This is not a Scripture study, it's a plea.
It is a plea for you to wake up and do something. A plea for anguished prayer and fasting because it is believed that some 100 million Christians now face persecution daily for their faith across the globe.
That's a third of the population of the United States. That's 5 out of every 100 Christians on the planet. Outside the U.S. and Europe, 12 out of 100 Christians face tribulation for their faith!
This is your call to open your eyes and respond with action and voice because many parts of the world present a grave danger. This is a plea for you to start a prayer group and to speak and write to your congressman. It is a plea for you to donate and support advocacy efforts in protecting people in persecution. Many face violent persecution and death from terrorists including bombings, armed attacks, kidnappings, murder, sexual assault, slavery, human trafficking, arson, hijackings and other 'beast-like' horrors that include beheading and crucifixion.
The Jewish rabbi Paul taught that “if one member of the body of Messiah suffers, all the members suffer...” (1Corinthians 12:26)
It's time to do something and Africa is the next ground zero for tribulation and our generation's war on terrorism!
Today in Nigeria, Christian tribulation comes from militant Fulani herdsmen and radical Islam's Boko Haram resurgence of the extremist Islamic horrors of the Ottoman Empire that just 100 years ago assaulted and murdered the Christian Armenian people of today's nation we call Turkey.
Millions died in the Armenian Genocide and most of the world was silent then and remain so today about the mass killings by the Islamic madmen of Nigeria.
Today, most in the global news press wear blinders and simple ignore the daily tribulation horrors in Nigeria and beyond. We must break the silence on Boko Haram and other terror groups.
Your voice holds power and can save lives.
In areas beyond Nigeria, extreme radical terrorists are branded with other names. Like the spotted leopard noted in Revelation 13:2 these labels include al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades, Al-Nusra Front, al-Qaeda, Al-Shabaab, Egyptian Islamic Jihad, Hamas, Hezbollah, Houthis, Indian Mujahideen, Korean People's Army, Muslim Brotherhood, Palestine al-Muslima, Palestine Liberation Front, Palestinian Islamic Jihad, Quds Force, Taliban, Yarmouk Martyrs Brigade and many others not named.
There will be others with new names from the terrorist's pits of hell and horror.
The responsibility of prayer in grief for the suffering of those injured, abducted and murdered in these terrorist attacks of tribulation is every person's duty that believes in the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.
In areas beyond Nigeria, extreme radical terrorists are branded with other names. Like the spotted leopard noted in Revelation 13:2 these labels include al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades, Al-Nusra Front, al-Qaeda, Al-Shabaab, Egyptian Islamic Jihad, Hamas, Hezbollah, Houthis, Indian Mujahideen, Korean People's Army, Muslim Brotherhood, Palestine al-Muslima, Palestine Liberation Front, Palestinian Islamic Jihad, Quds Force, Taliban, Yarmouk Martyrs Brigade and many others not named.
There will be others with new names from the terrorist's pits of hell and horror.
The responsibility of prayer in grief for the suffering of those injured, abducted and murdered in these terrorist attacks of tribulation is every person's duty that believes in the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.
In America we are righty horrified by the rise of mass shootings especially in our schools as precious, innocent children are murdered. That vicious insanity is carried out in Nigeria and most of us don't hear or know about the terrorism and tribulation there.
The United States Department of Defense officially defines terrorism as: “the calculated use of unlawful violence or threat of unlawful violence to inculcate fear; intended to coerce or to intimidate governments or societies in the pursuit of goals that are generally political, religious, or ideological.”
The Bible has a word for terrorism, it is צַר "tsar" and it means "tribulation. adversary, affliction, anguish, distress, enemy, sorrow and trouble."
The Hebrew word is first seen in Genesis 14:20 as the "enemy" is identified, but we don't see it in English translations.
"Tsar" צַר is a keyword in the latter day prophecy of Moses that he recorded some 3,500 years ago and it declares a return to repentance and God's mercy with a promise:
No one was silent then. We can't be now.
The United States Department of Defense officially defines terrorism as: “the calculated use of unlawful violence or threat of unlawful violence to inculcate fear; intended to coerce or to intimidate governments or societies in the pursuit of goals that are generally political, religious, or ideological.”
The Bible has a word for terrorism, it is צַר "tsar" and it means "tribulation. adversary, affliction, anguish, distress, enemy, sorrow and trouble."
The Hebrew word is first seen in Genesis 14:20 as the "enemy" is identified, but we don't see it in English translations.
"Tsar" צַר is a keyword in the latter day prophecy of Moses that he recorded some 3,500 years ago and it declares a return to repentance and God's mercy with a promise:
"When you are in צַר tribulation, and all these things come upon you in the latter days, you will return to the LORD your God and obey his voice. For The LORD your God is a merciful God.
He will not leave you or destroy you or forget the covenant with your fathers that he swore to them." Deuteronomy 4:30-31Nigeria's tribulation and forgotten victims are linked to the horrors that al-Qaida afflicted on America with the terror attacks of 9/11 at the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center in New York.
No one was silent then. We can't be now.
Since the fall of the towers in Manhattan 'the west' received its wake up call to tribulation as . Since that day terror has increased like birth pangs.
Worse than that, the entire world was a witness to the World War II Jewish Holocaust the Bible calls "Jacob's Trouble" just 70 years ago. It is tied to the tsarah צָרָה that the prophet Jeremiah describes:
Worse than that, the entire world was a witness to the World War II Jewish Holocaust the Bible calls "Jacob's Trouble" just 70 years ago. It is tied to the tsarah צָרָה that the prophet Jeremiah describes:
"Alas! for that day is great, so that none is like it: it is even the time of Jacob's trouble; but he shall be saved out of it." Jeremiah 30:7By God's miracle, a remnant of the Jewish people were saved out of Ya`aqob's tsarah horrors of the Holocaust of six million Jews. Saved out of it, a small remnant of brave Judah formed the state of Israel.
The tiny nation was born in a day on May 14, 1948 fulfilling Isaiah 66:8:
The Jewish people have been persecuted for thousands of years, sadly and horrifically by members of "the church" that believed the lies of a new religion replacement theology. In a twisted view of God's word in the Bible, so-called Christians turned against the Jewish people because they are set apart in that they hold fast to God's Torah teaching and instruction that Jesus explained.
The tide has now turned as Christians are persecuted and the evil is linked to Islamic extremists that wage jihad-religious wars.
Yet, the ad-driven media and many pulpits ignore many ancient Biblical prophecies and whitewash "terrorism" by omitting reference to the word tribulation that has arising from radical Islamic jihad. The media and most readers ignore the connection to Ishmael's prophecy from the angel of the LORD:
"Who has heard such a thing?Who has seen such things?Shall a land be born in one day?Shall a nation be brought forth in one moment?For as soon as Zion was in laborshe brought forth her children."What we see today in the burning, looting, bombing and murder and persecution of Christians is a part of Jeremiah's warning. It was seen in the Armenian Genocide that is being revived in Nigeria and beyond.
The Jewish people have been persecuted for thousands of years, sadly and horrifically by members of "the church" that believed the lies of a new religion replacement theology. In a twisted view of God's word in the Bible, so-called Christians turned against the Jewish people because they are set apart in that they hold fast to God's Torah teaching and instruction that Jesus explained.
The tide has now turned as Christians are persecuted and the evil is linked to Islamic extremists that wage jihad-religious wars.
Yet, the ad-driven media and many pulpits ignore many ancient Biblical prophecies and whitewash "terrorism" by omitting reference to the word tribulation that has arising from radical Islamic jihad. The media and most readers ignore the connection to Ishmael's prophecy from the angel of the LORD:
"He will be a wild donkey of a man, whose "hand is against everyone" in hostility toward all his brothers." Genesis 16:12Many people have their eyes closed in slumber thinking this grave warning to the Egyptian woman Hagar can't be a part of the birth pains that Yeshua warned His disciples about in Matthew 24:6-8. Why the confusion?
The problem... there's a misguided belief in a pulpit sermon that Jacob's Trouble lies ahead with an escapist mindset of a church swept away in an ethereal pre-trib rapture escape to a mansion in a cloud leaving the Jewish people and those left behind with them to suffer.
Not only that, the media never uses the Biblical keyword, "tribulation." There's no Darby-sermon pre-trib rapture. The truth is the radical wild donkey terrorists with a hand against everyone have found dark refuge in areas that attract demon-like extremists. They are using words from the Koran and its Hadiths to conspire in the vicious horrors of tribulation.
Most it seems slumber waiting for a rapture ride that denies this plain in your face warning from Jesus of Nazareth:
So far, tribulation terror has only grazed a blow against America in our post 9/11 backyard, yet there is a daily pandemic of 'tribulation' across the Islamic world of the Middle East, Africa as well as Indonesia.
Sadly, Christian tribulation is muted below our money hungry headlines and our escape hatch of sports and entertainment. Like a deadly virus, most of the evil of this pestilence is hidden from view, but it is headed west like an hot east wind that will blow like it has around Israel since 1948 when the nation formed in a day faced more war after the birth pain tribulation of the Holocaust.
Yeshua told His Jewish disciples about the timing and He related it to the parable of the fig tree that is blossoming today in Israel:
Our first duty is to provide our prayer warrior's support
for anyone that faces the abyss of tribulation.
We must do all we can whether the tribulation is in Israel, Nigeria or in Sudan, Somalia, Yemen, Syria, Iraq, Iran, Afghanistan, Pakistan, India, North Korea or anywhere else on the planet.
If we seek truth -- we must wake up, open our eyes and our hearts because tribulation from this predator Islamic beast wants to crush both Christian and Jewish people. This is not on some fake future post rapture headline. It is real, and it is now!
In Nigeria, Boko Haram was founded by Muhammad Yusuf. His terror of tribulation against Christians was engaged just a year after 9/11 in 2002. Then, in 2010, Abubakar Shekau took command of Boko Haram and he immediately announced that “jihad has begun.”
Abubakar Shekau turned his focus on death and kidnapping by targeting Christian women and children with arson, vehicle rampage attacks, random bombings, spree shootings, stabbings, hijackings and sex slavery as foretold by Revelation 20:4.
Revelation speaks of those that hold to the testimony of Jesus and those that hold to the Word of God.
Last but not least, remember what Yeshua (aka Jesus) has to say.
One thing is certain, you can believe His words of truth. He warned and explained the words given to Moses and other prophets like Daniel, Ezekiel, Jeremiah:
The attacks are brutal with guns, knives and fire bombs. They occur virtually on a weekly basis.
The reason for this is that any Christian is considered an infidel by these vicious, evil fanatic jihadists that oppose the people of the book. Christians are condemned by the jihadists just like the Jewish people of Israel that are attacked as infidels of so-called occupation for their belief. Christians are hated for their acceptance of Jesus as the Messiah and Jews for their rejection of Mohammed as "The Prophet."
"Then they will deliver you up to tribulation and put you to death, and you will be hated by all nations for my name’s sake." Matthew 24:9Today, the Christian "west" is somewhat isolated from many threats, but I fear change is coming just as the Bible declares because the kingdom of darkness is rising up from the pit of hell.
So far, tribulation terror has only grazed a blow against America in our post 9/11 backyard, yet there is a daily pandemic of 'tribulation' across the Islamic world of the Middle East, Africa as well as Indonesia.
Sadly, Christian tribulation is muted below our money hungry headlines and our escape hatch of sports and entertainment. Like a deadly virus, most of the evil of this pestilence is hidden from view, but it is headed west like an hot east wind that will blow like it has around Israel since 1948 when the nation formed in a day faced more war after the birth pain tribulation of the Holocaust.
Yeshua told His Jewish disciples about the timing and He related it to the parable of the fig tree that is blossoming today in Israel:
“From the fig tree learn its lesson: as soon as its branch becomes tender and puts out its leaves, you know that summer is near.
So also, when you see all these things, you know that he is near, at the very gates." Matthew 24:32-33Despite the resurrection miracle of the re-birth of Israel, the deadly beast of terror is at the gates and it's a dragon's plague in Nigeria Africa. Boko Haram is spreading terror and tribulation as revived remnants of the Ottoman Empire "beast" are devouring just as it is described in Daniel 7.
We must do all we can whether the tribulation is in Israel, Nigeria or in Sudan, Somalia, Yemen, Syria, Iraq, Iran, Afghanistan, Pakistan, India, North Korea or anywhere else on the planet.
If we seek truth -- we must wake up, open our eyes and our hearts because tribulation from this predator Islamic beast wants to crush both Christian and Jewish people. This is not on some fake future post rapture headline. It is real, and it is now!
In Nigeria, Boko Haram was founded by Muhammad Yusuf. His terror of tribulation against Christians was engaged just a year after 9/11 in 2002. Then, in 2010, Abubakar Shekau took command of Boko Haram and he immediately announced that “jihad has begun.”
Abubakar Shekau turned his focus on death and kidnapping by targeting Christian women and children with arson, vehicle rampage attacks, random bombings, spree shootings, stabbings, hijackings and sex slavery as foretold by Revelation 20:4.
Revelation speaks of those that hold to the testimony of Jesus and those that hold to the Word of God.
"And I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded because of their testimony about Jesus and because of the word of God."You may not realize it, but Moses warnings are ringing true. They are not done away with. Due to disinfected news reports from our moderated, western news sources in the U.S. and across Europe, Moses warnings have been silenced, and if you are like I once was, thinking that tribulation is "down the road" in a future 7-year tribulation time-line... then think again, re-read your Bible and check the real headlines.
Last but not least, remember what Yeshua (aka Jesus) has to say.
One thing is certain, you can believe His words of truth. He warned and explained the words given to Moses and other prophets like Daniel, Ezekiel, Jeremiah:
"For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom, and there will be famines and earthquakes in various places." Matthew 24:7The Apostle John gives a dire picture about a beast kingdom from his vision recorded in Revelation 12:17 and a warning to those that hold to the testimony of Jesus:
"For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be earthquakes in various places; there will be famines. These are but the beginning of the birth pains." Mark 13:8
"Then he said to them, “Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom." Luke 21:10
"Then the dragon became furious with the woman and went off to make war on the rest of her offspring, on those who keep the commandments of God and hold to the testimony of Jesus."Grave tribulation is the clear and present danger in the Biblical lands of Syria, Egypt, Iraq and Iran where Christians face displacement or genocide afflicted by radical Muslim factions. In Nigeria, Boko Haram terrorists are prolific and they are brutally attacking thousands of Christian houses of worship and prayer as well as schools, malls and villages across northern Nigeria.
The attacks are brutal with guns, knives and fire bombs. They occur virtually on a weekly basis.
The reason for this is that any Christian is considered an infidel by these vicious, evil fanatic jihadists that oppose the people of the book. Christians are condemned by the jihadists just like the Jewish people of Israel that are attacked as infidels of so-called occupation for their belief. Christians are hated for their acceptance of Jesus as the Messiah and Jews for their rejection of Mohammed as "The Prophet."
In Nigeria, Christians are killed or captured to serve as jihadist's slaves of recompense.
The slaughter by Mohammed's radical jihadists can be credited to these words of horror:
"Fight in the cause of Allah those who fight you, but do not transgress limits; for Allah loveth not transgressors. And kill them wherever you find them, and drive them out from whence they drove you out, and persecution is severer than slaughter, and do not fight with them at the Sacred Mosque until they fight with you in it, but if they do fight you, then slay them; such is the recompense of the unbelievers." — Qur'an 2:191
Nigeria is becoming much like Sudan where nearly 2.5 million people have been killed according to religioustolerance.org by the Janjaweed, the Muslim government sponsored militia, and many more Christians face hatred and the prospect of death for what they profess to believe just as Jesus (Yeshua) said.
Yet, if 2.5 million people were killed in North America as it has already happened in Sudan, practically every pulpit sermon would declare that the church has been abandoned and left behind.
Tribulation in Africa exists now, it's a clear and present danger.
The slaughter by Mohammed's radical jihadists can be credited to these words of horror:
"Fight in the cause of Allah those who fight you, but do not transgress limits; for Allah loveth not transgressors. And kill them wherever you find them, and drive them out from whence they drove you out, and persecution is severer than slaughter, and do not fight with them at the Sacred Mosque until they fight with you in it, but if they do fight you, then slay them; such is the recompense of the unbelievers." — Qur'an 2:191
Nigeria is becoming much like Sudan where nearly 2.5 million people have been killed according to religioustolerance.org by the Janjaweed, the Muslim government sponsored militia, and many more Christians face hatred and the prospect of death for what they profess to believe just as Jesus (Yeshua) said.
Yet, if 2.5 million people were killed in North America as it has already happened in Sudan, practically every pulpit sermon would declare that the church has been abandoned and left behind.
Tribulation in Africa exists now, it's a clear and present danger.
Yet, it's not just within Nigeria and Sudan. Africa has always had a key storyline in the Bible., it started with Egypt. The evil of Pharaoh is spreading again as extreme radical Islamists are connected to the crucible of the Middle East and Mecca. Africa is the current hotbed for the religious descendants of Ishmael. Christianity is vanishing there while the Jewish people of Israel face the daily risk of knives and rockets raining down from Gaza.
Radical jihadist hatred has poured into Africa virtually unnoticed by most radicalizing those filled with hate with the sole objective to abduct Christians and murder them for their faith in Jesus.
In radical Muslim factions, the evil of this Sharia jihad has resulted in increasing attacks against Christians in the Sudan, Nigeria, Tanzania, Kenya and Uganda as African Christians face tribulation foretold by the prophets and Messiah Yeshua. In the Hindu world, the reality of Christian persecution is rising as well.
The tribulation of the saints is happening in real time, right now before your eyes despite the promotion of American "end-time" book sellers, sermonizers and prophecy lecturers that predict a fake-future in which "the church" will not exist on the planet. The fact is tribulation is taking place today in Africa and the nations that surround the Holy Land.
Radical jihadist hatred has poured into Africa virtually unnoticed by most radicalizing those filled with hate with the sole objective to abduct Christians and murder them for their faith in Jesus.
In radical Muslim factions, the evil of this Sharia jihad has resulted in increasing attacks against Christians in the Sudan, Nigeria, Tanzania, Kenya and Uganda as African Christians face tribulation foretold by the prophets and Messiah Yeshua. In the Hindu world, the reality of Christian persecution is rising as well.
The tribulation of the saints is happening in real time, right now before your eyes despite the promotion of American "end-time" book sellers, sermonizers and prophecy lecturers that predict a fake-future in which "the church" will not exist on the planet. The fact is tribulation is taking place today in Africa and the nations that surround the Holy Land.
Despite that Christianity has grown in sub-Saharan Africa and the Asia-Pacific region so this commentary is your wake up call.
It is here because it tears my heart apart to see this tribulation and know that anyone ignoring these horrors may do so because they think they will be whisked away in a cloud to play a harp floating away in Heaven as others suffer and die.
If you are one of those that believe in a vapor trail for salvation, it's time to believe Jesus. My question to you is where's the rapture bus in Africa? Where's the rapture in Syria and the Middle East, did it take a wrong turn?
Seriously, will "the church" be innocent in ignoring the tribulation of these saints? Are we so blind and deaf that we ignore this Revelation reality?
If you are one of those that believe in a vapor trail for salvation, it's time to believe Jesus. My question to you is where's the rapture bus in Africa? Where's the rapture in Syria and the Middle East, did it take a wrong turn?
Seriously, will "the church" be innocent in ignoring the tribulation of these saints? Are we so blind and deaf that we ignore this Revelation reality?
If so, may God forgive us now as we wake us up!! We must repent of any prideful or arrogant attitude NOW and get on our knees and pray. Psalms 80:1-3 is a place to start as dark forces of hatred want to wipe Jewish and Christian people off the map:
Pray and plead for the persecuted everyday. Pray for those in Africa and beyond. Pray for them on your knees. Pray for the saints of Syria, Lebanon, Iran and Iraq.
Pray too for those in North Korea. People there face a madman infested with evil that seeks nuclear destruction. Pray for your backyard too.
This is not some pre-trib warm up!
The terror of tribulation today is horrific and grievous and many Christians still attending Sunday services across the USA are oblivious to the truth that the Bible's prophetic storyline has always been a vortex focused on the Middle East and Africa.
Christianity began in the Middle East and North Africa and now it is seeing its demise there in a mass extinction that is not known by most.
Many forget Biblical geography... Egypt is in Africa and it was front and center 4,000 years ago when the descendants of Israel were enslaved by a cruel slave driving Pharaoh. Today, the Believers there continue to suffer in grave Coptic persecution from the Muslim Brotherhood. The Coptic Christians of Egypt have endured persecution and tribulation for centuries.
Further south in Nigeria, Boko Haram's radically extreme Islamists have machine gunned and fire bombed whole Christian congregations, killing worshipers while in church and schools. Boko Haram are killing hundreds in their weekend sprees of death waiting for worshippers to gather in the name of Jesus.
“Give ear, O Shepherd of Israel,We must never forget the faithful people of Nigeria, Africa and beyond... Joseph was in Africa today there is grave persecution and we must do something.
you who lead Joseph like a flock.
You who are enthroned upon the cherubim, shine forth.
Before Ephraim and Benjamin and Manasseh,
stir up your might and come to save us!
Restore us, O God;
let your face shine,
that we may be saved!”
Pray and plead for the persecuted everyday. Pray for those in Africa and beyond. Pray for them on your knees. Pray for the saints of Syria, Lebanon, Iran and Iraq.
Pray too for those in North Korea. People there face a madman infested with evil that seeks nuclear destruction. Pray for your backyard too.
This is not some pre-trib warm up!
The terror of tribulation today is horrific and grievous and many Christians still attending Sunday services across the USA are oblivious to the truth that the Bible's prophetic storyline has always been a vortex focused on the Middle East and Africa.
Christianity began in the Middle East and North Africa and now it is seeing its demise there in a mass extinction that is not known by most.
Many forget Biblical geography... Egypt is in Africa and it was front and center 4,000 years ago when the descendants of Israel were enslaved by a cruel slave driving Pharaoh. Today, the Believers there continue to suffer in grave Coptic persecution from the Muslim Brotherhood. The Coptic Christians of Egypt have endured persecution and tribulation for centuries.
Further south in Nigeria, Boko Haram's radically extreme Islamists have machine gunned and fire bombed whole Christian congregations, killing worshipers while in church and schools. Boko Haram are killing hundreds in their weekend sprees of death waiting for worshippers to gather in the name of Jesus.
Many of the Christians that have lost their lives are women and children.
Boko Haram have targeted the slaughter of Christian village pastors and executed the children of Muslims that have converted to Christianity. These murders and assassinations have gone on for well over a year in Nigeria.
It is a if the 5th Seal broke in Africa in 1983 when the Government of Sudan and the Sudan's People Liberation Movement began their persecution and tribulation of the Christian world in Africa, yet the faithful Christians there have not seen any 'pre-trib' rapture for these souls who will be glorified and honored in the first resurrection by The Lord God Almighty. Revelation 6:9 speaks of them:
Christian persecution has been a witness to the words of Jesus, it has increased like the birth pangs of Messiah over the past 20 years in places like Indonesia and in other countries around the vortex of Israel.
The future is now. Wake up!
Revelation's 5th seal contagion of terror is spreading!! Christians are now virtually extinct in much of the Middle East as persecution in Syria is a tribulation rampage. Al-Qaeda backed rebels has gone mad and Christian persecution in Egypt is rising from the radical precepts of the Muslim Brotherhood.
You can learn more about the Facts on Nigerian Violence where Boko Haram, a radical Islamic jihadist and takfiri militant terrorist organization based in northeast Nigeria are staging murderous attacks and also forcibly enslaving non-Muslim survivors. Elsewhere in Africa, groups like al-Shabab, another extremist group linked to al-Qaeda are engaged in grave tribulation for Christians.
Nigeria has about twice the population of Egypt and 30 million more people than Russia, 40 million more than Japan and 53 million more than Mexico for crying out loud.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Tribulation Action - Prayer Requests ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Prayer requests are posted here because the time is now to do something.
Boko Haram have targeted the slaughter of Christian village pastors and executed the children of Muslims that have converted to Christianity. These murders and assassinations have gone on for well over a year in Nigeria.
It is a if the 5th Seal broke in Africa in 1983 when the Government of Sudan and the Sudan's People Liberation Movement began their persecution and tribulation of the Christian world in Africa, yet the faithful Christians there have not seen any 'pre-trib' rapture for these souls who will be glorified and honored in the first resurrection by The Lord God Almighty. Revelation 6:9 speaks of them:
"I saw under the altar the souls of those who had been slain because of the word of God and the testimony they had maintained."Nigeria is the most populous country in Africa and is ranked 7th in the world's population with 167 million people only behind China, India, the United States, Indonesia, Brazil and Pakistan.
Christian persecution has been a witness to the words of Jesus, it has increased like the birth pangs of Messiah over the past 20 years in places like Indonesia and in other countries around the vortex of Israel.
Revelation's 5th seal contagion of terror is spreading!! Christians are now virtually extinct in much of the Middle East as persecution in Syria is a tribulation rampage. Al-Qaeda backed rebels has gone mad and Christian persecution in Egypt is rising from the radical precepts of the Muslim Brotherhood.
You can learn more about the Facts on Nigerian Violence where Boko Haram, a radical Islamic jihadist and takfiri militant terrorist organization based in northeast Nigeria are staging murderous attacks and also forcibly enslaving non-Muslim survivors. Elsewhere in Africa, groups like al-Shabab, another extremist group linked to al-Qaeda are engaged in grave tribulation for Christians.
Nigeria has about twice the population of Egypt and 30 million more people than Russia, 40 million more than Japan and 53 million more than Mexico for crying out loud.
It's population is more than 100 million more than the populations of the U.K., France or Italy. Nigeria is not some isolated place in a jungle that you may have envisioned. It's census is larger than the populations of Turkey and Iran combined.
The facts on the ground is that Nigeria is divided. Roughly 50% of all Nigerians are Sunni Muslims in the Sharia dominated north, and 50% are Christians for the most part living in the south. If you have not seen the headlines, below are some of the horrific news reports that you need to know so that you can do something and fill the Altar of Incense with your prayers for Nigeria, Ethiopia, Somalia, Sudan, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Burundi, Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda and beyond:
"In 1983, the Arab Muslim-dominated Government of Sudan abrogated the autonomy of Black African Christian/traditionalist Southern Sudan and imposed Islamic law on the entire multi-religious country. Southern Sudan opposed these arbitrarily imposed measures through armed resistance. In response to rebellion in Southern Sudan, the Sudanese government began to arm Arab Muslim militias and use them as an instrument of its counter-insurgency policy. The Arab Muslim militias, sometimes supported by the Sudanese army, regularly raided the borderlands of Southern Sudan. They routinely burned villages, stole cows, goats and other movable property, shot men and captured women and children as slaves."
"Community leaders from the affected area have reported to CSI that over 200,000 women and children have been enslaved since 1983. In addition to those captured in slave raids, slave children are born in bondage to slave women. In 2008, a member of the Sudanese Parliament in Khartoum estimated that at least 35,000 were still enslaved in the borderland of Northern and Southern Sudan."
Wake up and tremble before God as you see today's Christian tribulation that now follows the great tribulation of the Jewish people from the Nazi holocaust of World War II that brought forth the nation of Israel in a day on May 14, 1948.
You must know that we are living in the times of prophecy declared by Daniel, Ezekiel, Zechariah, Joel and John and this time of terror and tribulation, this scorching heat is connected not only to Biblical prophecy but to your life right now.
Don't just sit there and NEVER forget.
Instead do something, hear and do! Shema... Put your spiritual armor on and join the prayers of incense of those that have been and are now persecuted and martyred, there is much prayer incense to be offered:
"Your prayers can transform the attitudes of those who do not believe in the progress and peace of our country, so pray that God will touch them so they can change for the better... only prayers could sustain a nation like Nigeria."
Pray for peace and protection in Nigeria and beyond! Pray alone or start a counter-tribulation prayer group and pray not only for Nigeria, but pray for the Sudan, Somalia, Mali, Gambia, Chad, Cameroon and Niger as terror throughout Africa's Lake Chad Basin area from Boko Haram's raids and suicide bombings targeting Christians and causing widespread tribulation as grave concern is growing for some 20 million at risk people across the Sahel area where the lives of countless men, women and children are being devastated.
It's not just tribulation from radical Islamic terrorism, starvation and famine is everywhere in Africa as well as disease, plagues and epidemics that demand urgent prayer and medical attention. These include AIDS, cholera, meningitis, dysentery, measles, yellow fever and ebola. Each pose serious threat to humanity and the African continent.
Also pray for people in all persecuted countries that face grave religious tribulation where one's profession of faith often yields a death sentence. One voice can make a difference. The voice of Frances Bok has been heard and still speaks out. His voice was the first of an abducted slave to speak before the United States Senate.
Somehow, I was oblivious to the horrors in Africa, that is until I saw the these reports, then I woke up...
The facts on the ground is that Nigeria is divided. Roughly 50% of all Nigerians are Sunni Muslims in the Sharia dominated north, and 50% are Christians for the most part living in the south. If you have not seen the headlines, below are some of the horrific news reports that you need to know so that you can do something and fill the Altar of Incense with your prayers for Nigeria, Ethiopia, Somalia, Sudan, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Burundi, Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda and beyond:
"And another angel came and stood at the altar with a golden censer, and he was given much incense to offer with the prayers of all the saints on the golden altar before the throne, and the smoke of the incense, with the prayers of the saints, rose before God from the hand of the angel." Revelation 8:3-4If you think you are disconnected or that the persecution violence is isolated to some Mideast desert or African plain, think again. Look closely, according to Christin Solidarity International:
"In 1983, the Arab Muslim-dominated Government of Sudan abrogated the autonomy of Black African Christian/traditionalist Southern Sudan and imposed Islamic law on the entire multi-religious country. Southern Sudan opposed these arbitrarily imposed measures through armed resistance. In response to rebellion in Southern Sudan, the Sudanese government began to arm Arab Muslim militias and use them as an instrument of its counter-insurgency policy. The Arab Muslim militias, sometimes supported by the Sudanese army, regularly raided the borderlands of Southern Sudan. They routinely burned villages, stole cows, goats and other movable property, shot men and captured women and children as slaves."
"Community leaders from the affected area have reported to CSI that over 200,000 women and children have been enslaved since 1983. In addition to those captured in slave raids, slave children are born in bondage to slave women. In 2008, a member of the Sudanese Parliament in Khartoum estimated that at least 35,000 were still enslaved in the borderland of Northern and Southern Sudan."
Wake up and tremble before God as you see today's Christian tribulation that now follows the great tribulation of the Jewish people from the Nazi holocaust of World War II that brought forth the nation of Israel in a day on May 14, 1948.
You must know that we are living in the times of prophecy declared by Daniel, Ezekiel, Zechariah, Joel and John and this time of terror and tribulation, this scorching heat is connected not only to Biblical prophecy but to your life right now.
Don't just sit there and NEVER forget.
Instead do something, hear and do! Shema... Put your spiritual armor on and join the prayers of incense of those that have been and are now persecuted and martyred, there is much prayer incense to be offered:
- Pray that Muslims receive visit from the Holy Spirit
- Pray to be prepared to explain the Bible to Muslims who have questions
- Pray to be prepared to explain why the Bible is God's Word
- Pray for Muslims every day that they understand the light of this truth
"After this I looked, and behold, a great multitude that no one could number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, with palm branches in their hands, and crying out with a loud voice, “Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!”" Revelation 7:9-10As to Nigeria, below is the national plea for prayer from former President Jonathan of Nigeria:
"Then one of the elders addressed me, saying, “Who are these, clothed in white robes, and from where have they come?” I said to him, “Sir, you know.” And he said to me, “These are the ones coming out of the great tribulation. They have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb." Revelation 7:13-14
"Your prayers can transform the attitudes of those who do not believe in the progress and peace of our country, so pray that God will touch them so they can change for the better... only prayers could sustain a nation like Nigeria."
Pray for peace and protection in Nigeria and beyond! Pray alone or start a counter-tribulation prayer group and pray not only for Nigeria, but pray for the Sudan, Somalia, Mali, Gambia, Chad, Cameroon and Niger as terror throughout Africa's Lake Chad Basin area from Boko Haram's raids and suicide bombings targeting Christians and causing widespread tribulation as grave concern is growing for some 20 million at risk people across the Sahel area where the lives of countless men, women and children are being devastated.
It's not just tribulation from radical Islamic terrorism, starvation and famine is everywhere in Africa as well as disease, plagues and epidemics that demand urgent prayer and medical attention. These include AIDS, cholera, meningitis, dysentery, measles, yellow fever and ebola. Each pose serious threat to humanity and the African continent.
Also pray for people in all persecuted countries that face grave religious tribulation where one's profession of faith often yields a death sentence. One voice can make a difference. The voice of Frances Bok has been heard and still speaks out. His voice was the first of an abducted slave to speak before the United States Senate.
Somehow, I was oblivious to the horrors in Africa, that is until I saw the these reports, then I woke up...
What does this all mean?
Consider a prayer: Please, God, guide me as to what I should do.
It's time for you to repent and return to God's voice, return to hear and do His word and walk in the faith of His Kingdom path so that you can ready your lamp for your coming assignment.
Prayer requests are posted here because the time is now to do something.
There is a direct correlation between the growth of radical Islamic jihad and tribulation in all forms across the planet as well as dictatorial paranoia and communist oppression in areas such as North Korea and China. Other religious nationalist persecution emanates from Buddhism predominant in India and Bhutan as well as Hinduism in Nepal, and there's more.
OpenDoors maintains a watchlist on the horrors anti-Christian tribulation. Regretably, they don't headline anti-Semitism as they should, but you can do more than read about these horrors by praying for the oppressed and those in danger.
You can also provide direct assistance with a financial gift to help those that help those persecuted in tribulation. Morningstar News provides a list of aid agencies that can help you get involved and help others in need around the world.
Persecution Watch seeks volunteers to help facilitate prayer groups that pray and lend a voice to the throne room of Almighty God specifically for persecuted Christians. They offer a magazine with online article copies and they highlight important news stories that point to immediate prayer and projects you can support around the globe.
From The Voice of The Martyrs: "Christians in Nigeria are no strangers to persecution. Violent attacks by Boko Haram and Fulani Islamic militants have affected families and churches, leaving many Christians without spouses, parents and homes. But faithful believers continue to follow and serve Christ in Nigeria. As our Nigerian brothers and sisters in Christ endure such persecution for Christ’s sake, you can stand with them through prayer and by giving. Your gift will help support Nigerian Christians in the following ways:
- Response to violent attacks, providing much-needed medical and other material assistance
- Replacement of Bibles destroyed by Muslim extremists
- Provision of ministry tools for front-line gospel workers reaching Muslims for Christ"
While many people it seems are waiting in pews for tribulation to arrive after they are wisked away in a rapture cloud, the reality on the ground is that absolute evil has arrived even if you don't see it in your neighborhood, but many do. The problem is most of mainsream media, hide it behind the curtain so you don't see it.
