Tag Archive for: persecution

Jihad on Churches: Muslim Persecution of Christians

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On Sunday, March 15, as Christian churches around the world were celebrating morning mass, two churches in Pakistan—one Catholic, one Protestant—were attacked by Islamic suicide bombers. At least 17 people were killed and over 70 wounded.

The Taliban claimed responsibility. It is believed that the group had hoped for much greater death tolls, as there were almost 2,000 people in both churches at the time of the explosions.

According to eyewitnesses, two suicide bombers approached the gates of the two churches and tried to enter them. When they were stopped—including by a 15-year-old Christian youth who blocked them with his body—the Islamic jihadis self-detonated. Witnesses saw “body parts flying through the air.”

According to an official statement of the Justice and Peace Commission of the Episcopal Conference of Pakistan, despite all the threats received by the churches, authorities only provided “minimal” security.

As in other Muslim-majority nations, churches in Pakistan are under attack.  On September 22, 2013, in Peshawar, Islamic suicide bombers entered the All Saints Church right after Sunday mass and blew themselves up in the midst of approximately 550 congregants, killing nearly 90 worshippers. Many were Sunday school children, women, and choir members. At least 120 were injured.

One parishioner recalled how “human remains were strewn all over the church.” (For an idea of the aftermath of suicide attacks on churches, see these graphic pictures.)

In 2001, Islamic gunmen stormed St. Dominic’s Protestant Church, opening fire on the congregants and killing at least 16 worshippers, mostly women and children.

The rest of March’s roundup of Muslim persecution of Christians around the world includes, but is not limited to, the following accounts, listed by theme and country in alphabetical order, not necessarily according to severity.

Muslim Attacks on Christian Churches and Monasteries

Central African Republic: At least eight churches were burned in the northern province of Nana Grebizi, after heavily armed Muslim Fulani herdsmen attacked several villages. Two Christians, including a pastor, were killed in the attack; another Christian was severely tortured. After the carnage, the Islamic herdsmen started fires and looted the local population. The blaze destroyed swathes of farmland, at least eight churches, several other mission centers and an unknown number of Christian homes.

Egypt: During the early morning hours of March 9, the Coptic Catholic Church of Kafr el-Dawar was attacked by armed men who used an explosive device against the place of worship.  Two policemen were hospitalized after the attack.  Separately, Dr. Yusuf al-Burhami, a leading cleric in Egypt’s Salafi movement, appeared in a video that surfaced in March saying that “Destroying churches is permissible—as long as the destruction does not bring harm to Muslims, such as false claims that Muslims are persecuting Christians, leading to [foreign] occupations.”  He further added that “the reason we agree to their [churches] being built, via the article in the constitution dealing with worship, and the reason we do not collect the jizya [tribute] from the Christians, is because the condition of Muslims in the current era is well known to the nations of the world—they are weak and deteriorating among the people.” Burhami explained that when the Arab Muslims first conquered Egypt in the 7th century, the ancient nation was Christian, and because the Muslims were few in number, Coptic Christian churches were allowed to remain—“just as the prophet allowed the Jews to remain in Khaibar after he opened [conquered] it, but once Muslims grew in strength and number, [second caliph] Omar al-Khattab drove them out according to the prophet’s command, ‘Drive out the Jews and Christians from the Peninsula.’”

Germany: A potential jihadi attack on the cathedral and synagogue in Bremen was averted following action by police, a Belgian newspaper reported.  Numerous police guarded the cathedral and synagogue and searched a local Muslim cultural center.

Iraq: Islamic State militants blew up a 10th century Chaldean Catholic church north of Mosul and bulldozed a nearby graveyard.  According to Nineveh Yakou—an Assyrian Archaeologist and Director of Cultural Heritage and Indigenous Affairs at A Demand for Action—the Saint George monastery was “wiped out” by IS.  The building was founded by the Assyrian Church in the 10thcentury but rebuilt as a seminary by the Chaldean Catholic Church in 1846. “The current monastery was built on an archeological site containing ancient Assyrian ruins. It was an important show of continuity from the Assyrian to our culture,” Yakou said. “ISIS is wiping out the cultural heritage of Iraq. The monastery was classified as cultural heritage. It’s a cultural and ethnic cleansing.”

Kenya: On the afternoon of February 28, in Maramande, Hindi, Muslims from neighboring Somali set a Christian church on fire.  This same church was set on fire last July 5, 2014, but was built again in January 2015.  According to the pastor of the twice-torched church, “These people do not want Christianity in this area….  They want to finish me so that Christianity will not go on here. But I will continue raising up my eyes to God for help.”  According to Morning Star News, “Violence in Kenya’s coastal region has accelerated in the past few years. On Jan. 11 in the Mombasa area, a gunman shot a Christian dead at the gate leading to a church building, apparently after mistaking him for the church pastor. Police reportedly said the assailants could be members of an active Islamic extremist terror cell in Mombasa blamed for past gun and grenade attacks.”

Lebanon: Unidentified persons invaded Mar Elias, an ancient Maronite church in Bekaa.  Along with damaging one of the church’s windows, they destroyed a portion of the flooring, as they dug a large hole near the altar.  According to Maronite Bishop Joseph Mouwad, much of the church’s sacred items were left intact and not stolen.  Instead, “they broke the tiles and dug the ground, apparently looking for something, though we do not know what.”  Fingerprints and cigarette butts were found. 

Muslim Slaughter of Christian ‘Infidels’

Central African Republic:   An argument between a taxi driver and his Muslim passenger led to the slaughter of at least 16 Christians in Bangui, the nation’s capital.  A Muslim man known as Aladji hailed a motorcycle taxi and asked to be taken to a Muslim-dominated district of Bangui. He was carrying a bag of grenades. When the motorcycle broke down, the driver stopped to fix it, but his agitated passenger pulled out a knife and tried to stab him. The driver overpowered Aladji and killed him instead.  After his body was found, Muslims marched to the Christian sector of the city where they slaughtered at least 16 Christians—some decapitated.  Authorities arrested 10 members of Seleka—the almost entirely Muslim rebel group—following the killings…. Click for complete report

RELATED ARTICLE: The Islamic State has displaced 100,000 Christians from Mosul

Franklin Graham, How Dare He!

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Do you ever get the feeling that perhaps you are the one who is crazy? It would have been easy for me to feel that way back in 2008. It appeared that every black person in America was giddy with excitement about the possibility of America electing its first black president except me.

Upon reviewing his hardcore liberal associations, anti-Semitic pastor, history of bullying political opponents out of races and admitting to Joe the Plumber his plan to redistribute wealth, I saw Obama as a far left radical Democrat, Chicago thug politician. Still, from my preacher dad to my 100 year old grandmother and everyone in between, my entire black family worshiped the ground Obama walked on. I was the odd man out; the weird one.

I find myself in a similar position today. Remarkably, famed religious leaders whom I purposely will not name are suggesting that Christians allow homosexuals to redefine God’s institution of marriage; claiming to have biblical basis for doing so. While doing interviews on Christian radio shows, I was stunned a few times by hosts who took issue with me for not embracing same sex marriage.

