AUSTRALIAN   PRAYER   NETWORK   NEWSLETTER

* PRAYING FOR THE DEVASTATED CITY OF CHRISTCHURCH

* THOUSANDS OF WOMEN MARCH IN PROTEST AGAINST VIOLENCE IN
NIGERIA

* MUSLIMS ATTACK CHURCHES IN CENTRAL JAVA

* NO CHANGES TO PAKISTAN’S BLASPHEMY LAW SAYS PRIME
MINISTER

* JUSTIN BIEBER’S MUM IS GROUNDING HIM IN THE CHRISTIAN
FAITH

* NAMIBIA SET TO APPROVE MANDATORY BIBLE STUDY IN PUBLIC
SCHOOLS

* IRAN’S UNPRECEDENTED CRACKDOWN ON YOUTH DRIVING THEM TO
CHRIST
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PRAYING FOR THE
DEVASTATED CITY OF CHRISTCHURCH
Christchurch City has been devastated by a second major earthquake,
more destructive than the one which struck   last year. Miraculously
last year the earthquake struck in the early hours of a Saturday
morning, no-one was killed and only two people were seriously
injured.   This earthquake  struck just after midday on a Tuesday when
the inner city was full of people including tourists.   The
destruction of buildings in the inner city area has been massive,  but
the human toll is even worse.   Lives have been lost and people
injured.
People are stunned, shocked and  devastated by the loss of loved ones,
many people are still missing and the fear of the on-going
aftershocks is great.   Massive destruction of multi-storey inner city
buildings and historical buildings  ¢â‚¬“ including the Christchurch
Cathedral has occurred, streets are broken up, liquefaction has
occurred in places, sewers and water-pipes are broken, the power is
still off in some areas. Obviously every Christian in the country
will be praying for the people of   Christchurch and their friends and
families.
In the midst of such tragedy, God still speaks through His Word:
 ¢â‚¬Å“These things I have spoken to you that in Me you might have peace.
In the world you will have tribulation, but be of good cheer for I
have overcome the world ¢â‚¬  (John 16:33)  ¢â‚¬“ and through Him, and in Him,
we can be overcomers too.  ¢â‚¬Å“Those eighteen people on whom the tower of
Siloam fell and killed them  ¢â‚¬“ do you think they were worse sinners
than other people living in Jerusalem?   I tell you, No!   But unless
you repent you will likewise perish ¢â‚¬  (Luke 13:4-5).   God calls on
everyone to repent for their sins.
 ¢â‚¬Å“Afterwards Jesus found  the crippled man He had healed, and said to
him,  ¢â‚¬ËœLook, you have been made whole.  Sin no more so that nothing
worse happens to you ¢â‚¬â„¢. ¢â‚¬  (John 5:14).  Jesus came to forgive and to
heal and to make people whole.   But we need to walk in His ways or
else worse things may happen. God is calling the Church to
repentance. God is calling you and me to turn from  everything that is
displeasing to Him.   God is calling on unbelievers to come to Him  and
be saved. God wants to heal us, our towns, cities and  our land!   And
He will if we repent and follow Him. Please pray:
 ·          that the Church will really wake up, repent and call on God for
a nationwide revival such as New Zealand has never seen
before!  Please pray that people  ¢â‚¬“ even out of desperation  ¢â‚¬“ will call
on the Lord for His help; in their grief, fear, frustration, despair
and trauma. Pray that they will repent and put their faith in Him and
that the Lord will do miracles for many people.
 ·         that God will demonstrate His love and power to heal, save and
forgive those who come to Him.  Pray that this multiple disaster will
somehow bring glory to God and salvation to many, many people.
Jesus says,  ¢â‚¬Å“Do not let your hearts be troubled  ¢â‚¬“ believe in God,
believe also in Me.  My peace I give to you.  Do not let your hearts be
troubled and do not let them be afraid ¢â‚¬  (John 14:1, 27). God our
Father says,  ¢â‚¬Å“Do not fear, for I am with you.   Do not be afraid, for
I am your God.   I will strengthen you, I will help you, I will uphold
you with My victorious right hand ¢â‚¬  (Isaiah 41:10). To all those who
are suffering at this time we offer our sincere love and prayers that
you might know the Lord, His comfort and peace and that you will walk
with Him all your days.
Intercessors for New Zealand, PO Box 3399, Wellington 6140, New
Zealand.   Coordinator: Brian Caughley.
Source: Intercessors for New
Zealand
———————————————–
THOUSANDS OF WOMEN
MARCH IN PROTEST AGAINST VIOLENCE IN NIGERIA
The central Nigerian city of Jos was brought to a standstill  as
thousands of women dressed in black marched through the streets to
protest the continuing violence in Plateau State. The women, some of
whom were half-dressed in a cultural sign of deep mourning and
desperation, marched to the state governor ¢â‚¬â„¢s official residence in
Jishe, where they also denounced discrimination against Christians in
northern Nigeria and called for the military forces stationed in Jos,
which are viewed as biased, to be replaced by the mobile police.
The group ¢â‚¬â„¢s spokesperson Rhoda Awang said, “Pregnant women are killed
