Ravi Zacharias, one of the foremost Christian apologists of our time, was called Home on 19 May. Mike Pence, Vice President of the United States, paid this tribute at his funeral:

Vol 82 No 20 1 June 2020

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TELLING THE GREAT WORKS OF CHRIST IN THE WORLD TODAY

Ravi Zacharias, Defender Of The Faith, Called Home

How Ravi Zacharias Helped Me Find New Life And Purpose, By Jordan Thyer, Student, Friend And Colleague

I first came across Ravi when I was 18 and in my first year at university studying chemical engineering. I was wrestling in-ternally with whether I could maintain my Christian faith in an intellectually credible manner while being aware that there were also self-indulgent motivations to stray from following Christ. Hearing Ravi unpack the uniqueness of Christ and the rationality of the Christian faith filled me with confidence that Christianity was not only good, but also true. His ability to demonstrate how Jesus makes sense of life’s big questions – of origin, meaning, morality and destiny – was both poetic and in-tellectually robust. I met Ravi in person while studying at OCCA, the Oxford Cen-tre for Christian Apologetics, which he helped establish, and was continually amazed at his warmth and humility. You al-ways left a conversation with Ravi feeling valued. For such a ‘giant’ in the Christian world you would never have known it from his disposition and approachability. Since first meeting Ravi and having been on team with RZIM for the past four years as an itinerant speaker, this impression of Ravi has not diminished. I was continually amazed at Ravi’s care for the questioner behind the question and how one is always left with a deeper appreciation for Christ and the beauty of the Gospel after hear-ing Ravi speak – in intimate settings or to thousands. He exem-plified the words of Colossians 4.6 by his tone and content; that we as Christians must let our ‘conversation be always full of grace, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how to an-swer everyone.’

– no‐reply@thegospelcoalition.org.au

‘Ravi Zacharias was a kind giant of the faith. He spoke truth, he spoke it with kindness and a deep and abiding care for every person who would listen. Ravi Zacharias was the C.S. Lewis of our day. He criss‐crossed the globe to every ‘Mars Hill’ he could find to answer scep-tics and move obstacles of unbelief armed with intellect, with truth and love. We mourn with those who mourn, but we do not grieve like those who have no hope, because, by faith, we believe that Jesus lives, and by faith we know that Ravi lives also.’ (Mr Pence was a close friend of Dr Zacharias, according to a Christian Head‐lines report.) According to God Reports: When Ravi Zacharias was a cricket-lov-ing boy on the streets of India, his mother called him in to meet the local sari-seller-turned-palm reader. ‘Looking at your fu-ture, Ravi Baba, you will not travel far or very much in your life,’ he declared. ‘That’s what the lines on your hand tell me. There is no future for you abroad.’ Ravi Zacharias had good reason to put his trust in Christ rather than an Indian fortune teller, for by the time a 37-year-old Zacharias preached, at the invitation of Billy Graham, to the inaugural Interna-tional Conference for Itinerant Evange-lists in Amsterdam in 1983, he was on his way to becoming one of the foremost de-fenders of Christianity’s intellectual cred-ibility. A year later, he founded Ravi Zacharias International Ministries with the mission of Helping The Thinker Be‐lieve And The Believer Think.

(Continued on Page Eight)

Ravi Zacharias and Jordan Thyer.

NEW LIFE – 1 June 2020 – Page TwoNEW LIFE – 1 June 2020 – Page Two

VOLUME 82 NUMBER 20

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TELLING THE GREAT WORKS OF CHRIST IN THE WORLD TODAY

Christian Leaders Express Outrage Over George Floyd’s Death In a video that has been watched by millions around the world, George Floyd, a 46-year-old African American, begged for his life and cried for his mother before he stopped breathing with the knee of a white Minneapolis po-lice officer pinned to his neck . Many people, including several prominent Chris-tian leaders across racial and denominational lines, are speaking out and urging others to take a stand against racial injustice. Miles McPherson, senior pastor of the Rock Church in California, noted: ‘Another black man killed on camera. This breaks my heart! Holding a hand-cuffed man down with your knee on his neck as he shouts he can’t breathe. What will it take for this to be unacceptable to all of us?’ The next morning, the police updated the statement, titled ‘Man Dies After Medical Incident During Police Interaction.’ The police said that further infor-mation had ‘become available’ and that the FBI was joining the investigation. Leaders like popular Christian musician Matthew West, who watched the video, said what he witnessed made him ‘Sick to my stomach after watching video of police taking the life of George Floyd. What I just saw is wrong and evil on every level.’ Pastor Sheryl Brady of the Potter’s House of North Dallas agreed that now is a good time from all Christians to speak out against injustice and urged the faith community in a Facebook Live broadcast to take a stand. Brady said ‘I know I am appalled at this. I’m tired of this and it needs to change. And I think we all need to speak up and speak out. What we saw was the actual life squeezed out of this man who was laying on the ground, by an of-ficer who put his knee and his body weight in the neck of a man who was plead-ing for mercy,’ she said. ‘Somebody says maybe we should wait until the facts come out Pastor Brady. You know what, I don’t want to wait until the facts come out. I just saw ten minutes worth and I am just so over this. It’s not fair. It’s not right. And somebody’s gotta speak up. We gotta speak up because this should not be happening.’ In a series of tweets, international evangelist Christine Caine suggested that after watching the video of Floyd’s death, she is beginning to change her per-spective about the experience of people of colour and the realities they live. ‘Now after seeing too many videos like this, I’m beginning to wonder if my re-sponse should be, “Maybe I should try to understand their pain”,’ she wrote. ‘Sometimes we can be so blinded by our experience and reality that we invali-date someone else’s. Today our black brothers and sisters are experiencing an-other trauma that communicates to them that their lives aren’t valuable.’ Caine went on: ‘Centuries of reccurring trauma takes its toll on a people group. Today I choose to lay down my truth to learn from my friends of colour. If we are truly the body of Christ one pain affects us all. We aren’t just the body when it’s convenient,’ Caine argued. ‘We are the body when it’s hurting and broken. Just as a leg cannot disconnect from the arm, so I cannot disconnect my pain from that of my brethren. This has to change.’ The four officers involved in the incident that led to Floyd’s death have been dismissed and Floyd’s family is call-ing for the officers’ arrest. Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey apologized to the black community. ‘For five minutes, we watched as a white officer pressed his knee into the neck of a black man. For five minutes,’ Frey said. ‘When you hear someone calling for help, you are supposed to help. This officer failed in the most basic human sense. What happened on Chicago and 38th (streets) is simply awful. It was traumatic, and it serves as a clear reminder of just how far we have to go. To the black commu-nity, to the family, I’m so sorry.’ – Christian Post

