Every January First, the leader of North Korea gives a New Year's speech that sets the tone for the year. Everyone is expected to memorize the speech and discuss it at special meetings.
There is a lot of anticipation as to what Kim Jong Un will have to say on Tuesday. Following a very eventful year which he rounded out with a letter to South Korean President Moon Jae-in, Kim is expected to lay out his own plan for diplomacy on the Korean peninsula for 2019.
The world awaits. North Korea is also using the year-end to vaunt its nuclear program with a celebration of the first anniversary of developing nuclear weapons.
In the meantime, people still try to leave the North but it is increasingly difficult. New video cameras have been installed along the border in full view to discourage defectors. Ministry of State Security (MSS) agents have also been luring people to defect in order arrest them and increase their own "scores." MSS Bureau 12, tasked with monitoring cell phone use has been re-named to Bureau 15 and has broader powers. The bureau functions as the mobile-
phone anti-espionage bureau tasked with preventing communications into and out of the country as well as a front line to prevent defections. There have been a number of defectors who have returned to North Korea--some voluntarily, some under duress. They are being exploited to discourage others from defecting.
Kim Jong Un's zeal for new construction continues with mass mobilization for the Wonsan-Kalma Coastal Tourist Zone project even as other needed renovation projects languish for lack of man-power and materials. Along with construction projects, the leadership extolled farm workers with a special rally in December even as the farmers themselves are anxious about being able to make it through the winter. Sanctions continue to have an impact as shown by these photos from the Rason Economic Zone but the "Singapore" shops in Pyongyang continue with business as usual.
Meanwhile both North and South Korea are moving forward on the inter-Korea railway project celebrated in a special ceremony on December 26th with a ribbon-cutting ceremony on the northern side of the border following assurance from the UN Security Council that the sanctions would not be applied to the project.
We all know that the authorities are working to stamp out the viewing of South Korean media in the North but it seems that they are also heavily involved in spreading it around. A couple final notes: New Kim Il Sung-Kim Jong Il high prestige badges are being distributed. Here is a new searchable detailed digital atlas of North Korea. Take a look around...
Remembering Our Brothers in Prison We continue to pray for six South Koreans held in the North as well as Daily NK journalist, Choi Song Min (alias). Here's information on the pastors and others who have been detained and released. Please remember them in your prayers.
Ben Torrey - Director
The Fourth River Project, Inc.
Pray for the upcoming second Trump-Kim summit planned for the end of next month.
Pray for the denuclarization of the Korean peninsula.
Pray for the closing down of the prison camps and freedom for North Korea as a result.
KABUL -- Afghanistan's election authorities say they have decided to delay a presidential election by three months to July 20 due to delays in registration and ongoing technical issues.
IEC chief Abdul Badi Sayyad added in an announcement on December 30 that provincial and district council elections, as well as a previously postponed parliamentary vote in Ghazni Province, will be held on the same day, according to AFP.
IEC officials have recently admitted that they were considering pushing back the vote, which was expected in April.
"April will be very difficult because of the harsh winter and transporting election materials, security, and the budget issues," Sayyad told a news conference in Kabul. "To better prepare for the vote, we have decided to hold the election in July next year."
Candidate registration started on December 22 and was supposed to continue until January 2. But the date is likely to be extended due to the lack of registration by any candidate, IEC spokesman Zabi Sadat told RFE/RL on December 27.
The IEC is trying to avoid a repeat of widespread technical and logistical problems during the October parliamentary vote.
The IEC is still finalizing results of the parliamentary vote and observers had expressed concern that it would struggle to organize a presidential election in April.
The IEC had already considered delaying the poll once, but vowed in November to hold it on time.
The election is complicated by diplomatic efforts to start a formal peace process with the Taliban, whose representatives have met U.S. special peace envoy Zalmay Khalilzad for several rounds of direct talks.
Khalilzad has said a peace deal with the militants could be reached by April.
More at: https://www.rferl.org/a/afghanistan-delays-presidential-vote-until-july/29684103.html?ltflags=mailer
Pray for a positive outcome from these peace talks, that will lead to a long-term stability inAfghanistan.
Pray for safe, free and fair elections, without civil unrest or bloodshed.
Retired General Stanley McChrystal says a major withdrawal of American troops from Afghanistan, which the White House is considering, would damage peace talks with the Taliban and shake Kabul's confidence in its alliance with the United States.
