MidnightWatcher – Prophecy in Motion

For peaceful purposes …

By Corey Bailey, ICC – “The first month of 2014 has seen numerous ‘attacks’ on churches and Christians in Egypt.  Witnesses and sources in Egypt reported to International Christian Concern (ICC), that despite the fact the following attacks were thwarted, they added to the fear Christians in Egypt face on a regular basis.

On Friday, January 3, supporters of Muslim Brotherhood attacked an Evangelical Church in the Gesr El Suez area of Cairo. The mob gathered in front of the church on Ahmed Esmat Street and began to ‘pelt stones on the church and change slogans against Christians,’ Mina Beshay, a Christian in this area, told ICC. Reports indicate that there was no security for the church building and that the attackers operated with impunity.

On Sunday, January 5, security forces in Suez disrupted a terrorist cell named, ‘Supporters of Jerusalem.’ They arrested the members when they discovered a plot to attack a nearby church on the nigh of their Christmas celebrations. Christmas among many Christians in Egypt is celebrated on January 7.

On Monday evening, January 6, a bomb was found in the bathroom of the Three Saints Church in Beni Suef city. Police diffused the bomb, initially discovered by a church member. A few days later, on January 10, security forces ‘arrested a bearded person in possession of four hand grenades in a handbag next to the Church of two Saints,’ Wissa Fawzy, a Christian in Alexandria told ICC.

On Friday, January 24, The civil defense forces and civil protection forces in Assiut Governorate found explosives inside a car parked behind the church of AL Malak.  The church, which is located in AL Numies street,in Assiut city, was targeted, ‘to be exploded,’ sources told ICC.

On Saturday, January 25, Security forces in Ismailia Security directorate found 26 Molotov Cocktails inside a bag next to the church of St. Bishoy in the area of Sheikh Zayed in Ismailia city. Witnesses say that the person in possession of the bag of explosives was sitting in a car next to the church and ‘he fled when he saw the policemen.’

Christians, a religious minority in Egypt, have lived in constant fear of attack. Christians have been kidnapped and their Churches bombed or raided on a regular basis.” Source – International Christian Concern.

Flashback: Islamic Party Member In Egypt Threatens Christians: You ‘Will Regret’ Supporting Overthrow Of Morsi – “Assem Abdel Magid, a member of the Islamic party Gamaah Islamiya, has renewed his threats against the Coptic Church and its leaders, who he accused again of supporting what he called a ‘coup.’ Magid insisted that the church and its leaders will regret it, and that the church made a strategic mistake when it stood against the first elected president. Magid was referring to the church’s support of the revolution of June 30, which deposed Mohamed Morsi… Prior to the Morsi ouster, Magid claimed in an interview on el-Nas Islamic channel on June 9, that, ‘Coptic communists, extremists, and atheists are calling for demonstrations on June 30′ while warning that Copts to not participate in these demonstrations by saying, ‘Do not offer your children as sacrifices.’” Read more.

Matthew 24:22, 27, “And unless those days were shortened, no flesh would be saved; but for the elect’s sake those days will be shortened… For as the lightning comes from the east and flashes to the west, so also will the coming of the Son of Man be.”

Colossians 3:12, “Therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, put on tender mercies, kindness, humility, meekness, longsuffering …”

Acts 14:22b, “… we must through much tribulation enter into the kingdom of God.”

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By Michael Brendan Dougherty, The Week – “Like many Coptic Christians in Egypt, Ayman Nabil Labib had a tattoo of the cross on his wrist. And like 17-year-old men everywhere, he could be assertive about his identity. But in 2011, after Egypt’s revolution, that kind of assertiveness could mean trouble.

Ayman’s Arabic-language teacher told him to cover his tattoo in class. Instead of complying, the young man defiantly pulled out the cross that hung around his neck, making it visible. His teacher flew into a rage and began choking him, goading the young man’s Muslim classmates by saying, ‘What are you going to do with him?’

Ayman’s classmates then beat him to death. False statements were given to police, and two boys were taken into custody only after Ayman’s terror-stricken family spoke out.

Ayman’s suffering is not an isolated case in Egypt or the region.

The Arab Spring, and to a lesser extent the overthrow of Saddam Hussein, were touted as the catalysts for a major historic shift in the region. From Egypt to Syria to Iraq, the Middle East’s dictatorships would be succeeded by liberal, democratic regimes. Years later, however, there is very little liberality or democracy to show. Indeed, what these upheavals have bequeathed to history is a baleful, and barely noticed legacy: The near-annihilation of the world’s most ancient communities of Christians.

The persecution of Christians throughout the Middle East, as well as the silence with which it has been met in the West, are the subject of journalist Ed West’s Kindle Single ‘The Silence of Our Friends.‘ The booklet is a brisk and chilling litany of horrors: Discriminatory laws, mass graves, unofficial pogroms, and exile. The persecuted are not just Coptic and Nestorian Christians who have relatively few co-communicants in the West, but Catholics, Orthodox, and Protestants as well.

Throughout the Middle East the pattern is the same. Christians are murdered in mob violence or by militant groups. Their churches are bombed, their shops destroyed, and their homes looted. Laws are passed making them second-class citizens, and the majority of them eventually leave.

In Egypt, a rumor that a Muslim girl was dating a Christian boy led to the burning of multiple churches, and the imposition of a curfew on a local Christian population. Illiterate children were held in police custody for urinating in a trash heap, because an imam claimed that pages quoting the Koran were in the pile and had been desecrated. Again, the persecution resulted in Christian families leaving their homes behind.

