Freedom of the Press is emerging in Myanmar

Freedom of speech and freedom of the press are not rights guaranteed to Burmese citizens.   In fact, such concepts have been almost unknown to the people of Myanmar since the mid 1960s.

The Myanmar Information Ministry has publicly announced that any Myanmar national wishing to publish a daily newspaper will be able to submit an application to do so. New papers will be allowed to begin printing in April 2013 in any language.

The move was an expected part of new press freedoms President Thein Sein has introduced as part of wider democratic reforms since taking office last year, after a half-century of totalitarian military rule.

Freedom of the Press is a significant reform from a regime not known for extending freedoms to its people. In August 2012, the government abolished direct censorship of the media and informed journalists they would no longer have to submit their work to state censors before publication as they had for almost half a century.

Myanmar has state-run dailies which serve as government mouthpieces and more than 180 weeklies, about half of which cover news while the rest feature sports, entertainment, health and other subjects.

Private dailies in Burmese, English, Indian and Chinese languages were once vibrant in the former British colony, previously called Burma. But all were forced to close when late dictator Ne Win nationalized private businesses in 1964.

Under Ne Win's one-party Socialist government the standard of newspapers diminished to propaganda sheets. The most recent military regime ruled by Gen. Than Shwe used the country's three state-owned dailies as junta mouthpieces, which continue to be unpopular with low circulation.

Until just two years ago, this Southeast Asian nation's reporters were regarded as among the most restricted in the world, subject to routine state surveillance, phone taps and intense censorship. The censorship board would shut down newspapers temporarily for violations. Journalists were tortured, imprisoned, sometimes murdered and subjected to constant surveillance.

For the last 50 years, Myanmar’s journalists have fled to the Thai and Indian borders, where they provided some of the only insights available to Burmese inside the country and outside observers alike — into the brutal actions of the military government. Some were driven outward in patterns flowing from their ethnic belongings: the Kachin, Shan, and Karen went east and southeast into Thailand. Supporters of the pro-democracy movement fled to Thailand or Europe, where they sent radio and TV signals and print media back home to Burma.

But media has been slowly changing. Testing their new freedoms, journalists and private publications have become bolder. They have printed once forbidden items including pictures and stories about anti-government demonstrations and sectarian violence. The once highly taboo images of opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi are now often displayed, even in state-controlled media.

Myanmar is poised for dramatic change.  Media, and a free press will help to lead and drive that change.  Myanmar is called a “greenfield” country,  because of it burgeoning opportunities on every front.  In media communications the potential is staggering... over 90 percent of its 60 million people lacking mobile phones, Internet service, or bank accounts.  Real business decisions are being formulated by global companies in anticipation of the tens of millions of Burmese expected to be newly-wired with phones with Internet connections by 2015.

Following two heralded reform elections and a two-year period of economic opening, today the primary city of Yangon [the fabled city of Rangoon] sprawls with development projects and capitalistic fervor amid its decaying British-colonial buildings.

Myanmar is on the verge of becoming one of the most sought after places on earth for economic development, social and political change.  Stay tuned.. watch as an exciting future emerges for the Burmese peoples!

EDITORS NOTE:  What will this new found freedom of the press do for the Christian Gospel?  Will we see openings in the near future for foreign missionaries to return to Myanmar and spread the message of Jesus Christ?   It’s an exciting time for Myanmar.   Pray that all of these freedoms will enable the Gospel of Jesus Christ to move faster, deeper and wider than ever before!

The dominate Buddhist faith is strong in Myanmar. The religion's influence reaches beyond hearts and souls and is a source of the country's national pride.  Buddhist monks have been influential in leading the pro-democracy movements. Yet the True God of Heaven is moving mightily in the Burmese people's hearts.   Native missionaries enjoy good relationships with local officials and are hard at work sharing the Good News of Jesus.

After years of tension, persecution and many difficulties, the native missionaries continue serving faithfully, and thousands are choosing to follow Christ.  Will God open the door for Christians who have a passion for Myanmar to go and live among the native Christians, working should-to-shoulder in building God’s Church?  Pray for God’s Will to be done in Myanmar!

The Unfinished Task of Global Gospelization

Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”  Matthew 28:18–20

So reads what is commonly called “The Great Commission,” as presented in Matthew’s Gospel record. The basis of the Lord’s “marching orders” is his authority. “All authority... has been given me,” declares our Savior.  

Christians believe the Gospel of Jesus Christ is God's good news for the whole world, for all peoples, and we are determined by his grace to obey Christ's commission to proclaim it to all mankind and to make disciples of every nation.

