MidnightWatcher – Prophecy in Motion

By Lisa Daftari, Fox News – “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.

‘It’s not the first time. This is happening every day,’ said Adel Guindy, president of Coptic Solidarity and a member of Egypt’s Coptic community who travels between Paris and Cairo. ‘This one incident caught the attention of the news agencies, but there are worse things happening to the Christians every day in Egypt,’ he said.

Christians have felt increasingly at risk since the fall of former President Hosni Mubarak in 2011, which resulted in the rise of President Mohammed Morsi and the Muslim Brotherhood movement.

‘It has definitely worsened under the revolution. Once the worst part of the society surfaced — the Islamists — the Copts are paying a heavy price. The West doesn’t really feel our pain. It’s a war of attrition,’ Guindy said.

Copts are the largest Christian community in the Middle East, and the most prominent religious minority in the region. Christians make up about 10 percent of Egypt’s 85 million people.

Egypt’s new constitution has come under scrutiny by many for including elements of Sharia, or Islamic law, while simultaneously legitimizing the marginalization of the country’s religious minorities by denying them legal protection. It also granted increased powers to Morsi, who self-declared sweeping powers in a Nov. 22 power grab that prompted heavy international criticism.

The new constitution was ratified after its second referendum in late December, winning more than 70 percent of the vote. Moderate Egyptians took to the streets to protest the rushed ratification, but the demonstrations were quickly quashed.

Some believe members of the Muslim Brotherhood and other Islamic extremists, emboldened by the constitution’s passage, have Read more…

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

Agenzia Fides -“Roshan Masih, a 45 year old Christian, was shot dead after an argument over religion in Lahore, capital of Punjab Province. Fides learned that the episode, on 16 February, brought bewilderment and grief [to] the local Christian community : it was an act of murder in cold blood: Roshan’s defence of his Christian beliefs compared to Muslim beliefs, may have been considered ‘blasphemous’. Roshan Masih had converted from Hinduism to Christianity and about 20 ago settled in Lahore. Days before the murder he had a heated argument over religion with a local Muslim, Sohail Akhtar. The latter waited for his opportunity, and, on 16 February, seeing Roshan sitting outside a shop run by Sadiq Masih, another Christian, Sohail Akhtar, armed with a rifle, shot him dead there and then. The case was reported to the ‘Legal Evangelical Association Development’ (LEAD), which in turn filed an official First Information Report with the police, accusing Sohail Akhtar of premeditated homicide. The assassin was arrested and taken into custody by the local police which has undertaken a serious investigation, after which the case will probably pass to the Legal Courts.

‘This is truly a tragedy: an innocent man is slain for defending his faith in a simple argument. The episode is emblematic of the conditions of Pakistani Christians. The authorities have a duty to guarantee the basic rights of Christian minorities’, Fides was told by lawyer Sardar Mushtaq Gill, of LEAD, the organization which defends and promotes Pakistan’s religious minority groups.” Source – Agenzia Fides.

• Flashback: ‘Catastrophic’: The Miseries of Persecuted Christians of Pakistan
• Flashback: Pakistan: Christian Man Murdered For Refusing To Convert To Islam
• Flashback: Pakistan: Christian Beaten By Police For Drinking Water From Glass Belonging To Muslims
• Flashback: Pakistan: Christians Forced To Flee Into The Wilderness To Escape Islamic Persecution
• Flashback: Pakistan: Christian Woman Brutally Tortured by Muslim Mob, Paraded Through Village Streets for ‘Anti-Islam Views’
• Flashback: Christians In Pakistan Told To Convert To Islam Or Leave, ‘Otherwise They Will Face Consequences’
• Flashback: Pakistan Islamists: ‘You Christians Have Offended Our Prophet, We Will Kill You All!’

