MidnightWatcher – Prophecy in Motion

Turning away persecuted Christians seeking refuge needs to come to and end immediately.  We must do everything we can to help.  Please pray that doors be opened …

“The suffering of Pakistan’s Christian minority is well documented, but what you may not be so aware of is the tragic way in which many of those who muster up the courage to seek refuge in the West are turned away at the door.

I say tragic because part of the reason why Christians in Pakistan are so badly persecuted is the widespread misconception that Christianity is a western religion. Many Muslims, not only extremists, believe that Christians are in collusion with the western powers and that to attack them is to attack the West.

With the hatred towards them so intense in their own country, it is natural that Pakistani Christians look to the West as a refuge from the threat of death that they face every day.

If any Westerner is any doubt as to the severity of the situation they need only consider the accusation of blasphemy leveled against an eighth grade pupil at a school near Abbottabad because she misspelled a word in a class test. The school’s decision to expel her only proves the extent to which the blasphemy laws are being misused.

Yet the British Government appears almost determined not to let any asylum seeker in, no matter how desperate or endangered their lives back home are. From the moment they submit their application for asylum, Pakistani Christians have a tough time convincing the Border Agency that returning to their homeland is life threatening. I have been contacted on several occasions by Pakistani Christian asylum seekers desperate for help with preparing their appeal. I have also been contacted by the chaplain at Yarls Wood detention center out concern over the lack of support they are receiving.” Read more.

“NEW DELHI, October 21 (CDN) — Police in the island nation of Maldives held a teacher from India for about 15 days before deporting him on Oct. 14 for having a Bible in his house, a source said.

Shijo Kokkattu, a 30-year-old Catholic and teacher at the Raafainu School in Raa Atoll, had been arrested in late September after police found a Bible and a rosary in his house during a raid, a foreign source in the capital city of Male told Compass by phone.

Charging that Kokkattu was preaching his Christian faith in the Muslim nation, which recently tightened restrictions on preaching and practice of non-Islamic faiths, police took him to another island for interrogation and kept him in custody for more than two weeks, said the source, who requested anonymity.

Police raided his home after Kokkattu’s colleagues found Christian materials on a school computer he had used and reported it to authorities. While downloading material from his pen drive, Kokkattu had mistakenly downloaded some Catholic songs in the Malayalam language (used in a south Indian state) and a picture of the Virgin Mary.

‘The videos were in Indian, so I don’t know what they were saying, but the images were Christian,’ school principal Mohamed Shiraj told Minivan News, an independent news portal based in the Maldives.” Read more.

Flashback: Maldives: New Law Will Imprison or Banish Anyone Who Preaches Any Religion Other Than Islam – “Maldives Criminalizes Preaching Any Religion But Islam President’s Office has gazetted the controversial Religious Unity Regulation, declaring it an offence to preach a religion except Islam in the Maldives… The regulation, which instructs scholars to consider the social harmony, states practices that should be avoided in preaching Islam in the Maldives, including the practice of making comments in contradiction with prophetic traditions and majority view of the scholars… A person who violates the regulation will be sentenced to 2-5 years in prison, banishment or house arrest.” Read more.

“A MUSLIM physiotherapist who launched into a racist rant when a patient refused to undergo acupuncture at a Sheffield clinic has been struck off.

Zaffar Ali told the Christian woman her faith was ‘wrong’ and had ‘killed more people than any other religion’ after she said the treatment was against her beliefs.

He ‘tore into’ her at an NHS clinic in Sheffield, lambasting her with a series of ‘inappropriate remarks’ in an attempt to pressure her into accepting his recommendation, the Health Professions Council heard.

Ali, formerly of Shirebrook Road, Heeley, claimed he was trying to show her ‘another viewpoint’ but a string of charges against him were proved at a misconduct hearing.

He was already subject to a four-year caution imposed by the HPC in 2009 after he received criminal convictions for harassment and battery and was sacked from Sheffield NHS Primary Care Trust.

Ali admitted assault and harassment at Sheffield Magistrates Court.

He broke into the home of his ex-girlfriend and assaulted one of her male friends.