How are we doing in completing the task He has set before us?

The following statistics represent some of the challenges facing the church in the unfinished task of world evangelism:

As of 2013, there are approximately 7 billion people on Earth.

Approximately 750 million (or about 11 percent) of those are willing to claim Jesus as personal Lord and Savior.

In the Middle East... for every million unreached Muslims there are less than 3 missionaries available to share the Gospel.

In Afghanistan there are 17 million people, 48,000 mosques…but not a single Christian church.

In Turkey there are 44 million people, but less then 200 Christians

In India... 500 million people have yet to hear the Gospel

About 2.6 billion people (or 38 percent of the world's population) have heard the Gospel but have not accepted Christ yet.

At present, just over 50 percent of the world's population (or 3.5 billion people) have not heard the gospel and most of them do not have a realistic opportunity to hear the Gospel.

Here's another way to look at the challenge of world evangelism:  Of the 11,646 distinct people groups on the planet, 6,734 people groups (roughly 60 percent) contain between zero and two percent Christians. Many of these 6,734 people groups have no churches, no Bibles, no Christian literature, and no mission workers who are seeking to share the Gospel with them.  These 6,734 peoples groups are effectively unreached by the Gospel. Unreached means that, at this time, there is no availability of the Gospel within a reasonable distance, within the framework of their own language and culture.

The New Testament has been translated into the languages of 80% of the world’s population. However the remaining approximately 20% will require over 5,500 new translations.

The countries with the most unreached people groups in descending order; India, China, Pakistan, Nepal, Bangladesh.

98% of all unreached people groups are located in the “10/40 Window”. 

THE GREAT COMMISSION IS STILL UNFULFILLED!  How can we talk of the Second Coming, when so many people have never heard about the First?  Regardless of your denominational persuasion... “pre-trib”, “post-trib”, “mid-trib” or some other “trib”, we must all acknowledge that there is something desperately wrong with this type of doctrinal thinking... being elated by the prospect of Christ’s return while billions of people are lost. Where is the heart of Jesus in that thinking? “…that none would perish, but that all would come to repentance.”

Food for thought: Jesus died more then 2,000 years ago.... iff it was God’s ultimate goal to rapture us all out of this “world that is passing away”, then why are we still here? What are we still waiting for? 

Heb. 10:12, 13 says... “but He, having offered one sacrifice for sins for all time, sat down at the right hand of God, waiting from that time onward until his enemies be made a footstool for his feet.”  

Since committed Christians are his hands and feet, then He must be waiting for us to do the work we have been commissioned to do!  This is why Jesus told his disciples emphatically... “GO” into all the world and preach the Gospel.”  No more waiting and debating…just Go and PREACH the Good News of Christ.

We can trust in the abiding presence of Christ as we work to complete His command. Jesus declared that if his people carry out the commission as directed, he would “be with [them] always, even to the end of the world.” 

Is there a more comforting New Testament passage [Matthew 28:18-20] emphasizing the providential support of our Savior? We’re not alone and the mission must be completed.

America... Once a Great Christian Nation... Now, not so much.

America, has been known for more than 300 years as... “The land of the free and the home of the brave”.  Known as the country that inspired the rest of the world with its freedom and democracy, a nation “under God” a Christian nation known for sending thousands of gospel preaching missionaries to all part of the world.

Is American still the Christian country it claims to be?  Is it what most of our founding fathers meant for it to be when they drafted a bill of rights and a constitution that stood for liberty as well as “freedom of religion?” 

Sadly, the nation that was once the greatest force for missions in the world, has become the field in greatest need of mission outreach. 

There is no argument that American preachers and churches have inspired positive outreach around the world.  However, their ability and willingness to continue doing so is being threatened by a culture that ignores truth and biblical principles while openly mocking those who cleave to Godly principles and values. 

The evidence of openness in America to proclaim the gospel remained strong for over 300 years.  It was important for early church planting evangelists to see that every community had a church.  With the great migration west in the 1800s, the gospel swept across America and the church was the focal point in every community. The church was one of the first buildings constructed as communities were established. Many of those churches were the homes of the first schools.  The preacher and his wife were often the first teachers and the Bible was the first text book.  Our great grand parents learned to read from the Holy Bible.  Even when schools moved from churches to a pubic setting, “The Pledge of Allegiance” and prayer were part of every morning.  

