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Pray for Critical Colombia Peace Talks
 Dear friends,
Colombian Peace talks are in a very critical point right now. You can help by praying.
 Here is where things stand:
The FARC the largest guerrilla group declared a unilateral cease fire on July 20. That is very good. However the government refuses to do the same, Santos the President has said that if they do, the FARC will regroup and reinforce themselves as has happened in the past.
Another issue: Santos says the guerrillas who have done atrocities should be imprisoned. FARC says, only if all others like the Colombian military and paramilitaries who have committed atrocities are also imprisoned. Probably the Colombian military is strongly pressuring Santos to keep them out of prison.
Colombian peace talks in Havana Cuba
They have agreed on some very important points. One is how to include the guerillas in the political process.
The UN and other countries are getting involved to help broker an agreement.
Santos says if we can’t work out an agreement by December we are going to withdraw from the talks. Keeping the dialog going is very important. Also Colombians on all sides are very impatient that Santos is taking too long. As a Colombian told me yesterday you don’t have 50 years of war and make a just and solid peace treaty quickly.
Like me many of you may wonder if prayer can do anything. Is this just too big? Or do I have enough faith? Jesus said if we have the faith the size of a tiny mustard seed, which is very little, we can move mountains. The effectiveness of prayer is dependent on God not on us.
Walter Wink in “The Powers That Be” pp 180 - 200 shares how the Berlin wall came down without a shot being fired after years of people praying and demonstrating. He gives several good examples of how prayer changed the world. So I ask you to consider praying that all the players in the Colombian civil war namely: FARC, ELM, Santos government military, Paramilitaries, and businesses would seek first what is best for the people of Colombia.
Thanks for praying from the people of Colombia!
 Friday 7/31 I gave a 2 hour university talk here in Bogota, it was really good.
Shalom, Jim

Ps. Read both sides position in this link. http://colombiapeace.org/

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