The 2011 rainy season is the worst any living person in the northern Kayes region of Mali can remember: only two days of rain. Typically, a family can harvest enough to see them through until the following harvest season, but not much beyond. This year, with no harvest, families are already coming to the bottom of their grain stocks. Migrant workers can send money for their families to buy food, but about one-third of the families in Xusaane village do not have anyone to help them. The local believers and the village association have put together a committee to identify these most needy families and calculate what each will need until the harvest of 2012-13. They are formulating a plan for the bulk purchase, transportation and distribution of grain. Pray that they will be able to raise sufficient money to provide for each family.
Call to Prayer for the World Prayer Assembly (WPA), May 14-18, 2012 (www.wpa2012.org)
Please keep praying for the WPA! Your prayer support will be all-important to the planning of this event which is intended to be a “new paradigm” for an international congress—carried out Acts 13-style—incorporating listening to God, united prayer, and strategic implementation of world-impacting action that proceeds out of that encounter with the Lord and one another.
1. Please pray that those from every nation God is calling to take part in Jakarta will be able to be with us and for that the resources for them and the Assembly itself will flow in abundance.
2. Pray for the solution of logistical problems and some difficulty with the registration process to be resolved quickly and effectively.
3. For the facilitators, track leaders, presenters and worship teams to be led of the Lord, prepared and anointed to serve.
4. For His unity among all who are working to arrange the WPA that our hearts will be one with Him and one another.
5. For effective management of the planning process and for an operations chief to be identified and put in place for our Jakarta office ASAP.
500 Indonesian children carried out a concert of prayer for the WPA with about 20 churches coming together from North Jakarta. The children also sowed money for the WPA (Rp. 1.500.000 which is about $200). Amazing...the new wave is coming! We are really excited…God is moving in children hearts!
For more information about children’s participation in the World Prayer Assembly, write to Tety Irwan, Children’s Track Coordinator for the WPA at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Egypt, a neighbor of Sudan, has been rocked by the recent bombing attack by Muslim radicals on one of its churches in Alexandria. A local Christian leader writes about the traumatic effect of this attack:
“The trauma is bottomless. Especially as a Westerner one cannot go near the quarter of town where the attack happened. Authorities are strongly present there. Even for people affected and /or living there going out was prohibited yesterday. The frustration and the desire to defend or protect oneself is big especially with the young people. It's not the first time, after all, that something like that is happening. And there is always an official version of things. Emotions are indescribable. Many Muslims have also expressed their anger about this being done to the Christians. It appears the number of people now in hospitals is much bigger than first thought.”
Please pray for:
1. soothing of physical pain (many lost limbs, in the bomb were nails).
2. hospitals to be able to cope, blood donations to reach the ones in need.
3. the other Christians to be able to bring true comfort and meaningful help - perhaps as of Wednesday. Pray that the church is able to organize itself for that.
4. the young Christians who were taken away to prison during the riot. Under military law here nobody knows where they are and if and when they will be released again.
5. ability for the affected to keep fear, frustration and hate in check during the shock.
6. outward security; Westerners are not welcomed by the ones in charge, the country fears loss of face.
7. long-term strategy when the dust has settled.
A personal note follows from a dear Christian brother in Egypt regarding this tragedy:
Hope
There is always Hope with Jesus. I believe that even in the dark hour, there is that Light that we can always rely on. I'm sure that the enemy wants to fill our hearts with despair so we can't look with hope for the days ahead.
In my country as in many other places around the world, there are sad, difficult things happening every single day. Lately, we had a horrible terroristic attack on Christians where many died & were injured. There is fear spreading even in the midst of God's people.
I was involved in some prayer gatherings lately where I felt led by the Spirit to inspire Hope in the body of Christ that even in hard times, we're going to see God's Mighty Hand like never before in our lives. We're going to see His signs & wonders. I'm filled with faith that in the midst of hard times, we'll see Him mightily. We'll experience what we have never experienced before. Lions will bow down before His children.
Challenges will be everywhere & giants will be all around. Goliath will keep threatening. Jezebel will keep frightening. Yet, now is the time for the David(s) to come out and defeat the giants. Now is the time for the Elijah(s) to come forth in the name of Jesus and declare victory over Jezebel.
We'll definitely see His Glory like never before. There is Hope. "There is Hope for a tree; if it is cut down, it will sprout again, and its new shoots will not fail. Its roots may grow old in the ground and its stump die in the soil, YET at the scent of Water it will bud and put forth shoots like a plant." (Job 14: 7-9)
Operation Capitals of Europe and Gatekeepers of Europe in Athens, Greece, will hold a joint event, 20-26 March 2012.