A few years back, I flew out to LA. A Christian youth pastor picked me up from the airport. He said his church teaches to embrace homosexuality because God is love and God does not care who we love. Have modern Bibles eliminated scriptures that list certain behaviors as sin and an abomination to God? (Leviticus 18:22)

Flipping through my TV channels this week, I saw that the Home and Garden channel ran back to back hour long programs featuring remodeling the homes of same sex couples; back to back! Even a sandwich spread commercial featured a homosexual couple. With the secular world and much of the Christian church embracing the “new normal”, it is easy for one to ponder. Am I wrong about this?

But then, invoking the same elation in me as if he wore a leotard, a cape and an “S” on his chest, Franklin Graham stood up, boldly pushing back against Wells Fargo Bank funding a commercial promoting homosexual marriage and parenting. Thanks Franklin, I knew I was not crazy.

Praise God that someone of major prominence is finally saying “no” to the Left cramming its agenda down our throats. Graham is fighting back by hitting the aggressors in their pocketbook; removing Billy Graham ministry’s hundreds of millions from Wells Fargo. Graham launched a clarion call asking Christians to boycott LGBT friendly companies.

Franklin, son of the legendary great evangelist Billy Graham wrote on Facebook: “…Let’s just stop doing business with those who promote sin and stand against Almighty God’s laws and His standards. Maybe if enough of us do this, it will get their attention. Share this if you agree.” 

Before I continue. Will someone please explain to me why suddenly corporations, the mainstream media, broadcasters and Christian churches are scrambling to please the LGBT community and further its agenda; the initiative trumping everything and everyone in America? Wells Fargo basically told Graham that pleasing the LGBT community is their top priority. Again, I ask why? For crying out loud, a CDC report said the LGBT community is less than 2% of the population, another reported slightly over 2%. 

Imagine Buffalo Bob host of the 1950s kid’s TV program, “The Howdy Doody Show” saying, “Okay kids, it’s time for another GAY FAIRY TALE!” The kids in the live studio audience cheer, “Yeaaaaaa!!!” Today on American TV, toddlers are taught homosexuality via remakes of fairy tales. In a cartoon targeted at preschoolers, a boy rescues a prince and a princess, but chooses to marry the prince. No, I am not crazy. That just “ain’t” right!

Despite the objections of parents, Virginia public school administrators figuratively told parents, screw you, the curriculum will include gender identity.

Meanwhile, Franklin Graham, a good man of impeccable character is standing strong, daring to inflame the full-blown wrath of the Left and mainstream media who will attempt to brand him as an overzealous conservative religious hater.

Step two in the Left’s Targeted for Destruction playbook is to stick microphones into the faces of influential conservatives and pastors; branding all who stand with Graham as fanatic nut-case haters. The Left will insidiously initiate the tactic of taking the slightest opposition to its agenda to the extreme. Graham and his supporters will be accused of being in solidarity with those who want homosexuals socially abused and physically harmed. This tried and true tactic is designed to intimidate people into backing away from Graham.

Graham has a history of pushing back against the Left’s War on Christianity. He spoke out when Obama blamed Christians for Jim Crow laws and slavery at the National Prayer Breakfast. The Left attacked Graham trying to shut down his “Operation Christmas Child” which has sent 100 million boxes of toys to poor children since 1993.

Graham’s latest insubordination daring to say no to the Left cramming homosexual marriage down our throats may have, as my late momma used to say, plucked the Left’s last nerve; moving Graham to the top of their hit list.

This is line in the sand time folks, Christians vs the Left’s bullying.

Exodus 32:26 – “Then Moses stood in the gate of the camp and said, “Who is on the Lord’s side? Come to me.” And all the sons of Levi gathered around him.”

My fellow Christians, I feel we face a similar pivotal moment as did the sons of Levi. Who is on the Lord’s side? Support Franklin Graham. I stand with brother Graham.

Florida: Prayer March For Persecuted Christians and Jews 2015

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We had a Prayer March For Persecuted Christians and Jews in Orlando, FL on May 16. Close to 300 people of all faiths and political affiliations attended.

Please watch the Video and I’m sure you will find it newsworthy and inspirational at the same time. Share this with your Pastors, Priests, Rabbis, Shaman’s, and Atheist friends – we are all in the same boat.

Go to our Facebook Page and friend us.  We have speakers at the ready to talk at schools, Churches, Synagogues, political clubs, and home groups of any size.  https://www.facebook.com/events/351504328371891/

Today we have the noble declaration of human rights enshrined in Article 18 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights:

“Everyone has the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion; this right includes freedom to change his religion or belief, and freedom, either alone or in community with others and in public or private, to manifest his religion or belief in teaching, practice, worship and observance.”

Despite Article 18, there are severe human rights violations in many countries, especially in the so-called 10-40 window. Christians and Jews are persecuted across Africa, Latin America, the Middle East, most of Asia (including China) and now Europe (via the European Union). Iran is one of the world’s most repressive states, and those who offend Sharia law may be publicly flogged or even executed by hanging in the streets.

In 2008 over 200 million Christians around the world were in danger of being tortured, persecuted, or killed for their faith.

North Korea and China see Christianity as a threat to their respective political systems.  As closed societies North Korea and China are able to keep news of the politically motivated persecution of the Christians from reaching the outside world.

The persecution of the Christians, Jews, Yazidis, Hindu, Buddhist, Atheists, Pagans, and the many others who do not follow the Islamic doctrine, theology, and politics also face persecution.

As Elisabeth Sabaditsch-Wolf wisely stated,  “The purpose of this March is to force awareness of this persecution into the public consciousness.”

Now you have been informed and all people of conscience have a duty to act.  All the leadership of Churches and Synagogues at the  local level must become the voice for their persecuted voiceless.  Prayer is good but your voices must shout out from every pulpit and bema – when my people bleed we all bleed.

Each act of persecution  anywhere in the world should be taken personally by everyone who is currently safe in the cocoon of western religious plurality and has the freedom to exercise your spirituality without fear.

The issue of persecuted Christians and Jews crosses all party lines and denominations.  Those individuals who believe in no faith at all are also targets of persecution – we are all in the same boat.

Each one of us has free will.  How you use that free will defines who you are as a person.  Be a part of the solution.

Irish Bishop: 11 Christians are murdered every hour

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Bishop [John] McAreavey is an exception to the rule. Most of his brother bishops would be scandalized that he even dared to speak of this. But of course he did not identify the perpetrator. The Church is in full denial and appeasement mode. In other words, most bishops are betraying the Christians of the present and the future, and leaving them prey to savages. Apparently most bishops are indeed in the line of apostolic succession. They’re the successors of Judas.

“Talk about extreme, militant Islamists and the atrocities that they have perpetrated globally might undercut the positive achievements that we Catholics have attained in our inter-religious dialogue with devout Muslims.” — Robert McManus, Roman Catholic Bishop of Worcester, Massachusetts, February 8, 2013.

