Displaying items by tag: Asia

Dear President Trump,

Thank you for taking the time to hear my plea for peace on the Korean Peninsula.

I was a US prisoner of the Kim Jong-il regime from December 2009 to February 2010. The sole reason why I entered North Korea via Hoeryung city on Dec. 25, 2009 was to call attention to human rights violations that have occurred against innocents in the region and to demand better conditions -- conducive to life -- for North Koreans.

On a personal level, I have been profoundly wounded and suffered loss on an incalculable and irretrievable scale as a result of these efforts to highlight the North Korean populace’s severe victimization and unjust suffering. Accordingly, I sincerely beg that whatever you decide to do in concert with South Korean authorities and the international community that none of the ordinary people of both North and South Korea will ever get hurt; Koreans have already endured and sacrificed far too much.

It’s been brought to my attention that persons who have advised you and are within your administration profess to be Christians. Please kindly be reminded that a large number of underground Christians are within North Korea. They are the most persecuted religious group in the world, according to multiple watchdogs of religious rights internationally. As I pray your team accepts upon deep reflection, it would be decidedly un-Christian to countenance indiscriminate killings of those who are among the people in the world who suffer the most.

As was recorded by a 2013 United Nations Commission of Inquiry, an estimated 200,000 to 400,000 “Christians still professing their religion secretly” despite “high risks” are in North Korea today.

Another ethical dilemma vis-a-vis military strikes would be that North Korea’s political prison camps -- where thousands of Christians are imprisoned and suffering grievously -- are near weapons of mass destruction facilities and test sites.

For instance, as was written in the above-cited UN report: “Political Prison Camp No. 16 covers about 560 square kilometres of rugged terrain in Myonggan, North Hamgyong Province. It is located in close proximity to the Punggye-ri nuclear test site. ... The GeoCoordinates for the central area of Camp 16 are 41.1849N 129.2032E.”

Furthermore, an estimated 10 million Korean families were heartbreakingly severed by the brutal realities engendered through Korea’s division. Fewer than 1 percent have been permitted to see or even hear from their missing or displaced loved ones to date. As the artificial border became fixed, whether Koreans discovered themselves in the North or the South amid the tumult and upheaval of the period was in innumerable cases but a question of chance.

The South’s President Moon Jae-in -- like a multitude of South Koreans, Korean-Americans and other Koreans worldwide -- has family in North Korea.

Therefore, it is my sincere and tearful prayer that you, Mr. President, would take into serious consideration these excruciatingly painful and unresolved tragedies, while honoring the moral imperative to determine a peaceful resolution vis-a-vis the security predicament.

We must remember Kim Jong-un disallows North Koreans all of the basic freedoms most of us take for granted. North Koreans of all classes and backgrounds are not permitted to read what they wish. Neither are they able to travel freely within their own territory. Going abroad is simply out of the question for the overwhelming majority. Punishments in retaliation for being caught with books such as the Bible, or accidentally speaking out of turn or appearing irreverent, for example, are draconian and routinely deadly. These are but a few of the reasons the whole area is often referred to as a single enormous prison.

High-level escapee Thae Yong-ho, who defected to the South last year with his immediate family, characterizes North Korea as a “gigantic slave society that exists only for the hereditary succession of the Kim family.” Although once among Kim Jong-un’s most entrusted -- having been Pyongyang’s diplomat in London for 10 years -- he bravely declared subsequent to escaping, “I am very determined to do everything possible to pull down the regime to save not only my family members but also the whole North Korean people from slavery.”

There are countless individuals -- even among North Korea’s elite and military -- who confidentially share Thae’s hunger and thirst for reform and transformation within the North today. I know this with certainty.

Here is my earnest, wholehearted and tearful plea to you, Mr. President: Please unconditionally preserve the lives of both North and South Korea’s general population. Under no circumstances -- if international laws, norms and principles professing to safeguard innocents’ most sacred right to life contain any substance -- can the loss of their lives be tolerated.

There is a thoroughly workable and peaceable solution to the North Korea crisis. It involves reaching out to the general populace of North Korea in sympathy and supporting their internal unseating of Kim Jong-un -- one individual. This procedure must be accompanied by the freeing of all political prisoners -- who are victims of crimes against humanity and possibly genocide -- which can be achieved via the mediation of those North Koreans who assume interim administrative responsibilities in the immediate aftermath of Kim’s indigenous and peaceful ouster.

Elite or senior-level defections are conspicuously rising. The South’s Ministry of Unification recently reported that this year, North Korean elites -- including party officials, diplomats, and university professors -- are defecting twice as often as in 2016. Numerous members of the North’s military have been defecting to the South as of late, as well. Countless more have died while attempting to flee.

In July, an elite-level family of five -- including a former North Korean party official, his wife, son and two daughters -- struggled courageously to defect to the South. They carried poison with them to kill themselves -- as an alternative to Kim Jong-un’s systematic cruelty -- if Chinese authorities forcibly repatriated them. Heartbreakingly, these refugees deserving of protection were apprehended en route. To avoid inhumanity and torture, all five members of this senior-level family committed suicide.

