MidnightWatcher – Prophecy in Motion

PM News – “In another deadly move portraying Nigeria’s Borno state as a killing field for Nigerian Christians, attackers have stormed a church service in Kiyak village in the outskirts of Chibok, killing another set of 15 worshippers.

It was the second major killing of Christians in the Chibok area. Early in December, 10 Christians were also killed in the area.

Though Nigeria’s military denied the latest attack in a statement, the regional coordinator for the country’s National Emergency Management Agency, Mohammed Kanar, confirmed it, saying the victims were shot dead.

News of the killings emerged after President Goodluck Jonathan questioned whether deadly Islamist attacks on churches in his country and other violence worldwide could be signs of coming ‘end times’.

‘We received information from our personnel in Chibok that some attackers stormed a church during Sunday service yesterday and killed 15 people,’ Kanar told AFP.

He later specified that the attack was at an evangelical church in Kyachi village outside Chibok.

The attack followed another gruesome killing Friday that saw attackers slit the throats of 15 Christians in a pre-dawn raid in Musari, also in Borno state, where Boko Haram has been based.

During a Christmas Eve service last week, gunmen attacked a church in the neighbouring Yobe state, killing six people, including the pastor, before setting the building ablaze.

Violence linked to Boko Haram’s insurgency in northern and central Nigeria is believed to have left some 3,000 people dead since 2009, including killings by the security forces.

Last year’s violence had prompted Jonathan to declare a state of emergency in the hardest-hit areas.

During comments Sunday in which he mentioned attacks on churches in Nigeria, Syria’s war and the situation in the Central African Republic, where rebels have pushed their way across the impoverished country, Jonathan spoke of the Biblical end times.

‘I was just wondering, could this be a clear way of telling us that the end times are so close?’ he told the church congregation.

Some Christians believe in the idea of chaos in connection with the second coming of Jesus Christ, commonly referred to as the ‘end times’. Such beliefs are based on passages in the New Testament’s Book of Revelation.” Read more.

By Raymond Ibrahim, Gatestone Institute – “Islamic leaders continue to portray the popular protests against President Morsi and his recently passed Sharia-heavy constitution as products of Egypt’s Christians. Recently, Muslim Brotherhood leader Safwat Hegazy said in an open rally, as captured on video:

A message to the church of Egypt, from an Egyptian Muslim: I tell the church — by Allah, and again, by Allah — if you conspire and unite with the remnants [opposition] to bring Morsi down, that will be another matter…. our red line is the legitimacy of Dr. Muhammad Morsi. Whoever splashes water on it, we will splash blood on him.”

More recently, Dr. Wagdi Ghoneim — who earlier praised Allah for the death of the late Coptic Pope Shenouda, cursing him to hell and damnation on video — made another video, entitled, ‘A Notice and Warning to the Crusaders in Egypt,’ a reference to the nation’s Copts, which he began by saying, ‘You are playing with fire in Egypt, I swear, the first people to be burned by the fire are you [Copts].’ The video was made in the context of the Tahrir protests against Morsi: Islamic leaders, such as Hegazy and Ghoneim, seek to portray the Copts as dominant elements in those protests; according to them, no real Muslim would participate. Ghoneim even went on to say that most of the people at the protests were Copts, ‘and we know you hid your [wrist] crosses by lowering your sleeves.’

The heart of Ghoneim’s message was genocidal: ‘The day Egyptians — and I don’t even mean the Muslim Brotherhood or Salafis, regular Egyptians — feel that you are against them, you will be wiped off the face of the earth. I’m warning you now: do not play with fire!’

Along with trying to incite Egypt’s Muslims against the Copts, and threatening them with annihilation, Ghoneim made other telling assertions, including:

• Addressing the Christians of Egypt as ‘Crusaders,’ once again showing Islam’s simplistic, black-and-white vision, which clumps all Christians — of all nations, past and present, regardless of historical context and denomination — as one, in accordance with an Islamic tradition that states ‘All infidels are one religion.’
• Comparing Christian Copts to animals: ‘Respect yourselves and live with us and we will protect you… Why?… because Allah has forbidden me to be cruel to animals Read more…

No confirmation on whether the 15 murdered civilians were Christian or not, but I think it’s safe to conclude that these savages chanting “Allah is greater” were not aiming to eliminate their fellow devout Islamists …

Herald Sun – “SUSPECTED radical Islamist gunmen have attacked a village in northeast Nigeria, tying up men, women and children before slitting their throats and killing at least 15 in the troubled region’s latest attack.

