What is it going to take to bring about the purposes of God for the land and peoples of Israel? Is it possible that we can see a spiritual breakthrough in political and social realms? Is it possible that we can see hearts and minds change?
We believe that through united, heartfelt prayer this is possible. It is amazing what the Lord will do when His people from all different ethnic and denominational backgrounds come together to pray for their nation. It has been our privilege for over 20 years to facilitate special prayer initiatives around the world, many of them in hopeless war zones where any hope of peace and healing seemed impossible. But God, according to His ancient promise to King Solomon in 2 Chronicles 7:14, has brought about peace agreements, governments of national unity and other stunning breakthroughs, often suddenly, time and time again. We have found that the spiritual leaders of a nation if they seek God together according to His word, praying in the unity of the Spirit, actually set the agenda for the political leaders because they have transacted business with the Lord, the One who has all power to bring about the impossible for His believing people.
On November 4, selected ministry leaders from across the nation will gather for a day of prayer together, not to talk about political differences, but to seek God with open hearts. Our agenda will be the Lord and one another, humbly seeking together to fulfill Jesus' prayer that we may be one as He and the Father are one so the world will know that He is its Savior and Lord. We believe that such a focus on the Lord and His purposes for the land and its peoples through united prayer will actually change the atmosphere so that what now seems to be impossible politically, socially, culturally and ecclesiastically will become possible in remarkable new ways. God is able to do "far more abundantly than all we can ask or think." (Eph. 3:20)!
Brian Mills and John Robb, two IPC leaders, have been invited facilitate this day of prayer there on November 4th. Please pray for this important time, its effective planning, and for the right ministry leaders from across the country, both Jewish and Palestinian, will be able to participate.
“On the date noted above, the IEA released a statement on its website threatening wide-spread retribution if the government carries out the death sentence for Anas Haqqani, who is currently being held at Bagram Airfield.
“If the higher courts also uphold the death sentence to Anas Haqqani, it will have very disastrous and dangerous consequences for the current regime,” according to the statement. “The war and its intensity will increase in all parts of the country. A lot of blood will be spilled and the government will be responsible for all of it.”
Anas Haqqani has been held for nearly 18 months, and at the end of August, the GOA announced he had been sentenced to death (although it is unclear on what charges). The announcement has brought with it a range of threats promised by the IEA, and developments surrounding the case should be followed closely by NGOs thorough the country.
The response by the IEA is not surprising and further statements can almost certainly be expected. Just days before the statement was released, a video was shared by IEA media showing two Western captives (an American woman and a Canadian man) who were abducted by the group in 2012. Both abductees pleaded with their respected governments to pressure the Afghan government to change its execution policy. The Canadian stated that in order to get the policy changed or take revenge the IEA was willing to kill them and their two children (both of which were born in captivity).
The use of Western hostages to prevent executions of AOG members or to secure their release through prisoner exchanges is nothing new. The most prominent example took place in May 2014 when the US government released five IEA commanders held at Guantanamo Bay detention centre in exchange for the release of a US soldier, who had been held by the group since 2009.
Given Anas’ high profile, it is unlikely that the US/Afghan governments would use him in a prisoner exchange. Further, if Anas is in fact executed, this could led to revenge killings against Western citizens currently being held by the group in response. There is reliable information that the Haqqani Network has over the past two years attempted to conduct abductions of high profile Westerners in the county to use for exactly for this purpose…
The IEA showed it was able to follow through on threats made in response to the May execution. And a similar show of force – if not much greater – on judiciary targets and GOA targets more broadly could almost certainly be expected following the execution of Anas.”
This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. INSO SECURITY REPORT - AFG: IEA Threats over Haqqani Execution
Please pray for Afghanistan and its healing and restoration from years of war. Continue to pray that the Taliban terrorists will be thrown into disunity and dissolution, will give up there fruitless, destructive conflict with the government, and will sue for peace. Pray for protection for those serving there as part of the NGO humanitarian community, both Christians and non-Christians, that they will be able to carry out their work and be kept from kidnappings and other dangers to themselves and their families. In addition, pray for the quick release of any being held by the Taliban or IEA.
How often have you heard sexual progressives claim that those of us who hold to traditional sexual morality and marriage are “on the wrong side of history?” But as one new book points out, it’s the proponents of the sexual revolution who are embracing a sexual morality that history left behind millennia ago—in the dusty ruins of the Roman Forum.
Yes, today Western civilization is undergoing a dramatic cultural shift. In just a few short years our society has fundamentally altered the meaning of marriage, embraced the notion that men can become women, and is now promoting the idea that grown men should be welcome to share a bathroom with women and young girls. Not unexpectedly, we’re also seeing movement toward the normalization of polygamy, pedophilia, and incest.
