Persecution hotspots in 2012

Posted: Wednesday, December 28, 2011

There are no surprises in Release International’s list of predicted hotspots for persecution in 2012. If anything, the organisation fears the plight of Christians around the world may get worse.

The organisation has received reports from partners that Christians are coming under increasing suspicion in North Korea. Practising Christianity is banned in the closed-off communist country and anyone caught with a Bible faces torture, imprisonment and possibly death.

It is monitoring events closely following the death of dictator Kim Jong-il but there is little optimism that the change of leadership to Kim Jong-un will ease their plight.

In China, authorities are considering legalising the detention of people considered a threat to national security, a move that would put lawyers and Christian human rights campaigners at risk.

There are additional concerns that the change in leadership later in 2012 may prompt authorities to tighten their grip on Christians and potential dissidents.

Bob Fu, of partner organisation China Aid, said: “Religious freedom conditions are at their lowest point since 1982.” (more…)

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Hillary Clinton goes off-script, suggests that Islamic governments fear religious debat

Posted by Robert on December 15, 2011 12:16 PM 

Off the cuff, Hillary says things that are likely to get her in dutch with the boss. “Hillary Clinton suggests Islamic governments fear religious debate,” by Neil Munro in The Daily Caller, December 15:

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton used an international conference on religious freedom Wednesday as a platform to suggest that Islamic governments which suppress Christianity are secretly afraid Islam will lose out in a public debate.

“Every one of us who is a religious person knows there are some who may not support or approve of our religion, but is our religion so weak that statements of disapproval cause us to lose our faith?” she asked the attendees, who included national representatives from the Organization of Islamic Cooperation.

“Especially when one person’s speech seems to challenge another person’s religion’s belief, or maybe even offends that person’s religious beliefs … we defend our beliefs best by defending free speech for everyone,” she said, while citing her own experience as a Methodist — a Christian movement made up of many Protestant denominations, and where debate is common. (more…)

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Pakistani Believers Defy Islamic Rule for Christ

Monday, 11 July 2011 - Mission Network News News – Featured News

ChristianChristianity and Islam in Pakistan s working in remote Pakistani communities are facing extreme pressure, according to a Voice of the Martyrs Canada report.

A believer was handing out gospel literature when a group of Muslims threatened him to try to get him to stop. In another city, Christians who work in an evangelist’s office are now under investigation, and authorities are watching their mail.

The notorious blasphemy law also comes into play, imposing the death penalty on anyone who defames Mohammed, and life in prison for anyone who defiles the Quran. Many Pakistani Christians have been falsely accused under this law.

Against this backdrop, Mawii Pudaite with Bibles For The World says, “In recent months, we have been getting telephone calls and emails with urgent requests for gospels, New Testaments and Bibles in Urdu language for the people in the country of Pakistan.” (more…)

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Cleric: Jihad coming to ‘heart of America

Anjem ChoudaryMay 02, 2011 – © 2011 WorldNetDaily

Al-Qaida revenge attacks to have ‘devastating effect’

The death of Osama bin Laden will bring a “new era of jihad,” predicted British extremist cleric Anjem Choudary.

Warning there are motivated jihadists “in the heart of America,” Choudary said al-Qaida will likely carry out revenge operations with “meticulous accuracy” and “devastating affect” comparable to that of the 9/11 attacks.

Choudary is the founder and former chief of two Islamic groups disbanded by the British authorities under anti-terror legislation.

Speaking today in an interview with “Aaron Klein Investigative Radio” of New York’s WABC Radio, Choudary said that while bin Laden was a “lion of Islam … there are many lions waiting to take his place.”

“I do believe that the death of Sheikh Osama will bring in a new era of jihad,” Choudary told Klein.

(more…)

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Call for Millions of Muslims to invade Jerusalem, Israel on 15th May 2011

Pray for the Peace of JerusalemDear friends and family in Christ in Australia and around the World,
 
We’re forwarding the following email we received from Curt Landry of One New Man United
with a 2 minute Youtube video link regarding a Call for Millions of Muslims to invade Jerusalem, Israel on 15th May 2011. 
 
Please pray as never before for Jerusalem (Psalm 122:6), because if this truly happens, we will see a major war breakout in Israel very soon. 
 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NrlJSxCYqXA

Dear Elijah List Readers:

In late March, 2011, a battle cry was released in the Middle East as the Palestinian Authority recreated a Third Intifada page, which had previously been banned by Facebook. This page was calling for the destruction of the State of Israel and encouraging the gathering of millions to invade Israel’s borders on May 15, 2011. Once the page was removed from Facebook, additional pages with the same call to action have been posted. Since their creation, these Facebook pages have gathered hundreds of thousands of “Likes,” with similar pages gathering over 3,000,000 votes of support.

(more…)

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Was Osama a true Muslim or a radical Islamic extremist? / By Pr Daniel

Osama Bin LadenPastor DanielDear family and friends in Christ,

There has been much news in the media all over the world in the last few days regarding the death of Osama bin Laden.

