With Houthis joining the fray, world leaders face growing fears of all-out regional war in the Middle East. It also brings Houthi-sponsor Iran closer to the Israel-Hamas conflict.

Meanwhile, Israelis continue to watch the skies for increased rockets and missiles that make it through Israel’s defense system. The southern city of Ashkelon continues to suffer direct hits. In Tel Aviv, a Hamas-claimed rocket hit an apartment building on Friday, injuring four people.

In Ashkelon and other southern Israeli towns, people have started living in bomb shelters.

Pastor Israel Pochtar with Beit Hallel Congregation in Ashdod says, “People actually run into the bomb shelter but eventually, they stop running because it’s too much. Now, they live in the bomb shelters.

(Photo courtesy of Beit Hallel Congregation)

“Here and there, they go out to take a shower or grab some stuff, grab some food from the house, also risking their lives because there are all sorts of rockets falling in Ashkelon. They just literally live in bomb shelters.”

Christians in Israel are visiting these bomb shelter residents in Ashkelon to deliver relief supplies, while at other times encouraging them with God’s Word.

Pochtar says, “Today, I’m going to visit another one (bomb shelter) at nighttime. I’ve been there in the daytime, but I’m going to visit them at night and bring them some more pillows [and] water. Because they also don’t go to get groceries, we bring them food.”

“We have one [Christian] sister in this bomb shelter, so she said, ‘I want to tell them that’s my [Christian] brothers together with American Christians who help!'”

Beit Hallel Congregation raises funds for Israeli humanitarian aid through their War Relief Project. You can donate to the War Relief Project here!

(Photo courtesy of Beit Hallel Congregation)

“It does create lots of opportunities just to speak the Bible, to speak prophecies, and just to love on them and tell them about Christians. Really, it’s opened up doors once again to share why — and it’s all about Jesus.”

Israel’s population is 73% Jewish and 21% Arab. Of the Jewish population, nearly half identify as secular, and 21% as traditional but minimally observant. The other 35% identify as traditional and observant, religious, or ultra-Orthodox. Some may be familiar with elements of the Bible but not the promises and hope of Jesus Christ.

“We have dozens of thousands of secular people in my city. People [are] just caught by surprise,” Pochtar says. “They don’t know biblical prophecies. They don’t know biblical promises. So obviously, there is an atmosphere of fear, uncertainty, and even depression. I can tell you the atmosphere is heavy, truly heavy, because it’s wartime.

“But now, because of that, people are also open. People ask questions, and when they see Christians — or we call ourselves Messianic believers, Israeli Christians — we have answers. We act like one who has answers because we have answers in the Bible — both Old Testament promises about our days, the prophetic promises on that, and New Testament hope and salvation and God’s goodness.”

Please pray for Israeli hearts to be opened more than ever before to salvation in Jesus Christ. Pray for God’s glory among the nations in the midst of conflict in the Middle East. Ask the Lord to spiritually strengthen Israeli Christians who are living as Christ’s ambassadors.

Header photo courtesy of Beit Hallel Congregation.

The earthquake left thousands without shelter and at risk of hunger, exposure, and a cholera outbreak. The official death toll has reached 1,150.

Afghanistan remains cut off from most international aid. World governments have shunned the Taliban over human rights abuses.

Christian aid organizations

In times of disaster, people often rely on local churches or Christian groups. Floyd Brobbel with The Voice of the Martyrs Canada says, “For Afghanistan, we’re talking about a hidden remnant of believers that are active in some ways. There’s a disadvantage to the Taliban government because they don’t have a church to turn to that would be able to help out in this crisis.”

Of course, the Taliban continues to persecute Christians. Since they seized power last year, many Christians have fled from the country.

Brobbel says this could be a great opportunity for Christian organizations to go into Afghanistan and show Jesus’ love. “They don’t need to fully hide their identity as a Christian organization. But they need to assure the government officials that they are coming in because there’s a need, because they’re seeing hurting people and have relief that they can bring. And as soon as that work is done, they’ll pull out.”

“I don’t think that there would be much risk to them in that regard.”

As Afghans search for hope, ask the Holy Spirit to draw many to Jesus. Pray for heart change among the Taliban.

The header photo shows Afghans digging through rubble after the earthquake. (Photo courtesy of FMI)

The high waters were over the airstrip which prevented supply planes from landing. New Tribes Mission sent pilots who dropped them supplies. Missionary Brooks Buser said that daily life during the flooding included a lot of ramen noodles and cereal.

Brooks noticed God's hand working in the people's lives. 31 people were baptized; translation work is consistently being accomplished on 2 Corinthians and on the Gospel of Matthew. Also 14 Yembiyembi men who are leaders in the church have been selected for formal leadership positions, such as deacons and elders, in the Yembiyembi church.

"It has been a wild month." Brooks noted. The season of ministry was sometimes gratifying and sometimes terrifying, "but never boring."

During the month, a man, Bill, who has "never set foot in the teaching house and has been openly antagonistic to the Gospel for all the years since it was first presented" came to church. After Bill's wife came in and publically shamed him, believers gathered around to encourage him. He responded by saying, "She has chosen her path, and I have chosen mine. I will not be fenced off from this talk. I will follow this path and see where it takes me."

