Reported in Joel News International
"We reported on the role Christians played in the massive protests in Ukraine. Last week saw an escalation of violence and police opening fire on the crowds, leading to the death of 88 protesters.
In the weekend the corrupt President Victor Yanukovych fled the capital Kiev. Journalists and Ukrainian citizens storm
ed his private mansion and surrounding grounds, closed off to the world for nearly a decade, to discover their President had lived in incredible opulence. The new government has charged Yanukovych with murder and has issued a warrant for his arrest.
Former Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko, considered a hero of a 2004 Orange Revolution against Yanukovych, was released Saturday after 2½ years behind bars. The court case against her was widely considered politically motivated. Just hours after her release, in a wheel chair, she addressed the jubilant crowds on Independence Square. Tymoshenko sees the crisis in Ukraine as primarily spiritual. For this reason she proposed spiritual education in all Ukrainian schools. In 2010 she participated in a national prayer meeting organized by the churches in which she confessed the sins of the government. "I want to ask the Lord for forgiveness to be given to all the authorities and to me personally, for all unjust and dishonest things done," she said.
On Sunday, Oleksandr Turchynov, a well known Baptist pastor and top opposition politician in Ukraine, was unanimously named interim President by the Parliament in a bid to fill the political void and to end the three-month-long crisis. The choice of a Baptist pastor as acting president in Ukraine does not come as a huge surprise to Sergey Rakhuba, head of U.S.-based Russian Ministries. "He is well-known in political circles as a principled, honest leader. It is great that Turchynov is calling for unification and healing of the nation."
Ukrainian evangelicals are calling for national prayer, forgiveness and reconciliation in the wake of the traumatic recent violence. Valery Antonyuk, vice president of the All Ukrainian Union of Evangelical Churches, issued the following statement:
A Message of Reconciliation
"During this time of fateful change in the life of the Ukrainian nation, the Church and each Christian individually cannot remain spectators on the sidelines of the battles and losses. The Church serves society and mourns together with it. We went through difficult days together with the nation - we served through prayer, evangelism, volunteers, medical help, clothing, and food. Today a time has come for a ministry of active reconciliation, which will help maintain unity in our country and nation.
We supported the nation's demand to put an end to the tyranny of the authorities and repressions by the police. Now it is important to restore justice and due process of law in the country, to form a government that has the people's trust, and provide fair presidential elections. We believe that those guilty of crimes against the people will be justly judged, and that peaceful citizens will be protected.
But on behalf of the Church we must say more, we must speak the whole truth; we must say that which is still hard to accept and fulfill; that, which is a precondition for a better future.
Therefore the Church calls the Ukrainian nation to more than just feelings of human justice - to Christian forgiveness, grace, and reconciliation. We pray to God for repentance for the guilty. However at the same time we ask victims to forgive those who are already repentant as well as those who are still lost. In order to unite the nation, in order to reconcile its various parts, its various social, cultural, and political groups, laws and justice are not enough. Without repentance, grace, forgiveness and reconciliation, the country will remain divided and in conflict. This is the precondition for a deep spiritual transformation of Ukraine...
We call on the Evangelical churches of Ukraine to serve to bring peace between people and healing to the wounds of war. We do not call black white and do not justify crimes or even mistakes. But we, as Christians, forgive, because we have been forgiven by God. He reconciled us to Himself, and gave us a message of reconciliation. This grace-giving Word to our whole nation should be heard from Lvov to Donetsk, from Kiev to Simferopol.
We also call upon the international Christian community asking for prayer and intercession for the Ukrainian nation and for help with peacemaking. We mourn for the victims, and thank God for His grace toward Ukraine, and pray for peace and spiritual revival in our nation."
The Parliament has set new national elections for late May.
Let's pray with our Ukrainian and Russian brothers and sisters for the resolution of this crisis in Ukraine and Crimea during this pivotal time in this nation's history.
A call to pray for the traumatized, remnant Church in North Korea
On 27 February South Korean Baptist missionary Kim Jung-wook (50) fronted a North Korean press conference in Pyongyang to 'confess' to his crimes and plead for mercy. For seven years, Kim Jung-wook had been providing food, clothing and sanctuary to North Korean refugees and job-seekers in the Chinese border city of Dandong. Kim was arrested in North Korea on 8 October 2013, a day after crossing into the state, although a source in China told South Korea's Chosun Ilbo that Kim was kidnapped by North Korean agents in Dandong. In the press conference, Kim confessed to conducting 'anti-State' crimes with funding and assistance from South Korea's intelligence agency. When arrested, Kim reportedly had Christian literature and DVDs that allegedly he was going to use to set up 500 underground churches to spy on and overthrow the regime.
