Indonesia: new eruption threat
In September we reported that 122,500 people had been evacuated to locations outside a 7.5-mile exclusion area around Bali's Mount Agung volcano as magma rose during hundreds of daily tremors (see ). On 25 November thousands were evacuating an area within 8-10 kilometres from the peak as lava began to appear. The next day most people had fled but some have remained, despite plumes of smoke and visible lava. They are too frail or sick to move. If Agung erupts again, they will die when fire and rocks rain down and boiling lava flows. Many of the people forced to evacuate their homes are the poorest in Bali. Farmers and construction workers will find it hard to earn money while living in the camps to which they have been evacuated. No one knows when they will be able to return to their villages; financial pressures may force some to go home before the danger has passed.
Libya: slave trade
Recently CNN showed West African refugees in Libya being held by smugglers, mistreated, and sold ‘like cattle’ for £300. Also, Al Jazeera has reported that migrants are being traded in Libyan garages and car parks. Refugees from Nigeria, Senegal and the Gambia are captured as they head north towards Libya's coast to catch boats for Italy. So far public pressure has convinced France and Spain’s foreign ministers to speak out, which has caused the Libyan government to investigate. Pray for more media coverage of trafficking for the watching world to see and for more leaders to speak out and take action against it. The UN support mission is ‘actively pursuing the matter with the Libyan authorities’. However, rights advocates caution that real action may be slow in coming.
Myanmar: humanitarian crisis
Aid agencies are appealing for food, medicine, and construction materials for shelters as the latest round of violence against Rohingyas continues. One agency writes, ‘The situation constantly changes; we are delivering long-term aid within Myanmar for the Rohingya community. We also have teams in neighbouring Bangladesh to support those fleeing violence.’ Pope Francis, on a four-day visit to Myanmar, did not publicly mention the plight of the Rohingya by name. Khin Maung Myint, a Rohingya activist, said he was disappointed: ‘not in Pope Francis, but in the advisers who have dissuaded him from bringing up the plight of the Rohingya people.’ The Pope talked about forgiveness and ignoring the desire for revenge, without mentioning the violence, gang-rape, massacres and arson against the Rohingya.
Pakistan: a missionary’s message
‘Nawaz Sharif has been ousted from government several times, but he has returned to Pakistan, leaving his wife in an English hospital dying of cancer. The High Court ousted him on corruption charges, and he is banned from taking any political office; but his party (the major party) have changed the parliament’s constitution so that Nawaz can become its president. They also passed a stricter Islamic law, making it much harder for Christians and other minorities. The present temporary prime minister has little backing. There is no control in the country. Terrorists are crossing back and forward across the border. When US secretary of state Rex Tillerson came to meet Pakistan’s military on the Afghan situation, he was undercut by Pakistan’s government who demanded that he speak to it only. The military is held in favour by much of the populace.’
Global: Jehovah’s Witnesses
There are seven million Jehovah’s Witnesses in North America and Europe. They believe that Jesus is an inferior being, the Holy Spirit is simply a force of Jehovah, and that Jesus was resurrected in spirit, not in body. They trace their origin to Charles Taze Russell who believed that Christ’s second coming occurred in 1874. He spread his ‘New World Translation’ of the Bible and the Watch Tower magazine. Russell’s groups took the name Jehovah’s Witnesses in 1931 to reflect their proselytizing focus. Though Witnesses identify themselves as a part of Christianity, many Christians consider them a cult, associated with occasional inconvenient knocks on the door or groups on street corners offering literature. But they are God’s beloved, beautiful creations who are in need of the truth of Jesus Christ.
Zimbabwe: church leaders call for prayer
The country’s leaders of different denominations say Zimbabwe is between a crisis and a kairos opportunity. They are calling for prayer for, peace, respect for human dignity, a transitional government of national unity, and national dialogue. Their statement said, ‘The nation’s challenge is one of a loss of trust in the legitimacy of national processes. There is a strong sense that the hard-earned constitution is not being taken seriously. The wheels of democracy have become stuck in the mud of personalised politics where the generality of the citizenry plays an insignificant role, but we see the current arrangement as an opportunity for the birth of a new nation.’ The World Council of Churches is asking churches around the world to pray for Zimbabwe to embrace change and move forward without vengeance.
Egypt: mosque attack
The village where 305 worshippers were killed by Salafi militants on 24th November had been warned against hosting Sufi gatherings. Salafi Muslims follow an ultra-conservative Islam and believe Sufis are heretics. This attack, the worst in Egypt’s history, was the security forces’ second failure in five weeks, following 50+ policemen being killed in a Muslim Brotherhood militants’ hideout. After that incident President el-Sisi demoted his army chief of staff. Washington told el-Sisi that the Egyptian security forces’ preparedness was clumsy and predictable, saying that in the fight against terror and guerrilla groups quicker action is needed, combining precise intelligence and commando forces. The Egyptians are still very far from employing advanced methods; they responded to the attacks by bombing IS vehicles.
Felix Ngole’s Expulsion still gleaning attention
Earlier this year we prayed for Felix Ngole, but the courts did not give him justice. Felix, a Christian reading for a degree in social work at Sheffield University, leading to Health and Care Professions Council certification, joined in a serious discussion on a US website about same-sex marriage. Sheffield university was informed, summoned him, heard his defence and threw him off the course, saying ‘his writings might damage confidence in the social-work profession’. The university’s decision has now raised online comments by a professor of commercial law, ‘that somewhere, at some time, a hypothetical service user might have seen Mr Ngole’s comments, discovered in some unspecified way that he was a social-work student, and as a result, again in some unspecified way, lost confidence in social workers as a whole’.
Children’s Gender Dysphoria
Today's culture is seeing the denial of God-given sex and gender. The NHS options for children and young people with suspected gender dysphoria include family therapy, child psychotherapy, parental support/counselling, group work for young people and their parents and regular reviews to monitor gender identity development. Treatment with a multi-disciplinary team includes mental health professionals as most treatments offered are psychological, rather than medical or surgical. This is because say the NHS, ‘the majority of children with suspected gender dysphoria don't have the condition once they reach puberty’.
Budget 2017
The embattled chancellor was subject to conflicting pressures when he presented his Budget. The media wanted him to respond to the public's desire to end austerity. Amid media doom and gloom predictions, some encouraging Budget decisions are: Scrapping a fuel duty rise for petrol and diesel cars scheduled for April 2018. A new homelessness task force. Preventing developers purchasing land for financial reasons and then not building on it. £400m to regenerate housing estates. 80% of first-time buyers will be exempt from stamp duty. National Living Wage rise of 4.4%. VAT threshold for small business to remain at £85,000 for two years while large technology groups like Google and Apple will pay more. £40m teacher training fund for underperforming schools. Recruitment of 8,000 new computer science teachers for new National Centre for Computing. £2.8bn for the NHS in England. Pay rise for nurses, but not the police.