Human Rights Activist: Many Christians ‘Ignorant’ of Extent of Persecution

By Michael Gryboski , Christian Post Reporter – January 9, 2013

WASHINGTON – A human rights activist with more than 25 years’ experience in ministering to persecuted Christians said Tuesday that many Christians are “ignorant” of the extent of persecution globally.

Dr. Ron Boyd-MacMilan, chief strategy officer for Open Doors International, told The Christian Post that the church in America and elsewhere should spread greater awareness of what is happening to Christians in many parts of the world.

“I think the key thing though is that the church needs to get its story out to the worldwide church better,” said Boyd-MacMilan. “There are still far too many Christians in the world that are either just ignorant or even deliberately so of the true extent of Christian persecution.”

Boyd-MacMilan also told CP that he felt that “we can get out our story better, that there are literally hundreds of millions of Christians in the world who cannot exercise their freedom of worship.”

His remarks came as he was one of two featured speakers at a press conference on Tuesday morning sponsored by Open Doors at the First Amendment Lounge of the National Press Club. There were two major themes of the event: first was the release of Open Doors’ annual “World Watch List” which ranks the countries where persecution of Christians is severest.

(more…)

Continue ReadingHuman Rights Activist: Many Christians ‘Ignorant’ of Extent of Persecution

Why President Obama Does Not Defend Persecuted Christians – By Egyptian Christian Author

By MidEast Christian News – January 13, 2013

Writing in the monthly conservative Townhall Magazine, Michael Youssef has asked why President Obama, a self-proclaimed Christian, has failed to defend the cause of the harassed and persecuted Christians around the world.

Dr. Michael Youssef, an Egyptian-born U.S. citizen who has authored 27 books including ‘Blindsided: The Radical Islamic Conquest,’ examines Obama’s dealings with Egypt over the past two years.

In his article, Youssef suggests a number of factors that could explain Obama’s position regarding Christians around the world. He says that on the outbreak of the January 2011 uprising, Obama urged Mubarak to step down. In fact, writes Youssef, Mubarak was a secular and capitalist dictator and his regime was corrupt for sure. However even after Mubarak’s departure, the situation has not changed and corruption is still present under what Youssef calls “the Islamic dictator who replaced Mubarak.”

The presidential elections (May 2012) ended by a narrow victory for Mohamed Morsi, the Muslim Brotherhood candidate. Even though the presidential elections were allegedly marred by fraud and Christians reportedly prevented from voting, Youssef says that the White House and the U.S. State Department were quick to “embrace Morsi as the victor.”

(more…)

Continue ReadingWhy President Obama Does Not Defend Persecuted Christians – By Egyptian Christian Author

JIHAD AGAINST CHRISTIANS IN AFRICA

Dr. Peter Hammond – 22nd Feb 2013

Pastor Beheaded in Tanzania

Pastor Mathayo Kachili of the Tanzania Assemblies of God in Buseresere was beheaded by a Muslim mob. The Geita Regional Police Commander’s office issued a statement that the murder occurred during a confrontation when Muslims demanded the immediate closure of butcheries owned by Christians. Muslim youth armed with clubs and machetes attacked Christians, injuring several people, some of whom are in a critical condition.

Meat Monopoly Move by Muslim Minority

Pastor Kachili was murdered on Monday, 11 February, when a Muslim mob attacked the Assemblies of God Church in Buseresere. This was part of a nation wide campaign to force all meat industries in Tanzania to be run in accordance with Shari’a law and controlled by the Muslim minority.

Christian Response

ASSIST News Service quoted the General Superintendent of the Assemblies of God in Tanzania, Barnabas Mtokambali: “Our response as a Church is not one of violence and hatred, reflecting the attitude of those committing such crimes, but that of Christ and reflecting His image, by loving and praying for those who humiliate and persecute us, and not holding such sins against them.”

(more…)

Continue ReadingJIHAD AGAINST CHRISTIANS IN AFRICA

A Congressman’s Crusade for Human and Religious Rights

Front Page Magazine – January 15, 2013 By Faith J. H. McDonnell 

Evoking the moral apathy and failure of the past, U.S. Representative Frank R. Wolf (R-VA) recently asked church leaders around the United States to use their influence for those who are persecuted. In his January 9, 2013 letter to over 300 Catholic and Protestant leaders, Wolf reminded them of the words of German Lutheran pastor Dietrich Bonhoeffer, executed by the Nazis during World War II. Bonhoeffer, when “faced with the tyranny and horror of Nazism, famously said, ‘Silence in the face of evil is itself evil.  Not to speak is to speak.  Not to act is to act,’” recalled Wolf.

