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An interim petition calling for religious freedom in North Korea has over 20,000 signatures from the UK. Release International presented the petition to the North Korean embassy in London last week demanding freedom of worship to Christians, who face regular harassment and imprisoned for owning a Bible. Recent reports by human rights organisations accuse North Korea of putting 180,000 people into forced labour. There are reports that Christians face torture, starvation and execution in political prison camps. Release International support North Korean Christians who have fled their country by providing safe houses, pastoral support and health care. Those who’ve escaped describe these camps as 'hell on Earth’. Some risk being shot by border guards as they try to flee the country. Signatures are still being collected and the final petition to the North Korean embassy will be presented at the end of the campaign. See www.releaseinternational.org/petition
Pray: for millions to speak up for those who cannot speak for themselves and for their voices to be heard and acted upon. (Pr.31:8,9)
More: http://www.releaseinternational.org/pages/take-action/prisoners-of-faith.php
North Korea has executed 80 people by firing squad for minor misdemeanours, the South Korean newspaper JoongAng Ilbo reported. The wrongdoings include watching television programmes from South Korea or possessing a Bible. The article says the coordinated executions were held in seven cities earlier in November. In Wonsan the local government gathered up 10,000 people, including children, and forced them to watch people tied to stakes being machine gunned to death. Relatives and friends of the victims were also reportedly sent to prison camps. They were executed in Wonsan, Chongjin, Sariwon and Pyongsong, but none in Pyongyang, the capital. Most were charged with watching or illegally trafficking South Korean videos, prostitution, or possessing a Bible. Simultaneous executions across the country could suggest an extreme measure by Mr Kim’s regime to quell public unrest. The common theme of the persecution was crimes related to South Korea or corruption of public morals.
Pray: for democracy to reach the most undemocratic and totalitarian state in existence. Pray for justice where the world's worst human rights crimes are committed. (2Thes.2:8)
More: http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2013/nov/12/80-people-publicly-executed-across-n-korea-films-b/
The letters Open Doors is receiving from North Korean secret church leaders paint a very grey image. Imagine yourself a Christian believer living in a barren land that is silent; no church, no freedom to share your faith, no Bible, and no contact with other Christians. Alone! Is God still here? Does He hear my cries? Why is God silent? Has He forgotten us?’ North Korean Christians deal with this reality.’ Open Doors helps Christians with their most basic needs to keep alive, and are asking Christians around the world to pray for these secret believers and for our co-workers ministering to them in the coming week of intercession. Pray: for North Korean Christians as they trust every promise of God to be their shield and refuge. (Pr.30:5) More: http://www.opendoorsusa.org/pray/North-Korea-Freedom-Week
North Korea has executed three leaders of the underground church and jailed 20 other Christians, reports a news agency focused on Asia.Although the execution and imprisonment happened in mid-May, news only got out this month. According to AsiaNews, North Korean police raided a house in Kuwal-dong in Pyungsung county, Pyongan province, and arrested all 23 believers who were gathered there for religious activity. The leaders were sentenced to death and soon after executed. The other 20 were reportedly sent to the infamous prison labour camp No 15 in Yodok. The 23 Christians had come to faith after some of them travelled to China on business and met with church members there. North Korea Intellectual Solidarity, a group of North Korean defectors based in Seoul that seeks to raise awareness about injustice in North Korea, confirmed the events. Pray: for the estimated 400,000 Christians in North Korea who live under the constant threat of imprisonment, torture or public execution if authorities discover their Christian faith. may they have opportunities to meet together and provide encouragement to one another. (PS.62:2) More: http://www.christiantoday.com/article/north.korea.executes.underground.church.leaders/26540.htm
North Korea is considered the world's most repressive nation. Christians are seen as refusing to accept the supreme authority of the late Kim Il Sung, North Korea's first leader, and his son, Kim Jong Il. Please pray for Christians in North Korea who can be killed simply for owning a Bible. All Christian meetings, Christian literature and Bibles are banned so believers are forced to meet in secret. Ask God to protect North Korea's underground church and raise up strong leaders. Many Christians have been sent to death camps as political prisoners and subjected to brutal treatment in appalling conditions. Please pray for Christians in detention asking God to help them to endure and share Christ's love with their fellow inmates. Before the Communists came to power, there were 300,000 Christians in North Korea and the capital Pyongyang was known as 'Asia's Jerusalem'.