Prayer is a critical. As another prayer resource you can also check in with ACLED, the Armed Conflict Location Event Data Project for real-time crisis mapping across the African Continent, or ReliefWeb as they also provide a interactive disaster crisis map that will allow you to do something and also pray in real time for those in grave tribulation.
For urgent prayer updates on incidents in northern Nigeria and other areas like Syria or Iran as well as North Korea, Somalia, Eritrea, Afghanistan, Bhutan, Nepal, India, Pakistan, Libya, Iraq, Kazakhstan, Indonesia, Yemen, Lebanon, Saudi Arabia, Russia, China and other places that are hostile in one form or another to Biblical faith, you can get newsletters sent to your inbox from Open Doors so that you may pray daily for those in tribulation as persecuted people around the world or check their prayer alerts.
If you know of a resource for ant-Semitic acts against the people of The Book, the Jewish people, please write and share it with me. Just use the email button at the bottom right below.
Prayer is a critical. As another prayer resource you can also check in with ACLED, the Armed Conflict Location Event Data Project for real-time crisis mapping across the African Continent, or ReliefWeb as they also provide a interactive disaster crisis map that will allow you to do something and also pray in real time for those in grave tribulation.
For urgent prayer updates on incidents in northern Nigeria and other areas like Syria or Iran as well as North Korea, Somalia, Eritrea, Afghanistan, Bhutan, Nepal, India, Pakistan, Libya, Iraq, Kazakhstan, Indonesia, Yemen, Lebanon, Saudi Arabia, Russia, China and other places that are hostile in one form or another to Biblical faith, you can get newsletters sent to your inbox from Open Doors so that you may pray daily for those in tribulation as persecuted people around the world or check their prayer alerts.
If you know of a resource for ant-Semitic acts against the people of The Book, the Jewish people, please write and share it with me. Just use the email button at the bottom right below.
Don't be discouraged, but encouraged to do something and stand up and pray daily as a warrior with the armor of God: the belt of truth, a breastplate of righteousness, shoes of preparation, the gospel of peace, a shield of faith, the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit of God - His Word.
Use Almighty God's voice that's recorded in the Bible. Return the words to Him to pray for people in tribulation whereever they are. Pray for protection and healing and do something for the survivors and those that seek to help them!!
August 29, 2024: The Observatory of Religious Freedom in Africa (ORFA) has issued a 136 page report: Countering the myth of religious indifference in Nigerian terror © 2024 Observatory of Religious Freedom in Africa.
"Nigeria continues to face a multifaceted security crisis marked by widespread violence, particularly against religious communities. The data presented in this report covers a four-year period from 1 October 2019 to 30 September 2023 and provides critical insights into the patterns and dynamics of this violence. This executive summary presents 16 ‘highlights’ from the data. The most striking point is that the Fulani Ethnic Militia (FEM) are killing Nigerian civilians unopposed. Mass killings, abductions and the torture of whole families go largely unchallenged as government forces pursue targets hundreds of miles away, according to the research findings.
Nigeria was a very violent and insecure place to live in the 4-year reporting period, at least in parts of the country. In total 55,910 people were killed in 9,970 attacks, while 21,621 people were abducted in 2,705 attacks. There was some overlap. ORFA documented 11,610 distinct attacks in which people were killed and/or abducted. Out of these, 8,905 involved killings without abductions; 1,065 involved both killings and abductions; 1,640 involved abductions without killings. This is an average of 8 attacks per day involving killings and/or abductions over a 4-year period. These numbers include attacks with civilians, Security Forces and/or Terror Groups killed and abducted."
The study also documents 21,000 abductions and that 3.3 million Nigerians have been displaced from their homes.
March 11, 2024: Indian State Moves to Criminalize Praying for the Sick
"Last month, the northeastern state of Assam introduced the bill, which Christian leaders say unfairly targets their community’s custom of praying for the sick. Though church healing meetings in India have drawn people to Christ, local Christians insist that prayer is a legitimate, universal spiritual practice and not an unethical tool for conversion, as Hindu nationalists claimed."
India (MNN) — Thousands of people evacuated, an internet blackout, and military orders to shoot on sight.
The Indian government is trying to stifle frightening violence that broke out last week in Manipur state, as majority Meitei Hindus attack local tribal Christians.
A Gospel worker* with a ministry partner in India says, “Up to this point, I’ve received reports of 44 churches being attacked, burned, or otherwise destroyed just in the last 48 hours; and numerous pastors’ residences and church members’ homes being destroyed.
“Four [churches] are from a close partner church denomination to us, and a number of them are churches that we have worked with at some time or another.
“A lot of the Christians are fleeing into the military camps if they are nearby, and in some villages, just going straight into the jungles.”
April 10, 2023: Murderous terror attacks by Fulani Muslim herdsmen against Christians in Nigeria is horrific. MorningStar News headlines are absolutely heartbreaking.
Terrorists Kill Nine Christians in Plateau State, Nigeria
Slain Christian's son kidnapped.
April 4, 2023 By
Terrorists Kill More than 60 Christians in Benue State, Nigeria
Pastor, four others kidnapped in attack on church service.
April 3, 2023 By - Leave a Comment
Pastor’s Son and Church Leader Slain in Kaduna State, Nigeria
Terrorists kidnap pastor’s wife.
March 29, 2023 By - Leave a Comment
Terrorists Kill 27 Christians in Kaduna State, Nigeria
Fulani herdsmen and others attack two villages.
March 27, 2023 By - Leave a Comment
Suspected Herdsmen Kill 12 Christians in Benue State, Nigeria
Authorities ignored warnings about influx of cattlemen.
January 31, 2023 By - 2 Comments
Pastor Slain in NE Nigeria, Two Christians Killed in Delta
Islamic terrorism continues to push south.
January 30, 2023 By - Leave a Comment
Terrorists Kill, Kidnap Christians in Northern and Southern Nigeria
Church members terrorized in Kaduna and Enugu states.
January 25, 2023 By - Leave a Comment
Five Christians Killed in NE Nigeria, 12 in Middle Belt
Six members of family slain in one attack.
January 24, 2023 By - Leave a Comment
Pastor Shot, Christian Worshippers Kidnapped in Northwest Nigeria
Nigeria moves up to No. 6 among countries with the worst persecution.
January 18, 2023 By - Leave a Comment
Catholic Priest Burned to Death in Niger State, Nigeria
Assistant priest shot, hospitalized.
January 15, 2023 By - Leave a Comment
January 21, 2022: The persecution numbers are from Open Doors World Watch List. and it's as it the world is silent, ignoring the murder and religious persecution of Nigerian Christians.
Nigeria - "Christians continue to be brutally attacked in Northern Nigeria. Boko Haram, ISWAP, Fulani militants and other armed bandits have conducted devastating raids on Christian communities. The government continues to deny this is religious persecution, so violations of Christians' rights have been carried out with impunity.
5,621 Christians were killed for their faith last year. 90% of these were from Nigeria alone. The huge increase in violence in Nigeria and Sub-Saharan Africa has caused more Christians to lose their lives in the last 5 years. Christians killed in 2023 numbered 80% more than five years ago (3,066)."
February 1, 2023: [Persecution Watch] PRAYER ALERT: KILLING OF NIGERIAN CHRISTIANS CONTINUES
Despite a reduction in attacks against Christians in Nigeria in the second half of 2022, with Release International partners initially speculating that this was because of the lead-up to the elections, violence appears to have returned in January with more and more believers killed or kidnapped on an almost daily basis.
Morning Star News (MSN) reports that according to its sources suspected Fulani herdsmen killed five Christians on Sunday, January 22, in northeast Nigeria, following the slaughter of 12 believers the previous Friday in the country’s Middle Belt.
In Bauchi state’s predominantly Christian Tafawa Balewa County, area residents said militant herdsmen attacked the community of Gambar Sabon Layi, killing five Christians and kidnapping another. The area has been attacked by Islamist terrorists and Fulani herdsmen for several years and many of the villages lie in ruins, destroyed by raids that have driven Christian survivors to other parts of Nigeria.
In Benue state, in the country’s Middle Belt, armed Fulani in the pre-dawn hours of Friday, January 20, invaded the predominantly Christian community of Abagena, near Makurdi, the state capital, and killed 12 believers, area residents said in text messages to MSN.
Just three days before, five Christians were killed in the northern Kaduna state, while a church leader in the southeastern Enugu state said Christians there were ‘under siege’ following a terrorist attack and kidnappings.
This year we are running a major campaign to raise awareness about the ongoing plight of persecuted believers in Nigeria. ‘Out of these Ashes’ will be launched in the April edition of our Voice magazine.
January 17, 2023: PRAYER ALERT: ERITREAN CHRISTIANS ARRESTED
Please pray for a group of Eritrean Christians who have been arrested by the authorities.
Our partner reports that 44 believers – 39 women and five men – were seized while gathering in two private homes at new year.
The group are being held at Mai Serwa prison on the outskirts of the capital, Asmara.
UPDATE CHINA – Church demolished
Armed police pulled down a church in Wenzhou City in China’s Zhejiang province last week, according to our partner ChinaAid.
On the evening of January 11, the local government of Wenzhou forcibly demolished the Nangang Church without any agreement or compensation plan with the church. Nangang’s building and land, which covered an area of eight acres, was worth up to US$6 million.
Wenzhou City is home to more than one million Christians – one of the densest concentrations of believers in China.
PRAY
- For the release of all Christians being held in prison for their faith in Eritrea
- That God would protect these recently arrested believers and long-term prisoners and provide for their needs while using them to share the gospel behind bars
- That Nangang Church would receive more than adequate compensation for the loss of its building and land
January 5, 2023: NIGERIAN CHRISTIANS SLAUGHTERED AS ATTACKS CONTINUE
Violence against Christians in Nigeria shows no sign of let-up.
Following the slaughter of at least 40 believers in the week leading up to Christmas, another was killed and 53 kidnapped on December 25 in southern Kaduna state.
Militant Fulani herdsmen and other terrorists attacked Angwan Aku village in Kajuru County, at about 10am on Christmas Day, local resident James Akawu told Morning Star News (MSN).
‘Church worship service was about to commence when the attackers arrived at the village riding on motorbikes and shooting sporadically,’ Akawu told MSN. ‘They killed one Christian and kidnapped 53 others who are still being held captive.’
In Kaura County, residents said herdsmen and other terrorists killed 40 Christians in Mallagum on December 18 and another three Christians in Kagoro five days later, area sources said. More than 100 houses were burned down in Mallagum.
Kagoro is home to the Evangelical Church Winning All (ECWA) Theological Seminary, the ECWA College of Health Technology and several churches. Local resident Emmanuel Gandu said terrorists were destroying both lives and property.
‘The lucky survivors have become refugees in their land waiting for palliatives in an endless genocide they can’t understand,’ Gandu said. ‘Mass graves litter the community and the countryside. Our people can no longer go to their farms for fear of being gunned down or macheted.’
Settlements and villages yet to be attacked have become ghost towns as people have fled, he added. Without decisive and urgent action, Christians in Kagoro may be wiped out.
November 20, 2022: UKRAINE: EVANGELICAL LEADER AND SON TORTURED AND KILLED BY RUSSIAN FORCES
The bodies of a Ukrainian Evangelical church leader and his 19-year-old son have been discovered in a forest. They had been tortured and killed, four days after being abducted by Russian soldiers.
According to the Kharkiv Human Rights Protection Group and the Global Investigative Journalism Network, father and son were abducted by Russian soldiers at 7pm on November 22, while they were working in their garage, close to Kherson.
The reasons for their abduction are not known.
October 26, 2022: Fulani Terrorists Slaughter 70 Christians in Central Nigeria
"Nigeria (International Christian Concern) – According to media outlet Morning Star News, Fulani militants killed more than 70 Christians last week in a village in central Nigeria. The slaughter prompted state officials to acknowledge that the lack of government protection means citizens must defend themselves.
According to Terumbur Kartyo, the chairman of the Ukum Local Government Council in Benue State, “In just two days, over 70 Christians were killed by Fulani militiamen in Gbeji community in our local government area.”
Kartyo continued, sharing that the Fulani militants shot and injured more than 100 Christians in Udei and Yelewata villages, displacing thousands more who fled for their lives."
October 10, 2022: The Allied Democratic Forces (ADF) are a radical Islamist terror group operating in the Congo and Uganda.
"DRC (International Christian Concern) – Twenty Congolese Christians were killed and several others kidnapped after the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF) struck the village of Kainama, Beni territory in Nord Kivu on the night of October 4th. The bishop of the Beni Anglican Diocese confirmed the attack, terming it “a devastating occurrence that continues to bleed off hope that the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) has been praying for.”
Among the twenty people beheaded was Sobu Mundeke, an evangelist with the Anglican Church of Congo, who had traveled to Kainama to look for food for his displaced family in Beni. One of the first responders to the attack in the early morning of 5th October was Venerable Jeanpierre, the Archdeacon of Kainama, who reported to ICC,
“It pains me to inform you that we have lost 20 Christians of the Banande-Kainama camp and our evangelist, Sobu Mundeke, is one of them. Their bodies are lying all over, and houses have been burnt down by the ADF rebels. Sobu arrived last week from Beni in search of food for his family; little did he know that he was coming to be killed. We have also confirmed that other people are missing, and we know they have been taken away by the Muslim fighters.”
Sobu and his family were displaced from the same area on May 28, 2022, after the ADF militia group raided the Christian village of Vido, killing sixteen people and torching ten houses. They went to live in Beni town as internally displaced people, where the ICC team met him in June. He was depending on well-wishers for his family’s upkeep, and so he thought that going to the rich farming area of Kainama and coming back with food would save his thirteen-member family. This time, he did not make it.
The ADF Islamist militant group has continued to stage attacks on Christians in Eastern DR Congo, ceaselessly leaving behind a trail of unfathomable losses from killing innocent Congolese believers to destroying shelters, food stores, hospitals, and vehicles. Their aim is to impose Islamic rule on the Christians, and this they will do by violating the freedom of worship of believers in order to cause fear and recruit more people into Islam. After Sobu survived the first attack, he disclosed,
“I heard them. They were shouting in Arabic and Swahili, saying that the kafirs [nonbelievers] should be killed, all of them, and make Congo an Islamic state. Shoot all of them. Kill all of them, and burn their houses, these notorious Christians.”
The bishop of Beni has recounted a total of 50 deaths to the atrocities of the ADF terrorists since the beginning of this October."
September 30, 2022: The US Commission on International Religious Freedom released its policy update on Nigeria in September. The conclusion calls on the US government to get involved in five key areas. You can get involved too by writing your Congressional representatives now.
Go to https://www.usa.gov/elected-officials to find the contact information of every elected US official.
The US Commission update notes:
"Religious freedom violations represent one of several impacts of widespread violence and insecurity in Nigeria. Militant Islamist violence, identity-based violence at the intersection of religion, ethnicity, and geographic heritage, mob violence against individuals accused of blasphemy, and violence impacting worship all threaten Nigerians’ rights to freedom of religion or belief as protected under Nigerian and international law."
June 7, 2022: East Africa: Horn of Africa Braces for 'Explosion of Child Deaths' As Hunger Crisis Deepens
"An "explosion of child deaths" is likely and imminent in the Horn of Africa unless the international community takes immediate action to prevent a new hunger disaster, UN humanitarians warned on Tuesday.
To illustrate continuing deep concern about emergency levels of malnutrition in Somalia and the wider Horn of Africa, UN Children's Fund UNICEF reported meeting parents who had to bury their emaciated children by the roadside, as they trekked hundreds of kilometres to seek medical help.
The alert follows four successive seasons of failed rains in the east African region - a situation not seen in at least 40 years - which have left 386,000 children in acute need of lifesaving treatment for severe malnutrition in Somalia alone.
Worse than 2011 famine
This is worse than in 2011, when famine claimed the lives of 250,000 mainly children in Somalia, explained Rania Dagash, UNICEF Deputy Director for eastern and southern Africa: "The lives of children in the Horn of Africa are also at an increased risk because of the war in Ukraine and I think it's important to emphasise this, because Somalia alone used to import 92 per cent of its wheat from Russia and Ukraine, but now supply lines are blocked.""
June 5, 2022: 'Vile, Satanic Attack': Gunmen Kill at Least 50 Worshippers and Children at Church on Pentecost Sunday in Nigeria
"At least 50 people, many of them children, are feared dead after gunmen shot at worshippers and detonated explosives at a church in southwestern Nigeria on Pentecost Sunday.
Legislator Ogunmolasuyi Oluwole said the attackers descended upon St. Francis Catholic Church in Ondo state just as people started to gather for worship.
Bishop Jude Arogundade of the Ondo Diocese said gunmen invaded the church while other gunmen outside also killed churchgoers who were fleeing in terror.
A priest was also reportedly abducted.
Adelegbe Timileyin, who represents the Owo area, said at least 50 were killed during that attack, however, that number is likely to rise.
"ABUJA, Nigeria, May 30, 2022 (Morning Star News) – Abductions of Christian church leaders continued in northern Nigeria with the kidnapping of two Roman Catholic priests last week and two other clergymen earlier this month in Katsina state, sources said.
The kidnapping early on Wednesday (May 25) of priests Stephen Ojapah and Oliver Okpara, along with two parishioners from the rectory of St. Patrick’s Catholic Church in Gidan Maikambo, Kafur County, followed the abduction of an evangelical pastor three weeks earlier in the state, residents told Morning Star News."
"Hammered by four droughts in a row, as many as 17 million people are going hungry in three countries in the Horn of Africa, with aid agencies warning that the hardest-hit areas are threatened by famine.
In the arid pastoralist regions of southern Ethiopia, northern Kenya, and much of Somalia, the lack of water and pasture has killed millions of animals that herders rely on for their livelihoods. That has left households destitute, with deaths among the most vulnerable, especially young children.
Worse is on the way. The La Niña weather system that has caused an unprecedented four consecutive droughts across the region is still in effect. There is now a "concrete risk" that the October to December rains will fail once again - propelling the disaster to a whole new level.
Conflict and political instability are exacerbating the impact of climate shocks in the region. In Somalia, the jihadist group al-Shabab controls much of the countryside and is hostile to Western aid agencies. Fear of falling foul of international anti-terror legislation acts as an additional barrier to foreign aid operations.
Ethiopia is facing two food emergencies - one is the conflict in the north - which has left more than nine million people in Tigray, Afar, and Amhara in need. The other is the drought in the eastern and southern lowlands, affecting 6.8 million people.
More than four million people - a quarter of the population in the Arid and Semi-Arid Lands of north and eastern Kenya - are acutely food insecure. Numbers in need could rise to five million as conditions deteriorate, reports Obi Anyadike for The New Humanitarian."
"The so-called Islamic State has released a video showing the execution of 20 men said to be Christians.
The video was released to the terrorist group's Amaq news channel.
The BBC Monitoring service said the executioners were from the Islamic State in West Africa Province (ISWAP) and that the captives came from Borno state in north-eastern Nigeria.
IS called the executions a warning to "Christians around the world" and said that "jihadists will be at war with them ... till the end of times"."
May 14, 2022: Boko Haram ‘flies flag 2 hours from Abuja’ warned Governor, as Nigerian captive teen turns 18
Today (14 May), Leah Sharibu is 18 years old; it’s her fourth birthday as the captive of Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP).
Nigerian Leah is the girl who defied one of the most globally well-known terrorist groups, a splinter group of Boko Haram.
The then-14 year old was among 110 girls abducted after a raid on their school in Dapchi, in the north-eastern state of Yobe in February 2018. Sahara Reporters reported the army had just withdrawn from Dapchi, claiming it had handed over security to the Yobe police, but the police strongly denied that and the army could produce no proof.
ISWAP released 104 of the girls a month later; five others died on the day they were captured. Leah was the only one not to be freed because – despite her friends pleading with her as they got onto a truck to go home – she refused to renounce her Christian faith.
May 5, 2022: Thousands Of Myanmar Christians Flee To India
NEW DELHI (Worthy News) – Thousands of Christian men, women, and children have entered northeast India to escape deadly violence in neighboring Myanmar, Christian leaders, and aid workers say.
In comments shared with Worthy News, Christian officials said the “military regime” in Myanmar, also known as Burma, killed “thousands of innocent civilians.”
Troops “tortured the people, burnt their houses, bombed their villages, raped their women and children,” they added.
April 14, 2022: Press Release - Amnesty International- Nigeria: Eight years after Chibok more than 1,500 children abducted by armed groups
Eight years after the abduction of 276 Chibok school girls by Boko Haram, more than 1,500 Nigerian school children have been abducted by armed groups and the Nigerian authorities are failing to protect them, Amnesty International said in a new investigation published today (14 April).
Of the more than 1,500 school children who have been abducted in northern Nigeria since the Chibok attack, at least 120 students remain in captivity. They are mostly schoolgirls, and their fate remains unknown.
Of the 102 students who were kidnapped from the Federal Government College in Birnin Yauri, nine are still being held by their captors. One of the 121 students abducted from Bethel Baptist High School in Kaduna State remains in captivity. Five of the 19 students abducted from Greenfield University were murdered, while one of the 333 students kidnapped in Kankara was also killed. Five of the 276 students kidnapped in Dapchi were killed, while one student, Leah Sharibu, remains in captivity. And five of the 136 school children kidnapped from Salihu Tanko Islamiya School in Tegina have also been killed.
January 20, 2022: Nigeria Again Worst in World in Killed, Kidnapped Christians
Nigeria led the world in Christians killed for their faith last year (November 2020-October 2021) at 4,650, up from 3,530 the previous year, according to Open Doors’ 2022 World Watch List report. The number of kidnapped Christians was also highest in Nigeria, at more than 2,500, up from 990 the previous year, according to the WWL report.
Nigeria trailed only China in the number of churches attacked, with 470 cases, according to the report.
In the 2022 World Watch List of the countries where it is most difficult to be a Christian, Nigeria jumped to seventh place, its highest ranking ever, from No. 9 the previous year.
Numbering in the millions across Nigeria and the Sahel, predominantly Muslim Fulani comprise hundreds of clans of many different lineages who do not hold extremist views, but some Fulani do adhere to radical Islamist ideology, the United Kingdom’s All-Party Parliamentary Group for International Freedom or Belief (APPG) noted in a recent report.
“They adopt a comparable strategy to Boko Haram and ISWAP [Islamic State West Africa Province] and demonstrate a clear intent to target Christians and potent symbols of Christian identity,” the APPG report states.
Christian leaders in Nigeria have said they believe herdsmen attacks on Christian communities in Nigeria’s Middle Belt are inspired by their desire to forcefully take over Christians’ lands and impose Islam as desertification has made it difficult for them to sustain their herds.
November 26, 2021: Militant Fulani Herdsmen Kill 10 Christians, Burn Over 100 Homes in Overnight Attack
"International Christian Concern (ICC) — At one o’clock in the morning on Friday, Nov. 26, jihadist Fulani herdsmen killed ten Christians and set fire to 100 homes in an attack on Ta’agbe village, Plateau state, Nigeria.
According to witnesses, the attackers entered Ta’agbe dressed in black, holding sophisticated weapons, and shouting ‘Allahu Akbar’ (Allah is the greatest).
The National President of the Irigwe Youth Movement confirmed the incident to an ICC correspondent in Plateau. He said that the attack was aimed to wipe Christians from the area."
November 19, 2021: Cameroon, Nigeria, Chad Say New Jihadist Terrorism Threats Warrant Change of Military Response
"YAOUNDE, CAMEROON — Cameroonian, Nigerian and Chadian troops fighting terrorism in the Lake Chad basin say attacks on military positions have been increasing since Boko Haram leader Aboubakar Shekau was declared dead in May.
Military officials from the three countries say the Islamic State in West Africa Province group, or ISWAP, is completely changing terrorism tactics to gain the sympathy of Lake Chad basin civilians. They say ISWAP is emerging as the terrorist group that is taking over from Boko Haram, which is weakened by the death of its leader Shekau.
Major General Saly Mohamadou is commander of Cameroon’s troops fighting terrorism in the Lake Chad Basin. He says, unlike Boko Haram, which attacked civilians for supplies and killed both the military and people who opposed the terrorist group when it was very active, ISWAP only attacks military positions to gain support from civilians. He says ISWAP is fighting to control border areas between Cameroon, Chad and Nigeria.
Mohamadou said senior military officials of the Multinational Joint Task Force or MNJTF met in Maroua, Cameroon this week to formulate a strategy toward the new terrorism threat."
"On Thursday, more than a month after a local gang abducted 17 missionaries in Haiti, the Ohio-based Christian Aid Ministries held another "special day of prayer and fasting" for their taken workers.
The missionaries, sent to Haiti through Christian Aid Ministries, were kidnapped on October 16 by the 400 Mawozo gang after visiting an orphanage. Sixteen of the missionaries are American, and one is Canadian.
"This is the 33rd day since our workers were kidnapped in Haiti. Tomorrow (November 18), we plan to have another special day of prayer and fasting," the international ministry shared in an update Wednesday afternoon, according to The Christian Post.
"We invite believers around the world to join us in seeking God for His mighty hand to work. We request ongoing prayer for those being held, the families of the hostages, government officials who are assisting, and the kidnappers themselves. 'Great is our Lord, and of great power: his understanding is infinite,'" the statement concluded, citing from Psalm 147:5.
The prayer request comes a week after an unnamed Biden administration official confirmed that at least some of the kidnapped missionaries are still alive.
In a video circulating social media, the gang's leader, Wilson Joseph, threatened to kill the missionaries if his ransom request of $17 million was not met.
"I swear by thunder that if I don't get what I'm asking for, I will put a bullet in the heads of these Americans," he said in the video."
November 18, 2021: Egyptian Christian Students Persecuted in Teacher-Led Incident
"11/18/2021 Egypt (International Christian Concern) – Christian students at Al-Thawra school in Ezbat Beshri, Minya Governorate, were ordered to remove any jewelry bearing a cross and later beaten. The school’s headmaster and other teachers made the order, after which students and teachers alike beat some of the Christian students.
In one incident in early November, a female teacher reportedly attacked a Christian student, then encouraged other students to do the same, take his cross pendant from him and destroy the cross. According to local sources, the school is an elementary and middle school. Students came home and reported the incidents to their Coptic parents, who took action against the school. It is common in the Coptic Christian community in Egypt for believers to tattoo a cross on their wrist or to wear necklaces or bracelets with a cross."
November 17, 2021: In another mind-bending declaration of betrayal against Biblical values, the Biden Administration has stepped further into the abyss.
"WASHINGTON, Nov 17 (Reuters) - Washington on Wednesday removed Nigeria from its list of countries with religious freedom concerns, just a day before Secretary of State Antony Blinken arrives in the country as part of a tour of Africa.
The omission drew a sharp rebuke from a U.S. government commission that had recommended the Biden administration keep Nigeria as a so-called country of particular concern for engaging in or tolerating violations of religious freedom.
Blinken made an annual announcement on Wednesday of the countries on the list, naming Myanmar, China, Eritrea, Iran, North Korea, Pakistan, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Tajikistan and Turkmenistan as countries of particular concern. He also placed Algeria, Comoros, Cuba and Nicaragua on a watch list for religious freedom, and designated armed groups, including Islamic State and several of its affiliates, as entities of concern.
But Nigeria, which was added to the list for the first time in 2020, was not redesignated."
October 18, 2021: Pray Vote Stand Summit for Nigeria
August 17, 2021: Fear and Uncertainty Dominate Thoughts of Afghanistan’s Christians Living Under Taliban Rule
By William Stark
08/17/2021 Washington, D.C. (International Christian Concern) – On Sunday, August 15, Taliban fighters captured Kabul, effectively asserting complete control over Afghanistan. For the country’s secretive underground church, the return to Taliban rule has filled many with fear and uncertainty.
“We are telling people to stay in their houses because going out now is too dangerous,” a Christian leader in Afghanistan, whose name is being withheld for security reasons, told International Christian Concern (ICC). While a general amnesty has been announced by the Taliban, this leader fears that Christians will still be targeted by Taliban fighters patrolling the streets of Kabul and other cities.
Afghanistan’s Christian community is almost exclusively comprised of converts from Islam. Some estimate the Christian population to be between 10,000 and 12,000, making it the country’s largest religious minority group. However, due to extreme persecution, the Christian community remains largely closeted and hidden from the public eye.
Their status as converts makes Afghan Christians direct targets for persecution by both extremist groups and society in general. In Afghanistan, leaving Islam is considered extremely shameful and converts can face dire consequences if their conversion is discovered.
August 4, 2021: A new report from The Int’l Society for Civil Liberties & Rule of Law (Intersociety) headquartered in Onitsha, Eastern Nigeria: 43, 000 Christians Killed By Nigerian Jihadists In 12 Years, 18,500 Permanently Disappeared And 17,500 Churches Attacked
"The total number of ‘direct’ Christian deaths since 2009 or from July 2009 to July 2021; a period of twelve years, is independently put at no fewer than 43,000. The figure arises from total jihadist killing of not less than 72,000 defenseless citizens.
The killings had emanated from the propagation of radical Islamism in Nigeria or any part thereof. The total number of moderate Muslims killed by the Jihadists since same July 2009 is independently put at 29,000. Of the no fewer than 43,000 Christian deaths, 20% or over 8,600 deaths are members of the Church of Brethren in Nigeria or EYN.
The 43,000 Christian deaths occurred following systematic and coordinated attacks majorly targeted at Christians by radical Islamists or Islamic Jihadists and their collaborators (‘esprit de jihad’) in the Nigerian security forces. The Nigerian Jihadists also sparsely and collaterally target moderate Muslims as collateral mistakes or punishments of those collaborating with the ‘unbelievers’ or in revenge for state actor attacks against their targets, or for purpose of enforcement of Islamic Sharia law or code."
"Atrocities Of The Jihadists Against Nigerian Christians: The atrocities of the Jihadists majorly directed at Christians and their properties including homes, worship and learning centers; ancestral lands, farmlands, forests and bushes include: massacres, killings, mutilations, slitting of throats and wombs, beheadings, torture, maiming, abductions, hostage-taking, rape, girl-child defilements, forced marriages, disappearances, extortions, forceful conversions and destruction or burning of homes and sacred worship and learning centers as well as forceful occupation of farmlands, destruction and forceful harvesting of farm crops and other internationally prohibited acts."
July 29, 2021: CNN reports Islamic Jihadists Kill Nearly 3,500 Nigerian Christians, Attack 300 Churches in 200 Days
"A new report shows that a staggering number of Christians have been brutally killed by Nigeria's Islamic jihadists so far this year.
In the past 200 days, 3,462 Christians were murdered by extremists. That is just 68 less than the total number killed in 2020 alone, according to data.
The report by the International Society for Civil Liberties and Rule of Law (Intersociety) shows that, from May to July, 780 additional Christ-followers were abducted from villages throughout Nigeria.
Members of the Islamic jihadist group Boko Haram and Fulani herdsmen are named throughout the report. These terror groups are relentless in their efforts to gain control over the country through the kidnapping and killing of innocent victims.
Hundreds of children from Nigerian schools have also been targeted this year, kidnapped by armed insurgents threatening to harm their captives unless a ransom is paid.
CBN News reported that more than 300 boys were taken from a Government Science secondary school on Dec. 11 where police engaged in a shootout with the assailants.
Then, hundreds of girls were kidnapped in February from the Government Secondary Jangebe School in Zamfara state after a large group of gunmen raided the school.
In March, eight members of Redeemed Christian Church of God (RCCG) in Kaduna were abducted at gunpoint. Kidnappers demanded a ransom of $131,000.
And last month, one student was killed and 10 people were abducted from the main campus of Nuhu Bamalli Polytechnic in Zairia, Kaduna state.
The latest report also shows that nearly 300 churches were attacked, destroyed, or burnt since January 2021. At least ten priests have been abducted or killed by the jihadists.
It was determined that houses of worship in Taraba State were the most affected.
No indication is given that any suspects have been arrested for the crimes or whether surviving victims and families of the dead victims receive support from the government of Nigeria."
"Thousands of families in southern Madagascar are on the edge of starvation, and “holding on for dear life”, the UN food agency chief said on Wednesday - after bearing witness to the suffering firsthand - urging the world to step-up and take action."
"World Food Programme (WFP) Executive Director David Beasley, explained that he’d met women and children who had “walked for hours” to get to the food distribution points.
“These were the ones who were healthy enough to make it”, he added.
“We can’t turn our backs on the people living here while the drought threatens thousands of innocent lives”, he underscored."
May 11, 2021: The International Society for Civil Liberties & Rule of Law (Intersociety) is headquartered in Onitsha, Eastern Nigeria reports: Nigerian Islamic Jihadists Massacred 1, 470 Christians In First Four Months Of 2021 And Abducted Over 2,200
"Nigeria has devastatingly remained the “most Christian killed country” and ‘most dangerous place to be a Christian’ as well as Africa’s newest hotbed of Islamic Jihad and religious intolerance. Statistically shocking is the fact that the country had in the past four months or from January to April 2021 lost no fewer than 1,470 Christians. Also out of estimated 3200 defenseless Nigerians abducted by jihadists during the period, Nigerian Christians accounted for no fewer than 2,200. The 1, 470 Christian deaths in four months is the highest number recorded since 2014 and it specifically surpassed the total number of Christians killed in 2019, estimated by the Open Doors to be 1,350."
January 18, 2021: 750 killed at Ethiopian church said to contain Ark of Covenant - The Christian Post
"Around 750 people were killed in an attack on an Orthodox church, which is said to contain the Ark of the Covenant described in the Book of Exodus in the Bible, in northern Ethiopia’s war-torn Tigray region — home to thousands of churches and monasteries — according to reports.
Hundreds of people hiding in Maryam Tsiyon Church in Aksum amid an armed conflict were brought out and shot to death, and local residents believe the aim was to take the Ark of Covenant to Addis Ababa, the Belgium-based nonprofit European External Programme with Africa reported in this month’s situational report, released on Jan. 9.
“The number of people killed is reported as 750,” it said. The church, the most ancient and sacred of Ethiopian Christianity and also known as the Church of St. Mary of Zion, belongs to the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church.
