The UN human rights chief Michelle Bachelet says that those responsible for airstrikes targeting Syrian civilians could be charged with war crimes, calling it ‘a failure of leadership by the world's most powerful nations’. Since late April 400,000 have been displaced and over 730 civilians killed by Syrian and Russian attacks on militant-held Idlib where three million still live. The airstrikes on schools, hospitals, markets and bakeries killed over 103 civilians in just ten days, including 26 schoolchildren killed in their classroom seats. Ms Bachelet added, ‘These are civilian objects, and it seems highly unlikely, given the persistent pattern of such attacks, that they are all being hit by accident. There is an international indifference to the rising civilian death toll caused by a succession of airstrikes.` Both the Syrians and Russians deny targeting civilians or civilian infrastructure.
Arctic Circle: unprecedented wildfires
01 Aug 2019
The Arctic region’s hottest June ever has brought its worst wildfire season on record. Huge blazes in Greenland, Siberia and Alaska are producing plumes of black carbon smoke that can harm humans and other animals by entering the lungs and bloodstream. Wildfires also play a role in global warming as underlying peat catches fire emitting as much CO2 in June as Sweden emits in a year. Russia's forestry agency reported black noxious fumes covering entire cities. The fire areas in Siberia are larger than Massachusetts, as eleven of forty-nine Russian regions burn. Greenland’s blaze came as the vast ice sheet melt started a month early. Alaska stated that 400 fires have been reported. Such fires can last months. Currently blazes are only controlled when they threaten settlements. On 1 August the BBC reported that Russia is sending soldiers to fight Siberia’s 7.4 million acres of fires.
Cameroon: Christian majority flee Boko Haram
01 Aug 2019
Bishop Bruno Ateba of Maroua-Mokolo said that over 100,000 Christian Cameroonians have been made refugees within their own country as a result of a rise in attacks by Boko Haram. 70% of the population is Christian. The bishop said tourism has ceased and life has come to a standstill because of the terrorist crisis. Suicide bombings in Maroua, in the far north, killed over 30 people and injured hundreds. The recent suicide attacks were carried out by two young girls, forced by Boko Haram to conceal bombs under their burkas and detonate their weapons in public places. In an appeal to international governments, Bishop Bruno said, ‘Help us to achieve peace. The international community has all the resources to put an end to the terrorism of Boko Haram.’ In a letter to all the faithful of his diocese, Bishop Bruno called them to pray and be watchful.
Hong Kong: protests now violent and ‘illegal’
01 Aug 2019
Demonstrators' demands have included the withdrawal of an extradition bill; demanding an inquiry into police brutality; removing the ‘riot’ label from peaceful protests; the release of arrested demonstrators; and universal suffrage. Their marches on 27 July were called ‘illegal’ by Chinese authorities after the previous week’s infiltration by Triad (mafia) agitators. Protesters complained that the police stood back and allowed mafia-initiated violence. The next day they marched again, and the violence hit a new level of pain and injury. Hong Kong’s protests have lasted eight weeks and are spreading into more remote communities. Protests are becoming more violent - setting fire to carts and throwing dangerous projectiles met by enormous plumes of teargas. Parents and children washed their eyes out in the teargas fog. On 30 July hundreds of protesters blocked access to commuter trains, causing widespread disruption during the rush hour. Pray for the international community to take action.
Sudan: a price for revolution
01 Aug 2019
Falafel is a cheap fast food usually snapped up quickly on the streets of Sudanese cities. But now Sadiya Seror sits with unsold trays of her chickpea patties. ‘These days people eat one meal a day; they forget the idea of three meals,’ Seror said, waiting for customers at her market stall. If you want to buy a meal for your family, it will cost around 175 Sudanese pounds. Before, the same amount would feed a family of five for three to five days.’ ‘Before’ is a reference to life prior to the pro-democracy protests that ended the 30-year corrupt regime of President Omar al-Bashir. A power-sharing deal is currently being negotiated between the military council and the civilian protesters, but what is proving harder to resolve, and dimming hopes for real change, is the impact of poverty and rising prices on a large and growing percentage of the population.
When the servant of the man of God got up and went out early the next morning, an army with horses and chariots had surrounded the city. “Oh no, my lord! What shall we do?” the servant asked.
“Don’t be afraid,” the prophet answered. “Those who are with us are more than those who are with them.”
And Elisha prayed, “Open his eyes, Lord, so that he may see.” Then the Lord opened the servant’s eyes, and he looked and saw the hills full of horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha.