“‘Eleven Christians Killed Every Hour,’ Says Irish Bishop,” by Thomas D. Williams, Breitbart, May 19,2015:

According to Bishop John McAreavey, the Chair of the Council for Justice & Peace of the Irish Catholic Bishops’ Conference, statistics show that the situation of Christian persecution in the world is far more dire than most people understand.

The bishop called the breadth and scale of the suffering of Christians “unprecedented.”

At least 100,000 Christians are killed every year because of their faith, which amounts to 273 per day, or eleven every hour, McAreavey said, without mentioning those who are “being tortured, imprisoned, exiled, threatened, excluded, attacked and discriminated against on a widespread scale.”

In a sobering presentation before the Joint Committee on Foreign Affairs and Trade this past week, McAreavey said that Christianity is the most oppressed religion in the world, and the followers of Jesus are actively persecuted in some 110 countries.

More striking still, he contended, according to the International Society for Human Rights, a non-religious organization, “80 percent of all acts of religious discrimination in the world today are directed against Christians.”

The bishop recalled how the former Chief Rabbi of Britain, Jonathan Sacks, recently described this suffering of Christians in the Middle East as “one of the crimes against humanity of our time,” comparing it to the Jewish pogroms in Europe and saying he was “appalled at the lack of protest it has evoked.”

The barbaric actions against Christians, particularly in the Middle East, he said, call out for an urgent, coordinated and determined response from the international community. They are “a threat to our common humanity and to the religious and cultural patrimony of the world” as well as putting at risk “the peace and stability of the entire planet.”

The bishop noted with dismay what he called “a reluctance, including on the part of Christian based international aid agencies, to give direct support to minority religious communities, including to the Christian Churches.”

McAreavey also had strong words for the leaders of Western nations that refuse to commit to assisting Christians in the Middle East, or even to acknowledge the gravity of their plight.

“Perhaps because of a fear of being seen as less than aggressively secular in their own country,” he said, “many Governments of majority Christian countries in the west seem reluctant to give direct aid to Churches and religious minorities.”

The West also runs the risk of losing its own understanding of the importance of faith and of religion for a healthy society, he said, which can endanger religious liberty even in democratic nations.

As Catholics, he said, we appeal “to all governments and societies to affirm the vital importance of respecting the right to religious freedom and conscience as a fundamental principle of genuine pluralism in a tolerant society.”…

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Presentation to the Joint Committee on Foreign Affairs and Trade by the Council for Justice & Peace of the Irish Catholic Bishops’ Conference on ‘The ongoing Persecution of Christians’

Bishop John McAreavey, Bishop of Dromore and chair of the Council for Justice & Peace of the Irish Catholic Bishops’ Conference, today presented to the Joint Oireachtas Committee on Foreign Affairs and Trade, on the subject of ‘The ongoing Persecution of Christians’. Bishop McAreavey’s delegation included:

Father Timothy Bartlett, an advisor to the Bishops’ Council for Justice & Peace and a priest of the Diocese of Down & Connor, and,
Mrs Áine O’Reilly, a member of the Order of the Holy Sepulchre of Jerusalem, a Catholic charitable organisation that provides solidarity and financial support to the Christian communities of the Holy Land.
Before its presentation, the Church delegation circulated a letter to the Joint Committee from the Patriarch of Bagdad appealing for greater solidarity and support for Christians being displaced, persecuted and killed in Iraq. Please see full presentation below:

Presentation

Thank you, Chairman.

My name is Bishop John McAreavey. I am here today as Chair of the Council for Justice and Peace of the Irish Bishops’ Conference. I am joined by Mrs Áine O’Reilly, a member of the Order of the Holy Sepulchre of Jerusalem. This is a Catholic charitable organization that provides solidarity and financial support to the Christian communities of the Holy Land. It has over two hundred members in Ireland and more than thirty thousand members worldwide. I am also joined by Father Timothy Bartlett, an advisor to the Council.

I thank the Committee for the invitation to be here this morning with Trócaire, Open Doors and Church in Chains. The ongoing persecution of Christians is an issue that unites all Christians. Pope Francis has called it the ‘ecumenism of suffering’. The breath and scale of this suffering is unprecedented. The Centre for the Study of Global Christianity in the United States estimates that 100,000 Christians are being killed every year because of their faith. That is eleven every hour. Others are being tortured, imprisoned, exiled, threatened, excluded, attacked and discriminated against on a widespread scale. The Pew Research Centre says that Christianity is now the world’s most oppressed religious group, with persecution against them reported in 110 countries. Many of these countries have significant trade links with Ireland. Persecution is increasing in China. In North Korea a quarter of the country’s Christians live in forced labour camps. Saudi Arabia, Yemen, and the Maldives all feature in the 10 worst places to be Christian. According to the International Society for Human Rights, a non-religious organization, 80 per cent of all acts of religious discrimination in the world today are directed against Christians.

As the other groups will explain in more detail, the situation for Christians in the Middle East is particularly acute and shocking. The rise of ISIS has accelerated a brutal religious genocide against Christians and other religious minorities that has been on-going for well over a decade. The former Chief Rabbi of Britain, Jonathan Sacks, recently described this suffering of Christians in the Middle East as ‘one of the crimes against humanity of our time’. He compared it with Jewish pogroms in Europe and said he was ‘appalled at the lack of protest it has evoked.’ I believe many Christians in Ireland, of all denominations, too are appalled at the relative lack of attention being given in the Irish media, in political discourse and in Irish Government policy and action to the urgent plight of persecuted Christians in the Middle East at this time. Children, women and men being beheaded. Young men brutalized and left to die on make-shift crosses in town squares in the part of the world that was once described as the cradle of Christianity and of civilisation itself. Ancient Churches and religious monuments from various traditions being destroyed.

Such barbaric actions call out for an urgent, coordinated and determined response from the international community. They are a threat to our common humanity and to the religious and cultural patrimony of the world for future generations. They put at risk the peace and stability of the entire planet. Any response will require an honest and comprehensive effort to address the sources of violent conflict that converge on this region and have wider political and religious implications across the world. Yet so many remain silent and inactive.

I have spoken to senior representatives of the Christian community in Iraq in recent days, whom I will not name to protect their security. They simply cannot understand why so many in the international community turn a blind eye to their plight. Many governments, including the Irish Government are supplying modest amounts of emergency aid. This is welcome and helps to address some immediate humanitarian needs. However there is a reluctance, including on the part of Christian based international aid agencies, to give direct support to minority religious communities, including to the Christian Churches. Yet if their presence is to remain, if they are to draw strength from one another and continue their own religious, educational and charitable activities in the places where they live and work, where they have contributed for millennia to the shared educational, economic and cultural patrimony of their countries, then they need direct aid. They have a right to be supported in rebuilding their bombed-out Churches, schools, hospitals and halls that are availed of by the whole community. They have a right to receive support in building bomb proof walls and security around these buildings and their own homes. They are also best placed to ensure humanitarian support gets to those who need it most in the villages, towns and refugees camps where the local Church continues to be present. Yet, perhaps because of a fear of being seen as less than aggressively secular in their own country, many Governments of majority Christian countries in the west seem reluctant to give direct aid to Churches and religious minorities.