Ruling that he should be struck off the professional register, panel chairman Ian Griffiths said: ‘The proved facts amount to more than merely isolated incidents but show a pattern of inappropriate behaviour by Mr Ali, in particular towards female patients.'” Read more.

Christianity indeed has a bloody past.  But this bloviating bigot believes that it has ‘killed more people than any other religion’?  Normally I would ask what a fuming physician like this had been smoking, but it’s obvious that it’s tightly rolled Islamist propaganda.  That sort of drivel — which does nothing but merely expel what he’s been deeply inhaling — either completely whitewashes or ignores entirely some very important historical facts:

The bloody truth of the historic spread of Islam – “Jihad destroyed a Christian Middle East and a Christian North Africa. Soon it was the fate of the Persian Zoroastrian and the Hindu to be the victims of jihad. The history of political Islam is the destruction of Christianity in the Middle East, Egypt, Turkey and North Africa. Half of Christianity was lost. Before Islam, North Africa was the southern part of Europe (part of the Roman Empire). Around 60 million Christians were slaughtered during the jihadic conquest… The Jews became permanent dhimmis throughout Islam. In Africa over 120 million Christians and animists have died over the last 1400 years of jihad. Approximately 270 million nonbelievers died over the last 1400 years for the glory of political Islam. These are the Tears of Jihad which are not taught in any school.” Read more.

Hurriet Daily News: With 10 Million Muslims Killed Since 1948 at the Hands of Fellow Muslims, Golda Meir Was Right – “Let’s speak of facts. Sudan is not in the conventional Middle East, so let’s ignore the genocide there. Let’s ignore, also, the West Pakistani massacres in East Pakistan (Bangladesh) totaling 1.25 million in 1971. Or 200,000 deaths in Algeria in war between Islamists and the government in 1991-2006. But a simple, strictly Middle East research will give you one million deaths in the all-Muslim Iran-Iraq war; 300,000 Muslim minorities killed by Saddam Hussein; 80,000 Iranians killed during the Islamic revolution; 25,000 deaths in 1970-71, the days of Black September, by the Jordanian government in its fight against the Palestinians; and 20,000 Islamists killed in 1982 by the elder al-Assad in Hama. The World Health Organization’s estimate of Osama bin Laden’s carnage in Iraq was already 150,000 a few years earlier. In a 2007 research, Gunnar Heinsohn from the University of Bremen and Daniel Pipes, director of the Middle East Forum, found out that some 11 million Muslims have been violently killed since 1948, of which 35,000, (0.3 percent) died during the six years of Arab war against Israel, or one out of every 315 fatalities. In contrast, over 90 percent who perished were killed by fellow Muslims.” Read more.

It’s quite apparent to me who truly needs to undergo some useful therapy here …

Here’s a quick update to this story.  Of course, there was never any doubt that this ‘rally’ would be quickly approved by the Malaysian police.  Even if it hadn’t been approved many would have still gathered anyway.  The only question now is whether or not any Islamist mob-mentality will stoke violent sentiments and lead to anti-Christian aggression …

By Carolyn Hong – “Kuala Lumpur. Malaysian police have issued a permit for a mass gathering of Muslims this Saturday ‘to defend Islam against Christian proselytization’, an event politicians and others fear will stoke religious tension in this multiracial country.

The Himpunan Sejuta Umat, or gathering of one million Muslim faithful, is organized by 25 non-governmental organizations, including the Malay supremacy group Perkasa.

It is calling for a new law to punish those who try to convert Muslims.

The rally comes after a controversial raid in August by the Selangor Islamic authorities on a church dinner attended by Muslims. The Sultan of Selangor later said the authorities did find evidence of attempts to convert Muslims but it was insufficient for legal action.

Many Muslims regard apostasy to be one of the gravest sins.

The organizers of the Himpun rally are not overtly linked to any political party, and appear to be a pressure group like Perkasa, which is pushing the Malay parties in both the government and opposition to adopt its conservative agenda.” Read more.

By Denise A Justin – “More than 2,000 Egyptian Christians (Coptic) gathered Oct. 16 in front of the Federal Building on Wilshire Blvd. in Los Angeles to demand equality for Christians in Egypt and an end to the Egyptian military government’s persecution, including the injuring and killing of Christians and burning of churches.

