MidnightWatcher – Prophecy in Motion

By Gary Lane and Lucille Talusan, CBN News – “MINDANAO, Philippines – The Philippines is a mostly Christian nation, but in the south, Muslim fundamentalists are trying to build an Islamic state.

Christians there face persecution and even death.

The island of Mindanao on the southernmost part of the Philippines is predominantly Muslim. The area’s most remote parts are a haven to terrorist groups linked to al Qaeda that carry out attacks and kidnappings in the region.

Because of this, persecution against Christians is strong. This year, at least four house churches closed down after their pastors and lay leaders were killed by Muslim extremists.

Pastor Mario Acidre was one them. His wife, Mayang, was distraught over her husband’s murder, which took place right in their home.

‘My husband staggered into our bedroom and I was shocked because he was full of blood,’ she recalled. ‘I brought him to the hospital right away. He was operated on for eight bullet wounds, but did not survive.’

Pastor Acidre was a former Muslim who converted to Christianity. He boldly shared the gospel to his Muslim relatives and neighbors.

Despite threats to his life, he was not afraid to hold Bible studies in his home, which he eventually converted into a house church.” Read more.

Flashback: Philippines: Christian Father of 13 Beheaded by Suspected Muslim Extremists in Mindanao – “MacArthur Arbado, an elder at the Bible Baptist Church in Carmen, Cotabato, was murdered on November 10 as he returned to his farm. The attackers shot him in the leg, back and abdomen before decapitating him with his own machete. MacArthur leaves behind his wife, Lolita, and 13 children.” Read more.

By Lisa Daftari, FOX News – “Twelve Christians stood trial Easter Sunday in Iran, where they were called ‘apostates’ in a courtroom and tried on multiple charges, according to sources close to Iran’s Christian community.

The Christians had been acquitted on the same charges, including ‘crimes against the order,’ a year ago in Bandar Anzali, a city on the Caspian Sea. The group was first arrested when authorities found them drinking wine while taking communion, according to sources.

‘It ultimately illustrates that being a Christian is illegal in Iran. No matter how clear or how open a pastor and a church may be, Christians are being brought to trial just for being Christian,’ said Jason DeMars, director of the Present Truth Ministries advocacy group who is in daily contact with the Evangelical Christian community in Iran.

No verdict has yet been issued in the case.

The attorney for the group, prominent human rights advocate Mohammad Ali Dadkhah — who also represents Youcef Nadarkhani, the Iranian Christian pastor charged with apostasy and sentenced to death for leaving Islam and converting to Christianity — was not able to attend Sunday’s court appearance, according to sources who said his flight from Tehran was fogged in. The 12 represented themselves to the judge.” Read more.

Flashback: Iran’s Final Verdict: Allah’s Law Has Spoken, Christian Pastor Youcef Nadarkhani Should Be Killed for Rejecting Islam – “A trial court in Iran has issued its final verdict, ordering a Christian pastor to be put to death for leaving Islam and converting to Christianity, according to sources close to the pastor and his legal team. Supporters fear Youcef Nadarkhani, a 34-year-old father of two who was arrested over two years ago on charges of apostasy, may now be executed at any time without prior warning, as death sentences in Iran may be carried out immediately or dragged out for years.” Read more.

By Santosh Digal, BosNewsLife Asia – “CALCUTTA, INDIA (BosNewsLife)– Christians in India’s eastern West Bengal state were recovering of their injuries Thursday, April 12, after Muslim militants broke up a prayer meeting and beat up believers, including women, local police and Christians said.

The March 30 attack in the village of Nutangram in Murshidabad district involved ‘about 100 Muslim radicals’ led by Muslim leader Mohammed Aanu Shaike, local Christians explained.

There was no immediate reaction from the leader and no group claimed responsibility for the attack.

The Muslim mob allegedly ‘barged into the prayer meeting’ at the home of a Christian and verbally abused them and mercilessly beat up the Christians including women.’

Muslim women were also provoked to beat up Christian women, witnesses said. The Muslims reportedly chased the Christians, including children, with a knives, threatening to murder them all.” Read more.

By Charles Gardner, ASSIST News Service – “TIMBUKTU, MALI (ANS) — A Christian leader has been beheaded and others are being threatened with similar treatment as Islamic militants run amok in Mali, West Africa.

Christians have fled the town of Timbuktu in the north of the country where harsh Sharia Law has already been imposed amid reports that churches in Gao, 200 miles to the east, have been completely destroyed.

The news comes in the wake of a military coup in the country, one of the effects of which is that sanctions applied from outside has cut off electricity supplies, further delaying reports of the latest upheavals along with desperate pleas for help.

Among those affected is British Bible college graduate Timothee (Tim) Yattara, who recently returned home to his home country in a bid to help spread the gospel in this remote – and now dangerous – part of Africa located on the edge of the Sahara.

Tim has fled with his family to Bamako, the country’s main city some 400 miles away in the south-west, but without the money to rent a house.

“We have escaped in the wake of horrible death threats as the Islamists have a list of all the Christians in Timbuktu whom they intend to execute by beheading. As proof of their intentions, one leader has already been killed in this way and some churches in Gao have been demolished. Most Christians have already fled for safety, but Sharia Law has been imposed all over the north.'” Read more.

Flashback: Christian Bishop in Egypt: Christians Are Currently Experiencing Their Worst Time in Recent Centuries, Many Now Unable to Buy or Sell – “This statement was made by the Coptic Orthodox Bishop Stephanos of Beba and Elfashn to the international Catholic charity Aid to the Church in Need (ACN). Christians are being violently killed under the eyes of the international media. Also, for the first time in many years, churches are being systematically burned and destroyed… Problems are also experienced in day-to-day life because calls are often made in the media not to buy from Christian merchants or to sell anything to Christians. Businessmen are therefore faced with a struggle for economic survival. Christians are indirectly excluded from employment, for example by job advertisements specifying ‘a female employee with headscarf’. Attempts are being made ‘to drive the Christians out’.” Read more.

