Tuesday, December 5, 2023

RLPB 722: Seize the Day (and final words)

Religious Liberty Prayer Bulletin | RLPB 722 | 06 Dec 2023
... published 1999 - 2023 to facilitate strategic intercessory prayer.
 
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RLPB 722: SEIZE THE DAY
- final Religious Liberty Prayer Bulletin
By Elizabeth Kendal

Blaise Pascal is mostly remembered as a 17th Century French child prodigy; a genius in mathematics and physics. But Pascal was also an extraordinary theologian and apologist of grace. Though he remained in the Catholic Church, he was beloved of Protestants.

Pascal is the author of one of my favourite quotes on prayer: “God has instituted prayer in order to lend his creatures the dignity of causality” . . . causality being the principle that every effect has a cause.

As Pascal understood, God instituted prayer for our benefit!

God can work without us! He is not dependent on our intelligence. He does not need our advice. And unlike us, he knows what is best. God is perfectly capable of fulfilling all his plans without our involvement – except, that is not the way he has chosen to work in the world.

Because God wants to work with us – in a way that both engages and dignifies us – he established prayer as the means (cause) by which we receive his supernatural help (effect).

I think most of us understand this… at least to some degree.

The issue that really seizes my mind, is the flip side of the “dignity of causality” – and that is, the responsibility of causality. What happens when we do not pray?

I believe the answer is found in Isaiah 30:15-19, where we read that because God’s people refused to “return and rest”– i.e. trust – in their covenant God (v15), preferring instead to save themselves (v16), “therefore” they would fail (v17) (cf Deut 8:11-20). “Therefore, the Lord waits to be gracious to you…” (v18a).

And so it was that in 701BC, as the armies of Assyria’s King Sennacherib rampaged across Judah sacking town after town, looting, destroying, killing, abducting … the Lord waited to be gracious.

Only after the enemy had arrived at the gates of Jerusalem (Isaiah 36) did Judah’s King Hezekiah return/repent and rest/wait on the Lord (Isaiah 37). As French academic and lay theologian Jacques Ellul notes, King Hezekiah’s withdrawal into the house of the Lord and his crying to him was a political act whereby the truth that God is the Lord was reaffirmed.

And Hezekiah’s prayer (37:16-20) changed everything. As foretold in Isaiah 28:5-6, as soon as the people returned to the way of faith, the battle was turned back at the gate.

“Thus,” affirms Isaiah commentator Alec Motyer, “the way of believing prayer is the truly practical way of dealing with the harsh realities of this world. What neither armaments (36:9) nor diplomacy (30:1,2) nor money (2 Kings 18:13,14) could achieve, prayer has done.”

“The Lord waits to be gracious to you… Blessed are those who wait for him! … How gracious he will be when you cry for help! As soon as he hears, he will answer you” (from Isaiah 30:18,19 ESV).

I must confess, the thought of God waiting horrifies me. But I also know that God is never inactive, and that as God waits he is seizing the day and redeeming the times to do another great new work in which we are integral!

Never before in the history of the Church, has the Church been in the position that we are in today, where, thanks to today’s globalised networks and information systems, satellites and digital communication technologies, the Church can now know about and respond to a crisis – even on the other side of the world, even as it is unfolding, sometimes even before it unfolds – for the saving of many lives. This is new and totally unprecedented.

I believe that as the Church responds to the issue of persecution – through speaking, praying, and giving [see www.ElizabethKendal.com ACTION (Speak, Pray, Give)] – three effects will become evident.

I believe a serious and passionate response from the Church will:

(1) enable the saving of many lives; even the preservation and restoration of whole Christian communities;

(2) facilitate the sanctification of the Church, as the Church becomes in practice what the Church is in theory/reality i.e. the Body of Christ;

(3) present the watching world with a vision of sacrificial Christian love – reflecting the image and sacrificial love of Christ – “that the world may believe”, which is precisely what Jesus prayed for in the Garden of Gethsemane on the night he was betrayed.

“I do not ask for these only [his current disciples], but also for those who will believe in me through their word, that they may all be one, just as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that they also may be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me. The glory that you have given me I have given to them, that they may be one even as we are one, I in them and you in me, that they may become perfectly one, so that the world may know that you sent me and loved them even as you loved me. (emphasis mine)

I believe that the 21st Century could go down in Christian history as the century in which God knitted together an increasingly global Church, using chords of love forged in the flames of persecution, that the world may believe.

Pray that the Church will seize the day!

Elizabeth Kendal
6 Dec 2023

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As noted in last week’s RLPB 721, after nearly 25 years and a total of 1,246 religious liberty prayer bulletins, two separate health issues are forcing me into a premature retirement; the time has come to retire the weekly Religious Liberty Prayer Bulletin (RLPB) ministry.