Los Angeles was just one of the cities which joined with worldwide demonstrations in October to alert the public of the intolerable treatment of Christians, which make up about 15 percent of the Egyptian population.

I spoke with one of the organizers of the tearful demonstration in Los Angeles, which brought together Egyptian Christians, called Coptics, from all over Southern California to express their concern and sorrow for the violence in their homeland and their fears for their loved ones. Out of concern for the safety of his family members in Egypt, I will identify him only as Eskander.

Now a dual citizen of America and Egypt, he told me that during a recent visit to his homeland, he saw Christians mourning helplessly in front of government offices and the Christian cathedral and begging for help in gaining the return of their daughter, believed kidnapped by Muslim Extremists for conversion to Islam. Few escape to return and tell their story of rape, violence and intimidation, he said sadly.” Read more.

Egypt: Islamists Boast, ‘We Won’t Leave Any Christians in This Country’ – “A group of Muslims burnt down part of a church Friday – the Islamic Sabbath – in the village of Marinab, according to a report published in the daily Al Masry Al Youm. The village, situated close to the town of Edfu in the Aswan Governorate, is located some 800 kilometers south of Cairo. Security sources said Muslims rampaged through the village in what appeared to be a pogrom, clashing with the Christian residents and destroying their shops.” Read more.

“KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 18 — Perlis Mufti Dr Juanda Jaya today dismissed as ‘illogical’ claims that over 250,000 Muslims in Malaysia have renounced their religion.

While agreeing that apostasy exists in the country, the Muslim cleric said the issue should not be overly publicised as it was a sensitive matter and would destroy the image of the country’s religious school as institutions incapable of protecting its own devotees.

‘It is illogical what has been written on the Internet that more than 250,000 Muslims in this country have abandoned their faiths.

‘If it is true, prove it and do not be emotional. Every state has enactments governing religious propaganda from being spread to Muslims, so why are they not being charged?’ he was quoted as saying in Utusan Malaysia today.

The Malaysian Insider reported yesterday a planned gathering of a million Muslims this Saturday to rally against Christians ‘challenging the sovereignty of Islam’, a momentous event that could raise religious tension that has intensified in recent months after alleged proselytising by Christians.” Read more.

Flashback: Malaysia: Rise of Strict Islam Exposes Fears and Tensions, ‘If You Don’t Follow the Mainstream You Will Be Lynched’ – “Muslim women without headscarves are a common sight on the streets of the Malaysian capital, Kuala Lumpur. But engaging them in a discussion about the hijab is difficult. Norhayati Kaprawi is a Malaysian activist whose recent documentary Aku Siapa (Who Am I) deals with the issue of how women in Malaysia should dress. She found some women unwilling to show their faces in her film – not on religious grounds, but becasue they feared reprisals. This is a damning reflection on Malaysia’s Muslim society, says Ms Norhayati.” Read more.

Flashback: Muslim Group in Malaysia Declares Jihad Against Christians Who … Disagree With Them – “An umbrella coalition of Muslim groups held a protest today and declared bloodshed against ‘extremist’ Christians that insult and ridicule the position of Islam in the country. The Muslim Organisations in Defence of Islam (Pembela), comprising 20 groups, protested after Friday prayers at the National Mosque against Putrajaya’s release of Malay-language bibles and Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s promise to never impound the Alkitab again.” Read more.

Flashback: Non-Muslims in Malaysia Who Recite Quranic Verses ‘Insincerely’ Can Be Charged With Blasphemy – “The government can take action against people who abuse Quranic verses for certain interests and dispute all forms of worship by Muslims in this country. Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Datuk Seri Jamil Khir Baharom said this followed the special conference of the National Fatwa Council on Dec 3 last year to discuss issues including abuse of Quranic verses. ‘The muzakarah agreed that non-Muslims who cite Quranic verses according to their own understanding without sincerity is an affront to the sanctity of al-Quran and can cause doubt and slander in society,’ he told Dewan Rakyat today.” Read more.

“Karachi: October 18, 2011. (PCP) A Muslim worker in a garment factory in Korangi Industrial Area of Karachi East slaughtered a Christian woman on her resistance to rape when she was cleaning bathrooms.

