MidnightWatcher – Prophecy in Motion

“NAIROBI, Kenya, January 10 (CDN) — A Somali convert from Islam was paraded before a cheering crowd last month and publicly flogged as a punishment for embracing a ‘foreign religion,’ sources said.

Sofia Osman, a 28-year-old Christian from Janale city in Somali’as Lower Shabelle region, had been taken into custody by Islamic extremist al Shabaab militants in November; the public whipping was meant to mark her release. She received 40 lashes on Dec. 22 while jeered by spectators.

‘Osman was whipped 40 lashes at 3 p.m., but she didn’t tell what other humiliations she had suffered while in the hands of the militants,’ an eyewitness, told Compass, adding that whipping left her bleeding. ‘I saw her faint. I thought she had died, but soon she regained consciousness and her family took her away.’

The whipping was administered in front of hundreds of spectators after Osman was released from her month-long custody in al Shabaab camps. Nursing her injuries at her family’s home, in the days after the punishment she would not talk to anyone and looked dazed, a source close in touch with the family said. She has since been relocated.

‘Please pray for her quick recovery,’ the source said.

Janale, one Somalia’s major cities, is about 200 kilometers (124 miles) from Mogadishu.

Osman became a Christian four years ago and was a member of the underground church in the war-torn Horn of Africa country largely controlled by the al Qaeda-linked militants from al Shabaab.” Read more.

By Ahmar Mustikhan – “A Pakistani Christian editor has said he receives hate mails and death threats on a daily basis from Pakistan for carrying reports on the persecution of Christians in the South Asian country.

Dr. Nazir S. Bhatti, editor of the Pakistan Christian Post who doubles as founder of Pakistan Christian Congress, Thursday received one such email in whch Aasia Bibi, who is languishing in jail for alleged blasphemy, and former Punjab governor Salman Taseer and minorities affairs minister Shahbaz Bhatti, who were assassinated last year for crusading to end the blasphemy law, were called harami or bastards.

A defiant Bhatti said Christians are sons of soil not descendants of Muslim invaders. Over the centuries, Muslim invaders massacred 80 million Hindus to convert India into Islam.

Bhatti posted the hate email on his Facebook page Thursday.

“I have read some of your media and it disturbs me very greatly that your media is responsible for sympathizing with the criminal, dirty harami woman Aasia Bibi, who insulted our beloved Prophet (Peace be upon him). …. Furthermore, your media has been portraying such haramis like Salman Taseer and Shahbaz Bhatti as “shaheeds” (martyrs), they are both haramis and jahannamis (destined for hell) and gustakh e Rasool (blasphemer of prophet).”

The writer told Bhatti, ‘I would like to remind you of one very important fact. Pakistan is an Islamic nation. It is a nation for Muslims, by Muslims, of Muslims.'” Read more.

Some teachers of Bible prophecy still stubbornly insist that the number one persecutor of Christians will suddenly become a “Revived Roman Empire”. Does it stand to reason that the immense rising tide of Christian persecution we are seeing perpetrated by Islamic extremism today — an anti-Semitic and anti-Christian ideology and set of religious laws that has taken nearly 1400 years to expand to where it has today — will one day and without warning be eclipsed by the rule of some adored, charismatic leader of a yet-to-be-seen new-and-improved European Union virtually overnight? …

Qur’an Sura 9:29, “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 [Islam], even if they are of the People of the Book [Jews and Christians], until they pay the Jizya with willing submission, and feel themselves subdued.”

By Michael Carl – “Nine of the 10 worst nations for persecution of Christians are run essentially under Islamic law, and the ‘Arab Spring’ across parts of northern African has led to a surge of repression, according to the new Open Doors ‘World Watch’ list.

The other country in the 10 worst nations is North Korea, led by a fanatical communist regime that has regarded its two previous leaders as gods.

The top 10 in this year’s report are in order, North Korea, Afghanistan, Saudi Arabia, Somalia, Iran, the Maldives, Uzbekistan, Yemen, Iraq and Pakistan.