Pray: for revival to break out once again in the so-called 'hermit kingdom'. (Eph.2:22)
More: http://www.releaseinternational.org/javascript/prayers.htm
Praise God for Christian outreach in difficult environments. God is calling people supernaturally and releasing Christian workers to visit, counsel, encourage and disciple new believers. We have been asked to pray into the problem of finding suitable wives for new believers. There are situations where husbands come through but the wife is not yet believing. Thank God for open doors to minority sects of Islam, one is the Yezhide, who worship the ‘peacock god’ believed to be a fallen angel. Pray for Christian outreach groups to be established in their midst. Another Islamic sect believe in the Psalms and there is speculation they were formerly Jews. They are very open and there are believers in their midst, but they are very persecuted by majority Muslims. Hundreds of this tribe have been murdered by terrorists and there are many orphans and widows. Pray: for more believers with a burden to help these new believers, and for the protection of those who face persecution and loss in Iraq and Kurdistan. (Ps.112:4)
Sudan and South Sudan continue to try to negotiate their common border with the help of the UN. The struggle remains over oil resources and pipelines where there is continual border fighting. Refugees who fled Sudan after South Sudan's independence live in dire conditions. Their situation worsens as the rains have started. More than 20,000 Sudanese refugees need to be relocated from the waterlogged and overcrowded refugee camps in South Sudan's Upper Nile. Living conditions, massive influxes of people and lack of potable water have made some camps unlivable. One refugee camp has reached its maximum capacity of 34,500 refugees. We are asked to pray for the basic needs of these refugees to be met, (water, food and sanitation). Pray for the young, old, and frail–the most vulnerable. Ask the Lord to defend the weak and the fatherless and uphold the cause of the poor and the oppressed.
Pray: for the negotiators to find a peaceful way forward in the face of extreme hostilities. For justice and righteousness to prevail and protection for those living in this area. (Pr. 11:6 & , Ps.82:2-3)
North Africa and the Arabian Peninsula need our prayer now perhaps more than at any other time. God could do more than we imagine or expect if Christians across the world begin praying specifically for the areas of unrest to be healed and restored by His Holy Spirit. The Wall of Communism collapsed because people were praying. In the Arabian Peninsula increased spiritual awareness was noticed as a result of the prayer movement of the 90’s known as Praying through the Window. Today we see the chains of Islam binding over a billion people in a political and religious system denying people the chance to hear the gospel of hope for a lost world. This can be changed through prayer. Pray: for many Christians to hear God’s call during Lent to pray in faith for those who do not believe in the death and resurrection of Jesus. (Hab.2:14)
Attacks on non-Muslim villages gained momentum in the run-up to the elections, in an effort to disenfranchise non-Muslim communities. Following a warning from ‘Federation of Islamic Council from the 36 states of the Federation’ saying it would bomb polling booths, political party offices and vehicles unless ‘Christian commoners, ordinary people resident in the North East, North West, and North Central’ left immediately a bomb injured 6 and killed 1 at a polling station. Nigeria began the first of three crucial April elections on Saturday and dozens were killed in separate attacks. 25 killed and 200 injured in an explosion at the offices of the Independent National Electoral Commission. 8 killed and 56 injured when gunmen stormed a police station as election materials were being sorted. The Secretary of the People’s Democratic Party was shot. Attacks by 1,000 armed Fulani men on non-Muslim areas resulted in 10 dead, a village destroyed and some elderly people reported burnt to death in their homes. Pray: for Christians to be protected from physical attack and fear, for the Nigerian government to step up security and peacefully turn back the militants from northern states. (Job 5:20,22)
On Tuesday fifty-five people were killed, a police station, military barracks and government buildings were burned to the ground and 105 prisoners were freed in a pre-dawn raid in Bama, Borno state. Extremist attacks are common in the region but the scale of bloodshed makes this raid stand out. This strike - coming on the back of other deadly attacks - undermines the suggestion that the military operation against the militants has diminished the threat they pose. President Goodluck Jonathan has set up a committee to agree the terms of an am nesty for the rebels but Boko Haram's leader, Abubakar Shekau, has so far rejected the idea. Some of the attackers wore army uniforms for the five hour assault. The army says it was the work of Boko Haram - sending out the defiant message that it cannot be defeated by the state security forces. There are reports that the militants have acquired more powerful weapons. President Goodluck Jonathan has put his faith in the power of God for his country.
Pray: ‘God arise and scatter your enemies.’ Pray for the Islamist militants to accept an amnesty. (Ps.37:10,11)
More: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-22444417