AUSTRALIAN   PRAYER   NETWORK   NEWSLETTER

* INDIA’S IMMENSE FOOD THEFT SCANDAL

* ALGERIA: WHERE REVIVAL REFUSES TO CEASE

* SURPRISING UNITY ARISES OUT OF PROTESTS THROUGHOUT THE
MIDDLE EAST

* OBAMA FAILS TO DEFEND TRADITIONAL MARRIAGE

* IOWA TEENAGER REFUSES TO WRESTLE GIRL

* NANJING CHINA SET TO BECOME THE BIBLE PRINTING CAPITAL OF
THE WORLD

* EVANGELICAL CHRISTIANS COULD MAKE UP HALF OF BRAZIL’S
POPULATION BY 2020

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INDIA’S IMMENSE
FOOD THEFT SCANDAL

The poorest of the poor in India’s most populous state, Uttar
Pradesh, are at the heart of a major food scandal which  the Indian
media has described as “the mother of all scams”. It appears elements
of the state bureaucracy have been diverting food from citizens  at
the bottom of the economic ladder. Officials say massive quantities
of food grains and fuel, meant to be distributed through the public
system or  given to the poor under welfare schemes like food-for-work
and school meals for poor children, have been stolen over the years
and sold on the open market.
This is being investigated by India’s federal police and there are
countless pages of court documents setting out the extent of the
deception. The scale is immense. It involves thousands of officials
from top-level bureaucrats to middle-level officers to ground-level
workers. It also involves thousands of transporters, village council
leaders and fair-price shop owners. It stretches across 54 of the
state’s 71 districts, and investigators say the food is carried out
of the state and sometimes even beyond Indian borders to Bangladesh
and Nepal.
India’s top investigating agency, the Central Bureau of Investigation
(CBI), once tried to withdraw from the case saying it did not have
the manpower to deal with it. It said it would require the
registration of 50,000 police cases.One official said that if all the
guilty are convicted, a new jail may have to be built to accommodate
them. “The subsidised supplies were siphoned off and sold in the open
markets at much higher rates. In government records, they were shown
to have been distributed among the people.
In a recent court order, the judges described the corruption in Uttar
Pradesh as “alarming” and said the “administration has failed to
disburse food to the poor and down-trodden”. The court ordered the
investigating agencies to go after the guilty regardless of their
position and the power they wielded. The food cell conducted raids
across several districts. “We found massive discrepancies,” a senior
official involved with the raids said. The micro-economy around the
stolen supplies was estimated to be worth $7.45bn ( £4.8bn) in the
year 2004-2005.   
A  senior official in the food cell says even today 40% to 70% of
supplies from the public distribution system are stolen.  If you
calculate for the last 10 years, it adds up to more than $42.6bn
( £27.5bn). “The rot is very deep,” a CBI official said. “In the
districts of Sitapur, Balia and Lakhimpur Kheri, our investigation
found very clear-cut proof of diversion of grains.” The  court case
has forced the authorities to investigate corrupt officials and led
to hopes that things may change after all.   
Food Commissioner Rajan Shukla said  the government “is committed to
plugging the leakages” in the distribution system. To stop pilferage,
we are fitting  GPS devices in trucks and fuel tankers to track their
movements. Shukla said “We are also trying to introduce biometrics
into the system to ensure supplies reach the people they are meant
for. The government is morally committed to feed the poor.” With 190
million people, Uttar Pradesh is a state filled with poverty: 56m
people there earn less than $1 a day and 300,000 don’t even get one
square meal a day.
Source: Intercessors
Network
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ALGERIA: WHERE
REVIVAL REFUSES TO CEASE
It is no exaggeration to say that the greatest modern Christian
rebirth in the Middle East or North Africa can be attributed to the
reawakening of the Church in Algeria’s Kabylie region. The Kabylie
revival was neither inspired by missionaries nor introduced as a
foreign movement, but was ignited by a small group of faithful
Believers. In a country that many consider “closed” to the Gospel and
where proselytism is illegal, the steadfast devotion of Algeria’s
Christians has overcome the government’s resolve to control the
growth of it’s Christian minority.  
It all began in 1981 with a 21-year-old boy from a poor family and a
game of  soccer. On the field, the young man befriended Arab visitors
from a church in Algiers. It was the first time he experienced what
he later recognized to be a “Christ-like” example, and the first time
he heard the Gospel. It was not long before this young man would
