Christians face ‘organised persecution’ from Islamists in Middle East, says Prince Charles

Prince Charles and Prince Ghazi bin Mohammad of Jordan arrive for a visit to a Syriac Orthodox Church in London -THE INDEPENDANT – Adam Withnall – 18 December 2013

Victims and family members of those being ‘attacked’ told the Prince about their experiences in the region.

Christians in the Middle East are being “deliberately attacked” in a campaign of persecution led by Islamist militants, Prince Charles said.

Many minority religious organisations have fled the region in the turmoil following the Arab Spring, and in Egypt particularly violence against Coptic Christians saw a marked increase after Muslim Brotherhood president Mohamed Morsi was overthrown.

Yesterday the Prince of Wales visited a number of British branches of churches based in the region, and heard from members whose families had suffered from religiously-motivated violence and murder.

Accompanied by Prince Ghazi of Jordan, he spoke to people at the Egyptian Coptic Church centre in Stevenage and the Syriac Orthodox cathedral in west London, before a reception at Clarence House with the Archbishops of Canterbury and Westminster and the Chief Rabbi.

“We cannot ignore the fact that Christians in the Middle East are, increasingly, being deliberately attacked by fundamentalist Islamist militants,” Prince Charles told the audience.

“For 20 years, I have tried to build bridges between Islam and Christianity and to dispel ignorance and misunderstanding.

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For Urgent Action – Churches attacked in Sri Lanka by Buddhist Monks & Mobs

Monks attacking Church in Sri LankaDear family & friends in Christ,

While we in Australia and in the West enjoy the freedom to worship, Christians around the world are persecuted and attacked for the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

Christians in at least 3 churches badly damaged in Sri Lanka have been attacked while worshipping on Sunday the 12th January 2014.

Assembly of God on the Baddegama Road in Hikkaduwa and the Calvary Free Church were both attacked by the mobs yesterday.

Check the following links.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EUHCQyxK3ps&feature=youtu.be  (Ada Derana News on Hikkaduwa Church attacks – Pastor Daniel has spoken personally to the Pastor in this broadcast who is a personal friend)

http://dbsjeyaraj.com/dbsj/archives/27450

http://colombogazette.com/2014/01/12/police-report-to-court-on-church-attack/

http://www.ft.lk/2014/01/13/two-churches-attacked-in-hikkaduwa/

http://www.ceylontoday.lk/16-52769-news-detail-churches-attacked-in-hikkaduwa.html

Please note that although the national news broadcast is in the Sri Lankan language, the footage very clearly shows the Buddhist Monks and mob attacking the church.

Once on the main news site, click on ‘Sunday 12th, Jan 2014.’

http://www.swarnavahini.lk/news/ (need to select news on noon news 12.01.2014 – clip 1 )

Before more churches and Christians are attacked please take some time to act ASAP by emailing or calling the following Sri Lankan High Commission in your respective country.

Following are the contact details for the Embassies (High Commissions) of Sri Lanka in America, England, Australia.

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Continue ReadingFor Urgent Action – Churches attacked in Sri Lanka by Buddhist Monks & Mobs

7-Year-Old Boy in India Tortured, Murdered for Christian Faith

 The son of a believer, Anmol went missing after attending Sunday school at a Believers Church on Nov. 17 in northern India. His body was found the following day. (11/27/2013 Taun Cortado – Charisma

The body of a 7-year-old boy in India retrieved from a pond last week revealed horrific details of torture before he was brutally murdered because of his Christian beliefs.

The son of a believer, Anmol went missing after attending Sunday school at a Believers Church on Nov. 17 in northern India. His body was found the following day. Previous threats and persecution of his family indicate he was targeted because of his family’s faith.

“The unprecedented torture and death of this innocent child sadden our hearts incredibly,” says K.P. Yohannan, Gospel for Asia founder and international director. “Persecution of Christians is a weekly occurrence, but this intensity of brutality against a child is unthinkable. In this horrible tragedy, we find strength and hope in Jesus.”

According to Yohannan, persecution of Christians has increased by more than 400 percent in the past few years.

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UK: Schoolchildren told they would be punished for racism if they didn’t attend religious workshop on Islam

Raymond IbrahiUK - Schoolchildren told they would be punished for racism if they didn't attend religious workshop on Islamm – www.jihadwatch.org

“Headteacher Lynn Small wrote to parents and said if kids did not attend a ‘racial discrimination note’ would be made on the pupil’s records and would remain there for their school careers.” In other words, their futures would be destroyed. That’s how important it is to the dhimmi British to make sure that everyone has a positive view of Islam and forget about jihad terror and Islamic supremacism.