By Mary Abdelmassih, AINA – “Hundreds of Copts rallied on Sunday evening against the torching of St. Georges church in Sarsena on Friday (AINA 2-16-2013), as well as the escalation of destruction of churches by Muslims. Several Coptic rights groups organized a march from Shubra, a densely populated area in Cairo, to the High Court building in downtown Cairo, to ‘demand justice’ as the organizers said.

Demonstrators demanded the Sarsena church be rebuilt and the perpetrators be prosecuted, in addition to the assailants of previous attacks on the churches during the last two years since the ousting of Mubarak. They also demanded an end to the customary “reconciliation” meetings forced on Copts by the authorities, in which Copts lose all their rights.

‘We are going down to the streets for the church torched in Fayoum,’ said Yvonne Mosad, PR of Maspero Coptic Youth Union, ‘and against the customary reconciliation meetings held every time something takes place against the Copts. We want the application of the law.’

The Coptic demonstrators included a large number of children accompanying their parents. A large number of liberal Muslims joined the demonstration.

The marchers chanted ‘Maspero, Maspero,’ calling for the completion of their march to the State radio and TV building in Maspero, the site of the massacre that killed 24 Copts and injured over 300 (AINA 10-10-2011).

According to officials, the attack on St. George’s Church was triggered by a Muslim family living next to the church, who complained about the sound coming from the church during mass on Fridays and Sundays. The Muslim family has been living next to the church for 15 years and had not complained previously. During the attack on Friday, Muslims voiced the real issue, which was the church is ‘an unlawful neighbor to the Muslims who live adjacent to it and must therefore be moved.’ …

A customary ‘reconciliation’ meeting was held on Saturday evening, which many found to be unfair and humiliating, like all such previous meetings forced by authorities. The meeting was attended by seven Copts without the presence of the clergy, four of whom were chosen by the Muslims, the Muslim neighbor family that complained, four Muslim arbitrators and the heads of the security and Chief of Detectives in Tamiya.

The church was attacked once again by Muslims While the meeting was in progress. Molotov Cocktails and stones were hurled at the church while Muslims shouted ‘We do not want the church.’ Some Muslims climbed up the church to completely destroy the remains of the wooden dome.” Read more.

By Hadeel Al-Shalchi – “BENGHAZI, Libya (Reuters) – Four foreigners have been arrested in the eastern Libyan city of Benghazi on suspicion of being Christian missionaries and printing books about Christianity, a security official said on Saturday.

‘They were arrested on Tuesday at a publishing house where they were printing thousands of books that called for conversion to Christianity,’ security official Hussein Bin Hmeid said.

‘Proselytizing is forbidden in Libya. We are a 100 percent Muslim country and this kind of action affects our national security.’

Hmeid said the government-affiliated security apparatus called the Preventative Security, for which he is a spokesman, had arrested an Egyptian, a South African, a Korean and a Swede who was travelling on a U.S. passport.

‘We are still holding interrogations and will hand them over to the Libyan intelligence authorities in a couple of days,’ Hmeid said, without giving further details.

The Preventative Security apparatus is a parallel security body created during the 2011 war that ousted Muammar Gaddafi and made up of several rebel brigades which fought in the conflict.

Libya’s central government has yet to impose its authority on a myriad of armed groups who have yet to lay down their arms, and with skeletal national security forces, often relies on them for security.” Source – Yahoo! News.

• Flashback: Situation Critical: Muslim Fundamentalists Driving Christians From Libya
• Flashback: Benghazi Friday Sermon: Destroy Christians And Jews, ‘The Time Has Come For Us …To Detonate Our Wrath Upon Them’
• Flashback: Al-Qaeda Plants Its Flag in Libya, ‘Whomever Speaks Ill of This Flag, We Will Cut Off His Tongue’
• Flashback: Libya: ‘Allah Is Greater’ Warcry Heard As Muslims Desecrate Jewish And Christian Grave Site In Benghazi
• Flashback: A Free and Democratic Libya? Not So Fast – Libyan Draft Constitution Declares Sharia Law The ‘Principal Source Of Legislation’

The Saudis are forever trying to cast Islam in a positive light by calling for “interfaith dialogue” between Christians, Jews and Muslims. But all this means to the Islamist mindset is that when they speak, it is everybody else who must listen, or else …

By BosNewsLife – “Dozens of Ethiopian Christians, mostly women, have been detained in Saudi Arabia after attending a worship service in a private home, BosNewsLife learned Wednesday, February 13.

