The dates for our 3rd ALL PEOPLES PRAYER ASSEMBLY (APPA) are 18-25 Sept 2013. We actually start on the evening of the 18th Sept, and these dates are the same dates for Sukkot or Feast of Tabernacles for 2013. Our main prayer need is still finding a venue along the East Coast of the USA. The organisers are checking out sites in Philadelphia and Virginia and New York. We checked a site in New Jersey but it is too small. We are expecting a few thousands and we are looking for a venue with camping facilities as well.
Our mid-term election here in the Philippines is set on May 13, 2013, Monday. Kindly include us and our nation in your prayers. Thanks and God bless you all! Here are some prayer points:
Philippines Mid-Term Election 2013
Prayer Points
A NEW SEASON
Pray that the Lord will speak to each of us regarding the season that the Philippines is in. Believe that the Lord is about to do a new thing in the Philippine government. (Isaiah 43:18-19)
1. RIGHTEOUS GOVERNMENT
Declare that righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit has come upon the Philippine government. Invite Jesus to rule and reign over our nation with His scepter of righteousness and justice. That the Lord Himself will handpick our senators, congressmen, governors, mayors and councilors.
2. CLEAN ELECTIONS
A. COMELEC (Commissions on Election) – Pray that the Lord will protect the sanctity of the ballots and the picos machines. Pray for the integrity and conscience of the watchers.
B. VOTERS – Pray that the voters will vote with their consciences. Bind the spirit of mamon, vote-buying, and harassment and release the spirit of the fear of the Lord. That there will be vigilance in protecting our votes.
C. PEACE & ORDER – Pray that there will be no violence and bloodshed. Bind the spirit of intimidation and let loose the spirit of power, love and a sound mind. That the police and military will serve the best interest of our countrymen.
3. CHURCH
Pray that the church will support candidates who are believers called in the government. That these candidates will promote God's principles and agenda in the Philippines.
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Roulette machines: the crack cocaine of gambling
Known as the crack cocaine of gambling, roulette machines have attracted new interest this year after research showed there was a far higher number of the terminals in poor areas of high unemployment than on richer high streets. The government is uncertain how dangerous the machines are, stating in a review published last month that there was "no clear evidence" to prove whether the machines "had any significant effect on the level of problem gambling in Britain". The report concedes: "It is a statement of fact that some players are harmed by gambling on machines" and "it is indisputable that some people are at risk of spending far too much time and money on them". A £500,000 study has been commissioned from the Responsible Gambling Trust into the machines, but it will take 18 months to complete, and meanwhile campaign groups such as Gambling Watch say the machines should be banned from the high street.
Pray: for all those lured into using, and for those addicted to these machines that can 'take' large sums of money in minutes. (1Ti.6:9)
More: http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2013/may/27/roulette-machines-crack-cocaine-gambling
Iona Community tackles stigma and injustice of poverty
The Iona Community is continuing its work in tackling poverty as it enters its 75th anniversary and the 1450th anniversary of Columba’s landing on the island. Iona Community Board Convener Allan Gordon. said: “In most nations today, the gap between rich and poor is widening. In Europe there is a discernible trend to portray benefits systems as burden rather than a safety net. “It has been a privilege for the Community to work alongside people on low incomes and benefits. In many instances we have done so in partnership at local and national area with the Church of Scotland Priority Areas Team and Faith in Community Scotland. The Community also collaborates with Church Action on Poverty and Christian Aid in awareness-raising and campaigning for fairer taxation and tax justice, and for effective financial regulation. Further joint initiatives are planned,” he added.
Pray: for Iona Community in their 75th anniversary year, for their work and for those with whom they work. (Dt.15:10 )
More: http://www.ekklesia.co.uk/node/18429
Appeals for calm after killing of Drummer Lee Rigby
The National Church Leaders Forum has condemned the killing of Drummer Lee Rigby in Woolwich this week and pleaded for calm amid reports of a backlash against the Muslim community. Leaders in the forum, which exists to offer a black Christian voice on current affairs, condemned Rigby's murder as an "act of barbarism" and said they were standing in "prayerful solidarity" with his friends and family. "We call upon all sections of our community to remain calm and continue to work together to ensure our communities remain safe places for all our citizens, especially our children and grandchildren," they said. They concluded: "It is our hope and prayer that all faith and community leaders will increase their efforts to ensure that every local community remains united in peace and good will." Their appeal for calm came as the Faith Matters group warned that there had been an increase in anti-Muslim incidents since Rigby's murder.
