Muslim Persecution of Christians: A 1,400 Year Saga

February 10, 2015 – By Raymond Ibrahim

The one glaring fact concerning the persecution of approximately 100 million Christians around the world today is that the overwhelming majority of it is being committed by Muslims of all races, nationalities, languages, and socio-political circumstances: Muslims from among America’s allies (Saudi Arabia) and from its enemies (Iran); Muslims from economically rich nations (Qatar) and from poor nations (Somalia and Yemen); Muslims from “Islamic republic” nations (Afghanistan) and from “moderate” nations (Malaysia and Indonesia); Muslims from nations rescued by America (Kuwait) and Muslims from nations claiming “grievances” against the U.S. (fill in the blank __).

This fact is underscored in Open Doors’ recent 2015 World Watch List—a report that highlights and ranks the 50 worst nations persecuting Christians.  It finds that “Islamic extremism” is the main source of persecution in 40 of the top 50 countries—that is, 80 percent of the nations where Christians are persecuted are Muslim.  As for the top ten worst countries persecuting Christians, nine of them are Muslim-majority—that is, 90 percent of nations where Christians experience “extreme persecution” are Muslim.

Still, considering that the 2015 World Watch List ranks North Korea—non-Islamic, communist—as the number one worst persecutor of Christians, why belabor the religious identity of Muslims?  Surely Christian persecution is not intrinsic to the Islamic world, but is a product of repressive regimes and other socio-economic factors—as the North Korean example suggests and as many analysts and media maintain?

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NYC Pastor William Devlin Travels to Iraq, Says the ‘American Church Is Addicted to Personal Peace, Comfort, and Affluence’

December 21, 201Pastor William Devlin of Infinity Bible Church in the Bronx borough of New York City, stands with Pastor Hanna Massad in Gaza in this photo shared Sept. 13, 2014, on Facebook.4 – The Christian Post – Nicola Menzie

Pastor William Devlin of Infinity Bible Church in the Bronx borough of New York City, stands with Pastor Hanna Massad in Gaza in this photo shared Sept. 13, 2014, on Facebook.

A New York City pastor traveling with a U.S. Yazidi leader to offer humanitarian assistance to religious minorities targeted by the Islamic State in Iraq believes Christians in America should do more to encourage believers living in some of the world’s most persecuted countries.

The Rev. William Devlin, co-pastor of Infinity Bible Church in the Bronx borough of New York City and a former politician, is as much of an activist as he is a missionary. When the City of New York banned churches and other religious groups in 2011 from renting public schools for worship gatherings, Devlin embarked on a 42-day fast, was arrested in an act of civil disobedience, and publicly confronted then-Mayor Michael Bloomberg during an interfaith breakfast about the city’s decision (which the current mayor has vowed to reverse).

As of late, the 61-year-old evangelical leader has been focused on reaching out to Christians living in persecuted or difficult countries, such as Sudan, the Gaza Strip, the West Bank, Syria, Iran, and Cuba. Devlin was featured in The Christian Post this past summer after visiting with Sudanese Christian Meriam Ibrahim who had been imprisoned for alleged apostasy.
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Islam is not a religion nor is it a cult; it is a complete system

Adapted from Dr. Peter Hammond’s book: Slavery, Terrorism and Islam: The Historical Roots and Contemporary Threat

Islam has religious, legal, political, economic and military components. The religious component is a beard for all the other components.

Islamization occurs when there are sufficient Muslims in a country to agitate for their so-called “religious rights.”

When politically correct and culturally diverse societies agree to “the reasonable” Muslim demands for their “religious rights,” they also get the other components under the table.Here’s how it works (percentages source CIA: The World Fact Book (2007)).

As long as the Muslim population remains around 1% of any given country they will be regarded as a peace-loving minority and not as a threat to anyone. In fact, they may be featured in articles and films, stereotyped for their colorful uniqueness:

United States — Muslim 1.0%
Australia — Muslim 1.5%
Canada — Muslim 1.9%
China — Muslim 1%-2%
Italy — Muslim 1.5%
Norway — Muslim 1.8%

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Muslims Sexually Enslaving Children: A Global Phenomenon

September 4, 2014 by Raymond Ibrahim

As shocking as the Muslim-run sex ring in Rotherham, England may seem to some—1,400 British children as young as 11 plied with drugs before being passed around and sexually abused in cabs and kabob shops—the fact is that this phenomenon is immensely widespread. In the United Kingdom alone, it’s the fifth sex abuse ring led by Muslims to be uncovered.

Some years back in Australia, a group of “Lebanese Muslim youths” were responsible for a “series of brutal gang rapes” of “Anglo-Celtic teenage girls.” A few years later in the same country, four Muslim Pakistani brothers raped at least 18 Australian women, some as young as 13. Even in the United States, a gang of Somalis—Somalia being a Muslim nation where non-Muslims, primarily Christians, are ruthlessly persecuted—was responsible for abducting, buying, selling, raping and torturing young American girls as young as 12.