The report says the biggest jump in persecution of Christians came in two African nations on the edge of the surging “Arab Spring” movement. Sudan moved up from No. 35 to No. 16, and Nigeria moved up from No. 23 to No. 13.

The results in the report, according to Open Doors USA President Carl Moeller, can be attributed to Islamic extremism.

‘The trend is, according to the research we’re doing, Nigeria, Sudan, all across that region in Africa, where the extremism in the north is intent on pressing in on the Christian and animist south,’ Moeller said.

‘You’re seeing a lot of violence; Nigeria’s a great example of that. The southern part of Nigeria is virtually all Christian, evangelical, Pentecostal, very aggressive in its Christianity,’ Moeller said.

Moeller said the northern part of Nigeria is completely different.

‘The north is dominated politically and religiously by extremist elements typified by the radical group Boko Haram,’ Moeller said.

Boko Haram, a name that comes from the region in Nigeria that has seen the uptick in anti-Christian violence, means ‘Western education is a sin.'” Read more.

By Raymond Ibrahim – “The Nigerian church bombings, in which the Islamic group Boko Haram [‘Western Education Is Forbidden’] killed over 40 people celebrating Christmas mass, is just the most obvious example of anti-Christian sentiment in the Muslim world. Elsewhere in this region, Christmas time for Christians is a time of increased threats, harassment, and fear, which is not surprising, considering Muslim clerics maintain that ‘saying Merry Christmas is worse than fornication or killing someone.’ A few examples:

• Egypt: The Coptic Church is being threatened with a repeat of ‘Nag Hammadi,’ the area where drive-by Muslims shot to death six Christians as they exited church after celebrating Christmas mass in 2010. Due to fears of a repetition,the diocese ‘cancel[ed] all festivities for New Year’s Eve and Christmas Eve.’
• Indonesia: In a ‘brutal act’ that has ‘strongly affected the Catholic community,’ days before Christmas, ‘vandals decapitated the statue of the Virgin Mary in a small grotto … a cross was stolen and the aspersorium was badly damaged.’
• Iran: There were reports of a sharp increase in activities against Christians prior to Christmas by the State Security centers of the Islamic Republic. Local churches were ‘ordered to cancel Christmas and New Year’s celebrations as a show of their compliance and support’ for ‘the two month-long mourning activities of the Shia’ Moslems.’
• Malaysia: Parish priests or their church youth leaders had to get a police permit—requiring them to submit their full names and identity card numbers—simply to ‘visit their fellow church members and belt out ‘Joy to the World,’ [or] ‘Silent Night, Holy Night.'”
• Pakistan: ‘Intelligence reports warned of threats of terrorist attacks on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day,’ adding that most church security is ‘inadequate.’ Christians also lamented that ‘extreme power outages have become routine during Christmas and Easter seasons.’

Meanwhile, if Christians under Islam are forced to live like dhimmis—non-Muslims under Muslim authority, and treated as second-class citizens—in the West, voluntarily playing the dhimmi to appease Muslims during Christmas time is commonplace: the University of London held Christmas service featuring readings from the Quran (which condemns the incarnation, that is, Christmas); and ‘a posh Montreal suburb has decided toremove a nativity scene and menorah from town hall rather than acquiesce to demands from a Muslim group to erect Islamic religious symbols.’ Read more…

John 16:2b, “… a time is coming when anyone who kills you will think he is offering a service to God.”

By Mike Pflanz – “It was the latest in a series of attacks blamed on radical Islamists who have vowed to wage a religious war on Nigeria’s Christians and drive them from the country’s majority-Muslim north.

Several dozen Christians had come together for a meeting in a town hall in Mubi, in Adamawa state, to mark the deaths the day before of several people killed in the town.

Up to four gunmen surrounded the building and opened fire with Kalashnikov rifles, killing up to 20 people and leaving another 15 badly injured.

‘We started hearing many gunshots through the windows,’ said Okey Raymond, 48, who was at the meeting.

