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CONTENDING FOR THE FAITH

Report: 2015 Saw ‘Most Violent’ Persecution of Christians in Modern History

January 21, 2016 — Breitbart.com reports: “The brutal, worldwide persecution of Christians during the past year makes 2015 ‘the most violent and sustained attack on Christian faith in modern history,’ according to a watchdog organization that has been monitoring Christian persecution for decades.

Open Doors, an organization founded in 1955 to assist persecuted Christians, publishes an annual ‘World Watch List,’ documenting attacks on Christians and ranking the most hostile national environments for believers.

‘The 2016 World Watch List documents an unprecedented escalation of violence against Christians, making this past year the most violent and sustained attack on Christian faith in modern history,’ Open Doors CEO David Curry said at the rollout of the list.

Persecution in ‘continuing to increase, intensify and spread across the globe,’ he said…”  (The above headline again proves that Islam is not the “Religion of Peace”.  Instead the violent deaths will continue according to God’s Word — Revelation 20:4.  Concerned?  All believers will be removed before Satan’s heyday.  Proof – God says:  “Because thou hast kept the word of my patience, I also will keep thee from the hour of temptation, [testing] which shall come upon all the world, to try them that dwell upon the earth” [Revelation 3:10].  How is this possible?  “After this I looked, and, behold, a door was opened in heaven: and the first voice which I heard was as it were of a trumpet talking with me; which said, Come up hither, and I will shew thee things which must be hereafter” [Revelation 4:1]; “For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent [precede]  them which are asleep.  For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first:  Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord. Wherefore comfort one another with these words” – I Thessalonians 4:16 – 18.  See the next report.)


 Map shows Christians facing violent Muslim persecution

February 5, 2016 — Israel National News reports: “The Christian aid group Voice of the Martyrs (VOM) has published a new ‘Prayer Map’ highlighting countries where Christians face violent persecution at the hands of Islamic extremists around the globe.

The organization says the primary purpose of the map is to ‘encourage people to pray for persecuted Christians.’ A quick review of the map serves to teach much regarding the state of Christian persecution throughout the world, especially by radical Islamists…

One side of the new map identifies countries where Christians are persecuted, tortured, imprisoned and even killed because of their faith. Nearly every Muslim country in the world is colored ‘restricted’ on the map, meaning that government policy or practice ‘prevents Christians from obtaining Bibles or other Christian literature,’ or that ‘government-sanctioned circumstances or anti-Christian laws that lead to believers being harassed, imprisoned, killed or deprived of basic needs.’…”

 

Even in Italy, Christian Converts from Islam Live in Fear of Reprisals

February 9, 2016 — Breitbart.com reports: “Recent reports suggest that over a thousand converts to Christianity from Islam currently live in Italy, but hide their conversions for fear of retaliation from the Muslim community against themselves and their families.

A 55-year-old Egyptian chemical engineer who now works a waiter in a city of central Italy, was a fervent Muslim who converted to Christianity in Italy after the death of his mother and was baptized three years ago.

The man, who asked to remain anonymous to avoid retribution from Muslims, said that the decisive element in his conversion came from seeing Christians with ‘a humanity more complete than mine’ and wanting to find what they had found.

Still, he openly expresses his frustration with having to hide his newfound faith. ‘I cannot openly practice my Christian faith. I am afraid that some fanatical Muslim may do harm not only to me, but especially to relatives who remained in Egypt.’

‘How is it,’ he asks, ‘that Italians who convert to Islam can go on TV and talk about it, and instead I have to hide to avoid retaliation?’

The name Italians are using to refer to the believers who must conceal their religion as ‘ghost Christians.’…”  (“Fear none of those things which thou shalt suffer: behold, the devil shall cast some of you into prison, that ye may be tried; and ye shall have tribulation ten days: be thou faithful unto death, and I will give thee a crown of life.  He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches; He that overcometh shall not be hurt of the second death” – Revelation 2:10, 11.)


 Study: Christianity Dying in Britain, Only Islam Growing

January 19, 2016 — Breitbart.com reports: “Long known for its indifference to religion, Britain continues to become less and less religious, with a record 46 per cent of the UK adult population now espousing no religion whatsoever.

A new survey by researchers at Lancaster University reveals that only 42 per cent of Brits identify as Christians, despite the fact that England remains one of the last confessionally Christian nations in the world, with the Anglican communion enjoying official status as the state religion.