The starting point for the Catholic response to this issue is our commitment to the inherent dignity and priceless value of every person before God, without distinction. Our concern is for all humanity. We utterly condemn the grotesque targeting and brutal murder of those with same-sex attraction by ISIS. We stand in solidarity and support with the Yazidi and other religious communities who face a similar extermination, displacement and lack of respect for their right to religious freedom and conscience as their Christian neighbours.

We appeal to all governments and societies to affirm the vital importance of respecting the right to religious freedom and conscience as a fundamental principle of genuine pluralism in a tolerant society. As Saint Pope John Paul II never tired of reminding the world, where this pivotal right to freedom of conscience and religion is denied, diluted or culturally suppressed other human rights abuses follow in its wake. The denial of religious freedom can run from subtle cultural exclusion of the religious voice from the public square and refusal to accommodate reasonable differences of conscience to active discrimination, forced displacement, exploitation and loss of life. Denial of religious freedom is a continuum along which many countries that pride themselves on being free, tolerant and diverse have already begun to travel.

I now hand over to Áine, who will conclude our presentation.

In commending the Committee for taking up this theme of the ongoing persecution of Christians, I would like to say that as a proud citizen of this country I believe many Irish citizens, Christian and others would like to see our political representatives and our Government give much greater attention to this issue. In particular, we ask you today:

To provide direct aid to the Christian Churches in the Middle East, and to other persecuted religious groups so that they can rebuild their communities and infrastructure and protect that which has not been destroyed. If they are to survive, they have urgent and particular needs which they alone are best placed to provide. They are also best placed to identify to provide humanitarian assistance in the most difficult to reach areas experiencing immediate violence and oppression;

We also ask you to assist the various Irish aid agencies in providing direct financial support to Christian and other religious communities in the Middle East without fear of being accused at home of being sectarian or giving offence to secularity in a predominantly Christian country. This is a real concern among Christian aid agencies which you can help to address;

We ask you to use your political influence to raise awareness of this issue where possible. In commending your own decision to hold this hearing, we encourage you to recommend a full Dáil debate on the ongoing persecution of Christians and respect for religious freedom and the particular plight of persecuted Christians across the world;

We ask you to encourage the Government and Irish MEPs to use their influence in the European Institutions to give greater political priority to addressing this issue at a European and international level. This includes the need to address the complex of issues in international relations that contribute to the ongoing conflict and instability across the region of the Middle East;

Finally, in keeping with its Christian roots and founding ideals, we appeal to you and through you to Europe to open wide the doors of our nations to the numerous refugees fleeing religious persecution in the Middle East. Many of them wish to return to their homeland at the earliest possible opportunity. Just as we did some decades ago for the Vietnamese boat people, let us open our shores, our homes and our vacant buildings in a welcoming and reassuring embrace to those fleeing the most brutal attacks by introducing special temporary immigrant schemes focused on responding to this issue.

In conclusion, I am reminded that the links between the Christian community in Ireland and the Christian community in the Middle East go back to the early Celtic Church. They continue today in the heroic work of many Irish missionaries who work in solidarity with persecuted Christian communities in the Middle East even at risk to their own lives. This continuing link is perhaps most poignantly symbolized by the new mosaic in the apse of the recently restored chapel of the Irish College in Rome. There in the midst of our national patron Saints Patrick, Brigid, Columcille and others, is the image of a young Iraqi priest. His name is Father Ragheed Ganni. He studied for several years in the Irish College. He worked in the pilgrimage site of Lough Derg and in various parishes around the country during his post-graduate studies. He loved the Irish people and they loved him. He radiated joy, gentleness and a true Christian spirit of service to all who knew him. Yet his heart was set on returning to bring comfort, strength and support to his suffering people in Iraq. The Church of the Holy Spirit in Mosul in which he ministering was subject to regular bombings and attack. On the feast of the Holy Trinity in 2007, as he finished the celebration of Mass, Father Ragheed and three subdeacons were brutally murdered. The vehicle in which they had been killed was surrounded by explosives by those who had killed them so that no-one dare approach to offer comfort, prayers or help. Just a week before, Father Ragheed had written:

“In a sectarian and confessional Iraq, will there be any space for Christians? We have no support, no group who fights for our cause; we are abandoned in the midst of the disaster.”

It is with this painful, prophetic cry of a young man who knew, loved and appreciated the Irish people so much that we thank you again for giving time to the plight of persecuted Christians in our world today and appeal to you to consider positively the recommendations we have made.

Thank you for listening.

ENDS

Renegade Christians

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Followers of Christ are coming out from behind church doors to go where the poor and forgotten live.

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Raymond Ibrahim: Obama’s Christianity — A Political Tool to Silence Christians

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Here in the United States, where Americans are used to hearing their president always invoke Christianity in a manner that silences Christians, United Kingdom Prime Minister David Cameron’s recent Easter message was moderately refreshing.

Among other things, Cameron made it a point to say “that we should feel proud to say, ‘This is a Christian country.’ Yes, we’re a nation that embraces, welcomes and accepts all faiths and none, but we are still a Christian country.”

The context of Cameron’s statement, it should be recalled, is a UK with a large, intolerant, and aggressive Muslim populace—a populace that increasingly seeks to treat the UK’s indigenous Christians the way the Islamic world’s indigenous Christians are habitually treated, that is, subjugated, enslaved, raped, and murdered.

In fact, Cameron touched on the phenomenon of Christian persecution in mostly Muslim lands:

We have a duty to speak out about the persecution of Christians around the world too.  It is truly shocking that in 2015 there are still Christians being threatened, tortured, even killed because of their faith.  From Egypt to Nigeria, Libya to North Korea.  Across the Middle East Christians have been hounded out of their homes, forced to flee from village to village; many of them forced to renounce their faith or brutally murdered.  To all those brave Christians in Iraq and Syria who practice their faith or shelter others, we will say, “We stand with you.”

While one may argue that Cameron is all talk—after all, the UK’s foreign policies, like America’s, have only exacerbated the plight of Christians in the Middle East—it is still refreshing to hear such honest talk, since here in the U.S., one seldom gets even that from President Obama.

Consider what Obama—who is on record saying “we are no longer a Christian nation,” who never notes the Islamic identity of murderers or the Christian identity of their victims, and who ignored a recent UN session on Christian persecution—had to say about Christians at the Easter Prayer Breakfast:  “On Easter, I do reflect on the fact that as a Christian, I am supposed to love.  And I have to say that sometimes when I listen to less than loving expressions by Christians, I get concerned.”

This is in keeping with his earlier statements calling on Americans in general Christians in particular to be nonjudgmental and instead to have “humility” and “doubt” themselves.  For example, during the National Prayer Breakfast last February, after Obama alluded to the atrocities committed by the Islamic State—which include beheadings, crucifixions, rape, slavery, and immolations—he said:

I believe there are a few principles that can guide us, particularly those of us who profess to believe. And, first, we should start with some basic humility.  I believe that the starting point of faith is some doubt—not being so full of yourself and so confident that you are right and that God speaks only to us, and doesn’t speak to others, that God only cares about us and doesn’t care about others, that somehow we alone are in possession of the truth.

