* JUST A THOUGHT - I'm moved by the thought that even the poorest of the poor can invest something of value in other people's lives.
(By Fano Sibisi, 12 Jan 2010, www.cft.org.za) (to index)

* MOBILISE YOUR CONGREGATION - Sanctity Life Sunday - 31 January 2010 - One of the most urgent and important issues confronting the Church today is the right to life of pre-born babies.

Abortion is the violent murder of an innocent and valuable human person. Gregg Cunningham of the US Center for Bio-ethical Reform says, "Abortion represents an evil so inexpressible that words fail us when we attempt to describe its horror. Abortion will continue to be trivialized as ‘the lesser of two evils’ or perhaps even ‘necessary evil’ as long as it is allowed to remain an invisible abstraction."

According to the Elliot Institute, up to 83% of abortions are unwanted. 64% involve coercion. Abortion is the un-choice. It is unwanted, unsafe and unfair.

You can save lives!

The 1st of February will mark the 13th anniversary of the legalisation of abortion on demand in South Africa. Since 1 February 1997 approximately 900 000 babies will have been killed in South Africa - by abortion - legally. On 31 January all churches are encouraged to observe a solemn and serious time of repentance and prayer for the national sin of abortion.

A growing number of Christians worldwide are beginning to recognise the abortion holocaust as the greatest crime being committed in the world today. In fact, abortion is South Africa’s hidden genocide. The most dangerous place in the world is not Iraq, Congo, Sudan or Zimbabwe. The most dangerous place in the world is the womb. Pre-born babies are being killed in their mother's wombs at a greater rate than any other section of society. It is an urgent priority for the Church to expose, oppose and end this war against children made in the image of God.

According to the South African Christian Handbook there are over 20 million churchgoers in South Africa. If most of these churchgoers could understand what the Bible teaches about when life begins, the sanctity of life and our Christian responsibility to stand up for the right to life of the pre-born - then we could save thousands of babies from abortion.

Most of the medical personnel in our country are church members. Most of the mothers go to church. Most of the voters in South Africa claim to be Christians. If Christians in South Africa could stop and look at the abortion holocaust in the light of Scripture; if we could understand something of the heart of God on this disgraceful abomination - then we would be roused to action.

"Speak up for those who cannot speak for themselves" Proverbs 31:8

Will you mobilise your congregation to observe Sanctity Life Sunday?

Encourage your pastor to mark Sanctity Life Sunday on his 2010 calendar.
(Africa Christian Action, Jan 2010) (to index)

* CONFRONTING COMMUNISTS ON CAMPUS – Dr Peter Hammond from Frontline Fellowship writes, "Coinciding with the 60th anniversary with the communist takeover of China, and the 20th anniversary of the Fall of the Berlin Wall and the opening up of the Iron Curtain, I was invited to speak at three different university campuses in Minnesota. At the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis, at the Minnesota State University in Mankato, and at the University of St. Cloud, I spoke on The Consequences of Socialism, The Cost of Communism and The Failure of The Soviet Union.

The university meetings were well organised and widely advertised by Maranatha Christian Fellowship. This was the sixth series of meetings organised at these state universities. Previously I had been invited to speak on the Persecution of Christians in Sudan, Slavery – The Untold Story, The Crusades vs. Jihad and other persecutions of the Church. On this occasion the advertised subjects of socialism and communism drew out individuals who sought to defend atheism, evolutionism, Marxism and socialism. The discussions after the presentations were often interesting.

On one occasion an avowed atheist, evolutionist and Marxist tried to argue that, although communism had failed, socially and economically, so far, he believed that the principles were sound and, if they were only correctly applied, it could work!

When I challenged him to point to any countries which he could hold up as examples of successful socialism, the man admitted that there were none! While not arguing the catastrophic track record of communists so far, he valiantly tried to argue that it could possibly work in the future. I pointed out Margaret Thatcher’s comment that the problem with socialism is that "sooner or later you run out of other people’s money".

At each presentation I quoted Sir Winston Churchill, who said that "socialism could only work in Heaven where it is not needed, or in Hell, where they already have it!"

Some Chinese students expressed surprise at the atrocities committed by Red China. Many claimed to be unaware of the tens of millions of Chinese people murdered by Mao Tse-Tung in the Great Proletarian Revolution in the 1960s. Many were not even aware that the present red flag with yellow stars is not the flag of China, but of the Communist Party of China. I pointed out that the Russian people never regarded the red flag with hammer and sickle as the flag of Russia, but of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union. Hence, when Boris Yeltsin abolished the Soviet Union, he pulled down the red flag and hoisted up the white, blue and red flag of Russia. 1 October was not the national day of China, but the 60th anniversary of the communist revolution in China.

