A respected Christian leader from Cairo updates us on what the latest developments in his homeland:
“When a million ordinary and non-violent Egyptians from all walks of life camped for 18 days in Liberation Square, the world was mesmerized by their remarkable and unprecedented show of courage and willingness to suffer for the human rights of all Egyptians.
Yet none of those who were in Liberation Square could have imagined that their defiance would not only result in undermining most authority in the country, but would also pave the way for radical Muslim groups to begin restricting true freedom and equality for all Egyptians.
BREAKDOWN OF AUTHORITY
If you challenge the President and win, you no longer fear any authority. One logical - yet unintended – result of this successful show of defiance is that nearly every sector of society is now challenging those in authority above them…
• Students challenge their teachers or educational administrators
• Employees challenge their bosses
• Ordinary citizens challenge civil authorities
• There is little respect for the police
• Even the respected and formerly- feared Army is now being challenged
The many acts of violence, burning of churches, shops, and factories - not to mention the spate of kidnappings for ransom and increased petty theft - are partly the result of a misunderstanding of freedom and a lack of fear towards anyone to whom these people could be held accountable!
A sad example of this is when criminals are arrested to await trial, their friends and relatives come in the hundreds, storm the jail, overcome the police, and free the prisoners. In the past, respect - or fear - of the police’s authority would have made such acts inconceivable. Now, they are frequent occurrences. Another example is that the two men who plotted to assassinate President Sadat in 1981 have been released from jail and are now popular talk show guests!
POTENTIAL TAKEOVER BY MUSLIM BROTHERHOOD
Another unintended result of the Revolution has been the paving of the way for the new Parliament to be overtaken by the well-organized Muslim Brotherhood. Having officially renounced violence many years ago, this group will protect Christians from the violent attacks we have been experiencing lately. But in establishing an Islamic state, they will undoubtedly seriously curtail what Christians can do outside their houses of worship. Undoubtedly they also will allow even less freedom than was previously available for Muslims to have religious freedom of choice.
FEARS AND FAITH
The increasing violence and danger has led to a general spirit of fear. Many Christians yearn to leave Egypt.
Please pray for Church leaders, to know how to comfort and encourage oppressed believers and yet challenge them to hold on to their faith and live according to true, Christian principles of love and forgiveness even in the face of injustice.”
“Five years after it abolished Hinduism as the state religion, Nepal is working on a new criminal code forbidding a person from one faith to “convert a person or abet him to change his religion.” Article 160 of the proposed code also says no one will be allowed to do anything or behave in any way that could case a person from a caste, community or creed to lose faith in his/her traditional religion or convert to a different religion. Offenders could be imprisoned for a maximum of five years and fined up to 50,000 Nepalese rupees (US$685).
Nepal’s Christian community, which has no representation in the Council of Ministers or in parliament, was caught unaware of the new criminal law in the offing. “We have not heard of this,” and Lokmani Dhakal, general secretary of Nepal Christian Society. “We need to look into this.” Nepal last weekend failed to complete a new constitution providing for religious freedom, thanks to a protracted battle for political power. Once the only Hindu monarchy in the world and now the youngest federal republic, Nepal was to have unveiled the document by midnight on Saturday (May 28).”
From PrayerFocus Hinduism: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
The head of the EPA (The Algerian Protestant Church Association) has received the following order from the High Police commissioner in his town: “On May 5th, 2011, a decision has been made according to article number 566/11 to close down throughout the country all the Christian worship places, which are not designated for religious purposes.
Please pray:
1. May the Lord give wisdom to the Church leaders how to deal with this new wave of persecution. The vast majority of the churches are affected by the above order.
2. For the Lord to take away the spirit of fear and give His Spirit of power, love, and self control, to stand firm against the threats of the authorities. (2 Timothy 1:7)
3. For the abolishment of the March 2006 ordinances.
4. The Church will be granted the full license to be able to meet and worship freely. (The number of believers in Algeria today is estimated to be around 100,000 believers.)
5. May our Lord Jesus manifest powerfully His salvation and glorious victory against the evil one in the above situation. Amen!
