David Cameron 'wrong' on Mediterranean migrants, says Amnesty
Amnesty International has said the Prime Minister David Cameron was ‘completely wrong' to say at Prime Minister’s Questions that ‘the vast majority of Mediterranean migrants are not asylum-seekers’, in answer to a question about the UK’s refusal to take part in an EU refugee quota system on the issue. Amnesty’s Refugee and Migrant Rights Director Steve Symonds said, ‘At least half of those risking their lives in the Mediterranean are fleeing persecution in places like Syria, Eritrea and Somalia’. Amnesty and other monitoring groups have said that the single largest group by nationality attempting the Mediterranean crossing in recent months have been people from war-torn Syria, nearly all of whom will be internationally-recognised refugees. The next single largest group comprises Eritreans - with the great majority of these also very likely to be refugees (see also article 7 in Prayer Alert World Section).
The rise of the awkward half-grace - and why it needs to stop
There was a time when Christians felt self-confident enough to thank God in a public restaurant for the food, for the people who prepared it and for the establishment in which they were consuming it. We didn't care. Today, as we attend the same restaurant, the food is brought out, around the table we fidget with forks, someone adjusts their chips and adds sauce. But no-one makes a move; everyone instinctively knows that this might be the point where someone decides they should make a show of themselves. Then, to audible sighs of relief all round, someone says grace. The awkward half-grace. ‘Well,’ someone says, with forced confidence. ‘Thank you Lord!" The deed is done. Has the awkward half-grace emerged because we don't want to look different to the culture we live in and draw attention to ourselves? See THE MILL GATHERING at
Police crime figures 'dead in the water', says City of London police chief
Crime figures compiled by police are ‘dead in the water’, said the Commissioner of City of London police Adrian Leppard. ‘Police figures provided only a small prism of the harm to communities’. Victim-based surveys offer more insight into offending levels. Statisticians ‘capped’ the number of ‘repeat’ offences at five per victim; however violence against women and domestic violence is happening repeatedly, much more than five instances per person. 45% of violent crimes are against women. Banks and businesses often failed to report fraud to police. Victim-based surveys need to be extended, with a move to include fraud and cybercrime. This would add three million offences to the figures. Lisa Harker, from the NSPCC, said the organisation had to send Freedom of Information Act requests to police forces in order to obtain data on child sex offences.
Media still discussing euthanasia and its influence on disability
A businessman who was paralysed by an accident when he was a teenager has said legalising assisted suicide would be ‘very detrimental’ to disabled people. Adam Thomas now designs kitchens specifically for disabled people, but says that when he was younger he would have thought such a life to be impossible. Speaking to BBC Radio 5 live, Thomas explained that introducing assisted suicide as an option would ‘change the way we look at disability’. His comments come as Lord Falconer again attempts to introduce assisted suicide - although his bill is unlikely to be passed into law.
UK could host US nuclear missiles
Speaking on the BBC's Andrew Marr Show, Philip Hammond said the government would tentatively consider hosting US nuclear missiles on UK land for the first time since the height of the Cold War in light of recent developments in Russia and Eastern Europe. ‘We've got to send a clear signal to Russia that we will not allow them to transgress our red lines," he said. ‘At the same time, we have to recognise that the Russians do have a sense of being surrounded and under attack, and we don't want to make unnecessary provocations either.’ The foreign secretary's remarks were yet another sign of the declining relations between the West and Russia, now at their lowest ebb since the end of the Cold War.
Head teacher sets ‘digital detox’ challenge
Smartphones and tablets are everywhere these days, including schools. In fact, one in three children between the ages of five and fifteen has their own tablet. One primary school head teacher has got so fed up with children being glued to their electronic devices that he has called for his pupils and their families to go on a ‘digital detox’. To view the two-minute BBC video of this article go to:
Anyone who has attempted to listen to two (or more) conversations at once can relate to a question my son asked when he was about nine years old. As he was preparing for bed one night and about to pray with his mom and me, he looked up with a puzzled expression. "How can God listen to my prayers if millions of other kids are praying right now too?"
My guess is that many adults have pondered this same question without venturing to voice it, though occasionally I meet someone curious enough or brave enough to ask it aloud. What thrills me about this query is that it opens the door to some profound theological truths that can expand our view of God's transcendent splendor and assure us of His personal, undivided attention to our prayers! These truths can draw us deeper into trust and worship of Him.
Because we humans experience time as a single, one-directional "line" along which our physical life progresses from beginning to end, we can only communicate with one another sequentially, one after another. Thanks to remarkable advances in technology, we can now communicate simultaneously with a global audience almost as easily as we can with one friend standing in front of us. With or without technology, however, we cannot handle overlapping conversations any more than we can read two pages in two different books at the same moment and with full attention to each.
