We are pleased to bring you this October 2021 edition of IPC Connections.
In partnership with our friends at GO Movement, we have produced a 30-minute program entitled Harvest Prayer, packed with encouraging answers to prayer and heartening testimonies of many lives saved during GO Month, in May 2021. As well as introducing '1st Friday - GO PRAY', it also contains some reflections on the powerful connection between prayer and mission, illustrated by a clip about the Moravian missionaries.
Harvest Prayer is showing on the GOPRAY website from Friday 1st October and is being broadcast on GODTV on October 1st, 2nd and 3rd with replays later in the month. See the article below for details and timings in each region.
In our Editorial this month, we are taken on a journey of understanding of the joyful significance of the Feast of Tabernacles. This is quite apt as many of us have participated in a number of events under the theme ‘Trumpets to Tabernacles’ this last two months. In their article entitled Christ in the Feast of Tabernacles, Dr Jason Hubbard and Dr Darrell Johnson bring to life why we should be joyful in the Lord’s presence, (Ps 16:11) and the unique message that this feast brings to us as we pursue our calling to be a house of prayer for all nations. May each of us be uplifted and encouraged as we proclaim these scriptural promises of joy over our lives and ministries.
Thank you for continuing to partner with us in mobilising and informing united prayer across nations, denominations, movements, and generations for the fulfilment of the Great Commission.
May we express grateful thanks to Andy Page and the IPC Editorial Team who put this email together each month.
Every blessing,
Jason Hubbard - Director
International Prayer Connect
Please use this link if you would like to sow into IPC’s ministry with a donation
Disclaimer… The views and opinions expressed in IPC Connections and the articles on our website are those of individuals and our partner organisations. They do not necessarily represent the policies or views of IPC or its individual leaders.
We aim to respect the diversity within the prayer movement and yet embrace our unified calling to mobilise prayer for the nations. (2 Chron 7:14) If you wish to discuss the appropriateness of any articles, please contact us.
In Leviticus 23:34-43, God instructed the people to build temporary shelters (sukkah) and to live or tabernacle in them for 7 days to remind them that God tabernacled among them in the desert. The Feast was held in the fall where worshippers would live in little ‘huts’ or ‘tents’ to recall the days when their ancestors lived in tents as they made their way through the Sinai desert. The feast was and still is a time to remember.
They remembered how God-the Living God himself-graciously choose to come and live with them in a tent called the Tabernacle. The feast was and still is a time to Renew Hope. The Living God himself, would one day tabernacle among the people of God, not only just among them but also dwell in them by his Spirit!
“And the Word became flesh and dwelt (tabernacled) among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth” (John 1:14).
“In him you also are being built together into a dwelling place for God by the Spirit” (Eph. 2:22).
Water Ceremony
At the time of Christ, the Feast of Tabernacles was extremely rich with symbolism, and theology. There were two major components: a water ceremony, and a light ceremony. The water ceremony recalled the fact that God provided water from the rock, flowing as they journeyed through the desert. During this ceremony the Jews would remember that God had promised them a greater miracle-the miracle of God pouring out his Spirit upon his people, filling and flooding them with the water of life (Isaiah 44:3-4). During the Feast, the Priests were divided into three groups; one group making the sacrifices, the second group would depart through the Eastern Gate to the Matzah Valley where they would cut willows, the third group led by the High Priest would go out to the Water Gate, to the Pool of Siloam to draw a golden vase of living water while his assistant held a silver vase full of wine. At the same time, both the second and third groups would return to the Temple. The priests with the willows would march in unison, swinging them to produce the sound of a rushing wind. A primary text and song proclaimed during this ceremony at the time of Christ was Isaiah 44:3-4,
“For I will pour water on the thirsty land, and streams on the dry ground; I will pour my Spirit upon your offspring, and my blessing on your descendants. They shall spring up among the grass like willows by flowing streams.”
As both groups reached their gates, the shofar would blow and all would be quiet. One man with a flute would then stand and begin to play. He was called the "Pierced One" and would lead the procession in with a call for the wind and water to enter the Temple. The priest with sacrifices would lay them on the altar. The people would sing Mayim which means water (Isaiah 12:3), then the vases were poured into the bowls on the corners of the altar. At that point, the priests with the willows would begin laying them against the altar to form a sukkah (God's covering). Each day, excitement would build until the 7th day.
When the hush fell over the crowd, they could hear the water being poured out. In John 7:37-38, Jesus (The Pierced One) spoke the words,
"If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me streams of living water will flow from his innermost being."
