In Libya, North Africa, where two major factions have been warring for control in what became known as the Libyan Civil War for years, a permanent ceasefire agreement for the entire region was signed on October 23rd, 2020.

According to Agence-France Presse (AFP), United Nations (UN) envoy Stephanie Williams from the United States (US) Department of State said on this day, “This is a moment that will go down in history.”

The two sides signed the agreement at the UN headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland at the end of a weeklong meeting of delegates from the UN-recognized Government of National Accord (GNA), which is based in the capital Tripoli, and the self-styled Libyan National Army (LNA), led by outlawed warlord Khalifa Haftar and based in Libya’s east.

Williams said that the two sides agreed to a complete, countrywide, and permanent ceasefire with immediate effect and to call for frontline forces to return to their bases and for the withdrawal of all foreign forces and mercenaries within three months.

Libya has been intermittently plagued by civil war for nearly 10 years, due to the Arab Spring uprising in 2011, during which the former dictator of 40 years, Muammar al-Gaddafi, was assassinated. After that, an 8-month civil war ensued, while another one has been raging since 2014, which has come to be known as the Second Libyan Civil War.

The two factions first announced in August 2020 that they would stop hostilities against each other, but the conflict has not come to an easy closure, due to disagreements such as both criticizing the other for supporting terrorist groups.

Source: News1 

Yet I will have mercy on the house of Judah,
Will save them by the Lord their God,
And will not save them by bow,
Nor by sword or battle,
By horses or horsemen.
(Hosea 1:7, NKJV)

Lord, Libya is said to have ended 9 years of civil war and signed a permanent ceasefire agreement. Thank You for allowing this stop to the long civil war in Libya. Lord, let there no longer be killing of one’s own brethren in Libya. Protect especially those who face danger to their lives without ever having heard the gospel.

The Lord said that He saves not by bows, swords, battle, horses, nor horsemen, but only by the Lord their God. Lord, save the land of Libya! There are so many people on this earth who need the gospel. The civil war seemed never-ending, but let there now be a truly neverending revival of countless fruit for Your kingdom being cultivated in this land!

It is still difficult to worship Jesus in Libya. Christians in Libya have been and still are being persecuted and killed for their faith. But we believe the Lord is working, even through these martyrs’ sacrifices! We believe that Libya will rejoice in the Lord as they come to know the truth and repent for the blood they have shed.

Lord! Please pour out bold faith upon all the Christians in Libya, that through the Libyan church, the Word of the Lord may be witnessed throughout Libya and all nations! Amen!

In the first half of this year of 2020 alone, more than 40 people were prosecuted for doing “missionary activity” in Russia, the British Christian Today (CT), a Christian media company, reported on October 1st.

According to the Norwegian religious freedom human rights organization Forum 18, 40 individuals and 2 organizations were prosecuted by the Russian government for missionary activity, of which 36 were convicted or fined.

Some were convicted as early as July 2016 according to Article 5, Clause 26 of the Administrative Code of the Russian Federation, which made “illegal missionary activities” a crime.

In addition, the court ordered two people indicted as foreign missionaries to be deported. They were transferred to immigration detention centers prior to their deportation, and one of them, a Tajik Christian, who was convicted in February 2020, is believed to be still in custody.

Forum 18 analyzed that the reason why the number of cases reported to the courts decreased between January and June was due to social and communication restrictions caused by the coronavirus.

In the case of convictions disclosed by this group, one Baptist pastor in Krasnodar in southern Russia was fined for conducting “unspecified missionary activities” without notifying Russia’s Ministry of Justice.

A leader of Saint Pius X, a Catholic religious group in the Republic of Tatarstan, a minority region in Russia, has been prosecuted for holding a Latin Mass in a hotel conference room with a foreign preacher who was not authorized to serve in missionary work by Russian authorities.

Meanwhile, in Chelyabinsk in western Russia, a Protestant pastor was fined for holding Sunday services in a residential building.

Source: Christian Daily

Fight the good fight of faith, lay hold on eternal life, to which you were also called and have confessed the good confession in the presence of many witnesses.
(1 Timothy 6:12, NKJV)

Lord, it has been reported that in the first half of this year of 2020 alone, there have been over 40 prosecutions for doing missionary activity with people in Russia.

Not only was it in the southern and western regions of Russia, but also in Tatarstan, Christian leaders have been fined for worshiping God. Russia convicts these people and are calling all unauthorized missionary activity illegal in this land.

In times like these, when God is leading the world towards the end, people will try to abolish worship for the Lord, and the world will try to define worship as sin. But, we believe that the Lord’s church will surely win through worship and prayer for God!

May all the churches in Tatarstan and Russia hope in eternal life as they fight the good fight of faith! Please Lord, let us walk that path joyfully, following Jesus, who suffered by dying on the cross for us. Help us to not fear suffering nor persecution but to win eternal life through fighting the good fight!

We believe You have called the churches of Russia and Tatarstan to testify of the Lord and be shining lights in this dark world. May all Christians in Russia rise up powerfully, operating on stronger and holier faith, as witnesses of Christ to many people in these difficult times!

