Sunday 26 July 2020 9.30am

Brian Robertson 2 Timothy 2:14-19

“Tradesmen and Talkers”

Sunday 2 August 2020 9.30am

Brian Robertson 2 Timothy 2:20-26

“Sanctified and Servants”

WELCOME to the

CORAL COAST CHRISTIAN CHURCH If you are visiting with us today, we welcome you and invite you to sign our Visitor's Book.

The restrooms are on the southern side of the hall, with entry off the veranda. There are baby-change facilities in the Toilet for People with Disabilities.

‘Doing Church” in a COVID-19 World Here are some things for you to remember, as we ‘do church’ in a COVID-19 environment –

Greetings

Minimise physical contact – please do not shake hands, hug, or kiss others.

‘Virtual’ non-touch handshakes or ‘elbow touches’ are acceptable.

Smile warmly at others and speak positive friendly words.

Signing In and Signing Out

When you arrive, you must be signed-in, with your name, contact details, and time of arrival.

We have a list – in alphabetical order – of the names and details of all those who have pre-booked their attendance for each Sunday. One of our welcomers will note the time of your arrival.

If you have forgotten to pre-book, or if you are a visitor, please complete one of the general forms with all of the required information.

Seating

We have arranged the chairs in spaces marked out in accordance with the specified square meterage (currently 4m2 per person). There is one chair in each 4m2 space, and every chair is at least 1.5 metres away from other chairs.

Please do not move the chairs … except a couple may place two chairs together in the middle of their 8m2 space, or a family may group together the number of chairs needed in their multiples of 4m2 space.

When all the chairs are occupied, the building has reached its maximum capacity. Please do not get out additional chairs.

We encourage you to fill up the chairs from the southern side of the building first, leaving the chairs closer to the entrance foyer for those who arrive after you.

We have overflow seating – again in 4m2 per person spaces – set up in the Church Hall. If all of the seats in the auditorium are occupied, please proceed up the ramp into the Hall area.

Morning Tea

The church is not permitted to serve morning tea at the present time. However, you may have up to twenty people in your home – appropriately social

distanced – so invite some people home to your house to share in fellowship.

Cleaning

After the conclusion of the service, we will need to wipe down the chairs and surfaces that have been touched, as well as clean the restrooms.

Filming the Services We are now filming each Sunday service, using one webcam mounted on a tripod at the rear of the auditorium. This allows us to ‘live stream’ the images and project them on to the screen in the Church Hall for the benefit of those sitting in the overflow area, as well as allowing us to put the service out online as a YouTube presentation later in the day. We do understand that some people may not wish to be seen in a filmed presentation that will be uploaded to the ‘virtual world’. If you do not wish to be seen in the filmed presentation, please choose to sit to the sides of the auditorium or in the Hall.

Women’s Morning Tea The first-Monday-of-the-month Women’s Morning Tea will be held at the Windmill Bargara (12 See Street, Bargara), beginning at 9.30am on Monday 3 August. The Windmill can cater for a group of up to twenty people, and Ros Loudon has made a booking for that number. Go along and share in a time of fellowship together. Speak with Ros Loudon on 41547747 or 0407 173969 for further information.

Bundaberg Branch Meeting of Cherish Life Queensland The Bundaberg Branch of Cherish Life Queensland will hold its bi-monthly meeting at 1.30pm on Monday 3 August at 8 Pearl Court, Millbank. CLQ is non-denominational and non-party-political, committed to defending the sanctity of human life from conception to natural death. Pastor Brian is a member and serves as Branch president. If you are interested in supporting pro-life values in our community, go along to the meeting.