From the earliest days of America, dedicated believers called “missionaries” left the security and comfort of their homes, families, country and church to take the “good news”, the “gospel”, across the known world. 

This is how it had been for more than three hundred years, until something went very wrong.  The church as we have seen it for three centuries has changed drastically.  Many of the small town American churches have simply closed their doors.  Large mega Churches became regional worship centers serving a number of small towns with newer facilities, larger youth and children’s programs, up to date style of worship and other activities that met the needs of increasingly secular families more concerned with social matters rather than truth and spiritual growth.

God, the gospel of salvation, the care and concern for others have been marginalized by the secularization of Christianity in America.   In the book, Resurrecting the Church, author Frank Fears says this... “Our ranks are swollen with non-believers unable to articulate a salvation testimony, or even a grasp of the biblical plan of salvation. Most of our churches, if not completely dead, are paralyzed. This is the result of walking by sight, and consistently operating in the flesh. It is time to return the church to her rightful owner. It is time to repent and slaughter the sacred cows of political correctness, passivity, and “don’t ask–don’t tell Christianity”. What the Lord said of the church at Sardis, is completely true of a majority of our churches today. They have a reputation of being alive, but are actually dead.” 

Mr. Frank continues, “Those of us who were born before 1950, received as our birthright, citizenship in a Christian nation. This is now post-Christian America. It was lost on our watch.  Only 40% of the largest evangelical denomination (Southern Baptist Convention) that are on the rolls are in attendance on any given Sunday.”

The reason churches are dead is because a large percentage of those sitting in the pews are spiritually dead church goers.   

Beginning in the year 1990, there were a number of efforts started to reach every home for Christ.  To literally saturate the American people, every home with the message of Christ.  There were citywide and nationwide campaigns to distribute full length Christian films to each home in every community in the United States while other organizations committed themselves to getting as much gospel literature into the hands of every adult in targeted areas through mailings or phone calls.  Church planters organized campaigns to start 40,000 churches in 10 years, as they believed that new churches would be the most effective way of consistently reaching new people that might have had negative experiences at long established churches. 

Over a 10 year period, from 1990 to 2000,  over 5,000 independent organizations with the purpose of evangelism was registered with the IRS.  It was reported that over 100 million tracts and Bibles were distributed by high school ministries, rescue missions and door to door efforts.  In addition, the revenues from Christian books and music exceeded $1 billion every year.  As much as 10% of that total was associated with products that were purely evangelistic.

Did any of this massive effort work? 

American ministries did in fact saturate the country with the gospel, but the results didn’t turn out as planned.  Blanketed and saturated yes, but not in a good way.  If you have ever witnessed what happens in severe rains, when the ground becomes so saturated with water that it simply runs off without doing any good, that’s what happened with the gospelization of America.  Noted researcher George Barna summarizing the evangelical activities of that 10 year period says this... “We have learned that being exposed to information does not mean that people absorb it, understand it or embrace it.”

Many American missionaries serving in foreign countries will tell you that America and the American church are the focal point of prayers around the globe. Christians in the underground church in China, as well as believers in restrictive regions of India and throughout the impoverished Third World nations, are praying for a revival of the American church.  They still believe America should remain the strongest of lights in the dark world and a source of support to mission outreaches and those in need throughout the world.

In a recent blog entry, the president of Asbury Theological Seminary writes:  "The Millennial generation self identifies as approximately 7% Christian. This is only 2% from being eligible to be classified as an unreached people-group."  In America, a class of people are on the verge of becoming a qualified unreached people’s group? 

North America, a Christian nation, once a beacon of light to the world, is the fastest growing mission field in the world.   Why has this happened?

There are several serious issues with America’s Christian heritage.  Recent studies show that a majority of Americans say they have no religious affiliation at all.  Many so-called Christians [in name only] claim an affiliation through some vague, family tie or cultural kind of alliance or allegiance.  For more than 60 years, America has been growing increasingly secular and humanistic.
 

Another challenge facing American Christianity... most people now see Christianity as merely a moral system.  While morality is important to a healthy society, it should not be the first message Christianity... the first and foremost is the gospel of Jesus Christ.  The gospel saves, morality preserves the good order of society and cultures.

These things are true, the evidence abounds. What can be about it?

The apostle Paul was unashamed to say, "What you have worshiped in ignorance, this I proclaim to you.”  America today, is a nation of people unaware of the true gospel of Jesus Christ. The solution for restoring America as a Christian nation begins with putting God back on top, in first place in American society, culture, schools, government in every aspect of American life.   Then, it is a matter of preaching the gospel, the truth of God’s Holy Word, the Bible, unvarnished, undiluted by contemporary morays. The power of the unchanging gospel message builds bridges, start conversations and engages with people who are far from God.

