May 2013

EVERYHOME

More than one million Christians march for Jesus in Brazil

May 2013

Andre Penner

Taking the Gospel to Every Home

One million evangelical Christians march for Jesus in Brazil The picture on the front page is more The effort also aims to unite churches in than 1 million evangelical Christians who the expression of faith, love, gratitude and participated in the annual "March for Jesus" exaltation of the name of Jesus Christ. in Sao Paulo, Brazil.

"The march is a peaceful act and a conscious The number of people participating is and exciting movement of God in our day," extremely high - at least 1 million, possibly they say. more.

Brazil's evangelical population is exploding, Each year, hundreds of Protestant churches jumping from 6.6 percent to 22.2 percent of and non-denominational groups take part in the overall Brazilian population, according to the march and hear messages from pastors the 2010 census. This means that evangelical Christianity is the fastest growing religious and preachers. segment in Brazil.

For about 12 hours hundreds of floats from different parts of the country and participants The census results from the Brazilian Institute of the march trekked across 2.5 miles with of Geography and Statistics published June music blaring and hands lifted to the sky as 29 shows that the evangelical population part of an effort to reveal how the Church is of Brazil increased by 16 million people not confined within the walls of buildings over the 10 year period from 2000 to 2010, to 42.3 million. but alive and open to society.

AP Photo/Andre Penner

COLOMBIA Every Home for Christ's goal was to reach 50,000 homes door-to-door, distributing the Gospel messages “It Was All for You” and “The Path to Happiness.”

Praise the Lord that over 7,500 responses to the Gospel were recorded and 81 new Christ Groups were planted.

Several churches responded enthusiastically to the EHC vision of systematically taking the Gospel home-to-home. Goals were achieved through the open doors that were enhanced by such partnerships. Because of this many lives were touched and people understood the message of the cross for the first time.

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One elderly woman of 81 years old received the printed gospel message “It Was All for You” from an EHC worker and her husband read the Gospel booklet to her. Everyone was in tears as this woman said that in all her years, she had not realised God’s great love for her. She accepted Jesus into her heart with joy. A week later, the pioneer missionaries revisited the home to give her another message. They were told she had passed into the presence of the Lord. What a miracle to know that this woman was ushered into the arms of Jesus!

Pray for God to fill the evangelical church in Colombia with love for those without Christ.

Despite Colombia's violent history of war and persecution, this nation is experiencing open doors as people are turning their lives over to Jesus Christ!

Every Home for Christ / Every Home Global Concern Australia: PO Box 168 Penshurst NSW 2222 Telephone: (02) 9570 8211 Facsimile: (02) 9570 4738 New Zealand: PO Box 31-260 Milford North Shore City 0741 Telephone: Free call 0800 900 200 Facsimile: 0061 2 9570 4738 www.everyhome.org.au ehc@everyhome.org.au

Papua New Guinea Papua New Guinea is made up of one mainland and 600 islands. Many people live in the interiors of the main islands and need the Gospel as there are often no churches nearby. Also many people live on small scattered islands where they must use canoes or speed boats as their main transportation to the primary islands for goods and services.

Traditional beliefs and customs are very strong here while witchcraft and black magic hold the people in bondage. Also drugs, home brewed

alcohol and HIV/AIDS are common problems faced by the younger generation. Therefore, there is a need for the Gospel to be preached to every person and to plant Christ Groups on these islands in order to bring transformation.

The Gospel will be taken home-to-home, village-to-village as pictured on the opposite page.

Pray for the name of Jesus to be proclaimed in Papua New Guinea.

India - Jaleswar The state of Orissa is known as an area that has faced harsh resistance and opposition to the Gospel. But praise God that in the midst of such persecution the door is still open for the Gospel!

Jaleswar a major town in Balasore district adjacent to the border of West Bengal in the state of Orissa has over 150,000 people and has an average literacy rate of only 65 percent, which is actually higher than the national average. The people here worship idols and their ancestors and are still living in spiritual darkness. There are just a handful of Christians and no churches.

EHC plans to cover the entire area, 142 villages, with gospel literature; the plan is to reach a minimum of 40,000 homes!

Jaleswar is famous for vegetable products so many people come here to purchase vegetables at wholesale prices. Therefore, EHC wants to reach the farmers as well as the educated. It will be a great privilege to share the message of hope, joy and peace with the people of Jaleswar.

Pray that EHC workers will reach all 142 villages in this region of India for Christ!

