AUSTRALIAN PRAYER NETWORK NEWSLETTER
- DANGEROUS DAYS FOR CHRISTIANS IN WEST JAVA AND PAPUA
- NEW ZEALAND CALLED TO 12 WEEKS OF PRAYER IN ‘CRY OUT’ NEW ZEALAND
- BRITISH PRIME MINISTER SAYS RIOTS A MORAL WAKE-UP CALL
- 30,000 ATTEND PRAYER EVENT CALLED BY TEXAS GOVERNOR
- WEST INDIES CHILDREN’S ADVOCATE STRESSES THAT CHRISTIAN PRINCIPLES ARE WHAT NATION NEEDS
DANGEROUS DAYS FOR CHRISTIANS IN WEST JAVA AND PAPUA
China is not landlocked, but it might as well be. China’s coast does not open to the Pacific Ocean but opens to the Yellow Sea, the East China Sea, the Taiwan Strait and the South China Sea. To get to the Pacific Ocean, Chinese ships must navigate through archipelagos controlled by various US allies: Japan, the Philippines, Malaysia and Indonesia. Indonesia is especially strategic, straddling the Pacific and Indian Oceans and controlling some of the world’s busiest shipping lanes. Indonesia’s geo-strategic value is rising in line with China’s economic and militaryascendancy.
Because Beijing is aggressively courting Jakarta, the US is reluctant to challenge Indonesia over declining religious liberty. President Yudhoyono is dependent on Islamist support in parliament, so is reluctant to challenge Islamists over escalating and violent Islamic intolerance. This leaves Indonesia’s Christian minority increasingly vulnerable. On 24 January an Indonesian court sentenced three soldiers to 8, 9 and 10 months imprisonment after video footage showed the soldiers beating, burning and knifing Papuan civilians. Whilst the US expressed regret over the leniency of the sentences, they praised the fact that the soldiers were tried at all, hailing it as ‘progress’.
On 6 February a 1500-strong Muslim mob attacked a house in Cikeusik village, West Java, where a small number of Ahmaddiya Muslims — regarded as heretical by mainstream Muslims — were meeting for worship. Video footage posted on YouTube shows Muslims hacking and bludgeoning the ‘infidels’ to death as their supporters cheer and shout ‘Allahu Akbar’ (Allah is great). Three Ahmadiyya were killed and five seriously wounded. On Thursday 28 July Serang District Court in Java sentenced 12 of the killers to prison for between 3 and 6 months. The trial outcome sends the chilling message that attacks on minorities like the Ahmadiyya will be treated lightly by the legal system.’
Religious liberty is seriously threatened in Indonesia and Christian security is increasingly tenuous. West Java is a hotbed of militant Islamic fundamentalism where Christians are less than two per cent of the population. As tensions escalate and protection diminishes, Christians in West Java and restive Papua become increasingly vulnerable. In June last year, at the second Bekasi Islamic Congress held in Al-Azhar Mosque, Bekasi, West Java, Muslims there were instructed to form Islamic paramilitaries in readiness for a war against Christians. These are dangerous days for the vulnerable Christians of West Java and restive Papua.
In July the Catholic News Service received an appeal from the Gereja Kristen Indonesia Church — GKI), a Protestant denomination. It warned that ‘the Christian faithful are at risk of mass persecution’. It cited impunity as a major factor fuelling the Islamic trend towards violence. In some areas of Jakarta, local authorities are defying Supreme Court rulings at the expense of Christians to appease Islamic fundamentalists. At a City Council meeting in Bogor, authorities threatened ‘mass mobilisation’ against ‘the Christians of the GKI’. In other words: submit in silence or risk suffering and death! Though the world’s powers abandon them, our supreme and sovereign God never will.
Therefore, let us pray that God will:
* draw his people into prayerful dependence, that they might ‘wait for him’and see his salvation; through it all, may the Indonesian Church — in grace and by the power of the Holy Spirit — be light, salt and yeast for the glory of God.
* intervene for the protection of his people and the advance of the gospel in Indonesia.
* expose the intolerance of Islam, while frustrating the schemes of the wicked.
Source: Elizabeth Kendal – Religious Liberty Prayer Bulletin
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NEW ZEALAND CALLED TO 12 WEEKS OF PRAYER IN ‘CRY OUT’ NEW ZEALAND
The leadership of the national prayer network of New Zealand has, over a period of time, been seeking the LORD regarding the spiritual state of NewZealand and the ongoing concerns created by the devastating earthquakes experienced this year in Christchurch, which has affected many lives in the city, the region and the nation generally. These events, together with many prophetic warnings from the LORD given to intercessors and prophets prior to the events happening, has been perceived as a wakeup call to all of God’s people to arise and prepare, make ready, pray and seek His face, that His loving kindness and mercy would be shown to the people of New Zealand again.
Cry Out New Zealand is based on 2 Chronicles 7:14 which is God’s call for His people to humble themselves before Him, to pray and seek His face and to turn from their wicked ways in true repentance, so that He will hear their prayers for their country, forgive their sin and bring healing to their land. To facilitate “Cry Out New Zealand” each region in the country has been allocated prayer hours on a weekly basis. Each region is called to pray as the Holy Spirit leads, whether individually or in prayer groups, ministries, or Church Fellowships on a weekly and/or daily basis for a 12 week period commencing Sunday September 4th and concluding on 30th November.