As Thae Yong-ho has emphasized, high-ranking North Koreans are in actual fact slaves and are suffering gravely also.

The overwhelming majority of North Koreans hope and yearn to be reunified with the South, to live in a gentler and more egalitarian society and to bid adieu to Kim Jong-un. Those who suggest otherwise, Mr. President, unfortunately retain an inaccurate assessment of the overall situation on the ground.

Accordingly, we must reach out to the North Korean people if a peaceable solution is veritably what we seek. The native and nonviolent ousting of Kim Jong-un is distinctly achievable.

I’ve been praying through an outpouring of tears and wholeheartedly plead for you and your administration to remember the acute suffering and unparalleled victimization of tens of millions of warm-hearted, gentle and benevolent North Koreans -- who deserve compassion and require grace -- and to please pursue a peaceable answer with regard to the security quandary.

Thank you once again for your time and attentiveness to the above concerns.

By Robert Park

Robert Park is a founding member of the nonpartisan Worldwide Coalition to Stop Genocide in North Korea, minister, musician and former prisoner of conscience. He can be reached at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. -- Ed.

North Korean Choi Kwanghyuk is one of the lucky ones.

The 55-year-old managed to escape from the work camp where he was sent after being targeted and persecuted by the government for his Christian faith.

“We couldn’t raise our voice during a service, we couldn’t sing out loud during a worship … that was hard,” Choi told Fox News through a translator. “Also, we had to hide so that other people could not see us.”

Despite having to hide his faith in plain sight while living in North Hamgyong province, Choi was still compelled to bring religion to others when he started an underground church.

“There were about nine people,” he said. “I couldn’t do mission work because we had to keep it secret that we had a church.”

“If that information had leaked, we could have faced the death penalty.”

The 55-year-old managed to escape from the work camp where he was sent after being targeted and persecuted by the government for his Christian faith.

“We couldn’t raise our voice during a service, we couldn’t sing out loud during a worship … that was hard,” Choi told Fox News through a translator. “Also, we had to hide so that other people could not see us.”

Despite having to hide his faith in plain sight while living in North Hamgyong province, Choi was still compelled to bring religion to others when he started an underground church.

“There were about nine people,” he said. “I couldn’t do mission work because we had to keep it secret that we had a church.”

“If that information had leaked, we could have faced the death penalty.”

“I never heard the term ‘underground church’ until I got here [to the U.S.].”

In 2008, North Korean authorities caught up to Choi and arrested him. He was held in prison by the state security department where he says he was interrogated about his faith.

“I was tortured there,” he said. “I kept denying it.”

He said that he was about to be sent to one of North Korea’s brutal labor camps when he was able to break free.

“I decided to escape because I thought that once they sent me to the other camp, they could eventually send me to the concentration camp or kill me,” Choi recalled. “I was traveling back and forth between China and North Korea, but they kept searching for me, and I knew it could put my friends in danger too, so I left.”

The North Korean gulag system is notorious for harsh conditions and brutal treatment of its prisoners.

Choi feared being sent to the most notorious camp within the system -- Camp 22.Also known as Hoeryong concentration camp, and part of a large system of prison camps throughout the Communist dictatorship, Camp 22 is an 87-square-mile penal colony located in North Hamgyong province where most of the prisoners are people accused of criticizing the government.

Inmates, most of whom are serving life sentences, face harsh and often lethal conditions. According to the testimony of a former guard from Camp 22, prisoners live in bunkhouses with 100 people per room and some 30 percent show the markings of torture and beatings -- torn ears, gouged eyes and faces covered with scars.

“Unfortunately, it is inexplicably easy to wind up in one of these camps. While someone can be sent to one of these camps for openly evangelizing, someone can just as easily be sent there for simply being in contact with a religious person,” said King of the International Christian Concern.

Prisoners are forced to stand on their toes in tanks filled with water up to their noses for 24 hours, stripped and hanged upside-down while being beaten or given the infamous "pigeon torture” -- where both hands are chained to a wall at a height of 2 feet, forcing them to crouch for hours at a time.

Tiny rations of watery corn porridge leave inmates on the brink of starvation, and many hunt rats, snakes and frogs for protein. Some even take the drastic measure of searching through animal dung for undigested seeds to eat. Beatings are handed out daily for offenses as simple as not bowing down in respect to the guards fast enough. Prisoners are used as practice targets during martial arts training. Guards routinely rape female inmates.

Choi said he finally escaped to neighboring China. While he was figuring out where to go next, he had heard how the general image of North Korean defectors was not positive among those in South Korea.

“So, I applied for asylum in the U.S.,” he told Fox News.

Choi, who was single when he lived in North Korea, was granted asylum in the U.S. in 2013. He first lived in Dallas before eventually moving to Los Angeles where he now lives.

Choi said that as a result of injuries he received while being tortured, he is unable to work but has committed himself to telling the world about the human rights abuses in his native land.