“And that is precisely what many in the church did, or failed to do, as Hitler unleashed his murderous plans,” Wolf continued. Writing with passion and urgency to such representative Christian leaders as the U.S. Catholic bishops, the leaders of Protestant denominations, and the pastors of some of America’s largest “mega-churches,” the congressman then told the story of a German Christian shared in the book When a Nation Forgets God:

I lived in Germany during the Nazi Holocaust.  I considered myself a Christian.  We heard stories of what was happening to the Jews, but we tried to distance ourselves from it, because, what could anyone do to stop it? 

A railroad track ran behind our small church and each Sunday morning we could hear the whistle in the distance and then the wheels coming over the tracks.  We became disturbed when we heard the cries coming from the train as it passed by.  We realized that it was carrying Jews like cattle in the cars!

(more…)

Continue ReadingA Congressman’s Crusade for Human and Religious Rights

Christianophobia – A Faith Under Attack

Colorado Springs, December 21 2012 (World Watch Monitor) — By Steve Rabey

Jesus warned his followers that they would experience persecution, a prediction that was already coming true before the books of the New Testament were completed. Today, Shortt argues, “the greatest curbs on religious freedoms take place in Muslim majority countries.”

Take Egypt, where Christianity grew deep roots in the centuries before Mohammed. Today, there are more than 10 million Christians among a population of more than 80 million. But Christians have faced increasing pressures in recent decades, and the overthrow of a dictator and a historic election that promoted the Muslim Brotherhood’s Mohamed Morsi have complicated matters even more.

The book documents how attacks and bombings of churches have increased since the election; forced emigration is shrinking the Christian population; Coptic Christians (the largest group of Egyptian Christians) face systematic obstacles to promotion in the army, police and legal professions; Coptic women have been abducted and forced to convert to Islam; and Muslims who convert to Christianity may be shunned, harassed, physically harmed and even killed.

(more…)

Continue ReadingChristianophobia – A Faith Under Attack

‘Militant Islam’ Greatest Threat to Middle Eastern Christianity, Says Think Tank

By Michael Gryboski , Christian Post Reporter – December 26, 2012

A British think tank has released a lengthy report claiming that militant Islam is the greatest existential threat to Middle Eastern Christianity, bringing Christian communities in the region “close to extinction.”

The London-based Civitas, also known as the Institute for the Study of Civil Society, published the report in December. “Christianity is in serious danger of being wiped out in its biblical heartlands because of Islamic oppression,” reads a statement from the group issued Sunday.

“But Western politicians and media largely ignore the widespread persecution of Christians in the Middle East and the wider world because they are afraid they will be accused of racism.”

Titled “Christianophobia” and written by reporter and Religion Editor for The Times Literary Supplement Rupert Shortt, the report details the persecution of Christians in Burma, China, Egypt, India, Iraq, Nigeria, and Pakistan.

(more…)

Continue Reading‘Militant Islam’ Greatest Threat to Middle Eastern Christianity, Says Think Tank

Seven Egyptian Christians sentenced to death for anti-Islam video

Posted on Wednesday, November 28, 2012 by Deacon Benjamin – Times of India

CAIRO: A Cairo court on Wednesday sentenced to death seven Egyptian Christians tried in absentia for participating in an anti-Islam video that was released on the Internet in September and prompted violent protests in Muslim countries.

“The seven accused persons were convicted of insulting the Islamic religion through participating in producing and offering a movie that insults Islam and its prophet,” Judge Saif al-Nasr Soliman said.

The low-budget video, produced privately in California, denigrated the Prophet Mohammad and triggered anti-US protests and attacks on Western embassies around the Muslim world.

The convicted persons included Egyptian-American Nakoula Bassely Nakoula, who is currently serving a one-year-jail term in Los Angeles after an American court convicted him of probation violations that stemmed from his role in the movie.

(more…)

Continue ReadingSeven Egyptian Christians sentenced to death for anti-Islam video

Why Christian Persecution Is Islam’s Achilles’ Heel

November 30, 2012 By Raymond Ibrahim Comments 

Which of the following three headlines is most difficult for the media—including the usual array of liberal pundits, apologists, academics, and politicians—to whitewash or rationalize away?  Which most exposes Islam’s inherent intolerance?

