In This Issue

January 2008 10/40 Window Prayer Focus: Indonesian Islamic Extremists Sentenced for Beheading Christian Girls

In a major answer to prayer, resulting from Window International Network’s (WIN) Emergency Prayer Alert as well as calls for intercession by various Christian ministries, three Islamic extremists in Indonesia were sentenced December 4, 2007 (to several years) in prison for beheading three Christian teenage girls and shooting two others non-fatally in 2005.

A South Jakarta district court sentenced Rahman Kalahe to 19 years in prison, Agus Nur Muhammad to 14 years and Yudi Heryanto to 10 years after finding them guilty in the beheading of Theresia Morangke and Yarni Sambue, both 15, and 17-year-old Alfita Poliwo, Compass Direct News reported.

The men had attacked the girls as they walked to school in Poso district in Sulawesi on October 29, 2005. A fourth girl in the attack, Noviana Malewa, then 15, received serious injuries to her face and neck but survived.

Heryanto and Muhammad were reportedly found guilty of carrying out surveillance for the beheadings.
Kalahe was also found guilty of involvement in a Dec. 31, 2005 bomb attack on a market in Palu that killed at least eight people. Abdul Muis was also convicted for this crime and likewise received a sentence of 19 years. The two men were also convicted of murdering the Rev. Irianto Kongkoli and two high school students in 2006.

Additionally, the court found Syaiful Anam and Amril Niode guilty of bombing a marketplace in the Christian-inhabited town of Tentena, in Poso district, in May 2005, with Anam receiving a prison sentence of 18 years and Niode one of 15 years. The court is trying an accomplice in the attack separately.

In contrast to the sentences for the beheading of the three girls, in September 2006 Indonesia executed by firing squad three Catholics―Fabianus Tibo, Marinus Riwu and Dominggus da Silva―whose responsibility for violence in Poso rioting in 2000 was much less clear. The death sentences were carried out in spite of an outpouring of international protest over trial irregularities.

According to a confession by Islamic extremist Lilik Purnomo, the beheadings were planned as a “gift” to celebrate Idul Fitri, a festival marking the end of the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan. The defendants also testified that the beheadings were carried out to avenge the deaths of Muslims, Compass Direct News reported.

Central Sulawesi, roughly split between Christians and Muslims, was plagued by wide-scale sectarian violence that killed more than 2,000 people between 1998 and 2002.

Indonesia is the nation with the largest Muslim population worldwide. There are 170 million Muslims compared to the 30 million Christian minorities in Indonesia.

Despite a 2001 peace accord, sporadic violence continued with the militant network Jemaah Islamiah (JI) blamed for a string of deadly attacks in Indonesia, including the 2002 nightclub bombings on the resort island of Bali, which killed more than 200 people. Hundreds of militants allegedly linked to JI have been arrested since the Bali bombings.

In June 2007, police arrested Abu Dujana, a senior military leader of JI who police suspect was involved in the 2003 bombing of the Marriott Hotel in Indonesia. Authorities hoped that his arrest would strike a blow to the group’s operations. About two dozen people died in September 2005 when suicide bombers attacked tourist sites in Bali. The attack was similar to the one that took place in 2002.

Christians worldwide are encouraged to pray for Indonesian Christians, who are systematically and socially discriminated against. Many Christians are in jail under false or unlawful charges.

Intercessors worldwide can be equipped to pray for Indonesia by taking part in WIN’s Praying Through The Window (PTTW) 9, a two-year strategic global prayer initiative that launched October 1, 2007 and targets on Global Terrorism and World Religions along with the lawless regimes in the 10/40 Window.

Sources:  Compass Direct News, Associated Press, Reuters

To order your Praying Through The Window 9: Global Terrorism and World Religions in the 10/40 Window prayer calendar, visit www.win1040.com/resources

Praise GOD for:

Pray for:

Sources: Compass Direct News, the Associated Press, Barnabas Fund, Open Doors USA, 24-7 Operation World, Christian Solidarity Worldwide, Reuters

Praise Report: Korean Prime Ministers Hold Historic Talks

In another answer to prayer by intercessory ministries worldwide, including Window International Network, prime ministers from North and South Korea met in mid-November for the first time in 15 years in talks aimed at improving ties on the divided peninsula, BBC News reported.