“First of all, every human must have the right to freedom,” he said. “There is no freedom in North Korea. By law, they have the freedom of religion and the freedom of the press, but the reality is very different.”

And despite the hardships he may face, Choi said that life in the U.S. is a vast improvement.

“There is an enormous difference between my life in North Korea and my life in the U.S,” he said.

“The life in North Korea is hell … life in America is heaven.”

Source: Fox News - http://www.foxnews.com/world/2017/10/25/north-korean-defector-describes-life-hell-for-christians.html

OPERATION BIBLE SMUGGLING: NORTH KOREA

Give thanks to Jesus for the growing Christian church in North Korea.

Pray: for the Bibles that are smuggled into North Korea to get into the hands, and hearts, of believers and seekers.

And we also thank God continually because, when you received the word of God, which you heard from us, you accepted it not as a human word, but as it actually is, the word of God, which is indeed at work in you who believe. (1 Thess 2:13)

On the nights when the winds are light and the skies are dark, hundreds of helium-filled balloons are sent up and away from multiple points in South Korea, destined a few miles away and into North Korea. Only these are no ordinary balloons — they are considered “Bible Balloons,” adorned with the Words of God printed in Korean or flash drives featuring the entire texts of the Testament.

It is one of the few creative — and inherently dangerous — ways Bibles are smuggled into the oppressive dictatorship in the hopes that impoverished North Koreans will know that they aren’t forgotten. Other activists, such as American pastor Eric Foley, have opted for a much larger hydrogen-fueled 40-foot balloon brimming with Bibles and testimonials. These are then dropped into rural areas with the help of GPS technology, in the hopes that even just one will be picked up.

Nonetheless, the regime is well aware of the biblical balloons — which have been at the center point of Bible smuggling since the 90’s — and if the endeavor to shoot them down fails, anyone spotted collecting the contents is immediately arrested….

Another smuggling method in is via the occasional — and lawbreaking — tourist. Although any visitors to the hermit kingdom are rigorously warned by external tour companies to take in absolutely no religious texts or symbols and refrain from any type of discussion on it that could be interpreted as proselytizing, some still take the risk. And pay the price.

Just ask Ohio native, Jeffrey Fowle. A devout Christian and father of three, the perpetually curious 58-year-old journeyed to North Korea on an organized tour in 2014, and was detained after deliberately concealing a Bible under a trash can in the men’s room of a Pyongyang nightclub. He had hoped the bootlegged Bible — which contained his name and family photographs — would make its way to someone in the underground Christian community.

Three years later, in May of this year, his release was finally secured by U.S officials.

Fowle is one of the lucky ones. Religious freedom is written into the country’s constitution, but the reality on the ground paints a much different picture. For the vast majority of trapped Christians inside the brutal dictatorship, the consequence is life in a labor camp or a public execution by firing squad. Their relatives too are often subject to callous retribution.

“The North Korean regime’s legitimacy and claim to power flow out of the idea that Kim Il Sung, Kim Jong Il and now Kim Jong Un are divine beings. North Korean children are taught to pray before a meal, ‘Thank you Father Kim Il Sung for our food,’….

Furthermore, Christian North Korean defectors in the border areas of South Korea broadcast gospels on an almost daily basis. Roughly 20 percent of the 25 million North Korean population own a radio — an illicit item — and many will risk their own lives to tune in.

“Radio, just as in the days of the Cold War, remains an incredibly useful tool to inject truth and the Gospel into North Korea,” said Jeff King, president of advocacy group International Christian Concern. “And we remain an ardent supporter of pushing Christian content into North Korea through radio and other means.”

But despite the harsh penalties that come with praising anyone of any belief system outside the Kims, there is a sense that an ascending number of North Koreans are turning to Christianity.

“The church is growing at a faster rate in North Korea than in South Korea, where the church has declined in membership every year since 1991,” Foley observed….

According to the prominent pastor, the uptick in the North is mainly due to the covert network of North Korean Christians, rather than religious advocates from the outside.

“The reason why is that the work of missionaries on the North Korea/China border is easily infiltrated and neutralized by North Korean state security agents, but the work of underground North Korean Christians has continued faithfully for more than three generations,” he explained. “They don’t smuggle large numbers of Bibles into North Korea, but instead, certain members of the underground church carry Bibles across the border one at a time, often in the form of MP3 players.”

These Christians are native North Koreans who are given permission to travel to China on relative visas or work visas. Some have established relationships with border guards who accept bribe money — and are under close and careful surveillance themselves — who turn a blind-eye to the illegal material being brought back in, while others have it carefully concealed from all….  

(Excerpted from Fox News , reporting by Hollie McKay.)
More: https://www.ifapray.org/blog/operation-bible-smuggling-how-christian-texts-infiltrate-north-korea/

• Pyongyang has warned that the 'entire US mainland is within our firing range'
• North Korean official threatened 'severe punishment' for US if it 'dares to invade'
• Country claims to be developing rocket capable of reaching the US East coast

North Korea has warned that nuclear war 'may break out any moment' amid claims it is developing a missile that can reach the East coast of the US.