and the babies cut out of their wombs. We have local chiefs in all
the 17 Local Government Councils. Where are they and what are they
doing? We have former governors, where are they? Where is Yakubu
Gowon (the former Nigerian President who is from Plateau State)?   The
women ¢â‚¬â„¢s anger was further fuelled by the deaths of a woman and child
during an attack on a village in Vom the previous night.
They called on the Plateau State Governor to relocate Jos ¢â‚¬â„¢s Motor
Park and the Vegetable Market as several non-Muslims have disappeared
in both areas recently. In response, the Governor pleaded for
restraint and understanding, adding that a gradual withdrawal of
troops was already underway. In another incident a service at the
local Methodist Church was disrupted when a bomb, concealed in a
laptop bag, was left under a pew in the  church by a young man who
entered the building towards the end of the service, and later fled
on a waiting motorcycle.
Church ushers threw the bag out of the building and called the police
who, upon opening the bag, immediately cleared the area and blocked
off the street. The bomb squad arrived half an hour later and defused
what turned out to be a large explosive device.  ¢â‚¬Å“They said we should
thank God it did not explode because no-one would have survived ¢â‚¬ ,
Reverend Timothy Aneke told CSW.  ¢â‚¬Å“I replied that God would not have
allowed it to explode ¢â‚¬ .
CSW National Director Stuart Windsor said,  ¢â‚¬Å“We give thanks for the
miraculous escape of the Methodist Congregation.    In light of last
year ¢â‚¬â„¢s bombings and the continuing attacks on churches since, this
incident becomes even more worrying.  Increased prayer  for the Church
in Nigeria is  called for together with  increased vigilance on the
part of state and federal authorities.  The women of Plateau State,
have once again taken the lead in protesting the perplexing failure
of their nation’s army to protect the most vulnerable members of its
own society. While it is good to learn that this failure is being
addressed, for the sake of vulnerable communities any change must be
urgent, not gradual. ¢â‚¬ 
Source: Christian Solidarity
Worldwide
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MUSLIMS ATTACK
CHURCHES IN CENTRAL JAVA
Roving mobs of Muslims attacked and vandalized five buildings,
including two churches, in the small Central Java town of Temanggung
following the sentencing of a man on trial for contempt of Islam.
Judges at the district court in Temanggung  sentenced Antonius
Richmord Bawengan, 58, to five years in jail, as the prosecutors had
requested. The verdict angered members of hard-line Islamic groups,
who thought it was too lenient, setting off the spasm of
violence.
Two churches, a school and two police stations were vandalized by the
mobs and a number of cars and motorcycles were set on fire. Nine
people were injured in the violence police said. The defendant and
the judges and prosecutors had to be rushed out of the courtroom by
police officers after hundreds of people rushed toward them amid
shouts of  ¢â‚¬Å“Allahu Akbar ¢â‚¬  after the verdict was announced.  Indonesian
President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono condemned the violence.
Police fired three warning shots and tear gas canisters outside the
court but the mob then split up and attacked a Pentecostal church,
St. Peter and Paul Catholic Church and the Shekinah school in the
complex of Bethel Indonesia Church. They burned vehicles and later
set fire to two police trucks. Benny Susetyo, head of the Indonesian
Bishops Conference (KWI),  called on the government to  ¢â‚¬Å“arrest the
perpetrators, whoever they are and whatever their motivation was. ¢â‚¬ 
National Police Chief Gen. Timur Pradopo said shortly after returning
from Temanggung that one person had been arrested.  ¢â‚¬Å“We have arrested
one suspect and may name more as the investigation continues, ¢â‚¬  he
said.  ¢â‚¬Å“We will uphold the law against whoever breaches it. ¢â‚¬  He said
that like many of the others involved, the suspect was not from
Temanggung, which he said pointed to the violence being orchestrated
by outsiders. The rioting ended some five hours after it started when
hundreds of police reinforcements arrived from other
regions.
Source: Jakarta
Globe
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NO CHANGES TO
PAKISTAN’S BLASPHEMY LAW SAYS PRIME MINISTER
Pakistan ¢â‚¬â„¢s Prime Minister, Yousuf Raza Gilani, has announced that the
Pakistani government has no plans to amend the country ¢â‚¬â„¢s
controversial  ¢â‚¬Å“blasphemy law ¢â‚¬ , but he also warned that they were  ¢â‚¬Å“not
in favour of misuse of the law either ¢â‚¬ . This announcement followed a
violent attack on two Christian women, a mother and her daughter, who
were falsely accused by a Muslim relative of insulting Muhammad in a
