MA#34 - OCTOBER THE WORLD NEEDS A DELIVERER IN THIS ISSUE

Transcription

1 MA#34 - OCTOBER THE WORLD NEEDS A DELIVERER IN THIS ISSUE THE WORLD NEEDS A DELIVERER! BURMA THE MILITARY CRACKDOWN THE KAREN CRACKDOWN ON CHRISTIAN MINORITY NORTH KOREA: CHRISTIAN IMPRISONMENT WORSE THAN THOUGHT Western Sudan ETHNIC CLEANSING IN DARFUR ISRAEL AND THE COMING MID-EAST PEACE SUMMIT PALESTINIANS CLAIM THE WESTERN WALL FATAH THREATENS CATASTROPHE IF SUMMIT FAILS BUSH ADMINISTRATION DESPERATE FOR RESULTS BIBLE SOCIETY WORKER ASSASSINATED IN GAZA THERE IS A REDEEMER!

2 THE WORLD NEEDS A DELIVERER! BURMA desperately needs a Deliverer today! So do North Korea, Darfur, Zimbabwe, Israel and many other war-torn, threatened or destitute nations. In fact, the whole world needs a Deliverer! But where is there a deliverer in this world of brutal turmoil and woe? Can we find him in the government, or in the opposition, or in the United Nations? Will he stand up in the World Parliament of Religions, or in our environment or economic forums? Dr Henri Spaack, one of the early planners of the European Common Market, and Secretary-General of NATO made this statement: We do not want another committee. What we want is a man of sufficient stature to hold the allegiance of all people, and to lift us out of the economic morass into which we are sinking. Send us such a man, and be he God or devil, we will receive him. That s true! The world will welcome a devil! Ah! But there is a true Deliverer available - a Redeemer! He is Jesus Christ - Y shua the Messiah, who came from God to set captives free from their sins. Y shua said: I have come in My Father s Name, and you do no receive Me; if another comes in his own name, you will receive him. (John 5:43) That s also true! The majority in the world have been so blinded that they will actually receive a demoniac who will bring the world to ruins. That evil man will be the Antichrist, the self-exalting son of Satan, who destroys to an extraordinary degree. (Daniel 8:24) But in these present times, every day, tens of thousands of people around the world are turning to the Messiah, the true Deliverer, and finding His peace and salvation. The Hand of Grace is stretching out to captives, to the broken-hearted, to lives that are down-trodden and that are heading for destruction. Oh that millions more will grasp that outstretched Hand! The LORD is not slow concerning His promise, as some understand slowness, but is patient toward you, not wanting anyone to perish, but for everyone to come to repentance. (2 Peter 3:9) BRUTAL ENDTIMES ARE HERE

3 Over the last month we have seen another human tragedy unfold in Myanmar (Burma). But there are equally disastrous tragedies in other nations. The Bible describes the endtimes in these words: But evil men and imposters will go from bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived. (2 Timothy 3:13) But realize this, that in the last days perilous times will come. For men will be lovers of self, utterly self-centered, lovers of money, boastful, arrogant, blasphemers, revilers, disobedient to parents, ungrateful, profane, callous and inhuman, unloving, unforgiving, irreconcilable, malicious gossips (slanderers), without self-control, brutal, despisers of good, treacherous, reckless, traitors, headstrong, haughty, lovers of sensual pleasures rather than lovers of God. (2 Timothy 3:1-4) THE MILITARY CRACKDOWN IN BURMA After simmering hatred for the military s 45-year rule exploded into protests in September, tens of thousands of people marched through Burma s main city of Rangoon, in a mounting wave of anti-government protests. After the number of protestors reached 100,000 at the end of Sept, the military rulers cracked down. Hundreds of monks and civilians were carted off to detention camps. The crackdown has continued despite a crescendo of international outrage and a UN mission to try to bring an end to the bloody crackdown. Once Southeast Asia s most prosperous nation, Burma, which changed its official name to Myanmar in 1989, had abundant natural resources, minerals, gems and hydrocarbons, beautiful beaches and mountains, and fascinating ancient temples a potential tourist haven. For the last 45 years the nation has been ruled by a corrupt and inept military regime that has reduced the country of 52 million to an economic and political wreck. Burma s successions of military rulers have been isolationists, displaying a strong dislike of other countries, and have brutally reacted to any internal dissent.