Some students tried to argue that Christianity really is communism, that the early church practiced socialism. To this I had to point out that there is a world of difference between voluntary Christian generosity and compulsory communist confiscation. The Christian may say ‘what’s mine is yours’ and share, but the communist says ‘what’s yours is mine’ and takes.

No, the Lord Jesus Christ never taught socialism, in fact he taught free market principles. The man who had one talent and hid it was severely rebuked and what he had was taken away from him and given to the man who was more productive. "For whoever has, to him more will be given, and he will have abundance; but whoever does not have, even what he has will be taken away from him." The Lord was scathing in his denunciation of laziness and taught that productivity and diligence should be rewarded (Luke 19:12-26).

Christianity has produced the most free societies, the most productivity and the greatest prosperity in history. However, socialism has bankrupted whole nations and been responsible for the deaths of multiplied millions of innocent people.

"While they promise them liberty, they themselves are slaves of corruption …" 2 Peter 2:19
(Frontline Fellowship, 2010) (to index)

* PRO-LIFE ADVOCATES PLAN TO PROTEST OPENING OF LARGEST ABORTION CLINIC IN U.S. - A coalition of pro-life advocates and religious leaders plan to gather in Houston on Jan. 18 to oppose what is expected to be the largest abortion clinic in the country.

Planned Parenthood is renovating a former bank, turning it into a 78,000 square foot facility that will include a surgical wing equipped to provide late-term abortions.

"It’s an abortion super center," Lou Engle, founder of the pro-life group The Call to Conscience, which is organizing the rally, told CNSNews.com.

Joining Engle at the "prayer march" will be Tony Perkins, president of the Family Research Council, and Samuel Rodriguez, president of the National Hispanic Christian Leadership Conference. Religious leaders expected to attend include Bishop Harry Jackson, senior pastor of Hope Christian Church; Richard Land, president of the Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission of the Southern Baptist Convention; Star Parker, president of the Coalition for Urban Renewal and Education; and Abby Johnson, the former director of a Planned Parenthood clinic.

Engle compared the fight for the rights of the unborn to another critical movement in America. "As Martin Luther King, Jr. said, ‘It is time to subpoena the conscience of America,’" he said.
Engle said he believes the clinic was strategically located in a part of Houston that is surrounded by black and Hispanic neighborhoods.
"We want to say that it’s not right to have an abortion super center that targets the minority community," Engle said. He says Planned Parenthood actively markets its services, including abortion, to low-income, minority women.

Last month, Houston elected the first lesbian, Annise Parker, to hold the mayoral office in a major U.S. city. Until her inauguration this week, the director of Health and Environmental Policy for the mayor’s office was Elena Marks, chairwoman of the Planned Parenthood Federation of America.

Attempts to reach Marks for comment on the clinic and the planned rally were unsuccessful.
(CNSNews, 6 Jan 2010) (to index)

* 30 CHINESE HOUSE CHURCH ALLIANCE LEADERS DETAINED, FACING ADMINISTRATIVE DETENTION - In the afternoon of January 8, 2010, (Beijing Time) 30 leaders of the Chinese House Church Alliance (CHCA) were detained in Handan city, Hebei province. According to one detained pastor, who was able to use his cellphone briefly to notify an outside contact, a group of officers from the Handan City Public Security and Religious Affairs Bureaus broke into their leaders' meeting place where the 30 men and women were having a bible study, and forcefully took them to an unknown interrogation center within the city.

The 30 detained leaders include Pastor Li Cuixiang, from the Handan area, and Elder Wu Jianghe, from Beijing. The informing pastor reported that the PSB were threatening some of the detained pastors with 15 days of administrative detention. Immediately after relating the situation of the 30 pastors to the outside contact, the call abruptly cut off. ChinaAid and sources believe the pastor's cell phone was confiscated, as it could not be reached later on. President of the CHCA Pastor Zhang "Bike" Mingxuan calls upon the Handan government to release the church leaders immediately.
(Persecutionblog.com, 12 Jan 2010) (to index)

* PERSECUTION’S TOP 10 - The No. 1 state persecutor of Christians, for the eighth-straight year, is North Korea. That’s the conclusion of Open Doors in releasing its 2010 World Watch List of 50 countries considered at-risk locales for Christians.

