Category: News Briefs

Source: OMF International February 2020

In order to understand Shinto better, I [Peter] have been translating a pamphlet I picked up at a Shinto shrine. It is all about “unlucky years.” These years occur throughout a person’s life and need special attention from people of various ages. The worst unlucky years are said to occur for men when they reach 42 and women at 33. The pamphlet encourages readers of this age to have a special cleansing or exorcism-type ceremony at their local shrine.

It also says, “Unlucky years occur at the same time as bodily changes or at points of change in our social environment, and the body can be easily affected. So, it is perhaps important to put the good luck charm (given when cleansing took place at a shrine) on the family Shinto god shelf, to keep protection charms near you, and to pay increased attention to your health.”

I am struck by a number of things:

1. The importance of ceremonies. Generally speaking, ceremonies make things official and real for Japanese people. If you have a ceremony done, then you have done the right thing at the right time and all will be okay.
2. The belief in the protection given by charms. We had a Japanese friend who was going through an “unlucky year.” As the pamphlet suggests, she kept a charm in her purse. If we had asked her if she believed in its power to protect, she might well have given a common answer—“I half believe and I half doubt.” The logic often runs: if the charm does not cost much and just might help, why not have it?
3. The difference between the God of the Bible and the gods of Shinto. The Christian can say to the Lord: “My times are in your hands” (Psalm 31:15) and also fully trust God who “will watch over your coming and going both now and forevermore” (Psalm 121:8). Shinto unlucky years really are in stark contrast to the Lord’s mercies that are new every morning.

Will you pray for Japan?

• That Japanese people will come to know the God who we can fully trust with our times.
• For wisdom for missionaries in Japan in interacting with those for whom having a ceremony is important.
• For Japanese Christians will know God’s peace during years that their countrymen believe are unlucky.

» Read full story.

» Get perspective from OMF’s Patrick Fung on the Coronavirus Outbreak Four Ways to Pray.

Desert locusts are once again causing catastrophic crop loss, this time in East Africa and Pakistan. See below. Image via Mission Network News.

In this issue:

1. ARAB WORLD: Global Update Tomorrow
2. LAOS: Pray for the Unengaged
3. EAST AFRICA: Farmers Battle Desert Locusts
4. CHINA: Wuhan’s Christians Risk Their Lives to Share the Gospel
5. BURKINA FASO: Pastor Abducted, 20 Killed

Source: Beyond, February 2020

When: Thursday, February 20, 2020, 7:00 to 8:00 PM (CST)

God is on the move in the Arab world. We invite you to hear Beyond’s Vice President of Global Strategies, provide some key insights into how the gospel continues to spread in this highly persecuted and restricted part of the world.

Missionaries today have a great opportunity to be a part of God’s story in this area of the world, but they may be surprised to discover that instead of being called to serve in the role of an Apostle Paul, it may be time for a new wave of Barnabas-like missionaries to rise up and encourage the local Paul’s as we link arms across the global Church in order to reach this region.

» Sign up for this free, online-only event.

» See also Believer Reaches Nomadic Neighbors with the Gospel (IMB) or read about a Brazilian seeing the gospel spread in North Africa (OM).

Source: Brigada Today, February 16, 2020

Check out this four-minute video requesting prayer for ministry among the remaining (“Final 58”) unengaged people groups of Laos. Doug Lucas is the president of Team Expansion. This is his first effort at using a drone to raise prayer!

» Watch video and pray for this outreach effort.

» See also the 34-minute, 1932 silent film Siam: Land of the White Elephant (Presbyterian Historical Society). While we’re in the region, download Praying Down the Mekong River (OMF).

Source: Barnabas Fund, February 18, 2020

The UN [has] confirmed that the desert locust plague, which can migrate up to 150km a day, has now invaded southeast Sudan, entering from northern Uganda.

Many thousands are facing acute food shortages as vast swarms of desert locusts, considered the most destructive migratory pest on earth, have caused catastrophic loss to spring crops in East Africa and Pakistan.

The locust swarms were initially reported to have spread from Yemen across the Red Sea in November 2019, before spreading south to East Africa, resulting in the worst outbreak seen in 70 years. Millions of locusts also entered into Pakistan’s agricultural belt, via Iran, in late 2019.

