Displaying items by tag: Asia

Guam is a 210-square-mile sovereign US territory and military base in the western Pacific Ocean. 92% of the population are professing Christians. On 10 August North Korea defied threats of ‘fire and fury’ from Donald Trump, deriding his warning as a ‘load of nonsense’ while announcing a detailed plan to launch missiles aimed at the waters off the coast of Guam. This comment caused Trump’s deputy assistant, Sebastian Gorka, warn Pyongyang, ‘Do not challenge the United States because you will pay a cost if you do so.’ Meanwhile Hawaii has started preparing for a nuclear strike, starting with a new educational campaign to help residents and visitors know what to do in the event of a nuclear missile attack and they will start testing a new ‘wailing’ emergency siren on the first workday of each month. Pray for the Guam church to rise up, speaking the hope and faith into their communities that overcomes fear.

http://www.hawaiinewsnow.com/story/36092282/amid-rising-tensions-north-korea-threatens-preemptive-strike-against-guam

Mission Network News reports that Maryam Nagash Zargaran, a Christian convert from Islam, was charged with being a danger to national security and imprisoned four years ago. She was kept in Iran’s Evin Prison, which is known for its harsh conditions. Maryam was in poor health before being imprisoned, but now that she has been released, her physical ailments are even worse. She was reportedly beaten in the prison - once until her leg was broken. She also has suffered mentally. In addition to these hardships she engaged in hunger strikes to protest her unjust imprisonment in conditions lacking suitable food and having poor sanitation.

Poetry is significant in Arabic culture, and Christians in the Arabian Gulf are using it to communicate with Arabs about Jesus. Through a series of short films, local believers from a Muslim background are writing and filming poems to communicate the life-changing power of Jesus in their lives, using a medium that their audience respects and understands. ‘Historically, when Arabs lived among other lands, they didn’t know if someone was a true Arab,’ says Basma, a local believer and poet who is one of the producers of the series. ‘When in doubt, they would often test someone by asking him to recite poetry. If his poetry was good, they knew he was a true Arab’ Many Arab Muslims perceive Christians representing a ‘Western’ culture. By speaking about their newfound faith through poetry, Christian converts are removing the stereotype and showing it is possible to be a Christian without abandoning their cultural heritage.

‘A’ woke up to the sounds of someone burning her house down. She grabbed her baby son and escaped. This was one of many hardships she had faced since deciding to leave her tribe’s traditional religion and follow Jesus. Laotians believe Christianity is an American religion. When someone in the community becomes a Christian, the community worries that the spirits they worship will be offended, and that the community might also suffer ill-effects as a result. ‘K’, his wife and daughter were recently evicted from their home by their eldest son. ‘K’ is a Christian leader of a church that he planted years ago after moving to the unreached region as a missionary.  ‘K’s son despises his parents’ faith and drank and used drugs. He demanded his inheritance from his father and said that the house should be his portion.  K and his family now live under a roof in a rice field.

An award-winning professor and author of four books on North Korea says that not only is North Korea’s current instability, violent attitude and weaponry, including missiles a threat to Asia, United States, key regions in the Middle East and Africa, but there is also the threat that North Korea’s collapse could unleash a variety of their military systems into the black market for sale to Iran and Syria. He, and others, believe that the two ways to contain this threat are tactical and strategic. A tactical approach would be an increased ballistic missile defence system providing a realistic umbrella against nuclear attack. The strategic way means going after banks and front companies globally where Pyongyang launders the dirty money it uses (much of it gained from military proliferation). It is important to note that when it comes to targeting North Korea’s dirty money there are mafia-like illicit financial networks in Singapore, Malaysia, Africa and China.

Churches must be officially registered with the authorities. A recently passed new law  guaranteed religious freedom, but vague legislation banning religious activity that could ‘harm social order and/or national unity’ appears to give authorities freedom to crack down on religious freedom where it is deemed to be against the interests of the state. Vietnam’s communist government considers Christianity an opponent to the one-party state. Christians are facing harassment and violence. Gangs of nationalist youths have terrorised a Christian community in Song Ngoc, attacking a church and homes and targeting Christian business owners. Weeks of intimidation and low-level violence carried out in an orchestrated manner is being ignored by police. Church leaders helping impoverished local fishermen in a legal case following a marine pollution disaster have appealed to the authorities. Pray for church leaders to have strength as they stand against the government for the rights of poor fishermen.

Metal detectors placed outside a holy site in East Jerusalem brought long-existing tensions to a boiling point. Viewed as an Israeli attempt to assert control over the site, Palestinians responded with protests, boycotts, and even deadly clashes. This all came after the killing of two Israeli policeman by Israeli-Arab gunmen. Israel's compliance in removing the detectors will not bring lasting peace. There is no end in sight to the conflict. Hezbollah, Al-Qaeda, and Iran continue to threaten their existence. Every human attempt at reconciliation in the region has failed. Yet God is moving on both sides of this conflict. He loves Israeli Jews and Arabs and is actively drawing them to Himself. The number of Messianic Jews is rising dramatically, and the Christian Church in Israel is largely Arab. The peace and reconciliation Jesus offers transcends any man-made division. Peace in Israel rests in Him alone.

God is advancing His Kingdom in Turkey, despite last year’s attempted coup and the president’s cruel retribution on his people. Christian media are reporting more and more Turks having vivid dreams of Jesus. Christian prayer groups are springing up, people watch Christ preached on the Internet and respond. New Christians are evangelising openly to friends on the Internet. May God give protection, wisdom and boldness to the new converts living in dangerous areas.

Palestinian women are scoring a sweet victory against gender discrimination in the West Bank by breaking with tradition and working alongside men at the largest pastry factory in Nablus. They are ignoring prejudices and competing with men for jobs that traditionally belonged to men. However the women only earn half of the amount of the men, even though they have proved to be more competent than the men. Now the factory, supported by women’s rights organisations, plan to provide pastry courses for other women who want to work.

My word …will not return to me empty, but will accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose for which I sent it.  Isa 55:11  

TRANSLATION OF THE SCRIPTURES

This is one of the areas that the devil tries the hardest to stop. People come to believe through God’s Word.   It is very hard to sustain a church (new believers) unless they have the Word in their own language. Those doing this work are asking for prayer for each of the groups they are working in.

Translation is being done for 15 different groups, some are large groups, others are smaller.  In two of the groups each time a project like this was started the devil blocked it.

PRAY

• Pray that the work might not be blocked by the evil one by sickness, death, family problems, or in any other way.  
• Pray for heath for all those involved
• Pray for those teaching them how to do this work, that they may be able to stay in country and not lose their papers
• Pray for those learning to learn quickly and well
  
  • Persistence - this is a long process
  • Completion of each project

JESUS FILM PROJECT

The translation of the film for Muslims.  Changes are being made on physical things in the film that are offensive to them (like Jesus going into the temple with shoes on, hand actions, etc). Some of these changes could cost up to a million dollars, but the suggestions have been well received. Then language is needed that is acceptable and not offensive.  Pray for this huge project   Pray for wisdom from God to see and make the right suggestions.

STABLE GOVERNMENT  

The Prime Minister is being accused of money laundering and corruption (he has been thrown out twice before for this).  Opposition parties are against him. A high percentage of the lawyers are against him.  It has been on the floor of Parliament again and again, and is supposed to come up for the final time on the 17th. PRAY God’s will:  If he is thrown out who would take his place?  It would probably be much harder for Christians and foreign workers.

Thanks for PRAYING for PAKISTAN!!