Humility, of course, is a well-recognized Christian virtue.  It is the exact opposite of pride; a modest if not humble opinion of oneself, one’s shortcomings.   But what does exercising humility have to do with our understanding of Islamic violence and terrorism, which was, after all, the topic Obama was discussing immediately before he began pontificating about humility?  Are we not to judge and condemn Islamic violence—since we’re apparently no better, as the president made clear when he told Christians to get off their “high horse” and remember the Crusades and Inquisition?

Furthermore, while Christian humility encourages self-doubt, it does not encourage doubt concerning right and wrong, good and evil.  The same Christ who advocated humility repeatedly condemned evil behavior, called on people to repent of their sins, and hurled tables in righteous anger… Keep reading

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Kenya: Laughing Muslims taunted Christians as they massacred them, “This will be a good Easter holiday for us”

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Muslim-massacred-Christians-Garissa-University-Kenya

Muslim slaughter of Christians at Garissa University, Kenya.

“We have come to be kill and be killed,” the Muslims screamed out as they shot the Christians. Where did they get the idea to scream out something like that? From the Qur’an: “Indeed, Allah has purchased from the believers their lives and their properties for that they will have Paradise. They fight in the cause of Allah, so they kill and are killed.” (9:111) Not that this has anything to do with Islam!

“Laughing Somali gunmen taunted victims in university massacre,” by Adow Jubat, AFP, April 3, 2015:

Garissa (Kenya) (AFP) – Piles of bodies and pools of blood running down the corridors: survivors of the Kenya university massacre described how laughing gunmen taunted their victims amid scenes of total carnage.

Salias Omosa, an 20-year-old education student, said the victims were woken up at gunpoint in Thursday’s pre-dawn attack, and Muslims and non-Muslims picked out by “how they were dressed”.

“‘We don’t fear death, this will be a good Easter holiday for us,’ the attackers were shouting in Swahili, then shooting their guns,” Omosa recounted, still trembling with terror and sitting in the refuge of a military camp.

Omosa managed to escape amid the carnage at Garissa University, after seeing two of his friends executed by the Al-Qaeda-linked attackers, who he said were wearing masks and military-style uniforms.

“I have seen many things, but nothing like that,” said Reuben Nyaora, a clinical officer working for the aid agency International Rescue Committee (IRC).

“There were bodies everywhere in execution lines, we saw people whose heads had been blown off, bullet wounds everywhere, it was a grisly mess,” Nyaora told AFP.

Nyaora had rushed with colleagues from his normal work with an IRC ambulance team in the giant Dadaab refugee camp, some 90 kilometres (50 miles) away.

He was one of first frontline medics to enter university halls, providing first aid to both survivors and troops wounded in the heavy fighting.

“We were giving first aid during the fighting – and there were soldiers being shot right in front of us, as well as the casualties among the hostages,” the 32-year old Kenyan told AFP, his voice trembling.

“Then when we went into the halls, it was too horrible, too awful to imagine, and yet we saw it,” he said.

“Everyone seemed dead, but then as we talked, some students who had been hidden for hours came out – some from wardrobes, others from the ceiling, and then others who had lain down with the dead, covered in blood, hidden among their friends who had been killed.”

He described how he witnessed three women apparently dead, covered head to toe entirely in blood but in fact physically unharmed, pick themselves up from a pile of corpses.

“The ladies said the gunmen had screamed out in Swahili as they shot the men: ‘We have come to be kill and be killed,’” Nyaora said.

“Then they told the women to ‘swim in the blood’”, as though they were making fun of them, playing games and apparently enjoying the killing, he said, before moving on after apparently forgetting to shoot them too….

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Philadelphia Muslima arrested for trying to join the Islamic State

Genocide of Christians in Kenya, Syria and Iraq ‘Intensifying’

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We wish all participants and observers of this Holy Season a Happy Good Friday, a Happy Easter, and a Happy Passover.

Today’s treatment of Christians in a great many nations is disturbingly and reminiscent of the brutal persecution and genocide of the early followers of Jesus Christ; it is a current day “Crime Against Humanity.” Christian Americans are frustrated by the indifference displayed by the U.S. Government’s in its refusal to join in with world leaders to condemn the persecution, torture, and genocide of helpless Syrian and Assyrian Christians by Radical Islamic Terrorists members of Islamic State and Al Q’ieda as the genocide intensifies from week to week. We are now also observing the religious persecution of conscientious and believing Christians in the United States, led by the left of center liberal media establishment, because of their refusal to participate in or provide support for religious ceremonies that their well held religious beliefs don’t agree with.

The Pope, the Archbishop of Canterbury, the Royal Family in England, the UK Prime Minister, the King of Jordan, the President of Egypt, the President of Kurdistan, the Prime Minister of Japan, the Prime Minister of Australian, President George W. Bush, Reverend Billy Graham, the Patriarch of the Eastern Orthodox Church, the Prime Ministers of NATO nations, the Prime Minister of Israel, Christian Religious Leaders of every denomination from throughout the world, the current crop of candidates seeking to run for President of the United States, Christians worldwide, and the Secretary General of the United Nations have all raised their voices in unison to demand that the bloody genocide of Christians in Africa, Syria, and on the Plains of Nineveh in Iraq stop.

Unfortunately for three years, the occupant of the Oval Office has not joined in with other world leaders in their condemnation of the genocide of Christians by Radical Islamic Terrorists members of the Islamic State and Al Q’ieda in this current Jihad against Christians—that silence from the Oval Office for the last three years has been deafening!

Inside ISIS’ Shocking Persecution of Assyrian Christians on the Plains of Ninveh in Iraq

Assyrian Christianity started in the Plains of Nineveh with first-century Apostles in churches the Disciples founded, and Assyrian Christians still speak Aramaic, the language that Christ spoke. For over 2000 years, they endured and survived the Roman persecution of Christians, sieges by Saladin, conquests by the Persians, persecution by the Ottoman Empire, oppression by the Mongols, the survived Turkish genocide at the turn of the century, WWI, WWII, Iraq’s long war with Iran, the US led coalition Iraqi War with Saddam Hussein.,

But in just 10 months of control, Islamic State and Al Q’ieda, the members of Radical Islamic Jihadists perpetrating worldwide Jihad, have forced hundreds of thousands of Assyrian Christians into exile. At one time, 4 million Assyrian Christians made the Plains of Ninveh, in what was once Mesopotamia (Iraq today), their traditional home for over 2000 years. By clicking on the below listed link you can view the 60 Minutes segment that will take you inside Iraq today and will describe the life and death struggle that the Assyrian Christians, trying to survive, are involved in with Radical Islamic Jihadists.

