MidnightWatcher – Prophecy in Motion

Matthew 10:22, “And you will be hated by all for My name’s sake. But he who endures to the end will be saved.”

By BILL SPINDLE and SAM DAGHER, The Wall Street Journal – “Near the Syrian city of Aleppo, the Church of St. Simeon the Stylite commemorates the 5th-century ascetic who became an ancient sensation by living atop a tall pedestal for decades to demonstrate his faith. Krak des Chevaliers, an awe-inspiring castle near Homs, was a fortress for the order of the Knights Hospitaller in their quest to defend a crusader kingdom. Seydnaya, a towering monastery in a town of the same name, was probably built in the time of Justinian.

A nun there spoke about Syria’s current crisis from within a candlelit alcove this week, surrounded by thousand-year-old votive icons donated by Russian Orthodox churchgoers and silver pendants in the shape of body parts that supplicants have sought to heal—feet, heads, legs, arms, even a pair of lungs and a kidney.

‘It’s not a small thing we are facing,’ she said, speaking as much about the country as her faith. ‘We just want the killing to stop.’

Few places are as central as Syria to the long history of Christianity. Saul of Tarsus made his conversion here, reputedly on the Street Called Straight, which still exists in Damascus. It was in these lands that he conducted his first missions to attract non-Jews to the nascent faith.

A century ago, the Levant supported a population that was perhaps 20% Christian. Now it is closer to 5%. Syria today hosts vibrant, if dwindling, communities of various ancient sects: Syrian Orthodox, Syrian Catholics, Greek Orthodox, Greek Catholics and Armenian Orthodox.

But Syria’s Christian communities are being severely tested by the uprising that has racked the country for more than a year. They think back to 636, when the Christian Byzantine emperor Heraclius saw his army defeated by Muslim forces south of present-day Damascus. ‘Peace be with you Syria. What a beautiful land you will be for our enemies,’ he lamented before fleeing north to Antioch. In the 8th century, a famed Damascus church was razed to make way for the Umayyad Mosque—today one of Islam’s holiest sites.” Read more.

Flashback: ‘Deliberate and Growing’: Christian Persecution From ‘Arab Spring’ Insurgents in Syria Becoming a Steadily Growing Reality, ‘It Will Never Be the Same Anymore’ – “Refugees who have fled to Jordan from Syria are telling mission leaders supported by Christian Aid Mission about deliberate, new persecution from the ‘Arab Spring’ insurgents who are seeking to overthrow the brutal Assad regime in Damascus. Nearly 100,000 Christians so far have fled from Homs and other cities being targeted by government forces, but it is no longer just to escape the crossfire. Now, more reports are revealing that a new wave of persecution is deliberate and growing… ‘It is over; we can’t get back what we lost,’ said one discouraged Christian refugee here in Jordan. ‘It will never be the same anymore for me or my family. We’ve lost hope.’” Read more.

By Michael Carl – “Analysts and human-rights groups claim U. S. foreign policy is responsible for the destruction of the Middle East’s Christian communities.

The reasoning says the U. S. government’s assistance of the radical elements in the ‘Arab Spring’ has wreaked havoc with the region’s Christians.

The Vatican’s official news service Fides says events in Syria are proof U. S. policy and its support of jihadists is contributing to the death of the country’s Christians.

Fides reports, ‘Radical Islamist groups in the ranks of the revolutionaries sow terror among civilians in Damascus. Those who pay the consequences are those considered ‘loyalists,’ loyal to the regime of Bashar al Assad.’

‘Among the victims, report Fides sources in Damascus, there are also Christians of the suburb of Bab Touma and Iraqi refugees who occupied the suburbs of Oujaira and Sada Zanaim,’ Fides reported.

The human-rights group, Open Doors, USA analyst and spokesman Jerry Dykstra says Syrian Christians are experiencing very harsh conditions.

‘In Syria, the future of 1.5 million Christians is bleak if President Bashar al-Assad is forced out of office by the rebel force. Under Assad Christians enjoyed a measure of freedom to worship,’ Dkystra said.

‘Already many Christians have been targeted by the Free Syrian Army, which reportedly includes al-Qaeda-style jihadists and Muslim Brotherhood members. Christians likely would face even more reprisal should Assad fall.'” Read more.

Flashback: Obama Authorizes Secret U.S. Support For Muslim Brotherhood And Al-Qaida Rebels In Syria – “President Barack Obama has signed a secret order authorizing U.S. support for rebels seeking to depose Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and his government, U.S. sources familiar with the matter said. Obama’s order, approved earlier this year and known as an intelligence ‘finding,’ broadly permits the CIA and other U.S. agencies to provide support that could help the rebels oust Assad.” Read more.

By Gracy Howard, The Washington Times – “Nadia Ghaly’s cousin disappeared 40 years ago. She was introduced to a Muslim man as a young woman, subsequently vanished and resurfaced later three months pregnant wearing a hijab. She was the victim of a forced marriage.

She is not alone. Coptic Christian women are routinely victimized and forcibly converted by Muslims in Egypt, Miss Ghaly says.

