AUSTRALIAN PRAYER NETWORK NEWSLETTER

* PAKISTAN’S CHRISTIANS FEAR FOR THEIR FUTURE

* EGYPTIAN CHRISTIANS PROTEST FOR SECULAR STATE

* EGYPTIANS PROTEST AS CHURCH TORCHED AND COPTIC HOMES
ATTACKED

* HOW REJECTING REVENGE AND TURNING TO FORGIVENESS SAVED A
NATION

* ETHIOPIAN CHRISTIANS FACE PERSECUTION

* PRAYER FOR JAPAN AS IT SEEKS TO RECOVER FROM THE RECENT
EARTHQUAKE

———————————————–

PAKISTAN’S
CHRISTIANS FEAR FOR THEIR FUTURE

The recent brutal assassination of Shahbaz Bhatti, Pakistan’s
Minorities Minister and sole Christian Cabinet minister, has left the
question on the minds the Pakistani Christians: “Who will protect us
now?” “Life here stopped in horror,” says Pastor Zulfikar “at the
moment that the news of Bhatti’s murder was received. We couldn’t
speak. We couldn’t eat,” he said. “Our greatest leader had been
martyred, and we began to worry again.” Pakistan’s Christians have
never had it easy, their lives having long been subject to official
discrimination and punctuated by violent attacks.
But, 20 months ago, a new and intense ordeal began in Gojra. In
August 2009, masked and armed militants went door-to-door, setting
Christian homes ablaze. Where they saw Christians escaping the
flames, they opened fire. When it was over, nine people were dead,
while 70 homes and three churches lay smouldering. Some of the homes
are yet to be rebuilt, with stacks of bricks and bags of cement
further narrowing the dusty alleyways that divide rows of homes. Some
of the culprits were arrested, but 29 still remain at large, as does
the mullah who incited the attack.
Since the assassinations of Bhatti and the Punjab Governor Salmaan
Taseer, Christians feel no one is left to stand up for them. “The two
men who stood up for us have both been killed,” says Zulfikar. In the
days after the 2009 attack, Taseer had visited, along with Bhatti, to
console the victims. Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani also went to
Gojra soon after the attack to promise that any laws that
discriminate against minorities would be reviewed. He has long
abandoned that position in the face of widespread hostility whipped
up by the religious right.
The blasphemy laws make the death penalty mandatory for anyone found
to have insulted Islam and its Prophet. “The injustice is that if two
people get together and accuse one of us, we are sentenced to death,”
says Zulfikar. “There’s no need of any proof, just one person’s
testimony.” But in the case of Aasia Noreen who was last year
hounded by a mob that accused her of blaspheming, the police actually
facilitated her persecution, charging her with blasphemy after taking
her into protective custody. She became the first woman sentenced to
death in Pakistan.
Last July, two brothers, Rashid and Sajid Emmanuel, were shot dead
outside a courtroom where they were being tried on charges of
blasphemy. The family denies that pair did anything wrong. Leaflets
were circulated, accusing them of having scrawled messages insulting
Islam’s Prophet. The handwriting didn’t match, but the two men’s
parents and siblings have never found shelter since, regularly
shifting locations and changing phone numbers. “Why do they kill us
Christians?” asks their weeping mother, Rani Emmanuel.
The community suffers from as much a caste prejudice as a religious
one. In Punjab, most of the Christians were formerly low-caste
Hindus, branded as “dirty” by Pakistani bigots, and many are able to
find work only as cleaners. They are afforded little protection by
the state and lack the means to pay for their own. It is little
wonder, then, that after Bhatti’s assassination, many desperately
wish to leave. Asiya Nasir, a Christian lawmaker told parliament,
“You told us to come here and make a home with you. After the Gojra
tragedy we are filled with regret.”
Source: Intercessors
Network
———————————————–
EGYPTIAN CHRISTIANS
PROTEST FOR SECULAR STATE
Some 2000 Christians have demonstrated in Cairo following the
appointment of a committee headed by an Islamist judge, to draw up a
new Egyptian constitution. The Christian protestors were calling for
the removal of Article 2, which makes Islam the state religion and
