MidnightWatcher – Prophecy in Motion

By Lindsey Hilsum -“A militant Islamist leader whose forces have just conquered two-thirds of the West African state of Mali vows to launch holy war against the West.

Omar Ould Hamaha, the military commander of Ansar Dine or ‘Defenders of the Faith’, which has scored a stunning victory in Mali against the failed state’s armed forces, now controls a region larger than France which includes three paved runways that could be used to fly in weapons or drugs.

He said: ‘Even if they (western forces) don’t come here, when we have finished conquering France, we will come to the USA, we will come to London and conquer the whole world. The banner of Mohammed (peace be upon his head) will be raised from where the sun rises in the east to where it sets in the west.’

His threats will be taken seriously because Ansar Dine is closely linked to Al-Qaeda in the Mahgreb, which has kidnapped about 20 western hostages since 2008, including the British tourist Edwin Dyer, who was murdered in 2009 after the government refused to pay a ransom…

‘The rest of the world should not just watch – we should be helped, unless they would like to see another Somalia or Afghanistan,’ said Tiebile Drame, an advisor to the interim Malian president, Diaoucunda Traore. ‘The situation in northern Mali is a threat to regional peace and to international security.'” Read more.

Flashback: Mali: Christian Leader Beheaded as Islamists Terrorize Country, Create List of All Christians They Intend to Execute by Beheading – “A Christian leader has been beheaded and others are being threatened with similar treatment as Islamic militants run amok in Mali, West Africa. Christians have fled the town of Timbuktu in the north of the country where harsh Sharia Law has already been imposed amid reports that churches in Gao, 200 miles to the east, have been completely destroyed… ‘We have escaped in the wake of horrible death threats as the Islamists have a list of all the Christians in Timbuktu whom they intend to execute by beheading.’” Read more.

Flashback: Mali: 4.6 Million People Face Starvation Following Islamist Advances In The North – “War is not the only reason why at least 340,000 people have fled their homes since gunmen loyal to ‘al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb’ (AQIM), along with rebels from the local Tuareg tribe, began their advance across northern Mali in January. A desperate shortage of food is also taking hold in this arid Saharan region. More than 1.6 million people in northern Mali are in a ‘situation of severe, close to extreme, food insecurity,’ according to the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.” Read more.

“SANTA ANA, Calif.– Mosul is now one of the most violent cities in Iraq with Christians and other minorities often targets of the violence.

As a result, thousands of Christians have left the Iraqi city since 2003 when U.S. forces deposed Saddam Hussein. The war triggered a wave of continuous violence in the second largest city in Iraq.

Before 2003, Mosul was home to 75,000 Christians. Approximately 70 percent belonged to the Chaldean Church, while the rest were Syriac Orthodox and Catholic. Now approximately 25,000 Christians live in Mosul, which has a population of 2 million. Many more Christians live in the surrounding Nineveh province.

Dr. Carl Moeller, Open Doors USA President/CEO, labels the attacks against Christians in Mosul and all of Iraq as ‘religicide.’ He states: ‘Christians in cities like Baghdad and Mosul are gripped by terrorism. They are fleeing in droves. Today it was reported that at least 20 people died in blasts and shootings across the country.

‘With the spotlight currently on Syria, Nigeria and Afghanistan and the pullout of U.S. troops from Iraq last December, Iraq has been placed on the back-burner. But we as Christians in the West must continue to pray for our brothers and sisters in Iraq, who face extinction if we don’t pray and advocate for them.’

Almost no day passes without someone being killed by bombs or bullets in the city, which is the capital of Nineveh province.” Read more.

Flashback: Iraq’s ‘Twilight of Christianity’: Fleeing Islamic Extremism, Exodus From North Signals Iraqi Christians’ Slow Decline – “Iraq’s dwindling Christians, driven from their homes by attacks and intimidation, are beginning to abandon the havens they had found in the country’s north, discouraged by unemployment and a creeping fear that the violence they had fled was catching up to them. Their quiet exodus to Turkey, Jordan, Europe and the United States is the latest chapter of a seemingly inexorable decline that many religious leaders say tolls the twilight of Christianity in a land where city skylines have long been marked by both minarets and church steeples. Recent assessments say that Iraq’s Christian population has now fallen by more than half since the 2003 American invasion, and with the military’s departure, some Christians say they lost a protector of last resort.” Read more.

Flashback: Iraq: Islamic Extremists Want to Eliminate Christians From Country, Mass Movement of Christians Continues Unabated – “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… ‘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.” Read more.

