No weapon forged against you will prevail, and you will refute every tongue that accuses you. This is the heritage of the servants of the Lord, and this is their vindication from me,” declares the Lord.  Is 54:17

In this edition of IPC Connections, we are once again highlighting the extremely volatile situation on the Korean Peninsula, that needs our prayers.  

Last month, we prayed about the potential of military options, which could cause many deaths. There is still the danger of provocative actions which we continue to pray against.  We also highlighted the significant relationship with China, who has the power and influence to broker a peaceful resolution to the crisis.  

Since then, an interview (reported here) with an academic with close relations to the Chinese government has warned that a war between China and North Korea was 'on the table'.  Chong Sho-Hu, a professor from Renmin University, Beijing said that the relationship with North Korea was now worse than it had been with both the Soviet Union and Vietnam at the time of the wars with those countries in the past.

In his words: "North Korea is standing on the edge of a deep cliff, one light blow could push this country off the cliff."   When asked whether this meant one more missile test could trigger war, the professor agreed.

Let's pray for continued peace and a 'breakthrough intervention' in the relationship between China and North Korea that will open the door for a U-turn and for positive de-nuclearization negotiations.

We also report in this edition on the real threat that the continued development of intercontinental ballistic rockets by North Korea's regime is creating. 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.” A UK Daily Mail article also included in this month's edition quotes North Korean official's ambitions - both defensive and offensive capability that will hold the whole of the United States within it's range.  

As I have been writing this, a notification has arrived of an un-confirmed tunnel collapse in September at the North Korean nuclear test site that resulted in 200 deaths of 100 workers and a further 100 rescuers who were killed in a second collapse.  Whilst any loss of life is regrettable, there is no doubt that such an incident will have hampered the efforts of the regime in their attempts to develop these nuclear weapons.  http://www.reuters.com/article/us-northkorea-missiles-tunnel/tunnel-collapse-may-have-killed-200-after-north-korea-nuclear-test-japanese-broadcaster-idUSKBN1D018L?il=0

Pray on for the nuclear ambitions of North Korea to be thwarted. (Is 54:17) Let's also pray into the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons and other United Nations efforts to restrict and reduce the development of nuclear arsenals globally.

Many Christians are suffering in North Korea for their faith.  Choi Kwanghyuk (55) escaped a work camp where he was sent after being targeted and persecuted by the government for his Christian faith. Read about his harrowing experiences below.

Robert Park, a US prisoner of the Kim Jong-il regime from December 2009 to February 2010 estimates that there are up to 400,000 believers worshipping secretly in North Korea.  He reminds us of the fact that thousands of the imprisoned Christians are in prison camps that are located close to military targets such as weapons facilities and test sites.  Read Robert's moving plea for a workable and peaceable solution addressed to the Korean President below.

Pray on for those being persecuted, raped, beaten, tortured for their faith. (Matt 5:11-12).  Pray for their release and an end to the oppression of believers of all faiths.  Pray for a solution to the crisis that does not endanger lives, either side of the border.  

On a more positive note, let’s be thankful for news of a growing Christian Church in North Korea, reported in this month's edition and for the innovative means being used to make the word of God available to them, through 'Bible Balloons containing text from the Bible or flash drives containing the whole Bible - Praise God!

Pray for the continuing efforts to encourage, equip and educate new believers in North Korea and for those who are taking great risks both in these efforts from South Korea and those who are nurturing God's people within North Korea.  Pray for one, united Korea.

May God bless and encourage you all as you join us in praying both for Korea and these other important global matters.

In His service,

John Robb, IPC Chairman

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

The Welcoming the King of Glory conference in Jerusalem/Israel was a unique historic event.

Below is an article published by a Jewish believer from Israel. If you are interested to see some images and videos please visit my FB page at: https://www.facebook.com/ioan.peia.7

Welcoming the king of glory - ground-breaking sukkot conference

Joni Koski

Conference speaker Benjamin Berger, said that of all the many great conferences he has attended since his 1971 aliya, this year's Sukkot – Welcoming the King of Glory conference was the most significant.

