Displaying items by tag: Asia
Saudi Arabia: Hajj - 29 to 31 July
The Hajj is one of the five pillars of Islam that all Muslims must perform at least once in their lifetime if they are able. On the Hajj Muslims seek the forgiveness of sins and to deepen their allegiance to Allah. In Luke 7, Jesus said to a sinful woman, ‘Your sins are forgiven: your faith has saved you; go in peace’. Jesus has the authority and power to forgive all of our sins through his atoning sacrifice on the cross and His resurrection. 1.8 billion Muslims in the world today reject Jesus as a Saviour. Instead, they go on the Hajj pilgrimage to Mecca in Saudi Arabia in order to earn forgiveness of sins from Allah. A phrase used in most Arabic conversations is ‘al-ḥamdu li-llāh’ - literally, ‘Praise be to God’. Pray for people to truly know God and praise Him when they use this phrase. See also
Yemen and Syria: updates
Yemen, currently home to the world’s worst humanitarian crisis, has millions of people extremely vulnerable to coronavirus. Even before the pandemic, 80% of Yemen’s population needed aid. The spread of coronavirus is difficult to track with very little testing. Sometimes the only way to assess the severity of an outbreak is by how busy the gravediggers are. In parts of Yemen gravediggers are overwhelmed. Coronavirus has caused a reduction in funding for aid programmes. The UN has been forced to close nutrition, hygiene and sanitation programmes (see). Doctors in Syria are preparing for ‘an explosion’ of coronavirus in large overcrowded settlements. Only 64% of hospitals are functioning due to shortages of trained staff. 70% of health workers have fled Syria. Awareness of coronavirus danger is extremely low in some areas, so food and medicine are prioritised for people in poverty, not soap and hygiene. See
Floods cause humanitarian crisis
A humanitarian crisis is deepening in South Asia as new figures reveal that over 9.6 million people have been affected by monsoon floods, devastating large areas of India, Bangladesh and Nepal. Pray for the millions of people marooned in their homes, with crops destroyed by the worst floods in recent years. This year’s monsoon has come at the height of a deadly global pandemic. Tragically, already 550 people have lost their lives. Close to one third of Bangladesh has already been flooded, with forecasts of worse flooding in the coming days. Pray for God's comfort to be over those living in fear of worsening weather and deadly pandemic enemy. Pray for those mourning the death of friends and family killed by landslides, drowning and sickness. Pray also for the aid agencies and the various ministries of disaster management to have clear communication strategies to work in united support of the vulnerable.
Christians neglected in aid distribution
Imagine you’re a Christian family in a Hindu village. It’s very likely neighbours are socially boycotting you. Even when there isn't a lockdown, you’re not allowed to buy from the local shop or draw water from the local well. You get food and daily necessities from nearby Christians or go to villages where the opposition isn’t so strong. But now your village is in lockdown. You’ve lost your income. Aid is being distributed to the local shop or the local village committee and they won’t give you the food, not even when you have a food ration coupon. The chances are that police won’t listen to Christian complaints and even accuse you of trying to convert Hindus or even ‘Don’t follow Jesus. Just do what everybody else does.’ Please pray for God to soften the hearts of those denying essential food and aid to Christians.
Iran: military alliance with China
Iran intends to build a military base in the Indian Ocean to protect fishing and commercial vessels from piracy and ‘foreign ships’ (referring to the US-led multinational naval task force currently protecting Gulf shipping from Iranian interference). A new agreement will give China access to Iranian ports. China is reportedly planning to build a new military base near Iran’s Chabahar port to enable the Chinese navy to monitor the activities of the US navy, which protects shipping passing through the Strait of Hormuz, one of the world's most important economic waterways. Any expansion in Iranian and Chinese military activity in the region would impact on the jointly-administered US / UK base on the island of Diego Garcia, one of the most important US military assets in the region. Tehran also plans to sign a $400 billion trade deal with China, which includes closer military cooperation between them to counter ‘Washington's dominance’.
