15 March 2001

* "TRUE LOVE WAITS" MESSAGE HAILED IN PRETORIA (SA) - During the first week of March a team of 'True Love Waiters' (including an Australian) shared the abstinence message with their peers in Pretoria. Another 4028 youths committed themselves to sexual purity and abstinence until marriage. The TLW team was greatly encouraged by the success stories of the young people who had joined TLW previously. One group of university students told them how they had put up their TLW cards on a notice board outside their front door. "This way," they said, "the guys can know our stand before they can even think of proposing sex to us. It's worked fantastically." At one university residence a man walked in after the TLW presentation, requesting a pledge card. He said, "I made the decision to stay sexually pure when I was fourteen. I've kept that promise. Now I want to sign that card. It's my stand, anyway." TLW also brought the message of renewal through Christ's blood to heart-broken teens who had lost their virginity, and hope to those who had been robbed of it. The team says, "Once again, we've seen how the youth is tired of the 'free love' message - the cost is just too high. More and more young people want to associate themselves with the positive TLW message - there are no risks, no strings attached." (TLW)

* AIDS BOMB HITS SCHOOLS - The KwaZulu-Natal Department of Education may have to engage the services of up to 71,000 new teachers, which is almost the total number now in service, over the next nine years, as a result of HIV / Aids. This shock revelation was made on 15 March by outgoing Education Superintendent Dr Mike Jarvis who said the Aids pandemic was the greatest problem facing the department. Grade 1 enrolment had also "plunged", he added, saying some children were not living long enough to enter school. In his reaction, the president of the Association of Professional Educators of KZN, Mr Basil Manuel, said: "The writing has been on the wall all along. We are seeing the impact already." (16 March, Daily News)

* SA TV SERIES CRITICISED BY ANC LEADER FOR EXPLICITNESS - The popular youth drama series "Yizo Yizo", which is being screened on local television on Tuesday nights, is in hot water again. On 13 March the drama showed explicit scenes of prison rape. Members of Parliament have called for the screening of the series to be stopped immediately.

They say it is promoting disrespect and immoral behaviour among the youth, especially learners. Controversy has dodged the series since it was beamed to South African viewers last year prompting its unexpected withdrawal. Lulu Xingwana, an ANC member of parliament, has told Parliament that "Yizo Yizo" is not educational to the youth. She said taxpayers' money is being used to advertise sodomy, rape and murder on the public broadcaster. Meanwhile, the SABC has been summoned to appear before Parliament's Joint Standing Committee on Education on the 27th of this month to answer complaints about the screening of the YizoYizo series. (SABC News, 15 March)

* AFRICA CHRISTIAN ACTION'S 10th ANNIVERSARY - ACA is celebrating its 10th year of Christian Action - fighting for the right to life of pre-born babies, opposing the exploitative industry of pornography and campaigning for Biblical principles in all areas of life. Since 1991 ACA has been mobilising and equipping Christians to make a positive difference in society. A rally will be held on Tuesday, 20 March, 7:30pm, at Pinelands Civic Hall, Cape Town. A devotional challenge will be presented by Rev. Bill Bathman, veteran American missionary to Eastern Europe, who has spent most of his 50 years of ministry serving the persecuted Christians behind the Iron Curtain. Dr. Peter Hammond, the chairman and co-founder of Africa Christian Action, will be presenting a special slide and video presentation of some of the highlights of ACA's work. (ACA, Tel: 021 - 689 4481)

* RICARDS BAY CHURCH LEADERS OPPOSE CASINOS - A number of church leaders in Richards Bay have received anonymous threats because of their opposition to the development of the town's new casino. People who favour the casino believe it will help spark economic development, but such talk is misleading, say many of the town's church leaders. They say it is more likely to bring economic decline and hardship. They fear the casino will siphon money out of the town's economy - especially the retail trade - and cause "financial devastation" among people who cannot really afford to gamble. (Daily News, 16 March)

* ZIMBABWE DEPORTS MISSIONARY - A Presbyterian missionary, who had accused the Zimbabwean government of involvement in the killings of two white parishioners, left the country on 11 March after authorities revoked his permit to work in the country and ordered his deportation. The Rev Paul Andrianatos traveled by bus to the southern border and entered neighbouring South Africa safely after a campaign of threats and intimidation from state security agents, his family and colleagues said. "I was told that there was a decision at Cabinet level that my work permit was not going to be renewed and I was being thrown out," said South African-born Adrianatos, who had worked as a cleric in western Zimbabwe for 10 years. (Daily News, 12 March)

