300 human rights organisations, including several Christian charities, sent a joint letter to North Korea’s Kim Jong-Un, urging him to make lasting improvements to his country’s dire human rights situation. The charities welcome increased dialogue with other countries, but state that they have yet to see actions on the part of the government ‘that would signal clear improvements in the lives of citizens or their basic rights and freedoms’. The letter urges Kim to increase engagement with international human rights systems, end abuses in detention and prisons, establish regular meetings for separated families of foreign nationals with relatives in North Korea, and accept international humanitarian aid with appropriate monitoring to ensure it reaches needy people and communities. Pray for the families of those executed or in labour camps; ask God to bless and protect North Korean Christians who face daily terror as they live out their faith. See also the article in the World section.

Over a two-day debate MPs reversed or partially reversed 14 defeats on the EU withdrawal bill in the House of Lords. However, Teresa May only averted defeat on an amendment to give the Commons a ‘meaningful vote’ on Brexit by promising to rewrite the legislation in accordance with proposals drawn up by Tory rebel Dominic Grieve. At the time of writing the row is not fully defused, and further rebellion next week seems quite possible. Rebels want to force the Government to prioritise single market access in the final Brexit deal. Theresa May said the Government’s own amendment could not allow MPs to bind its hands or open it up to the risk that Brexit could be reversed. She intends not to allow parliament to overturn the will of the British people. She said, ‘Parliament gave the decision to the British people, the British people voted to leave the European Union, and as Prime Minister I am determined to deliver that.’

(From a Prophecy Today blog) Today, if speech does not conform to secular social mores of ‘tolerance’, ‘diversity’ and ‘equality’, then it becomes ‘hate speech’. In today’s politically correct environment, what we can and can’t say is increasingly regulated - we even censor ourselves for fear of offending some ‘victim’ groups which are given a higher status, deserving special consideration, and placed beyond criticism. Designation of victim groups, undoubtedly well-meant to rid society of prejudice by positively discriminating in favour of ‘victims’, is turning genuine justice on its head. Women’s rights are championed. Men’s rights are unheard of. LGBT rights are promoted over and above those of heterosexuals. Many ‘virtuous’ causes promote immoral living, false religions and the destruction of the family - while Godly living and thinking is ostracised. Pray for a reversal of society’s revolt against Biblical truth, rebellion against God, and the shying away from declaring His truth in public.

The executive leader of the Church Mission Society, Canon Philip Mounstephen, after a recent visit to in Nepal, ponders what difference it would make to the Church in the West if it was as filled with the Holy Spirit. He said that Nepali churches have experienced sustained and significant growth over recent years, while the older UK Church is in decline, facing indifference and suspicion. The Nepali Church is a living demonstration of what happens when the holy and the human meet - a church full of the Holy Spirit and faith, resulting in a great many people being brought to the Lord. The name Barnabas means ‘son of encouragement’, and the Nepali church should encourage us to explore what happens when a Church is filled with the Holy Spirit and with faith. We must begin with prayer. We must recognise our emptiness, and ask to be filled.