Kenya: Authorities took hours to respond to university attack
The death toll in al-Shabaab’s assault on a Christian University College is likely to climb above 147 and anger grows among local residents over the government’s failure to prevent bloodshed. A police source, who remains anonymous, said that when the alarm sounded at Garissa University College the authorities took hours to respond, arriving at the scene after politicians and journalists. He said the government's rapid response team was held up in Nairobi for hours arranging transport before it finally made its way to Garissa where gunmen separated Christian students from Muslim students and then killed the Christians. Some, such as Kenyan activist Boniface Mwangi, believe that entrenched corruption in the security system allows al-Shabaab to move freely in and out of Kenya, carrying out attacks with ease. The government has identified Mohamed Mohamud as the groups mastermind with an extensive terrorist network within Kenya. Al-Shabaab is based in Somalia and linked to Al-Qaeda, that was birthed in Yemen.
USA: National Day of Prayer
The National Day of Prayer is an annual day of observance held on the first Thursday of May, designated by the United States Congress, when people are asked ‘to turn to God in prayer and meditation’. Each year the president signs a proclamation that encourages all Americans to pray on this day. The modern law formalizing its annual observance was enacted in 1952, although it has historical origins to a mandate by George Washington, the first president of the United States. The event is nationwide. (See aalso GB&! item.)
American Tribes defend traditional marriage
Months before the US Supreme Court rules on the issue of gay marriage, Native American tribes have taken steps to defend traditional marriage. Eleven tribes with a total membership approaching a million people will not recognize same-sex marriages. Just weeks after North Carolina began issuing marriage licenses to gay couples, the state's Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians updated its law to prevent gay couples from having marriage ceremonies on tribal land. Tribes that don't recognize same-sex marriage include the Cherokee Nation in Oklahoma and the Navajo Nation.
Pakistan: ‘Letter from Lahore’ update
Last month you were asked to pray for teams of intercessors to be prepared spiritually as they plan to pray at satanic strongholds from Saturday, 11 April to Monday 13 April. The organiser has asked us to continue to pray about this as there is some fear due to tensions in the country and ‘people should not go unless they are spiritually prepared., We are asked to please pray for God to show each group from each area exactly what He wants them to do. Usually when prayer is planned at a stronghold, a team is sent ahead to prepare the place, not to do spiritual warfare, but just to pray for the team that will come and for God to clear the way for them. That isn´t possible this time. Please pray here for wisdom, clear guidance from the Lord and for spiritual protection.
Indonesia: Slavery linked to the fishing industry
Every year, thousands of Cambodian migrants cross the border with Thailand searching for employment and better living conditions. They enter the country without documents after paying unscrupulous traffickers who profit on trafficking with promises of a job. The lack of documents and permits makes them vulnerable and easy victims of forced labour; as happened to more than 300 fishermen who were rescued in Indonesia after being locked in cages or hidden in the forests of the islet of Benjina. They were reduced to slavery, subjected to harassment and abuse and forced to work for Thai-flagged vessels. The Jakarta government discovered the migrant workers following a year-long investigation conducted by Associated Press reporters. The investigation revealed 1,000+ fishermen from Myanmar, Laos and Cambodia trapped on the island at different times, a true international hub of forced labour and of modern slavery linked to the fisheries sector. In February the Catholic Church dedicated a day of prayer to the issue of human trafficking and modern forms of slavery.
The author of this email is Dr.Emanuel Tanay, a well-known and well-respected German psychiatrist.
A man, whose family was German aristocracy prior to World War II, owned a number of large industries and estates. When he was asked how many German people were true Nazis, the answer he gave can guide our attitude toward fanaticism. 'Very few people were true Nazis,' he said, 'but many enjoyed the return of German pride, and many more were too busy to care. I was one of those who just thought the Nazis were a bunch of fools. So, the majority just sat back and let it all happen. Then, before we knew it, they owned us, and we had lost control, and the end of the world had come. My family lost everything. I ended up in a concentration camp and the Allies destroyed my factories.'
We are told again and again by 'experts' and 'talking heads' that Islam is the religion of peace and that the vast majority of Muslims just want to live in peace. Although this unqualified assertion may be true, it is entirely irrelevant. It is meaningless fluff, meant to make us feel better, and meant to somehow diminish the spectre of fanatics rampaging across the globe in the name of Islam. The fact is that the fanatics rule Islam at this moment in history. It is the fanatics who march.
It is the fanatics who wage any one of 50 shooting wars worldwide.
It is the fanatics who systematically slaughter Christian or tribal groups throughout Africa and are gradually taking over the entire continent in an Islamic wave.
It is the fanatics who bomb, behead, murder, or honor-kill. It is the fanatics who take over mosque after mosque.
It is the fanatics who zealously spread the stoning and hanging of rape victims and homosexuals.
It is the fanatics who teach their young to kill and to become suicide bombers.
The hard, quantifiable fact is that the peaceful majority, the 'silent majority,' is cowed and extraneous.
Communist Russia was comprised of Russians who just wanted to live in peace, yet the Russian Communists were responsible for the murder of about 20 million people. The peaceful majority were irrelevant. China's huge population was peaceful as well, but Chinese Communists managed to kill a staggering 70 million people.. The average Japanese individual prior to World War II was not a warmongering sadist. Yet, Japan murdered and slaughtered its way across South East Asia in an orgy of killing that included the systematic murder of 12 million Chinese civilians; most killed by sword, shovel, and bayonet. And who can forget Rwanda, which collapsed into butchery. Could it not be said that the majority of Rwandans were 'peace loving'?