Birthdays This Week Tuesday 28 July – John Woodin

Nominations for Elders and Stewards Open Nominations for the roles of elder and steward are now open. Elders share with the pastors in the spiritual oversight and leadership of the church, while stewards, under the authority of the pastor and elders, are responsible for the practical life of the church (administrative, financial, and property matters). Elders are appointed for two-year terms and serve two consecutive two-year terms. Stewards serve for one-year terms, and serve a maximum of four consecutive one-year terms, unless the Annual Members Meeting waives the limitation. At present, we have two elders – Munya Clarence Bere and Geoff Oakes. Geoff is concluding his first two-year term and is eligible for re-nomination this year. Clarence is half-way through his first two-year term and will automatically continue until September 2021. Since it is good to have at least three elders, we do need to have some nominations of suitable men to join the eldership team. At present, there are three stewards – Jill Jennings, Ken Meyer, and Colin Stollery – but it is possible to have up to ten stewards. All of the current stewards can be re-nominated if they wish to continue serving in that role. Nomination forms are available on the entrance table, and if you are a church member and would like to suggest the name of someone to serve as an elder or nominate someone to serve as a steward, please take one of the forms and fill it out accordingly. Nominations will close on 16 August, will be published on 30 August, and will be considered at the Annual Members’ Meeting on 13 September.

Time to Update Your Listing in the Church Directory We are hoping to publish the new 2020 edition of the Church Directory in late August, so it is time to update your details if you have not already done so. If you are listed in the 2019 Church Directory but some of your details have changed, please advise the Church Office of the new information. If you are not listed in last year’s Directory and would like to be in the new 2020 one, please fill out a “Directory Information Form” which is available from the Office. We also include in the Church Directory a colour photograph of each family or individual. If we do not have your photo, or if you want a more recent photo this year, we will arrange for our photographer to take your photo or you can email a suitable photograph (in jpg format) to the Church Office at admin@coralcoastchurch.org.

Return the Spare Boxes of Offering Envelopes If you have some spare unused offering envelopes (either ‘left-overs’ from previous years or no-longer-needed-because-you’ve-switched-to-direct-depositing), please return these to the Church Office. We can make use of these envelopes in future years (once we have whited-out the dates), and this will save on the number of boxes we need to order in 2021.

Mission News

School Chaplaincy Positions Available Scripture Union Queensland is inviting applications from suitably qualified persons for two part-time school chaplaincy positions at Moore Park Beach State School (2 day per week), and Walkervale State School (2.5 days per fortnight). Applicants need to demonstrate their suitability to provide support and care to young people. Training and experience in youth work, pastoral care, and / or teaching is desirable. Minimum qualifications are required. If you, or anyone you know, would be interested in applying for one of these positions, speak with Lisa Hardie (Field Development Manager) on 0414 983353 or email lisah@suqld.org.au.

E-Newsletter from Andrew and Sandra Freeman On 13 July 2020, we received an emailed e-newsletter from Andrew and Sandra Freeman, who are serving God in Botswana in Africa. They wrote –

Dear faithful prayer partners, Here is another update for prayer from a cold but sunny winter’s day under blue skies in Botswana! Still the world is dealing with COVID-19 … including Botswana. Although cases here have been limited in recent days to mostly foreign truck drivers bringing in supplies, that doesn’t mean those here are not feeling the impact. The tourism industry – which brings a lot of income for the country and provides significant employment – is at a virtual standstill. We still cannot travel across borders and travel is limited to within our ‘zone’ (although the sudden re-instating of full lockdown we mentioned last month was lifted again after a week). And although COVID-19 cases are limited here, they are increasing just across our border in South Africa. News reports out of South Africa are saying that some hospitals don’t have enough oxygen to put all the patients on it that are in need of it. Our ‘son’ PG currently has three relatives in hospital in South Africa (one in ICU) with COVID-19. Clara, who helps us around the house two days a week, has a sister-in-law who is a nurse in Canada and had some weeks off work with the virus but is now fully recovered. Join with us in continuing to pray with others around the world for those who are ill with this, and their relatives … and for many who don’t know Christ to be faced with the reality of their own mortality, death and eternity, and to come to Christ as their only eternal hope from eternal death. Our church had its first Sunday service two weeks ago, albeit having to keep numbers under fifty, with social distancing, temperature taking, masks, hand sanitising and completing a registration process (with contact details) beforehand and no refreshments served afterwards. Additionally we have just had fuel rationing imposed. There seems to have been a supply chain issue resulting from the lockdown period in South Africa, affecting South Africa fuel supply, and 90% of Botswana’s fuel comes from South Africa. The past two weeks there have been rumours of fuel shortages and what resulted was massive panic buying of fuel which meant huge traffic jams of massive queues across the city anywhere there was a filling station, and then filling stations were running out of fuel. So, the President announced the introduction of fuel rationing. Especially since we live out of town, we have to be extra careful about how often we go to town and how much driving is done overall. Between Andrew’s food allergies and Sandra’s diet restrictions and the fact that shops here have inconsistent supply of stock, shopping can require going to multiple supermarkets in different areas of the city just to get the ‘basics’. Just finding lettuce or tomatoes can be quite a procedure! So a prayer point is that we might find the needed supplies without using up too much fuel and that on the day Andrew goes to town to do shopping he will be able to also find fuel to top up the tank! Andrew is enjoying the opportunity to continue to catch up on a backlog of office work and

