MANCHESTER: THE “MAHABBA” LOVE CHALLENGE. (MAHABBA=LOVE IN ARABIC)
I woke up on Tuesday with my heart churning about Manchester. As a Mahabba team across the UK, we were respectfully remaining silent to give Manchester time to grieve and find a way to respond. However, it became so obvious that we could not remain silent: people were looking for a way to respond, and for someone to help them come to terms with this tragedy, as so many people are feeling numb. I so well remember that same numbness when I was an Officer in the British Army and four of my soldiers were blown up senselessly in a radio-controlled explosion in our first week of action. The shock was so immense that I never really processed that pain, and just locked it up inside. I do identify with those who are grieving and have suffered loss, so it is with some trepidation, and a feeling of humility and brokenness, that I am now writing.
“CHOOSE LOVE, MANCHESTER!” said the Manchester poet laureate. Right now, we are all facing the Love Challenge: will we choose to love sacrificially when nothing makes sense and our emotions are either totally numb or screaming inside? It's at times like this that we need to remember that people are never our enemy, whether Muslim or Christian, LGBT or straight, black or white...whatever the differences, everyone is loved and has been purchased by our precious Jesus, who gave His life for each one with no exceptions. My Bible says that Love never fails, but oh how it hurts sometimes! This is the Love Challenge!
I remember just after the events of 9/11 that Muslims in the UK were terrified of being persecuted and so they gathered in large numbers in mosques to try to make sense of the events. I quickly sent a message to all the other pastors in my town, asking them to join me outside the local mosque after Friday prayers, so that we could press flowers into every hand as they came out, telling them not to be afraid: we were true believers in "Isa Al Masih" - Jesus the Messiah - and they could count on us to be their friends. This was the Love Challenge – to respond in the opposite spirit, when our love tank was totally dry, and inside we were raging against Radical Islam; we had to choose to love the very people whose Holy Book had inspired such senseless carnage.
Sadly not one pastor turned up, due possibly to fear or anger, and I was left alone with 5 intercessors pressing flowers into every hand. Most were in tears as we did this, and one young man jumped into my arms and said, “I don't care where you come from- I'm following you!” This was the impact of one simple act of true love. That moment profoundly changed my life: learning to see behind all the veils and facades of religion, refusing to stereotype people, and actually feel God’s father heart of love for them.
The seeds of this love for Muslims had been sown over several years as I went ahead of Reinhard Bonnke, as his Campaign Director, into many Islamic cities, believing that thousands would come to Christ. During our prayer times, we again and again heard the prophetic heart cry of God from Isaiah 45, that He would give us these precious Muslim people, whom He saw as “treasures in darkness”. Somehow we needed to choose to see Muslims as people just like us – but people who had become prisoners of an ideology which denied them the joy of living in the Light of God’s forgiveness and grace.
It can be at any moment that we suddenly, even years later, are able to release the pain of those moments. For me it happened at the National Prayer Breakfast in the Houses of Parliament in London last year, as my heart was heavy after the news of the Orlando bombing. At the breakfast, unexpectedly all the memories of losing my 4 soldiers almost 40 years ago began to resurface: I listened to the Middle Eastern Bishop talk of the martyrdom of 21 courageous men from his Church being beheaded on the beach in Libya, and how he knelt down and then tweeted #fatherforgive. He then finished speaking, there was silence, and the band began to play. I cannot explain what happened next as I closed my eyes, but tears just flowed, and those years of locked up pain were released and healed….instantly!
Only embracing the Cross at this time will enable us to respond well to the Love Challenge. Oh, how it hurts, but it is the only safe place to bring the kaleidoscope of emotions and reactions that we are all feeling.
Here is the animation we've created for phones to mobilize your Christian youth to pray for and engage with local Muslims. https://vimeo.com/216650233. (If you don’t have the Vimeo app, you can get it from the App Store:http://bit.ly/vimeo_ios )
Please do forward it to some youth who love social media and can send it on to their friends. (If you’d like us to make a copy in another language, do let me know!)