It’s precisely in times like this that we need some historical perspective. Which is why Lutheran pastor Matthew Rueger’s new book, “Sexual Morality in a Christless World,” is a timely godsend. In it, Rueger shows how Christian sexual morality rocked the pagan world of ancient Rome. The notions of self-giving love, sexual chastity, and marital fidelity were foreign, even shocking to the people of that time.
Citing existing scholarship, Rueger details the Roman sexual worldview that prevailed for hundreds of years. Women and children were viewed as sexual objects; slaves—male and female--could expect to be raped; there was widespread prostitution; and predatory homosexuality was common. Christian sexual morality might have been seen as repressive by the licentious, but it was a gift from God for their victims.
Rueger writes that “Claims in our day of being progressive and moving forward by accepting the ‘new prevailing views on sexuality and same-sex marriage' are horribly misinformed … Contemporary views about sexuality are simply a revival of an older and much less loving view of the world.”
But they are also a revival of an older and impoverished view of human beings. Imagine the reaction of a pagan Roman slave girl who learned for the first time that she had value—not monetary value as a piece of goods to be enjoyed or discarded by her owner—but eternal value because she was made in the very image of God.
Or imagine the pang of conscience felt by an unfaithful Roman husband when he learned that God became incarnate, and took on human flesh, and that how he treated his own body and the bodies of others mattered to God. Mattered immensely.
Folks, we can’t look away and ignore this unholy revival of pagan sexuality and its cheapened view of human beings. But we also can’t wring our hands in fear or throw them up in defeat. As Rueger points out, Christ and His Church radically transformed a far more sexually cruel and chaotic world than ours.
Look to those ancient believers who went before us: Rather than succumbing to or accommodating the spirit of the age, new converts in the early Church came to understand, as Rueger writes, that “Christian morality is based on Christ’s all-encompassing purity and self-emptying love…Christians could no longer live as the Greeks or Romans. Their worldview and self-view was distinctly different. They were now one with Christ in heart and soul.”
Now, their distinctiveness, as Rueger writes, “would not spare them from suffering; it would invite suffering.” It’s pretty clear now that the same holds true for us. Will we bend the knee to this revived pagan sexuality, or will we hold out to a needy world the freedom of God’s plan for human sexuality?
From BreakPoint.org.
Let’s pray for a revolution away from such degraded and destructive sexual “progressivism” , especially for the younger generation. As has happened in earlier human history, such pagan immorality threatens to take our nation and many other nations over the brink and into the sure judgment of God.
With everything from the fear of deadly snakes to alleged executions by anti-aircraft gun, it’s understandable why many North Koreans desire to flee the Hermit Kingdom. What’s interesting to note, however, is the economic class of defectors that have found their way out of North Korea. According to a survey from the Korean Unification Ministry, the percentage of defectors from the “middle-class” rose from 19% in 2001 to 55.9% after 2014. The increase stems from the fact that more defectors from higher statuses in the North possess the resources to escape, said the Unification Ministry.
So far this year, 894 North Koreans have escaped the country, compared to the 777 in the previous year during the same period. The Unification Ministry claims that this 15% increase is on track to bring the total amount of defectors to 30,000 by the end of the year.
Although the reasons to cross the border, or in some exceptional cases remain away from, are numerous, it’s noteworthy that one of their highly publicized punishments in North Korea seems to have decreased: North Korea leader Kim Jong Un is estimated to have executed about 130 officials in the 5 years he’s been in power, while Kim Jong Il, his father, had put to death over 2,000 officials in a 6 year span.
The latest high-profile defection comes from Thae Yong-Ho, North Korea’s deputy ambassador to London, who has since been accused by his former country of leaking state secrets, embezzlement, and child rape. As one of the highest-ranking North Korean officials to have defected, it wouldn’t be far fetched to believe that others will eventually follow suit.
http://finance.yahoo.com/news/north-koreans-defecting-country-droves-204847404.html
Praying for the liberation of North Korea at the DMZ in July
United in one voice of prayer, hundreds of delegates from over 30 nations across the globe lighted up candles, as a symbol of the light of Jesus within each and every soul surrendered, to intercede even for the darkest corners of the world.
With the numerous pressing issues, chaos, and calamities that are happening around the world, darkness seems to prevail. We are the Davids that has slain the giant of darkness, division, and despair. We are the light of which the darkness is afraid of. We are to let this light shine on the darkest valleys.
Bound in Christ's love and united in spirit, our light shines brighter and brighter day by day.
#UnitedPrayerRising #UPRISING2016KOREA
Let’s continue to pray for His light to flow into North Korea. Ask for regime change and that the oppression of the North Korean people will come to an end. Pray for the protection of those there seeking to bring revolution and reform and that they will be successful.
Pope Francis has decried the bombing of Aleppo in Syria, saying those responsible for killing civilians will have to answer to God.