Andrew and Sandra Freeman

yard / garden maintenance, in amongst times of mentoring and the strains of shopping which still require masks everywhere, as well as temperature checks and hand sanitising and filling in a register at every store. The temperature issue can get a bit interesting at times, especially when on one occasion he was told the thermometer scan said his temperature was 32.8! When he said that couldn’t possibly be correct, the lady insisted it was! When she finally re-scanned him, it was 36.8! … much better! We have since heard that Botswana imported 10,000 thermometers and many of them had failed to be calibrated! Sandra has been really busy with her studies and thanks the Lord she was able to meet a recent deadline … but now is also catching up on a bit of a backlog of tasks / correspondence and other writing / research. And she enjoyed her first day out in three months when we went together to the little local Gaborone Game reserve. Although animal numbers seemed to be low we did get to see a few, including a Gemsbok galloping (when we had only previously seen them standing still), and a group – ‘mob’ – of about thirty little banded mongeese when we had only ever seen one or two before – they are such cute inquisitive little creatures! Kenosi is excitedly pressing ahead with his PhD studies and he and Sandra continue to appreciate being able to ‘bounce’ their ponderings and research off each other! Kenosi is excited and praising the Lord about the literature God is bringing across his path that is right on the topic of his dissertation (looking at the honour-shame and the Atonement). We had mentioned the death of our landlord and how that would impact our house rental situation. Well for now we are able to stay in the house, but things haven’t been all smooth and there are some issues that continue to be worked through. We continue to value your prayers in that regard as the time and stresses of ‘landlord’ issues really seem to take a lot of time and focus and energy. We thank the Lord that our DHL parcel from Australia of Sandra’s medications arrived safely … eventually! Thank you for your prayers. It took almost a week to travel around the world and get to South Africa, but then took four days just to get from Johannesburg to Botswana, and a further eight days from when it arrived in Botswana to be delivered to our door only 20km away! Pray for getting the next DHL parcel of other medications up from South Africa with the help of friends there. It seems DHL is not having any slow-down in its business these days that is for sure! Please continue to pray for our ‘son’ John and his ongoing scorpion sting effects. The type of scorpion that stung him is the most deadly type and though it was only a tiny one, the pain has still not fully abated. The cold weather seems to be greatly exacerbating the pain levels. We also give thanks to the Lord with him that he finally got notification that he passed the second year of his construction course. Once again, don’t forget to check out our blogs with its various posts … With our love in the Lord,

Andrew and Sandra Freeman

Photos … the scorpion that stung John with the ’stinger’ on the end of its tail clearly visible – the scorpion's total length is about 3cm; … the first DHL box eventually arrived from Australia; … a gemsbok at the Gaborone Game Reserve.

Issues of the Faith “Was Adam a Historical Figure?” This article is Part One of a lengthier article written by Rev Geoffrey Thomas, who served for fifty years as pastor of the Alfred Place Baptist Church in Aberystwyth, Wales, and also as the Associate Editor of The Banner of Truth magazine.

“Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned.” (Romans 5:12). Many people are fascinated with their family trees. There are hundreds of websites, and an active department in the National Library of Wales in Aberystwyth that are dedicated to tracing our ancestries. In the last half of Romans chapter five, there are many references to Adam. How would you think the author of this letter, the Apostle Paul, would consider Adam? Would he think of him as being a real historical man, or did he see him just as a symbolic figure?