“I’ve not heard more than rumours about the looting of the Arc from Maryam Tsion, but if it’s true that up to 750 died defending it, it is conceivable that the attackers didn't stop there,” said Michael Gervers, a professor of history at the University of Toronto, according to The Telegraph."
January 14, 2021: Open Doors Releases 2021 List of Most Dangerous Countries to Be a Christian
The Open Doors report says that more than 340 million Christians worldwide are suffering high levels of persecution and discrimination for their faith. 309 million of them are living in the 50 countries on the list. Nigeria is #9 on the list, and on January 7, 2021 this report reveals Jihadist scenes like Revelation 20:4 in realtime while we worry about inauguration:
2,400 Nigerian Christians Were Hacked to Death in 2020: Report
2,400 Nigerian Christians Were Hacked to Death in 2020: Report
"Nigeria ended its year with a massive spike in terrorism. Jihadists in the country reportedly hacked 200 Christians to death illustrating what experts are calling a dangerous situation for Christians.
According to an end-of-year report by the International Society for Civil Liberties and the Rule of Law (Intersociety), a total of 2,400 Christians were hacked to death by Jihadists in Nigeria in 2020. This "further represents the same number of Christians hacked to death by Jihadist Fulani Herdsmen in 2018 alone," according to the report."
We do not get many reports out of tribulation regimes like North Korea, Afghanistan, Somalia, Libya, Pakistan, Eritrea, Yemen or Iran. We do see reports from China and India.
August 21, 2020: According to World Watch Monitor, Boko Haram has killed more than Islamic State in Iraq and Syria combined and today they ask: “Why don’t these black lives matter?”
July 29, 2020: Boko Haram has killed more than Islamic State in Iraq and Syria combined
May 4, 2020: Muslim Fulani Herdsmen Kill 13 Christians, Kidnap 13 Others in Kaduna State, Nigeria
"JOS, Nigeria (Morning Star News) – Muslim Fulani herdsmen killed 13 Christians and kidnapped 13 others in attacks on April 23-25 in north-central Nigeria, sources said.
The attacks on five villages in the counties of Kajuru and Chikun in Kaduna state displaced more than 1,000 people from their homes. The sources said those killed were members of Evangelical Church Winning All (ECWA), Catholic, Baptist, United Church of Christ in Nations (HEKAN) or Assemblies of God churches.
The herdsmen invaded Kikwari and Kujeni communities in Kajuru County on April 25 at about 3 p.m., said Luka Binniyat, spokesman for the Southern Kaduna People’s Union (SOKAPU), in a press statement."
April 29, 2020: Couple Abducted from Wedding in Attacks in Northwest Nigeria that Kill 12 Christians
"JOS, Nigeria (Morning Star News) – Muslim Fulani herdsmen in northwest Nigeria killed 12 Christians and kidnapped a couple from their church wedding ceremony in attacks this month, sources said.
In Tegina Kabata village in Niger state’s Shiroro County, herdsmen attacked a church site where a wedding was taking place on April 12, abducting the couple and some church members, area resident Danjuma Iliya told Morning Star News."
March 2, 2020: Al-Shabaab warns all Christians to leave northeastern Kenya
"The Somalia-based al-Qaeda-linked group al-Shabaab has “ordered” Christians to leave three counties in northeastern Kenya to allow local Muslims to get all local jobs, according to the U.S.-based persecution watchdog International Christian Concern.
“Muslim teachers, doctors, engineers, and young graduates from the northeastern province are unemployed. Isn’t it better to give them a chance? There is no need for the presence of disbelievers,” al-Shabaab’s spokesman, Sheikh Ali Dhere, said in an audio clip posted online, referring to the counties of Garissa, Wajir and Mandera."
February 28, 2020: ‘This is the worst place in the world’: US faith leaders meet victims of Boko Haram, Fulani herdsmen
"American faith leaders met with representatives of Nigerian communities devastated by Boko Haram and Fulani tribesmen as well as key figures within the Buhari administration as part of a fact-finding mission to investigate reports of escalating insecurity in the West African country.
Johnnie Moore, an evangelical communications executive and president of the Congress of Christian Leaders, and Rabbi Abraham Cooper of the Simon Wiesenthal Center, a Jewish human rights group, traveled to Abuja on Feb. 17 and met with dozens of victims of terrorism from five different Nigerian provinces for three days.
“After our journey there, we want the world to know that you haven’t heard half of it,” the faith leaders said in a joint statement. “The terrorists’ aim is to ethnically cleanse northern Nigeria of its Christians and to kill every Muslim who stands in their way.”"
February 21, 2020: ‘Many killed’, houses burnt as Boko Haram invades Adamawa town
"Suspected members of the Boko Haram sect have killed many people in Garkida, a town in Gombi local government area of Adamawa state, according to residents.
A source told TheCable that the insurgents broke into the town around 7pm on Friday, shooting sporadically.
Soldiers who were said to have engaged them in a gun battle later pulled back for reinforcement.
After the security operatives beat a retreat, the insurgents were said to have moved into the town fully, setting many houses on fire.
“Garkida is currently on fire… many people have been killed and their houses covered with smoke,” he said."
January 26, 2020: Child Islamic militant executes Christian college student; Warns 'We will not stop!'
"A child militant has executed a Christian college student in Nigeria.
The 22-year-old student has been named as Ropvil Daciya Dalep, who came from the Pankshin Local Government Area of the Plateau state and attended the University of Maiduguri in Borno state.
His execution was shown in a video released by the Islamic State-affiliated Amaq News Agency.
In the footage, a masked child speaks to the camera and says that Dalep's killing is revenge for the "bloodshed" committed by Christians, according to Christian Solidarity Worldwide."
January 21, 2020: Boko Haram executes chair of Christian Association of Nigeria in Adamawa State
The Abubakar Shekau faction of the terrorist group Boko Haram executed the chair of the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) in Adamawa state, Reverend Lawan Andimi, on 20 January.
Rev Andimi was abducted on 2 January 2020, when terrorists wearing military fatigues ransacked Michika town and forced him into a vehicle.
News of Rev Andimi's death was broken in a tweet posted on 21 January by Nigerian investigative journalist and Boko Haram expert Ahmed Salkida, who received a video of the beheadings of Rev Andimi and an unnamed soldier at 2.42 pm. Mr Salkida wrote: “To break some news items can traumatize. I'm battling with one of such. Reverend Andimi, abducted by #BokoHaram was executed yesterday. Rev. Andimi was a church leader, a father to his children and the community he served. My condolences go to his family.”
Two Young Christian Women Killed in Kaduna State, Nigeria
"JOS, Nigeria (Morning Star News) – Muslim Fulani herdsmen killed two young Christian women in southern Kaduna state, Nigeria, on Friday (Jan. 17), sources said.
The herdsmen on motorbikes rode into Gora-Gan village in Zango Kataf County at about 5 p.m. shooting villagers on sight, according to a local resident. Luka Biniyat, spokesman for the Southern Kaduna Peoples Union (SOKAPU), confirmed the killing of Briget Philip, 18, and Priscilla David, 19.
“Both girls, who were secondary school pupils, worshiped at the Catholic parish of Gora-Gan,” Biniyat told Morning Star News."
January 1, 2020: Europe: Anti-Christian Attacks Reach All-Time High in 2019
"Violence against Christian sites is most widespread in France, where churches, schools, cemeteries and monuments are being vandalized, desecrated and burned at an average rate of three per day, according to government statistics. In Germany, attacks against Christian churches are occurring at an average rate of two per day, according to police blotters.
Attacks on Christian churches and symbols are also commonplace in Belgium, Britain, Denmark, Ireland, Italy and Spain. The attacks overwhelmingly involve Roman Catholic sites and symbols, although in Germany, Protestant churches are also being targeted.
The perpetrators of anti-Christian attacks — which include acts of arson, defecation, desecration, looting, mockery, profanation, Satanism, theft, urination and vandalism — are rarely caught. When they are, police and media often censor information about their identities and ethnic backgrounds. Many suspects are said to have mental disorders; as a result, many anti-Christian attacks are not categorized as hate crimes.
In France and Germany, the spike in anti-Christian attacks dovetails with the recent mass immigration from the Muslim world. The lack of official statistics on perpetrators and motives makes it impossible to know precisely how many attacks can be attributed to Muslim anti-Christianism or the jihadist cause.
In Spain, by contrast, attacks against churches and crosses are overwhelmingly carried out by anarchists, radical feminists and other far-left activists, who appear to be striving for Christianity to be permanently removed from the public square."
December 27, 2019: From the BBC: Islamic State in Nigeria 'beheads Christian hostages'
"The Islamic State group has released a video claiming to show the killing of 11 Christians in Nigeria. IS said it was part of its recently declared campaign to "avenge" the death of its leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi during a US raid in Syria in October.
No details were given about the victims, who were all male, but IS says they were "captured in the past weeks" in Nigeria's north-eastern Borno State.
The 56-second video was produced by the IS "news agency" Amaq.
It was released on 26 December and analysts say it was clearly timed to coincide with Christmas celebrations."
September 27, 2019: From the BBC: Nigerian 'torture house': Hundreds freed in Kaduna police raid
"Nearly 500 men and boys have been rescued from a building in the northern city of Kaduna, where the detainees were allegedly sexually abused and tortured, Nigerian police said.
Children as young as five were among those in chains at what was thought to be an Islamic school, officers said.
Kaduna police chief Ali Janga told the BBC the building was raided after a tip-off about suspicious activity.
He described it as a "house of torture" and a place of human slavery.
Eight suspects, most of them teachers, were arrested. The police chief said the detainees - some with injuries and starved of food - were overjoyed to be freed."
June 22, 2019: Fulani radicals burn down 4 Christian villages, killing 3 children
"Fulani radicals killed 13 people on Monday, including three children, and burned hundreds of homes in attacks on predominantly Christian villages in the West African country’s troubled Middle Belt.
Reports indicate that at least four predominantly Christian villages in two Nigerian states suffered attacks at the hands of suspected Fulani herdsmen on Monday. The villages were completely destroyed and villagers are now left displaced.
Morning Star News reports that one attack occurred in the predominantly Christian Ungwan Rimi Kamuru village in Kaduna state’s Kauru local government area, while a second attack occurred in Kauru’s Kikoba village.
The third and four attacks occurred in villages in the Riyom local government area of the Plateau state.
The attacks come as thousands of Christian farmers have been killed in the last few years in violent attacks carried out by radicals from predominantly Muslim nomadic Fulani herding communities.
Residents in Kaduna who spoke with the persecution news outlet said that an estimated 200 armed Fulani herdsmen invaded their village on Monday.
In the attack, four Christians were said to have been killed, including 8-year-old Monday Yahaya, 9-year-old Zhime Danladi and 17-year-old Samson David.
“They were all buried today after a brief prayer at the grave site,” resident Thomas John told Morning Star News.
Monday’s killings in Kaduna were confirmed by the Kaduna Police Command, according to the Nigerian newspaper The Punch. Public relations officer Yakubu Sabo confirmed that the attack occurred at 2:45 p.m. on Monday."
May 3, 2019: Today the BBC reports: Christian persecution 'at near genocide levels'
"The persecution of Christians in parts of the world is at near "genocide" levels, according to a report ordered by Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt.
The review, led by the Bishop of Truro the Right Reverend Philip Mounstephen, estimated that one in three people suffer from religious persecution.
Christians were the most persecuted religious group, it found.
Mr Hunt said he felt that "political correctness" had played a part in the issue not being confronted.
Alarm over China's Church crackdown
Religious persecution 'a threat to everyone'
Pope decries killing of Christians
The interim report said the main impact of "genocidal acts against Christians is exodus" and that Christianity faced being "wiped out" from parts of the Middle East.
It warned the religion "is at risk of disappearing" in some parts of the world, pointing to figures which claimed Christians in Palestine represent less than 1.5% of the population, while in Iraq they had fallen from 1.5 million before 2003 to less than 120,000.
Evidence shows not only the geographic spread of anti-Christian persecution, but also its increasing severity," the Bishop wrote.
"Evidence shows not only the geographic spread of anti-Christian persecution, but also its increasing severity," the Bishop wrote.""
April 30, 2019: Terrorists in Burkina Faso Execute Six at Pentecostal Church
"Christians in Burkina Faso are mourning a deadly attack on a Protestant church as “a new turning point in terrorism” in the West African nation.
Sunday’s shooting at an Assemblies of God congregation in a northern village left six people dead, including the pastor, and represents the first church attack among the recent surge of Islamist violence.
A dozen gunmen on motorcycles stormed the courtyard of the Sirgadji church after worship, fatally shooting its longtime pastor as well as five other congregants after demanding they convert to Islam, according to a statement sent to CT by the general superintendent of the Assemblies of God in Burkina Faso, Michel Ouédraogo. The attackers also stole from the church and burned its pulpit."
"Burkina Faso declared a state of emergency in some of its northern providences last year, due to ongoing violence. The church attack comes days after another half-dozen people were killed by assailants elsewhere in the country. Islamists have been blamed for the abductions of a Spanish Catholic priest and a Canadian geologist earlier this year.
After 200 attacks over the past three years, the government considers Sunday’s shooting to be the first at a house of worship, a sign that the violence could be shifting from indiscriminate to targeted. Burkina Faso is about 60 percent Muslim and about 25 percent Christian (around 20 percent Catholic and 5 percent Protestant)."
"The country has faced a growing threat of terrorist violence ever since 2016, when al-Qaeda affiliates took hostages and went on a shooting spree in the capital city of Ouagadougou. Seven missionaries were killed in the incident.
The incidents in Burkina Faso in recent years have been attributed to Ansarul Islam, the Support Group for Islam and Muslims, and the Islamic State of the Great Sahara (EIGS). WWM offers more context on the unrest."
April 23, 2019: Sri Lanka bombing victims were from at least 12 countries
"COLOMBO, Sri Lanka (AP) — More than 300 people were killed in bombings of churches and hotels in Sri Lanka on Easter Sunday. Sri Lankan authorities say at least 31 foreigners died in the attacks."
Jihadist Group Named in Sri Lanka Bombings, But 'International Support' Being Eyed
"Sri Lanka’s government has blamed local jihadist group National Thowheed Jamath for one of Asia’s deadliest terrorist attacks in years, and said other nations had shared intelligence ahead of the blasts."
"In the early 1980s, the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam — known as the Tamil Tigers — began fighting for an independent homeland in the north and east of Sri Lanka. The conflict, marked by the use of child soldiers and human-rights violations on both sides, killed more than 100,000 people before former strongman Mahinda Rajapaksa’s government won a decisive victory in 2009."
March 18, 2019: Ongoing Slaughter of Nigerian Christians Receives Scant Media Coverage
"As the world continues the mourn following the devastating mosque shootings Friday that killed 50 people and injured dozens more in Christchurch, New Zealand, an eerie hush has fallen over the media regarding the ongoing mass slaughter of Christians in Nigeria. CBN News reports that since February, at least “120 people have been killed in a series of alleged attacks by the Fulani militia on Christian communities … .” Last Monday alone, 52 people were killed and 100 homes destroyed in attacks on the Inkirimi and Dogonnoma villages, according to Christian Solidarity Worldwide (CSW).
March 16, 2019: Former 'Prince of ISIS' Turns to Christ After a God Dream: 'I Saw a Love That Didn't Exist in Islam'
"A "Prince of ISIS" has done what many would consider unthinkable, making a commitment to turn away from his horrifying past to unite with a new way of life through Jesus Christ.
The former ISIS leader, whose identity has been disguised for his safety, is being called Mohammad. The miraculous circumstances that led tcao his transformation were reported by Dr. Michael Youssef's Leading The Way ministry.
Since the launch of its Christian satellite TV station, THE KINGDOM SAT, Leading The Way is working to touch "some of the most unreachable lives in the Arabic world," including people like this notorious 'Prince of ISIS'."
February 1, 2018: Fox News reports: At least 60 dead in Boko Haram attack: report
"At least 60 people have been killed in an attack carried out by militant group Boko Haram this week, Amnesty International confirmed Friday.
The attack on the northwest Nigerian town of Rann took place Monday and marked one of the most lethal in the group’s at least 10-year history, targeting those who had already been displaced by the ongoing conflict in what Amnesty indicated “may amount to possible war crimes.”"
More than 250,000 are reported to have been displaced amid the uptick of militant attacks aimed at the civilian population. The deteriorating security situation is also said to have gravely impacted humanitarian operations and forced aid workers to withdraw from certain areas, adding to the strain from the local population."
January 28, 2019: Philippines church blasts kill 27
"The Philippines vowed to destroy those behind twin bombings that killed 27 people during a Sunday church service in the country's restive south, six days after a referendum on autonomy for the mainly Muslim region returned an overwhelming "yes" vote.
The attack wounded 77 and was one of the deadliest in recent years in a region long plagued by instability."
"The Philippine military in mid 2017 encountered its biggest and longest battle since World War Two when an alliance of extremists loyal to Islamic State, among them foreigners and children, overran Marawi City and tried to establish a caliphate."
December 7, 2018: Ebola virus disease outbreaks have been occurring since 1976 in the Congo as well as West Africa's Sierra Leone, Guinea and Liberia.
The WHO declared the Ebola outbreak that began in 2014 in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone over on June 9, 2016. On August 1, 2018 it flared up again in war torn Congo and it is now spreading death in the North Kivu Province.
From the Washington Post ‘Like a horror film’: The efforts to contain Ebola in a war zone By Max Bearak
"Attacks by armed groups happen on a daily basis across Congo’s North Kivu province, where the Ebola virus has been spreading since August, infecting almost 500 people and killing more than 270. It is now the second-biggest outbreak ever, after the vast epidemic that swept through Guinea, Sierra Leone and Liberia between 2014 and 2016.
The constant insecurity in North Kivu has proved an enormous obstacle, thwarting attempts to the contain the virus. By the WHO’s estimate, the outbreak will go on for at least six more months.
“The fear we feel, and that the community feels, makes our job 10 times harder,” said Abdourahmane Diallo, a Guinean doctor who coordinates the administration of an experimental Ebola vaccine. He was at a different compound in Beni that was attacked the same day as Anoko’s.
“We know that violence is a constant risk. But that’s why I was ready to go to work the very next day,” Diallo said. “We simply cannot stop our response if we hope to overcome this outbreak.”
This is the first Ebola outbreak during which health workers have had to regularly don bulletproof helmets and vests. To reach at least 20 percent of Ebola-affected areas, health workers need armed police or U.N. escorts, said Michel Yao, the WHO’s response coordinator in Beni."
From Amy Maxmen at Nature.com Ebola detectives race to identify hidden sources of infection as outbreak spreads
"Efforts to trace contacts of people with Ebola in the Democratic Republic of the Congo have been hampered by mistrust in conflict-ridden outbreak zone.
As the epicentre of the Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) shifts into the war-weary city of Butembo, public-health workers are trying to stamp out new infections from an inadvertent source: unregulated health centres.
Decades of political instability in the northeastern DRC, the site of the epidemic, have fostered the growth of informal clinics that offer traditional and modern medicine. These centres treat people for malaria and other common illnesses, filling the vacuum left by the lack of a functional health system. But they are not designed to prevent the spread of a virus as dangerous as Ebola — which has put their patrons at high risk, according to the World Health Organization (WHO). Health officials have begun trying to lessen the centres' load by pre-emptively giving out malaria medication in communities.
The push highlights a central challenge to ending the epidemic, which is now the second-largest on record: although experimental drugs and a vaccine have helped to limit Ebola's reach, two-thirds of new infections cannot be linked to existing cases. That has left epidemiologists racing to identify overlooked routes of infection. And conventional prevention measures have been thwarted by conditions in the northeastern DRC, where decades of severe conflict have left millions of people dead, and millions more traumatized and homeless."
November 24, 2018: Thirteen Sudanese Christian Converts Arrested and Tortured for ‘Apostasy’
"Last month, some 13 Christians were arrested and tortured in Darfur, Sudan. Their crime? Leaving the Islamic faith and vowing to follow Jesus Christ. The group was alleged to have been taken from a home in the highly volatile Darfur region, seized as punishment for their conversion to Christianity and subsequent “apostasy.”
According to International Christian Concern, the captives were brutally tortured by authorities, who hoped this would convince the group to revert back to Islam."
November 2, 2018: Repeating the attack of May 27, 2017 that killed killed at least 28 Coptic Orthodox Christians on their trip to St. Samuel the Confessor monastery ISIS Claims Credit for Attack That Kills Christians in Egypt
"CAIRO — Islamist gunmen killed at least seven Coptic Christian pilgrims in Egypt on Friday and wounded at least 16 in an attack later claimed by the Islamic State.
The attack — an ambush on two buses — ended a nearly yearlong lull in major attacks on Copts in Egypt, and may signal a resumption of the Islamic State’s campaign to sow sectarian divisions in Egyptian society."
October 27, 2018: NBC News reports 11 dead in shooting at Pittsburgh synagogue, suspect in custody
"A gunman opened fire at a Pittsburgh synagogue where Sabbath services were taking place Saturday morning, killing at least 11 people and wounding several police officers before he was taken into custody, officials said.
The attack at Tree of Life synagogue began sometime before 9:54 a.m., when police were called about an active shooter inside the house of worship in the city’s Squirrel Hill neighborhood, which is considered to be a historic Jewish enclave and center for Jewish life in Pittsburgh.
At least 11 adults were killed in the shooting, and six people were injured, including four police officers, officials said. Dr. Don Yealy, chairman of emergency medicine at University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, said a 70-year-old man and a 55-year-old officer were in critical condition.
"It's a very horrific crime scene. It’s one of the worst that I've seen," Pittsburgh Public Safety Director Wendell Hissrich said. "It's very bad.""
October 15, 2018: Nigeria: Boko Haram executes second female aid worker
"ICRC nurse Hauwa Liman was forced to kneel down with her hands tied, and then shot at close range, local media reports.
A second aid worker has been executed by Boko Haram in Nigeria after a deadline imposed to release imprisoned members of the armed group expired, the government said.
The Nigerian government was "shocked" and "saddened" by the killing of the woman, who was not identified, the information ministry said in a statement.
A clip of the execution of 24-year-old Hauwa Liman was seen on Monday by a correspondent of Nigeria's online news platform, The Cable.
"Liman was forced to kneel down, with her hands tied inside a white hijab which has a crest symbol, and then shot at a close range," The Cable reported.
Liman, a nurse with the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), was kidnapped by the armed group in March along with two other medical workers in Rann, Borno State in the country's northeast.
A midwife with ICRC, Saifura Ahmed, who had been abducted at the same time, was executed by Boko Haram in September.
"We have kept our word exactly as we said, by killing another humanitarian worker, Hauwa Liman, who is working with the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) that were abducted during a raid on a military facility in Rann, Kala Balge in March 2018," the group said in a short statement sent to the Cable.
"Saifura and Hauwa were killed because they are considered as Murtads (apostates) by the group because they were once Muslims that have abandoned their Islam, the moment they chose to work with the Red Cross, and for us, there is no difference between Red Cross and UNICEF," the group added.
"If we see them, we will kill the apostates among them, men or women, and chose to kill or keep the infidels as slaves, men or women.""
October 1, 2018: Four Children, Grandmother among 17 Christians Slain in Attack by Muslim Herdsmen in Nigeria
"JOS, Nigeria (Morning Star News) – Armed Fulani herdsmen accompanied by militants in Nigerian army uniforms killed 17 Christians in their homes in the heart of Jos, north-central Nigeria, on Thursday (Sept. 27), including four children, area sources said.
At about 7:30 p.m. in an area known as Rukuba Road, the assailants broke into one home shooting randomly and killed 14 members of one family, including 15-year-old Ishaya Kogi, 17-year-old Jonathan Kogi, Cynthia Kogi, 22, and Lucky Kogi, 25, their uncle told Morning Star News.
Two of Lucky Kogi’s children, 3-year-old Majesty Lucky and Blessing Lucky, 14, were also killed in the assault, he said."
August 23, 2018: Leave it to Israel to declare the truth. A Nigerian Pastor pleads and begs for America to help them from the not remain silent and stand for the helpless against the radical Islamic beast persecution of Boko Haram and radical Muslim Fulani herdsmen to wipe out Christians in Nigeria. Please hear and answer his plea!
Nigerian Christians Burned Alive. Pastor Pleads to World for Help
"Nigerian Christians were massacred by their Muslim neighbors and the world is silent, not doing a thing to help them.
One Nigerian Pastor is pleading to the world, over the body of one of the murdered women in his community.
“America! Please stand for us! We are dying!”
The Attack
Muslim militants attacked the Christian community in the village of Abonong in Plateau State. They came in large numbers and surrounded the Pastor’s home, setting it on fire. Reverand Adamu Gyang Wurim, his wife and three children were murdered. They shot the pastor’s wife in the bathroom, killed two other villagers and wounded several others.
After setting the pastor’s home, the Church and as many as 95 other homes on fire, an eyewitness said that the gunmen waited to ensure that no survivors would escape the engulfed homes. The witness said that a female neighbor was also shot by the gunmen. She was injured and taken to a nearby hospital.
The attack lasted more than four hours before security personnel finally arrived on the scene. But it was too late to save the Pastor, his family and the destroyed community.
This was one of eight villages attacked in central Nigeria this week."
"The Open Doors organization reported that between 2006 and 2014, 9,000–11,500 Christians were killed and over 13,000 churches destroyed in northern Nigeria."
"Unfortunately, as Christians have nearly been wiped out by Muslims in the Middle East, with no international intervention on their behalf in that region, there probably will be no international intervention to save the Christians in Nigeria either.
While the United Nations and “enlightened” Western countries continue to ignore real human rights abusers as in Nigeria, they instead waste time accusing Israel of “war crimes” for defending itself. All while the Organization of Islamic Cooperation continues its aggressive propagandist “Islamophobia” campaign all over the West."
You must read the Open Doors report and do something. It points directly to Revelation 13:16-18 and the other beast of radical Islam and Sharia Law coming up out of the earth for the Nigerian Christians that reject the image of the beast and the mark of Islam.
"Christians are not allowed to buy land or build churches on native land. All mission schools and hospitals have been taken by the government and Christian children are denied scholarships for study. Christian girls are frequently abducted and forced to marry Muslim men.
Local sources report that Christian businesses have been closed down and Christians are seldom hired as government workers."
July 19, 2018: Archbishop of Canterbury raises profile of Nigeria attacks as new humanitarian crisis looms
"The Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, has challenged the British government on how much it is doing to help end violent attacks on Christians in Nigeria.
His comments, made in a House of Lords debate on Fulani herdsmen and Boko Haram on Tuesday (17 July), follow the publication of a report that found that more than 230 people were killed during a spate of attacks in Plateau state late last month – a figure almost three times what was stated in early news reports.
The archbishop voiced his “deep concern” about the attacks, adding that the compound of the Archbishop of Jos was recently attacked and one of his friends was killed. The attack, three weeks ago, has been blamed on Fulani herdsmen, according to the Anglican Communion News Service."
July 18, 2018: In 1914, the Ottoman Turks attempted to destroy the Christians of Turkey, the Ottomans murdered and starved over 1.5 million people. The Armenians had lived and thrived there since the day John wrote Revelation from the Isle of Patmos.
Jesus knew they would be there. Standing among the seven Menorah, He asked John to write to seven of the assemblies. To Smyrna He said: "Behold, the devil is about to cast some of you into prison, so that you will be tested, and you will have tribulation... "
Today, a Turkish court ruled they would continue to hold Andrew Brunson in prison. He is in tribulation and he is an evangelical pastor at the Izmir Resurrection Church in Turkey.
Izmir is the third most populous city in Turkey, but the thing is Izmir is not Izmir. It is ancient Smyrna. Its name from antiquity was changed in 1930 as Turkey attempted to step away from its dire history tied to the Armenia Genocide that began 15 years earlier.
Turkish Court Denies Release of Jailed American Pastor
"A Turkish court on Wednesday rejected appeals from President Trump and other high-level U.S. officials to release Andrew Brunson, an American pastor of a small Protestant Christian church whose prosecution and imprisonment has exacerbated tensions between the United States and Turkey.
Trump, as well as Vice President Mike Pence and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, have recently called for Brunson's release and have condemned Turkish authorities for imprisoning him on what they say are false terrorism and espionage charges.
Brunson, a 50-year-old Evangelical pastor from North Carolina, has been detained in Turkey since the fall of 2016 on charges of espionage and colluding with terrorist organizations, including Kurdish militants."
July, 6, 2018: God help us pray!!
'A Living Hell': Some 3,000 Displaced Nigerian Christians in Agony Amid Slaughter
"Nigerian Christians were have been displaced by the thousands due to mass slaughter in the villages surrounding Jos in Plateau state are in a "living hell" and agony, a watchdog group assisting the victims said.
"The displaced Christians were in a pathetic situation," an Open Doors USA worker, identified as Kerrie, said on Tuesday.
"Life has become a living hell for them. They have lost loved ones, houses, and all they labored for in the twinkling of an eye. The agony they are going through is hard to describe.
"We saw people who were still in a haze over what they have just gone through. Children were crying hysterically, perhaps because of hunger or perhaps because of hunger and the trauma."
Open Doors, which along with some indigenous churches is helping bring aid to the people in the area, estimates that at least 3,000 believers were displaced by the slaughter of over 200 people in a series of raids at the end of June.
Christian leaders in Nigeria have said that as many as 6,000 people, mostly women and children, have been killed by Muslim Fulani herdsmen since the start of the year."
July 3, 2018: Almost twice the number of dear souls lost on 9/11 have been killed in Nigeria this year. Twice!! Cal out to our Creator.
'Pure Genocide': Over 6,000 Nigerian Christians Slaughtered, Mostly Women and Children
"Church leaders in Nigeria have said that Christians are experiencing "pure genocide" as 6,000 people, mostly women and children, have been murdered by Fulani radicals since January.
"What is happening in Plateau state and other select states in Nigeria is pure genocide and must be stopped immediately," said the Christian Association of Nigeria and church denominational heads in Plateau State in a press release last week.
The church leaders said that "over 6,000 persons, mostly children, women and the aged have been maimed and killed in night raids by armed Fulani herdsmen," which is prompting their cry to the government of Nigeria "to stop this senseless and blood shedding in the land and avoid a state of complete anarchy where the people are forced to defend themselves."
The press release also pleaded with the international community, as well as the United Nations, to intervene in the Fulani attacks, fearing they might spread to other countries as well.
"We are particularly worried at the widespread insecurity in the country where wanton attacks and killings by armed Fulani herdsmen, bandits and terrorists have been taking place on a daily basis in our communities unchallenged despite huge investments in the security agencies," they added, saying President Muhammadu Buhari has failed to bring attackers to justice.
They referenced several mass-scale attacks this year, including the slaughter of over 200 people, mostly Christians, at the end of June in raids carried out by the herdsmen on local area farmers near the city of Jos."
June 27, 2018: SUB-SAHARAN AFRICA A PERSECUTION POWDER KEG—RECENT NIGERIAN ATTACK KILLS MORE THAN 200 CHRISTIANS
"The killing began on Thursday. It didn’t stop until Sunday.
By the time Muslim Fulani militant herdsmen ended their four-day killing spree (June 21-24) on northern Nigerian villages in Plateau state surrounding the city of Jos, Christians there tell us the death toll was at least 200.
Women and children were especially vulnerable. Currently, a dusk-to-dawn curfew is in place, however, our partners tell us that the violence continued despite the curfew.
In 2018 alone, militant herdsmen have targeted and killed more than 600 Christians in Nigeria’s Middle Belt region, raiding Christian villages and setting fire to homes and churches.
CHRISTIANS UNDER FIRE
Throughout Sub-Saharan Africa, we are hearing horror stories of Christians being targeted and persecuted. Across the world’s second-largest continent, Christians are under fire right now in West Africa, East Africa, Central Africa and now Southeast Africa, as each day new reports surface, bringing news of attacks and how governments are becoming increasingly hostile toward believers.
In many areas governed by Islamic law, Christians are denied or are the last to receive community services and relief, including food and medical care. Difficult living conditions like these are forcing some new believers to revert back to Islam simply to make a better life for their families. For Christians in areas like the Horn of Africa peninsula, freedom to worship is simply not a reality.
The world’s second-largest continent—including 1.2 billion people, thousands of ethnic groups and 54 internationally recognized countries—is currently a persecution powder keg.
RECORD-HIGH VIOLENCE IN WEST AFRICA
(Nigeria, Cameroon, Chad, Benin, Niger, Burkina Faso, Liberia, Ghana, Gambia, Senegal, Togo, Mauritania):
In Nigeria’s Middle Belt, Fulani militant herdsmen pose what some have called an even greater threat than the Islamic extremist group Boko Haram. In 2018, Fulani herdsmen violence has reached a record high. In Benue state alone, 492 people have been killed. Muslim militants are targeting Christian villages like those in this recent attack—raiding communities, kidnapping and raping women and children and killing the men. In April, Fulani militants attacked a church in Benue state, killing 19 worshipers, including two priests."
June 25, 2018: Nigeria: Scores killed, homes burned in Plateau State attacks
"Lagos, Nigeria (CNN) At least 86 people have been killed in attacks in central Nigeria, police said, an incident that has the potential to exacerbate ethnic tensions in an increasingly volatile region.
The violence, thought to be carried out by armed herdsmen, flared on Saturday in Jos, the capital city of Plateau State, police said.
"Eighty six persons all together were killed, six people injured, fifty houses burnt," said police spokesman Terna Tyopev.
Violence between the nomadic Fulani herdsmen, who are mostly Muslims, and farmers, who are predominantly Christians, have rocked Nigeria's Middle Belt since 2013 and are becoming more common.
Amid fears of revenge attacks from affected local communities, Simon Lalong, the governor of Plateau, announced that authorities will enforce a curfew from 6 p.m. to 6 a.m. in Jos.
Lalong called the curfew "an immediate measure to protect the lives of citizens" in a statement on Twitter and said it will be in effect "until further notice."
He promised to follow up with longer term measures to secure peace in the area.
Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari posted a message on Twitter sending condolences to those affected and appealing for calm.
"The grievous loss of lives and property arising from the killings in Plateau today is painful and regrettable," he said.
"We will not rest until all murderers and criminal elements and their sponsors are incapacitated and brought to justice," Buhari said."
June 14, 2018: Is another Boko Haram or al-Shabaab erupting in Mozambique?
"A sudden upsurge in brutal violence in northern Mozambique, including the beheadings of women and children, has sounded alarms that a violent jihadist movement like Boko Haram or al-Shabaab could be evolving. Since October last year, over 50 people have been killed in about 20 attacks in Cabo Delgado province on the Tanzania border.