Pyongyang said the 'entire US mainland is within our firing range' and threatened 'severe punishment' for America if it 'dares to invade out sacred territory'.

The chilling statement comes as a North Korean official claimed the secretive nation was building a rocket capable of travelling more than 6,000 miles.

The new missile would be capable of reaching 'all the way to the East coast' of the US, one of Kim Jong-un's officials claimed.

The official told CNN Pyongyang was not ruling out diplomacy, but that beforehand, 'we want to send a clear message that the DPRK has a reliable defensive and offensive capability to counter any aggression from the United States'.

It comes after North Korea's deputy UN ambassador warned yesterday that the situation on the Korean peninsula 'has reached the touch-and-go point and a nuclear war may break out any moment.'

Kim In Ryong told the U.N. General Assembly's disarmament committee that North Korea is the only country in the world that has been subjected to 'such an extreme and direct nuclear threat' from the United States since the 1970s - and said the country has the right to possess nuclear weapons in self-defense.

He pointed to large-scale military exercises every year using 'nuclear assets' and said what is more dangerous is what he called a US plan to stage a 'secret operation aimed at the removal of our supreme leadership.'

This year, Kim said, North Korea completed its 'state nuclear force and thus became the full-fledged nuclear power which possesses the delivery means of various ranges, including the atomic bomb, H-bomb and intercontinental ballistic rockets.'

'The entire US mainland is within our firing range and if the US dares to invade our sacred territory even an inch it will not escape our severe punishment in any part of the globe,' he warned.

Kim's speech follows escalating threats between North Korea and the United States, and increasingly tough UN sanctions.

Russian President Vladimir Putin said Monday that his country is curtailing economic, scientific and other ties with North Korea in line with UN sanctions, and the European Union announced new sanctions on Pyongyang for developing nuclear weapons and ballistic missiles.

U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said Sunday that diplomatic efforts aimed at resolving the North Korean crisis 'will continue until the first bomb drops.'

His commitment to diplomacy came despite President Donald Trump's tweets several weeks ago that his chief envoy was 'wasting his time' trying to negotiate with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, whom he derisively referred to as 'Little Rocket Man.'

North Korea's deputy UN ambassador called his country's nuclear and missile arsenal 'a precious strategic asset that cannot be reversed or bartered for anything.'

'Unless the hostile policy and the nuclear threat of the US is thoroughly eradicated, we will never put our nuclear weapons and ballistic rockets on the negotiating table under any circumstances,' Kim said.

He told the disarmament committee that the Democratic People's Republic of Korea - North Korea's official name - had hoped for a nuclear-free world.

Instead, Kim said, all nuclear states are accelerating the modernisation of their weapons and 'reviving a nuclear arms race reminiscent of (the) Cold War era.'

He noted that the nuclear weapon states, including the United States, boycotted negotiations for the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons that was approved in July by 122 countries at the United Nations.

'The DPRK consistently supports the total elimination of nuclear weapons and the efforts for denuclearisation of the entire world,' he said. But as long as the United States rejects the treaty and 'constantly threatens and blackmails the DPRK with nuclear weapons ... the DPRK is not in position to accede to the treaty.'

Source: Daily Mail UK - http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4987806/North-Korea-warns-nuclear-war-break-moment.html

UNITED NATIONS — North Korea’s deputy U.N. ambassador warned Monday that the situation on the Korean peninsula “has reached the touch-and-go point and a nuclear war may break out any moment.”

Kim In Ryong told the U.N. General Assembly’s disarmament committee that North Korea is the only country in the world that has been subjected to “such an extreme and direct nuclear threat” from the United States since the 1970s — and said the country has the right to possess nuclear weapons in self-defense.

He pointed to large-scale military exercises every year using “nuclear assets” and said what is more dangerous is what he called a U.S. plan to stage a “secret operation aimed at the removal of our supreme leadership.”

This year, Kim said, North Korea completed its “state nuclear force and thus became the full-fledged nuclear power which possesses the delivery means of various ranges, including the atomic bomb, H-bomb and intercontinental ballistic rockets.”

“The entire U.S. mainland is within our firing range and if the U.S. dares to invade our sacred territory even an inch it will not escape our severe punishment in any part of the globe,” he warned.

Kim’s speech follows escalating threats between North Korea and the United States, and increasingly tough U.N. sanctions.

Russian President Vladimir Putin said Monday that his country is curtailing economic, scientific and other ties with North Korea in line with U.N. sanctions, and the European Union announced new sanctions on Pyongyang for developing nuclear weapons and ballistic missiles.

U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said Sunday that diplomatic efforts aimed at resolving the North Korean crisis “will continue until the first bomb drops.” His commitment to diplomacy came despite President Donald Trump’s tweets several weeks ago that his chief envoy was “wasting his time” trying to negotiate with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, whom he derisively referred to as “Little Rocket Man.”