George & Evi Markakis
Shalom Center Athens
Shalom Apostolic Network international
Shalom Center House of Prayer for all Nations
3rd flr, 8, Akominatou str. Omonia Athens, Greece
Hundreds of praying protestors took part in a series of demonstrations for human rights and the liberation of North Korea that were held in major cities on December 9. That day was the 63rd anniversary of the adoption of the U.N. Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide, to which North Korea acceded in 1989. Here are some pictures from the Seoul demonstration.
In addition, Kim Jong Il, one of the most evil, oppressive dictators in the world, died suddenly on December 17 and has been replaced by his son, Kim Jong Un as the new president. Let’s be in prayer for North Korea as this new regime begins to rule that Kim and his officials will be open to dialogue with South Korea and the other nations in the Six Party Talks. Pray that the transformation we have all been asking God for will happen and that it will lead to the liberation of North Korea and the reunification of North and South. Pray especially for the food aid to reach those at risk of starvation and for the closing down of the prison camps in which hundreds of thousands of men, women and children continue to suffer slave labor, summary execution, and horrific tortures at the whim of their captors.
For Immediate Release
January 27th, 2012 – Worldwide General Strike and Call to Mass Demonstrations for the North Korean Liberation and Human Rights
Seoul, Dec. 27, 2011 – January 27th marks the 67th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz concentration camp, the largest Nazi death camp where an estimated 1.1 million innocent men, women and children were killed by the Nazis during the Holocaust. In 2005, the United Nations General Assembly designated this date as an annual international day of commemoration to remember the victims of Nazism and the sacred promise of “Never Again”. (For more information on the important meaning and significance of this date, read: http://www.un.org/en/holocaustremembrance/).
The Worldwide Coalition to Stop Genocide in North Korea, a nonpartisan coalition consisting of human rights activists and groups from around the world, is calling for an international general strike on this date to protest against genocide and crimes against humanity in North Korea.
Genocide and Crimes against Humanity in North Korea
The Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK, North Korea) runs a network of concentration camps where an estimated 1 million innocents have been murdered in silence, and 250,000 political prisoners, one-third of them children, are currently being forced to perform slave labor on starvation rations, are subject to systematic rape and torture, biological and chemical weapon experimentation, and summary execution.
North Korea is actively targeting for destruction every group protected under the U.N. Genocide Convention, through its decades-long policy of killing the half-Chinese babies of North Korean women forcibly repatriated by China (constituting genocide on national, ethnical and racial grounds), and its systematic annihilation of its indigenous religious population and their families (genocide on religious grounds). The regime’s treatment of political prisoners and its exploitative and discriminatory food policy which is responsible for the deaths of several million North Koreans constitutes crimes against humanity as defined in the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court.
At the historic UN World Summit in 2005, heads of state and government leaders from around the world committed to protect populations from genocide, war crimes, ethnic cleansing, and crimes against humanity. According to the Responsibility to Protect principle, the world has a duty to intervene to stop mass atrocity crimes first by 'appropriate diplomatic, humanitarian, and other peaceful means' and then by force, if necessary.
North Korea, as a genocidaire of the first order, is in the category of state perpetrator and is manifestly demonstrating this failure to protect. It is high time for the international community to act in North Korea.
LETTER OF DEMANDS TO THE INTERNATIONAL COMMUNITY:
To the Leaders of Korea, America, China, Russia, Japan, the United Nations and the Entire International Community,
We Refuse to Allow the North Korean Genocide to Continue Any Longer. Over 4,000,000 Innocent North Koreans have been Murdered through Starvation by the DPRK regime since 1995, and an estimated 1,000,000 North Koreans have been Murdered as a result of Slave Labor, Rape, Torture, Starvation and Execution in North Korea’s Political Concentration Camps. The Very Existence of these Concentration Camps makes the North Korean State Illegal, Illegitimate, and Criminal, and Demands the Immediate Intervention of the International Community.
