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* CHRISTIAN  MINORITIES  VULNERABLE  AS  REVOLUTION  SPREADS
* NORTH  KOREA  FORMER  SECURITY  AGENTS  TELL  OF  INFILTRATING  
CHRISTIANS
* ZIMBABWE  POISED  ON  THE  EDGE  OF  CHANGE
* GOD  BLESS  THE  WORLD'S  NEWEST  COUNTRY:  SOUTHERN  SUDAN
* SUMMARY  OF  MIDDLE  EAST  UNREST
* COUPLE  SEEK  RIGHT  TO  USE  DEAD  SON'S  
SPERM

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CHRISTIAN  
MINORITIES  VULNERABLE  AS  REVOLUTION  SPREADS

The overthrow of Egypt's President Hosni Mubarak has released  a 
revolutionary spirit  across Africa and the Middle East. This has 
raised concern about what the future may hold for Christian 
minorities in this troubled region. Elections in  Egypt are not 
expected to take place for at least six months, and until then the 
country will be ruled by the military council. There are fears that 
Egypt's largest opposition movement, the Muslim Brotherhood, plans to 
form a political party once restrictions on its activities are 
lifted, and will seek  to impose a stricter Islamic regime on the 
country.    
Though Egypt's revolution has not been Islamic in nature, a poll 
published by the US-based Pew Research Centre a month before the 
protests broke out revealed that  some 95% of Egyptian Muslims said 
that it is "good that Islam plays a large role in politics". 
Worryingly for Christian converts from Islam, 84% said apostates 
should face the death penalty, although 61% said they were "very 
concerned" or "concerned" about Islamist extremism in Egypt.  An 
Islamist judge has been  appointed to head the committee drawing up 
Egypt's new constitution.    
The judge, Tarek al-Bishry, has links to  the Muslim Brotherhood. His 
appointment has  angered those who fear a takeover by the Islamist 
group. Christians had wanted to see the removal of  sharia influence 
on the law however this now seems unlikely. Under Mubarak, Egyptian 
Christians endured years of suffering at the hands of Islamists and 
serious discrimination in public life. But many Christians expect 
that his overthrow could lead to worse conditions for them.  One 
Christian  said: "Mubarak was  the best of the worst. Whoever comes 
after him might want to destroy us." 
The Tunisian revolution has been credited as sparking  the Egyptian 
uprising and similar protests in other Islamic   states.  In Tunisia. 
as in Egypt, the uprising was motivated by economic, political and 
social concerns rather than religion, however an Islamist group is 
emerging there too as a powerful force ahead to elections. Rachid 
Ghannouchi, the exiled leader of Tunisia's main Islamist group, has 
returned to the country, prompting fears that he may be trying to 
transform a popular revolt into an Islamic revolution, on the pattern 
of Ayatollah Khomeini's return to Iran in 1979. 
There is a  growing Islamic fervency among many Tunisians. There 
are  strict  limitations placed upon Christians, especially 
converts.  The Church's future in the North African country, which is 
99% Muslim, would be even more precarious under an Islamic 
Government.  Tunisia is currently among the most secular of Muslim 
states and there is resistance to the imposition of sharia law and 
the wider Islamist agenda. Christians across the region are awaiting 
the outcome of the current unrest with a mixture of hope and 
trepidation.  

Source: Barnabus  
Fund

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NORTH  KOREA  FORMER 
 SECURITY  AGENTS  TELL  OF  INFILTRATING  CHRISTIANS

