August 16, 2006

• Did you know…

  
  

  From 2,000,000 to 3,000,000 died of genocide during the Killing Fields in Cambodia in the 1970′s… this was merciless extermination of the educated/religious/handicapped (rape and torture also common)…
  About 937,000 died of genocide in Rwanda in 1994
  About 400,000 this century have been killed in Darfur, Sudan, mostly genocide (rape and torture also common)… this stat continues to climb, and many more killed in other parts of Sudan
  Likely more than 3,000,000 dead of starvation in North Korea in the past 10 years (rape and torture also common in prison camps)… this stat also continues to climb
  
  These are just a few stats of sadness, I was going to share a lot more, but I figured I would just stick to the most recent genocides/domicides.  Thats a lot of death right there… merciless death.  Witnesses in Rwanda claim that those doing the killing had an inhumane look in their eyes, a horrific/cold/merciless look about them.  The same was said of those who killed so many during the Killing Fields.  Christians weren’t prepared.  Few even knew or still don’t know that anything happened in these places.  And even in the aftermath, so few were ready to help.  Cambodia, now a few decades later, is still in shambles.  If North Korea were to open up and Christians could finally minister to all the starving people and thousands upon thousands of orphans… would we be ready?  I feel God pressing on my heart the need to wake up the church.  For too long I was deaf and numb to all the pain out there.  But now that my eyes are being opened, both shame and then urgency are coming upon me.  Some of my friends have seen some videos about North Korea and in their shock they don’t know what to do.  For now, we must pray for this world, especially the broken.  We need to pray for the church to wake up and to care for the broken and oppressed as God commands us (Isaiah 58, 61, countless other passages).  We need to be doing this now, no matter how old we are or where we are living.  Please pray for these things.  And pray for His kingdom to come, so all the hurting may end. 
  
  Come, Lord Jesus.  Come quickly…
  
  David Crowder Band - Come Awake (a song written expressing his prayer for the church to wake up and rise up)

  
  

  Edit – This entry wasn’t meant to discourage, but to encourage prayer and action

  • 9:04 am
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