It seems that there is a growing divide in North Korea between the donju who have money and the rest of the population. Donju are the newly affluent and growing middle class but in the North it is hard to speak of a middle class since the divide is so great. Anyway, they are able to buy their way out of undesirable work like the army and the "spring battle" that requires everyone to get out into the fields and plant. (The North has set up up another tension by upgrading schools from fines for skipping out.) They are strongly focused on owning the latest South Korean goods, including the best cosmetics, and this despite the increasing crackdowns. The growth of this class that increasingly flaunts authority may also be adding to Kim Jong Un's sense of insecurity. He recently executed his latest defense chief, Hyon Young Chol--by antiaircraft fire. This is only the latest in a long string of purges that reflect this. This insecurity and his inconsistencies (e.g. canceling UN Security-General Ban Ki Moon's visit) are of grave concern.
Kim Jong Un is also quite concerned about the ongoing communication between North Koreans and relatives who have made it to the South. He has been tightening up and call volume is dropping.
There is much in the news these days about North Korea that should fuel our prayers. We have also learned that the long arm of ISIS has also touched North Korea in the kidnapping of a North Korean doctor and his wife in Libya. Keep praying!
Ben Torrey
Director
The Fourth River Project, Inc.
www.thefourthriver.org
Here is the link to a marvelous video about a university that has been established by Christian organizations in Pyongyang, North Korea's capital. It is a bold effort to change minds of young people so they can become change agents in this oppressive dictatorship:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ur7IwW5NA0s
From the editor:
An additional, very special development for ministry inside North Korea has occurred that could bring great blessing and breakthrough to the nation this year. Please pray with us for all those involved in this process.
"In just a matter of days, Pastors Yat Michael Ruot and Peter Yein Reith are set to face a trial in Sudan on trumped-up charges. They could hang for their faith.
Both pastors, originally from South Sudan, were arrested by Sudan's Islamist government five months ago.
The two pastors disappeared amidst a government crackdown against Christianity. Pastor Ruot was arrested on December 21, 2014, and his friend, Pastor Reith, was arrested a few weeks later, on January 11, 2015, after inquiring about his friend's disappearance.
Lisa Daftari of Fox News reports:
Two Christian pastors from South Sudan who traveled north to Sudan and were arrested on charges of spying could face the death penalty when their trial begins this week, according to their attorneys.
Yat Michael Ruot and Peter Yein Reith, both Presbyterian pastors from the breakaway Christian nation of South Sudan, are being held by Sudan's National Intelligence and Security Services on charges of undermining the constitution and espionage. Their supporters say their arrest and pending trial is just the latest effort by the militant Islamist government in Khartoum to stamp out Christianity. . . .
The pair also was charged with "inciting organized groups" and "offending Islamic beliefs," which call for imprisonment.
The trial was postponed to May 31.
Even worse, Sudan's "NISS officials have demanded $12,000 from the Church for the release of the pastors . . . ."
This is nothing more than cold-blooded extortion to profit from the threat of execution of these Christians pastors.
In just a few days they will face a jihadist sham trial on trump-up charges by an Islamist government focused on persecuting Christians. Sudan is trying to make a statement.
This is just the latest example of the Sudanese Islamist government's targeted persecution of Christians.
This is not the first time the Sudanese judicial system has been used as a weapon to exterminate Christians.
Last year, Sudan sentenced Christian mom Meriam Ibrahim to hang for her Christian faith. After weeks of tireless advocacy by the ACLJ and other global advocates for persecuted Christians, she was set free.
Sudan will listen to international pressure. Because hundreds of thousands of people from all across the world spoke out, demanding her freedom, Meriam Ibrahim is now safe and free with her family in America.
Yet the persecution continues.
As Lisa Daftari reports, "Marginalization of Christians has dramatically increased since the secession of South Sudan in July 2011." Her report also explains, Sudan's NISS intelligence forces, led by hard-line Islamists, persecute the country's Christians and use Shariah law to extort Christians and churches.
The 2015 Annual Report of the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) recommends that Sudan continue to be categorized as a "Country of Particular Concern" by the State Department, as it has been since 1999, for its ongoing and systemic human rights abuses against Christians."