4 The Karen tribe, whose ancestors long ago were Tibetan refugees, has suffered dreadfully over the past 60 years in Burma. The tribe had become largely Christian in the time of Adoniram Judson, the first missionary to Burma, early in the 19th century. The Karen were loyal to the British Raj, but when the Japanese occupied the region, long-term tensions between the Karen and the Burmese government turned into open fighting. As a consequence, many villages were destroyed and massacres committed by both the Japanese and the Burma Independence Army troops who helped the Japanese invade the country. After Burma was granted independence, in 1948, the Karen, led by the Karen National Union, attempted to co-exist peacefully with the Burman ethnic majority. Karen people held leading positions in both the government and the army. In the fall of 1948, the Burmese government, led by U Nu, began raising and arming irregular political militias known as Sitwundan. These militias were under the command of Major Gen. Ne Win and outside the control of the regular army. In January 1949, some of these militias went on a rampage through Karen communities. In late January, the Army Chief of Staff, Gen. Smith Dun, a Karen, was removed from office and imprisoned. He was replaced by the fanatic Burmese nationalist Ne Win, who became head of the caretaker government between October 1958 and April After staging a coup d etat in March 1962, Ne Win appointed himself Chairman of the Revolutionary Council and Prime Minister of the Revolutionary Government. He was the elected President of the Socialist Republic of the Union of Burma from March 1974 to November Most importantly, he founded the Burma Socialist Programme Party (BSPP) and served as its chairman for 26 years from July 1962 until he resigned in July After 23 March 1964 when all political parties were abolished by military decree of the Revolutionary Council, the BSPP became the sole political party in Burma, establishing a one party state under Ne Win. Throughout Ne Win s regime, the Karen were persecuted and butchered, and this persecution has continued right up to the present time. In 1988, the Burmese military unleashed a brutal assault on student protestors, leaving thousands dead. In 1990 the party of Aung San Suu Kyi won national elections, but the results were annulled by the army and she was never allowed to take office. Ms Suu Kyi, who later became a Nobel Peace Prize Laureate, has spent 11 of the last 18 years under house arrest.

5 THE 2007 UPRISING The recent protests were triggered by a decision on August l5 to quadruple the price of compressed natural gas, on which most of Rangoon s taxi and light transport are dependent. (Despite sitting on vast, mostly untapped, reserves of hydrocarbons in the Bay of Bengal, Burma is dependent on imported petroleum products.) The generals tried to extinguish the protests by arresting pro-democracy activists who started the movement. On Sept 5, a group of about 100 Buddhist monks led a march in Mandalay, chanting their scriptures and appealing for righteousness, piety and non-violence. Officials told the monks to end their protests, and fired warnings shots. 16 protesters and several monks were arrested. The next day another group of monks demanded an apology from the officials, and tensions began to increase as officials ordered the monks to stay out of political protests. The unrest escalated and moved to Rangoon. On Sept 17, monks began peaceful protest marches in the capital. The junta at first avoided direct confrontation with the demonstrating monks after all, this is a country where the 300,000-plus clergy is second in numbers only to the 450,000-strong military. But the military regime is not one given to restraint. Sept 21. The Alliance of All Burmese Buddhist Monks, which was leading the demonstrations, vowed to continue until they had wiped the military dictatorship from the land. By 22nd the numbers increased to thousands. And in a rare concession by the generals, permission was given for a group of 500 monks, laymen and supporters, totalling about 1,000, to pray outside the residence of opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi. Ms Suu Kyi emerged tearfully from the home to pray with the monks, after they were allowed through a roadblock. Sept 23. The demonstrations escalated as the monks were now urging civilians to join in, after advising them a week earlier, not to get involved. Five columns of monks, one reportedly stretching for more than a kilometre entered the city centre to cheers and applause from thousands of bystanders. Some demonstrators chanted Release Suu Kyi. Some monks carried placards calling for better living conditions and national reconciliation. About 5,000 marching Burmese monks were joined by up to 150 (Buddhist) nuns for the first time, calling for an end to the military government. They were cheered on by 10,000 onlookers. The protest was the biggest public show of opposition since the 1988 uprising. But unlike the day earlier, police barred a group of monks from entering the road that leads to the home of Aung San Suu Kyi. The barricades were firmly back in place and there was a heavy security presence near the democracy icon s home to prevent a repeat protest march past.

