MidnightWatcher – Prophecy in Motion

Luke 21:16-17, “You will be betrayed even by parents and brothers, relatives and friends; and they will put some of you to death. And you will be hated by all for My name’s sake.”

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.”

Afghans Burn Cross During Protest

Frontline Missions International – “Afghanistan ranks third among nations most severely opposed to the Cross. There are 48,000 mosques in the country—but not a single church building. Afghanistan’s population is 31 million, but estimates show there are less than 5,000 indigenous believers in this nation that has radical Islamic sharia law written into its constitution. Because of strong family traditions, any Muslim who comes to Christ is often in danger of an ‘honor killing’ by the family even before the government decides to pursue them, and Muslims who convert to Christ are subject to harsh imprisonment and possible execution by the authorities. Some make the world news, such as Abdul Rahman and Sayed Musa, who were spared from death as international efforts intervened to get them out of Afghanistan, and Shoaib Assadullah, who was brutally abused in prison before he was finally allowed to flee to Canada due to international pressures—but most others go unnoticed. Please pray both for the Gospel’s advance within the spiritual darkness of Afghanistan and also for grace for courageous believers who bear witness to Christ at great personal cost.” Source – Frontline Missions International.

Flashback: Not A Single Christian Church Left In Afghanistan, Says State Department – “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.” Read more.

Flashback: American Military Continues To Submit To Islam: Cross Removed At Base In Afghanistan – “A large cross that had been prominently displayed outside a chapel on an isolated military base in northern Afghanistan was taken down last week, prompting outrage from some American service members stationed there.‘We are here away from our families, and the chapel is the one place that feels like home,’ a service member at Camp Marmal told POLITICO. ‘With the cross on the outside, it is a constant reminder for all of us that Jesus is here for us.’ ‘Not having it there is really upsetting,’ added another. ‘I walk by the chapel daily on the way to chow and the gym, and seeing the cross is a daily reminder of my faith and what Jesus accomplished for me. It is daily inspiration and motivation for me to acknowledge my faith and stay on the right path.’” Read more.

Flashback: US Marines Warned: Act More Muslim, Don’t Spit Towards Mecca – “Uncle Sam is getting a little weird. Make that a lot weird. Having dumped hundreds of billions of dollars into a sinkhole called Afghanistan — populated by misogynistic, pederastic, tribalistic and religiously supremacist primitives — to no avail, he has hit on a new plan for winning those ever-elusive Afghan ‘hearts and minds.’ Uncle Sam has decided that the answer lies in the latrine with the U.S. Marine Corps. No kidding. When nature calls, Uncle Sam has decided he wants every U.S. Marine equipped with a map and compass, or some other way of knowing direction. This is to ensure that no U.S. Marine in Afghanistan urinates in the direction of Mecca ever again.” Read more.

It seems like many of the police in Pakistan are only there to serve and protect … Islam …

Christians in Crisis – “Thousands of Christians in Punjab had recently taken to the streets in protest at the alleged torture and murder of a teenager who was held in police custody. Eighteen-year-old Adnan Masih died at Sharaqpur Sharif city police station in the district of Sheikhupura on June 10th, after being detained for six days. More than 4,000 Christians staged road blocks on the day of his death, demanding justice and the immediate arrest of the police involved. Three police officers have since been arrested.

Adnan, a fridge and air-conditioning mechanic who worked in nearby Lahore, was arrested on June 4th over the alleged kidnapping of a young Muslim woman. His family say he did not even know the woman and was entirely innocent. They also state that Adnan was brutally tortured during the six days of his detainment and then killed. The police are reportedly claiming that Adnan committed suicide.

The Centre for Legal Aid Assistance and Settlement (CLAAS) was summoned by villagers to help them register a case with police against Adnan’s alleged attackers. They believe that Adnan was targeted because of his faith as other non-Christian suspects were released within a day. Learn more about the challenges of believers in Pakistan by going to www.persecution.net/pakistan.htm.” Source – Christians in Crisis.

Flashback: Pakistan: Christian Beaten By Police For Drinking Water From Glass Belonging To Muslims – “A Christian worker at a veterinary dispensary building shared by a police post has accused two police officials of beating and humiliating him for drinking water from a glass used by the policemen… According to the complaint, Sarfaraz took Nisar Masih to the office of Ahmed on seeing him drink water from the office cooler. Ahmed asked Nisar Masih about his religion. When he responded that he was a Christian, Ahmed remarked, ‘How dare you drink from a Muslim’s glass?’” Read more.