On Tuesday 12 May, American missionary pilot Joyce Lin perished in a plane crash en route to deliver supplies to remote Indonesian villages battling the COVID-19 virus when her plane went down. Lin worked as a pilot for Mission Aviation Fellowship delivering humanitarian aid, Bible translators and missionaries to some of the world’s most remote areas. She also worked as an IT specialist for the ministry. ‘The MAF family is deeply saddened by the loss of their colleague and friend, Joyce Lin’, MAF said. Reportedly, Lin had taken off from the Sentani, Papua, Indonesia airport to deliver goods to the village of Mamit in the Papua highlands. The plane was carrying COVID-19 rapid test kits for the local clinic. Despite travel restrictions in In-donesia due to COVID-19, MAF was granted per-mission in flying cargo and helping people with medical emergencies. According to MAF, ‘within minutes of takeoff, [Lin] reported an emergency and the aircraft de-

scended into Lake Sentani. Joyce was the only person on the airplane.’ According to police spokesman Ahmad Musthofa Kamal Papua, Lin reported having technical issues two minutes after takeoff, NBC 4 reports. She had requested permission to return to the airport, but the con-trol tower had lost contact with her. She crashed only moments later. Papua is known for its challenging flying condi-tions due to its rugged terrain and unstable weather. According to The Christian Post, Lin earned a BSc and ME degree from the Mas-sachusetts Institute of Technology. She also earned a MDiv degree from Gordon-Conwell The-ological Seminary. Lin was raised in Colorado and Maryland. She is survived by her two sisters and her parents. Photo courtesy: Mission Aviation Fellowship Face‐book – Milton Quintanilla, ChristianHeadlines.com

IN MEMORIAM IN MEMORIAM

NEW LIFE – 1 June 2020 – Page ThreeNEW LIFE – 1 June 2020 – Page Three

MAF Pilot Dies In Plane Crash While Delivering Humanitarian Aid

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NEW LIFE – 1 June 2020 – Page FiveNEW LIFE – 1 June 2020 – Page Five

FAITH NEWS FROM AROUND AUSTRALIA with Stan Hunt FAITH NEWS FROM AROUND AUSTRALIA with Stan Hunt

Repurposing A Campsite The Crusaders (CRU) campsite at Lake Macquarie, NSW, is usually brimming with energetic school kids, but these lockdown days it is mostly empty. That is, apart from the kitchen. There, chefs and kitchen hands are still hard at work. Rachel Billington, head chef, told Eternity News when COVID-19 hit, they wanted to give something back to the community. So Campsite director Brett Tay-lor and Rachel came up with the idea of the CRU Food 2 U meal delivery service. Wanting to offer some biblical love with the meals, Rachel con-tacted Bible Society Australia, to source literature. Not only did Bible Society offer free Bibles, but they also donated $10,000 to the project. CRU has been using this funding to offer meals for free and local churches have got on board to help with dis-tribution. So far, CRU Food 2 U has cooked around 1,500 meals, which have been distributed to around 300 homes.

– Eternity News at biblesociety.org.au YouTube Comes Into Its Own In Lockdown The COVID-19 pandemic has forced almost every-one in the world to communicate by telephone, text, or the internet. The field of virtual perfor-mances was once a very niche artform, but it has instantly gone mainstream during the lockdown.

