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CONTENDING FOR THE FAITH

U.S. churches warned of ‘jihadist’ threat

WND.com reports: “Police in Fort Collins, Colo., are warning local churches to report any suspicious behavior after a self-proclaimed ‘Islamist jihadist’ threatened Mormons and Catholics ‘would be destroyed’ in the next two weeks [August 1 – 14, 2013].

 

According to the Coloradoan, police released a memo describing an unnamed white man in his early 30s who was stopped for attempting to shoot a video while driving. Wearing a T-shirt wrapped around his head and a bandana and sunglasses over his face, the man reportedly claimed he was the Archangel Michael and told police everyone would know who he was in the next two weeks, but didn’t elaborate or make threats specific enough to warrant arrest.

 

The man is also reportedly linked to a white Honda coupe spray-painted with ‘F— DHS’ (Department of Homeland Security) on the trunk, ‘Rev 14-7&8’; on its side and ‘YHVH’ (the Hebrew name for God) on the back bumper and hood.

 

The verse on the vehicle, Revelation 14:7, reads, ‘Fear God, and give glory to him; for the hour of his judgment is come: and worship him that made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and the fountains of waters.’…” (This Jihadist sounds more like an imposter posing as a jihadist terrorist to create trouble for Muslims. While I speak out against jihadists, I take this person as a mentally impaired fake, a false prophet – Matthew 24:5, 11, and 24. Nevertheless, we must be watchful.)


 

Military Censors Christian Chaplain, Atheists Call for Punishment

Breitbart.com reports: “A Christian chaplain in the military is being officially censored for engaging in free speech, and anti-Christian activists are demanding he be punished.

Lt. Col. Kenneth Reyes is a Christian chaplain currently serving in the U.S. Air Force. He is stationed at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson in Alaska. As an ordained clergyman whose duties are to provide religious instruction and spiritual counseling, he has a page on the base’s website called ‘Chaplain’s Corner.’

Reyes recently wrote an essay entitled, ‘No Atheists in Foxholes: Chaplains Gave All in World War II.’ This common saying is attributed to a Catholic priest in World War II, made famous when President Dwight D. Eisenhower said during a 1954 speech: ‘I am delighted that our veterans are sponsoring a movement to increase our awareness of God in our daily lives. In battle, they learned a great truth that there are no atheists in the foxholes.’

As reported by Fox News’s Todd Starnes, when Reyes referenced this famous line in his essay, the Military Religious Freedom Foundation (MRFF) contacted the base commander, Col. Brian Duffy, demanding he take action on Reyes’s ‘anti-secular diatribe.’

MRFF’s letter says that by Reyes’s ‘use of the bigoted, religious supremacist phrase, ‘no atheists in foxholes,’ he defiles the dignity of service members.’ They accuse him of violating military regulations…” (The great and terrible hour is coming soon when Islamists jihadists and even ungodly American and Canadian atheists will persecute American and Canadians like Muslims are doing in scores of nations. Soon Revelation 6:9 and Revelation 20:4 will break out in our two countries and praise God we will be evacuated – Revelation 3:10. See the next report.)


 

U.S. city looks to penalize Bible believers

WND.com reports: “Think it’s hot in Texas these days? Just wait a few weeks, until the San Antonio City Council ends its summer hiatus and resumes work on a proposed change to its nondiscrimination ordinances that apparently will discriminate against all who take the Bible at its word and follow it.

That’s because the change creates a penalty for those who ever exhibit a ‘bias,’ which clearly could include adopting the Bible’s condemnation of homosexuality, with a permanent ban on participation in city government, business or employment.

Opponents of the plan, which would add ‘sexual orientation’ and ‘gender identity’ to the nondiscrimination ordinances, charge it is a violation of constitutional Article VI, paragraph 3, which states, ‘[N]o religious test shall ever be required as a qualification to any office or public trust under the United States.’

The opponents explain that the ordinance would bar anyone from office who has ‘demonstrated a bias’ against someone based on categories that include ‘sexual orientation.’

The proposal, however, does not define ‘bias,’ which, according to local church leaders, could mean someone who declares homosexual behavior is sinful.

The new ordinance would state: ‘No person shall be appointed to a position if the city council finds that such person has, prior to such proposed appointment, engaged in discrimination or demonstrated a bias, by word or deed, against any person, group or organization on the basis of race, color, religion, national origin, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, veteran status, age, or disability.’

