Pray for the Church in Sri Lanka! Pray for continued freedom of religion. Pray for wisdom and courage for believers.
Campaign against suppression of minorities
March 26, 2013
An online campaign has been launched seeking the intervention of President Mahinda Rajapaksa to protect the liberties of Sri Lanka’s minorities and to defend their interests against hate speech and hate acts such as those committed by Bodu Bala Sena, Sinhala Ravava and other such hate groups.
The online campaign calls on the President to take decisive action by publicly condemning the hate campaign of Buddhist extremists and hate groups.
http://colombogazette.com/2013/03/26
It also urges the government to continue to proclaim publicly that the minorities are equal citizens and equitable stakeholders in the country. The online petition also calls on the police to take necessary action to stop incidents of harassment against minorities and their businesses.
The Bodu Bala Sena (BBS) has said on Sunday that Sri Lanka is not a multiracial or multi-religious country but a Sinhala Buddhist country.
Speaking at the Bodu Bala Sena convention in Panadura, the venerable Medagoda Abayathissa thero urged the Sinhalese to protect the nation and not let other races or religions take over.
The monk also urged Sinhalese families to have at least 5-6 children so that the Sinhalese Buddhist population grows in order to protect the Sinhala race and Buddhism in Sri Lanka.
Meanwhile Secretary of the Bodu Bala Sena, the venerable Galaboda at the Gnanasara thera said that Sri Lanka should be ready to rally against Christian and Muslim extremist groups operating in the country. (Colombo Gazette)
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Malaysia’s Prime Minister Najib Razak has dissolved parliament, Wednesday, April 3rd paving the way for a long-anticipated general election that could be the closest the ruling coalition has faced in its 56-year rule since independence.
Najib's National Front (Barisan National) coalition lost its two-thirds parliamentary majority for the first time in 2008 elections and faces a confident three-party opposition alliance led by former deputy Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim.
The general election is expected to be held on May 5th following a two-week campaign period.
• PRAY for God’s rule and reign to become an increasing reality across Malaysia, and in the lives of increasing numbers of Malaysians of all races.
• PRAY for the men and women standing for election, a number of them believers, to not only run an honest campaign, but for those elected to be true to their word.
• PRAY for the thousands of believers in East Malaysia whose votes are expected to be critical in the outcome of the election.
• PRAY the elections will lead to a season wherein the people may live peaceful lives in all godliness and holiness, a season of increased religious freedom for all races, a season of justice and righteousness.
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Additional prayer concerns sent by a Malaysian friend:
1. Peace & harmony during and after elections
2. Righteous candidates to be elected to every parliamentary seat and every state assembly seat
3. New government will respect people's rights, uphold justice, incorruptibility, ethics and freedom to believe
4. New government to be good stewards and wisely manage our national debt
5. Men and women to be elected who will be peacemakers, foster reconciliation and unity.
6. Pray against extremists from being elected.
7. Members of the media will publish news truthfully and with integrity giving factual information.
8. Church will rise up to pray.
9. Church will be united an love one another during this time.
10. Church to participate in the voting process and encourage members to participate in the voting process.
11. Young people constitute 43% of the population. 3 million new voters are below 40. Pray for them as they vote for the first time. My son and daughter are also first time voters.
12. Every election official of the Election Commission, police, RELA and army will act justly during campaigning and uphold peace and order.
13. Election officials especially polling and counting against to serve diligently and honorably.
14. Citizens to vote for men and women of righteousness, God's choice.
15. God's Spirit to overshadow our voters when casting the ballot.
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Please lift up in prayer one whose situation is extremely difficult. That is Kenneth Jun-Ho Bae whom we have mentioned before. He is under arrest in North Korea and is sentenced to death for espionage. He is a tour operator based in California and a Christian who was taken as he was leaving North Korea with his tour. It is unlikely that his sentence will be carried out and the North may try to use him as a pawn but there is no recent news so we do not know more about his situation. I am sure, though, that it is very difficult for him. Please keep him in your prayers.
The political situation is very troubling but I do not believe that Kim Jong Un is the least interested in attacking either the United States or South Korea and no one is about to attack him, at least not under the present circumstances. Even though he declares a "state of war", this has been the technical situation all along. The fighting ended in 1953 with a truce, not a peace treaty. The North has been trying to get a treaty through the years but the young leader is making it more difficult rather than easier for himself. The most troubling thing to me and to others is that he does not have either his father's or his grandfather's experience in international or domestic politics. He is young and very inexperienced. I also wonder if he has the intelligence of either Kim Jong Il or Kim Il Sung, both of whom were very intelligent men with great skill at knowing how far to push and get what they want and when to back off. The young leader seems at times to be almost a victim of his own rhetoric. My greatest concern is that he has no one who will or can tell him the truth and that he will do something to trigger an accidental war that most likely be his complete undoing.