From the American Center for Law and Justice, http://aclj.org
Please pray for the exoneration and release of these two men of God and for the end of persecution of believers in both Sudan and South Sudan. May the Gospel speed on and triumph through His people there!
Returnees queue during the evacuation of Nigerians displaced by Boko Haram militants, at a camp for displaced people in Geidam,
Yobe state, Nigeria, May 6, 2015. Niger has evacuated Nigerians living around Lake Chad, military and aid officials told Reuters on Tuesday, as the armies of four west African nations battle to quash the Islamist militants.
Boko Haram has killed dozens of people, including many Christians in a slew of separate attacks carried out in raids on villages in Nigeria in the past week. The U.N. has said that the Islamic terror group continues forcing women and young girls to carry out its suicide bombings.
Morning Star News reported that Boko Haram's raids in Adamawa state have killed at least 29 people, most of whom are believed to have been Christians. Last week the jihadists hacked to death 10 Christains with machetes in Pambula-Kwamda, a Christian community in Adamawa's Madagali Local government Area.
"They destroyed the telephone mast first before invading our community - this was to prevent us from telephoning and requesting help," said one pastor from the community who did not wish to be named.
"They killed 10 members of our church [Church of the Brethren in Nigeria, or EYN] using machetes and then slaughtering them."
Although the Nigerian army has successfully pushed out Boko Haram from a number of its hideouts in the past several months, the terror group continues carrying out deadly raids.
Boko Haram is the prime suspect in a separate suicide bombing of the Christian community of Garkida, Gombi LGA in Adamawa state, which killed nine people on May 19, and a shooting attack on May 16 in Wagga which killed another 10 Christians.
Niger has evacuated Nigerians living around Lake Chad, military and aid officials told Reuters on Tuesday, as the armies of four west African nations battle to quash the Islamist militants.
"The attacks killed 19 people in Garkida and Madagali," said the Rev. Samuel Dante Dali, president of the EYN. "The bombing signals a renewal of violence by the Islamist insurgent group Boko Haram at a time when Nigerian authorities are claiming victory in many parts of the northeast."
AllAfrica.com reported on Wednesday that another 37 people, including men, women and children, were killed by the terrorists after an attack on Gubio town in Gubio local government of Borno State.
Bukar Mondama, a teenager from Gubio and a member of the town's vigilante group, described the incident:
"We were playing football around 5:30 p.m. when we suddenly started hearing gunshots and there was confusion all over the town; everybody was running. The civilians JTF tried their best but there was no weaponry," Mondama said.
"They killed 37 civilians, including two little boys, while many others suffered injuries. They took their time to select and burn all good homes and all the mosques in the town. They burned our vehicles that were parked in the town so that we would not be able to go after them."
The U.N. has meanwhile said that Boko Haram continues to use women and girls in its suicide bombing attacks.
"Children are not instigating these suicide attacks; they are used intentionally by adults in the most horrific way; they are, first and foremost, victims not perpetrators," UNICEF representative Jean Gough said.
The international agency said that women and children were used in three-quarters of all of Boko Haram's suicide bombings since July, with girls between 7 and 17 years old used in at least nine confirmed bombings.
UNICEF noted that at least 743,000 children have been uprooted by the conflict in Nigeria in the states of Borno, Yobe and Adamawa, which has stretched on for over five years.
"Many children were separated from their families when they fled the violence, and have no one to look after them," Gough added.
Let us pray for the overthrow of Boko Haram and the wicked ideology of hate and destruction that motivates them. Pray that they may be set free from serving the devil and that the authorities in Nigeria, Niger and Chad can increasingly overcome and destroy this evil movement that has become such an awful menace.
"First a BIG thank you for standing with us in prayer before and during the conference! Much appreciated!!
We had three wonderful days together in prayer, worship and strategic analyse of Gods YES to our countries and solutions of the big issues of our time!
