MidnightWatcher – Prophecy in Motion

CNA – “The Syrian rebels’ attack on Damascus has allowed radical Islamist groups to attack Iraqi refugees, Christians allegedly loyal to the Syrian government and other civilians.

Local Christians have expressed dismay and outrage at the attacks on defenseless civilians, a local source told Fides news agency.

The rebel group Liwa al-Islam, a Wahhabi group whose name means ‘The Brigade of Islam,’ has claimed responsibility for killing top generals in President Bashar Assad’s government. On the morning of July 23, its members also killed an entire Christian family in the Damascus neighborhood of Bab Tuma.

Militants blocked the car of Nabil Zoreb, a Christian civil officer. They ordered him, his wife Violet, and his two sons George and Jimmy to get out of the car. The militants then killed them all.

In southeastern Damascus, Islamist fighters with the Muslim Brotherhood ally Jehad al Nosra attacked the homes of Iraqi refugees. They ransacked the homes, burned them and forced the occupants to leave.

The refugees said ‘gangs of Muslim terrorists attacked and chased us.’…

The situation in Damascus is deteriorating, with residents facing long lines for gasoline and bread. Thousands have fled into neighboring Lebanon.” Read more.

Flashback: Syria: Thousands Of Christians Fleeing Syria Amid Torture Allegations – “Thousands of Christians have fled their homes in Syria where news emerged Tuesday, July 3, that intelligence agencies run dozens of torture centers where detainees are beaten with batons and cables, burned with acid, sexually assaulted, and have fingernails torn out… Among those recently killed was Atallah Ibrahim Bitar, who was shot dead while reportedly taking food to people forced into hiding by a week-long bombardment, Christian aid workers said.” 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 Joel Brinkley, Chicago Tribune – “Mohammed Morsi has been Egypt’s president for less than a month, and already senior clerics in his country and around the Islamic world are loudly calling for the demolition of the pyramids, Egypt’s most important tourist attraction and among the Seven Wonders of the World.

Saudi Sheik Ali bin Said al-Rabi’i called them heinous ‘symbols of paganism.’ In recent days, similar calls have been echoing through Egypt and the region, including one from a Bahraini sheik who urged Morsi to ‘destroy the pyramids and accomplish what the Amr bin al-As could not.’ He was referring to the Prophet Muhammad’s companion who conquered Egypt in the seventh century but didn’t have the technological wherewithal to accomplish the task.

None of this should be too surprising. Islamic extremists are now destroying 15th century tombs in Timbuktu, world heritage sites, because they are considered ‘idolatrous.’ And remember in 2001, when the Taliban fired heavy artillery at two huge Buddha statutes carved into a rock face about 1,700 years ago. Taliban leader Mullah Omar had issued an edict against un-Islamic graven images. Numerous other examples exist, contemporary and ancient.

What’s surprising is that Morsi has had nothing to say about this, not a word. Neither has he said anything about numerous ‘freelance’ efforts to enforce other elements of Shariah law across Egypt, even though his new government hasn’t said that’s his plan.

Well, his extremist allies are already trying to enforce an ancient Koranic commandment that directs Islamists to collect a tax called the jizya from Coptic Christians and other ‘non-believers.’ Ahmed Imran, who was a Salafist-party candidate for office, recently declared that ‘Copts are obligated to pay the jizya.’ And as Raymond Ibrahim, an Egyptian-American author and columnist of Coptic ancestry, recently wrote: ‘Increasing numbers of attacks on Christians in Egypt revolve around extorting jizya.’

The Koran (9/29) declares: ‘Fight those who do not believe in Allah’ until ‘they give the jizyah willingly while they are humbled.’ Once again, Morsi has said nothing about this.” Read more.

Flashback: Egypt: Muslim Brotherhood’s Morsi Says Christians Must Convert To Islam, Pay ‘Jizya’, Or Leave – ‘Conquest Is Coming’ – “According to the popular Egyptian website, El Bashayer, Muhammad Morsi, the Muslim Brotherhood presidential candidate, just declared that he will ‘achieve the Islamic conquest (fath) of Egypt for the second time, and make all Christians convert to Islam, or else pay the jizya,’ the additional Islamic tax, or financial tribute, required of non-Muslims, or financial tribute… ‘They need to know that conquest is coming, and Egypt will be Islamic, and that they must pay jizya or emigrate.’” Read more.