North Korea: Prisoner 42
After fleeing from North Korea to China, Prisoner 42 was captured and sent to a North Korean prison camp, where she spent one year in solitary confinement. Guards shaved her head and stripped her. Each morning when they called for her, she crawled out of a door flap, typically used for dogs or cats, and kept her head bowed low because she was not allowed to make eye contact with the guards. They would ask her the same questions, ‘Why were you in China? Who did you meet? Did you go to church? Did you have a Bible? Did you meet any South Koreans? Are you a Christian?’ She lied to stay alive. She was beaten and kicked daily. She said,’ It hurts the most when they hit my ears. My ears ring for hours, sometimes days’. She was later sent to a re-education camp where she met other secret Christians. After two years she was released from detention.
South Korea: investigations on sending Bibles by balloon
What began as an activity restriction in South Korea is turning into an assault on religious freedom. In June, police stopped Voice of the Martyrs Korea from sending Bibles across the border to North Korea. Today, the ministry and its co-founder, Eric Foley, face criminal investigations. ‘Balloon launching has been difficult since we began in 2005. However, now there is a large scale effort to declare balloon launching illegal’, Foley explains. ‘It’s unclear, at this point, how things will go.’ He said the government’s motives and methods remain dubious, as launching has become a deeply political subject. He added, ‘North Korea made a very public offensive against balloon launching that was adopted by South Korean authorities. This was the impetus to say it is illegal, not through new laws, but through the application of other laws. The issue is not about balloon launching; it’s about the legal right to do private ministry work outside government mediation.’
Armenia-Azerbaijan: deadly border clashes
On 6 July, Azerbaijan’s president said peace talks with Armenia to settle the long-standing Nagorno-Karabakh conflict had stalled. He called talks between the countries' foreign ministers ‘pointless’. The Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) has long been trying to mediate a settlement of the conflict, which dates back to the 1990s. On 12 July clashes involving tanks and artillery erupted again on the border between the two ex-Soviet republics. On 14 July Azerbaijan's military reported four deaths, but said it had destroyed an Armenian fortification and artillery, while Armenia had not reported any deaths on its side in the clashes. Azerbaijan’s president said, ‘Armenia's political and military leadership will bear the entire responsibility for the provocation’, while Armenia accused its neighbour of ‘using artillery in an attack aimed at capturing Armenian positions’.
South China Sea dispute
Six Asian countries have competing claims on the South China Sea, but only China has backed its claims with artificial island-building, military bases and naval patrols. The USA has not taken sides in the territorial dispute, but sends military ships and planes near disputed islands, for ‘freedom of navigation’ operations to help key shipping and air routes. Both countries have accused each other of ‘militarising’ the area, and have long been at odds over maritime freedom. US secretary of state Mike Pompeo has now called China's pursuit of offshore resources ‘completely unlawful’, condemning Beijing's ‘campaign of bullying to control’ disputed waters that are potentially energy-rich with reserves of natural resources around them in a shipping route and major fishing ground. There are fears that the area is becoming a flashpoint, with potentially serious global consequences of a military response. See https://www.foxnews.com/world/china-accuses-us-confrontation-south-china-sea
Syria: vital foreign aid approved
On 11 July the UN approved a new round of cross-border aid to Syria through the Turkish border into militant-controlled Idlib province - providing one year of foreign aid to the northwest region of Syria and critical supplies to over one million Syrians. Millions more civilians within opposition-controlled areas rely heavily on such aid to survive. Throughout the war Syrian Christians have played a vital role within their communities, providing a lifeline to those in need. Many of them are within government-controlled areas, which are more heavily impacted by sanctions. If foreign aid to these areas was abolished, it would limit the resources used by Christians to provide hope to their communities. Pray for the international Christian community to seek new ways to bring about resolution and peace in this war-weary nation.