We have been praying for almost a year now for the release of Canadians (and good friends) Kevin and Julia Garratt from custody in China where they have been accused of "spying." Last February we were happy to report that Julia was out on bail. At the same time, however, her husband Kevin had been moved to a high security prison. The latest news we have is that she is still being held under house arrest. Please keep this lovely and faithful couple in your prayers.
We have also been praying for South Korean pastor, Kim Jong-wook, sentenced to hard-labor in the North. Now, two more pastors from the South, one who is also a business man, have been sentenced to life in prison at hard labor.
From others who work inside, we also hear that the level of general tension and fear is much higher than in the past. Internal security continues to tighten up, especially on families with members who have escaped to South Korea. At the same time, people are getting tired of their young leader's war games and other extravagant projects such as a new railroad that requires non-existent electricity. Another big project that is due to go public this month is the new Pyongyang airport. Kim Jong Un toured there in June, showing off but also unhappy about the design. Apparently his complaints got the architect executed. Interesting, First Lady, Ri Sol Ju's fashion statement at the grand tour--brooch instead of leaders' portrait pin--has been drawing criticism.
North Korea is sending workers to Tumen, China under tight security in its ongoing desperation to obtain foreign currency. Efforts also include a new fleet of taxis in Pyongyang under a new KKG brand (Kumkang Group) that is part of a newly expanding commercial arrangement with Hong Kong business conglomerate, Queensway Group, closely linked to North Korea's infamous Office 39.
But all is not doom and gloom. It seems that North Korea has produced a miracle drug that can cure Ebola, MERS, SARS, and just about anything else that ails you. All you need is a good Kumdang-2 injection. After all, "Everyone has the right to be healthy."
Ben Torrey
Director
The Fourth River Project, Inc.
To the Leaders of Korea, America, China, Russia, Japan, the United Nations and the Entire International Community,
We Refuse to Allow the North Korean Genocide to Continue Any Longer. Over 4,000,000 Innocent North Koreans have been Murdered through Starvation by the DPRK regime since 1995, and an estimated 1,000,000 North Koreans have been Murdered as a result of Slave Labor, Rape, Torture, Brutal Beatings, Human Experimentation, Starvation, and Execution in North Korea's Political Concentration Camps. The Very Existence of these Concentration Camps makes the North Korean State Illegal, Illegitimate, and Criminal, and Demands the Immediate Intervention of the International Community.
Our Demands, based upon the foundation of International Law and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights are as follows:
1. The Immediate and Total Liberation of All North Korean Political Concentration Camps
2. Compensation and Reimbursement to All North Korean Victims of Slavery, Starvation, Torture, All Concentration Camp Survivors in addition to All Execution, Experimentation and Murder Victims' Families for Immeasurable Loss and Suffering
3. The Immediate Stepping Down from Power of the DPRK Leadership
4. Prosecution of Kim Jong-un and All Individuals Responsible for Commissioning or Carrying Out Acts of Genocide and Crimes Against Humanity
5. Through the Guidance and Oversight of a Coalition of North Korean Refugee Leaders and Human Rights Activists, in Partnership with the Republic of Korea and the International Community, WE DEMAND THE LIBERATION AND REBUILDING OF NORTH KOREA BASED UPON THE FOUNDATION OF ENSURING AND GUARANTEEING WITHOUT FAIL THE HUMAN RIGHTS AND SAFETY OF EVERY NORTH KOREAN INDIVIDUAL ACCORDING TO THE UNIVERSAL DECLARATION OF HUMAN RIGHTS AND INTERNATIONAL LAW, WHICH WAS COMPOSED TO PREVENT THE ATROCITIES OF NAZI GERMANY FROM EVER OCCURRING AGAIN. WE, THE INTERNATIONAL COMMUNITY, HAVE ALL FAILED TO KEEP OUR PROMISE AND UPHOLD INTERNATIONAL LAW, AND MOST MISERABLY IN THE CASE OF NORTH KOREA.
Worldwide Coalition to Stop Genocide in North Korea (Non-partisan)
The following petition commemorates the 65th anniversary of the Korean War's outbreak. Please consider sharing it with all of your networks and encouraging those you know to sign. This website has more information and helpful videos on the situation in North Korea that will stir your heart and motivate your prayer and action.
https://www.change.org/p/liberate-north-korea
Let's pray for this demand and its points above to impact the leaders of nations and to become an outcry they can no longer ignore.
Please read the attached article from The New York Times about the present situation in Afghanistan and pray accordingly. There is a lot of fighting going on in many parts of the country. Last year more than 3000 Afghan Police men and soldiers died, these are more casualties than the entire NATO troops suffered since they came to Afghanistan about 13 years ago.