When Hong Kong-based Australian missionary, John Short (75), was arrested in North Korea in mid-February, he confessed to his 'crimes', apologised and was expelled. As an Australian, Short was of little value to the regime in Pyongyang. The situation is more serious for Korean-American missionary Kenneth Bae. Arrested in late 2012 while leading a tour, Bae gave a similar press conference confession in April 2013 before being sentenced to 15 years' hard labour. In August 2013 Bae was transferred to a hospital due to his deteriorating health. However, on 20 January the regime returned Bae to the labour camp to protest American B-52 bomber flight drills around the Korean Peninsula. As an American, Bae is a pawn of great value.
There is no word yet as to what punishment Kim Jung-wook will face. According to Radio Free Asia, 'dozens' of people have been detained, accused of assisting Kim. Border guards who let Kim slip through security, North Korean believers, new converts and the families of the accused are amongst those banished to labour camps upon Kim's 'confession'. Now South Korean news agencies report that 33 of the accused have been sentenced to death, charged with conspiring with Kim to overthrow the regime. It is reported they will be executed in a secret cell at the State Security Department. Doubtless these 33 are predominantly Christians, probably significant Christians who may or may not ever have been in contact with Kim but whose ministry is deemed an existential threat to the regime. This will be a terrible and traumatising blow to North Korea's remnant Church.
As noted in RLPB 248 (18 Feb 2014), the regime's main concern is managing the state monopoly on information in the face of severe challenges posed by new communication technologies, while endeavouring to raise living standards so as to ward off revolt. In response to pressure, the regime is ramping up repression, spreading darkness and stoking fear. Security on roads has reportedly doubled, making it more difficult for North Koreans to travel around the country. Furthermore, North Korean security agents now have new signal detectors, enabling them to intercept mobile phone signals in real time. Now people using cellphones smuggled in from China can be arrested within minutes. The recent wave of arrests will ensure that people stop using their cellphones.
PLEASE PRAY SPECIFICALLY THAT GOD WILL --
- 'Lift up his hand' to 'break the arm [instrument] of the wicked' and 'call his wickedness to account'. Pray Psalm 10 for North Korea.
- Spare the lives of the 33 who are to be executed. However, if that is not to be, then sustain and comfort them so that instead of being overwhelmed with fear, they will know 'the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding' (Philippians 4:7 ESV) as God himself encompasses them. 'And he will become a sanctuary [Hebrew: miqdas, the place where God dwells] . . .' (from Isaiah 8:11-14a ESV). [For more on this subject, see: The Promised Presence, by Elizabeth Kendal.]
- Comfort and encourage the North Korean remnant Church; may they know 'the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding' (Philippians 4:7 ESV). 'When the perishable puts on the imperishable, and the mortal puts on immortality, then shall come to pass the saying that is written: "Death is swallowed up in victory."' (See 1 Corinthians 15:50-58 ESV.)
- Take this evil event of the executions and use it for his glory to effect the exact opposite of the regime's intent. May the news of these executions spread through all the country, establish not terror, but the link between Christianity and freedom. May interest in the transforming gospel of Jesus Christ and in his power and grace to spring up all across the nation. 'Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit.' (John 12:24 ESV)
'Lift up your heads, O gates! And be lifted up, O ancient doors, that the King of glory may come in.'(Psalm 24:7 & 9 ESV)
By
Elizabeth Kendal
Religious Liberty Prayer Bulletin (RLPB) 251
Special to ASSIST News Service
Trapped in cages built for animals. Beaten, chained and forced to stand in torturous poses. Left to subsist on snakes and rats. The damning UN report on North Korea's crimes against humanity contains shocking allegations, but its message of misery is driven home even more powerfully by eight sketches drawn by a man who survived more than two years in Pyongyang's hell on Earth. The drawings, released as part of the 400-page report, lay bare the brutality of a regime that has practiced torture on its people, undeterred, for years.
"This was the first thing that I saw: there it said that 'if you run, you die,'" Kim Kwang-Il, the 48-year-old artist and one of some 300 witnesses the United Nations Commission of Inquiry on Human Rights spoke to in compiling the report. Kwang-Il's sketches offer a rare glimpse inside a prison camp, where photographs are forbidden. Some depict the torturous poses inmates are compelled to assume for hours at a time, under threat of beatings by chains and ropes. "We are supposed to think there's an imaginary motorcycle and we are supposed to be in this position as if we are riding the motorcycle," he said, describing one such torture. "And for this, we pose as if we are airplanes ourselves. We are flying. And if we stand like this there's no way that you can hold that position for a long time. You are bound to fall forward. Everybody in the detention center goes through this kind of torture," said Kwang-Il, who now lives in South Korea.
Another heart-wrenching sketch shows a starving inmate trying to catch a rat.
"Because we starved so much and did not have enough to eat, we would find snakes in street," said Kwang-Il, who now lives in South Korea. "How do you eat a snake in the street? But for us the first one to find it was the person who got to eat it. Everybody raced to catch those snakes and that's because we were so starved."