‘Everyone scampered for safety, but the gunmen chanted: ‘God is great God is great’ while shooting at us.’

Mr Raymond said he hid under a table and escaped through a rear door. The gunmen also carried knives and machetes, the local police commissioner said.

No arrests have been made in the attack, and no one has claimed responsibility.

A purported spokesman for Islamist group Boko Haram claimed responsibility for the attack.

Mubi is close to the Cameroon border and is not in an area covered by a state of emergency declared by Goodluck Jonathan, Nigeria’s president, following two weeks of sectarian violence.

The country’s population of 160 million people is roughly divided between a mainly Muslim north and predominantly Christian south.” Read more.

Killings of Christians, Protests Roil Nigeria – “Gunmen stormed a shopkeepers’ meeting in northeast Nigeria and killed at least 20 members of a predominantly Christian ethnic group, apparently following through on an Islamic militia’s ultimatum to kill Christians if they fail to leave the country’s largely Muslim north. The lethal attack against Christians, the second in as many days, poses new challenges to President Goodluck Jonathan’s government. Under his rule, religious violence has surged again in Africa’s most populous nation, whose population is roughly split between Christians and Muslims.” Read more.

Christian Persecution Increased Most In Sudan, Nigeria, Report Says – “Sudan and northern Nigeria saw steeper increases in persecution against Christians than 48 other nations where Christians suffered abuse last year, according to an annual ranking by Christian support organization Open Doors. Sudan – where northern Christians experienced greater vulnerability after southern Sudan seceded in a July referendum, and where Christians were targeted amid isolated military conflicts – jumped 19 places last year from its 2010 ranking, from 35th to 16th, according to Open Doors’ 2012 World Watch List. In northern Nigeria, a rash of Islamist bombings, guerrilla-style attacks and increased government restrictions on Christians contributed to the region leaping by 10 on the list, from 23rd to 13th place.” Read more.

BY JOHN SAINSBURY – “Egypt’s Coptic Christians are carrying a heavy burden this Christmas, which they observe on Jan. 7. What should be a joyous occasion also follows closely on the first anniversary of a church bombing in Alexandria, which killed 23 people and left close to a hundred injured. Bloody confrontations between Copts and Muslims followed, even as Muslim leaders, including the Muslim Brotherhood, denounced the bombing and appealed for calm.

The perpetrators of the bombing have never been identified, compounding Coptic anxieties. The Mubarak government was quick to blame ‘foreign elements,’ specifically a shadowy Palestinian-based organization called the Army of Islam.

But no group has taken responsibility for the attack, and the official investigation was so badly bungled that conspiracy theories quickly acquired currency. Accusing fingers point to the Mubarak regime itself, then on its last legs, as the perpetrator. Its alleged motive was to sow discord between Muslims and Christians and then step in as the only force capable of restoring peace.

In the bewildering climate of rumour and counter-rumour, the one sure thing is that sectarian violence at Christmas has become depressingly routine. On Jan. 7, 2010 (Christmas Day in the Coptic calendar), gunmen murdered eight Christians in Nag Hammadi as they were leaving midnight mass. This year tension is high in the province of Asyut after a Coptic student allegedly posted pictures of the Prophet Mohamed on Facebook, an act of blasphemy in Muslim eyes. An angry mob threatened to lynch the student and, reportedly, some Coptic homes have been burned down.” Read more.

Egyptian Bishop Warns of Another Massacre in Nag Hammadi – “Bishop Kyrillos, the Coptic Orthodox bishop of Nag Hammadi, received last week several threats of attacks to be carried out on churches in Nag Hammadi, either on New Year’s Eve or Christmas Eve on January 6. ‘I do not want another Nag Hammadi Massacre to happen again,’ he said in an interview on the Egyptian independent TV Channel Al Tahrir… The Nag Hammadi diocese will cancel all festivities for New Year’s Eve and Christmas Eve, and will end the midnight service early and not after midnight as is the norm.” Read more.

Flashback: Massacre of Christians in Nag Hammadi, Egypt (Video)