Flashback: Pakistan: Police Refuse To Open Formal Investigation After Murder Of 14-Year-Old Christian Boy – “A brutal murder, of a shadowy nature, has shaken the Christian community in Pakistan … police in Faisalabad found the horribly mutilated body of Suneel Masih in an isolated area of ​​the city. They boy a Christian orphan from the city had disappeared two days earlier… But investigators have yet to open an investigation into the terrible murder of the 14 year old orphan Christian, whose funeral took place yesterday in the presence of minority leader and local politicians.” Read more.

Flashback: Pakistan: Christian Couple Tortured by Police, Resist Pressure to Convert to Islam – “Salma Emmanuel and her husband, Rashid Emmanuel, were tortured by Pakistani police over a three-day period after Salma, a maid, was falsely accused of stealing from her employer, according to news reports. ‘I begged them for mercy, pleading that I am five months pregnant, but they continued their merciless onslaught,’ said Salma, referring to the policewomen who tortured her. ‘They continued to try to force me to admit to the crime, even threatening that they would kill my baby, but I refused to confess a false allegation.’” Read more.

Morning Star News – “Six more Christians were sentenced for practicing their faith last week, while Iran’s presidential election of a moderate politician was not expected to soften the regime’s persecution of religious minorities…

‘[Khamenei] remains at the helm, and he has set course for utter destruction of the Christian faith in Iran,’ Tiffany Barrans, international legal director for the American Center for Law and Justice (ACLJ) told Morning Star News. ‘His course was well-laid long before this election, and there is no sign that he plans to change course.’

The Revolutionary Court in Shiraz, 571 miles (920 kilometers) south of Tehran, issued prison sentences of 44 months to Mojtaba Seyyed-Alaedin Hossein, Mohammad-Reza Partoei, Vahid Hakkani, and Homayoun Shokouhi for ‘attending a house church, spreading Christianity, having contact with foreign ministries, propaganda against the regime, and disrupting national security,’ according the Mohabat News Agency. They were tried in absentia.

They had been arrested in February 2012, when police raided their house-church meeting. Officials rejected their appeal for release on bail. Hossein and Shokouhi, previously arrested in 2008 on similar accusations and handed five-year suspended sentences, received an additional eight months of imprisonment above last week’s sentence of 44 months. Additionally, Shokouhi’s wife, Fariba Nazemina, and their son, Nima Shokouhi, each received two-year suspended prison sentences.

The four men are being held in Adel Abad Prison in Shiraz, which houses hardened criminals and often lacks heating or health facilities. Officials also routinely deny medical treatment to prisoners, and as a result, Hakkani is in critical condition due to internal bleeding, according to Mohabat. Prison doctors say he is in urgent need of surgery but has little chance of receiving treatment.

The accused have not been able to contact their families since they were declared guilty. They have the option of appealing the ruling within 20 days.

Iran cracked down on non-Muslims in the run-up to the presidential elections. Last month security forces arrested an Iranian Assemblies of God pastor in Tehran and closed down his church.” Read more.

Flashback: Iran Intensifies Violent Crackdown On Christians, Even Imprisoning Nursing Mothers For Being Non-Muslim – “Iran’s hard-line regime has intensified its violent crackdown on Christians and other religious minorities, even imprisoning nursing mothers for practicing their faith, according to a new UN report. The March report provides a rare, detailed view into the shocking treatment of Christians in Iran, where American Pastor Saeed Abedini is serving an eight-year sentence for his alleged work with Christians. ‘The persecution of Christians has increased,’ said Ahmed Shaheed, the UN’s expert on human rights in Iran.” Read more.

Flashback: Unable To Buy Or Sell: Iran Refusing Business License For Convert To Christianity, Orders Businesses Not To Employ Christians – “Iranian authorities refuse to allow a young man to start his own company because he converted to Christianity and was previously detained on charges of ‘apostasy’, or ‘abandoning Islam’, Iranian Christians said Saturday, July 14. The Iranian Christian, who was not identified, had reportedly been trying to obtain a business license for ‘a technical company’ in northern Iran… Outside prison, government offices are reportedly ordered not to employ Christians and Christians have been deprived from high school or university education, or running their own schools, according to Iranians with close knowledge about the situation.” Read more.

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

Charisma News – “Four attacks within the last three weeks in Niger have raised the specter of a growing Islamist threat in the country.

In the latest attack on Tuesday, unidentified armed men attacked a paramilitary barracks on the outskirts of Niamey, the capital.

At the time of writing, Niger authorities have not made any announcement, but local media say there were no casualties and the attackers managed to flee.

On May 23, two suicide attacks in the north of the country targeted a military base in Agadez and a French-run uranium mine in Arlit, respectively.