It has been a profound honour for me to be able to serve not only our Lord’s persecuted Church, but also our Lord’s vast army of intercessors. One of the aims of the RLPB ministry was to equip intercessors not merely with prayer needs so we could pray for the persecuted, but also with an understanding of the context so we could pray against root causes of persecution.

While we prayed against hostile actors, negative trends, and all manner of political, ideological, geo-political and/or historical root causes, we have always acknowledged that the primary root cause – the cause of all causes – is spiritual (Ephesians 6:12-18).

A spiritual battle necessitates the use of spiritual weapons (2 Corinthians 10:3-4): those being Holy Spirit-empowered prayer and mission.

It is long been my heart’s desire to see not only individuals, but churches committing to pray for the persecuted as a normal, integral part of Christian life and worship. I would like to encourage pastors to lead by example, from the front. [See www.ElizabethKendal.com ACTION (pastors).]

I want to thank several special people who, against all odds, embraced me from the outset (1999). They believed that I – a musician and single mother of four small children from Melbourne, Australia – was God’s provision in answer to prayer. I don’t doubt for a minute how much faith that required!

Thank-you Rev. Johan Candelin, John Langlois and Mark Albrecht (World Evangelical Alliance Religious Liberty Commission). Thank-you Ron Clough and Tom Slater (Australian Evangelical Alliance). And thank-you Jun Vencer (WEA) for providing me with my first ever speaking engagement: the WEA General Assembly, Kuala Lumpur, April 2001. That was a leap of faith for all involved, one I will never forget!

Thank-you to those who have provided words of encouragement and appreciation – from Australia and from as far afield as South Africa, the US, South Sudan, the Nuba Mountains, Egypt, Pakistan, Burma/Myanmar etc – usually at just the right time, when God knew I really needed it.

Thank-you especially for your prayers!

Please continue to pray for our Lord Jesus Christ’s persecuted Church, remembering that intercessory prayer is:
* serious business in the Court of Heaven,
* advocacy to the highest authority, and
* faith in action.

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Because every little bit of online truth is helpful:
* the www.ElizabethKendal.com website will remain live, as I plan to develop and add to this site as I am able; and
* the RLPB and RLM archives will remain on-line for research purposes at:
Religious Liberty Prayer Bulletin https://rlprayerbulletin.blogspot.com/
Religious Liberty Monitoring https://elizabethkendal.blogspot.com/

INSTAGRAM:
I will continue to use Instagram to:
(1) facilitate intercessory prayer for the persecuted Church;
(2) share information that is relevant to suffering Church issues;
(3) encourage and promote prayer as integral and indispensable to Christian and church life; and
(4) publish any personal announcements/news I might wish to make.

So please, follow religiouslibertyprayer on INSTAGRAM.

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Elizabeth Kendal will remain an international religious liberty analyst and advocate for the persecuted Church.

Elizabeth has authored two books: Turn Back the Battle: Isaiah Speaks to Christians Today (Deror Books, Melbourne, Australia, Dec 2012) which offers a Biblical response to persecution and existential threat; and After Saturday Comes Sunday: Understanding the Christian Crisis in the Middle East (Wipf and Stock, Eugene, OR, USA, June 2016). She is also an Adjunct Research Fellow at the Arthur Jeffery Centre for the Study of Islam at Melbourne School of Theology.

For more information see www.ElizabethKendal.com

Tuesday, November 28, 2023

RLPB 721. November 2023 Update, incl. Nigeria, Mali, Middle East & South Caucasus, Nepal

Religious Liberty Prayer Bulletin | RLPB 721 | Wed 29 Nov 2023
RLPB is published weekly to facilitate strategic intercessory prayer.

View RLPB archives at Religious Liberty Prayer Bulletin blog.
For bite-size: follow religiouslibertyprayer on Instagram.

NOVEMBER 2023 UPDATE & ROUNDUP
By Elizabeth Kendal

ANNOUNCEMENT

Two separate health issues have meant that 2023 has been, for me, a very difficult year. Both issues will require attention into 2024.

I have come to accept that, after 24 years and roughly 1,250 religious liberty prayer bulletins, the time has come to retire the weekly Religious Liberty Prayer Bulletin (RLPB) ministry. While I know I will continue to read, research, and remain engaged, I also know I need to stop writing – at least for a season (Ecclesiastes 3:1-8).

I will keep the www.ElizabethKendal.com website live, developing it and adding to it as I am able.

I will also keep my religiouslibertyprayer Instagram account live, using it to: (1) facilitate intercessory prayer for the persecuted Church; (2) share information that is relevant to suffering Church issues; (3) encourage and promote prayer as integral and indispensable to Christian and Church life; and (4) publish any personal announcements/news I might wish to make.

The RLPB and RLM archives will remain on-line for research purposes at:
Religious Liberty Prayer Bulletin
https://rlprayerbulletin.blogspot.com/
Religious Liberty Monitoring
https://elizabethkendal.blogspot.com/

Next week’s RLPB 722 (6 Dec 2023), will be the final RLPB.