Therefore, Lord, we believe that You will lead all the churches in Russia and Tatarstan to victory through the good fight of faith. Let every church in Russia and Tatarstan rise up as an army of the Holy Lord! They will not kneel before the world’s governments and powers but will be brave in Christ until Christ receives the ultimate victory of this war! Amen!

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Hello. My name is Toya. I’m a young woman from Mongolia.

I originally didn’t believe in Jesus, but I heard and learned about Jesus through some Christians friends I met. And now I believe in Jesus. At a recent school meeting, 10 out of the 11 students in 12th grade, including myself, were baptized. Hallelujah!

Each of my friends and I have decided on our own career paths and are about to go to college. We are all connected to local churches to continue to grow in our faith.

We are also going into deeper discipleship training together. I desire for my friends and I to become disciples of Jesus who are pleasing to God and who serve our people and the nations. Please pray for God to move hearts and open up all doors for the young generation of Mongolia!

Those who are wise shall shine
Like the brightness of the firmament,
And those who turn many to righteousness
Like the stars forever and ever.
(Daniel 12:3, NKJV)

Lord, thank You for meeting Sister Toya and the young generation of Mongolia and uniting us all in the holy work of God.

Those who did not know the love of the cross of Jesus have received His mercy and have been called to preach the gospel. It was already gracious enough that they encountered You in their youth, but now You have even placed Your great vision for Mongolia and all nations in their hearts.

They will soon become young men and women. May they grow day by day in the vision and calling You have given them! Lord, raise them up in the wisdom that will make them shine like a light in the skies. May they be discipled in Your Word of truth and bring many people to the path of righteousness!

Lord, pour out Your grace upon the campuses and workplaces throughout Mongolia, that Your young generation in Mongolia may rise up and hope in the amazing things the Holy Spirit will do in the nations!

As we anticipate this, we pray that during their discipleship they will be filled with joy and grow deeper in their love for the Lord. Lord, pour out grace, that they may become witnesses of the eternal gospel of the cross of Jesus Christ.

Bless the communities that disciple these Mongolians, and let those who love the Word and Jesus increase every day, that a discipleship movement will explode in Mongolia!

Lord, we also pray that more youths who love Jesus in all grades K-12 will be allowed to receive baptism. The 12th graders will soon become young adults and move on, but may grace in the grade schools continue, that youth leaders of all ages will rise up and youth gatherings that teach Your love for all nations may be held!

Lord, increase the number of youths who love You and seek revival, that this movement will go beyond just this one school.

We pray that a revival that leads many to righteousness will erupt across the young generation of Mongolia. Lord, raise up entire schools across Mongolia to love You and go to the nations, as a Daniel generation, equipped with faith, love, and the Word of God! Amen!

The political war between the leaders of France and Turkey is spreading and becoming a conflict between France and the Muslim Arab world as a whole.

The French Ministry of Foreign Affairs issued a public statement on October 25th, 2020, urging countries to not support such actions as the boycotting of French products or hatred against France. It also called for safety measures to protect the French people.

Earlier in France, on October 16th, a middle school history teacher named Samuel Paty, who conducted an in-class debate on freedom of expression based on a caricature of the Islamic prophet Muhammad, was brutally beheaded and murdered in the street by an 18-year-old Muslim extremist.

After this incident, antipathy against Islam increased in France, and President Emmanuel Macron defended that satire about the Islamic prophet Muhammad belongs to the sphere of freedom of expression.

Following this, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan of Turkey, a majority Islamic country, slandered Macron, saying, “He needs mental treatment.”

Mainstream French society sees religious satire in the category of freedom of expression, but many Muslims both inside and outside France regard it as “blasphemy.” France is also the country with the largest Muslim population in Western Europe.

Turkey’s criticism of France is also spreading throughout the Islamic world. Pakistan’s Prime Minister, Imran Khan, also said on Twitter on the 25th, “Macron chose a path to promote Islamic hatred by attacking Islam, not terrorists.”

The Associated Press (AP) reported that the Organization for Islamic Cooperation (OIC) also condemned the caricatures depicting Muhammad on October 24th and said, “They will continue to justify blasphemy in the name of freedom of expression.”

Source: Yonhap News

Before I was afflicted I went astray,
But now I keep Your word.
You are good, and do good;
Teach me Your statutes.
(Psalm 119:67-68, NKJV)

Lord, You see France, which is in the midst of religious instability from the 2015 terrorist attacks in Paris to this past month’s murder of a history teacher, as Islamic extremists have been grouped with Muslim immigrants.

Although France was advocating for human rights by accepting Muslim refugees into France, they were blind to the falsehood of the peace of Islam. President Macron only just declared that satire of Muhammad is freedom of expression, but this has led to a boycott of France across the Islamic world.

May France not be swept up into violent conflict with Muslims but stand up for the gospel! Even now, may the French church that remembers Your Word arise to proclaim the gospel, to love their neighbor, and to not be afraid to reveal the lies of Islam! Now is the time for the church, not only in France, but also throughout Europe to unite to fight this spiritual war! May the European church not kneel before Islam but unite with the world church, that the love of God that saves all may be spread throughout Europe and the Middle East, making God’s history! Amen!