Photo: Somali Muslim MilitiaInternational Christian Concern (ICC) has learned that Christians in the Ethiopian city of Besheno are being harassed and physically abused after Muslims posted notices on the doors of Christian homes warning them to convert, leave the city or face death.
Three Christian leaders were forced to flee the city and two Christians have been forced to convert to Islam (editor's note, would you deny Jesus and convert to Islam if presented with this choice?). In the Muslim majority city, the entire evangelical Christian community consists of about 30 believers.
Evangelist Kassa Awano remains in critical condition after Muslims attacked him on November 29, 2010. A few days after the attack, nearly 100 Muslims surrounded a vehicle carrying Christian leaders on their way to negotiate for peace with Muslim leaders. Two men, Tesema Hirego and Niggusie Denano, were seriously wounded, and the other leaders suffered minor injuries. On January 2, Muslims assaulted Temesgen Peteros with a knife after he testified about the attacks on these Christians in court.
Christians in Besheno have been targeted by Muslims for many years. On May 21, 2004, Muslims murdered the 7 year-old daughter of Evangelist Tesfaye Hobe. Muslims continuously attack Christians for listening to Christian songs and watching Christian videos.
“We ask for our constitutional right [to freedom of religion] to be respected. We want this inhumane act to stop. We are unable to live in our own city due to the inhumane acts,” one of the Christian leaders who fled the city told ICC.
The local Muslim officials of the city refuse to protect the Christians. The officials ignore their appeals for justice, declining repeated requests for the building of a place of worship and a cemetery. On January 19, a Christian mother was forced to bury her deceased daughter in a town more than 20 miles from Besheno, due to the absence of a cemetery for Christians.
Besheno is a city located in the province of Alaba in Southern Ethiopia. According to the 2007 national census, 93.84% of the population of the province is Muslim. Christians make up 5.82 % of the population.
“We are alarmed by the posting of threats on Christian homes and the attacks against Christians in Besheno. We urge Ethiopian officials to bring the perpetrators of the attacks to justice, protect the Christians from further attacks and grant them permits to build a place of worship as well as a cemetery,” said Jonathan Racho, ICC’s Regional Manager for Africa.
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PRESENT YOUR OWN COVERAGE TO THE INTERCESSORS. . .
By producing a small written item to present the leadership of your nation, picture the current situation as to persecution and/or missions, add information on spiritual combat and front lines of confrontation, report on the situation of the poor and needy in your society we will be able to come alongside in prayer.
By writing on these subjects or by sending articles written by others you will draw the attention of many intercessors, who are eager engage in the most rewarding pursuits available to man – PRAYER.
Please, do not hesitate to try to describe urgent prayer targets. . .
Blessings on every effort in this realm. . .
Lars W.
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There I will meet with you
Ex 29:42-43
A gathering of the interceding Church for the purpose of unreserved commitment and explicit agreement. . .
01.
God’s history of deliverances, of salvation, allows us to get a glimpse of, and to begin to understand the interaction between the purposes of God, the promises of God and the painful predicaments of a people meant for glory.
Deliverance has come when the word of God has been made void, Ps 119:126.
Deliverance has come when the people of God have chosen to build for themselves, Haggai 1.
Deliverance has come when the purposes of God have been set aside.
Deliverance has come when men and women have decided to seek the Lord with focused intent and with patience and determination.
Deliverance has come when men have gathered together before the Lord according to
1 Tim 2:8, in purposeful union, in deliberate harmony, in matter-of-factness.
Deliverance will come to Zion when men and women gather for the sake of extraordinary prayer.
God delivers a people for his purposes, God saves unto his intentions. God builds His Church. He gathers a people for His praise. He delivers through Christ and unto Christ – to reveal Christ. He builds yet another temple, yet another tabernacle, even a body.
His purpose for this hour – as for all times – is a Consensus Church, the body of Christ. In it he intends to bring forth agreements of an extraordinary kind which, in turn, will bring forth extraordinary prayer. He declares that in such a setting “I will meet with you”. And this concise object aims at bringing back the Deliverer, Jesus Christ, as King and sovereign ruler.
Lars Widerberg
Objective:
A calling forth, a bringing together of godly men and women everywhere, for the sake of unreserved commitment and explicit agreement in prayer and intercession, in preparation for a solid testimony of the Lord. 1 Tim 2:8, Matt 18:19-20.
What is your role in relation to such a call? What is your response to such a call? Would you give yourself to prayer for the mobilization of such a fellowship, given to the working out of explicit agreements concerning time spent, goals defined and devotion refined?
An explicit agreement aiming at:
A recovering of the apostolic patterns for church fellowship and spiritual growth.
A recovering of the glory of God among his people.
A recovering of veracity, authenticity, holiness and godliness.
A renewal of the understanding of the sovereign Lordship of Jesus Christ among his people.
A renewed waiting before the Lord for an outpouring of the Holy Spirit.
A new period of intensified efforts in the realm of missions - a sending of workers to the harvest.
The intercessors at the Network HQ are waiting to serve you in explicit and ongoing agreement in prayer to help and cover you as you move along these paths of recovery. We have at our disposal a couple of seed fellowships who have chosen to begin to develop apostolic patterns of church life for the sake of waiting on the Lord.
The Network as such is made aware of this mobilization and is in itself the first target for this prayer effort as well as the first unit to be involved in the prayer for the sake of unreserved commitment and explicit agreement in prayer and intercession, in preparation for a solid testimony of the Lord.
The Lord mobilizes Heaven and its resources for our growing together in effectual prayer for the fulfillment of the recovery.
Reports.
We welcome reports and descriptions regarding in what manner you are able to express this agreement:
How often do you find it appropriate to gather?
Where have you found a place to gather?
Areas of prayer which you try to cover and penetrate.
How you are received by the general Christian community.
Present difficulties.
Ideas as to the development of the agreement.
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