Reuters News Agency reported that Syrian security forces shot dead at least 34 demonstrators in the Syrian town of Hama on Friday, as once again protesters were mown down as they left Friday’s noon prayers. The revolt against President Bashar al-Assad is in its 11th week and security forces, including snipers, fired into a crowd of thousands in an attempt to bring it to an end. “The firing began from rooftops on the demonstrators. I saw scores of people falling in Assi square and the streets and alleyways branching out. Blood was everywhere,” a witness who gave his name as Omar told Reuters from Hama. “It looked to me as if hundreds of people have been injured, but I was in a panic and wanted to find cover.” Funerals for the martyrs have already started, “he said. History may be repeating itself in Hama, where Bashar’s father, Hafez, slaughtered at least 30,000 of his own citizens in 1982, in order to suppress a revolt…
According to human rights groups, security forces have killed more than 1,000 civilians since March. U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, who originally called Assad a “reformer” has said that his legitimacy “had nearly run out.” Although the United States has joined NATO operations in Libya aimed at toppling Qaddafi, who has also killed his own citizens, no similar actions have been announced against Assad. The EU, Australia, and the United States have passed sanctions against the regime. Assad has responded to this continuing revolt against his rule with violence accompanied by promises of reforms, which protestors have dismissed as irrelevant. The media blackout instituted by the regime has made a mockery of those promises, and news is dependent on activists who manage to communicate via the web. A 13-year-old boy, Hamza al-Khatib, who is said to have been tortured to death, has become the symbol of the human rights outrages perpetrated by Assad’s forces. His picture is seen at protests.
From: “Anneli Dietz” Subject: Syria Bloody Friday in Hama, Syria as History Repeats Itself by INN Staff
Please pray for a just government to arise that will serve the people and that the current oppression by Assad’s administration will cease.
“A major spike in the harassment and arrest of Iranian Christians in recent months is revealing just how nervous the Islamic republic is about the prodigious success of house churches, say Iranian Christian leaders. At least 202 Christians in 24 cities faced "arbitrary" arrest between June 2010 and January 2011, according to Elam Ministries. Elam, run by Iranian expatriates, counted 80 arrests over 2008 and 2009 combined. "[Iran] has been substantially more public in its oppression of Christianity," said Todd Nettleton, a spokesman for Voice of the Martyrs. "Announcing it on the news, having the mullahs talk about it in their Friday sermons—it's just become a lot more out in the open." "Persecution has escalated to an unprecedented level," said Abe Ghaffari, executive director of Iranian Christians International.
While Iran's historic Armenian and Assyrian congregations usually enjoy freedom of worship, Farsi-speaking house churches hosting converts from Islam work under significant threat. … The government is concerned, observers say, because more and more Iranian Muslims are converting to Christianity. The house church movement is booming, with converts estimated in the hundreds of thousands. Evangelists are distributing large numbers of New Testaments, and satellite television continually beams Christian programs into the country. "The government always used to deny that Iranians become Christians," said Elam's David Yeghnazar, but now the church has become too strong to ignore. Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei declared the house church network "enemies of Iran" in an October speech, which analysts labeled a rare public acknowledgement of the movement. …
Resentment against the reigning regime is spreading and deepening—especially since the disputed 2009 national elections. … "The Iranian public basically doesn't trust the government anymore," Ghaffari said, "and they don't trust the Muslim clergy anymore, because they have seen a lot of double standards and hypocrisy." Converts in smaller communities still risk persecution from their own families, but tolerance is growing in urban areas and among the younger generation. "In fact," said Dibaj, "in places like Tehran and more educated communities, if you say, 'I have become a Christian,' they will respect you because of your courage and your independent thinking." If anything, government persecution has made Christianity much more attractive, said Yegh-nazar. "When government officials are on television telling people not to read the Scriptures, that generates more interest in the Scriptures."
Excerpted from Christianity Today, June 6, 2011.
Lord, let your Gospel continue to speed on and triumph throughout Iranian society! Please strengthen and protect your workers who are bearing the brunt of the opposition by political and religious authorities.
Anyone who has attempted to listen to two (or more) conversations at once can relate to a question my son asked when he was about nine years old. As he was preparing for bed one night and about to pray with his mom and me, he looked up with a puzzled expression. "How can God listen to my prayers if millions of other kids are praying right now too?"
My guess is that many adults have pondered this same question without venturing to voice it, though occasionally I meet someone curious enough or brave enough to ask it aloud. What thrills me about this query is that it opens the door to some profound theological truths that can expand our view of God's transcendent splendor and assure us of His personal, undivided attention to our prayers! These truths can draw us deeper into trust and worship of Him.