In Syria, the situation is even worse. In June 2013, a cluster of Christian villages was totally destroyed. Friar Pierbattista Pizzaballa reported that ‘of the 4,000 inhabitants of the village of Ghassanieh… no more than 10 people remain.’

Two Syrian bishops have been kidnapped by rebel groups. Militants expelled 90 percent of the Christians in the city of Homs. Patriarch Gregorios III of Antioch says that out of a population of 1.75 million, 450,000 Syrian Christians have simply fled their homes in fear.

In Iraq, the story is the same but more dramatic.” Read more.

Flashback: Muslim Group: ‘Christianity Should Be Destroyed And Wiped From The Face Of The Earth’, It Is ‘Evil’ and ‘Demonic’ – “A Muslim group has released its plan to ‘wipe Christianity from the face of the earth,’ Islamize the West and establish an Islamic system of world government – placing those who resist ‘under a police state.’… ‘Islamic Power has returned upon the face of the earth and the Revived Global Caliphate has set eyes on the West to once and for all rid the world of Christianity and there is nothing you can do about it,’ al-Mohammedi said. He makes his objective clear.” Read more.

Flashback: Sen. Rand Paul Shames Media For Ignoring Islam’s ‘Worldwide War On Christianity’ – “Senator Rand Paul noted in a speech today at the Values Voter Summit that ‘Pew Research did a poll and it indicated that 21% of Egyptians, 15% of Jordanians … 13% of Pakistani Muslims find terrorism acceptable, if not laudable… [I]f you add up the numbers in just three countries it’s over 40 million Muslims [who] sympathize with violence against Christians. This shouldn’t be understated.’ And indeed, if between just 10% and 13% of Muslims all across the Muslim world are devoted enough to their ‘prophet’ and to Islam, that’s about 200 million antichrist soldiers ready to raise the banner of jihad for the cause of ‘Allah’ and his ‘prophet’ against a world of non-Muslims. Where have we heard that number before?” Read more.

I commend Sayeeda Warsi for speaking out. Unfortunately, her voice is drowned out by the deafening silence of so many others in the Muslim community …

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Qur’an Sura 9:29-30, “Fight those who believe not in Allah nor the Last Day … nor acknowledge the religion of [Islam], 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 …”

Qur’an Surah 9:14, “Fight them, Allah will punish them by your hands and bring them to disgrace …”

By Hannah Roberts, Mail Online – “Britain’s most senior Muslim politician, Sayeeda Warsi, has warned that the persecution of Christians has become ‘a global crisis’.

Minister for Faith Baroness Warsi described ‘a rising tide’ in attacks on Christians in the war-torn regions of Egypt, Iraq and Syria where they often become ‘scapegoats’ for events taking place thousands of miles away.

Warsi, a mother of five and the daughter of Pakistani immigrants, pointed out that Christian minorities are threatened by Muslim majorities in the very places that gave rise to Christianity.

In an open letter to L’Osservatore Romano, the official Vatican newspaper, she wrote: ‘The bitterest irony of this persecution – ostracism, discrimination, abuse, forced conversion, torture and even murder – is that it is taking place in a region where Christianity has its roots.

‘Sometimes these cases are examples of collective punishment: people lashing out at Christian minorities in response to events happening many miles away.

‘Other times, a Christian is just a convenient ‘other’ – a scapegoat.’

‘The threat to religious freedom, I believe, has become a global crisis.’

The number of Christians killed for their faith around the world doubled in 2013. The senior Tory said that majority Muslim communities have a duty to defend Christian minorities.

She said: ‘History teaches us that we have only defeated intolerance and hatred when we have all come together, whatever the cause. The majority communities need to defend the minorities.’

The peer, who is also a Foreign and Commonwealth Office Minister of State, said that ‘the government has elevated (religious discrimination against Christians and other minorities) to a key priority in the government’s human rights work.’

An estimated 100 million Christians around the world suffered persecution for their faith in 2013.

Failing states with civil wars or persistent tensions such Syria, Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan and Yemen were often the most dangerous for Christians.

There was now ‘a strong drive to purge Christianity from Somalia’, a report by non-denominational group Open Doors USA who compiled a list of the worst countries said.

The majority of anti-Christian persecution in the world in 2013 took place at the hands of radical Muslims, according to the report, both in Islamic countries such as Somalia, Syria, Iraq, Afghanistan, Saudi Arabia, Maldives, Pakistan, Iran and Yemen and in non-Muslim countries such as Kenya and Tanzania.” Read more.

Hadith, Sahih Muslim 1:33a, “The Messenger of Allah [Mohammed] said: ‘I have been commanded to fight against people till they testify that there is no god but Allah, that Mohammad is the messenger of Allah, and they establish [Islamic] prayer …”

Flashback: Saudis Export Anti-Christian And Anti-Jewish Textbooks That Continue To Fuel Hatred And Violence Around The Globe – “Textbooks used in Saudi Arabia’s schools contain virulent forms of anti-Christian and anti-Jewish bigotry that continue to fuel intolerance and violence around the globe, says a new report. The problem is far greater than the five million students in Saudi Arabia who use these texts every day, said Nina Shea, director of the Washington-based Hudson Institute’s Center for Religious Freedom. ‘Because of the Saudis’ great oil wealth, it is able to disseminate its textbooks far and wide,’ she wrote in the report, Ten Years On. ‘[These textbooks] are posted on the Saudi Education Ministry’s website and are shipped and distributed free by a vast Saudi-sponsored Sunni infrastructure to many Muslim schools, mosques and libraries throughout the world. ‘This is not just hate mongering, it’s promoting violence,’ she said in an interview. It is exporting terrorism through textbooks.” Read more.

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.”