We came together from all five NORDIC countries from three types of organisations and perspectives:
A) business and work place ministries such as International Christian Chamber of Commerce
B) prayer and intercession ministries - such as Prayer for Sweden and other countries
C) Church ministries - such as YWAM, New Vine, Salt and Light and the OASIS movement
The Lord is truly building a new house in our midst! Psalms 127! Kingdom perspective before me and my... The question is NOT what's in it for me... IT IS WHAT'S IN ME FOR THE THIS NEW SEASON!!
We experienced a new time for unity and working together - experimental and traditional borders!
We concluded as the points below:
*TOGETHER IN UNITY - We recognize the individual calling and purpose for our countries. Is is clear that the Lord want us to be spiritual Vikings of our time - godly entrepreneurs who take responsibility! We mutually support one and other regarding our common focus of: Entrepreneurship, Place of refuge and Reconciliation - and stand in the GAP FOR ISRAEL!!
*MANIFESTING GOD'S YES - sectors, industries and issue. Un-mute and speak out with a prophetic voice for our time! We are ready to give GOOD a new voice in our countries!
*GENEROSITY - in all kind of collaboration including all types of resources not at least time, relationships, knowledge, wisdom, competence, organizational brand and financial resources (money)
*RELEVANCE - be able to understand today's questions, challenges and problems before seeking His answers through the Spirit by faith
*A BREAKTHROUGH SPIRIT - a new, fresh and bold entrepreneurial Holy Spirit whirlwind that we are unable to stop, just as when Jesus went through the crowd (Luk.4:28) and the spirit of Jehu!!
Best regards BLESSINGS
Jan Sturesson
Please pray with our Nordic brothers and sisters that they will be able to continue this new sense of unity and working together by His Spirit and that they will experience breakthrough after breakthrough for His glory in their region of Europe.
"But the Lord said to me, 'Do not say, "I am only a child." ...Now I have put my words in your mouth. See today, I appoint you over nations and kingdoms to uproot and tear down, to destroy and overthrow, to build and to plant." (Jeremiah 1:7, 10)
"History belongs to the intercessors, who believe the future into being!" (Walter Wink)
The Lord seems to have His hand on Europe these days! A number of prayer and mission events (I count nine so far) have been happening or are still scheduled during a four month period from May to September. You just read about the Nordic Summit for marketplace people that took place in Stockholm and was much blessed by the Lord through our prayers. During those same days, May 14-16, it was my joy to be part of another such event- the Rise-Up Arab Europe prayer conference in Wiesbaden, Germany. 300 Arab immigrant believers gathered from all over Europe- Egyptians, Iraqis and Syrians, including some who are refugees from the conflicts going on in the Middle East. What a dynamic and thrilling time of worship and prayer for the nations of Europe in which they now live!
J. Edwin Orr, the scholar on the history of revival summed up his research with the following sentence: "When God gets ready to do a new thing with His people, He always gets them a-praying." If so many prayer and mission initiatives are now taking place in the continent of Europe formerly regarded by many Christian leaders as a hopelessly secularized place, what does the Lord intend to do with all of this?
It all reminds me of a visionary experience years ago not far from where we were meeting in Germany. During that middle of the night experience, I saw pin pricks of light approaching in the great darkness. As they got closer, they first looked like torches but then coming even closer were actually burning swords in the hands of people who were cutting through the dark canopy over the land. Then I heard the words, "These are the intercessors" followed by two more words-- "New Reformation." A few days later, I received a communication from Loren Cunningham, the founder of Youth with a Mission, in which he was calling Christians in Europe to pray and work for a "New Reformation"! Wow, could the Spirit of the Lord be doing this now before our eyes, moving brothers and sisters in Christ to gather with a new prayerful expectancy across a continent that has known wonderful revivals in the past and was the world's major mission- sending center for centuries?