Churches and their ministries from the pulpit and in community outreach must be less about us and more about Jesus, His Kingdom and His mission.  If we're going to retore the America’s Christian heritage, to be faithful in faithless times, the faithful are going to have to leave where we are comfortable. We're going to have to go and tell, not just wait for them to come and hear. That may mean reshaping the ways we preach and lead the church. We must build a Biblically faithful church.  

It is not too late for America, but now is the time to “humble ourselves, seek His face, turn from our wicked ways” and watch God spiritually restore and heal our land.

May we all be bold and wise as we engage an increasingly hostile and confused culture with the greatest news the world has ever known... Jesus Christ, the way, the truth and the life.

A Sadistic Plague in Africa

DATELINE: UGANDA – CENTRAL AFRICA:  A school dropout described as a "gentle boy" by classmates, has become one of the most sadistic and murderous leaders in Africa.  His name is Joseph Kony.  He is 50 years of age.  He is a living plague on the innocent peoples of Uganda and neighboring countries.

Joseph Kony born 1961, is the head of the Lord's Resistance Army, often referred to as the LRA, a guerrilla group that is engaged in a violent campaign to establish a theocratic government in Uganda, which Kony claims is a mission of purification based on the Ten Commandments.

His early childhood and teen years reveal much about the man and his violent temperament. Kony was born in Odek, a village east of Gulu in northern Uganda. He was the son of farmers. He was friendly to his siblings, but he was known for being harsh and aggressive with anyone who crossed him, particularly with his siblings.  

During his teenage years, Joseph Kony apprenticed as the village “witch doctor” under the tutelage of his older brother, and when his older brother died, he took over full responsibility for continuing in his brothers role as the village witch doctor.

When confronted, he often resorted to fists and violence rather than communication. He was teased in school about his size and the teachers gave him a hard time because he didn't seem too bright. His father was a lay apostle of the Catholic Church and his mother was an Anglican.  Kony served as an altar boy for several years. He stopped attending church at about the age of 15 and shortly after dropped out of high-school.

Kony first came to prominence in January 1986, in his mid 20s. His group was one of many premillennialist groups that sprang up in Acholiland in the wake of the wildly popular Holy Spirit Movement introduced to the peoples of central Africa by Alice Auma (aka Lakwena). 

Originally, Kony's group was first known as the United Holy Salvation Army (UHSA) and was not considered to be a threat to civil order. By 1988, amid internal tribal tensions and various factions clashing with the government of Uganda, Kony’s group began to supplement its remnant troops through forced recruitment of children as young as 12 and 13 years old and the United Holy Salvation Army became a formidable resistance army, in opposition to the government of Uganda. 

In time, the bulk of his foot soldiers were children. He is estimated to have taken 104,000 or more boys and girls since the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) started fighting in 1986.  Kony often kills entire families and neighbors when abducting the children forcibly recruited to fight for him. 

Many international efforts at peace and an end to the abduction of children by Kony and his Lord's Resistance Army have been attempted between 1996 and 2001. All of them failed to end the abductions, rapes, child soldiers, and civilian casualties including attacks on refugee camps.   After the 9/11 attacks on the United States, Kony’s Lord's Resistance Army was declared a terrorist group and Joseph Kony a terrorist.

The Lord's Resistance Army is one of the larger terrorist organizations in the world and operates without fear of outside interference. It has killed more people than many other violent groups, yet few Westerners have ever heard of it, since nearly all its violence is perpetrated in the border region between Uganda and Sudan in East Africa.

Joseph Kony considers himself to be quite a good Christian, and he wants Uganda to be a Christian nation.  His primary strategy to bring this about, is the Lord's Resistance Army, and the LRA has been at civil war against the Ugandan government for the past 24 years. If the LRA wins its struggle against the Ugandan government forces, Kony has promised that Uganda will become a “theocracy” with laws based on the Biblical Ten Commandments.

Kony's LRA has kidnapped more than 100,000 children over the years for use as fighters and sex slaves. As part of their initiation, these children are often required to kill their own parents. One of heinous and horrific methods of executing the mothers is to blind fold their sons, forcing them to insert the barrel of an AK-47 into the vagina of their mother and pull the trigger.  The boys do not know what they are doing until the blind folds are removed and they see with their young eyes the horrifying carnage done to their mother.  Children are commanded to kill in order to stay alive. (It's not clear which of the Ten Commandments this aspect of Kony's strategy is based on.) 

