DAWN Fridayfax 1999 #19

News from Africa, USA, Myanmar (Burma)

In this issue:
Africa: 26 intercessors, 26 angels
USA: Baptists to plant 1,010 churches by 2010
USA: Bomb explodes on way to tele-evangelist
Myanmar: Jesus can do what spiritist mediums can't

Africa: 26 intercessors, 26 angels

During vacation, an American missionary told his home church of the following experience: "Every 2 weeks, I cycle into town to go shopping. Not long ago, I went into town and, as always, wanted to get money from the bank to buy medicine and other things. When I arrived, I saw two men fighting. One was seriously injured, so I treated him and told him about Jesus. After buying what I needed, I set off on the two day journey back to base, slept in the jungle and arrived home safely. When I repeated the journey two weeks later, the young man I had treated came up to me and said "Two weeks ago, I followed you into the jungle with some friends. We knew that you would sleep in the jungle, and had decided to kill you and take your money and medicine. Just as we were about to raid your camp, we noticed the 26 armed guards." I laughed, and told him that I could not take any guards with me, so was completely alone, but I couldn't persuade him. "All my friends saw the men, and we all counted them. We were afraid of the guards, so didn't attack you."" As the missionary said that, a man in the church jumped to his feet, interrupting the report to ask exactly when it had happened. He then explained: "While that was happening at night in Africa, it was morning here. I had planned to play some golf, but suddenly felt such a burden to pray for you that I called other men to pray with me here in the church. Would all those who prayed with me stand up?" The missionary was not so interested in knowing exactly who had prayed for him, but was astonished to see how many: 26, exactly how many angels had been guarding him.
Source: ASCKEN News

USA: Baptists to plant 1,010 churches by 2010

The Presidents and Deacons of the American Baptists' theological seminaries have decided to support the denomination's church planting aims, which are to plant 1,010 new churches by the year 2010, thus gaining 1,000,010 new members. Ian M. Chapman, President of the Northern Baptist Theological Seminary reports that they will offer theological and biblical training for future church planters, saying that this will also be useful for those planning to work as missionaries in other cultures or outside the USA, because they will be able to gain experience in church planting.
Source: ABN/WF News

USA: Bomb explodes on way to tele-evangelist

A parcel bomb on the way to tele-evangelist John Hagee in Texas exploded early in a sorting office in Denver, injuring nobody. 53-year-old Frank Darwin Alexander, who has admitted sending the bomb, was arrested in Las Vegas shortly afterwards. Hagee is pastor of the 17,000-strong evangelical 'Cornerstone church' in San Antonio. According to the police, the bomb could have been fatal.
Source: EP (Evangelical Press News Service), 5 April 1999

Myanmar: Jesus can do what spiritist mediums can't

"In Myanmar (previously Burma) a while ago, there was a demonstration of power similar to the Biblical report of Elijah on Carmel", according to reports from YWAM. A local evangelist had been working in a particular people group for 10 years; through his work, 3,000 people had become Christians, meeting in some 50 churches. The surrounding people groups were far harder to reach with the Gospel. One day, Y., the evangelist, was sitting at home together with 4 Christians when a woman ran up, saying "Come quickly, a woman is possessed by an evil spirit. She is the army captain's wife." Y hesitated, thinking "If I can't drive the demon out, the captain will be angry." Finally, though, he went. The possessed woman was known as a Christian, but her husband had forbidden her to go to church and locked her Bible away. Recently, he had even forced her to sacrifice to the 'Nats' (spirits), and it was this which caused her 'attack'. She then became so violent that it took several soldiers to hold her somewhat still on the ground. Now, she had lost her senses and become completely stiff. Some 100 people had gathered, all wondering what would happen. In the crowd were three Buddhist monks and three spiritists, including the region's most powerful medium; all had tried and failed to drive the spirit out. Y explained that he himself had no power over demons, but that Jesus does. The Christians prayed a simple prayer, and told the captain that he should give his wife something to eat and drink when she regained her senses. After a little while, she woke up, completely normal, then ate and drank. That evening, every tribe in the area had heard of this wonder, how the "Christian God" had driven out the evil spirit over which even the most powerful Nats medium had no power.
Source: Youth With A Mission

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