Anyone in office who demonstrates a bias would be considered guilty of ‘malfeasance’ and removed from office…”


 

Egypt: Christian Beheaded as Islamist Violence Escalates

Israel National News reports: “Amidst continuing unrest in Egypt, the country’s Coptic Christian minority is facing an alarming campaign of violence at the hands of Islamist extremists.

In the most recent case, the decapitated body of 60 year old Magdy Habashi was found early Thursday [July 11, 2013] in a cemetery in the town of Sheikh Zweid, in northern Sinai, after being abducted last Saturday by suspected Islamist radicals. He was the second Christian to be killed in northern Sinai in less than a week, following the assassination of Coptic Christian priest Mena Aboud Sharoben in the coastal city of Arish by suspected Islamist gunmen last Saturday [July 6, 2013].

Elsewhere, Christian groups have reported numerous attacks against churches and Christian-owned homes by violent mobs. In one particularly grave incident, the murder of a Muslim in the southern village of Nagaa Hassan triggered claims that local Christians were responsible. Seizing the opportunity, a mob of Muslim extremists armed with axes, knives and clubs descended on the Christian community, murdering at least four people, injuring dozens and setting fire to scores of homes.

Coptic Christians comprise only 10 percent of Egypt, which has boiled over with intrigue and rage since the January 25 revolution in 2011 that toppled the 30-year regime of former President Hosni Mubarak.

The new Coptic pope, Tawadros II, has been unusually vocal in his criticism of the Muslim Brotherhood and in supporting the ouster of the Brotherhood-backed president Mohammed Morsi. His predecessor had discouraged Copts from involving themselves in politics, fearing a backlash from the country’s Muslim majority. Those concerns appear to have been well-founded…” (The next six reports reveal the hatred of Muslims for Christians. Sharia Law is being presently accepted in numerous nations and calls for the death of those who worship the True Jesus, the Son of God, and not the phony prophet Jesus, the Koran calls Isa who becomes executioner of all Jews and Christians either by crucifixion or beheading – Sura 5:33 and 47:4 in the Koran.)


 

Syria: Jihadist Rebels Kidnap Priest

Israel National News reports: “Al Qaeda-linked rebels in the eastern Syrian city of Raqqa on Monday [July 29, 2013] abducted a prominent Italian Jesuit priest who championed the uprising against President Bashar al-Assad, activists told the Reuters news agency.

Members of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant kidnapped the priest, Paolo Dall’Oglio, while he was walking in the city which recently fell under the control of Islamist brigades, the sources said.

Syrian authorities expelled Dall’Oglio from the country last year after he helped victims of Assad’s military crackdown from a monastery north of Damascus.

Over the past several weeks, a second civil war has begun brewing in war-ravaged Syria, between the more moderate, Western-backed rebel groups and the Islamist extremist groups…” (More about Islam, the religion of love and peace; Christianity merits the titles. Here is what Jesus taught – “By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another” – John 13:35 and “Hereby perceive we the love of God, because he laid down his life for us: and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren” – I John 3:16.)


 

Assyrian Christians told ‘If you want to come back, convert to Islam, or die

ChristianToday.com reports: “According to the Assyrian International News Agency, Assyrian Christians who have fled from an area of Syria called al-Thawrah (also known as al-Tabqah), have been told by rebels, ‘If you want to come back, convert to Islam, or you will be killed.’

An AINA story said, ‘Accounts by Assyrian refugees from reveal the real face of the Islamist undercurrent within the Syrian opposition. Furthermore, these accounts serve as a stark and chilling reminder of what has already been suffered by non-Muslim communities in Iraq since 2003.

‘On February 11, rebel fighters from the al-Nusra Front took control of the city and its strategic dam, the largest of its kind in the country. They also seized control of the three quarters that housed dam workers – many of whom were Christian Assyrians.

Whilst they allowed the dam’s original staff to remain in the city in order to continue its operation, management and upkeep, those who were not Sunni Muslim were not afforded the same privilege.

One Assyrian refugee was reported as saying, ‘Everything is now in Jabhat al-Nusra’s hands. All the Muslims stayed there, but if any Christians want to go back they have to become Muslim or else they will be killed.’…” (The invitation of Christianity differs grossly from Islam’s call to convert. Theirs is ‘convert or die’; Christianity’s invitation is recorded in Matthew 11:28 – 30 “Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.” And Revelation 22:17 “…the Spirit and the bride say, Come. And let him that heareth say, Come. And let him that is athirst come. And whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely.”)

