Afghanistan and the US turned down invitations for the meeting but Taliban were willing to attend.

Afghan President Ghani wants talks with the Taliban 'to happen in presence of the Afghan government' [Mohammad Ismail/Reuters]

Russia has postponed a multilateral Afghanistan peace conference that was scheduled to take place in Moscow next month.

The meeting was scheduled to take place on September 4. Russia invited 12 countries to the conference. While Kabul and the US turned down the invitation, the Taliban said they were willing to attend.

On Monday, President Ghani spoke with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov "to iron out the differences and ensure talks with the Taliban happen in presence of the Afghan government", a senior Afghanistan president official told Reuters news agency.

"The president of the IRA [Islamic Republic of Afghanistan], supporting in principle the idea of a Moscow meeting, proposed postponing it due to the need to develop Afghanistan's consolidated position on this issue, taking into account the ongoing personnel changes in the leadership of the Afghan ruling bloc," Russian Foreign Ministry said in a statement. 

Lavrov assured Ghani that the summit dates "will be changed to ensure Afghanistan's participation", the official said.

In the official statement from Kabul, President Ghani was said to have hailed Moscow for its efforts for peace in Afghanistan.

"In the telephonic conversation, it was decided to postpone the Moscow conference so that the two countries can coordinate on further preparations and effectiveness of the process," the statement from Kabul added.

Earlier this week, Afghanistan's ambassador to Russia, Abdul Qayyum Kochai, said "Russia wants to use the Taliban against [ISIL]", according to comments carried by the Russia-focused Interfax news agency.

Lavrov brushed aside the comments, saying it would be "hypocritical" for "Russia to use the Taliban movement for the fight against [ISIL]".

This year, Moscow rejected an accusation by NATO's top commander in Afghanistan that it had been supporting and even supplying weapons to the Taliban. 

The group is fighting to remove US and other foreign forces and defeat Afghanistan's Western-backed government.”

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2018/08/russia-postpones-afghanistan-peace-conference-180828055705001.html

Please pray for the peace of Afghanistan. The current war has gone on for 17 years and needs to be brought to an end in a way that will keep the radical Islamists (Taliban and ISIS) from taking over the country. Pray for these peace talks and others that are necessary to bring this conflict to a just and proper conclusion that will benefit the Afghan people.

Just a few days ago we sent a mail to you and asked you to pray for the city of Ghazni as the T*liban stormed the city on exactly a week ago. The Police chief of Afghanistan says that about a thousand fighters stormed the city and captured key buildings and installations, like the police headquarter, an army base, the prison and a number of other places. 

Hundreds of people were were killed, residents of Ghazni, soldiers, police and Taliban. The T*liban burnt part of the city down and looted many shops etc. It  looked like they would capture the whole city. They brought in many more fighters from surrounding areas while the Government struggled to bring in reinforcements but they were ambushed on the way to Ghazni. As many started to pray there was suddenly a turnaround and the Afghan Army and police gained the upper hand and drove the T*liban out of the city. Now most of the city is freed but many people lost their lives and the city has been badly damaged in a number of areas. 
 
The next horrible attack was carried out in Kabul by the IS on  Wednesday the 15t of August: 
“Kabul suicide bomber kills 48 in tuition centre attack” - BBC News https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-45199904?ocid=wsnews.chat-apps.in-app-msg.whatsapp.trial.link1_.auin
A suicide bomber walked into the center while the teaching was under way and detonated his bomb belt. It was reported that 48 people were killed and 67 injured, many of them seriously. Horrific secenes were witnessed after that attack. Most of the people killed were young students. This attack was in the Shia neighbourhood of Dasht-e-Barchi in Kabul and has seen several attacks already in the last year including a sucide attack in their mosque with many killed.
 
THANKS
Thank you for your prayers for the city of Ghazni. We strongly felt the Lord turning this hopeless situation around and caused the T*liban to flee. We trust that this is a turning point in the battle against the T*liban in this region
 
Please pray with us…

• that the T*liban and IS movements would be completely destroyed in the land.
• For the Afghan Army and Police to capture the areas under their control.
  
• For comfort for all the people that lost their relatives, especially the relatives of the students that have been killed in Kabul and the injured to recover.
  
• For many Afghans that have seen this demonic attacks in the name of their religion to turn away from the deception they believe in and to find the one that loves them and gave his life for them.
  
• Pray for our local brothers and expats that are trying to help and to reach out to them*.