Britain, in fact, is one of only a handful of countries in the world that is swiftly moving from having a Christian majority to a ‘no religion’ majority, with only the Muslim faith bucking the trend toward implosion.

While the Church of England is only ‘one generation away from extinction,’ as Lord Carey, the former Archbishop of Canterbury, warned earlier this year, Islam is quickly coming forward to take its place…” (“…many false prophets shall rise, and shall deceive many.  And because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold.  But he that shall endure unto the end, [of the church age] the same shall be saved.  And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations; and then shall the [this] end come” [Matthew 24:11 – 14].  Then why is Islam taking over Britain? The answer: “Now the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils” [I Timothy 4:1].  See the next three reports.)


 Al Shabaab Kills Christians in Raid on Village in Coastal Kenya

February 5, 2016 — MorningStarNews.org reports: “In a pre-dawn raid on a predominantly Christian area in coastal Kenya on Sunday (Jan. 31), Islamic extremist Al Shabaab rebels killed at least four Christians, beheading one of them, area sources said.

In the Kaisari area of Maporomoko village, near Pandanguo about 25 miles inland from the Indian Ocean town of Lamu, Al Shabaab rebels attacked from 1 a.m. to 5 a.m., a wounded survivor at Mpeketoni Sub-County Hospital told Morning Star News.

The victim, a Christian from the Maporomoko-Bondeni area who was shot in his right hand, said there were five or six heavily-armed assailants who spoke Somali and were dressed in military uniform. They shot two Christians to death, hacked and beheaded another and killed at least one other by setting his house on fire, he said.

‘I could not understand them, so they shot me in my hand, but I managed to escape while a neighbor who was with me was beheaded by the other attackers,’ the Christian (name withheld) said from his hospital bed. ‘As I fled for my life bleeding, I could see two houses burning. Those who were attacked are Christians. I am very sure that the attackers were looking for Christians.’

The beheaded man was identified only as Mwaura, a Christian…”  


 Pakistani Police Strip Christian Man Naked, Beat Him to Death with Logs

February 4, 2016 — Breitbart.com reports: “A gruesome story of anti-Christian police brutality has emerged from the Punjab province of Pakistan, where police allegedly tortured a Christian man to death in an attempt to make him confess to stealing from his Muslim employer.

When a wealthy Muslim businessman was robbed last November, he accused his Christian employee, 47-year-old Liaqat Masih, of the crime, and reportedly ‘pressured police’ to arrest and force a confession out of the man and his son, Khurram. The businessman, Mohammad Raza Hameed, is a leader of the Pakistan Tehreek Insaf political party in the community, and although he had many Muslim employees, he only accused Masih, a Christian who had served as his driver for over 15 years.

Based on the accusations, the police arrested Masih and his son and brought them in for interrogation. When the son Khurrum refused to confess to the crime, the police forced him to strip, tied him up and beat him. When the young man continued to protest his innocence, the police brought his father in and also ordered him to strip naked.

The officials made Masih stand on a chair so they could tie his hands behind his back and hang him from the ceiling, causing the dislocation of the man’s shoulders. Khurram, who was made to watch the entire ordeal, said that each time his father’s feet would touch the floor, a police officer would yank the rope to lift him up again and continue applying pressure to his arms and dislocated shoulders…”


 India: 12 Arrested for Converting to Christianity

January 20, 2016 — Breitbart.com reports: “Indian authorities in Madhya Pradesh state have arrested and jailed 12 individuals, charging them with having converted to Christianity in violation of laws forbidding religious conversions.

The 12, who included a blind couple—Balu Saste and his wife Bhuri—with their 3-year-old child, were arrested on January 14 in Dahar village and sent to jail the following day. On Jan. 17, seven of the prisoners were subsequently released on bail while the others continue to serve their sentences.

Police Chief Inspector Umesh Chandra Tiwari said that Saste was ‘already accused in another three-year-old conversion case.’

‘We did not know why we were arrested and sent to jail,’ said another of the group, 35-year-old Janu Bai, after being released from prison.

Bai said that the group had gathered at the home of one of the group, Shankar Singh, to celebrate the Hindu harvest festival of Makarsankrati.

‘I have faith in Jesus and regularly pray to him,’ said Singh, who claims to have led an unhappy life and struggled with alcoholism ‘before experiencing the love of God’ with the assistance of some ministers…”