Light Ceremony
Next was the light ceremony. Jesus claimed, “I am the light of the world; follow me and you will not walk in darkness but will have the light of Life” (John 8:12). Jesus could have made that claim anywhere, to anyone, at any time but he choose to make it in a particular context during the Feast of Tabernacles (John 7:2). On the first night of the Feast, when the sun had set to the sound of joyful singing, they would light four 20ft high candelabras, looming over the city so that all of Jerusalem was aglow with light! During this ceremony they would recall how God had guided them through the desert with a pillar of fire by night and cloud of glory by day. God could guide because God is Light. For seven nights people celebrated God as Light and then on the eighth night the candles were extinguished and they looked forward again to next year when light would light up the city of Jerusalem again. It was on the eight night when Jesus, walking through the court of women proclaims, “I am the Light. I am the Light of the World.” His statement is brilliant in every sense of the word! It’s as if Jesus is saying, “I am the light that pierces the darkness every night, illuminating the whole world.” As William Barclay writes of Jesus, ‘I am the light that never goes out. ’ Staggering! And not just light ‘of the world,’ but light ‘for the world.’ As it says in Isaiah 9:2,
“The people walking in darkness have seen a great light; on those living in the land of the shadow of death a light has dawned.”
As the apostle Paul declares, “God who said, let light shine out of darkness’ has shone in our hearts to give us the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ’ (2 Cor. 4:6). Jesus is God with a face. Jesus Christ, the Morningstar, shines out during the darkest and the coldest time of the night. He is the brilliant one. He is the dazzling one. He is the chandelier of heaven! He is clothed in garments of light. His face shines brighter than the sun. His eyes are like flames of fire, with burning desire to do the will of the Father!
Jesus calls us to follow him and be the “light of the world” (Matt. 5:14-16). He calls us to reflect the light of his life to those around us! Those who love the light come into the Light so that all will be exposed. Nothing is hidden from God. Light reveals and exposes all things. There is no such thing as a “private moment.” The true acid test of whether we are being the light of the world, walking in the light as children of light is whether we love one another. I John 2:10,
“Whoever loves his brother lives in the light, and there is nothing in him to make him stumble.”
Let’s ask the Father to “Light up the Nations” with his glorious Son. Come Lord Jesus and ‘tabernacle’ in our midst through united, day and night prayer, praise and worship!
I AM
After the Exodus out of Egypt, God commanded Moses to raise funds from the Israelites saying, ‘Let them construct a sanctuary for Me that I might dwell among them’ (Exo 25:8). The tabernacle was to be a place where the Living God would dwell among the redeemed people of God.
“I will dwell among the people of Israel and will be their God. 46 And they shall know that I am the LORD their God, who brought them out of the land of Egypt that I might dwell among them. I am the LORD their God” (Exo. 29:45-46).
As Israel travelled through the wilderness there was this glorious presence of God dwelling near them in this tent-tabernacle. Therefore the central focus of this Feast of Tabernacles was the presence of the Living God. The feast celebrates God’s gracious decision to dwell among His people and manifest his Glory to them!
As we mentioned earlier, each of these Jewish feasts had a particular liturgy that accompanied them at the time of Christ. Here are a few more texts that were read, sung, and reflected upon during the Feast of Tabernacles. Notice some of the key words …
“O Israel, trust in the LORD! He is their help and their shield. 10 O house of Aaron, trust in the LORD! He is their help and their shield. 11 You who fear the LORD, trust in the LORD! He is their help and their shield” (Psalm 115:9-11).
Notice the pronouns, He, 3x He, He, He …
Psalm 46, 50, and 81 were also sung during the feast. Note Psalm 46:10,
“Be still, and know that I am God. I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth!”
Notice the recurring pronoun, I 3x I, I, I …
And portions of Isa 40 – 55
“Who has performed and done this, calling the generations from the beginning? I, the LORD, the first, and with the last; I am he” (Isa 41:4).
““You are my witnesses,” declares the LORD, “and my servant whom I have chosen, that you may know and believe me and understand that I am he. Before me no god was formed, nor shall there be any after me” (Isa 43:10).
“even to your old age I am he, and to grey hairs I will carry you. I have made, and I will bear; I will carry and will save” (Isa 46:4).
Did you see the recurring combination of the pronouns ‘I’ and ‘He’ in the phrase ‘I am He’?