6 On Sept 24 and 25, the protesters, monks and civilians, increased to around 100,000. There were also reports of protests in at least 25 other cities, including Pakokku, Sittwe and Mandalay. MONKS HELD IN HIGH REGARD Witnesses said the crowds formed a protective human chain, as the monks and nuns set off from Burma s most famous landmark, the revered Shwedagon Pagoda. The fabled Shwedagon pagoda, with an impressive 98-metre, gold-covered, bellshaped dome, is a site so revered that it is the duty of every devout Burmese Buddhist to make a pilgrimage to it at 1east once. Monks are highly revered in Burma and any action against them would spark an outcry. And when the monks act, people follow. By Sept. 24, thousands of ordinary Burmese had overcome the fear of the regime and joined the demonstrations. Many hoped this would be the start of a Burgundy Revolution, another rebellion that upends a long-standing dictatorship. In Buddhist society violence against the shaven-headed monks is anathema. In Burma they remain highly influential, with most young men expected to take vows and don robes for several years of their lives. RIOT POLICE ATTACK DEMONSTRATORS Sept 26. Thousands of Buddhist monks and other protesters continued marching in Rangoon despite warnings and a bloody crackdown by police. For the third day, an estimated 100,000+ demonstrators took to the streets. Troops responded by firing tear gas and live rounds over the protesters heads, sending people running for cover. The military government clamped down on the media, banned gatherings of five people or more, and imposed a night-time curfew. The police then began a crackdown on the demonstrators. Many were dragged away in trucks. At least 100 monks were beaten, and three deaths were reported. Opposition leaders were arrested amid fears of more extreme action by the military government. Human rights groups and diplomats hold fears for the safety of those detained. There are daily reports of mass arrests and of hundreds of suspects being hauled off in the dead of night. Every night now the army and police are arresting people and taking them away. Reports said the former Government Technology Institute in the city has become a concentration camp for at least 1700 victims of the brutal suppression. Oct 3. Scores of monks are trying to leave Rangoon. Many were seen at the railway station, and bus drivers were reportedly refusing to take them, out of fear they would not be allowed petrol. Curfews and night-time police raids are continuing. The city is living in a state of fear and uncertainty about the future!

7 Tens of thousands of Burmese have fled to villages along the Thai border. One who escaped to Thailand is a Burmese army officer. He is the first apparent defection since the crackdown began, and he has been giving interviews to media organisations. His unit in Rangoon was ordered to deal with the protests, but he said he did not want to beat or shoot monks - who are revered in Burmese society. I knew the plan was to beat and shoot the monks and if I stayed on, I would have to follow these orders. Because I m a Buddhist, I did not want to kill the monks, he said. The officer is now seeking asylum abroad. Oct. 8. Conservative estimates say up to 200 have lost their lives; and thousands of people have been wounded. 1,000 monks and 3,000 civilians have been arrested and they face an uncertain fate. The real toll is likely to be much higher. One report in a British paper quoted a senior official who defected, as saying several thousand had died. The report said the bodies of hundreds of executed monks were dumped in the jungle. Another report said 40 monks in the Insein prison were beaten to death and subsequently burned. And mass secret cremations have been carried out by the Burmese army at night for more than a week. The only certainty is that somewhere in the country, large numbers of people are being held in a concealed prison camp, without charge, without legal recourse and without the ability to communicate. A diplomat said that three monasteries were raided one afternoon and are now totally abandoned. The Burma revolt is over. The military regime won and a new generation has been violently repressed and violently denied democracy. The Burmese people now face possibly decades of repression, he said. Reuters reported about 80 monks and 149 women believed to be nuns had been freed. THE GENERALS The ageing leaders of Burma are Senior General Than Shwe (head of state), (pic above) and his deputy, Vice Senior General Maung Aye. On Sept 29, during the days of crisis, UN special envoy Ibrahim Gambari, met Gen Than Shwe as well as pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi, who is under house arrest. He urged the military regime to relax its iron grip and open talks with the detained leader.

8 The UN Security Council has passed a resolution condemning the recent crackdown, calling on Burma s rulers to cease repressive measures and to release detainees and political prisoners including Suu Kyi. The EU has agreed in principle to toughen existing sanctions against Burma and is reportedly looking at ways of specifically targeting its military rulers. The US and other nations are increasing sanctions on Burma, but in the past, such measures did little to change the hardline generals. CRACKDOWN ON CHRISTIAN MINORITY Sept 28. Satellite images confirmed that government-backed forces have massively burnt villages of predominantly Christian Karen. Oct The country s military government is continuing its often forgotten war against ethnic minorities in the country. A missionary working with refugees from the Christian Karen minority group says the Burmese army is killing and raping villagers and forcing them to flee their homes. Many have no choice but to flee from government-controlled areas and live in jungle camps without access to sanitation, clean water or education for children. There are an estimated one million internally displaced people in eastern Burma. It is the civilian population that suffers most from the army s crackdown in eastern Burma, where the Karen minority lives. In the Karen state you hear terrible stories of how they are targeting the population there, the missionary said. Their tactics of choice include rape, extortion, murder, forced relocation, forced labor. While some ethnic-rebel groups in Burma have signed cease-fire agreements with the military, the Karen National Liberation Army continues an armed insurgency that started six decades ago. The missionary working with Karen refugees at the Thai-Burmese border says their fight has little chance of success. There are now less than 4,000 Karen soldiers against the Burmese army which is now 500,000. All that military force is basically used against the ethnic minorities. All ethnic minorities, including the Karen, and some opposition politicians hope for a future Burma that is a federalized country in which minorities have their own, autonomous homelands. Source: VOA / Hong Kong PRAY FOR BURMA! Myanmar needs the Deliverer today!