Pray that Bill will continue to have the courage to come to church. "It's unbelievable," Brooks writes, "to witness what God has done." Pray that God's Word will continue to impact the lives of the Yembiyembi people.

The death toll could exceed 10,000 once the government and aid workers reach outlying island areas. Damage assessments are massive, and soldiers and relief workers have been working tirelessly this week to get aid to millions left homeless by the cyclone. 

There are fears that the lost rice crops will cause both fuel and food prices to skyrocket. Already high prices for basic foodstuffs jumped up 50 to 100%. 

Aid workers are voicing concern that inadequate supplies of food, drinking water and medicine could lead to outbreaks of disease.

The Association of Baptists for World Evangelism is grateful that the government evacuated nearly three million people to cyclone shelters or higher ground before the storm struck. Their ministries, too, appear to have been largely spared from the brunt of the storm.

However, many of the workers from their hospital have family members who were affected by the storm. Pray that the relief supplies will be able to reach the survivors. Also pray for protection of ABWE's ministries as team members respond to the needs of their communities. Pray, too, as they introduce Bangladeshis to the hope and shelter of Christ.

Compassion Radio's Norm Nelson says there ministry wants to
help. Their team just returned from a
third trip into the country. This one,
he explains, was an assessment trip to figure out the best way to help the
persecuted church. "There are roughly about 100,000 Christians who
are in prison. Another objective is to strengthen the effort that takes in
refugees who flee across the border into China. We've also been involved in
humanitarian work, so all of those areas of outreach into North Korea, we want
to strengthen."

An earlier partnered effort allowed their team to
deliver two ocean containers containing over three million dollars' worth of medical supplies, as well as Bibles
and the beginning of a complete theological library.

Compassion Radio listeners have also
responded at Christmas time with thousands of Christmas cards which were
delivered by Norm and Cher to the government officials of North Korea as well
as to the believers.

The food that has been supplied by Compassion Radio listeners has
been distributed to the Christians for their families and enables them to be
able to share in the name of Jesus

Nelson says as they use the assessment to strengthen
their ministry, believers should "pray for the Christians because of the
level of persecution. Pray that they will be given the courage and the strength to
retain their faith. What the North Korean government loves to do is to get them
to recant their faith, to deny Jesus. So they need our prayers that they will
be strengthened and enabled to endure."

Click here if you can respond and want to join Compassion Radio's efforts to support the North Korean church. 

Although the actual storm passed through June 23 and 24, the current situation of the flood-affected area remains miserable. People have lost their homes and livelihood for the foreseeable future.  

Most of the flooded areas are still inaccessible, and road communications are totally destroyed. Some people are reportedly still stranded by the waters, and many are looking for relief assistance.

In conjunction with other Global Relief Alliance members, Food for the Hungry, Medical Teams International, Christian Reformed World Relief, World Relief and World Concern, MAP International will directly fund 250 hygiene kits for the Pakistan emergency.

Along with a four months' supply of emergency food supplies, CRWRC's Jacob Kramer says they're sending a "Food for Work" program. "The aim will be to clear the land so that the planting in two months can take place and to clear up the homesteads so that they can start rebuilding their quite simple housing."   

The fact that CRWRC's team will be coming to help the people rebuild a future opens new doors.  Kramer says, "A cup of cold water which is brought by people from a Christian background it leads to a lot of discussion. It leads to a lot of re-questioning by the recipients of their old attitudes towards Christianity."

CRWRCS says in order to fund this project and offset the risk of a potential malaria outbreak, $10,000 is urgently needed. If you can help bring relief to those in Pakistan, click here.

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) says Africa will continue to bear the brunt of the weather shifts. They're predicting that climate change will bring greater incidence of disease, reduced crop production, and increased occurrence of extreme weather that could worsen droughts and flooding.

Flooding in the early part of this year already has had a devastating effect. With the topsoil already thin, heavy rains washed away seedlings, and with them, hope of avoiding food security problems.

Christian Reformed World Relief Committee's Ken Little says that's resulted in a severe food shortage. "The needs are pretty great", he comments. But finding any news of what's been happening since the floods four months ago is a challenge. That's not surprising, says Little.  But no news coverage means no aid, and that means people will likely suffer. "It was one of these hidden crises that the world is no longer paying attention to; we're helping 4,000 families, most of whom have land. So we're helping provide with the distribution of seeds and then provision of food distribution for three months" until the harvest comes in.

At this point, experts say the average family in Burundi, which already eats less than a person needs for survival, are facing grim prospects. Three in four families in the flood-ravaged areas were already living below the poverty line, which meant intervention was necessary to stave off a potential humanitarian crisis.

CRWRC joined forces with Food for the Hungry International to distribute beans, corn, and vegetable seeds along with tools in the northern part of the country.

Little says their hope is to open doors by meeting obvious needs. "We're working through the network of churches and are working with an international Christian NGO, Food For The Hungry.  Essentially, it positions the church and church denominations to be a source of hope to their communities, and in that way, it's providing a platform or a foundation for the churches to be able to share the good news."

The scope of the disaster seemed to be bigger than any one agency could handle. Combined, CRWRC, Food For The Hungry, and the Canadian Foodgrains Bank hope to reach those most in need in the fastest and most thorough way possible.

Click here if you can help.