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 Raymond Ibrahim, Gatestone Institute – “Two of the most tragic Islamic attacks on Christians, killing several women and children, took place in the month of October, one in Syria, another in Egypt.

On October 21 in Syria, U.S.-supported Islamist rebels invaded and occupied the ancient Christian settlement of Sadad for over a week, until ousted by the Syrian army. What took place that week was ‘the largest massacre of Christians in Syria,’ in the words of Orthodox Archbishop Alnemeh. Among other things, 45 Christians—including women and children—were killed, several were tortured to death; mass graves were discovered; all of Sadad’s 14 churches, some ancient, were ransacked and destroyed; the bodies of six people from one family, ranging from ages 16 to 90, were found at the bottom of a well (an increasingly common fate for ‘subhuman’ Christians).

The jihadis also made a graphic video (with English subtitles) of those whom they massacred, while shouting Islam’s victory-cry, ‘Allahu Akbar!’ [‘Allah is Greater!,’ meaning ‘than anything’]. Another video, made after Sadad was liberated, shows more graphic atrocities.

The day before rebels invaded Sadad, on Sunday, October 20, the Church of the Virgin Mary in Warraq, near Cairo, Egypt, was attacked during a wedding ceremony. The attack left four dead and nearly two dozen wounded. According to a report issued by a forensic team, two of those murdered were young girls, each named Mary: 12-year-old Mary Nabil Fahmy, who was shot five times in the chest, and 8-year-old Mary Ashraf Masih (‘Masih’ meaning ‘Christ’), who was shot in the back.

The security forces charged with protecting the church were seen leaving their posts immediately before the massacre began, as happens frequently in Egypt and other Islamic nations. In the words of Asia News, ‘Eye-witnesses of the al-Warraq attack confirm that despite numerous distress calls, police and ambulances only arrived on the scene two hours after the shooting.’

These massacres in Syria and Egypt received scant attention and even less condemnation from Western media and governments. Instead, people such as Mohamed Elibiary, an Obama administration Homeland Security adviser, condemned Copts who raise awareness of anti-Christian violence in Egypt as promoting ‘Islamophobic’ bigotry.

Although Christians are habitually killed in Muslim countries, as this series attests, the U.S. government rarely condemns the practice or even acknowledges it. When five Muslims were killed in western Burma, however, the U.S. issued a formal condemnation, according to Voice of America, ‘urging authorities to do more to address the long-standing sectarian tension there.’

The rest of October’s roundup of Muslim persecution of Christians around the world includes (but is not limited to) the following accounts

Revelation 14:12, “Here is the patience of the saints; here are those who keep the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus.”

Qur’an Sura 9:29-30, “Fight those who believe not in Allah nor the Last Day, nor hold that forbidden which hath been forbidden by Allah and His Messenger, nor acknowledge the religion of Truth, even if they are of the People of the Book … the Christians say: The Messiah is the son of Allah; these are the words of their mouths; they imitate the saying of those who disbelieved before; may Allah destroy them …”

Agenzia Fides – “The Christian village of Kanayé, Orontes River, in the Governorate of Idlib, has been invaded by Islamist militants that terrorize the population, threaten a massacre and have imposed the Islamic law. This is what was reported to Fides Agency by Mgr. Giuseppe Nazzaro, vicar emeritus of Aleppo, who received an alarming report by the faithful Christians of Aleppo. This has become a pattern that repeats itself and that in recent weeks has focused on a number of Christian villages: armed guerrillas penetrate into the village, terrorize civilians, commit kidnappings, kill, sow destruction. ‘In Kanayé Salafi militants and the jihadists of ‘Jabhat al-Nousra’ have imposed on the pastor not to ring bells. Women must not go out on the street bare-headed, but must be veiled. And if they do not obey these orders, the threat is massacre’, reads a note of Msr. Nazzaro, sent to Fides.

‘We are facing what they have already done in the nearby village of Ghassanieh for over a year. In Ghassanieh they warned the residents to leave the village immediately, otherwise they would have killed them, and they got the desired result: to occupy the village with what Christians possessed. In Kanayé, they have not imposed on the population to leave but to live according to the Islamic law’. According to the vicar emeritus, ‘this could be the first step: tomorrow they will force them to convert to Islam’.

In recent days, Fr. George Louis, Greek-Catholic parish priest of the village of Qara, which has been devastated and burned, explained to Fides: ‘Maalula, Sednaya, Sadad, Qara and Deir Atieh, Nebek: armed jihadists target a village, they invade it, kill people, burn and devastate it. For civilians, Christian or non-Christians, life is always more difficult. The foreign militia act out of the control of our Syrian Free Syrian Army (FSA) compatriots, who instead respect everyone, and they do not want to raze the entire country’.” Source – Agenzia Fides.