For the first time it was initiated by local Messianic leaders - and led by Avi Mizrachi. Other speakers included EitanShishkoff, Asher Intrater, and Reuven Berger.

The conference was marked by both great local unity and the purposeful alignment of visiting nations to Israel.

Visitors came from the ends-of-the-earth and most notably the Pacific Islands, presenting themselves before some local leaders with gifts and colorful song and dance.

When one of the Pacific Islanders was offered Asher's new Alignment book for free, he was reminded that on his way to the conference God had told him to go back home and bring his plumb line. On receiving the book, he understood the prophetic meaning of the plumb line in its alignment function.

Poignantly, at the climax of the Solomon Island's presentation, one man with an existing heart condition tragically died. Their leader, Father Michael, had actually warned the group that this might happen in the tangible presence of God, and the conference was filled with the fear of the Lord.

For Revive Israel's Ariel Blumenthal, assistant MC, the highlight was when a group from Africa came and opened their hearts about the poverty and failure of Africa, tracing it back to Ham and the curse of his father Noah. In response, descendants of Noah's other sons, Shem and Japeth, got together and in faith reversed that curse of Ham.

The conference, unwelcome in Jerusalem's Kosher hotels, took place in a basketball arena in the largely Israel-friendly, Muslim town of Abu Ghosh, just outside Jerusalem – where Obed Edom looked after the Ark of the Covenant for three months (2 Sam 6:11). While the first rains fell after Israel's long, hot summer, the conference highlighted clear prophetic parallels between bringing the ark back to Jerusalem and preparing the way for Yeshua's return.

Shalom
Ioan Peia

A second report from Martin and Norma Sarvis:

“My bow I set in the clouds, so that it may serveas a sign of the covenant between me and the earth.”(Genesis 9:13; See Torah section below)

1. “WELCOMING THE KING OF GLORY”

This season of the Fall Feasts in Israel, beginning with the Feast of Trumpets on September 20th and ending with Simchat Torah, at the close of Tabernacles on October 12th, saw what may well have been the largest inpouring of believing visitors from the Nations in Israel’s 69-year modern history.  And there were many wonderful events within which the visitors could celebrate the feasts corporately—the All Nations Convocation in southern Jerusalem from Rosh Hashanah to Yom Kippur, the Feast of Tabernacles gathering sponsored by the Christian Embassy in Jerusalem, to name only two.  SuccatHallel—the 24/7 house of prayer and praise of which we are a part, and other houses of prayer across the city saw an almost continuous stream of visitors come to worship the King of Kings in Jerusalem. So much blessing was released into the city through the presence of our visitors.

Last week we wrote of a very special and unusual event scheduled to take place during the last half of Succot, the “Welcoming the King of Glory” gathering.  We are so grateful for the prayers which went up on its behalf from around the world.  Thank you!  This amazing event is unlike anything we have ever experienced in Israel.  It began Tuesday night and was over early afternoon on Friday.  We plan to share more in the future; we are still trying to process what took place.  But something divine and historical has occurred.

As mentioned last week, at the initiative of our brothers in the islands and far reaches of the South Pacific, a number of Messianic and Believing Arab leaders in Israel took up the challenge to host a gathering in Israel inviting the Nations to join us in welcoming God’s glory back to His land and people. They have been praying regularly about this.  We are reminded of Exodus 25, where the LORD invited the children of Israel, “every one whose heart moves him” to take part in preparing a place for Him to come and sho’ken—dwell among them, in their midst.  This year, a number who heard the call and “whose hearts moved them” responded, and over the months a unity and focus and longing grew amongst them.  Last Monday a delegation of Israelis and visitors travelled to the port of Jaffa, from which the Holy Spirit was released through Peter to Cornelius in Caesarea (Acts 10:23)—and from thence to the nations.  There they did a number of prophetic acts, welcoming the return from the furthest reaches of the world to Israel and Jerusalem. The opening meeting the next evening took place in an Arab village west of Jerusalem called Abu Goash.  For months we had been searching for a venue—but even after reserving places in a hotel, once it was discovered that Israeli Messianic Jews would be involved, the welcome was withdrawn from fear of repercussions from the Orthodox (There was literally “no place in the inn”).