We thank you for standing in prayer with the suffering people of this war-torn country. We have seen again the power of prayer turning a hopeless situation around!

(From some praying friends with great compassion for the people of Afghanistan)

According to an alarming UN report, “ISIS is back…regaining strength….ready for war” and has “gathered 30,000 fighters and could be preparing for a wave of offensives around the world”.

This comes as no surprise to those who understand the reality of jihad terror.

Meanwhile Al-Qaeda also remains dangerous, with powerful franchises in Yemen, Somalia and parts of north Africa.  According to the report Al-Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahri is “projecting his authority more effectively than he could previously”.

According to the UN report, “there are also fears that ISIS fighters returning from Iraq and Syria could carry out attacks, especially in Europe.”

Jihadists everywhere, as well as the Muslim Brotherhood, are being increasingly emboldened worldwide while too many Western leaders are terrified to be branded with labels which are intended to manipulate people, such as “populist,” “racist,” “Islamophobic,” “anti-immigrant,” and the like.

Muslim Brotherhood operatives also work tirelessly in Western countries to indoctrinate people with the idea that violence is separate from Islam. Yet there is a superabundance of writings by Muslims clearly stating that it is the duty of Muslims to wage jihad in expanding the House of Islam. “Taliban Hamsa,” who was in charge of indoctrinating and recruiting for the Islamic State, “dared the police to call in a religious expert to prove his assertion that the “ISIS is true Islam.” Even a WaPo article entitled “Does ISIS really have nothing to do with Islam” stated:

If you actually look at ISIS’s approach to governance, it would be difficult – impossible, really – to conclude that it is just making things up as it goes along and then giving it an Islamic luster only after the fact.

The truth is that the Islamic State rigidly adhered to Islamic texts and represented (and still represents) a reformist movement harking back to Islam’s early roots of conquest. This is precisely what makes it most troubling and also attractive to its zealous following.

The Islamic State, despite efforts to make it appear to be an aberration of Islam, garnered state support from Turkey — a country that is ambitiously moving toward EU membership. There were also “suspicions of Turkey recruiting ex-Isis fighters by the thousands to attack Kurds in Syria.” Islamic State sex slaves were also being auctioned off in Saudi Arabia.

The UN report warned:The underlying drivers of terrorism are all present and perhaps more acute than ever before.

“‘ISIS is BACK’ – Terror group ready for WAR with 30,000 fighters according to UN report”, by James Bickerton, Express, August 15, 2018:

The dramatic report claims ISIS is regaining strength in the deserts of western Iraq and eastern Syria, with between 20,000 and 30,000 fighters in the region.

According to the report these include: “A significant component of the many thousands of active foreign fighters.”

ISIS fighters are also “hiding out in sympathetic communities and urban areas” as the group focuses increasingly on guerrilla warfare.

The report claims that ISIS is particularly gaining strength in western Iraq, though it retains sizeable pockets in Syria.

The past 18 months have seen ISIS suffer a stunning series of defeats, with the group losing much of its self-styled state.

In July 2017 Iraqi and Kurdish forces, backed by Western airpower, recaptured Iraq’s third city of Mosul after a fierce battle.

This was followed by the fall of Raqqa, which ISIS had made its capital, to a coalition of Kurds and Syrian rebels in October.

At its peak around 10 million people lived under ISIS control, which extended from north of Baghdad in Iraq to the suburbs of Aleppo in Syria.

jihadwatch.org, August 16, 2018

Please pray that those caught up in this violent movement of war and murder so controlled by the devil will be set free, coming to faith in Christ. Pray that the nations of our world will effectively and successfully fight against this false ideology and that it will lose its grip on the minds of its adherents and be destroyed.

Here are some summary highlights and prayer concerns from the North American Prayer Summit that happened in Toronto, August 12-13.

Some of the NAPS prayer leaders from Mexico, Canada and the USA also took part in the UPRISING Canada prayer gathering of about 300 on-fire Millennials and youth. Here are some of the comments by NAPS participants about that experience:

We were touched by their“humility and worship”and it was “rejuvenating to be togethers”. “Our generations need one another”, as one older prayer leader affirmed.

The manager who was one of the “Toronto Blessing” participants and founders of the Catch the Fire Church was grateful for the boldness of the youth and a touch of revival they carried with them that has not been experienced for 20 years!

