(bright music)

- And welcome to The PrayerLink, I'm Mark Martin.

- And I'm Demetria Stallings.

Well, it is great to be backwith you all on Prayer Link.

- It is, both Wendy--- Especially with you.

- Yeah, you too as well.- Yeah.

- Both Wendy and Charleneare out on assignment

and will be back next week.

- Yes, well, let's get straight

into our hot topics, right Mark?

- That's right.- Okay, so there is a

powerful story of forgivenesscoming out of New Zealand

after a man killed 50 Muslims

during their worship service.

This is from the New Zealand Herald.

Here's a photo of Farid Ahmed.

He is the husband of one ofthe mosque shooting victims.

The headline reads: I forgive him.

You see, Farid was paralyzed

by a drunk driver six years ago.

His wife, Hosne, rescuedchildren during the shooting

and then she returned insideto get her husband out.

That's when she was shotin the back and killed.

Ahmed says while he doesn't support

what the shooter did, he holds no grudge.

He says if he had theopportunity, he would hug him.

He also said of theshooter, "I love that person

"because he is a human,a brother of mine."

- Wow, that's powerful.

That's a lesson to everyone.

- Yes, very much so.- The fact the person that

killed his wife, he's willing to say

that he forgives that personand wanted to hug him,

that he loves him, thathe's a fellow human.

- Yes, and I mean, that's a big step

saying that we are likeChrist, like to love in--

I can't imagine going through that myself.

- I know, I know, what a testimony.

- Yes.

- What a testimony that he has.

Well, a woman in Kansas believes

a bullet that flew intoher home, Demetria,

was stopped by an act of God.

Listen to this.- Wow.

- [Mark] Constance Effie and her husband

were sitting in theirliving room last Saturday

when she thought she heard a bomb.

The loud sound was a bulletthat hit the side of her home.

The pair looked insidethe house for the bullet,

but realized it was stoppedby a metal framed picture,

get this, of the Lord's Prayer.

Constance said if thepicture had not been there,

it would have hit them.

- Goodness, that's amazing.- Yeah.

Divine intervention.- Divine intervention,

and let's talk about prayer, right?

- That's right, yeah.- The Prayer Link.

- The Lord's Prayer, you're right.

- The Lord's Prayer protected them.

- Prayer shield.- Come on.

- Uh-huh.- I loved it.

Well, Mark, a federal judge in Kentucky

has blocked a fetal heartbeat law.

The bill would have banned abortions

after a baby's heartbeat is detected.

Republican Governor Matt Bevin signed it

into a law first last Friday,

but Judge David Hill struck it down,

ruling that the law waspotentially unconstitutional.

Kentucky is one of a number of states

debating heartbeat bills.

Both Ohio and Iowa have hadsimilar legislations approved

by their state senate this month.

Oh my goodness.- Yes, that's unfortunate

that the judge struck that bill down.

Definitely abortion is on the front page,

the headlines, with allof the pro-abortion laws

that have been passed,and then here you have

a state like Kentucky,that's fighting back

against this, having a stringof pro-life legislation,

bills out there, includingthis heartbeat law,

and then it's unfortunatethat the federal judge

ruled it unconstitutional.

Definitely a matter to keep in prayer.

- Definitely.- I mean, we have to

stand up as Christiansand fight for the unborn.

- Yes.- Our view of life,

we view that life beginsthe moment of conception

all the way until natural passing

and to be with the Lord, so yeah,

definitely we need to pray for

Kentucky and other states- We do.

- that are trying to passthis pro-life legislation.

Any thoughts?- Yes.

I think we need to pray for our nation.

- Yes, yes.- Period.

We're going in a direction,

but I know that God is stillreal and God is still good.

As long as we can be the voice of Christ,

I think God will move.

- That's right, that's a good point.

We need to pray for hearts and minds

to change.- Yes, definitely.

- Well here's another topic:

The daughter of Vice President Mike Pence

is urging millennialsto channel their passion

for social justice andspeak up for the unborn

like we talked about.- Yes.

- Charlotte Pence called abortion

"oppression in the barest form"

in a Washington Times piece.

The 25-year-old wrote,"We are in a pivotal time

"in our culture that will decide

"the moral ground we stand upon.

"This has to be a grass-roots movement

"of kindness, love and a sincere demand

"that the weakest in our society

"no longer be silenced and removed."