Finally, the Lord in a remarkable way, opened a community arena in Abu Goash, just west of Jerusalem.  In fact, the welcome came from the city fathers and the Mayor.  Abu Goash is the only Arab town on the road from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem which refused to side with the Jordanians against the Israelis in the 1948 War for independence.  In fact, the community has remained remarkably friendly to Jews to this day.  It also lies in the vicinity of ancient KiryatYe’arim—the place where the Ark of the Covenant rested for several years after being returned from the Philistines, and before being brought by David into Jerusalem.  Hundreds of believers from abroad descended there last Tuesday evening, many bringing gifts they had brought to give to the brothers and sisters in Jerusalem.  The worship was in Hebrew and English, led by different Israeli worship leaders and groups.  Except for special ethnic praise and worship songs released by the Islanders; there were 180 from New Caledonia, hundreds from Samoa, Island-Breeze from Hawaii…many others.  Many entered into special “protocol” in bringing their gifts and worship to the King, and in honoring His “first born.”  There were anointed messages from the Israelis, there was an all-afternoon Elav celebration by Israeli Jewish and Arab young people from Israel, Judea and Samaria and Jordan—and when they came together with the adults in the evening, the fire and intensity of praise and worship had an anointing over it which we have not experienced before. On Friday morning the gathering moved up to conclude in Jerusalem.  Something new has come into place—God has visited us in a new way. Things will be different from here on---

Some Impressions from the Welcoming the King of Glory Gathering

By Norma

"They shall bring your sons in their arms; And your daughters shall be carried on their shoulders;  Kings shall be your foster fathers, and their queens your nursing mothers; They shall bow down to you with their faces to the earth…Then you will know that I am YHVH."
Isaiah 49:22b-23

These verses are such a picture to me of the gathering of the nations with Israel last week.  There are weekly, sometimes bi-weekly, conferences in Jerusalem.  Those from the Nations invite those from their and other nations to gather there.  Often, in the course of the meetings, an Israeli speaker may have been invited to speak; a few Israelis might attend.  But this past week, Israel scheduled the gathering, and then invited the nations to join.

As we met and prayed with the leaders daily during these days, we observed such humility in the Israeli pastors; such holy love and respect among them.

One thousand people attended!  Over six hundred from the Pacific Islands alone!  This is a very large conference for Israel!

He hath remembered His mercy and His truth toward the house of Israel:  all the ends of the earth have seen the salvation of our God." (Psalm 98:3)

Many of these from the "ends of the earth" had saved their money for years in order to come, but they did not come to speak or offer their ideas, nor to sight-see—they came only to honor Israel and her believing Remnant, and to bless her, and to be a part of welcoming the King of Glory to return.

I have attended many believing events here and in other nations.  Most have been "speaker-driven".  This was "honor-driven".  The Nations came to honor the "elder brother"—Israel.  And Israeli pastors took their place as the "first-born".  We are a Body which is often insecure.  Because of our faith, we often are not accepted as Jews by other Jews.  We are sometimes even fearful that we might be expelled from the Land.  Many here have waited and hoped for revival for years and years.  But something shifted in these three days!  Most who attended left saying:  "I have no words to describe this, but it was historical!"  "A bridge has been crossed."  "A shift has happened!"

I sense in the coming six months we will see evidence that the King of Glory was indeed welcomed to Jerusalem.  And that the "elder brother in Israel has indeed taken his rightful place there…and in doing so has opened the way for world-wide shifts to take place in the Body!

