Pakistan: prayer
19 Jan 2018
A prayer team recently visited some places in Pakistan connected to terrorism. They felt the presence of evil, but also felt prayer backup that allowed them to pray as God wanted them to pray. They experienced protection by the prayers of others. Please pray that their intercessions will bring real change, and that people will be encouraged to pray even more for their country. Continue to pray for God’s protection over the team - that there will be no backlash, particularly for those inside Pakistan who do not have intercessors covering them. We can also praise God that unreached people groups will soon be targeted with prayer petitions. A large prayer organisation will soon produce daily prayer material for the Hindu ethnic groups in Pakistan.
Namibia: prayer needs
19 Jan 2018
25% of people in Namibia have HIV/AIDS, and 35% are unemployed. Life expectancy is plummeting. Political conflicts, colonialism and apartheid have left scars. Ethnic tensions and potential economic collapse threaten the fragile stability. Although 90% of the population is Christian, afro-spiritualism has crept into the church, leading to ungodly worship practices. However, a prayer movement is sweeping the nation and building community among Christians. The San, the Himba, and the peoples of the Kavango and Caprivi strips are the least evangelised in Namibia; missionaries need wisdom and discernment to develop specific approaches to reach them. Purity in worship and in the Church must be restored in the lives of Namibian Christians. The deeper their walk with God, the brighter the light of Christ will shine through them, attracting those who have not heard or do not yet believe.
Current natural disasters
19 Jan 2018
Mount Mayon, in the Philippines, is erupting like a fountain. By 18 January, forty thousand villagers had been evacuated. People expect volcanic mudslides and roofs collapsing from accumulated ash and rainwater. Pray for those living in fear. In North America thousands are still engaged in search and clean-up efforts from last year’s wildfires, followed by huge mudslides. Pray for those who have lost everything. In Africa humanitarian aid takes months to reach people. 15 million people need aid in Ethiopia, Kenya and Somalia; pray for better aid agency networking. Europe has experienced devastating floods. Pray for the 80,000+ who were evacuated and are still receiving relief efforts. In Australia temperatures of 47.3 degrees necessitate a total fire ban. See and also
Iran, Saudi Arabia, Iraq: instability
19 Jan 2018
Iran’s regional activities have stretched its capacity, its economy is already in difficulty, and while President Trump has said he will renew the sanction waivers one last time, a collapse of the nuclear enrichment agreement would cause severe problems. It is not known who might replace the ailing Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Khamenei, in the near future. In Saudi Arabia Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman is assuming greater power while preparing to become king. He has liberal policies on economic reforms, and some foresee possible attempts to prevent his coronation. When Kurds voted for independence Iraq experienced political chaos, and challenges remain as they prepare to elect a new parliament in May. Meanwhile Christian villages are being freed from jihadists and the faithfulness of the region’s church is causing Muslims, disillusioned by violence perpetrated in the name of religion, to walk the path of peace and reconciliation.
The Call to Discipleship
18 Jan 2018
The last great command that Jesus gave to His disciples was “All authority has been given to me. Therefore, go out and make disciples of all nations, baptising them ……” Matt 28:18. He did not say – “Go out and make converts”, or “Go out and find people in need of counselling”, or “Go out and sign up some church members”. These are all laudable but they are not the Great commission. Have we lost our call to make disciples?
The scriptures say Jesus taught His disciples. He committed time to them “He withdrew with them to the lake” Mark 3:7, “He was teaching His disciples” Mark 9:31. He challenged them to “let the little children come to me” Luke 18:16. He encouraged them “This is to my Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples.” John 15:8. After the resurrection “He appeared to them for 40 days and spoke to them about the Kingdom of heaven.” Acts 1:3. What an incredibly rich and wonderful period that would have been, preparing the disciples for the birth of the Church and their role within it.
We started 2018 with the resolution that we commit to be better disciples of Jesus Christ. We have found ourselves in some tremendous times of prayer and insight as we consecrate who we are and what we are doing to Jesus. In turn, He is giving us wisdom and direction and the authority to declare change.
Some years ago, research within the seeker friendly Church movement found they had made a grievous error. They had created baby Christians. There was a good track record of attracting people to services but a poor one in equipping people to pray, study the word, or bring others to Christ. The keenest Christians were the most disillusioned. Church had become a nursery for babies, a place for dependent people rather than a place sending independent people out to show Jesus to the world.