North Korea’s deputy U.N. ambassador called his country’s nuclear and missile arsenal “a precious strategic asset that cannot be reversed or bartered for anything.”

“Unless the hostile policy and the nuclear threat of the U.S. is thoroughly eradicated, we will never put our nuclear weapons and ballistic rockets on the negotiating table under any circumstances,” Kim said.

He told the disarmament committee that the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea — North Korea’s official name — had hoped for a nuclear-free world.

Instead, Kim said, all nuclear states are accelerating the modernization of their weapons and “reviving a nuclear arms race reminiscent of (the) Cold War era.” He noted that the nuclear weapon states, including the United States, boycotted negotiations for the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons that was approved in July by 122 countries at the United Nations.

“The DPRK consistently supports the total elimination of nuclear weapons and the efforts for denuclearization of the entire world,” he said. But as long as the United States rejects the treaty and “constantly threatens and blackmails the DPRK with nuclear weapons ... the DPRK is not in position to accede to the treaty.”

Source: Washington Post -https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/asia_pacific/north-korea-says-a-nuclear-war-may-break-out-any-moment/2017/10/16/1b4e879e-b2c5-11e7-9b93-b97043e57a22_story.html?utm_term=.e55cb5ae5990&wpisrc=nl_az_most&wpmk=1

A CHINESE academic with close links to officials inside the country's defence establishment has revealed that China is prepared to "go to war" with North Korea.

In a shocking bombshell interview, an academic with close ties to the Chinese government has warned war with North Korea was on the table.

Chong Sho-Hu, who is a professor of international relations at the Renmin University, in Beijing, said North Korea was "seeking death".

He also confirmed the long-lasting era of Chinese friendship with North Korea has ended.

Despite historic ties between the two countries, president Xi Jinping has reportedly become "fed up" with the erratic behaviour of the North Korean dictator Kim Jong-Un.

Speaking to the BBC, the professor warned that one more missile test would be the move "to push the country off the cliff".

President Jinping was said to be "boiling with fury" after North Korea recently tested a missile just as China was gearing up to host a pivotal global economic conference.

The former US ambassador to China Max Baucus recently claimed the only time he saw the Chinese leader use "undiplomatic language" was in relation to Kim Jong-Un.

Professor Sho-Hu, who has ties to China's defence and foreign affairs establishment, suggested that the time may have come for a military solution to the problem.

He said: "The Chinese government is mad, China’s top leader is mad. China wants to punish North Korea.

"China once had special relations with the Soviet Union but they had war with that country.

"They also had a very special relationship with Vietnam but then they had a war with them in 1979

"The relationship between China and North Korea is worse than both of those.

"I will say, there are no permanent friends and no permanent enemies."

The professor added: "North Korea is in an awkward situation. No country has ever encountered such tough sanctions before.

"If they do nothing, they will starve to death. If they do another ICBM test, they will seek to die.

"North Korea is standing on the edge of a deep cliff, one light blow could push this country of the cliff."

When asked whether this meant one more missile test could trigger war, the professor agreed.

This week the China's leader Xi Jinping outlined his plans to make China the most powerful nation in the world.

In a three and a half hour speech at the Chinese Communist Party Congress, he said he would build the biggest army in the world, but wanted to avoid a conflict with US President Donald Trump over North Korea.

But, speaking of the People's Liberation Army, he said: “A military is built to fight.”

He told delegates: “By 2050 China will become a global leader in terms of comprehensive national strength and international influence with the rule of law, innovative companies, a clean environment, an expanding middle class, adequate public transportation and reduced disparities between urban and rural areas.

“Chinese people will enjoy greater happiness and well-being, and the Chinese nation will stand taller and firmer in the world.

“China is approaching the centre of the world stage.”

A cyber security expert told Express.co.uk China could strike the US by pretending to be North Korea.

Matt Morris, vice president of NexDefense, said hackers knew the digital footprints of other states and were mimicking them to use as a decoy.

CIA chief Mike Pompeo said on Thursday that North Korea could be only “months” away from gaining the ability to hit the United States with nuclear weapons.

US President Donald Trump is expected to try and pressure the Chinese president when they meet next month.

The White House want China to do more to rein in North Korea, following the president's consolidation of power at the Communist Party Congress.

More: http://www.express.co.uk/news/world/869329/North-Korea-latest-Chinese-military-expert-Beijing-offensive-Kim-Jong-Un

Greetings to you from Chiang Mai, Thailand! We trust you are doing well and enjoying the presence of God in life and ministry.

The Organizing Committee of the upcoming Abandoned Devotion Conference in Chiang Mai is looking forward to a powerful time together from January 15-19, 2018.

More information and register here: https://www.svm2.net/special-events/adconference/

There are great shifts taking place globally in the mission movement. One of these is the priority of the Holy Spirit that effective ministry flows out of who we are becoming spiritually. We will consider together some of the important dynamics and implications of this important truth in cross-cultural mission.