The assault happened early on Friday morning in the village of Musari on the outskirts of Maiduguri.

The gunmen, suspected of being members of Boko Haram, shouted religious slogans and later ordered people to gather up into a group, said Mshelia Inusa, a primary school teacher in the village.

Chants of ‘God is great, God is great’ followed, he said.

Later, Mr Inusa and others saw corpses with their hands tied behind their backs and their throats cut.

Later Friday morning, an ambulance arrived at the State Specialists Hospital in Maiduguri, accompanied by a group of military vehicles, a security guard said. Agitated soldiers ordered people away, but the guard said he counted at least 15 bodies being brought into the facility’s morgue.

A military spokesman later issued a statement saying only five people had been killed in the village during the attack. However, military and police officials routinely downplay casualty figures because they are under increasing pressure from their superiors to minimise the perceived effects of the ongoing attacks by Boko Haram.

Boko Haram could not be immediately reached for comment.

More than 780 people have been killed in Boko Haram attacks in 2012.” Read more.

• Flashback: Nigeria: Christian Pastor Gunned Down After Muslim Gunmen Enter Home In Maiduguri
• Flashback: Nigeria: Islamists In Northern City Of Maiduguri Slit Throats Of Nine Workers From Christian South
• Flashback: Nigeria: Teenage Christian Kids Shot Dead By Muslims Praising Allah
• Flashback: Nigeria: Over 1000 Flee Muslim Death Squad After Islamists Target, Kill People Unable To Recite Qur’anic Verses
• Flashback: Nigeria: Deliberate Targeting of Christians in Islamist Attack that Killed 150 in Nigeria, ‘If You Said You Were a Christian, They Killed You‘

By Steve Little, CBN News – “An Iranian convert to Christianity seeking asylum in Sweden is once again facing deportation to Iran, according to his pastor. If he’s sent back to Iran, the convert, Reza Jebbari, could be imprisoned or even put to death for leaving Islam.

CBN News first reported on Jebbari’s case last month when Swedish authorities rejected his application for asylum and ordered him deported. A few days later, a Migration Board official announced they were halting the deportation process and granting Jebbari another hearing.

Now, Jebbari’s pastor, Cai Berger, tells CBN News that another migration official has denied the request for asylum and police are seeking to take Jebbari into custody and begin the deportation process.

Jebbari’s lawyer has already filed another appeal, but Berger says they are puzzled at the government’s persistence in its attempts to deport the Christian convert.

‘It would seem that we are in a tight spot again and, quite frankly, we’re at a loss as to why the Migration services are so determined to deport [him],’ Berger wrote CBN News in an email. ‘People with weaker cases get permission to stay in Sweden, but not him.’

CBN News has yet to receive a reply to an email to the Swedish Migration Board’s press office requesting an explanation for the decision to deny asylum.

Christians in Iran, especially those who convert from Islam, are harshly persecuted. CBN News reportedly extensively on the case of Iranian Pastor Youcef Nadarkhani, who was imprisoned for three years and sentenced to die for apostasy. Nadarkhani was finally released earlier this year after an international outcry put pressure on the Iranian regime.” Source – CBN News.

Qur’an Sura 9:123, “O ye who believe! Fight those of the disbelievers who are near to you, and let them find harshness in you …”

RT – “The religious police in Saudi Arabia have raided a house in the Al Jawf Province and arrested 41 people, who were ‘plotting to celebrate Christmas,’ a police statement said.

­The police said that the detainees were Christian guests of an Asian diplomat, reports the Lebanese newspaper Al-Akhbar.

There were also a Saudi Arabian and an Egyptian, both Muslims, present at the gathering. The police account says the host and the two Muslim guests were ‘severely intoxicated.’