sharia the main source of law. An Egyptian Christian rights group has
complained that Christians are under-represented on the committee.
The importance of this issue was underlined by a series of separate
incidents since that reveal the vulnerability of Egyptian
Christians.
Church leader Dawoud Botrous was murdered at his home in Upper
Egypt, prompting thousands of Christians to demand the arrest of the
murderers. Meanwhile Egyptian armed forces stormed Christian
monasteries, firing live ammunition at the monks and demolishing
fences erected to protect them from intruders. Several monks and
monastery workers were wounded. As soldiers using tanks, armoured
vehicles and a bulldozer demolished the fence of the monastery, they
are reported to have been chanting the Islamic war cry,  ¢â‚¬Å“Allahu
Akbar ¢â‚¬  ( ¢â‚¬Å“god is great ¢â‚¬ ).
Following the January uprising, government security forces withdrew
from guarding the monasteries, leaving them unprotected. Several were
attacked by escaped prisoners and others. Monks were assaulted in the
raids; one remains in a critical condition. One Christian leader said
that without the fences  ¢â‚¬Å“the monks are left in the open, vulnerable
to attacks.” In February, two accomplices in a drive-by shooting
outside an Egyptian church that killed six Christians and a Muslim
police guard were acquitted.
Mohammed Hassanein had previously been sentenced to death for his
part in the attack in early 2010. A senior Egyptian church leader
claimed sharia law was being applied to all Christians in Egypt. He
explained, “The court imposed a death sentence because one Muslim was
killed, but wasted the blood of the six murdered Christians, who by
inference are of no value to the society.” The verdict followed the
abduction of an 18-year-old Christian girl from her home by Muslims
in an incident connected to an ongoing dispute over the construction
of a church.
Muslim protesters had been insisting that St Mary and St Michael
Church in Talbiya be demolished. The church was the scene of violent
clashes in November 2010 when tear gas and live ammunition was used
against the congregation who were protesting against the blocking of
construction work despite the church having permission to build.
Christians are treated as second-class citizens in Egypt. It is
feared that their position in post-Mubarak Egypt will become even
more precarious if the country moves towards an Islamic rather than a
secular state.
Source: Barnabus
Fund
———————————————–
EGYPTIANS PROTEST
AS CHURCH TORCHED AND COPTIC HOMES ATTACKED
Egyptian Christians continue to protest after the homes of Coptic
Christians were attacked and the Church of St Mina and St George was
torched during an attack on a village on the outskirts of Cairo last
month. A mob of 4,000 Muslims attacked the village of Sool, Atfif in
Helwan Governate in reaction to the relationship between a Christian
man and a Muslim woman, forbidden under Shari ¢â‚¬â„¢a law. The woman ¢â‚¬â„¢s
father was reportedly murdered by a cousin for refusing to sanction
the honour killing of his daughter, and the cousin was in turn killed
by the woman ¢â‚¬â„¢s brother.
The attack on Sool followed the cousin ¢â‚¬â„¢s funeral. During the attack
the mob exploded gas cylinders inside the church of St Mina and St
George, pulled down the cross and domes, and torched the building.
According to news reports, the fire brigade was prevented from
entering the village by the mob. Following the violence, a crowd of
at least 1,000 Coptic Christians were joined by Muslims in a protest
outside the headquarters of state television station Egypt TV, which
they have vowed to continue until the perpetrators are
apprehended.
Despite the initial unwillingness of the army to intervene, Egypt ¢â‚¬â„¢s
new Prime Minister, Essam Sharaf, met with representatives from the
Coptic community. Field Marshal Mohamed Tantawi, head of the ruling
military council said that the army would rebuild the church before
Easter. Although it may appear that the unity of the democratic
uprisings has been shattered, the reaction of the federal government
has been encouraging, and many Muslims have stood in solidarity with
their Christian neighbours in the aftermath of the attack.

