AUSTRALIAN PRAYER NETWORK NEWSLETTER

* ZIMBABWE POLICE HARASSES TSVANGIRAI AND OPPOSITION FIGURES

* CANADIAN TRIBUNAL INSTRUCTS PASTOR TO RENOUCE HIS BELIEFS

* HOMOSEXUAL MARRIAGE LEGALISED IN CALIFORNIA

* BIBLES TO BE SPECIALLY PRINTED FOR THE OLYMPICS

* NIGERIA: RESCUE OF KIDNAPPED GIRLS IGNITES ISLAMIC RAMPAGE

* RUSH TO BUILD SHELTER FOR STILL HOMELESS CHINESE QUAKE VICTIMS

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ZIMBABWE POLICE HARASSES TSVANGIRAI AND OPPOSITION FIGURES

Zimbabwe’s opposition leader Mr Morgan Tsvangirai and other opposition figures continue to face state-sponsored intimidation in various ways. A total of six Movement for Democratic (MDC) lawmakers have been arrested for various offences since the March 29 polls. The opposition (MDC) has accused President Robert Mugabe of trying to sabotage Tsvangirai’s campaign for the run off Presidential election set for Saturday 27th June, in order to preserve his 28-year hold on power.

The MDC called the intimidation of Tsvangirai “a shameless and desperate act”. “The regime must let the president do that which the people of Zimbabwe have mandated him and the MDC, to help restore the dignity of the people of Zimbabwe,” it said in a statement. It said police had banned several planned campaign rallies because authorities could not guarantee the safety of party leaders, adding that it would lodge a High Court action to prevent police interference in the campaign.

The opposition says 65 people have been killed in violence since the first round of voting but Mr Mugabe blames the deaths on his opponents. President Mugabe’s government suspended the work of all international aid agencies in the southern African nation on Thursday June 5, saying some of them were campaigning for the opposition. Britain and the European Union demanded the lifting of the ban. UN officials said it would increase suffering and CARE International, one of the agencies whose work has been suspended, said millions of aid-dependent Zimbabweans were at risk.

Zimbabwe, once one of Africa’s most prosperous countries, has seen food production plummet since Mugabe’s government began seizing thousands of white-owned farms as part of a land redistribution programme to help poor blacks. Many of the farms have ended up in the hands of Mugabe loyalists, and the country now faces chronic food shortages. It has had to rely on handouts and imports to feed its people.

PLEASE PRAY FOR ZIMBABWE

For several years now the nation of Zimbabwe has been going through severe turmoil. The nation is experiencing one of the worst humanitarian crises known to the world – famine, as well as being threatened by a political time bomb. The solution to this nation’s problems is not political, social, economical or humanitarian, but spiritual. As the run off election looms this coming Saturday 27th June, let us, as never before, cry out to God to have mercy on the desperate people of Zimbabwe and to intervene on their behalf.

Source: Intercessors Network

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CANADIAN TRIBUNAL INSTRUCTS PASTOR TO RENOUCE HIS BELIEFS

A Canadian human rights tribunal has ordered a Christian pastor to never again express moral opposition to homosexuality. In its decision, the Alberta Human Rights Tribunal banned evangelical pastor Stephen Boisson from expressing his biblical perspective of homosexuality and ordered him to pay $5,000 damages “for pain and suffering” as well as apologize to the activist who complained of being hurt.

Boisson wrote a letter to the editor of his local Red Deer, Alberta, newspaper in 2002 denouncing the advance of homosexual activism as “wicked” and stating: “Children as young as five and six years of age are being subjected to psychologically and physiologically damaging pro-homosexual literature and guidance in the public school system; all under the fraudulent guise of equal rights.” While agreeing that Boisson’s letter was not a criminal act, the government tribunal nevertheless ordered the Christian pastor to stop expressing his opinion.

In part the wording of the judgement read, “Mr. Boisson and The Concerned Christian Coalition Inc. shall in future cease publishing in newspapers, by e-mail, on the radio, in public speeches, or on the Internet, disparaging remarks about homosexuals. All disparaging remarks against homosexuals are directed to be removed from current Web sites and publications of Mr. Boisson and The Concerned Christian Coalition Inc.,”

Author and lawyer Ezra Levant said “Other than in Stalin’s Soviet Union and Mao’s China, where is this Orwellian ‘order’ considered to be justice? This is like a Third World jail-house confession – where accused criminals are forced to sign false statements of guilt. In essence, the Alberta Human Rights Tribunal is ordering the minister to renounce his Christian faith, since his opposition to homosexuality is based upon the Judeo-Christian Bible,”.

Catholic Priest, Father de Valk, has also been targeted over his references to biblical passages regarding homosexuality. Father de Valk, in defending the Catholic Church’s teaching on marriage during a same-sex ‘marriage’ debate, quoted extensively from the Bible, the Catechism of the Catholic Church, and Pope John Paul II’s encyclicals. Each of these documents contains official Catholic teaching. It now appears clear that Canada now considers morality a “hate crime”. His case is still to be heard.

Source: WorldNetDaily

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HOMOSEXUAL MARRIAGE LEGALISED IN CALIFORNIA

A historic court ruling has legalised same-sex marriage in America’s most populous state. Officials have started granting marriage licences with the first weddings already getting underway. The legalisation of same-sex marriage in California is expected to create a mini-industry worth several hundred million dollars, as couples flock to the state from around the country to tie the knot. A University of California study claims half of the 102,000 same-sex couples living in California were expected to marry over the next three years, with a further 67,500 couples from outside the state are expected to wed there during the same period. The landmark court ruling came after a legal battle that erupted when California voters approved a law declaring that only marriages between men and women could be legally recognised. California is the second state, after Massachusetts, to marry same-sex couples, but it is the first to grant licences to couples from any state.