Gruesome footage of headless and mutilated bodies has been circulating on social media, accelerating an exodus of citizens from the region. Multinational energy companies poised to exploit Cabo Delgado’s huge liquefied natural gas reserves have paused. Fears are growing that the violence could sabotage the exploitation of this valuable resource which remains Mozambique’s one great hope for defeating poverty.
Those allegedly responsible for the attacks apparently call themselves Ahlu Sunnah Wa-Jamâ (often abbreviated to al-Sunnah). Locals dub them al-Shabaab, even though the group doesn’t seem to be formally affiliated to its more famous Somali namesake.
Has full-blown violent Islamist extremism arrived in Mozambique, and indeed in southern Africa? Or are these just poor, marginalised locals presenting ordinary crimes as something else? Or are they perhaps the Mozambican National Resistance (Renamo) in disguise? Or, even more cynically, are mercenaries deliberately stoking violence to win a lucrative contract to protect the natural gas industry?
Interpretations have differed widely. But the latest attacks seem to be forging a growing consensus that this is indeed an incipient local variant of the sort of violent Islamist extremism seen elsewhere in Africa. Both Mozambique and the Southern African Development Community (SADC) should be paying more attention.
The birth of al-Sunnah in Cabo Delgado dates back to 2013 or early 2014, according to independent security analyst Johann Smith. But on 5 October last year it caught wider attention. Thirty to 40 gunmen launched well-coordinated simultaneous attacks on three police or military posts in the coastal town of Moćimboa da Praia, 70 km south of the Tanzania border. Two police officers and 14 assailants were killed, Smith said.
The attacks in Cabo Delgado continued at a lower level. But they took a sinister turn on 27 May 2018 when attackers killed 10 unarmed civilians, several of whom were beheaded; and burnt many houses in Monjane village in the district of Macomia."
May 25, 2018: Fulani violence against Nigeria Christians hits record high
"Violence attributed to militant Fulani herdsmen in Nigeria has reached a record high this year.
The Governor of the central state of Benue said this week that 492 people have been killed in his state alone so far this year.
Governor Samuel Ortom was speaking 22 May at the mass burial of 19 Catholics, including two priests, killed during early morning Mass at St. Ignatius Catholic Church, by herdsmen a month ago."
February 17, 2018 18 killed in Borno suicide bomb attacks
"At least 18 persons were killed and 22 others injured as three suicide bombers staged attacked a Borno community Friday night, police said.
The suspected Boko Haram suicide bombers attacked Kasuwan Kifi village in Konduga local government area of the state.
Konduga is about 25km southeast of Maiduguri, the Borno capital.
In Kasuwan Kifi, there is a thriving night market where residents sell fried fish and food ingredients. The attackers infiltrated the market and detonated themselves there."
January 2, 2018: Gunmen kill 14 churchgoers after services in Nigeria
Killers reportedly operated at two locations in coordinated attack on Christians returning from churches
"Gunmen killed at least 14 churchgoers returning from midnight services on Monday in Nigeria’s Rivers State, a police source said, after the latest violence to hit the oil-rich region.
“The gunmen opened fire on a set of worshippers at about 12.30am on Monday,” said Ugochi Olugbo, a relative of one of the victims who were attending a New Year’s Eve service.
The Nigeria Independent reported gunmen operated at two different locations, the Kirigani and Oboh axis of Aligu, Omoku, in a coordinated attack on Christians returning from church services.
“Fourteen persons died on the spot, while 12 who sustained gunshot wounds were rushed to the hospital and are receiving medical attention,” said a police source who asked to remain anonymous."
December 29, 2017: Pray for Egypt. The day after the Egyptian Parliament voted to condemn House Resolution 673 that expresses grave concern and a call to action regarding Egypt's Coptic Christian persecution, The Arab News horrifically reports that a gunman opened fire on a church:
Ten killed as terrorists attack Coptic church in Egypt
"CAIRO: Ten people were killed and five others were injured on Friday morning in an armed clash after security forces attempted to thwart a terrorist attack targeting a church in the southern Cairo suburb of Helwan, according to Egypt’s Health Ministry."
December 28, 2017: A week ago, Representative French Hill of Arkansas sponsored H.Res. 673: Expressing concern over attacks on Coptic Christians in Egypt.
Today, in Egypt MPs refute US congress bill on Copts
"The session included the head of Egypt's State Information Service (SIS), Diaa Rashwan, Head of Free Egyptians Party’s Parliamentary committee Alaa Abid, head of Parliament’s Human Rights committee, Kamal Ami and head of parliament’s defence, National Security committee, Karim Darwish and other officials.
Radwan refuted the allegations mentioned on the US Congress bill, claiming that Egyptian Copts’ rights are violated, and they receive a second-degree citizen’s treatment. "
December 23, 2017: Coptic diocese says hundreds attack church in Egypt
"CAIRO (AP) — Hundreds of Muslim demonstrators attacked an unlicensed church south of Cairo wounding three people, an Egyptian Coptic Christian diocese said on Saturday, in the latest assault on members of the country’s Christian minority.
The incident took place after Friday prayers when dozens of demonstrators gathered outside the building and stormed it. The demonstrators chanted hostile slogans and called for the church’s demolition, the diocese in Atfih said. The demonstrators destroyed the church’s contents and assaulted Christians inside before security personnel arrived and dispersed them."
December 17, 2017: Suicide bombers kill nine at Christian church in Pakistan
"Two suicide bombers have attacked a church in the Pakistani city of Quetta, killing nine people and wounding more than 50.
Sarfraz Bugti, the home minister for the south-western Baluchistan province, said hundreds of worshippers were attending services at the church before Christmas. He said the attackers clashed with security forces, with one assailant killed at the entrance while the other made it inside.
The Baluchistan police chief, Moazzam Ansari, praised the response of security forces guarding the church, saying the attacker who made it inside was wounded and unable to reach the main building. “Otherwise the loss of lives could have been much higher,” he said.
The Quetta police chief, Abdur Razzaq Cheema, said a search was under way for two suspected accomplices who escaped.
Local television showed ambulances and security patrols racing to the scene while women and children were led out of the church’s main gate.
Islamic State claimed responsibility through its Amaq news agency, saying two “plungers” from the group had stormed the church, without providing further details.
Wasim Baig, a spokesman for Quetta’s main hospital, said three women were among the dead while four women and two children were among 57 wounded.
Aqil Anjum, who was shot in his right arm, said he heard a blast in the middle of the service, followed by heavy gunfire. “It was chaos. Bullets were hitting people inside the closed hall,” he said."
November 25, 2017: Something is happening in the Muslim world and the focus on tyranny is now centered on ancient Egypt and the wilderness of the Sinai as it was 3,500 years ago.
As Egypt retaliates, moderate Islam may somehow begin to see the truth about the radicals and their own belief. Please pray about this!
Sisi: Egypt to confront terror with 'brutal strength' after Sinai attack
"Egyptian President Abdel Fattah Al Sisi gives a televised statement on the attack in North Sinai, in Cairo, Egypt November 24, 2017.
Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi said the country's military and police would respond "with brutal strength" in a televised statement to the nation on Friday after an attack on a mosque in North Sinai left more than 300 people dead.
Naming the perpetrators "Takfiris", a term for hardline Sunni Muslims, he announced a period of mourning after the attack and said it would increase the country's resolve to oppose terrorism."
"We are fighting this alone. Egypt is confronting terrorism on the region and the world's behalf. This is why all that is happening at the moment is an attempt to stop our efforts to confront terrorism and an attempt to destroy our will which aims to stop the criminal scheme which is aiming to destroy what is left of our region," added Sisi.
"A mourning period has been announced for this painful, traitorous, vile and cowardly attack. It was aimed at destroying our morale. It was aimed at destroying our strength. It was aimed to [increase] doubt [in] our abilities.
"This painful terrorist attack, will increase our strength, power and will to stand and oppose terrorism."
Egypt's military began conducting air strikes around the area of North Sinai where the mosque attack occurred on Friday, security sources and eyewitnesses said.
The strikes have been concentrated in several mountainous areas surrounding Al Rawdah mosque where militants are believed to be hiding out, the security sources said."
"[The military and police] will return security and stability with absolute power, in the coming short period of time. This is our retaliation. We will respond to this attack with brutal strength to encounter these terrorist extremists, the Takfiris," said Sisi.
Militants detonated a bomb and gunned down worshipers in the deadliest attack in the country's modern history on Friday, state media and witnesses said."
November 5, 2017: Please pray for healing.
On the International Day of Prayer for the Persecuted Church, tribulation horror has shown its evil in a horrific massacre at First Baptist Church of Sutherland Springs, Texas.
Please, please courageously pray for healing and peace for the families in Sutherland Springs. Pray for those in Nigeria and Africa, in the Middle East, Asia, India, North Korea and around the world in tribulation!
26 dead, 20 injured in massacre at rural Texas church in worst mass shooting in state's history
"Among those killed at the white clapboard church was a 14-year-old girl named Annabelle Renee Pomeroy, according to her father, Frank Pomeroy, who is a pastor at the church.
Annabelle “was one very beautiful, special child,” Pomeroy told ABC News by phone.
At least 27 people were killed and 30 injured in a Texas church shooting Sunday morning, law enforcement sources told ABC News.
The alleged shooter is dead, and it appears there is no longer an active threat at the First Baptist Church in Sutherland Springs, about 40 miles southeast of San Antonio, police told ABC News.
A person who said she works at a gas station across the street from the church told ABC News she heard rapid gunfire at around 11:15 a.m., leading congregants from the church as well as customers at the station to run inside for cover.
“We heard several shots and we all started running inside the store,” she said."
November 2, 2017: Officials, Police in India Halt Worship in 10 Churches
"NEW DELHI (Morning Star News) – Officials and police in Tamil Nadu state, India, have ordered 10 churches to discontinue worship services, sources said.
Hindu extremists compelled state officials and police to issue orders to the churches in Coimbatore District to stop worship unless they obtain permission from the collector’s office, and the extremists intend to target 20 others in the same way, church leaders said.
“It is a well-planned conspiracy against the Christian community, as the Hindu extremists know that it is not easy to approach the collector’s office for such permissions,” pastor Johnson Sathyanathan, president of the Synod of Pentecostal Churches of Coimbatore, told Morning Star News. “The time to get such approvals can stretch from a year and a half to many more years.”
The district revenue officer (Tehsildar) told church leaders that orders against six churches were issued on the complaint of members of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), a Hindu nationalist, paramilitary organization widely regarded as the parent organization of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party. Orders were issued in one case based on a complaint by the Hanuman Sena, a fairly new Hindu extremist group."
October 29, 2017: Somalia Mogadishu: Deadly attacks rock capital
"Security forces in the Somali capital, Mogadishu, have ended a 15-hour siege of a hotel stormed by armed militants.
The gunmen entered the building after two bombs were detonated in the area. At least 20 people were killed, and it is feared more bodies will be found as security forces search the hotel.
The Islamist militant group al-Shabab said it had carried out the bombings.
Two weeks ago, 358 people died in the worst attack in Somalia since the group launched its offensive in 2007.
The al-Qaeda-linked group denies having any involvement with the 14 October attack, from which another 56 people are still missing."
October 26, 2017: In the accounts of Matthew and Mark, we can see that Jesus 'remembered' the future. He warned that mega earthquakes and Christian persecution would increase.
This is not some old prophecy -- its real time!
Just six months before Nepal's devastating 7.8 shaking from the mega quake that struck near Kathmandu when 9,000 people were killed in Nepal, India, China, and Bangladesh when 600,000 structures in Kathmandu were destroyed as nearly 16,800 were injured and some 2,800,000 people displaced, a new criminal code was registered in Nepal's parliament in October 2014 just before the earthquake.
The earth groans from the tribulation of the saints.
Now, three years later, the false Hindu prophet President Bidhya Devi Bhandari of Nepal has officially signed the tribulation law into effect from Nepal's power seat in Kathmandu after Nepal's parliament passed the bill in August, 2017.
"President approves new sanctions targeting non-Hindus and foreign missionaries."
"Last week, Nepal enacted a law to curb evangelism by criminalizing religious conversion, joining neighboring countries like India and Pakistan, where the region’s small-but-growing Christian minority faces government threats to their faith.
The “Nepali government [has] taken a regressive step as this law severely restricts our freedom of expression and our freedom of religion or belief,” said Tanka Subedi, chair of the national Religious Liberty Forum, to Christian Solidarity Worldwide (CSW). The pastor is 1 of an estimated 375,000 Christians living in the former Hindu kingdom.
The criminal code bill, which the parliament approved in August and President Bidhya Devi Bhandari signed last Monday, establishes further constitutional protections for Hinduism (which 80% of the population practices) by restricting religious conversion and “hurting of religious sentiment,” or blasphemy.
According to a Nepali Christian site, a section of the new law reads:
No one should involve or encourage in conversion of religion.
No one should convert a person from one religion to another religion or profess them own religion and belief with similar intention by using or not using any means of attraction and by disturbing religion or belief of any ethnic groups or community that being practiced since ancient times.
If found guilty; there will be punishment of five years of imprisonment and penalty of fifty thousand rupees [approximately $770 USD]. If foreigners are found guilty; they will have to be deported within seven days after completing the imprisonment in third clause."
October 25, 2017: In one of the most horrific tribulation attacks against Christians in Syria that you can envision we have more detail on the report from two days ago. ISIS Slaughters 128 in Syrian Christian Town: 'They Attacked us Like Animals, They Came to Kill Us'
"Shocking details are emerging of a surprise 'revenge' attack by ISIS militants on what was once a predominantly Syrian Christian town.
"They attacked us like animals, they came to kill us," a resident of Qaryatayn said, speaking on condition of anonymity.
On Sunday, Syrian government troops recaptured Qaryatayn from ISIS militants. But before retreating from the town, the terror group went on a killing spree slaughtering countless people.
"They killed children {and} women," recounted one survivor. "They broke the arms of the women {and} burned them."
The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights says at least 128 people were murdered in the rampage.
"They killed more than a hundred innocent people from the families of both civilians and militants," said one resident.
Syrian soldiers, backed by various militias, regained control of the town, which was held by ISIS militants since early October. Thousands of the town's Christian residents fled for the lives.
"They left nothing behind them, they took everything, belongings, stole the houses and the cars and took the men and killed them," said one eyewitness."
October 23, 2017: Horrifically, Newsweek reports this from Syria: IN SYRIAN CHRISTIAN TOWN, ISIS MASS-EXECUTED 116 PEOPLE BEFORE ASSAD'S ARMY CLOSED IN
"Evidence has emerged of another Islamic State militant group (ISIS) mass execution, this time in the Syrian Christian desert town of Al-Qaryatain.
The militant group killed at least 116 civilians in executions committed in the days before the Syrian regime recaptured the town, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR), a U.K.-based monitoring group with an extensive network of contacts in Syria.
“ISIS has over a period of 20 days executed at least 116 civilians in reprisal killings, accusing them of collaboration with regime forces,” SOHR chief Rami Abdelrahman told the Agence France-Presse news agency.
ISIS regained control of the town three weeks ago, and then the killings began. Syrian regime forces, backed by Russian air power, arrived and liberated the town on October 21 after dozens of ISIS fighters retreated, at which point the remains of the victims of the mass execution were found.
“After the regime retook it, the town’s residents found the bodies on the streets. They had been shot dead or executed with knives,” Abdelrahman said."
October 20, 2017: WHY THE MASSIVE BOMB BLAST IN SOMALIA SHOULD BE A WAKE-UP CALL TO THE WEST
"Another day, another attack in a far-flung, volatile land. Westerners are likely to react with a shrug and a sigh to last weekend’s truck bombing in Somalia, the world’s deadliest attack on civilians in over a decade—if they heard about it at all. Yet the attack has direct implications for the United States and its allies.
Had a bombing that killed at least 300 people and injured 300 others taken place in the U.S. or Europe, it would have mesmerized the Western public. But the reality is that the West has long been inured to tragedies in places they find unfamiliar, particularly ones like Somalia where misery seems the order of the day. The country on the Horn of Africa has suffered an array of seemingly insurmountable human-made and natural disasters over the past three decades, from protracted civil war and the rise of the Islamist armed group Al-Shabab to unrelenting drought and famine."
October 18, 2017: South African Pastor 'Burned Beyond Recognition' With Hands Tied Behind Back
"The body of a South African pastor has been found "burned beyond recognition" with his hands tied behind his back in a small farming town about 50 miles outside of Johannesburg.
The body of 45-year-old Martin Beneke, the senior pastor and founder of the Johannesburg-based Life in Christ Network, was discovered in Magaliesburg on Monday. The Life in Christ Network confirmed the pastor's death in a Facebook post on Wednesday.
"It is with heavy sadness and sorrow that we have to inform everyone that the founder and head pastor of LICN, Pastor Martin, has passed away on Monday, Oct. 16, 2017," the statement reads. "There are still so many questions we have and answers we need but we trust the process. Thank you to each and everyone who are supporting his wife, two daughters and family. We appreciate it."
Police spokesperson Sergeant Mpho More told media that the discovery of Beneke's body was made by a local farmer who noticed smoke as he traveled a gravel road on his farm."
In another horrific report, Islamists Murder 28 in Nigeria, Including Christian Women and Children; President Decries 'Madness'
"Islamic Fulani herdsmen have reportedly killed at least 28 people, including Christian women and children, in a raid on a village in Plateau State, Nigeria.
Persecution watchdog International Christian Concern reported on the recent attack on Tuesday, explaining that the violent raids by the Fulani on Christian villages are escalating as the terrorists migrate further south.
The Rev. Andrew Okebe, the Zonal Coordinator of Christian Association of Nigeria, Miango District, explained what happened during the attack:
"The soldiers had told the women and children to go and hide in the primary (elementary) school class at night while the men in the village constituted a vigilante group and join[ed] the soldiers in patrolling the area. Sadly, the militia descended and the soldiers fled, leaving the defenseless villagers to be massacred by the terrorists."
Nigerian military has reportedly been unable to stop the continued assault by the Fulani on villages. Civilians have been left defenseless in the face of Islamic jihadists who want to occupy their land, Okebe said.
There have been more than 30 attacks on Christian villages alone in 2017, with the herdsmen slaughtering over 250 people and burning down hundreds of homes."
October 15, 2017: Open you Bible and your heart... pray today for Somalia!!
Pray as you have been instructed to pray for them by Messiah Yeshua: "And he told them a parable to the effect that they ought always to pray and not lose heart." John 18:1
Before today's civilian bombing in Somalia killed hundreds, 23,920 have been killed in religious persecution and terror across Africa since 1997 according to ACLED, the Armed Conflict Location & Event Data Project.
The scene in Somalia is a horrific mirror image of the radical Islamic attack in Mosul on June 8, 2017 UN: Islamic State Killed 231 Civilians Trying to Flee Mosul 240 innocent people have died so far today in Somalia from truck bombs in the capital. According to the Washington Post report:
Somalia’s decade-long battle against extremists hits grim milestone after huge blasts
"The Somali capital is a frequent target of attacks by al-Shabab, an extremist group linked to al-Qaeda, but residents said they quickly discerned that the twin blasts were of a different order of magnitude.
The death toll continued to climb overnight. By Sunday afternoon, officials said they were still trying to calculate the number of victims. The Associated Press, quoting police and hospital sources, put the total at 189, while Somali lawmakers told Voice of America that it was 218.
A large swath of a city block appeared wiped out Sunday, and a tower of charred automobiles could be seen at the bombing site."
"In 2016, al-Shabab was the deadliest terrorist group in Africa, according to the Armed Conflict Location and Event Dataset, killing 4,281 people.
Meanwhile, Somalia has struggled to maintain a stable government or a defense force capable of challenging the Islamist militants."
October 14, 2017: Christian Persecution Hits All-Time High Worldwide: Report
By Anugrah Kumar, Christian Post Contributor | Oct 14, 2017 9:05 AM
"The persecution of Christians is now "worse than at any time in history," according to a report by the Catholic charity Aid to the Church in Need, which states that not only are Christians more persecuted than any other faith group, they are also experiencing the worst forms of persecution.
The Europe-based group also found that in 12 of the 13 countries reviewed, the situation for Christians was worse in overall terms in the period 2015–17 than within the preceding two years, says the report titled, "Persecuted and Forgotten? 2015–17."
"In many countries the situation was already so severe, it could scarcely get any worse, and yet it did – the obvious exception being Saudi Arabia, where a long-established pattern of some of the world's worst oppression saw no obvious indications of deterioration," it explains.
In 2016, as many as 600,000 Christians may have suffered some form of persecution for their faith around the world. "While firm numbers are hard to come by … there is little doubt that the level of Christian persecution remains extremely high in a great number of places around the world," the report says, adding that the number of deaths are reported to have fallen below 100,000 in the past two years.
The report expresses a serious concern for the Christians in the Middle East, noting that "an eradication of Christians, and other minorities, was – and still is – the specific and stated objective of extremist groups at work in Iraq, Syria and elsewhere in the region, including Egypt."
It quotes Chaldean Bishop Antoine Audo of Aleppo as saying in March 2016 that the number of Christians had reduced to 500,000, a fall of 1.2 million – or two-thirds - within five years.
In Iraq, the Christian population declined from 275,000 in mid-2015 to below 200,000 two years later – and possibly as few as 150,000, the report says, warning that "if this decline were to continue at the same rate, it would show that" the previous report's "prediction of a virtual wipe-out of Iraq's Christian community by 2020 remains on track.""
"However," the report adds, "fears that Christians in Iraq are 'on the verge of extinction' were, to some extent, alleviated at the end of the reporting period by news of thousands of families returning to their homes on the Nineveh Plains following the defeat of Daesh (the Islamic State terror group, also known as ISIS, IS or ISIL)."
It adds that genocide against Christians has also taken place in northern Nigeria, where Boko Haram, which is now believed to be affiliated with IS, started a campaign of violence to ensure the faithful "will not be able to stay."
October 13, 2017 Police in Pakistan Beat to Death 14 Y/O Christian Boy Who Refused to Renounce His Faith
"Police in Pakistan beat a 14-year-old Christian boy to death on Monday (Oct. 9) because he had gotten into a fight with a Muslim classmate who tried to bully him into renouncing his faith, sources said.
Mushtaq Masih, father of Arsalan Masih, said that his son was a student at a private center in Jhabran Mandi village, Sheikhupura District in Punjab Province. Arsalan was at the center when seven policemen from the Bahu Chowk Police Post arrived at about 5 p.m. in their official vehicle and stormed the premises, Masih told Morning Star News."
"Arsalan was attending his tuition classes at the Ideal Science Academy when Head Constable Imtiaz, Driver Rashid, Constable Arshad and some other unidentified policemen kicked open the door and dragged him out of the classroom," Masih said. "Sardar, alias Billu, a police constable, helped them to identify the boy. With this, they all started beating Arsalan with fists, kicks and rifle butts."
October 12, 2017: The Last Christians: Priest Describes Horror, Courage of Christians Being Killed for Their Faith (Interview)
"In Mosul, IS terrorists stopped a boy in the street because he was wearing a small cross around his neck. They ordered him to throw it away, and when he steadfastly refused, they buried him alive," Knapp wrote in his newly released book, The Last Christians: Stories of Persecution, Flight, and Resilience in the Middle East.
"Whenever I hear stories like this and meet Christians of such courage, I can't help but wonder: How much is my faith worth to me? How high a price would I be prepared to pay?" The story is only one of the countless tragedies Knapp witnessed or heard about from survivors and church and human rights workers when traveling to Iraq to speak with Christians who are being wiped out for their faith.
Churches in Mosul were bombed, Christian schools were threatened with destruction unless the students converted to Islam, 5-year-old children were shot dead on their way to mass, and Christian girls were raped for refusing to wear veils, the author described. Now with the rise of IS, thousands of Yazidi and Christian women and young girls are being sold in modern-day slave markets.
Accounts tell of young women being raped for days by dozens of men, begging to be killed in order for the torture to stop, but only to be met with laughter and cynical remarks. One Christian girl who suffered "bestial abuse" at the hands of IS took rat poison to end her life, suffering a long, drawn-out death.
Other stories, such as one from the ancient Christian town of Sadat, tell of 45 men, women and children who were tortured, killed, and buried in a mass grave by radicals. Some of the young men were taken prisoners, but those who refused to renounce their faith and embrace Islam where shot dead."
October 9, 2017: Today, the BBC reported that Boko Haram suspects on trial in Nigeria's Kainji town
"The first in a series of trials of more than 6,600 people, accused of being members of militant Islamist group Boko Haram, has opened in Nigeria.
The trials are being held in secret by civilian court judges at a military facility in north-central Kainji town.
Rights activists say they are concerned about the lack of transparency in what have been described as the biggest terrorism trial in Nigeria's history.
Some 20,000 people have been killed in Boko Haram's eight-year insurgency.
Only nine people have been convicted so far of being involved in the unrest.
Four judges have started the trials at the military centre in Kainji, sources at the ministry of justice told the BBC's Ishaq Khalid in the capital, Abuja."
October 8, 2017: For those that did not believe the report... Bodies of 21 Coptic Christians Beheaded by ISIS in Libya Found in Mass Grave
"Libya's interior ministry has said they have found a mass grave with the bodies of the 21 Coptic Christians who were beheaded by the Islamic State two years ago. The remains have been sent for forensic examination.
"The heads are separated from the bodies clad in orange jumpsuits, hands bound behind the back with plastic wire," said the ministry's unit for fighting organized crime in the city of Misurata."
September 29, 2017: Tenn. church suspect's car had note referencing retaliation for Dylann Roof's Charleston attack
"A 25-year-old accused of opening fire at a Tennessee church last weekend allegedly had a note in his car referencing some sort of retaliation for the Charleston church attack carried out by white supremacist Dylann Roof two years ago, a law enforcement official said.
Police said on Sept. 24, 25-year-old Emanuel Samson shot and killed a 39-year-old woman in the parking lot of the Burnette Chapel Church of Christ in Antioch. Police said Samson then went into the main doors of the church sanctuary, shooting and wounding six people, who are all in their 60s or 80s."
September 11, 2017: Muslim Fulani Herdsmen Massacre 20 Nigerian Christians
"Muslim Fulani herdsmen in central Nigeria’s Plateau state massacred 20 Christians, including children, as they slept in the hours after midnight on Friday (Sept. 8) in an apparent reprisal attack that mystified villagers, sources said.
“The village where they claim one of them was killed over a year ago is not part of our village, and we have never had any misunderstanding with them in the past,” said John Bulus, church secretary of Salama Baptist Church-Ancha, which lost 19 members in the massacre.
Police reportedly said the attack was an act of vengeance after the discovery last week of a slain and beheaded Fulani boy who was a resident of Ancha village, Miango District in the Bassa Local Government Area. But a village Christian told Morning Star News that the area’s terrified residents were at a loss to explain why they were targeted, as the murder of the Fulani took place at another village."
September 4, 2017: 'Jailed Pakistan Christian 'Tortured To Death' For Refusing To Abandon Christ'
"Pakistani Christians demand an investigation into the death of Indaryas Ghulam, a 38-year-old Christian man who they say was tortured and sentenced to death by hanging after refusing to abandon his faith in Jesus Christ.
Ghulam was among 42 Christians detained on charges of lynching two Muslims who allegedly participated in a Taliban group attack against two churches that left at least 19 people dead more than 70 wounded in Youhanabad, a poor Christian settlement adjacent to Lahore city, church sources said."
September 7, 2017: Rohingya Muslims: Tales of horror from Myanmar
"Tens of thousands of people have fled violence in Myanmar's Rakhine state. Many speak of killings, rape and even massacres.
Off the south-eastern coast of Bangladesh, a row of crescent-shaped, wooden fishing boats approach the shore, listing dangerously in the strong winds.
As they get closer, you can see they are packed. Women on the floor, many holding on to children, men pressed against the sides of the boats.
This is the latest boatload of Rohingya Muslims, fleeing from Myanmar's Rakhine state."
August 25, 2017: Myanmar tensions: Dozens dead in Rakhine militant attack
"Attacks by militants on police posts in Myanmar's Rakhine state have left 71 people, including 12 security personnel, dead, the authorities say.
More than 20 posts were targeted by Muslim militants in pre-dawn raids, the government said, in Rakhine's worst violence for months.
Rakhine has been hit by clashes between Muslim and Buddhist communities.
The attacks come a day after a report warned more people would be radicalised if ethnic tensions were not addressed.
Rakhine state, in western Myanmar, is home to more than a million Rohingya Muslims.
Tensions with the majority Buddhist population have been rumbling for years, and tens of thousands of Rohingya have fled to Bangladesh, accusing Myanmar authorities of ethnic persecution.
A government statement said that "extremist Bengali insurgents attacked a police station in Maungdaw region in northern Rakhine state with a handmade bomb explosive and held co-ordinated attacks on several police posts at 01:00".
The government uses the term "Bengali" to describe the stateless Rohingya, because it maintains they are illegal immigrants from Bangladesh."
August 22, 2017: Al-Shabaab Beheads 3 Christians, Burns Alive Another in Kenya as Christians Plead for Help in Camps
"Al-Shabaab fighters reportedly killed four Christian men in Kenya's Lamu County last week, beheading three and burning alive another.
"Late in the night on August 17, al-Shabaab militants entered Maleli village of Witu and killed the four men; three were hacked to death with machetes and one was burned inside his home," International Christian Concern reported on Monday.
"The four men who were killed are Stephen Hizano Ponda, Charo Karisa Ngoa, Naphtali Katana Kadenge, and Joseph Gasena Ngoa.""
August 16, 2017: 16 killed, 82 injured in Borno suicide attack - Police
"The Police in Borno on Wednesday said 16 persons were killed and 82 others wounded in a suicide bomb attack on a market in Konduga Local Government Area of the state.
The commissioner, Damian Chukwu, confirmed the attack in a text message sent to journalists on Wednesday in Maiduguri.
Mr. Chukwu said that the incident occurred at a market at about 5: 30 p.m. when three suicide bombers hit the market.
He said the suicide bombers, a male and two females, who detonated the explosives at the busy market blew up themselves and killed 16 people.
Mr. Chukwu said that 82 other persons sustained various degrees of injuries in the attack, adding that the wounded were evacuated to the Specialist Hospital, Maiduguri."
August 12, 2017: Christian Persecution in India Hits Record High in First Half of 2017
"As many as 410 incidents of attacks, harassment and threats on Christians were reported in India in the first six months of 2017, the highest ever since the country's independence, according to figures compiled by partners of Open Doors. Attackers are generally from or influenced by groups associated with the governing Hindu nationalist party.
The first quarter of 2017 saw 248 incidents of persecution, and by June-end, the number grew to 410, a report by Open Doors said, noting that a total of 441 incidents were reported in all of 2016.
"When the Christians are beaten by the extremists, they receive injuries mostly on their heads or their vital body parts," a local partner of Open Doors was quoted as saying in the report. "The assaulters do not care if the person dies in the attack. They know that they will not be punished because the government (and hence the judiciary) will take their side. In most of the cases the assaulters go unpunished.""
August 8, 2017: Hindunization Leads To More Anti-Christian Violence
"If the Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh (RSS) has its way, India will soon be unified under one religion, one culture, and one language.
Non-Hindu People Are Being Targeted.
Of course, in order for this to happen, all other religious communities–including Christians–would have to be eliminated. According to the RSS organization’s founder, M.S. Golwalker, that is exactly the plan.
“The non-Hindu people in Hindustan must either adopt the Hindu culture and language, must learn to respect and revere Hindu religion, must entertain no idea but the glorification of the Hindu religion, that is they must not only give up their attitude of intolerance and ingratitude towards this land and its age-long tradition but must also cultivate the positive attitude of love and devotion instead; in one word they must cease to be foreigners or may stay in the country wholly subordinated to the Hindu nation claiming nothing, deserving no privileges, far less any preferential treatment not even citizen’s rights.”
The Plan to Eliminate Christianity
This is tragically ironic, perhaps, since it’s well known the RSS intends for India to be ‘free of Christians by 2020.’
To accomplish their goal of bringing Christians under one Hindu religion in the next few years, extremists follow these five steps:
1. The pastor is chased out of the community. Church members are not allowed to contact him or to leave their villages and worship with other believers.
2. The extremists prevent Christians from participating in the society. They are not allowed to have a government job, trade, draw water from the well, buy food and other products from local stores or to even to talk to other people in the village.
3. As the numbers show, physical violence happens more frequently too. Families are threatened, Christians are beaten up, girls and women may be raped, children may be kidnapped (e.g. Reena’s case).
4. At some point, the Hindu priest will come to indoctrinate the Christians, to remind them that they were born as Hindus and to persuade them to come back to the religion of their community.
5. If they still resist, they are often forcibly taken from their house, pushed into a Hindu procession and dragged to a temple. There they have to bow to idols, recite scriptures and often get smeared with cow dung and/or cow urine (to ‘cleanse’ them)."
August 7, 2017: Eleven dead in Nigeria church gun attack
"At least 11 people have been killed in a gun attack on a church in southern Nigeria, police say.
Up to 18 other worshippers were wounded in the early morning incident at the church in Ozubulu near the city of Onitsha.
There were conflicting reports over whether the attack was carried out by a lone gunman or a group of attackers.
Police said the shooting was the result of a feud between Nigerians from Ozubulu who were living abroad.
Anambra State Police Commissioner Garba Umar said the violence could be linked to drug-trafficking.
He said the gunman had been hired to kill a local man who was believed to be in St Philip's Catholic Church."
July 25, 2017: Al-Shabaab Slaughters 7 Christians in Door-to-Door ID Checks in Kenyan Villages
"Somali-based terror group al-Shabaab killed seven Christians in a series of deadly raids in Kenya earlier this month where the Islamic radicals went door-to-door in villages looking for believers. Previous reports noted that the militants beheaded nine civilians in Jima in Lamu County in their hunt for non-Muslims, though more information is being released now about the victims. A local pastor said the radicals have been searching for Christians to kill.
"[The militants in Jima] were asking the villagers to produce their identification cards and if you were found to be a Christian you would be shot or slaughtered.""
July 23, 2017 Report: Chinese Provinces Seek to Eradicate Sunday Schools, Christian Summer Camps
"HANGZHOU, Zhejiang (China Aid) — As China clamps down on the freedoms of its state-run churches, officials in the country’s eastern Zhejiang province have recently issued orders aimed at closing Sunday schools and keeping children from Christian events over the summer months."
July 20, 2017: US State Dept: 75% of Terrorist Deaths in 2016 Were from Nigeria, Four Others
"A report released wednesday by the United States Department of State has disclosed that 75 per cent of deaths caused by terrorist attacks across the globe world occurred in Nigeria, Iraq, Afghanistan, Syria; and Pakistan.
