country. Comrade Bob Mugabe has done enough harm. It is now time to stand up to him and say, “Enough is enough.” It is in this vein that Archbishop Pius Ncube’s recent announcement becomes significant. His recent public vow to stand up to the dictatorship may just be symbolic; he needs other prelates and other significant religious leaders to take up the same cause simultaneously. Most importantly, he needs the masses, the ordinary people of Zimbabwe to stand with him in opposition to this dictatorship.

The message couldn’t be clearer: “It’s time for Comrade Bob to exit. He has outlived his usefulness to the people and the cause. Zimbabwe deserves better. Again, I congratulate Archbishop Pius Ncube and challenge other religious leaders of Zimbabwe to join forces in leading themasses. The masses are your flock, to ignore them now for your own personal well-being is an unconscionable crime against them. Remember, you men and women of the cloth, it shall profit you nothing to gain the world while you lose your souls.

Meanwhile Zimbabwe’s neighbours have fallen in behind the brutal regime of Robert Mugabe and demanded that the West lift all sanctions on his country. With opposition growing at home and a crumbling economy, pressure was mounting on the heads of surrounding states to urge their friend and comrade to reconsider his position. But in a communique issued at the end of what was billed as a make-or-break summit of the Southern African Development Community, 14 leaders reaffirmed their solidarity with the veteran President of Zimbabwe.Their words will come as a crushing blow to campaigners who believed the tide to be turning against his increasingly autocratic 27-year rule.

Mr Mugabe smiled as he pushed past reporters in the Tanzanian capital, Dar es Salaam, and declared himself satisfied. “Excellent meeting,” he cried, clapping his hands gleefully, before climbing into a waiting limousine.

Source: Intercessors Network

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INTERNATIONAL DAY OF PRAYER FOR ZIMBABWE

Wednesday April 18, 2007 has been declared an International Day of Prayer and Fasting for Zimbabwe. Zimbabwe is a country in desperate need of intervention. And yet the world is turning a blind eye.

Thousands in Zimbabwe are dying from AIDS. Food is scarce. Medication is in short supply. The inflation rate is at an outrageous 1200 percent. Medical workers are on strike. 80 percent of the population is unemployed. Humanitarian aid organizations are restricted from getting life-saving supplies to the people.

Government abuses, skyrocketing crime rates, a disastrous economy, and an exploding health crisis have made Zimbabwe now officially the worst country in the world for “Quality of Life”.

Source: Pray Zimbabwe (http://www.prayzimbabwe.org)

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TSUNAMI HITS SOLOMON ISLANDS

An earthquake measuring 8.1 struck 345km northwest of the Solomon Islands’ capital Honiara at 07:40 local time last Monday. The powerful earthquake caused a tsunami which resulted in much damage and loss of life.

The Solomon Islands has a population of about 500,000 people – many of them living on remote and widely scattered islands. Many people live in houses made of palm and bamboo on the islands’ beaches. Gizo, a small fishing town and diving centre on Ghizo Island, was only 45km from the epicentre. Witnesses described the water reaching 50-70 metres inland on Ghizo.

A bishop and three worshippers were killed by the tsunami when it struck the island of Simbo during a church ordination service. Bishop Rowlington Zappo was conducting the ordination ceremony when the wave hit the church on Simbo, near the island of Ghizo, in the Solomons’ Western Province, a church spokesman said. He and three others died, but there were said to be up to 100 others in the congregation at the time.

The Solomon Islands’ National Disaster Management Office has said that at least 25 people are dead, 916 houses have been destroyed and 5409 people displaced across the Western and Choiseul provinces. Assessment is still continuing, so these figures are expected to rise. Bishop Terry Brown of the Anglican diocese of Malaita in the Solomon Islands believes the damage and the death toll are substantially higher than reported by the western media. He said “Lower Gizo is very badly damaged and the whole area has suffered earthquake damage apart from the tsunami. Thousands are homeless and without food. The tsunami also extended to Papua New Guinea.” “As reports come in from remote seaside villages in Choiseul and the Shortlands, the toll will continue to rise. Assessment and relief teams have arrived and some things are being distributed. However the continuing earthquakes and tsunami fears are slowing things down.”