The Hebrew word for I is Ani. The Hebrew word for He is hu. Ani-hu literally means I-He. When the Hebrew Old Testament was translated into Greek, the translators rendered Ani-hu by the Greek words ego eimi. Most translators will render it ‘I am He.’
On the Sabbath of the Feast of Tabernacles the Levitical priests sang the ‘Song of Moses’ recorded in Deuteronomy 32. The high point of that song is verse 39 where we hear God speak,
“See now that I, I am He, and there is no God besides me; It is I who put to death and give life”
The Hebrew is Ani ani hu, I, I am He. The Greek is ego ego eimi, I, I am He, the divine pronouns. According to German scholar Ethelbert Stauffer, by the first century those pronouns Ani hu, or I am He, had become the “all-inclusive summary of God’s self-revelatory declarations in the Feast of Tabernacles”
At one point during the Feast, a choir of priests would sing at the altar, “God is in his temple.” Then a priest singing God’s word would respond, “Be still and know that I am God” Then the choir of priests would chant again and again and again,
“Ani, Ani, hu - Ani, Ani, hu”
“Ego, Ego, eimi – Ego, Ego, eimi”
“I, I am He – I, I am He”
Thus at the Feast of Tabernacles along with the images of water and light, the words, “I, I am, I am He” were reverberating in the minds and hearts of the Jewish worshippers as they anticipated the ‘Real” presence of the Creator. They were expecting that at any moment now the “Living God” would show up!
John tells us that after Jesus made the claim “I am the Light of the World” (John 8:12), the religious authorities engaged him in a religious debate. Jesus says to them,
“I told you that you would die in your sins; for you will die in your sins unless you believe that ‘I am He’ (John 8:24).
Did you hear him? I- He, ego eimi. The authorities heard him loud and clear. Jesus had just uttered the sacred name during the Feast, and he uttered it in reference to himself!
More debate ensues, and then Jesus responds,
“When you have lifted up the Son of Man, then you will know that I am He” (John 8:28).
Ani hu, ego eimi, the very words by which Yahweh the Almighty, Yahweh the one and only chooses to be known to Israel. Jesus the man from Galilee, dares to say, “Unless you believe that I am He, you will die in your sins.” When you have lifted me up from the cross, then you will realize that I AM HE!
Next they accuse him of having a demon (John 8:48, 52), and Jesus responds towards the end of the debate,
“Your ancestor Abraham rejoiced that he would see my day, he saw it and was glad” (John 8:56)
They laugh at him, saying he is only 50yrs old, and then Jesus drives home his tabernacle claim,
“Before Abraham was born, I AM” (John 8:58).
He doesn’t say, ‘before Abraham was, I was” but ‘before Abraham was I AM.”
Immediately they pick up stones to stone him … right in the middle of the Feast of Tabernacles the Living God dwelling among his people, Jesus of Nazareth says – “I AM HE.”
The full revelation of the I AM would happen when Son of Man will be lifted up at the cross! It was here where the full manifestation, disclosure and glory of God, Yahweh, I AM would be put on display before all the world! May we BEHOLD THE MAN, BEHOLD THE LAMB, BEHOLD THE GLORY and be transformed from glory to glory!
“And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit” (2 Cor. 3:18).
In light of Jesus’ Tabernacle claim, let’s consider 3 implications:
- We now understand why he can make the other claims he makes, “I am the way, the truth, the life,” I am the Bread of Life,” I am the Good Shepherd,” “I am the Vine, you are the branches, apart from me you can do nothing”
- We can now appreciate why the rest of the New Testament puts him at center stage, at the center of everything! Given who he thinks he is, he has every right to walk into our lives, interrupt our plans and command us, ‘Come to Me, Follow Me, Loose your Life for Me.’ Given who he says He is, we are crazy, ‘not to obey, not to come to him, not to follow him, not lose our lives for him!’
- We understand why the gospel, this good news is the greatest news anyone can every hear! The cross stands at the heart of the gospel. Jesus lifted up, Jesus arms stretched out, Jesus hands nailed to the cross, Jesus blood dripping to the ground!
In light of Jesus tabernacle claim, those arms are the very arms of God, those hands are the hands of God, those bleeding wounds are the very wounds of God. It is God who suffers there! It is the Creator who suffers there! It is the I AM who becomes sin there. It is the great I AM who takes upon HIMSELF the just punishment for the sins of the world. It is the I AM who cries out ‘IT IS FINISHED.’ God is satisfied! God is satisfied with the sacrifice of this Man, because this Man is GOD! Hallelujah!
