MidnightWatcher – Prophecy in Motion

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.”

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By Noah Beck, The Commentator – “Last Saturday, Raymond Ibrahim reported on two more Muslim attacks on Egyptian churches, as ‘Egypt’s Christian Copts continue to be targeted and scapegoated for the ousting of the Muslim Brotherhood.’

As defenceless and abandoned as Mideast Christians seem today, it is worth remembering their historical roots, and recognising just how much the plight of Middle East Christians has deteriorated. Over 2,000 years ago, Christianity was born as a religion and spread from Jerusalem to other parts of the Levant, including territories in modern Israel, Lebanon, Syria, Iraq, Jordan, and Egypt.

The Christian faith flourished as one of the major religions in the Middle East until the Muslim conquests of the 7th century. Despite Muslim domination of the region, Christians comprised an estimated 20 percent of the Middle East population until the early 20th century.

Today, however, Christians make up a mere 2-5 percent of the Middle East and their numbers are fast dwindling. Writing in the Winter 2001 issue of Middle East Quarterly, scholar Daniel Pipes estimated that Middle East Christians would ‘likely drop to’ half of their numbers ‘by the year 2020’ because of declining birth rates, and a pattern of ‘exclusion and persecution’ leading to emigration.

The ‘Arab Spring’ has only worsened conditions for the indigenous Christians of the Middle East. Like the Kurds, Middle East Christians are a stateless minority, struggling to survive in the world’s toughest neighborhood.

But the Kurds at least have enjoyed partial autonomy in Iraqi Kurdistan since 1991 and most of them are Sunni Muslim, making it easier for them to survive in the Muslim-dominated Middle East. Christians, on the other hand, are a religious minority that controls no territory and is entirely subject to the whims of their hosts. These host countries – with the exception of Israel – offer a grim future to Middle East Christians.

Home to one of the oldest Christian communities in the world, Egypt also has the largest Christian population in the Middle East, totaling 8-12 million people. But because Christian Copts make up only about 10-15 percent of Egypt’s estimated 80 million people, they have for decades lived in fear as second-class citizens, subjected to attacks on churches, villages, homes, and shops; mob killings; and the abduction and forced Islamic conversion of Christian women compelled to marry Muslim men.

Such abuse took place under the staunchly secular regime of Hosni Mubarak, but grew much worse under the rule of Mohammed Morsi, the jailed Muslim Brotherhood activist who succeeded Mubarak, and they are now being blamed for Morsi’s ouster.

In Lebanon, Christians represent a bigger portion of the population, so their fate is for now less precarious than that of their Egyptian coreligionists, but their long-term prospects are worrisome. The Christian population is estimated to have dropped from over 50 percent (according to a 1932 census) to

Proverbs 17:12, “Better to meet a bear robbed of her cubs than a fool bent on folly.”

By Joseph DeCaro, Worthy News – “Last week’s disappearance of an Italian Jesuit priest in Syria suggested foul play following the kidnappings of two other clergy in April, according to Morning Star News.

The Rev. Paolo Dall’Oglio was reportedly negotiating with the Al Qaeda-linked Islamic State of Iraq for the release of hostages and peace between its militants and the Kurds. After Dall’Oglio went missing on July 29, Reuters reported that the Al Qaeda affiliate had kidnapped him.

Dall’Oglio’s disappearance comes three months after the kidnappings of the Greek Orthodox and Syriac Orthodox archbishops of Aleppo; Paul Yazigi and Yohanna Ibrahim were both kidnapped after gunmen intercepted their vehicle and killed its driver near Kafr Dael as the clergymen returned from a humanitarian relief mission on April 22. They are both believed to be held by Chechen jihadists.

Kidnappings of Christians in Syria are often for ransom, but as Al Qaeda-linked groups take over more territory with Christian populations, jihadists are now targeting them to either convert to Islam, or face torture and other violence, according to Ahmad Majidyar, a Middle Eastern Analyst for the American Enterprise Institute.

‘In the case of the Italian priest, the Al Qaeda-affiliated groups may also have been upset at his message of inter-faith and inter-ethnic harmony in Syria,’ Majidyar told Morning Star News.

Hundreds of Christians have been kidnapped and thousands more have fled Syria since the civil war began in 2011; many more have crossed into Lebanon and Turkey to obtain asylum Europe.

However, should Al Qaeda-affiliated groups end up in control of Syria, Christians who remain will not be able to live there and practice their religion freely, said Majidyar.

‘They would be given three choices: convert to Islam, leave the country, or suffer heavy punishments, including death and jizya, or the Islamic tax,’ he said.

Unlike other religious and ethnic groups in Syria, Christians do not have armed militias to protect them.” Source – Worthy News.

By Raymond Ibrahim, Gatestone Institute – “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.