By Michael Carl – “The Arab Spring takeover of Egypt by the Muslim Brotherhood has run amok, with reports from several different media agencies that the radical Muslims have begun crucifying opponents of newly installed President Mohammed Morsi.

Middle East media confirm that during a recent rampage, Muslim Brotherhood operatives, ‘crucified those opposing Egyptian President Muhammad Morsi naked on trees in front of the presidential palace while abusing others.’

Raymond Ibrahim, a fellow with the Middle East Forum and the Investigative Project on Terrorism, said the crucifixions are the product of who the Middle Eastern media call “partisans.”

‘Arabic media call them ‘supporters,’ ‘followers,’ and ‘partisans’ of the Muslim Brotherhood,’ Ibraham said.

Ibrahim also says the victims can be anyone, including Egyptians and Christians.

‘It’s anyone who is resisting the new government,’ Ibrahim said. ‘In this particular case, the people attacked and crucified were secular protesters upset because of Morsi’s hostile campaign against the media, especially of Tawfik Okasha, who was constantly exposing him on his station, until Morsi shut him down.’

Ibrahim said extra brutality is reserved for Christians, but the crucifixions are because of Islamic doctrine, and are required by the Quran. The time and other details about the crucifixions were not readily available.

Center for Security Policy Senior Fellow Clare Lopez cited chapter and verse from the Quran to explain that crucifixions are not simply normal for Islam; they’re demanded.

‘Crucifixion is a hadd punishment, stipulated in the Quran, Sura 5:33, and therefore an obligatory part of Shariah,’ Lopez said. ‘It’s been a traditional punishment within Islam since the beginning, even though it’s not exclusively Islamic. The Romans used it too.

‘So, the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood haven’t the option to not include crucifixion within their legal code. It’s obligatory to comply with Shariah. And yes, it’s for shock value also to be sure,’ Lopez said.

Lopez includes a warning for Egypt’s Christians and compares the coming treatment of the Christians to the Jews in Germany.

‘The Copts must get out of Egypt as soon as possible – for the Read more…

Qur’an Sura 9:29, “Fight those who believe not in Allah … (even if they are) of the People of the Book [Christians], until they pay the Jizya with willing submission, and feel themselves subdued.”

Very little will likely be done to punish these gangs. They are, after all, simply endeavoring to give life to the dictates of “Allah’s word”, an ultimatum which was echoed recently by the Islamist President of Egypt himself. But even these gangs are “moderate” when compared to what other Islamist organization are now calling for: the death of all Christians who refuse to worship the god of Islam …

Hadith, Ibn Ishaq/Hisham 992,”Fight everyone in the way of Allah and kill those who disbelieve in Allah.”

By Raymond Ibrahim – “After the recent events of Dahshur, Egypt, when thousands of Muslims rampaged and plundered Christian homes—in a conflict that began when a Christian laundry worker accidentally burned the shirt of a Muslim—news now comes from Asyut, Egypt, of a Muslim ‘gang’ attacking Christian homes, abducting children, and demanding money—ransoms and extortions as a form of tribute, or jizya (see here).

The Sharia of Islam has spoken loud and clear in Egypt: worship Allah, or die …

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” (ESV).

Zechariah 5:3a, 8a, “… This is the curse [“alah”] that goes out over the face of the whole earth … This is Wickedness …”

By Raymond Ibrahim – “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.’

As a testimony to how safe the jihadi organizations of today’s Egypt feel under the new president, the Muslim Brotherhood’s Muhammad Morsi, the usual cryptic language is dropped, as the letter names contact points and even a mosque, Sheikh Ahmed Mosque in Kasfrit, where those interested should rally ‘after Friday prayers where new members to the organization will be welcomed.’

This genocide has been called until Egypt’s Christians ‘return to the truth,’ a reference apparently meaning that Egypt’s Christians must either embrace ‘the truth’—that is, Islam, which they must convert to—or else return to the truths of the religion, which holds that Christians must embrace their subhuman dhimmi status (Koran 9:29).

Both forced conversions and dhimmi status for Christians are a regular feature of Egypt’s landscape, past and present.

Subsequent news reports cite the growing fear and terror among Egypt’s Christian population.” Source – Jihad Watch.

Related: The Mark of the Beast — What Your Church May Not Be Telling You

Related: Christian Bishop in Egypt: Christians Are Currently Experiencing Their Worst Time in Recent Centuries, Many Now Unable to Buy or Sell

Related: ‘Bloody’: Christian Persecution is ‘Coursing Through Muslim-Majority Nations from One End of the Globe to the Other’

Matthew 10:22, “And you will be hated by all for My name’s sake. But he who endures to the end will be saved.”