By contrast, the God who brought this universe into existence and continuously holds it together is not and cannot be contained within it. According to Scripture, God existed and acted "before the beginning of time" (2 Timothy 1:9; Titus 1:2). By His transcendent power and purpose, He created not only matter and energy but also the space and time in which matter and energy unfurl (Genesis 1:1; Hebrews 11:3). Both the Bible and scientific investigation present us with the reality of a Being who has the capacity to create our familiar time dimension and fix its direction, a Being who possesses unlimited time capacities!
For the sake of our limited imagination, however, let's consider what is possible for God if He were to access even just a two-dimensional time frame. If we liken time dimensions to space dimensions, we can picture this two-dimensional time frame as a plane of time, a flat sheet with length and width, something like an edgeless sheet of paper. On this plane, God can extend a perpendicular time line from any point, any moment, along the time line you and I are moving along. On this perpendicular time line, God can give individual, undivided attention to your words and my words-and to any number of other prayers simultaneously. None of us need be concerned that our words will be drowned out. And in this moment, in this communication, we are being heard and attended to by the all-powerful, all-knowing, all-loving Creator of the universe, our Savior and Lord. This is why I consider prayer as the most potent spiritual resource God has granted to us humans. Our link with Him is more direct and constant than any high-speed Wi-Fi connection!
Obviously God has options far beyond this notion of a time plane. He can create and access time dimensions, as well as space dimensions, at will. What's more, He is free to operate without any limitations at all, completely independent of space-time dimensions. However, this simple illustration can at least offer us some reassurance that God truly can and does attend to us at every moment and in every situation of our life. Sometimes I go so far as to imagine our prayer lines resonating in some special way when we pray in unison or in harmony with fellow believers! Whatever the case may be, this illustration gives new meaning to King David's burst of joy and wonder:
How precious to me are your thoughts, O God!
How vast the sum of them!
Were I to count them, they would outnumber the grains of sand.
(Psalm 139:17-18)
Note from the editor:
Dr. Hugh Ross and the Reasons to Believe Ministry (www.reasons.org) that he founded carry on one of the most strategic ministries in the world both to skeptics and believers. He and his scientist colleagues share the increasingly astounding results of modern science that demonstrate so powerfully and mind-bogglingly the existence and attributes of our almighty, all-loving and all-wise Creator. Please pray for this unique ministry according to these requests that RTB has sent to us:
1. Sufficient fiscal year-end donations to fund the "good works" God has "prepared in advance for us to do."
2. Wisdom in developing plans for both our Conference Center and media studio.
3. Spiritual discernment and impact in our interactions with another ministry with which we are striving to dialogue .
4. Development of kingdom-advancing ministry partnerships.
5. That God will keep us safe AND make us dangerous!
In our IPC leadership call today, June 2, many exciting reports were shared about the way the Lord is moving through His praying people and especially the younger generation. Pl ease join us in prayer for these key concerns:
•Rise-Up Arab European Prayer Conference, May 14-16, Wiesbaden, Germany- An exhilarating event with 300 on-fire Arab Christians from many nations of Europe. They were challenged not to behave like refugees but as missionaries and to establish prayer cells wherever they are in the continent. Pray that they will be effective intercessors and mobilizers and that this movement will grow and connect many more immigrants, connecting them with nationals.
•RESET Million-Youth Prayer Event Leaders' Gathering, June 11-13, Washington, DC, USA the organizers have asked others to give them input in planning this massive prayer assembly for next year in July. Pray for great wisdom in doing this well and that there will be an enormous response by the younger generation across North America and elsewhere.
•UK Trumpet Call National Day of Prayer, July 4- it will be held in a 3000-person auditorium in Birmingham and will focus on the supremacy of Christ and the unity of His Body. Much spiritual battle and accidents occurring so please keep the leaders very much in prayer. May it be a powerfully anointed event that will rock England for the Lord and change the atmosphere politically, culturally and spiritually!
•International Children's Intercessors Conference (Royal Kids), August 6-9, Chennai, India- the organizers have been going through significant persecution and difficulty. Please pray for His grace and favor for them and their colleagues and for His provision of a good venue where they can hold this important initiative for the children.
•Global Issachar Group, South Asia Region, August 11-14, Colombo, Sri Lanka- Focus on the dark places and powers of our world. Pray for the right participants from the region, who have wisdom and experience to share that they will be able to come to Sri Lanka without hindrance and that it will be a revelatory, valuable time for all. Pray for the organizers as they make preparations and for His provision of resources for all the costs.
•European Trumpet Call, August 31-September 4. Pray for the leaders and for participants to come from across the continent to hear from the Lord and pray out His heart for the revival and transformation of Europe.
•24-7 Prayer Movement- their call is to concentrate on the 18 to 25 year old generation, "reviving the Church, rewiring the Culture" with the overflow of prayer into mission and justice initiatives. Pray for their effort to "turn the tide of modernism" on the university campuses and for a strong response by the students to be called by the Lord and become His leaders of tomorrow.
•Children in Prayer international team-Pray with them to see movements of CiP develop across the world and get connected and for how the children should participate during the WYPA.