1. How Did the Apostle Paul Consider Adam? I suppose this text is as good a place for us to start asking this question as anywhere in the New Testament. Paul is telling us in our text that sin came into the world through one man, and death through him, and that in this way death came upon all men, me and all of you – we are going to die because in Adam we’ve all sinned. In other words, Paul is referring to the Adam of Genesis 1 and 2, the first man, created by God, and the father of the human race. He was placed under probation by God, and the focus of the probation was obeying God concerning one simple test, not eating of a specific tree in Eden, the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. It was a wise, simple, public test of whether his life was going to be one of trusting and obeying God or not. But sadly our father, Adam, failed the test and chose to defy God; he did what the Serpent suggested and ate the forbidden fruit. So we are being taught here in Romans 5 that sin entered the world through one man, and death came through that rebellion of our first parents, and that was the way that death came to all men, because in Adam our federal head and representative, we all sinned. We have all become natural born sinners. I often say I never sat the children down and taught them how to misbehave. They did this naturally enough. A bias to sin has come upon every one of us. “The judgment followed one sin and brought condemnation” (Romans 5:16). Hitler became the fuehrer – the lord – of Germany, its federal head. He sent the German army into Poland and Germany was soon at war with many countries in Europe. The Emperor of Japan declared war on the USA. Men were conscripted into the Japanese army, the German army, husbands and fathers were called up, they fought, and millions died because their head, the fuehrer, or the Emperor of Japan, took a nation into war. Again, another Prime Minister declared war with Iraq and so we fought Iraq and men died. Those prime ministers are our federal heads. Prime ministers have authority to act in that way. So Adam was our head as the representative of the human race, made perfect in character and wisdom by the creativity of Jehovah. He heeded the Serpent, took the forbidden fruit and he died. We have all become guilty before God in Adam and we also die. You can imagine a German looking at a photo of Hitler and shouting in his rage, “You ruined our country.” Philip Ryken tells of a little girl, the daughter of a friend who is a professor in Wheaton College in Illinois, and this girl saw a painting of Adam and Eve and she actually shook her fist in anger at the painting saying, “You ruined everything!” She is reflecting what Paul is teaching in this chapter. But Paul is not introducing him merely to strike a negative note. Do you see exactly where this section on Adam’s sin and fall occurs in the argument of Romans? It occurs at the conclusion of this powerful declaration of the glory of God’s free justification of favoured

Geoffrey Thomas

sinners through faith alone in Christ alone. This section is the climax, the clincher of the argument for justification by faith. These verses in the second half of Romans chapter 5 are really the heart and centre of the letter. In the next chapter, chapter 6, Paul is moving on from justification to sanctification. But here in chapter 5, he is still speaking of the great achievement of Christ in accomplishing our pardon, and so his reason to appeal to Adam is to teach us more clearly the saving truth about Jesus Christ. Paul is showing us here that salvation is through the last Adam, through Christ alone. So we are being told firstly that all of us stand today before God really guilty men and women, condemned to death on the basis of the disobedience of Adam and our own sins. Then, secondly, we are told the gospel, that we can be justified, declared righteous, solely on the basis of the holy obedience unto death of the last Adam, Jesus Christ. The clear teaching then is that Adam was a historical figure, as was Jesus.

