Monday, August 4, 2014
From: Carol Bauer
Capital Prayer Alert
As you know, my wife, Carol, prepares a prayer alert about once a month. I hope you will share Carol’s thoughts with your friends and fellow worshippers. Thank you for taking an interest in her monthly devotion. — Gary
Gary and I were blessed to participate in the ninth annual Christians United For Israel (CUFI) Washington Summit last month. As a founding board member of this group which now has 1.6 million members, Gary has been instrumental in CUFI’s work from the beginning. The timing of this year’s summit seemed providential as headlines broke around the world involving Christians and Jews. The news of late has provided ample reminders that our shared Judeo-Christian history and worldview, the underpinning of Western Civilization, is under attack.
Christian persecution is on the rise and spreading. As recently as 2003, Iraq’s second largest city, Mosul, had a Christian community numbering 60,000. It has dropped to zero. In recent weeks, the area came under the control of ISIS (the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria). The homes of a dwindling number of Christians were marked for takeover by ISIS and they were told they could pay a hefty fine and convert or face death by sword. Most fled with only the clothes on their backs, leaving behind communities rooted for 2,000 years in the Christian faith.
In recent months Meriam Ibrahim was imprisoned and sentenced to death in a Sudanese prison, accused of abandoning the Muslim faith for Christianity even though she was raised a Christian. After tortuous weeks and giving birth to a second child in prison, worldwide attention eventually secured her release. Boko Haram, an Islamist terrorist group in Nigeria, is responsible for the deaths of over 2,000 in the first half of 2014. Their reign of terror included the kidnapping of more than 200 school girls and the burning of many Christian churches.
With the exception of a few small demonstrations and a social media effort, little attention has been paid to the plight of Christians suffering for their faith. These brothers and sisters in the faith are facing reprisals or death for their beliefs. Yet American political leadership is nearly silent and American faith leaders are not tackling the issue head on.
Please go to our Heavenly Father and seek His protection for those suffering for their faith. Ask that He uphold them, strengthen them and give them a peace that passes all understanding in the midst of these times of testing. Ask God to prompt American political leaders to see this growing persecution as a rare opportunity to speak with one voice, across party and racial lines.
Ask our Heavenly Father to give wisdom to these leaders in seeking ways to tie words of solidarity to action whether it be the use of the bully pulpit, economic sanctions, cutoff of foreign aid or other levers of power to make a difference.
Pray that this issue would unite the American church in a totally unexpected way. Mainline denominations, evangelical churches, non-denominational congregations and the Catholic Church speaking together with one voice in asking members to pray and undertake righteous action on behalf of the persecuted could be instrumental.
Ask God to lead older believers and younger ones, seeking ways to live out the charge to “do justice,” to work together in living out their faith by bringing attention and action to the issue. Ask Him to prompt a call to action from the pews to the pulpits to the denominational leadership to the seminaries to give voice to persecuted Christians who have lost their voice and had their communities ripped from them for practicing their beliefs.
The conflict between Israel and Gaza has dominated the news recently. But for all the air time and newspaper ink the casual observer could be forgiven for thinking there is moral equivalency between the two. Here are some facts you may not know:
The deadly exchanges were begun by Hamas firing rockets into Israel for weeks before Israel responded. Initially, the conflict was concentrated in the air — rockets launched from Gaza into Israel, closer and closer to large cities, with the ability to hit two-thirds of the Israeli population. Israel’s Iron Dome missile defense system performed magnificently.
A ground operation ensued and what Israel found was a maze of underground tunnels, which started in Gaza and ended inside Israel. The element of surprise from Hamas fighters using the tunnels weighed heavily on Israel for years. The goal of the Israeli Defense Forces is to destroy as much of the tunnel network as possible. This is achieved by precise bombing strikes in which Gaza residents are first warned by text messages, leaflets and warning shots on the top of targeted buildings.
Hamas, for its part, has placed rockets in schools, mosques and homes. It has encouraged residents to stay in contested areas and, thus, be injured or killed, providing fodder for newscasts about the numbers of civilian casualties. Did you know that Hamas has confirmed using children to build the tunnels and at least 160 are reported to have been killed in their construction?
Some of this you may know. Other points may shock or surprise you. But what you know or do not know is a reflection of the news you watch or read.
At the same time, anti-Semitism is rearing its ugly head not only in the Middle East but in major European cities like Amsterdam, Paris, Berlin and Vienna. Jewish homes are being marked in Paris and synagogue attendees fear for their lives from out-of-control mobs. Businesses owned by Jews are being smashed or torched and some marchers have been heard to chant, “Jews to the gas chambers.”
A rabbi from Washington, D.C., was quoted in the paper after a recent trip to Paris, saying, “Everyone I spoke with felt that the Jewish community of Paris had no long-term future and that the question was not whether the community should emigrate but when and how.”
Please pray for fairer, more objective coverage of this conflict and the historical roots of the Middle East. Plead to our Heavenly Father that those with the opportunity to impact millions will use that precious opportunity to be fair in their choice of words and images. Protect Jews living in the midst of increasing hate. Pray that Christians would be prompted to come to their defense as an act of love. Ask God to strengthen the bonds between Christians and Jews in a world increasingly intolerant of both faith traditions.
Gary and I thank you for your encouragement, support and prayer.
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