MidnightWatcher – Prophecy in Motion

Although I wouldn’t classify Barack Hussein Obama as a “prominent Christian” like David Suissa does below, he is spot on in describing what has now become a “silent” sea of Christian persecution …

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.”

David Suissa, President of TRIBE Media Corp.

By David Suissa, Jewish Journal – “The Middle East may be a raging wildfire, but the eyes of the world are on the revival of the Israeli-Palestinian peace dance — that all-too-familiar game where the Jewish state makes concessions (such as releasing terrorists) for the privilege of talking to an enemy who demonizes Jews, glorifies terrorists and has already rejected three peace offers.

It’s a testament to the general success of the Israeli state that after returning from 10 days there, I am a lot more concerned with what’s happening in the rest of the Middle East.

After the heady promise of the Arab Spring two years ago, the situation in the Middle East is now more like the Arab Volcano — with sectarian violence erupting in many areas and the Iranian nuclear threat hovering like a dark force. Instead of unleashing the power of democracy, the Arab Spring has cooked up a lethal brew of festering hatred, economic misery and vicious power struggles.

In contrast to that chaos, Israel feels like Club Med.

But hidden in all the chaos is a monstrous injustice that has received very little media attention: The rampant persecution of Christians.

‘Few people realize that we are today living through the largest persecution of Christians in history,’ Bruce Thornton, research fellow at Stanford University’s Hoover Institution, wrote on the institute’s Web site. ‘Estimates of the numbers of Christians under assault range from 100 [million] to 200 million. According to one estimate, a Christian is martyred every five minutes.’

It’s odd that prominent Christians like President Barack Obama and Pope Francis have been utterly silent about this humanitarian tragedy.

As Kirsten Powers wrote recently in USA Today, German Chancellor Angela Merkel asserted late last year that ‘Christianity is the most persecuted religion in the world,’ while former French President Nicholas Sarkozy warned in a 2011 speech that ‘Christians face a particularly wicked program of cleansing in the Middle East, religious cleansing.’

The Atlantic’s Jeffrey Goldberg told Powers ‘he is shocked that American Christians aren’t regularly protesting outside of embassies drawing attention to this issue,’ and he called the persecution of Christians in the Middle East ‘one of the most undercovered stories in international news.’

One Christian who is certainly not keeping quiet is Read more…

By Joseph DeCaro, Worthy News – “Eritrean authorities are punishing 39 Christian high school students by subjecting them to beatings and hard labor, according to Open Doors.

Sources told Open Doors that after completing their mandatory four-month military training, the students were arrested for their ‘Christian beliefs and for their commitment to Christ’ and are being held at the SAWA military training center; sources also report that Eritrean authorities are threatening them with long prison sentences should they fail to renounce Christ.

Since 2002, worship outside the government-sanctioned Sunni Muslim, Eritrean Orthodox, Roman Catholic and Evangelical Lutheran Church of Eritrea has been forbidden; earlier this year, the government began a renewed crackdown on all Christians outside state-approved churches, according to Open Doors.

The architect of this religious repression is President Isaias Afewerki who has been in power since Eritrea’s liberation in 1991. After a two-year border war with Ethiopia, Afewerki began cracking down on anything he perceived as a threat to Eritrea’s national unity, wrote Elizabeth Kendal in the November 2012 Religious Liberty Prayer Bulletin.

‘He cancelled elections and closed all independent media. Opposition figures – politicians, activists and journalists – were removed, mostly to underground secret prisons for the ‘disappeared.”

According to Kendal, by the end of 2010, an estimated 3,000 Protestant Christians were incarcerated for their faith inside shipping containers at desert camps and in underground prison cells.

‘The conditions are inhumane: Children and the elderly are amongst the prisoners sharing skin diseases, dysentery and other horrors in confined, unventilated spaces. Torture is routine … several Christians have died in custody, and others have perished in the desert trying to escape.’

Christians make up 47 percent of Eritrea’s population of 5.2 million, according to Operation World.” Source – Worthy News.

Flashback: Eritrea: Government Beats, Detains 125 Christians For ‘Illegal’ Worship, ‘Christians Are Treated Like Enemy No. 1′ – “Over the past week, 125 Christians have been beaten and detained in Eritrea. ‘Police arrested these church members from homes and workplaces during broad daylight and then marched them through town to the police station while beating them,’ an investigator for Open Doors reported to Worthy News. Among the 125 Christians, 45 men and women were arrested on Feb. 27 for worshiping outside highly regulated government-approved churches in Eritrea.” Read more.

When killers made their stand this man of God made known his own …

Matthew 16:24-25, “Then Jesus said to His disciples, ‘If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me. For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it.’”

