The City of Juarez, just across the border from us, has become a war zone. There have been over 200 murders in Juarez in February. Most of these fall into two categories, either the bodies are riddled with hundreds of rounds from an automatic machine gun or they are bound and decapitated.
The violence has caused us divert our short term teams ministering in Juarez this summer to Laredo. There is not only danger for the teams, but it can make the churches we work with targets for extortion. God is sovereign over the violence. I talked with a missionary yesterday who was pulled over by two men with guns, then for no apparent reason, the gunmen turned around and left. A similar situation occurred with one of our pastors. God is using the violence to awaken a spiritual hunger. I am convinced more than ever of the need for prayer to combat the spiritual struggle at work among us. Please pray that God would bring people to faith and repentance, and that the Prince of Peace would reign in Juarez.
Our local NBC affiliate carried the following broadcast connecting the violence in Juarez to the pre-Catholic worship of Santa Muerte. This has become the patron saint of the drug dealers and reminds us that our struggle is not "against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against teh cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places. So please pray against the darkness. Pray that Jesus, the Prince of Peace, would reign in this city and region.
http://www.ktsm.com/news/only-9-the-dark-religion-santa-muerte
http://www.ktsm.com/news/shes-here-santa-muerte-icons-believers-el-paso
The violence has caused us divert our short term teams ministering in Juarez this summer to Laredo. There is not only danger for the teams, but it can make the churches we work with targets for extortion. God is sovereign over the violence. I talked with a missionary yesterday who was pulled over by two men with guns, then for no apparent reason, the gunmen turned around and left. A similar situation occurred with one of our pastors. God is using the violence to awaken a spiritual hunger. I am convinced more than ever of the need for prayer to combat the spiritual struggle at work among us. Please pray that God would bring people to faith and repentance, and that the Prince of Peace would reign in Juarez.
Our local NBC affiliate carried the following broadcast connecting the violence in Juarez to the pre-Catholic worship of Santa Muerte. This has become the patron saint of the drug dealers and reminds us that our struggle is not "against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against teh cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places. So please pray against the darkness. Pray that Jesus, the Prince of Peace, would reign in this city and region.
http://www.ktsm.com/news/only-9-the-dark-religion-santa-muerte
http://www.ktsm.com/news/shes-here-santa-muerte-icons-believers-el-paso
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