East Africa is now on the verge of a food crisis due to the locusts devouring crops, according to the UN, with Ethiopia, Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, and Somalia the worst-hit countries at this time.

» Full story includes more about locusts devastating Pakistan. Let’s pray for those in these regions.

» Also read Christians Respond as Desert Locusts Devour and Destroy (Mission Network News).

Source: Asia Harvest, February 2020

Thank you for praying for the Church in China at this time, especially for the believers at the epicenter of the virus in Hubei Province. God’s people have risen up during this crisis. Please pray for them, and ask God to glorify his name in this disaster by granting eternal life to millions of desperate people in Hubei.

Unfortunately, even at a time such as this, the Chinese Communist Party cannot put aside their anti-Christian ideology, and we have been informed that some of the teams of believers who were preaching on the streets have been arrested and their supplies confiscated.

We are now in a position to help Chinese believers living in the area through a trustworthy local contact. He wrote that their greatest need is for “medical equipment, masks, goggles, gloves, and protective coverings.”

» Read full story includes a video of Christian street preachers.

» See Justin Long’s list of articles about the impact of the coronavirus. And you may appreciate this from Israel: Hundreds Gather at Western Wall to Pray for China, End to Coronavirus (Christian Headlines).

Source: Open Doors, February 17, 2020

On Sunday, attackers broke into a village in the northeast region of the country while Christians gathered for worship. According to the French radio outlet RFI, the attackers killed 20 people and injured 15 more. The extremists also abducted the pastor and set the church on fire. Several people are still missing.

Please pray for God’s grace on those who lost loved ones. Ask God for a safe release of the pastor. And pray for the Lord’s protection and comfort for those injured in the attack.

These attacks are horrendous, but the Christian community in Burkina Faso is persevering through Christ during extreme persecution. But they need the prayers of the global Church to be strengthened—and to know they’re not alone.

» Read full story.

Some of the 40 Pakistani Christians acquitted and released after years in prison gather to thank advocates and supporters. Photo via Jubilee Campaign; see story below.

In this edition:

Source: One Mission Society, January 29, 2020

On November 3, 2019, nearly 2,000 Christians from 24 churches in northern Haiti marched to Bois-Caiman, a site dedicated to the devil in 1804, and today, an area rampant with Voodoo practice. They marched the three miles, singing and praying as they went, led by Pastor Lucner, dean of advancement at Emmaus University, to reclaim the area for Jesus.

Many Christians warned Pastor Lucner not to do this, saying it was too dangerous. But Lucner knew God had told him to do it. Many believers assured him of their participation, so they prayed and fasted for the two days prior to the event.

As the group marched, others joined them along the way. When they passed the road that led to the local cemetery, a man with a lot of Voodoo paraphernalia stood nearby. Someone talked to him, and he accepted Jesus as Savior and joined the march.

Pastor Lucner had sent five men ahead to the site to pray and observe the situation. They reported, “There are several people ready to attack anyone who comes.” Yet, no attacks occurred. They had also been warned that if a witch doctor approached to shake hands, Lucner would fall dead. Well, a witch doctor shook his hand several times … when nothing happened, the witch doctor walked away.

» Read full story.

Source: Worthy News, January 30, 2020

China is cracking down on Christian weddings and funerals [so] believers are “persecuted even after death” according to one villager in Henan province whose family was forced by the government to hold a secular funeral for his believing father.

New regulations in effect on December 1 in Zheijang province ensure that “clerical personnel are not allowed to participate in funerals,” though a limited number of family members may sing hymns “in a low voice,” and restrictions are becoming even more severe elsewhere.

“The situation is quite adverse, and some believers don’t even dare to accompany the deceased to the graveyard,” said an elder from an official Three-Self Patriotic Movement church. “Pastors can only sneak into believers’ homes for a hurried prayer.”

In the city of Wuhan, the daughter of a woman who had just died was arrested while planning her mother’s funeral and released two days afterwards to ensure she was not able to attend.

» Read full story.

» See also the much more encouraging article, Christians Bring Hope into Coronavirus Panic (Mission Network News) and check out a dashboard tracking the Wuhan Coronavirus (Johns Hopkins University).