‘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, IndiaIraq, Nigeria, and Pakistan.

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Surprising Study On Terrorism: Al-Qaida Kills Eight Times More Muslims Than Non-Muslims

12/03/2009 – By Yassin Musharbash

Few would deny that Muslims too are victims of Islamist terror. But a new study by the Combating Terrorism Center in the US has shown that an overwhelming majority of al-Qaida victims are, in fact, co-religionists.

In the battle against unbelievers, can one also kill Muslims? Even the terror network al-Qaida is troubled by this question.

A leading al-Qaida ideologue for the terror network, Abu Yahya al-Libi, has developed his own theologically-based theory of collateral damage that allows militants to kill Muslims when it is unavoidable.

Even the Iraqi affiliates of Osama bin Laden’s terror group, who are known to be particularly bloodthirsty, claim that they too consider this question. For instance, in a message claiming responsibility for an August attack in Baghdad, the group wished those Sunnis injured in the “operation” a speedy recovery and expressed their hope that those killed would be accepted by God as “martyrs.”

But even as such apologetic communiqués from al-Qaida show the terror network stylizing itself as a defender of the true faith wrestling with religious concepts, they also make it look as though any dead Muslims are regretful but isolated cases. The facts, though, tell a different story.

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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.

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Wake Up, America: Advice from a Pakistani Christian

Charisma News –  10/3/2012 J. Lee Grady

 My friend Amir is a marked man. I can’t even use his real name because Muslim extremists in his native Pakistan want to kill him.

Last month while Muslims were burning churches and murdering Americans in the Middle East to protest a low-budget film about Islam, I spent a few days with Amir, who attends Bible college in the United States. Raised a Presbyterian, Amir’s belief in Jesus puts him in the minority in Pakistan.

Amir has seen anti-Christian violence erupt in his country many times. When he was a boy, a classmate boasted of starting a fire that burned an entire Christian town. In 2010 terror hit the city of Faisalabad when two pastors were accused of blaspheming Muhammad. Assassins shot and killed both pastors while police watched.

In August of this year a Christian girl in Pakistan was arrested and accused of desecrating a copy of the Quran—a capital offense under Islamic law. Later, after a Muslim cleric was arrested on charges of framing the girl, local Muslims continued to call for her death—along with anyone who defended her. One Muslim from the girl’s village was quoted by reporters as saying: “Pour petrol and burn these Christians!”

I interviewed my friend Amir to gain insight into how Americans should view this growing conflict. He put things into perspective with these three points:

1. Realize that God is moving in powerful ways in Islamic countries. Despite the violence we hear about daily, all the news is not negative. Muslims are coming to know Jesus—often because of supernatural demonstrations of the Holy Spirit. Amir’s family witnessed a miracle in 2005 when his younger sister was healed of total blindness. They began attending a Pentecostal church and now have helped plant three congregations.

Reports of church growth, conversions and evangelism campaigns are not aired on network television, but they are widespread—in Iran, Pakistan, Turkey and other Islamic nations. “It is true that a lot of Muslims want to learn about Christianity,” Amir says.

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Pakistan Supreme Court tells media to stop glorifying jihad terrorists

21st Oct 2012

It’s noteworthy that the Pakistani media would be glorifying jihadists in the first place — but not all that surprising. After all, most of the “journalists” probably hold essentially the same beliefs as the jihadis do, and even if they don’t, there is a worldwide reluctance on the part of the media to stand up to Islamic supremacists and jihadists.

Look at how many Sharia-compliant “journalists” we have in the U.S. — essentially propagandists who would never dare write a critical word about the global jihad or Islamic supremacism, and eagerly demonize those who are trying to defend the freedom of speech, freedom of conscience, and equality of rights for all people: Christiane Amanpour, Niraj Warikoo, Bob Smietana, Kari Huus…the list goes on and on.

“Media should desist from glorifying terrorists: SC,” by Azam Khan for the Express Tribune, October 13:

ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court of Pakistan on Saturday restrained media outlets from covering terrorism related incidents in such a manner which would glorify the terrorists.

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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.

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Robert Spencer in PJ Media: Now that the U.S. Is an Islamic State…

By Robert Spencer – PJ Media

In PJ Media this morning I discuss how Obama is now enforcing Sharia blasphemy laws on American troops:

A bipartisan group of six senators recently wrote to Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari, asking that he free Rimsha Masih, the eleven-year-old girl who was being held on blasphemy charges and is still under serious threat of mob violence and resumed prosecution even though she has been released on bail. The letter is a welcome indication that the world is finally noticing Pakistan’s blasphemy laws — but working at cross purposes with those who are trying to get Pakistan to scrap these laws is none other than Barack Obama, who is now doing nothing less than effectively enforcing them upon the U.S. military. The senators wrote to the wrong President.