 

 

Leader: ‘Open Season’ on Nigerian Christians by Islamists

Israel National News reports: “Christians in Nigeria are an endangered species, according to Pastor Ayo Oritsejafor, president of the Christian Association of Nigeria. Oritsejafor met this week [July 29th] with U.S. lawmakers, pleading for help in combating the Islamist groups, which have mercilessly attacked Christian communities for the past several years – making Nigeria one of the most dangerous places in the world for Christians.

Currently there are some 80 million Christians in the country, but many of them, especially in the north of the country, have faced terror and death at the hand of Islamist groups such as Boko Haram, whose leader, Abubaker Schekau, has personally murdered hundreds of Christians, and helped plan the murders of many more. In 2012, more than 100 Christians died on average each month in northern Nigeria, many by members of the Jihad group.

In a recent troubling development, Oritsejafor told legislators that Islamists have begun targeting not only churches, but also schools – shooting up classrooms with children in attendance. Islamists have declared all schools except those teaching Islam illegal, and Boko Haram is intent on enforcing that law, as well as others drawn from Sharia Islamic law. ‘It is open season on Nigeria’s Christians,’ Oritesejafor told the legislators…” (God’s Children, genuine Christians, are being butchered by these religious murderers. They believe they will be rewarded with 72 virgins; instead Revelation 21:8 and 22:15 states: “But the fearful, and unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone: which is the second death”, “For without are dogs, and sorcerers, and whoremongers, and murderers, and idolaters, and whosoever loveth and maketh a lie.”)

 

 

Iranian Christians continue to face arrest, imprisonment

ChristianToday.com reports: “The steady flow of Iranian Christians facing arrest and imprisonment on spurious charges continues.

In Shiraz, famous for its cultural significance to Iranians as the home of Persepolis (the ancient ‘city of the Persians’) and the poet Hafez’s tomb, eight Christians were jailed last week (July 16) for ‘action against national security’ and ‘propaganda against the system’.

Mohammad Roghangir, Massoud Rezaie, Mehdi Ameruni, Bijan Farokhpour Haghighi, Shahin Lahooti, Suroush Saraie, Eskandar Rezaie and Roxana Forughi were sentenced to between one and six years in prison. They were arrested in October last year – seven of them picked up from the same prayer meeting.

Earlier this month near the capital, Tehran, 28-year-old Christian convert Ebrahim Firouzi was charged with ‘promoting Christian Zionism’.

Firouzi was arrested in March while at work and released on bail in May. At his trial at the Revolutionary Court in his hometown of Robat Karim, just to the south-west of the capital, he was also charged with ‘attempting to launch a Christian website, contact with suspicious foreigners and running online church services’…” (Our Lord states: “…be thou faithful unto death, and I will give thee a crown of life” – Revelation 2:10. James 1:12 tells us: “Blessed is the man that endureth temptation: for when he is tried, he shall receive the crown of life, which the Lord hath promised to them that love him.”)

 

 

Pakistan: Christian facing life imprisonment for blasphemy

ChristianToday.com reports: “Convicted of blasphemy, Sajjad Masih Gill, 28, a Christian resident of District Pakpatan-Punjab, has been fined USD $2000 and is now looking at a life prison sentence.

According to a report by Aftab Alexander Mughal, editor of Minorities Concern of Pakistan, Judge Mian Shahzad Raza handed down the unexpectedly heavy sentence on July 13.

Mughal said according to the Dawn newspaper, Gill had been charged with sending blasphemous text messages that defiled the name of Muhammad and insulted Islam, to clerics and a number of influential people.

Mughal said this is the first case in Pakistan of someone being accused and convicted of blasphemy by text messages.

Mughal said on Dec. 18 2011, one of the blasphemous texts was reportedly received by Malik Muhammad Tariq Saleem, a businessman living in Gojra, District Toba Tek Singh. The following day, Mughal said, Muhammad Tariq filed a complaint with area police…” (The Sharia Blasphemy law viciously puts to death all girls who commit premarital sex, plus all gays, apostates and infidels. Christianity teaches love “…the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin” – I John 1:7.)