The Christians – 46 women and six men including three church leaders – were arrested last Friday, February 8, said the well-informed Religious Liberty Commission of the World Evangelical Alliance, or ‘WEA-RLC’, which represents evangelical believers worldwide.

It said the three church leaders – two of them women – were produced in an Islamic court in the eastern city of Dammam on charges of converting Muslims to Christianity.

Authorities were expected to release two of the Ethiopian Christians who have residential permits, but the others were due to be deported, Christians said.

‘We call on Saudi authorities to treat all those arrested with dignity, and release them immediately as there is apparently no evidence for any offense against them,’ said Godfrey Yogarajah, WEA-RLC’s executive director.

MORE INCIDENTS

‘Arrest of believers for peacefully gathering for worship goes against the spirit of Saudi Arabia’s promotion of inter-religious dialogue in international fora,’ he added.

This isn’t an isolated incident in the Islamic kingdom. In December 2011, Saudi authorities detained 35 Ethiopian Christians, 29 of them women, for ‘illicit mingling,’ after security forces arrested them raiding a private prayer gathering in the eastern city of Jeddah, Christians said at the time.

Rights activists believe the women were subjected to arbitrary body cavity searches while in custody.” Read more.

•  Christians Working in Saudi Arabia Thrown in Prison, Beaten
•  Saudi Security Forces Raid Christian Prayer Meeting in Jeddah and Arrest 42 Christians, Many Beaten and Threatened with Death
•  Hypocrisy: Saudi Gov’t Calling For ‘Interfaith Dialogue’ Caught Demonizing Jews And Christians
• Yule Be Sorry: Virtuous Saudi Police Raid House, Arrest 41 People ‘Plotting To Celebrate Christmas’
• Saudis Export Anti-Christian and Anti-Jewish Textbooks that Continue to Fuel Intolerance and Violence Around the Globe
• ‘Fight The Jews And Kill Them’: Major American Publishers Protest Hate-Filled, Toxic Saudi Textbook Content

Reuters: Supporters of Islamist President Morsi, Feb. 13, 2013

AsiaNews – “A mob, incited by local Salafi fringe, threw stones and set fire to the church of St. Georgas in the village of Sarsena, Tamiya District, in the Egyptian province of Fayoum, about 103 km south-west of Cairo. According to sources of the Assyrian International News Agency (Aina), the attack took place yesterday evening and caused damage, particularly to the dome of the place of Christian worship. The attack destroyed the towering cross on top of the building, and many of the icons and sacred images inside.

The local Salafist fringe lead the attack against the Copts, pitting the Muslims against the community, branding the church as ‘illegal’, because it is close to an area inhabited by Muslims and ‘for this reason has to be removed.’ They are imposing the demolition of the building and have prevented the priest, Father Domadios from entering. Some witnesses reported that the scene was also attended by police, who did nothing to prevent the violence.

The church of St. Georgas was built in the mid-80s and is a point of encounter and prayer for 200 Coptic families. About three months ago, some Muslims made a hole in the wall, to ‘monitor’ the activities of Christians. Yesterday the priest’s attempts at mediation proved worthless. He was joined by the local police chief, who arrived on site to try to find an agreement between the parties.

Firm in their positions, hundreds of Islamic extremists – in front of the police – started throwing stones at the church. The attackers injured – not seriously – some Copts and Father Domadios, who managed to flee to safety with the help of a Muslim family aboard their car.” Source – AsiaNews.