The Movement for Oneness and Jihad in West Africa (Mujao) and the Signed-in-Blood Battalion (two Islamist groups active in Mali) claimed responsibility for the attacks, which left 36 dead—most of them soldiers—and threatened further violence.

Niger President Mahamadou Issoufou said the insurgents came from neighbouring southern Libya.

On June 1, more than 20 prisoners escaped from the main detention center in Niamey, the capital, following an attack that Niger authorities attributed to members of Boko Haram, an Islamist sect operating in neighbouring Nigeria.

Among the escapees was Malian-born Cheïbane Ould Hama, a suspected Islamist leader serving a 20-year prison sentence for the murder of four Saudis in 2009. Hama is known for his involvement in the assassination of William Bultemeier, a U.S. military liaison officer, in Niamey in December 2000 and the kidnap of Canadian-born U.N. diplomat Robert Fowler in Niger in 2009.

The recent attacks have come in the middle of the French troop withdrawal from Mali, four months after recapturing northern cities Timbuktu and Gao from Islamist insurgents.

The French-led military intervention enabled them to dismantle the militants’ main base in the Ifoghas Mountains in northeastern Mali, near the Algeria border.

A French army spokesman in Mali told media that more than 400 jihadists have been killed and 100 captured since the beginning of the operation in January. An undetermined number of militants have fled to southern Libya via Algeria and Niger, he said.

Local sources say the upsurge in attacks has set a climate of fear in Niamey. Authorities have reinforced security across the capital, with checkpoints near strategic offices and areas around Western embassies.

‘The militants’ activity is a global threat that goes beyond Niger,’ Reverend Kimso Boureima, president of the Alliance of Missions and Evangelical Churches in Niger, told World Watch Monitor.” Read more.

All Christian News – “According to reports, another Christian woman has been imprisoned recently in Somalia, where Sunni Islam is the official religion and where there is a widespread assumption that all Somalis are born Muslims.

Reports say that she has been beaten, questioned and tortured by Somali authorities and the authorities say that they will keep her in prison for three months.

Fatima’s exact location is not known, and she is not allowed to use her cell phone or have any contact with anyone outside the prison.

Somalia, which has not had a functioning government since 1991, has been experiencing continuous conflict, especially with Christians, for more than 10 years, and is reportedly the most corrupt country in the world.

With Sunni Islam being the official religion of Somalia and no official religious freedom allowed, if you’re not Muslim then you’re likely to be a target for violent attacks.

According to reports 99.7 percent of the population of Somalia, around 8 million, are Muslims with 0.3 percent being Christian.

Somali Christians have to go underground and worship in secret because Islamic radical groups, like the al-Shabab group, have openly stated that they will rid Somalia of all Christians.” Read more.

Flashback: Somalia: Muslims Gather To Watch Convert To Christianity Beheaded By Al-Shabaab Islamists – “Islamic extremists from Somalia’s rebel Al-Shabaab militants on Friday (Nov. 16) killed a Christian in Somalia’s coastal city of Barawa, accusing him of being a spy and leaving Islam, Christian and Muslim witnesses said. The extremists beheaded 25-year-old Farhan Haji Mose after monitoring his movements for six months, Christian sources said… A crowd assembled in the coastal city on Friday morning to watch the slaughter of Mose…” Read more.

Flashback: Somalia: Islamists Again Behead Another for Leaving Islam and Converting to Christianity – “Hungry minority Christians in Somalia faced another struggle Sunday, September 18, after suspected Islamic militants beheaded a Christian convert and foreign aid workers were banned from reaching a dying population. Somali Christians and human rights activists confirmed that the body of Juma Nuradin Kamil, a kidnapped Christian who converted from Islam, was found decapitated near the southern town of Hudur on September 2.” Read more.

Flashback: Al-Shabaab Vows To Continue Killing Those Who Do Not Worship Allah – “Somalia militia group Al-Shabaab has claimed responsibility for Sunday’s twin attacks on two churches in Garissa County that left 17 people dead… An Al-Shabaab loyalist Sheikh Hassan Takar said that the militia killed people who did not profess allegiance to Allah. ‘The mujahedeen (holy warriors) punished with their hands those believing and worshipping other than Allah,’ he said. ‘The militants will continue until such practice is eliminated.’ He added” Read more.

The Voice of the Martyrs – “The persecution of Christians in Tanzania continues. Two pastors have recently been attacked, and the police are doing little about it.

On the night of Sunday, June 2, a large group of radical Muslims attacked the home of pastor Robert Ngai in Geita town, northeastern Tanzania. The attackers broke into the home and attacked Pastor Ngai with machetes. The pastor received serious cuts on his hands and arms when he raised his arms to protect his head from the blows. Doctors at the local hospital said the injuries were beyond their ability to treat and urged that he be rushed to a hospital in a nearby, larger city for treatment.