North Korean Prime Minister Kim Yong-il spent three days in the South Korean capital, Seoul, in discussions with counterpart Han Duck-soo. The talks were focused on joint economic projects and a sea border disagreement.

The meeting was followed October’s historic summit in Pyongyang between the two countries’ presidents.
The summit, between the North’s Kim Jong-il and the South’s Roh Moo-hyun, was only the second such meeting since the Korean peninsula was partitioned over half a century ago.  BBC News reported.

The two presidents signed an accord calling for greater peace and economic partnership, despite the two countries remaining technically at war with each other.

North Korea is rated the world’s worst abuser of human rights and religious liberty. North Korea has topped the Open Doors 2007 “World Watch List” persecutor list for the fifth straight year.

For more than 50 years the regime has maintained power through isolation, brainwashing and terror and by eliminating every threat (real and perceived) to its rule through executions and incarceration, according to the World Evangelical Alliance Religious Liberty Commission.

Praise GOD for:

Pray for:

Sourced: BBC News, Open Doors, World Evangelical Alliance Religious Liberty Commission

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Window International Network Resource of the Month:
 
The Heavenly Man by Paul Hattaway

The Heavenly Man is the dramatic story of how GOD took a young, half starved boy from a poor village in Henan Province and used him mightily to preach the gospel; despite horrific opposition. 

Brother  Yun is one of China’s house church leaders.   Despite his relative youth, he has suffered prolonged torture and imprisonment for his faith.  His account in this book challenges any complacency about the situation in China, where international economic investment ignores the brutal fact that religious persecution is still a daily reality for millions.  Instead of focusing on the many miracles or experiences of suffering,  Brother Yun prefers to emphasize the character and beauty of Jesus. –The Heavenly Man

ORDER The Heavenly Man & 50 Praying Through The Window Global Terrorism & World Religions Prayer Calendars for only $35 + S&H

Purchase The Heavenly Man Today, along with 50 companion PTTW 9 Prayer Calendars, you will have a spiritual arsenal of prayer to share with those within your sphere of influence.

Be a WINAmbassador and empower Christians to pray! Order today at: www.win1040.com/resources

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PRAYER ALERT: INDONESIA

In September of 2005, three Indonesian women were sent to jail.  They were charged with converting Muslim children to Christianity. The three women, Dr Rebecca Laonita, Ratna Mala Bangun and Ety Pangesti were found “guilty of all charges” and sentenced to three years in jail after running a “Happy Week” (or “Happy Sunday”) program in their homes, even though none of the children converted and they had permission from their parents to be there.
Dr Rebecca, Ratna, and Ety had a very difficult time in prison as they left behind their families, had little to eat, lived in a very tiny cell with eight other women, and were forced to sleep on hard wood planks with no blanket.
On June 8, 2007 the three women were released. Their two years in prison were filled with cleaning washrooms and toilets, scrubbing cells, working on the garden and even painting in bright yellow and blue the walls of the room the prison let them use for church meetings. They preached to everyone that would listen to them, and even left behind a few converts to Christianity. What a wonderful testimony of God’s love they were to their persecutors!

Let’s pray:

1. For the release of Christians who are in jail because of lies told about them;
2. That Christians will be persistent and safe when sharing about Jesus;
3. That Christians and Muslims will dwell peacefully together in Indonesia. 

Dear Jesus,
I pray that you will forgive the Muslim  who do not understand what they have done. I pray that they will stop. I also pray that as Christians share the Word that they will be safe.  But most of all that Christians and Muslims will be able to live peacefully together. Amen.
Keturah Good, age 10

MEMORY VERSE
“You are my hiding place and my shield; I hope in Your word.” (Psalms 119:114 NKJV)

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