The report, Country Reports on Terrorism 2016, stated that in 2016, terrorist attacks took place in 104 countries, but were heavily concentrated geographically with 55 per cent of the attacks in five countries – Iraq; Afghanistan, India, Pakistan, and the Philippines, while 75 per cent of all deaths due to terrorist attacks took place in five countries – Iraq, Afghanistan, Syria, Nigeria and Pakistan."
In Iran today, 11 Christian Converts Issued Long Prison Sentences in Iran in Less Than Two Months in Sham Trials.
"The Iranian authorities must immediately halt the disturbing trend of arrests and imprisonment of Christians, the Center for Human Rights in Iran (CHRI) said in a statement today.
In less than two months, since June 2017, Judge Mashallah Ahmadzadeh of Branch 26 of the Revolutionary Court in Tehran has issued long prison sentences to at least 11 Christian converts and the former leader of the Assyrian Pentecostal Church in Iran.
“Christians are recognized as an official religious minority in Iran’s Constitution, but the state continues to persecute members of the faith, especially converts,” said CHRI’s executive director Hadi Ghaemi."
July 18, 2017 Christian Refugees Flee Islamic Persecution In Greek Refugee Camps, Seeking Asylum
"Christian refugees have been blocked from seeking asylum on the Greek mainland after fleeing Islamic persecution in the camps in the Greek Isles.
Muslim persecution of Christians from Syria, Afghanistan, and other Muslim countries has run rampant in the Moria refugee camp on the Isle of Lesbos, according to the British Pakistani Christian Association (BPCA). Christians in the camp have received death threats, been barred from openly practicing their faith, and in some cases have been beaten and had their makeshift homes destroyed at the hands of Islamic radicals. Many Christians have fled for their lives to seek asylum on the mainland, but current Greek policy turned them back to the camp, according to Wilson Chowdhry, president of BPCA."
July 12, 2017: 19 killed in Boko Haram attacks in northern Nigeria city
"Four Boko Haram suicide bombers killed 19 people in a series of attacks that targeted a civilian self-defense force and the people who gathered to mourn their deaths, police in Nigeria said Wednesday. It was the deadliest attack in months in the northeastern city of Maiduguri, the birthplace of Boko Haram's eight-year insurgency.
Borno state police commissioner Damian Chukwu said 23 others were wounded in Tuesday night's attacks. The police commissioner said 12 of the dead were members of a civilian self-defense force and the other seven people had been mourning them."
June 26, 2017: 10 killed in Maiduguri bombing — Police
"Police in Borno State have confirmed that at least 16 persons comprising seven suicide bombers and nine innocent victims died after Boko Haram insurgents attacked Maiduguri on Sunday.
PREMIUM TIMES had earlier reported that the University of Maiduguri was part of the locations attacked by the bombers who crept into the city during the curfew hours as Muslims celebrated Sallah.
Borno State police commissioner, Damian Chukwu, told journalists at a press conference that most of the attackers were teenage girls who were wired with deadly explosives."
June 20, 2017: 10-Y-O Survivor of ISIS Massacre: 'Every Time They Shot a Christian, They Yelled God Is Great'
"A 10-year-old Egyptian schoolboy who witnessed the brutal murder of his father by Islamic State militants in Minya, where 29 Christians were slaughtered in May, says the jihadists cried out "God is great" every time they shot a follower of Jesus Christ. Mina Habib told Reuters in a piece published Tuesday that his father, one of the 29 believers massacred on May 26 when IS stopped three vehicles on their way to a monastery, was killed specifically for his Christian faith.
"We saw dead people, just dumped on the ground," the boy, who is now receiving therapy at a local church, said of the attack. "They asked my father for identification then told him to recite the Muslim profession of faith. He refused, said he was Christian. They shot him and everyone else with us in the car," he said of his father, Adel. Mina said the 15 gunmen shot Christian children dead, but he and his older brother, Marco, were spared."
May 26, 2017: Egypt Coptic Christians killed in bus attack
"Gunmen have attacked a bus carrying Coptic Christians in central Egypt, killing at least 28 people and wounding 25 others, officials say.
The bus was traveling to the Monastery of St Samuel the Confessor, 135km (85 miles) south of Cairo, from Minya province when it came under fire.
No group immediately said it was behind the attack.
But Islamic State (IS) militants have targeted Copts several times in recent months, and vowed to do so again.
Two suicide bombings at Palm Sunday services at churches in the northern cities of Alexandria and Tanta on 9 April left 46 people dead.
Another suicide bombing at a church in the capital in December killed 29 people, while a Christian community was forced to flee the town of el-Arish in the northern Sinai peninsula after a series of gun attacks in February."
May 21, 2017: Church, Pastor Home Torched as Attacks on Christians Rise 40% in Southern India
Attacks on Christians in India have been increasing since the Bharatiya Janata Party won the national election in 2014
"After some high "caste" Hindus converted to Christianity and joined the Church, other Hindus burned down the place of worship and the home of its pastor in southern India this month.
Pastor John Muller and his pregnant wife found their church building and adjoining home in Attipattu village in Tamil Nadu state's Cuddalore District burnt down after they said they came home from a nearby store, according to Morning Star News.
"Recently, some villagers belonging to Vanniyar, a caste-based Hindu sect, came to Christ," Muller told Morning Star. "The same caste group opposes conversions in the village because they treat Christianity as a religion of lower castes. They don't want anyone from Vanniyar to convert to Christianity."
Muller said he and his wife lost all their possessions. "My wife is 26 weeks pregnant. We are expecting our first child. We are homeless. A kind believer is letting us rest in his house during nights for now."
A recent All India Christian Council report exposed that violent attacks on the Christian minority in India are mounting at an alarming rate, as members of groups close to the governing Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party seek to create a "Hindu nation." The report stated attacks against Christians increased by about 20 percent in 2016, and physical violence against Christians was up by as much as 40 percent.
A fresh attack is being reported every 40 hours, the report outlined. "The attacks have become severe and more frequent. Incidents used to be confined to a few states. Now the violence has spread to 23 states," the report noted."
May 13, 2017: TERROR WARNING: ISIS orders Muslims to stay away from Christian events
"THE Islamic State has ordered Muslims to stay away from Christian events and government buildings amid warnings of a future attack.
An ISIS leader based in Egypt warned Christian events, gatherings of the army and police, and areas hosting government facilities are all “legitimate targets”.
The chilling warning comes as Christians in Egypt continue to mourn after 45 people were killed and at least 100 people injured in the Palm Sunday bombings on Coptic churches.
The unnamed ISIS leader told a jihadi magazine: “We are warning you to stay away from Christian gatherings, as well as the gatherings of the army and the police, and the areas that have political government facilities.”
ISIS vowed to eradicate Christianity from Egypt in a propaganda video released in February"
May 6, 2017: Pakistan Sentences Christian Man to Life in Prison for 'Insulting Islam'
"A court in Pakistan has sentenced a Christian man to life imprisonment under the country's blasphemy law for allegedly sending "blasphemous" text messages from his mobile phone.
After the court in the city of Rawalpindi in the Punjab province sentenced Zafar Bhatti on Wednesday, legal advocacy group CLAAS, which is based in the United Kingdom and run by Christians from Pakistan, said it will challenge the decision, according to the news website Christians In Pakistan."
May 5, 2017: Seven killed, six injured in another suicide bomb attack in Borno
"The Borno Police Command on Friday confirmed the killing of seven persons after two suspected female suicide bombers attacked Mandarari ward in Konduga Local Government Area of Borno.
Murtala Ibrahim of the Borno Police Command Public Relations Unit, confirmed the incident in a statement he issued in Maiduguri.
Mr. Ibrahim said the attack took place on Thursday night.
“Yesterday at about 22.45 hours, two suspected female suicide bombers detonated explosives strapped to their bodies at Mandarari ward in Konduga LGA, killing themselves and five others."
April 21, 2017: ISIS Slits Throat of 16 Y/O Coptic Christian Boy, Leave Him to Die in Pool of Blood
"Four days after the Palm Sunday bombing of Egyptian churches, Allam Bashay Gabriel found his 16-year-old son, Gamal, with his throat slit and lying in a pool of blood, in Qai village, Upper Egypt, according to World Watch Monitor.
"The way he was killed is the way of Daesh [IS], as they are the only ones who slaughter people like that," Mr. Gabriel told the outlet. "They slaughtered my son because of his faith in Jesus Christ. It's a war on Christians, and all honest people should stand up to those who are waging this war."
Gamal was "loved by all his friends and teachers at school", his father said. "He was a very peaceful and polite person."
He added that he couldn't come up with a "reason why anyone would want to kill my son, as we are simple family and don't have any enemies. We have not been in trouble with anyone and there is no vendetta between us and other families. There also were no valuables that would have attracted criminals.""
April 19, 2017: Christian Pastor Detained in China for Singing 'Jesus Loves You'
"A Taiwanese Christian pastor was detained for singing the worship song "Jesus Love You" in Zhengzhou, Henan, in China, which officials there have branded as an "illegal religious activity."
Local officials never explained why singing "Jesus Loves You" is now deemed to be an illegal activity, though several Christians across China in recent months have been arrested and even sentenced to prison for participating in religious activities. Five Christians, including a pastor, were sentenced back in February by a court in the northeastern Liaoning province to between three to seven years in prison for purchasing and selling what authorities called "forbidden Christian devotional books.""
April 8, 2017: Church bombings kill dozens in Egypt on Palm Sunday
"CAIRO -- Suicide bombers struck hours apart at two Coptic churches in northern Egypt, killing 44 people and turning Palm Sunday services into scenes of horror and outrage at the government.
It was the single deadliest day for Christians in decades and the worst since a bombing at a Cairo church in December killed 30 people.
The Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) claimed responsibility for the violence, adding to fears that extremists are shifting their focus to civilians, especially Egypt’s Christian minority."
March 11, 2017: UN: World facing greatest humanitarian crisis since 1945
"The world is facing its largest humanitarian crisis since 1945, the United Nations says, issuing a plea for help to avoid "a catastrophe".
UN humanitarian chief Stephen O'Brien said that more than 20 million people faced the threat of starvation and famine in Yemen, Somalia, South Sudan and Nigeria.
Unicef has already warned 1.4m children could starve to death this year.
Mr O'Brien said $4.4bn (£3.6bn) was needed by July to avert disaster.
"We stand at a critical point in history," Mr O'Brien told the Security Council on Friday. "Already at the beginning of the year we are facing the largest humanitarian crisis since the creation of the United Nations."
"Now, more than 20 million people across four countries face starvation and famine. Without collective and coordinated global efforts, people will simply starve to death. Many more will suffer and die from disease."
"Christian families and students fled Egypt's North Sinai province in droves on Friday after Islamic State killed the seventh member of their community in just three weeks.
A Reuters reporter saw 25 families gathered with their belongings in the Suez Canal city of Ismailia's Evangelical Church and church officials said 100 families, out of around 160 in North Sinai, were fleeing. More than 200 students studying in Arish, the province's capital, have also left.
Seven Christians have been killed in Arish between Jan. 30 and Thursday. Islamic State, which is waging an insurgency there, claimed responsibility for the killings, five of which were shootings. One man was beheaded and another set on fire."
February 20, 2017: Beyond Nigeria, the World Watch Monitor reports: "The Islamic State has released a propaganda video, vowing to wipe out Egypt’s Coptic Christians and “liberate Cairo”."
In January, Open Doors published the results of their annual report on Christian persecution and the watch list global persecution map of nations is appalling. Nigeria's 12th on the list just behind Libya among the top 50 countries where it is most difficult if not impossible to profess and practice the Christian faith.
Please pray for all nations and people in grave tribulation.
January 6, 2017: Christians the most persecuted group in world for second year: Study
"Christians continued to be the most persecuted group across the globe in 2016, according to a study.
The upcoming report from Italian-based Center for Studies on New Religions, determined that 90,000 Christians were killed for their beliefs worldwide last year and nearly a third were at the hands of Islamic extremists like ISIS. Others were killed by state and non-state persecution, including in places like North Korea.
“U.S. policy has not had a strategy for specifically addressing the persecution of Christians,” Ryan Mauro, national security analyst for the Clarion Project, told FoxNews.com “For example, very few people are even aware that Iraqi Christians began organizing to defend themselves and needed our help."
The study also found that as many as 600 million Christians were prevented from practicing their faith in 2016."
December 30, 2016: A report from Italy's the Center for Studies on New Religions "Persecuzioni anticristiane. Introvigne: 90 mila uccisi nel 2016" has been reported by Vatican Radio horrifically stating the number of Christians killed for their faith this year:
"The influential Center for Study of Global Christianity next month will publish its statistics in 2016, about 90,000 Christians killed for their faith, one death every six minutes, a bit 'decreased compared to 105,000 two years does. Of these, 70 percent, or 63,000, were killed in tribal conflicts in Africa.
The American Center include them in the statistics because they believed that in large part it is Christians who refuse to take for reasons of conscience weapons. The other 30 percent, or 27,000, comes instead from terrorist attacks, destruction of Christian villages, governmental persecution, as in the case of North Korea."
December 17, 2016: Tribulation and death is not limited to religious persecution and terrorism.
In the economically depressed foothills of the Appalachian Mountains, poverty and economic turmoil of West Virginia horrors comes in the form of prescription drug overdose.
Drug firms poured 780M painkillers into WV amid rise of overdoses
"Follow the pills and you'll find the overdose deaths.
The trail of painkillers leads to West Virginia's southern coalfields, to places like Kermit, population 392. There, out-of-state drug companies shipped nearly 9 million highly addictive — and potentially lethal — hydrocodone pills over two years to a single pharmacy in the Mingo County town."
Rural and poor, Mingo County has the fourth-highest prescription opioid death rate of any county in the United States.
The trail also weaves through Wyoming County, where shipments of OxyContin have doubled, and the county's overdose death rate leads the nation. One mom-and-pop pharmacy in Oceana received 600 times as many oxycodone pills as the Rite Aid drugstore just eight blocks away.
In six years, drug wholesalers showered the state with 780 million hydrocodone and oxycodone pills, while 1,728 West Virginians fatally overdosed on those two painkillers, a Sunday Gazette-Mail investigation found.
The unfettered shipments amount to 433 pain pills for every man, woman and child in West Virginia.
“These numbers will shake even the most cynical observer,” said former Delegate Don Perdue, D-Wayne, a retired pharmacist who finished his term earlier this month. “Distributors have fed their greed on human frailties and to criminal effect. There is no excuse and should be no forgiveness""
December 15, 2016: Armed Muslim mob DESTROYS Christian village over church building
"A MUSLIM mob armed with rifles, clubs and machetes burnt down shops and destroyed Christian homes in an attack just days before ISIS killed 25 people in the Cairo cathedral bombing.
ensions between Muslims and the Coptic Christian community have escalated in recent days following the deadly attack on a chapel at St Mark's Orthodox Cathedral.
But just days before the bombing a mob went on the rampage in the village of Manshiet El-Naghamish in Sohag.
The village’s 2,000 Christians built a four-story building to be used as a community centre and applied to the Egyptian authorities to build a church, angering members of the Muslim community.
Local sources say tensions worsened after the bishop of El-Balyana and Al-Koshe was asked to lead a prayer meeting sparking leaflets to be sent out rallying a mob to attack the Christians.
In a horrifying attack the mob assaulted Christians using gas canisters and rocks as they looted and burned properties and businesses.
The water and power supply was cut off as roadblocks stopped firefighters coming to help."
"The Coptic Orthodox Church is the largest Christian church in Egypt and the Middle East's biggest Christian community.
Coptic Christians, who make up about 10 per cent of Egypt's 90million people, have long complained of discrimination under successive Egyptian leaders.
Christians struggle to legally build churches in Egypt, with new churches only allowed to be built by official presidential decree - and they are only issued once a year."
December 13, 2016: Nigeria: Kebbi Christians face latent pressure to abandon faith
"While violent attacks on Christians at the hands of Islamist militants Boko Haram and the Fulani herdsmen in the northeast and Middle Belt of Nigeria have captured media attention, the persistent social pressures Christians face elsewhere go mostly unnoticed.
Despite common misperceptions that they are a minority across the north of Nigeria, Christians still form the majority in half of the 12 northern states now all under Islamic law (although they are in theory exempt from Sharia provision), while there are high concentrations (25-50%) in the other northern states.
In a remote community in the north-western, Sharia-governed state of Kebbi, Christians face discrimination and persistent pressure to convert to Islam."
December 11, 2016: Attack on Coptic Cathedral in Cairo Kills Dozens
"CAIRO — A bomb ripped through a section reserved for women at Cairo’s main Coptic cathedral during Sunday morning Mass, killing at least 25 people and wounding 49, mostly women and children, Egyptian state media said.
The attack was the deadliest against Egypt’s Christian minority in years. Video from the blast site circulating on social media showed blood-smeared floors and shattered pews among the marble pillars at St. Mark’s Coptic Orthodox Cathedral, the seat of Egypt’s Orthodox Christian Church, where the blast occurred in a chapel adjacent to the main building."
October 26, 2016: A report today from WorldWatch Monitor recounts the violence and terror against Christians from 2013-2016 in the Nigerian state of Nasarawa by Hausa-Fulani herdsmen.
Nigerian Middle Belt state: 800+ Christians killed, 800+ injured, 100+ churches destroyed
"Nigeria’s Middle Belt is the scene of ever-continuing attacks on Christian farmers by mainly Muslim Hausa-Fulani herdsmen, including this past week where attacks have occurred in both Kaduna and Benue states. Now a recent report about another state in the Middle Belt, Nasarawa, shows that it too has been the scene of serious violence against Christians. In the period January 2013–May 2016, 826 Christians were killed and 878 injured. There were 102 churches destroyed or damaged.
Beside these, 787 houses were destroyed, as well as nine shops, and 32 motorised vehicles. Many families were completely deprived of their livelihoods. Around 21,000 Christians were reported as Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) in different camps inside and outside Nasarawa. Due to the difficult security situation, the authors of the in-depth fact-finding report are convinced that they were only able to report part of what really happened.
Their Nigeria Conflict and Security Analysis Network (NCSAN) report shows that Nasarawa has been engulfed in various forms of conflict since its creation in 1996. Many researchers, policy makers and government officials have explained the conflict in terms of politics, ethnicity and economic contestation over land and resources. In most cases, the religious component of the conflict has been completely downplayed, marginalised, excluded or neglected."
October 20, 2016 40 killed as suspected Fulani herdsmen raid Christian community in Nigeria
"Gunmen believed to be Fulani herdsmen have killed more than 40 people in Godogodo village, a Christian settlement in the Jama’a Local Government Area in Nigeria’s northern state of Kaduna. The area, in the south of Kaduna State, has been attacked several times before.
The gunmen were said to have attacked a military checkpoint in the area before invading the village.
One survivor, Peter Atangi, told World Watch Monitor his four children were all killed.
“The herdsmen came around 9pm on Saturday [15 Oct.]. They invaded our homes after they attacked a military checkpoint. They were armed with sophisticated guns, machetes, knives and sticks. As soon as they came, they started shooting indiscriminately and we started running in different directions.
“They shot and killed my four children. As we ran for our dear lives, they also set our homes on fire. Many of us have been rendered homeless. We don’t know where to start….”"
October 7, 2016:
Church in Northern Kenya Fearful after Gruesome Attack on Christians
"NAIROBI, Kenya (Morning Star News) – Church members in a northeastern town in Kenya fear for their lives after Islamic extremists targeted Christians in a grenade and gun attack early Thursday morning (Oct. 6) that killed six people, sources said.
Targeting predominantly Christian migrant workers from Kenya’s interior, rebels from Somalia’s Al Shabaab group reportedly took responsibility for the attack at a residential compound in Mandera, with a spokesman for the militants saying it was designed to drive Christians from the area."
September 22, 2016: As Nigeria's Christians suffer in the horrors of radical Islamic jihad, the African nation of Togo looks to Israel as the key for solutions to Africa's problems:
Israel Holds the Key to Africa's Development
"On Thursday September 22, President Faure Gnassingbe participated in a high level meeting organized by the Prime Minister of Israel, Benjamin Netanyahu.
The roundtable gathered key leaders of the continent including President Paul Kagame of Rwanda, President Ernest Bai Koroma of Sierra Leone as well as over 30 African Foreign Ministers.
The meeting galvanized the renewal of the political and economic partnership and friendship between the continent and the Jewish state.
President Gnassingbe, the keynote speaker of the forum, lauded Jerusalem's ambition to deepen its connection with Africa.
The President declared: " Whilst visiting Israel last August I was able to appreciate not only the unique security challenges your nation faces but also to better comprehend how much Israeli expertise can contribute to Africa".
Mr. Gnassingbe stressed " While Israel may not be the sole nation to master the expertise required required to allow the development of the continent, it also is the most dynamic and the most competitive."
The Head of State further added that the African continent requires concrete solutions in terms of security, education and health and further commented that the State of Israel constituted an ideal partner to fulfill the potential of the continent.
The Togolese leader concluded his speech by enticing nations unwilling to cooperate with Israel to jettison their sterile excuses and polemic and to work with Jerusalem in order to safeguard the interest of the continent.
Mr. Gnassingbe also stated:"Africa is beset is difficulties and Israel holds the key to them."
Lome will host the first Africa-Israel Summit in 2017."
August 26, 2016: The Harakat Shabaab al-Mujahidin is commonly known as AlShabaab. They are al Qaeda's affiliate militant wing of the Somali Council of Islamic Courts.
Somalia attack: 10 killed after gunmen raid restaurant, seize hostages
"(CNN) Gunmen raided a beach restaurant in the Somali capital of Mogadishu, killing 10 people and seizing hostages amid fierce battles with security forces, authorities said.
The standoff started Thursday when attackers detonated a car bomb outside the restaurant , according to Bishar Abshir Ghedi, the Mogadishu police commissioner."
"The Somali militant group regularly attacks hotels popular with Westerners in the capital. In June, gunmen stormed a hotel in Mogadishu after detonating a car filled with explosives at the gate -- an attack that left at least 15 people dead and 25 others injured, police said."
August 18, 2016: WorldWatch Monitor report: Nepal Christians attacked while trying to help
"Eight Christians are still awaiting the outcome of their trial, after they became the first people to be charged under Nepal’s new constitution. Their crime? An alleged breach of religious freedom – for distributing pamphlets about Jesus during a trauma seminar in a Christian school, following last year’s devastating earthquake (see video below).
But they are not the only Christians to suffer repercussions following their efforts to provide support. World Watch Monitor visited Champi village, near Kathmandu, to meet a group of Christians attacked in the days that followed, as they tried to distribute corrugated metal sheets to villagers.
As six of them unloaded the sheets from a truck, they were attacked by four of their neighbours, who beat them with steel rods. Other Christian families living nearby tried to stop them, but they were fought off.
“The people who assaulted us live near our house,” said Sunita Kumar, the wife of a local pastor, Suraj. “They pick on us for small reasons, but we stay silent because we are concerned about the safety of our children.”"
August 16, 2016: Nigeria violence: Suicide bombers kill 27 near Maiduguri
"Three female suicide bombers have carried out an attack that has killed at least 27 people in north-eastern Nigeria, officials say.
Dozens were injured when the women blew themselves up outside a refugee camp near Maiduguri in Borno state - a stronghold of the Islamist militant group Boko Haram.
There has been an upsurge in violence in the city in recent months. Boko Haram has been fighting to set up an Islamic state since 2009.
A report published by US anti-terrorist researchers last week said it is the first insurgency in history to use more women suicide bombers than men."
August 15, 2016: The no time to forget. Your prayers are needed. Reuters reports Boko Haram video claims to show missing Nigerian school girls
"Nigerian militant group Boko Haram has published a video apparently showing recent footage of dozens of school girls kidnapped two years ago, and saying some of them have been killed in air strikes.
Boko Haram seized more than 270 girls from their school in Chibok, northeast Nigeria, in April 2014, part of a seven-year-old insurgency to set up an Islamic state in the north that has killed some 15,000 people and displaced more than two million.
Dozens of the girls managed to flee to safety in the initial melee, but more than 200 are still missing."
August 12, 2016 Libya ‘chaos’ makes it one of world's most dangerous places to be a Christian
"It’s five years this month since Muammar Gaddafi’s government in Libya was overthrown when
rebels stormed his compound and he went into hiding. However, despite high hopes, the ongoing anarchy there now makes it “one of the most dangerous places in the world to be a Christian”, according to a new report by Open Doors International, whose World Watch Research team monitors such developments.
The Church in Libya, made up almost entirely of foreign nationals, was never entirely free to worship during Gaddafi’s reign, notes Libya: Freedom of religion in the land of anarchy, but it says the situation for Christians is now much worse.
“The anarchic political and security condition in contemporary Libya has created [an] environment conducive for radical Islamic groups to persecute Christians blatantly and violently with absolute impunity,” says the report, authored by World Watch Research analyst Yonas Dembele."
August 9, 2016 Algerian Christian gets maximum sentence for ‘blasphemy’
"A Christian in Algeria has been sentenced to five years in prison – the maximum term – and given a heavy fine for blasphemy against Islam and its prophet, for a social media post.
Slimane Bouhafs, 49, appeared before a judge on 7 Aug in the eastern town of Setif (300km from Algiers, the capital) in the Kabylie region.
He was arrested on 31 July for posting a message on social media about the light of Jesus overcoming the “lie” of Islam and its prophet. He also published photos showing the execution of a civilian by an Islamist terrorist.
Such material is judged by the authorities to insult Islam, the state religion in Algeria, according to its Constitution. The penal code provides for a penalty of three to five years in prison, along with a heavy fine, against anyone convicted of insulting Islam and Muhammad, its prophet.
The Vice-President of the Algerian League for the Defense of Human Rights (LADDH), Said Salhi, denounced what he called “this attack” on the guarantees of freedom of conscience and worship enshrined in Algeria’s Constitution."
April 26, 2016: Bloodbath in Enugu as Fulani herdsmen kill 40
"NSUKKA—About 40 persons have so far been reportedly killed by some Fulani herdsmen at Nimbo in Uzo- Uwani Local Government Area of Enugu State, sources told Vanguard at Nsukka Police Area Command, near the area yesterday. The incident took place barely 24 hours after stories filtered out that no fewer than 500 heavily-armed Fulani herdsmen sneaked into the community preparatory to launch an attack. About seven villages in Nimbo (Nimbo Ngwoko, Ugwuijoro, Ekwuru, Ebor, Enugu Nimbo, Umuome and Ugwuachara) were among the areas attacked. Ten residential houses and a church, Christ Holy Church International, aka Odozi Obodo, were also said to have been burnt by the herdsmen just as vehicles and motorcycles were destroyed and domestic animals killed."
August 5, 2016: New Boko Haram Leader Vows to Bomb Every Church, Kill All Christians
"The Islamic State is trying to change up the leadership of Nigerian-based Boko Haram and has appointed a new leader who is vowing to bomb churches and kill all Christians.
IS (also known as ISIS or ISIL) announced Wednesday in its al-Nabaa newspaper that Abu Musab al-Barnawi is the new leader of its Nigerian-affiliated outfit, calling him the "Wali" (governor) of its West African Province.
In an interview published by the IS news source that was translated by the SITE Intelligence Group, al-Barnawi vowed to kill less Muslims and more Christians."
June 27, 2016: In Venezuela, a once-leading AIDS program lies in ruins
"More than a decade ago, the country was lauded for its treatment program. Now, Venezuela is years into a political and economic crisis"
"Affordable drugs, education for at-risk groups, free condoms all helped control and reduce the country’s HIV epidemic.
But as Venezuela sinks deeper and deeper into economic turmoil, huge inflation and chronic shortages of supplies means that falling sick can be a death sentence.
The World spoke with Stephanie Nolen, Latin America correspondent for Canada’s Globe & Mail. More than a decade ago she covered the AIDS pandemic in Africa, and was recently in Venezuela where she she says, "There is nowhere in the world today where people are dying of AIDS at the pace and in the sheer numbers that they are in Venezuela: Even the poorest African countries today have HIV treatment programs.""
"I have been reporting on Venezuela’s deepening crisis for four years, and I knew about the state of the health system. But the reality of this AIDS program, which I knew from its excellent reputation, brought home the scale of how far this country has deteriorated. Feliciano Reyna, a veteran activist who founded one of Venezuela’s oldest HIV organizations, Accion Solidaria, recognized my shock. “If you’re not here and you don’t see it, it’s very hard for anyone to believe that any of this is true,” he said."
March 1, 2016: Open Doors report: The killing of Christians in northern Nigeria has increased by 62% in just one year.
"The 2016 World Watch List shows a staggering 62% increase in violent killings of Christians in northern Nigeria as churches in Nigeria unite to highlight this problem for the first time. A report to be released in Abuja by Open Doors and the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN), ‘Crushed but not defeated, the impact of persistent violence on the church in northern Nigeria’, makes a detailed study of the violence that has occurred.
A partner director for West Africa says: “This report shows that extent and impact of the persistent violence on the church in northern Nigeria is much more serious than previously expected. Once Boko Haram is defeated, the problem will not be solved. Christians living under Sharia law are facing discrimination and marginalization and have limited to no access to federal rights. We hope that this report will prompt the Nigerian government and international community to take the real suffering of persecuted Christians seriously and act on their behalf. Next to that, I hope that Nigerian Christians will become more involved with their brothers and sisters; that they will stand in the gap for them.”
The report looks at persecution from three main sources: Boko Haram, Muslim Fulani herdsmen and the Muslim religious and political elite that dominates government in northern Nigeria.
In 2015, there were 4,028 killings and 198 church attacks that Open Doors was able to record. The figures recorded for the previous year were 2,484 killings and 108 church attacks.
An estimated 30 million Christians in northern Nigeria form the largest minority in a mainly Muslim environment. They are at risk of violent persecution, as the report states: “For decades, Christians in the region have suffered marginalization and discrimination as well as targeted violence.”
Open Doors works in northern Nigeria, funding development projects such as clinics, community health training, provision of waterholes, schools and teacher training, vocational training for farmers and micro-loans for orphans and widows. Trauma work is also done with people who have suffered violent persecution; emergency relief is provided for these people.
Nigeria is 12th on the Open Doors World Watch List which ranks countries according to how difficult it is to be a Christian. Please continue to keep this nation in prayer as violence and persecution reaches unprecedented levels.
January 13, 2016: 2015 Deadliest Year for Christians Worldwide, Open Doors' World Watch List Finds
"The Christian persecution watchdog group Open Doors has released its annual list of countries where Christians face the greatest persecution and found that it has reached unprecedented levels worldwide as over 7,000 Christians were killed for their faith between Nov. 1, 2014, and Oct. 31, 2015.
Although the California-based ministry, which works in over 60 countries, stated last January that 2014 was the worst year for Christian persecution than any other time in modern history, the organization said during the rollout of its 2016 World Watch List that 2015 surpassed 2014 as the deadliest year for Christians worldwide.
Open Doors found that over 3,000 more Christians were killed for faith-related reasons during its reporting period for the 2016 World Watch List than it found during the reporting period for the 2015 report. Additionally, over 2,400 churches were attacked, damaged or destroyed during the reporting period, which is more than double the number from last year."
"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 explained at a Wednesday press conference introducing the report. "This research has concluded that after the brutal persecution of Christians in 2014, 2015 proved to be even worse with the persecution continuing to increase, intensify and spread across the globe."
December 29, 2015: Boko Haram attacks northeast Nigerian city, many killed
"MAIDUGURI, Nigeria -- Boko Haram Islamic extremists struck the northeast Nigerian city of Maiduguri for the first time in months Monday with rocket-propelled grenades and two female suicide bombers, witnesses said. At least 15 people were killed but the toll was feared many times higher.
Nigerian troops "intercepted and destroyed" 10 suicide bombers, according to PR Nigeria, an agency that disseminates government news.
Militants firing indiscriminately from the back of three trucks attacked the outlying village, soldiers engaged them, and as people were fleeing, a woman ran into a suburb yelling "Boko Haram, Boko Haram." When people gathered, she detonated herself, according to village head Bulama Isa."
"The attack comes as Nigeria's government says it has contained the Islamic uprising that has killed 20,000 people in six years and driven 2.3 million people from their homes."
December 26, 2015: Christianity Implodes in Europe; Explodes in Africa
"Christianity is experiencing an unprecedented boom on the African continent and now accounts for more than half of Africa’s total population, while Christian affiliation and practice continue to ebb in Europe, signaling a major demographic shift in global Christianity.
An article in the Christmas issue of the Economist lays out the sobering statistics of European Christianity, while holding up the remarkable growth of the Christian faith among Africans.
Christianity is experiencing more rapid growth in Africa than anywhere else on the planet, including Asia and Latin America. In 1910 less than 10% of Africans identified as Christians, whereas today 55% of the population is Christian. And while in 2015 Europe still has the largest Christian population of any continent at just over 575 million, Africa is projected to overtake it by 2025.
The growth of Christianity in Africa averages 2.78% each year, while Europe’s growth rate languishes at 0.16%, meaning that while Africa becomes more and more Christian, Europe becomes less so.
The striking growth of Christianity in Africa is not merely a question of religious affiliation, but is reflected in actual religious belief and practice. The Economist reports that 90% of self-identified Christians attend church regularly across the five sub-Saharan African countries for which data are available (Ghana, Nigeria, Rwanda, South Africa and Zimbabwe), making African Christians the most devout in the world."
December 3, 2015: Terrorism has found its way to our back door in America. It began at the front step in New York on 9/11.
The terror that is engulfing Nigeria can strike anywhere and now it has arrived in San Bernardino from Paris as a radical 'religious' man executes 14 people at a Christmas party with his wife yielding death.
While most people in the U.S. have only seen the horrors of terrorism by Islamic extremists from afar, today that terror has struck the heart of California as the four corners of the world are now entering a time of tribulation, but we are not to hate or fear Muslims. They need Jesus too.
Daniel Greenfield reports more in Frontline Mag: TERROR STRIKES SAN BERNARDINO COUNTY
"When the Redlands Tea Party Patriots objected to the resettling of Syrian Muslim migrants in their community, CAIR accused them of “paranoia and phobia is rooted in a combination of ignorance and bigotry.”
But “paranoia and phobia” are the modern condition that the free world has found itself living in. Islamic terrorism can strike anytime and anywhere from a Paris concert hall to a San Bernardino County facility where disabled children were being helped. It’s ignorance to ignore that and bigotry to defend it.
“What will be done to ensure the safety of our community? Our biggest concern is the safety of our family, our children and our grandchildren,” Victoria Hargrave of Redlands Townhall had asked.