There is a book for cyclists called ‘The Rules: The Way of the Cycling Disciple’ with rules like #6 – Free your mind and your legs will follow. The letter to the Philippians gives us the ‘Way of Jesus disciples’:
- He who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus. v1:16
- I press on towards the goal, to win the prize, for which Christ has called me heavenwards in Christ Jesus. v3:14
- Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather in humility value others above yourselves, not looking to your interests but each of you to the interests of others.” v2:3,4.
- Let your gentleness be evident to all. v4:5
- Work out your salvation with fear and trembling. For it is God who works in you to will and to act in order to fulfil His good purpose. v2: 10.11
- Stand firm in the Lord v4.1
A friend put it to me recently “Jesus is on the throne of my heart.” As a disciple, I want Him to shape my actions, my feelings, and my life. Jesus’ standards are high. We are His servants and He wants us to serve with confidence, authority and capability. We need to understand the gifts and the abilities God has given us. Where has He called us to? We are not all the same, the body is made of many different parts. We move at different paces, are motivated by different things, work in different ways – but whoever we are, Jesus wants us to be fruitful. His servants get things done.
Disciples need to be resilient. Simon Guillebaud describes it “There’s a battle going on for our hearts. What I watch, listen to, spend money on and give time to.” We need to keep asking the question, is Jesus on the throne of our heart? We all know we can plateau, or get stuck in the past, or on what feels comfortable.
Peer discipleship can be a very powerful tool. I have worked with two other guys for nearly twenty years. We pray for each other every week by email and reflect on what God is doing in our lives and we meet together to ensure we are being stretched and challenged. This has been an essential part of my Christian walk.
Finally, we go back to Jesus command, “Go and make disciples”. In this Time 2 Turn we anticipate many coming to faith who will need welcoming and encouraging. They may not be comfortable people, they may have a very different lifestyle or experience to us. We are not called to make comfortable people to fit into comfortable churches. Our call is to make disciples, people who have found freedom in Christ, have a fire to learn about Jesus, and represent His Kingdom. It is up to us.
Steve Botham
Director of World Prayer Centre
Becoming better disciples of Jesus
18 Jan 2018
The World Prayer Centre team have been like eager students in these first few weeks of 2018. Yet again, we keep saying “Wow” because God is taking us on a journey and we thought you might like to come with us.
As part of our Resolution 2018 campaign which we started at the beginning of the year, we resolved to pray together for the first two weeks of the year in the mornings covering the topics from our campaign:
CONSECRATION
This has been a key element. Many scriptures relate to consecration, washing our hands, changing our robes and preparing to enter God’s presence. We keep coming back to “If my people” and these four acts of consecration:
- Humble ourselves
- Pray
- Seek His face
- Turn from our wicked ways.
Bill Johnson describes humbling as reflecting on our insignificance and meditating on His significance. Or as the Psalmist puts it “As the eyes of the servant look to the hand of the master, so our eyes look to the Lord our God.” (Ps. 123). Making Jesus number one has always been part of our Christian thinking but there is a new intensity to this, a deeper call to intimacy.
DEDICATION
After consecration, we come humbly to God and dedicated 2018 to Him. We hear a holy call to dedicate all we have and all we are to Him. Part of this is a struggle because we might like to hold some things back, or adopt a wait and see approach, but servanthood is full commitment. We stood at our first Prayershift gathering of 2018, with people from across the country, at Betel in Birmingham on January 13th – dedicating this year of turning to God. Betel is the Spanish word for House of God, reflecting Jacob’s heaven to earth experience in Genesis 28 – a great encouragement to us as we started the year. They have a wonderful track record working amongst drug addicts. What an inspirational place to think of the wonderful transforming power of Jesus and why this call to turn is so vital.
CELEBRATION
We spent a lot of time in the scriptures around 2 Chron 5 – 7. They record marvellous times of celebration as the temple was dedicated. There was a huge wall of noise with 120 trumpets, hundreds of other instruments and multitudes of voices, shouting, singing, and declaring God’s praise. “For he is good, and His steadfast love endures for ever.” As the Ark of the Covenant entered the temple the place was filled with God’s glory cloud. When Solomon prays his prayer of dedication to the Lord the fire came down from heaven. Wow – let our praise be like this! As we prayed together as a team we were reminded of that familiar carol – “Hark the herald Angels sing, glory to the new born King.” Hark is not a word in common usage but it is really saying “listen up” “pay attention” – the King is here.