We invite you to help advocate for this timely and important conference in your networks and spheres of influence. There are several ways to do so:

1. Plan to personally join the conference and bring a group from your organization/ church/ local ministry
2. Send the attached conference flyer to your organization/ association/ network constituencies
3. Make Facebook posts on your organization/ church/ local ministry page linking to the conference webpage here.

Join us in praying for all the preparations of the conference and those participating. May this conference be used of the Lord to take His church further in effectively partnering with Jesus in His Great Commission.

Thank you for spreading the word about this conference…

Ryan Shaw
SVM2 International Lead Facilitator

IPC’s good friend Charles Huang has sent us this prayer briefing to encourage us to pray for Taiwan.

I recently came back from attending ‘Yeshua153’ in Taiwan in which 1,750 people prayed and worshiped in front of the Presidential Palace of Taipei, Taiwan (R.O.C.) and then went on a 3 days 2 nights cruise (counter-clock direction for prophetic breakthroughs) around Taiwan interceding and praying for Taiwan.  The first day we had more than 300 shofar blowers on Rosh Hashannah/ Jewish New Year/ Feast of Trumpet blowing Shofar in front of the Presidential palace and then later on got on the big cruise ship and sailed southward and then to an island territory west of Taiwan called Pon-Hu Island (a province of Taiwan) where the governor is a born-again Christian who welcomed Jesus into his land as King.

We had parade, praise & worship on the island and then continued the travel around Taiwan till we returned back to the port in northern Taiwan.

See the following link for 12 minutes YouTube from the GoodNews Christian TV of Taiwan http://goodtvnews.goodtv.tv/goodtvnews/2017video53/

Mainland China: official name is PROC (People’s Republic of China).

TAIWAN: official name is ROC (Republic of China) and called by the Dutch as “Formosa” (beautiful island).

Similar to North and South Korea, East and West Germany.  One is controlled by one communist party in China but Taiwan has multiple political parties and is a democracy.

Christian population in mainland China according to estimate is: 10%.
Communism is based on atheism and mainland Chinese churches have been growing in spite of persecutions and governmental restrictions in the past.

Christian population In Taiwan is about 6.53% with Han Chinese and other ethnic groups and more than 90% of the indigeneous people/ or the Natives of Taiwan are born-again Christians.

There are now more than 50 mega-churches in Taiwan with more than 1,000 members each.

The churches in Taiwan have become more influential than before and the GoodNewsTV station has become blessings to the churches Taiwan, Hong Kong, Macao, and even many people in mainland China are listening and watching the television broadcasts.  So Taiwan’s many Christians are blessings mainland China.

Christian influences in China

The founding father of ROC (founded in 1911 after overthrowing the Chin清 Dynasty) Dr. Sun Yat Sen was a Christian medical doctor.  He along with some of his revolutionary members were Christians. Dr. Sun even openly preached sermons.  After him, the first President after him Ching Kai Shek was a Christian who had converted from Budhism because of his Christian wife.   The most influential person was a pastor in China by the name of Charlie Song who had 2 daughters (both married to the founding father and the 1st President of Republic of China).

Pray for Taiwan Video

Taiwan is a key: many missionaries have to go there to receive language training.
Recently hosted International University Students Sports events on the island in Taipei with 135 nations.
Many pastors and churches love Israel and go to Israel yearly for the feasts.
There are 2 Jewish synagogues in Taiwan.
There is a Holocaust museum in southern Taiwan built by a Taiwanese Native pastor.

Christianity first spread to China around 唐(Tang) dynasty (year 635) at the time through Nestorianism from Persia.  During the Han dynasty there was already a Silk Road that crossed to the west. There was communications between the Chinese and Indians, Persians, Jewish people, and the Romans.  Protestants mission began in the early 19th century, 200 years after the Catholics.  1624-1662 Holland occupied Taiwan and began to send missionaries there in 1626 and many many converts (mainly Natives) and established schools.  From 1807 Robert Morrison from England went to China for 27 years and built a firm foundation for Christianity in China.
Later, London Mission Society sent William Milne (England), Walter Medhurst (England).
Elijah Bridgman (1801~1961) was the 1st American Missionary sent to China in 1830 inspired by Robert Morrison.  

According to an older Taiwanese-American Pastor who lives in California and has ministered to believers and leaders both in Taiwan and mainland China:“China during the Dynasties of 夏商&周 was actually a God-fearing nation so it was called “God’s Country” and so there was a heavenly altar in Peking, the altar there did not have any idols but only worship of the true God in heaven.  It was not until after the Communists took over, Marxism came into the country.  Then, in 1949 all the missionaries were kicked out of the country, closed down the churches.  It was in the 1950s all the churches were closed down and all the ministers were asked to leave, no Bibles, no Hymns and the population of Christians was about 700,000 and grew to about 100 times now to at least 70 million~ 100 million.  Also, more people in China not only the countryside but many intellectuals went outside the country to study approximately 1/10 of all the people believes in Jesus and some already returned to the universities and in the future some will be working in the government playing important roles and University as professors. Now there are a lot of businessmen all who have become Christians. So, not only country side, there are city churches, and churches for the intellectuals.  China is becoming a mission church, later there will be the most missionaries coming from China.  Even through “One Belt, One Road” from the ocean, ground, bringing the gospel back to Jerusalem.   China will become the nation sending the most missionaries in the world. God is with China and Chinese people will become the blessings for all the nations.