Children are used as pack mules, carrying LRA supplies until they are too weak to walk, at which time they're killed or simply left to die in the bush and hot sun. Kidnapped boys also serve as targets and decoys, sent to the front lines... unarmed... whenever the Ugandan Army engages the LRA. Kidnapped girls that Kony or his senior commanders find attractive become their "wives" (Kony is reputed to have more than 60). If children do escape, they are never the same again.  Troublesome captives have their noses, lips, and/or ears cut off, and are then made to eat their own flesh.   

Kony has some strange ideas about religion and God.  He uses passages from the Pentateuch to justify mutilation and murder. He promotes a demonic spirituality crafted from an eclectic mix of Christianity, Islam, and African witchcraft.  He says he gets strategic advice from a multinational host of spirits, including a Chinese phantom. He says there are eight angels who regularly speak to him... three American, two Sudanese, two Chinese, and one Congolese.  He sees himself as self-styled messiah and prophet.

Today, no one thinks Kony and his movement represents a loving God and the ideals and principles of Christianity.  Isn’t it clear?  Kony is a sadistic killer.  Everything he has done is about demonic control of children, boys and girls, young men and women, doing the bidding of a deranged and evil man.  Many of the leaders in his army were abducted 10 or 12 years ago, and have known nothing but death, savagery and destruction. 

The world does nothing to stop this man’s carnage.  Kony’s LRA has created another holocaust—one so horrifying that U.N. officials call it... "one of the worst human rights crises of the past century."

The perpetrators commit atrocities with such malevolence that even the most irreligious people familiar with the LRA's acts describe them as "unrestrained evil." The targets of the butchery are innocent children.  They rape, mutilate, and kill them with a rapaciousness that staggers the imagination. Worse, as noted in this report, they compel children to kill one another and their own families, fighting as "soldiers" in an armed force deliberately composed of children.

Perhaps the greatest atrocity is teaching these children that they spread this carnage by the power of the Holy Spirit to purify the "unrepentant," twisting Christianity into a religion of sadism and horror to their victims. It is spiritual warfare at its very worst, and it could not be more satanic.

NO POLITICAL SOLUTION IN SIGHT

Does no one care about what's happening in Uganda?  Consider the FACTS and you decide.

FACT:  The LRA rebellion has become a political quagmire. Although the LRA claims to be fighting for Ugandan transformation to a theocratic government, the LRA has no political platform or clear objectives upon which to base negotiations for a peaceful settlement to the horror. Nevertheless, the Ugandan government and concerned intermediaries continue to attempt negotiations.

FACT:  Even while LRA terrorism directed against children has intensified, the U.S. government has not made the conflict a high priority. Many believe that without U.S. involvement, the abductions, killing, and maiming will continue.

FACT:  In August 2004, the U.S. government enacted the Northern Uganda Crisis Response Act, which essentially calls LRA terrorism a great tragedy, offers limited support for a negotiated solution, and warns Sudan not to support the LRA.

FACT:  The previous Bush administration placed the LRA on tier-two of its Terrorist Exclusion List, which means the LRA is judged not to be a threat to U.S. interests.

FACT:  Several congressmen have visited northern Uganda to witness the devastation firsthand, while sympathetic, they see no end in sight. Former Sen. Russ Feingold, from Wisconsin said... "I will remain committed to stopping the horror that has stolen the innocence of so many Ugandan children."

FACT:  The Obama Administration has done nothing.  There is no significant leadership to move the issue to the point where congressional hearings can be held to review the severity of the issues.   Hearings is the first step in focusing the U.S. government on bringing about a strategy and solution.

WILL KONY AND THE LRA BE HELD ACCOUNTABLE?

FACT:  In an effort to save children by ending the conflict in any way possible, the Ugandan government passed an Amnesty Act in 1999, which shields from prosecution any LRA fighter who surrenders to the government. The act also offers surrendered fighters $150 in "starting over" money. Terms of the act extend to Kony and his top commanders.

FACT:  The International Criminal Court (ICC) issued arrest warrants for Kony and his top four commanders on October 13, 2005 but all attempts to serve the warrants as a means to mediate the conflict have repeatedly broken down.  In reality, there is irrefutable evidence that the fighting has become more savage and sadistic in the past 5 years.