The youth were“alive and receptive” as well as “fresh, clean, vibrant and passionate”. They are“our future and the hope for the prayer movement”. The generations need to run together for a while to pass baton effectively.

NAPS is an annual, or sometimes biennial, gathering that includes a wonderful time of relationship-building and united prayer for the three nations of North America and our world. We have met nine times being hosted in all three nations since the launch of the IPC in 2001. For more information about NAPS, please write to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

Prayer concerns that arose during NAPS:

Children in Prayer:

Luke 10:18-21 Jesus rejoiced over the role of children, saying they would get the revelation of authority to bring Satan down. A research project conducted by a Christian humanitarian organization in several nations resulted in many miracles as the kids prayed about specific community needs (wells, clinics established where there were none;terminal illnesses healed; community divisions ended; terrorists unable to get into those areas, etc.)Since then, kids have joined in many international prayer initiatives and there have been three CiP global consultations to learn and share resources. 70-80 nations have CiP networks or initiatives so dar. What about intentionally developing CiP in all three nations of North America? CiP is an important key to socio-political transformation and fulfillment of Great Commission throughout our world.

Prayer concerns:

1. For the CiP movement to arise and cover the cities and towns of our continent and all nations.
2. That church leadership will have a paradigm shift and include kids and youth as full ministry partners for prayer and mission.
3. That the need to control and fear of losing it will be broken over churches and leaders in order to equip and empower children and youth to go for it for Christ and His mission for their lives.

Mexico:

President Obrador or “AMLO”- some are concerned that he might take Mexico in the wrong direction (socialism), but some think he is a nationalist, not a Marxist, and that he will deal with governmental corruption and help the poor.

1. Pray for him to do what is right before God and have wisdom to confront the nation’s serious economic, narco-trafficking, and other issues.
2. Pray for the binding and overthrow of the spirit of death called Santa Muerte or Saint Death that probably relates to the Aztec and Mayan practice of mass human sacrifice and the awful death toll from the drug trade and cartels.
3. Pray for the 7 million unemployed youth that are getting sucked into the drug trade and for the defeat and dissolution of the drug cartels and their destructive influence on Mexico and all of North America.
4. Pray also for a good solution for the immigration problem that bedevils the relationship between Mexico and the USA.

North American Security:

(Presentation from a high ranking authority involved in the North America military structure)

1. Vets of wars need special attention and help due to homelessness and suicide. Let’s pray for them also.
2. Our three countries need each other because the competition between the great powers has returned. China and Russia have been building their militaries and developing sophisticated weaponry while we have been embroiled with fighting terrorism. Pray that our militaries will get smart and work together closely.
3. Pray for a cutting off of the drug flow from the Caribbean and Mexico fueled by the insatiable demand from Americans and Canadians.

Canada

An initiative against SOGI (Sexual Orientation, Gender Identity) effort to pervert the culture and children was presented. 105 pastors have signed and they hope to involve 100,000 pastors across the nation. It will be a trumpet call and will cause reaction by government and media. Pray for the success of this initiative, and especially for the fear of God to come upon Canadians along with a desire to re-establish righteousness and justice in national life. Pray for the pastors and churches right across Canada to rise up and speak out.

Overview of the Canada landscape presented and the issue of how the present governments (and previous governments) have caused a deterioration of fundamental Christian morality and beliefs. Canada has been sliding in this regard. Pray that the Canadian Christians and churches willrise upto make a real difference.

USA

Prayer Concerns for the US Prayer Movement

1. Give thanks to the Lord for growing unity and pray for the US prayer movement to flow like the Amazon (tributaries that become one unstoppable force for His revival and transformation of the nation)
2. Pray for oneness of US prayer leaders, no longer being competitors but flowing together and wanting each other’s success more than our own. (Roundtable of US prayer leaders each month for prayer and updates)
3. For several national prayer initiatives over the next 2 months to shift the atmosphere of the nation and break the power of the spirit of division that is tearing us apart.
4. For access to the White House and Congress during the National Prayer Assembly to pray with our officials.

General Prayer Concerns

• For President Trump and his administration to be guided by the Lord with wisdom and humility.
• For the US mainstream media to repent for their false news and attacks on the current administration and for “Deep State” antagonists to be identified and brought to justice.
• Confirmation of Brett Cavanagh to Supreme Court and additional conservative justices (2 more?)
• For the mid-term elections in November to bring down the wicked in power and replace them with God-fearing, upright people who will love and serve the people rather than themselves.
• For good relations with our “enemies” in order to become friends and spread His peace and restoration to our world (Russia, China, North Korea, Pakistan, Iran, etc.)
• For better relationships and mutual support with our friends (Canada, Mexico, Europe, Israel, etc.)