Producers are putting out new material at break-neck speed. David Wesley has produced an á cap-pella performance by 48 singers from 14 different counties. It is perfect viewing in today's environ-ment of social distancing and quarantining from the virus. Mr Wesley says it was a labour of love over many dozens of work hours. He told CBN News why he chose the modern hymn In Christ Alone. ‘It's a deeply meaningful song, presenting the Christian message. It's also a memorable and singable melody, he says. Mr Wesley is a regis-tered nurse working in ICU, helping with the hos-pital response to the COVID-19 crisis. In Christ Alone can be viewed on the link: https://youtu.be/RY4CW5pte98 – CBN Christian World News

READ: READ: All That Glitters Is Not Necessarily All GoldAll That Glitters Is Not Necessarily All Gold by David Holden at www.defenceofthefaith.org

Mind The Gap! A gap between churches and other forms of gatherings in NSW has been closed. From 1 June up to 50 people will be able to gather in churches, just like in a club and other places. The government ini-tially eased the regulations for hospitality venues – clubs, pubs and restaurants, but left the limit on places of worship at ten. But this gap has now been closed, even before it came into effect by another announcement. Eternity News reports that Vic, WA, SA, ACT can have up to 20 seated patrons in any enclosed space, increasing to 50 on 21 June. In Qld and Tas the limit is ten. The four metre rule still ap-plies in every state. A gathering of 50 will require a space of 200 square metres, with a 1.5 metre gap between people. This will rule out most church buildings. This took place after the Anglican Church held talks with the NSW Government about re-opening churches for up to 50 people. Sydney Archbishop Glenn Davies engaged in talks with Cabinet Ministers as well as officials from NSW Health. Dr Davies told Sydneyanglicans.net he has also written to the Pre-mier assuring her of the church’s readiness to return to Sunday services. Dr Davies says churches should at least be on a par with pubs, clubs and other such organisations. Because of concern about the possible respiratory spread of COVID‐19 as church members sing, Dr Davies recommends no congregational singing as a precautionary measure. He says churches should wait for singing until there is clear medical evidence that it is safe to do so.

– Eternity News at biblesociety.org.au

CORRECTION: In our previous issue we carried an arti-cle on Page 7 in the For Further Read‐ing article titled: Christian Infobites, Answers in Genesis. It should have read Creation Infobytes, Creation Ministries International, creation.com

Unlike al‐Qaeda, which peddles a narrative of victim-hood, Islamic State peddles a positive and apocalyptic narrative: ‘The End Times are upon us so reach out and grasp the success that Allah has promised!’ Islamic State has been exhorting its supporters to see the COVID-19 pandemic as Allah's vengeance on Islam's enemies, in particular China (which persecutes Uyghur Muslims), Shi'ite Iran, the 'crusader' West and Russia. Consequently, IS is exhorting its fighters to exploit the opportunity Allah has given them and attack infidels and apostates in their moment of crisis. Despite being decimated and in disarray, IS-affiliated jihadists have responded to the call and escalated their terrorism, primarily in Iraq where the group is resurgent. In Indonesia, IS‐aligned jihadist groups, Jamaah An-sharut Daulah and Mujahidin Indonesia Timur, have es-calated their terrorist rhetoric and activity. These groups are small; indeed, one researcher recently de-scribed the Central Sulwesi's Poso-based MIT as 'a small but stubbornly resistant group of ragtag terror-ists ... hiding out in the hills'. It is also true that Indone-sia's counter-terrorism force, Densus 88, has been very effective in keeping these groups contained. However, even one 'ragtag terrorist' can do incredible damage if he manages to slip through the net. On Sunday 13 May 2018 one family belonging to JAD bombed three churches in Surabaya, killing 13 and wounding 43. On 8 April 2020 the Poso-based MIT jihadists ab-ducted Daeng Topo from his farm in Central Sulawesi. They later released an IS-inspired video in which Topo

was condemned as a police informant and beheaded. On 15 April two MIT jihadists, one bearing a decrepit firearm, attacked a police officer outside a bank in Poso attempting to seize his service weapon. A scuffle en-sued and the police officer was shot in the chest (non-fatally) Police chased down and killed the two jihadists. On 19 April MIT released another IS-inspired video, in which local farmer Ambo Ajeng, known affectionately as Papa Angga, is accused of being a police informant and shot through the head at point blank range. The fu-neral for the two MIT jihadists killed on 15 April was live-streamed on Facebook. Researchers at Melbourne University report that the footage reveals 'a surpris-ingly deep reservoir of local support for MIT'. Hun-dreds of MIT supporters, young and old, lined the streets, chanting IS slogans, waving black IS flags and saluting the dead MIT jihadists as heroes. The footage has reportedly 'energised' IS supporters across the archipelago. Around 20% of Central Sulawesi residents are Christian; most are Protestant and live in the Poso Regency, which is around 56% Christian. Bigger and more sophisticated than MIT, Jamaah An-sharut Daulah is an Indonesia-wide network of some 24 Indonesian militant groups that have pledged alle-giance to Islamic State. On 13 April 2020 anti-terror forces raided a house in Muna, an island in south-east Sulawesi, where five JAD terrorists were holed up. One attacked the officers and was shot dead; the remaining four, from Central Java and South Sulawesi, were ar-rested. Police confiscated bladed weapons, long-range firearms and bomb-making equipment. On 26 and 27 April counter-terrorism raids targeted JAD cells at each end of Java. Three JAD suspects were arrested in the raid in Sidoarjo, a suburb of Surabaya, East Java. Three more JAD suspects, one of whom is a former air force serviceman, were arrested in the raid in Serang, the capital of Banten Province. Police also netted 2,300 rounds of ammunition (of the type used in assault ri-fles and the service weapons used by the Indonesian military and police), along with a camouflaged sniper rifle (of the sort used by Kostrad Army Strategic Com-mand) and several automatic pistols. It is reportedly 'the most Indonesian militants are known to have had in their possession in almost two decades'. Rooted as it is in IS's COVID-19 narrative, JAD's rhetoric is profoundly anti-China. The risk is that this could translate into attacks on Chinese-owned busi-nesses and Indonesia's Chinese community, more than 40 percent of whom are Christian.