In its annual Religious Freedom Report, released July 30, the U.S. State Department acknowledged the problem, but at the same time appeared to downplay it. The report described forcible conversions as ‘disputed,’ asserting that while there were ‘occasional claims’ of Muslim men forcing Coptic women (and sometimes girls younger than legal age) to convert to Islam, these accounts ‘often included inflammatory allegations and categorical denials of kidnapping and rape.’

Miss Ghaly has no faith in the current U.S. administration. ‘I feel that politically the United States will look after its own interests,’ Miss Ghaly said. ‘I feel that they favor the Muslim Brotherhood and [Egyptian President Mohammed] Morsi more than the human rights of the Copts.’…

Rep. Frank Wolf, R-Va., said the Obama administration has been a ‘disaster’ for Egypt’s Christian community. He petitioned the State Department in 2010 on behalf of Christians in Egypt. He is still waiting for a reply.

‘It’s like no one’s home,’ he said. ‘The Coptic Christians have never felt the American Embassy was their friend. … I think it’s so dysfunctional that the only way to make improvement is to change the administration.'” Read more.

Flashback: Egypt: Thousands Of Christian Girls Being Kidnapped By Muslims, Forced Into Servitude – “A new report from George Washington University professor Michele Clark and Coptic rights activist Nada Ghaly has argued that thousands of young Coptic Christian girls in Egypt are the victim of kidnapping and forced servitude by Muslims in the North African country. ‘Women and girls who are found indicate they were befriended by friends or relatives of their kidnappers, or the kidnappers themselves, drugged and then taken in a well-organized plan. ‘Others, like a young mother who testified before the Helsinki Commission last week, were snatched by violent strangers in broad daylight.” Read more.

Hebrews 13:3, “Remember those in prison as if you were their fellow prisoners, and those who are mistreated as if you yourselves were suffering.”

John 16:2b, “… the time is coming when those who kill you will think they are doing a holy service for God.”

BY CHRISTIANA T. ALABI, allAfrica – “Kaduna — Quantitative data revealed that out of the 137 religious-motivated violent incidents tracked by the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN), 88.3% were attacks on Christians while 2.9% were attacks on Muslims, President of CAN Ayo Oritsejafor has said.

This figure was contained in a letter written by the CAN president to the Secretary of State, United State Department of State, Hillary Rodham Clinton.

According to the letter, attacks on security agents account for 4.4%, sectarian clashes 2.2% and extra-judicial killings were 2.1%.

‘The US Terrorism Report 2011 indicates a total of 136 terrorist attacks in Nigeria. It is inconceivable therefore that Muslims were the primary victims of a jihadist group whose intent is to Islamize Nigeria. Even if such assumptions could be made without empirical data, the more credible and more plausible proposition is that given Boko Haram’s declared intent to obliterate Christianity in northern Nigeria and its systematic attacks which began almost a decade ago, the majority of the victims are Christians.

‘Since Boko Haram has stated that it does not theologically or operationally target mosques and has so far not succeeded in attacking any, it is only logical that Muslims cannot be the majority victims. This year 2012 alone, there have been 49 security incidences of which 80% have targeted Christians,’ Oritsejafor said.

He urged clinton to work with Nigeria to achieve a truth-based peaceful resolution to the terrorism and extremism that threatens the very life of Nigeria.” Source – allAfrica.com.

Flashback: Nigeria: ‘Proud Soldiers Of Allah’ Vows To Take Down Government And Destroy Christianity, ‘We Will Devour You … Our Joy Is To Die In Jihad’ – “Islamist sect, Boko Haram, has threatened to bring down the Federal Government led by President Goodluck Jonathan within three months… ‘You, Jonathan, cannot stop us; instead we will devour you in the three months like you are boasting … We are proud soldiers of Allah; we will never give up as we fight the infidels. We will emerge as winners … for us, [death] is eternal victory to die working for Allah. Our joy is to die in Jihad for Allah … We are not doing physical human service, but Allah’s work … We are not afraid because we are not doing man’s work but Allah’s work…” Read more.

By Khaled Abu Toameh – “As all eyes were turned this week toward Sinai, where Muslim fundamentalists killed 16 Egyptian border guards while they were having the Ramadan fast-breaking meal, Christian families were being forced out of their homes in the village of Dahshur, 40 kilometers south of Giza.

Hundreds of Christians fled their homes after being attacked by their Muslim neighbors, who also targeted a church and Christian-owned businesses in the village.

The anti-Christian violence was described as the worst since Muslim Brotherhood candidate Mohamed Morsi was elected as president in June.

But Morsi did not find time this week to visit Dahshur to see for himself how hundreds of helpless Christians were being forced out of their homes.

Instead, he and his security and military commanders rushed to Sinai as soon as they heard about the massacre that was perpetrated against the border guards.

The Egyptian authorities did not even hesitate to use heavy weapons against the Muslim terrorists in Sinai. For the first time since the signing of the peace treaty with Israel, Egypt sent military helicopters and armored vehicles to attack the terrorists in Sinai.

But when it comes to dealing with Muslim terrorists who have been targeting Christians in a number of villages and cities throughout Egypt over the past few months, the Egyptian authorities have endorsed a lenient approach. In fact, the authorities, according to human rights activists, have chosen to turn a blind eye to the plight of the 14-million strong Christian community.

Even worse, the Egyptian government Read more…