Pray: for the Rigby family, the community in Woolwich and and for calm and friendship to replace fear and violence between different groups in our society. (Lev.19:18)
More: http://www.christiantoday.co.uk/article/appeals.for.calm.after.killing.of.drummer.lee.rigby/32654.htm
Children's Commissioner: pupils 'raised on a diet of porn'
For the first time, the Children’s Commissioner for England has found a clear link between exposure to extreme images at a young age and a rise in “risky behaviours”. It emerged that children who regularly viewed pornography were more likely to have underage sex, develop “casual and hedonistic” attitudes, experiment with drink and drugs and indulge in sexting. Boys were much more likely to be exposed to porn than girls, it was revealed, resulting in “beliefs that women are sex objects”. The study – based on a large-scale review of international evidence – also found some evidence of a relationship between explicit images and a rise in sexual aggression and harassment of the opposite sex. Maggie Atkinson, the Children’s Commissioner, warned that “violent and sadistic imagery” was readily available among “very young children” because of easy access to the internet on home computers, tablets and mobile phones.
Pray: for a more serious response to address these issues by government, schools, parents, Internet providers and the media. (Col.3:23)
More: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/education/educationnews/10076263/Childrens-Commissioner-pupils-raised-on-a-diet-of-porn.html
Recently, Planned Parenthood®, the nation's leading abortion seller, held its annual national conference. And for the first time in history, a sitting president delivered the keynote address.
President Obama was not subtle in his support for the organization that already receives more than $500 million a year from taxpayers en route to committing one-third of the nation's abortions. He spoke against reasonable restrictions to abortion, including state laws requiring parental involvement for minors and informed consent for adults. These "absurd" protections, he said, make "you want to make sure you're still living in 2013”…
Obama praised Planned Parenthood® with an unqualified endorsement but has totally ignored the criminal murder charges against Philadelphia abortionist Kermit Gosnell, who is standing trial on multiple counts of murder in the deaths of babies born alive after abortions as well as one pregnant woman.
This is the same president who has disregarded religious freedom, requiring non-profit organizations, charities and for-profit business owners with strong religious beliefs to pay for contraceptives and possible abortion-causing drugs in employee healthcare plans.
Obama says pro-life forces want to return the nation to the 1950s. While that certainly was not a good time for the civil rights of African Americans or workplace opportunities for women, it was a much better time for survival if you were a preborn baby. It was a time when we didn't abort a million of our children each year, when women weren't widely exploited by pornography, when sex trafficking was unheard of and divorce was rare.
The president ended his speech by saying, "God bless you" to Planned Parenthood®. Let's pray that God will so radically impact the hearts of our leaders that our prevailing policies will protect the innocent and restore religious freedom—so that our nation can once again be one that God can bless.” Please pray for the protection of the unborn children. Satan wants to rob them of life in the womb when they are most defenseless. Each one of these children has the wonderful potential God, their Creator, has put within them.
A week and a half ago BridgeBuilders gathered some 200 determined Christians to pray in Douglas, Arizona, that what was hidden in darkness along the Douglas/Aqua Prieta region of the border would be brought to the light.
We prayed for God's protection over law enforcement and that drugs, weapons and sex trafficking would be brought to a halt. Again God gave us a huge victory with the capture and arrest this Tuesday of the father-in-law of Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman!
Mexican Federal Police arrested without a shot fired, Ines Coronel Barreras, 45. Coronel was detained in Agua Prieta, just across the border from Douglas, Arizona, along with a 25-year-old son and three other men. Interior Deputy Secretary Eduardo Sanchez said on Tuesday, “This arrest delivers a personal blow to the most wanted man in Mexico."
Coronel is the father of Guzman's third wife, Ema Coronel Aispuro, who married the notorious drug lord in 2007 in a mountainous town in Durango State.
