* JUST A THOUGHT - I believe that sometimes when we weep Christ takes out His handkerchief and weeps with us, not because He couldn't do anything about the situation, but because - some things have just got to be.
(By Fano Sibisi, 14 November 2009, www.cft.org.za) (to index)

* SOUTH AFRICA PLANS CRACKDOWN ON PROSTITUTION - A squad of female police officers will go undercover and pose as prostitutes in a bid to combat the illegal sex trade in South Africa before the World Cup finals next summer.

The procedure comes as the country bids to get to grips with the HIV-riddled industry before next year's showcase event, when some 450,000 football fans will descend on the FIFA host nation during June and July.

Cape Town official Rudolf Wiltshire, who has booked 112 soliciting prostitutes in the last month, said that the ten officers, who have been specially chosen for the task, would begin their new role next week.

"These women were specifically selected for this function. They have all the attributes that are conducive to this kind of job," he told the Daily Telegraph.
"It requires high ethical norms and values, and a good understanding of the social issues of sex workers.
"Our team are receiving dedicated training aimed at enhancing sensitivity in the environments of health and substance abuse."
However, the measure has angered campaign group the Sex Workers Education and Advocacy Taskforce (Sweat), who argued that the industry would simply be driven further underground, depriving women of their human rights.

25,000 British fans are expected to travel to next summer's tournament, which will take place throughout the country, while MPs and charities have been rallying for the sex industry, which incorporates thousands of prostitutes in South Africa, to be brought under control.
(ExtraFootie.co.uk, 29 Oct 2009) (to index)

* ZIMBABWE MISSION - A new wave of violence is gripping Zimbabwe. People are been beaten, tortured and killed by ZANU-PF soldiers, militia and secret police.

Despite Robert Mugabe’s Marxist ZANU-PF government having been repeatedly rejected by the voters at elections, the Marxists continue to frustrate the people of Zimbabwe by refusing to step down. However, with millions starving, more than half of the population having fled the country, with the greatest unemployment, the lowest life expectancy and the highest inflation in the world today, the Marxist dictatorship attempted to bring in foreign aid and investment by agreeing to a unity government with the main opposition, the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC). Although, the MDC has consistently received more votes than the so-called government, it was only allowed a junior position in the unity government with ZANU-PF.

Amidst much warnings that this could not work, and against the advice of many of his friends, Morgan Tsvangirai President of the Movement for Democratic Change attempted to restore the rule of law and investor confidence in Zimbabwe. His valiant efforts were frustrated at every turn by Mugabe’s ZANU-PF. Rampant electrical power failures, the complete collapse of plumbing services, astronomical inflation, (where even 500 trillion dollar notes were worthless), massive fraud, the ongoing national suicide of invading and looting the last few remaining white farms in the country, ongoing arrests, tortures and murders by state police and military, frustrated the best intentions of those who were trying to restore Zimbabwe to sanity and stability.

Those who have worked in, or studied communist countries should not have been surprised at the deviousness and treachery of Robert Mugabe and his ZANU-PF. Vladimir Lenin wrote: "Treaties are like pie crusts – made to be broken!"
Lenin also declared: "To tell the truth is a petty bourgouis habit, but to lie, and to lie convincingly, is a sign of superior intelligence!"

Considering that Mugabe and his Marxists came to power through violence and deception, it is not surprising that he has endeavoured to stay in power through the same means.

The Lord Jesus Christ taught us that we ought always to pray and not give up. In the parable of the persistent widow, the Lord taught that even an unjust judge will do what is right in response to persistent prayer and pressure (Luke 18:1-7). We need to urgently pray and decisively act now to support the Zimbabwean Christians in this great time of crises. We need to mobilize God’s people to humble themselves and pray and seek God’s face and turn from their wicked ways that God might heal Zimbabwe (2 Chronicles 7:14).

The only hope for Zimbabwe is to return in Repentance to God, to rediscover the Biblical agenda and to restore Biblical principles into every area of community life, education, economics, ethics and the judiciary.

Frontline Fellowship has been working in Zimbabwe since 1982. As the oppression and suffering in Zimbabwe has increased, so we have had to dramatically increase our ministry into that longsuffering country.

The Frontline Fellowship Mission HQ has frequently been a hive of activity late into the night, as we have assembled Boxes with Love and loaded tonnes of books, Bibles, food and medicines for Zimbabwe. New vehicles have been acquired and truckloads of emergency relief aid have been delivered to churches, missions, hospitals and prisons in Zimbabwe.