domestic dispute in Lahore. The pair were so severely beaten that
they lost consciousness.
The prime minister ¢â‚¬â„¢s statement also came in the wake of the
assassination of Salman Taseer, governor of Pakistan ¢â‚¬â„¢s Punjab
province and a senior member of the ruling party. Governor Taseer, a
Muslim, had spoken out against the country ¢â‚¬â„¢s  ¢â‚¬Å“blasphemy law ¢â‚¬  and
campaigned for the release of Aasia Bibi, a Christian mother of five
who was sentenced to death under this law in November for defiling
the name of Muhammad. Taseer was gunned down by one of his own
bodyguards on Tuesday 4 January.
Malik Mumtaz Hussain Qadri, a member of the Elite Force, opened fire
on the 66-year old governor at close range. He was immediately
arrested and has been charged with murder, terrorism and violence. He
told reporters,  ¢â‚¬Å“Salman Taseer is a blasphemer and this is the
punishment for a blasphemer. ¢â‚¬  Pray for the family and friends of
Governor Taseer in their bereavement.  Pray that his death will not
have been in vain and that, despite the prime minister ¢â‚¬â„¢s statement,
the government will listen to those who are bravely calling for the
blasphemy law to be abolished.
Source: Barnabus
Fund
———————————————–
JUSTIN BIEBER’S
MUM IS GROUNDING HIM IN THE CHRISTIAN FAITH
Pattie Mallette  knows that she and her 16 year-old son Justin Bieber
are following God’s purpose for their lives. But the single mum, who
has seen Justin go from drumming his highchair tray to street busking
to international pop star  at a level not seen since Michael Jackson,
is also doing all she can to maintain  normalcy in her son’s life by
steeping him in her Christian faith and surrounding him with positive
moral influences. “I’m aware of the dangers,” she explained. “He’s my
son and I’m accountable by God and by the law to protect him. Which
includes covering him spiritually.
Justin’s faith is strong but he’s young and hasn’t come completely
into himself yet. So what I  do is pray, teach and   surround him with
strong Christian influences.” Mallette, who is asking fans to pray
for Justin’s well being as his popularity surges, employs a “travel
pastor” when they’re on tour as well as a Christian tutor to help
develop Justin’s Scripture memory and knowledge of Christian history.
She also employs a Christian advisor, who along with manager Scooter
Braun, provides “a great moral base and model for Justin.”
Bieber recently released a video called “Pray”  with footage from
earthquake-torn Haiti and post-Katrina New Orleans, as well as clips
of him visiting the sick and identifying with the poor. The song
includes a prayer for “the life not started”.   His mother is hoping
his fans will  pray for him as he proceeds through his career.
Mallette said. “Justin recognizes that what he’s been given is a
gift ¢â‚¬”and also a ministry. He is on a wonderful journey and I am
asking for people’s prayer support as Justin continues spreading his
message of love throughout the world.”
Source: Breaking Christian
News
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NAMIBIA SET TO
APPROVE MANDATORY BIBLE STUDY IN PUBLIC SCHOOLS
Government approval is expected soon for the reintroduction of Bible
study into Namibia’s public schools. The new   curriculum was
developed by a committee of the Council of Churches in Namibia
(CCN).  CCN general secretary Maria Kapere said: “With the new program
children will go deeper into what the Bible says. The purpose of
CCN’s curriculum is to use the Bible as the source for moral
education. This will help prevent the growing threat of moral decay
in Namibian society and strengthen Biblical instruction in the school
curriculum.”
Kapere was quoted as saying that Bible study in Namibian schools was
done away with after the country’s Independence because the new
Constitution classified Namibia as a ‘secular state,’ but that ever
since the Bible has been left out of schools, and even though the
Government introduced the Religious and Moral Education subject,
social decay has increased. “Christianity is taught now, but it’s
more historical than theological,” she said. “Children are obliged to
go to school, but are not obliged to go to church.”
Source: The
Namibian
———————————————–
IRAN’S
UNPRECEDENTED CRACKDOWN ON YOUTH DRIVING THEM TO
CHRIST
The  severity of a crackdown in security on the  youth of Iran  for
violating Sharia law is unprecedented in the nation’s  recent past;
but it may be having the opposite effect on Iran’s youth. David
Harder of SAT-7, a Christian satellite TV channel says SAT-7 PARS
team has been experiencing rapid growth with  the satellite TV channel
often the only source of Christian teaching, training and
encouragement for the youth.. We’re getting tremendous responses from
people who are coming to know the Lord, who are so appreciative of
the programs that are training them.
Source: Mission Network
News

http://www.ausprayernet.org.au/