A Muslim group of about 20 attempted to take over a Christian basilica in Tunisia – a sign of the growing threat to the country’s small Church in the wake of the revolution. On 16th Sept the group went to the Roman site with the aim of turning it into a mosque, arguing that it was a place of Muslim worship before it reverted to a basilica in 1966. A spokesman said the group went there to prepare the place for Friday prayers but police dispersed them. They were invited to make an official request to the faith ministry but as things stand the monument remains a basilica. The incident is a worrying sign of what may befall Tunisia’s small Christian community if the country’s future is shaped by an Islamic agenda, as seems likely. There is increasing public imposition of Islam in the country - forced veiling of women, forced prayer and condemnations for apostasy.

Pray: for God to prevail over Tunisia’s transition to democracy and the constitutional assembly that will be elected on 25th October. (Is.25:3,4a)

More: http://www.barnabasfund.org/UK/News/News-analysis/Muslim-bid-to-turn-Christian-site-into-a-mosque-in-Tunisia.html

Some 1,500 devoted Tunisian Christians, most of them former Muslims, worship in church buildings or in house churches despite death threats and growing influence of Islamic extremists, a well-informed advocacy and aid group told BosNewsLife Monday, September 17. Open Doors, which supports persecuted Christians worldwide, mentioned a man identified only as Steve who was allegedly threatened by Islamists. ‘They said to me: 'Do you know that it is not forbidden to kill you?' But I didn't really feel afraid,’ Steve was quoted as saying. ‘I could answer them: 'Yes I know you can do that you can kill me'. They responded that I was crazy saying that. I said to them: 'Yes, I am crazy for Jesus'. Pressure was expected to increase on Christians like Steve amid mounting protests across the region against an anti-Islam film, posted in part on the YouTube website.

Pray: for the church in Tunisia that it will remain strong in the face of mounting pressures. (2Cor.11:28)

More: http://www.bosnewslife.com/23475-tunisian-christians-worship-amid-death-threats

As international efforts increase to relieve Philippine’s suffering there are reports of looting in warehouses, relief agencies being mobbed and water pipes punctured as people try to get at precious supplies. Pray for order to be restored as desperation, thirst, hunger and opportunism are provoking anarchy. Pray for wide-ranging co-ordination between government bodies, relief agencies and on site NGO’s. Pray that survivors are properly fed and the dead are promptly buried. Pray for the dozens of relief organisations to work in unity with no unnecessary duplication of efforts or communication breakdown. Pray for the government to deliver workable logistics as they attempt to restore airports that are broken down, roads that are still covered in debris, services that are cut off. Pray against disease taking hold in areas lacking sanitation. Pray for effective mobile hospitals and teams of medics to be released into the most deadly situations where entire areas have been completely and utterly decimated; may they keep those who survived alive.

Pray: for the millions of people affected by the super typhoon, four million are said to be children. (Ps. 46.1-3)

More: http://www.euronews.com/2013/11/12/philippines-supplies-looted-and-aid-convoys-mobbed/