Flashback: Egypt: Muslim Brotherhood’s Morsi Declares ‘Death In The Name Of Allah Is Our Goal’ – “Egypt’s Constitution should be based on the Koran and Sharia law, presidential candidate from the Muslim Brotherhood Islamist movement Mohamed Morsi said. ‘The Koran is our constitution, the Prophet is our leader, jihad is our path and death in the name of Allah is our goal,’ Morsi said in his election speech before Cairo University students on Saturday night. Today Egypt is close as never before to the triumph of Islam at all the state levels, he said.” Read more.

Angola Press – “ABUJA – More than 5,500 people fled their homes after attacks this month on mainly Christian villages in central Nigeria in which over 100 people were killed, the Red cross said Tuesday.

The violence in the villages in Plateau state ’caused dozens of casualties and forced more than 5,500 people to flee their homes. Over 25 villages were affected,’ the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) said.

On July 7, gunmen suspected of belonging to the Fulani tribe stormed mainly Christian villages and killed more than 80 people.

Another 22 people, including two senior politicians, were killed the next day in an attack, also blamed on the Fulani, on the funeral of the July 7 victims.

‘People left their homes and ran to safety with only the clothes they were wearing. They need everything to survive in this kind of situation,’ said Julia Unger, ICRC’s head in Jos, the state capital, in the statement.” Read more.

Nigerian Military Plans Major Operation After Jos Attacks – “Nigeria’s military appears ready to begin a major operation to raid suspected hideouts across the central Nigerian Plateau State, where insurgents responsible for last week’s violence are thought to be based. More than 200 people were killed in sectarian attacks between mainly Muslim Fulani herdsmen and Christian Birom villagers near the city of Jos over the weekend of July 9. Police blamed the violence on tribal differences over land, but an Islamist insurgent group, Boko Haram, claimed responsibility for the attacks, including the wholesale massacre of 63 Christian parishioners taking refuge in a preacher’s house.” Read more.

Flashback: Boko Haram: Our Goal is to Eliminate Followers of Christ – “Terrorist organisation Boko Haram has issued a statement making clear that its goal is to eliminate followers of Christ from Nigeria and establish an Islamic state. ‘The Nigerian state and Christians are our enemies and we will be launching attacks on the Nigerian state and its security apparatus as well as churches until we achieve our goal of establishing an Islamic state in place of the secular state … We are responsible for the suicide attack on a church in Jos and also another attack on another church in Biu,’ a spokesman for the group, Abul Qaqa, is said to have told reporters in the northeastern city of Maiduguri over the phone.” Read more.

By Stoyan Zaimov, Christian Post – “Reports disclosed that over 100 people were killed by armed terrorists this past week, who went on a 12-village killing spree in Nigeria’s Plateau state. Islamic extremist group Boko Haram has once again taken responsibility for the assaults.

While different sources shared various reports of the numbers who lost their lives last week in the latest assault on Christians, which have been occurring on a weekly basis for many months in Nigeria, a story last week by the Baptist Press confirmed that about 50 members of the Church of Christ in Nigeria in the village of Maseh were burned alive after they took refuge in their pastor’s house following a terrorist raid.

‘Fifty of our church members were killed in the church building where they had fled to take refuge. They were killed alongside the wife of the pastor and children,’ said the Rev. Dachollom Datiri, vice president of the Church of Christ in Nigeria, in a July 11 interview.

Officials from the church confirmed that over 100 members were killed through various villages in Nigeria, which included Maseh, Ninchah, Kakkuruk, Kuzen, Negon, Pwabiduk, Kai, Ngyo, Kura Falls, Dogo, Kufang, and Ruk.

‘Nigeria is truly becoming the new killing field for Christians. Hundreds of Christians have already been brutally murdered – including women and children – by the Boko Haram,’ said Open Doors, USA spokesman Jerry Dykst. ‘The Boko Haram earlier this week said that all Christians need to turn to Islam or ‘they would never know peace again.’ Their goal is make all of Nigeria a country run and dominated by Shariah law.'” Read more.

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. Purported leader of the sect said this in his second video posted on the Internet yesterday… ‘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 … we will finish you and end your government … 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.

Revelation 13:17, “… no one may buy or sell except one who has the mark or the name of the beast, or the number of his name.”

BosNewsLife – “TEHRAN, IRAN (BosNewsLife)– 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.

However he did not receive the required clean criminal background report from Iranian police because he was jailed two and half years ago on charges of converting to Christianity and attending house church services, said Mohabat News, a news agency of Iranian Christians and activists.

It came as a setback for the man, who was reportedly released on bail, and had hoped to restart his life with his company.