If you’re also passionate about Muslims finding Jesus here’s the Lausanne article about Mahabba:
https://www.lausanne.org/content/lga/2017-01/ordinary-christians-can-reach-muslims-better-than-specialists.
If you want to know more, here’s a dropbox: https://www.dropbox.com/sh/qnsq44uxgped1mz/AABqYXJrG0u-TzJGM9-7ITiea?dl=0
Gordon Hickson is an Anglican Vicar from Oxford, and has been in Missions and Pastoral work for over 30 years. Recently he and others have launched a Prayer based relational network called Mahabba, motivating and mobilizing ordinary Christians to unveil Jesus to Muslims. (https://vimeo.com/218947549)
“Christians are leaving the Middle East in record numbers, driven out by terrorism by the Islamic State and laws in countries the U.S. considers allies. By 2025, Christians are expected to comprise a mere 3 percent of the population in the Middle East, whereas they represented 13.6 percent a century ago.
A series of suicide bomb attacks on Palm Sunday during church services last month in Egypt, which killed at least 45 people, was just the latest in a pattern of violence against Christians in the area, according to The Wall Street Journal in an article published Friday. The exodus is raising alarm the region will become a haven for radical groups.
Islam remains the primary religion in the Middle East, with rival sects often clashing, giving way to fears the violent trend will continue. And, laws in some countries discriminate against Christians, denying them the right to government jobs or even to rebuild churches.
"The disappearance of such minorities sets the stage for more radical groups to dominate in society," said Todd Johnson, director of the Center for the Study of Global Christianity at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary in Hamilton, Mass. "Religious minorities, at the very least, have a moderating effect."
Christians Leaving Mideast in Record Numbers
Pray for Christians in the Middle East region for His courage and grace to continue to be a witness to Christ in the midst of such challenging and sometimes dangerous experiences. May the Gospel spread like a mighty wave through their bold, anointed stance for Jesus among tens of millions of lost people around them! Thank God that He is bringing many in this region out of the bondage of Islamic delusion to joyous, triumphant faith in Him!
“Atlanta Pastor Michael Youssef was born in Egypt, lived there and among Muslims many years, and knows Islam inside out. He warns that millions of radical Muslims believe it is their religious duty to dominate all other political systems and religions. He says they are firmly set on setting up a long-prophesied global caliphate to rule a conquered world.
In his new book The Barbarians Are Here, Youssef explains that he's calling Islamists barbarians because they fit the specific meaning of the word.
"A barbarian is a person who is not part of our civilization, who wants no part of our civilization, and who seeks the conquest and destruction of our civilization," he writes.
"The Islamists – Muslims who seek to restructure all governments and all of society in accordance with the laws of Islam – are cultural chauvinists who see Islam's Sharia law as vastly superior to Western secular law," he continues. "They believe a totalitarian Islamic culture would be infinitely superior to the free societies of Western civilization, which are based on Judeo-Christian values. They seek the destruction of Western civilization, and that makes them – by definition – barbarians," Youssef adds.
His book details how these Islamists are using not only terrorism and war to achieve this destruction.
Radical Islam is taking advantage of the culture of political correctness that has so weakened and blinded liberal elites, they defend, protect and excuse the very people who will destroy or conquer them.
These Islamists are also flooding Western nations with so many refugees and migrants, they will likely soon outnumber and dominate the original residents in a number of those countries.
In a recent interview with CBN News outside the White House, Youssef said, "Let me give you an example. France has five million Muslims. They're producing on the average six children each family. The French birthrate is below zero. So you do the math. And they (the Islamists) say that in their literature. It's not something I'm making up. In their own literature it says 'you do the math. And it's a matter of time before we're going to take over.'"
Paul Strand
http://www1.cbn.com/cbnnews/world/2017/may/the-west-cant-really-believe-islamists-mean-to-conquer-the-world
Let’s pray that Western governments and the churches will wake up and reject the political correctness that has blinded them to what radical Muslims real intentions are. Pray for wisdom and firmness in national policies that result in effective protection of the nation from Islamic efforts to penetrate and indoctrinate them into this false, Christ-denying ideology that brings so much harm and backwardness wherever it gets a stronghold
“Two people were reportedly killed in Afghanistan and another abducted from a Kabul guesthouse late Saturday, the BBC reported citing a spokesman for the interior ministry.
