Displaying items by tag: Religion

Praise God for the initiative of the Asi people in forming the ‘Asi Bible Association,’ to oversee New Testament distribution. Pray for good decisions and the finances needed to distribute the Scriptures in written, audio and digital formats, including the Jesus film, DVDs, CDs, and hymn books. Pray that people of the Philippines will be eager to engage with the Scriptures available to them. Praise God also for the hundreds of followers of the Northern Thai Facebook group formed when the New Testament was dedicated in early 2018. Pray for the scripture engagement team as they put out an updated version of the phone app. There will be a meeting of churches in September to encourage support for translation of the Old Testament. Ask God to bring many to the meeting, and that funds will be found to pay the salary for a scripture engagement coordinator for another year.

Pope Francis visited Ireland on 25 and 26 August and begged forgiveness for clerical child sex abuse. He said no-one could fail to be moved by stories of those who ‘suffered abuse, were robbed of their innocence, and left scarred by painful memories’. In a speech at Dublin Castle, the Pope expressed his shame at the Catholic Church's failure to address adequately the ‘repellent crimes’ of sex abuse by clergy. He later met eight survivors of sexual abuse, telling them that he viewed clerical sex abuse as ‘filth’. Since the last Papal visit Ireland has ‘modernised’ laws on abortion, contraception, divorce and same-sex marriage. Pray for the church to move on, even stronger, now that past sins are repented of.

On 1 September, the North African desert country Mauritania will have an election for its national assembly. 146 members will be elected for one- or four-year terms. Most of its population is nomadic, but a third of Mauritanians are registered voters. It is one of the world's poorest nations, and one of the most religiously restricted. Sunni Islam and Sharia law have ruled them over a thousand years. The government prohibits conversion to Christianity. Those who do so face the death penalty, and must not enter non-Muslim households. A caste system grants privileges to certain groups. They marginalise darker-skinned Mauritanians or anyone who holds a worldview other than Islam. The Islamic terror group AQIM (Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb) operates in Mauritania.

Church buildings house congregations with a variety of physical, mental and spiritual needs. We need flexible and creative approaches when planning a service, so that adults and children with disabilities are not overlooked. Reading isn't easy for those with learning disabilities, poor eyesight or declining comprehension.Pray for churches to explore fresh Bible translations like the Easy to Read Version for those with lower reading skills and comprehension, braille, or versions designed to help the dyslexic. Our churches can sometimes be loud during praise and worship for those with autism who could experience sensory overload. The teaching can be boring or confusing for those with moderate or profound learning disabilities. Pray for more personalised services that tell God’s story creatively just for them. Pray for congregations to help with the range of needs without splitting church families into types, abilities or tastes. See

While the country convulses itself about Islamic face veils, a truly disturbing event affecting our freedom and our future goes almost unobserved. Christian nurse Sarah Kuteh was sacked for daring to suggest that a patient she was treating might like to go to church, and ‘inappropriately gave a Bible to a patient’. Her abilities as a nurse were not questioned, but she was only allowed to work again after reflecting on NHS professional boundaries, agreeing not to express her personal beliefs and letting her employers know in writing the steps she has taken to address ‘deficiencies highlighted in her practice and how she would act differently in the future’. In other words, she had to ‘confess’ her thought-crime and promise not to repeat it. Unemployment is being used to threaten people into keeping their deepest, beloved beliefs a personal secret while they are on NHS premises.

When Saleem left Bethlehem in the West Bank to attend YWAM’s Discipleship Training School in Belfast, he said he felt like a nobody ‘because of my past, and who I was’. But while his outreach team were in Rwanda, he played soccer with friends and talked to them about his past, the situation in his country, and what God was teaching him about forgiveness. ‘After I spoke, a Hutu stood up and said his family was killed by Tutsis in the war, and he was getting ready to go to the Congo to join a Hutu rebel group so he could get revenge by killing Tutsis.’ But after he heard Saleem’s testimony, God touched his heart, and he said he now was choosing the grace of God. That night God spoke to Saleem, ‘He said, “See my son, your past is important, and you are everything to me”. From that night on, I knew that I was really someone!’

The Turkish currency is in freefall after President Trump escalated a feud with Ankara by doubling tariffs on metals imports. The lira has long been falling due to worries about President Erdogan's influence over monetary policy and worsening US relations. Turkey and the USA are at odds over many issues, the most pressing being the detention of pastor Andrew Brunson who was jailed for allegedly supporting a group that Ankara blames for the failed coup. He faces 35 years in prison, and on 15 August a court ruled he must remain under house arrest. Qatar has pledged $15 billion of investments after Erdogan said that the shadowy ‘interest rate lobby’ and Western credit ratings agencies were attempting to bring down the economy. He said, ‘If there is anyone who has dollars or gold under their pillows, they should go and exchange it for liras at our banks. This is a national, domestic battle.’ See also

An Australian Christian Lobby blogger states ‘The cultural climate of our day often makes the politically engaged Christian in Australia feel isolated. So many issues are beyond us. Safe schools, the rights of parents, conversion therapy, abortion, euthanasia, religious freedom, moral decay, children’s innocence, political apathy, weakened churches. The voices seeking to redefine truth, justice and morality are very loud and increasingly effective.’ He went on to say, ‘Elijah faced an infinitely more desperate set of political and cultural circumstances. He was overwhelmed and desperately cried out to God, ‘Lord, they have killed your prophets, demolished your altars, I alone am left, and they seek my life.’ God’s astonishing answer was, ‘I have kept for myself seven thousand who have not bowed the knee to Baal.’ God has preserved a great many in Australia who have not bowed the knee.’ We can pray for our Australian brothers and sisters to engage more vigorously, and confidently to make an enormous impact on Australian society.

The National Christian Elders Forum (NCEF) commented on a press release by the Nigerian Supreme Council for Islamic Affairs (NSCIA). Their opening comments were, ‘On 5 July, 2018, the NSCIA published an article titled LET THE TRUTH BE TOLD. In our candid estimation, rather than tell the truth, the article is the exact opposite of the truth. It might have been more proper to have titled it ‘Let the Taqiyya  be told.’ Taqiyya is religious deception and the article they refer to said that Muslims were the targeted victims of herdsmen. NCEF stated categorically that this statement is untrue and Muslims were not victimised, Christians are the victims while the government consents to ongoing genocide and ethno-religious cleansing of communities. NCEF said that the government deliberately obscures the truth as the targets of the Fulani herdsmen are natives of Middle Belt who are mainly Christians. See also next article - Five Christian youths to be hanged.

Muslim Fulani herders do not make the headlines as often as Boko Haram. Christians in the northeast state of Adamawa have fled because of Boko Haram, only to return and find their property occupied by Muslim Fulani herders. Five Christian youths have been sentenced to hang for killing one Fulani herdsman who in turn had allegedly killed 48 people. Who is stopping the violence? Where is the government's protection for citizens? Where is justice? The lack of response by Nigeria's security services is seen as complicit in crimes against Christians. The Numan Federation in Adamawa is the only predominantly Christian area remaining in northern Nigeria. In recent years migration of Muslim Fulani herdsmen into that area has increased. The judicial, military, and security agencies are all controlled by non-Christians and many fear that the Muslim President may use the violence as an excuse to cancel the 2019 elections and remain in power.