Chinese people, the yellow race will become blessings to the world.

Even though there is more governmental restrictions coming from the Communist government of China but it will result in the church being purified and remove all the drosses and impurities.

So every Christian in China knows that they need to pay a price to be a believer and not just be a Christian which will harm the church and not benefit.  To be serious about being a Christian.”

Shalom,

Charles Huang

Rescue me, O LORD, from evil men; protect me from men of violence, Ps 140:1

Former Prime Minister NAWAZ SHARIF is tearing the country apart. The SupremeCourt wants to bring him and three of his adult children who they feel are guilty back into court.  His wife is in London undergoing cancer surgery; she was planning to run in his place.  Perhaps because of this development, Nawaz has himself returned and forced his way back to being the head of his party.  He wants them to overturn the rules and make it possible for him to once again return to power.

The outcome is that several of the fanatic groups are using this opportunity to rise up.

PRAY- for peace.    Pray that fanatics do not get an opportunity.

VISAS – HOPE – With the new government, some feel there is hope that visas
may be granted.  Thanks for praying.  Please continue to.

Pray for a better a RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN PAKISTAN AND AMERICA.

America has accused Pakistan of not doing enough to take out the terrorists.  Pakistan says they have been hurt more by terrorists than any other country.  They have lost more militarypersonnel through this war than anyone else.  Even today the Pakistani papers report terrorists killing military (particularly leaders and intelligence personnel), police, and government leaders, especially those who speak out against them.  

On the other side, the government tells of almost daily exploits of taking out terrorist leaders.  It is like an unending war that the evil one is leading to destroy people.

PRAY  People are very tired and afraid of this. Pray for PEACE just PEACE and for
God’s judgment on the ungodly.

PRAISE – Pakistan’s rescue of the American/Canadian family seems to have
opened American eyes to the fact that Pakistan is trying.

PRAISE - Talks are beginning in the next couple of days between American and
Pakistani civil and military officials in the US capital on counterterrorism.

PRAISE - US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson meets in Islamabad on the 24th for
talks on rebuilding ties between the two countries.

PRAISE - In December Defense Secretary James Mattis will travel to Pakistan to
continue the reconciliation process that began with Prime MinistrShahid Abbasi
and US Vice President Mike Pence.

PRAY for these important meetings.  To defeat terrorism, each country needs the
other.

PRAY for the plans of a prayer team that will be going into Pakistan the beginning of next year.

P4Pak

UN ambassador Nikki Haley takes the "outlaw" regime to task.

October 20, 2017
Joseph Klein

Last July, Major General Mohammad Bagheri, the Iranian Revolutionary Guards (IRGC) military commander and chief of staff of Iran's armed forces, warned that "putting the Revolutionary Guard in the terrorist lists with terrorist groups can be very costly to the United States and its military bases and forces in the region." IRGC commander Mohammad Ali Jafari said on October 8th that "if the news is correct about the stupidity of the American government in considering the Revolutionary Guards a terrorist group, then the Revolutionary Guards will consider the American army to be like Islamic State all around the world." The next day the Iranian regime warned of a "crushing" response if the United States were to designate the IRGC as a terrorist organization. President Trump has called the Iranian regime's bluff with his announcement last week that he would do just that.

Designating the IRGC as a terrorist organization and imposing new sanctions for its aggressive actions in the region is not a restoration of the sanctions lifted by the Obama administration as part of its disastrous nuclear deal with Iran. If Iran insists it can do what it wants militarily in terms of missile launches, support of terrorist groups such as Hezbollah and Hamas, and arms transfers without violating the nuclear deal, then the United States can certainly act to curb such activities through financial pressure. The U.S. can impose sanctions against the Iranian regime's principal instrument for projecting aggressive, destabilizing force outside of its borders without violating the nuclear deal. The Iranian regime does not see it that way, however.

With the lifting of the nuclear-related sanctions making available billions of dollars to Iran's leaders to further finance the IRGC's exploits in Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, Yemen and elsewhere, the regime is furious that the Trump administration is tightening the financial screws again, even if for reasons not directly related to Iran's compliance with the terms of the nuclear deal. Thus, it is threatening U.S. forces and bases in the region. A couple of seemingly unrelated events this past week point to Iran's positioning itself for more aggressive military actions that could place U.S. forces in harm's way.

On Tuesday, Major General Bagheri landed in Damascus for talks with Syrian President Bashar Assad and senior Syrian officials, including the defense minister and the chief of staff of the Syrian armed forces. Bagheri is quoted as saying that his visit's purpose was to "put a joint strategy on continuing co-ordination and co-operation at the military level." Some experts on Iran believe that Bagheri's visit to Damascus at this time is intended to reinforce a message that Iran will continue to supply weaponry to Syria and to reinforce the presence of its terrorist proxy Hezbollah in Syria. This will not only serve to bolster the Assad regime, but it also will strengthen Iran's ability to follow through on its threats to the U.S. and its allies, principally Israel.