NEW LIFE – 1 June 2020 – Page SixNEW LIFE – 1 June 2020 – Page Six

MATTERS FOR PRAYER MATTERS FOR PRAYER withwith Elizabeth KendalElizabeth Kendal

INDONESIA: Terror Threat Rising

Elizabeth Kendal is the author of Turn Back The Battle: Isaiah Speaks To Christians Today (Deror Books, Melbourne, Australia, Dec 2012) which offers a Biblical response to persecution and existential threat; and After Saturday Comes Sunday: Understanding The Christian Crisis In The Middle East (Wipf and Stock, Eugene, OR, USA, June 2016). See www.ElizabethKendal.com

Please Pray That Almighty God Will: • intervene to sever the supply lines that enable fight-ers and weapons to flow between Indonesia and the southern Philippines; may any 'leakage' of weapons from Indonesia's security forces also be stopped. • facilitate the capture of Poso-based MIT terrorist leader Ali Kalora, along with anyone who is plotting evil against Indonesian civilians and particularly against the Lord's people. • protect Indonesia's churches, Christians and Chinese community from Islamic State-inspired terrorism as Indonesia struggles to contain the COVID-19 pan-demic crisis. • comfort and encourage the Church in Central Su-lawesi, where memories of brutal Islamic jihad are still raw; may the church's message of peace and fel-lowship be embraced widely.

'Blessed are the peacemakers ...' (Matthew 5:9).

A local pastor in the Chinese city of Wuhan, thought to be the origin of the novel coronavirus, was taken away by police for interrogation while he was leading an online meeting of Christians on evangelism and church planting, according to the Chinese Christian Fellowship of Righteousness. The Zoom meeting, Proclaim Jesus Gospel Gath‐ering, was underway when the police in Hubei Province’s Wuhan city came over, looked for evan-gelism materials or publications, and took away the pastor, identified only as Luo, from Nanjing Road Church, the US-based Christian persecution watchdog International Christian Concern learned from the Chinese Christian Fellowship of Righ‐teousness, which speaks out in public as Chris-tians. Pastor Luo was taken to a police station and in-terrogated for more than four hours. Not afraid, Luo told the police that Christians served the city during Wuhan’s most difficult moments, leaving policemen speechless. ‘I rebuke them, calling them out that they are not minding business that they should be mind-ing,’ Luo was quoted as saying. ‘Christians disre-garded their own lives to do good things, yet the police treat them as the bad guys, this is unrea-sonable.’ ‘I also told them a few times in all seriousness, I will only live for Christ, I will not argue on other matters. However, I will never change [my persis-tence] about evangelism.’ The officials then let the pastor go. Earlier this month, police violently raided a house church in Xiamen city in China’s Fujian province during Sunday worship, injuring several worshipers in the process. Dozens of security guards and officers from the local Ethnic and Reli-gious Bureau arrived at Xingguang Church, which meets at a residence, calling the gathering ‘illegal’. All the churches outside of the government-con-trolled Three‐Self Patriotic Movement are consid-

ered illegal by the Chinese Communist Party. Though male church members attempted to block the door, police stormed into the room, yelling at church members while demanding them to stop recording with their mobile phones. When church members refused, police dragged several members out the door and snatched their phones. In a video shared by preacher Yang Xibo from Xunsiding Church, the police could be seen pressing church members’ heads down to the ground while authorities yelled, ‘Stop filming!’ The church was previously raided by authori-ties from five different departments on April 19. Additionally, the church’s preacher, Titus Yu, re-ceived advance notice of administrative punish-ment for ‘violating several articles of the religious regulations.’ Last month, several members of China’s heavily persecuted Early Rain Covenant Church were ar-rested for participating in an online Easter wor-ship service on Zoom and ordered to cease all religious activity. The 5,000-member Sichuan house church, led by pastor Wang Yi, had not been able to gather in person since the commu-nist regime shut down the church in 2018 and ar-rested their pastor and other leaders. Since then, it had opted to gather online. Early Rain Covenant Church was first raided during a Sunday evening service in December 2018 after authorities claimed it violated reli-gious regulations because it was not registered with the government. Wang was detained along with his wife, Jiang Rong, and more than 100 members of his congregation. Pastor Wang was later sentenced to nine years in prison on charges of subversion and illegal business operations. According to Gina Goh, ICC’s regional manager for Southeast Asia, China has clearly resumed its crackdown on Christianity after the threat posed by the coronavirus pan-demic has reduced. – Christian Headlines

‘I WILL ONLY LIVE FOR CHRIST’ ‘I WILL ONLY LIVE FOR CHRIST’

NEW LIFE – 1 June 2020 – Page SevenNEW LIFE – 1 June 2020 – Page Seven

Wuhan Pastor Interrogated After Zoom Evangelism Event

TURN BACK THE BATTLE: TURN BACK THE BATTLE: Isaiah Speaks To Christians Today.Isaiah Speaks To Christians Today.