Until then, every blessing to you
Elizabeth Kendal

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UPDATE: DURING NOVEMBER 2023 WE PRAYED CONCERNING

BURKINA FASO (RLPB 718, 8 Nov), as Islamic terrorists aligned with al-Qaeda and Islamic State retain control of around 40 percent of the country. The capital Ouagadougou is gradually being encircled, its critical transit routes imperilled and cut. At least 46 locations are totally besieged, leaving Christians trapped, persecuted and totally cut off from the outside world. Violence is escalating. Aid to the Church in Need’s interview with Fr Pierre Rouamba, the prior-general of Missionary Brothers of the Countryside (FMC), is a must-read! We must not forget our brothers and sisters in Burkina Faso. Please pray!

UGANDA (RLPB 719, 15 Nov), after recent convert Hajara Namwase (32) was dowsed in gasoline, and set alight as punishment (likely an attempted honour-killing) for leaving Islam. The perpetrator – her Muslim husband Musa Kalele (42) – fled to South Sudan, leaving their three young children in the care of his mother. Originally from Budaka in Eastern Region, Hajara is receiving specialised burns treatment in Kampala. Please pray!

NIGERIA (RLPB 720, 22 Nov), to praise and thank God that, after 28 months as a hostage to Muslim terrorists in Kaduna, Treasure Ayuba (now aged 14) had escaped from his captors and found his way home ‘in answer to the prayers of many’ (2 Corinthians 1:11). Treasure’s liberation inspires us to persevere in prayer for the 100 (of 276) ‘Chibok girls’ who, after being abducted in April 2014, remain missing to this day; and for Leah Sharibu (now aged 20). Abducted in February 2018, Islamic State jihadists retain Leah as a ‘slave’ precisely because she insists on remaining Christian. Lord have mercy! We also lamented the loss of two ECWA pastors slain by Muslim militants in mid-November. Please pray for the traumatised and imperilled Church in Northern Nigeria.

UPDATE to RLPB 717, Blasphemy in Bauchi, 1 Nov 2023
- Mrs Rhoda Jatau to remain in jail.

On Monday 27 November the Bauchi State High Court threw out the No-Case Submission put forward by advocates defending Christian healthcare worker, Rhoda Jatau; with bail denied, she remains incarcerated. Rhoda Jatau has been held in detention since May 2022 for forwarding a video in which a Ghanian Christian convert (from Islam) condemned the mob lynching of Christian student Deborah Emmanuel (triggered by a vexatious accusation of blasphemy). As noted in RLPB 717: ‘Human rights attorney Solomon Dalyop Mwantiri told TruthNigeria (17 Oct) that if, on 27 November, the No-Case Submission is successful, then Mrs Rhoda Jatau would be acquitted and released in what would be a great win for religious freedom in the country. However, if the submission is rejected, then Jatau could remain in jail indefinitely.’ The ruling bodes ill for Christians across Northern Nigeria. Please pray for Mrs Rhoda Jatau and her family; may the Spirit of God sustain and comfort them; may our sovereign Lord deliver justice.


NOVEMBER 2023 ROUND-UP – ALSO THIS MONTH

* MALI: ABDUCTED PRIEST IS RELEASED
Update to RLPB 704, Mali: Catholic Priest Abducted …seven and a half months missing, 2 Aug 2023.

Released: Father Ha-Jo
(via Aid to the Church in Need)

After twelve months in captivity, Reverend Hans-Joachim Lohre (66) is free! The German priest, affectionately known as Father Ha-Jo, had been abducted in Bamako on Sunday 20 November 2022. While circumstances of the release remain unclear, the release was reportedly negotiated directly by the German government. On Sunday 26 November 2023 the terrorists released Father Ha-Jo into the hands of Malian authorities, who delivered him into the custody of German representatives who immediately placed him on a special flight to Germany. [It is quite possible that the jihadists had demanded the priest’s removal from the country (after more than 30 years of ministry) as one of the conditions of his release.] Praise and thank God that Father Ha-Jo is now free. Pray for a breakthrough against jihadists in Mali. Pray for Mali’s imperilled Church.

* MIDDLE EAST AND SOUTH CAUCASUS
Update to RLPB 702, Christian Crisis in Azerbaijan and Iraq, 19 July 2023.

Webinar, 14 Nov 2023
Watch on YouTube

On 14 November, Melbourne School of Theology’s Arthur Jeffery Centre held a webinar on the topic: ‘How the Current Middle Eastern Conflicts Affect Local Christians’, with Dr Mark Durie and special guest Elizabeth Kendal. After Dr Durie spoke on the history of Muslim-Christian relations in the Middle East and the reality of dhimmitude (a state of subjugation under Islam – something everyone needs to understand) I was able to share my concerns for Christians across the wider region. I am particularly concerned that escalating conflict in the Palestinian Territories could trigger hostility against churches in Jordan and Egypt; and that, should war spread to Lebanon and Syria (as appears likely), it could spell the end of remnant Christian communities there.

