Day: August 15, 2018

Will you join 100,000 believers from around the world for three days of prayer and fasting (August 19-21) for the 2+ million Muslims on Hajj (August 19-24)?

• MUSLIM WORLD: Freedom in Christ
• NIGERIA: Behind the Fulani Herdsmen-Farmers Conflict
• PHILIPPINES: A Sharia State for Mindanao
• INDIA: Anti-Conversion Laws Could Be Repealed
• USA: Teen Rescued from Trafficking by Postal Worker

Greetings,

Before our next edition of news briefs, the annual hajj pilgrimage will have come and gone, so I don’t want to miss this opportunity to offer you fuel for prayer for the pilgrims and for ministry to Muslims in general.

For a good introduction, see First Friday Prayer for the Muslim World: Hajj and the Festival of Sacrifice (SEND International). SEND is one of some 180 mission agencies banding together to ask God to draw 10 percent of the world’s Muslims to himself in the next ten years. Will you pray with them?

Pat

 

 

 

Source: Bridging the Divide, July 27, 2018

Last month over forty of us gathered to discuss various facets of freedom in Christ, especially as they relate to those coming to faith in him from a Muslim background. We had a substantial and informative time together, in some cases finding more agreement than we had expected. A summary of our interaction can be found on our Core Documents page, and many of the pre-readings and presentations can be found on the BtD 2018 page. Other readings and presentations cannot be shared publicly, but we trust the Lord will use this treasure chest of information for bringing spiritual freedom to many more, for his glory.

» Read full story. I’d love to see someone use the five affirmations in the conclusion of the report to create some prayer points for the whole church. Any takers?

Source: World Watch Monitor, August 9, 2018

The ongoing deadly clashes between the nomadic, mainly Muslim Fulani herdsmen and the predominantly Christian farming communities of Nigeria’s Middle Belt are often referred to in the mainstream media as “farmer-herder clashes.” The Middle Belt is a farming region, and the advancing Fulani-owned herds have increasingly encroached on croplands.

However, attacks by herder militia now occur with such frequency and apparent organization that the characterization as “communal clashes” no longer seems adequate.

Human rights groups have accused Nigeria’s government and its president, Muhammadu Buhari, of failing to deal with the conflict. An International Crisis Group report has pointed out impunity as one of the root causes of the continuing violence.

Here, World Watch Monitor explains the history of the conflict and why, in recent years, the herders, who once lived peacefully alongside their Christian neighbors, have been responsible for more bloodshed than Boko Haram.

» Read full story and watch the six-minute video.

» Also: Could the Fulani Herdsmen and Boko Haram Be Related? (Mission Network News) and Boko Haram Horror Leads to Life (Assembly of God).

Source: Barnabas Fund, July 31, 2018

The government of the Philippines is to push ahead with the formal creation of a fully-autonomous region in Muslim-dominated Mindanao, which will include allowing elements of sharia (Islamic) law.

President Duterte is expected to sign the Bangsamoro [Organic] Law later this week. The law, which has been in discussions since 2014, will establish an autonomous region on the southern island of Mindanao. Elements of sharia law are to be incorporated into the justice system.

The Bangsamoro area has a sizeable non-Muslim population. Although it is claimed sharia law elements are expected to only be applicable to Muslims, its incorporation effectively creates an Islamic sub-state within a secular, pluralistic and mainly-Christian country.

The proposal for an autonomous region was included in a peace deal agreed between the government and Muslim rebel groups in 2013, but its implementation has been delayed by successive governments.

» Read full story.

» This bill was indeed signed, though—as a more positive report on this topic points out—the road ahead may be a tough one (Al Jazeera). World Watch Monitor reports some of the responses of Christians.

Source: Global Christian News, July 18, 2018

Decades-old anti-conversion laws which were targeted against Christians could be repealed in the north Indian State of Arunachal Pradesh.

The state’s Chief Minister, Pema Khandu, told journalists that the legislation “could undermine secularism and is probably targeted towards Christians.”

The law, officially called the Arunachal Pradesh Freedom of Religion Act, was introduced in Arunachal Pradesh in 1978. It imposed a fine of 10,000 Rupees and potential one-year jail term for those who converted or attempted to convert a person through “force or by inducement or by any fraudulent means.” Although the law was aimed to prevent what is known as “forced conversion,” it has been used to target Christian evangelists seeking to share their faith.

The welcome announcement from the Arunachal Pradesh government is a marked contrast to what is happening in other Indian states, where several regional governments have either introduced or are planning introduce similar anti-conversion laws.

» Read full story.

» See also reports of Christians in Uttar Pradesh arrested during prayer after their Hindu neighbors, whose daughter was healed by such prayers, converted to Christianity (Morning Star News). Anti-conversion laws are expected to go into effect in Nepal this month, as well.

Source: Christian Headlines, August 7, 2018

Crystal Allen was found by a postal worker [in Sacramento, California] when she escaped her trafficker’s vehicle on June 8. The 16-year-old was found hiding behind a bush, sobbing, according to Ivan Crisostomo:

“I hear this crying, this really bad crying. So, I went around behind this large, bush-like thing, [a] large tree, and saw this young lady,” he told KCRA 3 [a local television station]. “The girl kept saying, ‘They are coming to get me. They are coming to get me.’ I said, ‘Don’t worry, nobody is going to get you. I’m here for you.’”

Allen was reportedly lured from her group home by a friend into the hands of the captors. KCRA 3 reports, “She was held captive for three months. During that time, she was drugged, beaten, and sexually assaulted.” Allen had been unable to escape, stating that she was often tied to chairs and that there were guard dogs on the premises and people who prevented her (and others) from leaving.

When she was found by Crisostomo, Allen was “in a panic,” according to the postal worker. He eventually persuaded Allen to call her mother and tell her she was all right:

“She was frantic. I didn’t know what was going on,” Allen’s mother said, “I couldn’t even understand her she was so upset and that’s when I told her she had to reach out to someone for safety and she gave the phone to Ivan and he instantly kicked into gear and told me that he would save my daughter.”

» Read full story and pray for this young woman and others like her.

» Did you know Sunday, September 23 is Anti-Human Trafficking Day of Prayer? Learn more or download materials (Salvation Army of Canada).

» See also Is Tbilisi the New Capital for Iranian Sex Workers? (Iran Wire).