The US agency said Coronel "plays a key role" in the Sinaloa drug cartel led by Guzman. We praise God for this major victory; however, we do not let up in our calling out to Almighty God to continue to uncover the hidden things along our border and in our state and to dismantle the devastating criminal activities brought into Arizona. It is our heart to continue to believe God to keep our families, children, schools, businesses, and communities safe.
http://borderissues.us/2013/05/01/mexican-police-arrest-drug-lords-in-law/
“One of the most shocking aspects of Mexico's drug cartels is the use of teens and young children for smuggling, thievery, and even assassinations. This is happening not only in Mexico but north of the border as well.
Teens are sometimes offered as little as $50 to act as drivers for the cartels or the local gangs who support them. For example, Texas officers caught a 12-year-old boy in a border county driving a stolen pickup truck containing more than 800 pounds of marijuana. Just this week the US Border and Customs Protection reported that four teenage girls between 15-17 years of age were caught smuggling bundles of heroin at the Arizona 1-19 checkpoint south of Amado.
Agents say cartels are increasingly using teenagers under 18 because they can hire them for a fraction of the cost of experienced smugglers and hit men and because minors are likely not to be prosecuted or to receive only a slap on the wrist.
Sadly, transporting drugs is not the worst of it. Criminal organizations are hiring and training minors as contract killers. The tortured and slain body of a 13-year-old who confessed to his involvement with ten murders for Los Zetas was found in March, apparently as a statement that the boy's narco bosses weren't too happy with his confession. Recently two teen girls—one 13 and the other 15, hired by the cartels—confessed to gunning down a man.
The April 11, 2013, AZ 10K reported that Mexican drug cartels, whose operatives once rarely ventured beyond the U.S. border, are dispatching some of their most trusted agents to live and work deep inside the United States—an emboldened presence that experts believe is meant to tighten their grip on the world's most lucrative narcotics market and maximize profits.
We can be sure the tactic of luring children and teens into crime will become a greater threat not only in border cities but within cities in the heart of the U.S. Police encourage parents to keep a close watch on their teens and to talk to them and explain how cartels and gangs exploit teens.
It is time for the Church to take our place and stand as "Watchmen on the Wall" for our children and for the future of our nation.
PRAY:
• America is the world's number one consumer of drugs. Our nation's drug habit is destroying an entire generation. God, have mercy! Bring our nation to repentance.
• Ask God for the protection of the hearts and minds of young children and teenagers who are being lured into trafficking drugs and/or sex. (Psalm 91).
• Turn the tide of the breakdown of the family, the results of which make our children vulnerable to being lured into the trafficking world.
• Continue to pray that any illegal activity will be made known to the proper authorities and arrests will be made without incident. (Matt. 10:26)
• For the toppling of the cartels and their infiltration into the United States.
Praise!
Just following last week's AZ 10K call to prayer for the capture of cartel members within the US, the Arizona Republic reported that on March 25, eight people, including a former Sinaloa cartel member, were arrested in Litchfield Park on suspicion of involvement in a drug deal gone wrong. They were planning to purchase 180-pounds of marijuana, said Officer Chris Hegstrom, a spokesman from the Maricopa County Sheriff's Office. The suspects were wearing police body armor, badges, ballistic helmets, and a Phoenix Police Department patch during the crime. Detectives also discovered large amounts of cash hidden in a wall, several weapons, police badges and other law enforcement identifiers, Hegstrom said.
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Well, by now, I think most of you will have seen that things are cooling down considerably here on the Korean Peninsula. The celebration of Great Sun Day in North Korea--Kim Il Sung's birthday on April 15th--went off in a rather subdued manner. Many people were expecting a major missile launch to coincide with the holiday but nothing like that happened. Since then rhetoric in the North has been a bit toned down as well. Of course, they may well decide to launch one or more test missiles whenever they like so it could happen even as this news is going out. However, I personally believe that Kim Jong Eun is deliberately backing down from his most belligerent stance…
Yet while all this is going on we continue to be concerned about and pray for Kenneth Bae. The latest development is that he is slated to be tried before North Korea’s supreme court for plotting to overthrow the government. Many North Korea watchers find the charges against him to be very cloudy and are wondering what the North is really up to…
So, do continue to pray for the situation in the North. We are not particularly concerned about immanent war, but we are concerned about the people who are affected by all that is happening.