The people of North Korea have been under great strain for a number of weeks now as he has ratcheted up the tension and put the whole country on top alert status. This is taking a great toll on the people as they are forced to participate in drills that take them away from earning their own living while not providing them with anything else. The countryside is also being devastated as military units wipe out young forests and steal for their own food. In the meantime, the soldiers themselves are having a rough time of it as they are forced to do things for which they received not training--like driving trucks. Because of the lack of fuel, drivers never have any experience in driving, sometimes for the whole duration of their time in the military, and the trucks have straw in the tires for lack of new ones. They often use trucks converted to burn wood gas. These pour out clouds of smoke and can only move at about 20 miles per hour or so. One person even quipped that they'd mobilize faster using ox carts. The people are complaining more and more as the situation deteriorates. The Leader is doing all of this, it seems, to secure his position internally--with the forlorn hope of getting the U.S. to negotiate with him directly. He well may go too far and stir up more trouble for himself.
What is even more absurd is that North Korea has people in China trying to drum up tourist business and who are assuring everyone that there is no danger of war.
For anyone who is interested in following things inside North Korea, I recommend www.dailynk.com. The website opens in Korean but there is a link to the English version as well as Chinese and Japanese pages. Most of the links above are to articles here. Korean versions of most of them can also be found on the site.
All in all the situation is, in many ways, more pathetic then dangerous but danger cannot be ruled out. On the other hand, all of this is taking a great toll on the ordinary people of North Korea. Keep them in your prayers and do pray that Kim Jong Un will back down and the situation stabilize.
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I wanted to thank you all on behalf of Chai Ling and All Girls Allowed for your fervent prayers for God to bring an end to the One-Child Policy. He is moving and responding! At first, it may not have seemed so, based on a report that China was clinging to its One-Child Policy. But two cases of darkness were exposed into the light: a brutal forced abortion of a 7-month-old and a suicide case relating to the One-Child Policy.
Ling and I were both asking, “Why, Lord? When are you ending the policy and its forced abortions?” But we have sensed the Lord telling us that this is precisely why he allowed these cases to come to the light, to show that he desires for the One-Child Policy to end quickly, not just gradually over many years or decades. He wants us to pray and ask him to use these two new cases to expose the injustice and shame the Chinese government into ending the policy!
When the forced abortion of Feng Jianmei’s 7-month-old baby broke out into the news last June, the whole world was in uproar. We understood then that this wasn’t because of the graphic image (though that was a big help), but it was because the Lord moved to get the news across the world. There have been many other graphic images in the past, but somehow Feng Jianmei’s case was a perfect storm that the Lord orchestrated. These new cases have the potential to do just the same thing!
So we wanted to thank you for your prayers and to encourage you to continue to persevere in prayer as the Lord of heaven and earth wants to move to rescue millions of children and mothers in China. Let us know how we can serve you and help you as you lead others in prayer for China. Thank you again for everything you have done, and may we continue to see China rise up in prayer and prophecy! All Girls Allowed (http://www.allgirlsallowed.org) was founded by Chai Ling in 2010 with a mission to display the love of Jesus by restoring life, value and dignity to girls and mothers in China and revealing the injustice of the One-Child Policy. “In Jesus’ Name, Simply Love Her.”
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For more information see http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-china-24957303
We continue to remember Kenneth Jun-Ho Bae who is under arrest and sentenced to death in North Korea. Here is a FaceBook page dedicated to him.
www.facebook.com/RememberKenBaePrisonerInNorthKorea?ref=bf
As we think of Ken Bae, we also remember the growing number of Christians in North Korea, many of whom are in prison camps. Estimates vary as to the number of underground believers in North Korea and the number suffering in prison camps. Sources such as Radio Free Asia (http://www.rfa.org/english/), Cornerstone USA (http://cornerstoneusa.org/), and Open Doors (http://www.opendoorsuk.org/) indicate that there may be between 200,000 and 400,000 secret believers with perhaps 20,000 or so meeting together in small groups of 3 to 5 people for regular prayer and worship. There may be some 70,000 Christians suffering in the labor camps with others suffering severe persecution and death outside the camps. An Open Doors spokesman stated that they believe two Christians were executed earlier this year. In spite of the persecution, it does appear that the number of believers in the country is increasing as defectors who came to faith while in China are returning and sharing the Gospel with family, friends, and others. Some North Koreans travel back and forth to China as traders so that they are able to bring in Bibles and other resources to share the Gospel inside. This is a great peril to their lives.