With persecution escalating globally, Elizabeth Kendal calls us to revisit the prophecy of Isaiah, maintaining that Isaiah 1-39 provides an unambiguous treatise on how God's people are to respond to persecution, suffering and existential threat.

For purchasing options, visit: www.ElizabethKendal.com

NEW LIFE – 1 June 2020 – Page EightNEW LIFE – 1 June 2020 – Page Eight

‘WITH CHRIST ... BETTER BY FAR’ ‘WITH CHRIST ... BETTER BY FAR’

By the time a 37‐year‐old Zacharias preached, at the invitation of Billy Graham, to the inaugural International Conference for Itinerant Evangelists in Amsterdam in 1983, he was on his way to be-coming one of the foremost defenders of Chris-tianity’s intellectual credibility. A year later, he founded Ravi Zacharias International Ministries, with the mission of Helping The Thinker Believe And The Believer Think. In the time between the sari seller’s prediction and the founding of RZIM, Zacharias had immi-grated to Canada, taken the Gospel across North America, prayed with military prisoners in Viet-nam and ministered to students in a Cambodia on the brink of collapse. He had also undertaken a global preaching trip as a newly licensed minister with The Christian and Missionary Alliance, along with his wife, Margie, and eldest daughter, Sarah. This trip started in England, worked eastwards through Europe and the Middle East and finished on the Pacific Rim; all-in-all that year, Zacharias preached nearly 600 times in over a 12 countries. It was the culmination of a remarkable transfor-mation set in motion when Zacharias, recovering in a Delhi hospital from a suicide attempt at age 17, was read the words of Jesus recorded in the Bible by the Apostle John: ‘Because I live, you will live also.’ In response, Zacharias surrendered his life to Christ and offered up a prayer that if he emerged from the hospital, he would leave no stone unturned in his pursuit of truth. Once Zacharias found the truth of the Gospel, his pas-sion for sharing it burned bright to the very end. Frederick Antony Ravi Kumar Zacharias was born in Madras, now Chennai, in 1946, in the shadow of the resting place of the Apostle Thomas, known to the world as ‘the Doubter’, but to Zacharias as ‘the Great Questioner.’ Zacharias’s affinity with Thomas meant he was always more interested in the questioner than the question it-self. An unremarkable student, Zacharias was more interested in cricket than books, until his encounter with the Gospel in that hospital bed. Zacharias saw the Lord’s hand at work in his family’s history and he infused RZIM with the same transgenerational and transcultural heart for the Gospel. He created a ministry that tran-scended his personality, where every speaker pre-sented the truth in the context of the contemporary. Zacharias believed if you achieved that, your message would always be necessary.

Thirty‐six years since RZIM’s establishment, where once there was a single speaker, now there are nearly 100 gifted speakers who on any given night can be found sharing the Gospel at events across the globe; where once it was run from Zacharias’s home, now the ministry has a pres-ence in 15 countries on five continents. Zacharias’s passion and urgency to take the Gospel to all nations was forged in Vietnam, throughout the summer of ’71. Zacharias had im-migrated to Canada in 1966, a year after winning a preaching award at a Youth for Christ congress in Hyderabad. It was there, in Toronto, that Ruth Jeffrey, the veteran missionary to Vietnam, heard him preach. She invited him to her adopted land. That summer, Zacharias, only just 25, found him-self flown across the country by helicopter gun-ship to preach at military bases, in hospitals and in prisons to the Vietcong. Most nights Zacharias and his translator Hien Pham would fall asleep to the sound of gunfire. On one trip across remote land, Zacharias and his travel companions’ car broke down. The lone jeep that passed ignored their roadside waves. They finally cranked the engine to life and set off, only to come across the same jeep a few miles on, overturned and riddled with bullets, all four pas-sengers dead. He later said of this moment, ‘God will stop our steps when it is not our time, and He will lead us when it is.’ Days later, Zacharias and his translator stood at the graves of six missionar-ies, killed unarmed when the Vietcong stormed their compound. It was that level of trust in God, and the desire to stand beside those who minister in areas of great risk, that is a hallmark of RZIM. Its support for Christian evangelists in places where many ministries fear to tread, including northern Nige-ria, Pakistan, South African townships, the Middle East and North Africa, can be traced back to that formative graveside moment. Zacharias’s standing on the world stage spanned the continents and the decades. In 1992, Zacharias’s apologetics ministry ex-panded from the political arena to academia with the launching of the first ever Veritas Forum, hosted on the campus of Harvard University. Zacharias was asked to be the keynote speaker at the inaugural event. The lectures Zacharias deliv-ered that weekend would form the basis of the best-selling book, Can Man Live Without God?