Assyrian Christians are being crucified, beheaded, being forced to kneel to be shot, thrown off buildings to their deaths, being buried alive, being burned alive, whose children are being cut in half, and whose female children & women are being raped then killed for refusing to deny that Jesus Christ is their Lord and Savior. For the last 3 years the Obama administration has refused to provide logistic support and small arms to the Assyrian Christians; in the last 10 months the Assyrian Christian Militia has been training, employing the paucity of funds donated to their cause by American citizens. The newly constituted Assyrian Christian Militia has been trying to protect the Assyrian Christians who have migrate toward the Kurdish lines on the eastern end of the Plains of Ninveh Although 51 US Congressmen have petitioned the Obama administration to simply provide logistics and defensive small arms for the Assyrian Christian Militia engaged with ISIL, their requests have been ignored, yet US military air support and logistic aide is being provided to Iraq and their ally, the Iranian Quid’s Force, with boots on the ground in Iraq who are also engaged with ISIL.

Seyfo Center Organization Mission Statement and 100 Years Anniversary Of Assyrian Genocide.

​​New York Times

ISIS Onslaught Engulfs Assyrian Christians as Militants Destroy Ancient Art

By ANNE BARNARD

ISTANBUL — The reports are horrifying, something out of a distant era of ancient conquests: entire villages emptied, with hundreds taken prisoner, others kept as slaves; the destruction of irreplaceable works of art; a tax on religious minorities, payable in gold.

A rampage reminiscent of Tamerlane or Genghis Khan, perhaps, but in reality, according to reports by residents, activist groups and the assailants themselves, a description of the modus operandi of the Islamic State’s self-declared Islamic caliphate this week as it prosecuted a relentless campaign in Iraq and Syria against what have historically been religiously and ethnically diverse areas with traces of civilizations dating to ancient Mesopotamia.

The latest to face the militants’ onslaught are the Assyrian Christians of northeastern Syria, one of the world’s oldest Christian communities, some speaking a modern version of Aramaic, the language of Jesus.

Assyrian leaders have stated hundreds Assyrian Christians men, women, and children have been taken captive, along with civilian men and fighters from Assyrian Christian Militias, said Dawoud Dawoud, an Assyrian political activist who had just toured the area, in the vicinity of the Syrian city of Qamishli. Thirty villages had been emptied, he said.

The Syriac Military Council, a local Assyrian militia, put the number of those taken in the hundreds.

Reached in Qamishli, Adul Ahad Nissan, 48, an accountant and music composer who fled his village before the brunt of the fighting, said a close friend and his wife had been captured.

“I used to call them every other day. Now their mobile is off,” he said. “I tried and tried. It’s so painful not to see your friends again.”
Members of the Assyrian diaspora have called for international intervention, and on Thursday, warplanes of the United States-led coalition struck targets in the area, suggesting that the threat to a minority enclave had galvanized a reaction, as a similar threat did in the Kurdish city of Kobani last year.

The assault on the Assyrian communities comes amid battles for a key crossroads in the area. But to residents, it also seems to be part of the latest effort by the Islamic State militants to eradicate or subordinate anyone and anything that does not comport with their vision of Islamic rule — whether a minority sect that has survived centuries of conquerors and massacres or, as the world was reminded on Thursday, the archaeological traces of pre-Islamic antiquity.

An Islamic State video distributed on the worldwide Internet shows Radical Islamic Terrorists smashing statues with sledgehammers inside the Mosul Museum, in northern Iraq, that showcases recent archaeological finds from the ancient Assyrian empire. The relics include items from the palace of King Sennacherib, who in the Byron poem “came down like the wolf on the fold” to destroy his enemies.

“A tragedy and catastrophic loss for Iraqi history and archaeology beyond comprehension,” Amr al-Azm, the Syrian anthropologist and historian, called the destruction on his Facebook page.

“These are some of the most wonderful examples of Assyrian art, and they’re part of the great history of Iraq, and of Mesopotamia,” he said in an interview. “The whole world has lost this.”

Islamic State militants seized the museum — which had not yet opened to the public — when they took over Mosul in June and have repeatedly threatened to destroy its collection.

In the video, put out by the Islamic State’s media office for Nineveh Province — named for an ancient Assyrian city — a man explains, “The monuments that you can see behind me are but statues and idols of people from previous centuries, which they used to worship instead of God.”

A message flashing on the screen read: “Those statues and idols weren’t there at the time of the Prophet nor his companions. They have been excavated by Satanists.”

The men, some bearded and in traditional Islamic dress, others clean-shaven in jeans and T-shirts, were filmed toppling and destroying artifacts. One is using a power tool to deface a winged lion much like a pair on display at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York.
The Islamic State, also known as ISIS or ISIL, has presented itself as a modern-day equivalent of the conquering invaders of Sennacherib’s day, or as Islamic zealots smashing relics out of religious conviction.

Yet in the past, the militants have veered between ideology and pragmatism in their relationship to antiquity — destroying historic mosques, tombs and artifacts that they consider forms of idolatry, but also selling more portable objects to fill their coffers.

The latest eye-catching destruction could have a more strategic aim, said Mr. Azm, who closely follows the Syrian conflict and opposes both the Islamic State and the government.

“It’s all a provocation,” he said, aimed at accelerating a planned effort, led by Iraqi forces and backed by United States warplanes, to take back Mosul, Iraq’s second-largest city.

“They want a fight with the West because that’s how they gain credibility and recruits,” Mr. Azm said. “They want boots on the ground. They want another Falluja,” a reference to the 2004 battle in which United States Marines, in the largest ground engagement since Vietnam, took that Iraqi city from Qaeda-linked insurgents whose organization would eventually give birth to the Islamic State.

The Islamic State has been ecumenical in its violence against the modern diversity of Iraq and Syria. It considers Shiite Muslims apostates, and has destroyed Shiite shrines and massacred more than 1,000 Shiite Iraqi soldiers. It has demanded that Christians living in its territories pay the jizya, a tax on religious minorities dating to early Islamic rule.

Islamic State militants have also slaughtered fellow Sunni Muslims who reject their rule, killing hundreds of members of the Shueitat tribe in eastern Syria in one clash alone. They have also massacred and enslaved members of the Yazidi sect in Iraq.

Read more.

RELATED ARTICLE: ‘PERSECUTED FOR HIS NAME’: The Pope Recites Emotional Prayer For The Slain Students in Kenya

EDITORS NOTE: This column originally appeared on the Combat Veterans for Congress website.

Sarasota, Florida Event: What You Need to Know to Help Stop the Global Persecution of Christians

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If the world hates you, know that it has hated me before it hated you – John 15:18

If you truly want to understand who hates Christians, why they persecute them, what drives their hate, where persecution is happening, and, most importantly, what you can do to stop the hate, come to a special presentation by Israeli professor Dr. Mordecai Kedar, either 6:00 – 7:30 p.m. or 8:00 – 9:30 p.m., on Tuesday, February 3, 2015, at the Waldemere Fire Station 2nd floor, 2070 Waldemere Street, Sarasota. This event is in collaboration with the Sarasota Ministerial Association, Sarasota Patriots, Humanity Working to End Genocide and Zionist Organization of America of Sarasota-Manatee.

Christians like to believe that all cultures have exactly the same goals (peace, prosperity, freedom) and exactly the same values (human life, honesty, human rights). And although all of these goals and values are undoubtedly part of every human culture, not all cultures value them to the same degree that we do in the Christian world.