Pakistan's lower house of parliament has chosen a lawmaker from the Pakistan Tehrik-e Insaf (PTI) party to be the parliament speaker following general elections in July that were marred by allegations of fraud.

AsadQaiser on August 15 secured 176 votes in the legislature to defeat Khusheed Shah, a joint candidate backed by opposition parties who received 146 votes.

PTI leader Imran Khan, a former cricket star turned politician, appears set to become prime minister when the 342-seat National Assembly votes on August 17. A swearing-in ceremony is scheduled for August 18.

The July 25 elections were won by the PTI, knocking former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif's Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) from power.

But the PTI must ally with independents to form a majority coalition….

Supporters of the opposition parties have protested alleged fraud and voting irregularities in the elections, directly blaming the country's powerful military.

The army denies it intervened to help Kahn take power. Khan has vowed to investigate the allegations once he takes office.

A monitoring team from the European Union has said the election results "overall" were "credible," although they criticized the campaign -- saying it was marred by the intimidation of some candidates, an effort to undermine the former ruling party, and media self-censorship.

Violence leading to at least 31 deaths also was reported on election day.

With reporting by AP, Reuters, and Dawn

Pray for the new speaker of the Parliament and Prime Minister of Pakistan that they and other government leaders will take the nation off its destructive course.
Pray that the influence of radical Islamists and occult practitioners called “pirs” will be broken over the nation and the way it is ruled.
May the Gospel speed on throughout Pakistan’s many unreached people groups so they can be set free from the awful spiritual darkness and violence that engulfs this land.
May the Christians be strengthened, emboldened and protected to play their crucial role in prayer and action.

As you know, on August 15th, an anti-conversion law went into effect, putting Nepali Christians at risk for arrest, prosecution, and imprisonment.

TTI's National Director in Nepal informed us that, according to the law,

"anyone responsible for encouraging conversion, propagating one's beliefs, or converting another, is an offender according to the law and will be punished with up to five years imprisonment and fined up to 50,000 Nepalese Rupees (about $500 USD - almost a year's salary for some)."

Thankfully, we have yet to hear news of any arrest or persecution from our church planters. 

We will be sure to keep you updated. 

Thank you again for standing with our brothers and sisters in Nepal. 

Keep those prayers coming!

Michael Brown calls on believers to ignore 'Must Stay Gay' mandate soon-to-be law

https://www.wnd.com/2018/08/california-christians-its-time-for-civil-disobedience/

Let’s pray that believers in this important state will unite and rise up in both prayer and action to oppose and protest this evil ruling by the government.

President Donald Trump on Wednesday asked Secretary of State Mike Pompeo “to closely study the South Africa land and farm seizures and expropriations and large scale killing of farmers,” prompting Pretoria to accuse Trump of stoking racial divisions.

The tweet appeared to be a response to a Fox News report that focused on South Africa’s land issue and murders of white farmers.

South African President Cyril Ramaphosa’s spokeswoman said Trump was “misinformed” and the foreign ministry would seek clarification from the U.S. Embassy in Pretoria. A tweet from South Africa’s official government account said, “South Africa totally rejects this narrow perception which only seeks to divide our nation and reminds us of our colonial past.”

Ramaphosa announced on Aug. 1 that the ruling African National Congress plans to change the constitution to allow the expropriation of land without compensation, as whites still own most of South Africa’s territory. No land has been “seized” since the reform plans were announced, the ANC says.

Ben Carson News

Two million South Africans will be coming together in several days for a massive prayer gathering. Angus Buchan, a white farmer, is the leader of this amazing new movement.

Please pray for this beautiful nation for the overthrow of government corruption and the awful violence and crime that has plagued South Africa in recent years in spite of the Truth and Reconciliation effort of the past.

Pray for this mega-prayer gathering to be anointed and guided by the Holy Spirit and for the breakthrough the Christians, both black and white, want to see in their country.

“300,000 Troops and 900 Tanks: Russia’s Biggest Military Drills Since Cold War

Aug. 28, 2018

Pic: A Russian soldier patrolling near military vehicles in Moscow in April.Yuri Kochetkov/EPA, via Shutterstock

According to the New York Times, “Russia is mobilizing for its biggest military exercise since the height of the Cold War, the Kremlin says, citing a tense international climate that is “frequently aggressive and unfriendly toward us.”