entrust his life to God and carry the weight of a great
calling ¢â‚¬”reaching the Kabylie region for Christ. He and three friends
formed a group and began meeting weekly.   
“We faced many things alone, the Pastor (who we will not name for
security reasons)  explained. “Like new Believers we faced many
problems with our families, with the police, and with the authority
of the village. We tried to commit together, us four, but we didn’t
know the Bible and we didn’t know how to pray. The group began
attending a church service in Algiers ¢â‚¬”a three day’s journey from
their home village ¢â‚¬”as often as they could, but soon the government
forced the church to close its doors.   
“We then decided to have meetings together even though we didn’t know
anything, so in prayer we said ‘God, we don’t know anything, but we
are ready if you want to use us.'”   The group allotted the year
between 1989 and 1990 for fasting and prayer. A year later, revival
broke free. “During that year we went to villages where there were no
Christians, we prayed for the village, and after a few months we
would hear that there were Believers there,” explained the Pastor.
“People had dreams, visions, some of them discovered Christian radio
programs.   
We didn’t share the Gospel directly with many people, but God himself
took over. It was like an explosion in all the Kabylie area and it’s
continuing now.”   It is estimated that some 80,000 former Muslims in
Kabylie have turned to Christ since the beginning of Algeria’s great
revival. Some churches are seeing incredible growth, with  one
congregation that began with 12 members in 1996  now having 900
Believers attending services. So many are coming to Christ in remote
areas that it is  becoming difficult to provide them with trained
pastors and leadership.
Source: Assist
News
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SURPRISING UNITY
ARISES OUT OF PROTESTS THROUGHOUT THE MIDDLE EAST
The current conflict in Libya  has a common thread with what is
happening across the  Middle East. Steve Johnson with Biblica says the
rallying cry has been  freedom. “It has brought together disparate
people around a common cause.  We’re seeing that in Libya right
now;  Bahrain, and  to some degree in Iran and other places.” Johnson
explains: “This unexpected unity is an indication of a  cry for
freedom that’s being felt across every sector of society.” It was
sparked by outrage in Tunisia and quickly spread through Egypt and
other countries in the Middle East.   
Libya has been dealing with calls for change after a 40-year reign
under General  Gadhafi. Demonstrations  in Egypt ousted a longstanding
president and caused ripple effects in other governments. However,
there remain concerns over what a new government will look like and
whether or not attitudes will change toward Christians. Nine of the
countries caught up in the freedom revolution share one thing in
common: they are all in the top 50 nations listed on the Open Doors
World Watch List  of countries where the persecution of believers is
the worst.   
That begs the question: Will the new freedoms include the
Christians?   Johnson says “I think the Christian community needs to
be prepared to respond regardless of which way it goes, because I
think the cry for freedom that we’re seeing right now in the Middle
East is also, in  some cases, a cry for spiritual freedom.” Security
issues prevent Johnson from sharing the details, but they’ve already
been working to create Scripture access creatively in many of these
areas in the Middle East and North Africa.   
“Working in the Middle East really forces any ministry,  to be very
creative about the way we operate, because again, regardless of which
way the political change blows, we know that there will always be
religious resistance in that part of the world.” Johnson adds  “Pray
that these new governments will be more receptive to religious
freedom and to the spread of the Gospel.  Pray too for the people
involved in the spread of the Gospel that are trying to bring
spiritual freedom along with the cry for political freedom. These
people often risk their lives by doing what they do.”
Source: Intercessors
Network
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OBAMA FAILS TO
DEFEND TRADITIONAL MARRIAGE
The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) and President Obama are
indicating they will no longer defend a key component of the federal
Defence of Marriage Act (DOMA). Passed by Congress in 1996, DOMA
defines marriage as a legal union between one man and one woman for
purposes of all federal laws, and provides that states need not
recognize a marriage from another state if it is between persons of
the same sex.   Attorney General Eric Holder said Obama instructed
that the defence of DOMA should be withdrawn in two pending cases.     

