| JOEL-NEWS-INTERNATIONAL-489 * 11 NOVEMBER 2004 * WWW.JOELNEWS.ORG IN THIS EDITION: JN489-1. TYPICALLY GOD: Sharing Jesus with Arafat JN489-2. PRAYER FOCUS: Christians in northern Iraq JN489-3. NEWS: Christians push Bush over the top JN489-4. NEWS: What's up with the prophetic movement? JN489-5. WEBLOG: Turmoil in the Netherlands JN489-6. RESOURCE: Liquid Church --- JN489-1. TYPICALLY GOD: Sharing Jesus with Arafat Early this morning Palestinian President Yasser Arafat died in a military hospital in France. American Bible teacher R.T. Kendall, who visited Arafat several times in Ramallah, reports on his website: "I began praying for Yasser Arafat daily over 22 years ago. I never expected to meet him, but the Holy Spirit laid him on my heart and gave me a love for him. I don't know whether Yasser Arafat has felt unconditional love from many people, especially from the West, but I wanted him to feel it from me. I wanted to be Jesus to him." "Yasser Arafat had his 75th birthday only days before we saw him on September 2nd," reports Kendall. "I brought in a Bible which he seemed very pleased to receive, and we gave him also some crystallized fruit that I knew he loves. I have always sensed the unusual leadership of the Holy Spirit every time I am with President Arafat. On at least two occasions, when I presented the Gospel very strongly to him, I felt I had as much anointing as in any pulpit. But each time afterwards I also feared I would never be invited back. But he has invited me back three times, even to have lunch with him. We had over an hour with him on this occasion. I read Psalm 91:14-16, asked him permission to anoint him with oil and pray for him." In March Kendall also made a trip to Ramallah. He showed Mel Gibson's 'The Passion of the Christ' to Arafat, who said he was deeply moved by the movie and allowed Kendall to pray for the whole PLO staff. LINK: http://www.rtkendallministries.com/news.htm --- JN489-2. PRAYER FOCUS: Christians in northern Iraq The Christian community in northern Iraq is facing ever mounting intimidation and violence. Since the beginning of the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan (15th October) the situation has escalated, with the apparent aim of forcing the Christians out of their homeland. Tens of thousands are fleeing. This is reported by the British organisation Barnabas Fund. Photographs of three senior bishops in Mosul are being circulated around, with the message that they are agents of the USA, infidels, and action must be taken against them. The church leaders have received two letters from the Islamic militants. The first ordered them to allow Christian women to marry Muslim men. The second letter announced the militants' intention of killing one person in every Christian family, as a punishment for the women not covering their heads with the hijab (Islamic headscarf). A Christian woman was killed around 26th October for having her head uncovered. Two other Christian women who were seen bareheaded in a market had nitric acid squirted in their faces. Specific threats about the clothing of female students at Mosul University have so frightened the Christians that an estimated 1,500 Christian women have stopped attending their classes. Islamic militants are knocking on the doors of Christian homes in Mosul, demanding money. They argue that since the Christians do not contribute weapons and do not fight, they must make a financial donation instead. Leaflets are being distributed with the message: "Christians go; leave Iraq." Word is being passed around in the mosques, telling Muslims not to buy anything from the Christians. Not only are they infidels, it is said, but also they will soon be leaving, so the Muslims will be able to take their homes and property for free. In this grave situation, the Christians in Iraq beg for the prayers of their Christian brothers and sisters elsewhere. Ask the Lord to protect them from those who would harm them, and to fill their hearts with faith and hope. LINK: http://www.barnabasfund.org/News/Archive/Iraq/Iraq-20041103.htm --- JN489-3. NEWS: Christians push Bush over the top Most of President Bush's supporters did at least two things during the first week of November: they voted to re-elect Bush and they went to church. The acclaimed 'values voters' turned out in huge numbers on Election Day and their vote proved to be decisive, according to a new nationwide survey by The Barna Group. Overall, born again Christians supported Bush by a 62% to 38% margin. In contrast, non-born again voters supported Senator Kerry by an almost identical 59% to 39% division. The difference was in the rates of turnout of each segment. Although the born again population constitutes just 38% of the national population, it represented 53% of the vote cast in the election. If the born again public had shown up proportional to its population size, Kerry would have won the election by the same three-point margin of victory enjoyed by Bush. Bush's main base of support comes from white Evangelical and Protestant Christians. But Barna's survey shows that compared to the 2000 elections Bush also gained more support from Catholic, African American and Hispanic believers. The dominant reasons given by voters for their candidate selection differed greatly. Bush backers were most likely to identify the President's character (33%) or his views on national security as their impetus for support. Kerry's enthusiasts were most likely to cite the fact that he was not George Bush (24%), with others mentioning the Senator's stand on Iraq (17%) or the fact that he was a Democrat (12%). Barna notes that relatively few voters seemed to be driven by issues, regardless of which candidate they embraced. This election was more of a statement about people's feelings toward Bush as a leader and as a person than it was about a particular issue. LINK: http://makeashorterlink.com/?J17726FB9 --- JN489-4. NEWS: What's up with the prophetic movement? There seems to be a growing 'shaking' in the so-called 'prophetic movement' in the United States. Last month Rick Joyner, Mike Bicke and Jack Deere published an open letter stating that fellow-prophet Paul Cain had 'fallen into sin' and refused to be corrected. Last week Andrew Strom, a prophet from New Zealand who lives in Kansas City, publicly stated that he left the prophetic movement because of growing excesses, lack of discernment, focus on money, glorying in visitations and lack of repentance as a central theme. This led to quite some discussion among prophetic groups about the foundations of prophetic ministry. Has the prophetic movement become too stage-oriented? Is it wise for prophets to become strongly politically engaged? At the same time God seems to be raising up prophets in the non-Western world, especially in Africa, who come with confronting messages for the Church in Europe and America. LINK: http://makeashorterlink.com/?E5AF322C9 LINK: http://homepages.ihug.co.nz/~revival/leaving2.html --- JN489-5. WEBLOG: Turmoil in the Netherlands Joel News publisher Marc van der Woude keeps a weblog in which he reflects on God, the Church and daily life. This week he reports on the turmoil in the Netherlands, following the murder of controversial film maker Theo van Gogh on the day of the American elections. The murder kick-started a public discussion on respect and freedom of opinion, but also led to attacks on Muslim schools and mosques, and even Christian churches. The murderer was part of an Islamic terrorist cell that posted specific threats against several Jewish and rightist politicians and the Dutch government. This led to more turmoil, police raids and frictions in areas with a large Muslim population. Prayer is needed for the situation in the Netherlands. LINK: http://marcsmessages.typepad.com/mm/2004/11/turmoil_in_the_.html --- JN489-6. RESOURCE: Liquid Church In his book 'Liquid Church' missions consultant Pete Ward states that the Church must be like water - flexible, fluid and changeable, so it can embrace the liquid nature of culture. He urges his readers to move away from the traditional notion of church as a gathering of people meeting in one place at one time to the dynamic notion of church as a series of relationships and communications. In the Liquid Church, membership is determined by participation and involvement. Liquid Church is continually on the move, flowing in response to the Spirit and the gospel of Jesus, the imagination and creativity of its leaders, and the choices and experiences of its worshippers. LINK: http://makeashorterlink.com/?I10F522C9 --- 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. |
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