On the same trip, with Berthold Becker, founder of Intercessors for Germany, I visited Herrnhut (The Lord's Watch). It was the place where Count Zinzendorf and the Moravians began a 24/7 prayer chain in the 18th century that went on for 100 years and sent out thousands of missionaries, the first Protestants to go to the ends of the earth. A few years ago, some local believers started it up again! It was a joy to worship and pray with some of them, then to have a moving tour of the 6000 godly Moravians' graves nearby. They told us stories of how the Lord moved among those 18th century children, calling them to go out into the fields and pray at night, much to the consternation and upset of the adults. There, they received their callings to leave home never to return in order to take the Gospel to the unreached peoples of our world. I was deeply moved by being there and felt led during the morning worship to prophesy that the Lord will again bring revival on Europe- as He has done previously through such movements as the Reformation, the Pietist Revival, and the Moravian prayer chain. This time I believe it will come through the youth and children who are as always very much on His heart.
The next day after returning to the USA, a friend of mine from Holland called to inform me that he and other pastors just about to commission 3000 young people as carriers of revival from the very town where the 1749 revival happened in that country. Surely God is up to something for this continent!
Thanks for your continuing prayers as the Lord leads you for His revival, restoration and transformation to come upon Europe and other "developed" nations that have lapsed into paganism from the light they once knew.
Would you please pray with us for a great outpouring of His Spirit on these prayer gatherings and upon the nations of Europe over the coming months?
1 Pray for great unity and clarity for the leaders and participants to know how they should pray for their nations and for this continent as a whole.
2 That the prayer movement which has at times been a trickle will become a mighty river, stirring Europeans so accustomed to empty, deadening secularism, to be hungry to know the Lord and return to Him with all their hearts.
3 Pray that the principalities and powers that have influenced the thinking of so many with their various -isms will be bound and driven to the feet of Jesus and that people here will go free from the materialism that blinds so many.
4 For genuine and widespread spiritual revival as happened in centuries past. It can happen again!
The Lord wants Europe back! Let's pray and trust Him to do "far more abundantly". He can transform regions as easily as individual nations when His people pray. "According to your faith, it will be to you", He said. Thanks for joining in!
"Last night was a great and moving night in the city of Nijkerk, Holland, where in 1749 a powerful revival broke out, but had died down in 1752 because the church leaders and the government leaders chose human control above the moving of the Holy Spirit.
We had chosen to have the concert with the Jesus Culture worship band in that city. We had Jesus Culture before in Amsterdam, where we could handle far more people, and some 5000 came. Now we had chosen Nijkerk where the biggest facility could only have 3000 people.
Evangelist Mattheus van der Steen opened the evening and shared what we would do after the concert. What moved me about Jesus Culture was that their songs were very worshipful and also expressed a deep longing, desire and hunger for God. For the people it was an evening of worship. The participation was tremendous.
Then one of our leaders shared the story of the revival and how it was stopped. Some 40, many leading pastors, were with us on the platform. Then Mattheus and myself (Mattheus is 39, I am 70) knelt down, holding hands, and Mattheus confessed the sin of human control and human wisdom which was chosen above the Holy Spirit and His working and how the leaders of that time had grieved the Holy Spirit. A holy hush came over the gathering. Something happened in the Spirit. I then prayed, confessing and proclaiming forgiveness, and voicing how the blockage against the Holy Spirit had been removed. I continued praying and proclaiming that before Jesus will return God will pour out His Spirit on all flesh, which includes Holland and that specially young people would be full of the Holy Spirit and it would be happening already in this crowd. The praise was almost deafening. There was great, great rejoicing. Something was happening in the Spirit!
It was an awesome evening, an historic evening! We expect great things this year and there are stirrings of the Spirit everywhere already."
Pastor Jan Sjoerd Pasterkamp
Email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Praise God for this wonderful report! Let's pray for these 3000 youth to become His carriers of revival and that Holland and the rest of Europe will be deeply affected by their lives and service for Christ.
Monday, 31 August - Friday, 4 September 2015
Over recent years trumpets have been blown in many parts of our Continent as an act of obedience to the Lord. In the UK it started in Birmingham in response to the reading of the scriptures in Numbers 10: 9 which says, "When you go into battle in your own land against an enemy that is oppressing you, sound a blast on the trumpets. Then you will be remembered by the Lord your God and rescued from your enemies." From that and other scriptures we see that the sounding of trumpets were for gathering the people, moving the people, calling the people to war and celebrating the feasts and all that God had done.