It was a good question. As the country watched police charge towards a home in the Redlands, it has become an even better question.
The shooter, Sayeed Farouk, was described by his father as a religiously devout Muslim. “He was very religious. He would go to work, come back, go to pray, come back.” Neighbors say that he "grew a beard and started to wear religious clothing. The long shirt that’s like a dress and the cap on his head.”
And at some point his “religiosity” took him down the familiar path of Jihad.
Neighbors knew something was wrong, but were afraid that they would be accused of Islamophobia if they reported it. Officially the motive of this religiously devout Muslim couple in carrying out a terrorist attack is still unknown. The evolving media narrative is that familiar standby of “workplace violence”. The sort of workplace violence involving an attack by multiple terrorists wearing body armor and throwing pipe bombs shortly after an argument at a party.
If you believe this version of the “workplace violence” story, the shooter stormed out of a party and 20 minutes later had managed to round up multiple heavily armed attackers to avenge his party argument.
It’s certainly a story. Even if it isn’t a very good story. And yet it’s a story that we keep hearing over and over again.
It begins with lies and ends with body bags."
November 17, 2015: Global Terrorism Increased by 80% in 2014
"Terrorism continues to rise, with over 32,000 people killed in terrorist attacks in 2014, the highest number recorded. Despite being highly concentrated in five countries, terrorism is spreading, with more countries recording attacks and deaths."
· Deaths from terrorism increased 80% last year to the highest level ever, with 32,658 people killed, compared to 18,111 in 2013.
Boko Haram and ISIL were jointly responsible for 51% of all claimed global fatalities in 2014.
· 78% of all deaths and 57% of all attacks occurred in just five countries: Afghanistan, Iraq, Nigeria, Pakistan and Syria.
· Iraq continues to be the country most impacted by terrorism with 9,929 terrorist fatalities the highest ever recorded in a single country.
· Nigeria experienced the largest increase in terrorist activity with 7,512 deaths in 2014, an increase of over 300% since 2013.
September 17, 2015: U.N.: Boko Haram Mayhem Has Displaced 1.4 Million Children
"Fear of attacks by Boko Haram, the Islamist extremist group of northern Nigeria known for its deadly marauding and kidnappings, has uprooted a half-million children in the past five months, Unicef said in a report released Thursday.
The newly displaced bring the total number of children who have fled from Boko Haram militants in Nigeria and neighboring countries to 1.4 million, said the report by Unicef, the United Nations Children’s Fund.
The report’s findings suggested that efforts by Nigeria’s new president, Muhammadu Buhari, who was elected partly on a pledge to eradicate Boko Haram, were not going as well as he has asserted. Mr. Buhari said last week that military forces were gaining the advantage on Boko Haram, which has been waging a campaign of bombings, burnings, abductions and plundering for years through swaths of northern Nigeria, and more recently in Cameroon, Chad and Niger."
November 13, 2015: Islamic terrorists attack in Paris massacre with gunfire and blasts in Deadly attacks across Paris
"A wave of six terrorist attacks in Paris left at least 130 people dead across the city in the deadliest violence to strike France in decades, November 13, 2015. France declared three days of national mourning. People worldwide paused for a moment of silence November 17.
The attacks, included a shootout in a Paris restaurant, multiple explosions near the Stade de France north of the city and a hostage situation at the Bataclan concert hall in Paris." CREDIT: Jerome Delay/AP"
July 25 2015: Boko Haram kills 25 in Nigeria
"Kano, Nigeria (CNN) A bloody and terrifying raid by Boko Haram on Friday left at least 25 people dead in three villages in eastern Nigeria's Adamawa state, according to residents and a local government official. Adamawa state borders Borno state, Boko Haram's birth place and main stronghold.
Storming in on motorcycles, the gunmen attacked the neighboring villages of Kopa, Maikadire and Yaffa around 9 a.m. local time, shooting and killing residents, according to witnesses and local government chairman Maina Ularamu."
July 7, 2015: EuroNews reports on more terror and tribulation during Ramadan as Boko Haram has sworn allegiance to the "Islamic State."
Nigeria: Scores killed in Jos in attacks blamed on Boko Haram
"Emergency services rushed to retrieve the injured after suspected Islamist militants killed at least 44 people in attacks on a restaurant and mosque in the central Nigerian city of Jos.
Though no one has claimed responsibility, the violence bore the hallmarks of Boko Haram insurgents, who have been stepping up attacks over the last week.
The city of Jos lies on the edge of the core insurgency zone but has been hit by Boko Haram fighters before. On Sunday, a suicide bomber attacked a church in Potiskum in the north-east of the country. At least five worshippers were killed.
Last year the Islamist group held large swathes of the north-east of the country, but the government backed by troops from neighbouring countries had managed to recapture much of the territory.
The latest attacks appear to be in response to the so-called Islamic State group’s call to step up military operations during Ramadan. In recent days more than 200 people have been killed. Boko Haram has sworn allegiance to the ISIL group.
Recent Attacks
Monday 06/07
44 killed in attacks on mosque and restaurant in Jos
Sunday 05/07
5 killed in attack on church in Potiskum
Friday 03/07
Zabarmari village attacked by several suicide bombers killing scores
Wednesday 01/07
Up to 118 killed in an attack on the village of Kukawa, 185 kilometres from Maiduguri, the capital of Borno state.
Tuesday 30/06
Up to 48 gunned down in two villages near Monguno, Borno Stat"
July 12, 2015: Boko Haram now calls itself 'Islamic State, West Africa Province'
"Boko Haram has claimed responsibility for attacks in Chad’s capital N’Djamena and the Nigerian city of Maiduguri, the SITE Intelligence Group said last night.
The US-based monitoring group said the claim of responsibility, made on Twitter, was signed “Islamic State, West Africa Province”, as Boko Haram has styled itself since pledging allegiance to the Islamic State group in March.
“West Africa Province [formerly Boko Haram] of #ISIS claimed the suicide bombings today [Saturday] in Chad and Nigeria,” SITE said on Twitter.
A statement citing Boko Haram’s Twitter message identified the attackers and said they had “pounded strongholds of disbelief in West Africa”.
At least 15 people were killed in a suicide bomb attack at a crowded market in N’Djamena on Saturday. Boko Haram had previously claimed responsibility for a June 15 attack in the city that left 38 dead."
June 2, 2014: Boko Haram bombs Maiduguri in north-east Nigeria, killing 20 people
"Boko Haram has attacked the north-eastern Nigerian city of Maiduguri with explosions and a suicide bombing that witnesses said killed as many as 20 people.
The attack began in the early hours of Tuesday morning when residents were woken by explosions, heavy gunfire and the screech of a fighter jet scrambling to protect the area.
“We are under siege,” Sumaila Ayuba, her voice shaking, told the Associated Press by telephone just after midnight from her home on the city’s western edge. “The shooting is quite deafening. Please, we need prayers.”
Hours later, a man blew himself up at Gamboru cattle market, according to witnesses who spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of reprisals. One said he counted at least 20 bodies.
More than 30 people died in attacks over the weekend.
Boko Haram’s six-year-old uprising aimed at imposing sharia law across Nigeria has killed 13,000 people and driven 1.5 million from their homes."
June 15, 2015: Charleston church shooting: Nine die in South Carolina 'hate crime'
"Nine people have been shot dead at a historic African-American church in Charleston, South Carolina, and a hunt is under way for a white gunman.
Police described the attack at the Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church as a "hate crime".
They issued surveillance images of the suspect and said he had sat in the church for an hour before opening fire.
The church's pastor, state Senator Clementa Pinckney, is reported to be among the dead."
May 27, 2015: Church leaders: ‘South Sudanese are being killed, raped and tortured’
"Human rights in South Sudan are abused “on the battlefield and in peaceful areas,” and much of the country is without effective governance, Church leaders have said.
“People are being killed, raped and tortured,” the South Sudan Council of Churches said in a May 26 statement signed by eight Church leaders, including Archbishop Paulino Lukudu Loro of Juba.
“Children are being recruited into armed groups” and “looting is endemic”, the statement said, noting that many individuals, groups and even government organs are taking the law into their own hands, “with disastrous consequences for everybody.”
According to the United Nations (UN), fighting in South Sudan has “worsened considerably” in recent weeks. About 119,000 people are taking shelter in its compounds across the country, the UN said on May 24, noting that rights monitors have been denied access to sites where they sought to verify reports of killings, rapes, abductions and the burning and destruction of towns and villages.
The world’s newest state, which gained independence from Sudan in 2011, was plunged into conflict in December 2013 between forces loyal to President Salva Kiir and rebels allied with his former deputy, Riek Machar. As many as 10,000 people have been killed and more than one million displaced in the months since."
May 26, 2015: Islamic Terrorist Attacks in Niger is Survived by Director
"John Coquerel, West Africa Regional Coordinator for GRN has now paid a visit to Niger to access the damage, and he said in his report about what he called “the incredible violence” in the country, “More than 84 churches and missions were burned of which many destroyed to the ground after being robbed and ransacked. More than 69 houses and stores knew the same treatment."
"Coquerel then pointed out what “God has done with this disastrous situation,” citing:
1. No Christian has lost their life. The deaths WERE ALL Muslims who ended up killing each other in the violence and confusion
2. About the material losses, there is hope that the government will compensate the victims, one way or another. It’s not an absolute certainty but there are signs of hope. Niger authorities have already helped by lodging the victims who have lost their house and by giving food to them. Some Christian organizations such as African Service, Samaritan's Purse and SIM have also helped in providing food.
3. This turmoil has led to a revival first in Christian community. Those who have stopped going to church by laziness woke up and started attending church again. Their faith has been refreshed somehow.
4. Above all it’s in Muslim communities that marvelous things are happening. Many of the Muslims were shocked by the terror they are capable of. Christian leaders have publicly offered their forgiveness to the authors of the terrorist acts. This forgiveness has profoundly marked the Muslims. They have hard time to believe it. They say: “If it was the Christians who have committed, say less than 10% of what has happened, we are going to kill them all. How can you forgive such acts?” In amazement, an Imam called a Pastor and asked him: “Is your forgiveness real? Isn’t it that you are planning your revenge in the guise of forgiveness? If it’s real, expect many to come to your church. We’re watching you.” It’s exactly what’s happening. Muslims, curious and astonished, now go to church, seeking to know the God of the Christians, the God who asks his people to forgive. Many of them start buying the Bible and read it.
5. An anecdote: In a Christian Bible store, the sales clerk advised her Muslim client: “Don’t you want to buy a cover for your Bible, so that you can read it without bringing attention to you?” The client responded: “No, thanks. I will read it openly. Let’s them tell me I don’t have the right to read it.” This story indicates to us that the fear of reading the Bible is diminishing among Muslims. Let’s pray that this emancipation lasts and would not be the fruit of one season."
We are not to hate or fear Muslims. Muslims need Jesus too.
April 3, 2015: Al-Shabaab have claimed responsibility: Militants Kill 147 In Kenyan University Attack
"Survivors say the masked gunmen singled out non-Muslim students and gunned them down without mercy as others ran for their lives.
Around 80 more have been confirmed as wounded in the siege at Garissa University, which has now ended after the four attackers detonated their suicide vests.
The gunmen hurled grenades and fired automatic rifles as students were sleeping, shooting dead dozens before setting Muslims free and holding Christians and others hostage.
Survivors said the masked attackers singled out non-Muslim students and gunned most of them down without mercy.
Others ran for their lives as bullets whistled through the air."
What is Al-Shabaab, and what does it want?
March 25, 2015: ISIS Expands Into West Africa, Welcoming Boko Haram Allegiance
"ISIS is expanding into West Africa after it accepted a pledge of allegiance from Boko Haram, the Islamist militant group that has killed and kidnapped thousands of people over more than a decade of terrorizing Nigeria, according to an ISIS audio released Thursday.
In the audio, which was verified by Flashpoint Intelligence, a global security firm and NBC News consultant, a spokesman says ISIS leader Abu Bakr Al-Baghdadi congratulated Boko Haram on joining the radical terrorist movement that controls parts of Syria and Iraq."
The brutal reason Boko Haram just took 500 ‘young women and children’
"This is the story of what comes after the headlines. What happens after the shock dissolves and the news marches onto the next tragedy. This is what happens to the boys, girls and women who are kidnapped by Boko Haram — and why."
March 19, 2015: Pakistani Christians Commemorate Victims of Terror Attack, Say Jihadists Will Never 'Push Back' Their Faith
"Hundreds of Pakistani Christians on Tuesday held prayer services to commemorate the victims of two Taliban suicide bombs in the city of Lahore, refusing to let terrorism silence their faith.
On March 16, suicide bombers affiliated with the Pakistani Taliban launched attacks against two churches conducting Sunday morning services in the predominantly Christian city of Lahore, killing at least 14 people and injuring 70 others. Although police said that the bombers were stopped by either worshippers or security personnel, the attackers still managed to detonate their explosives.
Christian leaders from across Pakistan country attended the funeral for the victims following two days of violent protests by the community members against the blasts. According to Reuters, the Pakistani government had called in 5,000 police and paramilitary rangers to control the law and order situation in the region, where violent clashes between Christians and Muslims erupted. Several protesters were killed and about a dozen wounded in the clashes."
March 7, 2015: African Training Exercise Turns Urgent as Threats Grow
"MAO, Chad — An oath of allegiance from Boko Haram, the Nigeria-based militant group, to the Islamic State on Saturday reinforces Western fears that the terrorist group is growing beyond its base in Iraq and Syria. These worries have prompted American and allied commandos to rush to train African counterterrorism troops to fight extremists on the continent.
The expanding effort here on the edge of the Sahara to fight militancies like Boko Haram comes as the group has kidnapped schoolgirls, slaughtered thousands of people, and now has expanded its attacks from Nigeria into Cameroon, Niger and Chad."
February 25, 2015: Nigeria pleads for your prayer. Pray for Abducted Missionary
"Bishop David Kendall released the following statement Monday, Feb. 23, urging prayer for Free Methodist missionary Phyllis Sortor:
"The Nigeria-based Islamic terrorist group Boko Haram has issued a new threat, vowing to carry out suicide bombings against Niger and Chad for sending troops to battle them.
Boko Haram has been terrorizing towns and villages in countries along Nigeria's border for weeks. In response, leaders from countries in the region gathered in Cameroon Monday to finalize war plans against the terrorist group.
As they were meeting, Boko Haram attacked a Cameroonian military base on Nigeria's border, killing at least five soldiers and wounding eight others.
Last year, Boko Haram declared it is establishing an Islamic caliphate, just like the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria. The group has waged a five-year jihad against Nigeria's government, leaving 10,000 people dead last year alone."
February 17, 2015: US Won't Help Fight Boko Haram Until Nigeria Accepts Homosexuality, Birth Control, Bishop Says
But African values are not on sale.
"VATICAN CITY — “African values are not on sale,” the new Chairman of Communications for the African bishops has said.
But Bishop Emmanuel Badejo of Oyo, Nigeria, is convinced they are under threat from what Pope Francis has called an “ideological colonization” that is seeking to destroy the family.
It's so bad, he says, that the United States has made clear it will not help Nigeria fight the Boko Haram terror group unless the country modify its laws regarding homosexuality, family planning and birth-control."
February 14, 2015: Nigerian president calls for US help as Boko Haram invade city
"Nigeria's President Goodluck Jonathan appealed for more US help in fighting Boko Haram, as the Islamists struck again on Saturday and called for a boycott of upcoming general elections.
The head of state for the first time claimed direct links between the Sunni radicals who have been waging a six-year insurgency in Nigeria and the Islamic State group in Syria and Iraq.
He told the Wall Street Journal in an interview: "Are they (the United States) not fighting ISIS? Why can't they come to Nigeria?
"They are our friends. If Nigeria has a problem, then I expect the US to come and assist us."
But Pentagon spokesman Rear Admiral John Kirby said there are no plans to send US troops to Nigeria."
Boko Haram: 200,000 Christians at Risk of Massacre in Nigeria
"Boko Haram forces appear poised to attack Maiduguri, a city of 2 million in northeast Nigeria -- meaning that 200,000 Christians could be at risk of slaughter by the Islamist terror group, say U.S. intelligence officials and experts on Nigeria.
"An attack on Madiguri is very likely," said J. Peter Pham, director of the Africa Project at the Atlantic Council, echoing U.S. intelligence officials. Pham believes, as do other experts, that Boko Haram has already placed "sleeper cells" among the tide of refugees who have fled the group's murderous rampage through Africa's most populous nation. "They've done it everywhere else they've gone," said Pham. "So why not Maiduguri?
Strategically, success in Maiduguri would provide Boko Haram with a launching point for further attacks on the neighboring states of Cameroon, Chad and Niger, all of whose territory were once part of an Islamic caliphate that lasted six centuries, ending in the 1300's. Boko Haram declared its own caliphate in the region last year."
"One big concern is the large number of Christians in the city -- about 200,000, most of them Roman Catholic. In previous attacks, Boko Haram has offered Nigerian Christians the opportunity to convert or be killed. Already, 200 Christian churches have been lost to the group's onslaught."
February 5, 2015: The cancer of tribulation spreads to Cameroon as Boko Haram, hit by 3-nation offensive, rampage in Cameroon
"YAOUNDE, Cameroon — Hundreds of Boko Haram fighters took revenge Thursday on villagers in Cameroon, shooting and burning scores to death and razing mosques and churches after warning Nigeria's neighbors not to join the battle against the Islamic insurgent group.
France's president warned that the world was not doing enough to end the wanton killings by the militants, who have waged a campaign of terror in a broad swath of northeastern Nigeria, where they declared an Islamic caliphate in August.
At least 91 villagers were killed and more than 500 were wounded in the northern Cameroon town of Fotokol on the border with Nigeria, where fighting began Wednesday and continued Thursday, Cameroonian officials said.
While Boko Haram has previously carried out attacks in Cameroon, the latest bloodshed came after the group warned Nigeria's neighbors against uniting against it. Cameroon and Chad joined Nigeria in launching an air and ground offensive against the insurgents on at least two fronts this week."
January 25, 2015: Boko Haram attacks northeastern Nigerian city, dozens killed
"MAIDUGURI, Nigeria – In fierce fighting Sunday that killed more than 200 combatants, Nigerian troops clashed with Islamic extremists who attacked Maiduguri, the biggest city in northeastern Nigeria, from three fronts.
At the same time the insurgents continued scorched-earth attacks on villages some 125 miles to the south in Adamawa state, slitting throats of residents, looting and burning homes and abducting dozens of trapped women and children, according to Vandu Kainu and other escaping survivors."
January 22, 2015: Why anti-Christian violence broke out in Niger after Charlie Hebdo
"The brutality last weekend in the African nation of Niger garnered relatively little media attention, yet, 70 churches in the southern part of the country were torched, people were killed, and thousands fled for their lives.
The attacks appear to be in retaliation for cartoons printed depicting Muhammad, the founder of Islam, in the French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo—the same paper that was the subject of a deadly attack in Paris on Jan. 7. Some say the weekend violence was a response to Niger’s President, Mahamadou Issoufou, marching in a Jan. 11 Paris rally in solidarity with other world leaders.
But Paris is far from Niger, a poor country and former French colony that is largely illiterate and overwhelmingly Muslim. Its secular government allows for religious freedom."
January 21, 2015: Boko Haram Boasts Massacre, Captures More Girls
"The Islamic militant group Boko Haram is boasting that it slaughtered 2,000 civilians in northern Nigeria.
The leader of the group, Abubakar Shekau, just made the announcement in a video, taking responsibility for the Jan. 3 attack in the northeast Nigerian town of Baga.
"We are the ones who fought the people of Baga, and we have killed them with such a killing," Shekau says, according to a translation provided by SITE Intelligence Group.
Now comes yet another disturbing report that Boko Haram also kidnapped 500 women and children in that same attack."
January 19, 2015: Dozens of Churches Burned in Charlie Hebdo Protests
"Christians in the West African country of Niger are asking for prayer after Muslim rioters burned dozens of churches in violent protests over a cartoon of the Prophet Muhammed in a new issue of the French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo.
CBN News has contacts on the ground who say the violence is spreading and the government has not provided any protection for them after Muslim protestors burned a Christian clinic and about 40 churches.
The protests also killed four people and injured dozens of others.
The latest round of protests began after midday prayers on Friday, which is Islam's holy day.
Demonstrations also took place in several Pakistani cities."
January 13, 2015: Beyond Nigeria... Libya ISIS Libya affiliate claims to kidnap Christians
"CAIRO - A Libyan affiliate of the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) has claimed the abduction of 21 Coptic Christians and released pictures of the captives.
The claim and photos were posted Monday on jihadi forums used by ISIS supporters. The Egyptian workers were seized last month in the central Libyan city of Sirte.
"The soldiers of the Islamic State in the province of Tripoli hold captive 21 Christian crusaders," the photo caption read, using a the name the group uses for itself."
January 12, 2015: 'Corpses everywhere' as Boko Haram still 'control' Nigeria town
"Kano (Nigeria) (AFP) - Boko Haram remains in control of the northeast Nigerian town of Baga more than a week after a massacre feared to be the worst since the insurgency began, a resident said on Monday."
"Boko Haram first attacked Baga, on the shores of Lake Chad in the far north of Borno State, on January 3 and subsequently razed it and at least 16 surrounding settlements.
Local officials have cited huge numbers of dead in the attacks but confirming the figures is currently impossible. Some 20,000 people are said to have been forced to flee."
January 11, 2015: Explosives strapped to girl kill 20 people at Nigerian market
"Kano, Nigeria (CNN)Explosives strapped to a girl detonated at a crowded marketplace in Nigeria, killing at least 20 people and injuring 18 others, according to police.
The police estimate differed from the local hospital's estimate, which counted 51 people with blast injuries.
The suicide blast happened at the main entrance of the ever-crowded Monday Market, the largest in the city of Maiduguri. About 12:40 p.m. Saturday, the girl was stopped for screening by vigilantes who man the gates of the market, according to witnesses and rescuers."
"Many of wounded victims taken to Maiduguri Specialist Hospital have life-threatening injuries, said Musa Kyarimi, a nurse there.
The marketplace in Maiduguri has been a frequent target. More than 45 people were killed in late November in a twin suicide attack, and more than 10 others died in another suicide blast a week later, on December 1. Another suicide bombing on July 1 left at least 15 people dead and several injured.
On Sunday, three people were killed and 43 injured in a separate attack in Potiskum, police said.
"Two female suicide bombers targeted the mobile phone market in Potiskum this afternoon, but they blew up before the could reach their targets," Marcus Danladi, police commissioner for Yobe state, said from the state capital of Damaturu.
The two bombers were also killed."
January 10, 2015: It was a dark week in France and the world is in uproar and disbelief over the horror of terror in Paris where 17 were brutally shot and killed by professed Muslim terrorist trained in Yemen.
I am grief stricken and outraged about the Paris bombings yet, as many as 2,000 have died in the past week from radical militant Muslim attacks on Christian women and children in grievous attacks in the fishing town of Baga, Nigeria. God help us if we do not cry out to Him about this!
Amnesty: Nigeria massacre deadliest in history of Boko Haram
"YOLA, Nigeria — Hundreds of bodies — too many to count — remain strewn in the bush in Nigeria from an Islamic extremist attack that Amnesty International suggested Friday is the "deadliest massacre" in the history of Boko Haram.
Mike Omeri, the government spokesman on the insurgency, said fighting continued Friday for Baga, a town on the border with Chad where insurgents seized a key military base on Jan. 3 and attacked again on Wednesday.
"Security forces have responded rapidly, and have deployed significant military assets and conducted airstrikes against militant targets," Omeri said in a statement.
District head Baba Abba Hassan said most victims are children, women and elderly people who could not run fast enough when insurgents drove into Baga, firing rocket-propelled grenades and assault rifles on town residents.
"The human carnage perpetrated by Boko Haram terrorists in Baga was enormous," Muhammad Abba Gava, a spokesman for poorly armed civilians in a defense group that fights Boko Haram, told The Associated Press.
He said the civilian fighters gave up on trying to count all the bodies. "No one could attend to the corpses and even the seriously injured ones who may have died by now," Gava said.
An Amnesty International statement said there are reports the town was razed and as many as 2,000 people killed.
If true, "this marks a disturbing and bloody escalation of Boko Haram's ongoing onslaught," said Daniel Eyre, Nigeria researcher for Amnesty International.
The previous bloodiest day in the uprising involved soldiers gunning down unarmed detainees freed in a March 14, 2014, attack on Giwa military barracks in Maiduguri city. Amnesty said then that satellite imagery indicated more than 600 people were killed that day.
The 5-year insurgency killed more than 10,000 people last year alone, according to the Washington-based Council on Foreign Relations. More than a million people are displaced inside Nigeria and hundreds of thousands have fled across its borders into Chad, Cameroon and Nigeria.""
January 7, 2015: CBN News reports: Christian Persecution: Is the Worst Yet to Come?
""The world still does not get it. The persecution of Christians is real, it is horrifically violent often, and it is spreading at an unprecedented rate in modern times,' said Open Doors USA President David Curry.
The grim-faced Curry unveiled the group's 2015 Worldwatch list today in Washington, D.C.
Each January, OD unveils its list of the world's top 50 persecuting countries of Christians. So, what's different this year compared to the 2014 list?
The 2015 list documents the worst persecution of Christians in the modern era and "perhaps the worst is yet to come," Curry explained.
He said Open Doors can confirm that 4,344 people were executed or murdered for their Christian faith in 2014. That is more than double the number for 2013. The numbers are likely much higher, but OD uses only figures that can be verified.
Curry said more than half of the global victims this year were killed in Nigeria (2,484) at the hands of the Islamic terrorist group Boko Haram.
Despite the rise of the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria--for the thirteenth year in a row-- North Korea remains the world's top persecutor of Christians. Iraq is listed as No. 3 on the list and Syria at No. 4.
Among differences this year:
Last year only one African country (Somalia) was listed in the top 10. This year there are four: Somalia (2), Sudan (6), Eritrea (9) and Nigeria (10)."
January 5, 2015: Boko Haram seizes military base in Nigeria
"(CNN) Hundreds of Islamist militants have seized a multinational military base in northeastern Nigeria, according to a government official.
"Boko Haram overwhelmed the Multinational Joint Task Force and dislodged them from their base outside Baga after hours-long fighting," said Maina Ma'aji Lawan, a Nigerian senator from the state of Borno, where Baga is located.
"They came in huge numbers heavily armed and subdued the multinational troops consisting (of) soldiers from Nigeria, Niger and Chad," Lawan said."
December 17, 2014: In Pakistan school attack, Taliban terrorists kill 145, mostly children
""'God is great,'" the Taliban militants shouted as they roared through the hallways of a school in Peshawar, Pakistan.
Then, 14-year-old student Ahmed Faraz recalled, one of them took a harsher tone.
" 'A lot of the children are under the benches,' " a Pakistani Taliban said, according to Ahmed. " 'Kill them.' "
By the time the hours-long siege at Army Public School and Degree College ended early Tuesday evening, at least 145 people -- 132 children, 10 school staff members and three soldiers -- were dead, military spokesman Gen. Asim Bajwa said. More than 100 were injured, many with gunshot wounds, according to Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province Information Minister Mushtaq Ghani.
The death toll does not include the terrorists who attacked the school, bursting into an auditorium where a large number of students were taking an exam and gunning down many of them within minutes, Bajwa said."
December 18, 2014: CNN reports... Officials: Boko Haram kidnaps 185 women and children, kills 32 people
"Kano, Nigeria (CNN) -- Boko Haram insurgents kidnapped at least 185 women and children, and killed 32 people in a raid in northeastern Nigeria this week, local officials and residents said.
Gunmen in pickup trucks attacked the village of Gumsuri, just north of Chibok, on Sunday, shooting down men before herding women and children together.
"They gathered the women and children and took them away in trucks after burning most of the village with petrol bombs," a local government official said on condition of anonymity for fear of reprisal.
News of the attack took four days to emerge because of a lack of communication. Telecommunications towers in the region had been disabled in previous attacks."
December 9, 2014: The Times of India today reports that the Hindu in India are working to convert Muslims as well as Christians in the state of Uttar Pradesh back to to Hinduism.
Rajeshwar Singh also claimed that his group has taken possession of as many as 60 churches across the state, where no Christians worship now, "as they have all been re-converted to Hinduism".
November 20, 2014: The Voice of the Martyrs gives us this horrific report today: NIGERIA: BOMB KILLS STUDENTS
"Forty-eight students were killed and 79 others were seriously injured when a suicide bomber posing as a student detonated an explosive device in Potiskum, Yobe state, Nigeria on Nov. 10. The number of fatalities is expected to rise as many of the injured have severe wounds. All those killed and injured were students ranging from 11 to 20 years old."
November 10, 2014: Pakistani Christians Burned Alive Were Attacked by 1,200 People
ISLAMABAD, Pakistan — A mob accused of burning alive a Christian couple in an industrial kiln in Pakistan allegedly wrapped a pregnant mother in cotton so she would catch fire more easily, according to family members who witnessed the attack.
Sajjad Maseeh, 27, and his wife Shama Bibi, 24, were set upon by at least 1,200 people after rumors circulated that they had burned verses from the Quran, family spokesman Javed Maseeh told NBC News via telephone late Thursday. Their legs were also broken so they couldn't run away.
"They picked them up by their arms and legs and held them over the brick furnace until their clothes caught fire," he said. "And then they threw them inside the furnace."
According to the Pakistan Christian Post
"Philadelphia: November 9, 2014. (PCP) Dr. Nazir S Bhatti, President of Pakistan Christian Congress PCC expressed his surprise in a letter to US President Barak Obama that US Administration which is custodian of Human Rights, Liberty and freedom of speech and expression around world not bothered to condemn horrific murder of Christian couple by Islamic extremists in Islamic Republic of Pakistan nor US State department uttered any comments on Christian persecution and genocide of Christians.
Nazir Bhatti wrote that Shahzad Masih and his wife Shama Bibi were burnt alive by Muslim mob on November 4, 2014, in furnace of brick kiln factory where they were detained as bonded labor by one Mohammad Yousaf Gujjar near Kot Rada Kishan in district Kasur of Punjab province.
Dr. Nazir Bhatti urged US Administration to condemn burning alive of Christian couple, press upon Islamic Republic of Pakistan to repeal blasphemy laws and to condition aid to Pakistan on human rights.
Here are contents of letter of Dr. Nazir S Bhatti to US President:
Mark Ellis gives great news today from his blog "God Reports":
He was held for 10 months by Boko Haram, the same Islamist group that has terrorized northern Nigeria and kidnapped some 300 schoolgirls. But God brought a downpour of heavy rain and a flood to wash away his captors and secure his escape.
Rotimi Obajimi, pastor of the Redeemed Christian Church of God, was kidnapped January 6, 2014 as he traveled from his rural church toward Maiduguri, according to a story by the Sahara Reporters.
The radical group took him to Sambisa Forest, a former game preserve filled with leopards and lions that has become a haven for Boko Haram. It is suspected the group is holding the Nigerian schoolgirls in the same area.
Boko Haram has killed at least 5,000 Nigerians in the last five years and their brutality has led to 650,000 refugees forced to flee their villages. Similar to the group ISIS, they seek to establish a caliphate with sharia law, and have also been beheading their opponents. Earlier this week Boko Haram beheaded seven villagers in northeastern Nigeria.
Pastor Obajimi was tied up for months in the forest, while many in his church prayed fervently for his freedom.
During the first week of October heavy rains began. It was a deluge so strong that the camp began to flood. Because of the flooding, his captors deserted the camp and Pastor Obajimi managed to free himself, according to Sahara Reporters.
October 6, 2014: Nigeria: Boko Haram Torch 185 Churches in Captured Towns of Borno and Adamawa
"A prominent Nigerian reverend has revealed Islamist terror group Boko Haram destroyed over 180 churches in the West African country following its capture of towns and villages in the north-eastern states of Borno and Adamawa.
Reverend Gideon Obasogie, the director of Catholic Social Communication of Maiduguri Diocese in Borno State, said the group's seizure of territory in both states has seen 185 churches torched and over 190,000 people displaced by their insurgency.
In his statement, Obasogie said Boko Haram's "ransacking and torching" of churches had forced priests to leave their homes for two months while displaced civilians were still unable to return to their towns and villages."
July 22, 2014: This news from AP is grievous. 11 parents of Nigeria's abducted girls die
July 6, 2014: Gunmen kill 22 in Kenyan attacks
Al-Shabaab terror group claimed responsibility for attacks that killed 22 in Kenya.
"HINDI, Kenya, July 6 (UPI) --At least 22 people died in two separate attacks Sunday after gunmen ambushed two towns along Kenya's east coast, officials said.
Thirteen people died just after midnight in Hindi -- near the tourist coast of Lamu -- during an attack under cover of darkness.
Later that night, a police station in Gamba was raided and nine people were killed. One person was injured and another was missing in that attack.
Al-Shabaab Islamist terror group claimed responsibility for both attacks, saying none of its militants was injured."
June 30, 2014: As the jihadist group ISIS on Sunday declared the establishment of a “Caliphate”, or Islamic state spanning parts of both Iraq and Syria with the group’s leader as the ruling “Caliph”... Nigerian Islamists attack villages, churches near Chibok, dozens killed
"Boko Haram, which is fighting for an Islamic state in largely Muslim northern Nigeria, has killed thousands since launching an uprising on 2009, and many hundreds in the past three months."
"Samuel Chibok, a survivor of the attack on Kautikiri village, about five km from where the girls were snatched, said that around 20 men in a Toyota pick-up truck and motorcycles rolled into town. They sprayed it with bullets, focusing much of their fire power on panicked worshippers in a local church.
"Initially I thought they were military but when I came out, they were firing at people. I saw people fleeing and they burned our houses," he said, adding that some people had died in the attack, including two of his relatives.
"Smoke was billowing from our town as I left."
A local pro-government vigilante, who declined to be named, said residents had now recovered 15 bodies from the village. He added that many of the deaths occurred when worshippers were locked in a church, which was then sprayed with bullets."
June 24, 2014: The Washington Times reports: Islamic radicals abduct 60 more girls, 31 boys in Nigeria
"Islamic extremists abducted another 60 girls — and this time, 31 boys — during a raid on a village in northeastern Nigeria, witnesses said.
Security officials for the village of Kummabza deny the abductions took place, The Associated Press reported. But Nigeria’s government has been slow to react to kidnappings in the past and was particularly criticized for the seeming delayed rescue response to the recent abductions of hundreds of school girls — hundreds of whom are still separated from their families, AP said.