I am also concerned that war in the Middle East could act as a smokescreen for ethnic cleansing elsewhere: specifically of Assyrians in Iraq and of Armenians in Transcaucasia (the South Caucasus). From the west and the east, Turkey and Azerbaijan have their eyes on Armenia’s southernmost province of Syunik. Turkey’s President Erdogan dreams of creating a pan-Turkic Middle Corridor as part of China’s Belt & Road Initiative. Meanwhile, Azerbaijan’s President Aliyev claims Syunik – and much of Armenian territory – is historically Azerbaijani, referring to it as ‘Western Azerbaijan’. In September we witnessed the ethnic cleansing of Armenians out of Nagorno-Karabakh (land they have inhabited for millennia) [RLPB 712 (27 Sep)]; will Syunik be next? [See ElizabethKendal.com / Global Persecution / Transcaucasia.

Even more existential is the threat in Iraq, where a final solution to drive the Assyrian remnant out of the Nineveh Plains (the historic Assyrian heartland) is well underway. In recent weeks Iran-backed Shi’ite militias have escalated their attacks against US military bases and forces. If war returns to Iraq, only God himself will be able save Iraq’s remnant indigenous Assyrian Christians. [See RLPB label/Iraq.] Please pray!

* NEPAL: THE BATTLE FOR NEPAL HEATS UP
Update to RLPB 710, The Battle for Nepal, 13 Sep 2023

Pro-monarchy rally, Kathmandu, 23 Nov 2033
Free Press Kashmir (25 Nov)

On Thursday 23 November tens of thousands of Nepalis marched through Nepal’s capital, Kathmandu, demanding the restoration of the Hindu monarchy and Nepal’s status as a Hindu state. They clashed with opposition Communists who, while also demanding the removal of the government, are totally opposed to a return of the bad-old-days of Hindu monarchy. They also clashed with police who were forced to resort to batons and tear gas to restore order. The pro-Hindu monarchy sentiment is driven by mass disaffection with the political process which has resulted in political paralysis, devastating corruption, soaring unemployment and galloping inflation. Furthermore, Hindu nationalists are desperate to arrest the rapid growth of Christianity in the country. On Friday 24 November tens of thousands of Nepalis thronged the streets of Jhapa in Nepal’s far southeast to see King Gyanendra unveil a statue of King Prithvi Narayan Shah, the founder of modern Nepal. With more events and protests planned in which violence is anticipated, security is being ramped up across the country.

Pastor Keshab Raj Acharya with his wife, Junu.
via ADF International

The popular shift towards Hindu monarchy and Hindu nationalism bodes ill for the Church in Nepal; we must expect persecution to escalate. In this context, the precedent set by a recent court decision further elevates the risk the Church faces. On 30 November 2021 a court deemed Pastor Keshab Raj Acharya (35) guilty of proselytising and sentenced him to two years in prison and a fine (reduced on appeal to one year in prison). On 6 October 2023 the Supreme Court dismissed Pastor Acharya’s second appeal without affording it any consideration. He now awaits a call to present himself to prison. 

Many fear the imprisonment of Pastor Acharya could trigger a flood of accusations of ‘proselytism’ or ‘forced conversion’ – without evidence. In Pastor Acharya’s case, witnesses told the court that the pastor did not ask them to convert, but only gave them tracts, which they read and discarded. Pastor Acharya and his wife Junu lead the 250-member Abundant Harvest Church in Pokhara, Nepal’s second largest city after Kathmandu, 200 km to the east.  Junu, dreads the day her husband is summoned to prison. She lamented to Morning Star News (15 Nov): ‘What can I do when that day comes, except pray? I must take care of the church as well as my children and provide for them.’ Fortunately, we do know that God hears, loves and has power to save. Please pray for Pastor Keshab Acharya and his family, and for the Church in Nepal.

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Elizabeth Kendal is an international religious liberty analyst and advocate for the persecuted Church. The Religious Liberty Prayer Bulletin (RLPB) is a donor funded ministry. To support this ministry visit www.ElizabethKendal.com

Elizabeth has authored two books: Turn Back the Battle: Isaiah Speaks to Christians Today (Deror Books, Melbourne, Australia, Dec 2012) which offers a Biblical response to persecution and existential threat; and After Saturday Comes Sunday: Understanding the Christian Crisis in the Middle East (Wipf and Stock, Eugene, OR, USA, June 2016). She is also an Adjunct Research Fellow at the Arthur Jeffery Centre for the Study of Islam at Melbourne School of Theology.

For more information see www.ElizabethKendal.com