“The Anglican church in Gizo was flooded and the Catholic Cathedral in was very badly damaged. Please keep the people of Western and Choiseul Provinces in the Solomons, and Bougainville, Milne Bay and the New Guinea (PNG) islands in your prayers, as well as those helping in relief efforts. We pray too that the earth and sea will settle down.” Bishop Brown concluded.

Source: Compiled by APN from various Christian sources

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BRITISH CARDINAL WARNS BRITISH GOVERNMENT AGAINST INTRUSIVE INTERVENTION

After suffering a recent defeat in his bid to protect the Church from being forced to grant adoptions to gay couples in Britain, Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O’Connor-leader of England and Wales four million Roman Catholics-delivered a lecture in Westminster in which he said, “For my own part, I have no difficulty in being a proud British Catholic citizen. But now it seems to me we are being asked to accept a different version of our democracy, one in which diversity and equality are held to be at odds with religion. We Catholics-and here I am sure I speak too for other Christians and all people of faith-do not demand special privileges, but we do demand our rights.” “My fear is that, under the guise of legislating for what is said to be tolerance, we are legislating for intolerance,” he noted. “Once this begins, it is hard to see where it ends…I am conscious that when an essential core of our democratic freedom risks being undermined, subsequent generations will hold to account those who were able to raise their voices yet stayed silent.”

Concluded the Cardinal: “I begin to wonder whether Britain will continue to be a place which protects and welcomes the works of people shaped and inspired by the church.” The Cardinal also said he feared intolerance of Christianity “so when Christians stand by their beliefs, they are intolerant dogmatists. When they sin, they are hypocrites. When they take the side of the poor, they are soft-headed liberals. When they seek to defend the family, they are Rightwing reactionaries. What looks like liberality is in reality a radical exclusion of religion from the public sphere.”

Source: The Daily Mail

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WINKIE PRATNEY IN CRITICAL CONDITION IN SOUTH KOREAN HOSPITAL

Winkie Pratney, who logs more than 150,000 miles in his quest to speak to half-a-million young people each year, (and who would also be known to many of our APN membership), is in a critical medical condition in a hospital in South Korea. He is currently in septic shock, which is life-threatening.

Winkie fell recently in South Korea, which led to surgery and a series of complications. His first surgery (a herniotomy) was on March 26. The next day it was clear that there were more problems than just a hernia, so Winkie underwent major surgery on his whole abdominal cavity. They found several adhesions of his bowel which were causing intestinal obstruction.

The condition of his transverse colon was very severe, so Doctors performed a segmental resection where portions of his colon wereremoved entirely. In addition to this, he suffered micro-ruptures at certain points that were repaired. Winkie began to improve and talked with his wife, who has now flown in from Australia. But in the past few days, his condition has worsened and he is now in septic shock, with his vital organs failing.”

Source: Breaking World News

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ITALY AND GERMANY PROTEST OMISSION OF CHRISTIANITY FROM EUROPEAN UNION DECLARATION

In a recent ceremony in Berlin, marking the 50th “birthday” of the European Union, the “Berlin Declaration”-which contains no mention of religion or Europe’s deep Christian roots-was unveiled. Hoping to adopt the declaration by 2009, not all EU members were happy with the glaring omission. Both Germany’s Chancellor Angela Merkel and Italian Prime Minister Romano Prodi, affirmed their support for its inclusion, though at this point they fear secularist nations, such as France, will defeat their desires.

For his part, Pope Benedict has taken the EU to task. The Pope made his displeasure over the matter clear in a strongly worded speech saying, excluding values that helped forge its very soul meant Europe was committing a form of apostasy-a total desertion of one’s religion-and doubting its own identity. A society in which the Christian conscience does not live anymore loses direction, does not know anymore where to go, ends up empty and bankrupt and is doomed to failure” he said.

Source: Reuters

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