* RELIGIOUS FREEDOM THREATENED IN KAZAKSTAN (CENTRAL ASIA) - A new law has been drafted which will greatly affect the freedom of religion for the Christian community of Kazakstan. If this law is passed, the only religions that will be permitted in Kazakstan will be Islam and Russian Orthodoxy. Any other religions will be outlawed. The bill forbids all evangelism, distribution of literature, humanitarian aid by Christian organizations, and ministry work. The proposed law violates the country's constitution and breaks human rights treaties signed by Kazakstan over the last few years, reports Bible League. This new bill has not been made public and the general population of Kazakstan is unaware of the impact the bill will have on constitutional rights. The Christian community has planned to appeal to the president for a public reading of the law and to request the dismissal of this legislation from the docket of Parliamentary consideration. (AM Bible League, 9 March)

* CHRISTIAN AID RESPONDS TO HORROR IN INDONESIA - Responding to urgent pleas for help, Christian Aid has joined a campaign to raise $1.2 million to rescue Christians feared targeted for conversion or extermination by Muslim jihad warriors in Indonesia. The violence in Indonesia started two years ago and intensified last year when the Laskar Jihad declared a "holy war" on Christians in the Moluccas, once known as the Spice Islands. In April last year, 3,000 Laskar Jihad warriors entered the Moluccas with the intent of destroying or converting every Christian there. The Indonesian government has been unable to stop the tide of bloodletting. Nationwide, some 8,000 people, both Muslims and Christians, have been killed, and 500,000 displaced. (Religion Today, 1 March)

* CHRISTIANS ATTACKED IN SRI LANKA WHILE PRAYING -

One Christian was seriously injured and 35 more were hospitalized when about 100 Buddhist extremists assaulted the congregation of the Sanasum Sevana (New Life) Christian Center as they prayed on Sunday morning, February 18. The church is located in Nurwarawatte, near Hinguragoda, 220 kilometers northeast of the Sri Lankan capital, Colombo. Masked men had smashed up the church property in the early morning hours, and the pastor was holding a prayer meeting amid the devastation when suddenly the mob attacked, wielding machetes. Ironically, the pastor and some of the congregation had attended an Open Doors seminar, "Preparing for Persecution," three weeks earlier. The incident represents the most violent attack on Christians by Buddhist extremists in recent years. (Worthynews.com, 15 March)

* THE WAR OVER THE DRUG WAR - Though reports show that illegal drug use in the United States is half what it was in 1979, Americans are still spending billions to keep drug dealers in business. Office of Drug Control Policy statistics say Americans are spending approximately $65 billion a year to buy illegal drugs, and approximately 52,000 deaths a year are drug-related. "In many ways, we are seeing the most violent, well-funded criminal organizations global law enforcement has ever confronted," said Gen. Barry McCaffrey, former White House director of the office of drug control policy. With narcotic demand remaining high and officials believing they're only seizing a fraction of the drugs making it to U.S. soil, the debate over the best ways to fight the drug war continues. Donnie Marshall, acting administrator of the Drug Enforcement Administration, said, "Without law enforcement, I'm convinced it's doomed to failure. By the same token, law enforcement without the other elements (education, prevention, treatment) is not going to succeed." (ABCNews.com)

*A PILL FOR COMPULSIVE GAMBLERS - A pill commonly used to treat alcoholism and drug addiction may be able to help people overcome compulsive gambling, a new University of Minnesota study has found. Researchers showed that the drug naltrexone, which the Food and Drug Administration approved for alcoholism in 1995 and for drug addiction in 1985, was able to reduce gambling urges in almost 75 percent of the 20 people in the study. Those people who received a placebo only cut their gambling urges by 24 percent. "My original hypothesis was that I should never delude myself to think that I have solved the gambling problem," said Dr. Suck Wong Kim, director of the impulse control disorder clinic at the University of Minnesota. "What I am trying to say is that we now have a promising drug agent that may be working." Kim believes the drug can help people who gamble, because it suppresses the "rush or a high" they usually got from playing and winning. (ABCNews, 15 March)

(Ed: The only pill that deals with the corrupt nature is the gospill.)

* 6-YEAR OLD FUTURE MISSIONARY - "My son, 6 at the time, had just discovered the world of e-mail. We had been studying missionaries in Sunday School and he decided that he wanted to be one. He was very enthusiastic about this. When he told me that he wanted to be a missionary to Africa, I told him that I was thrilled. Knowing that my son doesn't like being away from home, I asked him if he knew that being a missionary to Africa meant he had to GO to Africa. He looked at me just as serious as he could be and said, "But Mom, can't I just e-mail them?" (www.DAILY-CHUCKLE.com)