Myanmar EHC Myanmar will see the distribution of thousands of pieces of gospel literature to reach 200,000 households with the printed Gospel sharing the message of salvation with no less than one million people!

In Mandalay, nearly 99 percent of the population is Buddhist; 0.1 percent is Christian; and the remaining number is made up of other religions. In Bago, most of the people are farmers and the percentages are similar. A place known for its exports of

mirrors, plywood, natural gas, rice and fish, the Ayeyarwaddy division differs in that Christian believers make up 18 percent of the population.

Mandalay is the ancient city of Myanmar kings. Buddhism is deeply rooted here, the centre of Myanmar, where life is bustling with people busy with all trades.

Pray EHC workers will be empowered by the Holy Spirt as they take the Gospel home-to-home.

"Let's work together to take Jesus to homes around the world."

Papua New Guinea

Titanic too big to sink!

The RMS Titanic was a British passenger liner that sank in the North Atlantic Ocean on 15 April 1912 after colliding with an iceberg during her maiden voyage from Southampton, UK to New York City, US. The sinking of Titanic caused the deaths of 1,502 people in one of the deadliest peacetime maritime disasters in modern history. The RMS Titanic was the largest ship afloat at the time of her maiden voyage. She was the second of three Olympic class ocean liners operated by the White Star, she was built by the Harland and Wolff shipyard in Belfast with Thomas Andrews, who perished with the ship, as her naval architect. On her Maiden voyage, she carried 2,224 passengers and crew.

Under the command of Edward Smith, her passengers included some of the wealthiest

people in the world, as well as hundreds of emigrants from Great Britain and Ireland, Scandinavia and elsewhere throughout Europe seeking a new life in North America.

The ship was designed to be the last word in comfort and luxury, with an on-board gymnasium, swimming pool, libraries, highclass restaurants and opulent cabins. She also had a powerful wireless telegraph provided for the convenience of passengers as well as for operational use. Though she had advanced safety features such as watertight compartments and remotely activated watertight doors, she lacked enough lifeboats to accommodate all of those aboard. Because of outdated maritime safety regulations, she carried only enough lifeboats for 1,178 people - slightly more than half of the number travelling on the

100 Years later we are asking "Is the world's financial Titanic too big to sink?

Have we hit a financial iceberg? " see next page maiden voyage, and one-third of her total passenger and crew capacity.

Titanic called at Cherbourg in France and Queenstown (now Cobh) in Ireland. On 14 April 1912, four days into the crossing and about 375 miles (600 km) south of Newfoundland, she hit an iceberg at 11:40pm ship's time. The collision caused Titanic's hull plates to buckle inwards along her starboard side and opened five of her sixteen watertight compartments into the sea; the ship gradually filled with water. Meanwhile, passengers and some crew members were evacuated in lifeboats, many of which were launched only partly loaded. A disproportionate number of men were left aboard because of a "women and children first"protocol followed by the

officers loading lifeboats. By 2:20am, the ship broke apart and foundered,with well over one thousand people still aboard. Just under two hours after the Titanic foundered, the Cunard liner RMS Carpathia arrived on the scene of the sinking, where she brought aboard an estimated 705 survivors.

The disaster was greeted with worldwide shock and outrage at the huge loss of life and the regulatory and operational failures that had led to it.

The wreck of the Titanic remains on the seabed, split in two and gradually disintegrating at a depth of 12,415 feet (3,784 m).

100 Years Later!

100 years ago they said the Titanic could not sink and yet, on April 14th, 1912, the mighty Titanic struck an iceberg and sank 2 miles to the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean, killing more than 1500 of its passengers.

100 years later we are told the financial iceberg threatening our nations will not sink our national economy but one stark reality has been when Cyprus hit their financial iceberg, a debt the Cyprus government incurred but could not repay to the European Union. The Cyprus government closed the banks so the people of Cyprus for a time could not take their personal funds out of the bank and now the banks have opened again, the government have limited the amount of money people can take out of their personal bank accounts. This presents a dangerous example of what a government can do with a private citizen's money.

We have also come to understand it is a dangerous time financially for the world's people as we have watched Europe on television and in the newspapers.

Yes, 100 years later we have a financial iceberg with the United States, the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand and other western nations, with governments who have incurred financial debts, putting every citizen in their countries thousands of dollars/pounds in debt as seen below...

