MidnightWatcher – Prophecy in Motion

Associated Press – “LAGOS, Nigeria — Nigeria’s army says suspected sect members have gruesomely killed nine builders in a northeastern city.

Spokesman Lt. Col. Sagir Musa said Monday that the assailants cut their victims’ throats in a late Sunday night attack in the city of Maiduguri. He said one man was found Monday still breathing even as he bled from the neck.

The army has blamed the attack on ‘terrorists,’ which is how they often refer to a radical Islamist sect known as Boko Haram.

Matthew Okoye, a neighbor, said he saw 14 bodies. He said some of the victims were from Nigeria’s predominantly Christian south.

Officials have underreported casualties before for fear of reprisals, especially when attacks involve people of differing religions.

Authorities have blamed Boko Haram for more than 620 deaths this year alone.” Source – The Washington Post.

Flashback: Boko Haram: Our Goal is to Eliminate Followers of Christ – “Terrorist organisation Boko Haram has issued a statement making clear that its goal is to eliminate followers of Christ from Nigeria and establish an Islamic state. ‘The Nigerian state and Christians are our enemies and we will be launching attacks on the Nigerian state and its security apparatus as well as churches until we achieve our goal of establishing an Islamic state in place of the secular state … We are responsible for the suicide attack on a church in Jos and also another attack on another church in Biu,’ a spokesman for the group, Abul Qaqa, is said to have told reporters in the northeastern city of Maiduguri over the phone.” 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.”

By Raymond Ibrahim, Gatestone Institute – “Unlike those nations, such as Saudi Arabia, that have eliminated Christianity altogether, Muslim countries with significant Christian minorities saw much persecution during the month of May: in Egypt, Christians were openly discriminated against in law courts, even as some accused the nation’s new president of declaring that he will ‘achieve the Islamic conquest of Egypt for the second time, and make all Christians convert to Islam;’ in Indonesia, Muslims threw bags of urine on Christians during worship; in Kashmir and Zanzibar, churches were set on fire; and in Mali, Christianity ‘faces being eradicated.’

Elsewhere in sub-Saharan Africa—in Nigeria, Somalia, Kenya, Sudan, the Ivory Coast—wherever Islam and Christianity meet, Christians are being killed, slaughtered, beheaded and even crucified.

Categorized by theme, May’s assemblage of Muslim persecution of Christians around the world includes, but is not limited to, the following accounts, listed in alphabetical order by country, not severity. Note: As Pakistan had the lion’s share of persecuted Christians last month, it has its own section below, covering the entire gamut of persecution—from apostasy and blasphemy to rape and forced conversions.

Church Attacks

Indonesia encountered several church-related attacks:

• A mob of 600 Muslims threw bags of urine, stones, and rotten eggs at the congregation of a Protestant church at the start of Ascension Day service; they shouted profanities and threatened to kill the pastor. No arrests were made. The church had applied for a permit to construct its house of worship five years ago. Pressured by local Muslims, the local administration ordered the church shut down in December 2009, even though the Supreme Court recently overruled its decision, saying that the church was eligible for a permit. Local Muslims and officials are nevertheless demanding that the church shut down.
• After protests ‘by hard-line groups including the Islamic Defenders Front,’ nearly 20 Christian houses of worship were sealed off by authorities on the pretext of ‘not having permits.’ The authorities added that, to accommodate the region’s 20,000 Christians, only one church may be built in the district in question.
• The Muslim mayor who illegally sealed the beleaguered GKI Yasmin church, forcing congregants to worship in the streets, has agreed to reopen it—but only if a mosque is built next door, to ensure that the church ‘stays in line.’ ‘As well as opposition from the mayor, the church has faced hostility from local Muslims, who have rallied against them [the Christians], blocked them from accessing the street where the church is situated and disrupted their outdoor services. It is unlikely that they will suddenly embrace the Christians,’ according to the report. Read more…

By Stefan J. Bos, BosNewLife – “CAIRO, EGYPT (BosNewsLife)– Native Christian missionaries in Egypt remained concerned Saturday, June 30, saying at least two fellow believers were killed by suspected Islamists since Mohammed Morsi was declared the country’s president.

Morsi’s Muslim Brotherhood ‘announced they would destroy the country if Morsi didn’t win, but they also said they will take revenge from all those who voted for [his opponent Ahmed] Shafiq, especially the Christians as they are sure we did vote for Shafiq,’ am Egyptian missionary leader said in a letter distributed by Christian Aid Mission (CAM) group.

‘Yesterday they began by killing two believers in [the area of] el Sharqiya because of this,’ the missionary added, speaking on condition of anonymity.

The names of the two Christians known to the missionaries were not immediately released.

These latest reported killings came just weeks after video footage of a convert from Islam to Christianity being murdered by Muslims was shown on on Egyptian television…

Native missionaries and other Christians said the footage of the brutal beheading was the latest indication of what they called ‘the violent threat to religious freedom’ in the post-Arab Spring revolution-era.

‘Native missionary families are deeply disturbed and even fearful because of recent developments in Egypt,’ CAM Africa Director Rae Burnett told BosNewsLife.” Read more.

Egypt’s Mursi defies military in fiery speech, ‘I fear no one but Allah’ – “Egypt’s newly elected President Mohammed Mursi on Friday took a symbolic oath of office during a rousing speech at the iconic Tahrir Square, defying military rulers by saying he does not fear anyone and will not give up on any of the powers given to the president. Mursi, Egypt’s first freely-elected civilian president, who was speaking on the eve of his swearing-in, took the symbolic oath after many protesters called on him to do so to defy the ruling army who took power after Hosni Mubarak’s ouster… ‘I promise you that I will not give up on any of the powers given to the president,’ Mursi said, in a veiled reference to the Supreme Council of Armed Forces’ recent decrees. ‘I fear no one but [Allah],’ he said.” Read more.

“There’s no end to Christian martyrdom in Africa. After Nigeria, now the Christian community in Kenya are under attack. The death toll following the attacks on two churches in Garissa, in north-eastern Kenya is 17, with another 50 people injured and 10 seriously injured.

Garissa is located in north-eastern Kenya, approximately 140 kilometres from the border with Somalia. The city is 70 kilometres away from the vast refugee camp in Dadaab, which is currently sheltering 465 thousand Somali refugees. Four foreign humanitarian aid workers were kidnapped from here Friday.

The attacks, which took place almost simultaneously, targeted the city’s Catholic cathedral and a church owned by the African Inland Independent Church (AIC) congregation, as Sunday mass was being celebrated.

Kenyan authorities have pointed the finger at Islamist al-Shabab militia operating in Somalia, whose border lies 140 kilometres away from the city.

A group of hooded terrorists launched two grenades inside the cathedral, but only one went off. The dead and many of those wounded were registered as members of the AIC congregation’s church, where another five militiamen opened fire on faithful: 10 of them died instantly and another six passed away as they were being taken to hospital.” Read more.

Flashback: East Africa: Growing Appeal Of Radical Islam Could Have Major Ramifications For Christianity, Stable Democracies – “Al Shabaab has been waging an insurgency against Somalia’s fragile interim government since 2007 and formally became part of al Qaeda earlier this year. Abdullahi’s account is part of a mounting body of evidence – including intelligence picked up by security agencies, research by the United Nations and accounts by Muslim Kenyans interviewed for this story – that suggests al Shabaab is mentoring a new and increasingly multi-ethnic generation of militants in the region. That could have major ramifications not just for Somalia, which has been without a working government for two decades, but also for countries such as Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda, relatively stable democracies whose economies are among the steadiest in Africa.” Read more.