A Christian woman named Zubaida Bibi, aged 35 and mother of four was employed as sanitary worker in Crescent Enterprises, a garment factory in Korangi Industrial Area.

On October 12, 2011, during duty hours, Zubaida Bibi entered to clean factory bathrooms when one Muslim employee named Mohammad Asif followed her and locked door behind him.

When Mohammad Asif attempted to sexually assault Zubaida Bibi, she cried for help on which Mohammad Asif took out a dagger and slit the throat of Zubaida Bibi…

There are rising incidents of sexual harassment against Christian women workers on workplaces in Pakistan which go unreported due to cultural and social values.

The influential Muslims feel free to kidnap and rape Christian women in Pakistan where Islamic laws protect culprits. In kidnap and rape cases against Christian women, the Muslim culprits walk free from courts which keep victims silent on such abuses.” Read more.

Pakistan: Woman, daughter butchered for ‘honour’ – “A woman and her daughter were killed by her sons in the name of ‘honour’ here in Marot area on Tuesday. According to detail, old age Manzooran Bibi were residing with her divorced daughter namely Rani Bibi in Chak 423/HR, separately from her sons. Her sons including Ramzan, Allah Bachaya etc, however, opposed to her living with her daughter and had born a grudge against them. They took their mother and sister to their home on the pretext that their separate living was bringing a bad name to their family a few days. On Monday morning, Implementing their plan which had already orchestrated, they cut the throat of their real mother and sister with a sharp edge tool and killed them.” Read more.

The worst is yet to come …

Daniel 12:10, “Many will be purified, made spotless and refined, but the wicked will continue to be wicked. None of the wicked will understand, but those who are wise will understand.”

By Alex Murashko – “SANTA ANA, Calif. – Ongoing violence against Christians in Iraq has produced an accelerated exodus of believers recently and numbering in the hundreds of thousands over the last 10 years, said Open Doors USA officials.

Members of the Orange County, Calif.-based organization that provides help to persecuted believers in Jesus worldwide say that while the world’s attention has shifted to such countries as Syria, Egypt, Afghanistan and Pakistan, the mass movement of Christians in Iraq continues unabated.

Before the Gulf War in 1991, the number of Christians was about one million, stated Open Doors in a news release. ‘That number fell to an estimated 850,000 in 2003 at the start of the U.S.-led invasion that ended the Saddam Hussein regime. Since then the numbers have plummeted.

‘At the beginning of the summer, Open Doors estimated the number of Christians remaining in Iraq at 345,000. However, the number decreases every month,’ officials stated.

‘It is an estimation; some even think there are less Christians left in the country than that,’ another Open Doors member said.

Bassam Isho, 30, who was killed by unknown gunmen on Oct. 1 is considered a martyr by Christians in Mosul. The gunmen entered the restaurant where Isho worked and opened fire, killing him instantly, according to Open Doors.

During the same week, two more Christians were killed in Kirkuk. It is this type of violence, including the continuing harassment from Muslim extremists that has many Christians in Iraq seeking refuge.” Read more.

Egypt: Islamists Boast, ‘We Won’t Leave Any Christians in This Country’ – “A group of Muslims burnt down part of a church Friday – the Islamic Sabbath – in the village of Marinab, according to a report published in the daily Al Masry Al Youm. The village, situated close to the town of Edfu in the Aswan Governorate, is located some 800 kilometers south of Cairo. Security sources said Muslims rampaged through the village in what appeared to be a pogrom, clashing with the Christian residents and destroying their shops.” Read more.

Not a Single Christian Church Left in Afghanistan – “There is not a single, public Christian church left in Afghanistan, according to the U.S. State Department. This reflects the state of religious freedom in that country ten years after the United States first invaded it and overthrew its Islamist Taliban regime. In the intervening decade, U.S. taxpayers have spent $440 billion to support Afghanistan’s new government and more than 1,700 U.S. military personnel have died serving in that country. The last public Christian church in Afghanistan was razed in March 2010, according to the State Department’s latest International Religious Freedom Report. The report, which was released last month and covers the period of July 1, 2010 through December 31, 2010, also states that ‘there were no Christian schools in the country.’” Read more.