Ngai is the pastor of the Evangelical Assemblies of God Church. At last word from Voice of the Martyr contacts, he was still in the intensive care unit. Geita town is less than 50 miles from Buseresere, the city where Pastor Mathayo Kachili was killed by radical Muslims in February. Kachili’s story, and that of his widow, Generosa, is featured in Voice of the Martyr’s June newsletter.

Two nights before the attack on Pastor Ngai, the home of Pastor Daudi Nzumbi in Geita also came under attack. Pastor Nzumbi leads the Free Pentecostal Church of Tanzania congregation in Geita.” Read more.

Flashback: Tanzania: Christian Pastor Beheaded By Angry Muslim Mob Demanding That All Christian-Owned Meat Shops Be Closed – “A PASTOR with the Tanzania Assemblies of God (TAG) Church at Buseresere has been beheaded during religious-linked conflicts at Buseresere town, in Geita Region. A spokesperson for the Geita Regional Police Commander’s Office, Mr Denis Stephano, identified the deceased pastor as Mathayo Kachili. He said conflicts had been boiling for quite a while now in the area where a section of what are believed to be Muslim leaders had demanded immediate closure of butcheries owned by Christians.” Read more.

Flashback: Tanzania: Mob Of Islamists Destroy Dozens Of Churches, ‘We Want The Heads Of All The Church Pastors’ – “Dozens of Christian worship places have been destroyed by Islamic extremists in Tanzania and church leaders are fleeing its heavily Muslim island of Zanzibar, as the persecution of Christians spreads throughout East Africa… a mob of Muslim protestors carrying clubs, swords and machetes invaded two churches shouting ‘We want the head of Bishop Shayo’ … When they failed to break into the church, the mob moved on to the Anglican church of Reverend Emmanuel Masoud where the crowd broke windows and were seen hacking at the doors while chanting: ‘We need the head of Masoud!’ and We want the heads of all the church pastors in Zanzibar!’” Read more.

Flashback: ‘Prepare For Disaster’: Islamists In Tanzania And Kenya Threaten To Destroy Christian Homes And Churches – “Christians and their churches here in Tanzania and Kenya are on alert this Easter weekend in anticipation of potential attacks against them. Many have armed police guarding their buildings. A militant Islamic group known as Muslim Renewal has threatened to burn ‘homes and churches.’ They say they ‘are not finished, at Easter, prepare for disaster.’ The Al Shabaab-linked group is believed responsible for the murder in Zanzibar last month of Catholic priest, Father Evarest Mushi. It may also have been involved in the killing of Pastor Abdi Welli in Garissa, Kenya. Militant Muslims have killed church leaders and they’ve attacked more than 30 churches in Tanzania and Kenya in the past year.” Read more.

Flashback: Tanzania: Christians Increasingly Worried As Islamism Spreads At Alarming Rate, Seeks To Impose Sharia Law Upon All – “Islamisation is increasing at an alarming rate in Tanzania, according to a bishop from the country. Bishop Bernadin Mfumbusa of Kondoa warned that religious freedom and other civil liberties were under threat from intolerant radical Muslim influences sweeping in from countries neighbouring the east African nation… ‘We see more and more itinerant preachers from Saudi Arabia and Sudan entering this country – and Muslims are increasingly making political demands.’” Read more.

For peaceful purposes …

By Raymond Ibrahim – “Two weeks ago in Egypt, a Coptic Christian man named Milad living in Tanta in northern Egypt submitted a formal complaint to authorities, saying that ‘unknown persons’ invited him and his family to renounce Christianity and submit to Islam and convert.  ‘They also snatched at the crucifix he was wearing around his neck, and threatened to kidnap his children and wife if he refused to convert to Islam.’  The man identified them as members of the Salafi movement in Egypt—as they wore the trademark white robes and long beards.

Such incidents—threatening Coptic Christians to convert to Islam and kidnapping their children—are becoming commonplace in post ‘Arab Spring’ Egypt.  Some months back, Coptic priests were threatened with death if they did not convert to Islam, and the jihad on Egypt’s Christian children is an ongoing phenomenon, most recently resulting in the abduction and slaying of a 6-year-old boy.” Source – Raymond Ibrahim.