This man who was driven by a very evil agenda and who managed to terribly change the world in some 10 years through violence and fear, has successfully put Islam on the global scene.

So, was he a radical Islamic extremist or was he a true Muslim who followed the Quran?? Click the following link to read a document and make up your mind as to whether this man followed the Quran or not??

https://reformationharvestfire.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2011/05/we-must-care-for-australia.pdf

A true believer of any faith is a person who follows the fundamental doctrines of the faith, generally called a ‘fundamentalist’.

The question then needs to be asked, are there good Muslims? The answer is YES, of course.  However, they are not necessarily true Muslims according to Mohammed and the Quran.  Many Muslims have not read, nor follow the whole Quran, and prefer living a peaceful life.

(more…)

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Federal Inquiry into ‘Multiculturalism’/ Charged with Blasphemy in Pakistan

Dear family and friends in Christ,

1) Following is an email from Salt Shakers regarding Federal Inquiry into Multiculturalism in Australia for your prayerful action.

2) Click the following link to read an article written by Babette Francis of Endeavour Forum about Asia Bibi, the Christian woman recently charged with blasphemy in Pakistan.

https://reformationharvestfire.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2011/04/pakistannw05-feb-2011.pdf

E-News – Inquiry into Multiculturalism in Australia
 
The Federal Parliament’s Migration Committee (Joint Committee of both Houses) has launched an inquiry into multiculturalism in Australia. 
 
The Chair of the Committee, Maria Vamvakinou MP, has called for people to make submissions but has only given until April 8 for you to do so.

(more…)

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The Koran Riots in Afghanistan: An Indictment of All Islam

NewsReal ^ | April 1, 2011 | Rob Taylor

Posted on Saturday, April 02, 2011 by TheHawksNest

7 United Nations workers were murdered by a crowd of angry Muslims in Afghanistan during protests organized by religious leaders. The clerics drove through the city of Mazar-i-Sharif with loud speakers, demanding that Muslims “protest” the burning of a Koran by a Florida pastor.  Two of the UN workers were beheaded.

The leftist media here is placing the blame squarely on Koran burner Terry Jones while desperately clinging to the myth of the peaceful Muslim protest that “just got out of control”–no doubt hijacked by a that tiny minority of extremists the media thinks is responsible for over 1,000 years of Islamic Imperialism. But when the Left here makes excuses for Muslim barbarity they ignore reality and the internal drives of unreformed Islam that make Muslims predisposed to mayhem and violence.

There is no other religious group on Earth that murders and rapes more people whenever they feel attacked and insulted nor is there one that attacks and insults other religions as regularly. While the Muslims in Afghanistan murdered innocent people because one man in Florida burned a Koran, Saudi authorities tortured and arrested two Indian Christians for praying. During the arrest Saudi religious police trampled the victims’ Bibles and tore the holy books. (more…)

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A Brave Servant of Christ Pays the Ultimate Price for His Courage

Pakistanti Minister Martyred for defending Christianityby Aimee Herd : Mar 3, 2011 : Michelle A. Vu – Christian Post

“I am mindful that in the struggle to protect the religious freedom, the rights of minorities…I can be assassinated. I can be killed. But I will continue to follow the principles that I believe. I will continue to raise the voice of the voiceless. And I will not feel fear because of these threats because I follow Jesus Christ who has given His own life for us….” –Shahbaz Bhatti

The Pakistani Minister for Minorities, Shahbaz Bhatti—who worked tirelessly on behalf of Christians and minorities in Pakistan, to give them a voice and try to gain their protection—was gunned down reportedly by the Taliban, on Wednesday, March 2nd. (Photo: Reuters/Faisal Mahmood)

Perhaps he somehow knew something might happen that day since he told his security guards—who usually travel with him—to stay home.

Bhatti had indeed been receiving death threats, according to a Christian Post interview, after speaking out against Pakistan’s blasphemy laws which had been used as the basis for the arrest of Asia Bibi, a Christian mother of five.

(more…)

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Is Islam really a religion of Peace? / Pastor Daniel Scot and Evangelist Immanuel this Sunday at CTFM

Spread of IslamPastor Daniel ScotDear friends and family in Christ,

1) Following is a must watch (6 minutes) interview with an Islamic leader in the UK about the truth of Islam, as he states according to the Koran – violence, jihad, and global terror.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=64V09tTIjR4&feature=player_embedded

Click the following link to read an article about the everyday practice of Islamic Sharia Law according to the Koran titled ‘Screaming woman publicly flogged by laughing policemen in shocking video from Sudan’

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1338479/YouTube-video-Sudan-shows-woman-flogged-laughing-policemen.html#ixzz18A3YV1XZ

2) Pastor Daniel Scot will be ministering at the 9:30am worship service and Evangelist Immanuel at the 6:30pm worship service this Sunday 27th March at CTFM Apostolic Centre. (more…)

Continue ReadingIs Islam really a religion of Peace? / Pastor Daniel Scot and Evangelist Immanuel this Sunday at CTFM

