There are only 1,000 Orochi people in Siberia

With approximately 200 million Punjabi Shaikhs (in India and Pakistan), 121 million Japanese, 54 million Brahmins (India), and 52 million Turks in desperate need of hearing the good news, why would anyone bother with the 1,000 Orochis? Not only are they small in number, but they make their home on the remote rivers of Tartar Strait in Russia's far east.

A Siberian Shaman.

Living in near-total isolation, the Orochi people long ago assumed the world to be full of dangerous spirits. In order to appease these gods, they created an elaborate system of rules and sacrifices. Fire and tigers were considered worthy of worship. In order for them to communicate with the many deities, they sought the assistance of mediators or shamans.

The Orochi people were right to seek a mediator. It is true that by their own merit or works they cannot gain the approval of God. What they did not know, and still have not heard, is that God Himself provided a mediator in Jesus Christ. Instead of consulting shamans, they can go directly to Him and find favor with the One True God.

(from Global Prayer Digest, March 2011)

Louis Agassiz, greatest paleontologist of Darwin's day, was a Creationist

Jean Louis Agassiz (1807-1873) is regarded as one of the greatest scientists of the 19th century. A founding father of the modern American scientific establishment, Agassiz was also a lifelong opponent of Charles Darwin’s theory of evolution.

Long before the mutational theory of evolution was popularized, Agassiz foresaw the overwhelmingly harmful nature of mutations and the inability of “selection” to produce new life forms. He recognized that the problem with Darwinism was not the survival of the fittest, but rather the arrival of the fittest. Agassiz knew, as did most all animal and plant breeders both then and today, that clear limits exist to variation and no known way exists to go beyond these limits in spite of 4,000 years of trying. Creationists today refer to this fact as variation in life limited to that existing within the Genesis kinds. The fact is, all mutations known to us cannot even begin to produce the variety required for molecules to mankind evolution, but rather they create monstrosities.

(for more, see Jerry Bergman, Louis Agassiz: Anti-Darwinist Harvard Paleontology Professor, Acts & Facts March 2011, Institute for Creaton Research)

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Germany to fund courses of Islam at universities

German education minister Annette Schavan ("Christian" Democratic Union party) has introduced state-funded Islamic courses at universities in Tübingen, Münster, and Osnabrück. These will provide full training for Muslims desiring to become imams. She says, "We want Islamic religion classes in as many schools as possible in Germany."

Pray against the foolish mindset that allows her and other European leaders to participate in the social and religious demise of their own cultures.

(from a Christian prayer letter, March 2011)

(also see Germany to offer state-funded Islamic study courses from 2011)

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Creation and our Moral Judgment show our need for God

By observing creation all around us, we should know that a living Creator God exists. In Creation, God displays his unlimited intelligence and power, and shows that he rules over all things in the exercise of his will.

Each one of us have a sense of moral judgment (even atheists), because God has placed that sense of morality in our hearts and minds. The living God has the right to set standards of behavior for us.

Our suppression of the self-evident about God in Creation, and our natural hatred of his standards of behavior show our need for reconciliation with him.

In light of our need, the news of Jesus Christ and the salvation he offers through his death on a cross and his resurrection from the dead  is truly good news. It alone provides a way for us to return to our Creator.

(based on The Testimony of Natural Revelation, by Timothy R. Stout)

(This commentary by Marko Malyj is based on the article published in Creation Matters, a publication of Creation Research Society, Volume 16, Number 1, January/February 2011, to appear at http://www.creationresearch.org/creation_matters/pdf/2011/CM16%2001%20low%20res.pdf.)

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Pray for Believers in Turkey

A prayer partner from North America recently toured a town in northeastern Turkey. A spa attendant at one hotel called her aside and quietly said "I'm a believer in Jesus." The young woman told our friend she learned about Christ through Christian satellite broadcasts. In speaking of her faith she said, "The people here are all Muslims, and no one else knows." Pray that she and other potential followers of the Lord in this extensive area will soon have opportunities to join in Christian worship.

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In mid-January a Turkish believer in a city near Istanbul was stabbed multiple times by a cousin and suffered damage to one of his kidneys. His uncle had threatened to kill the young man because of his conversion to Christianity, and the cousin was probably acting on his behalf. The believer's own father agreed with this action and says he hopes his son dies. Pray that the young man will completely recover physically and emotionally, and that his family members will experience dramatic encounters with the Lord.

(from a Christian prayer letter, March 2011)

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