“Schoolchildren told they would be punished for RACISM if they did not attend a religious workshop on ISLAM,” from SWNS.com, November 22 (thanks to Blazing Cat Fur):

Parents today slammed a school after children as young as eight were told they would be punished for RACISM if they did not attend a religious workshop – on ISLAM.

Angry mums and dads were sent a letter by Littleton Green Community School, in Huntingdon, Staffs., warning their children would be considered racist if they did not go on the school trip.

The visit to Staffordshire University – for Year 4 and Year 6 pupils – had been arranged as part of the children’s “cultural education” on November 27.

Headteacher Lynn Small wrote to parents and said if kids did not attend a “racial discrimination note” would be made on the pupil’s records and would remain there for their school careers.

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Three American Teachers Slaughtered for Christian Faith in Muslim World

Ronald Thomas SmithDec 18, 2013 – Raymond Ibrahim – www.jihadwatch.org

Why was Ronald Thomas Smith II, an American teaching at Benghazi’s International School, shot to death last Thursday in Libya, even as he “was looking forward to his first Christmas in the United States with his wife and toddler son”?

Most Western media and analysts dismiss the killing as a random act of violence incited by a recent al-Qaeda video.

However, by connecting the dots and looking at precedence, it appears that Smith’s Christianity, specifically his talking about it among Muslims, was the motive behind the slaying.

First consider two facts gleaned from the AP report, “American killed in Benghazi remembered as ‘much loved teacher’”: 1) Smith once had plans to attend seminary, a place devoted to preparing Christians to share the Gospel—a crime according to Islamic law (recall the Coptic Christians tortured and killed on the accusation that they were proselytizing in Libya); 2) according to his home church in Texas, “Ronnie’s [Smith’s] greatest desire was for peace and prosperity in Libya and for the people of Libya to have the joy of knowing God through Christ” (emphasis added).

Then there is the fact that Smith was a “much loved teacher”—a phrase that immediately, if not eerily, brings to mind another very similar story of another “much beloved” American teacher who was killed in the Islamic world for talking about Christianity.

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The Bravest Woman I’ve Ever Met

Fire in My Bones – 11/6/2013 J. Lee Grady

Pentecostals get a bad rap these days from all sides. Secularists don’t like us because we are morally conservative. Some mainline Christians classify us as holy rollers. And fundamentalists like John MacArthur question our very faith, claiming that all our experiences with the Holy Spirit are fake.

But there is nothing fake about Althea Meyer. And there is no way this woman could get her impressive boldness from any other source than the Holy Spirit.

A dedicated missionary to the African country of Malawi, Althea has given her life to save as many starving children as possible. (Malawi has the highest death rate for children under 6 in the entire world.) After seeing her efforts on the field this week, I consider her one of the bravest Christians I’ve ever met anywhere.

I arrived in Malawi’s capital, Lilongwe, earlier this week to speak at a couple of conferences for women and pastors. I had already met Althea during one of her U.S. visits, but watching her fearlessness in this challenging environment has given me renewed respect for all other career missionaries who work tirelessly month after month on foreign fields.

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Revival in Indonesia – More than 1000 people commit their hearts to Jesus in 4 days

Dear family & friends in Christ,

All glory and praise to Jesus for His mighty hand at work in Indonesia, the biggest Muslim country in the world. Now it is estimated that up to 25 % of the 250 million population is Christian. This means it is more than all of the population in Australia.

Pr Daniel stated, “When you have to wait in a traffic block for 20-30 min to get into church and when 2 out of the 3 lanes of traffic on the main road are blocked because people are trying to get into church, you cannot help but thank the Lord for what He is doing in this Muslim country.

I believe Indonesia will not export Islam to the world, but will export the name of Jesus to Australia and the world. I am challenging the some 200+ Indonesian churches in Australia to rise up and take Australia for Jesus.”

On Sunday the church where Pr Daniel preached has 6 services (7am, 9am, 11am 3pm, 5pm & 7pm) with each service having around 1500+ people. God moved most powerfully through Pr Daniel and the team that went with him from CTFM at the Christmas Crusade.

You may click the following links to watch some exciting footage.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0l3q9zoIs6c&feature=youtu.be

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HKmwJLeoO14&feature=youtu.be

More than 1000 people dedicated their hearts to Jesus and hundreds were healed, delivered and set free.  More than 300 people were baptised in the Holy Spirit and prayed in tongues for the very first time. Many people with demons started screaming and rolling all over the floor as Pr Daniel commanded them to leave in Jesus name.