Gay marriage is rejected by 45 states, although New York has said it will honour California unions. Many countries allow domestic partnerships though a relative few recognise gay marriage including The Netherlands, Spain, and Canada. San Francisco Mayor Newsom, who is straight, predicted gay marriage legalisation would sweep through the United States. Opponents are seeking to force the issue back onto the agenda and have gathered enough signatures for a proposal calling for California to ban same-sex marriage to be added to ballot papers at November 4 elections.

Catholic church leaders in Los Angeles have registered their disapproval of same-sex marriage while calling for homosexuals and lesbians to be accepted with respect and sensitivity. “The church cannot approve of redefining marriage, which has a unique place in God’s creation, joining a man and a woman in a committed relationship in order to nurture and support the new life for which marriage is intended”.

Tony Perkins, from the conservative Family Research Council, predicted “months of social chaos that could wreak havoc on every state in America.” He said that the new policy “threatens to undo thousands of years of natural marriage.” University of Southern California law professor David Cruz said that married gay couples moving from California to other states would spark change. “What will change public opinion in favour of same-sex marriages further is knowing same-sex couples and seeing them live their lives like other married couples”, he said.

Source: Los Angeles Times

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BIBLES TO BE SPECIALLY PRINTED FOR THE OLYMPICS

Bibles and Scripture booklets will be available to athletes in the Olympic village in Beijing this summer, despite rumours that Bibles would be banned at the games. In a major breakthrough, Chinese authorities have given the go-ahead for the printing and distribution of:

– 50,000 booklets with the Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John in Chinese and English

– 10,000 Chinese-English Bibles

– 30,000 Chinese-English New Testaments

The announcement follows controversy earlier this year over whether the Chinese authorities would allow Bibles to be made available at the Olympics. James Catford, Chief Executive of Bible Society, said, ‘This is a major and exciting opportunity. We are privileged to be able to support the Church in China in the publishing of these Bibles and scriptures during the Beijing Olympics.’ The booklets will be available to some 16,000 athletes and officials in the Olympic villages in Beijing and five other cities that are hosting events during the summer.

In other developments, places of worship have been set up within the Olympic village to provide religious services to athletes. The Church in Beijing has been asked to provide people to staff the chapel and conduct worship services and prayers. The Beijing Olympic organising committee has even, for the first time, allowed its logo to be used free of charge on the Gospel portions.

Prayer points:

* Thank God for this unique opportunity to make the Bible available in a country where, only 40 years ago, the Bible was banned.

* Pray that people from across the world would encounter the Bible’s life-changing message through the Scriptures available at the Olympics.

* Pray for those staffing the Olympic village chapel, that they would be powerful witnesses of God’s embracing love.

Source: UK Bible Society ———————————————–

NIGERIA: RESCUE OF KIDNAPPED GIRLS IGNITES ISLAMIC RAMPAGE

Islamists under the auspices of a paramilitary force has destroyed six churches to protest a police rescue of two teenage Christian girls kidnapped by Muslims. Police recovered the two Christian girls, Mary Chikwodi Okoye, 15, and Uche Edward, 14, after Muslims in Ningi kidnapped them in an attempt to expand Islam by marrying them to Muslim men. Police took the two girls, who had been under foster care, to safety in south-eastern Nigeria where their biological parents live.

Following the rescue of the girls, Muslims under the auspices of the Hisbah Command, a paramilitary arm of Kano state’s Sharia Commission, responsible for enforcing Islamic law, went on a rampage attacking Christians and setting fire to the churches. The destroyed churches were the Deeper Life Bible Church, St. Mary’s Catholic Church, All Souls Anglican Church, Church of Christ in Nigeria, Redeemed Christian Church of God, and the Redeemed Peoples Mission. Joseph Abdu, pastor of Deeper Life Bible Church, said that damages to his church property as a result of the rampage had amounted to about US$112,800, and his congregation had shrunk to 40 people from the 130 who attended before the attack. Kidnapping of teenage Christian girls by Muslims had become a recurring practice in parts of Nigeria with at least 13 Christian girls kidnapped to his knowledge he said. “These girls are forcefully converted to Islam, and then married out to other Muslim men against the will of both the girls and their parents”, Abdu said.

Source: Intercessors Network

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RUSH TO BUILD SHELTER FOR STILL HOMELESS CHINESE QUAKE VICTIMS

China continues to struggle to house quake victims with thousands of people still being forced to sleep in the open. The Premier, Wen Jiabao, has ordered that 250,000 temporary housing units – basic steel structures used on construction sites to house migrant workers – be erected by June 30 as China struggles to shelter the estimated 5 million left homeless by its worst earthquake in more than three decades. Most are in refugee camps set up in and around less affected cities. The President, Hu Jintao, has promised survivors that they will have the option to rebuild their homes and towns but a multitude of issues – including whether or not it is safe to rebuild on existing sites – must first be settled. A vice-minister of civil affairs, Jiang Li, said the Government is paying up to 600 yuan (about $100) a month for living expenses to certain categories of survivors including orphans, elderly and disabled who had no relatives. Ms Jiang said psychologists were also being made available to counsel survivors of the quake.

Source: Intercessors Network

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