JOEL-NEWS-INTERNATIONAL-358 * 3 APRIL 2001 * WWW.JOELNEWS.ORG
IN THIS EDITION:
JN358-1. Indonesian church leader writes history by stepping down
JN258-2. Transformations II to be launched on April 30
JN358-3. Ugandan intercessors expose witchcraft
JN358-4. Peter Wagner announces 'Josiah Declaration Sunday'
JN358-5. Prayer alert: major Satanist gathering in Croatia
JN358-6. Prayer alert: hoof and mouth disease in Europe
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QUOTE: "Let my heart be broken by the things that break the heart of God."
- Bob Pierce, Samaritan's Purse and World Vision
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JN358-1. Indonesian church leader writes history by stepping down
On Sunday, 25 February 2001, some 10,000 Christians - including at least 400 pastors - met in one of Jakarta's sports stadiums for a special event: after 21 years of successful church growth and at the height of his career as a church leader, 39-year-old Samiton Pangellah stepped down, to make room for the next generation of leaders.
The Abbalove movement has grown significantly in the past two years, and now numbers some 9,000 members. Its influence goes far beyond its own churches. Samiton believes that God will speak to pastors and other Christian leaders increasingly to serve their town, region or nation, not just their own church. "God is changing our paradigm of church, so that we see the Body of Christ as he does - as an organic unit, not split into denominational fragments," he says.
Called an apostolic figure by many Indonesian movements, Samiton sees his next task to develop ways of reaching Indonesia's business community, media and entertainment industry with the gospel, and at the same time to be a spiritual father for the next generation of leaders.
Source: Friday Fax
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JN258-2. Transformations II to be launched on April 30
"True spiritual revival is like a seething lava flow. It takes time to reach its destination, but when it does, its intense heat and formidable power alters everything in its path. It is the full measure of God's kingdom come to earth. No spectacle is more glorious - or terrifying."
In June 1999 the popular Transformations video depicted four contemporary communities whose citizens and institutions were enveloped by this molten river. Drug cartels disintegrated, witchcraft and cult activity diminished, corrupt officials were replaced by Christians, multi-generation street gangs were converted, bars and jails closed, failing businesses and school systems were revived, previously unproductive fields yielded bounteous harvest, and local churches saw unprecedented growth.
Now this glorious river is spreading, encompassing entire provinces and even nations. The Sentinel Group has once again captured this amazing story on video. This sequel entitled 'Transformations II: The Glory Spreads' will be launched in Seattle op April 30.
The documentary opens in Scotland's Outer Hebrides where, in 1949, desparate intercessors called forth a divine visitation that saw churches overflow, bars and dance halls close, and local farmhouses bathed in the supernatural light of God's glory.
The story continues in the Far North where revival fires have transformed scores of communities from Eastern Siberia to Canada's Baffin Island and Ungava Peninsula. It highlights a town in northern Quebec where every child is a follower of Christ, it takes you inside an Anglican church shaken by the wind of the Holy Spirit; it reveals how life-sustaining berries - the literal fruit of repentance - have returned to the land.
Uganda, a nation once terrorized by mad men, is the video's final stop. Here we find a land reveling in all night prayer meetings, massive church growth, and a plummeting AIDS rate. A land whose First Lady has publicly rededicated the nation to God, and whose Christian Minister of Ethics and Integrity sees herself as a Moses called to lead her people out of slavery to corruption and into God's righteousness.
More information: www.transformationsvideo.org/Conferences/index.html
Source: The Sentinel Group
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JN358-3. Ugandan intercessors expose witchcraft
"One of Uganda's main troubles," says Trumpet World Mission's John Mulinde, "is the widespread use of magic in all its forms. The population knew that the ceremonies involved blood and even human sacrifice, and that women and children were regularly sexually abused, but there had been no clear proof. We began to pray that God would take away the veil, and reveal the truth about the occult practices. Only a short time later, the first witch doctor was caught red handed with the body of a 5-year-old girl who had been decapitated for a ritual. A little later, five human skulls were found in another witch doctor's house, and two more were caught just as they were about to ritually murder a 16-year-old girl. Interestingly, journalists were present at each discovery, and were able to publish photographs of the events. There was a national outcry, and people recognized that serious occult practices are in no way harmless hobbies but that, which God describes them as: idolatry and satanic, drawing thousands of people in their ban and away from God. In the radio and other media, Christians and the Government have declared war on occult practices and Satanism. Christians are being encouraged to localize witches and shamans, and to pray for their salvation, or that they will disappear. We are not far from a ban on occult practices in Uganda," he says.
"An Anglican Bishop had decided to hold an evangelistic week, together with other churches and movements - unusual for the traditional denominational thinking in Uganda," says Mulinde. "They chose a large square for the events, also the address of one of the most influential fortune tellers' centers in Uganda, to which people from all over the nation traveled. The evangelistic events lasted a week, with Christians praying with outstretched arms against the center. There were also prophecies, spoken into the microphone and heard in the center, that the center would no longer exist at the end of the year. The fortune tellers and shamans were extremely angry, and started to call on their demons with drums and ritual fires. Only a few months later, the government ordered the center to be cleared, and bulldozers arrived to demolish it."
