NHS changes may increase risks to vulnerable children
The Government's NHS reform bill could increase the dangers facing vulnerable children, according to a survey of the risk assessments produced by primary care trusts in response to the legislation. The analysis of the risk assessments drawn up by the 54 PCTs, the organisations that manage and pay for patient care in England, found children in danger of being physically abused could suffer because of problems and weaknesses caused by the restructuring. They claim child protection procedures are threatened by issues such as fragmentation between new organisations that are being created in the shake-up, making it hard for staff to swap information about sensitive or complicated cases where there is suspicion of neglect or abuse by relatives or carers. The danger is classified as a 'possible' risk which, if it occurred, would have 'catastrophic' consequences. Any such failings may mean that the NHS organisations concerned were in breach of their legal duties to protect at-risk children.
Pray: for a review of this matter and that, at the very least, proper safeguards are put in place to protect vulnerable children. (Ps.12:5)
More: http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2012/mar/04/nhs-health-bill-child-protection-risks
Church leaders gather to discuss church planting in Wales
Over 200 church leaders from a range of Welsh churches met recently in Newtown to collaborate on evangelising the nation. The gathering was hosted by Waleswide, a network of evangelical churches which works with leaders to see churches established especially where there is no evangelical church presence, and where churches need to be strengthened in their effectiveness. David Ollerton, Chairman of Waleswide said: 'The people who gathered all had a common cause to see Jesus honoured in Wales and for churches to reflect Him. The greatest challenge facing church leaders in Wales is to develop intentional Gospel communities, new churches, or within alreadyexisting ones, that are more interested in reaching out to people with few or no Christian links instead of maintaining existing structures.’ A poll of over 260 Welsh church leaders found that during the first decade of this millennium 5,728 people became Christians in their churches.
Pray: for God to empower His church in Wales (and throughout the UK) so that more people will hear and receive the Gospel message. (Ac.16:5)
Olympic mega-mosque opposition campaign re-launched
Opposition to 9,500 capacity mosque and Islamic enclave of homes, shops and business units unveiled at recent site exhibition. This week sees the launch of a new campaign against the proposed 9,500 capacity mega-mosque at West Ham, close to the site of the Olympic Stadium and Park. Volunteers from the MegaMosqueNoThanks campaign started leafleting commuters at the nearby West Ham station and residents living in the area around the site of the proposed mosque. The campaign website will also be re-launched; see ‘More’ link. At a recent site exhibition, the Islamic sect behind the proposed mosque, Tablighi Jama'at, revealed a development that includes an eight-storey high mosque, 45 metre-high minarets, apartments, and retail and business units. Visitors were informed that the formal planning application is to be submitted imminently. ‘People think wrongly that the mosque project is dead but it has never gone away,’ said Alan Craig, leader of the MegaMosqueNoThanks team. ‘It went off the radar for some months but now it's back.’
Pray: for the success of this new campaign against a proposed mega-mosque by the Tablighi Jama'at sect. (Nu.10:9)
Turkey: Indictment of ‘masterminds’ of murders expected
Judges in Turkey’s southeastern city of Malatya have announced the preparation of an indictment in the case of three murdered Christians that is expected to reveal a shadowy network that incited five young men to carry out the crime. The Third Criminal Court of Malatya is expected to announce the indictment on April 9, followed by a week of witness testimony that judges believe will link the five murder suspects to the ‘masterminds’ who prompted them, plaintiff lawyers said. The brutal murders of Turkish Christians Necati Aydin and Ugur Yuksel and German Christian Tilmann Geske at the Zirve Publishing House by five young men in 2007 are believed to be part of a conspiracy to overthrow the current pro-Islamic government.
Pray: that this case will at last be resolved and justice be done. (Pr.18:5)
More: http://www.compassdirect.org/english/country/turkey/article_1421958.html
Turkey: Indictment of ‘masterminds’ of murders expected
Judges in Turkey’s southeastern city of Malatya have announced the preparation of an indictment in the case of three murdered Christians that is expected to reveal a shadowy network that incited five young men to carry out the crime. The Third Criminal Court of Malatya is expected to announce the indictment on April 9, followed by a week of witness testimony that judges believe will link the five murder suspects to the ‘masterminds’ who prompted them, plaintiff lawyers said. The brutal murders of Turkish Christians Necati Aydin and Ugur Yuksel and German Christian Tilmann Geske at the Zirve Publishing House by five young men in 2007 are believed to be part of a conspiracy to overthrow the current pro-Islamic government.
