Exloring Life Eternal

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/printFriendly/0,,1-524-2189789-524,00.html

OR
http://makeashorterlink.com/?C30225B3D


From the above link:
"Akash woke up in a dark room with a bare brick floor and no windows. The heat was suffocating. As he languished there over the next month, 19 other panic-stricken boys were thrown into the room with him.

The children, all Christians, had fallen into the hands of Gul Khan, a wealthy Islamic militant and leading member of Jamaat-ud Daawa (JUD), a group linked to the Al-Qaeda terrorist network.

Khan lives near Pakistan’s border with Afghanistan, but when in the Punjab he stays at the JUD’s headquarters in Muridke, near Lahore, where young men can be seen practising martial arts with batons on rolling green lawns patrolled by guards with Kalashnikovs. Osama Bin Laden funded the centre in the late 1990s.

The JUD, which claims to help the poor, says that it has created a “pure Islamic environment” at Muridke that is superior to western “depravity”. Khan’s activities explode that myth. He planned to sell his young captives to the highest bidder, whether into domestic servitude or the sex trade. The boys knew only that they were for sale.

This is the story of the misery that Akash and his friends, aged six to 12, endured in captivity; of their rescue by Christian missionaries who bought their freedom and tried to expose the kidnappers; and of the children’s moving reunions with their loved ones who had believed they were dead.

North Korea - LORD, we commit the Prayer for North Korea website to you www.prayfornorthkorea.org, which is to be launched very shortly. We ask that your Spirit would be at work through this resource and that change would come to North Korea.

== Pakistan - Pray for an end to the escalating violent attacks against Christians in Pakistan, which have recently gotten even worse because of the Danish cartoons controversy. Pray for their protection and the growth of their community and that God will provide for those Christians who have lost their houses or other property in the anti-Christian violence.
== Nigeria - We pray for Christians who have been attacked and the families of those who were killed in riots organized in protest of the cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad. We ask you to intervene in this situation and to bring your peace and justice.

Tibet – Pray for a great expansion of religious freedom for Christians in Tibet.

East Timor - We continue to pray for Christians in East Timor particularly in the light of the ongoing post conflict reconstruction. Pray that the Christian Church would have an important role to play, that they would have divine wisdom, love, and unity, that it may glorify your name and lead others to you.

PAKISTAN: MESSIANIC MUSLIM CONTINUES LONELY MARCH
From: ASSIST News Service - February 3, 2006

By Mark Ellis

His houses along the Pakistan and Afghanistan border have been sprayed with bullets. Yet his unconventional approach to reach Muslims is winning converts. “It’s been an uphill battle,” says Brother John, a full-blooded Pashtun, and founder of a ministry devoted to presenting biblical Christianity within an Islamic context. His houses near the border of Afghanistan and Pakistan are lined with prayer rugs and have the feel of an Eastern worship center.

... “The moment I say he’s the one and only, God Almighty in human
flesh, the trouble begins,” John says. “You have to take things
one step at a time.” Many Christians will not understand John’s strategy because it sounds like compromise. “To some degree it is,” he admits. At
the same time, he emphasizes his main thrust is to prove that
Jesus Christ is God in human flesh. “We worship him as the Creator
and the Savior.”

Full story here (http://www.assistnews.net/Stories/s06020013.htm).

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ERITREA: MILITARY JAILS 75 PROTESTANT CONSCRIPTS
from: Compass Direct - February 2, 2006

Eritrean military authorities jailed 75 Protestant Christians
yesterday (February 1, 2006) at the Sawa Military Training Camp
for “reading Bibles and praying during their free time,” local
sources in the small East Africa nation confirmed. Most of the
newly arrested evangelicals, 37 of them women, are students doing
their compulsory national military service at Sawa, a remote
center near Eritrea’s mountainous western border with Sudan.

... The jailed Protestants are routinely subjected to physical beatings
and severe psychological pressure to deny their religious beliefs.
Police and military authorities continue to demand that the prisoners
return to one of the three “official” Christian denominations
recognized by the government.

