MidnightWatcher – Prophecy in Motion

“Christians in Pakistan are the target of violence on behalf of Islamic extremists who pour out on them feelings of anger and revenge after the release of the movie ‘The Innocence of Muslims,’ blasphemous towards the prophet Mohammed. After the attack on the Christian church of ‘St. Paul’ in Mardan, a Bishop was attacked, beaten and wounded. As reported by local sources of Fides, the Protestant Bishop Naeem Samuel, of the ‘Trinity Evangelical Church Prayer’, was attacked yesterday, as he was leaving the church in Youhanaabad, a suburb of Lahore (Punjab province), where about 10 thousand Christian families live.

Three men stopped him and started insulting him with phrases like: ‘You Christians have offended our Prophet, we will kill you all!’ Although the Bishop tried to defend himself, saying that ‘all Christians in Pakistan have condemned the film’, the three began to hit him with violence, leaving him on the ground and unconscious. The Bishop, who is the Rector of the ‘Trinity Biblical University,’ has many wounds and fractures and needed hospital treatment. Mgr. Samuel also runs a Christian television cable network in Lahore, which broadcasts Bible courses, religious films and prayers. This is why he had received threats and the injunction to stop the broadcast, and about a month ago his house was set on fire.

In the meantime, the trail of violence in the Christian area of Essa Nagri, in the metropolis of Karachi (Sindh province) continues: The last victim is the 30 year old Christian Zulifiqar Masih, who was killed in a raid carried out by Islamic extremists of ethnic Pashtun. He is the fifth Christian killed in a month: on 29 August Fasil Masih was shot dead; on 12 September Yousaf Masih, on 15 September Rafi Masih and Nasir Masih.

Violence also affects young Christians, the most vulnerable: as reported to Fides by the NGO ‘World Vision in Progress’, in past days Sumbal Masih, a 16 year old Christian Faisalabad (in Punjab), a waitress, was kidnapped, raped and tortured for six hours by her employer, a wealthy Muslim, and by two other men. Two of the perpetrators were arrested by the local police.” Source – Agenzia Fides.

Let’s be frank. Muslims have been attacking Christians and churches long before knowledge of the anti-Mohammed film came to light. The ‘film’ has been, and will continue to be, a pretext for violence. What truly offends Islamists is not merely the existence of a film deemed insulting to Islam, but rather the existence of Christians themselves …

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.”

Continental News – “Across much of the Muslim world, more than two weeks of backlash to the internet video ‘Innocence of the Muslims’ has occasionally been directed at Christians, from computer hacks to church burnings.

In Zinder, Niger, on Sept. 14, about 1,000 Muslims emerged from the Friday Jumu’ah prayers, divided into groups of several hundred each, and started marching toward the churches in town. They set the Winners Chapel afire. They severely vandalized the Union of Evangelical and Protestant churches’ community center, the Church of the Assemblies of God, and a Catholic church.

Several Christians were injured, though the exact number has not been verified. After police regained control at the churches, smaller groups damaged the homes of the evangelical church pastor and homes of members of the Catholic church. Police made numerous arrests.

Meanwhile, as far away as Pakistan, Christians anticipated the wave of Muslim anger to wash into their country. On Sept. 21, an angry mob torched St. Paul Lutheran Church in Pakistan’s Mardan district. Protestors destroyed not only the church building but a school attended by Christian and Muslim children.

Yet amid the anger and violence in several countries, there have been some moments of peace.

Unable to breach the perimeter of the U.S. embassy in Cairo, some Egyptian protesters turned their attention to the nearby Kasr-el-Dobara Evangelical Church. ‘Death to the worshippers of the cross!’ they painted on the wall.” Read more.

Mark 10:14, “… ‘Let the little children come to Me, and do not forbid them; for of such is the kingdom of God.'”

MWC News – “At least two children have been killed and two others wounded when a hand grenade was allegedly thrown into a church in the Kenyan capital, Nairobi, police officials say.

Moses Nyakwama, the city’s police chief, confirmed the injuries in the attack on Sunday.

He said that police suspected the cause of the explosion was a grenade.

Charles Owino, a deputy police spokesman, said that the attack at St Polycarp’s church occurred on Juja Road, in the eastern part of the city.

The grenade exploded, spraying the children with shrapnel.

Blood-stained children’s jackets and shoes lay scattered on the floor, surrounded by remnants of metal walls that were broken and twisted by the force of the explosion.

‘The children who attend this service are aged between six and 10… we usually divide them according to their ages,’ said Livingstone Muiruri. ‘They had just started the morning session when the explosion occurred.’

‘We were in the main church so we all ran there to assist the kids,’ he said.

Janet Wanja was just entering the church when the blast shook the building.

‘I heard a loud explosion and then heard kids screaming,’ she said. ‘I am traumatised by what I saw, kids with injuries and blood all over. ‘Why are they attacking the church?’

Al-Shabab suspected

‘We suspect this blast might have been carried out by sympathisers of al-Shabab,’ said Owino. ‘These are the kicks of a dying horse since, of late, Kenyan police have arrested several suspects in connection with grenades.'” Read more.