It is unclear whether or not the people detained in the Wednesday night raid were released or face further prosecution.

Saudi Arabia outlaws any religious practice except those in line with a strict version of Sunni Islam, the state religion in the theocratic monarchy. The authorities usually turn a blind eye to private ceremonies, but this policy is neither set in law nor observed at all times.

The ‘virtue and vice’ police, which enforce religious norms in the country, regularly launch crackdowns on Christians and Hindus living in Saudi Arabia.

The attitude is encouraged by religious leaders, who justify the persecutions. Saudi Arabia’s head mufti Sheikh Abdel Aziz bin Abdullah had previously condemned ‘invitations to Christmas or wedding celebrations,’ the newspaper says.” Source – Russia Today.

Flashback: Islamic Teacher: Saying ‘Merry Christmas’ is Worse Than Killing Someone – “You [Muslims] cannot say ‘Merry Christmas’ … It’s not part of our Deen. Period. It’s the concept that God was born on the 25th of December. That’s as shirk and kuffir as you can get, and you saying ‘Merry Christmas’ [says], ‘Congratulations on your false religion [of Christianity]. Congratulations on your false understanding of life.’ You are congratulating them [Christians] on the most evil of shirk and kuffir … This is worse than fornication and drinking alcohol and killing someone because you’re approving of the biggest crime ever committed by the children of Adam: shirk …” Watch video.

Flashback: ‘Unprecedented’: Saudi Security Forces Raid Christian Prayer Meeting in Jeddah and Arrest 42 Christians, Many Beaten and Threatened with Death – “International Christian Concern (ICC) has learned that Saudi security forces arrested 42 Ethiopian Christians at a prayer gathering in Jeddah on Thursday … at the home of an Ethiopian Christian in the Al-Safa district of Jeddah. Those attending the service were reportedly beaten and threatened before being arrested. ‘Security officials broke [into] the house and captured… beat and threatened them for death… They divided the men and the women and they are torturing them [in prison],’ an Ethiopian and Eritrean Christian immigrant community living in Europe wrote in a desperate appeal for help to the ambassadors of European embassies in Riyadh on Friday.” Read more.

For peaceful purposes …

Jakarta Globe – “More than 200 Indonesian Muslims threw rotten eggs at Christians wanting to hold a Christmas mass near land outside Jakarta where they plan to build a church, police and a witness said.

Some 100 Christian worshippers intended to hold a mass near empty land where they hope to build a church, about 30-kilometers east of the capital, in a project barred by district government and community members in 2009.

Since then, worshippers from the Filadelfia Batak Christian Protestant have held Sunday services under scorching sun outside the property.

On Tuesday, however, local community members blocked the road near the land, Andri Ananta, a local police chief on Jakarta’s outskirts, told AFP.

An AFP photographer witnessed furious locals — men and women wearing Muslim headscarf, with small children in tow — physically blocking the road and throwing rotten eggs at the gathering worshippers.

Ananta said police managed to convince the Christians to drop their plan and return home.

‘We tried our best to avoid any clash and the Christians agreed to leave,’ he said, adding 380 police and military personnel including an anti-riot squad were deployed to the area.

Church leader Reverend Palti Panjaitan said the incident came after a Christmas Eve attack on Monday evening when ‘intolerant people’ threw not only rotten eggs but plastic bags filled with urine and cow dung at them.

‘Everything had happened while police were there. They were just watching without doing anything to stop them from harming us,’ he told AFP.” Read more.

By Dan Wooding, ANS – “JOS, NIGERIA (ANS) — Christmas Eve attacks by suspected Islamic extremists in northern Nigeria’s Borno state – already reeling from the slaughter of at least 10 Christians earlier this month – took the lives of six people at a Baptist church, as gunmen killed six others in Yobe state the same night.

According to Morning Star News (http://morningstarnews.org) in Borno state, where Islamic extremist group Boko Haram is based, six Christians were slain at First Baptist Church in Maiduguri on Christmas Eve.

About 160 kilometers (100 miles) away in Kupwal village in Chibok Local Government Area, suspected jihadists shouting ‘Allahu Akbar [God is greater]’ on Dec. 1 slit the throats of at least 10 people in carefully selected Christian homes, according to reports from survivors.