RECONCILIATION
We met with a group called England Prayer Watch on 4-5th January for a rich 24 hours. God spoke about our hearts being at one with His, and in harmony with each other. This creates a reconciliation and unity. We were reminded that the Holy Spirt fell when the disciples were waiting and were of one mind. In lots of other settings we are hearing God’s call that His people will be one. We are turning from pride, dissension, independence and asking God to forgive us that we have often blocked the work of His Kingdom. Let us be one that we can be effective channels for the Holy Spirit to heal our land.
INVITATION
At Prayershift as we wanted to know if, having done these things, we could ask the King of Glory to come in (Psalm 24 takes us through a process of consecration and dedication). We believe we had the authority to pray for the doors to be opened that the King of Glory may come in. These are not times for half-heartedness. A prayer as straightforward as Thy Kingdom Come can have powerful consequences when we see the dominion of Jesus in our churches, schools, families and communities.
It is interesting to report that we went through this process of consecration, dedication, reconciliation, celebration and invitation with the England Prayer Watch group. There were intense periods of humility as we kneeled and prostrated ourselves, there was a commitment to deepen relationship, serving each other and prophetically standing shoulder to shoulder in a line for our nation.
Finally, there was the invitation –
Lord we need you. Things must break in our nation and only you can bring it about. We welcome you Jesus, the King of Glory, the life giver and nation changer. We proclaim your Lordship; let us serve You in these times. Amen
Steve Botham
Director of World Prayer Centre
Higher Tour
18 Jan 2018
The Message Trust in Manchester have a wonderful passion for young people to be saved and discipled. They recognise that in many ways our 11 – 18 year olds are the key spiritual battleground.
Research by Care for the Family shows that this is the most vulnerable time for young people to lose their faith. Key factors are peer pressure and parents face increased difficulties in engaging and teaching their children. The spiritual issues extend to the battle for young minds, pastoral and mental health issues are rising year on year at an alarming rate. This current generation is fighting insecurity, sexual confusion on transgender issues and the push to have under age sex, a huge political and values divide between the younger and older generations and the constant social media messaging and the drive to be liked, watched, and commented on.
The Message Trust are launching what they describe as the ‘largest youth mission in the UK for a generation’. They have been building relationships with schools so that teams can go in and encourage thousands to come to well-presented high-octane Gospel events. This is called the Higher Tour and it starts in the West Midlands from 26 February – 17th March, then Cambridgeshire 1 – 12th October and South Wales from 5th – 23rd November.
The Higher Tour seeks to boldly proclaim the Gospel to young people and see them supported and encouraged as they start their journey of faith.
Higher Midlands 2018 will see six mission teams deliver 75 school days across the region. Over three weeks of mission, will reach 55,000 young people, give away 4,000 Bibles and they train more than 100 new young evangelists.
Let us pray for our young people:
- For doors to open into the schools
- For 55,000 young people to go to the Midlands events
- For this generation to turn away from the troubles of the present day to the freedom, security and love of Jesus.
Prayer for Higher Tour at Elim Kingstanding, 120 Warren Rd, Birmingham B44 8QD – 7.30pm 4th February
Find out more information about Higher Tour location at www.highertour.com
ADDRESS OF THE GENERAL SECRETARY OF THE CHRISTIAN ASSOCIATION OF NIGERIA, (CAN) REV. DR. MUSA ASAKE HELD AT THE NATIONAL CHRISTIAN CENTRE, ABUJA ON TUESDAY,
16THJANUARY, 2018
Gentlemen of the Press,
On behalf of the President of the Christian Association of Nigeria and the entire Christian Community here in Nigeria, I welcome you to this press conference in the precious and wonderful name of Our Redeemer and Savior, Jesus Christ. Amen. Since this is our first meeting this year, permit me to say HAPPY NEW YEAR to you and wishing you a productive and prosperous 2018.
