Christian Schoolgirl Spends 15th Birthday in Boko Haram Captivity for Refusing to Convert

May 17, 2018 — Breitbart.com reports: “The jihadist terror group Boko Haram continued to hold a Christian schoolgirl captive after 85 days for refusing to renounce her faith and convert to Islam after she turned 15 this week.

Leah Sharibu, one of the 110 girls Boko Haram kidnapped from their school in northeast Nigeria’s Dapchi region on February 19, recently turned 15 while in captivity.

Boko Haram has released all Dapchi girls except for Leah.

Nigeria’s Premium Times reported this week, ‘The kidnapped teenage student, Leah Sharibu, will on Monday mark her 15th birthday in the custody of her captors. Miss Sharibu is the only one of the schoolgirls kidnapped from Dapchi still with the terror group, Boko Haram.’

Citing her schoolmates, her parents, Nathan and Rebecca Sharibu, told USA Today in March that the terrorists will not release her until she converts to Islam.

‘My daughter is alive, but they wouldn’t release her because she is a Christian. They told her they would release her if she converted, but she said she will never become a Muslim. I am very sad, but I am also overjoyed because my daughter did not denounce Christ,’ Nathan told the newspaper…” (“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” – Revelation 2:10.  Jesus said in the Beatitudes: “Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness’ sake: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.  Blessed are ye, when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake.  Rejoice, and be exceeding glad: for great is your reward in heaven: for so persecuted they the prophets which were before you” – Matthew 5:10 – 12.) 

China Aid: President Xi Jinping Views Christian Churches as ‘Severe National Security Threat’

April 22, 2018 — Breitbart.com reports: “Chinese President Xi Jinping harbors a ‘particular animosity’ toward Christians and sees underground churches as a ‘severe national security threat,’ according to the founder of China Aid, a U.S.-based watchdog group.

China Aid founder and president Bob Fu told a conference on religious persecution last week that the number of persecuted Christians has ‘dramatically increased’ under the reign of President Xi Jinping who has ‘animosity against Christianity in particular.’

‘The number of people we documented who are persecuted among just Christians alone last year reached 223,000 compared to these 48,000 in 2016,’ Mr. Fu said.

Whereas underground churches that operate outside state control are seen as a particular threat, growing attendance even at official churches has provoked hostility from the Xi government.

Mr. Fu said the communist-controlled state is forcing churches to install facial recognition systems to identify those attending services. Every church building was ‘forced to put a sign banning children, students, civil servants, military personnel, and communist party members from entering,’ he said…”  (Great persecution will soon overtake most Christians in a majority of the world. USA Today reported that Christianity is the most hated religion in the world. “Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness’ sake: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are ye, when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake. Rejoice, and be exceeding glad: for great is your reward in heaven: for so persecuted they the prophets which were before you.” – Matthew 5:10 – 12. However: 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.” – Revelation 2:10. See the next two reports.)

16 Killed in Nigerian Church Attack, Police Say

April 25, 2018 — Voice of America News reports: “Seminomadic herdsmen armed with guns killed 16 people Tuesday in an attack on a church congregation in a central state of Nigeria plagued by communal violence, police said.

Hundreds of people have died in clashes this year between herders and farmers in central Nigeria in an outbreak of violence that has put pressure on President Muhammadu Buhari less than a year before an election he wants to contest.

The bloody clashes, linked to grazing rights and dwindling fertile land, have raised questions about the government’s ability to maintain security in the country.

Moses Yamu, a police spokesman in Benue state, said the attack took place around 6 a.m. (0500 UTC) in the village of Ayar Mbalom, in Gwer East local government authority.

‘Sixteen persons were confirmed killed, including two priests,’ said Yamu…”

Church shooting: At least 15 dead after gunmen open fire on CAR worshippers

May 2, 2018 — ChristianToday.com reports: “At least 15 people including a Catholic priest were killed in Bangui, Central African Republic (CAR) on Tuesday, when unidentified gunmen opened fire on a church service.

The gunmen attacked Notre Dame de Fatima church, launching grenades and gunfire on the congregation during its morning mass.

‘Filled with panic, some Christians began to flee until bullets and grenades began to fall in the parish grounds, trapping those who remained in the compound,’ Moses Aliou, a priest at the church, told Reuters. Trapped congregants were forced to escape the area through a hole made in the church wall by police…”

Pakistani Christian Girl Murdered in Acid Attack After Refusing to Marry Muslim

April 24, 2018 — Breitbart.com reports: “A Christian woman in Pakistan was murdered in an acid attack after refusing to marry a Muslim man.

According to Pakistan Today, 25-year-old Asma Yaqoob from the city of Sialkot had been working as a beautician in the city of Sialkot when she met Rizwan Gujjar through her 23-year-old brother Nabeel Yaqoob.

Rizwan quickly fell in love with Asma and began pressuring her to convert to Islam before asking her to marry him. After she rejected his advances, he planned a revenge attack.

Her father, Yaqoob Masih, claimed in his First Information Report filed with Sialkot’s Civil Lines Police that Rizwan had ambushed Asma by knocking on the door.

‘On April 17, my son Maqsood and I went to Zaman’s house around to meet Asma and to inquire after the health of Zaman’s mother,’ Mashi said. ‘We were sitting in a room when there was a knock on the front gate. Asma went out to see who had come when after some time we heard her screaming in pain.’

‘Zaman, Maqsood and I rushed outside to see what had happened and saw the accused Rizwan Gujjar fleeing from the scene while Asma was engulfed in flames,’ he continued, adding that she ‘suffered 80 per cent burn injuries on her face and body.’

Asma was taken to Mayo Hospital, Lahore with 90 percent burns, but later succumbed to her injuries…”  (This was not the normal honor killing where her family carried out the murder, but it is a result of another individual feeling slighted and felt that she had dishonored him.  According to the Honor Based Violence Awareness Network there are 5,000 honor killings internationally per year.  1,000 of them occur in India, 1,000 occur in Pakistan, It is estimated that between 23 – 27 honor killings occur annually in the United States.  This is a result of Shariah law – all the women who bring “dishonor” upon their family by premarital sex, extramarital sex, or marrying an unapproved husband, or any other offense, such as becoming too “Westernized” are to be slaughtered.)