Related: The Mark of the Beast – What Your Church May Not Be Telling You – “… The Babylonian Empire encompassed areas of Saudi Arabia (the birthplace and spiritual homestead of Islam) to the south, to parts of Asia Minor (Turkey) in the north, and from Egypt in the west to Persia (Iran) in the east. This area is today the epicenter of Islam. Additionally, one intriguing aspect to the ‘curse’ [of Zechariah 5:3] that goes out over the whole land is that the word for ‘curse’, and even how it is pronounced, is the Hebrew word ‘alah’. The Prophet Isaiah, in describing the condition of the earth at the time leading up to the Second Coming of Messiah, says that ‘the curse [alah] has devoured the earth, And those who dwell in it are desolate’ (Isa 24:6). To dwell in the earth does not in and of itself make one ‘desolate’. But the same cannot be said for those who dwell in the ‘curse.'” Read more.

By Raymond Ibrahim – “Last Sunday, many Christians around the world celebrated Easter, taking for granted that they can congregate and worship in peace. Not so in the Islamic world, where top religious officials call for the destruction of churches, Christian holidays celebrated in church are increasingly a time of death and destruction, and a time of terror.

Nigeria, for example, saw some 50 Christians killed ‘when explosives concealed in two cars went off near a church during Easter Sunday services in the northern Nigerian city of Kaduna….the casualty figure may go up because some injuries were really critical.’ The church targeted was ‘the Assemblies of God’s Church near the centre of the city with a large Christian population and known as a major cultural and economic centre in Nigeria’s north.’ According to the pastor holding Easter services at the time, ‘We were in the Holy Communion service and I was exhorting my people and all of a sudden, we heard a loud noise that shattered all our windows and doors, destroyed our fans and some of our equipment in the church.’

There is little doubt that the Islamist group Boko Haram [‘Western Education is a Sin’] is behind the terror strike. Boko Haram has long been targeting churches—most glaringly, last December 25, when several churches were bombed in the Muslim majority areas of Nigeria, in what was described as ‘Nigeria’s blackest Christmas ever: then, over 40 Christians were slain, ‘the majority dying on the steps of a Catholic church [in Madalla, near the capital of Abuja] after celebrating Christmas Mass as blood pooled in dust from a massive explosion.’ As usual, the charred and dismembered remains of Christian worshippers were seen scattered in and around the destroyed church.

While the Christmas — and now Easter — church attacks may be Nigeria’s most known, they are certainly not the only ones. The last six weeks alone reveal:

• Sunday, March 11: A Boko Haram suicide car bomber attacked a Catholic church during Mass, killing at least 10 people. The bomb detonated as worshippers attended Mass at St. Finbar’s Catholic Church in Jos, a city where thousands of Christians have died in the last decade as a result of Boko Haram’s jihad.
• Sunday, February 26: A Boko Haram suicide-car bomber killed at least three people, including a toddler, at another church in Jos. Witnesses said the jihadist drove his car into the prominent Church of Christ during morning prayers.
• Sunday, February 19: A Boko Haram bomb attack outside a church in Abuja left at least five people seriously injured and many more hurt, when a parked car filled with explosives detonated outside the Christ Embassy Church.

While the mainstream media, analysts, government officials, and so on, try to portray these attacks as products of Nigerian poverty, the fact is, wherever in the world there are significant numbers of Muslims (Nigeria’s population is half Christian, half Muslim), churches are under siege Read more…

“Four people rushed to the Protestant Grace Church in Bahçelievler, Istanbul and physically abused pastor Semir Sertek (58), after forcing him to cite the Islamic testimony of faith.

Sertek had depicted the attack which took place on the night of the Orthodox Easter, April 7th, to Radikal daily as follows:

‘Someone knocked forcefully on the door of the church. They were aggravated. When we opened the door, they forced their way in, mocking us. I was troubled. I asked them to come back at the next day but they kept insulting. ‘This is a Muslim neighborhood, there’s no place for a church’ they said. They threatened to kill me if I refuse to accept Islam. One of them cited the Islamic testimony of faith and asked me to recite it. He kicked me on my chest and then they ran. I fell of the stairs.’ (EKN/EÜ)” Source – Bianet.

Flashback: Turkey: From Churches to Mosques, See What Happens When a Secular State is Taken Over by Islamists – “A story in today’s International Herald Tribune (read here on the New York Times website) provides an interesting insight into exactly what happens when a secular state is taken over by Islamists. The piece concerned the Hagia Sophia of Iznik, an ancient church that brought 40,000 tourists to the town south of Istanbul much to the delight of the locals. Iznik was once known as Nicaea, and it was there the first Ecumenical Council of the Christian Church met at the Hagia Sophia in the year 325. But the Islamist government of Turkey has put a damper on the prosperity of those who profited from the museum by formally converting the building into a mosque.” Read more.

Flashback: Turkey, Key US Ally, Added to List of Worst Religious Freedom Offenders – “Yes, you’ve read that right. The country that has become ‘a useful model for new Arab regimes’ has now been added to the list of worst religious freedom offenders in the world. Alongside Egypt who now vows to one day kill all Jews, this is a nation that the Obama Administration is now actively arming, a nation that now makes verbal attacks against Israel ‘a central feature’ of its political discourse. Welcome to the ‘new’ face of ‘moderate Islam’ …” Read more.