Participants will pray for a breakthrough in answered prayer and for the mercies of God and His loving kindness to be poured out on the nation, leading towards national repentance and a revival of God’s works and ways throughout the land. The season of prayer will cover the period during which the World Rugby Cup will be played in New Zealand when tens of thousands of visitors will be visiting the country, and the nation’s General Elections will be held on 26th November 2011. Participants will also be asked to pray for those who hold spiritual authority in the nation, and for a return to biblical teaching based on the uncompromising truth of God’sWord. For any New Zealanders who receive this newsletter and wish to be part of this initiative, or for Australians with a call on their heart to pray for their brothers and sisters in New Zealand, further information can be obtained fromhttp://www.
Source: Compiled by APN from information supplied by Cry Out NZ
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BRITISH PRIME MINISTER SAYS RIOTS A MORAL WAKE-UP CALL
The following are excerpts from Prime Minister David Cameron’s speech on August 15 regarding the government’s response to the recent riots in Britain:”It is time for our country to take stock. Last week we saw some of the most sickening acts on our streets. But this is a great country of good people. The thugs we saw do not represent us, nor our young people, and they will not drag us down. Now that the fires have been put out and the smoke has cleared, the question hangs in the air: ‘Why?’ There were different things going on in different parts of the country, these riots were not about government cuts: they were directed at high street stores, not Parliament. And these riots were not about poverty: that insults the millions of people who, whatever the hardship, would never dream of making others suffer like this.
No, this was about behaviour: .people showing indifference to right andwrong .people with a twisted moral code .people with a complete absence of self-restraint . Now I know as soon as I use words like ‘behaviour’ and ‘moral’ people will say; ‘what gives politicians the right to lecture us?’ But politicians shying away from speaking the truth about behaviour, about morality – this has actually helped to cause the social problems we see around us. We have been too unwilling for too long to talk about what is right and what is wrong. We have too often avoided saying what needs to be said about everything from marriage to welfare to common courtesy.
Sometimes the reasons for that are noble; we don’t want to insult or hurt people. Sometimes they’re ideological; we don’t feel it’s the job of the state to pass judgment on people’s behaviour or engineer personal morality. And sometimes they’re just human; we’re not perfect ourselves and we don’t want to look like hypocrites. So you can’t say that marriage and commitment are good things for fear of alienating single mothers. You don’t deal with children who repeatedly fail in school, because you’re worried about being accused of stigmatizing them. You’re wary of talking about those who have never worked nor want to work-in case you’re charged with being out of touch.
In this risk-free ground of moral neutrality there are no bad choices, just different lifestyles. People aren’t the architects of their own problems, they are victims of circumstance. ‘Live and let live’ becomes ‘do what you please.’ Well actually, what last week has shown is that this is moral neutrality, this relativism – it’s not going to cut it any more. One of the biggest lessons of these riots is that we’ve got to talk honestly about behaviour and then act – because bad behaviour has literally arrived on people’s doorsteps. And we can’t shy away from the truth any more. So this must be a wake-up call for our country.
Source: Office of the British Prime Minister
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30,000 ATTEND PRAYER EVENT CALLED BY TEXAS GOVERNOR
The 30,000 people who recently attended the prayer event, The Response, organized by Texas Governor Rick Perry, walked away feeling blessed say several news reports. In addition to those 30,000 attendees, some news reports estimate that another 20,000 joined in the prayer and fasting movement across the nation. The Houston Chronicle said Perry read three passages of Scripture: Joel 2, Isaiah 40, and Ephesians 3. “A loving and personal God desires not a show of religion but a deep connection with our innermost being,” he said. “His agenda is not a political agenda. His agenda is a salvation agenda.”
Perry went on to say “Lord, You are the source of every good thing, You are our only hope. And we stand before You today in awe of your power, and in gratitude for Your blessings; in humility for our sins. “Father, our heart breaks for America. We see discord at home. We see fear in the marketplace. We see anger in the halls of government. And as a nation we have forgotten Who made us, Who protects us, Who blesses us, and for that we cry out for Your forgiveness. “We pray for our nation’s leaders, Lord – for parents, for pastors, for the generals, for governors – that You would inspire them in these difficult times.
“Father, we pray for our president, that You would impart Your wisdom upon him, that You would guard his family. We pray for our military and the families who love them. Father, especially for those who have lost their life in defending our freedoms. “You call us to repent, Lord, and this day is our response. We give it all to You. For Thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory, forever and ever. Amen and amen.”
Source: Charisma Magazine
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WEST INDIES CHILDREN’S ADVOCATE STRESSES THAT CHRISTIAN PRINCIPLES ARE WHAT NATION NEEDS
“At church, they learn the principles of the Bible and I can guarantee that Christian principles, if adopted in Jamaica by most persons, could revolutionize this country.”- According to West Indies Child Advocate, Mary Clarke, the declining state of morality and the increasing crime rate in Jamaica are intertwined. The Bible Network News article cited the number of juveniles in correctional centres, which grew from 189 to 402 between 2001 and September of 2007. However research done on 11-year-olds revealed that church attendance was a significant factor in children resisting violent and antisocial behaviour, and that it brought about a positive effect.
“Some of us knew this long ago,” chided Clarke, speaking at the Bible Society of the West Indies ‘National Bible Quiz.” At church, “she continued,”they learn the principles of the Bible and I can guarantee that Christian principles, if adopted in Jamaica by most persons, could revolutionize this country. “It is in Sunday School and through the study of the Bible that children are provided with a moral compass. This helps to develop their conscience; they are provided with teachings and examples to understand actions and the related consequences of actions.”
Source: Intercessors Network
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