Armed Forces in action
Although other items take priority in the news please remember that the military is still conducting dangerous missions against the forces of IS. Royal Air Force (RAF) aircraft supporting Iraqi ground forces as part of the international coalition have conducted multiple air strikes on IS terrorists in recent days as they continued to strengthen security in the area east of Mount Sinjar. Please pray for their protection. For more info: https://www.gov.uk/government/news/latest-iraq-air-strikes The military also play a vital role in combatting Ebola as they combine their roles of logistics, planning, supply and medical work and training. Continuing the government’s commitment to help tackle the Ebola outbreak in west Africa, Headquarters 11 Infantry Brigade will take on a central command role. Usually based in Aldershot, they will take over from 104 Logistics Brigade who have been in Sierra Leone since September 2014.
Please continue to pray for us. As the Lord opens doors, the adversary tries to close them through diverse machinations. The creation of the one-thousand-voice choir and three-hundred-plus intercessors team to promote reconciliation, forgiveness, etc through singing, praying, etc are initiatives that the Lord laid on our hearts to help redirect the country spiritually, politically, etc. Our folks are slowed to pick up - they can be more individualistic than collective. It's hurting the church and purpose of the nation.
That's why we wanted to bring a cross-church-group team that could have gotten re-oriented and energized for such initiatives. Time is of an essence. Christian Liberia believes God has a special mission for the nation. They believe that the church is supposed to birth that mission. In fact, many believe the timing is coming when the next leader of the nation could come directly from - the support of - the church. It's a cry, yearning, etc - that Liberia will return to its roots.
That's why a group of young ministers solicited thousands of signatures last year to lay groundwork for a petition to revert the Christian nation phrase into the national Constitution. We also did one for homosexuality not to be legalized in the country. Those two efforts have scared a lot of people.
But aah! Libeeerians! They, or we need prayer. In 2014, we hope we can expose church leaders to effective potential of prayer that your initiatives present. Please continue to pray for us - and groups like the council of churches that has a lot of sway on the country but is threatened by a lack of spirituality, etc. This is my desire!
God Bless,
Brother Brown
An Encouraging story from Liberia
That's what they called him: Milton Blahyi, a satanic high priest, cannibal, warlord and mass murderer in the Liberian civil war. He admitted to being personally responsible for the death of more than 20,000 civilians. He and his men fought naked to obtain "spiritual protection," which earned him the nickname of "General Butt Naked." Dedicated to satanic worship from his early childhood, he sacrificed humans on a regular basis as the high priest of his Krahn tribe. One day - with the blood of a child who had just been sacrificed on his hands - Jesus Christ appeared to him saying, "My son, why do you live as a slave?" And he called him to repent.
After a series of miraculous circumstances Milton Blahyi bowed his knees before Jesus Christ, who, out of the indescribable depth of his mercy and grace, saved the satanic warlord. Joshua - as he called himself after his conversion - later turned himself in to the Liberian war commission and confessed his crimes. Due to the special Liberian situation and his obviously changed life and positive influence on society, he was not convicted.
For more than 10 years he has now been working as a pastor and evangelist ministering especially to former child soldiers and seeking to establish reconciliation with his former victims and their families.
Joshua's heart is to reach his fellow Africans who are still living in darkness as he once did - including the numerous people who are still sacrificing human beings and practicing cannibalism. After hearing about G.O.D., Joshua was extremely excited about the opportunity to reach the whole of Liberia with the gospel. He is now working as one of our local G.O.D. coordinators and preparing the mobilization of churches all over the nation for a joint gospel outreach. We will be supporting that outreach by printing one million gospel tracts and providing training material for Liberian Christians.
We are very excited about what the Lord is doing in Liberia! The war-torn country still has so many open wounds and bleeding hearts - the message of the true Healer is urgently needed. Joshua's story reveals how God's incomprehensible love can reach even into the deepest darkness.
All is not well with Mozambique. Armed conflict is occurring in different parts of the nation. The citizenry is afraid-it is like returning to civil war. There is a campaign of destabilization being brought on the land. The tension is increased by the fact that this year is election year.
Please stand in Prayer for Mozambique at this time. Pray incessantly that there will be revival in the land and not civil war. Please pass on to others in your area of influence requesting them to pray for Mozambique.
Find below some stories that show the current state of the nation.
http://allafrica.com/stories/201401062584.html
http://allafrica.com/stories/201401080890.html?aa_source=slideout
http://allafrica.com/stories/201401080867.html
http://allafrica.com/stories/201401081357.html
Thank you.