History lessons are often incredibly simple and blunt, yet for all our powers of reason, we often miss the most basic and uncomplicated of points:
Peace-loving Muslims have been made irrelevant by their silence. Peace-loving Muslims will become our enemy if they don't speak up, because like my friend from Germany, they will awaken one day and find that the fanatics own them, and the end of their world will have begun.
Peace-loving Germans, Japanese, Chinese, Russians, Rwandans, Serbs, Afghans, Iraqis, Palestinians, Somalis, Nigerians, Algerians, and many others have died because the peaceful majority did not speak up until it was too late.
In Australia, and indeed in many countries around the world, many of the most commonly consumed food items have the halal emblem on them. Just look at the back of some of the most popular chocolate bars, and at other food items in your local supermarket. Food on aircraft have the halal emblem, just to appease the privileged minority who are now rapidly expanding within the nation's shores.
In the U.K, the Muslim communities refuse to integrate and there are now dozens of "no-go" zones within major cities across the country that the police force dare not intrude upon. Sharia law prevails there, because the Muslim community in those areas refuse to acknowledge British law.
As for us who watch it all unfold, we must pay attention to the only group that counts - the fanatics who threaten our way of life...And we are silent.....and then. . . silenced. We shall not be silent or silenced!
An ambitious project that is on God's heart is the raising up of a whole new generation of leadership for Christ and His mission in our world. Consistently through Scripture and history, the Lord has called children and youth to unique missions in life through encounters with Him in prayer. This was clearly the case with biblical characters like Joseph, Samuel, David, Jeremiah, Daniel, Esther and Mary, the mother of Jesus. God called them through personal prayer encounters with Himself for their particular missions that changed Israel and our world for great good.
Over 30 times in the book of Acts, it was times of united prayer by the early Christians that resulted in amazing signs and wonders and mission breakthroughs that ultimately brought the Roman empire and its emperor to Christ as the early church "turned the world upside down" for Jesus Christ. Connection with God through prayer ignites mission and results in the transformation of both individuals and the nations.
Two years ago, the International Prayer Council in cooperation with the Indonesian and Korean prayer movements and many other international networks and ministries, organized the World Prayer Assembly in Jakarta, Indonesia, It united more than two million believers in that country in 378 cities including tens of thousands of youth and children, and millions more through the Internet and satellite TV throughout the rest of the world. During the WPA, my colleagues and I saw the power of such united prayer.
The "My Home Indonesia" project that came out of the WPA continues to mobilize hundreds of thousands of believers there in practical loving service and sharing Jesus within this largest Muslim country on earth. As a result, many Muslims, including their spiritual leaders are coming to faith in the Lord now. Some estimate that 30% of the Indonesian population profess to be followers of Jesus.
We in International Prayer Connect believe with all our hearts that it is time to bring together the youth and children of our world for an international encounter with Him and one another that will mark and guide them into the unique missions and callings He has for them. In the summer of 2016, in alliance with many other youth movements and networks, we hope to bring together up to 8,000 youth and child leaders (under 35 years of age) along with a thousand senior mission and marketplace leaders to serve as mentors from every nation on earth to the World Youth Prayer Assembly. We believe that bringing together the future leaders of Christ's Church and mission will have an explosive impact on our world even for generations to come.
Many details need to be settled as far as venue and exact timing. Would you please pray with us and if you have any suggestions regarding the WYPA, please write to us.
John Robb
IPC Chairman
This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Norway: Unwelcome extremist
In Norway, an Iraqi Islamist is keeping the entire country on tenterhooks. The man, who calls himself Mullah Krekar, was granted asylum in Norway in 1991, but in the meantime has been held responsible for terrorist attacks by an Islamist group in northern Iraq. Now he's about to be confined to a small village in northern Norway. Krekar has been facing deportation for ten years because he is seen as a danger to Norwegian national security, but according to international law he cannot be sent to Iraq because he would be subject to torture and possibly the death penalty there. The Norwegian government is sending him to the isolated village of Kyrksaeteroera, on a fjord southwest of Trondheim, where he will remain until a deportation order can be enforced.The village residents - neither the Norwegians, nor the 200 well-integrated asylum seekers already there - are enthusiastic.
Ukraine: Evangelicals ‘persecuted, killed’ In Crimea
Amid ongoing fighting, evangelical Christians say they face persecution in Crimea and fear similar problems in other areas. One year after the annexation of the Crimean Peninsula by Russia, Ukrainian Christians say they are still facing persecution there by pro-Russian separatists who already have killed several believers. Evangelical congregations in particular have come under severe restrictions in Crimea, according to activists and church officials. In comments distributed by the Voice Of the Martyrs Canada (VOMC) advocacy group, a key church leader said that separatists accuse evangelical Christians in Ukraine of spying for the West. ‘Separatists have confiscated their church buildings,’ added the official, only identified as ‘Paul’ amid security concerns. Paul, who reportedly planted many churches in the former Soviet Union, said some believers in occupied areas were even killed. ‘After annexation, Ukrainian churches [were told] they had no right to exist there. Every church has had to be re-registered,’ he explained in comments obtained by BosNewsLife.