Both cases challenge Section 3 of  DOMA.   ¢â‚¬Å“The federal Defence of
Marriage Act reflects the reality that 90% of states protect marriage
and that the citizens in those states believe in marriage as a union
only between one man and one woman, ¢â‚¬  says Alliance Defence Fund (ADF)
Senior Legal Counsel Austin  Nimocks.  ¢â‚¬Å“Tragically, the DOJ  has chosen
to appease a small, but vocal and wealthy, constituency and abandon
its duty to the    people. ¢â‚¬  As Nimocks sees it, the DOJ  has undermined
rather than defended DOMA.   
 ¢â‚¬Å“It ¢â‚¬â„¢s unfortunate that the administration won ¢â‚¬â„¢t defend such a law
passed with overwhelming bipartisan support, ¢â‚¬  Nimocks says.  ¢â‚¬Å“Either
house of Congress have the legal authority to intervene in pending
lawsuits to defend the federal DOMA statute. Nimock added, “ADF will
not waver in its ongoing defence of marriage nationwide. ¢â‚¬  Matthew
Staver,  Chairman of Liberty Counsel, called Obama ¢â‚¬â„¢s move to abandon
DOMA  ¢â‚¬Å“outrageous and unthinkable. ¢â‚¬  In fact, he sees Obama ¢â‚¬â„¢s decision
a betrayal of the American people.   
Regardless of their own ideological agenda, the President,and his
Attorney General have a duty to defend lawfully passed legislation”
Slaver said. “Thirty states have passed amendments affirming marriage
as one man and one woman.  President Obama has  declared war on the
American people and their fundamental values” Slaver said. His
radicalism resulted in his election in  2010 but it will come back to
bite him when the people respond to this betrayal in 2012. We will
not allow one President and one Attorney General to toss natural
marriage aside. ¢â‚¬ 
Source: Charisma
Magazine
———————————————–
IOWA TEENAGER
REFUSES TO WRESTLE GIRL
   IOWA TEENAGER REFUSES TO WRESTLE GIRL Source: CBN News    An Iowa
high school wrestler forfeited his chance to become a state champion
when he refused to compete against a female contender in the state
tournament. Home-schooled sophomore Joel Northrup  said his decision
to default on his match with Cassy Herkelman  was based on his
conscience and his faith. “As a matter of conscience and my faith, I
do not believe it is appropriate for a boy to engage a girl in this
manner,” Northrup said in a statementreleased  by Scott Mahmens,
athletics director at Linn-Mar High School in Marion, Iowa. “It is
unfortunate that I have been placed in a situation not seen in most
other high school sports” the teen added. Jamie Northrup, the boy’s
father, is a Pentecostal minister. He said the family knew ahead of
time who his son would be wrestling and left the decision up to him.
“There’s no scriptures that address this and nothing doctrinal,” the
elder Northrup said. “This is a principled decision. Joel believes
that girls should be treated with dignity and respect–taking nothing
away from those two female athletes — but wrestling is a combat
sport,” he explained.
Source: CBN
News
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NANJING CHINA SET
TO BECOME THE BIBLE PRINTING CAPITAL OF THE WORLD
Thirty years ago Christianity and the Bible were banned in China.
Today, Christianity is the second largest officially recognized
religion in China.  The world’s largest Bible printing facility, Amity
Printing Company, has  a facility  in Nanjing, prompting some to dub
the historic eastern Chinese city the Bible printing capital of the
world. In 2007, Amity printed 6 million Bibles, but today  has the
potential to print up to 12 million per year or 23 Bibles every
minute.   
Furthermore, the government-sanctioned Church  it also  getting ready
to produce Bibles as downloadable audio books so young people can
listen to it on their MP3 players.” Peter Dean, the Bible Societies’
consultant in Nanjing, said “What excites me is that all of this new
production capability is available ‘first call’ for the mainland
Chinese Church. If they want to print 12 million Bibles a year,
they’ve got it.”    The Bible in China is  printed in eight Chinese
minority languages, as well as Braille.
Source: The Christian
Post
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EVANGELICAL
CHRISTIANS COULD MAKE UP HALF OF BRAZIL’S POPULATION BY
2020
Evangelicals are expected to reach 57.4 million in Brazil this year
with that figure growing at an  annual growth rate of 7.42%.
Researchers  announced this 2011 figure based on findings utilizing
results from Brazil’s 2000 Census survey  and other information.  The
researchers concluded that over half of the nation’s population will
be evangelical in less than a decade. “At current rate of growth we
believe 52% of the population will be evangelical by 2020, or about
109.3 million evangelicals within a total population of 209.3
million,” said  researcher Luis Andr ƒ © Brunet.
Source: The Christian
Post

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