Flashback: Syria: Thousands Of Families Flee, Children Crying In Fear As Islamists Besiege Two Villages In Search Of Christians To Kill – “Islamist rebels besieged two Christian villages in Syria, killing around 13 people and forcing thousands of families to evacuate their homes. Militants from the al-Qaeda-linked al-Nusra Front stormed Saddad and Haffar on Monday last week (21 October). Until then, the villages had been relatively safe, and thousands of internally displaced families had sought refuge there.” Read more.

Flashback: Syria: Rebels Attack Christian Homes, Churches, Many Feared Dead, ‘Convert To Islam Or You Will Be Beheaded’ – “A Maaloula resident said the rebels, many of them sporting beards and shouting [Allahu akbar], attacked Christian homes and churches shortly after moving into the village overnight… Now, Maaloula ‘is a ghost town. Where is President Obama to see what befallen on us?’ asked the man… Another resident, a Christian man, said he saw militants forcing some Christian residents to convert to Islam. ‘I saw the militants grabbing five villagers Wednesday and threatening them (saying): `Either you convert to Islam, or you will be beheaded,’ he said.” Read more.

Flashback: Syria: Mass Graves With Dozens Of Christians Killed By Islamist Rebels Found In Sadad – “The bodies of thirty Christian civilians have been found in two separate mass graves, including women and children, killed by Islamist militias in the city of Sadad. And, altogether, the Christian civilians killed in a small town halfway between Homs and Damascus are 45… According to eyewitnesses, many of the civilians were killed by militia gangs of ‘Al- Nusra Front’ and ‘Daash’. The city is now completely destroyed and looted.” Read more.

Flashback: Al-Qaeda Vows To Slaughter Christians After Syria Is ‘Liberated’ – “Arabic news agency Al Hadath gives more information concerning this latest terror attack on Syria’s Christians, specifically how the al-Qaeda linked rebels ‘terrorized the Christians, threatening to be avenged on them after the triumph of the revolution.’ Thus al-Qaeda terrorists eagerly await U.S. assistance against the Syrian government, so they can subjugate if not slaughter Syria’s Christians …” Read more.

This was only a matter of time. Even though Muslims destroy symbols of Christianity all the time, the issue is not their destruction per se, but rather what they represent. In the Islamist mindset, attacking a statue of Jesus or anything else that represents Christianity such as a church or a cross or the Bible itself is but another way to persecute Christians. And when Christians are persecuted, so is Christ …

• Recommended: Islamist Rebels Turn Seized Church Into Al-Qaeda Headquarters
• Recommended: Islamist Rebels Burning Church Statues And Crosses In Northern Syria
• Recommended: Islamist Rebels Plant Bombs Inside One Of The World’s Oldest Churches
• Recommended: Islamist Rebels Burn Bibles And Christian Books In Front Of Raqqa Church

By Raymond Ibrahim, Raymond Ibrahim – “Earlier this month, the Islamist-led opposition in Syria broadcast a video clip of a militant threatening the nation’s Christian minority, with a focus on the Cherubim monastery and the large Jesus statue recently erected in the region of Saidnaya in Damascus.

In the video, images of militants firing rockets at the ancient monastery and setting the building on fire appear (confirmed elsewhere). The Christ statue also appears being targeted, though it is unclear if it was damaged.

The 128-foot tall bronze Christ statue, christened ‘I have come to save the world,’ was recently erected in war-torn Syria, with support from the Russian Orthodox Church.

Throughout the video clip, Islamic chanting is heard and Koran verses recited, including those vowing destruction to all polytheism (shirk), a reference to Christianity.

After the speaker in the video accuses Syria’s Christians of being supportive of the secular Bashar Assad government, he declares: ‘The swords of Islam shall fall upon your necks in your own monasteries, Allah willing—and Allah is witness to our words!'” Source – Rayond Ibrahim.

Flashback: Syrian Rebels Desecrate Churches, Replace Crosses With The Black Flag Of Al Qaeda – “A Syrian rebel group affiliated with Al Qaeda desecrated two Christian churches in Northern Syria late last month, replacing their crosses with the symbolic black flag of jihad. The rebels also destroyed relics, painting and statues allegedly in response to the city’s anti-sectarian protests against the jihadist Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS).” Read more.

