AUSTRALIAN   PRAYER   NETWORK   NEWSLETTER

The International News will not be published next week, 24th October, due to editorial staff being at the Commonwealth Christian Assembly and the week of prayer for the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) in Perth.

The next edition will be published on Monday 31st October.

• EGYPTIAN CHRISTIANS CONTINUE TO BE PERSECUTED
• IN BRAZIL DOZENS OF MAYORS PRESENT THE KEYS OF THEIR CITIES TO JESUS
• MAJOR DEMOGRAPHIC SHIFT UNDERWAY IN CHRISTIANITY
• WHAT GOOD THING COULD EVER HAPPEN IN WASHINGTON (THE POLITICAL CAPITAL OF THE U.S.A.)
• PERSECUTION IS TOLERABLE UNTIL IT AFFECTS THE CHILDREN
• BBC PAYS TRIBUTE TO THE DEEPLY RADICAL EFECT OF SUNDAY SCHOOL ON BRITAIN
• GALLUP POLL SHOWS SURGE IN YOUNG ADULTS WANTING GOVERNMENTS TO PROMOTE TRADITIONAL VALUES

EGYPTIAN CHRISTIANS CONTINUE TO BE PERSECUTED

The fall of President Mubarak’s regime post the Egyptian Revolution can hardly be said to have “liberated” the estimated 15 million Coptic and evangelical Christians of Egypt. Yet again, peaceful and unarmed Coptic protestors have been met with a force of unprecedented brutality. A march by Coptic Christians in Cairo to demand an end to ongoing persecution and discrimination, has ended with the deaths of up to 40 protestors who were beaten, gunned down and run over by army tanks in a rampage directed by Egyptian Army personnel, with the assistance of local Islamic extremists. Hundreds more are believed to have been injured.

Witnesses on the ground, who were watching the latest march, said it was attacked by “thugs” in plain clothes, who were later joined by the Military. Live footage captured by eye witnesses validates these claims.   Ahram Online, reported that the Egyptian military attacked the Alhurra TV office in Cairo, stopping it from going on air in order to prevent broadcast of the army’s violent attacks on protesters. The clashes came a week after an arson attack on two Coptic Churches in Aswan by a group of 3000 hard-line Muslims which also included the razing of four homes and two businesses, all Christian-owned.

The arson attack was the third on churches in Egypt in seven months. Additionally, numerous other churches have been looted, including a NewYear’s Eve bombing at the Two Saints Church in Alexandria that left 23 dead and scores critically wounded.   Prior to the latest arson attack loca lsources said that “Imams from 20 mosques in the area called for crowds to gather and destroy the church and demolish the houses of the Copts and loot their properties.” The attack is part of an ever-increasing trend whereby a provincial government official grants permission for a church to be built or reopened, and hard-line Muslims threaten violence if services take place.

Meanwhile the Australian Coptic Movement said in a statement that the latest attack demonstrates the clear pattern set by the Egyptian Military of participating in and facilitating the obvious ethnic cleansing that Egypt’s Coptic Christians are facing, post the Revolution. The international community will be held accountable if they do not act swiftly on the brutal attacks towards Egypt’s Coptic Christians who are suffering under a modern day form of apartheid where institutionalised discrimination and deadly attacks have a become a way of life for Egypt’s 15 million Copts.

Bishop Suriel, head of the Coptic Orthodox Church in Australia, has demanded the expulsion of the Egyptian Ambassador, and two Egyptian Consul Generals. In a Statement Bishop Suriel notes: “Their presence in Australia is of no meaning to the Coptic community in Australia, in light of the events which have occurred in Egypt, and their subsequent failure to act in a capacity which represents the interests of both the Coptic and Muslim dynamic of the community. They have failed to take a proactive approach to advocate for the rights of the Coptic people in Egypt or to speak out against the atrocities and intense persecution the Coptic people in Egypt are facing.”

Please pray:

* that peace will return to Egypt and that action will be taken against those who have attacked and killed Coptic demonstrators and those responsible for the burning and looting of Christian Churches and homes. Pray too that such attacks will cease and not resume in the future.

* for all Christians in Egypt, both Coptic and Evangelical, that they will be protected, not persecuted, by authorities and that they will find support and solace amongst their own and those within the local Muslim community who have expressed concern and support for their cause.

* that the future of Egypt will be decided not at the point of a gun, but by meaningful and genuine negotiations that truly represent all Egyptians, regardless of religious persuasion or background.