Speaking on the ABC news show “This Week,” the former top U.S. commander in Afghanistan said on December 30 that a significant troop reduction in Afghanistan would trade away “the biggest leverage point we have.”
“I think the great mistake in the president's leaked guidance is that just when we were starting to sit down with the Taliban, just when we were starting to begin negotiations, he basically traded away the biggest leverage point we have.
"If you tell the Taliban that we are absolutely leaving on a date...their incentives to try to cut a deal dropped dramatically,” McChrystal said.
The general’s comments come just over a week after U.S. media reported that President Donald Trump is considering a “significant” withdrawal of American troops currently serving in Afghanistan, which currently number about 14,000.
The Pentagon has declined to comment on the reports, but they come shortly after Trump announced that the United States would be pulling out all of its forces from Syria, a move that ignited a storm of criticism from Republican and Democratic lawmakers and former government officials.
Afghan military officials have warned such a withdrawal would pose a danger to the country's undertrained and poorly equipped forces.
McChrystal noted that it could also damage relations between the two countries at a time when U.S. officials have been attempting to push the Taliban to the negotiating table with the government in Kabul.
“Of course, I was worried about the confidence of the Afghan people because at the end of the day, that's what determines who wins in Afghanistan,” McChrystal said.
“And I think we probably rocked them -- we rocked them in their belief that we are allies that can be counted on,” he added.
McChrystal, a 34-year veteran of the U.S. Army, served as the head of the Joint Special Operations Command from 2003 to 2008 and later assumed command of all international forces in Afghanistan in June 2009.
Please keep this troubled land of Afghanistan in your prayers that His peace may finally come and the war will be brought to an end.
Pray that radical elements like the Taliban and ISIS will give up their struggle and work with the government to better the lives of the precious peoples of this long-tortured land.
Pray for His Mighty works in Black Sea region.
Thanks and Prayer Letter of January 2019 from Samsun.
- Pray that God will continue to open doors for Gospel to be preached and for the new churches to be planted in the Black sea region
- Pray that the 2 young men, Tansel and Onur would be continue grow and be trained as future church leaders and the church planters
- Pray that God would add those who are being saved daily to His churches in Samsun and the Black Sea region
MEXICO & USA
Please pray for great wisdom mixed with compassion for both President Trump and the new Mexican president Lopez Obrador, for the resolution of the still ongoing border crisis.
Migrant caravans with multiple thousands from Central America are coming through Mexico to escape poverty and violence in countries like Honduras, Nicaragua and Guatemala.
Meanwhile, migrants who arrived with the last large caravan in October are still waiting out the asylum-seeking process at overcrowded shelters in Tijuana. Border cities like Tijuana could become, in effect, giant waiting rooms for the U.S. immigration system.
Mexico is not prepared to provide housing and other services, according to officials and migrant advocates. Officials in other border cities express similar concerns. A major shelter in Ciudad Juárez, also called Casa del Migrante, announced this week that it did not have enough resources to accept any more newcomers.
CANADA
For the OneAccord team who feel led to start a national movement in 2019 with Provincial infrastructure, to mobilise pastors through prayer and fasting to inspire the church to arise and wake up to the massive attack on the culture by sexual activists. The first time of D21 days of prayer and fasting starts on Monday, Jan 7th - D21 stands for Daniel Fast, 21days.
We have to pray because our Government is progressive on basic issues:
- Bill S-206 is to take away the rights of parents to restrain or discipline their children. If this bill passes, we can expect that there will be an increasing number of children put into foster homes and the parents to be in prison or fined.
- Bill C-32 has been introduced to lower the legal age of consent for anal sex from 18 to 16. Would this be the beginning of legalization of pedophilia if the bill passes? The newly created term for pedophilia is “pedosexuality”.
- Legalization/decriminalization of all illicit drugs, including cocaine, heroine, etc.
- Changes to doctor assisted suicide to include minors, the disabled and the mentally ill
- Leniency towards crime and terrorism with reduced sentences.
- Sovereignty eroded by signing onto the recent UN Global Compact For Migration.
Lord have mercy on Canada and the Nations - mulitudes in the Valley of Decision (Joel3)
Don’t Question . . . Or Else
by: John Stonestreet & Roberto Rivera
Category: Christian Worldview, Life and Human Dignity
January 3, 2019
“There are a growing number of people who transitioned from one gender to the other, only to regret it, and then try to reverse the process. Why aren’t we hearing their stories?