Full story here
http://www.compassdirect.org/en/newslongen.php?idelement=4184

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Excerpts from

Missions Catalyst News Briefs: WORLD NEWS BRIEFS --
Wed Feb 15, 2006 -- Edited by Pat Noble <mcnews@cproject.com>
Published by Caleb Project --
Equipping the Church to Reach the Nations -- http://www.calebproject.org

"And the King shall answer and say to them,‘Truly I say to you, to the extend that you did it to one of these brothers of Mine, even the least of them, you did it to Me.’” Matthew 25:40

PRAY FOR PEOPLE DEVASTATED FROM THE EARTHQUAKE IN PAKISTAN AND INDIA. PRAY THAT BELIEVERS WILL REMAIN STRONG IN REACHING OUT TO OTHERS AFTER THE HEAVY TOLL OF GIVING THAT HAS FOLLOWED MAJOR DISASTERS THIS YEAR.

Facts and Updates: Eleven days after the Northern Pakistan earthquake struck the number of deaths reported was a estimated at 80,000 with the majority being in Pakistan (1,300 were in India). Some have estimated that the death toll could reach 100,000. An estimated 3.3 million were left homeless in Pakistan. The UN reported that over 4 million people are directly affected.

KASHMIR: Pakistan and India have been divided and fighting over Kashmir for almost 58 years. The struggle has resulted in tight control of their borders and families have been separated as the result. In Pakistani Kashmir, the capital city of Muzaaffarabad is almost 90% destroyed. President Musharraf of Pakistan appealed to India’s prime minister Singh to allow the borders to be opened especially so families could help their relatives who are suffering. Both sides have agreed! For the first time in over 58 years these countries which have fought each other are now working to bring relief and are talking about working on the reconstruction efforts. Pray that through this disaster God can reach the hearts of leaders, military, government officials and others to bring healing to the Kashmiri people. Estimated religious affiliation of Kashmiris: Muslim 64%; Hindu 32%; Sikhs 2%; Buddhist 1.5% and a few Christians. Christian persecution has increased in the last few years.

PAKISTAN: Population of Pakistan is estimated at 160 million. The people are divided into over 170 ethnic groups, six major language families and numerous dialects. The primary people groups are: Panjabi 61%; Sindhi 12%; Urdu 8%; Tribal groups 2%; Iranian 13 %; Baloch 3%; Others (Tibetan, Turkic, Arab, British and Chinese ) 1.5% and Afghanistan refugees 3,500,000. RELIGION: Muslim 97% (Sunni 68% and Shi'a 28%); Ahmadiyyah Islamic sect (1.5%); Hindu 1.5% and Others 1% (Tribal, Baha'i, Animists, Parsee a Buddhist and a small group of Christians). Christian converts are primarily from Pakistani Hindus and primarily live in rural areas Persecution and intimidation have been a growing reality against Christians in Pakistan. Some have been deported. Currently there are a number of these believers in the United States and other parts of the world who are working hard with Christian agencies to bring help to the people of Pakistan. Many Christians in India again have shown great courage and strength. Many have very little themselves but they are willing to give. At this time of Ramadan, some Muslims around the world are reaching out to other Muslims who are in need.

With in this last week the President of World Visions, Richard Stearns, made the following comment: “In this year, 2005, there has been a decreasing giving for each world disaster. There was almost 3.2 million given for the tsunami, 1.3 million for Hurricane Katrina and currently about 480,000 for the Pakistan earthquake. Some people are becoming numb to these tragedies. What we call ‘compassion fatigue’ may be setting in.”

One fact that we know is God’s love and power is great! He will gives us the strength, the compassion and the means to work with Him to reach hearts of people who never before have seen the faces and the love that can only come from Him. Pray that believers will be encouraged to pray and give during this time when the world is experiencing some of the hardest struggles it has known. Pray that believers will be encouraged by God’s words in Matthew 25:40. PRAY THAT THE PEOPLE OF PAKISTAN AND INDIA WILL KNOW GOD’S ETERNAL LOVE.

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#405
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