Flashback: Report: Al Qaeda Flag Hoisted Above Churches While Anti-Christian Fury Takes On ‘Genocidal Proportions’ In Egypt – “Days ago, al-Qaeda’s Egyptian leader, Ayman Zawahiri, portrayed the overthrow of Muhammad Morsi and the Brotherhood as a ‘Crusader’ campaign led by Coptic Pope Tawadros II who, according to Zawahiri and other terrorists, is trying to create a Coptic state in Egypt. Since then, not only are Egypt’s Christians and churches now being attacked in ways unprecedented in the modern era, but new reports indicate that al-Qaeda’s black flag has been raised on some of them, specifically St. George Church in Sohag.” Read more.

Flashback: Syria: Islamist Rebels Find Bibles And Biblical Materials, Call Them ‘More Dangerous Than Chemical Weapons’ – “The Word of Truth will always be considered “dangerous” to those who worship the Father of Lies … ‘A video apparently made by some of the Islamists fighting and killing each other and the population in Syrian reveals quantities of Bibles and biblical materials, such as the Book of John, as a narrator describes them as being ‘more dangerous than chemical weapons.’ The video appeared yesterday, just as reports were coming out of Syria about how the Islamist rebels fighting President Bashar al-Assad’s army were ‘liberating’ villages, and then forcing Christians there to convert to Islam or be beheaded.” Read more.

For peaceful purposes …

Hadith, Bukhari 2977, “I have been made victorious with terror” – The “Prophet” Of Islam, Mohammed

Charisma News – “Three pastors were among those killed in the recent interfaith violence in Bangui, the capital of the Central African Republic.

Pastors Raymond Doui, 46; Elisée Zama, 33; and Jean-Louis Makamba, 48, were killed on Dec. 5 as members of the disbanded Séléka rebel forces went on a rampage following an offensive by Christian-dominated anti-Balaka militias.

Doui, pastor of the Community of Independent Baptist Churches, died at his house in the northern suburb of Fondo. He leaves behind a wife and 11 children. Zama, of the Evangelical Church of the Brethren, was among those killed as ex-Séléka forces raided a hospital. He leaves a wife and five children. Makamba, pastor of the ELIM Church in the north Begoua area, was killed alongside one of his sons by former members of Séléka, which had entered the church compound. His wife and nine surviving children have fled, after hearing that the rebels were after them.

Another pastor, whom World Watch Monitor is not naming to preserve his safety, is on the run with his family after he learned the rebels were looking for him. He is from a Muslim background and went into hiding after the rebels burned his home and that of relatives living close by.

These incidents highlight the religious nature of the conflict, as Muslims and Christians continue to clash.

In all, more than 400 people died in three days, according to the Red Cross, while dozens have sought treatment in the corridors of overcrowded hospitals.

The number of deaths is likely to be far higher, according to a source cited by Open Doors International, a charity that works with Christians under pressure for their faith. Open Doors quotes a source, not named for security purposes, as saying:

‘In reality we must speak of at least 700 dead. The Red Cross has not counted the people that have been slaughtered and thrown into the river or buried directly by relatives or by fishermen.

‘In spite of the arrival of the French and the beginning of the disarmament, the killings continue. The war has become purely religious. Anti-Balaka defensive forces attacked the ex-Séléka and other Muslims first. This invited terrible retaliation against the Christians. The ex-Séléka and Muslim men women and children armed with firearms and machetes went from house to house, killing Christians regardless of their age. The streets of Bangui are littered with corpses. The Red Cross buried hundreds of bodies in mass graves.

‘Most people are hiding indoors. Some have fled into the bush, and about 20,000 Christians fled to the church of Pastor Nicolas Guerékoyamé, the president of the Evangelical Alliance, because he is one of the religious leaders who always denounced the abuses of the ex-Séléka.'” Read more.

Flashback: Central African Republic: Thousands Of Christians Flee After Muslims Hunt Door-To-Door For Enemies Of ‘Allah’ – “Christian civilians fled by the thousands to the airport guarded by French forces in this chaotic capital Friday as the mostly Muslim armed fighters who have ruled the country since March hunted door-todoor for their enemies and the death toll from inter-communal violence rose to 280 people. Bodies lay decomposing along the roads in a city too dangerous for many to collect the corpses. Thursday’s clashes marked the worst unrest in Bangui in nine months and raised fears that waves of retaliatory attacks could soon follow. ‘They are slaughtering us like chickens,’ said Appolinaire Donoboy, a Christian whose family remained in hiding.” Read more.