Our Response? Rejoice Always!
The Feast of Tabernacles is the only Levitical feast on which God outright commands us to rejoice. (Leviticus 23:40, Deuteronomy 16:14-15).
I believe the ultimate aim and purpose of our lives is to Glorify God and Enjoy him forever! The best way to Glorify God is by enjoying him forever! As John Piper writes, God is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in him. We were created for Glory, to know His glory with our minds, and treasure his glory with hearts! God created us to know and enjoy His Glory, and in this way, display it’s supreme value and worth! The Glory of God is the Supreme JOY of His People. He longs to fascinate us with all that he is, to exhilarate us with his dynamic personality, and move our hearts with his outrageous love! And the acid test to whether we are experiencing the Glory of God is JOY! Joy is unique in it’s capacity to witness to what we treasure. God’s aim is that we reflect and display the worth of His Glory to all those around us!
“As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Abide in my love. 10 If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commandments and abide in his love. 11 These things I have spoken to you, that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full” (John 15:9-11).
Jesus says he loves and enjoys us with the same measure of love and enjoyment that the Father has in him! As we enjoy God enjoying us, by daily abiding in his love, we will experience his joy in us! As we obey his commandments, loving God and loving others, an explosion of joy erupts in our hearts! This joy is our strength.
“The LORD your God is in your midst, a mighty one who will save; he will rejoice over you with gladness; he will quiet you by his love; he will exult over you with loud singing” (Zeph. 3:17).
As we live in light of eternity, we count it all joy whenever we face various trials, and take great joy whenever we are persecuted, and falsely accused knowing that our reward is great in heaven. Jesus asked the Father in John 17 that we would experience the fullness of His joy in our hearts. He longs to give us his ‘oils of joy’ instead of mourning (Isa. 61:2). He desires to bring forth streams of joy and gladness into the place of wilderness, and struggle in our lives (Isa. 35:1-2, 11),
“For there is a river that makes Glad the city of God, the holy habitation of God” (Ps. 46:4).
As David prophesied of the Lord Jesus in Psalm 16:11 (ESV),
“You make known to me the path of life; in your presence there is fullness of joy; at your right hand are pleasures forevermore.”
As Isaiah 56:6-7 (ESV) says,
“these I will bring to my holy mountain, and make them joyful in my house of prayer…for my house shall be called a house of prayer for all nations”
It’s God’s desire that we be a house of prayer for all nations, a people of prayer and he promises that He will make us Joyful in his house of prayer!
AMEN and AMEN
Dr Jason Hubbard and Dr Darrell Johnson
As of 28th September the total global figure for people infected by Covid-19 stood at 232.3 million according to Johns Hopkins University. In addition to this, the recorded number who have died totalled 4,756,701. Cases are falling steadily from a recent high point at at the end of August.
44.5% of the world population has received at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine.6.13 billion doses have been administered globally, and 24.98 million are now administered each day. Only 2.2% of people in low-income countries have received at least one dose.
Data on a county by country level can be found here.
A number of Christian agencies are collaborating to address issues surrounding mental health. Info about the global partner ministries Initiative is here
Countries are starting to take tentative steps to reopen society, hoping that vaccine programmes will prevent large waves of deaths and hospitalisations. International travel is becoming easier and many countries are gradually easing restrictions. Debates continue about the merits and morality of child vaccinations, particularly given the lack of vaccinations to vulnerable individuals in low-income countries.
Pray: for divine intervention and for God's name to be glorified even as each nation and government tries its best to vaccinate, prevent or control the emergence of new waves of infection and finally arrest this epidemic.
Pray: that individuals, leaders and nations focus on the needs of others rather than themselves, and that co-operation and compassion lie at the heart of the world’s response to the crisis.
We continue to release faith, hope, and love over the peoples of the world. May the Church seize this opportune time to manifest Jesus our Lord and Saviour to those who are seeking answers and purpose.
Taliban leaders claim the group has changed since it last controlled most of Afghanistan in the 1990s and have suggested it could be a more tolerant governing force. But interviews with more than two dozen Taliban fighters, commanders and leaders since the fall of Kabul reveal a movement possibly open to some change but one that is dedicated to the harsh enforcement of rules — such as gender segregation — that date to the movement’s founding.
While most of the group’s political leadership has spent years meeting with foreign officials over a decade of peace talks with the United States, the Taliban rank-and-file has been fighting a war they believed was sanctioned by God, offering them a clear path to paradise in the afterlife. The result is that violence and intimidation remain central to how the Taliban maintains order, at least for now.