One particular very powerful testimony is of a young Muslim couple who brought their little boy born blind to the altar for prayer. They came out with hundreds of people for a healing touch. Glory to God this little boy’s eyes opened. The parents told the Pastor of the church, “Now, we will come to church and not go to the mosque anymore.”

“Thank you Jesus for the supernatural hand of God at work!”

Pr Daniel stated, “When you see Leaders and helpers in the churches of Indonesia come at 6.30am, leave church around 10pm at night on Sunday, and then ask them how they do it, they simply say, ‘It is the Lord’s day’.

In Australia and the West, most Christians come to church once on Sunday, but say we want revival to see Australia and the Nations transformed.

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Continue ReadingRevival in Indonesia – More than 1000 people commit their hearts to Jesus in 4 days

Persecuted and Forgotten 2013 Report – Situation of Christians in in many countries has deteriorated

The cover image of the report shows the destruction of the Virgin Mary Church in Imbaba, Cairo, Egypt, May 2011ACN News ^ | 10/18/2013

In many countries the situation of Christians has sharply deteriorated. This is the finding of the report Persecuted and Forgotten? which was launched at a meeting in the UK Houses of Parliament on 17th October by the UK office of the international Catholic charity Aid to the Church in Need (ACN). The report examines the situation of Christians in 30 different countries, including Afghanistan, China, Laos, Pakistan, Vietnam and Zimbabwe. In particular it analyses the situation in a number of majority Islamic countries and in those states whose political systems have a pronounced authoritarian character. The reporting period covers the past two-and-a-half years.

The principal finding of the report is that in two-thirds of the countries where persecution of Christians is most severe, the problems have become arguably even worse. In fact the Church’s very survival in some parts – notably the Middle East – is now at stake.

For Christians the so-called “Arab spring” has in many cases become what the report calls a “Christian winter”. Although the political upheavals have brought suffering to people of all faith communities, nonetheless it is above all the Christian confessions that have experienced the most open hostility and violence. They have become victims of every kind of political, economic, social and religious conflict – for example the conflicts between Sunni and Shi’ite Muslims. As a result, a great many Christians have been forced to flee. The report describes the exodus as reaching “almost biblical proportions”.

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Continue ReadingPersecuted and Forgotten 2013 Report – Situation of Christians in in many countries has deteriorated

Britain in danger of becoming ‘anti-Christian’

Britain in danger of becoming 'anti-Christian'Saturday 12 October 2013 – CHRISTIAN TODAY

Britain is not only in danger of becoming “unchristian” but also “anti-Christian”, the former Bishop of Rochester has warned.

Bishop Michael Nazir-Ali was speaking at the launch of Wilberforce Publications, a new Christian publishing house seeking to equip Christians to “face the challenges of the secular world”.

The bishop, who is also President of OXTRAD, said that persecution “always begins with marginalisation and discrimination in the workplace and in public life”.

His comments echo his foreward to a new book from Wilberforce Publications, Christians in the Firing Line by Dr Richard Scott, in which he wrote: “We are made immediately aware of the price to be paid and the cost involved whether it is loss of employment, the threat of being struck off the registers of professional bodies or just unpopularity in the community or the media.

“… In my experience, the exclusion from employment or participation in public life, which the people in these cases have tasted, as well as discrimination because of belief, which they have also experienced, is often the beginning of persecution.”

Dr Scott was disciplined by the General Medical Council for talking to a patient about his faith, and wrote the book to highlight instances of Christian employees who had been “warned, blacklisted, suspended or dismissed for refusing to compromise their biblical principles”.

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Bangladeshi Christians told to close church, convert to Islam

Published 03 October 2013  |  World Watch Monitor

A local government official in central Bangladesh has halted the construction of a church, forced Christians to worship at a mosque and threatened them with eviction from their village unless they renounce their faith.

The Tangail Evangelical Holiness Church in Bilbathuagani village, Tangail district, about 100 kilometres north of Dhaka, was created Sept. 8 by a group of about 25 Christians who had been meeting secretly for three years.

However, local council chairman Rafiqul Islam Faruk joined around 200 demonstrators September 13 to protest against the start of the building of the church.

The following day, the Christians were summoned to his office. More than 1,000 Muslims waited outside, following an announcement at all local mosques to gather at the chairman’s office.