Community tensions will not disappear overnight; nevertheless these
are small but positive indications that the ideals underlying the
movement for change may be filtering through to higher
authorities. The Egyptian Army is being encouraged to undertake a
thorough and transparent investigation of the violence in Sool, and
to honour their pledge to rebuild the church, not only as a good will
gesture, but also as a sign of its commitment to the equality of
citizenship that was such an admirable hallmark of Egypt ¢â‚¬â„¢s popular
uprising. ¢â‚¬ 
Source: Christian Solidarity
Worldwide
———————————————–
HOW REJECTING
REVENGE AND TURNING TO FORGIVENESS SAVED A NATION
In 1994 an estimated 800,000 (20% of the country’s total population)
were killed in what has become known as the Rwandan genocide. The
deaths occurred over approximately 100 days following
the assassination of Juvenal Habyarimana on April 6. It was the
culmination of longstanding ethnic competition and tensions between
the minority Tutsi, who had controlled power for centuries, and the
majority Hutu peoples, who had come to power in the rebellion of
1959 ¢â‚¬“1962 and overthrown the Tutsi monarchy.
In an amazing story of a nation resurrected after the devastating
atrocity of genocide, Rwanda has risen up as a model to the rest of
the world of the healing power of forgiveness. Rwandan President Paul
Kagame (whose own family was slaughtered) inspired a plan of
reconciliation which averted another plunge into revengeful violence
of those heartlessly murdered. President Kagame said that it was a
conscious choice Rwandans had to make to forgive those responsible,
and move on in the renewal of their country. “We were in danger of
having another genocide,” he said.
Averting an outpouring of vengeance, President Kagame instituted the
“Gacaca process” where the genocide masterminds were sent to jail,
but those thousands of lower-level killers were allowed to confess
and ask forgiveness publicly before their victims’ families and the
court. “In the Gacaca court, I told them how we killed our fellow
men, and I asked for forgiveness” explained Bizimana, one of those
convicted of genocidal murder. Hard as it was, Rwandan victims chose
to forgive, and the healing of their nation began.
Iphigenia Mukantabana, whose husband and children were killed by
Bizimana, said of the reconciliation process, “It has not just helped
me, it has helped all Rwandans. Rwanda is now an inspiring example
of a country re-born. It is also an example what can be achieved in a
community working together. The African nation has one of the lowest
crime rates, as well as the lowest rate of HIV-AIDS. Citizens are no
longer known as either Hutu or Tutsis, only Rwandans. President
Kagame added, “We said building a nation is the most important
thing.”
Source:
CNN
———————————————–
ETHIOPIAN
CHRISTIANS FACE PERSECUTION
After Christians in Asendabo Ethiopia were falsely accused of
desecrating the Qur’an, more than 10,000 angry Muslims gathered in
protest. Chanting “Allah Akbar” (God is great), they proceeded to
burn down 5 churches and 2 homes. Troops were unable to stop the
rioting Muslims. No arrests were made. Earlier Christian students on
a missions trip were assaulted by a mob of Muslims. The Muslims
hurled stones at the Christians and beat them with rods. Though the
majority of people in Ethiopia are Christians, Muslims have taken
control of certain areas.
Please pray:
* for the Lord to protect and encourage Christians in Asendabo and
throughout Ethiopia. Pray for them to remember they have not been
given the spirit of fear, but the spirit of power, love and a sound
mind. Pray for Christians to love their enemies and pray for those
who mistreat them. Pray for the Lord to give them strategies to share
the Gospel with Muslims. Ask the Lord to empower them to stand up in
their spiritual authority and fightin the realm of the spirit.
* for the Lord to arise and scatter His enemies. Pray for the fear of
Jehovah to fall on those who are mistreating His children. Ask the
Lord to deal fiercely with the spirits motivating these attacks. Pray
for the Muslims who carried out this violence to be convicted by the
Holy Spirit, repent, and put their faith in Jesus Christ as Saviour
and Lord.
* for the people of Ethiopia to be set free from false religions and
drawn into relationship with the Lord. Pray for leaders in Ethiopia
to take steps to keep this destructive behaviour from continuing.
Pray for the government to protect the citizens of this nation, deal
soundly with troublemakers and bring them to justice swiftly. Pray
for God’s Kingdom to come and His will to be done in Ethiopia.

Source: Windows International
Network
———————————————–
PRAYER FOR JAPAN
AS IT SEEKS TO RECOVER FROM THE RECENT EARTHQUAKE
The nation of Japan continues to reel from the horrendous affects of
the recent earthquake and tsunami. It will take years for the
recovery efforts to be completed and the safety concerns relative to
the nuclear facilities in the country continue. The loss of human
life and property has of course been overwhelming and the full
economic impact on the country has still yet to be quantified. Japan
is the world’s third largest economy so has greater capacity to call
upon to assist its recovery than most nations. They still however
need our continuing prayers.
Please pray:
* for the believers in Japan to rise to the occasion in the power of
the Holy Spirit to meet the needs they face as He directs them. Pray
for the Church to unite to reach out to help in the aftermath. Pray
for a wise response, for order to prevail, and resources to be
applied appropriately.
* for the global Church to respond generously to the needs of the
Japanese people in order to become His hands and feet to them in the
situation they face.
* that there will be more than enough messengers of the gospel in
every place to share the good news of His mercy and grace to those
who do not yet know Him!
Source: Windows International
Network

Home