FACT:  Western and European governments, the World Court, the United Nations, and most all governmental agencies have either given only lip-service to the carnage or chosen to ignore the problems of the LRA entirely.

FACT:  Kids in Uganda—kids just like yours—are taken every night and enslaved, raped, mutilated, murdered. You can make a difference. Talk to your government. Help bring an end to Joseph Kony and the Lord’s Liberation Army.  

HOW YOU CAN HELP

The people most familiar with LRA terrorism agree that the best hope for ending the carnage is putting it on the radar screen of the Western world.

Ordinary Christians can help stop LRA terrorism. Presenting the issue to churches, continuing in intercessory prayer over the conflict, donating to Christian agencies that work with Ugandan children, and pressing U.S. government officials for action all work to save LRA victims.

Here are key Christian and charitable organizations that work with the victims of the LRA conflict in northern Uganda.

Far Reaching Ministries

www.farreachingministries.org

951-677-4474

World Vision

www.worldvision.org

www.seekjustice.org

888-511-6548

Save the Children

www.savethechildren.org

800-SAVETHECHILDREN

Oxfam

www.oxfam.org.uk

www.oxfamamerica.orgp

800-77-OXFAM

Jesuit Refugee Service

www.jesref.org   

202-462-0400

Write your local congressman: www.house.gov/writerep

Continuing Unrest in Myanmar

The current environment for people trying to live their lives in the totalitarian state of Myanmar continues to be very dangerous 

Here’s a summary of the what’s going on day-to-day...

Approximately 8 months after the so-called “free” elections held  November 7, 2010, the first since 1990, the country continues to sink further into civil strife.  The elections served as a calalyst for the current fear, unrest and upsurge in conflict.

Refugees are fleeing Burma in the thousands, streaming across the border into Thailand.  All this in the wake of Burma’s first elections in two decades. Armed and hostile conflict continues between government troops and ethnic Karen tribesmen in Karen state.

The ruling military junta in Burma (officially known since the early-60s as Myanmar) allowed the first election since 1990 under extreme pressures from civil unrest. Election results were as expected... the current ruling Union Solidarity and Development Party the foundational parties of the dictaorship, won all offices by a landslide, capturing the vast majority of the seats in a newly created parliament. 

Every election observer and international government, including the Unites States have condemned the election as totally fraudulent.  

U.S. president Barack Obama called the elections “anything but free and fair...”  “For too long the people of Burma have been denied the right to determine their own destiny,” he said.

U.S. Secretary of State Hilary Clinton said the “flawed elections ... once again expose the abuses of the military junta and it’s heartbreaking because the people of Burma deserve so much better...”

Somsri Han-Anuntasuk, director of the Asian Network for Free Elections Foundation, was equally critical. “This election is a joke...” he told “There are many layers of cheating and irregularity...”

In some 3,400 villages across Myanmar, comprising about five percent of the eligible electorate, voting was disallowed, according to ALTSEAN, a human rights and democracy group. The group accuses regime officials of harassing, intimidating and coercing non-junta candidates and their supporters, and also of engaging in “vote buying schemes.”

Election monitors who operated secretly inside the country said that many Burmese were given ballots “pre-marked” with votes for the junta’s party, according to reporting global news agencies.

WHAT WAS THE RESPONSE?

Civil unrest.  Myanmar is a ticking time-bomb.  The only remaining question... when will it blow up into full scale civil war.  Members of Burma’s oppressed ethnic groups have attacked government troops and commandeered government buildings in southern Burma. The rebels seem to be a splinter group of the usually pro-junta Democratic Karen Buddhist Army.

The army that seized control of Burma in 1962,  has amassed a record of human rights abuses, aimed at Burma’s ethnic minorities, which make up 40 percent of the population.  

Minority ethnic groups feared the election would be nothing more than a tool of the entrenched regime to legitimize the military-backed government, further threatening their existance.  Genocide is not new to Myanmar’s regime.  They have in the past pursued genocidal extermination of Burma’s ethic peoples.

The ruling parties controlled by the dictators of Mynamar do not desire change, care nothing for their citizens or the deplorable conditions people are forced to live under.  They care only for power and control.

Burma’s last elections, held in 1990, gave an overwhelming victory to pro-democracy leader and Nobel Peace Prize recipient Aung San Suu Kyi. The military immediately annulled the elections and imprisoned Suu Kyi in her home, where she has spent a cumulative 16 out of the last 21 years.

Even imprisoned as she is... Suu Kyi continues to be a beacon of hope for Burma’s oppressed peoples and a voice for reform, democracy and opening the country to the outside world.