9 OTHER TREACHEROUS AREAS The Messiah Y shua said: Then they will hand you over to be persecuted, and will kill you, and you will be hated by all nations on account of MY NAME. (Matthew 24:9) NORTH KOREA: CHRISTIAN IMPRISONMENT WORSE THAN THOUGHT In North Korea, the treatment of Christians is worse than previously thought. Spies have been sent into the country to find out how believers are treated, and Open Doors USA president, Carl Moeller, says the number is mind boggling. The number of political prisoners and people, including Christians in prison camps, may number between 500,000 and 1 million people, out of the 25 million or so in North Korea. It s almost inconceivable. Camps this large appear as small cities on satellite surveillance. Despite great oppression against Christians, however, the church is growing, says Moeller. We estimate the number of underground Christians to be at least 200,000, and it s likely that there are as many as 400,000 to half a million. Christians there were deemed illegal by the government almost 60 years ago, yet the church continues to grow. That s one of the great paradoxes of persecution. A GLIMMER OF HOPE AS NORTH AND SOUTH KOREA SIGN AN AGREEMENT TO ESTABLISH PEACE KIM JONG IL and ROH MOO-HYUN Oct. 4, 07. After three days of summit meetings in Pyongyang, North Korean leader Kim Jong Il and South Korean President Roh Moo-hyun signed a wide-ranging agreement promising to finally seek a peace treaty to replace the 1953 cease-fire that ended the Korean War. In what was only the second such meeting between the two countries, the two Koreans said they would open regular links across their heavily fortified border, establish a permanent peace regime and increase bilateral exchanges and enhance mutual trust.

10 North Korea also pledged to detail its nuclear programs and disable all activities at its main reactor complex by year s end. It said it would allow the US to lead a group of experts to Pyongyang within two weeks to prepare for disablement of its nuclear facilities. The United States has agreed to lead disablement activities and provide the initial funding for them. Washington also reiterated its willingness to remove North Korea from a list of countries that sponsor terrorism, a key demand of Pyongyang. Some informed observers are very sceptical about a real change in N Korea. PRAY FOR NORTH KOREA! IT NEEDS THE DELIVERER TODAY! ETHNIC CLEANSING IN DARFUR (Western Sudan) Nation (ethnos) will rise against nation (ethnos), and kingdom against kingdom, and there will be famines, pestilences (Matthew 24:7). (ethnos is the Greek word from which our English word ethnic is derived.) Oct 07. The conflict in Darfur began in 2003 when ethnic African rebels took up arms against the Arab-dominated Sudanese government, accusing it of decades of discrimination. Sudan s government is accused of retaliating by unleashing the Janjaweed a charge it denies. This month, after a 2-day tour of the region, a group of prominent world figures including former US President Jimmy Carter, and Desmond Tutu of South Africa, said that they were shocked by the suffering in Darfur, and strongly condemned the Sudanese government which they hold responsible for the ongoing carnage. In the past four years, the violence has killed more than 200,000 people, and turned 2.5 million into refugees. Carter spoke of crime against humanity, pointing at the government-backed Arab Janjaweed militias guilt in the ethnic cleansing of ethnic Africans in the region. He urged the government to cease air raids on Darfur civilians. There is no reason for the government to continue to bomb people.

11 Tutu described the unbelievable squalor refugees live in, saying, Darfur is one of the most awful places in the world. Graca Machel the wife of former South African President Nelson Mandela talked about the horrors of widespread rape for Darfur refugees, one of the most taboo issues for Sudan s government which denies it. She said women graphically recounted to her their ordeals. They even used gestures to show us how brutally they were treated, said an emotional Machel. She said she raised the problem during the group s meeting with Sudanese President Omar al-bashir. I have to confess it was the most depressing moment of our conversation, she said. The government doesn t seem to have an understanding of what it means for women to say We are being raped. The Delegation is part of a group of 12 chaired by Nelson Mandela. The group was created two months ago with a mission of promoting world peace. Mandela was too frail to go, but his wife was among the four who made the trip to Darfur, along with billionaire Richard Branson, a financier of the group. Carter got into a fight with the head of national security in one town because he was being blocked from meeting any of the ethnic African refugees, and his security entourage urged him to let the feared state police have their way. The delegation called for the peace process between Khartoum and semiautonomous southern Sudan to be invigorated, raising fears that its failure could lead to imminent new bloodshed. The visit came two days after the African Union peacekeeping force in Darfur was attacked by a rebel faction that killed 10 peacekeepers. The delegation voiced its outrage at the AU s poor equipment and funding, and called on Western countries to commit strong support to the new, 26,000 force of UN and AU peacekeepers due to take over on Jan. 1, Source: The Associated Press. SUDAN RED TAPE DELAYING UN FORCE Oct The UN has criticised the Sudanese government s use of red tape to delay the deployment of the hybrid UN-African Union force to Darfur. In a highly critical report, UN Sec-Gen Ban Ki-moon accused Khartoum of failing to approve a list of troop-contributing countries. He also said the UN was being prevented from obtaining land for offices and accommodation in Darfur. Mr Ban also said there was an unacceptable upsurge of violence in Darfur. PRAY FOR DARFUR and SUDAN They need the Deliverer today! YHWH your God is in your midst, the Mighty One who will save. He will rejoice over you with gladness, He will be quiet in His love, He will rejoice over you with songs of joy. (Zephaniah 3:17)

