Let us pray for our family!

Eight hurt in Egypt clash
above is right next to the asp:img closing tag with -->Tuesday 21 February 2006, 8:27 Makka Time, 5:27 GMT

Eight Egyptians have been injured in clashes between Muslims and Coptic Christians in a village south of Cairo. Police said that the violence erupted in the village of Al-Ayat, around 24 km south of the capital. It reportedly followed Muslim anger over the construction of a community centre by the local Christian minority. Muslim residents accused the Christians of seeking to turn the centre into a church.Five Muslims and three Christians were wounded in the fighting, but none were believed to be in a serious condition.

Egypt's Christians, who account for around a 10th of the population, need authorisations to build churches, while the construction of mosques is virtually unrestricted. Sectarian tensions have been on the rise in recent months.On Saturday witnesses said clashes also broke out in a village near the southern Egyptian town of Bani Mazar after Muslims accused Christians of burning copies of the Quran, Islam's holy book.

Church controversy

One Christian was killed and several other people wounded in violence that broke out in the southern Nile city of Luxor when Muslims protested that Christians were building a church without authorisation. Incidents also took place late last year in the Nile Delta and in Alexandria in the north of the country. Following the Islamist opposition's strong showing in the November-December parliamentary polls, the government announced measures to ease restrictions on church-building. The move was interpreted as an attempt to allay Christian fears of a further Islamisation of society but the Christian community has since complained that the new decree was not being implemented.

Article Source: http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/5D6E69E5-BA02-41E2-95A6-309EAF8D7618.htm

Bible Smuggling

Bible Smuggling for Jesus (Names have been changed for security reasons)

Sometimes in life God gives us rare moments to take extreme risks for His Great Name. It was last summer that Chris and I were headed to the UAE for a meeting with Christian hospital directors inquiring about future ministry opportunities. We were thrilled at the thought of entering this nation and simply being able to step foot on desert soil and pray for the Rain of His glory . In the process of us planning our trip we were looking for airline tickets to go from Egypt to the UAE. In our search we found a route that would take us through Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

Now if you don’t know us well, it is important for me to let you know that Saudi Arabia is the nation God has laid most on our hearts. It is our desire in the future to live in this nation full time, so the very chance of having a small layover in the Riyadh airport was huge! It took us about 30 seconds to pray if we were supposed to take this route, when we already knew, this was it! We purchased the tickets and readied ourselves to enter the Mecca of Islam. Covered in prayer and swelled with extreme excitement, we started our journey. Given the fact we were coming from Egypt, we decided to line our carry-on bags with Arabic Bibles. An Arabic Bible in Saudi Arabia is unheard of. It is illegal to distribute, to talk about or even profess Christianity. If caught distributing Bibles the Mattawa (Religious Police) could flog you, imprison you and deport you.

No matter what the consequences were; we knew, this is why God ordained this leg of the flight..

Arriving in Riyadh, a security guard met us as we departed from the plane. He took us straight to customs to search us and our bags. I don’t think I have ever been so scared in all my life, but the rush of walking in faith is bigger than you, well you know—There is nothing like it!

I went to the ladies quarters and Chris to the men's. They searched our bodies then took us to search our bags. When the officer opened the bag, we saw one of the Arabic Bibles starting to slide out of the side pocket. Time stopped! Chris & I looked at each other, then at the officer and again at the Bible.

All we could do was Pray!

Then all of a sudden, the officer slammed the bag shut and said, “Get out of here!” We knew then that God had blinded his eyes. It was a miracle! We proceeded and then distributed the Bibles all over the airport. We may never know what happened to the Bibles we left behind, but we pray God has used them for His glory! BB Missionary

Shooting kills priest in Turkey

Report from BBC News

February 5, 2006
A priest was shot dead in the Black Sea port of TrabzonAn Italian Catholic priest has been shot dead outside his church in north-east Turkey. Police in the Black Sea port of Trabzon said they were searching for a teenage boy seen fleeing from the scene of the attack on Sunday. It was unclear if the shooting was connected to widespread Muslim outrage over cartoons of the rophet Muhammad. Turkish broadcaster NTV identified the priest as Andrea Santore and said he died from a single shot to the chest.

Turkey has seen regular protests in recent days over the Danish caricatures of Muhammad.Leaders of the overwhelmingly Muslim country have condemned the pictures, but have also called for calm. The Istanbul-based Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew, who is the spiritual head of the world's Orthodox Christians, and other non-Muslim clerics in Turkey have also criticised the images. Several Italian newspapers have reprinted the pictures, saying they are defending freedom of expression.

BBC News Source:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/4683548.stm

PRAYER FOR THE SAHARAWIS

"The temperature reaches a scorching 135 F in summer and plunges below freezing in winter. Sandstorms, called siroccos, rip through the refugee camps without warning. Flash floods wipe out entire tent neighborhoods, destroying everything in their path. Here, in the southwest corner of Algeria, nearly 200,000 refugees are struggling to survive in this inhospitable part of the great Sahara Desert.

The Western Saharan refugees, or Saharawis, who live in these camps are more than 80% women and children. Their struggle began more than two decades ago in their homeland of
Western Sahara. "

More information about the Saharawis please visit: http://wsahara.net/index.html

Prayer Points:

• God would grant favor to Christian laborer's attempting to reach the Saharawi people
• Saharawis hearts would be softened to Truth

• The Gospel of Jesus Christ would be proclaimed freely
• Underground believers would be granted strength & courage
• Christians would be quickened to go & pray for the Saharawi
• Christ would be restored glory among this forgotten people