By BILL SPINDLE and SAM DAGHER, The Wall Street Journal – “Near the Syrian city of Aleppo, the Church of St. Simeon the Stylite commemorates the 5th-century ascetic who became an ancient sensation by living atop a tall pedestal for decades to demonstrate his faith. Krak des Chevaliers, an awe-inspiring castle near Homs, was a fortress for the order of the Knights Hospitaller in their quest to defend a crusader kingdom. Seydnaya, a towering monastery in a town of the same name, was probably built in the time of Justinian.

A nun there spoke about Syria’s current crisis from within a candlelit alcove this week, surrounded by thousand-year-old votive icons donated by Russian Orthodox churchgoers and silver pendants in the shape of body parts that supplicants have sought to heal—feet, heads, legs, arms, even a pair of lungs and a kidney.

‘It’s not a small thing we are facing,’ she said, speaking as much about the country as her faith. ‘We just want the killing to stop.’

Few places are as central as Syria to the long history of Christianity. Saul of Tarsus made his conversion here, reputedly on the Street Called Straight, which still exists in Damascus. It was in these lands that he conducted his first missions to attract non-Jews to the nascent faith.

A century ago, the Levant supported a population that was perhaps 20% Christian. Now it is closer to 5%. Syria today hosts vibrant, if dwindling, communities of various ancient sects: Syrian Orthodox, Syrian Catholics, Greek Orthodox, Greek Catholics and Armenian Orthodox.

But Syria’s Christian communities are being severely tested by the uprising that has racked the country for more than a year. They think back to 636, when the Christian Byzantine emperor Heraclius saw his army defeated by Muslim forces south of present-day Damascus. ‘Peace be with you Syria. What a beautiful land you will be for our enemies,’ he lamented before fleeing north to Antioch. In the 8th century, a famed Damascus church was razed to make way for the Umayyad Mosque—today one of Islam’s holiest sites.” Read more.

Flashback: ‘Deliberate and Growing’: Christian Persecution From ‘Arab Spring’ Insurgents in Syria Becoming a Steadily Growing Reality, ‘It Will Never Be the Same Anymore’ – “Refugees who have fled to Jordan from Syria are telling mission leaders supported by Christian Aid Mission about deliberate, new persecution from the ‘Arab Spring’ insurgents who are seeking to overthrow the brutal Assad regime in Damascus. Nearly 100,000 Christians so far have fled from Homs and other cities being targeted by government forces, but it is no longer just to escape the crossfire. Now, more reports are revealing that a new wave of persecution is deliberate and growing… ‘It is over; we can’t get back what we lost,’ said one discouraged Christian refugee here in Jordan. ‘It will never be the same anymore for me or my family. We’ve lost hope.’” Read more.

By Michael Carl – “Analysts and human-rights groups claim U. S. foreign policy is responsible for the destruction of the Middle East’s Christian communities.

The reasoning says the U. S. government’s assistance of the radical elements in the ‘Arab Spring’ has wreaked havoc with the region’s Christians.

The Vatican’s official news service Fides says events in Syria are proof U. S. policy and its support of jihadists is contributing to the death of the country’s Christians.

Fides reports, ‘Radical Islamist groups in the ranks of the revolutionaries sow terror among civilians in Damascus. Those who pay the consequences are those considered ‘loyalists,’ loyal to the regime of Bashar al Assad.’

‘Among the victims, report Fides sources in Damascus, there are also Christians of the suburb of Bab Touma and Iraqi refugees who occupied the suburbs of Oujaira and Sada Zanaim,’ Fides reported.

The human-rights group, Open Doors, USA analyst and spokesman Jerry Dykstra says Syrian Christians are experiencing very harsh conditions.

‘In Syria, the future of 1.5 million Christians is bleak if President Bashar al-Assad is forced out of office by the rebel force. Under Assad Christians enjoyed a measure of freedom to worship,’ Dkystra said.

‘Already many Christians have been targeted by the Free Syrian Army, which reportedly includes al-Qaeda-style jihadists and Muslim Brotherhood members. Christians likely would face even more reprisal should Assad fall.'” Read more.

Flashback: Obama Authorizes Secret U.S. Support For Muslim Brotherhood And Al-Qaida Rebels In Syria – “President Barack Obama has signed a secret order authorizing U.S. support for rebels seeking to depose Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and his government, U.S. sources familiar with the matter said. Obama’s order, approved earlier this year and known as an intelligence ‘finding,’ broadly permits the CIA and other U.S. agencies to provide support that could help the rebels oust Assad.” Read more.