Flashback: New Egyptian Terror Group To Christian Leaders: Convert To Islam Or Face Death – “A group of Christian priests from a local Coptic church in Egypt were told to convert to Islam or face death, according to an Arabic news site. The incident, which comes in the midst of continued persecution and pressure on Egypt’s Christian community, took place this week in the town of Safaga, near the Red Sea, the El Balad site reported. According to El Balad, the threats are from a new group in Egypt, Jihad al-Kufr, whose name translates to Jihad against non-believers or non-Muslims. The group targets non-Muslims, and reportedly pressures them to convert to Islam.” Read more.

Flashback: Egypt: Attacks Against Christians Under Way In Northern Egypt After Call To Murder All Who Refuse To Convert To Islam – “Christian Copts in Upper Egypt are under attack, hours after a call for their eradication appeared in the form of leaflets calling on Muslims to kill Copts, specifically naming regions of Upper Egypt… Christians are being beaten, their stores destroyed, and their properties plundered. The attackers are declaring that ‘any Christian who dares to leave his house will be killed’; and the Copts are complaining that the police only arrive after the damage has been completely done… persecutors warned Christians from leaving their homes, promising death to whoever dared try. They said they did not want to see a single Christian in the street, which made many Christians lock themselves in.” Read more.

Egypt: Islamist Organizations Distribute Leaflets Calling For The Killing Of All Christians Who Will Not Convert To Islam – “According to today’s issue of El Fegr, ‘Elements of terrorist, jihadi organizations distributed leaflets today inciting for the killing of Copts in Suez, Ismailia, and Upper Egypt, promising them [Copts] a tragic end if they do not return to the truth.’ An image of a copy of the letter appears on El Fegr’s website. Titled ‘An Urgent and Important Notice,’ it begins by calling on ‘all brothers and sisters’ to ‘kill or physically attack the enemies of the religion of Allah—the Christians in all of Egypt’s provinces, the slaves of the Cross, Allah’s curse upon them…’ It proceeds to promise a monetary reward for whoever helps ‘achieve Allah’s rights against his enemies.’” Read more.

Romans 8:35-37, “Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? As it is written, ‘For thy sake we are being killed all the day long; we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered.’ No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.”

By Maina Maina, Daily Post – “One month after the declaration of emergency rule to fight insurgency in Borno, Yobe and Adamawa states, violence has erupted again, as gunmen suspected to be members of Islamist terrorist sect attacked four communities of Hwa’a, Kunde, Gathahure and Gjigga of Gwoza Hills settlements, torching four churches with Improvised Explosives Devices,IEDS, and petro-bombs Thursday afternoon.

According to Tada Garuta, a resident of Kunde, the gunmen climbed the hills on foot with explosives and petro-bombs, and chanted [Allah is greater], in Arabic, before setting four local churches ablaze. Thereafter, they ransacked and emptied their bans of grains along with some livestocks. Gathahure and Hwa’a communities were also affected.

The attacked communities are located in Gwoza council area of Borno state of Mandara Hills, and 151 kilometres south of Maiduguri, the state capital.

Two churches at Hrazah and Hembe,hilly communities were also torched by the gunmen in April this year with the killing of two residents.

Garuta also told newsmen in Maiduguri, Bama road Motor Park yesterday that after torching another church in Hwa’a community, the gunmen also killed Rev. Jacob Kwiza (rtd) of Church of Christ in Nigeria (COCIN), while picking mangoes at his father’s orchard on the hills settlement of Hwa’a.

He said: ‘as the gunmen threw some explosives at our church, they forced the retired Reverend to renounce Christianity and be converted to Islam, but Rev. Jacob defied the gunmen’s threats of being killed, as he insisted on being a Christian among his people on the hills of Hwa’a. They slit his throat with sharp objects; and we started to flee for safety, as we don’t know the next targets of these gunmen.’

He said because of fears and terrorizing around Hwa’a’s community, none of the residents came to pick the body of the slain Reverend for burial and prayers.

Lamenting on the continued fears of hills dwellers, Garuta said: ‘after the church at Hrazah was also torched by the gunmen, the people had to flee.'” Read more.

Flashback: Nigeria’s Borno State

• Christians Stand Firm After Islamists Destroy 96% Of Borno State’s Catholic Churches
• Islamists Target Christians For Slaughter, Burn Down Their Homes, Churches
• Christians Paralyzed Amid Islamist Attacks, Fear Venturing Outside Day Or Night
• At Least 12 Christians Murdered By Islamists During Christmas Celebrations
• Nigerian President: End Times May Be Close As Islamists Continue Massacring Christians
• Islamists Follow Pastor Home From Church, Shoot Him Dead In Front Of Daughter
• Lawlessness: Nigerian President Declares State Of Emergency As Entire Villages, Towns Across Northeast Now Controlled By Islamists