MidnightWatcher – Prophecy in Motion

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 …”

Colossians 3:12-13, “Therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, put on tender mercies, kindness, humility, meekness, longsuffering; bearing with one another …”

By Steven B. Nasatir, The Washington Post – “The persecution of any religious minority anywhere by anyone is an evil injustice. It requires all persons of conscience to speak out and, when possible, take action.

The upcoming 75th anniversary of Kristallnacht makes this an auspicious time to raise awareness about the contemporary violence targeting religious minorities and their places of worship. Of particular concern are attacks against Christian minorities that have occurred with alarming frequency from Syria to Egypt, from Iraq to Pakistan, and from Kenya to Sudan.

November 9 marks 75 years since the pogrom against Jews committed by mobs throughout the Nazi Reich. Often called Kristallnacht, or the ‘Night of Broken Glass,’ when rioters killed or injured hundreds of Jews; burned over 1,000 synagogues; destroyed 7,000 Jewish-owned shops and businesses; vandalized cemeteries and schools, and; sent 30,000 Jews to German concentration camps. It marked a turning point in the escalating campaign of persecution culminating in the Holocaust.

These events, seared into Jewish collective memory, make us doubly aware—and duty bound—to raise our voices when the deadly brew of religious bigotry and wanton violence are mixed.

Today in Syria, a once thriving Christian population—a community nearly as ancient as that country’s once great Jewish community—has been depopulated by 25 percent, according an estimate the Patriarch Melkite Greek Catholic Patriarch Gregorios III Laham shared with the BBC.

In September, The Associated Press reported that Syrian Christians in Maaloula—a community dating to the birth of Christianity and that still speaks Aramaic—were driven out or forcibly converted to Islam by rebels aligned with al-Qaeda.

‘It is chaos, it is violence, it is blood, it is death. Life has been paralyzed. We have lost everything,’ said Archbishop Theophile Georges Kassab of Homs.

In Egypt, some supporters of ousted President Mohammed Morsi last summer unleashed their rage against that nation’s Christians, a historic community constituting 20 percent of the country’s population. Mobs burned dozens of Christian schools, convents, monasteries, institutions, and churches of any, and all Christian denominations. And just days ago, gunmen on a motorcycle opened fire outside a Coptic Christian church during a wedding, murdering four, including an 8-year-old girl.

‘It never happened before in history that such a big number of churches were attacked on one day,’ Bishop Thomas, a Coptic Orthodox bishop in Assiut told Al Jazeera.” Read more.

Flashback: World Largely Ignoring Christian Tribulation

• White House Overlooks Christian Persecution While Pandering To Islam
• No One Wants To Admit That There’s A War Being Waged Against Christians
• ‘Widespread Death And Destruction’: World Silent As Christians Are Persecuted
• ‘The Most Important International Story Not Being Told by the Mainstream Media’
• Muslim Persecution Of Christians Happening From ‘One End Of The Globe To The Other’
• Appalling, Staggering, Devasting: The Greatest Story Never Told – The War On Christians
• All Across Muslim World Christians Are Kidnapped, Terrorized, Tortured, Raped, Murdered
• ‘A Monstrous Injustice’: Jewish Writer Laments The Silent Slaughter Of Christians, ‘We Shouldn’t Shy Away From Unpleasant Truths, Just Because The Media Does’

For peaceful purposes …

Qur’an Sura 4:89, ”They wish you would disbelieve as they disbelieved so you would be alike. So do not take from among them allies … seize them and kill them wherever you find them …”

CNA – “Widespread violence in the Central African Republic which began in December is in risk of diffusing to nearby countries, an official with Aid to the Church in Need has warned.

‘The situation is becoming steadily more dramatic. Torture, looting and the murder of civilians are continuing unabated, whole villages are being burnt down,’ said Christine du Coudray, head of the charity’s African section, in an Oct. 22 interview with Aid to the Church in Need.

‘The country is sinking further and further into chaos, and there is a danger of a conflagration which could destabilize the whole region.’

The Central African Republic was engulfed in a war from 2004 to 2007, but violence broke out again in December, 2012. On March 24, 2013, Séléka rebels ousted the president, and installed their own leader in a coup.

The Séléka have since been officially disbanded, but its members continue to plunder the country through looting, torture and rape. The Central African Republic is among the world’s poorest countries, with extremely low human development and major human rights abuses.

The Central African Republic borders the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Cameroon, Chad, Sudan, and South Sudan. Of its population of 4.4 million, the United Nations estimates that hundreds of thousands have been displaced from their homes by this year’s violence.

du Coudray welcomed an Oct. 10 United Nations Security Council resolution which opens a path for international intervention in the country which it has said is in danger of becoming a failed state. She called the resolution “the first glimmer of hope for a country which has been on the brink for months.”