The question begs itself: If Muslim minorities have no fear of exploiting “infidel” women and children in non-Muslim countries—that is, where Muslims themselves are potentially vulnerable minorities—how are Muslims throughout the Islamic world, where they are dominant, treating their vulnerable, non-Muslim minorities?

The answer is a centuries-long, continents-wide account of nonstop sexual predation. Boko Haram’s abduction and enslavement of nearly 300, mostly Christian, schoolgirls last April in Nigeria is but the tip of the iceberg.

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Boko Haram Is Taking Over Churches, Beheading Christian Men and Taking Their Christian Wives

September 15, 2014 - CBN News The Islamic terrorist group Boko Haram has started taking over churches in parts of Nigeria, beheading men and forcing women to convert to Islam…

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Imam of Mosque in Africa and Followers Risk All to Accept Jesus as Lord

Christian Aid Staff (Oct 31, 2014)

(Ghana)—Members of a ministry based in Ghana are fighting more than poverty, illiteracy and illness. A spiritual battle against discouragement rose to a new level when evangelistic success brought threats of persecution.

“It has been tough and discouraging these days, but we are still dependent on Him,” the director of the ministry said.

Along with health, water, education and micro-enterprise development programs, the ministry has been showing “The Jesus Film” in villages, and not without opposition. The organization complements the screenings and other evangelistic efforts with broadcasts from its radio station. It reaches 2 million listeners with a wide range of community service programming, such as agricultural advice, besides its Christian programming.

The director considered closing the radio station, however, as it could not keep up with costs and repairs: the transmitter developed serious problems; air conditioners in the transmitter room faltered; the radio mast was 50 meters short; there were persistent problems with the studio console, and a consultant concluded that reception was poor among many listeners.

“Wages were low, and the morale of the radio staff was so low that some staff members resigned,” he said. “Should we close the radio station down? Should we reduce the radio staff even more? With more than 90 percent of the 1 million folks in the metropolis and its surrounding villages being Muslims, it has become increasingly difficult to sell airtime to run the station.”

Income remained the same, as expenditures continually rose, he added.

“We have huge electricity bills, as the tariff was increased more than 80 percent,” he said. “We prayed and prayed for God’s intervention. We needed the Lord to do something for us to see He is still with us.”

One afternoon the radio station received a call from an imam at a village mosque about 25 miles away. He told a station staff member that after listening to the broadcast for a little more than a month, he and eight of his followers had given their lives to Christ.

Their conversion to Christianity, the imam added, had caused Muslims in a nearby village to come and beat them, as well as destroy some of their properties.

“It was a great disgrace to the communities to have a leader of a mosque turn to Christ,” the ministry director said. “This is an unpardonable sin. The parliament of the local communities came together and took the imam, trying to force him to change his mind. He sneaked back to the village, still holding on to Jesus Christ.”

Members of the radio station received threatening calls from Muslims upset about the conversions.

“Tension was high and some staff went into hiding,” he said, “but we kept on praying and praying and praising God. We kept this on a low key, so it would not turn into unrest.”

God gave them strength to persevere and members of the staff went to the village to help disciple the new converts.

The cloud of fear and pain has dissipated now, but there is still an uneasy silence.

The ministry’s micro-enterprise, educational, health, water and other social economic development programs have helped build bridges with other Muslims, leading them to put their trust in Christ, said a representative from Christian Aid Mission, which assists the ministry.(Photo via Christian Aid) 

“Meeting real community needs opens the door for them to share the love of God on a personal level. It is so effective,” he said. “They have erected public toilets and water fountains and given them to the city. They operate about 10 schools and feed thousands of children weekly.”

The ministry’s social enterprises enable local evangelists to engage Muslims daily. Among micro-enterprise projects, one lends small amounts of cash to women so they can develop sustainable businesses to help take care of their families’ needs.

“This is the most forward-thinking missionary group that I have had the opportunity to engage in my life,” the Christian Aid Mission representative said. “The local director believes that there is dignity in work, and that every person deserves the opportunity to earn their own way. They have many projects on the drawing board, and even more in mind for the future, as God allows. His motto: Africans helping Africans to do missions in Africa.”

Two other Muslims, strong young men, have since called the radio station from another area and given their lives to Christ. They, too, are undergoing severe persecution.

“In spite of all the problems we face here, the Lord is calling His own, through our struggles and weak position, to His glory,” the indigenous ministry director said. “Pray for the Lord to give us wisdom and boldness to continue with our work, and that the Lord would provide the needed resources to run the radio station.” (more…)

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‘Prophet’ warned to testify at SCOAN inquiry

October 29 2014 – by SAPA

Lagos – A coroner on Wednesday threatened popular Nigerian preacher TB Joshua with arrest if he failed to testify at an inquest into the deaths of 116 people at his church.