Pray: that this case will at last be resolved and justice be done. (Pr.18:5)
More: http://www.compassdirect.org/english/country/turkey/article_1421958.html
Russia: Family unit struggles as divorce rates rise
It's no secret that the purity of family life is in jeopardy. The nation houses a large number of orphans (over 700,000 in fact) and contains thousands of parents plagued by alcoholism, reports Mission Network News. But according to one Russian professor's recent studies, the family may be in even more trouble than previously thought. Abortion rates and divorce rates are both rising quickly in Russia, according to Professor Vasily Zhukov of the Russian Social University in Moscow. Joel Griffith with Slavic Gospel Association says the information matches what they've seen. Griffith notes that in a recent article by Zhukov, ‘He was basically making the case that the number of abortions in Russia is really vastly understated. He says that you have 1.3 million abortions officially reported in Russia, but you can actually up that to 3 to 4 million abortions that are annually carried out in Russia.’
Pray: that marriage would be accepted as central to family life and relationships. (1Cor.7:39)
Russia: Family unit struggles as divorce rates rise
It's no secret that the purity of family life is in jeopardy. The nation houses a large number of orphans (over 700,000 in fact) and contains thousands of parents plagued by alcoholism, reports Mission Network News. But according to one Russian professor's recent studies, the family may be in even more trouble than previously thought. Abortion rates and divorce rates are both rising quickly in Russia, according to Professor Vasily Zhukov of the Russian Social University in Moscow. Joel Griffith with Slavic Gospel Association says the information matches what they've seen. Griffith notes that in a recent article by Zhukov, ‘He was basically making the case that the number of abortions in Russia is really vastly understated. He says that you have 1.3 million abortions officially reported in Russia, but you can actually up that to 3 to 4 million abortions that are annually carried out in Russia.’
Pray: that marriage would be accepted as central to family life and relationships. (1Cor.7:39)
Please read this article prayerfully, asking for the protection of President Calderon and his administration and God’s guidance for the capture of Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman Loera, the leader of the Sinaloa cartel, the most powerful one in Mexico. Pray also for the female candidate chosen by the National Action Party (PAN) to succeed Calderon that she will have the Lord’s favor and support of the Mexican people to win the upcoming election.
Mexico will hold its presidential election July 1 against the backdrop of a protracted war against criminal cartels in the country. Former President Vicente Fox of the National Action Party (PAN) launched that struggle; his successor, Felipe Calderon, also of the PAN, greatly expanded it. While many Mexicans apparently support action against the cartels, the Calderon government has come under much criticism for its pursuit of the cartels, contributing to Calderon's low popularity at the moment. The PAN is widely expected to lose in July to the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI), which controlled the Mexican presidency for most of the 20th century until Fox's victory in 2000. According to polls, the PAN has lost credibility among many Mexican voters, many of whom also once again view the PRI as a viable alternative…
Guzman’s Web
Within his home territory of rural Sinaloa state, Guzman is respected and even revered. An almost-mythical figure, he has used his fortune to buy good will and loyalty in his home turf and elsewhere. In addition to his public largesse, Guzman has bribed people for decades. Unlike Los Zetas, the Sinaloa cartel leadership tends to take a long view on corruption. It will often recruit a low-level official and then continue to pay that person as he rises through the ranks…Quite simply, Guzman and the Sinaloa cartel have had police and military officers, politicians, journalists and judges on their payroll for years and even decades…Once an official or politician is on a cartel payroll (a situation similar to a network of sources run by an intelligence agency), he is subject to blackmail should he stop cooperating. And the relationship between a politician and the cartels can go beyond just cash. It can also involve the murder of a rival or provide other forms of non-cash assistance in the attainment of political power.
