MidnightWatcher – Prophecy in Motion

Hadith, Saheeh Muslim 2889, “Verily Allah has shown me the eastern and western part of the earth, and I saw the authority of my Ummah (Islamic nation) dominate all that I saw.”

By Majid Rafizadeh, FrontPage Mag – “Thanks to the Obama administration’s uninformed and flimsy foreign policy decisions, the year 2013 has distinctively been a blessing for the independent Islamist parties and fundamentalist Islamic governments throughout the Middle East and the world. Although it is somewhat difficult to predict what will happen in 2014 regarding the Islamists movements and prominent challenges within that (along with Iran’s nuclear ambitions), several issues can be projected based on the trends and polices carried out in 2013.

Firstly, the foreign and domestic policies carried out by the Obama administration have led to several key trends.  In 2013, Islamists and fundamentalists affiliated with Al-Qaeda and other Islamists parties have gained an unprecedented level of power, organization, and coordination, particularly across the Middle East and Africa. In Syria, for example, the Al-Qaeda-affiliated Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), has emerged as among the most powerful jihadi groups. This particular Islamist group, which seeks to rule Syria and the Levant just as the Taliban did in Afghanistan (along with fighting against infidels), has become more centralized through obtaining a unified command-and-control structure, ideologically and politically.

Reportedly, this Islamist party— which has been behind thousands of beheadings, in many cases proudly beheading people and showing it on videos— is advocating for the systematic genocide of Shi’ite Muslims or others who are ‘damaging Mohammed’s legacy’ in perpetrating their beliefs. Currently, ISIL is the most powerful oppositional group in Syria, even overshadowing the Free Syrian Army and other rebels. It is argued that many of the arms sent to the Free Syrian Army were actually obtained by several Islamist groups, including ISIL. In late 2013, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights labeled the Al Qaeda-affiliated Islamic State of Iraq and al-Shams as ‘the strongest group in Northern Syria.’

Beheading ordinary people, taking videos (such as the reported beheading of a young Christian girl in this widespread video, or others as seen in this video), targeting non-Muslims (primarily Christians), raping women, and kidnapping non-Muslims have become daily practice in several Muslim countries, carried out by either independent Islamist groups or by those who have recently gained control of the sovereignty of the state.

According to an Amnesty International report this week, Islamist militants are Read more…

A Christian’s Bible isn’t the only thing more dangerous than chemical weapons to these Islamists. Receiving help of any sort from a Christian “infidel” is apparently just as deadly …

Qur’an Sura 3:28a, “Let not the believers [Muslims] take for friends or helpers unbelievers [non-Muslims / infidels] … if any do that, in nothing will there be help from Allah …”

Xinhua – “Syria’s armed rebels fired multiple mortar shells on a church in Syria’s southern province of Daraa, killing 12 people and injuring many others, the pro- government al-Ekhbarieh TV reported.

The shells landed at the old Church in Daraa while the Church volunteers were distributing charity aid to locals, the report said.

The incident came as the Syrian Christians, who make up 10 percent in the country’s Sunni-majority population, have felt the pain of the protracted crisis, as their population has been subject to attacks by the radical rebels. The latest incident took place earlier this month, when radical jihadists fully controlled Syria’s Christian town of Maaloula, north of the capital Damascus.

Gregory III Laham, Patriarch of the Church of Antioch and all East, told Xinhua in an interview that Syria’s long-term crisis has displaced more than 450,000 Christian Syrians and killed more than a thousand of them.

Earlier in the day, five people were killed in a mortar attack against the Hamadanyeh district of the northern province of Aleppo, according to the mainstream media.” Source – Xinhua.

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.

Qur’an Sura 58:20, “Those who resist Allah and His Messenger will be among those most humiliated.”

Zechariah 5:3a, 8a, ”… This is the curse [אָלָה – “alah“] that goes out over the face of the whole earth … This is Wickedness …”

By Amjad Salah, Al Sumaria – “The Chaldean Church in Kirkuk announced on Tuesday, December 17 that about 6 Christian families leave Iraq every day, criticizing foreign consulates and embassies for easily giving visas to these families. The Church also revealed that a successor to Patriarch Louis Raphael Sako I has been nominated awaiting the Vatican Pope’s approval.

