www.joelnews.nl

JOEL-NEWS-INTERNATIONAL-481 * 4 AUGUST 2004 * WWW.JOELNEWS.ORG

IN THIS EDITION:

JN481-1. TYPICALLY GOD: Can you sing?
JN481-2. PRAYER FOCUS: Iraq Interim Government
JN481-3. NEWS: 24-7prayer restarts Zinzendorf's Order
JN481-4. WEBLOG: WikipediA defines church streams
JN481-5. RESOURCE: Red Moon Rising
JN481-6. RESOURCE: Out of the boat!

---
DONATION - Help us serve the Christian community with high-quality news reports about what God is doing worldwide. Check out the options at http://www.joelnews.org/donation.htm.
---

JN481-1. TYPICALLY GOD: Can you sing?

The most recent wave of persecution of house churches by the Chinese Government began in January 2004, when the DVD 'The Cross, Jesus in China' became available. Between one hundred and one thousand house church leaders are currently imprisoned, receiving sentences of up to three years, reports mission agency Open Doors. Brother Zhong from central China tells of his first imprisonment, which lasted 33 days:

"All of our house church leaders were arrested in a raid by the National Security Office while we were training them. In prison, our heads were shaved, and we were interrogated for days. We were told that the other inmates were waiting for their chance to beat us up when we were sent to our cells. Up until then, every new prisoner had been beaten up. I entered my cell shaking with fear. It was a fearsome sight: sixteen other prisoners standing in two rows, fists ready. My heart was beating hard, and I prayed rapidly for help. Suddenly, the leader of the gang asked 'Why are you here?' 'Because I am a Christian,' I answered, timidly, expecting the first blows. 'You don't beat people up?' he asked. 'No,' I answered. The next question surprised me: 'Can you sing?' 'Yes,' I replied, wondering where this was heading. The gang leader told me to sing. The song 'I give myself as a seed' came to mind, so I sang. The words are:

Who doesn't have a brother or sister? Who doesn't have a wife and child? Who doesn't want to be with his family? Who doesn't want to be among his relatives? But if the Lord calls me to carry His Cross, I would ignore them all, even if they passed by my house.

Tears ran down my cheeks as I sang. The Holy Spirit came in our midst, and half of the other prisoners were in tears when I finished. The leader stepped forward and clapped me on the shoulder. He then asked me to read the Gospel to them. They wanted to hear it every day.

One day, when we sang again, a guard came to ask what we were doing, and who was responsible. I stood up, and was punished. I had to take off my clothes and stand against the wall in a very uncomfortable position. The leader stood up and demanded to be punished as well. Many of the others also stood up, demanding the same punishment. The guard became very angry, and stormed out of the cell. One of the other inmates became a Christian that day.

I was released soon afterwards, because my wife managed to pay my bail. My time in prison impaired my health, but the spiritual gain was worth far more. I am very grateful to God."

Source: Open Doors

---

JN481-2. PRAYER FOCUS: Iraq Interim Government

Let's pray this week for the members of the Iraq Interim Government who are under constant threat of assassination attempts. They need to have great wisdom to rebuild their broken nation. Perhaps your church could adopt one government member for regular prayer. Their bios can be found on the BBC website (see link).

Pray that God will protect them and their families physically. Pray that they will receive godly wisdom to rebuild their nation. Pray that these leaders will be able to defeat the terrorist forces within Iraq. Pray that they may have a dream or vision of Jesus, leading to their salvation.

LINK: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/3766401.stm

---

JN481-3. NEWS: 24-7prayer restarts Zinzendorf's Order

Non-stop youth prayer movement 24-7prayer has advanced plans to restart Count Zinzendorf's 'Order of the Mustard Seed'. The members of this order vowed to do three things: to be true to Christ, to be kind to people, and to take the gospel to the nations.

In a forthcoming book titled 'The Vision & The Vow' Zinzendor's Rule of Life will be explored, and young people will be challenged to consider entering into a similar covenant with God and friends to pursue these three dimensions of discipleship for the rest of their lives. The vision is to catalyze a fresh movement of mission and justice in every sphere of society where Christ is not yet known. The vow will be marked outwardly by a ring and/or a tattoo with Zinzendorf's motto 'No man lives unto himself'.

LINK: http://makeashorterlink.com/?Q502219F8

---

JN481-4. WEBLOG: WikipediA defines church streams

Joel News publisher Marc van der Woude keeps a weblog in which he reflects on God, the Church and daily life. This week he came across WikipediA's definitions of the Emerging Church and House Church movements. WikipediA is a multilingual open-content encyclopedia that already contains more than 230,000 high-quality articles.

LINK: http://marcsmessages.typepad.com/mm/2004/07/the_emerging_ch.html

---

JN481-5. RESOURCE: Red Moon Rising

Brilliantly written with pace and poetry, this gutsy true story of the rise of the 24-7 Prayer movement is peppered with miracles and hard times of suffering. Starting at Cape St Vincent where Pete Greig receives a powerful vision of a coming army of young prayer warriors, it moves on to the eventual formation of prayer rooms and the practice of continual prayer around the world co-ordinated through the worldwide web. This book contains the inspiring stories of people finding a new depth of heartfelt prayer and radical compassion.

LINK: http://makeashorterlink.com/?F2C3219F8

---

JN481-6. RESOURCE: Out of the boat!

Australian prophet David Orton states that Jesus will visit the contemporary church in an unexpected way in her darkest hour. He will allow the church, who is self-reliant and secure in her man-made systems, to be shaken by storms, before a new visitation will come from 'outside the boat', from outside the normal structures and patterns of the contemporary church. Through this visitation the church will be purged of human control.

LINK: http://www.lifemessenger.org/teachings/20040719.html

---

COLOPHON

Joel News International is a leading special interest bulletin on prayer, church growth and revival. We offer a keen selection of the most encouraging news reports, the most challenging developments and the best resources from over 100 reliable sources in six continents. Joel News International is a great help and time-saver for thousands of Christian leaders and intercessors in over 120 nations.

Editor: Marc van der Woude. You can contact the editorial office at joel-news@xs4all.nl.

Joel News International is distributed weekly by e-mail on the basis of an annual donation. For more information see http://www.joelnews.org/donation-jni.htm#options.

Has this bulletin been forwarded to you? Then subscribe directly by sending an empty e-mail to: subscribe-joel-news-international@xc.org.