The story went on to say that in Yobe state on Christmas Eve, gunmen believed to be members of Boko Haram reportedly entered the Evangelical Church Winning All (ECWA) in Peri, near Potiskum, and killed six Christians including a pastor before setting the church building ablaze. Several others were reported seriously wounded.

‘No group has claimed responsibility for the Christmas Eve attacks, but Boko Haram mounted Christmas assaults on Christians last year and in 2010,’ said the Morning Star News Nigeria correspondent. ‘Boko Haram, which reportedly has ties to Al Qaeda, has vowed to eradicate Christianity from Nigeria and seeks to impose a strict version of sharia (Islamic law) on the entire country. Boko Haram has targeted churches, state offices, law enforcement sites and some moderate mosques in its effort to destabilize the government.

‘Before the attack in Peri, Boko Haram had reportedly battled Nigerian security forces in Potiskum, bombing a local police station and attacking a bank. Potiskum has reportedly become a hotbed for Islamic militants of Boko Haram. Attacks on Christians in Yobe state have forced thousands of Christians to flee to others parts of Nigeria, while others have become refugees in Cameroon.

‘Attacks on churches in northern Nigeria have intensified since a 2011 Christmas Day attack at the town of Madallah near Abuja, Nigeria’s capital.’

Morning Star News added that in Jaji, in northern Nigeria’s Kaduna state, 11 Christians were killed in a suicide attack on a church on Nov. 25.” Read more.

By Edward Malnick, The Telegraph – “Christianity faces being wiped out of the ‘biblical heartlands’ in the Middle East because of mounting persecution of worshippers, according to a new report.

The study warns that Christians suffer greater hostility across the world than any other religious group.

And it claims politicians have been ‘blind’ to the extent of violence faced by Christians in Africa, Asia and the Middle East.

The most common threat to Christians abroad is militant Islam, it says, claiming that oppression in Muslim countries is often ignored because of a fear that criticism will be seen as ‘racism’.

It warns that converts from Islam face being killed in Saudi Arabia, Mauritania and Iran and risk severe legal penalties in other countries across the Middle East.

The report, by the think tank Civitas, says: ‘It is generally accepted that many faith-based groups face discrimination or persecution to some degree.

‘A far less widely grasped fact is that Christians are targeted more than any other body of believers.’

It cites estimates that 200 million Christians, or 10 per cent of Christians worldwide, are ‘socially disadvantaged, harassed or actively oppressed for their beliefs.’

‘Exposing and combating the problem ought in my view to be political priorities across large areas of the world. That this is not the case tells us much about a questionable hierarchy of victimhood,’ says the author, Rupert Shortt, a journalist and visiting fellow of Blackfriars Hall, Oxford.

He adds: ‘The blind spot displayed by governments and other influential players is causing them to squander a broader opportunity. Religious freedom is the canary in the mine for human rights generally.’

The report, entitled Christianophobia, highlights a fear among oppressive regimes that Christianity is a ‘Western creed’ which can be used to undermine them.” Read more.

Flashback: Muslim Group: ‘Christianity Should Be Destroyed And Wiped From The Face Of The Earth’, It Is ‘Evil’ and ‘Demonic’ – “A Muslim group has released its plan to ‘wipe Christianity from the face of the earth,’ Islamize the West and establish an Islamic system of world government – placing those who resist ‘under a police state.’… ‘Islamic Power has returned upon the face of the earth and the Revived Global Caliphate has set eyes on the West to once and for all rid the world of Christianity and there is nothing you can do about it,’ al-Mohammedi said. He makes his objective clear.” Read more.

Flashback: ‘Bloody’: Christian Persecution is ‘Coursing Through Muslim-Majority Nations from One End of the Globe to the Other’ – “We hear so often about Muslims as victims of abuse in the West and combatants in the Arab Spring’s fight against tyranny. But, in fact, a wholly different kind of war is underway—an unrecognized battle costing thousands of lives. Christians are being killed in the Islamic world because of their religion. It is a rising genocide that ought to provoke global alarm…” Read more.