One of the founders of the Taliban and the chief enforcer of its harsh interpretation of Islamic law when they last ruled Afghanistan said the hard-line movement will once again carry out executions and amputations of hands, though perhaps not in public.
In an interview with The Associated Press, Mullah Nooruddin Turabi dismissed outrage over the Taliban’s executions in the past, which sometimes took place in front of crowds at a stadium, and he warned the world against interfering with Afghanistan’s new rulers.
“Everyone criticised us for the punishments in the stadium, but we have never said anything about their laws and their punishments,” Turabi told The Associated Press, speaking in Kabul. “No one will tell us what our laws should be. We will follow Islam and we will make our laws on the Quran.”
Amnesty International released a briefing titled "Afghanistan's fall into the hands of the Taliban," in which they reported on how the Taliban have already committed several human rights abuses, including the targeted killing of civilians and soldiers, preventing humanitarian supplies from entering the Panjshir Valley, and re-establishing restrictions on women.
"In just over five weeks since assuming control of Afghanistan, the Taliban have clearly demonstrated that they are not serious about protecting or respecting human rights," Amnesty International's Deputy Director for South Asia Dinushika Dissanayake said. "We have already seen a wave of violations, from reprisal attacks and restrictions on women, to crackdowns on protests, the media and civil society."
In the meantime, Afghanistan is collapsing with the withdrawal of funds and economic stability provided by western powers. The international community pledged more than $1.2 billion in response to a UN appeal for $600 million in emergency humanitarian aid to Afghanistan. But delivering aid to needy Afghans remains an uphill task for many organisations as they scramble to work under the Taliban.
“It looks like the priority for the Taliban is their own coherence, and they are not so bothered yet about what is happening economically, financially, from a humanitarian point of view,” Anders Fange, a veteran aid worker and board member of the Swedish Committee for Afghanistan said as aid agencies attempt to continue helping vulnerable Afghans despite the Taliban’s interference.
Time is not on the Taliban’s side. Afghanistan is already suffering from an economic collapse and an unfolding humanitarian crisis in which even the most basic services are being interrupted.
“These days I’m forced to help women deliver their babies by the flashlight on our smart phones because our hospital ran out of money to buy fuel for the generator,” a doctor says regarding the early impact of diminishing aid on her hospital in the rural province of Maidan Wardak. “Carrying out a C-section by flashlight is a nightmare we now have to face regularly.”
Sources / More: Washington Post, AP News, Christianity Daily, Gandhara
Pray:
Father, today we pray for Afghanistan.
In recent days we have witnessed the withdrawal of Western forces and the paramilitary overthrow of the country’s government by the Taliban.
We are deeply concerned about this unfolding situation and the consequences for the women, men and children living there.
Lord, You hear the cries and see the tears of those formed in Your own image.
We know that politics, diplomacy and international laws have an important part to play in creating and maintaining peace and stability. We pray for wisdom for international leaders in this moment.
However, we also see starkly the limits of such endeavours. Human efforts alone cannot compel love of neighbour, let alone enemy; rather this is the transformational territory of Your word and Spirit.
So would You move Your hand to change the hearts and minds of the oppressors even now? Withhold evil and cultivate good, banish darkness and bring forth light.
We declare Your nearness over those who have been abused and displaced, violated and oppressed. Would You open their ears and eyes to Your presence?
We pray for Your church there. Would You comfort and strengthen, protect and bless our sisters and brothers? As persecution draws close, would You draw closer still?
Teach us how to respond as we place our hope in You and Your good and just plans for Your creation.
Lord, have mercy and hear our prayer.
In Jesus’ name, amen.
Source: Evangelical Alliance.
Pray: (Prayers collated by John Robb)
- That the international community and USA will continue to give attention to the plight of those still trapped inside the country. The best solution for getting large numbers out now would be if a humanitarian corridor can be opened by the United Nations to get those out who want to leave. However, the USA and international community have very little leverage after the debacle of the ill-prepared pull-out last month. May they find a way and be determined to make it happen!
- Some very extreme Taliban from the Haqqani network, who have long been a major source of terrorism are now in charge of the police and internal justice system. They are reinstating public executions and amputation of limbs for minor crimes and religious infractions. They recently executed four men publicly in one of the cities as adults and children watched in horror. Pray for them to moderate their tyrannical oppression and bloodlust in the fear of God and to maintain a better relationship with other nations.