A)   “Allahu Akbar” screaming Muslims fire rockets into Israel

B)   “Allahu Akbar” screaming Muslims riot and commit acts of violence in Europe

C)   “Allahu Akbar” screaming Muslims torch a Christian church in a Muslim country

The answer is C—Christian persecution.

Why?

Because in both scenarios A and B, Muslims will always be portrayed and seen as the “underdogs”—and hence always exonerated for their behavior.  No matter how violent or ugly, no matter how many Islamic slogans are shrieked—thus placing their behavior in a purely Islamic context—Muslim violence against the West and Israel will always be dismissed as a product of the weak and outnumbered status of Muslims—their status as underdogs, which the West tends to romanticize.  And so they will always get a free pass, without further ado.

(more…)

Continue ReadingWhy Christian Persecution Is Islam’s Achilles’ Heel

Egyptian Christian Evangelist Packs Out Westminster

Peter Wooding (Oct 29, 2012) – Source: ASSIST News Service

“I believe that if the Believers unite together in prayer and commitment we could see a great revival. We need to stop running to the hills in white robes, but do everything we can to tell the world about Christ before He returns.” -Dr. Michael Youssef

(London, England)—At a sold out International Evening at Westminster Chapel Saturday October 20, “Leading The Way” Founder and President Dr. Michael Youssef, challenged everyone to urgently occupy themselves with the work of the Lord, before the return of Christ.

“We need to stop running to the hills in white robes, but do everything we can to tell the world about Christ before He returns,” Dr. Youssef told more than 1,000 Leading the Way supporters and listeners at the event which was hosted by Premier Radio.

Travelling straight from Australia where he shared the same message based on Luke 19 where Jesus says ‘Occupy til I come,’ Dr. Youssef’s timely challenge highlighted the dangers of people predicting the times and dates of Christ’s return.

“Just seeing the urgency of the time should not just make us sit there and count the days but really get busy witnessing and serving and getting involved in global evangelism, which is what “Leading The Way” does,” said Dr. Youssef who is set to celebrate 25 years of worldwide Christian ministry.

(more…)

Continue ReadingEgyptian Christian Evangelist Packs Out Westminster

An Open Letter from a Former Muslim: Enough is Enough

9/21/2012 – Charisma News – Majed Eishafie

My name is Majed El Shafie. I was arrested, tortured and sentenced to die in Egypt after converting from Islam to Christianity. I managed to escape and with the help of the UNHCR (United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees), I eventually settled in Canada from where I now fight for those persecuted around the world.

We have seen the news reports in recent days of Muslims protesting throughout the world, killing the American ambassador and three other Americans in Libya, over a film they claim insults their prophet. The filmmaker is in hiding, flags have been burned and trampled, and though it may not have been reported on the major news networks, Bibles are being burned and vulnerable Christians are being attacked in countries half a world away.

Many here in the West have been perplexed or alarmed by these events, especially after our soldiers risked their lives last year to support the people of Libya against Colonel Qaddafi’s forces. The irony is thick in that Ambassador Stevens in particular was keen to help the Libyan people rebuild and he took an active role in supporting their efforts. As a result, I feel compelled to speak out.

(more…)

Continue ReadingAn Open Letter from a Former Muslim: Enough is Enough

Jesus Moving in Muslim World Through Dreams, Visions

9/7/2012 – Charisma News – Steve Yount 

As a missionary, Tom Doyle has made dozens of trips to the Middle East. But when he first heard the stories of God working in a supernatural way there, he had trouble believing them.

Then, in the words of one of his friends, “God showed me that my theology does not determine his actions,” Doyle and co-author Greg Webster write in the just-released Dreams and Visions: Is Jesus Awakening the Muslim World.

Doyle fell in love with the Middle East on his first biblical tour of the Holy Land. After 20 years as a pastor in Colorado, New Mexico and Texas, he felt called to full-time ministry in the Middle East in 2001 and accepted e3 Partners‘ offer to direct its ministry there. He has since become a vice president for e3, a church-planting ministry that works in more than 40 countries.

The book is a collection of never-before-told stories from the front lines of the campaign to bring the gospel to the world of Islam. In his 11 years working in the Middle East, Doyle has met former Muslims who were first introduced to Jesus through either a dream or a vision.