Ordered to embrace Islam

Mokrom Ali, 32, told World Watch Monitor he was forced to accept Islam. (more…)

Continue ReadingBangladeshi Christians told to close church, convert to Islam

Heathrow Airport worker challenges ‘anti-Islam’ dismissal

Nohad Halawi is contesting her dismissal from a Heathrow Airport duty free counter where she worked for over a decadeCHRISTIAN TODAY – Published 04 October 2013  |  Mark Caplin

Nohad Halawi is contesting her dismissal from a Heathrow Airport duty free counter where she worked for over a decade

A Christian woman who was dismissed from her work at a Heathrow airport beauty counter over claims she was “anti-Islam” is taking her case to an employment appeal tribunal today.

Nohad Halawi denies the accusation, which arose after a conversation she had with a colleague, in which she described him as a “man of God”, was taken by another Muslim colleague to be a criticism of Islam.

She is being supported by the Christian Legal Centre, which says that although the dispute was resolved by her manager, another Muslim colleague started spreading false rumours that Mrs Halawi was “anti-Islam”.

This led to the management taking the decision to suspend and withdraw her airside pass, which is required to work at the airport.

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Doctor refused to refer couple for sex-selective abortion: faces possible loss of his license

In a statement in 2011, Dr. Hobart had said he believes abortion is murderby Andrew Smith, LifeSiteNews Australian correspondent – Mon Oct 07, 2013

MELBOURNE, October 8, 2013 (LifeSiteNews.com) – An Australian doctor with an unblemished record is at risk of losing his medical registration for refusing to refer a couple for a sex-selective abortion.

According to reports, the couple wanted to abort their healthy daughter, who was 19 weeks gestation, because they wanted a boy. While Dr. Mark Hobart refused to refer the couple, they subsequently obtained the abortion elsewhere.

In a statement in 2011, Dr. Hobart had said he believes abortion is “murder.”

For the last five months Dr. Hobart has been under investigation by The Medical Board of Australia and the Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency (AHPRA), because of his actions.

Under the Victorian state Abortion Law Reform Act 2008, a doctor who has a conscientious objection to abortion is compelled to refer a patient on to another practitioner who does not hold that objection.

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Prophecy Scholar: America At The Crossroads

America as the crossroadsPaul McGuire http://www.wnd.com/

America faces two futures, says internationally-recognized prophecy expert and Fox News, CNN and History Channel commentator Paul McGuire in his new book, “A Prophecy of the Future of America.”

In one scenario, the church and the nation turns back to God and experiences what world-renowned evangelist Billy Graham calls an end-times “great spiritual awakening.”In the other, America doesn’t repent of its immorality and experiences a “crisis of unprecedented proportions” – a complete economic collapse, a surprise nuclear or terrorist attack or a wave of devastating earthquakes, tsunamis, hurricanes, solar flares and other cataclysmic disasters.“Billy Graham is the closest thing we have in America to a genuine prophet of God, and I believe God is using him to issue a prophetic warning and a prophetic message of hope to America,” said McGuire, who hosted the nationally syndicated “Paul McGuire Show” for a decade.“It is one every one of us should heed, and I totally agree with him, I support what he’s doing, and I urge everyone to get involved in the kind of repentance he’s calling for,” McGuire said. “I personally urge everyone to get involved because this is the only hope for America.”

Continue ReadingProphecy Scholar: America At The Crossroads

If judges ban religion from our courts, guess who gets to play God…

Can it be that the judges have decided to replace God with their own views, asks Peter HitchensMail Online By Peter Hitchens 3 November 2013

For what exactly is it that holds up the law? Why should parents have charge over their children, teachers over their pupils? Why should we stop  at zebra crossings if we’re in a hurry? Why give a seat to a pregnant woman or an old  man? Lots don’t. Why pay your debts or your taxes, if you can get out of it?

Authority, and the test of  what was right or wrong, used to come from the Christian religion. But Sir James Munby, a distinguished High Court Justice, is the keenest of several judges to say that is all finished now.

He says ‘Once upon a time, the perceived function of the judges was to promote virtue and discourage vice and immorality.’ But he adds: ‘I doubt one would now hear that from the judicial bench.’

 Idoubt it too. Lord Justice Laws said back in 2010 that providing legal protection to one religion over another would be ‘deeply unprincipled’. ‘This must be so, since in the eye of everyone save the believer, religious faith is necessarily subjective,’ he remarked.

Of course, that’s so in a way. Faith is a choice. But the respect given to Lord Justice Laws and Sir James Munby is much more subjective, as is the set of beliefs which seat them on the Bench and pay their salaries.

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Continue ReadingIf judges ban religion from our courts, guess who gets to play God…