She is also calling peopleto champion adoption

and make it easier for families.

I'm right on board with her.- Wow, come on. I love how

- Yes, that's right.- she's taking a stand,

Right, Mark?- Speaking out to millennials

but this goes for all generations

that take a stand for thosewho don't have a voice,

basically those in the womb.

- Yes, and I love howshe's using her platform

to make God famous.

- That's right, that's right.- I love that.

Well, Mark, a prince of ISIS

has done what many wouldconsider to be unthinkable.

He gives his life over to Jesus Christ.

- That's awesome.- Come on.

Doctor Michael Youssef, Leading the Way

ministry broadcast, a Christian program

in some of the most unreachable places

in the Arabic world.

One day, the received a call

from the notorious prince of ISIS,

the man who is being called Mohammad,

to meet with their follow-up coordinators.

Mohammad was intendingto kill the coordinators,

look at God, but insteadthe ministry leaders

spoke the word of God to the ISIS leaders.

Shortly after, Mohammad gavehis life to Jesus Christ.

You can read the read thefull story at cbnnews.com!

- That's awesome.- How incredible is that?

- Yeah, I'll tell you what.

Prince of ISIS accepting Jesus Christ.

- That definitely lets us know that

God is on the throne, right?- He is, he is.

- Exactly.

Thousands are expected to participate

in the rolling prayer chain walkthrough,

Fayetteville, North Carolina,Mark, in a few weeks.

The four-day event is called AsONE Prayer,

and will include feeding thehomeless, that's beautiful,

building homes, and also featuring

a number of of pastorsand worship leaders, Mark.

- That's right, it willkick off on April 7th,

and people from manydifferent denominations

are expected to join.

Jeremy Wright, the executivedirector and co-founder

of AsONE Prayer Walk,joins us now to share more.

Welcome, Jeremy, thanks for being with us.

- Thank you, Mark andDemetria, for having me.

- First of all, why wasthis prayer walk started?

- God gave me a visionabout 15 years ago, 2004.

I wrote down something aboutunifying our community.

Six years ago, we started a prayer walk

just to pray for our city.

We'd start this prayer walkdowntown in Festival Park,

and then we'd walk throughout the city

and pray in various areas

for every walk of life in our community.

We started the walk justto pray for our city.

It's grown to be one of thelargest standalone prayer walks

in our area, actually in the country.

Our largest year did almost 10,000 people

walking downtown, praying.

- I'm looking at thephotos of a past event.

They're just incredible,all the people there.

You have not only gottenchurches involved,

but law enforcement andother city officials.

Why is this important?

- It's important, first of all,

because prayer is the unifying tool

that actually galvanizesthe body of Christ.

It doesn't matter what our theology is,

what our background is.

If we're Pentecostal, Baptist, Methodist,

it actually brings us all together.

We all pray.

If we're talking aboutunifying our country,

the one thing that we can do is pray,

and that's where this started for us.

Prayer is actually one ofthe most important tools

that we have as a memberof the body of Christ.

- Jeremy, these picturesare just just incredible,

of law enforcement, weeping,

raising their hands to thelord and being prayed for.

I'm looking at a pictureright now of law enforcement

holding their children in front of them.

Wow, it gives you chills.

What message are you hoping to send

to the Fayetteville community?

- Well, here's the thing.

I think we're trying to send a message,

not just to our community,but around the world,

that the body of Christ,when we come together,

we can accomplish anything.

You see those pictures of law enforcement,

one of our years was dedicated to them.

We pray for the homeless, in our stops.

We are the home of Ft.Bragg here in Fayetteville.

That's by population the largestmilitary base in the world.

So we defend our country,

from right here inFayetteville, militaristically.

Our goal is to defend ourcountry through prayer,

right here from Fayetteville.

That's the message: We are here to fight

and pray for the well-being of our city,

the well-being of our state,the well-being of our nation,

from right here inFayetteville, North Carolina.

- Jeremy, why is a message of unity

so important at thisparticular day and age?

- Wow, I don't know whereto start with that one.

It seems like everything that has occurred

in the last decade has been to divide us.

Politics is divisive.

Depending on what yourbackground or experience is,

you have one church praying for one thing,

and another churchpraying for something else

as it relates to politicsor that kinda thing.