Guzman has been operating as a high-level narcotics trafficker in Mexico for decades now, and a big part of his operations has involved bribery…We must also note that without Guzman, the dynamics that drive the Mexican cartels would continue, and other leaders or even organizations would rise to take his place. Killing or arresting an individual will not be the end of Mexico's criminal cartels.
Guzman has been a high-profile fugitive for three decades now. He has not survived that long by being careless or stupid. It would be very difficult to track down such an individual in a short window of time established by political calculations unless those responsible already know his exact location and have chosen not to arrest him thus far. ..Still, Guzman is one of the most wanted individuals in the world, and large teams of Mexican and U.S. law enforcement and intelligence agents are trying to locate him. Therefore, it is possible that Guzman could be arrested before the election in July.
Mexico – Early this week, police in northern Mexico announced the capture of a Zeta drug lord responsible for some 75 deaths. In a separate case this week, 119 other suspects were also charged for drug trafficking (among other things), according to the Law Enforcement Examiner.
With all of these arrests in hand, is the drug war actually being won?
Todd Szalkowski with E3 Partners (E3) (www.mnnonline.org/groups/E3P) just returned from Reynosa, Mexico, and says the violence may actually be getting worse.
“[In Reynosa], I heard stories of the increased violence across Mexico in places where we hadn’t seen it before: Veracruz, Mexico City, Guadalajara. Places that had not been impacted the way that the border had been impacted had seen some of the atrocious gang-style executions that had occurred along the border now happening in these cities,” says Szalkowski.
As evidence of the increased hostility elsewhere, Szalkowski adds, “Women of the church in Reynosa had been invited to a conference in Guadalajara and were afraid to go. These women live in one of the most dangerous cities on earth and were afraid to go to Guadalajara for a women’s conference.”
The violence is affecting believers’ day-to-day lives in a number of ways. Although innocent bystanders are not affected as much, says Szalkowski, nearly every family, it seems, has some ties to drug cartels.
This makes E3’s ministry difficult. For one thing, people are disappearing.
“We’ll see people disappear, and we’re not sure whether or not they’ve disappeared because they have been executed or whether they flee simply to try to hid from the influences they no longer want to be a part of,” notes Szalkowski.
Prayer is a must in this situation.
• Pray for boldness as Christians attempt to share their faith.
• Prayer that they would feel God’s presence.
• Pray that Christians would not be targeted but would be seen as peace-bearers.
• Pray that Mexico would turn to Christ in this time of turmoil.
Read the full story HERE http://www.mnnonline.org/article/16782
“This is what the Lord has been showing and saying. The WPA in Jakarta is going to be the precursor of a global revival which is going to take the whole world by His Spirit. I saw a great wave in the form of a Tsunami. It came in huge force excavating huge strongholds and high places, breaking into pieces every work and structure of darkness and evil. First, the Tsunami destroyed all the high places of darkness and this huge wave swept the debris of all broken down structures.
Everything that can be shaken will be shaken. All oppressive evil political power structures will come down, all darkness exposed. The ugly face of Satan and his demon angels will be exposed. Some well established ministries too will be shaken up in their roots. With the mighty shaking the Lord is going to shake the Arab world and judge the gods (principality powers) like the way He judged the gods of Egypt during the time of Moses and Pharaoh.
As the evil power structures get uprooted the Lord is also going to make available 'Hidden treasures in secret places' to the body of Christ. Treasures as in Gold and Silver and human resources are going to emerge. "Unsung heroes" in the body of Christ are going to emerge, a new generation of leaders and unique ministries.
The Church in Indonesia has conceived in her womb through years of travail in seasons of persecution. The Church united, cleansed herself, travailed in prayer and went into intimacy with God and she is now ready to give birth to this new wave of the Spirit, the spiritual tsunami. The Church is ready to give birth to global ambassadors of prayer, which will be sent around the world. This great wave of prayer is going to pull down strongholds in every city, province, and village, causing great peoples movements across the world. Peoples of every language, color and nationality will be swept into the kingdom of God. The wave, Tsunami, move of God will not stop but will pick up momentum and the whole world will be filled with the glory of the Lord as the waters cover the sea.”
Amen and so be it!