12 ISRAEL AND THE COMING MID-EAST PEACE SUMMIT He is YHWH our God. His judgments are in all the earth. Remember His covenant forever, the word which He commanded for a thousand generations; the covenant which He made with Abraham, and His oath to Isaac. He also confirmed it to Jacob for a statute, to Israel as an everlasting covenant, saying, To you I will give the land of Canaan as the portion of your inheritance, - when they were only few in number, very few, and strangers in it. (1 Chronicles 16:14-19) PM Ehud Olmert and PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas are having regular meetings in an effort to draft a joint statement on where they are going, to present to the Middle East peace conference which is expected to be held in Annapolis, Maryland, US, in late November. But the ground they are treading is very rough indeed, and the conference could be scuttled because of hardline Palestinian demands, and Israel s refusal to give the Palestinians everything they want. Olmert appears to be bending over backwards to clinch a deal, but he is not quite ready for personal or national suicide. While Olmert wants a general declaration of interests, leaving detailed negotiations for after the conference. Abbas is pushing for specific final stage concessions, and a timetable for implementation of statehood, now. Abbas says the conference will be worthless and even dangerous if it does not produce actual land give-aways to the PA. And he continues to insist on the right of return for millions of Arabs who claim descent from those who fled Israel during the War of Independence in PALESTINIANS OPEN TO POSSIBLE LAND SWAP Abbas and the PA, taking a maximum hardline, insist on Israel s withdrawal to the pre-1967 borders and the destruction of Jewish towns in Judea and Samaria. But reports say they may be willing to accept land in other areas of Israel in exchange for the three major settlement blocs that might remain under Israeli sovereignty. Former Prime Minister and now a negotiator, Ahmed Qureia, says the PA is ready to give up parts of the West Bank if they are compensated with an equal amount of Israeli territory. In a joint declaration, it would be enough to declare the 1967 lines as the starting point, and to say the border is open to modifications, based on the principle that the Palestinians end up with as much land as they lost in 1967, he said.

13 The exact border would be worked out in negotiations following the Annapolis conference. Part of the deal would likely be a land corridor linking the West Bank and Gaza which are separated by 25 miles of Israeli territory. Qureia suggested that on one of the hardest issues, Jerusalem, a declaration would suffice that east Jerusalem will be the capital of Palestine and west Jerusalem the capital of Israel. The sticky details of who would control key holy shrines and where the line of division would run could be dealt with later. Israel is not willing for a total pullback to the 1967 borders, when the Old City was in Jordanian hands. And Israel is not willing to cede all of east Jerusalem to the Arabs. But Ehud Olmert (pictured) reportedly has agreed to put Jerusalem on the negotiating table - without being specific as to who will receive the spoils. Oh, that My people would listen to Me, that Israel would walk in My ways! I would soon subdue their enemies, and turn My hand against their adversaries. (Psalm 81:13,14) ABBAS HARDENS HIS DEMANDS PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas told Palestinian TV viewers that he will accept nothing less than a new Arab state along the lines of the 1949 armistice. He stated, We have 6,205 square kilometers in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. We want it as it is. Abbas is demanding that the conference include an agreement with Israel on final issues Jerusalem, refugees, borders, settlements, water and security. In Abbas mind, the Old City of Jerusalem would become the centerpiece of the new PA state, and it would include all the parts of Jerusalem that Israel took over in the 1967 Six-Day War, including the Jewish neighborhoods around Jerusalem such as Gilo, Ramot and Talpiot. (There are 250,000 Jews who have moved into the neighborhoods of Jerusalem since they were liberated in 1967.) PALESTINIANS CLAIM THE WESTERN WALL