According to a Jan. 6 statement by Open Doors, the California-based Christian advocacy group founded by Brother Andrew, the regime of Kim Jong Il targeted Christians all over the country in 2009, resulting in arrests, torture, and killings. Of an estimated 200,000 North Koreans in political prisons, said the group, 40,000 to 60,000 are Christians. One veteran North Korean watcher told Open Doors that Christians "are not regarded as human. Last year we had evidence that some were used as guinea pigs to test chemical and biological weapons."

Iran is No. 2 on the World Watch List, moving up from its No. 3 position of recent years behind Saudi Arabia as a result of the political crackdown following the re-election of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in June. A wave of arrests of Christians that began in 2008 grew in 2009, according to Open Doors, resulting in the detention of at least 85 Christians.

Rounding out the top 10 are Saudi Arabia, Somalia, Maldives, Afghanistan, Yemen, Mauritania, and Uzbekistan. Eight of the top 10 countries have Islam as their dominant religion; 35 of the 50 countries on the list have Islamic governments.
(Worldmag.com, 7 Jan 2010) (to index)

* U.S., GOOGLE AND CHINA SQUARE OFF OVER INTERNET - Google's threat to quit China over censorship and hacking intensified Sino-U.S. frictions on Wednesday as Washington said it had serious concerns and demanded an explanation from Beijing.

China has not made any significant comment since Google, the world's top search engine, said it will not abide by censorship and may shut its Chinese-language google.cn website because of attacks from China on human rights activists using its Gmail service and on dozens of companies, including Adobe Systems.

Chinese authorities were "seeking more information on Google's statement," the Xinhua news agency reported in English, citing an unnamed official from China's State Council Information Office, the government arm of the country's propaganda system.

Friction over the Internet now seems sure to stoke tensions between the United States and China, joining friction over climate change, trade, human rights and military ambition.

With China the largest lender to the United States, holding $800 billion in Treasury bills, these Internet tensions will make steering this vast, fast-evolving relationship all the more tricky, especially with the U.S. Congress in an election year.

"China has been taking a harder line," said Shi Yinhong, an expert on relations with the United States at Renmin University in Beijing. "The next few months are going to see some turbulence in China-U.S. relations. We may see some tactical concessions from China, but the general trend isn't toward compromise."

Pressing China for an explanation, U.S. Secretary of State Clinton said: "The ability to operate with confidence in cyberspace is critical in a modern society and economy.

"We have been briefed by Google on these allegations, which raise very serious concerns," Clinton said in Honolulu.

Chinese industry analysts said the issue had snowballed beyond Google and its problems.

"If this becomes heavily politicized, and there are signs that it is, and people in the Chinese government say, 'This is good. It serves you right, and we won't bow our heads to the United States, then there'll be no way out," said Xie Wen, a former executive in China for Yahoo and other big Internet companies, who is now a prominent industry commentator.

"The impact on China's image will gradually also affect the enthusiasm of investors," he added. "It's not the pure economic losses -- a billion or so -- it's the deteriorating environment."
(Reuters, 13 Jan 2010) (to index)

* ISLAMISTS LOOT AND BURN PROTESTANT CHURCH IN ALGERIA - Islamists looted and burned a Protestant church in Algeria, the congregation's leader said Monday, suggesting they were inspired by a recent wave of religious intolerance in the Arab and Muslim world.

The church - hosted in an apartment block in the city of Tizi Ouzou some 100 kilometers (60 miles) east of Algiers, the Algerian capital - was ransacked and set ablaze on Saturday night, several Algerian newspapers said.

The independent El Watan daily published a picture of a smoldering pile of pulpits and desks that had been brought outside for destruction. It quoted the pastor of the local Pentecostal community, Mustapha Krireche, as saying worshippers fled the temple because local police had left a gathering of anti-Christian rioters unchecked.

The congregation was worshipping in the apartment block because it had not received official government approval to operate a church.

Mustapha Krim, the head of the Algerian Protestant Church association, said in a telephone interview with The Associated Press on Monday that looters also set fire to a pile of Bibles and religious textbooks, and desecrated Christian crosses.

He said the looting showed "Islamist intolerance considers there is no room for Christian religious practices in Algeria," and alleged it was "fueled by what just happened in Egypt," where six people were killed in a church shooting during Christmas celebrations. In mainly Muslim Malaysia, nine churches have also been recently burned down amid violence against the country's Christian minority.
(jpost.com, 11 Jan 2010) (to index)