The UN report castigated the Hermit Kingdom for its ruthless treatment of people, depicting a brutal nation "that does not have any parallel in the contemporary world."
"Crimes against humanity have been committed in the Democratic People's Republic of Korea pursuant to policies established at the highest level of the state," the U.N.'s high commissioner on human rights stated in a report released Monday. "These crimes against humanity are ongoing because the policies, institutions and patterns of impunity that lie at their root remain in place."
Kwang-Il served 29 months in a North Korean labor camp after he was caught smuggling pine nuts across the border. Other survivors told the UN panel during its yearlong investigation of conditions in the secretive communist dictatorship. One witness described how a female inmate gave birth inside a camp. When a guard heard the baby's cries, he beat the mother as a punishment. And when she begged him to let her keep the baby, he forced her to drown the newborn.
Experts say it is common for prisoners in North Korean camps to lose up to half their body weight, or starve to death altogether. Many who survive are permanently disfigured from being chained to walls for days or even weeks at a time. The cruel regime not only punishes those it brands as criminals or disloyal, it also imprisons and tortures members of that person's family and succeeding generations, according to those who made it out of Pyongyang's gulags alive..
Human rights groups, including Amnesty International, estimate that more than 200,000 North Koreans are being held in camps similar to the one depicted in Kwang-Il's sketches. Other activist groups, like Open Doors USA, estimate that number to be even higher, reporting that the secretive nation has detained about 400,000 of its citizens -- many of them Christians. In North Korea, the practice of Christianity is illegal. Owning a Bible is a crime, and any person caught with one is sent - along with three generations of his or her family - to prison.
Pyongyang refused to cooperate with the investigation and denied the commission of inquiry access to North Korea. Last May, North Korea sent a letter saying it "totally and categorically rejects the Commission of Inquiry," said Michael Kirby, the chair of the UN Commission of Inquiry.
UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay pressed Tuesday for North Korea to be prosecuted by the International Criminal Court (ICC) following the report.
"We now need strong international leadership to follow up on the grave findings of the Commission of Inquiry. I therefore call on the international community, in line with the report's recommendations, to use all the mechanisms at its disposal to ensure accountability, including referral to the International Criminal Court,'' Pillay said in a statement.
Please continue to cry out to the Lord for the plight of suffering people in North Korea. This has got to stop and this wicked regime must be reformed or removed so that the two Koreas can be reunified and these horrors are ended.
There will be an on-site prayer initiative in Afghanistan, March 25-30. An international team of six or seven ministry leaders will join with local and expatriate believers, focusing on the national elections happening the first week of April. This is a very crucial time for the nation. Please pray for His anointing and protection on the team and those they meet with and for the right person of God's choosing to become the new president.
Additional prayer concerns from believers in the country:
The situation with President Karzai has not been solved yet. In each of our prayer meetings we bring this up to the Lord, but we feel that more prayer is needed that Karzai signs the agreement between his and the US Government.
As a matter of fact the relationship between the two is getting worse. Now president Obama tells Karzai that the US is planning for a full pull-out of the country http://m.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-26346115.
Please pray for patience for the American government. If they go ahead with the "zero plan" it would be disastrous for our country. But our prayer can and will make the difference.
Every day that the treaty is held back is a lost day for Afghanistan. The weekly incident list reports a total of 568 separate incidents in the country, that is 113 incidents more than the week before! We need your prayers that the security situation will not raise in face of the upcoming election and that president Karzai signs the paper. That would definitely bring more stability to the country which the people are longing for.
At the same time we need your prayers for the neighbouring country where the peace negotiations with the Tal... terrorists took place during the last weeks. We praise Him that instead of reaching an agreement they began fighting each other. This is a good opportunity to pray that the Government comes to realise that covenants with people on jihad (holy war) mean nothing to them. They only succumb as long as they get their way. If this "peace" talk would be taken up again it would mean a total set-back for both of our countries. Please pray fervently that the opposite will happen and the present situation of confusion between both sides will last.
Thank you so much for standing with us in your prayers,
Anonymous Christians in Afghanistan
Our parliament and governmental elections will take part on Sunday, April 6th, followed by the local elections in the Autumn. There is a governing mid-right coalition, with a more and more autocratic and over-controlling policy. There is a quite weak wide-left coalition, heavily attacked and mocked by the government-controlled media. We have a strengthening far-right party with great slogans and self-confidence. None of them seem to meet the people's need and care for God's will.
Lately some evangelical Christians formed a political movement, that last summer founded a new party, called "ANSWER", that put on its banner the reformation of Hungarian politics on Biblical basis, willing to serve the nation in a godly way. So far they could stand up candidates in 15 electoral districts out of the 200.
1. Please pray for these new Christian electoral candidates and their movement, as they face strong political pressure in this totally new situation.