Pakistani Muslims Protest Pope’s Words on Blasphemy, Burn Him in Effigy

Catholic Vote.org ^ | 1/13/11 | Thomas Peters Pakistani Religious leaders hold banners and chant slogans during a protest against Pope Benedict XVI’s recent statements about Pakistan’s blasphemy laws in…

Continue ReadingPakistani Muslims Protest Pope’s Words on Blasphemy, Burn Him in Effigy

Christians And Their Churches Targeted By Radical Muslims

January 20, 2011

Militant Islam Monitor – By Emerson Vermaat

In December 2010 I reported that Christian asylum seekers in three thirds of the asylum seekers centers in Holland (so-called “AZC’s”) are seriously intimidated by Muslim asylum seekers. Too many Muslim converts to Christianity – often refugees from totalitarian Muslim societies – live in fear. However, the problem of harassing or attacking Christians is much more widespread. Many Christians in Iraq are persecuted by radical Muslims who bomb their churches, kill their pastors and priests. Many of them flee to the West. (Some them end up in Dutch asylum seekers centers where they once again face harassment by militant Muslims.) Coptic churches in Egypt have also been bombed. There was a major terror attack on a Coptic church in Alexandria, Egypt, on New Year’s day, when 25 Coptic Christians were killed.

Iran’s “Press TV”, Lebanon’s Grand Mufti, a Muslim Brotherhood official and an Egyptian lawyers group suggested that agents of the Israeli Mossad – “zionist fingerpints” – were behind the church blast. In a recent essay Raymond Ibrahim, author of the noteworthy book “The Al Qaeda Reader,” points out that “Islamists accuse Egypt’s Christians of behaving like… Islamists.” “Islamists regularly abduct, abuse, brainwash, and compel Coptic girls to convert – and now Copts are accused of doing the exact same thing; Islamists regularly smuggle and stockpile weapons, including in their holy places – and now Copts are accused of doing the exact same thing. Islamists are constantly either trying to break away or conquer infidel nations – and now Copts are accused of doing the exact same thing; Islamic martyrdom means participating and dying in jihad – and now Christian martyrdom is defined as the exact same thing.” “This recent batch of bizarre accusations is making Muslims more irate and paranoid, and bodes greater evil for Egypt’s beleaguered Christians.”

(more…)

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Christians And Their Churches Targeted By Radical Muslims

Radical MuslimsBy Emerson Vermaat 20 January 2011

In December 2010 I reported that Christian asylum seekers in three thirds of the asylum seekers centers in Holland (so-called “AZC’s”) are seriously intimidated by Muslim asylum seekers. Too many Muslim converts to Christianity – often refugees from totalitarian Muslim societies – live in fear.

However, the problem of harassing or attacking Christians is much more widespread. Many Christians in Iraq are persecuted by radical Muslims who bomb their churches, kill their pastors and priests. Many of them flee to the West. (Some them end up in Dutch asylum seekers centers where they once again face harassment by militant Muslims.) Coptic churches in Egypt have also been bombed. There was a major terror attack on a Coptic church in Alexandria, Egypt, on New Year’s day, when 25 Coptic Christians were killed.

(more…)

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Pakistan Minister Condemns Reward for Killing Christian Woman

Spread of IslamWorld Sun, Dec. 05 2010 – By Ethan Cole – Christian Post Reporter

Pakistan’s Federal Minister for Minorities Affairs Shahbaz Bhatti condemned Saturday the recent announcement of a reward for killing the jailed Christian woman on death row for blasphemy.

Bhatti said the call is unjust and irresponsible and should be discouraged in the strongest possible manner because no one has the right to issue a decree to kill someone else, according to Pakistan’s Daily Times newspaper. He also added that Pakistan is a civilized country and violation of the rule of law is not allowed.
“Every legal and constitutional means will be adopted in the Asia Bibi case,” assured Bhatti, who was in charge of investigating the case and reported that Bibi was innocent to President Asif Ali Zadari.

A hard-line imam known for making similar reward-for-murder calls in the past offered about $6,000 (500,000 rupees) to anyone who kills Asia Bibi during his sermon at the largest mosque in Peshawar on Friday. Imam Maulana Yousuf Qureshi also threatened the government to not amend or repeal the blasphemy laws “which provide protection to the sanctity of Holy Prophet Muhammad,” according to Asia News.

(more…)

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Pakistan Gov’t Barred from Pardoning Christian on Death Row

By Nathan Black | Christian Post Reporter – Nov. 29 2010

The Pakistani government was barred on Monday by the country’s high court from pardoning a Christian woman sentenced to death for alleged blasphemy.

A lawyer argued that a pardon would be illegal while the case was pending in the courts.

“Since the matter is in the high court, the government cannot now make any move to pardon Bibi,” lawyer Allah Bakhsh Leghari told Agence France-Presse.

Asia Bibi was sentenced early this month to death by hanging for allegedly speaking ill of Prophet Muhammad. The Christian mother of five is the first woman to receive a death sentence for blasphemy in Pakistan.

Bibi’s attorney filed an appeal and signed a petition pleading for a presidential pardon. (more…)

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