PLEASE PRAY:

• Praise and thanksgiving with us for the visitation of His Spirit in Abu Goash and Jerusalem this past week.
• For illumination in the Spirit into the NEW for the Body of Messiah—both in Israel and in the countries of those who came here.  That God clarifies what He has done, and guide us in walking forward in it.
• That the Body in Israel will step by faith into the New Season which is upon us
• That the Gateway which has been opened will stay open—and that that for which it was opened will flood into the Land.  We believe that a new measure of the Glory of the Lord has been released—which will prepare the way for much, much more!
• For signs and wonders, healings and miracles, and a new boldness in Love in sharing the Good News with Jews and Arabs in the Land.
• For a rear-guard of protection over all who attended the Gathering—especially those who took part in organizing and facilitating it.
• That the new degree of love and trust which is shining among the leaders will continue to warm and spread!
• For the Light of Jesus (Yasuah) shine in Abu Goash –that this place which welcomed His coming be blessed with a supernatural revelation of salvation and prosperity.

Martin and Norma Sarvis
Jerusalem

Some IPC folk joined a second gathering at Herrnhut this year, with complementary themes to the May 2017 IPC gathering.  Here is the report…

When the Earth Shook....

To the Global Watch family:

The Global Watch carries much of the spiritual DNA of Herrnhut Germany.  As such, we are relaying a summary of a significant landmark gathering in Herrnhut, Germany August 11-18th, 2017 on the 290 year anniversary of the outpouring. People from 30+ nations (including villagers) gathered in Herrnhut, Germany to seek the Lord and "Re-dig" the well of revival that took place there, August 13, 1727. The Lord took us to this defining moment surely pointing to a "set time."  The supernatural connections and events that led us to the convening were marked by "Only God could do" confirmations.  The gathering was a distinct call of God, and those in attendance came as a response to that call at significant price and sacrifice.  We are humbled by the numerous stories of God’s obvious hand and provision on how many heard from God and provided supernaturally for their journey.  None came for any recompense, even speakers, and worship leaders.  Most came with a stated desire to “Encounter” God.  It has been our experience that when we ask for such experiences, often the “Encounter” comes in ways we do not expect or understand.  Our sense from the beginning with the lightning strike on God’s acre (confirmed by some of the youth who were there when it happened), to the end, there was a divine message and “Power encounter” with God that ensued and sense of spiritual birth and shift in atmosphere.  Signs followed.

Scripturally, the earth shook when Jesus died; the waters parted when Israel was delivered from Egypt, and when the priests stepped into the Jordan to take Israel into the promised land, to name a few.  During creation God said, "Let there be lights in the firmament of the heavens to divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs and seasons, and for days and years."  Suffice it to say, signs can emphasize "set times" of the Lord.  In set times, such as in Abraham's time, the promises of God come true, Genesis 17:21.  They are times when God is emphasizing His purpose and need for focus, perhaps a correction of course (Habakkuk 2:1).  It is not "super spiritualization," but rather an apprehending the times of the Lord, to be noted and to draw our attention to Him, the Lord of Hosts.  Not to underestimate, but rather give focus, the acronym “PRICE" has come to mind describing the experience at “Watchmen Rise and Build” week in Herrnhut.  We experienced the following, each in our distinctive way:  

    P-    Power Encounter with God
    R-    Re-setting and re-aligning us with our
    I-    Identity in Christ individually and corporately
    C-     Commissioning  and
    E-    Empowering us forward

In very "Brief" review, a few hours before the meeting in Herrnhut started, the area encountered a lightning and thunder strike that "Shook" the earth.  The testimony of the lightning strike that "Shook the earth" hit "God's Acre" has come through young adults on sight at the Watch tower when it happened.  Many of the residents in Herrnhut and those of us there were suddenly riveted to attention.  Residents of Herrnhut said they have never witnessed anything like it.  That was the beginning of the Lord of Hosts taking command of a meeting that only time will tell of its significance.  Suffice it to say; the "Summit" was at the very least provoking, if not life changing for many of those in attendance.  Why? Because the Lord of Hosts met us.