‘After he submitted his application, completed all the paper work and was fingerprinted’, police sent a letter to the Revolutionary and Public Court of his northern city claiming he had ‘a criminal record’ and was an ‘apostate’, Mohabat News reported…

‘The subject person is accused of apostasy and has a criminal record accordingly!’, the May 26, 2012, letter reportedly said.

Iranian Christians said the move is part if a wider government crackdown on non-Islamic minority groups, especially Christian converts, in society.

At least dozens of Christians are known to have been detained in the country.

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.

Flashback: Christian Bishop in Egypt: Christians Are Currently Experiencing Their Worst Time in Recent Centuries, Many Now Unable to Buy or Sell – “Christians in Egypt are currently experiencing their worst time in recent centuries. This statement was made by the Coptic Orthodox Bishop Stephanos of Beba and Elfashn to the international Catholic charity Aid to the Church in Need (ACN). Christians are being violently killed under the eyes of the international media… Problems are also experienced in day-to-day life because calls are often made in the media not to buy from Christian merchants or to sell anything to Christians. Businessmen are therefore faced with a struggle for economic survival. Christians are indirectly excluded from employment, for example by job advertisements specifying ‘a female employee with headscarf’.” Read more.

Flashback: Islamists Destroy Christian Businesses: ‘If Anyone Decides to Reopen His Store, We Will Kill Him’ – “… [T]he managers [of Christian businesses] have received threatening letters, which state that the exercise ‘will be blown up.’ The attacks are the result of a ‘campaign’ that targets ‘all that is contrary to Shariah,’ promoted by Islamists who want to radicalize the country. Unfortunately, the source adds, there is no ‘moderate movement’ capable of containing the fundamentalist drift.” Read more.

By Joseph DeCaro – “TEHRAN, IRAN (Worthy News)– Both the Central Assembly of God Church in Tehran and its summer campsite have been closed by the Islamic authorities, according to the Farsi Christian News Network.

Officers of the Revolutionary Guards closed the Jennat-Abad Church along with its campsite, the ‘Garden of Sharon,’ once a popular site for Christian gatherings and conferences; eye witnesses’ reported a large notice posted on the gates warning of severe consequences should anyone try to enter the premises.

These latest closures follow the official termination of Friday Persian (Farsi) language services and the compulsory cancellation of all Bible classes as well as any distribution of Christian literature.

After the Iranian New Year celebrations, Islamic state security insisted that church leaders reveal the National ID numbers of their congregations, causing some to stop attending services.” Source – Worthy News.\

Flashback: ‘A New Wave Of Persecution’: Former Revolutionary Guard Member Describes The Crackdown On Christians In Iran – “According to the Daily Caller, the regime has ordered Iranian intelligence to infiltrate church groups in major Iranian cities. Agents are identifying pastors and other Christians, targeting them for arrest and torture in prison. Former member of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards, Reza Kahlili, verified the crackdown. He said Iran’s ayatollahs are frustrated with the large number of Muslims who are now embracing Christianity …” Read more.

By SAHAR BADRAN – “Violence remains a fact of life in the northern Iraqi city of Mosul, nine years after US forces deposed Saddam Hussein. While all sects have fallen victim to relentless bombing and shooting attacsk, members of the city’s once-numerous Christian community say they are being singled out.

Two waves of killings and intimidation in 2008 and 2010 sent Christians fleeing from Mosul in such haste that the United Nations had to arrange emergency assistance. Umm Ishwa, 50, abandoned the city for a safer village even earlier, and has stayed there since.

‘We left Mosul when my son, a doctor, was assassinated near his clinic in 2006,’ she told dpa. Mosul, 400 kilometres north of the capital Baghdad, remains one of the most violent places in Iraq despite a government security campaign. The authorities admit they still have much to do.

‘Attacks targeting Christians in the city are still continuing, in addition to daily violence,’ says General Ahmad Mohammed al-Jabouri, director general of the Mosul police. ‘And that is despite the security measures that have been taken, which include deploying all kinds of security as well as a special intelligence effort.’

‘Between 2005 and 2011,’ al-Jabouri explained, ‘our operational command recorded the assassination of some 69 Christians, including university students, priests, female employees and housewives. The last attack targeting Christians was in March 2012 when armed men killed a Christian man, his wife and injured a four-year-old child.’

‘We are working to bring about a quiet life for the Christians,’ he adds.

Some 25,000 Christians lived in Mosul, which with a total population of almost 2 million is Iraq’s second-largest city. Many more live in the surrounding 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.