‘Public life does not function and the country is still being destroyed,’ du Coudray said, adding that ‘schools are closed, wages and salaries are not being paid … even in the past it was almost exclusively the Church which took care of the population.’

That remains true today. In Bossangoa, a city 200 miles north of the capital, Bangui, some 30,000 people took refuge in an enclosed church compound, a director of Doctors Without Borders reported in The Guardian Oct. 17. The compound is a Roman Catholic mission.

The violence in the Central African Republic is in danger of becoming sectarian. du Coudray said many of the Séléka ‘come from the Sudan or Chad’ and that a portion of them ‘are now importing Islamism …” Read more.

Flashback: Central African Republic: Islamic Militants Armed With ‘Hit List’ Of Pastors And Churches Launch ‘Reign Of Terror’ Against Christians – “Islamic militants have launched a ‘reign of terror’ against Christians in Central African Republic after Seleka rebels took control of the country in a March 24 coup, rights activists said. Armed with a ‘hit list’ of pastors and places of worship, Seleka rebels systematically looted church property, even seizing money from collection plates, according to Barnabas Fund, a Christian aid and advocacy group working in the region.” Read more.

Flashback: Desolation: Dozens Killed After Islamists Attack Christian Villages In Central African Republic – “Attacks by extremists on Christian villages in the Central African Republic have left at least 15 dead and made around 1,000 people homeless. The raids were carried out by Islamist militia group, Séléka which seized control of the country following a coup in March 2013. At least 14 villages in Bouar Diocese were completely abandoned after residents fled, Italian Carmelite missionary, Fr Aurelio Gazzera, told Aid to the Church in Need.” Read more.

For boastful purposes …

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 …”

The Black Flag of Al-Qaeda Raised in Syria

DW – “In the days after a sharpshooter put his brother in the crosshairs and pulled the trigger, Jalal Gazouha lived as if in a cloud. ‘I almost went crazy with grief,’ the Syrian explained on the telephone. The connection crackles. The 29-year-old’s brother was killed by al Qaeda fighters in the western Syrian city of al-Qusayr, close to the Lebanese border. Gazouha is convinced that his brother was killed because he was Christian. ‘They want to drive us out of Syria,’ he told DW.

By ‘they,’ he’s referring to Jihadists from countries neighboring Syria – with a few hundred from Germany mixed in – who have joined in the Syrian civil war to fight against the regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. According to Gazouha, they’re also targeting Christians. Twenty of his family members have been murdered, he says. When Gazouha received death threats, he fled the country. ‘I saw my name on a list on the Internet. That list contained names of Christians who were supposed to be killed, he says, written by ‘the terrorists of al Qaeda.’

Jean Kawak, a Syriac bishop from Damascus, chose his words carefully when he spoke about the subject with DW. ‘We Christians have recently felt threatened by particular radical Islamist groups,’ he said.

Kawak’s own sister was forced to flee Ma’loula, a small, largely Christian village just an hour’s drive north of Damascus. Islamist rebel groups attacked that village, carried out fire attacks on two churches in Rakka in north central Syria and also kidnapped two Syrian bishops in April; the culprits behind the latter attack, eyewitnesses said, were foreign Jihadists. All of these things, the Aramaic bishop says, ‘affect our Christian presence within Syria.’ One-third of Christians have fled the country in the last two years due to the civil war – with numbers increasing.

These radicalized groups are not only targeting Christians though, Kawak says. ‘Moderate Muslims are also being threatened.'” 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: Syrian Islamist Rebels To Christians: Prepare To Die If You Refuse To Convert To Islam Or Pay The ‘Jizyah’ – “This led to a question about the future of Syria’s minorities such as the Christians. Ahmed, Basah, and Hamid Hassan all agreed – Christians could only live there if they either converted, or paid the ‘Jizyah’ – a special tax levied on non-Muslims in previous centuries in the Middle East. If not said Bahar, they could be killed. When asked why, the answer was, to them, quite simple – because the Prophet Mohammed said so.” Read more.

For futile purposes …

Isaiah 40:8, “The grass withers, the flower fades, But the word of our God stands forever.”

Agenzia Fides – “The militia of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), the faction that in several regions of Syria monopolized the armed insurrection against the regime in Damascus in recent days have organized a book burning of Bibles and Christian books in front of the Greek – Catholic church of Our Lady of the Annunciation in Raqqa, the Syrian city which has been for months under the control of anti-Assad militias. This information was reported by the indipendent Kurdish Agency – AraNews, known for its critical stance against the Syrian regime and in contact with activists and informers that from Raqqa have leaked the news via social networks.