14 As the Middle East summit approaches, Palestinian Arabs are hardening their positions. An aide to Mahmoud Abbas said that the Palestinians will demand sole Arab control over Judaism s holiest site in Jerusalem, the Western Wall. Mr Abbas adviser on religious affairs, Adnan al-husseini, made the new demand in an interview with the Israeli newspaper Ma ariv, sparking an outcry from many Israeli politicians. As the last remnant of the ancient Second Temple, which was destroyed by the Romans in the year AD 70, the Western Wall, also known as the Wailing Wall, is considered Judaism s holiest site. But Muslims call the Wall, Al-Burak, and claim it is the place where the prophet Muhammad tied his horse before ascending to the heavens. We are talking about full control over Jerusalem, including The Wailing Wall, Husseini said. It is a Muslim waqf, or sacred endowment, and therefore cannot be abandoned. This demand is a non-starter. If it persists, it will cause the total collapse of the peace process! Mr. Husseini s demand is a direct result of the unilateral appeasement policies of the Olmert-Barak government, according to a statement released by the right-ofcenter Likud Party. These policies, the statement said, would abandon Jerusalem to the threats of Hamas. Some Laborites were also angry. The Wall is a remnant of our Temple, the holiest place for Jews, Labor s Knesset member Danny Yatom said. The summit in Annapolis is bound to fail if the Palestinians raise such extreme ideas. - Source: The Sun / Oct 12, 07. FATAH THREATENS CATASTROPHE IF SUMMIT FAILS Senior Fatah terrorists threaten a new intifada if the PA s demands are not met. If the upcoming conference fails to produce the desired results, Fatah parliament head Azzam al-ahmed says, the repercussions will be more dangerous than what happened after the failure of Camp David. Al-Ahmed said that the PA might even boycott the conference altogether if Israeli negotiators do not agree in advance to certain concessions.

15 Al-Ahmed was referring to the Oslo War that followed Yasser Arafat s refusal, in 2000, to accept then-prime Minister Ehud Barak s offer of 95-98% of Judea, Samaria and Gaza. One thousand Israelis were murdered by Palestinian terrorists between September 2000 and September Thousands of Palestinians lost their lives in turn. BUSH ADMINISTRATION DESPERATE FOR RESULTS US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice is pressing Abbas and Olmert to reach agreement on a joint document addressing core issues for the conference, which President Bush hopes will launch a final push to end the 60-year-old conflict. Rice said: This is the time for a Palestinian State! A senior Israeli official said: We feel a growing sense of urgency from Washington. He said he feared Israel s security concerns were not being taken fully into account in Bush s rush for some sort of deal before leaving office in early They are eager to get results, he said. Desperation breeds foolishness. Western officials said heavy U.S. pressure on its Israeli ally would make it very difficult for Olmert to offer less than Clinton s 97 percent figure for West Bank land. Yet that could also trigger a backlash from within his own coalition. BIBLE SOCIETY WORKER ASSASSINATED IN GAZA Oct 10, 07. Rami Ayyad, 32, was kidnapped last night by an unknown group directly after he closed the doors of the Bible Society Bookshop in Gaza at around 16:30. A day before, Rami noted that a car with no plate numbers had been following him. His family received a telephone call from him at around 18:00, saying that he had been taken by a group of people and will return home late that evening. At 6:25 this morning, news was received that Rami s body had been found at a location near the Teachers Bookshop where he had spent most of his time running the bookshop. Signs of bullets and knife stabs could be clearly seen on his body. No group or party has claimed responsibility. Rami leaves behind two young children, and a pregnant wife. - The Palestinian Bible Society About 3,200 Christians live in the Gaza Strip, most of them Greek Orthodox. Relations with Gaza s Muslims are generally good, and have not deteriorated since the Hamas takeover last June. Pray for ISRAEL & THE PALESTINIANS They all need the Deliverer!

16 THERE IS A REDEEMER! THE DELIVERER WILL COME TO ZION, He will remove ungodliness from Jacob. [Isaiah 59:20] (Romans 11:26) This is the Deliverer, the Redeemer, that Israel needs; the Deliverer that Burma needs, and the Deliverer that the whole world needs; for it is not only Jacob that is being smothered in ungodliness! This is what the Heavenly Father says: Look! My Servant, whom I uphold; My Chosen One in whom My soul delights. I have put My Spirit upon Him. He will bring forth justice to the nations. He will not cry out or raise His voice, nor make His voice heard in the street. (He will not be a rabble-rouser). A bruised reed He will not break and a dimly burning wick He will not extinguish. (He will be gentle with the weak). He will bring forth justice in accordance with truth. He will not falter or be discouraged until He has established justice in the earth; and the coastlands will wait expectantly for His instruction. (Isaiah 42:1-4) This is the Redeemer, the Saviour. And you shall call His name Y shua (Jesus) which means, Yahweh is salvation, for He will save His people from their sins. (Matthew 1:21) We read in Luke 4, that Y shua went into the synagogue in Nazareth And the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was handed to Him. When He opened the scroll, He found the place where it was written: THE SPIRIT OF THE LORD IS UPON ME, BECAUSE HE ANOINTED ME TO PREACH THE GOOD NEWS TO THE POOR. HE HAS SENT ME TO HEAL THE BROKEN-HEARTED, TO PROCLAIM FREEDOM and DELIVERANCE FOR THE CAPTIVES, AND RECOVERY OF SIGHT TO THE BLIND, TO RELEASE THOSE WHO ARE OPPRESSED, TO