Considering that it was al-Qaeda linked terrorists who initiated one of the bloodiest church attacks in recent history, the 2010 Baghdad church attack in which nearly 60 Christians were slaughtered (click here for graphic images), al-Qaeda’s singling out Egypt’s Christians looks alarming.

The Islamic terrorist organization’s incitement against the Copts is just the latest emanating from Islamists — from the top of the Brotherhood leadership to the bottom of the ‘Muslim street’ — and is creating something of an ‘open season’ on Egypt’s Christians.

Days after the overthrow of Morsi, the supreme leader of the Muslim Brotherhood, Muhammad Badie, was first to attack by Coptic Pope Tawadros by name for supporting the popular June 30 revolution, which saw tens of millions of Egyptians take to the streets. After Badie demonized the Copts, assaults on Christians began in earnest. Many churches were attacked and burned, and several Christians were murdered in Upper Egypt; over in the Sinai, a young Coptic priest was shot dead, while the body of Magdy Lam’i Habib, a Christian, was found mutilated and beheaded. Due to the many death threats to Pope Tawadros, he has left the papal residence at the St. Mark Cathedral, which was earlier savagely attacked when Morsi was still president.

This anti-Christian fury is far from sated; it has taken on genocidal proportions. While Al Jazeera was covering (and distorting) events in Egypt, a Libyan man, Tamar Rashad called in and said, ‘I want to offer the good news to [Pope] Tawadros that, Allah willing, the day is coming when no Copt will ever again tread the ground of Egypt — and no churches. We will no longer allow churches to exist.’ When the host appeared to protest, Rashad interrupted him saying, ‘It’s already decided, take your cameras and go to the churches and you’ll see what’s going to happen soon Read more…

Barack Hussein Obama is already doing that for them …

By Ryan Mauro, Frontpage Mag – “Hizb ut-Tahrir, a group so radical that the Muslim Brotherhood won’t even touch it, lives and breathes in America. Part of the reason it’s a fringe group in the U.S. is because it is mostly honest about its objectives. For example, one of its websites answers a question about the status of Christians in an Islamic State by frankly admitting that Sharia is imposed upon them and other non-Muslims.

‘Everyone who carries the citizenship of the [Islamic] state enjoys the rights and is bound by Shari’ah obligations,’ the Hizb ut-Tahrir (HUT) website says.

The article later reiterates that the Islamic state ‘implements Shari’ah upon all of those who carry the Islamic citizenship whether they are Muslims or non-Muslims…’

Of course, Islamists view this as a great aspiration, otherwise they wouldn’t believe in it. The article extols the fairness of Sharia-based governance. The ‘basic needs’ of all Muslims and non-Muslims are guaranteed, income is redistributed and health care and education are free. Non-Muslims can even be appointed to administrative positions and file official complaints if they are abused by authorities, at least in a way that isn’t consistent with Sharia.

The description sounds swell to those that don’t notice the important caveats.

Non-Muslims have religious freedom, as long ‘as they are within the general system.’ Non-Muslims’ attire and diet are regulated according to their own religions, as long as they are ‘within that which the Shari’ah rules have permitted.’

The HUT article, written by a spokesman in Lebanon, becomes vaguer when discussing the more sensitive issues. It was written in English for a non-Muslim audience, after all.

On the question of Muslims who abandon the faith, it explains, ‘The rule of the apostate is applied upon those who have apostatized from Islaam if they are apostates.’ That means execution, but that isn’t exactly the loveliest word you want to use when promoting your ideology.

HUT then glosses over the other aspects of Sharia law:

‘The state implements the rest of the Shari’ah rules and all remaining Islamic Shari’ah matters in regards to the [transactions], punishments, testimonies, ruling and economic systems amongst others upon everyone. The implementation of these matters is the Read more…

Revelation 13:16-18, “… it causes all, both small and great, both rich and poor, both free and slave, to be marked on the right hand or the forehead, so that no one can buy or sell unless he has the mark, that is, the name of the beast or the number of its name. This calls for wisdom: let the one who has understanding calculate [‘psēphizō’ – reckon] the number of the beast, for it is the number of a man, and his number is χξς.”

AINA – “Accounts by Assyrian refugees from al-Thawrah (also known as al-Tabqah) reveal the real face of the Islamist undercurrent within the Syrian opposition. Furthermore, these accounts serve as a stark and chilling reminder of what has already been suffered by non-Muslim communities in Iraq since 2003.

On February 11, rebel fighters from the al-Nusra Front took control of the city and its strategic dam, the largest of its kind in the country. They also seized control of the three quarters that housed dam workers – many of whom were Christian Assyrians. Whilst they allowed the dam’s original staff to remain in the city in order to continue its operation, management and upkeep, those who were not Sunni Muslim were not afforded the same privilege.