2. There Are Other Places Where Adam Is Referred To You might be tempted to object, “This is the one place in the New Testament where Adam and Christ are linked together.” And complain, “It’s possible to make too much of a few verses in one place.” No, you’re wrong. This is not the only place where Adam is used as a type of Jesus Christ. If you turn to the great chapter on the resurrection, First Corinthians 15 and to verse 22, then you read these familiar words, “as in Adam all die, so in Christ all will be made alive”. It is very straightforward. Almost every word is of one syllable. By that one head, Adam, sin and death entered the world. By the other head, Christ, sin and death were conquered. But then later in that same chapter of 1 Corinthians, verses 47 to 49, we read more about these two heads: “The first man was of the dust of the earth, the second man from heaven. As was the earthly man, so are those who are of the earth; and as is the man from heaven, so also are those who are of heaven. And just as we have borne the likeness of the earthly man, so shall we bear the likeness of the man from heaven.” Here again is this parallel between Adam and Christ, two federal heads. There is a further reference to Adam in one of the last letters Paul wrote, his first letter to Timothy. Right there at the end of his life he was still insisting on the significance of this historic figure Adam, and in this letter to Timothy he is speaking of the different roles of men and women and appeals to how they were created: “For Adam was formed first, then Eve. And Adam was not the one deceived; it was the woman who was deceived and became a sinner.” (1 Timothy 2:13-14). But there is yet another reference to Adam again when Paul met the philosophers on Mars Hill in Athens and he debated with them. Paul told them plainly that God created all mankind over the entire face of the planet from one man (Acts 17:26), and so all men, fallen in Adam, and sinners by their own deeds, needed to repent. God commands all the fallen sons of Adam everywhere to turn from unbelief to the living Saviour. So there are other places in the New Testament where we are being confronted with Adam as a historical figure. But you might inwardly complain that I’m quoting the Apostle Paul, and you say, quite rightly, that your salvation does not rest on the life and death of Paul but on the life and death of Jesus Christ. So, I ask you, if the Son of God who said “I am the truth” believed in Adam then that would settle the issue for you, would it? If the infallible Son of God said that there was a historical Adam and Eve, then we would accept it, yes? Then listen to what Jesus said, when teaching about the nature of marriage in Matthew’s Gospel, chapter 19 and verses 4, 5, and 6: “At the beginning the Creator made them male and female, and said, ‘For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh.’ So they are no longer two, but one. Therefore what God has joined together, let man not separate.” Jesus is quoting from Genesis chapter 2. So I would think from all of this, from the teaching that comes both from an appointed, accredited, and gifted apostle of Christ, and also from our Lord Himself, if for us they can say nothing wrong, that we also are to believe that

Adam and Eve were real historical persons (by the way the genealogies in 1 Chronicles and in Luke also treat Adam as historical as any of the other people named in those family trees). So Scripture wants us to believe that Adam and Eve were real people.

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World News – Eritrea

Seven Schools in Eritrea Seized by Government Seven secondary schools run by religious groups, including Christians, have been targeted and seized by authorities in Eritrea. Security forces stormed the school compounds and demanded the handover of control. In Eritrea, the government considers religion a threat to the state. They have also claimed that the school closures are in line with regulations they introduced in 1995, which limit the activities of religious institutions and organisations. Many of the schools targeted were respected institutions founded more than seventy years ago. Most of the students at the schools were from economically disadvantaged families. Eritrea is an extremely volatile place for Christians. It is sometimes called the ‘North Korea of Africa’. Hundreds of Eritrean Christians have been arrested and detained since the beginning of 2019, and earlier in 2019, health centres run by Christian organisations were also forced to close, leaving thousands of patients without care. However even as the government increasingly cracks down on Christian institutions, believers are standing strong in their faith and following Jesus, no matter the cost.

Christians in Eritrea Faced Worsening Conditions Conditions in Eritrea continue to deteriorate, despite a peace treaty with neighbouring Ethiopia signed in 2019. “The country is becoming worse and worse,” an Eritrean Christian claimed. “There is no electricity, little internet connection, the economy is bad and people are suffering. All phone calls are being monitored closely.” Another Christian said, “Our families are in deep suffering here.” There are currently 600 Christians in prison in Eritrea, and about forty-seven children of those Christian prisoners left without adult caregivers. Imprisoned Christians are not given a trial or even allowed visits from their family members, many of whom do not know where their loved ones are imprisoned or even if they are still alive. Christians simply disappear and are assumed to be in government prisons. These prisoners of faith are usually sent to the most remote and strictest prison compounds, where the conditions are some of the harshest in the world. The Christian prisoners are provided meagre rations, treated very poorly, and, in some prisons, housed in shipping containers in extreme desert conditions for years.

Christians Arrested by Eritrean Government At least 150 Eritrean Christians were arrested by government officials in mid-2019, with some of them held in an underground prison made up of tunnels. A group of eighty Christians were detained by Eritrean security officials on 18 August 2019. The arrests occurred in Godayef, an area near the airport of the capital, Asmara. The Christians were taken to a police station and were held there for a considerable time. Eritrea’s government current clampdown on Christians began 23 June 2019 when Eritrean