- Pray that the flights can continue to take larger numbers out and for the removal of obstacles and a particular official who has caused big problems for those seeking to get out this way.
- Finally, among the tens of thousands who have been evacuated, there is a scattering of Jesus followers who could serve as His witnesses and disciple makers among them. Let’s pray for a great harvest both within Afghanistan during this continuing crisis and in this growing diaspora coming to so many countries where these refugees are being resettled.
It has been nearly three months since the UN warned that 400,000 people across Tigray had "crossed the threshold into famine". The situation has only deteriorated since then, as a de-facto blockade prevents most aid from getting in.
Now, after months of heavy fighting and massacres that have claimed thousands of lives, doctors worry Tigray is entering a new phase of fatalities driven by the kind of widespread starvation that turned Ethiopia into a byword for famine in the 1980s.
The cause of the crisis lies in a civil war between the national government and the regional ruling party of Tigray. Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed, a Nobel peace laureate, sent troops into Tigray in November to topple the regional ruling party, the Tigray People's Liberation Front (TPLF), a move he said came in response to TPLF attacks on army camps. The fighting disrupted the harvest in a region that was already struggling to supply enough food, and some combatants made things worse by blocking and looting food aid. In a stunning about-turn in late June, the TPLF recaptured most of Tigray, including Mekele, and government forces largely withdrew.
A mother and a newborn weighing just 1.7 pounds died from hunger at a health center last week. The government is accused of refusing to allow food and medical supplies and fuel from getting into this region, all of which is happening in a place that's in a civil war with the central government.
"It's a silent killing. People are just dying," said Dr Hayelom Kebede, research director of Ayder Referral Hospital in Tigray's capital Mekele, the region's biggest. "With starvation, the bad thing is you will see people in the throes of death, but they will not die immediately," he told AFP.
"It takes time, after their body is weakened and weakened and weakened. It's more horrific than bullet deaths."
The International Organization for Migration, which says more than 2 million people are displaced in Tigray, noted that “hosting capacity appears to have reached its limit” by the local population who support the majority of them.
The first aid convoy in over two weeks arrived in the Tigray regional capital, Mekele, on Monday, but the World Food Program has said such a convoy of some 100 trucks is needed to arrive every day to meet the urgent needs of more than 5 million people.
Telecommunications electricity and banking services have again been cut off to Tigray since the Tigray forces retook much of the region in June. While witnesses have told the AP that access inside the region is safer and easier, they say dwindling supplies of food, fuel and cash make it increasingly impossible to help the hungry.
“Unless the fighting dies down, we can only see the situation deteriorating extensively in the next weeks or months,” WFP spokesman Gordon Weiss told the AP. “We knew that there were around 400,000 people on the edge of famine-like conditions (in Tigray) in June. We have not really managed to assess the situation since then, it has been too difficult to do so, but we can expect that that population has grown and that their conditions have deteriorated.”
The U.N., the United States and others urge the warring sides to stop the fighting and find a way to negotiate for peace, but Ethiopia’s government this year declared the Tigray People’s Liberation Front, which once dominated the national government, a terrorist group.
Sources/More: AFP, Independent
Pray: For the fighting to be replaced by peace, allowing aid and support to flow to the most needy.
Pray: For those providing aid to Ethiopia. That they may be protected and supported in their endeavours (Acts 20:35)
Pray: For those who are suffering or displaced, that they might know God’s grace, peace and presence sustaining and strengthening them.
There was a time not long ago when uprisings and wars in the Arab world topped the agenda at the U.N. General Assembly meetings in New York.
With most of those conflicts in a stalemate, the world’s focus has shifted to more daunting global challenges such as the still raging coronavirus pandemic and climate change, as well as new crises in Ethiopia’s embattled Tigray region and the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan.
But the situation in the Middle East has deteriorated significantly in more countries and in more ways in the last two years. Lebanon, Syria, Iraq, Libya and Yemen are teetering on the brink of humanitarian catastrophe, with skyrocketing poverty and an economic implosion that threatens to throw the region into even deeper turmoil.
“The region’s been crowded out by other global crises, but there’s also a sense of Western hopelessness after so many years of crisis,” said Julien Barnes-Dacey, the director of the Middle East and North Africa program at the European Council on Foreign Relations.
After more than a decade of bloodshed and turmoil sparked by Arab Spring uprisings and an Islamic State group onslaught, most of the region’s Arab countries have settled into a military stalemate or frozen conflict, accompanied by worsening economies, rising poverty rates and heavier repression.