Romans 5:3-4, “And not only [that], but we also glory in tribulations, knowing that tribulation produces perseverance; and perseverance, character; and character, hope.”

Charisma News – “On May 14, in plain view of his wife and one daughter, the Rev. Faye Pama Musa, general overseer of the Rhema Assembly International Church and secretary of the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) in Borno State, was gunned down by suspected Boko Haram Islamic terrorist members.

A month later, Open Doors workers visited his widow, Mercy, at her home in Maiduguri. The widow and mother of four warmly received the visitors into her house.

When she sat down to speak to Open Doors workers, she burst into tears. ‘True friendship is what I am seeing today,’ she said. ‘How did you manage to come to Maiduguri at this dangerous time when people are vacating the city? You are most welcome here in Jesus’ name. I am so happy to see you again.’

The events of the evening of May 14 will never be forgotten. Musa, Mercy and some of their children were home. While Mercy was preparing supper, Zion, a daughter who was sitting outside, noticed three armed men jumping the fence. She ran into the living room to alert her father. Musa glanced through the window and saw the intruders by the front door. The next moment the men forced their way into the house, shouting, “Everybody on the floor!”

Musa instantly knew why the men had come and tried to escape through the back door and over the fence. But they caught up with him and dragged him to the porch.

‘Today you are a dead man. Call your Jesus to help you, Mr. CAN man,’ one of the terrorists shouted.

Musa did not give up without a fight. While wrestling with the three men, he continually called upon Jesus. For Zion, her father’s desperate battle was too much to bear. She got off the floor and ran to the porch to where her father was struggling. She begged the attackers to spare his life. They fired a shot at her and missed. But the shock was too much for her and she fainted.

The struggle continued. Mercy heard her husband say, ‘I will never deny my Savior.’ As she crawled to the door, she saw the attackers shoot him three times in the head. Musa died on the spot. The attackers left in a car.

‘Pastor Musa will be remembered as a father, a friend and as a role model. It will take the church in Borno a long time to cope with the enormous loss of this bold yet graceful leader and mentor,’ said an Open Doors spokesman. ‘His deepest desire was to see a strong church pressing forward despite perpetual harassment and killings at the hands of extremists.'” Read more.

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.”

By David Lev, INN – “Christians in Nigeria are an endangered species, according to Pastor Ayo Oritsejafor, president of the Christian Association of Nigeria. Oritsejafor met this week with U.S. lawmakers, pleading for help in combating the Islamist groups, which have mercilessly attacked Christian communities for the past several years – making Nigeria one of the most dangerous places in the world for Christians.

Currently there are some 80 million Christians in the country, but many of them, especially in the north of the country, have faced terror and death at the hand of Islamist groups such as Boko Haram, whose leader, Abubaker Schekau, has personally murdered hundreds of Christians, and helped plan the murders of many more. In 2012, more than 100 Christians died on average each month in northern Nigeria, many by members of the Jihad group.

In a recent troubling development, Oritsejafor told legislators that Islamists have begun targeting not only churches, but also schools – shooting up classrooms with children in attendance. Islamists have declared all schools except those teaching Islam illegal, and Boko Haram is intent on enforcing that law, as well as others drawn from Sharia Islamic law. ‘It is open season on Nigeria’s Christians,’ Oritesejafor told the legislators.

Speaking at an event at the National Press Club, Oritsejafor said that the U.S. was perhaps the last hope for Nigerian Christians. ‘America has a strong history of civil rights,’ he said, ‘and my hope is that our brothers here can awaken the conscience of humanity to stop this genocide.'” Source – INN.

Flashback: Nigeria’s Christian President Warns That The Current Massacre Of Christians Means The End Times Is Upon Us – “In another deadly move portraying Nigeria’s Borno state as a killing field for Nigerian Christians, attackers have stormed a church service in Kiyak village in the outskirts of Chibok, killing another set of 15 worshippers. It was the second major killing of Christians in the Chibok area. Early in December, 10 Christians were also killed in the area… News of the killings emerged after President Goodluck Jonathan questioned whether deadly Islamist attacks on churches in his country and other violence worldwide could be signs of coming ‘end times’… The attack followed another gruesome killing Friday that saw attackers slit the throats of 15 Christians in a pre-dawn raid in Musari …” Read more.

In a nation that is overwhelmingly Muslim, Islam is the fuel that feeds the flame of violence …

A Methodist church burned in Nzérékoré

WorldWatch Monitor – “Judicial authorities in Guinea are investigating an outburst of deadly violence two weeks ago that left 95 people dead and 130 wounded. The murder of a suspected thief on July 14 in Koulé, a city 40 kilometres from Nzérékoré, the regional capital of Forested Guinea, has led to acts of retaliation and a wave of violence between members of Guerzé and Konianké ethnic groups.

