FROM R.K.'s corner
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XXXXXTen days ago, when I heard the news about the riots and change of government in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan, my thoughts went back to the wonderful memories I have from a visit to that country in the Fall of 2005. I then brought a ministry team to Almaty, Kazakhstan and Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan. You can find a report from that trip in the October 2005 Bridge Report which I have placed as a .pdf file in this website (to read it, click Archive button above). XXXXXJohn and Beverley Sheasby taught and ministered to the believers in two three-day conferences, at which close to one 1,000 believers gathered in each city. |
XXXXXJohn and Beverley, originally from respectively Zimbabwe (formerly Rhodesia) and South Africa, but now residents of the United States, have a powerful teaching/healing ministry in which they focus on the Grace of God and our Sonship with our Father in Heaven through faith in Jesus Christ. The conference in Bishkek was specifically organized for the Kyrgyz people who had come from a Muslim background. The people received them and thsie teaching very well.
XXXXXIt was awesome to be in the midst of these beautiful believers and watch their passion and devotion to the Lord expressed in worship, music, and dance! As I spent time with many of them, I was deeply impressed by their by their maturity of faith and commitment to His Word --- and that in a country that is more than 80% Muslim, which has adopted one of the toughest religious laws restricting free expression of faith among its people!
XXXXXI was also humbled and deeply grateful that The Bridge had been an instrument in God’s hands in laying a foundation for Biblical leadership training in Kyrgyzstan via seminars organized by Piet van Walsem from 1991 to -95, and the Bibleschool we sponsored in Bishkek from 1994 to -95. We helped plant; others watered... and God gave the growth!!
XXXXXAs you read this update from Kyrgyzstan and look at the faces of your fellow believers there, PLEASE PRAY FOR THE LEADERS OF THE COUNTRY, FOR THE LEADERS OF THE BODY OF CHRIST, FOR PEOPLE AT LARGE, AND THE INDIVIDUAL BELIEVERS, THAT --- AS THE EVENTS UNFOLD, THEY WILL BE INSTRUMENTS IN GOD'S HANDS FOR A GREAT HARVEST FOR THE GOSPEL AS THEY CONTINUE TO BE LIGHT AND SALT FOR HIM!
XXXXXI think it is difficult for any of us who have never experienced a major natural disaster, a governmenal coup, or major public unrest on a large scale, to imagine the fear and anxiety these evoke in people who are subject to them. Below are links to a couple of articles from www.Foreign Policy.com which gives you a graphic depiction of the situation in the streets of Bishkek on the day of the coup, and more background information on Kyrgyzstan and her people. I have been given permission to quote a few paragraphs from the first article written by Ben Judah. To read the two articles in their entirety, please copy and paste the individual links into your web-browser:
Blood in the Streets of Bishkek
XXXXXEvery man knew his place in Kurmanbek Bakiyev's Bishkek. The street sweeper never looked into the eyes of the businessman with a gold watch. If you drove a clapped-out Soviet car, you always let those in shiny SUVs overtake you. The shopkeepers turned their noses up at farmers hawking what they can and everybody pulled back when the Bakiyev clan grabbed what it wanted. Ordinary Kyrgyz were reserved and powerless, not knowing their own strength. This was Bishkek early on Wednesday morning. As people worked and crisscrossed though quiet leafy avenues, nobody knew that Bakiyev's rule might be in its final hours. Nobody would have believed that, for two blood-soaked days and two nights alive with gunfire, they would see society itself eclipsed in the darkness of revolutionary anarchy.
"Freedom or Death!"
A roar of banging metal, screams and shouting is approaching. Passersby stop in their tracks. People had heard rumors of riots in the provinces but their eyes swell with shock as they see what is marching forwards. Hundreds of men are on the move. Their eyes have turned to glares. Men enter this mob as shopkeepers, drivers or factory workers -- only to lose themselves in the surge. They are moving as one body, copying each other as they pick up the rhythmic chants and grab rocks to hurl at police. A man in a gas mask is waving an AK-47. All work has stopped. Shop fronts are being boarded up.
XXXXXSociety is dissolving. The grief of a people who have seen their quality of life slide continuously since the fall of the Soviet Union is turning into frenzy born of despair....
http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2010/04/09/blood_in_the_streets_of_bishkek
http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2010/04/09/how_not_to_run_an_empire
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX(Quote by permission © www.foreignpolicy.com )