Former police and security officers in North Korea told a U.S. 
government body that their superiors had instructed them 
to  infiltrate  ¢â‚¬Å“underground ¢â‚¬  prayer meetings in order to incriminate, 
arrest, imprison and sometimes execute believers in North Korea. 
Interviewed  by the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom 
(USCIRF), the 6 officers were tasked, before they fled North Korea, 
with finding and eliminating small groups of Christians. They said 
the North Korean government considers  Christianity to be the primary 
threat to national security.    
In an  attempt to halt religious activities, agents would set up mock 
prayer meetings to trap new converts. Agents are given  basic 
theological training  to enable them to infiltrate churches in China 
and search for North Koreans.  Those repatriated  were asked whether 
they had met South Korean missionaries or evangelists. If they 
confess they had then without any further questions, they  were as 
good as dead. The spread of Christianity in North Korea is regarded 
as a  conspiracy between South Koreans and the United States to 
undermine or destroy the North Korean government.    
The agents described the role of the two Security Agencies in North 
Korea. The PSA is a more general police force, while the NSA is the 
North Korean counterpart to America ¢â‚¬â„¢s Federal Bureau of Investigation 
or Central Intelligence Agency. The PSA gathers information on every 
citizen for a dossier that is kept on file and used by the NSA to 
 ¢â‚¬Å“decide whether to arrest a person. ¢â‚¬  According to one NSA 
officer   ¢â‚¬Å“Things like possessing religious books, sharing one ¢â‚¬â„¢s faith 
with others, or preaching cannot exist because they undermine the Kim 
Jong Il regime. ¢â‚¬     
One agent who worked for 20 years in a Political Offence 
Concentration Camp  ¢â‚¬“ where Christians are often sent  ¢â‚¬“ said he 
witnessed secret executions where  ¢â‚¬Å“the accused digs the hole to be 
buried ¢â‚¬  before being executed. The most severe punishment is applied 
to those who carry the Bible from China and those Christians who help 
North Korean refugees in China. ¢â‚¬  As one refugee testified,  ¢â‚¬Å“My 
relative by marriage was caught while giving away a Bible, so the 
entire family was taken to  a penal labour camp. They were taken there 
under the category of religious spy. ¢â‚¬     
One repatriated refugee was sent to an NSA prison for 15 months. He 
described his prison experience as being  ¢â‚¬Å“an animal without a name."   
It seems however that strict surveillance and compulsory allegiance 
to the system may have begun to backfire. Both security agents and 
refugees interviewed for the report talked of widespread 
disillusionment. One former agent said,  ¢â‚¬Å“The reason why the North 
Korean system still exists is because of the strict surveillance 
system. ¢â‚¬  When disillusion sets in, more people may turn to faith  ¢â‚¬“ 
the very thing dictator Kim Jong Il fears the most.  

Source: Intercessors Network

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ZIMBABWE  POISED  ON 
 THE  EDGE  OF  CHANGE

Zimbabwe's fragile compromise unity government has just passed its 
two-year mark despite President Robert Mugabe's calls for elections 
to coincide with the power sharing anniversary. Even though the 
Government of National Unity (GNU) expired on February 11, both 
Deputy Prime Minister Arthur Mutambara and Prime Minister Morgan 
Tsvangirai agreed to continue the power-sharing pact.   However, there 
are concerns that without basic Constitutional reforms, Zimbabwe 
faces a repeat of the 2008 election, in which hundreds were killed in 
political unrest.
Duane Zook with Global Aid Network says, "There has been some 
unsettledness, but in the midst of that, I think there's great 
opportunity. Rising violence has displaced hundreds of families in 
several parts of Harare, as gangs have begun looting and burning 
property. Additionally, the United Nations has issued some grim news 
about food security. "They're estimating close to two million people 
still need food aid, so that is one of the big things that Global Aid 
Network has been helping the churches and communities with."    

There are also rumours that Mugabe's party hopes to hold the election 
as early as September. That could be problematic for short-term 
mission teams. GAN has a team slated for Zimbabwe September 
30-October 11. "We very closely monitor the situation in Zimbabwe 
whenever we send a team there. We're listening to our Life Ministries 
staff, Campus Crusade staff on the ground, and the nationals; they 
best know the situation." In the worst of the insecurity, though, 
Zook notes that people are more open to hope.    
"As we provide the food through our church partners, they have an 
opportunity to share the solution to the need of the soul." In 
addition to food, he says they provide vegetable seeds. "A Harvester 
Pack is about 10 packs of vegetable seeds that they can plant for not 
only for their own personal family use, but also to help provide some 
income." As the believers sow the seeds of the Gospel and wait for a 
harvest, Zook says the uncertain conditions "also raise the question 
of the need to pray for the national staff and the pastors that are 
there."  

Source: Intercessors  
Network

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GOD  BLESS  THE  
WORLD'S  NEWEST  COUNTRY:  SOUTHERN  SUDAN

Sudan's long-running civil war, in which countless Christians in its 
southern regions were horribly persecuted, may be coming to an end 
following the country's recent vote to divide Sudan into two separate 
countries: North and South Sudan. ABC News reported that the streets 
of South Sudan's capital Juba were filled with people dancing with 
joy after  the official announcement that the proposed-nation's 
independence referendum had passed with more than 98 percent of 
southerners voting to secede. 
The Obama administration welcomed the results and congratulated both 
parties on a largely fair and peaceful vote. Secretary of State 
Hillary Clinton issued a statement that the United States would begin 
the process to remove Sudan from the state-sponsored terror list, a 
list that has resulted in the country being under strict economic 
sanctions for over a decade. The news of the victory for the south is 
welcomed by the many Christians in the country who suffered terribly 
in the brutal civil war which went on for more than twenty years.    