• Flashback: ‘Conquest Is Coming’: Islamist President Morsi Says Christians Must Convert To Islam, Pay ‘Jizya’, Or Leave
• Flashback: Egypt: A Thousand Muslims Attack Christian Village, Burn Down Homes And Churches, Christian Stores Torched In Southern Egypt
• Flashback: Egypt: Thousands Of Muslims Shouting ‘Allah Is Greater’ Destroy Christian Social Services Building Fearing It Would Become A Church
• Flashback: Egypt: Angry Muslim Mobs Barring Christians From Attending Church, ‘It Is A Big Problem Across Egypt’
• Flashback: Muslim Group: ‘Christianity Should Be Destroyed And Wiped From The Face Of The Earth’, It Is ‘Evil’ and ‘Demonic’

Persecution.org – “International Christian Concern (ICC) has learned that a Christian was given a hefty fine by an appellate court in Tindouf, Algeria yesterday for proselytizing. The verdict, viewed by advocates as an ‘attack’ on religious freedom, raises concerns about the trial of a second Christian in Oran who may face five years in prison on similar charges.

Mohamed Ibaouène, a Christian convert from Islam, was fined 100,000 Algerian dinars (US $1,280) on Feb. 13 for sharing his Christian faith with a former colleague. Abdelkrim Mansouri, a machine operator at the company where Ibaouène held a management position, had filed a complaint against Ibaouène with the National Gendarmerie in Tindouf in February 2012 for allegedly pressuring him to ‘abandon’ Islam. Months later, Ibaouène was sentenced in absentia by a court in Tigzirt to one year in prison and fined 50,000 dinars for the offense on July 4.

‘I [had] never been summoned by the police or any other authority – I [had] never been investigated by the police or gendarmerie,’ Ibaouene told Morning Star News.

Ibaouène denied the charges, claiming that it was, in fact, Mansouri who had pressured him to renounce Christianity. After appealing the verdict, an appellate court in Tindouf ruled on Feb. 13 that the prison sentence would be overturned, but the fine would be increased. Ibaouène was convicted under Article 11 of Law 03/2006, which mandates a fine up to one million dinars to anyone who ‘incites, constrains, or utilizes means of seduction tending to convert a Muslim to another religion.’

‘I’m shocked and very disappointed by this verdict,’ Mohamed Benbelkacem, Ibaouène’s lawyer, told ICC. ‘The verdict had no place because there was absolutely no evidence against my client. The judge was presumably pressured by his superiors, which led to the decision to maintain the fine and cancel the prison term. Otherwise, my client would have been acquitted.’

‘Ibaouène’s ruling is an attack on freedom,’ said Mustapha Krim, the President of the Protestant Church of Algeria (EPA). ‘It is clear that the verdict was unfair and the EPA intends to follow-up on the case. As long as the 2006 law exists, there will always be people who wrongly accuse Christians.'” Read more.

• Flashback: Algerian Islamist Kidnappers: We Kill Christians And Infidels
• Flashback: Algeria: Christian Faces Five Years In Prison For Sharing Faith With Muslim
• Flashback: Algeria Demands UN To Impose Limits On Freedom Of Speech And Expression‚ Protect Islam And Mohammed

By Rebecca Lake, Sandra Siagian & Abdul Qowi Bastian, Jakarta Globe – “The wife of a church minister who was jailed two weeks ago for allegedly conducting a service without a permit also faces arrest for defying an order from local authorities to stop holding services at a church in Sumedang, West Java.

Minister Bernhard Maukar and his wife, Corry, were holding a service at their Pentecostal church (GPdI) in Mekargalih village, Jatinangor subdistrict, on Jan. 27, when it was attacked by members of the Islamic Defenders Front (FPI), who claimed that the church did not have a valid permit to operate.

CCTV footage obtained by the Jakarta Globe shows details of the attack where a gang of about 50 members from the hard-line organization scaled the gates of the religious facility, caused havoc and destruction within the place of worship and physically threatened the minister — at one point using Bernhard’s necktie to strangle him.