Because we humans experience time as a single, one-directional "line" along which our physical life progresses from beginning to end, we can only communicate with one another sequentially, one after another. Thanks to remarkable advances in technology, we can now communicate simultaneously with a global audience almost as easily as we can with one friend standing in front of us. With or without technology, however, we cannot handle overlapping conversations any more than we can read two pages in two different books at the same moment and with full attention to each.
By contrast, the God who brought this universe into existence and continuously holds it together is not and cannot be contained within it. According to Scripture, God existed and acted "before the beginning of time" (2 Timothy 1:9; Titus 1:2). By His transcendent power and purpose, He created not only matter and energy but also the space and time in which matter and energy unfurl (Genesis 1:1; Hebrews 11:3). Both the Bible and scientific investigation present us with the reality of a Being who has the capacity to create our familiar time dimension and fix its direction, a Being who possesses unlimited time capacities!
For the sake of our limited imagination, however, let's consider what is possible for God if He were to access even just a two-dimensional time frame. If we liken time dimensions to space dimensions, we can picture this two-dimensional time frame as a plane of time, a flat sheet with length and width, something like an edgeless sheet of paper. On this plane, God can extend a perpendicular time line from any point, any moment, along the time line you and I are moving along. On this perpendicular time line, God can give individual, undivided attention to your words and my words-and to any number of other prayers simultaneously. None of us need be concerned that our words will be drowned out. And in this moment, in this communication, we are being heard and attended to by the all-powerful, all-knowing, all-loving Creator of the universe, our Savior and Lord. This is why I consider prayer as the most potent spiritual resource God has granted to us humans. Our link with Him is more direct and constant than any high-speed Wi-Fi connection!
Obviously God has options far beyond this notion of a time plane. He can create and access time dimensions, as well as space dimensions, at will. What's more, He is free to operate without any limitations at all, completely independent of space-time dimensions. However, this simple illustration can at least offer us some reassurance that God truly can and does attend to us at every moment and in every situation of our life. Sometimes I go so far as to imagine our prayer lines resonating in some special way when we pray in unison or in harmony with fellow believers! Whatever the case may be, this illustration gives new meaning to King David's burst of joy and wonder:
How precious to me are your thoughts, O God!
How vast the sum of them!
Were I to count them, they would outnumber the grains of sand.
(Psalm 139:17-18)
Note from the editor:
Dr. Hugh Ross and the Reasons to Believe Ministry (www.reasons.org) that he founded carry on one of the most strategic ministries in the world both to skeptics and believers. He and his scientist colleagues share the increasingly astounding results of modern science that demonstrate so powerfully and mind-bogglingly the existence and attributes of our almighty, all-loving and all-wise Creator. Please pray for this unique ministry according to these requests that RTB has sent to us:
1. Sufficient fiscal year-end donations to fund the "good works" God has "prepared in advance for us to do."
2. Wisdom in developing plans for both our Conference Center and media studio.
3. Spiritual discernment and impact in our interactions with another ministry with which we are striving to dialogue .
4. Development of kingdom-advancing ministry partnerships.
5. That God will keep us safe AND make us dangerous!
Here is some of the latest thinking from the International Dream Team of the WYPA. Please feel free to give suggestions to the planning team.
1. We will initiate on 2016 and culminate on 2017.
2. It will be a full-year event.
3. We will pursue this regardless of seeming conflict with other global events; we see it as complementary to all gatherings.
On UPRISING 2016
1. We will mobilize for an "UPRISING DREAM TEAM" - mobilizers, organizers, trainers, to work toward UPRISING 2017
2. We will recruit young, like-minded, global leaders who are ready to pray.
3. Attendance can go from 300 to 5,000 or more. We will not set a limit.
4. We will treat the preparations for this as if there is no event on 2017.
5. We will incubate and synergize, soak and seek, relate and bond.
6. We will receive impartation from the older leaders from all walks of society.
7. We will cast a global vision of UPRISING.
8. We will "resist in prayer" the growing evil in our times, especially the attack on Christians.
9. We will believe for fresh anointing on the youth and children in prayer, starting their own prayer movements.
10. We will ask the UPRISING DREAM TEAM to do an UPRISING prayer gathering monthly for 12 months in order to build momentum for 2017.
11. For mobilization of Koreans: we will maximize the potential of mobilizing "Korean Diaspora Churches" to call for sort of a 'homecoming' for the Koreans.
12. We will dovetail on other global gatherings between July 2016-2017 not to compete, but to complement their respective visions.