Getting serious with God, Tuesday evening, August 15th a travail broke out that led many into the wee hours of the morning weeping in surges across the room.  The meeting was closed to allow God to "deal" with each one of us individually as deep repentance took over the convening.  The sense of spiritual birth was real.  This spiritual nature of the travail was confirmed when reports reached us of similar manifestations happening at the same time on a University campus in Egypt and in two prayer groups in California.   That night a massive thunderstorm hit Europe, shutting down many of Europe's airports.

In very "Brief" review, a few hours before the meeting in Herrnhut started, the area encountered a lightning and thunder strike that "Shook" the earth.  The testimony of the lightning strike that "Shook the earth" hit "God's Acre" has come through young adults on sight at the Watch tower when it happened.  Many of the residents in Herrnhut and those of us there were suddenly riveted to attention.  Residents of Herrnhut said they have never witnessed anything like it.  That was the beginning of the Lord of Hosts taking command of a meeting that only time will tell of its significance.  Suffice it to say; the "Summit" was at the very least provoking, if not life changing for many of those in attendance.  Why? Because the Lord of Hosts met us.

Getting serious with God, Tuesday evening, August 15th a travail broke out that led many into the wee hours of the morning weeping in surges across the room.  The meeting was closed to allow God to "deal" with each one of us individually as deep repentance took over the convening.  The sense of spiritual birth was real.  This spiritual nature of the travail was confirmed when reports reached us of similar manifestations happening at the same time on a University campus in Egypt and in two prayer groups in California.   That night a massive thunderstorm hit Europe, shutting down many of Europe's airports.

Key concepts and ‘take home’ messages from Herrnhut:

• Revival begins with us; many commented on a new desire and call to prayer and intimacy with God.  Psalm 34:18
• God is retrieving seeds, past vision, purpose, plans that have fallen to the ground and have died to now raise them up.  John 12:24; Isaiah 58:12
• Watchmen are key to the formation and release of the government of God and peace in our communities and cities. 2 Kings 11; Isaiah 9:7
• Not only is ongoing corporate prayer and informed intercession important, but the infrastructure of relationship is vital to a sustained move of God and transformation.
• Gender and generational integration is integral to the formation and sustenance of communities of committed prayer, i.e. "Watches." Malachi 4:6
• Small groups meeting in homes, or houses of prayer are included and should not be intimidated in this grass roots call.  They are vital parts of the building necessary to bridge our cities/states/nations.
• The harvest time includes re-alignment of personal and corporate identity.  Part of that alignment will include the church coming into its fullness of the understanding of Ekklesia.  Watchmen will be key in facilitating that shift as they align with their God-given identity and call.  Habakkuk 2:1-3; Isaiah 62:6-7; Romans 11:25
• Commitment to core values forms solid foundations for healthy relationships, bred in a culture of honor, and continued growth and expansion.

Key Scriptures:

John 12:24 "Most assuredly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the ground and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it produces much grain."
John 15:1-15
Isaiah 58:12 "Those from among you shall build the old waste places; You shall raise up the foundations of many generations; and you shall be called the Repairer of the Breach, and Restorer of Streets to Dwell in."
Isaiah 54
Psalm 46
Isaiah 9:7
2 Kings 11

INVITE GOING FORWARD: Whatever your take on the convening, understanding the role and construct of the “Watch” and being “Watchmen” in repairing the breaches, and restorers of the understanding of Ekklesia are powerful transformational concepts.  It was a message that shook the earth, and the heavens declared its impact and import.  Now the commission is to go forward.   It's time to carry the seed of Herrnhut forward into the nations and nurture it to fruition.

More at: http://www.theglobalwatch.com/report-herrnhut.html

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