Despite numerous difficulties, delays and frustrations at border posts, our teams have ultimately succeeded in overcoming all obstacles and delivering the desperately needed food and life saving medicines to pastors, pensioners and prisoners.

As John reported: "When you see the appreciation, gratitude and affection shown on delivery, there is no way but to look forward to the next mission trip ‘… I was hungry and you fed Me, I was naked and you clothed Me …’ This is one of the most important aspects of mission work. The harvest is ripe and the labourers are few…"

Please pray for our missionaries in Zimbabwe at this time, and pray that we would receive more dedicated missionary volunteers at our upcoming Great Commission Course (1 – 20 January 2010) to be trained and mobilized as nation transforming teams.

In the words of missionary C.T. Studd: "Some like to live within sound of church or chapel bell. I would like to run a rescue shop within a yard of hell."
(Frontline Fellowship, Nov 2009) (to index)

* MALAYSIA WITHOLDS ‘ALLAH BIBLES’ - The Malaysian government has refused to release 10,000 Bibles which it seized because they contained the word Allah to refer to God.
The government, which is dominated by Muslim Malays, claims that the word Allah is Islamic and that its use in Bibles could upset Muslims.
The Roman Catholic Church is challenging the ban in court.
Religion has become highly sensitive in Malaysia, where about two-thirds of the population is Muslim.
Religious minorities have accused the government of undermining their rights.
The government has impounded Bibles before, intercepting 5,000 in March as they were imported from Indonesia.
Church officials say that although the word Allah originated in Arabic, Malays have used it for centuries to refer generally to God, and Arabic-speaking Christians used it before Islam was founded.
The Christian Federation of Malaysia said the religious freedom guaranteed by the Malaysian constitution was meaningless if people were denied Bibles which used their own language.
(BBC News – Asia Pacific, 4 Nov 2009) (to index)

* OBAMA’S HEALTH INSURANCE REFORMS CLEAR FIRST HURDLE ON WAY TO BECOMING LAW - Barack Obama enjoyed the biggest victory of his presidency so far as he saw the House of Representatives vote through a bill over the weekend that would mark the greatest extension in US health coverage since 1965.

The House voted by 220 to 215 to approve the bill, which would increase health insurance to 96% of Americans and secure a political goal that has eluded the Democrats since Bill Clinton's failed efforts in the early 1990s.
After the result was announced, Obama said he looked forward to signing a health reform act by the end of the year. But before that there must be a final struggle as the legislation, in slightly different form, is put before the Senate.

Saturday's vote carried within it evidence that a difficult road lies ahead before the reforms become law. The slim majority was the result of 39 Democrats breaking ranks and opposing the bill. Many of the defectors were so-called "Blue Dog" Democrats: representatives from mainly rural constituencies in states such as Alabama and Tennessee, who know that if they follow the party line they face annihilation in mid-term elections next year.

Last night Obama praised the passage of the bill as historic and urged the Senate to follow suit. "Given the heated and often misleading rhetoric surrounding this legislation, I know that this was a courageous vote for many members of Congress," he said.
As a result of the strength of the Blue Dog coalition, the Democrat leadership was forced to offer a concession on abortion to win over Democrat waverers and secure passage through the House. That angered pro-choice groups who see the bill that passed as the greatest blow to abortion rights in the US for many years.

Under the compromise, federal funding would not be allowed in any cases involving health insurance packages that provide abortion services. That would affect the millions of women who would, for the first time, be entitled to health coverage with the help of government subsidies.It would also affect the new health insurance market, known as the "exchange", which would be set up under legislation to allow trading of private and public health insurance. Pro-choice groups argue the restriction would dissuade private insurance firms from offering abortion services, and would therefore lead to millions of women losing the abortion rights they can currently call on.

"This amendment violates the spirit of healthcare reform, which is meant to guarantee quality, affordable healthcare coverage for all," said Cecile Richards, president of the Planned Parenthood Federation of America.

Underlining the importance of the bill and its fragile political support, Obama made a personal appearance on Capitol Hill before the vote, working behind the scenes to sway undecided Democrats. He pitched the vote as a "call of history".

But the vote illustrated again the partisan nature of American politics. Only one Republican went with the majority – Joseph Cao, who represents a largely Democratic area of New Orleans – while the remaining 176 Republicans opposed the health reforms.