Source: Compass Direct and Australian Copts

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IN BRAZIL DOZENS OF MAYORS PRESENT THE KEYS OF THEIR CITIES TO JESUS

As told by Gisella De Araugo, in an interview with Dutch Prayer Leader Pieter Bos

Cuiab ƒ ¡ is a city of 700,000 inhabitants in Mato Grosso State. The city originated through settlers, rangers, squatters, slaves and Indians, with much poverty, corruption, child abuse and a weak family life. In the 1980’spastor Gisella Guth De Araugo started a ministry of prayer and ‘Soup, Soap and Salvation’. She also felt led by God to do much repentance for historic and contemporary bloodshed in the city, and started systematic prayer walking along all the streets and in the slums. In 2004, she felt led to support a candidate who ran for the position of mayor. A good relationship developed and the man was elected.
But on the first day of taking office he discovered that for three months the civil servants’ salaries had not been paid and that the administration was more than chaotic. The man was desperate. Pastor Gisella, who was present that first day with five other pastors, suggested him to confess the sins of the city since its foundation. The man, a history teacher but certainly not a man of prayer, prayed an impressive confession, for himself and for the city, altogether for more than an hour. God answered his prayer. Five days later all belated salaries could be paid. Forty days later the city financial administration was back in order. This was publicly recorded as a miracle.

Pastor Gisella continued advising the mayor for another six years, but also moved to other cities. Like Quatro Grosso in Mato Grosso State,   a regional centre with 20,000 inhabitants. In 2009 she felt sent by God to go to the town hall, together with two local pastors. She had a document prepared, stating approximately the following: “We, the mayor and the vice mayor of the city of Quatro Grosso, declare to give the key of our city to Jesus, while cancelling all older covenants with any other god and expelling all evil powers that were given a foothold in this city.” The mayor was convicted on the spot, signed the agreement, and started leading his city towards positive change.

Pastor Gisella said that, at the Holy Spirit’s prompting, she did this in more than thirty cities. In Comodoro, a city of 220,000 inhabitants close to the Bolivian border, with much corruption, mainly related to the trafficking of drugs from Bolivia, something similar happened. In 2010 the mayor was challenged to give the key of the city to Jesus. His response was: “I am Catholic, but Jesus had no denomination and this must be done.” Two weeks later the chief of police in the city, who turned out to be involved in the drugs trafficking, was arrested; the army came to block the border with Bolivia.   The mayor has accepted Jesus and is now being discipled weekly by a local pastor.

Source: As told by Gisella De Araugo

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MAJOR DEMOGRAPHIC SHIFT UNDERWAY IN CHRISTIANITY

Scholars claim the biggest change in the history of Christianity is underway amid the religion’s move to Africa, Latin America and Asia. “The story of Christianity as a worldwide faith is being written before our eyes,”declared Dana Robert of Boston University School of Theology, as she addressed a group of church leaders at the Global Christian Forum in Indonesia. The gathering has brought together leaders from major church traditions, theological perspectives, and world communions, including the Anglican Communion, the World Council of Churches, the World Evangelical Alliance, the Pentecostal World Fellowship, and the Vatican Council for Promoting Christian Unity.

According to Peter Crossing of the Centre for the Study of Global Christianity, in 1910 about 66% of the world’s Christians lived in Europe; a century later it was only 26%. Crossing said the overall percentage of Christians had remained fairly constant over the last century, but there had been a “dramatic change in the centre of gravity of global Christianity.”One hundred years ago this would have been near Madrid, but now it had shifted somewhere just south of Timbuktu in Mali. However   even though 60%of the world’s Christians live in the southern hemisphere, they generate only 17% of Christian income which is still dominated by the north.

Sang-Bok David Kim of the World Evangelical Alliance told the Forum that huge changes in the church internationally meant “Christianity is no longer a ‘white man’s’ religion. Christians are now everywhere.” The global reconfiguration raises critical questions for all churches. Conversations about mission and witness have become an urgent agenda for declining mainline Christians as they struggle to reframe their identity in a global marketplace. At the same time, adherents of new ministries often see their witness as a recovery of primitive Christianity that challenges the older denominations,” she said

Source: Ecumenical News International

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WHAT GOOD THING COULD EVER HAPPEN IN WASHINGTON (THE POLITICAL CAPITAL OF THE U.S.A.)