It is important for usto understand who we are,

and we are a body, andonce we come together

and show the world that we're a body,

I think that we will unify.

- My pastor talks aboutbeing firm at the core,

being solid in your biblical beliefs,

but then soft at the edges,

and that's where the love comes in,

loving those around you.

Jesus talks about how, in hisprayer in John, Chapter 17,

he prays that we as thebody of Christ would be one

as he and the father are one.

So we have a biblical exampleright there through Christ.

What are you believing Godto do at this year's event?

- One of the things we talkedabout in a meeting last night

was that people are notgoing to church anymore.

25 years ago, 30 years ago,to go to church frequently

was three out of four services a month,

three our of four Sundays.

Right now it's one out of eight,

and that's because we don'tsee what the body of Christ,

what the church is doing.

I told them last nightthat we don't want to say,

in Fayetteville, what a church is doing.

We want people around us tosee what the church is doing.

That's why we have more than 200 churches

that are coming togetherfor the entire week.

We're doing a pulpit swap onSunday the 7th, where we're

giving the opportunity fordifference experiences.

We're putting Presbyterianpastors in Pentecostal pulpits.

We're diversifying, in termsof our racial background

as well as our theological backgrounds.

Monday we have Pay It Forward.

Tuesday we gotta feed 2,000with the Salvation Army.

Wednesday we're buildingwith Habitat for Humanity.

We're doing something everyday to show this community

that the church as a whole are concerned

about what's going on in our community.

- That is awesome, and I love how you said

not a church, but the church.

Jeremy, thank you so much for your time,

and many blessings on your upcoming event.

- Thank you so much, God bless you guys.

- You too.

- Well, up next, thereis an ongoing slaughter

of the Christians in Nigeria,

but is it being ignoredby the mainstream media?

We will tell you why it is when we return.

- As the world continuesto mourn the 50 lives lost

in the Christchurch, New Zealand massacre,

a deafening silence hasfallen over the media

regarding the ongoing slaughterof Christians in Nigeria.

- Christian SolidarityWorldwide, Demetria,

reports that 52 believers were killed

and 143 homes weredestroyed just last week

in Nigeria's Kaduna State.

Survivors of that attacktold the organization

that one group shot and killed people,

another set fire tohomes, and the third group

waited in the bush tointercept fleeing villagers.

17 people were killed in another incident

this past Sunday, and since February

120 women, children and otherChristians have been killed.

140 homes burned.

- So is there a doublestandard when it comes

to reporting these stories?

Here to answer thesequestions is Gary Lane,

here with us, he is oursenior international corre--

- I'll try, I'll try to answer them.

- He's a wealth of knowledge.- Yes you are.

Thank you for joining us so much, Gary.

Tell me, how long havethese type of attacks

been happening, and why?

- Well, in Nigeriathey've been going at it

for a long, long timebecause you have a country

that is divided.

The northern part ofthe country is Muslim.

The southern part is Christian,

and then you have some states in between

that are kind of buffers,

where they're kinda battling it out.

Muslims wanna take a lot of that land,

especially these Fulani herdsman,

who want to graze their cattle,

so they'll go and raid Christian villages

and they see nothing wrong with that.

They just wanna graze their cattle,

and they get money from that,from the big landowners,

and the people who buy the cattle.

- Why aren't they being--- Who are inspiring them,

or moving them to do this.

- Why isn't this being reported?

- I think, with Nigeria,you've got many things

going on there, okay?

You have oil, which is very important

to the world market.

It is also the largesteconomy in all of Africa.

It's very important to the world,

so you've got politics,you've got economics,

you've got religious tensions,

and then you have peoplethat are very powerful

using people as pawns

to do their evil deeds

in Nigeria.- Well, Gary,

do you think that there'san anti-Christian bias

in reporting stories like this?

- I think there probably issome anti-Christian bias.

Long ago, Mark, I talked toa number of liberal reporters

about, well, "How come youguys are always reporting

"about things that arehappening to Muslims,

"and not things that arehappening to Christians?"

I'll give you one example: South Sudan.

I spent much time inthe '90s and early 2000s

in South Sudan reporting about that,

and all of a sudden, after that war

seemed like it was coming toan end, or nearing the end,

you saw Darfur come to the forefront,

and there was more reporting on Darfur

then there every was on South Sudan,

and Christians were beingkilled by Muslims there.