Very quickly, the incidents became a sectarian conflict between Christians and Muslims, with the destruction of a number of Christians’ properties, including several churches.

In Nzérékoré, about five churches, four houses of pastors, and an undetermined number of shops and properties were burned or looted, witnesses told World Watch Monitor. A mosque was also reported burned and one Muslim cleric killed. In Beyla city, 150 kilometres northeast of Nzérékoré, attacks targeting Christians were particularly violent, according to a Catholic priest contacted by World Watch Monitor.

‘The two Catholic and Protestant churches have all been ransacked and burned,’ said the priest, identified as Fr. Joseph. ‘Almost all the houses and shops belonging to Christians or people affiliated with Christians, have not escaped the fury of attackers.’

The offices and other buildings within the Catholic compound, including the Presbyter and the nuns’ quarters, were looted or burned.

Elsewhere in Beyla, the Center for Youth Development, an internet café, a conference room, a library and a primary school were ransacked.

The priest said a physician and Beyla’s regional deputy of health services, Dr. Tolon Loua, was killed during the violence.

‘He was inside of his house when the assailants arrived and set it on fire,’ he said. ‘Badly burned, he was transported to the hospital where he was later declared dead.’

An undetermined number of people remain missing. Several Christian families found refuge in military camps and surrounding villages. Churches and local NGOs are trying to place them with other families…

A number of Islamic fundamentalist groups are established in the southeast region, particularly in Beyla, a city perceived as a centre of Islam in Guinea. Beyla was one of the main cites of Wassoulou Empire, an Islamic state founded in the 17th century by Samori Touré, a military and political leader known for his opposition to the French colonial occupation. Today the city is 99 per cent Muslim, and Christians are a tiny minority of workers.

‘These incidents have served as a pretext for Islamist groups to assert their opposition to the Christian presence,’ Guilavogui said.” Read more.

The death toll continues to rise …

John 16:2b, “… the time is coming when those who kill you will think they are doing a holy service for God.”

Morning Star News – “Suspected terrorists from the Islamic extremist Boko Haram group set off four bombs that hit two churches in Kano city on Monday night (July 29), killing at least 45 people, sources said.

The Rev. Ramsey Noah, chairman of the Kano state chapter of the Pentecostal Fellowship of Nigeria (PFN), told Morning Star News by phone the Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs) were planted near three churches, blasting two of them as well as nearby Christian-owned businesses. The four devices were detonated minutes apart between 9 p.m. and 9:30 p.m. in the Sabon Gari area of the city, sources said.

Christians were meeting at Christ Salvation Pentecostal Church at 41 New Road when one explosion hit, and 39 bodies were recovered in the area, Christian leaders said. Christians were also meeting at St. Stephen’s Anglican Church as another bomb went off, and an explosion apparently targeting Peniel Baptist Church did not affect the structure, Noah said.

‘On Monday evening at about 9 p.m., four bombs exploded in the Sabon Gari area of Kano,’ Noah told Morning Star News. ‘The bombs we believe were targeted at three churches located in the area. There were worshippers in the two churches affected at the time having evening Bible study programs.’

Total deaths from the church bombings were unknown at press time, but Noah said that as security personnel moved into the area, church leaders had established that at least 45 people in the predominantly Christian area had been killed.” Read more.

Flashback: Nigeria: 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.

Flashback: Nigeria: Thousands Flee As Islamic Militants Kill Christians, Threaten ‘Massive Bloodbath’ – “Nigerian Islamic militants have threatened a massive bloodbath after killing at least two Christians in recent days, forcing thousands of people to flee their villages along Nigeria’s northeast, refugees said Saturday June 22. The reported threats came as local believers were mourning Christian Toma Vongjen, 40, who was reportedly killed by Fulani Muslims in attacks that also left church buildings in four villages in Plateau state completely destroyed. The June 18 violence in Wase area, 216 kilometers (134 miles) southeast of Jos city, came days after other militants of the group Boko Haram, or ‘Western education is a sin’, killed a pastor and torched four churches in Borno state, residents said.” Read more.

Flashback: Islam In Africa: ‘An Invisible Genocide Where Sadistic Killers Slaughter And Execute Thousands Of Christians’ – “The UN does nothing, the world is silent, and most Western citizens, who know little about Africa, do not know it is happening. The goal is creating a big African-Islamic continent. Christians must be killed or expelled. Fom Nigeria to Sudan, it is raging, the ‘Odium Fidei’, the war of religion. A genocide epitomized not by the images of Sydney Pollack’s ‘Out of Africa’, which presents a continent that is rich and attractive, but by the Nigerian village of Dogo Nahawa, where Islamists, armed with machetes, killed 300 Christians, mostly women and children.” Read more.