Ravi Zacharias Called Home (Continued from Page One)

NEW LIFE – 1 June 2020 – Page NineNEW LIFE – 1 June 2020 – Page Nine

FAITH NEWS FROM AROUND THE WORLD ... FAITH NEWS FROM AROUND THE WORLD ... With STAN HUNT With STAN HUNT

Surprise Results From Pandemic Survey A survey of more than 1,000 Christians in the UK has revealed how people are coping with lock-down. Conducted by Christian charity Agape and the Neighbourhood Prayer Network, respondents were asked about relationships, their community and health. 90% said their relationship with God has helped them deal with the pandemic. Lesley Cheesman, national director of Agape UK, says that the survey reveals prayer has been really im-portant in coping through this time. She says that 86% of the people say their marriage relationship has improved, with fewer arguments and less irri-tation. One area of need was revealed to be emo-tional struggles. 43% said they had more mental

health issues during the lockdown. 61% of re-spondents had helped an older neighbour during the lockdown. The survey was done to encourage the Church to see how people are coping.

– Premier News Radio Ministries Penetrate Borders Advancing The Ministries Of The Gospel (or AMG International) is reaching people interested in Christianity who live in countries hostile to the Gospel. They focus their radio ministry on high-risk areas and talking with people who are not safely able to publicly explore Christianity. Mr Passons believes the Covid-19 pandemic has pro-vided a fertile ground for the radio ministry.

– Mission Network News

KENYA: ‘Taking It To The Streets’ A church in Kenya has taken its services on the road. A team from the church travels to apart-ment blocks delivering sermons and music from the street below. The Sunday services, nicknamed B2B for Balcony To Balcony, is led by Rev Paul Macharia from All Saints' Cathedral in Kiambu County. He says this allows people to attend church while being able to maintain coronavirus social distancing rules. CBN News reports Kenya's government has banned all churches from open-ing their doors to prevent further spread of the virus. But this service has been approved as safe. The service uses amplifiers and loudspeakers, and appears popular among residents, with large turnouts of families on their balconies. Kenya has confirmed 1,029 infections of the coronavirus, with 50 deaths. – CBN Christian World News BARNABAS FUND: Feeding The 500,000 Barnabas Fund is feeding more than 500,000 Christians in desperate situations due to Covid-19 lockdowns in 29 countries. In some countries people were already facing food insecurity due to swarms of locusts destroying their crops. Many Christians live in crowded conditions where it is impossible to keep the recommended safe dis-tance to reduce the risk of Covid-19 infection.

Others struggle to access soap and basic hand-washing facilities. Barnabas Fund has provided hygiene products for more than 21,000 Chris-tians. A spokesman for the charity says they are grateful for the ongoing generosity of their sup-porters which makes their ministry possible. Christians under lockdown can no longer gather for worship, which means that many pastors are not receiving income. Barnabas Fund has pro-vided support to almost 7,000 struggling pastors.

– Barnabas Fund NORTH KOREA: Aid Gets Through At the outset of the Covid-19 pandemic North Korea took extreme measures to lock down the country. They claim there are no confirmed cases of coronavirus in the country. Peter Lee, with Cor-nerstone Ministries International, which supports the underground church in North Korea, says the border between North Korea and China is blocked. He says no-one can come and go, yet God opens the way. According to God Reports maga-zine despite the lockdown, Cornerstone has been able to send thousands of digital materials to North Korean underground churches. In addition to Bible study materials, Cornerstone has been sending funds to cover living expenses and daily necessities to support the underground church.

Us Secretary Of State Mike Pompeo Says He Reads The Bible Every Day Christian Today reports that in an interview with Pastor Greg Laurie, Mr Pompeo said he reads two books each morning – the Bible and the day's intelligence report about threats at home and around the world. Sometimes matching the two is difficult, he says. The Secretary of State says he goes back to the most important Book every day to remind himself that the Lord is looking out over this world. In meetings with high ranking officials, he says he is confident the Lord is watching over everyone in the room. Pastor Laurie reports that last week more than a million people around the world tuned-in to his online church service. Hundreds of thousands of them were between the ages of 18 and 34.

– Christian Today

Franklin Graham Calls For Calm In the midst of the turmoil manifest throughout the USA, Franklin Graham has issued this challenge: As our nation convulses with pain, anger, and ha-tred, this is a moment for Christians to shine for our Lord, who is the Prince of Peace. The Bible says, ‘Do not let the sun go down on your anger’ (Ephesians 4.26, ESV), yet each sundown is bringing with it the darkness of more violence and destruction in more cities. Scripture also tells us, ‘Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good’ (Romans 12.21). This means doing what we personally can do to right wrongs and help the hurting. It also means praying fervently to our Heavenly Father for Him to change hearts and heal our land. The One ‘who is in you’ – Christ – ‘is greater than he who is in the world’ (1 John 4.4). Because this is true, I am calling on all churches across our nation to make Sunday, 31 May, a time for special intercession for our nation, whether in person or online.

Pray for PEACE, because ‘the anger of man does not produce the righteousness of God’ (James 1.20). Pray for PERSPECTIVE, because ‘the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, open to reason, full of mercy and good fruits, impartial and sincere’ (James 3.17). Pray for PATIENCE, because of God’s ‘kindness and forbearance and patience’ toward us all (Romans 2.4). Pray for an OUTPOURING of God’s wisdom and di-rection for our leaders and officials who are dealing with this crisis. Ask God to change hearts and heal this divide in our nation. May 31 is Pentecost Sunday, which marks the day the Holy Spirit filled Christ’s followers after He as-cended back to the Father. There is no better time for us to seek a fresh visitation from God upon our lives, homes, churches, communities and country.