Here’s a fun fact: the word “taboo” came to the English language from natives on what is now the nation of Tonga. Believe it or not, when British explorer James Cook first visited the remote island, he noticed that certain things, in particular certain foods, were strictly off-limits. When he asked why, they replied these things were “taboo,” which meant “consecrated, inviolable, forbidden, unclean or cursed.”
Now in English parlance today, we tend to use the word “taboo” as a figure of speech or hyperbole. We don’t think of whatever is being referred to as literally being “consecrated,” “inviolable,” “uncleaned” or “cursed.”
Or do we?
A recent article in Canada’s National Post identified something it called the “new taboo.” It’s off-limits to even talk about the increasing number of people who, having undergone gender-reassignment surgery, now not only regret their decision, they want to reverse the procedure.
Five years ago, Dr. Miroslav Djordjevic, described in the article as “the world-leading genital reconstructive surgeon,” met a patient who had undergone the male-to-female surgery at another clinic but now wanted it reversed.
It turned out to be only the first of many stories Djordjevic would hear “about crippling levels of depression following their transition, and, in some cases, even contemplated suicide.” He told the National Post “It can be a real disaster to hear these stories.”
Why then are these disaster stories so rarely heard? Because they are taboo.
The very same article told readers about allegations that Bath Spa University in England turned down “an application for research on gender reassignment reversal” because the project was deemed ‘potentially politically incorrect.’” Or perhaps a more accurate word would be the one chosen by the National Post: “taboo.”
Recently on BreakPoint, I told you about a stunning piece in the New York Times written by a man planning to have gender-reassignment surgery. In it, he not only admitted the surgery would not make him happier, he admitted that the very prospect of the surgery made him more depressed and suicidal.
The author deserves our pity, but the decision to run the article without even questioning what on earth is going on, is the very definition of something being “taboo.” Questioning the sacredness and inviolability of the desire to transition invites the digital equivalent of the wrath of the gods that ancient Polynesian feared for violating taboos.
That’s hyperbole, you say. Is it? Because there are many more examples. Like the July/August issue of the left-of-center publication, the Atlantic Monthly. It contained an article that merely counseled caution in treating young children who claim to be transgender.
It didn’t matter that the author, Jesse Singal, was on solid scientific ground to urge caution. It didn’t matter that a 2013 study found two-thirds of pubescent children who experience gender dysphoria no longer have those feelings five years later. Singal and the Atlantic violated the taboo, and they were digitally stoned for it.
In fact, this cultural taboo is so strong, it can cost parents custody of their children. Recently, a Christian family in Ohio lost custody of their 17-year-old son because he wanted to begin hormone therapy. A family court awarded custody to the child’s grandparents, because they were more amenable to his desires.
Instead of asking the more obvious question—Can’t we just wait a year and not do anything drastic until he’s 18 and doesn’t need parental permission?”—the judge removed a minor from his home. This is taboo in action.
All who interfere with one’s desires to transition these days are simply considered cursed. Meanwhile, victims’ stories go unheard.”
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Pray for His deliverance of those who are gender confused and tormented by the evil one with this perversion of their true identity as God’s beloved children.
Pray for those who seek to counsel and bring freedom to those who are bound and are harming themselves with such a lifestyle.
“Islamic party of Ontario to run in next election, says Islam is Canada’s native religion, “anti-hate” groups silent.
The Islamic Party of Ontario, is a new political party that plans to run in the next Ontario provincial election.
Among the party’s principles and policies:
Islam is the only and oldest DEEN of GOD brought and started by Adam (p.b.u.h.), the first man and the first messenger of God, created by God without mother and father. It is the same DEEN brought by Jesus (p.b.u.h.) before Muhammad who born without father. It is a misconception that Islam is a “religion” created by Muhammad. Islam is the only way to attain peace and justice and provides laws without any prejudice….We understand and believe that Islam is the native DEEN of Ontario and Canada .
This did not happen overnight. Due to the ongoing silencing of critics, promotion of Islamic supremacists and “anti-racism” peddlers (very different from true human rights advocates), the Islamization of Western societies is advancing. In Canada, it’s progressing fast, especially following the passage of anti-Islamophobia Motion M03 by Parliament.
