Displaying items by tag: Middle East

70% of what had been Palestine until 1949 is now controlled by Israel. After the 1967 Arab-Israeli war and the continuing expansion of settlements and military law in the West Bank, the Palestinian Authority now has control over about 18% of the West Bank - which includes Bethlehem. The tourism industry there is yet another battleground of Palestinians and Israelis for controlling the narrative around the occupation. At Christmas there are strings of lights over the town's famous Manger Square, with a life-sized nativity scene, and pilgrims entering the church to see where Jesus was born. Tourists come in groups organised by Israeli tour companies, while native Palestinian local guides look for individual tourists to show them around their hometown. There is an unseen struggle for Palestinians, many of them Christians, to earn a living.

On 19 December, a week after his special coalition envoy to defeat IS said that US troops would be in Syria for the foreseeable future, Donald Trump has ordered a complete, rapid withdrawal of 2,000 military personnel. He tweeted, ‘We have defeated IS in Syria, my only reason for being there.’ Earlier this year he said, ‘I want to get out. I want to bring our troops home and start rebuilding our nation’. He has always said the money spent on the struggle would be better spent at home. Britain has distanced itself from Trump’s perception of the situation, which has also led to the resignation of his defence secretary James Mattis (see). US allies and Kurdish militias feel abandoned, as this decision hands Iran and Russia more leverage across the country. A group of Kurdish and Arab units raised by Washington specifically to fight IS said that the move would have ‘dangerous implications for international stability’. See

Just days after the Archbishop of Canterbury called on the Government to do more to aid Christian communities in regions facing ‘imminent extinction’ (see), Prince Charles has praised their ‘extraordinary grace and capacity for forgiveness’. Speaking at a special Advent service for persecuted Christians at Westminster Abbey, he said he had been ‘deeply humbled’ by meeting Christians from the Middle East ‘who, with such inspiring faith and courage, are battling oppression and persecution’. He said, ‘Extremism and division are by no means inevitable. In this season of Advent, as we celebrate the birth of our Lord Jesus Christ, who himself knew exile, injustice and suffering, I can only assure you of our steadfast support and most heartfelt prayers as you take forward your works of restoration, justice and healing, so that God's will might be done on earth as it is in heaven.’

The precarious situation with Iran and Hezbollah on Israel's northern border has intensified greatly recently (see ). The risk of an all-out war in that area was one reason why prime minister Netanyahu pushed for a cease-fire in the south with Hamas in Gaza. Ask God to give the Israeli air force all it needs to defend the nation. Pray that Israel may obtain accurate, actionable intelligence concerning all their enemies' plans, and that it will know how to deal with the Russian equipment in Syria (eg anti-aircraft missiles). Pray for God to infuse the IDF soldiers along the Syrian border with alertness, wisdom, and courage. Ask Him also to impart insight to all security leaders in Israel - especially Benjamin Netanyahu, who is currently both prime minister and defence minister.

Syria: 31 Days of Prayer - December 2018

It’s easy to master the art of ignoring other people’s pain when we don’t recognize their faces, and the chaos is not right IN our face. You didn’t ignore the pain of the Syrian people or the opportunity to join us, stepping into the gap 4 years ago this month with a 31 Day Prayer Focus.

Together we answered the call to what we sensed God asking, “If not you, who, and if not now, when? What are YOU waiting for?” Together we took action because a more urgent and radical response to the situation was needed from Christ’s Church. We believed God had dislodged something in the hearts and minds of Syrians, and it was now time for them to hear the good news afresh, like no other time in history.

It’s still their time NOW, and we can’t miss it. The Church can’t miss it. Or, is it another tragedy of neglect and callousness toward God himself?

What God has done in the intervening years is another whole story. Within 2 weeks, over 1,000 people were praying from over 100 Nations. We’re not sure how all that happened so quickly. We can only attribute that to the more than 200 of you who said you would become a Circle Starter -- and gathered groups of friends and family to pray with you.

Several 1,000’s were activated through the prayer initiative to go work among the refugees in the harsh camps, tent settlements, and cities of Europe, Lebanon, Jordon and Turkey. Many have come to faith along the journey and in new host countries. Many dollars were given for relief, evangelism and church planting efforts, as well as training new believers to reach their own people.

We’re convinced there is a future story too. In some ways, a lot has changed, but many things have not.

What has changed? Many have come to faith and are now being discipled and discipling others.