– Franklin Graham

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IN TROUBLED TIMES ... IN TROUBLED TIMES ...

As a person of peace, ‘Big Floyd’ opened up ministry opportunities in the Third Ward housing projects of Houston. The rest of the world knows George Floyd from several min-utes of mobile phone footage captured during his final hours. But in Houston’s Third Ward, they know Floyd for how he lived for decades – a mentor to a generation of young men and a ‘person of peace’, ushering ministries into the area. Before moving to Minneapolis for a job oppor-tunity through a Christian work program, the 46-year-old spent almost his entire life in the historically black Third Ward, where he was called ‘Big Floyd’ and regarded as an ‘OG,’ a de-facto community leader and elder statesmen, his ministry partners say. Floyd spoke of breaking the cycle of violence he saw among young people and used his influ-ence to bring outside ministries to the area to do discipleship and outreach, particularly in the Cuney Homes housing project, locally known as ‘the Bricks.’ ‘George Floyd was a person of peace sent from the Lord that helped the Gospel go forward in a place that I never lived in,’ said Patrick PT Ng-wolo, pastor of Resurrection Houston, which held services at Cuney. ‘The platform for us to reach that neighbourhood and the hundreds of people we reached through that time and up to now was

built on the backs of people like Floyd,’ he told Christianity Today. Ngwolo and fellow leaders met Floyd in 2010. He was a towering 6’6” guest who showed up at a benefit concert they put on for the Third Ward. From the start, Big Floyd made his priorities clear. ‘He said, “I love what you’re doing. The neigh-borhood need it, the community need it, and if y’all about God’s business, then that’s my busi-ness”,’ said Corey Paul Davis, a Christian hip-hop artist who attended Resurrection Houston. The church expanded its involvement in the area, holding Bible studies and helping out with groceries and rides to doctor’s appointments. Floyd didn’t just provide access and protection; he lent a helping hand as the church put on ser-vices, three-on-three basketball tournaments, barbecues, and community baptisms.

– Kate Shellnutt, Christianity Today

George Floyd Left A Gospel Legacy In Houston

George Floyd – Credit Nijalon Dunn, Courtesy Resurrection Houston

CHINA: Authorities Demolish House Church As ‘More And More Believe In Christianity. The Chinese government’s persecution of unreg-istered churches (‘house churches’) is becoming more severe because ‘more and more people be-lieve in Christianity’, said a member of a congre-gation whose ‘house church’ in Jiangxi province was demolished by the authorities on 27 April.

– Barnabas Fund MYANMAR (BURMA) – Abducted, Presumed‐Dead Pastor Released Alive After 14 Months Captivity A pastor in Myanmar (Burma) who was abducted from his home at gunpoint by Buddhist militants on 19 January 2019, and reported killed, has been released alive in Rakhine State. Pastor Tun N. was

released on 7 March by his kidnappers, thought to be members of the Arakan Army, after 14 months held captive. Now reunited with his wife and three children, the 42-year old described his cap-tivity as ‘the most hellish time of my life, be it spiritually, mentally, and, in particular, physically’. The kidnap of Pastor Tun N. came weeks before the abduction of Pastor T. Tun (57), a father of five, who is thought to still be in captivity. Thank God for answering the many prayers for the safe return of Pastor Tun N. to his family (Mark 11.24). Ask our healing LORD to comfort the pastor’s physical, mental and spiritual wounds (Jeremiah 30.17). Pray also for the release for Pastor T. Tun.

– Barnabas Fund

PERSECUTION WATCH PERSECUTION WATCH

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Two US Senators Call On President Trump To Deploy Special Envoy To Nigeria To End Christian Genocide Two Republican senators are asking President Trump to protect Christians facing ongoing brutal persecution from Islamic groups in Nigeria. Iowa Senators Joni Ernst and Chuck Grassley recently sent him a letter, asking the President to consider deploying a special envoy to help end the Chris-tian genocide in Nigeria. In their letter, the sena-tors point to 40,000 Nigerian deaths tied to the Islamic terrorist group Boko Haram. Along with other Islamic militants known as the Fulani herdsmen, the Boko Haram has long threatened the lives of Christians in the West African country. CBN News reported earlier this month that a report released by a Nigerian orga-nization estimates around 620 Christians were killed in the African country by Islamic militants during the first five months of 2020 alone. Militant Fulani herdsmen and the Boko Haram have intensified their anti-Christian violence in

the old Middle Belt and Northeast regions of the country with the burning or destroying of Chris-tian centres of worship and learning. In addition, hundreds of homes have been destroyed. No fewer than 620 defenceless Christians have been killed since the year began with no reprisal action taken by the government or the Nigerian military forces against the Fulani or the Boko Haram. ‘The atrocities against Christians have gone unchecked and risen to an alarming degree with the country's security forces and concerned polit-ical actors looking the other way or colluding with the Jihadists,’ the report said. The mainstream media has remained largely silent as the Muslim terrorists' merciless killing of Nigerian Christians rages on. Nigeria is ranked 12th on Open Doors' 2020 World Watch List of countries where Christians suffer the most perse-cution. – CBN News via Breaking Christian News