In Yemen, an ongoing six-year-war has spawned the world’s worst humanitarian crisis, leaving the country on the brink of famine. The head of the U.N. food agency warned Wednesday that 16 million people there “are marching towards starvation.” Libya, torn apart for years by rival militias backed by foreign governments, is struggling to find unity. From its shores, more and more desperate people risk their lives trying to cross the Mediterranean Sea to Europe.
Iraq, Syria and Lebanon, once countries that made up the cultural heart of the Middle East, are all witnessing a significant economic unravelling, spurred among other things by corruption and political leaders focused on preserving their own interests rather than meeting their people’s basic needs.
The most shocking fall in the past two years has been Lebanon, a tiny, multi-religious nation on the eastern Mediterranean with the highest per capita proportion of refugees in the world. The country has been in freefall since a financial crisis began in late 2019, plunging about three quarters of the population into poverty in the past months and triggering a brain drain not seen since the 1975-90 civil war days. That has been accelerated by the massive explosion at the port of Beirut in August 2020 that killed more than 200 people and destroyed parts of the city.
While many U.N. General Assembly gatherings in the past 10 years were characterized by a flurry of diplomatic activity to find a political solution for crises in Mideast countries, none of them are expected to feature prominently, if at all, in this year’s meetings in New York.
“Western actors feel out of ideas and energy in terms of focusing high-level attention on putting the region on a better track, particularly given wider global challenges,” Barnes-Dacey said.
A combination of war weariness, donor fatigue and a long list of other world problems has forced Syria, Yemen and other Mideast conflicts into a back seat, with world leaders seemingly resigned to live with wrecked and divided nations for the foreseeable future.
Source / More: AP News
Pray: That the world will not lose sight of those in the greatest need in the Middle East.
Pray: For the nation of Lebanon, for economic recovery and provision those in poverty (Luke 14: 12-14)
Pray: For peace in Yemen and the end to famine.
North Korea have test-fired what appears to be a short-range ballistic missile, marking the third round of such tests in September in direct violation of United Nations Security Council resolutions as the arms race in the Korean peninsula continues to escalate.
Earlier in September, North Korea conducted two ballistic missile tests including one that was launched from a train that is part of its “railway-borne missile regiment.”
In retaliation, South Korea successfully test-fired a submarine-launched ballistic missile, making it only the seventh country in the world to possess this advanced capability. The string of missile tests across the Korean peninsula this month are being seen as part of an escalating arms race between Seoul and Pyongyang as nuclear disarmament talks between North Korea and the United States remain stalled.
Washington and the Kim Jong-Un regime have not engaged in any formal talks since a summit between the North Korean leader and former U.S. President Donald Trump collapsed in 2019.
Experts say the missiles launched over the weekend resemble in appearance U.S. Tomahawk cruise missiles, and are likely designed to overwhelm the missile defences of North Korea's neighbours.
The North said the missiles it described as “new type long-range cruise missiles” were a “strategic weapon of great significance” that met leader Kim Jong Un’s call to strengthen the country’s military might — implying that they were being developed with an intent to carry nuclear weapons.
Pyongyang’s official Korean Central News Agency said Monday that the missiles travelled for 126 minutes along “oval and pattern-8 flight orbits” above land and water, demonstrating an ability to hit targets 1,500 kilometers (932 miles) away.
While data from the tests are so far limited, it’s clear the new missiles represent “another significant milestone for North Korea’s nuclear program,” said Melissa Hanham, an affiliate at Stanford University’s Center for International Security and Cooperation.
At the same time, there are fears that the spread of Covid-19 in the country will encourage further belligerent moves from Kim Jong Un. Although no one knows the true extent of Covid in North Korea - officially there have been no infections - recent videos of soldiers goose-stepping through Pyongyang in hazmat suits seems an ominous indicator.
Fuse that together with weakening growth both inside North Korea and out—and Covid-19 risks—and you have all the ingredients of an eventful several months as Kim vies for attention and financial aid. Without imported goods, or the ability to bring in hard currency through exporting goods, markets have suffered shortages and volatility, says Justin Hastings, professor at University of Sydney.
It follows, he adds, that any further “spread of Covid-19 in North Korea will prove disastrous. Its healthcare system is unable to cope. Medicine and medical equipment are difficult to import due to sanctions, the border closure, the departure of humanitarian agencies and the lack of foreign currency.”