‘Emptying the Middle East from Christians is a great loss. Their presence, competence and liberality are vital to the society and the Muslim majority appreciates that’, said church priest Stephan Banan in a statement to Alsumaria. He also highlighted that: ‘approximately 6 Christian families leave Iraq daily due to a comprehensive strategy adopted to help Christians flee by giving them visas to foreign countries’.

‘Some Christians leave Iraq in fear of being targeted after hearing threats’, clarified the Church’s communiqué, asking ‘why do Christians leave the secure areas such as the northern parts of Iraq after tens of villages were built for them?’

‘The Chaldean Church also agreed to name a priest to head the Chaldean Church in Kirkuk after its current Sheppard, Patriarch Louis Raphael Sako I was elected head of the Chaldean Church in Iraq and the world’, clarified the press release. It pointed out that ‘the name of the successor will be announced as soon as we receive the Vatican’s approval and an official ceremony will be held’.

On October 15th, 2013, Patriarch Sako called upon Iraqi Christians who migrated to return to their home country warning against an unknown future. He confirmed that if Christians were to return, they would become the second largest religious group and the third largest ethnicity in Iraq.” Source – Al Sumaria.

Flashback: Christian Charity ‘Open Doors International’: There May Be No Christians Left In Iraq By 2020 – “Increased violence in northern Iraq is pushing Christians out of that part of the country. The Kurdish north was considered a safe area for Christians fleeing from violent persecution in the central and southern regions. But bombings in recent months are causing panic and many are fleeing the country. Al qaeda has claimed responsibility for several of those attacks. Some Christians have been told by local police that they ‘should not be in Iraq because it is Muslim territory.’” Read more.

Flashback: ‘They Want Christians Out’: Islamists Target Christians In Effort To Make Iraq A ‘Muslim Only’ Country – “Islamist extremists want Iraq to be a ‘Muslim only’ country. As a result, Christians in Iraq remain continuous targets of violent attacks. Each month Open Doors field workers receive sad phone calls and emails of Christian acquaintances who report attacks against the Christians near them. While most of them are part of the general violence, such as bomb attacks and mortar fire which intensified during provincial elections last Saturday, a part of the violence can be labelled as specifically targeted against Christians.” Read more.

Flashback: Muslim Cleric In Iraq Issues New Fatwa To All Iraqi Christians: Choose Islam Or Be Killed – “An Advent of light and shadow for Iraq’s Christians, who are celebrating the reopening of the cathedral of Baghdad but at the same time subjected to new – and heavy – threats from a radical Shiite Muslim leader. From studies of a television broadcaster based in Egypt, an Iraqi Ayatollah launches a fatwa against the religious minority on the eve of Christmas: ‘Conversion to Islam or death.’… Labeling them as ‘polytheists’ and ‘friends of the Zionists’, the extremist leader stressed that they must choose ‘or Islam or death,’ while ‘their women and girls may legitimately be regarded wives of Muslims.’” Read more.

Finally, he says something that isn’t complete rubbish. Sadly, very few even seem to care …

Recommended: The Mark of the Beast – What Your Church May Not Be Telling You
Recommended: A Closer Look At Revelation 6 And ‘The Four Horsemen Of The Apocalypse’

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.”

By John McManus, BBC News – “Christians in parts of the Middle East are being deliberately targeted by Islamist militants in a campaign of persecution, Prince Charles has said.

The Prince of Wales made his comments after visiting the British branches of churches based in the region.

The prince heard accounts of Christians being murdered and families forced from their homes.

The upheavals of the Arab Spring have left many religious minorities vulnerable to accusation and attack…

Charles, accompanied by Prince Ghazi of Jordan, visited the Egyptian Coptic Church centre in Stevenage and the Syriac Orthodox cathedral in west London.

The two royals met church members who had either suffered intimidation or family members whose safety they feared for.

Later at a reception at Clarence House, attended by the Archbishop of Canterbury, Archbishop of Westminster and the Chief Rabbi, Prince Charles said he felt deeply troubled by the plight of Christians.

‘For 20 years I have tried to build bridges between Islam and Christianity to dispel ignorance and misunderstanding,’ he told the audience.

‘The point though, surely, is that we have now reached a crisis where bridges are rapidly being deliberately destroyed by those with a vested interest in doing so.

‘This is achieved through intimidation, false accusation and organised persecution including to the Christian communities in the Middle East at the present time.” …

The Coptic Church traces its origins back to the 1st Century when it was founded by the apostle St Mark.