‘Everything is now in Jabhat al-Nusra’s hands,’ complained one Assyrian refugee, ‘All the Muslims stayed there, but if any Christians want to go back they have to become Muslim or else they will be killed.’

Christians report their property being stolen, their homes being confiscated, and their possessions being sold on the black market in order to buy weapons and ammunition. In many of these cases, those forcefully dispossessed were not even allowed the chance to take with them any of their personal belongings.

According to the jihadist Islamist ideology espoused by such forces as the al-Nusra Front, the properties and possessions of such ‘infidels’ are halal (fair game), and it is not a sin to plunder them.

They also threatened Christians with death if they did not comply with strict Islamic laws. ‘They would call and text me on my cell phone, ordering me to do as they say, or else they would kill me! Can you imagine it?’ said a Christian man from al-Thawrah, who had lost all he owned, and is now internally displaced with his family. ‘Even though I have left they still call me from there to bother me, so I keep my phone switched off unless I really need to use it.’

The gruesome story (AINA 4-3-2013) of an Assyrian man from al-Hasakah Governorate, allegedly shot by rebels in an execution-style murder just outside al-Thawrah in April 2013, still sends shivers up the spines of those who knew him. He used to earn a living transporting people between al-Hasakah and al-Thawrah, until his car was confiscated by al-Nusra fighters. ‘They told him that he could buy it back from them, so he returned to his village to bring them the money,’ one refugee related, ‘He should have stayed put and thanked God that they hadn’t killed him then and there, but he didn’t listen to reason and left with the money they’d requested. No one ever saw him alive again. How will his wife and four children support themselves now?'” Read more.

For peaceful purposes …

AINA – “Six Copts were injured in a Minya village after clashes with pro-Mursi demonstrators on Thursday evening.

The clashes left six injured.

Several Minya residents filed official complaints accusing supporters of deposed president Mohamed Mursi of attacking them and destroying their cars as they go to work in the morning and return back home.

Eyewitnesses said that Mursi’s supporters forced the Copts of Nazlet Abid Village to suspend work in more than 400 white brick factories where most village residents work.

In Delga Village south of Minya, the houses of several Copts and village churches were attacked by stones during a pro-Mursi march Thursday night.

Father Ayoub Youssef, the patron of Mar Guirguis Church for Catholics, urged security bodies to intervene in order to put an end to the attacks on Copts.

In preparation for Friday’s pro-Mursi demonstrations, security forces in Minya intensified their presence at vital facilities such as the governorate’s security headquarters, police stations, and banks.” Source – AINA.

Egypt: Christian Homes, Two Churches Attacked Back To Back – “Hours ago, dozens of Brotherhood members and supporters attacked an ‘evangelical church’ in the village of Reeda, in the governorate of al-Minya in Upper Egypt, destroying its exterior.   They also opened gunfire and hurled rocks and other projectiles at the Coptic Christian homes near the church, ‘creating,’ according to the Tahrir report, “terror among the Copts, especially considering the total absence of security forces.’ A separate report, also from hours ago, tells of how another church — as well as the residence of its priest — were set on fire in the Beni Ahmed village.” Read more.

Muslim Brotherhood ‘Taking Anger Out’ On Christians – “In the wake of the military coup in Egypt earlier this month, media reports frequently recounted the violent clashes between the military and supporters of the ousted Muslim Brotherhood regime of Mohammed Morsi. What is not often reported, however, is the brutal treatment of Coptic Christians, usually at the hands of the Muslim Brotherhood. ‘Members of the Muslim Brotherhood have taken their anger out specifically on Christians because many Christians wanted the Muslim Brotherhood and Morsi out of power and were speaking out, including the Coptic pope,’ said Jerry Dykstra … ‘So in the last three weeks or so, we’ve seen Christians targeted, especially a Coptic priest who was killed in northern Sinai. An Egyptian businessman was killed and beheaded in northern Sinai. Churches were also burned and Christians were driven out of their communities’ …” Read more.

Revelation 13:15, “And it was allowed to give breath to the image of the beast, so that the image of the beast might even speak and might cause those who would not worship the image of the beast to be slain.”

In the reprobate minds and hardened hearts of these Islamists, the “Word of Allah” is speaking loud and clear …

Qur’an Sura 48:29a, “Mohammed is [Allah’s] apostle. Those who follow him are ruthless to the unbelievers [non-Muslims] …”

Qur’an Sura 9:14, “Fight them, Allah will punish them by your hands and bring them to disgrace …”

Qur’an Sura 8:12b, “… terrorize and behead those who believe in scriptures other than the Qur’an.”

By Ruth Sherlock, The Telegraph – “Tens of thousands Syriac Christians – members of the oldest Christian community in the world – have fled their ancestral provinces of Deir al-Zour and Hasakah in northeastern Syria, residents have said.