Life for the ordinary North Korean is not easy either especially as controls under Kim Jong Un increase as does inflation while heavier burdens are being imposed on people to celebrate the great accomplishments like the recent rocket launch and nuclear tests about which more and more people express confusion or complaints. All of this increases the level of tension both domestically and internationally. At the same time, the government is giving out so many awards to people for their participation in the tests that being a "Hero of the Republic" is no longer anything special. There are also reports that North Korean generals and other high officers are getting US dollar cash cards every month to be used any way they want.
While all of this is going on, the central government has issued a series of contradictory orders concerning private farm plots that have farmers confused and fearful.
All of this adds up to a lot of things to pray for. Please keep our longsuffering North Korean brothers and sisters in Christ in frequent prayer. Let’s agree that the powers of darkness that are controlling Kim Jong-un and his government be bound and driven to the feet of Jesus so the nation can be set free from both its human and spiritual oppression.
We continue to remember Kenneth Jun-Ho Bae who is under arrest and sentenced to death in North Korea. Here is a FaceBook page dedicated to him.
Www.facebook.com/RememberKenBaePrisonerInNorthKorea?ref=bf
As we think of Ken Bae, we also remember the growing number of Christians in North Korea, many of whom are in prison camps. Estimates vary as to the number of underground believers in North Korea and the number suffering in prison camps. Sources such as Radio Free Asia (http://www.rfa.org/english/), Cornerstone USA (http://cornerstoneusa.org/), and Open Doors (http://www.opendoorsuk.org/) indicate that there may be between 200,000 and 400,000 secret believers with perhaps 20,000 or so meeting together in small groups of 3 to 5 people for regular prayer and worship. There may be some 70,000 Christians suffering in the labor camps with others suffering severe persecution and death outside the camps. An Open Doors spokesman stated that they believe two Christians were executed earlier this year. In spite of the persecution, it does appear that the number of believers in the country is increasing as defectors who came to faith while in China are returning and sharing the Gospel with family, friends, and others. Some North Koreans travel back and forth to China as traders so that they are able to bring in Bibles and other resources to share the Gospel inside. This is a great peril to their lives.
Life for the ordinary North Korean is not easy either especially as controls under Kim Jong Un increase as does inflation while heavier burdens are being imposed on people to celebrate the great accomplishments like the recent rocket launch and nuclear tests about which more and more people express confusion or complaints. All of this increases the level of tension both domestically and internationally. At the same time, the government is giving out so many awards to people for their participation in the tests that being a "Hero of the Republic" is no longer anything special. There are also reports that North Korean generals and other high officers are getting US dollar cash cards every month to be used any way they want.
While all of this is going on, the central government has issued a series of contradictory orders concerning private farm plots that have farmers confused and fearful.
All of this adds up to a lot of things to pray for. Please keep our longsuffering North Korean brothers and sisters in Christ in frequent prayer. Let’s agree that the powers of darkness that are controlling Kim Jong-un and his government be bound and driven to the feet of Jesus so the nation can be set free from both its human and spiritual oppression.
Here is some great news from Egypt as reported on www.patheos.com!
"While Egyptian Christians face ongoing strife in their Muslim-majority nation, there are signs of encouragement as leaders of five different Christian groups begin meeting for the first time to forge a way forward together. Evangelical, Anglican, Catholic, Greek Orthodox, and Coptic Orthodox leaders met Monday in Cairo for the first gathering of the United Council of Egyptian Churches. Coptic Pope Tawadros II led the group, which was the dream of his predecessor, the late Pope Shenouda III, to promote dialogue and unity."
http://www.patheos.com/blogs/joeljmiller/2013/02/egyptian-christians-seek-unity-amid-ongoing-strife/
From the body of Christ in Turkey, to our brothers and sisters in Christ around the world, grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Greetings from the church in Turkey -- from the land of Noah, of Abraham, of Paul, of Ararat and Harran, of Antioch, Ephesus, Galatia, of the Seven Churches of Revelation...Yet today, the body of Christians in our land is less than 0.1% of the population of 72 million.
We are writing to you on behalf of the leaders of the church in Turkey to ask for your prayers. In 2009 we asked the world to join us each year for a 'Global Day of Prayer for Turkey' on April 18, the day in 2007 when 3 of our brothers were tortured and brutally murdered in the town of Malatya. We greatly desire that you would join the small congregations of Turkey along with many churches worldwide to pray for Turkey in your churches and homes on April 18.