AP reported it could not independently verify the kidnappings took place.
But Aji Khalil, a member of anti-Boko Haram organization, said on Tuesday that the kidnappings did take place over the weekend — and during, four villagers were killed.
Kummabza is located about 95 miles from Maiduguri."
June 23, 2014: Answered prayer after the birth of her child. Praise YHVH!!
Woman jailed for apostasy Meriam Ibrahim 'freed' after Sudanese court orders release
"A Sudanese woman who was sentenced to death for converting from Islam to Christianity has been released from prison, according to her lawyer.
According to the official state news agency in Sudan, a court has ordered 27-year-old Meriam Yahya Ibrahim be freed after her case sparked outrage around the world.
Ms Ibrahim's Christian American husband Daniel Wani was notified earlier this month that the appeals court in Sudan was deliberating the case, though the government had previously promised she would be released.
Sudan's SUNA news agency said today: "The appeal court ordered the release of Mariam Yahya and the cancellation of the (previous) court ruling.""
June 18, 2014: At least 14 killed in suicide bombing at Nigeria World Cup viewing site
"DAMATURU, Nigeria – An explosion at an illegal World Cup viewing site in northeast Nigeria killed at least 14 people while security forces arrested a "terror kingpin" among nearly 500 people detained as suspected terrorists in the southeast of the country, police said Wednesday.
At least 26 people were wounded in Tuesday night's blast as soccer fans were viewing the Brazil-Mexico match in Damaturu, the capital of Yobe state, police said."
June 17, 2014: The BBC reports: Islamists launch second night of deadly attacks on Kenyan coast
Red Cross says gunmen attacked Poromoko near Somali border a day after 50 people were killed in Mpeketoni
"Somali-linked Islamist militants have killed at least eight people in a second night of attacks on Kenya's coast, after a raid on the town of Mpeketoni left at least 50 dead, the Kenya Red Cross and the Somali rebel group have said.
The Red Cross co-ordinator for the coast, Mwanaisha Hamisi, told Reuters that on Monday night gunmen had attacked the Poromoko area near Mpeketoni, which lies on the coast between Mombasa and the Somali border in the north, killing at least eight people.
"We raided villages around Mpeketoni again last night," Sheikh Abdiasis Abu Musab, the spokesman for al-Shabaab's military operations, also told Reuters, saying the group had killed as many as 20 people, mostly police. "Our operations in Kenya will continue.""
June 14, 2014: A report from NBC News: Bloody Toll: Boko Haram Behind Deadliest Killing Spree Since 9/11
"In the two months since Boko Haram fighters kidnapped hundreds of schoolgirls in northeastern Nigeria, the terror group has taken at least 1,000 lives in what may be the deadliest killing spree by a single terrorist group since the Sept. 11 attacks, according to an NBC News analysis of reports from the region.
While the fate of the 272 girls kidnapped on April 14 remains unknown, Boko Haram has added to its bloodthirsty reputation since the abduction with a string of attacks -- including three that killed more than 100 men, women and children apiece. The pace of the attacks has increased dramatically since the kidnappings, instilling fear not just in the civilian population, but in the Nigerian government and security services as well, according to U.S. counterterrorism officials.
"The group's ability to conduct high-casualty attacks has evolved to an unprecedented level, even compared to 2012 when they bombed the U.N. building in Abuja,” said one senior counterterrorism official, who spoke on condition of anonymity. “This period far surpasses that. The group has learned how to make their tactics more deadly and has expanded their reach beyond the control of security forces."
The worst was an attack last month on two public markets in the towns of Gamboru and Ngala in Borno state that killed more than 300 people. That incident alone was the third-worst terror attack since al Qaeda used hijacked jetliners to attack on the Twin Towers and the Pentagon on Sept. 11, 2001, trailing only a coordinated string of car bombings targeting Yazidi communities in northern Iraq on Aug. 14, 2007, that left 796 dead, and the school massacre in Beslan, Russia, in 2004, which killed more than 380 people, mostly children."
June 9, 2014: Boko Haram abducts 20 more women, local officials say
KANO, Nigeria, June 9 (UPI) --Gunman have reportedly abducted at least 20 women from a village in northeastern Nigeria.
Local officials said Monday that the gunman, believed to be members of Islamist insurgency Boko Haram, arrived in Garkin Fulani in broad daylight.
The women were members of the ethnic Fulani group. The Garkin Fulani settlement lies just several miles from Chibok, where Boko Haram abducted more than 270 schoolgirls in an April attack.
June 1, 2014 Bombing at northeast Nigeria football match kills at least 40
"KANO: A bombing at a football pitch in Nigeria's restive northeast killed at least 40 people on Sunday in an area previously attacked by Boko Haram Islamists, a police officer and a nurse said.
The blast hit the town of Mubi in Adamawa state, one of three in the northeast which has been under a state of emergency for more than a year as Nigeria's military has tried to crush Boko Haram's five-year extremist uprising.
"There has been a bomb explosion at a football field this evening and so far more than 40 people have been killed," said the officer in Mubi who requested anonymity.
The policeman's account was confirmed by a nurse at the Mubi General Hospital, who also requested anonymity, as the health worker was not authorised to discuss the attack with the media."
May 29, 2014: Nigeria leader vows 'total war' on Boko Haram as attacks kill 35
"Abuja (AFP) - Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan Thursday vowed "total war against terrorism" following last month's mass abduction of schoolgirls by Boko Haram Islamists amid news of attacks in three border villages that claimed 35 lives.
Jonathan said in an address marking 15 years since the return of civilian rule to Nigeria that no efforts would be spared to rescue the more than 200 girls kidnapped from a school in the northeastern town of Chibok in Borno state on April 14.
"I am determined to protect our democracy, our national unity and our political stability by waging a total war against terrorism," he said.
"The unity and stability of our country, and the protection of lives and property are non-negotiable," he added.
But on the same day as his vow to end the violence a military source and residents said Boko Haram had killed 35 people in separate attacks on three villages near the border with Cameroon, opening fire on villagers and torching homes.
"Boko Haram attacked the three villages Wednesday morning in which 35 people were killed," a military officer in the Borno state capital Maiduguri told AFP on condition of anonymity.
"The insurgents hurled petrol bombs into homes, setting them ablaze and shot residents as they tried to escape," he said."
May 27, 2014: Boko Haram attack kills 31 Nigerian security personnel
"DAMATURU/MAIDUGURI Nigeria (Reuters) - Boko Haram gunmen attacked a Nigerian military base and adjacent police barracks in the northeastern town of Buni Yadi, killing 31 security personnel, security sources and witnesses said.
The attack late on Monday in Yobe state occurred not far from where the Islamist insurgents shot or burned to death 59 pupils at a boarding school in February.
The militants, whose violent struggle for an Islamic state in northern Nigeria has killed thousands and made them the biggest threat to security in Africa's top oil-producing state, are still holding more than 200 girls kidnapped on April 14, an act which provoked international outrage.
Yobe police spokesman Nansak Chegwam said he was aware of the attack but could provide no further details.
A resident of Buni Yadi, who identified himself only as Mustafa for fear of retribution, said the militants arrived in an armored personnel carrier and six Toyota pickup trucks before dismounting and firing into the air.
They fired rocket propelled grenades at both bases.
A senior security source in Yobe state said 17 soldiers were killed and 14 police officers also died."
May 24, 2014: Boko Haram militants kill dozens in latest Nigeria attacks
"Suspected Islamist Boko Haram gunmen have attacked three villages in northern Nigeria, killing 28 people and burning houses to the ground in a pattern of violence that has become almost a daily occurrence, police and witnesses have said.
Separately, a suicide bombing that was meant to happen at the TV screening of a football match in the central Nigerian city of Jos on Saturday killed three people before the bomber reached the target, a witness told Reuters.
The bomber approached the Jos Viewing Centre while people were watching Real Madrid play Atletico Madrid, but he failed to get there before his car exploded, a local journalist at the scene, Mohammed Shittu, said.
The three attacks on villages took place on Thursday in remote parts of Borno state, the epicentre of Boko Haram's increasingly bloody struggle for an Islamic kingdom in religiously mixed Nigeria.
One took place right next to Chibok, by the Cameroon border, from where more than 200 schoolgirls were abducted last month.
The most deadly was in the town of Kerenua, near the Niger border. Scores of militants opened fire on residents, killing 20, and burned houses, police said.
A police source said some telephone signals to the militants had been tracked to neighbouring Niger, suggesting they may have been directed from there. Dozens had been wounded by bullets, he said.
Since the girls' abduction on 14 April at least 450 civilians have been killed by the group, a count by Reuters shows."
May 22, 2014: Boko Haram attacks in Nigeria kill dozens more
"ALAGARNO, Nigeria, May 22 (UPI) --Boko Haram militants killed at least 48 more people in overnight attacks on three Nigerian villages.
The attacks, late Tuesday and early Wednesday, came hours after bombs at a market in the city of Jos killed over 100 people.
A witness in the village of Alagarno said residents hid in bushes as the Islamic militants arrived and set fire to houses. "We saw our village up in flames, as we hid in the bush waiting for the dawn; we lost everything," she said.
Boko Haram, with its strict interpretation of Islamic law, seeks to impose an Islamic state on Nigeria, with a population of 170 million that is about 50 percent Christian. Extremist attacks have risen recently, with an estimated 2,000 people killed in Nigeria since the start of 2014. An estimated 3,600 were killed between 2010 and 2013."
Open Doors USA reports beyond Nigeria's tribulation: Eradication of Christianity in Northern Cameroon
"Over the past year, Muslims have waged a fierce intimidation campaign against Christians in Gorea, sending anonymous written threats to kill them and burn down their churches. In April 2013, local teens carried out the threats, setting the church ablaze and scattering the Christians Though some of the Christians returned a few weeks later, it seems that the pressure has now simply become too much. Many of them, including two church officials, have followed the example of a church elder who rejected Christ by embracing Islam last year."
"These sad events are classic examples of the pressures Christians have been experiencing recently for their allegiance to Christ in northern Cameroon."
"Since the region became a safe haven for the Islamic extremist group Boko Haram, the number of violent incidents has increased, including targeted attacks on churches. There is also speculation that the insurgents have brought at least some of the more than 200 girls abducted mid-April from a secondary school in Chibok, Nigeria into Cameroon. A local pastor said, “Christians here live in terror. At night, we don’t know what might happen. I’m worried about my family and the churches in the area. In some villages, Christianity has completely disappeared.”"
May 21, 2014: Nigeria's Christian community is in tribulation attack from Islamic terrorist militants of Boko Haram whose name means, “Western Education is Sinful”. This report of horror tells us: Nigerian extremists kill 48 villagers near town where 300 schoolgirls kidnapped
"JOS, Nigeria — Islamic militants killed 48 villagers in northeastern Nigeria near the town where they kidnapped 300 schoolgirls, and the U.S. said Wednesday it was sending in 80 military personnel to expand the drone search for the captives.
The developments came hours after twin car bombings claimed at least 130 lives in this central city — an escalating campaign of violence blamed on the Boko Haram terrorist network and its drive to impose an Islamic state on Nigeria.
The three villages attacked overnight Tuesday and early Wednesday are near the town of Chibok, where the girls were abducted from their boarding school in a brazen April 15 assault that has ignited a global movement to secure their freedom."
Open Doors USA provides this message: "If you wish to to show solidarity with the Christians in Chibok, let them know that you are praying by sending a brief, encouraging message. Click here to view it."
May 20, 2014: CNN gives a MUST SEE video report on the market bombing today from Jos, Nigeria: Blasts at market kill 118 in central Nigeria, official says
"(CNN) -- At least 118 people were killed Tuesday in twin blasts at a market in the central Nigerian city of Jos, an official said, warning the toll could climb.
The explosions, which targeted Terminus market, went off some 20 to 30 minutes apart, setting fire to the entire venue.
"The death toll stands at 118. This is the number of victims recovered from the scene of the explosions, but we are still searching through the smoldering debris for more bodies," said Mohammed Abdulsalam, coordinator for the National Emergency Management Agency in the city.
"The figure may rise when the search is over," Abdulsalam said.
A journalist on the scene of the first explosion called it "massive." People were screaming and running, some covered in blood. Some had to be carried away, the journalist said.
An ambulance driver who asked not to be identified said he saw at least 15 bodies and about 30 injured.
Plateau State Commissioner Chris Olakpe described the blasts as "terrorist activities," but refused to speculate on who might be responsible."
May 19, 2014: Beyond Nigeria, FoxNews Reports the truth... Bolton: Boko Haram's threat goes beyond Africa:
May 18, 2014: Deception is a strange thing. If false opinion is repeated enough or proclaimed by those in authority it will be believed by many in the masses. Here's a good example as Robert Jackson and Senator Jeanne Shaheen of New Hampshire show their ignorance about Boko Haram before a congressional hearing recorded by C-Span.
I almost felt as if I was watching through the cigarette smoke of one of those old Rod Serling "Twilight Zone" episodes on black and white TV with the spinning vortex hypnotizing the audience.
As I watched the C-Span clip below I wondered... what is it about Robert Jackson's comments that seem so bizarre, so "staged"... is he not just deceived, is he actually lying, drunk from the wine of deception, or is he just plain hypnotized?
May 15, 2014: Beyond Nigeria... Ireland's RTÉ News reports from Sudan... Woman sentenced to death in Sudan for converting to Christianity
"A Sudanese judge has sentenced a Christian woman to hang for apostasy, despite appeals by Western embassies for compassion and respect for religious freedom.
Born to a Muslim father, the woman was convicted under the sharia law that has been in force in Sudan since 1983 and outlaws conversions on pain of death.
Meriam Yahia Ibrahim Ishag, 27, is eight months pregnant and married to a Christian national of South Sudan which broke away in 2011, human rights activists say.
"We gave you three days to recant but you insist on not returning to Islam. I sentence you to be hanged," Judge Abbas Mohammed Al-Khalifa told the woman, addressing her by her father's Muslim name, Adraf Al-Hadi Mohammed Abdullah.
The judge also sentenced Ishaq to 100 lashes for "adultery".
Under Sudan's interpretation of sharia, a Muslim woman cannot marry a non-Muslim man and any such relationship is regarded as adulterous.
Ms Ishag reacted without emotion when the judge delivered the verdict at a court in the Khartoum district of Haj Yousef.
Earlier in the hearing, an Islamic religious leader spoke with her in the caged dock for about 30 minutes.
Then she calmly told the judge: "I am a Christian and I never committed apostasy.""
In the UK today, there are Nigerian Church Leaders in the UK, Call for Mass Prayer Vigil in Westminster, for Safe Release of Abducted Nigerian Schoolgirls
Boko Haram video said to be a fake
By Dan Wooding, who was born in Nigeria
Founder of ASSIST Ministries
"LONDON, UK (ANS) -- Nigerian Church leaders in the UK are calling on all Christians to support a mass Prayer Vigil in Westminster, London, UK, on Monday, May 19, 2014 between 7.00pm – 9.00pm (UK time) to pray for the safe release of the schoolgirls abducted in Nigeria a month ago.
Six of the Nigerian schoolgirls who escaped Boko Haram kidnappers last month.
According to a news release, the event, which will be held at Emmanuel Centre 9-23 Marsham Street, Westminster, London SW1P 3DW, has the endorsement of The National Day of Prayer and Worship, The Overseas Fellowship of Nigerian Christians, Christian Concern, International Strategic Alliance Committee.
The Nigerian Church Leaders have united to condemn the situation as “deeply serious” and called on the Nigerian Government to ensure that no one should be forced into any form of religious conversion.
The event organizers are also appealing for donations which will go directly to the affected families in Nigeria."
May 13, 2014: Open Doors has people on the ground and you can send written Prayers and Encouragement To The Families of the Kidnapped Girls In Nigeria.
From Israel Today: Israeli Forces Reportedly on the Ground in Nigeria
"Israeli security forces have arrived in Nigeria to aid in the search for up to 200 young Christian girls recently abducted by the radical Islamist group Boko Haram.
On Monday, international media was abuzz after the publication of a video showing many of the captive girls dressed in Muslim garb (pictured) and reciting passages from the Koran. In the video, Boko Haram leader Abubakar Shekau says the girls will be held and continued to be forcibly converted to Islam until jailed members of his group are freed by the Nigerian government.
The government of Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan rejected the demand, and turned to the international community for assistance. Israel was quick to answer the call.
“Israel expresses deep shock at the crime against the girls,” read a statement from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. “We are ready to help in finding the girls and fighting the cruel terrorism inflicted on you.”
Members of a Nigerian delegation currently in Israel told Channel 2 News that their government had accepted the offer of Israeli aid, and confirmed that Israeli counter-terrorism experts were already en route to the West African nation."
May 12, 2014: Nigeria abducted girls: Boko Haram leader claims captives converted to Islam
"(CNN) -- A Boko Haram video emerged Monday purportedly showing some of the kidnapped Nigerian girls in Muslim headdresses and the terror group's leader declaring they have converted to Islam.
The video, released by French news agency Agence France-Presse, was shot in a nondescript bush area and showed about 100 girls.
In the 27-minute footage, the terror group's leader, Abubakar Shekau, says he is willing to exchange the schoolgirls for Boko Haram prisoners.
It shows girls dressed in black and gray hijabs, and reciting the Quran as they make Islamic declarations of faith. Shekau appears in a separate part of the video, but never with the girls."
May 6, 2014: The horrific kidnapping and tribulation of Christian girls continues. The BBC reports More Nigerian girls abducted by suspected Boko Haram militants
"Suspected Boko Haram Islamist militants have abducted eight more girls in north-eastern Nigeria.
The latest kidnapping happened on Sunday night in the village of Warabe, in Borno state. The girls taken were aged between 12 and 15.
On Monday, Boko Haram's leader threatened to "sell" more than 230 girls seized from their school, also in Borno, on 14 April.
Meanwhile, the US says Nigeria has accepted an offer of American help.
"We've already sent in a team to Nigeria," President Barack Obama said on Tuesday.
Mr Obama said the US aid was a combination of military, law enforcement and other agencies "who are going in, trying to identify where these girls might be"."
April 21, 2014: Parents: 234 girls kidnapped from Nigeria school
CHIBOK, Nigeria (AP) — "Some 234 girls are missing from the northeast Nigerian school attacked last week by Islamic extremists, significantly more than the 85 reported by education officials, parents told the state governor Monday.
The higher figure came out a week after the kidnappings when the Borno state governor insisted a military escort take him to the town. Parents told the governor that officials would not listen to them when they drew up their list of names of missing children and the total reached 234."
April 19, 2014: Boko Haram claims bombing in Nigeria's capital
"Kano (Nigeria) (AFP) - Boko Haram claimed responsibility for the deadliest attack ever in Nigeria’s capital in a video obtained Saturday, as the search continued for 85 schoolgirls still missing after a mass abduction by the Islamists.
The bombing at a bus station packed with morning commuters early on Monday killed at least 75 people on the outskirts of Abuja, hours before gunmen kidnapped 129 girls from a school in northeastern Borno state, Boko Haram's base.
Forty-four of the girls have since escaped and are now safe, officials said.
The bombing and the kidnapping, which have been condemned worldwide, have underscored the serious threat posed by the insurgents to Africa's most populous country and biggest economy.
"We are the ones who carried out the attack in Abuja," Boko Haram’s leader Abubakar Shekau said in video message obtained by AFP."
April 16, 2014: EuroNews reports: Gunmen abduct over 100 female students in northeast Nigeria
"More than 100 female students have been abducted by suspected Islamist insurgents in a raid on a secondary school in Nigeria’s northeast Borno state.
Gunmen thought to be members of Boko Haram carried off the teenage girls from the school in Chibok late in Monday night."
April 14, 2014: Sadly, this morning, following yesterday's Reuters report that: Nigeria Islamists kill 68 in two village attacks: witnesses another attack has occurred.
Nigerian bus station hit by deadly explosion.
"Many are feared dead after blast in outskirts of capital, Abuja, as hundreds of commuters travelled to work.
"An explosion blasted through a busy commuter bus station in the outskirts of Nigeria's capital, Abuja, on Monday, as hundreds of people were on their way to work.
Police have said at least 71 people were killed and 124 wounded in the blast. Reporters saw rescue workers and police gathering body parts.
The blast ripped a hole 1.2 metres (4ft) deep in the ground of Nyanya motor park, about 10 miles from the city centre, and destroyed more than 30 vehicles, causing secondary explosions as their fuel tanks ignited and burned.
There was no official comment or immediate claim of responsibility for the explosion, though bus stations are a favoured target of Nigeria's Islamist militants."
April 9, 2014: Beyond the tribulation seen in Nigeria... According to this report from Charima, to the the North in the Muslim nations of Mauritania, Western Sahara, Morocco, Algeria, Libya and Tunisia a revival is taking place in Africa among the Muslim people because Muslims need Jesus too.
You will not want to miss reading about the visions miracles and healing taking place in Algeria.
"As the sun sets over the Mediterranean Sea, Muslims across Northern Africa are converting to faith in Jesus Christ in record numbers."
""What God is doing in North Africa, all the way from actually Mauritanian to Libya is unprecedented in the history of missions" said Tino Qahoush, a graduate of Regent University and filmmaker. He has spent years traveling the region to document the transformation.
"I have the privilege of recording testimonies and listening to firsthand stories of men and women, of all ages where they can be sitting in a room and see the appearance and the presence of God appear to them in reality, like a vision, some of them gave me stories of how they carry on a conversation, it's not just a light that appears" adds Qahoush. He also says sometimes he feels jealous, "how come Jesus is visiting the Muslim world at this time and age and we don't hear that happening in the traditional Christian community."
His interviews confirm what experts say is a profound move of God in the predominantly Muslim nations of Mauritania, Western Sahara, Morocco, Algeria, Libya and Tunisia.
From the shores of Casablanca in Morocco to Tripoli, Libya, experts say the growth of Christianity, especially in the last 20 years, has been unprecedented. And now that growth is also evident in the North African nation of Algeria."
"Emboldened by God's power, Algerian Christians are now on a mission to take the gospel to the four corners of the globe.
"God has put in our heart to be able to send 1,000 missionaries by the year 2025. I really believe that maybe one day America will end up with some Muslim convert missionaries coming to reach out to the Muslims there and in other parts as well" says Pastor Qurahmane."
February 27, 2014: The original report of the death of 22 students in Nigeria has horribly been increased now to 45 murdered at the Federal Government College of Buni Yadi. The New York Times reports: Nigeria: College Attack Death Toll Rises:
"The United Nations reported Wednesday that at least 45 students were killed in the attack by Islamic extremists on a college in Nigeria this week and that the victims were as young as 13.
The death toll was higher and the age range of the victims at the Federal Government College of Buni Yadi, in Yobe State, younger than initially reported by the Nigerian authorities.
“Many lives were lost,” Manuel Fontaine, Unicef’s regional director for West and Central Africa, said in a statement denouncing the assault, the fourth that has closed a Nigeria school since last June. He said the closings had disrupted the lives of thousands of students, “many of whom have had no access to formal learning for months.”
The Islamist group Boko Haram, which has denounced public education in Nigeria as blasphemous, has been blamed for the assaults."
The original report from EuroNews:
"A terror attack in Nigeria has killed 29 boys with some burning to death, officials say.
Gunmen from the Islamist group Boko Haram stormed a boarding school in the north-east of the country, police and the military confirmed.
Police Commissioner Sanusi Rufai said the attack at the college in Buni Yadi saw some of the students’ bodies burned to ashes.
Boko Haram is fighting for an Islamic state in northern Nigeria. A similar attack in June left 22 students dead.
Violence is increasing focusing on civilians – more than 200 people were killed in two attacks last week, one in which militants razed a whole village and shot panicked residents as they tried to flee."
February 13, 2014: Recently George Weigel of the Ethics and Public Policy Center wrote...
“More Christians died for the faith in the twentieth century than in the previous nineteen centuries of Christian history combined.”
He does not provide his source but you should know that for the past two days Fox News has broadcast critical news reports on Congressman Chris Smith (NJ-04), Chairman of the House congressional panel that oversees U.S. policy in Africa who has brought light on the story of global Christian persecution to Washington D.C. via a Congressional hearing. It is an important story:
February 6, 2014: If you have been reading the posts on Nigeria you may think that northern Nigeria is only a place of doom and gloom. But praise God there is now some good news. God news.
Mission Network News reports that Boko Haram members come to Christ
"Nigeria (MNN) — The rebel terrorist group known as Boko Haram has done it again. This time they killed more than 70. Reports indicate 52 people were killed in a Kawuri village in Borno state. 22 more died in an attack on a church service in Waga Chakawa village, Adamawa state.
World Mission supports partners working there on the ground with unreached people groups. The organization’s executive director Greg Kelley says, “The people that we work with in Northern Nigeria are stationed in the vicinity of where Boko Haram is, so it’s made it very difficult for our partners to operate. They literally have one eye open at night because people are being killed and kidnapped.”
Kelley says that makes ministry difficult. That’s why World Mission is taking action. “We’re in the process of relocating our team into a more neutral environment that’s safer, that has more stability, so that they can facilitate all of the work that’s going on in the north.”
World Mission’s work with the unreached has been successful. “We of course distribute the audio Bible–The Treasure–among them. Just last week we got a report of two Boko Haram–these are the terrorist guys themselves–coming to Christ.”
Once they come to Christ, it’s amazing how God uses them. Kelley says, “They bring that same kind of intensity to the Gospel. One guy said, ‘If I could have died for a cause that I didn’t even know my fate, now that I’m a believer and follower of Jesus, I am willing to die for this truth no matter what.”
World Mission has sent more than 5,000 Treasures into the region, but the goal is to send hundreds more. First, though, they need to move their headquarters. “Right now they’re located right in the middle of the Boko Haram area. In order to move them we need $20,000. So, that would absolutely be a prayer request.”
This is a great investment because many of the conversion stories remind Kelley of the Apostle Paul: “Persecuting Christians and coming to know Jesus and becoming, arguably, the greatest missionary whoever walked on the earth. That is exactly the pattern that we’re seeing in these Boko Haram terrorists. As they give their lives to Jesus, they become some of the greatest witnesses for the Gospel.”"
January 27, 2014: The press call them terrorists, but are they the tribulationists? The Christian Post today reported that Islamic Gunmen Storm Church Sunday Service, Kill 22 Christians as Scores Murdered By Terrorists Across Nigeria
"Twenty-two Nigerian Christians were killed in an attack after gunmen entered a church service armed with weapons and explosives on Sunday.
Boko Haram, a Nigerian Islamic terrorist group seeking to eradicate Christianity from the African country and spread radical Muslim Shariah law, has been blamed for the mass shooting in the village of Waga Chakawa in Adamawa state, and also for violence that killed 52 people in Borno state at the weekend, the BBC has reported.
Terrorists reportedly attacked the village of Kawuri and detonated explosives while merchants were shutting down the crowded market. They also set alight to the homes of residents in the town, with residents still inside many of the houses.
Ari Kolomi, who fled his home in Kawuri to Maiduguri, the Borno state capital, described the destruction left by the group as devastating."
"In an op-ed for the Wall Street Journal last week, Orji Uzor Kalu, the former governor of Abia state, said fighting against Boko Haram was not only in the best interests of Nigerian Christians, but also should be a subject of international concern.
"As the world globalizes, jihadist factions such as Boko Haram align in-kind and gain both the intelligence and the capacity to strike in increasingly urban centers and beyond national borders," Kalu wrote. "We must make no mistake: This destabilizing network is a global problem, larger in scope and indeed in mission than the international community may presume. It is not just going to go away.""
January 8, 2014: Reported Christian 'martyr' deaths double in 2013: report
"(Reuters) - Reported cases of Christians killed for their faith around the world doubled in 2013 from the year before, with Syria accounting for more than the whole global total in 2012, according to an annual survey.
Open Doors, a non-denominational group supporting persecuted Christians worldwide, said on Wednesday it had documented 2,123 "martyr" killings, compared with 1,201 in 2012. There were 1,213 such deaths in Syria alone last year, it said.
"This is a very minimal count based on what has been reported in the media and we can confirm," said Frans Veerman, head of research for Open Doors. Estimates by other Christian groups put the annual figure as high as 8,000.
The Open Doors report placed North Korea at the top of its list of 50 most dangerous countries for Christians, a position it has held since the annual survey began 12 years ago. Somalia, Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan were the next four in line.
The United States-based group reported increasing violence against Christians in Africa and said radical Muslims were the main source of persecution in 36 countries on its list.
"Islamist extremism is the worst persecutor of the worldwide church," it said."
The report has a second witness from World Watch Monitor Christian deaths double in 2014 World Watch List
December 22, 2013: The reports here are about tribulation in Nigeria and beyond. Keith Davies the executive director of Rescue Christians was interviewed by Fox News on Saturday December 21st 2013.
Mr. Davies appeared on Fox to speak about persecution of Christians in Pakistan.
October 20, 2013 Massacre at fake checkpoint as Boko Haram slit throats of travellers
"Militants from the Nigerian terrorist group Boko Haram disguised themselves as soldiers and set up a checkpoint, at which they slit the throats of 19 people who stopped."
September 25, 2013: The same radical tribulation Nigeria's Christians have experienced since 2011 has been seen in Kenya as Al-Shabab, an Islamic extremist group attacked non-Muslims in the Westgate shopping mall in Nairobi, Kenya.
CBS reports: Al-Shabab says it singled out non-Muslims in Kenya mall attack
CNN reports: Al-Shabaab breaks new ground with complex Nairobi attack
And just a day later, the same kind of vicious tribulation occurred at a church in Pakistan when a wing of the Pakistani Taliban bombed the All Saints Church in Peshawar.
Fox News reports: At least 85 killed in suicide bombing at Pakistan church
September 9, 2013: Nigerian Anglican archbishop kidnapped
LAGOS (AFP) – "Nigeria's second-highest ranking Anglican archbishop was kidnapped at the weekend outside the southern oil city of Port Harcourt, capital of Rivers State, a police spokeswoman said on Monday.
"Archbishop Ignatius Kattey was kidnapped along with his wife around Eleme (outside Port Harcourt) at about 10:45 pm (2145 GMT) on Friday," spokeswoman Angela Agabe told AFP.
"His wife was later abandoned in the bush by their abductors."
A national spokesman of the Anglican Communion in Nigeria, Foluso Taiwo, confirmed the abduction to AFP, but said the circumstances surrounding the incident were sketchy.
Kattey is the dean of archbishops of the Anglican communion in Nigeria, ranking him second to the primate of the Anglican Church in the country, said Taiwo.
The cleric is archbishop of the Niger Delta province, he added.
Kidnapping for ransom occurs regularly in the southern oil-producing Niger Delta region, though authorities rarely admit to making payments.
The victims are often released unharmed after the payment of a ransom.
In the north of the country however, Islamist extremists have killed a number of their hostages."
July 12, 2013: The Christians Association of Nigeria (CAN) has issued a “final call” to the Federal Government to neutralize the violence against Christians
The Christians Association of Nigeria (CAN) has issued a “final call” to the Federal Government to neutralize the violence against Christians or risk losing the cooperation of the Christian community in its fight against Boko Haram.
Pastor Ayo Oritsejafor, the president of the Christians Association of Nigeria, who made the call was speaking after a meeting with other officials of the association over the latest attack on churches in Nigeria, which happened at the Bayero University in Kano state on Sunday.
Gunmen stormed a church service at Bayero University on Sunday and killed about 15 people and wounded several others.
Speaking after the meeting, Pastor Ayo Oritsejafor said, “The church leadership has hitherto put great restraint on the restive and aggrieved millions of Nigerians but can no longer guarantee such co-operation, if this trend is not halted immediately.”
May 9, 2013: As these updates attest, every few weeks Nigeria faces the kind of horror America witnessed in Boston. Yet many ignore the horror. Today, it happened again in Nigeria: Nasarawa cult ambush 'kills 30 police'
"Nasarawa police chief Abayomi Akeremale said about 60 police officers came under attack on Tuesday.
"We decided to send our men to the area to arrest members of Ombatse, including their priest," he told the AFP news agency.
"[They] have been going to churches and mosques initiating people into their cult by forcefully administering an allegiance oath to unwilling people."
The police were attacked near the shrine to the traditional deity of the Eggon people, in the village of Alakyo, near the state capital, Lafia.
The ambush came after 55 people were reportedly killed in the north-east of Nigeria in co-ordinated attacks by the Boko Haram Islamist militant group."
April 23, 2013: The New York Times reports Boston Suspects Are Seen as Self-Taught...
"The portrait investigators have begun to piece together of the two brothers suspected of the Boston Marathon bombings suggests that they were motivated by extremist Islamic beliefs but were not acting with known terrorist groups — and that they may have learned to build bombs simply by logging onto the online English-language magazine of the affiliate of Al Qaeda in Yemen, law enforcement officials said Tuesday."
Islamic pipe bombs are common in Nigeria and now they have found radical horror in the streets of Boston.
March 19, 2013: Nigeria bus station attack claims 22 lives AAP:
"An attack that saw two suicide bombers ram their car into a bus station in northern Nigeria has killed at least 22 people and wounded dozens more.
Police said the attack on Monday in Kano, the largest city in Nigeria's mainly Muslim north, led to a huge explosion that hit five buses, police spokesman Magaji Majia told AFP. A rescue official said the toll was at least 20 and a security source said it was likely to climb much higher.
"From our tally, 22 people were killed in the suicide blast at the New Road motor park," Majia said. Sixty-five others were injured."
December 30, 2012: Nigeria: 15 Christians 'have throats slit' by suspected extremists
"Suspected Islamist extremists have killed 15 Christians by slitting their throats in an attack on a village in Nigeria's volatile northeast, residents and a relief source have claimed.
"From the information we gathered, the attackers broke into selected homes and slaughtered 15 people in their sleep," the anonymous relief official said.
Authorities had previously confirmed the predawn Friday attack in Musari, but gave few details and said only five were killed. Musari is located on the outskirts of Maiduguri, the base of Islamist extremist group Boko Haram.
Lieutenant Colonel Sagir Musa, spokesman for a military task force in the area, said on Sunday that he stood by the toll of five dead.
Authorities tend to under-report death tolls, however, and the relief official's information matched that of residents, who spoke of 15 people having their throats slit.
Residents said they suspected the attackers were from Boko Haram."
December 25, 2012: Military: At least 5 killed in Christmas morning attack in northeast Nigeria village
"LAGOS, Nigeria – Nigeria's military says at least five people have been killed in a Christmas morning attack in northeast Nigeria, a region beset by violence by a radical Islamist sect.