security officials arrested seventy members of the Faith Mission Church of Christ, in Eritrea’s second city, Keren. The church’s members, among them thirty-five women and ten children, were taken to Ashufera prison, 25kms from the city. The prison is a vast underground tunnel system and the conditions in which detainees are held are very harsh. Its location far from a main road, a spokesperson said, “means that anyone who wants to visit loved ones there will have to walk a minimum of 30 minutes to reach the entrance. Inmates are forced to dig additional tunnels when officers need extra space for more prisoners.” After the arrests, the government officials also closed the church-run school. The Faith Mission Church of Christ was the last church still open in the majority-Muslim city 90kms northwest of Asmara. It was established more than sixty years ago and once had schools and orphanages all over the country, according to religious freedom advocacy group CSW. It had been waiting for registration since it submitted an application in 2002 when the government introduced a new law that forbids all Churches except for the Orthodox, Roman Catholic and Evangelical Lutheran Churches, as well as Sunni Islam. On 16 August 2019, six Christians, also from Keren and who were government employees, were taken to a court in Asmara where the judge told them to renounce their faith. The six responded by saying they would “not negotiate their faith” and would “continue following Jesus”. “Reportedly, the judge angrily told them to leave while he considers the next steps. They don’t know when to expect his decision.” The government clampdown has sent other Christians in Keren into hiding, the source said. It followed the government’s June 2019 seizure of all Catholic-run health clinics in the country, and the arrest of five Orthodox priests. The moves prompted the UN Special Rapporteur for human rights in Eritrea, Ms Daniela Kravetz, to call on the government to uphold religious freedom for its citizens and “release those who have been imprisoned for their religious beliefs”.

Eritrea and Its Violations of Human Rights Some forty-five people attending Christian gatherings have reportedly been arrested in recent months in the capital city of Eritrea, a country ranked as the sixth worst in the world when it comes to Christian persecution. Human rights groups have raised the alarm as recent reports indicated that as many as thirty people were arrested while attending a wedding ceremony for a Christian couple in the East African country’s capital city of Asmara in the last week of June 2020. The London-based non-profit Release Eritrea, which promotes religious harmony and human rights, released a statement in early July explaining that the group of detainees was targeted by the regime in Asmara. The detainees were believed to have been taken to a local police station known as Kalai Medeber. “That takes the tally of prisoners up to forty-five in total since last April when another group of fifteen Christians that had been attending a worship service were rounded up from the capital’s Mai Chehot area and transported to the prison camp in Mai Serwa,” Release Eritrea explained. The United Kingdom-based Christian Solidarity Worldwide, a non-governmental organisation that operates in over twenty countries, also sounded the alarm about the recent arrests as Eritrea remains one of the world’s most repressive regimes. CSW, a United Nations accredited NGO, warned that the reported new detentions in Eritrea come amid increased concerns over the deadly impact of the COVID-19 pandemic in Eritrea’s overcrowded prison system. Release Eritrea Director, Dr Berhane Asmelash, told CSW in a statement that the government will “excuse these arrests by saying these people are detained for breaking COVID restrictions”. “But the reaction is very heavy-handed,” Dr Asmelash said. “Why detain them in such conditions? Why not fine or warn them?” CSW noted that tens of thousands of Eritreans are imprisoned in over 300 unsanitary detention centres without charge or trial. Some prisoners of conscience in Eritrea have been detained for decades due to their political views or religious beliefs. The Eritrean government