Our Demands, based upon the foundation of International Law and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights are as follows:
1) The Immediate and Total Liberation of All North Korean Political Concentration Camps
2) Compensation and Re-imbursement to All North Korean Victims of Slavery, Starvation, Torture, All Concentration Camp Survivors and Their Families for Immeasurable Loss and Suffering
3) The Immediate Stepping Down from Power of the DPRK Leadership
4) Prosecution of Kim Yong-nam, Chang Sung-taek and All Individuals Responsible for Commissioning or Carrying Out Acts of Genocide and Crimes Against Humanity
5) Through the Guidance and Oversight of a Coalition of North Korean Refugee Leaders and Human Rights Activists, in Partnership with the Republic of Korea and the International Community, WE DEMAND THE LIBERATION AND REBUILDING OF NORTH KOREA BASED UPON THE FOUNDATION OF ENSURING AND GUARANTEEING WITHOUT FAIL THE HUMAN RIGHTS AND SAFETY OF EVERY NORTH KOREAN INDIVIDUAL ACCORDING TO THE UNIVERSAL DECLARATION OF HUMAN RIGHTS AND INTERNATIONAL LAW, WHICH WAS COMPOSED TO PREVENT THE ATROCITIES OF NAZI GERMANY FROM EVER OCCURRING AGAIN. WE, THE INTERNATIONAL COMMUNITY, HAVE ALL FAILED TO KEEP OUR PROMISE AND UPHOLD INTERNATIONAL LAW, AND MOST MISERABLY IN THE CASE OF NORTH KOREA.
Worldwide Coalition to Stop Genocide in North Korea (Nonpartisan)
Please refer to:
"Responsibility to Protect in North Korea": http://hir.harvard.edu/responsibility-to-protect-in-north-korea
"North Korea and the Genocide Convention": http://hir.harvard.edu/north-korea-and-the-genocide-movement
Documentary Evidence of Genocide in North Korea: http://www.watch-documentaries.com/children-of-the-secret-state
Documentary Evidence of Concentration Camps, Gas Chambers, Chemical and Biological Weapon Experimentation on Human Beings in North Korea:
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-7096673757347175289
Documentary - Public Execution in North Korea:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SAQE7kDwPZY
Contact: http://www.stopnkgenocide.com, This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Facebook: Stop Genocide in North Korea
http://www.facebook.com/groups/stopnkgenocide/
Please do all you can to mobilize others and arrange a prayerful protest outside any North Korean diplomatic office in your nation or Chinese embassy or consulate. China is complicit in all the horrific treatment of people in North Korea and sends back refugees to certain enslavement in the prison camps or death. It is important that pressure also be put on China since it provides up to 80% of the resources for the regime in Pyongyang. Pray for the January 27 demonstration to be a significantly large one within South Korea and other nations and especially that it will catch the notice of the international community, moving them to take action to safeguard human rights in North Korea.
Kim Jong-Un, son of late North Korean leader Jim Jong-Il, accompanied by military officers, visiting the Kumsusan Memorial Palace, where his father's body lies in state, in Pyongyang.
Palestinian and Israeli negotiators will meet again for the first time in more than a year in an effort to revive stalled peace talks. They will meet in Jordan along with the Jordanian officials and representatives from the U.S., Russia, the E.U. and the U.N. There is no expectation on any side of significant progress because of the issue of Israeli settlement building in the West Bank as well as in East Jerusalem and Palestinian demands for a settlement freeze. King Abdullah of Jordan has intervened in the process over the last few months because of his interest in a moderate Palestinian state being established in the West Bank and the Gaza and does not want to encourage any thoughts of a Palestinian state being established in Jordan instead. Prime Minister Netanyahu and his administration fear that any Palestinian state in the West Bank would ultimately be taken over by Islamists.
Such talks are crucial to the wellbeing not only of the Middle East but of the whole world. Please pray for all those involved in these peace talks and that they will be guided and helped by the Lord into a process of real reconciliation and healing of this longstanding feud between the two peoples.
The United Nations says more than 5,000 people have died as the Syrian government tries to crush the 9-month-old uprising there. Now, a pan-Arab body is calling for the immediate withdrawal of Arab League Monitors in Syria because the government has continued to kill opponents in spite of the monitors’ presence. The monitors are supposed to be ensuring that Syria complies with the Arab League’s plan to end Syria’s bloody suppression of dissent—a plan that the Syrian government agreed to already. Advocates said more than 150 people have been killed since the observers began their mission on last week.
Please pray that the Syrian government will heed the calls of the Arab League and the others in the international community “to remove its security forces and heavy weapons from cities, start talks with the opposition, allow human rights wrokers and journalists into the counrty, and release all political prisoners.” Pray for Christ’s peace and transformation of this important nation in a tumultuous region.