2. Pray also for more experienced and skilled candidates to join to this movement and change their political views according to God's will.
3. Please pray for Hungarians during the electoral campaign to be sober and wise to protect and favors those candidates, who are the most suitable and willing to use political power according the will and ways of Jesus Christ, who has the supreme power over Hungary too and is willing to come back soon to rule over the whole created world.
Szabolcs Szatmari
Budapest, Hungary
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ
We are writing to you on behalf of the International Prayer Council to invite you to Skopje Macedonia in June this year to take part in the European Trumpet Call to be held there on June 18-21. Our brothers and sisters in the Balkans have put out a call to the rest of Europe to come together to pray for the Balkans and our Continent.
To help with administration we are asking everyone to make their own arrangements. A website has been established http://europeantrumpetcall.org more information will be on the website in the coming weeks.
We look forward to seeing you in Skopje. This is an important time for the church across Europe to stand in the gap on behalf of our nations and the Continent. Please pass this information on to other National prayer leaders that you know.
Praying God's blessing on your life and ministry,
Ian Cole, Birmingham England
Ioan Peia, Bucharest Romania
Sounding the trumpet for a "set time!" "Blow the trumpet in Zion, and sound an alarm in My holy mountain!" Joel 2:1
We are writing to invite your prayerful participation in a key prayer and worship initiative during Passover and Easter this year, April 11-21st. Significant timing issues are converging during Easter this year requiring our attention as follows:
The Christian church's Palm Sunday-Easter week (April 13-20th) and Jewish Passover Feast (April 15-21st) coincide this year.
On the Sabbath just prior to Palm Sunday, Friday-Saturday 04/11-12/2014 the scripture reading for Jewish synagogues around the world is Amos 9:7-15 which includes Amos 9:11 and the call to restore the "Tabernacle of David," i.e. houses of prayer that God is raising up and connecting.
04/13-14 is a 24 hour global day to pray for the 04/14 window (age group 4-14) the largest unreached people group in the world).
04/15 Passover starts and is the date of one of 4 red moons scheduled to appear on Jewish feast days (passover and feast of tabernacles) over the next two years.
What is God saying in the midst of these converging signs? We believe that He is calling His people to converge for spiritual breakthrough, both individually and corporately. The power of agreement in intensifying times is vital for breakthrough and Kingdom advance. When we agree with God and with each other, heaven will come to earth. We are writing to engage you in agreement to help build bridges between houses of prayer, regions, and nations with a common focus. The strategy is very simple and can be engaged by families, small prayer groups, churches, to larger regional efforts. With such convergence, we are encouraging mobilization for the following:
Vision: Mobilize corporate gatherings in your houses of prayer, groups, churches, cities, regions and nations that inspire worship, prayer with Passover dinner/fellowship.
Purpose:
Honor God on His timeline
Inspire unified focus
Encourage building of relationships, bridging of cities, regions and nations in common purpose.
Plan:
Encourage corporate prayer/worship with celebration of the feast of Passover/Lord's supper, preferably weekend of April 11-12th or during the April 11-21st time-frame.
Encourage building of altars in regions with corporate prayer/worship and celebration of Passover. It is a simple means to re-consecrate the land to the Lord
Continue gatherings on Passover and Feast of Tabernacles 2014 and 2015 with key focuses to be established to encourage agreement and building of relational strength
Please RSVP (This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.) if you intend to participate or have any questions. More information is available, guidelines and Christian Seder, for those who would like them just contact us at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. . We are available to assist and encourage and will have conference calls to mobilize this effort. Gatherings do not need to be large and complex, but with focused intent on honoring the Lord on His timeline and building into relationships in your regions (following the great commandments of Jesus Matthew 22:37-40). We look forward to hearing from you! It is time for the healing of the nations and honoring God on His timeline.
On the wall and building,
Fred and Sue Rowe
Transform World Celebration Challenge facilitators
I attended the IPC conference in November in New York and returned home all excited to share how God can use children in Prayer and Spiritual Warfare. I reported to my National body and was encouraged to share what I received with the entire Assemblies Of God, which is the denomination I am a part of. January 31st I had my first meeting with one of the sections. A number of children were filled with the Holy Spirit.
I am the National Sunday School Director Of this denomination and we have a group of children drawn from most of our sections, whom we encourage to live for Christ daily and share the Gospel. This group is known as the KING'S ENVOYS so on FEBRUARY 15TH ONE HUNDRED AND TWENTY FIVE (125) of them met and we shared with them about prayer and how God can use them to pray for others.
The tables were turned as three children came forward and prayed for the Superintendent and the Executive Presbyter. Just as we were about to close the C.E.D. Director Rev. Lynette Smith who was at the Conference in November arrived and closed in prayer. She later told me that there was such a great Presence of God in the building that could have caused an explosion of The Holy Ghost!
Tessa Smith This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.