Madukauwa David
EU pledges better cooperation with Muslim countries in the fight against terror
‘The threat is not only the one we faced in Paris, but also spreading in many parts of the world, starting in Muslim countries. We need to share information more. We need to cooperate more. We are determined to do what is necessary to keep Europe safe from the terrorist threat,’ said British Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond on Monday (January 19). He was among 28 EU foreign ministers attending a meeting in Brussels. There, delegates pledged to adopt better strategies at home and abroad in an effort to counter radicalised Muslims returning from Syria and Iraq. EU Foreign Policy Chief Federica Mogherini called for better collaboration between EU member states, but also with Muslim countries. ‘We took a decision with the Foreign Affairs Council to coordinate in a much more active way than has been the case so far.’
Anti-Semitism on the rise
Middle East expert Pinchas Inbari writes that he has met with several senior European officials who said they see the Israeli-Palestine issue as the most pressing matter for Europe. The logic goes like this: The problem upsets Muslims and Arabs and drives recruitment to Islamic State, which is a direct threat to Europe; so they intend to force Israel to submit to Palestinian demands, believing a Palestinian state would somehow solve the Islamic State problem. Hate crimes strike fear into Jewish communities. In just one week last year eight synagogues were attacked in France and Kosher businesses are regularly smashed and looted as crowds chant ‘Death to Jews’. In Germany recently molotov cocktails were lobbed into the Bergische synagogue and Imam Abu Bilal Ismail called on Allah to ‘destroy the Zionist Jews'. A Dutch' anti-Semitism watchdog had 70+ calls from alarmed Jewish citizens in just one week last year. Organisations recording anti-Semitic incidents say the trend is inexorable. See also:
EU pledges better cooperation with Muslim countries in the fight against terror
‘The threat is not only the one we faced in Paris, but also spreading in many parts of the world, starting in Muslim countries. We need to share information more. We need to cooperate more. We are determined to do what is necessary to keep Europe safe from the terrorist threat,’ said British Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond on Monday (January 19). He was among 28 EU foreign ministers attending a meeting in Brussels. There, delegates pledged to adopt better strategies at home and abroad in an effort to counter radicalised Muslims returning from Syria and Iraq. EU Foreign Policy Chief Federica Mogherini called for better collaboration between EU member states, but also with Muslim countries. ‘We took a decision with the Foreign Affairs Council to coordinate in a much more active way than has been the case so far.’
Ebola nurse no longer critically ill
Pauline Cafferkey, from Glasgow, was diagnosed with Ebola in December after returning from Sierra Leone. On 4 January it was announced she was in a critical condition. (See last week’s Prayer Alert.) The hospital has now said in a statement that she was ‘showing signs of improvement’. The 39-year-old had volunteered with other UK NHS staff for the charity Save the Children in West Africa. The full statement from the hospital said: ‘The Royal Free Hospital is pleased to announce that Pauline Cafferkey is showing signs of improvement and is no longer critically ill. she remains in isolation as she receives specialist care for the Ebola virus.’ Ms Cafferkey has been treated with experimental drugs and has received blood plasma from another British nurse, Will Pooley, who recovered from an Ebola infection last year.
The paradox of the rapid spread of Christianity in China
In China there are more Christians today than there are members of the 87 million-strong Communist Party. They grow by an average of 10% a year, which means there will be 250 million Christians by around 2030, making China’s Christian population the largest in the world. While in the 1980s the faith grew most quickly in the countryside, in recent years it has been burgeoning in cities. A new breed of educated, urban and socially and economically active Christians has emerged. This rapid growth of the Church is forcing an official re-think on religion. In fact, the Party is even asking Christians for their help.
Benin: Growing tolerance, reduced persecution
The 2015 World Watch List from Open Doors ranks 50 countries where persecution of Christians for religious reasons is most severe. The worst 10 are Muslim nations, yet Christians need to be aware that not all Muslim countries persecute Christians. Take the West African nation of Benin. It's one of 57 member states of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation, the body which describes itself as ‘the collective voice of the Muslim world.’ Benin’s president, Boni Yayi, was born into a Muslim family. However, he is now a devout Evangelical Christian. He worships at his local Pentecostal church, where he sometimes also preaches the sermon, and has expressed a desire to ‘evangelise the world’ when his presidential term ends in 2016.
Women keep the faith as majority of men say they do not believe in God
Muslims have the strongest faith in modern Britain while only one in six who identify with Anglicanism or other mainstream protestant churches are convinced of the existence of God. Women are almost two-thirds more likely than men to believe in God, a major study of attitudes among middle-aged Britons has found. Atheism and agnosticism are now the majority creed among the male population but almost two thirds of women believe in Heaven or an afterlife. The findings also suggest that Muslims have by far the strongest faith , with Christians from smaller evangelical churches the only group coming close to the same levels of certainty. By contrast only one in six members of the main Protestant denominations say they believe without doubt in God. Just a third of Roman Catholics in the study said the same compared to 88 per cent of Muslims and 71 per cent of those categorised as evangelical Christians.