As many of you know our brother Werner Woiwode from Switzerland, has not only blown the trumpet across Europe but in many other places around the world. In June 2014, we gathered in Macedonia and the Trumpet Call there encouraged our brothers and sisters across the Balkan nations and southern Europe.
Following recent Skype calls and a gathering of prayer leaders in Brussels, we believe it is right to go to Timisoara, Romania and blow the trumpet for the whole of our Continent. This invitation is to you, your church, your prayer ministry, your mission agency to come and join us in sounding the trumpet again over the Continent of Europe.
Our friends at The Christian Centre Timisoara/Agape Church have kindly made the church available for the week. We shall gather from 31 August early evening through to 4 September where for four days we shall have continuous prayer, worship, reading of scripture and declaration of the truth of God's word and the frequent sounding of the trumpets.
There is accommodation nearby where you can stay. The Julius shopping Mall is very near the church with restaurants and coffee shops. There will be a charge of 10 Euros per person to go towards Trumpet Call Timisoara expenses. There will be full details and booking facilities on a Trumpet Call website soon but we were keen for you to get these dates in your diary.
To help in your planning suggest you visit the web site of the International Airport of Timisoara at http://www.aerotim.ro/index.php?lang=en from here it is only a short ride to the Christian Centre. For more information, please contact Ioan Peia at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..
We would appreciate your help in making this known across your networks; we would love to see as many Nations represented as possible. This will be an unique time since friends from the Ends of the World will join us to welcome the King of Glory in our continent.
May God continue to bless you in all He does through you
On behalf of European Trumpet Call Team
Ioan Peia: Romania
Ian Cole: UK
Representing International Prayer Council Europe
Ortwin Schweitzer: Germany
Ian & Jill Jeal: France
Representing European Union of Prayer
Werner Woiwode: Switzerland, Abraham Ministries, Trumpets over Europe
Henning Schikora: France/Norway, Operation Capitals of Europe, YWAM
Lee Saville: England/Romania, Balkan Prayer Network
Berthold Becker: Germany, Intercession movement
Levi Graudins: Latvia, Latvia House of Prayer for All Peoples
George E Markakis: Greece, Shalom Center Athens
Andy Page: United Kingdom, Prayer Alert Net
Claudius Samartinean: Romania, IHOP Timisoara, Agape Church Timisoara
Daniel Matei: Romania, Christian Centre Timisoara
Vanco Nakov: Macedonia, Balkan Prayer Network
John Robb: USA, International Prayer Council
Brian Mills: United Kingdom, International Prayer Council
Sheena Tranter: International Prayer Council
Jussi Valkonen: Finland, The Finnish prayer network
Michael Maeliau: Solomon Islands
Milo Siilata: New Zeeland
Elijah Titus: Papua New Guinea
Geoff Armitage: Australia
Timothy Map: Papua New Guinea
Hezekiah Loloi: Vanuatu
Representing All People Prayer Assembly
Please pray for the organizers and that the right people will be called to come from across Europe and other nations. May this event be anointed and mightily used of the Lord to bring about a new atmosphere for His Church and for this crucially important continent that needs so much to see a new era of spiritual revival and social transformation!
“In a letter dated May 18, 2011, inviting the 49 other Governors to join him, Governor Rick Perry cited Joel 2 as the answer for the challenges facing America. We are to gather across racial, ethnic, denominational and other differences to represent the full Body of Christ on behalf of our land. A National Solemn Assembly called The Response: A Call to Prayer for a Nation in Crisis, will be held on Saturday, August 6, 2011, in Reliant Stadium in Houston, Texas. There will be no political agenda, no merchandise sold, no ministries promoted, no literature distributed and no offering taken. Registration is free. This event will not promote any denomination or organization. It will simply be a gathering of those who love God and love America in response to this invitation to join together and ask for His mercy, guidance, wisdom and provision. The website, www.theresponseusa.com, will give you critical information and help you see how this moment is building across the USA and among national church leaders.”
Please pray for the USA at this crucial time in the nation’s history and for the success of this wonderful attempt to bring Christ’s people together with many political leaders to pray for God’s deliverance of the nation.