In addition to that, the government has not been able to choose the new defense minister, since the government came to power last September, and this during a time of war. President Ghani's nominations were repeatedly rejected by the parliament.
Please pray for agreement to be quickly reached on the choice of a good defense minister and for the Afghan government and army to wisely, unitedly and effectively deal with the growing Taliban threat to the capital of Kabul and the nation.
Afghan Forces Battle Taliban as Lawmakers Reject Defense Minister
The New York Times
By MUJIB MASHALJ
JULY 4, 2015
KABUL, Afghanistan
Afghan security forces battling the Taliban about 30 miles west of Kabul have sustained heavy casualties, officials said Saturday, as senior members of the government criticized the response to the assault as slow and ineffective.
Details of the fighting in Wardak Province, which began Thursday, were murky, but statements by various officials said that 16 to 30 members of the Afghan Local Police, a militia controlled by the Interior Ministry, were killed, along with at least two civilians. Some of the dead were decapitated, officials said.
Mr. Ghani, in a statement, said "the desecration" of the bodies was a "war crime."
The ugly turn in the war comes as Afghanistan's struggling coalition government remains without a minister of defense 10 months after taking office. President Ashraf Ghani's third nomination for the post was rejected by Parliament on Saturday.
The fighting was taking place in the province's Jalrez district, which lies on a strategically important highway connecting Kabul, the capital, to the central province of Bamian. The highway was closed Saturday, said Masood Shneezai, deputy chief of Wardak's provincial council.
A spokesman for Wardak's governor said 30 members of the Taliban had been killed and 18 wounded.
Mr. Shneezai said the Taliban had overrun about 11 security checkpoints since the battle began. He accused the province's police chief, Gen. Khalil Andarabi, of negligence and expressed concern that the insurgents could threaten Kabul if Jalrez fell. "There is only one mountain separating Jalrez from Paghman," Mr. Shneezai said, referring to a district on the outskirts of the capital.
Security officials said hundreds of supporting forces, who reached the area on Friday and Saturday, had taken back at least seven of the checkpoints and secured the government buildings in central Jalrez.
"The Afghan Local Police members fought the insurgents until their last breath, and when the ammunition finished they were killed by the Taliban," said one local security official on the condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the media. More than 400 Taliban fighters were involved in the onslaught, the official said. Two police vehicles were blown up and two others were taken by the insurgents.
Some senior officials in Kabul, including Vice President Sarwar Danish, criticized the security forces' response to the assault, underscoring the dysfunctional nature of Afghanistan's power-sharing government as it struggles to push back an intense Taliban offensive across the country.
Mr. Danish, who called the Taliban assault a "brutal and unacceptable tragedy," accused officials in Wardak of "negligence and delay" and criticized what he said was a "lack of responsibility and coordination."
Hajji Mohammad Mohaqeq, the deputy chief executive of the coalition government, said that 22 security personnel had been killed and "their bodies chopped up to pieces and burned after their martyrdom" while units of an Afghan police force headquartered nearby provided no support...
Bishop Peter Sekhonyane was a builder called to be an evangelist, who then was drawn into the prayer movement of South Africa. For the last 11 years, he and his team of 45 co-workers have established 12,300 prayer watches, many of them 24/7, in the black township churches of his country and southern Africa. They have seen approximately 1.5 million come to Christ this way with families healed, businesses established, corruption and crime eliminated in many areas. He also now has 28,000 Children in Prayer involved in this rapidly growing movement. His commitment to helping the poor is also significant. His own church feeds 1100 children and their families every week with vegetable hampers until they run out.
In this interview with John Robb, the bishop describes this amazing movement of prayer that is transforming his nation and the lessons he has been learning through it all. He also shares his vision for the future including the continent of Africa. You will be challenged and stirred by his experience with the Lord in prayer!
Make your petition deep, O heart of mine, your God can do much more than you ask. Launch out on the Divine, Draw from his love-filled store. Trust Him with everything. Begin today, and find the joy that comes when Jesus has His way.
We must continue to pray and "wait for the Lord" (Isaiah 8:17), until we hear the sound of His mighty rain. There is no reason why we should not ask for great things. Without a doubt, we will receive them if we ask in faith, having the courage to wait with patient perseverance for Him and meanwhile doing those things that are within our power to do.
Can't the same great wonders be done today that were done many years ago? Where is the God of Elijah? He is waiting for today's Elijah call on him.
The greatest Old or New Testament saints who ever lived were on a level that is quite within our reach. The same spiritual force that was available to them, and the energy that enabled them to become our spiritual heroes, are also available to us. If we exhibit the same faith, hope, and love they exhibited, we will achieve miracles as great as theirs. A simple prayer from our mouths will be powerful enough to call down from heaven God's gracious dew or the melting fire of his Spirit, just as the words from Elijah's mouth called down literal rain and fire. All that is required is to speak the words with the same complete assurance of faith with which he spoke.