This is the kind of “study” I’d expect from Barack Obama’s own Muslim faith adviser. What other conclusion could we expect from an administration that openly embraces Islam? …

By AWR HAWKINS, Breitbart.com – “In the wake of the news that an Islamist group affiliated with the United Muslim Nations International has announced their intentions to destroy Christianity and wipe it from the face of the earth, a U.S. government-sponsored study has been released that says ‘Muslim terrorists are widely misunderstood and don’t wish to impose Islam around the world as is commonly believed in the West.’

Back on earth, Islamist leader Sheik Farook al-Mohammedi has announced the ‘Revived Global Caliphate has set eyes on the West to once and for all rid the world of Christianity’ and to ‘Islamize’ countries like the United States. But never fear, the U.S. government-sponsored study says that Islamists are ‘not an aggressive offensive foe seeking domination and conquest of unbelievers, as is commonly assumed.’

Nevermind that the one constant in Islamist history is conquest, and that even now, in the wake of the Arab Spring, Christians in the Middle East increasingly find that their options are limited to either recanting their faith, being whipped (or otherwise punished), or being killed.

By the way, our Department of Defense paid millions to fund this worthless study. Which is a shame when you think that they could have just spent $2 for a cup of coffee in Starbucks, surfed the internet for 15 minutes while drinking it, and discovered enough information in that one search to prove that Islamists are daily issuing the same ultimatum to Westerners the world over: convert or be conquered.” Source – Breitbart.com.

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: Rising Islamic Leader Declares ‘We Will Launch a Campaign of Islamic Conquest Throughout the World’, ‘Exterminate’ Christians Who Get In the Way of Sharia – “A rising leader in the radical Islamic movement in Egypt that has become a major political player since the demise of Hosni Mubarak’s regime says Christian churches may need to be blown up and Christians exterminated to allow the advance of Islamic law, or Shariah. The comments come from Sheik ‘Adel Shehato, a senior leader with the Egyptian Islamic Jihad terrorist group… The sheik, a senior jihadist leader, responded to a question about using violence against Christians, who make up a substantial minority in Egypt.” Read more.

Flashback: Boko Haram: Our Goal is to Eliminate Followers of Christ – “Terrorist organisation Boko Haram has issued a statement making clear that its goal is to eliminate followers of Christ from Nigeria and establish an Islamic state. ‘The Nigerian state and Christians are our enemies and we will be launching attacks on the Nigerian state and its security apparatus as well as churches until we achieve our goal of establishing an Islamic state in place of the secular state…” Read more.

Flashback: Muslim Brotherhood Elder: ‘Jerusalem Belongs to Us, and the Whole World Belongs to Us … the Caliphate Will Return’ – “We are the children of Islam, the children of prophecy, the children of ‘there is no god but Allah and Muhammad is the prophet of Allah.’ … we will return, as the day of Qurayza from long ago… we will return, as the day of Khaybar from long ago… Jerusalem belongs to us. Al-Aqsa belongs to us… and the whole world belongs to us… The caliphate will return to us, on the platform of prophecy.” 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.

DW – “Suspected gunmen are arrested as Nigeria’s president vows tough action after more than 100 people were killed in raids in Plateau state. The dead include a senator and a state lawmaker.

Senator Gyang Dantong and Gyang Fulani from the Plateau House of Assembly were among 22 other mourners who were killed when gunmen opened fire on a mass burial.

As news of their killing spread, mobs set up roadblocks, prompting Governor Jonah Jang to impose an immediate dusk-to-dawn curfew in four areas.

Police sources said on Monday at least 25 gunmen had been arrested in connection with the attacks.

Sunday’s funeral ceremony was being held for the victims of attacks on villages in Barkin Ladi district in Plateau state which occurred a day earlier.

The villages had come under siege by attackers, who were dressed in camouflage military uniforms and bulletproof military vests. They roamed from one house top another attacking for nearly two hours.

One witness, who escaped, compared the scene to a war field telling local media he saw ‘hundreds’ of corpses, including that of a policeman. The state’s police spokesman, Abuh Emmanuel told AFP that a number of houses had been burnt.” Read more.

Nigeria’s Boko Haram Claims Deadly Plateau Attacks – “Nigerian Islamist sect Boko Haram said on Tuesday it was behind attacks in volatile Plateau state last weekend that killed at least 65 people, but security forces blamed the violence on localised ethnic clashes. ‘We praise God in this war for the Prophet Mohammad. We thank Allah for the successful attack in … Plateau state on Christians and security men,’ an email in the local Hausa language from the Boko Haram’s spokesman Abul Qaqa said. The email was sent to reporters in Boko Haram’s home base in northeast Maiduguri from an address previously used by Qaqa.” Read more.