Meanwhile, following the departure of the Kurds from Kirkuk, Iraq earlier this week, the IRGC's operational Al Qods arm reportedly established a command center and five bases there. According to Debkafile, this constitutes "the first military facility Iran has ever established openly in Iraq." The Kirkuk region holds 45 percent of Iraqi's oil. The Iraqi branch of Iran's terrorist proxy Hezbollah has vowed that once ISIS is defeated it will start killing Americans, as it has done before.

It is against this backdrop that U.S. ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley used her entire speech to the UN Security Council on Wednesday to denounce the Iranian regime on multiple grounds. The session was supposed to be devoted to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, but Ambassador Haley departed from the monthly ritual during which Israel is normally singled out for criticism by other Council members. She went after Iran instead. She explained why the Trump administration decided to take "a comprehensive approach to confronting the Iranian regime," which does not give the regime a get out of jail free card even if it is in technical compliance with the loophole-ridden nuclear deal agreed to by the Obama administration.

"We can't talk about stability in the Middle East without talking about Iran," Ambassador Haley said. "That's because nearly every threat to peace and security in the Middle East is connected to Iran's outlaw behavior. The United States has now embarked on a course that attempts to address all aspects of Iran's destructive conduct, not just one aspect. It's critical that the international community do the same. Judging Iran by the narrow confines of the nuclear deal misses the true nature of the threat. Iran must be judged in totality of its aggressive, destabilizing, and unlawful behavior. To do otherwise would be foolish."

Ambassador Haley accused the Iranian regime of continuing to "play" the Security Council. "Iran hides behind its assertion of technical compliance with the nuclear deal while it brazenly violates the other limits on its behavior. And we have allowed them to get away with it. This must stop."

Ambassador Haley proceeded to list various violations by the Iranian regime of Security Council resolutions pertaining to the transfer of conventional weapons from Iran and the arming of terrorist groups, including the Houthi rebels in Yemen and Hezbollah. She also pointed to what she called the Iranian regime's "most threatening act" – its launch of ballistic missiles capable of carrying nuclear weapons. "When a rogue regime starts down the path of ballistic missiles, it tells us that we will soon have another North Korea on our hands," Ambassador Haley said. "If it is wrong for North Korea to do this, why doesn't that same mentality apply to Iran? "

As for the Iran's supposed technical compliance with its commitments under the nuclear deal itself, known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), the UN's international inspectors are not able to visit Iran's military sites. Past work on nuclear explosive trigger devices appears to have taken place at one or more such sites in the past. International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Director General Yukiya Amano admitted last month that when it comes to the IAEA's capacity to check whether Iran was conducting work on a nuclear explosive device, his agency's "tools are limited." The Iranian regime has also attempted to skirt the restrictions in the JCPOA on its procurement of materials, equipment, goods and technology related to Iran's nuclear activities. The Heritage Foundation noted in its recent report on the JCPOA, for example, that Iran was "caught red-handed trying to purchase nuclear technology and restricted ballistic missile technology from German companies."

U.S. intelligence had discovered North Korea's transfer of missile parts to Iran at the very same time that Iran was negotiating the nuclear deal, in clear violation of UN Security Council resolutions then in effect. The Obama administration chose to look the other way. Does anybody with a modicum of sense really believe that such collaboration between the two rogue nations is not going on today? Iran is flush with cash, thanks to the JCPOA. It wants to build out its missile and nuclear enrichment capabilities. In addition to covert transfers of materials and technology to Iran in violation of the nuclear deal, the JCPOA may provide a loophole for Iran to exploit in outsourcing some of the development work to North Korea for hard currency, which North Korea desperately needs. They are a perfect match for each other.

Proponents of the JCPOA argue that exiting the nuclear deal unless it is changed to the Trump administration's satisfaction would undermine U.S. credibility with North Korea and thereby kill any chance of negotiations to resolve the crisis caused by North Korea's continued testing of sophisticated nuclear arms and ballistic missiles. "If we want to talk to North Korea now, the possible end for the nuclear deal with Iran would jeopardize the credibility of such treaties," Reuters quoted German Foreign Minister Sigmar Gabriel as saying. Germany is one of the parties to the JCPOA. Other European allies have voiced similar concerns. So have Obama's former Secretaries of State Hillary Clinton and John Kerry.

This argument is absurd on its face. The whole point is to prevent Iran from becoming the next North Korea, not to kick the can down the road as usual. North Korea's aggressive pursuit of nuclear weapons and of intercontinental ballistic missiles equipped with nuclear warheads proves that weak agreements full of front-loaded goodies rewarding rogue regimes for elusive promises are worthless.

More at: https://www.horowitzfreedomcenter.org/