They say nothing good happens in Washington today. Granted, it’s easy to become cynical about current events in the nation’s capital.   The polls tell us that voters are tired of Washington politics amid the constant clamour of problems and solutions. While the pundits claim that “Washington is broken,” candidates in both parties run on the pledge to “fix” Washington. But there is something good going on in Washington, and you won’t find it highlighted on the 6 o’clock evening news. Prayer is happening. Not just the prayers of those who work within the Capitol, but prayers from within the Capitol itself – from our lawmakers!

A bi-partisan group of 94 Members – all elected congressmen and women – meet regularly to pray before votes are cast on the floor. Known as The Congressional Prayer Caucus, the group formed in 2005 and is now an official Caucus of the United States House of Representatives. According to Founder and Co-chairman Congressman J. Randy Forbes of Virginia, the Members recognize “the role that prayer has played in strengthening the fabric of our society throughout our more than 200-year history.” I don’t know about you, but this makes me feel hopeful.

Following the examples set by Washington, Jefferson and Lincoln, this group exists to acknowledge the role of our Creator and the nation’s dependence on prayer. This is an item for both praise and prayer. We can only pray that those who participate in the Caucus would vote in a manner according to God’s will, and that the country would elect more representatives who would increase and enrich the group’s fellowship. Serving in Washington can be a perilous job for believers today. These men and women need our prayers to remain strong in their faith, true to their word, and aligned with God’s plans for this nation. Is Washington broken?   Certainly not all of it.   Praise God!

Source: Intercessors for America

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PERSECUTION IS TOLERABLE UNTIL IT AFFECTS THE CHILDREN

Nuria and her family, whose names must be with held for their safety, are Iraqi Arabs who converted from Islam to Christianity. Whereas Assyrian Iraqis are accepted as Christians by ethnic identity, Iraqi Muslims believe Arabs have no business becoming Christians; it is not possible, according to society and the constitution. If the children say they believe in Jesus, they face beatings and scorn from their teachers. Nuria’s parents becameChristians seven years ago. Her dad used to speak openly about his faith.These days he is not so brave; he has had to change jobs one too many times because his employers discovered his faith.

A  Kurdish convert to Christianity, Majeed Muhammed, is fighting for his children’s right to not have “Muslim” written on their IDs. And a 9-year-old Iranian refugee, Surush Bidookh, has been beaten and insulted for his faith. His family fled to Iraq from Iran for political reasons before he was born and came to faith in Christ in Iraq. His father, Siyamand Bidookh, said that persecution was tolerable until it affected his children. When Surush started first grade, a teacher beat him in front of the class and told him he was an infidel like his father. When my kids say hello to the teachers, they don’t respond,” their mother said. “What kind of an example are setting for these kids?”

Source: Compass Direct News

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BBC PAYS TRIBUTE TO THE DEEPLY RADICAL EFECT OF SUNDAY SCHOOL ON BRITAIN

The BBC has extolled Britain’s historical debt to Sunday School, saying that to many the memories of Sunday School constitute some of the best moments of their childhood. “It was a “remarkable movement ” founded in 1774 in a house in Gloucester, and “has had a deeply radical effect on British society. Well into the 20th Century, Sunday school students parading at Whitsun could turnout in their thousands, bringing city centres to a standstill. Sunday School is “remembered with huge affection” by many British citizens, the BBC added, some quite prominent, who “bear witness to the crucial influence of Sunday school in their personal developments.”

Sunday School played not only a crucial role in raising the literacy of the poor, but also provided social activities which “lifted the hopes and aspirations” of young people, and sporting activities which trained “the body as well as the soul.” The BBC acknowledged that the current decline in Sunday School education is in direct proportion to the decline in church attendance across Britain, and the fact that state education has taken over the vital role of teaching children. Sadly however, given the youth crisis in Britain today, it said that the need for children to be taught “decent values” is far from over.

Source: Intercessors Network

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GALLUP POLL SHOWS SURGE IN YOUNG ADULTS WANTING GOVERNMENTS TO PROMOTE TRADITIONAL VALUES

Gallup pollsters cannot explain a recent surge in the percentage of young adults who say government should “promote traditional values.” The report notes that “Americans between the ages of 18 and 34 are now more likely than older Americans to say government should promote traditional values. This reverses the historical pattern in Gallup’s polling on this question.” For example, according to the report, two months before President Obama was elected, only 38 percent of young adults agreed that governments should promote long-cherished values. This year it is 53 percent. In its analysis Gallup said: “Normally the views of young people are on the leading edge of social change.”

Source: CNS News

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