has been led by President Isaias Afwerki since the country’s independence from Ethiopia in 1993. Eritrea only recognises four religious affiliations – Orthodox Christianity, Sunni Islam, the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Eritrea, and the Roman Catholic Church. President Afwerki is reportedly a member of the Orthodox Church, but the government that he leads is overtly Marxist. According to Dr Asmelash, the entire prison population in Eritrea is estimated at 48,000 with “insufficient food and due to the lockdown”. “The president is using COVID-19 to raise funds, but people in Eritrea are starving,” he said. “There is no food; there is no money. There is nothing.” At the beginning of July 2020, the United Nations Human Rights Council, of which Eritrea is a member, held an interactive dialogue on the human rights situation in Eritrea that included several countries and non-governmental organisations. Apart from the absurdity of the United Nations putting Eritrea on the UN Human Rights Council to sit in judgment on other countries’ human rights violations, it was unusual for the Council to hold an inquiry into the human rights behaviour of a country on the Council. Among groups that made presentations during the dialogue were CSW, East and Horn of Africa Human Rights Defenders Project, and Human Rights Watch, among others. During the meeting, speakers called on Eritrea to allow the UN’s special rapporteur to visit the country and criticised the lack of improvements in the human rights situation two years after Eritrea agreed to join the Council. Some speakers in the dialogue voiced concern about the arbitrary detentions, enforced disappearances and torture used against political opposition. They called for political prisoners and prisoners of faith and conscience to be immediately released. UN Special Rapporteur on the Situation of Human Rights in Eritrea, Daniela Kravetz, a human rights attorney appointed to the role in 2018, condemned the government’s failure to uphold freedom of religion. “To build the foundations for a thriving society, the Eritrean authorities must open civic space for independent civil society,” Ms Kravetz said in a statement on 30 June 2020. “Today, there is no space for independent human rights defenders, members of political opposition, and independent journalists. In this last year, we have witnessed the increased shrinking of civic space in Eritrea, with the arrests of practitioners of different religious congregations during prayer gatherings, of members of minority groups and of persons who have expressed dissent.” Ms Kravetz warned that in several instances, institutions that have called for reforms and questioned the actions of the government have faced “reprisals”. Such institutions include the Roman Catholic Church and Islamic entities, she said. “An open civic space is a basic pillar for the success of any nation,” Ms Kravetz argued. Open Doors USA, a Christian persecution watchdog organisation working with the persecuted Church in over sixty countries, ranked Eritrea as the sixth-worst country in the world when it comes to Christian persecution on its 2020 World Watch List due to the number of human rights abuses and unjust imprisonments. Open Doors reports that under the regime of President Afwerki, Christians who are not members of state-approved churches are considered to be “agents of the West and a threat to the state”. Hundreds of members of unregistered house churches are imprisoned, some for over a decade. Some prisoners are forced to work long hours in commercial flower fields or are detained in shipping containers that can reach extremely hot temperatures under the sun. That was the case for Helen Berhane, an Eritrean Christian who met US President Donald Trump in July 2019 along with a group of other persecuted believers from around the globe. Ms Berhane spent thirty-two months detained inside a metal shipping container because of her faith. She told President Trump about the plight of Christians in Eritrea. “But the reason I am here [is] all of our pastors, they are still in prison in Eritrea, including the Patriarch [Abune] Antonios,” she said. “That is my message and voice for those who are voiceless.” Eritrea is recognised by the US State Department as a “country of particular concern” for engaging in systemic and egregious violations of religious freedom.

Australian News

“Women Have a Clear Choice Thanks to LNP’s Abortion Policy” This statement was released on 5 June 2020 by Wendy Francis, the Queensland State Director of Australian Christian Lobby.

The Australian Christian Lobby welcomes this week’s Queensland LNP announcement that, if elected, they will review the state's recently changed abortion laws. A LNP spokesperson flagged that provisions on abortion coercion, gestational limits and counselling requirements were the main

targets for a review. “The ACL applauds the LNP for taking a strong stance to support women and unborn children,” ACL Queensland director Wendy Francis said. “Women are the second victim of Labor’s heartless abortion laws. Women have no protection when they are under coercion to abort their child.” “Vulnerable women need maximum support and information given to them when they are faced with an unexpected pregnancy. Railroading them on a one-way fast-track to abortion is not pro-choice, nor does it respect the long-term impact of that choice.” “Women and indeed all Queensland voters have a clear choice at the October election, with Labor’s controversial architect of the scheme, Jackie Trad, vowing to oppose any rollback of the radical new abortion laws.”

“Autism Correlation Strengthens Case for Trans Kids Inquiry” This statement was released on 9 June 2020 by Dan Flynn, the Victorian State Director of Australian Christian Lobby.

The Australian Christian Lobby has consistently called for a full parliamentary inquiry into the explosion in the number of children seeking to transition to a different gender. The Melbourne Royal Children’s Hospital gender clinic led by paediatrician Dr Michelle Telfer saw a 1,567% increase in referrals since she took charge, while the Queensland Children’s Hospital youth gender clinic caseload has increased 1,172% since 2014. World-renowned Brisbane-based Asperger’s expert Tony Attwood last week backed a broad inquiry into the over-representation of teens with autism in gender clinics, with 45% of 383 patients (mostly girls around 14) at Australia’s busiest clinic displaying autism features. “The ACL commends Health Minister Hunt for this week calling on state health ministers to investigate the autism correlation,” ACL spokesman Dan Flynn said. “A piecemeal approach is not the answer. The Australian and international evidence needs to be collected in one federal inquiry, looking at all the serious personal and ethical ramifications of changing children’s gender.” “The UK is leading the way by proposing a ban on gender surgery before 18 years of age. The government and federal parliament must support the calls from Dr Attwood and the National Association of Practising Psychiatrists, with a full federal inquiry.”