As the world is learning the hard way over the last decade, its troubles have a way of influencing—and drawing out—Kim’s worst impulses. These include provocative threats and increased missile tests.
“The key insight from North Korea’s crisis over the past 18 months is that it is not actually economically isolated from the rest of the world,” Hastings notes. “Despite North Korea’s reputation as a hermit kingdom, the country is heavily reliant on imported goods to supply its markets. Clearly, the regime knows this.”
And so will the rest of the globe, increasingly, as Covid-19 does its worst.
Sources / More: Forbes, Independent
Pray: That economic and social insecurities will not drive the North Korean leadership to more extreme and provocative policies.
Pray: For the people of North Korea who suffer due to the misplaced priorities of their government (Isaiah 1:23)
Pray: For ‘One Korea’.
A friend of IPC’s recently sent this report;
Here in Myanmar, the situation is getting worse and worse each day. Just the other day, 9 houses of my relatives were burned to the ground in upper Myanmar.
My brother and his family members including other families are hiding in the forest since two weeks ago for fear of the armed forces.
Unfortunately, they don't have a proper place to cook or water to drink and without proper shelter to sleep in the night.
When the armed forces occupied their village, houses are burnt and they are unable to return. They have nowhere to return as all roads are now blocked by soldiers. They have nowhere to run to.
There are the sounds of bomb blastings, fighting, killing, and cruel arrests taking place in different villages, towns, and cities across Myanmar.
Brutal repression and massive atrocities committed by the military, known as the Tatmadaw, have underscored its reputation as the nation’s most loathed institution at a time when it has seized absolute power and appointed a new, non-elected government.
Meanwhile, a Baptist pastor was shot dead in Chin state in Myanmar/Burma on 18 September amid continued attacks by the Myanmar military on civilians in the state. Pastor Cung Biak Hum, 31, was shot by soldiers as he tried to help extinguish a blaze caused by artillery fire, which destroyed 19 homes in the Thantlang township. The Chin Human Rights Organization reported that soldiers proceeded to remove the pastor’s finger and steal his wedding ring.
In response to the killing, Tom Andrews, the UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Myanmar tweeted: “The murder of a Baptist minister and bombing of homes in Thantlang, Chin State are the latest examples of the living hell being delivered daily by junta forces against the people of Myanmar. The world needs to pay closer attention. More importantly, the world needs to act.”
At the same time, the country is being ravaged by the Covid-19 pandemic and a faltering economy the World Bank this month predicted will contract by at least 18% in 2021. The percentage of the population living in poverty is expected to rise to 48.2% by 2022, nearly double the 24.8% recorded in 2017.
United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet on Thursday warned of a "human rights catastrophe" in Myanmar, and called on international leaders to do more to prevent the conflict from becoming worse. Her warning came in a new report issued by the UN Human Rights Office, detailing widespread violations made by the military, the Tatmadaw, against the people in Myanmar.
The report said Myanmar was facing a "human rights catastrophe that shows no sign of abating. The national consequences are terrible and tragic —the regional consequences could also be profound," Bachelet said in a statement. "The international community must redouble its efforts to restore democracy and prevent wider conflict before it is too late."
Sources / More: DW.com, CSW, Asia Times
Pray:
The Association of South East Asia Nations [ASEAN] consists of 10 nations in which Myanmar is a member. Although it has a 'non-inference policy' of each nation, yet as an association there is direct dialogue with Myanmar military leaders. Pray that they would be able to listen and address the issues with the military leaders, accept NUG leaders, and not treating them as 'terrorists'. A willingness to compromise to peace for the sake of the innocent people.
The normalcy of the common Myanmar people - peace, hope, and possible future will return as soon as possible.
Civil war would subside, curfew is lifted, imprisoned be released and people can rebuild their homes again. There will be peace and order.
Many Christian mission leaders, pastors had become casualties of Covid-19 with the urgent need to appoint new, committed and passionate young leaders
The covid situation will be controlled and improved with countries donating the vaccines and slowing down the rate of inflections especially among the vulnerable of older ones, the teenagers and young ones. More people can trust the vaccines and be vaccinated.
From a different source…
Pray:
That the National Unity Government and “people’s defense forces” will prevail in their resistance to the brutal military regime that overturned the will of the people and kicked out the civilian government in February.
For strong international pressure and the cutting off support to the regime from China and Russia that are significant weapons suppliers to Myanmar’s armed forces.
May His peace and restoration come to this long-suffering country!