Speaking at a public audience in St Peter's Square in Rome, he called it "an already martyred city, where everybody is dying".
Russian-backed Syrian government forces have launched a fierce campaign to take control of rebel-held eastern areas.
Air strikes continued to hit the besieged districts overnight.
Pope Francis urged all sides to "commit themselves with all their strength to protect civilians".
"This is an imperative and urgent obligation. I appeal to the consciences of those responsible for the bombings, who will one day will have to account to God," he said.
(Links for moreinformation)
- Why are so many children dying in Aleppo?
- Why Assad wants to take Aleppo
- Attacks on Syria's aid workers are 'unconscionable'
- Children suffer horrors of Syria's war
Reports citing medical workers say that two major hospitals in rebel-held eastern Aleppo were put out of service by air raids overnight.
But one activist in the city tells the BBC that the hospitals still appear to be operational.
In the past few days, pro-government forces have begun ground operations to try to recapture more territory from rebel forces. They have made advances in the city centre, reports say.
The government of President Bashar al-Assad and its Russian backers have been accused of war crimes and "barbarism" by the US and its Western allies, who back the rebels.
Moscow has vigorously denied the allegations and criticised their "unacceptable" rhetoric.
Separately, fresh allegations of chemical weapons use on the part of Syrian government have been made by the New York-based group Human Rights Watch.
It said that Syrian government helicopters appeared to have used chemical weapons in two incidents in Aleppo on 10 August and 6 September that killed five people, including two children.
"After each attack, dozens of people suffering from a shortage of breath, coughing, reddened skin and eyes, and excessive tearing sought medical treatment in hospitals," the group said.
Syrian rebels have been supplied with a new type of surface-to-surface Grad rocket by their foreign backers to help defend against the current offensive, a rebel commander told the Reuters news agency.
The rockets, supplied "in excellent quantities", will be used in Aleppo, Hama and the Mediterranean coastal region, Fares al-Baoush said.
It was not clear which foreign states supplied the rockets.
Aleppo, once Syria's largest city and the country's commercial and industrial hub, has been divided roughly in two since 2012, with President Bashar al-Assad's forces controlling the west and rebel factions the east.
In the past year, government troops have gradually broken the deadlock with the help of Iranian-backed militias and Russian air strikes. Earlier this month, they severed the rebels' last route into the east and placed its 250,000 residents under siege.
Children in Aleppo have made up a large proportion of casualties from air strikes, according to aid groups. At least 100,000 children remain trapped in the eastern part of the city. (italics ours)
In the government-held west, 49 children were killed by rebel shelling in July alone, the New York Times reports, citing the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.
On Tuesday, the US pledged to provide an extra $364m (£276m) in humanitarian aid to people affected by the Syrian war.
The World Health Organization meanwhile called for the "immediate establishment of humanitarian routes" into Aleppo, where hospitals are running out of supplies and rubble-strewn streets are preventing ambulances from getting through.
BBC.com, September 28, 2016
Syria needs God’s breakthrough. Through the IPC and other efforts over the last 20 plus years, we have seen eight wars stopped, often suddenly, by the united prayer of God’s people. Let's pray with all our hearts in faith for the shattered ceasefire to be reenacted and to lead to a real peace agreement. Pray that President Assad and leaders of the various rebel factions will agree to end this endlessly destructive conflict for Aleppo and other war-torn areas in order to bring healing and restoration to their suffering people and land. Pray that the flow of urgently needed humanitarian supplies would not be impeded by either side in the conflict. Many civilians and children have died needlessly, pray for their protection and escape from war zones and the fighting. Pray also for those who follow Jesus in the midst of it all that they will be strengthened and know how to "stand in the gap" from the inside. With God, "all things are possible" so let’s pray that peace will break through soon!
Last weekend here in Albuquerque, New Mexico, 140 ministry leaders and a few public officials were electrified to hear the testimony of Pastor Poncho Murguia. We also took him to Santa Fe, the oldest capital in the USA to speak on the plaza for the Fall Gathering of Churches where he also spoke. Poncho after leading a large and successful mega church for years was instructed by the Lord to “leave everything” and to go a city park in his native Juarez, Mexico in order to fast and pray for three weeks over the city. During that process, he learned from the first time to really love and understand his city and then to “adopt” the city. Eventually 4000 other believers in Jesus joined him in a movement of transformational prayer and action that has changed Juarez from “the murder capital of the world” with violence 25 times as much as any on other city on earth to one of the safest of Mexico’s cities.
At the height of the violence that swept the city which had become the site of a prolonged turf battle between drug cartels, 20-30 people were being assassinated by “sicarios”, hit men paid an average of $50 to kill anyone. They killed a young man just as he was being married to his fiancée in a church and freely machine-gunned peace-loving people who were having dinner in restaurants. There were also an average of 10-15 kidnappings per day and if loved ones did not pay the ransom that was demanded, their family member would have his ears or fingers amputated first and if there was still no payment, he or she would be killed and buried under the floor of the “safehouse” that served as their prison.