Wendy Francis

Dan Flynn

Prayer Points

Pray for God’s strength and encouragement for the Christian people of Eritrea. Pray that they will remain strong and continue to proclaim their faith in the face of intense persecution. Pray too for the Christians imprisoned by the regime – some in tunnels and some in shipping containers in the desert heat – to sense the Lord’s presence and grace.

Pray for the removal from power of President Isaias Afwerki and his Marxist government, and for a democratic government that respects religious freedoms to be installed in Eritrea.

Pray for the Lord to bring about the collapse of the dictatorial regime of President Kim Jong-un in North Korea and for the release of the hundreds of thousands of people (many of whom are Christians) from prison camps in that country. Pray that the gospel will continue to be proclaimed and North Koreans will continue to come to faith, despite the brutal treatment they receive.

Continue to pray for the ‘shaking’ of the dark stronghold that is Iran. Pray that the true God will move in mighty ways to bring down the spiritual strongholds that are keeping people in bondage. Pray for the gospel to continue to impact Iranian peoples’ lives as they turn from the emptiness of Islam and find spiritual fulfilment in Jesus Christ.

Pray that God’s people in Hong Kong will know His strength as they prepare for the increased persecution that is sure to come now that the Chinese communist government has passed new laws allowing it to arrest ‘troublemakers’ in Hong Kong and deport them to the mainland.

Thank God that a number of Western countries have expressed a willingness to resettle people who want to flee from Hong Kong (although this resettlement may be limited to those who hold dual passports). Thank God that the United Kingdom has indicated that it will accept several million Hong Kong citizens who hold dual British-Chinese passports, and thank God that Australia has also indicated that it will accept some people from Hong Kong.

Continue to pray about the elections in the Northern Territory, scheduled for 22 August 2020. Pray that candidates will be men and women who desire to see God’s standards upheld, and pray that a government will be formed that will govern well and seek God’s wisdom in its decision-making.

Begin to pray about the Queensland elections, scheduled for 31 October 2020. Likewise, be in prayer for candidates who uphold God’s ways to be elected so that our State Government will seek to promote righteousness in our land.

Keep praying for the Victorian health authorities to be able to confine the spread of the COVID-19. Pray too that those responsible for the failure in quarantine arrangements for returned overseas travellers will admit their errors and that this series of failures can be addressed. And pray for those whose businesses and livelihoods are being adversely impacted by the new lockdowns and closures. Pray that those who have contracted the virus will be adequately treated and that there will be minimal requirements for hospital intensive care.

The Federal Government was soon to debate its religious freedom bill, but in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic, this matter has been delayed. Pray that this delay will allow for further improvements to the final draft bill so that religious freedom is better safeguarded in our country. Especially pray that protections for faith-based organisations (schools, charities, hospitals, aged care facilities etc.) will be legislated.

Pray that Federal Health Minister Greg Hunt will re-consider the decision to not hold an inquiry into the transgender affirming treatments being presented to gender-confused children.

Pray again for Andrew and Sandra Freeman as they serve God in Botswana.

Ask God to bless and strengthen the work of Barnabas Fund as it supports persecuted Christians around the world. Pray that the food packages, medical supplies, clothing, children’s school fees, and legal support will all combine to demonstrate the reality of God’s goodness and will encourage hard-pressed believers to remain strong.

Many of our church people are away on road trips and holidays at present. Pray for Geoff and Sandra O, Phillip and Loretta C, Ken and Robin J, George and Gerry B, Lindsay and Fran M, Peter and Megan K, Henry and Maxine S, John and Serena S, and anyone else who is away. Pray for safe travelling and refreshing times, as well as chances to talk about the Lord with other travellers.