Friday, September 26, 2008

Call to Prayer

“Those who say religion has nothing to do with politics do not know what religion is.” (Ghandi)

From my Pastorate leader Rohan:


Please keep India, its’ believers, all those serving God there today, in special prayer. 

URGENT PRAYER REQUEST!
Dear beloved sponsors and friends of Good News India

We have never seen anything like this.

We knew that Orissa was the most resistant and hostile State in India as far as the Gospel is concerned. And we brushed off the continuous threats and harassment we faced as we went about His work.

A militant Hindu priest and 4 of his attendants, who were zealously going around the villages of Orissa and ‘reconverting’ people back to Hinduism, were gunned down by unknown assailants in Central Orissa last weekend. 

Immediately the Christians were blamed. The cry rose up…’Kill the Christians!’ 

And the horror began….
 
In the past 4 days, we have first hand witness to hundreds of churches being blown up or burned and many, many dozens of Christian tribals have been slaughtered. For no other reason than they bear the name of Christ. 

Night and day I have been in touch with our Good News  India Directors spread across 14 Dream Centers in Orissa… they are right in the middle of all this chaos.

In Tihidi, just after the police came to offer protection, a group of 70 blood-thirsty militants came to kill our staff and destroy the home. They were not allowed to get in, but they did a lot of damage to our Dream Center by throwing rocks and bricks and smashing our gate, etc. They have promised to come back and ‘finish the job.’ Our kids and staff are locked inside and have stayed that way with doors and windows shut for the past 3 days. It has been a time of desperately calling on the Lord in prayer. More police have come to offer protection. 

In Kalahandi, the police and some local sympathizers got to our dream center and gave our staff and kids about 3 minutes notice to vacate. No one had time to even grab a change of clothes or any personal belonging. As they fled, the blood thirsty mob came to kill everyone in the building. We would have had a mass funeral there, but for His grace. 

In Phulbani, the mob came looking for Christian homes and missions. The local Hindu people, our neighbors turned them away by saying that there were no Christians in this area. So they left. We had favor. The same thing happened in Balasore. 

All our dream centers are under lock down with the kids and staff huddled inside and police outside. The fanatics are circling outside waiting for a chance to kill.
 
Others were not so fortunate. In a nearby Catholic orphanage, the mob allowed the kids to leave and locked up a Priest and a computer teacher in a house and burned them to death. Many believers have been killed and hacked into pieces and left on the road…. even women and children. 

At another orphanage run by another organization, when this began, the Director and his wife jumped on their motorbike and simply fled, leaving all the children and staff behind. Every one of our GNI directors that I have spoken to said: ‘We stay with our kids…. we live together or die together, but we will never abandon what God has called us to do.’


More than 5000 Christian families have had their homes burned or destroyed. They have fled into the jungles and are living in great fear waiting for the authorities to bring about peace. But so far, no peace is foreseen. This will continue for another 10 days…. supposedly the 14 day mourning period for the slain Hindu priest. Many more Christians will die and their houses destroyed. Many more churches will be smashed down. 

The Federal government is trying to restore order and perhaps things will calm down. We ask for your prayers. Only the Hand of God can calm this storm. None of us know the meaning of persecution. But now our kids and staff know what that means. So many of our kids coming from Hindu backgrounds are confused and totally bewildered at what is happening around them. So many of their guardians have fled into the jungles and are unable to come and get them during these trying times.

Through all this, I am more determined than ever to continue with our goal: the transformation of a community by transforming its children. Orissa will be saved… that is our heart’s cry. If we can take these thousands of throw-away children and help them to become disciples of Jesus, they will transform an entire region. It is a long term goal, but it is strategic thinking in terms of the Great Commission. 
 
What can you do? First, please uphold all this in fervent prayer. Second, pass this e-mail on to as many friends as you can. We must get the word out and increase our prayer base for this is spiritual warfare at its most basic meaning. We are literally fighting the devil in order to live for His Kingdom. 

The next 10 days are crucial. We pray for peace and calm to pervade across Orissa. 

Thank you for taking the time to read this. Please pass it on and help us to get as many people to partner with us on this cutting edge effort to fulfill His mandate: Go and make disciples of all nations….

Posted by Fi McKenzie at 12:48:32 | Permalink | No Comments »

A tribute to some fine politicians

Some of my favourite NZ politicians are stepping down as MPs and have given valedictory speeches over the past few days. They have done more and tried harder than the average Kiwi gives them credit for and it is sad to see them go. 


It is with particular sadness that we note the, as always very sad, death of Brian Donnelly, who I remember as a funny man with a good sense of humour and always willing to sit down and discuss the real issues across the parties. He worked hard and was, I am sure, a fine High Commissioner in his final years.

Here are some of the final comments made by some of my favourite MPs:


Mark Gosche (for clarification - his wife requires 24 hours care following a brain haemorrage in 2002 and his son committed suicide last year) - ”I would forego a thousand tax cuts if I were able to access the treatment and services that Carol needs, and would receive if she were covered by ACC…I ask on behalf of hundreds of families like ours that efforts continue to reduce our suicide rate and to find answers so we can avoid the grief…This insane idea that we must all be available to work 24 hours a day, seven days a week, has ruined family life for many.”

Marian Hobbs (she was incredibly good to me and an amazing person to learn from) - ”Politics is about making decisions, be it the laws we pass or the budgets we approve…But modern news media doesn’t evaluate our decisions in the light of which policy is best…Instead they build a web around personalities and behaviour. It’s about a smiley new face versus the one we are familiar with. The news is about decision makers, rarely about decisions.”


Tim Barnett (gave me very useful advice on LSE and living in London) - ”I’ve long ascribed to the advice that if you’re going to invite a tiger to lunch, there’s little point in pouring the sauce over yourself.” (On the Media)


Mark Blumsky (we had our run-ins on the campaign but he’s a good guy with a real, and very deep, passion for Wellington) - ”The `them and us’ feeling is stronger than I had suspected…neither of us can be exactly right and I think we sometimes miss out on the real solutions.”


Katherine Rich (an MP I respect and admire for having done and continue doing what she believes in) - ”Kiwi music brings us together as one of the glues to our society. The market will never support local music sufficiently, given the size of our country…Demotion [in 2005 under Brash] clearly wasn’t a career highlight but it was preferable than trying to explain why I, a well-paid mother with all the supports in the world, intended telling a DPB (domestic purposes benefit) mum to leave her baby in childcare to net less than half the minimum wage.”


And finally, at least for now, my old local MP, who might have had something to do with my interest in politics and the Labour party. Steve Maharey (part-time Robbie Williams impersonator) - ”Fairness and equal opportunity have long been part of the New Zealand political tradition and it led to governments putting in place institutions that made a practical difference to people like me…Members will have their own goals. Make them bold. The mistakes of the 1980s and 1990s have left an legacy of understandable caution in politics…The current economic crisis reinforces this stance. But in the midst of new times, the spectre of the past should not be allowed to get in the way of a vision for the future.”


These people, and many others that aren’t quite ready to leave yet, have shaped my perception of the way the world works and I am thankful for their insight. They might not have been perfect but they fought for things they believed in and did so in the unkind and difficult environment that is national politics. I greatly respect them and wish all the very best in their future careers and lives. 
Posted by Fi McKenzie at 00:21:50 | Permalink | No Comments »