By Gracy Howard, The Washington Times – “Nadia Ghaly’s cousin disappeared 40 years ago. She was introduced to a Muslim man as a young woman, subsequently vanished and resurfaced later three months pregnant wearing a hijab. She was the victim of a forced marriage.

She is not alone. Coptic Christian women are routinely victimized and forcibly converted by Muslims in Egypt, Miss Ghaly says.

In its annual Religious Freedom Report, released July 30, the U.S. State Department acknowledged the problem, but at the same time appeared to downplay it. The report described forcible conversions as ‘disputed,’ asserting that while there were ‘occasional claims’ of Muslim men forcing Coptic women (and sometimes girls younger than legal age) to convert to Islam, these accounts ‘often included inflammatory allegations and categorical denials of kidnapping and rape.’

Miss Ghaly has no faith in the current U.S. administration. ‘I feel that politically the United States will look after its own interests,’ Miss Ghaly said. ‘I feel that they favor the Muslim Brotherhood and [Egyptian President Mohammed] Morsi more than the human rights of the Copts.’…

Rep. Frank Wolf, R-Va., said the Obama administration has been a ‘disaster’ for Egypt’s Christian community. He petitioned the State Department in 2010 on behalf of Christians in Egypt. He is still waiting for a reply.

‘It’s like no one’s home,’ he said. ‘The Coptic Christians have never felt the American Embassy was their friend. … I think it’s so dysfunctional that the only way to make improvement is to change the administration.'” Read more.

Flashback: Egypt: Thousands Of Christian Girls Being Kidnapped By Muslims, Forced Into Servitude – “A new report from George Washington University professor Michele Clark and Coptic rights activist Nada Ghaly has argued that thousands of young Coptic Christian girls in Egypt are the victim of kidnapping and forced servitude by Muslims in the North African country. ‘Women and girls who are found indicate they were befriended by friends or relatives of their kidnappers, or the kidnappers themselves, drugged and then taken in a well-organized plan. ‘Others, like a young mother who testified before the Helsinki Commission last week, were snatched by violent strangers in broad daylight.” Read more.

Hebrews 13:3, “Remember those in prison as if you were their fellow prisoners, and those who are mistreated as if you yourselves were suffering.”

John 16:2b, “… the time is coming when those who kill you will think they are doing a holy service for God.”

BY CHRISTIANA T. ALABI, allAfrica – “Kaduna — Quantitative data revealed that out of the 137 religious-motivated violent incidents tracked by the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN), 88.3% were attacks on Christians while 2.9% were attacks on Muslims, President of CAN Ayo Oritsejafor has said.

This figure was contained in a letter written by the CAN president to the Secretary of State, United State Department of State, Hillary Rodham Clinton.

According to the letter, attacks on security agents account for 4.4%, sectarian clashes 2.2% and extra-judicial killings were 2.1%.

‘The US Terrorism Report 2011 indicates a total of 136 terrorist attacks in Nigeria. It is inconceivable therefore that Muslims were the primary victims of a jihadist group whose intent is to Islamize Nigeria. Even if such assumptions could be made without empirical data, the more credible and more plausible proposition is that given Boko Haram’s declared intent to obliterate Christianity in northern Nigeria and its systematic attacks which began almost a decade ago, the majority of the victims are Christians.

‘Since Boko Haram has stated that it does not theologically or operationally target mosques and has so far not succeeded in attacking any, it is only logical that Muslims cannot be the majority victims. This year 2012 alone, there have been 49 security incidences of which 80% have targeted Christians,’ Oritsejafor said.

He urged clinton to work with Nigeria to achieve a truth-based peaceful resolution to the terrorism and extremism that threatens the very life of Nigeria.” Source – allAfrica.com.

Flashback: Nigeria: ‘Proud Soldiers Of Allah’ Vows To Take Down Government And Destroy Christianity, ‘We Will Devour You … Our Joy Is To Die In Jihad’ – “Islamist sect, Boko Haram, has threatened to bring down the Federal Government led by President Goodluck Jonathan within three months… ‘You, Jonathan, cannot stop us; instead we will devour you in the three months like you are boasting … We are proud soldiers of Allah; we will never give up as we fight the infidels. We will emerge as winners … for us, [death] is eternal victory to die working for Allah. Our joy is to die in Jihad for Allah … We are not doing physical human service, but Allah’s work … We are not afraid because we are not doing man’s work but Allah’s work…” Read more.