I think there was some bias, but also,

reporters are lazy in general.

They like nice comforts, right?

Hotels, many of themlike to hang out in bars.

They don't wanna go deep into the bush

where you have to rough it,

and it takes forever to get there.

This is true in Northern Nigeria,

and North Central Nigeria,as well as South Sudan.

It's very difficult toget into those locations.

They're tough assignments,

and not a lot ofjournalists wanna do that.

If there's not a major war going on,

like we've seen in Syria and Iraq,

many young reporters wanna report that,

because they can advance their careers

by doing some good war reporting.

When it comes to things like this,

conflicts between Muslims and Christians,

tribal conflicts and ethnic tensions,

they're not so anxiousto go and cover those

because they'd rather be in a nice hotel.

Better reporting from anice spot in Washington

or New York or Paris orLondon than roughing it.

I think there's a lot ofthat involved as well,

but also, I think there are non-Christians

who really don't have an understanding,

or even a concern, whenthings happen to Christians.

They say, "Well, the culture'spredominantly Christian,

"so what, the Christiansare the majority."

Well no, they aren't.

In many of these countries,they are the minority,

and they're getting clobbered.

Responsible journalistsneed to cover that.

- Gary, Open Doors USAreported that six Christians

were killed in Congo, thiswas a four-hour attack

that sent 470 peoplerunning for their lives.

Can you help us understandwhat is happening

to Christians in countrieslike Nigeria and Congo?

You talked a little bit about this,

but break it down even more for us.

- In Congo, this is moreof a political conflict.

I think, Mark, therehas to be a distinction

between political conflictsand religious ones.

I think, often, a group like Boko Haram,

which was a terrorist group in Nigeria,

and they've been activethere for many years now,

they like to target Christians.

They're very much anti-Christian.

They'd like to drive allChristians out of their area,

so they'll go and they'll specifically

go and bomb a church.

Matter of fact there was a Catholic church

about a week ago where twosuicide bombers in Nigeria

were stopped, I guessthey blew themselves up

before they could get into the church.

- Oh my god.- Thank God for that.

That is more where Christiansare being targeted.

I think, in other places like Congo,

sure, they may have targeted that village

because it's Christian,

but also they see themas being pro-government.

There's politics mixed in at times,

and this group that did thatis a Muslim militia group

that wants to overthrow the government.

- Okay, Gary Lane, our seniorinternational correspondent.

- Thanks for your--- Lot to understand, isn't it?

- Yes.- Yeah.

- But it isn't as cut and dry.

We as Christians say, oh,this is Christian persecution.

Yes, there is persecution,but also there's some

where people are just being targeted

for political reasons.

- Yeah, it's complicated.- Sure, yes.

Definitely so, we'll definitelybe praying about that.

- Yes, pray for them.- Well thank you so much,

Gary, for being withus, we appreciate you.

- Definitely.- Now, coming up,

we will be praying for your needs,

so stay tuned with us.- That's right.

- Welcome back to Prayer Link.

We're gonna spend thenext couple of minutes

praying for your needs, butfirst we want to encourage you

to email us your prayerrequest at prayerlink@cbn.org.

- So, Mark, let's go ahead and pray.

Father, we just thank you.

We come together and we just ask God

for all that even we'vebeen talking today Lord,

that you would touch legislations,

that you would touchthose that have been hurt

and wounded, father,that you would even touch

those that have committedsins and murders.

Father, I ask God that youwould visit them right now.

- Yes.- I ask that you would

tell them and show them your love

and your forgiveness and your heartbeat.

Lord, I even pray forthose that are watching.

I pray for those that have pain,

and I just feel there's somebody

that has pain within their right jaw,

I feel like it's almost like a pain

that shoots all the way down your neck,

and I just say healing,right now in Jesus' name.

Father, I also pray forthose that are abandoned,

that feel abandoned and oppressed.

Lord, I ask God that you would come

and cause your wind and love to come in,

right now in Jesus' name, Mark?

- Yes, dear Lord, thank you so much

for who you are, dear God.- Yes, Lord.

- We just praise you and weworship you and we magnify you.

We just pray for the Christians in Africa,

dear Lord, and Nigeria,and in Congo as well

who are experiencingthis intense persecution.

We just pray, dear Lord,that you would rescue them

according to your perfect will.