Bernhard was arrested by officials from the Sumedang Public Order Agency (Satpol PP) two days later for continuing to hold services without a valid permit, which breaks a 2005 local government law.

The minister is currently serving a three-month sentence at the Sumedang prison as he could not pay the Rp 25 million ($2,600) fine ordered by the district court.

Corry said this is the third major act of violence the FPI has inflicted upon them in the past two years.

The grandmother explained that the latest attack on the church, which has been running for 26 years, had significantly traumatized the 400-member congregation, many of whom are now too afraid to return.” Read more.

• Flashback: Islamic Protesters in Indonesia Force Church To Close Due To ‘No Permit’
• Flashback: Indonesia: Twenty Churches In Aceh Face Threat Of Demolition
• Flashback: Indonesia: Covert Persecution Of Christians On The Rise
• Flashback: Indonesia: Six Christian Schools Threatened With Closure … For Not Teaching Islam
• Flashback: Indonesia: Hundreds Of Muslims Attack Christians Gathering Near Site Of Future Church
• Flashback: Massive Increase of Radical Islamism Spreads Throughout Indonesia, Including ‘Top-Quality’ Universities
• Flashback: Indonesia: Hundreds Of Muslim Extremists Attack Christian Prayer House In Aceh Province During Worship Service

By Meddy Mulisa, allAfrica – “Bukoba — 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.

He said that a group of youths believed to be Muslims assaulted several Christians using sticks and machetes and attacked a butchery owner at Buseresere town. During the confrontations pastor Kachili was beheaded.

According to Mr Stephano, several people are believed to have been injured, some in critical condition and were admitted to Buseresere hospital to receive treatment. He said the Chato District Commissioner (DC), Mr Rodrick Mpogolo, visited the scene and called for calm and religious tolerance among believers of the two faiths.” 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: Tanzania: Muslim Mobs Torch Churches, Seek To Behead 14-Year-Old Christian Boy After Allegations Of Qur’an Desecration – “Violent clashes erupted in Dar es Salaam’s Mbagala suburb yesterday when scores of Muslim youth stormed a police station and demanded that a 14-year-old boy accused of urinating on the Quran be handed over to them. In the aftermath of the confrontation, at least five churches were attacked, several car windows smashed and passersby injured as the angry mob moved from street to street at Mbagala Kizuiani protesting the desecration of the holy book… The incident turned deadly after the angry Muslims mobilised more support during Friday prayers, reportedly in an attempt to grab the boy from the police station and behead him.” Read more.

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

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

Random murders? Jihad? The police aren’t revealing any motive at this time, but the fact that some believe it may have “had something to do with the victims’ religion” points to the latter …

See: Muslim Who Beheaded Two New Jersey Christians Was An Immigrant

By Jeff Pegues, WABC – “JERSEY CITY (WABC) — There’s a gruesome double murder mystery in New Jersey.

Police say who did it’s not a mystery because someone is under arrest but the mystery is why the accused killer cut [off] two men’s heads and hands.

The victims are reportedly from Jersey City, but their remains were found buried in a town southwest of Philadelphia.

On the streets of Jersey City along Bergen Avenue, to the naked eye it’s not obvious.

But to members of the close knit Coptic Orthodox church the pain is real.

‘It’s a shock, something like this doesn’t happen to people like that,’ a resident said.

Now they know two members of the church have been brutally murdered.

But no one in this community seems to know why.

‘It was crazy what happened to these two. Do they deserve it? No. Was it expected? Never. And it’s just sad,’ a resident said.

The two victims were found buried in a back yard in Buena Vista, New Jersey last Thursday.

Monday, police announced an arrest.

28-year-old Yusuf Ibrahim is in custody.

Investigators say Ibrahim shot and killed the victims, severed their heads and hands, and buried the remains at a Buena Vista house.

Back in Jersey City, friends of the victims are praying that police will have the answers to the questions that now haunt them.

Privately some wonder if it had something to do with the victims’ religion. Read more…