Oyetade Komolafe rejected arguments from Joshua’s lawyers that the televangelist should not be summoned because he did not directly witness the September 12 tragedy.

A total of 84 South Africans were among the dead when a guesthouse for foreign followers at Joshua’s Synagogue Church of All Nations (SCOAN) collapsed in Lagos.

Joshua, known to members of his church as “The Prophet” or “The Man of God”, has indicated that sabotage was to blame and linked the collapse to a low-flying aircraft seen in the area at the time.

“The court has the power to summon whoever it deems necessary to assist it,” Komlafe told the hearing in the city.

“The counsel should advise The Prophet to come. The church is not on trial. It’s not a matter of ego. Nobody is above the law. The court will be fair to all.

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Child marriage: one in three brides under 18 wed before 15th birthday

theguardian.com, Tuesday 22 July 2014

More than 700 million women worldwide were married as children, with one in three of them married before their 15th birthday, according to a global prevalence study.

As activists, politicians and campaigners gather for the first Girl Summit on child marriage and female genital mutilation (FGM), a report by Unicef, the UN’s children’s agency, reveal the devastating situation of millions of women.

The study, the first of its kind, also reveals that more than 130 million girls and women have experienced some form of FGM, and states that urgent efforts are needed to tackle gender inequality or the number will not reduce. If the current decline in FGM continues at the same rate, more than 63 million more girls could be cut by 2050.

About a third of child brides live in India, according to Unicef. If nothing more is done to end the practice, the number of married girls could increase to more than 1 billion by 2050. Population estimates suggest the number could leap from 700 million to 950 million by 2030 and 1.2 billion by 2050. At least 280 million girls are at risk of becoming brides by the time they turn 18.

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The Master Slave traders no one really talks about: The Role of Islam in African Slavery

By iqbal.latif – June 10, 2014

Hugh Thomas’s “The Slave Trade” and Robin Blackburn’s “The Making Of New World Slavery” sheds new light on centuries of slave trading. Piero Scaruffi in “The Origins of the African Slave Trade” writes that the civil rights movement of the 1960’s have left many people with the belief that the slave trade was exclusively a European/USA phenomenon and only evil white people were to blame for it. This is a simplistic scenario that hardly reflects the facts.

Thousands of records of transactions are available on a CD-ROM prepared by Harvard University and several comprehensive books have been published recently on the origins of modern slavery. What these records show is that the modern slave trade flourished in the early middle ages, as early as 869, especially between Muslim traders and western African kingdoms.

Sad and most cruel in fact is the Muslim Slave Trade, i.e., enslavement of Africans which is a big tragedy.  It is not just Europeans who were connected with slavery, Africans were caged by Muslim slave traders for over 900 years, Africans from West, East, and North Africa were marched thousands of miles to Slave Markets as Men, Women, and Children were bound together by the waist and neck in a manner that if one died the rest could drag him hence the walks became the “Death Marches.” 20 million Africans died on these walks; it was erroneously said that it is God’s wish to see Africans caged as they were ‘uncivilized animals.’

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I renounced Islam, so my family think I should die

Amal Farah, above, said the case of Meriam Ibrahim prompted her to speak out Photo WARREN SMITHBy Harriet Alexander – 25 May 2014

Apostasy is not just something that scandalises people in far off lands. Harriet Alexander hears the story of a British woman whose life was turned upside down when she left Islam – echoing the plight of Meriam Ibrahim, who awaits a death sentence in Sudan for the same “crime”.

If Amal Farah were not living in Britain, she believes she might well be dead.

For the 33-year-old financial manager had carried out an act so heinous, her family felt she deserved to die.

Her crime? She had renounced her Islamic faith – “and within my community, that’s a capital offence,” she said. “They believe you deserve to die.”

Mrs Farah, who was born in the Somali capital, Mogadishu, but now lives in Britain, has never told her story before.

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Nigerian Christian Denomination Plants Over 750 Churches in U.S. to Spread African-Style Pentecostalism Across North America

May 19, 2014 – John Burnett – NPR

In earlier times, white missionaries traveled from Europe and America to sub-Saharan Africa to save souls.

Today, the trend has reversed. Evangelists from the global south are targeting Americans and Europeans they say are ripe for Christian renewal.

There is no greater example than the Redeemed Christian Church of God. This ambitious Nigerian denomination has established its North American headquarters in Texas, and its goal is nothing less than becoming the next major global religion.

On a Sunday morning, inside a storefront church in Austin called Salvation Center, the worship service exudes the unmistakable spirit of West Africa.

The congregation is mostly from Nigeria, where this church originated. The message from Doyin Oke, the bald, heavy-lidded pastor, is one of prosperity through faith.