Many reports, unverified but non-the-less reliable, are regularly received from native Burmerse who are trying to tell the true story of what is going inside Myanmar.  Many are native Burmese misisonaries, undercover journalists in the country on tourist visas, and others are reporting the extreme unrest in the country.  

Here are just a few brief excerpts from dispatches received...

“There are battles in Kachin State and in Shan State in Myanmar, rebels fighting the government soldiers....”  

“Thousands of civilians are fleeing to the nearest shelters.  Many of them are without food and medicine.  Some are trapped, on the China border, with no where to run....”

There are frequent reports of terrorist like attacks and bombs exploding in heavily populated shopping areas of Yangon ( Rangoon).

In the aftermath of Cyclone Nargis and the horrific loss of life  the government did little to nothing for the devasted area or the survivors without shelter, food or fresh water.  If not for the efforts of foreign supported native missionaries and foreign mission organizations, many survivors would have perished in the hot humid climate of the delta region.

WHAT CAN BE DONE TO HELP THE PEOPLE OF MYANMAR?

Pray for the daily needs of the innocent people to be met.  Remember God lets good things fall on believer and unbelievers alike.  The majority population of Burma is Buddhist, and they are often the target of government opression.  They also respond positively to hearing the Gospel of Jesus Christ.  

Through the many trials and hardhsips... God’s Word is being faithfully preached by a dedicated group of Christian evangelists, supported by Western missions and individual Christians.

Don’t give up on our brothers and sisters in Myanmar!  CONTIUNE to SUPPORT them in every way you can.  PRAY... the God’s will be done in Myanmar and that His Name be preached and glorified through the faithfulness of a few loyal servants of the Most High God! 

The Birth of South Sudan

On July 9th, 2011 South Sudan becomes the world’s newest nation. Despite a battered and bloody past, with little infrastructure, the soon-to-be nation has a major strength -- an active church.

On February 15, 2011, the territory which will soon become the world’s newest state was christened the Republic of South Sudan. The secession from greater Sudan is planned to happen on 9 July 2011.

This change is preceded by nearly four decades of internal strife and bloody civil war. Part religious conflict and part scramble to control rich natural resources. The clash started even before Sudan emerged from colonial rule in 1956 and pitted the richer and more powerful north against the tribal and poorly developed south. The north identifies as Arab and Muslim and the south identifies as Black, African and Christian or animist.

Internal battles within the south’s own tribal and cultural differences added to the people’s suffering. Between 1983 and 2005 about two million southern Sudanese perished, and another four million fled their homes to escape the violence and bloodshed.

Few experts in nation building are convinced that South Sudan will emerge in independence as a viable estate. Few predict it will prove able to exorcise the tripartite demons of war, corruption, and debilitating poverty that have haunted greater Sudan since its inception more than 50 years ago.

But then, no one predicted the nation would emerge, surprisingly peaceful from the nearly unanimous vote for session in January 2011. Journalists and the nation building experts had predicted reprisals from the north resulting in mass genocide. Even the U.S, government dubbed the region a “ticking time bomb.” Nothing like that has happened.

While Africa’s newest state will undoubtedly face daunting challenges in the months and years ahead, the Southern Sudanese people do enjoy at least one advantage over other “failed” or “failing” states. The advantage is an “active and vibrant church.”

Christian Missionaries didn’t penetrate southern Sudan until the mid-19th century. The southern Sudanese church remained small until the early 1960s when the northern government, suspicious of missionary motives, kicked them out of the country. Into their shoes stepped a dedicated and devout cadre of native Sudanese evangelists and a slow but steady trickle of believers joined their Sunday morning worship services.

What the southern Sudanese people discovered was the love of God. Jesus was a stark contrast to the religious traditions they had practiced for centuries. They no longer had to slaughter a valuable animal, a cow, a goat, to appease their many gods. They discovered Jesus didn’t need anything from them... expect their loyalty, love, faith and obedience. Jesus Christ became what they had longed for but could never find in their animistic religions... He was the God of Love... who loved them!

This trickle of believers turned into a flood of new converts to Christianity when Sudan’s president Omar Al-Bashir imposed “Sharia” (Islamic) law across the whole of Sudan in 1989.

Though the statistics are at best sketchy... experts estimate that the percentage of professing Christians in Southern Sudan rose from 10 and 20 percent of the population in the late 1980s... to a whopping 70 to 80 percent by the year 2000. The church eleven years later, continues to grow in numbers.