United States National Debt is at $16 Trillion plus and each USA citizen in debt for US$52,415

United Kingdom National Debt is at $1 Trillion plus and each UK citizen in debt for ÂŁ18,678

Australian National Debt is at $265 Billion plus and each Australian citizen in debt for A$11,636

New Zealand National Debt is at $76 Billion plus and each NZ citizen in debt for NZ$17,723

http://www.nationaldebtclocks.org/debtclock/unitedstates United Kingdom Australia New Zealand

The Bible warns that when God pours out His judgements on nations, He begins by crippling the economy!

Ezekiel 16:49-50 is God telling Israel...

"Now this was the sin of your sister Sodom: She and her daughters were arrogant, overfed and unconcerned; they did not help the poor and needy. They were haughty and did detestable things before me. Therefore I did away with them as you have seen."

The prophet Ezekiel is describing a time of sin in Israel that was beyond his comprehension.

He told the people, "You've become more wicked than Sodom! You've committed even greater abominations than that evil society.

You're marked by shame and disgrace!" (see Ezekiel 16:53-58). Ezekiel also made it clear that God would move in judgement on Israel at a precise time - and He would bring down their booming prosperity!

But the truth was, God already had a date set - a specific hour - at which he would cripple Israel's economy and lifestyle: "It came to pass in the ninth year of his reign, in the tenth month, in the tenth day of the month, that Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came...against Jerusalem...and built forts against it round about"(Jeremiah 52:4)

Suddenly, in a time of great prosperity, Israel was surrounded by Nebuchadnezzar I wonder how Ezekiel would react today and his mighty Chaldean army. Overnight, if he were to walk the streets of our cities the Israelites' lifestyle changed completely! and observe all the wealth and prosperity we're experiencing. I believe that holy man God is precise in his judgements! He has a would be speechless! He'd be shocked by all time clock for all his actions. And He has the arrogance, the hatred toward God, the already marked the day when he'll move materialism, the flaunting of sins, the crime against the nations and their economy and their lifestyle - and nothing can change that and drugs. set time except our repentance!

Ezekiel's prophecies of judgement upon Israel were lost in the hustle and bustle of God says, "If my people, who are called by that society's prosperity. Jerusalem and my name, will humble themselves and pray her sister cities were caught up in trading, and seek my face and turn from their wicked building, feasting, enjoying the good life. ways, then will I hear from heaven and will They had "fullness of bread"- that is, plenty forgive their sins and will heal their land." of goods - and an abundance of free time 2 Chronicles 7:14 for recreation and idleness. And they were - David Wilkerson proud of their luxurious lifestyle. To them, Ezekiel's warnings seemed completely out Trust God He also said! of touch with reality. Some of them even Psalm 128 "Blessed are all who fear the Lord,who thought of his preaching as entertainment. walk in His ways. You will eat the fruit of your They mocked him, saying to each other, "Let's labour; blessings and prosperity will be yours... go down and listen to that wild preacher!"

Thus is the man blessed who fears the Lord."

Israel - Prime Minister's Bible Study subsequently mistreated the children of Israel.

"Just as it was then, so it is today," said Netanyahu. "In Egypt, the regime has been replaced, in Syria the regime is falling, and this could also happen in the Palestinian Authority. Everyone knows that Hamas could take over the Palestinian Authority.

It could happen after an agreement, it could happen before an agreement, like it happened in Gaza."

Another secular Jew, President Shimon Peres, also invoked the Bible at a reception The Bible plays a key role in modern Israel, for Christian leaders. "Peace is not just a among Orthodox and secular Jews alike. desire, it is not just a call from heaven, I think Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu it can be attained and achieved," Peres said. is not religious, but he often invokes God "We have to act determinedly, honestly and and the biblical destiny of the Jewish people. courageously to achieve it. That was from Against that background, he has revived the very beginning, from the Old Testament the Prime Minister's Bible Circle, started by to the New Testament and throughout the Scriptures."

Israel's first leader David Ben-Gurion.

Netanyahu noted that the weekly Torah And at the age of 89, it seems that Peres has Portion from the first chapter of the also discovered the power of prayer: "If there book of Exodus is proof that some things is one thing that clearly unites all of us, it is never change. The chapter says that "a the prayer for peace, the hope for peace." new king arose over Egypt, who did not know Joseph"(verse 8), and this Pharaoh

by Shlomo MORDECHAI and Ryan JONES

YOU MUST COME THIS YEAR! Photo of Every Home for Christ tour group in Bethlehem.

Be sure you are in the photo next October!

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