As the enemy came down toward him, Elisha prayed to the Lord, “Strike this army with blindness.” So he struck them with blindness, as Elisha had asked. (2 Kings 6:15-18 NIV)
Most of us have actually never seen angels, but the Bible tells us they are around us and are watching over us. They are ready to act when we call upon the Lord with all our hearts in challenging or dangerous situations.
Over the years, I have had the opportunity to hear many stories of those who have had angelic encounters. One such opportunity was just a few weeks ago when I was sitting in a restaurant waiting for my car to have its oil changed. An older couple, Mark and Joy, sat down nearby to have their breakfast. After exchanging greetings, we began to talk about the things of the Lord as they saw I was studying my Bible. Joy then told me one of the most amazing stories of the Lord’s deliverance that I have ever heard.
In 1980, as a 23 year-old mother, she was invited to visit what she thought was a friend of her family in Oklahoma. This man who was an ex-convict had at one time worked for her father. She brought her young children, the older of which was about 18 months, with her.
While staying with this man and one of his comrades, she was drugged by them. That night, she and her children were taken by them to a coven of 7-8 witches, all clothed in black robes, that had prepared a circle and altar to sacrifice her children to Satan, counting on her to be a consenting witness. Although she was weakened from the drugs she was given, she suddenly realized what was about to happen. With all her heart and in utter desperation, she cried out to God with the words, “Oh God!”
At that moment, a bright and shining being about 20 feet tall came down in the midst of the darkness. She could not see his face, but he was a powerful, glowing giant, emitting white light like a massive halogen lamp. When the Satanists saw him, they ran for their lives in sheer terror.
Joy told me that this story was kept buried in her heart for many years until she was listening to a particularly dull sermon in church one day. The pastor read the above story of Elisha praying for his servant’s eyes to be opened to the fact that there were supernatural agents all about them in spite of the dangerous situation of being surrounded by an enemy army. Suddenly, something moved through her “like a tornado”, freeing her from this awful memory from her young motherhood so that she could come to grips with what had happened and to rejoice in how God had used this experience for good in her life. Now, she counts on His angels to protect her and her family as in the recent case of a stolen truck that was returned to her and her husband within three days as they trusted the Lord.
Another story of angelic deliverance comes from George, a close friend and prayer colleague of mine who worked as a missionary in South Asia for many years and was often in grave danger at the hands of Islamic extremists who wanted to harm or kill him numerous times. They admitted to him: “We have tried to kill you again and again, your new converts and burn your center, but we can’t get to any of you, because there are huge angels or guards around you and your people and center, with huge swords in their hands and at night huge torches (lights).” Each time they used the word “huge.” George went on to say: “This came after a time when I was losing leader after leader, three of whom I had raised up to take my place. I had a word given to me two unrelated times. “You are alive today because people are praying for you, but you will lose your workers if you do not get a blanket of prayer over them.” I went back and said to our workers (evangelists and teachers) we are going to change our ministry. We will pray first and seek God’s will, then we will act…The next time I was in America, I thanked churches for their support, and I shared some hair raising stories, and said if you’re not going to pray for us please drop our support, prayer is what keep us alive and accomplishes God’s purposes. We never had any of our workers die after that.”
Others I have met in the course of my travels have told me similar accounts. Prayer enables us to access the Lord’s mighty deliverances, often mediated by angels either visible or invisible to our eyes. Personally, along with team members, I have been in many very dangerous situations in the midst of civil wars and other unstable conditions while facilitating prayer initiatives with national Christian leaders. Our teams have had to go through snipers, genocidal killers, suicide bombers, and the like numerous times. As we pray and trust the Lord along with many supporting intercessors, we know that He has unseen agents standing guard around us all the time. I could tell story after story of how He has done this.
Stories of this kind bring glory to the Lord and should be shared to encourage His people, especially the younger generation, so we all will be willing to take risks for the Lord and His cause in the various, unique missions to which He has called us.
John Robb, IPC Chairman
If you have a story of this kind you would like to share, please write it up an send it to us at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
In 2007, we launched a campaign called, Pray With Youth™. We believed God would bless this simple call-to-action to connect teens and adults in prayer to help young people discover their identity in Christ. And we were right...600,000 have participated. That's huge!
As we consider the spiritual crisis across the world, has there ever been a greater need to pray? And while we implore people to pray for our youth, we know that praying WITH them is better.
The 2019 Pray With Youth campaign will be observed on Sunday, September 22.