We have invited you here to express our grave concern for the insecurity challenges that have continued to face us as a nation and Christians in particular in our dear country, Nigeria. We make bold to say that Nigeria’s security system has become dysfunctional and that this fact has been exposed by the inability of the various security arms to wrestle to the ground those threatening the existence of Christians and other innocent citizens in Nigeria,
As it is, they have not been able to come up with an efficient and enduring system that can overwhelm the resurgence of Boko Haram, Gunmen and Fulani Herdsmen who are prowling villages, shooting and killing innocent Christians. Instead the IG whenever there is killings going on his men on ground in that particular area will be looking the other way and if asked they will say they are waiting for order from above. The IG will always take side and make statements that are provocative to the people of the affected area. For example, when it happened in Southern Kaduna he said it was a communal clash and refuted the number of people killed. Recently he repeated the same statement in the Benue killings. That is an insult to the Christian community from a leader who is supposed to protect our lives and property. What a shame!
The Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) has reviewed the catalogue of horrendous and inhuman attacks on several states and mostly Benue State from 2013 – 2018. The impression has now been firmly established that the Islamists of northern Nigerian have “legalized jihad” in Nigeria.
As if the attacks on Benue, Taraba, Kaduna, Plateau, Yobe, Borno, Nasarawa, Enugu, Imo, Abia, Rivers, Ogun and Oyo States are not enough, the Islamists and their agents have extended their trail of blood and destruction to Bwari in Abuja and Ilorin in Kwara State. On Christmas Day, 2017, Christian community in Bwari, Abuja was attacked; several lives were lost while business locations were burnt down. On New Year’s Day in 2018, Christians observing “watch-night” service in Ilorin were attacked and three Churches burnt. As usual, the Security Agents did not intervene until the attackers had finished their horrendous assignment.
This pattern suggests collusion of the Security Units with the Islamists militia operating under such names as Fulani herdsmen, Boko Haram, “unknown gunmen”, and “group of vandals”. On 17th January, 2017, the Nigerian Air Force “accidentally”, in broad daylight, bombed a Christian IDP Camp and killed over 200 Christian refugees in Rann, Kala-Balge Local Government in Borno State. In December 2017, an Air Force spokes person confirmed that the Nigerian Air Force sent an Alpha Jet and an EC 135 attack Helicopter to fire “warning” shots at Islamist militia attacking Christians in Numan, Adamawa state, but not to kill them! The villagers were later to report that the Jet actually bombed the Christian villages resulting in the death of over 50 people, while, the Nigerian Air Force said it merely fired warning shots at the Islamist militia attacking the villagers. This is jihad as we cannot understand fired warning shots in the narrative of this attack.
It is clear to the discerning that President Buhari is not running Nigeria according to the dictates of the Democratic values in the Constitution and has no respect for Human Rights, Rule of Law and Democracy. It is unfortunate that a President that was sworn into office to uphold and defend the Constitution has flagrantly violated the Constitution and adopted Sharia ideology as operational standard.
Having reviewed the situation in the country, the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) wishes to note that some principal entities appear responsible for the current distress in the nation.
PRESIDENT MUHAMMADU BUHARI
President Buhari was elected on a wave of unprecedented public approval in 2015. Unfortunately, within a few weeks of his election, he started creating the impression that he was in power to serve the interests of his Fulani ethnic group only. Discerning people were quick to note that contrary to his electoral promises, he actually meant to pursue core Islamist agenda. Almost every vital appointment in Security and Education went to Muslims from the North. He did not hide his disdain for the indigenous ethnic nationalities and, at every opportunity, showed preferential treatment to the Muslim North.
Under President Buhari, the murderous Fulani herdsmen enjoyed unprecedented protection and favoritism to the extent that the herdsmen treat Nigeria as a conquered territory. Rather than arrest and prosecute the Fulani herdsmen, security forces usually manned by Muslims from the North offer them protection as they unleash terror with impunity on the Nigerian people.
The bottom line is that President Buhari failed woefully to protect Nigerians. He willfully permitted the Fulani herdsmen to operate killing people, destroying communities wholesale, destroying farmlands and turning the entire Middle Belt into “killing fields”, all the while enjoying government protection from counter attack, arrest or prosecution.
By failing to curb the attacks of the Fulani herdsmen President Buhari has failed to uphold Section 14, Para. 2 (b) in the Constitution that “the security and welfare of the people shall be the primary purpose of government:”
Through his partial, sectional and discriminatory appointments, particularly in Security and Education, President Buhari violated Section 14, Para. 3 “The composition of the Government of the Federation or any of its agencies and the conduct of its affairs shall be carried out in such a manner as to reflect the federal character of Nigeria and the need to promote national unity, and also to command national loyalty, thereby ensuring that there shall be no predominance of persons from a few State or from a few ethnic or other sectional groups in that Government or in any of its agencies.”