Among the two people dead, are a German woman and an Afghan guard. The woman abducted meanwhile is reportedly from Finland. This comes after an Australian aid worker was kidnapped in the capital of Afghanistan, last November…
Afghanistan, which is in the grip of an ongoing insurgency by the Taliban Islamist militant group, has witnessed several foreigners kidnapped in the past few years.
The British government have warned of a high and constant threat Westerners face of getting kidnapped in Afghanistan. About 100 people have been kidnapped since 2001, reports said…
“The threat of kidnapping and hostage-taking continues to be very high,” the embassy said in a statement posted on its website. It added that the attempted kidnapping targeted several expatriates, including an American citizen, who were riding in an aid group’s vehicle…
The Afghan police believe the purpose behind the majority of the kidnappings of foreigners is ransom, and these are carried out by criminal gangs. It is feared these criminal groups could sell their hostages to extremist organizations,the New York Timesreported.
International Business Times, May 21, 2017
Please continue to pray for an end to the Taliban insurgency that is causing such widespread harm to the nation and that these wicked, violent Islamic terrorists will be defeated and brought down. Pray for the protection of the humanitarian community working with great love at the risk of their lives to serve the Afghan people. Pray that those still being kept as hostages will be liberated quickly, especially this young Finnish woman that was kidnapped only several days ago.
Just received news of a terrible bombing in the diplomatic area of Kabul that has killed over 80 people and injured hundreds. Pray for His peace and deliverance for this tormented nation and that the Afghans will turn to Christ through these horrors.
“Jakarta's Christian governor has been sentenced to two years in jail for blasphemy, a harsher-than-expected ruling critics fear will embolden hardline Islamist forces to challenge secularism in Indonesia, the world's largest Muslim-majority nation.
Tuesday's guilty verdict for Basuki Tjahaja Purnama comes amid concern about the growing influence of Islamist groups, who organized mass rallies during a tumultuous election campaign that ended with Purnama losing his bid for another term as governor.”
“Ahok” as he is called decided to resign his position as governor on May 23.
Reuters, May 10 and May 23, 2017
Let’s pray that God will bring good out of this evil as he did in the unjust imprisonment of Joseph. May multitudes of Indonesian Muslims have their eyes opened by this blatant injustice perpetrated by radical Muslims and corrupt politicians so that the Gospel continues to speed on and triumph in this far-flung island nation.
The State Department recently released its International Religious Freedom Report for 2017. A wide range of U.S. government agencies and offices use the reports for such efforts as shaping policy and conducting diplomacy. The Secretary of State also uses the reports to help determine which countries have engaged in or tolerated “particularly severe violations” of religious freedom in order to designate “countries of particular concern.”
A major concern addressed in this year’s report is that “international religious freedom is worsening in both the depth and breadth of violations.” Here are five facts from the report about the persecution of Christians:
- North Korea, where religious freedom is nonexistent, continues to rank as the one of the world’s most repressive regimes. The United Nations estimates that less than two percent of North Koreans are Christian, or somewhere between 200,000 and 400,000 people. As the report notes, the North Korean government relentlessly persecutes and punishes religious believers through arrest, torture, imprisonment, and sometimes execution. Once Christians are imprisoned, they are typically sent to political prison camps where they are “treated with extraordinary cruelty.”
- The government of China, a country that has about 70 million Christians, has circulated revised regulations governing religion, including new penalties for “illegal” religious activities and an increase on the crackdown on Christian house churches. The report also notes that the Chinese government is continuing its campaign, launched in 2014, to remove crosses and demolish churches. Over the past three years Chinese authorities have removed crosses or demolished churches at more than 1,500 locations in Zhejiang Province alone.