By Khaled Abu Toameh – “As all eyes were turned this week toward Sinai, where Muslim fundamentalists killed 16 Egyptian border guards while they were having the Ramadan fast-breaking meal, Christian families were being forced out of their homes in the village of Dahshur, 40 kilometers south of Giza.

Hundreds of Christians fled their homes after being attacked by their Muslim neighbors, who also targeted a church and Christian-owned businesses in the village.

The anti-Christian violence was described as the worst since Muslim Brotherhood candidate Mohamed Morsi was elected as president in June.

But Morsi did not find time this week to visit Dahshur to see for himself how hundreds of helpless Christians were being forced out of their homes.

Instead, he and his security and military commanders rushed to Sinai as soon as they heard about the massacre that was perpetrated against the border guards.

The Egyptian authorities did not even hesitate to use heavy weapons against the Muslim terrorists in Sinai. For the first time since the signing of the peace treaty with Israel, Egypt sent military helicopters and armored vehicles to attack the terrorists in Sinai.

But when it comes to dealing with Muslim terrorists who have been targeting Christians in a number of villages and cities throughout Egypt over the past few months, the Egyptian authorities have endorsed a lenient approach. In fact, the authorities, according to human rights activists, have chosen to turn a blind eye to the plight of the 14-million strong Christian community.

Even worse, the Egyptian government Read more…

By Joseph Abiodun -“Gunmen suspected to be members of the Boko Haram sect on Monday evening killed an evangelist with a Pentecostal church in Maiduguri, Ali Samari.

Evangelist Samari, 57, was with the Good News Church (GNC) Maiduguri and was reportedly killed at his Mafoni residence at exactly 6.30pm.

An eyewitness said the evangelist, who equally repairs wrist watches at the Post Office Area of the town was trailed to his house by two gunmen, after closing from work.

The witness also said the evangelist had sometimes this year received a stern warning from men suspected to be members of the Boko Haram sect, asking him to vacate his residence.

He said though the evangelist discussed the threat to few people that were close to him, but he however dismissed it, saying ‘it is the Almighty God that protects. I leave everything in the hands of God.’

Confirming the incident, the Borno State Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO), Gideon Jibrin, said the reports of the killing in Mafoni ward was received on Tuesday morning.

He said Mafoni is one of the black spots identified by the joint task force and police.

‘It is a place where some members of the Boko Haram sect use as a hideout and from where they launch attacks on other parts of Maiduguri metropolis,’ Jubrin stated.” Source – The Nation.

By Raymond Ibrahim, FrontPageMag.com – “The Obama administration’s support for its Islamist allies means lack of U.S. support for their enemies, or, more properly, victims—the Christian and other non-Muslim minorities of the Muslim world.  Consider the many recent proofs:

According to Pete Winn of CNS:

The U.S. State Department removed the sections covering religious freedom from the Country Reports on Human Rights that it released on May 24, three months past the statutory deadline Congress set for the release of these reports.  The new human rights reports—purged of the sections that discuss the status of religious freedom in each of the countries covered—are also the human rights reports that include the period that covered the Arab Spring and its aftermath.  Thus, the reports do not provide in-depth coverage of what has happened to Christians and other religious minorities in predominantly Muslim countries in the Middle East that saw the rise of revolutionary movements in 2011 in which Islamist forces played an instrumental role.  For the first time ever, the State Department simply eliminated the section of religious freedom in its reports covering 2011… (emphasis added).

The CNS report goes on to quote several U.S. officials questioning the motives of the Obama administration.  Former U.S. diplomat Thomas Farr said that he has ‘observed during the three-and-a-half years of the Obama administration that the issue of religious freedom has been distinctly downplayed.’  Leonard Leo, former chairman of the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom, said ‘to have pulled religious freedom out of it [the report] means that fewer people will obtain information,’ so that ‘you don’t have the whole picture.’

Of course, censoring information is a regular theme under Obama: if the administration is suppressing knowledge concerning the sufferings of religious minorities under Islam, earlier it suppressed knowledge concerning Islam itself (see here for a surreal example of the effects of such censorship).

In ‘Obama Overlooks Christian Persecution,’ James Walsh gives more examples of State Department indifference ‘regarding the New Years’ murders of Coptic Christians in Egypt and the ravaging of a cathedral,’ including how the State Department ‘refused to list Egypt as ‘a country of particular concern,’ even as Christians and others were being murdered, churches destroyed, and girls kidnapped and forced to convert to Islam.’

And the evidence keeps mounting.  Legislation to create a special envoy for religious minorities in the Near East and South Central Asia—legislation that, in the words of the Washington Post, ‘passed the House by a huge margin,’ has been Read more…