MIYETTI ALLAH CATTLE BREEDERS ASSOCIATION
The Miyetti Allah Cattle Breeders Association is supposed to be a business group much like many other businesses and professional groups in the country. However, the MACBAN differs from any other business group in that it combines bloodshed with enterprise.
The Fulani herdsmen are clearly associated with MACBAN and the officials of MACBAN are noted to make very inciting statements before and after the Fulani herdsmen attack vulnerable communities.
In the recent attacks on Benue State, the President of Benue Branch of Miyetti Allah, Garus Gololo said they attacked the communities because 1,000 of their cows were stolen. Even if it was true that cows were stolen, who constituted Miyetti Allah into law enforcement agency, judge and jury to commit wholesale murder?
In another account, Miyetti Allah called a Press Conference in which it stated it would not abide with the anti-open grazing law of Benue State Government. The Chief Press Secretary to the Benue State Government, Terve Akase believes that the attacks on Benue State on 1st and 2nd January, 2018 were in reaction to the grazing law enacted by the Benue State Government.
Miyetti Allah has openly rejected anti-open grazing bills in Taraba, Plateau and Benue States. In May 2017, the National President of Miyetti Allah, Alhaji Bello Abdullahi Bodejo and the National Secretary Engineer Saleh Alhassan openly declared at a Press Conference that the introduction of anti-open grazing bill in some states is a recipe for anarchy. Are we now to conclude that a business group has supremacy over State Governments?
RESOLUTIONS
- In view of the foregoing, the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) calls on all lovers of freedom and democracy in Nigeria to rise against the tyranny of the Islamists, who manipulate the religion of Islam for political and cultural domination. There is difference between Islam and Islamism. While Islam is a religion, Islamism is not a religion but a political ideology. Islamism in Nigeria is based on the Doctrine of Hate and supremacist ideology that the Fulani is superior to the other ethnic nationalities in Nigeria. This is what is at the root of the bloodshed and insecurity all over Nigeria. The clannish mentality of the Fulani places every other ethnic nationality in Nigeria as colonial subject or dhimmi (second class citizen), irrespective of religion or culture.
- Most of the problems in the polity especially the ongoing genocide against Christians in the North Central are having religious and tribal undertone hence why the Islamic leaders are keeping mum to the massacre of our members in Benue, Taraba, Kaduna, and Enugu states. It is part of the grand agenda to take over our land, with this I have good news for you. “It will not work”
- Instead of bringing the leadership of Myetti Allah... to book for being the masterminds of the genocide, top functionaries of the Buhari government are now advocating grazing colonies with a view of granting these criminals free land and government supports.
- While the government has taken the battle to Boko Haram terrorists, the Indigenous People of Biafra, the Badoo boys, the Niger Delta Avengers and other groups, the government has not shown any serious willingness to checkmate the murderous Fulani Herdsmen. This to us is a betrayal of the confidence reposed in this government by Nigerians when they voted them into power.
- We need to know why the intelligence units of all security apparatus that we have in this country has not been able to discover the sources of supply of ammunition to Fulani herdsmen living virtually in the bush.
To restore permanent peace to all the trouble spots in the country, we demand the following;
- The Myetti Allah organization should be tagged a terrorist organization. Its leaders should be arrested and prosecuted for the genocide against the Christian minorities in the Middle Belt.
- President Muhammadu Buhari should overhaul the National Security Council with a view to sharing its membership equally between Christians and Muslims and possibly those who do not belong to either. No religion has a monopoly of competency, commitment and patriotism.
- We call for immediate replacement of the Inspector General of Police because our security can no longer be guaranteed. We also demand immediate redeployment of all the Commissioners of Police.
Every Nigerian should condemn in strong terms and resist the attempt by this pro-Fulani government that “cattle colonies” shall be established all over the country. This is an insult on all Nigerians. The idea of “cattle colony” presupposes that the Fulanis are colonial masters. How and when one ethnic group transmuted into a “colonial master” over all the other 388 ethnic nationalities in Nigeria is unknown. Besides, after Nigerians roundly rejected “grazing reserves” who are the Islamists trying to deceive with change of nomenclature?
Thank you and God bless Nigeria.
Rev. Musa Asake, PhD.
Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN)
National General Secretary