(more…)

Continue ReadingJesus Moving in Muslim World Through Dreams, Visions

Muslim Brotherhood Calls for More Protests Against America

Posted by Daniel Greenfield Bio ? on Sep 12th, 2012 

Brotherhood secretary-general Mahmoud Hussein called for a “peaceful protest to condemn insults to religious convictions and insults to the Prophet”, adding it would start after noon prayers on Friday in front of main mosques across Egypt.

Right… peaceful. Morsi did not condemn the attacks and his government failed to provide proper protection even though a similar attack had been launched against the Israeli embassy.

The Egyptian media has been stoking the flames of this conflict and Morsi recently took control of the media and appointed Muslim Brotherhood loyalists to head state-owned media outlets. That means there is a high probability that the Muslim Brotherhood directed this attack or at the very least used propaganda to set it in motion.

Obama is handing a cool billion to Morsi, but the Muslim Brotherhood is still conducting protests against America. The Arabic Muslim Brotherhood site contains a call from the Jordanian Muslim Brotherhood calls for “official and popular levels of action to stop this crime against Islam.” While the English Ikhwan site has put up a condemnation of the Benghazi attack, no such condemnation exists on the Arabic Ikhwan site.

(more…)

Continue ReadingMuslim Brotherhood Calls for More Protests Against America

Petition to Congress Claims US Aiding Muslim Brother in Oppression of Christians

By Stoyan Zaimov , Christian Post Reporter – August 13, 2012

A petition aimed at Congress is seeking to expose President Barack Obama and Secretary of State Hilary Clinton’s alleged support of the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt, a conservative Islamic group said to be endangering the lives of Christians in the Middle East with its influence on the new government.

Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi’s Freedom and Justice Party is closely tied to the Muslim Brotherhood, which is reportedly working toward establishing Sharia law in the country, which observers say threatens the religious liberties and even lives of those who are not Islamic.

“In fact, in his speech at his swearing-in ceremony on Friday, June 29, 2012, he promised to try to free the Egyptian-born militant Islamist, Sheik Omar Abdel Rahman, who was convicted of planning to attack other New York City landmarks after the 1993 bombing of the World Trade Center,” the petition states.

The letter, published on Petition2Congress and bearing no information as to who produced it, also claims that thousands of Christian minorities in the Middle East are being forced to flee their homes as the threat of radical Islam grows bigger. It also claims that in the first 10 days of this year’s Ramadan, there have reportedly been eight big attacks on Christians in Egypt alone.

(more…)

Continue ReadingPetition to Congress Claims US Aiding Muslim Brother in Oppression of Christians

What is Sharia?

Posted by Dr. Hans Jansen Bio  on Jul 16th, 2012 

The Islamic Sharia is a system of law. It is a collection of prohibitions, admonitions and commands about human behavior. The Sharia is not an internal matter that only concerns Islam and Muslims. The Sharia includes a large number of provisions about people who are not Muslims. These rules are usually prohibitions that carry severe penalties if violated. These provisions of the Sharia make life unsafe and uncertain for someone who lives under Sharia law and who is not a Muslim.

Under Sharia law, someone who is not a Muslim possesses no inalienable rights. If I am wrong here, I will be relieved, and happy to stand corrected and receive your e-mails pointing out why I am wrong. But if I am right, a prisoner in Guantanamo Bay possesses more rights than a Jew or a Christian who lives under Sharia law.

Unlike the legal systems of most modern nation states, Sharia law is not subject to democratic supervision. Like international law and rabbinic law, Sharia law is an academic affair: experts discuss and debate the rules until they reach an agreement. Sharia law does not know a parliament or a government that acts as legislator, but the rules of the Sharia come into being by being agreed upon by the experts, that is, the Islamic religious leaders, the professional Muslims, the Ulama, Ayatollahs, or whatever these dignitaries are called.

(more…)

Continue ReadingWhat is Sharia?

CHRISTIANS FEAR FOR THEIR LIVES AS MUSLIM BROTHERHOOD START CRUCIFIXIONS IN EGYPT

World Net Daily – 21st August 2012

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 Egyptian 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.”

(more…)

Continue ReadingCHRISTIANS FEAR FOR THEIR LIVES AS MUSLIM BROTHERHOOD START CRUCIFIXIONS IN EGYPT