These are estimates since the violence erupted:
• 500,000 have been killed (Total population in 2011 before the war was 21 million)
• 1.8 million have been injured
• 5.6+ million have fled the borders
• 6+ million are internally displaced
What has NOT changed?
• They have no guaranteed safety
• They’re still victims of other people’s wars.
• For most, they still haven’t been integrated into their host nations - many without jobs or warmth during winter, and some still hungry.
• Most children are still not being educated 7 years later.

Yet -- GOD is still drawing many to Himself in the midst of the loss, pain, and chaos. He’s not asleep, distracted or off duty.

Now is not the time to give up. Will we let the hope of future generations dissipate because we stopped praying? We must persevere and capture the lessons we’ve learned and press into the future with fervent prayer for the Syrian people and the region. We believe there is too much still at stake.

Will you prayer-push with us once again a few minutes each day this December?

There is no better time than when it’s no longer in the news, and many have forgotten! Fire up those “prayer circles” once again. We will send out revised and daily prayer prompts and also have available a downloadable 31-Day prayer guide.

31 - Day Prayer Guide and Flipboard Magazine

You can click on the link here to download a printable pdf of the guide.

We launched a Flipboard Magazine to curate articles on the crisis. Click on the link here 

The Syrian Circle Team

Muslim refugee had dream about God, found Him in Spain

Fearing for their lives, Achmed and his family left Syria’s raging civil war and managed to make their way to Madrid, Spain.  Before they left Syria, Achmed had a powerful dream that God told him He wanted to know Him. He couldn’t get the dream out of his mind, but he didn’t fully understand it, so he continued to ponder it in his heart, according to a report by Christian Aid Mission (CAM).

European Union and Spanish authorities sent the family to the province of Cadiz in southwestern Spain, where a Christian ministry was helping to integrate refugees into society.

The ministry proposed putting refugees in apartments rather than camps, with the government subsidizing part of the cost.

Achmed was stunned that Christians would give so much time and effort to total strangers. One day he approached the ministry director, Pablo, with a question: “Why are you helping us in so many ways?” he asked.

“We believe in God, who loves people and wants us to help other people,” Pablo replied. “Jesus Christ came to die for us, and He asks us to die for you.”

His reply prompted even great curiosity about the Christian God, and he asked Pablo to tell him more. They had several more conversations, and soon Achmed began to attend Sunday worship services and some other activities. He began to read the Bible online.

One day he told Pablo, “All I have read, I believe. The only problem I have is God having a child.”

Like many Muslims, he had trouble with the idea of God having a Son. But in spite of that difficulty, he confessed that he couldn’t save himself from the death and eternal punishment that sin brings.

He confessed to Pablo his need for Jesus Christ, put his faith in Him as his Lord and Savior, and was born again.

Then God reminded Achmed of the powerful dream.

“He said that he remembered having a dream in Syria in which God told him He wanted him to know Him, and now he knew what it meant,” Pablo said. “He became a believer three months ago.”

“Thousands of such Muslim refugees are streaming into Spain as other countries of Europe turn them away, and many are coming to Christ every month,” according to the report by CAM.

“The former Muslims face daunting pressures. Achmed’s wife sought to divorce him after he became a Christian, and only after many talks with native missionaries did she and her mother accept Achmed – and Christ.

“Now they also come to church, and God is working in their lives,” the ministry director said.

Pray: that God would continue to reveal Himself with the dreams and visions among refugees, as promised in Joel 2
Pray: that those refugees who came to faith in Jesus Christ would grow spiritually in a local fellowship(church)
Pray: that the local fellowships and churches would be established and planted among those refugee believers.  Send more workers to Your harvest field!

More:http://silkwavemission.com/board.php?board=english&command=body&no=1012

260,000 Syrians returned to ‘Euphrates Shield’ operation area: Turkish defense minister

A total of 260,000 Syrian nationals have returned to a swathe of land in northern Syria where Turkey carried out a cross-border operation dubbed “Euphrates Shield,” Defense Minister Hulusi Akar said on Nov. 1.

Turkey launched Euphrates Shield in 2016 to drive away ISIL and YPG militants from its border with Syria. Ankara regards the United States-backed YPG as a terrorist organization due to its ties with the illegal PKK. The operation ended in 2017.

Turkey hosts more than 3.5 million Syrian refugees who fled the conflict in their homeland.

“As a result of the infrastructure work and the security and stability in the region provided by the Turkish Armed Forces, around 260,000 Syrian nationals have returned to the Euphrates Shield Operation area,” Akar told lawmakers at the planning and budget commission in parliament.

The defense minister also touched upon the Manbij deal between Turkey and the U.S., saying that “despite the promises” made for the YPG’s withdrawal from the city, the group was still deployed there.