Social media and email correspondence is abuzz with the revelation that the Islamic Party of Ontario plans to run in the next Ontario provincial election, but who is to blame? Is it really Islamic supremacists who have long spoken openly about their global agenda? Or is it their Leftist water carriers and other enablers who have facilitated them in chipping away at the cornerstones of democracy, primarily the freedom of speech?
The second article below focuses upon the “Curious Lack of Response from Anti Hate Media Regarding Exposé of Hate Speech from Islamic Organizations.”
What isn’t yet understood is nonetheless a simple phenomenon: Islamic supremacy is no respecter of (infidel) persons. Its proponents utilize the victimology subterfuge while the willfully blind help them do so in the name of tolerance and diversity. (Ironically, Sharia respects neither of those.) These enablers are generally employed in the “anti-racism” industry.
Leftist hypocrites are forceful opponents of “hate,” yet the “anti-hate” industry is dominated by the worst purveyors of selective hate and propaganda. The “anti-hate” peddlers benefit from their status as leaders in a sphere that thrives on maintaining and manipulating victimhood for the benefit of certain individuals and groups. While they fan the flames of the worst kind of bigotry — the bigotry of low expectations of visible minorities — they care very little, if at all, about the intolerance and bigotry that define normative Islam.
Their careers are defined by their lambasting of white people against essentially everyone else (visible minorities), and assume and insist that white privilege is to blame for the world’s woes. Never mind 1400 years of jihad. So Islamic anti-semitism, Islamic bigotry against gays and blacks, Sharia supremacy of men over women, and even the color prejudice that exists within Islam (and also other visible minority groups) are ignored as a matter of course by these self-styled “anti-racism” crusaders.
These types, however, smear and bully those who call out the abuses and those who even attempt to engage in facilitating real dialogue. They routinely resort to name-calling, defamation and falsehood. As the Center for Investigative Research Canada pointed out about the Antihate.ca group, which has been focusing its attention on maligning those who call out actual hate:
Antihate.ca is an organization in Canada intent on exposing hate speech and action. They have been focusing on organizations that expose actual hate speech coming out of the Islamic community.
The safest haven for every race and creed is a free, democratic society, of which free speech is the cornerstone — a safeguard against the fascism that endeavors to muzzle and control citizens.
Calling out abusive ideologies is not hate. It is acting to prevent hate. With regard to Islamic supremacists who are adept at the victimhood narrative, a former imam and member of the International Institute of Islamic Thought, Abdur-Rahman Muhammad, captured the reality well in reference to accusations of “Islamophobia”:
This loathsome term is nothing more than a thought-terminating cliche conceived in the bowels of Muslim think tanks for the purpose of beating down critics. Muslims are everywhere in this country, doing practically everything. There are Muslim doctors, lawyers and businessmen – like Park51 developer Sharif El-Gamal, who went from waiting tables just a few years ago to being a multimillionaire. There are Muslim soldiers and CIA agents. Could this be possible if America were Islamophobic?...
Over the past several weeks, we have also learned of current and former operations of a mosque based in Scarborough, Ontario, Salaheddin Islamic Centre, a mosque that hosts and has hosted guest Imams, Imams that call for the death of non Muslims and Jews. Imams that suggest that it is not good to be friends non Muslims “Allaah also forbids the Mu’mineen [Muslim believers] from taking the kuffaar [disbelieves/ infidels] as their confidantes…”…..
Jihadwatch: JAN 3, 2019 9:00 AM BY CHRISTINE DOUGLASS-WILLIAMS
Let us pray for the exposure of radical jihadists in North America and Europe and other nations where they are active.
Pray that governments will stop them, overthrowing their efforts to infiltrate and subvert democratic institutions.
Pray that the apparent alliance of Leftists and Muslim activists will be frustrated and brought to an end. Pray also that these jihadists will encounter the Lord Jesus as many other Muslims are elsewhere in the world through visions and dreams as well as prayers and loving outreach of His followers living among them.
We would encourage our prayer partners to watch, and share the links to these excellent newly re-mastered videos entitled ‘Reaching the Unreached – Prayer that Empowers Missions’ - that focus us on the need to pray for the 4,700 unreached peoples' groups. They were produced by the acclaimed Videographer / Director, Michael Lienau, a friend of IPC. There is a 3 minute and 9 minute version:
Play / Download 3 minute version: https://vimeo.com/311331983
Play / Download 9 minute version: https://vimeo.com/311342648