The region of Raqqa was the scene of clashes between the army of Assad and the militias of the opposition in March. After the withdrawal of the government army, internal clashes between the anti-regime Free Syrian Army battalions and groups of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant began. The stated purpose of this faction is the creation of an Islamic caliphate in the areas which have fallen under its control. To do this, civilians are subjected to campaigns of indoctrination and fanaticization – based on jiahdist ideology. Already in September several videos circulating online had documented the vandalism committed against the two churches in the city of Raqqa by militants of ISIL, with the destruction of crosses, statues and sacred images.

In Raqqa, in late July, the Roman Jesuit Paolo Dall’Oglio was kidnapped. As reconstructed by Fides Agency (08/26/2013) the main suspects in the kidnapping of father Paolo are the affiliates of ISIL.” Source – Agenzia Fides.

1 Corinthians 1:18, “For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.”

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.

Why should “moderate Muslims” do anything but remain silent about Islamic terror when, according to so many Western leaders, Islamic terrorism has absolutely nothing to do with Islam? …

Qur’an Sura 24:35, “Allah is the Light of the heavens and the earth… Allah doth guide whom He will to His light…”

2 Corinthians 11:14-15, “… for Satan himself masquerades as an angel of light. It is not surprising, then, if his servants also masquerade as servants of righteousness. Their end will be what their actions deserve.”

By Piero Gheddo, AsiaNews – “An Italian man, who recently came back from the Philippines, told me that on the big island of Mindanao, hundreds of extremists came at night from the island’s interior and from smaller islands to attack a suburb of the city of Zamboanga, looting and burning houses and huts. They retreated taking dozens of hostages, leaving behind dead and wounded victims. The Italian said that targeted killings and kidnappings are frequent, but perhaps this is the first time that such a large-scale attack on Christians was carried out. Fear of new attacks has spread and nothing will be as before. The government is bound to send in the army and more fighting, revenge attacks and destruction are to be expected. Those who can have fled to other parts of the country, as people’s lives and the economy are on hold. From Gulf countries, money is being sent to ulemas, mosques and Qur’anic schools to train young people to fight and accept to become ‘martyrs for Islam’ against the Christian state. Salafists want an autonomous region for the Muslim minority on the island of Mindanao, which would join Malaya and Malaysian Borneo to form a single Islamic state.

All this does not make its way into front-page news, and yet there is more. Three days ago, an attack was carried out against a Christian wedding in Giza, in southern Cairo, that left four people dead and 18 wounded according to the latest report.

In Bangladesh, people have always adhered to a moderate form of Islam. At present, foreign missionaries and nuns are still allowed in, but in recent years, a number of Islamist movements and groups have stirred people up. They have called on the government to make the Sharia (Islamic law) the law of the land, holding up the country for days with non-stop strikes and demonstrations that often result in unnecessary violence (travellers and workers are stopped, beaten, stabbed and killed sometimes). The small Christian, Hindu and Buddhist minorities are under pressure and have to endure every day specious sentences, acts of injustice, and violence. As Bangladesh’s upcoming general election draws near, many fear the worse.

The Central African Republic is ‘one of the most destabilised states in the continent’ because of foreign Muslim gangs (from Nigeria, Chad, Niger, and Sudan) who seized power in the capital Bangui, ousting President Bozizé. As Mondo e Missione (October 2013) reported, ‘during the offensive by Seleka forces (the ruling Islamists), hospitals and health centres were looted and medical staff fled. The health situation is dramatic. […] Christians are being targeted by Islamic soldiers,’ a Protestant clergyman said, ‘tied, beaten and forced to hand over money to save their life …. Seleka rebels have ravaged and plundered places of worship, killing and forcing hundreds of thousands of people to flee, targeting especially Christians.’ In four dioceses in Central Africa, at least half of all Church assets have been heavily looted, destroyed or taken away. ‘Everywhere, people are leaving,’ Mgr Juan José Aguirre, bishop of Bangassou, said. ‘Civilians are killed and girls raped. They stole everything they could in the dioceses: cars, motorcycles, even refrigerators, television sets, blankets. They destroyed everything: from educational centres to children’s facilities.’ And ‘In Bohong, foreign Seleka soldiers did not spare a single hut belonging to non-Muslims residents,’ a report issued by the Diocese of Bohong said. ‘Throughout the city, except on the Muslim side, the same scene can be seen: roofless, empty homes and blackened walls ….'” Read more.