“The terror group is digging ditches in Manbij as they have done in Afrin,” he said.

The YPG “should know it will be buried in the trenches it has dug,” Akar said.

The Manbij deal focuses on the withdrawal of YPG militants from the city to stabilize the region northeast of the Aleppo province in northern Syria.

Pray: that God would open ways for those 260,000 to hear the Good News of Jesus Christ even after they return to their home.

Pray: that the on-going conflicts between Turkey and PKK and other groups of Kurds would find a peaceful resolution, and ultimately end in peace.

Pray: that the Prince of Peace and His Kingdom would come in power in those areas.

More:http://silkwavemission.com/board.php?board=english&command=body&no=1013

SILK WAVE MISSION USA

www.silkwavemission.com

Sermon by imam demands 'liberation'

Muslim willing to sacrifice 'millions' of lives to retake 'Palestine'

 “Palestine” must be retaken by Muslims even if it costs “millions” of lives.

That’s the opinion of an imam in Florida whose recent sermon on the topic was uncovered by the Middle East Media Research Institute.

The Oct. 12, 2018, message was from Hasan Sabri of the Islamic Center of South Florida in Pompano Beach.

He said a “believing Muslim’s” position is that Palestine is “Islamic waqf land that was occupied by force” – and that it should be liberated “even if this leads to the martyrdom of tens of millions of Muslims.”

MEMRI reported Sabri also said, “Allah wants each and every one of you to be a man with a cause … for which he lives and dies,” noting that the Palestinian cause “is being plotted against” with “the Deal of the Century.”

The research organization explained, “According to Pompano Beach elected officials, Sabri has recited invocations annually at Pompano Beach city meetings since 2005, and the ICOSF has had a peaceful, 25-year presence in the city, even serving as a polling station. In September 2017, Imam Sabri was a panelist at ‘Interfaith and Race Relations Peace and Acceptance Conference’ at Palm Beach State College in Lake Worth, Florida.”

But the building that is listed as the address of the ICOSF is owned by the North American Islamic Trust, which was named an unindicted co-conspirator in the largest terrorist financing case in America history. The case, U.S. v. Holy Land Foundation, resulted in convictions and imprisonment of several U.S.-based Hamas leaders.

Sabri said: “Take the Palestinian cause, for example. It is now being plotted against with a deal they call the ‘Deal of the Century.’ Why do they call it a ‘deal?’ Because whoever is involved in this treason is not a man of principles. These are peddlers, not men with a cause. All they want are positions and jobs. That is why for them, the cause is nothing but a deal, a matter of give and take. For them, it is nothing but a deal.”

He continued: “But what is the position of a believing Muslim about the Palestinian cause? That Palestine in its entirety is Islamic land, and there is no difference between what was occupied in 1948 and 1967. There is no difference between this village or that village, this city or that city. All of it is Islamic waqf land that was occupied by force. The responsibility for it lies with the entire Islamic nation, and the [Palestinians] should benefit from this land. If a land is occupied or plundered, it should be liberated from the occupiers and plunderers, even if this leads to the martyrdom of tens of millions of Muslims.”

He added, “This is the ruling, and there is no room for discussion or concessions.”

He also said: “[Atheists] always belong to minorities – national minorities, religious sects or minorities, and they have an agenda of destroying this Islamic nation, so they adopt atheism, not because it makes sense, but because it serves their approach. That is why you find most of these people, like I said, calling for goals that are opposite from the general goals of this nation. Our goal is to unite people, to unite Muslims. Their goal is to fragment Muslims even more. Wherever there is an opportunity to split a Muslim country into two, or three, or 10 parts, you will find that they are for it. What does that have to do with atheism? It has to do with an agenda. That’s all.”

Article printed from WND: http://www.wnd.com

URL to article: http://www.wnd.com/2018/11/muslim-willing-to-sacrifice-millions-of-lives-to-retake-palestine/

Pray for the peace of God to reign over the Middle East and especially over those radical Palestinians who want conquer the land of Israel by violence and even the cost of millions of lives.

Pray that many of them will come to Jesus, the Messiah, who alone can help them make sense out of their great sense of disenfranchisement.

UNPRECIDENTED ROCKET ATTACK, GOVERNMENTAL RESIGNATIONS, A GOVERNMENT POISED TO FALL—RECOVERED, BUT HOLDING ON BY A THREAD.          

Hamas rained down almost 500 rockets on Southern Israel over a two and a half day period. Netanyahu sat 7 hours with his cabinet discussing whether or not to go to war.        