13. We will send the delegates home to gather a generation: "See you in UPRISING 2017"
On UPRISING 2017
1. This will be exponentially bigger than 2016.
2. We will pray, seek God, and hunger for Him.
3. We will hear from and pray for every region.
4. We will research on and pray against every attack the enemy has released in this generation.
5. We will challenge all delegates to a global fasting and praying for revival, for a new Jesus Movement in the Digital Age.
6. We will challenge the generation/s represented to commit to a personal vision of transformation in the 7 Mountains of Culture.
7. We will give a "packet" to all attendees with how-to's on mobilizing, organizing, and starting an UPRISING in every nation and region.
Dates
We are looking at JULY 25-30, 2016.
-July 26-28 will be the 3-day kick-off.
-July 29 will be the Prayer Time at the DMZ border.
-July 30 will potentially be a stadium event to rally the Korean churches and prayer movement.
For more information or to give suggestions, please contact Pastor Jerome Ocampo care of the WYPA administrator Sarah Torres at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Please pray for His continued clarity, unity and wisdom for the planning team; for the finding of the appropriate venue in South Korea; effective connection and mobilization with youth prayer and mission movements worldwide; and for His provision of all the resources needed.
In our IPC leadership call today, June 2, many exciting reports were shared about the way the Lord is moving through His praying people and especially the younger generation. Pl ease join us in prayer for these key concerns:
•Rise-Up Arab European Prayer Conference, May 14-16, Wiesbaden, Germany- An exhilarating event with 300 on-fire Arab Christians from many nations of Europe. They were challenged not to behave like refugees but as missionaries and to establish prayer cells wherever they are in the continent. Pray that they will be effective intercessors and mobilizers and that this movement will grow and connect many more immigrants, connecting them with nationals.
•RESET Million-Youth Prayer Event Leaders' Gathering, June 11-13, Washington, DC, USA the organizers have asked others to give them input in planning this massive prayer assembly for next year in July. Pray for great wisdom in doing this well and that there will be an enormous response by the younger generation across North America and elsewhere.
•UK Trumpet Call National Day of Prayer, July 4- it will be held in a 3000-person auditorium in Birmingham and will focus on the supremacy of Christ and the unity of His Body. Much spiritual battle and accidents occurring so please keep the leaders very much in prayer. May it be a powerfully anointed event that will rock England for the Lord and change the atmosphere politically, culturally and spiritually!
•International Children's Intercessors Conference (Royal Kids), August 6-9, Chennai, India- the organizers have been going through significant persecution and difficulty. Please pray for His grace and favor for them and their colleagues and for His provision of a good venue where they can hold this important initiative for the children.
•Global Issachar Group, South Asia Region, August 11-14, Colombo, Sri Lanka- Focus on the dark places and powers of our world. Pray for the right participants from the region, who have wisdom and experience to share that they will be able to come to Sri Lanka without hindrance and that it will be a revelatory, valuable time for all. Pray for the organizers as they make preparations and for His provision of resources for all the costs.
•European Trumpet Call, August 31-September 4. Pray for the leaders and for participants to come from across the continent to hear from the Lord and pray out His heart for the revival and transformation of Europe.
•24-7 Prayer Movement- their call is to concentrate on the 18 to 25 year old generation, "reviving the Church, rewiring the Culture" with the overflow of prayer into mission and justice initiatives. Pray for their effort to "turn the tide of modernism" on the university campuses and for a strong response by the students to be called by the Lord and become His leaders of tomorrow.
•Children in Prayer international team-Pray with them to see movements of CiP develop across the world and get connected and for how the children should participate during the WYPA.
•Kumbh Melah of Nasik, India- 60 million Hindus are expected to take part in this empty, vain ritual of river-dipping to get salvation, July 15 to end of September. Intercessors will pray there for 100 hours before. Pray that the powers of darkness and deception will be bound, that the KM will be a bust, and that millions will instead hear and respond to the glorious gospel of our Lord.
•Caribbean Prayer Network- please pray for the "Cry Out for Children" event on June 27 in Jamaica that will focus on child abuse and atrocities, a book on intercession being released and a course for intercessors that will be offered July 6-17.
•Africa- thanks be to God and the intercessors that prayed for Nigeria, which had an uncommonly smooth and peaceful election! Pray for efforts being made through MANI to coordinate prayer across the continent and their gathering October 26-31 in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia to pray for the unreached peoples as well as the issues of Islam and terrorism.
Thanks for standing with us in prayer for our world!