Hong Kong Loses Its Liberty On Friday 22 May China's Premier Li Keqiang announced that the National People's Congress would write national security legislation into Hong Kong law, bypassing ('and thus fatally neutering') Hong Kong’s Legislative Council. This, as Benedict Rogers of Hong Kong Watch notes, 'effectively ends "one country, two systems" in Hong Kong.' The decision was passed (rubber stamped) by a vote of the Congress on Thursday 28 May. Hong Kong is home to 850,000 Christians (12.4% of the population), some 1,500 churches and 35 Bible Colleges. It has long been 'a vital nerve centre for [Christian] media' and 'the springboard for evangelising on the mainland'. Hong Kong's loss of freedom will be a massive blow to the Church in China. Please pray that our Almighty God will grace the Church in Hong Kong, in particular her pastors, teachers, evangelists and leaders, with wisdom and courage to navi-gate the rapidly changing environment; and that He will redeem the situation.

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Conversation is the usual basis of relationship. The Upper Room Discourse that began with an acted parable (John 13:1–17) now ends with the Lord Jesus praying. The New Testament records that Jesus prays often and almost all are ad-dressed to the Father: vv.1,5,21,24 – ‘Father’; v.11 – ‘Holy Father’; v.25 – ‘Righteous Father’. This is not a communal prayer, but a prayer of God the Son to God the Father. The theme here is glory, the word from which we get doxology. ‘Glory’ appears more than 40 times in John. It means to magnify, elevate, and show forth the splendour and the true worth of God. Jesus asks the Father to glorify Him, that He

may glorify the Fa-ther (v.1). There is no rivalry or com-petition here be-tween the Father and the Son. The cross is the place where Jesus is glorified through His obedi-ence; and the Fa-ther is glorified for His plan that the Son obeys. Jesus has authority to grant eternal life,

which is to know God through His Son, to those whom the Father gave Him (vv.2,3), and He has completed the work. It is our greatest privilege to know God. We are God the Father’s gift to the Son and the Son’s gift to us is eter-nal life. Through faith in Christ, we can personally know the one true God and commune with Him (v.3). All true prayer is directed to God the Father by a child of God, through the merits of the Son of God, Jesus Christ our Lord. Jesus now prays that His pre-existent glory, which He had with the Father, and which has been veiled on Earth by His humanity, may be re-turned to Him (v.5), showing that He is really part of the triune and one true God. Through the life, death, and resurrection of the Son, we by grace have been adopted into the family of the one true God. We can pray confi-dently to the glorious Father, in the name of His glorious Son. As God’s children, our prayerful con-cern is His glory. We ought not seek self-glorifica-tion and ambitious self-promotion in any way; but live for the glory of the One who has done ev-erything on our behalf.

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JOURNEY THROUGH JOHN JOURNEY THROUGH JOHN withwith David CookDavid Cook

Jesus’ Great Conversation Read John 17:1-5

Think Through: We are not to be ‘parachute’ pray-ers (in an emergency only); nor ought we to be ‘pretend’ pray-ers (praying only as a superstitious rite). It is said that our prayers re-flect our belief; our prayers are our creeds. What do your prayers reveal about your belief in God and His ways?

Reprinted from Our Daily Bread Journey Through Series® – Journey Through John by David Cook (Copyright © 2017) published by Discovery House. Used with permission of Discovery House.

All rights reserved. For further enquiries please visit: journeythrough.org or email: australia@odb.org

SEEN ON FACEBOOK:SEEN ON FACEBOOK: WORDS OF WISDOM:WORDS OF WISDOM:‘Two qualifications are needed for Heaven: forgiveness and holiness. The one cancels our sinful past; the other prepares us for our sinless future.’ ‘If any human beings find themselves in hell, they will have no one but them-selves to blame. If any find themselves in Heaven, they will have no one but the Lord to praise.’ – David Pawson (who recently went home to Heaven.)

– Contributed by Merv Olsen

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CPX Announces New Book To Help Christians Under‐stand How Muslims View Jesus The Centre For Contemporary Christianity is about to release a new book from Richard Shu-mack. The book, Jesus Through Muslim Eyes, is a ‘sensitive and nuanced exploration of Muslim beliefs about Jesus’. It is available for pre-order through Koorong, or can be ob-tained now as an eBook from Amazon.

Curtailing abortion is the way to secure the nation's economic future, instead of relying on increased migration, according to Fam-ilyVoice Australia. ‘If abortion stopped tomorrow, there would be 80,000 more children in schools every year, learning to become productive members of the community,’ said FamlyVoice spokesman Darryl Budge. ‘The Federal Government should dis-courage termination of pregnancy by removing Medicare fund-ing of surgical abortion,’ Darryl Budge said. His comments responded to a statement issued by Prime Minister Scott Morrison, flagging the need for increased migra-tion. ‘Without migration, Australia's population would be going backwards, but migration is not the answer,’ Darryl Budge said. ‘Abortion is killing Australia and its future.’

– Darryl Budge, FamilyVoice Australia

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WITNESS PAGE WITNESS PAGE

‘You‘You shall beshall be witnesseswitnesses unto Me ...’ unto Me ...’ Witnessing inWittenberg.