Albeit, many practice a syncretistic blend of Christianity and traditional African religions. At the same time, a growing core have become disenchanted with the “old gods” who, during the war, proved either unable or unwilling to protect families, cattle, and villages from destruction. In other words... the “gods of animism” failed because the people began to realize such gods of wood and stone are not real, nor living, and can not help the people.

Persecution has also had a heavy impact on the church’s theology: as churches have grown, they have both maintained denominational divisions and overcome them.

All named Christian denominations are working in southern Sudan... from Catholic to Pentecostal. As these believers in Jesus Christ “mature in their faith experience” more and more are turning to a Biblical truth based evangelical expression of faith.

Hardships, challenges and the God of Love have brought people together seeking the true purpose and meaning to life. As they grow in their faith... growing in knowledge and understanding... they become seekers of God’s truth.

Please pray for the people of the new Republic of South Sudan. Pray that Christ will continue to be uppermost in their vision of religion and that the people’s faith will grow and mature... centered in Biblical TRUTH.

Prayers for Children at Risk

June 4-5 is the World Weekend of Prayer for Children at Risk.

There are children at risk everywhere in the world, even in affluent neighborhoods and cities.  No country is immune to this global problem. For a child to be at risk means they are in a state or condition marked by a high level of risk or susceptibility to harm, even death.

There are many factors that cause children to be at risk and fail to thrive. Some of the most common factors are: parents with alcoholism or drug abuse, poverty, physical or mental disabilities, extreme neglect emotionally and/or physically, sexual or physical abuse, violence in the community or school, war and conflict, and homelessness.

On Saturday, June 4, and Sunday, June 5, Viva Network encourages Christians around the world to pray for children at risk. This is the fourteenth year for this emphasis.

This global initiative brings together more than 2 million people across 89 countries. Whether you attend a nationwide event scheduled for your area, plan something with your church, go to a prayer breakfast, or simply spend a quiet 5 minutes praying in your own home, make time to pray during this World Weekend of Prayer for Children at Risk.

This time of prayer is a call to Christians everywhere to pray for the 1.2 billion vulnerable children of the world and those who minister to them through churches and missions. The plight of children and the deplorable conditions they must endure will surely touch your hearts.  Here are some facts about children around the world:


1. Every day, 30,000 children under age 5 will die of preventable diseases such as diarrhea, measles and malnutrition.

2. AIDS has orphaned 15 million children; by 2015 there will be 40 million (UNICEF). Without parents to care for and protect them, they are at increased risk for neglect, abuse and malnutrition.

3. Every year, 1 million children are forced into the commercial sex trade to join the 10 million children already trapped in it.

4. There are 246 million children engaged in exploitative child labor (International Labor Organization).

5. Around the world, there are 150 million street children (UNICEF).

6. Alcoholism and divorce are on the increase in many world areas; children are the most vulnerable and hurt by fractured families.

7. Worldwide there are approximately 46 million abortions each year (Center for Bioethical Reform).

8. More than 674 million children live in absolute poverty (lacking resources to meet basic human needs). In sub-Saharan Africa, 65 percent of children live in absolute poverty (UN Child Poverty Report, 2003).

9. Ninety percent of casualties in armed conflict around the world are civilians, and half of these are children (UNICEF).

Christians assemble every Sunday to worship and to celebrate God's blessings... let's pray for the most vulnerable among mankind... our children.

To learn more about this special weekend, go to the Viva Network website, www.viva.org

Prayer resources are available from the Viva Network.  Christians around the world are working with children to improve their lives and opportunities.  There is much to celebrate, but there is also much work to be done.  The number of children at risk continues to escalate because of current world affairs. 

Viva Network has been leading this special weekend of prayer for 14 years.  But Christians and congregations can organize events and activities all year long that focus on the needs of children at risk.  TEACH your own children to reach out in love to all children less fortunate.

Here’s a list of activities that could be organized  by any church.  They are simple things, easy to  organize and implement

• Host a praise and prayer party that encourages children and youth to participate.
• Focus a church service on praying for children at risk.
• Set up a prayer room for people to come freely at their convenience to pray.
• Use the prayer booklet as part of a small group meeting.
• Use the PowerPoint presentation or show the “You Tube” clip from the website.
• Work with a mission or prayer group to help you organize some of these events.
• Hold a prayer breakfast quarterly to highlight projects and local focus.

Many children throughout the world do not know Jesus.  Pray that the children at risk wherever they are will accept Jesus as their Savior.