Daily we read about Christians being driven from their homes, from their churches and even from the country of their birth. We watch, in disbelief, horrible atrocities being committed against Christians. Christian children being sold into slavery, churches burned to the ground, and even Christian’s crucified.

Our prayers seem to go unanswered for our Christian brothers and sisters. So what can we do to stop this hate filled madness?

Dr. Kedar has answers to your many questions. He brings with him a clear understanding of what is behind this growing hate and clear threat to Christians and the Church.

The event is open to the public. RSVPs may be sent to kedar.rsvp@gmail.com or via voice/text to (941) 225-9112.

ABOUT DR. MORDECAI KEDAR

Dr. Kedar is an Israeli scholar of Arabic literature and a lecturer at Bar-Ilan University. He holds the Ph.D. from Bar-Ilan University.

Kedar is an academic expert on the Israeli Arab population. He served for twenty-five years in IDF Military Intelligence, where he specialized in Islamic groups, the political discourse of Arab countries, the Arabic press and mass media, and the Syrian domestic arena. The Los Angeles Times‘  Edmund Sanders described him as “one of the few Arabic-speaking Israeli pundits seen on Arabic satellite channels defending Israel”.

ABOUT THE SARASOTA MINISTERIAL ASSOCIATION

The Sarasota Ministerial Association (formerly the Downtown Churches & Ministries Association) was formed in April of 2001 to share the voice and care of the Sarasota faith community.

Top 50 anti-Christian Countries

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Sarah Eekhoff Zylstra in her column “‘Not Forgotten’: The Top 50 Countries Where It’s Most Difficult To Be A Christian” reports that, “Open Doors says 2014 saw the worst persecution of Christians in the ‘modern era’—but not because of violence.”

Zylstra writes:

New research reveals one more reason to remember 2014: for the greatest number of religious freedom violations against Christians worldwide in recent memory—even in Christian-majority countries. Of the worst 50 nations, 4 out of 5 share the same primary cause. And, while the number of martyrdoms did double from 2013, the main driver of persecution in 2014 wasn’t violence.

Open Doors released today its latest World Watch List (WWL). The annual list ranks the top 50 countries “where Christians face the most persecution,” aiming to create “effective anger” on believers’ behalf.

“This year, the threshold was higher for a country to make the list, indicating that worldwide levels of persecution have increased,”stated Open Doors in announcing its analysis of the “significant trends” in 2014 that drove persecution higher worldwide, “even in places where it has not been reported in the past.”

So while countries such as Sri Lanka and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) fell significantly in rank on this year’s watch list (Sri Lanka dropped 15 spots to No. 44, and the UAE dropped 14 spots to No. 49), their level of persecution dropped only slightly from last year’s list (by four points and two points, respectively, on a 100-point scale). And while three countries—Bahrain, Morocco, and Niger—were removed from the list this year, the level of persecution in each remained virtually the same from 2013 to 2014.

Overall in 2014, pressure on Christians increased in 29 countries, decreased in 11, and remained stable in 7. Three countries—Mexico, Turkey, and Azerbaijan—were added to the watch list this year. [See infographic below.]

christian persecution info graphic

For a larger view click on the image.

Open Doors researchers measure persecution by “the degree of freedom a Christian has to live out his or her faith in five spheres of life (private, family, community, national, and church life),” as well as by tallying acts of violence.

Researchers calculate that 4,344 Christians were “killed for faith-related reasons” in 2014, which is “more than double the 2,123 killed in 2013, and more than triple the 1,201 killed the year before that,”reports World Watch Monitor (WWM). (Measuring martyrdoms has drawn debate in recent years, and Open Doors is usually on the conservative end of estimates.) By far the largest number of deaths occurred in Nigeria, where 2,484 Christians were killed; the next deadliest country for Christians was the Central African Republic (CAR), with 1,088 deaths. The remaining three deadliest countries were Syria (271 deaths), Kenya (119 deaths), and North Korea (100 deaths).

In addition, 1,062 churches were “attacked for faith-related reasons” in 2014. The majority of attacks took place in five countries: China (258 churches), Vietnam (116 churches), Nigeria (108 churches), Syria (107 churches), and the Central African Republic (100 churches). Last year’s highest-profile incident: a government campaign to “de-Christianize” the skyline of one of China’s most Christian cities. (The Pew Research Center also recently tallied the countries with the most government destruction of religious property.)

Read more.

EDITORS NOTE: The featured image is courtesy of Open Doors.

Disturbing Christian persecution in the U.S. Army

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I received a very disturbing letter and call to action from a mentor, friend, American warrior, and Executive Vice President of the Family Research Council, Lieutenant General Jerry Boykin.

LTG Boykin is a founding member of America’s elite Delta Force. Today LTG Boykin still fights, and for all the right causes, such as that of Army Chaplain CPT Joseph Lawhorn. CPT Lawhorn is just another victim of the secular humanist policy influence led by Mikey Weinstein against the Judeo-Christian faith heritage in our military. Weinstein has advocated for Christians in the military to be punished for professing their faith.

But as you can see in this below letter of admonition, CPT Lawhorn’s commander at Ft. Benning, Col David G. Fivecoat issued the Army Chaplain a letter of concern for speaking of his faith –a letter that will go into CPT Lawhorn’s personnel file that has adverse consequences for selection for promotion. Why in God’s name would Col Fivecoat be concerned about an Army Chaplain speaking of his faith during suicide prevention training?

Ladies and gents, please join in and sign the petition to have this letter removed and perhaps a letter of reprimand should be placed in Col Fivecoat’s personnel file. Thus incident is appalling and we should all be outraged over the persecution of Christian faith in our military. Scroll down to read the letter.

December 17, 2014

Dear Friend,

This cannot stand. When a military chaplain cannot openly speak about his faith, military disarmament has reached a level that no budget cuts could ever produce.

On November 20th, Capt. Joseph Lawhorn, U.S. Army Chaplain at Fort Benning, participated in a mandatory suicide awareness and prevention briefing in which he gave a presentation describing resources – both spiritual and secular – that were available for handling such grave mental health situations. He went further and discussed his personal struggles with depression, describing the spiritual and religious steps that helped him during those dark times in his life.

As a result of the chaplain’s discussion of his faith, he was called into his brigade commander’s office on Thanksgiving Day. There Col. David G. Fivecoat issued Chaplain Lawhorn a Letter of Concern that is to remain in his personnel file for the duration of his stay at Fort Benning. This type of letter can be devastating for career military personnel and would likely prohibit further professional advancement of Chaplain Lawhorn.

EDITORS NOTE: This column originally appeared on AllenBWest.com. The featured image is courtesy of Voice of the Persecuted.

The World’s Most Persecuted Minority: Christians

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In the newest Prager University course  Raymond Ibrahim discusses the global Muslim persecution of Christians.

According to Prager University, “The most persecuted and victimized people in the world today are Christians in the Middle East. The perpetrators of the widespread destruction of that region’s Christian community? Islamists. Middle East expert Raymond Ibrahim lays out the grim details.”

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Does The Vatican Need A Quick Reactionary Force?