That you would blind theenemy to them in Jesus' name.

We pray that you would keepyour angels with fiery swords

all around them, to set up a perimeter

that the enemy cannot cross.

We plead your blood,Lord Jesus, over them.

We just thank you, Lord,that you are in control.

Nothing surprises you.

We pray that you would rescue your people

in Nigeria and Congo, and we also lift up

the victims of this terroristattack in New Zealand.

We pray, dear Lord, thatyou would comfort them,

Holy Spirit, and counsel them,

and you would draw allof these people to Jesus

to accept Jesus Christas their lord and savior.

We pray that you would help them

to make that decision to turn from Islam

and to give their heartsto you, Lord Jesus.

We just pray for Christian Revival

to just sweep throughthese Muslim communities

and through all of New Zealand,

Christians and non-Christians,

we pray for your revival, Holy Spirit,

to sweep across thatcountry in a powerful way

as a result of what happened, Demetria?

- And Father, I just ask God

that you would continueto let your love abound

over every individual that is watching.

We give you praise,honor and glory for it.

In Jesus' name, amen!- Amen! All right!

Up next we're bringingyou the Word of the Week.

Stay tuned.

- Welcome back to Prayer Link.

Before we go, here's the Word of the Week

from our friend, Pastor Dave Adamson.

- Okay, so, how do you findout if you're rich or poor?

Now most of us would probably just go to

our bank account app and seehow much money we have, right?

We decide how rich or poor we are

based on how much money's in the bank,

or how many materialpossessions we do or don't have.

But have you ever noticed,

in the stories written aboutJesus' life in the Bible,

that he gives sight to theblind, he makes the deaf hear,

he makes the lame walk,

and then he preachesgood news to the poor?

That never really made sense to me.

I mean, if everyone elseis getting restored,

shouldn't the poor become at least,

I dunno, middle class?

See, to us in the Western world,

being poor typically meanshaving very little money

or material possessions,

but to the Jews of the 1st century,

being poor meant livingin chaos or disorder.

It wasn't about money,

it was about your life being a mess.

In his well-known bookWalking With the Poor,

author Bryant Myers writes,"Poverty is the absence

of shalom in all of its meanings,"

which means that ifyou're struggling today,

if you're stressed or nervous or anxious

or worried or depressedor you've got any chaos

happening in your life,then you would've been

considered poor in the Bible,

regardless of how much money you have.

See, being poor in the Bible meant

that the peace in your life hadbeen replaced with disorder.

This was a lesson I learnedduring a recent trip to Africa,

where I met this little boy named Joelle.

I met Joelle when I wentto his house in a slum

just outside of Dar es Salaam in Tanzania.

Now, when I met Joelle, I just assumed

that he and his family were poor.

They lived in a really smallhouse in the middle of a slum,

and they didn't have manymaterial possessions.

But as I spent the afternoon with him

and played with his friends,

and cooked dinner with his mum Joyce

and then ate with them as a family,

I realized that they are not poor.

His life was simple,yes, but Joelle was loved

and he was happy.

In stark contrast, I know many of you

who are watching this today woke up rich

by the world's standards,but biblically poor

because there's chaosand disorder and stress

in your life.

You see, that's why Jesuspreached good news to the poor,

because he was restoring peaceand order to their lives.

I know so many people who arerich by the world's standards,

but don't have the peace and happiness

that I saw in Joelle.

Instead, they're imprisoned

by stress and worry and comparison.

So we chase after moremoney, and more things,

and more status and the latest technology,

hoping that they will bringthe freedom and the peace

and the happiness that we're looking for.

Never even realizingthat we're actually poor.

If that's you today, thenI wanna pray for you.

I'll pray that God will bring peace

and order into your world,which really is good news.

I'll see you all next time.

- If you're looking for Bible teachings,

check out Dave's YouTubepage at Aussie Dave Adamson.

You can also find him onInstagram, Twitter and Facebook.

So it was an Australianaccent we were hearing there.

- That's what we were hearing!

- Yeah.- Awesome!

Well it's been a pleasure and awesome time

to be with you guys, andthat's it for this edition

of the Prayer Link.

Mark!- That's right.

Don't forget to share your prayer request

and testimonies with us.

Email us at prayerlink@cbn.org.

Until next time, God bless you,

and remember, prayer works.

- Works!- That's right, see ya.