17 PROCLAIM THE FAVORABLE YEAR OF YHWH. [Isaiah 61:1-2] (Luke 4:17-19) After He had read this prophecy that spoke of the Messiah s ministry, Y shua said Today this Scripture is fulfilled in your hearing. (Luke 4:21) In His first coming, the Messiah established the legal basis for emancipation of souls who were in slavery to Satan. The Son of God was revealed for this purpose - that He might undo and destroy the works of the devil. (1 John 3:8) He, Y shua, shared in the same humanity so that by His death He might render ineffective and ultimately destroy the one who had the power of death - that is, the devil - and deliver those who through fear of death, were held in slavery all their lives. (Hebrews 2:14-15) At the present time, the Redeemer is saving all who call upon His Name, and is transferring them into His kingdom. At His second coming, the Messiah will complete the work of destroying the reprobate administration of Satan and his grip on lives, by casting the evil one into the bottomless pit. He laid hold of the dragon, the serpent of old, who is the Devil and Satan, and bound him for a thousand years, and hurled him into the bottomless pit, and shut and sealed it over him, so that he could not deceive the nations any longer, until the thousand years were completed. After that he must be released for a short time. (Revelation 20:2-3) Jesus the Messiah will soon return to establish the worldwide Kingdom of God. He will establish righteousness, and bring an end to all the brutality and wrong. Let the rivers clap their hands. Let the mountains sing together for joy, before YHWH, for He is coming to judge the earth. He judges the world in righteousness, and the peoples with equity. (Psalm 98:8-9) Our Father in heaven, hallowed be Your Name. Your kingdom come; Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. (Matthew 6:9-10) Amen. Even so, Y shua, Master, come! (Revelation 22:20) It may seem such a long time - the time the Lord is taking to destroy the works of the devil, but God s purposes are multilateral, and He is fulfilling all things according to His eternal purpose, in perfect harmony with His eternal justice. Even the temporary release of Satan from the bottomless pit will be for a purpose - to separate the unregenerate (unbelievers) from the true people of God, at the end of the 1,000 years.

18 And after his 1,000 year isolation, Satan s part in the final rebellion will be a final demonstration of his unchanging, hell-bent evil nature. When the thousand years are over, Satan will be released from his prison, and will go out to deceive the nations in the four corners of the earth - Gog and Magog - to gather them together for battle. In number they are like the sand on the seashore. They swarmed across the breadth of the earth and surrounded the camp of the setapart people of God and the beloved city. But fire came down from heaven and devoured them. (Revelation 20:7-9) SATAN S FINAL END Then the devil who deceived them was cast into the fiery lake of burning sulphur, where the beast and the false prophet had been thrown earlier. And they will be tormented day and night for ever and ever. (Revelation 20:10) The eternal fire was prepared for Satan and his angels, but the day is coming when the King will say to the lost: Depart from Me, accursed ones, into the eternal fire which has been prepared for the devil and his angels. (Matthew 25:41) THE GREAT WHITE THRONE This awful judgment and punishment is played down in the world and by many in the church today; but it is the terrible reality that s ahead for the unbelieving and rebellious. The description in Revelation 20:11-15 is a straight-forward warning from God s Word: I saw a great white throne and Him who was seated on it. Earth and heaven fled from His Presence, and there was no place found for them. And I saw the dead, small and great, standing before the throne of God, and books were opened. Then another book was opened, which is the Book of life; and the dead were judged

19 according to their works as recorded in the books. The sea gave up the dead that were in it, and Death and Hades (the realm of the dead) gave up the dead that were in them; and each person was judged according to his works. Then Death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second death - the lake of fire. And if anyone s name was not found written in the Book of Life, he was thrown into the lake of fire. But at this time of grace, there is a Redeemer, a Saviour who can, and will save all who call on His Name. WHOEVER WILL CALL UPON THE NAME OF the LORD WILL BE SAVED. (Romans 10:13) THE REDEEMER Y shua the Messiah, the Lord Jesus, is not a political leader! He is the Redeemer who saves sinners from their sins, and from the wages of sin. He is the One who loved us and died to pay the penalty for our sins. He is the Redeemer who buys us back and delivers us from the bondage of Satan. Jesus Christ is the One who reconciles the believer to the Heavenly Father. For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance, that the Messiah died for our sins, according to the Scriptures, and that He was buried, and that He was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures. (1 Corinthians 15:3-4). For God was personally present in the Messiah reconciling the world to Himself, not counting men s trespasses against them. (2 Corinthians 5:19) For Yahweh, the Almighty God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, so that whoever believes in Him, should not perish, but have eternal (everlasting) life. For God did not send the Son into the world to judge and condemn the world; but so that the world might be saved through Him. He who believes in Him is not condemned; he who does not believe has been condemned already, because he has not believed in the Name of the only begotten, the one and only eternal Son of God. (John 3:16-18) The Lord Jesus is the One who will bring ultimate blessing to the nations - through the individuals who trust in Him. He is the One who will turn the hearts of the Jews to the Father. He will shortly save all Israel. And He will save you now, my reader, if you call upon His Name. For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek (Gentile); for the same Master is Master of all, abounding in riches for all who call upon Him; for WHOEVER