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British-born Boko Haram “ringleader” was “radicalised at UK university”

British-born Boko Haram ringleader was radicalised at UK universityRobert Spencer May 17, 2014

As evidence of his “radicalization,” the clueless Telegraph offers him quoting from the Qur’an, although the paper is evidently unaware that the quote comes from the Qur’an. Even if the authors and editors of this piece did know that, they likely wouldn’t mention it, as that would harm “community cohesion.”

“British-born Boko Haram ‘ringleader’ was ‘radicalised at UK university,’” by Josie Ensor and Colin Freeman, the Telegraph, May 16, 2014 (thanks to BD):

A British-born “ringleader” of the Islamist group responsible for the kidnapping of hundreds of school girls in Nigeria was radicalised while studying at a UK university, according to friends.

Aminu Sadiq Ogwuche, 29, was arrested on Wednesday in connection with two recent bombings carried out by Boko Haram in the Nigerian capital Abuja that killed nearly 100 people.

He is suspected of co-masterminding the attacks – one in the suburb of Nyanya that killed 75 people on April 14 and a second attack just yards away which killed 19 people earlier this month.

Interpol put out an international arrest warrant for Mr Ogwuche, who was discovered after a reward of £100,000 led to his discovery in Sudan.

He had reportedly been learning Arabic at the the International University of Africa in Sudan and was held as he tried to obtain a Turkish visa in the capital, Khartoum.

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This spread of ‘holy fascism’ is a disaster

Sunday 18 May 2014 – Patrick Cockburn

Earlier this month, Saudi liberal activist Raif Badawi was sentenced to 1,000 lashes, 10 years in prison and a heavy fine for insulting Islam. In fact, his crime was to establish an online discussion forum where people were free to speak about religion and criticise religious scholars.

He had been charged with “apostasy” in 2012, because of his writings and for hosting discussion on his Saudi Arabian Liberals website, and was sentenced to seven years in prison and 600 lashes but on appeal a heavier sentence was imposed.

Mr Badawi will appeal against the verdict, but it is complicated by the fact that his lawyer and brother-in-law, Waleed Abulkhair, is himself in jail. He was detained without explanation last month when on trial for damaging the image of the kingdom and breaking his allegiance to the king. Under Saudi Arabia’s harsh Sharia code, almost any critical word or deed makes a person liable to severe punishment.

Lashings and beheadings generally get little publicity except where a foreigner is involved. The local media is muzzled and foreign press for the most part excluded. This contrasts with the blanket coverage of the kidnapping of more than 200 Nigerian schoolgirls by Boko Haram, the al-Qa’ida type movement in northern Nigeria.

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Missing Girls of Chobok, Nigeria: Why Christians Should Care….and Act

Afolabi Sotunde ReutersBy Dr David Curry , CP Guest Contributor – May 2, 2014

$12.50. This reportedly is the current “market” price for Nigerian girl brides in some areas of Cameroon and Chad.

Two-hundred and thirty Nigerian girls, mostly Christians ages 16-20, were kidnapped from a boarding school in the northeastern village of Chobok by members of the Muslim terrorist group Boko Haram on the night of April 21. Approximately 200 girls are still missing.

The parents have taken to the streets and pleaded for help from the government to rescue the girls. But the government seems powerless to make a concerted rescue attempt.

It probably is too little and too late. Some of the girls could have already been married to Muslim men and forced to convert to Islam. If the past kidnappings of Nigerian girls are any indication, some are now sexual slaves for Boko Haram members, while also making their meals and doing their dirty work.

A worker with Open Doors International, which partners with churches in northern Nigeria, states: “The abducted girls will most probably be responsible for cooking and cleaning for the insurgents. But there is every possibility that these children could be forcefully converted to Islam and married off to members of the group or other Muslim men.”

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Rwandan Genocide 20th Anniversary: Survivor Talks Forgiving the Man Who Murdered His Family

By Stoyan Zaimov , Christian Post Reporter – April 6, 2014|

To mark Monday’s 20th anniversary of the Rwandan genocide, where close to 800,000 people were killed, one survivor working with Operation Christmas Child has shared his personal story of visiting and forgiving the people who murdered his family. He also revealed that the country has experienced remarkable healing and growth in the past couple of decades.

“It was a miracle that God opened up the opportunity for me to meet one of the guys, the guy who killed my uncle, and I was able to share that message of love and forgiveness, and to be able to plant the seeds of hope and love in his life. And [tell him] that Christ also came and died for him, and He loves him just as much as He loves me,” Alex Nsengimana shared with The Christian Post.

“It was probably one of the toughest days of my life, but also one of my most freeing days, because I was able to let go and was able to have the peace that only Jesus Christ can offer.”

Nsengimana was only four years old when he lost his biological mother to HIV in Rwanda. He never knew his father, but had a great relationship with his grandmother, who took care of him, his younger brother and his older sister.

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