You will not see a massive marketing campaign for Pray With Youth. No popular spokesperson. No line-up of Christian bands. No huge media blitz. While that may work well, for others, that strategy has never been done in the last 12 years. This campaign has grown exponentially through grassroots efforts and word of mouth. And you can help keep the momentum going to help us reach 100,000 churches and 1,000,000 teens.
SO, HERE'S WHAT I AM ASKING FROM YOU TODAY:
Completing these steps will only take you 15 minutes. But your support to stand with us in this cause and spread the word to others will accomplish more than you can imagine!
Timothy Eldred
P.O. Box 601, Edmore, MI 48829
There is nothing more important your church can do for teens now. Nothing. Pray with youth. Change your church’s future.
Global Outreach Day, is a global missions network that calls the church worldwide to focus on praying and sharing the gospel with the unchurched in the Month of May each year! This next year, May 2020, the vision is to mobilize a hundred million people in united prayer for the global harvest!
Watch the video here:
4 minute full version: https://vimeo.com/342384375
60 second short version: https://vimeo.com/344032191
We are calling this initiative Go2020! Already Christians in 250,000 churches and 140 nations are part of this global outreach strategy to pray and witness towards the fulfillment of God’s Great Commission. This is not just for the adults, we want to invite the Children and the Youth to be full partners in this initiative! We want to call every One to be a praying, witnessing disciple for Christ!
At the Lausanne International Congress on World Evangelization in 1974, Billy Graham made the mission clear, “The whole church must be mobilized to bring the whole Gospel to the whole world. This is our calling!” GO2020 could be the catalyst for the fulfillment of this in our lifetime as believers from every nation unify in the clarion call of "Every Believer a Witness". Imagine ONE Church sharing ONE Message during ONE Month, May 2020.
And we know this will only happen through United Prayer! God releases his power through the prayers of his people! As Dick Eastman says, “The degree to which prayer is mobilized is the degree to which the world will be evangelized!”
Would you be 1 of 100 million in united prayer? Could you commit to Pray Now and share your faith with 5 others in your circle of influence who don’t know Christ through the month of May?
We have listed 5 opportunities to begin praying now through the Month of May 2020. The Lord may lead you to commit to just one of these or all five. Pray and ask the Lord how he wants you to be involved!
#1 PRAY FOR FIVE
Our first strategy is to call each one of us to people in our circle of influence (neighbors, co-workers, friends, family members). We want to Pray daily for these people and for opportunities to reach them for Christ’s love.
#2 PRAYER TRIPLETS
Pray with two other believers weekly. Connect through Skype, Zoom, telephone, Facebook, or personally meet. Pray together for God’s Spirit to produce a global and local spiritual awakening and for the salvation of those on each person’s list who don’t know Christ.
#3 24/7 Prayer Mobilization
It is Jesus’ vision that every church in every nation be a house of prayer. It’s our aim to see united 24/7 prayer in cities, regions and nations leading to GO 2020. Help mobilize your city, region or nation to adopt a monthly day of prayer.
Join with World Prays, a prayer network that asks that every church adopt a 12- or 24-hour time one day each month to pray. Members can pray for 30 or 60 minutes from anywhere--home, school, dormitory, workplace, church or with the people in their small group. Through doing so, churches develop a culture and regular rhythm of prayer while providing a prayer “covering” over geographic areas.
Go to www.worldprays.org for more INFO or to sign up,
#4 Prayer for People Groups
Adopt an unreached people group for prayer and mission outreach. There are 4700 people groups on earth that have less than one believer per thousand people. They will remain unreached and cut off from Christ’s Gospel unless churches and prayer groups pave the way by adopting them for regular intercessory prayer. Focused prayer for the unreached is a strategy of the Lord of the Harvest to send laborers and prepare the hearts of these people who otherwise wouldn’t hear the gospel. Provided are resources to help you or your church find a people group to adopt or to guide how to pray for the least reached. You can sign up to adopt and unreached people group at this website! http://joshuaproject.net Also, see:https://inheritthenations.net/
#5 GO 2020 Prayer Gatherings - May 1, 2020
And finally, we want to call families, churches, cities and nations to gather on May 1st of 2020 in united prayer gatherings! Would you be willing to mobilize your church or your city to join in prayer with believers worldwide on May 1st in your region, asking God for a massive Christ awakening in the nations of the earth?
In the words of the Moravians call to action for both prayer and mission... “May the Lamb who was slain receive the due reward for his suffering.” -Rev. 5:12
Dr. Jason Hubbard