Rimsha reportedly has Down syndrome, yet was charged with blasphemy for allegedly burning some pages of the Qur’an among some trash she had collected. Even worse, a Muslim cleric has now been accused of planting the pages of the Qur’an among the remnants of the papers she burned, so as to ensure her conviction. According to Pakistan’s Dawn, a witness “said he tried to stop the cleric from tampering with the evidence, but he insisted it would strengthen the case and lead to eviction of the girl’s family from the locality.”

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Pakistan’s Christian cabinet member urges blasphemy rethink

Telegraph.co.uk 04 Sep 2012  By Rob Crilly, Islamabad

 Pakistan’s only Christian Cabinet member has urged a rethink of how the country deals with blasphemy cases to prevent a repeat of the scandal involving a young girl with learning difficulties.

Paul Bhatti gave up a comfortable life as a surgeon in Italy to join the government earlier this year following the assassination of his brother, Shahbaz, who campaigned for reform of the controversial law.

Today he heads the Ministry of National Harmony, one of the most dangerous jobs in the country as he navigates Pakistan’s religious and ethnic divides.

Choosing his words carefully, for fear they could be twisted to present him as an opponent of Islam, he said the case of Rimsha Masih, an 11-year-old girl who has spent two weeks on remand, showed the law was being abused.

“I don’t think we have to reform the law itself,” he told The Daily Telegraph in his heavily guarded office. “But we have to stop its misuse. (more…)

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Pakistan imam held for evidence tampering in blasphemy case

Sapa-AFP | 02 September, 2012 

A Pakistani cleric who submitted evidence against a Christian girl accused of blasphemy has been arrested on suspicion of evidence-tampering and desecrating the Koran, police say.

Rimsha has been in custody since she was arrested in the poor Islamabad suburb of Mehrabad more than two weeks ago accused of burning papers containing verses from the Koran, in breach of Pakistan’s strict blasphemy laws.

Hafiz Mohammed Khalid Chishti, the imam of the mosque in Rimsha’s area who first handed over evidence, was arrested on Saturday after his assistants told a magistrate he had added pages from the Koran to the burnt pages to strengthen the case against the girl.

“The imam was arrested after his deputy Maulvi Zubair and two others told a magistrate he added pages from the Koran to the burnt pages brought to him by a witness,” police investigator Munir Hussain Jaffri said. (more…)

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Muslim Man’s Desperate Cries to Muhammad Go Unanswered, Then He Calls Out to God—and Meets Jesus

Aimee Herd (Aug 10, 2012)

“He said, ‘I am the God of the Christians.’ And He said, ‘I am the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.'” -Nasir Siddiki

In an incredible account of miraculous healing and redemption, Nasir Siddiki shared his testimony with Charisma News, recently, reminding Believers that “love never fails,” and that it will prevail in every situation.

Siddiki was a Muslim businessman when he broke out in a life-threatening case of shingles back in 1987. His blisters spread from his forehead down the side of his face, neck and on his shoulders. His ear became deformed with the extremely painful virus, and his temperature raged at 107.6 degrees.

At the time, Toronto General Hospital in Canada—where Siddiki lay fighting off death—called it the worst case of shingles in the hospital’s history.

Siddiki told Charisma News how he—on the verge of death—cried out to Muhammad; with silence his only answer. Alone and afraid, he remembered some of the stories he’d heard about the prophet Jesus, and prayed, “God if You’re real, don’t let me die.”

According to the report, Siddiki was passionate as he described the One who suddenly entered his hospital room, “It was the outline of a Person. I couldn’t see the facial features because there was so much light shining from this Person.”

“This Person spoke without opening Their mouth . . . He said, ‘I am the God of the Christians.’ And He said, ‘I am the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.’

Siddiki stated emphatically, “It was Jesus Christ.”

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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.

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The Persecution of Pakistan’s Christians

Posted by Faith J. H. McDonnell Bio ? on Jun 29th, 2012 

“The People of the Book” is Islam’s distinctive name for non-Muslim monotheists such as Jews and Christians. It sounds like a title given to those respected and revered. Unfortunately, the opposite is true. “Protected People,” another such term, sounds so reassuring. Who doesn’t want to be protected? But for the Islamic world’s “Protected People” there is no protection.

Nowhere is this truer than for Pakistan’s tiny minority Christian population. Rather than being protected, Pakistani Christians are disadvantaged and victimized in every way. Dhimmis, treated as second-class citizens, they live with grinding poverty and Muslim contempt, deprived of education and employment opportunities. Vulnerable to threats and lacking the means to defend themselves, they are the inevitable targets of Islamist attacks, even victimized by those who are supposed to protect them, merely because they are Christians.