- In Eritrea, Pentecostals and Evangelicals comprise the majority of religious prisoners. Persons detained for religious activities, in both short-term and long-term detentions, are not formally charged, permitted access to legal counsel, accorded due process, or allowed family visits. Prisoners are not permitted to pray aloud, sing, or preach, and religious books are banned. Evangelicals and Pentecostals released from prison report being pressured to recant their faith, forced to sign statements that they would no longer gather to worship, and warned not to reengage in religious activities.
- Iran continues to arbitrarily arrest and detain Christians. Since 2010, more than 600 Christians throughout the country have been held as religious prisoners. In 2016 there were numerous incidents of Iranian authorities raiding church services, threatening church members, and arresting and imprisoning worshipers and church leaders, particularly Evangelicals. As of December 2016, approximately 90 Christians were in prison, detained, or awaiting trial because of their religious beliefs and activities.
- As the report notes, the Russian government views independent religious activity as a major threat to social and political stability, an approach inherited from the Soviet period. It maintains and frequently updates laws that restrict religious freedom, including a 1997 religion law and a much-amended 2002 law on combating extremism. The Russian religion law sets strict registration requirements on religious groups and empowers state officials to impede their activity. It also effects religious liberty in parts of the Ukraine controlled by Russian-occupied separatist para-states. In December 2016, Ministry of State Security of one such groups denounced the Baptist community as a “non-traditional religious organization” engaged in “destructive activity.”
From: The Weekly <This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.>
Date: Fri, May 12, 2017
Pray for our persecuted brothers and sisters in Christ in these five countries which are among the worst abusers of Christians. Pray they will be strong and faithful to the Lord who called them and that these regimes will change their attitudes and pass laws protecting religious believers that live under their rule
During our time in Herrnhut, some of us met with a former Tibetan Buddhist monk from the Himalayan nation of Bhutan that we will call “K”. K has come to Christ and has a deep burden to share the Gospel with other monks back home. Please pray for him and others on his team as they conduct a prayer walk around their beautiful but spiritually dark country for 10 days, starting from August 17-26 and also again in September 11-20. Next year they hope to do the same.
They invite people who are really interested to pray for the Buddhist world to support this initiative. He writes: “We really want to see nation change by power of prayer. Bhutan need lots of prayer. Please join us.”
With love from your brother in Christ,
Lebanon has taken in about as many refugees from Syria and the conflict there as there are Lebanese themselves. What a hospitable and kind nation! Let’s pray with these requests sent from one of the intercessors there:
Pray for Lebanon. Here Christians enjoy the freedom to worship, evangelize and express their faith though Lebanon has a small area in the Middle East, and that is what makes Lebanon special. That's why many Christians and non Christians from the neighboring regions are seeking refuge in our small land, including those from non-Christian background.
We always thought that this is okay despite the differences between us as Christians and them until the war began. 2.5 million refugees came to Lebanon seeking shelter and help from Syria, Iraq and those long-time Palestinians. Now we began to realize the important role Lebanon can offer. However, the problem is that there is not a united CHURCH strategy to guide them and lead them to hear the Good News of salvation, though mainly they come to escape the death and insecure areas where they used to live. If we manage to share the Gospel with a coordinated strategy, there will be a major spiritual revival here in Lebanon and through out the Middle East, which we lack now. Every church does whatever they want. Please pray for wisdom and vision for the leadership of the CHURCH.
- Pray for real revival in Lebanon and the Middle East. May the spirit of the Lord move over and give deep and real repentance to the elected people to accept Jesus Christ.
- Pray that the Lord raise a new generation of dedicated faithful leaders and pastors to be equipped for the ministry.
- Pray that Christ’s church moves out in planting new churches in all the region. And those from the underground church be strengthened in the faith.
Pray for the believers to be a blessing to others, especially the refugees. As it happened in the first century, the people of God scattered because of the persecution, but they reached out with the gospel to others. Now close to two million refugee people are in Lebanon because of the war in their country, we pray that the Lord give wisdom and faithfulness to the church in Lebanon to reach out to the refugees and be a blessing to them.