“MAIDUGURI, Nigeria, October 17 (CDN) — Violence-weary Christians in Borno state have been further upset to learn of the murder of a Nigerian evangelist by Boko Haram less than three months after the Islamic extremist group killed a Maiduguri pastor.

Already shell-shocked from attacks by Boko Haram, which was originally based in Borno state, Christians again took cover after the Aug. 27 shooting of Mark Ojunta, a 36-year-old evangelist from southern Nigeria who was ministering amid the Kotoko people of Nigeria’s northeastern state with Calvary Ministries (CAPRO). He was killed in Maiduguri.

CAPRO International Director Amos Aderonmu said Ojunta died ‘as a martyr on his field among the Kotokos.’ CAPRO had learned that all its staff members working among the Shuwa Arab, Kotoko and Kanuri peoples were on a Boko Haram list of people to be killed and had evacuated them, Aderonmu said.

Ojunta had returned to teach a class after the evacuation of his family.

‘Brother Mark took his family out on Friday (Aug. 26), but he went back to the field because he had a class with some believers on Saturday,’ Aderonmu reported. ‘It was in the night that the sect came to where they were staying and knocked at the door, and he tried to escape but could not get away.’

In his statement, Aderonmu said that four days before his death, Ojunta had received an invitation to leave work among the Kotoko people to take a position at CAPRO’s International office in London.

‘On Wednesday of that week, brother Kola Kehinde, our national coordinator in the U.K., spoke with him about the possibility of him coming to join the U.K. team,’ Aderonmu reported. ‘His response was that he wanted to invest more years into the work among the Kotokos and hand it over to believers before he can consider leaving. What a passion and commitment! Four days later, he was translated into the presence of his Master.'” Read more.

“Despite the pressures and threats on one hand and the ban of printing and selling the gospels on the other hand, Christianity is increasingly spreading among the youth and families in Iran. The word of God is making its way into many Iranian homes.

Iranian Christian News Agency ‘Mohabatnews’ reports, that according to the article 13 of the Islamic Republic of Iran’s constitution, ‘Iranian Christians, Jews and Zoroastrian minorities are the only recognized religious minorities, who, within the limits of the law, are free to perform their religious rites and ceremonies, and to act according to their own canon in matters of personal affairs and religious education.’ Article 14 also states that ‘the government of the Islamic Republic of Iran and Muslim citizens are obligated to behave honorably towards non-Muslims and to interact with them with justice and good ethics and that they should honor their human rights.’

But it’s not like that in the real world. The freedom and good ethics described in books is replaced by threats, imprisonments, beatings and hangings for these minorities, especially Christians. The government does not tolerate these minorities nor does it give them the right to live without fear.

According to the news published by Mohabatnews on 14 March 2011, the office of Contraband Search and Seizure along with the Revolutionary Guards discovered two boxes, each containing 300 New Testaments in a routine border inspection of a bus, and after removing them from the bus, burned them.

The rapid growth of the Christian faith in Iran seems to have caused significant concern and even fear in the hearts of the leadership of the Islamic regime which has sparked increased suppression of Christians especially in the last year. After the Supreme Leader Ali Khameniei’s speech regarding the need to oppose and silence the home-based churches, a brutal and inhumane crackdown along with numerous arrests of Christians inside Iran has been witnessed. It is shameful to see the authorities show complete disregard for the sacred Scriptures of more than two billion Christians around the world, while burning those scriptures with disrespect.” Read more.

Flashback: Iran: Evangelical Christians are ‘corrupt and deviant, like the Taliban’ – “While we were busily preparing the second round of turkey, stuffed to satisfaction with seasonal excess, the homes of more than 70 Christians in Iran were invaded. In the early hours of 26th December, armed, plain-clothed, ‘special’ security officers forcefully entered the homes of Christians while they slept, and proceeded to abuse them verbally and physically. They were handcuffed and taken for interrogation. Among those arrested were five married couples. One couple was separated from their two-year old child. Another couple was forced to leave their baby still at the breast. A number of single young women were also among those taken.” Read more.