20 WILL CALL UPON THE NAME OF Y SHUA (Jesus) the LORD WILL BE SAVED. (Romans 10:12-13) The Lord Jesus is the One who has prepared a place in Heaven for the redeemed. He is the One who is coming again to receive them unto Himself. He is the One who keeps and satisfies His people, and who shares His life with them, both now, and for eternity. In My Father s House are many dwelling places; if it were not so, I would have told you, for I am going there to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself, so that you also may be where I am. (John 14:2-3) What a blessing! Saved from the penalty of sin! Saved from the clutches of Satan! Saved from Hell! Saved for eternity! My reader, do you know Him as your own personal Saviour? If you don t, please do not hesitate! Don t delay. Today is the day of Salvation! Tomorrow you must stand before your Creator. And the question is, When you meet Him, will you meet Him as your Redeemer, or as the One whose love, grace and salvation you have neglected or spurned? This gracious, holy and Almighty God is saying to the whole world today: Repent and turn away from all your transgressions, so that iniquity may not be a stumbling block to you. Cast away from you all the transgressions which you have committed, and make yourselves a new heart and a new spirit. For why should you die, O house of Israel? For I have no pleasure in the death of anyone who dies, declares the Lord, Yahweh. Therefore, turn to Me and live. (Ezekiel 18:30-32) This is like calling to someone on a cliff edge, Don t suicide! Why should you die? There is hope! There is an answer! You can have a new life! And when God says, Make yourselves a new heart and a new spirit, He is not saying we must make ourselves new. Because we can t! It is God Himself who creates a new heart in us when we simply believe and trust in Him. God says: I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean. I will cleanse you from all your filthiness and from all your idols. I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; and I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put My Spirit within you. (Ezekiel 36:25-27) Today the loving Messiah is calling out to you:

21 Come to Me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you, and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart; and you will find rest for your souls. (Matthew 11:28) At the same time, the Lord Jesus is emphatic that we need to repent. He says: Unless you repent, you will all likewise perish. (Luke 13:3) To repent means to change your mind, and to change your direction. It means to turn from sin, and to turn to the Saviour. It means to come back from the cliff edge, and to let the Rescuer embrace you and take care of you. Many people want to receive care and comfort, but they don t want to turn away from the sin that causes them distress and guilt. It will never do! It s like a drunkard who wants to be delivered from drink, but he doesn t want to give up the bottle. It s like someone who is dying of thirst, but who refuses to bend down and drink water from a flowing stream. The last verses in the Bible include this invitation: Come. So let the one who hears say, Come. And let the one who is thirsty come; let the one who desires it, take the water of life freely - without cost. (Revelation 22:17) Yes, it s free, my reader. The cost of your salvation has already been paid for by the Lord Jesus. Now He offers you the gift of God which is eternal life. And there s no way you can pay for eternal life, either though your money, or through your efforts and good works. No! He says, Come and drink freely. To all who receive Him as their personal Saviour, to those who believe in His Name, He has given the right to become children of God. (John 1:12) My reader, if you have not received the Lord Jesus as your personal Saviour, the following Decision Prayer will help you express your faith in the Redeemer. DECISION PRAYER Heavenly Father, I come to You in the Name of the Lord Jesus. I come just as I am, a sinner, needing forgiveness and salvation. Father, You have said that whoever believes in the Lord Jesus will be saved, and will become Your child. I am not worthy to be Your child, but I believe the Lord Jesus died on the cross to pay the penalty of my sins. I believe that He rose from the dead, and that He lives to save all who call upon Him. Lord Jesus, I call on Your Name, and I trust in You to save me right now. By Your grace, I will follow You, and own You as my Master all the days of my life. Thank You for indwelling and filling me with Your Holy Spirit, and for

22 the joy of Your Salvation. Make me, I pray, Your faithful witness until You return to take me to the Father s House. Thank You, Father, for hearing my prayer. Thank You, Lord Jesus, for taking my sins away. Thank You for Your salvation. Thank You, Master. Thank You, Father. Amen. Signed..... Date PLEASE KEEP YOUR SIGNED PRAYER WITH YOU AS A REMEMBRANCE OF THIS WONDERFUL DAY IN YOUR LIFE. AND WE WOULD BE DELIGHTED TO HEAR OF YOUR DECISION. KINDLY LET US KNOW AT ONE OF OUR CONTACT ADDRESSES.