The Syriac Orthodox Church says it was established by St Peter who became its first bishop.

Christians living in the Middle East have often had a wary relationship with their Muslim neighbours.

The Arab Spring though has led to an upsurge in violence with many Christians fleeing the region to avoid attack.” 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: ‘Bloody’: Christian Persecution is ‘Coursing Through Muslim-Majority Nations from One End of the Globe to the Other’ – “We hear so often about Muslims as victims of abuse in the West and combatants in the Arab Spring’s fight against tyranny. But, in fact, a wholly different kind of war is underway—an unrecognized battle costing thousands of lives. Christians are being killed in the Islamic world because of their religion. It is a rising genocide that ought to provoke global alarm…” Read more.

Flashback: Report: Christianity ‘Close To Extinction’ In Middle East, ‘The Most Common Threat To Christians Abroad Is Militant Islam’ – “Christianity faces being wiped out of the ‘biblical heartlands’ in the Middle East because of mounting persecution of worshippers, according to a new report. The study warns that Christians suffer greater hostility across the world than any other religious group. And it claims politicians have been ‘blind’ to the extent of violence faced by Christians in Africa, Asia and the Middle East.” Read more.

Christians fleeing to one of the worst religious freedom offenders in the world and a nation that is itself largely supportive of the very rebels they’re fleeing from says a lot about just how dire it has become for Christians “living” in Syria …

• Recommended: Turkey: Christian Pastor Attacked, Told To Accept Islam Or Die
• Recommended: Turkey: Islamist Gov’t ‘Erasing The Christian Past, Reviving Ottomanism’
• Recommended: Turkey: Muslims Subjecting More Christians to Discrimination and Attacks, Followers of Christ Vilified in Media, Textbooks

1 Peter 4:12-13, “Beloved, do not think it strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you … but rejoice to the extent that you partake of Christ’s sufferings, that when His glory is revealed, you may also be glad with exceeding joy.”

Matthew 24:29-31, “Immediately after the tribulation of those days … they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. And He will send His angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they will gather together His elect …”

By Dorian Jones, Voice of America – “The growing presence of fighters from radical Islamic groups battling the Syrian regime is increasing pressure on Syria’s ancient Assyrian Christians, many of whom are fleeing to neighboring Turkey.

At the Mort Smuni Church in the Turkish city of Mardin near the Syrian border, the service of St. John the Baptist is part of Advent, when an individual saint is celebrated every Sunday in the run-up to Christmas.

The members of the small Assyrian Christian community gathered for services are joined by fellow Assyrians who have fled from Syria, just a couple hours drive down the road.

After the services, Father Gabriel meets with church community elders to discuss how to assist the growing numbers of refugees.

Currently, they are supporting over a hundred families. He says the rise of Islamic groups fighting the Syrian regime is forcing many Christians to flee.

‘In Syria, the conditions for Christians is very bad,’ he said. ‘Last week they have kidnapped 12 nuns and, before, two bishops, and they killed many, many Christians and kidnap many persons and told them you must be Muslims.’

Isa Davut and his family fled to Syria earlier this year, after jihadists took control of the town they lived in.

‘The reason Christians no longer feel safe is that all these radical Islamic groups, jihadis, started to come to Syria,’ he said.  ‘Where we live, 10 churches have been burned down. They started to threaten Christians in the town we live. When the local priest was executed, we decided to leave.’

The Davut family lives just a short walk from the church. Home for the family of five is just one living room and a small back room. There is water on the floor from heavy rain leaking in from the roof. The back room is unusable because of the water. This Christmas will be a difficult one …” Read more.

Flashback: Syria: Islamist Rebels Take Over Town, Hunt Down Christians – “Militants of Islamist factions have invaded the town of Deir Atieh, north of Damascus, spreading terror, death and destruction. As Fides sources in the Greek Orthodox Church report, the attack took place on 22 November… The situation is particularly worrying for Christians. The population, about 25 thousand people, have begun to flee. The militiamen examine the identification documents of those who intend to leave the city and retain those who have Christian names. To be able to leave the village, a Greek Orthodox priest had to say he was married and present himself with a woman: he was allowed to go just because he had an Arab name and had no ancestry or Christian reference.” Read more.

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: 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.

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.