Mulinde continues: "In one area in Uganda, ritual circumcisions have been performed every two years for the last two centuries, with an associated carnival. People regularly fall into ecstasy during these ceremonies, are possessed by spirits, and some rivers only flow during these times. The followers smear themselves with the mud from these rivers, and travel throughout the entire land, celebrating the carnival. This causes a regular ebb and flow for the region's churches. In the year between the circumcision rituals, they gain members, and in the year of the rituals, there is a notable decrease in the number of members, and a surprising number of Christians fall away. When we heard of these things, we decided to go against the demonic powers behind the phenomenon in prayer. A prophet predicted that the rituals would not take place the following year. Indeed, during the next ceremony, none of the people were possessed, the rivers remained dry, the carnival was cancelled, and the churches have been growing continuously ever since."
Source: Trumpet World Mission
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JN358-4. Peter Wagner announces 'Josiah Declaration' Sunday
American author and prayer leader C. Peter Wagner announced an annual 'Josiah Declaration' Sunday to help Christians clean their houses from idolatry. King Josiah was the king who most thoroughly rooted out idolatry from the people of God (see 2 Kings 22-23). The Josiah Declaration Sunday will be the second Sunday in September each year. In 2001 it is Sunday, September 9.
"My vision is to see local churches all over the world observe Josiah Declaration Sunday," says Wagner. "Pastors will be preaching on idolatry and referring to Josiah's initiative. Church people will cleanse their homes, and bring unclean articles to church. Churches will be of one accord in destroying these items, some by bonfire. If some Christian families do not belong to churches which will declare a Josiah Declaration Sunday, they can cleanse their homes privately or with other friends."
"In this 21st Century, God has called us to new levels of prayer and intercession for the nations, especially for the 40/70 Window. We cannot hope to reach those levels unless we have broken, not only from idolatry itself, but also from any objects in our homes that may give the enemy an excuse to keep us from being everything that God wants us to be."
The full article can be retrieved by sending an e-mail to lyris@xc.org with only this command in the body of your mail:
get joel-news-international wagner-josiah-declaration
Also available is an article by Doris Wagner with practical suggestions for 'spiritual house cleaning'. This article can be retrieved by sending an e-mail to lyris@xc.org with only this command in the body of your mail:
get joel-news-international wagner-spiritual-house-cleaning
Source: Global Prayer News
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JN358-5. Prayer alert: major Satanist gathering in Croatia
The Croat newspaper Vjecernji List reports that a gathering of 3,000 Satanists will be held in Croatia April 1-15, 2001. The headline reads "The Largest Satanist Gathering in the World". Reliable sources in Croatia confirmed that the "devil worshipers" have already begun their "preparations" by performing numerous acts of desecration. Furthermore the newspaper article states the event is confirmed in a Satanist magazine called "Black".
The Evangelical Church of Croatia considers the issue serious. The Balkans have gone through much trauma over the last decade or so. The possible convergence of 3,000 Satanists in this unstable region is very serious. Pray that any plans to reinforce an occult stronghold in Croatia will be stopped.
The upcoming Easter weekend, being Friday the 13th, will be an important time for Satanists. There will be many gatherings of covens, deceiving their followers into the understanding that Satan rules, even at Easter. This should be a time of fervent prayer for the Christian church, a concerted effort for intercessors that the message of the sacrifice of Jesus on the cross at Calvary will not be lost to the world.
The full article can be retrieved by sending an e-mail to lyris@xc.org with only this command in the body of your mail:
get joel-news-international satanist-gathering-croatia
Source: Global Prayer Alert
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JN358-6. Prayer alert: hoof and mouth disease in Europe
The issue of livestock diseases that has struck Western Europe has become critical. A person only needs to watch the news, listen to the radio, pick up a newspaper or news magazine to read about the escalating destruction of livestock in the United Kingdom and other government initiated measures in Western Europe. Prayer leaders in Europe issued an alert to intercessors to pray about the current outbreak of hoof and mouth disease.
Pieter Bos of the European Prayer Link considers the killing of thousands of healthy animals "a huge animal sacrifice to Mammon". He says: "The hmd-threat (it is not an epidemic yet) is not a punishment of God, as suggested by some; it is the consequence of the policy we have chosen. I consider the mass-slaughtering of cattle a huge animal sacrifice to Mammon. The church has to confess this sin as sin, and plead for forgiveness. The Netherlands, the UK and the EU can not claim grace if they do not repent and change their ways."
The full article can be retrieved by sending an e-mail to lyris@xc.org with only this command in the body of your mail:
get joel-news-international bos-hmd-prayer-alert
Source: Joel News
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CORRECTION - In Joel News International 354 we published a report by Steve Gray entitled 'Outpouring in Malaysia touches leaders'. In this report he stated that "three states in Malaysia have passed laws forbidding Muslims from converting to Christianity. If they convert they will be beheaded." This information proved to be inaccurate, for which we apologize. At www.necf.org.my under Berita NECF (January/February, page 12) you can find Gray's apologies on the report. |