Christians in northern Pakistan, such as the precarious Afghanistan-bordering Northwest Frontier Territory Province (now Khyber Pakhtunkhwa) and Punjab Province have long suffered and continue to suffer oppression and persecution. But increasingly, Christians in southern Pakistan’s Sindh Province are being persecuted under the “Talibanization” of Karachi. Afghani and Pakistani Pashtun militants that have been flooding Pakistan’s largest city forthe last few years are causing problems for the whole city, but especially for the impoverished, minority Christian community. They and other Islamists subject southern Pakistan’s Christians to horrific violations of their human rights and dignity.

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Pakistan: burned to death for Islamic blasphemy

By Rodrick Sanson – Friday, July 06, 2012

A man accused of blasphemy, according to Islamic religious law, was extra-judicially killed in Pakistan outside a police station in the Chani Ghoth area of theBahawalpur region in the Punjab.  Deputy Superintendent of Police Ahmedpur said, “The Chani Goth police station received a complaint that a person has burnt the pages of the Quran; the police arrested the person and brought him to the police station and put him in the lock up.

Some religious leaders announced on the loud speakers that a man has committed blasphemy against Islam.”As is frequently the case in Muslim-dominated Pakistan, mobs surrounded the police station baying for the life of the alleged blasphemer. The mob blocked the main highway through the town and broke down the gates of the police station, attacking the officers and injuring Station House Officer Ghulam Mohudin Gajjar along with four guards. Superintendent Ahmedpur also sustained injuries. All told, some 15 officers were injured in the melee and are now in hospital.

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RUA Party SA Great Breakthough / Many challenged by Pr Daniel Scot regarding the dangers of Islamic Sharia Law in Australia

Dear family & friends in Christ,

1) It is with great joy we announce that Rise Up Australia Party is now on track to contest the next Federal Election also in South Australia!

Pr Daniel spoke at a gathering in Adelaide on the 9th of May and was very successful in setting up a state team to run the operation in South Australia for the next Federal Election in November 2013.

Pr Daniel stated, “I am so happy to see people rising up and being willing to take a stand for our nation Australia. One main reason for this is that the general public are absolutely fed up with our current government and most political parties. We have a great opportunity to step into Parliament right now. We cannot and must not miss this wave. I have spoken to many Christians and non-Christians alike. Interestingly, the response is the same, ‘We need change’ and I say, ‘Yes, we can do it’”.

2) On Sunday, which was Mother’s Day, Pr Jenny Jack from CTFM brought a great word on ‘Why women and men are equal in the sight of God‘. Many were mightily touched by the Word and Spirit of God. Pr Daniel called all the mothers to come up to the front and then he laid hands and prayed for them. Many of them received prophetic words from the Lord and were mighty impacted by the presence and power of God.

At the evening service, Pr Daniel Scot, along with his wife, ministered the powerful Word of the Lord. He spoke on the topic of ‘Why Islamic Sharia Law is bad law’.  Many people who came to the meeting were shocked to learn as to what is real Islamic Sharia Law. Pr Daniel Scot and Pr Daniel Nalliah had both lived under Sharia Law in Pakistan & Saudi Arabia, and know very well as to how this law will destroy our nation of Australia.

This meeting was also live webcast, although the video was out, due to technical failure.  Nevertheless, we thank God that the audio carried through without any interruptions. Yesterday morning we received good feedback from those who listened to it. We are so sorry for the video dropping out.

Pr Daniel Scot’s speech was very well received by the people. He spoke of how Australia will lose its freedoms and identity if Islamic Sharia Law is introduced. He quoted many references from the Koran to back up every statement he made. This very challenging and informative message is a must watch on DVD. You may order your copy for $15 + $5 postage, by emailing angelene@reformationharvestfire.com or calling Angeline at CTFM on 03 9794 8211.

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ABC 4 Corners TV Program – The shocking expose of a practice hidden within Australia’s migrant communities – the forced marriage of young girls – organised by their families and supported by religious leaders

Dear friends and family in Christ,

For your ongoing prayerful interest, we’re forwarding the following video link (44 min) to ABC 4 Corners Television Program ‘Without Consent’ and written report, regarding the shocking expose of a practice hidden within Australia’s migrant communities – the forced marriage of young girls – organised by their families and supported by religious leaders.

http://www.abc.net.au/4corners/stories/2012/03/29/3466537.htm

By Sarah Ferguson and Deb Masters – April 3, 2012

What happens when young, educated, Australian-born girls are forced into unwanted marriages – often with relatives overseas?

Samia was just seventeen when her father announced he was taking her on a holiday overseas. But this was a holiday with a difference. Back in the family’s village in rural Pakistan, Samia watched in horror as the local Imam walked in ready to conduct her marriage to her first cousin – without her consent. With pressure from her extended family, she was given papers to sign and threatened.Returning to Australia, Samia sought help from local religious authorities in Sydney – but they ignored her and told her to accept the marriage.

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