Twenty percent or 300,000 people left the city; 30% of the businesses closed. The cartels made lists of police officers and systematically assassinated them one by one to terrorize and exact concessions. The smell of blood filled the streets. Such overwhelming violence that the police and even the army could not control finally drove the pastors of the city’s churches together in prayer. They humbled themselves before the Lord, taking responsibility for the situation since they had been occupying themselves with their own congregations and “building their own kingdoms” without a real love and concern for the whole city. As they underwent this process together, God demonstrated His presence and the crime rate fell by 93% within 18 months. Even the United Nations cannot understand how this happened! Other wonderful transformations happened and as they “adopted” the “sicarios”, many of these vicious hit men came to Christ and were discipled to serve Him back in their own towns across Mexico. Gloria a Dios!
Poncho challenged us concerning our own state of New Mexico, which has a spike in violent crime and other social problems that the government and police are not being effective in fixing. How much do we ministry leaders really love the world? The church he said is just the instrument of God’s love for the world (John 3:16), not an end in itself. He told us that we spend too much time studying the Bible when God wants us to “be the Bible” to our needy city.
I think that all of us were impacted deeply by Poncho’s testimony and want to apply what we learned here in New Mexico. We as a group came up with several good follow-on steps that we plan to implement, reaching out to other ministry leaders and churches as we go to see such a transformational movement happen here. It will start with prayer, getting on God’s wavelength together, and then obeying Him to adopt not only the public officials and police but also other people groups and institutions of our society. The example of Juarez and the efforts of Poncho and the other believers there demonstrate vividly and dramatically that the Lord can transform even the most hopeless of situations, whether in cities or nations.
The attached video about the transformation of Juarez should encourage us all to begin a similar process where we live. The TransformOurWorld.org website has other videos and resources that can practically help us. Above all, get together with a few other brothers and sisters in Christ to begin adopting your hometown in ongoing prayer and those appropriate, loving actions God leads you to undertake together. You will be amazed at what happens!
Video link to Juarez transformation video:
https://transformourworld.org/2016/07/29/the-miracle-of-ciudad-juarez/
John Robb
IPC Chairman
An invitation of the Archbishop of Canterbury
29 Sep 2016
Thy Kingdom come 25 May – 4 June 2017
In 2016 the Archbishops of Canterbury and York invited parishes across England to join a great wave of prayer between Ascension and Pentecost.The response was overwhelming. Hundreds of thousands joined the wave of prayer in churches of many traditions and denominations around England and around the world. What began as invitation in England started to look like the beginnings of a global wave of prayer for people to know Jesus Christ.
For 2017 the vision is even bigger. The Presidents of Churches Together in England are joining with the Archbishop of Canterbury and York to make the call to churches of all denominations in England, and Archbishop Justin Welby is sending out the call to every part of the worldwide Anglican Communion, and the World Methodist Council to Methodist Churches worldwide.
The three aims are:
To join in prayer with the whole family of God the Father
To pray for the empowering of God the Holy Spirit
That we may be effective witnesses to God the Son, Jesus Christ.
As we look to 2017 there is a remarkable and beautiful desire across denominations and countries to share in this great work of prayer. The Presidents of Churches Together in England are committed. The Catholic Bishops’ Conference of England and Wales has committed to playing a full part. The Free Churches Group is actively encouraging all its member churches to get involved. Many of the Pentecostal churches and new churches will be participating, and several of the Eastern and Oriental Orthodox churches in the UK have signalled their support. Provinces across the Anglican Communion have been invited to join the wave of prayer, and the World Methodist Council is encouraging all Methodists to warmly receive and actively participate in it. We also hope there will be ‘Beacon events’ in many capital cities in Europe.
'Thy Kingdom Come 2017 Invite' for SOCIAL MEDIA with ENGLISH SUBTITLES from Frogspawn Creative Limited on Vimeo.
More information on the Thy Kingdom Come website
IS hostage Kayla Mueller's faith was so bold, so raw, so refreshing that 20/20 investigated her Christianity for an episode on the modern-day Stephen. A fellow-hostage (from Doctors without Borders) said, ‘She was always considerate of others, even though she herself was in a very difficult situation. She was always concerned for other prisoners. She never stopped caring for others.’ Kayla was kidnapped by IS in 2013. They told her parents she was alive in 2014, but then airstrikes hit. Her death was announced in 2015. Despite rape, torture and further unthinkable abuse, Mueller's fellow hostages say she refused to deny Christ and even witnessed to Islamic State executioner, Jihadi John. The 20/20 episode premièred last week and is available at