"We are going to have a complete government takeover of our healthcare system faster than you can say, 'this is making me sick'," said Candice Miller, a Republican from Michigan, after the vote. That line, presenting Obama's health reforms as a socialist grab, is likely to be increasingly heard from the Republicans as next year's elections get closer.

The bill presented to the House runs to 1,990 pages and would involve a $1.05tn investment over the next decade. Under its terms, an additional 36 million Americans would be given health coverage.

The euphoria of Saturday's health reform victory for the Democrats will not last long. A long, hard battle now looms in the Senate.

The Democrats need 60 votes there to prevent a Republican filibuster. That's a number that they command on paper, but the wavering of so many conservative Democrats underlines party anxieties over such a massive piece of legislation.

One of the 60 votes the Democrats are counting on is that of Joe Leiberman, the Connecticut senator who sits as an independent but who usually takes the Democratic whip. He said yesterday that if the Senate version of the bill contained a public option – a state-funded health insurance scheme – then he would vote against. "If the public option is in there, as a matter of conscience, I will not allow this bill to come to a final vote because I believe the debt can break America," he said.

The public option has been raised as a bone of contention by several of the more conservative Democratic senators. Another potential sticking point is the threat to punish employers who fail to provide health insurance to their workers.

As a counter to Leiberman, the Democrats hope they can win over Olympia Snowe, a moderate Republican from Maine, who was onside during some of the committee stages of the bill.

Assuming senators back the bill, the Senate and the House of Representatives versions will then be melded into one and voted on again by both chambers before passing to Obama for his signature.
(Guardian.co.uk, 9 Nov 2009) (to index)

* TERMINALLY ILL GRANDMOTHER ‘LEFT TO STARVE’ BY DOCTORS - Hazel Fenton, an 80-year-old grandmother who was placed under a controversial care plan and left to "starve to death" after doctors identified her as being terminally ill, only recovered after the intervention of her daughter.

Mrs Fenton, from East Sussex, is still alive and "happy" nine months after doctors declared she would only survive for days, withdrew her antibiotics and denied her artificial feeding, her daughter, Christine Ball, said. "Without my persistence and pressure I know my mother would be dead now," she added.

Mrs Fenton, a former private school house mother, had been placed on the Liverpool Care Pathway (LCP) scheme, which was originally developed as a way to care for cancer patients towards the end of their lives.

However, there has been recent criticism that not only cancer patients but others with terminal illnesses are being made to die prematurely under the NHS scheme.

Last month six prominent British doctors and health care professionals wrote to The Daily Telegraph, expressing concern that some patients were being wrongly judged as close to death.

Under NHS guidance introduced in England, medical staff can withdraw fluid and drugs from dying patients and many are put on continuous sedation until they pass away. But this approach can also mask signs of improvement, it has been argued.

Mrs Ball, who had been looking after her mother before she was admitted to the Conquest hospital, Hastings, East Sussex, on Jan 11, said she had to fight hospital staff for weeks before her mother was taken off the plan and given artificial feeding.
Mrs Ball, 42, a carer, from Robertsbridge, East Sussex, said: "My mother was going to be left to starve and dehydrate to death. It really is a subterfuge for legalised euthanasia of the elderly on the NHS. "

Mrs Fenton was admitted to hospital suffering from pneumonia. Although Mrs Ball acknowledged that her mother was very ill she was "astonished" when a junior doctor told her she was going to be placed on the plan to "make her more comfortable" in her last days.

On Jan 19, Mrs Fenton’s 80th birthday, Mrs Ball said her mother had lost "an awful lot of weight" but was feeling better, and told her she "didn’t want to die".
But it took another four days to persuade doctors to give her artificial feeding, Mrs Ball said.

Mrs Ball said the fight to save her mother had been made harder by the Mental Capacity Act. "I was told that we had no rights, and food and hydration were classed as treatment, which meant they had the right to withhold feeding. It gave a doctor the power to play god with my mother’s life," she said.

Mrs Fenton is now being looked after in a nursing home near her daughter’s home.

A spokesman for East Sussex Hospitals NHS Trust said: "Patients’ needs are assessed before they are placed on the [plan]. Daily reviews are undertaken by clinicians whenever possible."
(Telegraph.co.uk, 11 Oct 2009) (to index)