•Kumbh Melah of Nasik, India- 60 million Hindus are expected to take part in this empty, vain ritual of river-dipping to get salvation, July 15 to end of September. Intercessors will pray there for 100 hours before. Pray that the powers of darkness and deception will be bound, that the KM will be a bust, and that millions will instead hear and respond to the glorious gospel of our Lord.
•Caribbean Prayer Network- please pray for the "Cry Out for Children" event on June 27 in Jamaica that will focus on child abuse and atrocities, a book on intercession being released and a course for intercessors that will be offered July 6-17.
•Africa- thanks be to God and the intercessors that prayed for Nigeria, which had an uncommonly smooth and peaceful election! Pray for efforts being made through MANI to coordinate prayer across the continent and their gathering October 26-31 in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia to pray for the unreached peoples as well as the issues of Islam and terrorism.
Thanks for standing with us in prayer for our world!
Here is some of the latest thinking from the International Dream Team of the WYPA. Please feel free to give suggestions to the planning team.
1. We will initiate on 2016 and culminate on 2017.
2. It will be a full-year event.
3. We will pursue this regardless of seeming conflict with other global events; we see it as complementary to all gatherings.
On UPRISING 2016
1. We will mobilize for an "UPRISING DREAM TEAM" - mobilizers, organizers, trainers, to work toward UPRISING 2017
2. We will recruit young, like-minded, global leaders who are ready to pray.
3. Attendance can go from 300 to 5,000 or more. We will not set a limit.
4. We will treat the preparations for this as if there is no event on 2017.
5. We will incubate and synergize, soak and seek, relate and bond.
6. We will receive impartation from the older leaders from all walks of society.
7. We will cast a global vision of UPRISING.
8. We will "resist in prayer" the growing evil in our times, especially the attack on Christians.
9. We will believe for fresh anointing on the youth and children in prayer, starting their own prayer movements.
10. We will ask the UPRISING DREAM TEAM to do an UPRISING prayer gathering monthly for 12 months in order to build momentum for 2017.
11. For mobilization of Koreans: we will maximize the potential of mobilizing "Korean Diaspora Churches" to call for sort of a 'homecoming' for the Koreans.
12. We will dovetail on other global gatherings between July 2016-2017 not to compete, but to complement their respective visions.
13. We will send the delegates home to gather a generation: "See you in UPRISING 2017"
On UPRISING 2017
1. This will be exponentially bigger than 2016.
2. We will pray, seek God, and hunger for Him.
3. We will hear from and pray for every region.
4. We will research on and pray against every attack the enemy has released in this generation.
5. We will challenge all delegates to a global fasting and praying for revival, for a new Jesus Movement in the Digital Age.
6. We will challenge the generation/s represented to commit to a personal vision of transformation in the 7 Mountains of Culture.
7. We will give a "packet" to all attendees with how-to's on mobilizing, organizing, and starting an UPRISING in every nation and region.
Dates
We are looking at JULY 25-30, 2016.
-July 26-28 will be the 3-day kick-off.
-July 29 will be the Prayer Time at the DMZ border.
-July 30 will potentially be a stadium event to rally the Korean churches and prayer movement.
For more information or to give suggestions, please contact Pastor Jerome Ocampo care of the WYPA administrator Sarah Torres at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Please pray for His continued clarity, unity and wisdom for the planning team; for the finding of the appropriate venue in South Korea; effective connection and mobilization with youth prayer and mission movements worldwide; and for His provision of all the resources needed.
It seems that there is a growing divide in North Korea between the donju who have money and the rest of the population. Donju are the newly affluent and growing middle class but in the North it is hard to speak of a middle class since the divide is so great. Anyway, they are able to buy their way out of undesirable work like the army and the "spring battle" that requires everyone to get out into the fields and plant. (The North has set up up another tension by upgrading schools from fines for skipping out.) They are strongly focused on owning the latest South Korean goods, including the best cosmetics, and this despite the increasing crackdowns. The growth of this class that increasingly flaunts authority may also be adding to Kim Jong Un's sense of insecurity. He recently executed his latest defense chief, Hyon Young Chol--by antiaircraft fire. This is only the latest in a long string of purges that reflect this. This insecurity and his inconsistencies (e.g. canceling UN Security-General Ban Ki Moon's visit) are of grave concern.
Kim Jong Un is also quite concerned about the ongoing communication between North Koreans and relatives who have made it to the South. He has been tightening up and call volume is dropping.
There is much in the news these days about North Korea that should fuel our prayers. We have also learned that the long arm of ISIS has also touched North Korea in the kidnapping of a North Korean doctor and his wife in Libya. Keep praying!
Ben Torrey
Director
The Fourth River Project, Inc.
www.thefourthriver.org
Here is the link to a marvelous video about a university that has been established by Christian organizations in Pyongyang, North Korea's capital. It is a bold effort to change minds of young people so they can become change agents in this oppressive dictatorship:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ur7IwW5NA0s
From the editor:
An additional, very special development for ministry inside North Korea has occurred that could bring great blessing and breakthrough to the nation this year. Please pray with us for all those involved in this process.