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By Alan Kornman and Wallace Bruschweiler –

The events in Iraq by the Islamic State and other Islamist groups against Christians and  ‘others’ are only the last of a long (and very little reported) series of horrible “events” in Iraq, Syria, Indonesia, Egypt, Nigeria, Lebanon, Sudan, etc.

The Vatican has called on Muslim leaders to denounce unambiguously the persecution of Christians and Yazidis in Iraq – and ‘hinted’ that it is ‘considering’ breaking off dialogue with Islamic representatives if they fail to do so.

The Vatican’s Pontifical Council for Inter-religious Dialogue said ISIS had committed “and was continuing to commit unspeakable criminal acts”. To reinforce the point, it listed some of the atrocities for which ISIS is reported to have been responsible. They included “the massacre of people solely for reasons of their religious adherence”; “the execrable practice[s] of decapitation, crucifixion and hanging of corpses in public places”; “the choice imposed on Christians and Yazidis between conversion to Islam, payment of a tax (jizya) and exodus”; “the forced expulsion of tens of thousands of people, including children, old people, pregnant women and the sick”; “the abduction of women and girls belonging to the Yazidi and Christian communities as war booty (sabaya)”, and “the imposition of the barbaric practice of infibulation”.

The Guardian reports, “Pope Francis gave an early indication of the Vatican’s hardening attitude last Sunday when he said that news from Iraq had left him “in dismay and disbelief”. Last Friday, the pope named Cardinal Fernando Filoni as his personal envoy to the region. The cardinal was due to fly out on Tuesday after his departure was postponed on Monday, apparently because of security fears.”

How come ‘security fears’ of Cardinal Filoni are valid and not being applied to the rest of the ‘normal’ Christians?

St. Peter’s Doors Closed, Armed Neutrality

In September of 1943, the Nazis entered Rome and the gates of the Vatican were shut, and closed for the first time ever.  The doors of the Vatican are partially closed to the cries from hundreds of thousands of Christians being slaughtered, tortured, raped, and displaced by the followers of Islam fighting under the black flag of Jihad in Iraq, Syria, Middle East, and the world.

Pope Francis must realize the threshold of ‘prudential judgement’ to go to war has been crossed a long time ago. The Pope must acknowledge this fact by acting decisively, with no further delay, to engage the Islamist enemy wherever Christians are attacked and slaughtered.  For the Vatican to consider breaking off interfaith dialogue with Islamic representatives is feckless bluster.

Pope Francis can no longer hide behind the neutrality of the Corps of Gendarmerie of Vatican City.  In today’s world, there is no active military force that will come to the aid of persecuted Christians with a singularity of purpose.

Conclusion

The so-called news media (written and TV) is either blind and deaf or just “politically correct”. The sleazy advances of violent Islamic extremists must be stopped before it is too late.

Action today is imperative.

The Vatican must utilize its vast resources in forming a Quick Reactionary Force (QRF) of mercenaries to protect and defend Christians wherever and whenever they are under attack around the world.

Wallice bruschweiler

Wallace Bruschweiler

ABOUT WALLACE BRUSCHWEILER

Wallace Bruschweiler, a quadri-linguist and subject matter expert on counter terrorism and national security issues. Over 30 years experience operating in Europe, Middle East, and North Africa.

Prayer March For Persecuted Christians on May 17th in Orlando, FL

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restrict-5-15

For a larger view click on the image. Chart courtesy of Pew Research Center.

A 2014 Pew Study reports, Christians are the most persecuted group in the world. In 2013, a Vatican spokesman reported 100,000 Christians are murdered each year. Churches are regularly burned in Nigeria, Egypt, Syria, Pakistan, Indonesia, and Iraq. Christian pastors have been jailed and beheaded.

This Prayer March is not political, but rather an appeal to God and humanity to stop the desecration of human life. Churches and other interested organizations are invited to participate.

Location: Lake Eola Park, at The Forum (opposite Panera Bread)
Date: Saturday, May 17, 2014
Time: 6:30-9:00 PM
Conclusion: International speakers at Trinity Lutheran Church, 123 E. Livingston St. 8:00-9:00 p.m.
Cost: Free and Public Invited
Dress: March will cover 1 mile so dress comfortably
Parking: Free parking across from Trinity Lutheran Church

The march will begin at 6:30 PM, East end of Lake Eola Park, at the Forum opposite Panera Bread, proceeding along the South end of Lake Eola, Northward on Rosalind, concluding with a prayer rally at Trinity Lutheran Church, 123 E. Livingston Street.
8:00 p.m., at Trinity Lutheran Church, we will have International speakers from Europe, Egypt, Syria, and Iran sharing their personal accounts of Christian persecution.

Signage and candles will be provided by Burning Bush Ministries who is sponsoring this event.

Contact Bruce Lieske or Alan Kornman at PrayerMarch@yahoo.com for more info.

PrayerMarch

For a larger view click on the flyer.

Bill Warner: A Voice for the Voiceless (+ video)

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Voices for the Voiceless states, “It is a moral duty to speak and write about the greatest human rights crime today — persecution of religious minorities. There is a denial of this news. Those who should speak are SILENT in the face of terrible suffering.”

[youtube]http://youtu.be/TLs7PHFpMuI[/youtube]

 

The following is taken from the Voices for the Voiceless website:

SUFFERING

The greatest human rights violation today is the persecution of religious minorities. Christians are the largest numbers by far.

  • Half of Iraqi Christians have fled rather than die. Countless numbers of their churches have been destroyed.
  • Syrian towns that have been Christian for 2000 years are being annihilated.
  • The 1300 year march of terror against the Copts continues in Egypt today.
  • Christians jailed in Iran are tortured.
  • Christians and Hindus are persecuted to near annihilation in Pakistan.

Also Buddhists in Thailand, Hindus in India and Jews in Israel are routinely assaulted and murdered.

RESPONSE

It is a moral duty to speak and write about the greatest human rights crime today — persecution of religious minorities. There is a denial of this news. Those who should speak are SILENT in the face of terrible suffering.

  • Who are the persecuted?
  • What is their history?
  • Where is this happening?
  • Why is this persecution taking
    place?

WHY ARE YOU SILENT?

SILENCE IN THE FACE OF EVIL IS ITSELF EVIL

God will not hold us guiltless. Not to speak is to speak. Not to act is to act. – Dietrich Bonhoeffer

MORALITY

Who do you stand for, the oppressors or the victims? Silence supports the oppressors. The highest moral position is to defend the victims who have no voice. There is no justice until we hear the voice of the victim. Will you become a voice for the voiceless?

WHAT DO WE WANT?

  • Speak out about the suffering of millions in the greatest human rights tragedy of our day.
  • Talk about how we can stop the suffering and murder of the persecuted.

WHAT MUST HAPPEN

  • The death cries of the daughters, sons, husbands, and wives must be heard.
  • Good people must become willing to talk about the suffering of religious minorities.
  • Stop the silence and report the facts every time.

There is no justice without hearing the voiceless. Then you must speak and act with courage.

EDITORS NOTE: The featured image is courtesy of Erica, blogger at the University of Washington.