The exercises, which are set to involve nearly 300,000 Russian troops, 1,000 aircraft and 900 tanks, will also include units from China for the first time. They will start on Sept. 11.

In a separate display of military power, Russia was reported on Tuesday to have assembled a large flotilla of warships off the coast of Syria. Russian news media outlets, citing unnamed defense ministry officials, described it is as Russia’s largest naval deployment in the area since Moscow first intervened in Syria’s civil war in September 2015.

The move follows a flurry of claims by Russia, unsupported by evidence, that the West is preparing to stage a fake chemical weapons attack inside Syria as a pretext for an assault on the forces of the Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad.

Known as Vostok-2018 or East-2018, the September military exercises, involving land and air units, will begin near Russia’s eastern border with China and Mongolia. Both have agreed to join a series of regular exercises that used to be restricted to Russia and countries that were either once part of the Soviet Union or Soviet allies.

The participation of China, which will send helicopters and about 3,200 troops from the People’s Liberation Army, signals a significant reshaping of military exercises that began in the Soviet era. For decades they were aimed primarily at preparing the Red Army for a possible attack by or on China.

The Soviet Union and China clashed repeatedly along their long border in the late 1960s, nearly tumbling into all-out war. They remained bitter foes until the Soviet leader Mikhail S. Gorbachev normalized relations with a visit to Beijing in 1989.

President Vladimir V. Putin, his ties with the West severely strained by Russia’s 2014 annexation of Crimea and military incursions into eastern Ukraine, has put a premium on developing ever closer ties with China as a counterweight and insurance policy against the United States.

Asked on Tuesday at a regular briefing with reporters why Vostok-2018 would be so big, a Kremlin spokesman, Dmitri Peskov, said, “The country’s ability to defend itself in the current international situation, which is frequently quite aggressive and unfriendly toward us, is absolutely justified and has no alternative.”

Russia’s defense minister, Sergei Shoigu, was quoted by Russian news agencies as saying that the exercises in Russia’s far east would be the “biggest drill to take place in Russia since 1981.” That was the year large exercises known as Zapad, or West, were held by the Soviet Union and its Warsaw Pact allies.

The last iteration of the Zapad drills was held in September 2017 in conjunction with Belarus, the former Soviet republic and close Russian ally. That action unnerved the Baltic States and Poland, which feared that the fictional nations invented by Russian military planners as targets for a simulated attack were thinly disguised proxies for their own countries.

In the West, Russia faces off against NATO, but on its eastern flank, it has no obvious enemy or rival. The area has instead become a zone where Russia is keen to demonstrate its close ties to China, despite the risk that Russia’s weak economy and vast expanses of sparsely populated territory make it a vulnerable junior partner.

Alexander Gabuev, a China expert at the Carnegie Moscow Center, a research group, said that while the scale of the exercises was significant, “what is most significant is that China is taking part in drills that Russia only used to do with its allies.”(italics ours)

“China was seen as the potential threat or target in exercises like Vostok,” Mr. Gabuev said, “but it is now being invited to join as a friend and even a quasi-ally. This is really unprecedented.”

All the same, he said, Chinese troops taking part in Vostok-2018 may well be restricted to a military training ground in Tsugol, near where the borders of China, Russia and Mongolia meet. That could allow a far bigger Russian contingent elsewhere to prepare for clashes with China.

Russia’s military, Mr. Gabuev said, “is not so naïve that it is not preparing a contingency plan” in case relations with China take a sudden turn for the worse, as has happened many times in the past.

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/08/28/world/europe/russia-military-drills.html

Pray that Russia and China will not form a military alliance to threaten the West or other regions and nations.

Pray for 5:5:5

• 5 lost family, neighbors or friends
• 5 minutes of scripture-based prayer/day using the scriptures I prayed for you, listed below
• 5 days/week

Unite with 3 or 4 others once a week, ignite your home/office as a house of prayer, asking God how He wants you to reach/love on and serve the lost  ones for whom you are praying.

www.zumeproject.com is an excellent on line in life discipleship training tool that God can use to turn your HOP into a church planting movement of disciples worth multiplying.

Colin Millar, a “prayer igniter” living in Houston, Texas- This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.