Some of his cabinet felt there was no other choice except to go to war, as these last months of terrorism - sending fiery balloons over the border burning up farmland and forest areas, hordes of Palestinians trying to break through the border, etc., etc., etc. were bringing a living hell to the Israeli citizens in the south.            

Others believed that because of the certain loss of many lives in the IDF that would occur, and the world's condemnation that would surely come, if Egypt could help put together a cease-fire agreement between Israel and Hamas, that would be the best direction.        

Netanyahu chose the latter.  Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman was furious and resigned, taking his party of 7 Knesset seats with him.  That left Netanyahu with 61 Knesset seats in his coalition.  Netanyahu needs 61 out of 120 to lead the nation.            

Naftali Bennett, who also felt the nation must go to war to defeat Hamas and give relief to the hundreds of thousands of Israelis in the south, told Netanyahu he wanted to take Lieberman's place as defense minister - or he would leave the government with his 8 Knesset seats.  Netanyahu refused and Bennett says he is also leaving the government. That means elections are here.            

It would seem logical that Netanyahu believes he can win a snap election, or he would not have let his government fall.  He would have given Bennett the job.            

Netanyahu is the most popular politician in Israel.  The issue is that he has the entire group of ultra-Orthodox parties in his coalition, as he bends towards the religious.  That means the Haredim (ultras) have tremendous power in Israel.  They basically let Netanyahu do whatever he wishes to do, as long as he fills their coffers with shekels to support their men of whom the majority won't work or serve in the army.  Aside from the harassment and persecution against Messianic Jews and Messianic congregations, the Haredim take far more than their share of finances, and give back little to Israeli society.

Yet, there is no other strong leader in any of the other parties that stands out who the Israeli public have faith that he or she can keep Israel in survival mode. Israel lives in the most dangerous neighborhood in the world.            

So let us pray for God's will to be done in this upcoming election (2019).            

Lord, we pray, in the awesome Name of Yeshua, that You will hear the prayers of Your people who have a personal relationship with You and Your Son, and give us relief from the Haredi persecutors. We pray that You will put together the coalition that You desire.  Hear the words of our hearts, because we don't know who we should pray for or how to pray.  But You have a plan.  You have a plan to save all Israel and to bring revival to the nations of the world.

Use Your people here in Israel that love You. Give us opportunities and freedom to spread the Word of God more and more here in Israel. 

SHIRA SORKO-RAM

PLEASE PRAY:  

• That God will “redeem Israel out of all of his troubles” (Psalm 25:22).  That a government will be put in place which is not out of alignment with those redemptive purposes!
• That while it is time for the present government to stand, it will stand; when it is time for it to be replaced, that it will fall.
• That with the resignation of Defense Minister Lieberman, a man or woman of courage, integrity and wisdom for that job will be chosen to take his place.
• That, as Shira mentions above, the ultra-Orthodox members of the present government (or one which may arise in its place), will not be allowed to work injustice nor take unfair advantage of their positions to coerce the government in a direction which is unrighteous and unjust.
• That God minister strongly to Prime Minister Netanyahu during this time.  That he humble himself before his God, and allow himself to be led in ways which are truly aligned with God’s purposes for Israel this year.  That he fulfills the length of days God has ordained for him to lead.   That a godly, strong God-fearing leader be being nurtured to be raised up to take his place.
• That the warm, strong relationship between the governments of Israel and the United States which God has brought into place during this season would not be threatened or adversely effected by a shake-up in the Israeli government outside of God’s timing. 

Martin and Norma Sarvis

Jerusalem

49% of Jordanian mothers do not want to give birth again, according to a survey of 19,000+ households. The study results were shared on Facebook, generating mixed reactions. While some raised concern on feminist issues, most comments took a financial turn. More than often, men and women agreed that ‘the challenging financial situation’ is enough of a reason to stop them from having more than two children. Pray for these mothers to find the means to provide for their children (Mark 7:27). We can praise God for parents who have the heart to protect and keep them safe. Pray also that all children will receive help and assistance for their education.

A Syrian SAT-7 team recently found churches full of displaced people learning about Jesus for the first time. Almost a thousand children, including hundreds from non-Christian backgrounds, gathered in Tartus, Bloudan, and As-Suwayda to see ‘Family of Jesus’, a children’s show of music, teaching biblical values and prayer. In Bloudan 200 children were so excited and happy to see the team they didn’t want to leave, but church leaders made them go straight after the service for their safety. The congregation in As-Suwayda was almost entirely Druze people, most of the Christians having fled Syria. In Tartus the team sang, prayed and filmed with 300 Alawite children, hungry for the word of God. The churches are crowded with new believers.