Sudan's independent history has been dominated by chronic, 
exceptionally cruel warfare that has starkly divided the country on 
racial, religious, and regional grounds; displaced an estimated four 
million people (of a total estimated population of thirty-two 
million); and killed an estimated two million people. It damaged 
Sudan's economy and led to food shortages, resulting in starvation 
and malnutrition. The lack of investment during this time, 
particularly in the south, meant a generation lost access to basic 
health services, education and jobs.    
Now the people of the world's newest country face many problems such 
as a new currency must be established, diplomatic missions need to be 
opened, and a country name must be chosen. Also critical negotiations 
still must be held with the north to decide on citizenship rights, 
oil rights and even the final border demarcation. But for the many 
Christians in the south, these are small problems to deal with after 
the mass killings and cruelty that so many of them endured at the 
hands of the government based in Khartoum.  

Source: Assist  
News

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SUMMARY  OF  MIDDLE  
EAST  UNREST

The protests in Tunisia and Egypt have inspired street demonstrations 
in Iran, Bahrain and Yemen.   In each case, riot police responded 
resulting in clashes, injuries and chaos.  Inspired by successful 
demonstrations in Tunisia and Egypt, protesters recently took to the 
streets in Iran, Bahrain and Yemen. Though each event was unique, 
they were all part of the "pro-democracy movement" sweeping through 
North Africa and the Middle East. The chief concerns behind this 
movement are greater political freedom, better jobs and an end to 
corruption. 
Demonstrations were not as large as those in Egypt, but still 
involved thousands.  Iranian protesters targeted "the supreme 
leadership itself,  that seized power in a revolution of its own just 
over three decades ago." Riot police have clashed with demonstrators 
in Bahrain, attacking them with tear gas and concussion grenades. At 
least one person has been killed and several wounded. In Yemen, the 
unrest in the streets continues. Nearly 20 people have been injured 
in confrontations between pro-government and pro-reform protesters. 

Please pray for:    
* the Lord to continue to accomplish His plans and purposes for these 
nations and this region. Ask Him to use this time of turmoil to make 
people aware of their need for a Saviour.  Pray for demonstrations to 
remain peaceful. Pray for security forces to use restraint (as they 
did in Egypt) when dealing with protesters.      
* governments to take note of the concerns being voiced and work to 
provide greater political freedom, better jobs and an end to 
corruption. Pray for this unrest to motivate leaders to seek ways to 
better serve the people. Pray for the Lord to raise up men and women 
who will govern with integrity. Pray for Christians to find favour 
and be placed into positions of leadership.      
* Christians in Iran, Yemen, Bahrain and throughout the Middle East 
to be strong and courageous. Ask the Lord to remind them of His 
presence and help them resist the temptation to be fearful. Pray for 
them to be bold and to preach the Gospel in and out of season 
and  this time of protest to become a time of harvest. Pray for 
multitudes in these nations to put their faith in Jesus Christ as 
Saviour and Lord.  

Source: Windows  International  
Network

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COUPLE  SEEK  RIGHT  
TO  USE  DEAD  SON'S  SPERM

The parents of a deceased Israeli man  are seeking legal permission to 
use his frozen sperm to produce a grandchild. Ohad Ben-Yaakov  was not 
in a relationship and left no written indication of his wishes 
regarding children.  His parents say they want to fulfil his wish to 
continue the family line. If their application succeeds, they will 
need to find a woman willing to bear their grandchild. They insist 
they have no wish to raise the child themselves. Israeli courts have 
allowed female partners of dead men to use their sperm to create a 
child, but never prospective grandparents.      
Mr Ben-Yaakov was in a coma for 2 weeks before his death. His parents 
agreed to donate his organs and won a court's permission to retrieve 
sperm, which was then frozen. The parents were quoted as saying: ''If 
we were entitled to donate the organs of our son, why are we not 
entitled to make use of his sperm in order to bring his offspring 
into the world?'' The family's lawyer  have submitted an application 
to the Attorney-General. If he refuses permission, the parents can 
take their case to court. ''I'm sure we will win in the end, but it 
will take time,'' the lawyer said.    
Danya Cohen of New Family, an Israeli organisation backing the 
Ben-Yaakovs' case, said the parents were not looking for a surrogate 
mother who would hand the baby over to them. ''The mother would raise 
the child with their support and she would know the identity of her 
child.'' David Heyd, professor of philosophy at Hebrew University in 
Jerusalem, said the Ben-Yaakovs' case was ''ethically shaky''. ''The 
right to procreate belongs to parents. The parents of a dead child 
cannot use his sperm for their own purpose in becoming grandparents." 
he said.

Source: Guardian  News  and  
Media

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