Dr. Goulburn, Dean of Norwich
(An excerpt from Streams in the Desert, June 5)
Ukraine: Call to prayer
A reliable source in Ukraine says that a lot of media reporting is affected by Russian propaganda as Putin attempts to take control. He portrays Ukraine as divided, with a popular and generally peaceful revolution despite the threat of a military coup, etc. ‘I spent many hours reading news and reports from the internet and am outraged and saddened at Russian propaganda that so many Russians and others believe. I can only compare Putin with Hitlerpropaganda was a major instrument he also used. Anyway, Ukraine is united now more than ever before, and the patriotic, not nationalistic, spirit is high and growing.The vast majority of Ukrainian citizens, not just Ukrainians and even most people in Crimea, are against Russian invasion and see it as occupation. All churches in unity have acknowledged the new government, opposed Russia’s actions and made a stand for sovereignty and unity of Ukraine. Today all churches and religious organisations of Ukraine issued a statement confirming the above. Even the Russian Orthodox Church in Ukraine condemned Russia's actions and called on Putin and Kirril, the Patriarch, to remove Russian forces from Ukrainian soil, which is very remarkable’. For the full content of this letter go to the link below.
Switzerland: Heatwave predicted for July
Switzerland is preparing for the most intense heatwave in 12 years with weather experts predicting high temperatures above 35C for the first eight to ten days of July. The torrid conditions across the country are expected to be the warmest since 2003 when temperatures exceeded 35C and thousands of people - mostly elderly - succumbed to the heat across Europe. Forecasts are saying similar conditions will develop and continue until at least 8 July as a stable high pressure system extends from the Atlantic Ocean to Central Europe. The European Environment Agency reported this week, ‘Climate change is happening now: temperatures are rising, rainfall patterns are shifting, glaciers and snow are melting and the global mean sea level is rising. We expect that these changes will continue and that extreme weather events resulting in hazards such as floods and droughts will become more frequent and intense. Impacts and vulnerabilities for nature, the economy and our health differ across regions, territories and economic sectors in Europe.’ See also: http://www.eea.europa.eu/themes/climate
Sweden: Missing Swedish teen in Syria
A 15-year-old girl from southern Sweden, who has been missing since last month, has phoned her family to say she’s in Homs in Syria, Swedish media are reporting. The teenager, who has been put on an international watch-list, is said to have called home a few days ago, telling her mother that she had made it to Syria after travelling through Turkey with her boyfriend. The teenager suggested that she was planning to join al-Nusra, an extremist Islamist group with links to al-Qaeda. She told her family that she was currently in Homs but that the couple were planning to travel to another city shortly, adding that she would live with a group of women while her partner began military training. ‘I am waiting to hear back from them,’ the teenager’s mother is quoted as saying. ‘I cannot describe how terrible this is and I just wish I could go there myself and fetch her.’
Spain: Drug traffickers unload boat on Spanish beach
Late afternoon beachgoers watched twelve drug traffickers beach their motorboat on the sand and casually unload their cargo. They were oblivious to the onlookers as they offloaded their illicit cargo and were filmed by a member of the public. The video, posted online, shows a large black dinghy arriving on a stretch of coast near Gibraltar and the men moving the cargo to shore. Police sources reportedly confirmed that the packages probably contained cannabis. The traffickers were not detained by the authorities during or after the incident. Spanish police said the scene reflected the growing impunity of criminal traffickers. A statement from the organisation guarding Spain’s borders and coastline said the situation around Gibraltar was ‘out of control’ due to a lack of staff and resources to tackle the traffickers and criminal organisations which have ever-greater resources, personnel, structure, support, sympathy and capital at their disposal to commit crimes. There’s a high level of unemployment on the Spanish side of the border as well as the problem of terrorism being funding through drug trafficking.
Slovenia: Evangelical witness needed
This small European nation controls some of the continent’s major transit routes due to its central location between Central and Eastern Europe. After World War II, Slovenia became part of Yugoslavia and it finally gained independence in 1991 after a 10-day war. The independence was almost bloodless and Slovenia now has a solid infrastructure. The Catholic Church is predominant in Slovenia, but high rates of secularism and spiritual apathy are growing within it. Despite having an evangelical witness since the Reformation, today’s evangelical presence is known for nominalism and a failure to serve and witness outside of the Church. Very few Christian books have been translated into Slovene, the nation’s official language. Pray that those in Slovenia would break free from their nominal ways towards Jesus.