Military spokesman Lt. Eli Lazarus said Tuesday that the attack happened just outside Potiskum village in Yobe state. Lazarus told The Associated Press that four others were wounded.
There was confusion about where the shooting took place. Lazarus said it happened in a church. A Yobe state police spokesman said that information officers had indicated the attack happened elsewhere in the village.
This is the latest violence in northeast Nigeria, an area where the radical sect known as Boko Haram operates."
November 26, 2012: Voice of America reports: Blast Rocks Military Church in North Nigeria
"The Nigerian military says an explosion ripped through a church on an army base on Sunday, with reports of an unknown number of casualties.
Reuters cited military sources as saying the blast was from a suicide car bomb that killed at least five people and injured dozens more.
The incident took place inside the Jaji military barracks in Nigeria's northern Kaduna state after a church service."
October 28, 2012: Today a Car Bomb Kills 8 and Injures More Than 100 as a Suicide bomber hits north Nigeria Catholic church
"KADUNA, Nigeria (AP) — A suicide car bomber detonated his explosives Sunday at a Catholic church holding Mass in northern Nigeria, injuring a number of worshipers and killing several people, officials and witnesses said.
The attack happened in the Malali neighborhood of Kaduna, a city on the dividing line between Nigeria's largely Christian south and Muslim north where religious rioting has killed hundreds in recent years. The car tried to force its way past the gate at St. Rita's Catholic church just before it exploded, witnesses at the church said."
In a report released on October 11th, Human Rights Watch stated: "Widespread and systematic murder and persecution by Boko Haram, a militant Islamist group in northern Nigeria, likely amount to crimes against humanity".
"The 98-page report, “Spiraling Violence: Boko Haram Attacks and Security Force Abuses in Nigeria” catalogues atrocities for which Boko Haram has claimed responsibility."
The report states that at least 1,500 people have been killed in bomb and gun attacks by Boko Haram over the past three years. You can download the full report here.
October 1, 2012: Students Among the Dead in Attack on Nigerian School
"ABUJA — At least 25 people were killed late Monday in what appears to be a systematic slaughter in Adamawa State in northern Nigeria. Locals say the victims, mostly college students, were individually questioned before being attacked."
September 30, 2012: Kenya is Nigeria's neighbor to the south. Today, the violence seen in Nigeria has arrived as AlJazeera reports Children killed in Kenya church attack
"At least two children have been killed and two others wounded when a hand grenade was allegedly thrown into a church in the Kenyan capital, Nairobi, police officials say.
Moses Nyakwama, the city's police chief, confirmed the injuries in the attack on Sunday.
He said that police suspected the cause of the explosion was a grenade.
Charles Owino, a deputy police spokesman, said that the attack at St. Polycarp's church occurred on Juja Road, in the eastern part of the city.
The grenade exploded, spraying the children with shrapnel.
Blood-stained children's jackets and shoes lay scattered on the floor, surrounded by remnants of metal walls that were broken and twisted by the force of the explosion.
"The children who attend this service are aged between six and 10... we usually divide them according to their ages," said Livingstone Muiruri. "They had just started the morning session when the explosion occurred."
"We were in the main church so we all ran there to assist the kids," he said.
Janet Wanja was just entering the church when the blast shook the building.
"I heard a loud explosion and then heard kids screaming," she said. "I am traumatised by what I saw, kids with injuries and blood all over. "Why are they attacking the church?""
June 17, 2012: Multiple Church Bombings in Nigeria Ignite Riots
"BUJA - Three churches were bombed this morning in Kaduna, Nigeria, igniting riots in the state capital and prompting a 24-hour curfew. The blasts killed 21 and injured at least 100. The violence Sunday is just the latest development in areas where tensions have risen dramatically recently.
Kaduna has been tense since after the 2011 elections when riots broke out killing nearly 700 people. Locals say the violence was political but it also cut across religious lines, deepening distrust between Muslims and Christians."
June 10, 2012: The BBC reports: Nigeria violence: Seven dead after Boko Haram attacks
"Boko Haram militants have attacked two churches during Sunday services, triggering deadly reprisal attacks.
In the central city of Jos, a suicide bomber blew himself up outside a church, wounding at least 50 people.
In a separate attack, gunmen opened fire during a service in Biu in northeastern Borno state, leaving at least one person dead.
Six people were then killed in Jos in reprisals when angry demonstrators took to the streets in protest.
Radical Islamist sect Boko Haram said it carried out the attacks. The group has carried out a number of attacks on churches in recent years, killing hundreds of people."
MSNBC's report stated:
"Attacks on churches have become a trademark tactic of Boko Haram, which says it is fighting to reinstate an ancient Islamic caliphate in northern Nigeria."
June 3, 2012: Deadly blast hits Nigeria church
"According to Bauchi residents, a man tried to drive a car through a fence outside the Harvest Field Pentecostal church on Sunday.
The vehicle did not break through the fence and the bomb was detonated. Some of those killed by the blast were inside the church and others were standing outside.
Eyewitness Aliku Jon told Reuters news agency: "I had just left after the morning service and was out of the church when I heard a loud explosion. I rushed back and there were dozens of people lying in pools of blood.""
April 28, 2012: AFP reports: Nigeria attack on church services kills around 20
"KANO, Nigeria — "Attackers armed with bombs and guns opened fire at church services at a Nigerian university on Sunday, killing around 20 people as worshipers tried to flee, witnesses and officials said.
Explosions and gunfire rocked Bayero University in the northern city of Kano, with witnesses reporting that two church services were targeted as they were being held on campus. One of the services was being held outdoors, while the second was inside a building, but with an overflow audience outside, witnesses said.
Officials were unable to confirm casualty figures, but an AFP correspondent counted six bullet-riddled bodies near one of the two sites.
At least another dozen bodies could be seen on a roadside by the university, but the exact number was unclear.
Musical instruments and half-eaten meals could be seen at the site of one of the services. An army spokesman confirmed the attack but could not provide a casualty toll. Lieutenant Iweha Ikedichi told AFP that it appeared the attackers used bombs and gunfire in the assault."
April 8, 2012: Nigerian Easter bomb kills many in Kaduna
"At least 38 people have died in a car bombing in the northern Nigerian city of Kaduna, officials said.
Many others were injured in the attack, which took place when officials stopped the vehicle as it approached a church.
Just hours afterwards, a bomb exploded in the central city of Jos, injuring several people.
No-one has admitted carrying out the bombings, but suspicion has fallen on Boko Haram, a militant group which had warned of attacks over Easter."
January 23, 2012: Hospitals struggle after deadly Nigeria attacks
By Africa correspondent Ginny Stein, wires
Video Report Source: 7pm TV News NSW | Duration: 2min 12sec
"Hospital staff in the northern Nigerian city of Kano are struggling to cope with a rising number of casualties after a string of coordinated attacks.
More than 178 people have been killed in a series of bomb attacks and gun fights in the country's second-largest city.
Islamist sect Boko Haram is reported to have claimed responsibility for the strike - the deadliest ever by the group.
A curfew was imposed after the violent attacks began, targeting police and immigration offices.
Police sources have told AFP that at least 20 huge blasts were heard in the city as a suicide bomber struck a police station and a car bomb targeted the state police headquarters.
A number of other police posts were targeted, including a secret police building, as well as immigration offices.
A doctor in the main hospital said the death toll had risen to 178 on Sunday, making it by far the deadliest attack claimed by the radical Islamist sect."
January 7, 2012: Church attacks in Nigeria leave at least 27 worshippers dead
Islamist group claims responsibility amid growing concern about government's inability to tackle sectarian violence
"A fresh wave of violence against churchgoers in Nigeria has left at least 27 people dead and heightened fears over security in Africa's most populous country.
The religiously motivated massacres, three in as many days since Thursday, targeted Christians in Mubi and Gombe, both towns in the north-east where a state of emergency was declared by President Goodluck Jonathan last week. Some 17 other deaths have been reported in other regions.
There is growing concern that the government's inability to tackle the rising levels of sectarian violence, blamed on radical Islamic group Boko Haram, may result in hundreds of people fleeing their homes. The group is now carrying out weekly attacks on churches and police stations in northern and central areas. Islamic clerics who speak out against the violence have been assassinated.
Last year saw an upsurge in Boko Haram's bloody activities, with some 550 people killed, culminating in a co-ordinated bombing campaign on Christmas Day across Nigeria which left 39 dead and dozens wounded, including at a church near the capital, Abuja."
January 6, 2012: Another Church Attack in Nigeria Kills 6
Voice of America: "The radical Islamist sect Boko Haram is suspected of the attack, and of pushing the country toward religious conflict.
The attack began when gunmen opened fire during a service at the Deeper Life church in Nasarawa. Theresa Munyok says that her father and her brother were among the dead.
"The only thing I heard was my mommy shouting," Munyok said. "She told me that it was gunshots and that my dad is not even breathing. She called and called and he did not wake up."
A purported spokesman for Boko Haram issued a warning on Sunday that said Christians had three days to leave the Muslim-majority north. A day earlier, Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan declared a state of emergency in 15 locations across the north after months of deadly bombings and shootings, including several attacks for which Boko Haram claimed responsibility."
January 5, 2012: At Least 5 Dead, Others Wounded in Nigeria Church Attack
FoxNews: "GOMBE, Nigeria – Gunmen attacked a church in northeast Nigeria during a prayer service Thursday night, killing at least five people and wounding others in an assault that occurred amid an increasingly violent campaign by a radical Muslim sect.
Pastor Johnson Jauro said the gunfire sprayed the Deeper Life Church in Gombe, the capital of Gombe state, injuring several worshipers and killing his wife and two others. He spoke at a local hospital, where a joint team of soldiers and police officers stood guard. Two other people later died at the hospital from their wounds and an Associated Press reporter saw their bodies.
Local police spokesman Ahmed Muhammad confirmed the attack, but declined to say how many people the gunmen killed and wounded.
The assault occurred as Nigeria remains under a warrior's attack by the sect known as Boko Haram. Know this we have been warned:
"You will be hearing of wars and rumors of wars. See that you are not frightened, for those things must take place, but that is not yet the end." Matthew 24:6
The oil-rich nation's president recently put regions of the country under a state of emergency due to the grave threat, but that did not include Gombe, which sits about 350 miles from Nigeria's central capital, Abuja.
No one immediately claimed responsibility for the attack, but suspicion immediately fell on Boko Haram. The sect has carried out increasingly sophisticated and bloody attacks in its campaign to implement strict Sharia law across Nigeria, a multi-ethnic nation of more than 160 million people.
Boko Haram, whose name means "Western education is sacrilege" in the local Hausa language, is responsible for more than 500 killings this year alone, according to an Associated Press count."
January 2, 2012: Christians warned to leave Nigeria - CNN
The militant Islamist group Boko Haram issues an ultimatum to Christians in northern Nigeria. CNN's Tim Lister reports.
December 26, 2011: After Deadly Church Attacks in Nigeria, What Do Boko Haram Extremists Want?
"PBS Newshour: "At least 39 people were killed in Christmas Day attacks on Christian churches in Nigeria. Margaret Warner discusses the bombings and the Boko Haram extremist group that claimed responsibility with Paul Lubeck, a sociology professor at the University of California, Santa Cruz."
December 23, 2011: Multiple blasts rock two Nigerian cities
"Six blasts and gunfire rocked the Nigerian city of Maiduguri on Thursday, residents and a military source said, after explosions and shooting earlier broke out in another northeastern city. "There has so far been six explosions, and four of them in the same area," the military source said, adding that a shootout had also occurred on Thursday. Gunfire and explosions had earlier broken out in Damaturu. Both cities have previously been badly hit by violence blamed on the Islamist group Boko Haram."
After Deadly Church Attacks in Nigeria, What Do Boko Haram Extremists Want? on PBS.
Persecution.org is one group that tracks the tribulation of the saints.
What does this all mean?
It means that it is now time to pray. It is time to repent and return to God's covenant, return to hear and do His word and walk in the faith of His Kingdom path so that you can ready your lamp for your coming assignment. God is a sovereign God.
He is a loving God and He has provided a way to offer you His salvation. You can accept His gift of life. Consider carefully what your life consists of, look at it and repent of your sin, ask His forgiveness and accept His gift of love through Messiah Yeshua. Today is the time. If you know you need to get your life right with God, don’t wait for tomorrow, get it right with Him now!
"There have been almost 47,000 deaths from ‘ALL’ actors, including Fulani militants, ‘bandits’ and ‘criminals’ from 2015 up to 31 January 2020), it says, with a total of over 86,000 deaths over the past ten years.
Meantime over the past 20 years, nearly 19,000 people have been killed by extremist militant Fulanis, with over 43,000 Nigerians – the vast majority women and children – killed by Boko Haram over the same period. (Boko Haram mainly started using violence from 2009 onwards).
In addition to Boko Haram, “Fulani militias in central Nigeria are also committing crimes against humanity and genocidal massacres against Christians,” Greg Stanton of Genocide Watch says in the report: “What is mistakenly portrayed as a conflict between herders and farmers is actually a genocidal war between ethnic groups that previously co-existed, ignited by Islamic extremists with modern weapons.”
The 311-page report, ‘Nigeria’s Silent Slaughter: Genocide in Nigeria and its implications for the International Community’, is a collaboration between networks in Nigeria and amongst its diasporas in the UK and the US, co-ordinated by the International Committee On Nigeria (ICON), and the International Organisation for Peace-building and Social Justice (PSJ)."
May 4, 2020: Muslim Fulani Herdsmen Kill 13 Christians, Kidnap 13 Others in Kaduna State, Nigeria
"JOS, Nigeria (Morning Star News) – Muslim Fulani herdsmen killed 13 Christians and kidnapped 13 others in attacks on April 23-25 in north-central Nigeria, sources said.
The attacks on five villages in the counties of Kajuru and Chikun in Kaduna state displaced more than 1,000 people from their homes. The sources said those killed were members of Evangelical Church Winning All (ECWA), Catholic, Baptist, United Church of Christ in Nations (HEKAN) or Assemblies of God churches.
The herdsmen invaded Kikwari and Kujeni communities in Kajuru County on April 25 at about 3 p.m., said Luka Binniyat, spokesman for the Southern Kaduna People’s Union (SOKAPU), in a press statement."
April 29, 2020: Couple Abducted from Wedding in Attacks in Northwest Nigeria that Kill 12 Christians
"JOS, Nigeria (Morning Star News) – Muslim Fulani herdsmen in northwest Nigeria killed 12 Christians and kidnapped a couple from their church wedding ceremony in attacks this month, sources said.
In Tegina Kabata village in Niger state’s Shiroro County, herdsmen attacked a church site where a wedding was taking place on April 12, abducting the couple and some church members, area resident Danjuma Iliya told Morning Star News."
March 2, 2020: Al-Shabaab warns all Christians to leave northeastern Kenya
"The Somalia-based al-Qaeda-linked group al-Shabaab has “ordered” Christians to leave three counties in northeastern Kenya to allow local Muslims to get all local jobs, according to the U.S.-based persecution watchdog International Christian Concern.
“Muslim teachers, doctors, engineers, and young graduates from the northeastern province are unemployed. Isn’t it better to give them a chance? There is no need for the presence of disbelievers,” al-Shabaab’s spokesman, Sheikh Ali Dhere, said in an audio clip posted online, referring to the counties of Garissa, Wajir and Mandera."
February 28, 2020: ‘This is the worst place in the world’: US faith leaders meet victims of Boko Haram, Fulani herdsmen
"American faith leaders met with representatives of Nigerian communities devastated by Boko Haram and Fulani tribesmen as well as key figures within the Buhari administration as part of a fact-finding mission to investigate reports of escalating insecurity in the West African country.
Johnnie Moore, an evangelical communications executive and president of the Congress of Christian Leaders, and Rabbi Abraham Cooper of the Simon Wiesenthal Center, a Jewish human rights group, traveled to Abuja on Feb. 17 and met with dozens of victims of terrorism from five different Nigerian provinces for three days.
“After our journey there, we want the world to know that you haven’t heard half of it,” the faith leaders said in a joint statement. “The terrorists’ aim is to ethnically cleanse northern Nigeria of its Christians and to kill every Muslim who stands in their way.”"
February 21, 2020: ‘Many killed’, houses burnt as Boko Haram invades Adamawa town
"Suspected members of the Boko Haram sect have killed many people in Garkida, a town in Gombi local government area of Adamawa state, according to residents.
A source told TheCable that the insurgents broke into the town around 7pm on Friday, shooting sporadically.
Soldiers who were said to have engaged them in a gun battle later pulled back for reinforcement.
After the security operatives beat a retreat, the insurgents were said to have moved into the town fully, setting many houses on fire.
“Garkida is currently on fire… many people have been killed and their houses covered with smoke,” he said."
January 26, 2020: Child Islamic militant executes Christian college student; Warns 'We will not stop!'
"A child militant has executed a Christian college student in Nigeria.
The 22-year-old student has been named as Ropvil Daciya Dalep, who came from the Pankshin Local Government Area of the Plateau state and attended the University of Maiduguri in Borno state.
His execution was shown in a video released by the Islamic State-affiliated Amaq News Agency.
In the footage, a masked child speaks to the camera and says that Dalep's killing is revenge for the "bloodshed" committed by Christians, according to Christian Solidarity Worldwide."
January 21, 2020: Boko Haram executes chair of Christian Association of Nigeria in Adamawa State
The Abubakar Shekau faction of the terrorist group Boko Haram executed the chair of the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) in Adamawa state, Reverend Lawan Andimi, on 20 January.
Rev Andimi was abducted on 2 January 2020, when terrorists wearing military fatigues ransacked Michika town and forced him into a vehicle.
News of Rev Andimi's death was broken in a tweet posted on 21 January by Nigerian investigative journalist and Boko Haram expert Ahmed Salkida, who received a video of the beheadings of Rev Andimi and an unnamed soldier at 2.42 pm. Mr Salkida wrote: “To break some news items can traumatize. I'm battling with one of such. Reverend Andimi, abducted by #BokoHaram was executed yesterday. Rev. Andimi was a church leader, a father to his children and the community he served. My condolences go to his family.”
Two Young Christian Women Killed in Kaduna State, Nigeria
"JOS, Nigeria (Morning Star News) – Muslim Fulani herdsmen killed two young Christian women in southern Kaduna state, Nigeria, on Friday (Jan. 17), sources said.
The herdsmen on motorbikes rode into Gora-Gan village in Zango Kataf County at about 5 p.m. shooting villagers on sight, according to a local resident. Luka Biniyat, spokesman for the Southern Kaduna Peoples Union (SOKAPU), confirmed the killing of Briget Philip, 18, and Priscilla David, 19.
“Both girls, who were secondary school pupils, worshiped at the Catholic parish of Gora-Gan,” Biniyat told Morning Star News."
January 1, 2020: Europe: Anti-Christian Attacks Reach All-Time High in 2019
"Violence against Christian sites is most widespread in France, where churches, schools, cemeteries and monuments are being vandalized, desecrated and burned at an average rate of three per day, according to government statistics. In Germany, attacks against Christian churches are occurring at an average rate of two per day, according to police blotters.
Attacks on Christian churches and symbols are also commonplace in Belgium, Britain, Denmark, Ireland, Italy and Spain. The attacks overwhelmingly involve Roman Catholic sites and symbols, although in Germany, Protestant churches are also being targeted.
The perpetrators of anti-Christian attacks — which include acts of arson, defecation, desecration, looting, mockery, profanation, Satanism, theft, urination and vandalism — are rarely caught. When they are, police and media often censor information about their identities and ethnic backgrounds. Many suspects are said to have mental disorders; as a result, many anti-Christian attacks are not categorized as hate crimes.
In France and Germany, the spike in anti-Christian attacks dovetails with the recent mass immigration from the Muslim world. The lack of official statistics on perpetrators and motives makes it impossible to know precisely how many attacks can be attributed to Muslim anti-Christianism or the jihadist cause.
In Spain, by contrast, attacks against churches and crosses are overwhelmingly carried out by anarchists, radical feminists and other far-left activists, who appear to be striving for Christianity to be permanently removed from the public square."
December 27, 2019: From the BBC: Islamic State in Nigeria 'beheads Christian hostages'
"The Islamic State group has released a video claiming to show the killing of 11 Christians in Nigeria. IS said it was part of its recently declared campaign to "avenge" the death of its leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi during a US raid in Syria in October.
No details were given about the victims, who were all male, but IS says they were "captured in the past weeks" in Nigeria's north-eastern Borno State.
The 56-second video was produced by the IS "news agency" Amaq.
It was released on 26 December and analysts say it was clearly timed to coincide with Christmas celebrations."
September 27, 2019: From the BBC: Nigerian 'torture house': Hundreds freed in Kaduna police raid
"Nearly 500 men and boys have been rescued from a building in the northern city of Kaduna, where the detainees were allegedly sexually abused and tortured, Nigerian police said.
Children as young as five were among those in chains at what was thought to be an Islamic school, officers said.
Kaduna police chief Ali Janga told the BBC the building was raided after a tip-off about suspicious activity.
He described it as a "house of torture" and a place of human slavery.
Eight suspects, most of them teachers, were arrested. The police chief said the detainees - some with injuries and starved of food - were overjoyed to be freed."
June 22, 2019: Fulani radicals burn down 4 Christian villages, killing 3 children
"Fulani radicals killed 13 people on Monday, including three children, and burned hundreds of homes in attacks on predominantly Christian villages in the West African country’s troubled Middle Belt.
Reports indicate that at least four predominantly Christian villages in two Nigerian states suffered attacks at the hands of suspected Fulani herdsmen on Monday. The villages were completely destroyed and villagers are now left displaced.
Morning Star News reports that one attack occurred in the predominantly Christian Ungwan Rimi Kamuru village in Kaduna state’s Kauru local government area, while a second attack occurred in Kauru’s Kikoba village.
The third and four attacks occurred in villages in the Riyom local government area of the Plateau state.
The attacks come as thousands of Christian farmers have been killed in the last few years in violent attacks carried out by radicals from predominantly Muslim nomadic Fulani herding communities.
Residents in Kaduna who spoke with the persecution news outlet said that an estimated 200 armed Fulani herdsmen invaded their village on Monday.
In the attack, four Christians were said to have been killed, including 8-year-old Monday Yahaya, 9-year-old Zhime Danladi and 17-year-old Samson David.
“They were all buried today after a brief prayer at the grave site,” resident Thomas John told Morning Star News.
Monday’s killings in Kaduna were confirmed by the Kaduna Police Command, according to the Nigerian newspaper The Punch. Public relations officer Yakubu Sabo confirmed that the attack occurred at 2:45 p.m. on Monday."
May 3, 2019: Today the BBC reports: Christian persecution 'at near genocide levels'
"The persecution of Christians in parts of the world is at near "genocide" levels, according to a report ordered by Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt.
The review, led by the Bishop of Truro the Right Reverend Philip Mounstephen, estimated that one in three people suffer from religious persecution.
Christians were the most persecuted religious group, it found.
Mr Hunt said he felt that "political correctness" had played a part in the issue not being confronted.
Alarm over China's Church crackdown
Religious persecution 'a threat to everyone'
Pope decries killing of Christians
The interim report said the main impact of "genocidal acts against Christians is exodus" and that Christianity faced being "wiped out" from parts of the Middle East.
It warned the religion "is at risk of disappearing" in some parts of the world, pointing to figures which claimed Christians in Palestine represent less than 1.5% of the population, while in Iraq they had fallen from 1.5 million before 2003 to less than 120,000.
Evidence shows not only the geographic spread of anti-Christian persecution, but also its increasing severity," the Bishop wrote.
"Evidence shows not only the geographic spread of anti-Christian persecution, but also its increasing severity," the Bishop wrote.""
April 30, 2019: Terrorists in Burkina Faso Execute Six at Pentecostal Church
"Christians in Burkina Faso are mourning a deadly attack on a Protestant church as “a new turning point in terrorism” in the West African nation.
Sunday’s shooting at an Assemblies of God congregation in a northern village left six people dead, including the pastor, and represents the first church attack among the recent surge of Islamist violence.
A dozen gunmen on motorcycles stormed the courtyard of the Sirgadji church after worship, fatally shooting its longtime pastor as well as five other congregants after demanding they convert to Islam, according to a statement sent to CT by the general superintendent of the Assemblies of God in Burkina Faso, Michel Ouédraogo. The attackers also stole from the church and burned its pulpit."
"Burkina Faso declared a state of emergency in some of its northern providences last year, due to ongoing violence. The church attack comes days after another half-dozen people were killed by assailants elsewhere in the country. Islamists have been blamed for the abductions of a Spanish Catholic priest and a Canadian geologist earlier this year.
After 200 attacks over the past three years, the government considers Sunday’s shooting to be the first at a house of worship, a sign that the violence could be shifting from indiscriminate to targeted. Burkina Faso is about 60 percent Muslim and about 25 percent Christian (around 20 percent Catholic and 5 percent Protestant)."
"The country has faced a growing threat of terrorist violence ever since 2016, when al-Qaeda affiliates took hostages and went on a shooting spree in the capital city of Ouagadougou. Seven missionaries were killed in the incident.
The incidents in Burkina Faso in recent years have been attributed to Ansarul Islam, the Support Group for Islam and Muslims, and the Islamic State of the Great Sahara (EIGS). WWM offers more context on the unrest."
April 23, 2019: Sri Lanka bombing victims were from at least 12 countries
"COLOMBO, Sri Lanka (AP) — More than 300 people were killed in bombings of churches and hotels in Sri Lanka on Easter Sunday. Sri Lankan authorities say at least 31 foreigners died in the attacks."
Jihadist Group Named in Sri Lanka Bombings, But 'International Support' Being Eyed
"Sri Lanka’s government has blamed local jihadist group National Thowheed Jamath for one of Asia’s deadliest terrorist attacks in years, and said other nations had shared intelligence ahead of the blasts."
"In the early 1980s, the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam — known as the Tamil Tigers — began fighting for an independent homeland in the north and east of Sri Lanka. The conflict, marked by the use of child soldiers and human-rights violations on both sides, killed more than 100,000 people before former strongman Mahinda Rajapaksa’s government won a decisive victory in 2009."
March 18, 2019: Ongoing Slaughter of Nigerian Christians Receives Scant Media Coverage
"As the world continues the mourn following the devastating mosque shootings Friday that killed 50 people and injured dozens more in Christchurch, New Zealand, an eerie hush has fallen over the media regarding the ongoing mass slaughter of Christians in Nigeria. CBN News reports that since February, at least “120 people have been killed in a series of alleged attacks by the Fulani militia on Christian communities … .” Last Monday alone, 52 people were killed and 100 homes destroyed in attacks on the Inkirimi and Dogonnoma villages, according to Christian Solidarity Worldwide (CSW).
March 16, 2019: Former 'Prince of ISIS' Turns to Christ After a God Dream: 'I Saw a Love That Didn't Exist in Islam'
"A "Prince of ISIS" has done what many would consider unthinkable, making a commitment to turn away from his horrifying past to unite with a new way of life through Jesus Christ.
The former ISIS leader, whose identity has been disguised for his safety, is being called Mohammad. The miraculous circumstances that led tcao his transformation were reported by Dr. Michael Youssef's Leading The Way ministry.
Since the launch of its Christian satellite TV station, THE KINGDOM SAT, Leading The Way is working to touch "some of the most unreachable lives in the Arabic world," including people like this notorious 'Prince of ISIS'."
February 1, 2018: Fox News reports: At least 60 dead in Boko Haram attack: report
"At least 60 people have been killed in an attack carried out by militant group Boko Haram this week, Amnesty International confirmed Friday.
The attack on the northwest Nigerian town of Rann took place Monday and marked one of the most lethal in the group’s at least 10-year history, targeting those who had already been displaced by the ongoing conflict in what Amnesty indicated “may amount to possible war crimes.”"
More than 250,000 are reported to have been displaced amid the uptick of militant attacks aimed at the civilian population. The deteriorating security situation is also said to have gravely impacted humanitarian operations and forced aid workers to withdraw from certain areas, adding to the strain from the local population."
January 28, 2019: Philippines church blasts kill 27
"The Philippines vowed to destroy those behind twin bombings that killed 27 people during a Sunday church service in the country's restive south, six days after a referendum on autonomy for the mainly Muslim region returned an overwhelming "yes" vote.
The attack wounded 77 and was one of the deadliest in recent years in a region long plagued by instability."
"The Philippine military in mid 2017 encountered its biggest and longest battle since World War Two when an alliance of extremists loyal to Islamic State, among them foreigners and children, overran Marawi City and tried to establish a caliphate."
December 7, 2018: Ebola virus disease outbreaks have been occurring since 1976 in the Congo as well as West Africa's Sierra Leone, Guinea and Liberia.
The WHO declared the Ebola outbreak that began in 2014 in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone over on June 9, 2016. On August 1, 2018 it flared up again in war torn Congo and it is now spreading death in the North Kivu Province.
From the Washington Post ‘Like a horror film’: The efforts to contain Ebola in a war zone By Max Bearak
"Attacks by armed groups happen on a daily basis across Congo’s North Kivu province, where the Ebola virus has been spreading since August, infecting almost 500 people and killing more than 270. It is now the second-biggest outbreak ever, after the vast epidemic that swept through Guinea, Sierra Leone and Liberia between 2014 and 2016.
The constant insecurity in North Kivu has proved an enormous obstacle, thwarting attempts to the contain the virus. By the WHO’s estimate, the outbreak will go on for at least six more months.
“The fear we feel, and that the community feels, makes our job 10 times harder,” said Abdourahmane Diallo, a Guinean doctor who coordinates the administration of an experimental Ebola vaccine. He was at a different compound in Beni that was attacked the same day as Anoko’s.
“We know that violence is a constant risk. But that’s why I was ready to go to work the very next day,” Diallo said. “We simply cannot stop our response if we hope to overcome this outbreak.”
This is the first Ebola outbreak during which health workers have had to regularly don bulletproof helmets and vests. To reach at least 20 percent of Ebola-affected areas, health workers need armed police or U.N. escorts, said Michel Yao, the WHO’s response coordinator in Beni."
From Amy Maxmen at Nature.com Ebola detectives race to identify hidden sources of infection as outbreak spreads
"Efforts to trace contacts of people with Ebola in the Democratic Republic of the Congo have been hampered by mistrust in conflict-ridden outbreak zone.
As the epicentre of the Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) shifts into the war-weary city of Butembo, public-health workers are trying to stamp out new infections from an inadvertent source: unregulated health centres.
Decades of political instability in the northeastern DRC, the site of the epidemic, have fostered the growth of informal clinics that offer traditional and modern medicine. These centres treat people for malaria and other common illnesses, filling the vacuum left by the lack of a functional health system. But they are not designed to prevent the spread of a virus as dangerous as Ebola — which has put their patrons at high risk, according to the World Health Organization (WHO). Health officials have begun trying to lessen the centres' load by pre-emptively giving out malaria medication in communities.
The push highlights a central challenge to ending the epidemic, which is now the second-largest on record: although experimental drugs and a vaccine have helped to limit Ebola's reach, two-thirds of new infections cannot be linked to existing cases. That has left epidemiologists racing to identify overlooked routes of infection. And conventional prevention measures have been thwarted by conditions in the northeastern DRC, where decades of severe conflict have left millions of people dead, and millions more traumatized and homeless."
November 24, 2018: Thirteen Sudanese Christian Converts Arrested and Tortured for ‘Apostasy’
"Last month, some 13 Christians were arrested and tortured in Darfur, Sudan. Their crime? Leaving the Islamic faith and vowing to follow Jesus Christ. The group was alleged to have been taken from a home in the highly volatile Darfur region, seized as punishment for their conversion to Christianity and subsequent “apostasy.”
According to International Christian Concern, the captives were brutally tortured by authorities, who hoped this would convince the group to revert back to Islam."
November 2, 2018: Repeating the attack of May 27, 2017 that killed killed at least 28 Coptic Orthodox Christians on their trip to St. Samuel the Confessor monastery ISIS Claims Credit for Attack That Kills Christians in Egypt
"CAIRO — Islamist gunmen killed at least seven Coptic Christian pilgrims in Egypt on Friday and wounded at least 16 in an attack later claimed by the Islamic State.
The attack — an ambush on two buses — ended a nearly yearlong lull in major attacks on Copts in Egypt, and may signal a resumption of the Islamic State’s campaign to sow sectarian divisions in Egyptian society."
October 27, 2018: NBC News reports 11 dead in shooting at Pittsburgh synagogue, suspect in custody
"A gunman opened fire at a Pittsburgh synagogue where Sabbath services were taking place Saturday morning, killing at least 11 people and wounding several police officers before he was taken into custody, officials said.
The attack at Tree of Life synagogue began sometime before 9:54 a.m., when police were called about an active shooter inside the house of worship in the city’s Squirrel Hill neighborhood, which is considered to be a historic Jewish enclave and center for Jewish life in Pittsburgh.
At least 11 adults were killed in the shooting, and six people were injured, including four police officers, officials said. Dr. Don Yealy, chairman of emergency medicine at University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, said a 70-year-old man and a 55-year-old officer were in critical condition.
"It's a very horrific crime scene. It’s one of the worst that I've seen," Pittsburgh Public Safety Director Wendell Hissrich said. "It's very bad.""
October 15, 2018: Nigeria: Boko Haram executes second female aid worker
"ICRC nurse Hauwa Liman was forced to kneel down with her hands tied, and then shot at close range, local media reports.
A second aid worker has been executed by Boko Haram in Nigeria after a deadline imposed to release imprisoned members of the armed group expired, the government said.
The Nigerian government was "shocked" and "saddened" by the killing of the woman, who was not identified, the information ministry said in a statement.
A clip of the execution of 24-year-old Hauwa Liman was seen on Monday by a correspondent of Nigeria's online news platform, The Cable.
"Liman was forced to kneel down, with her hands tied inside a white hijab which has a crest symbol, and then shot at a close range," The Cable reported.
Liman, a nurse with the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), was kidnapped by the armed group in March along with two other medical workers in Rann, Borno State in the country's northeast.
A midwife with ICRC, Saifura Ahmed, who had been abducted at the same time, was executed by Boko Haram in September.
"We have kept our word exactly as we said, by killing another humanitarian worker, Hauwa Liman, who is working with the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) that were abducted during a raid on a military facility in Rann, Kala Balge in March 2018," the group said in a short statement sent to the Cable.
"Saifura and Hauwa were killed because they are considered as Murtads (apostates) by the group because they were once Muslims that have abandoned their Islam, the moment they chose to work with the Red Cross, and for us, there is no difference between Red Cross and UNICEF," the group added.
"If we see them, we will kill the apostates among them, men or women, and chose to kill or keep the infidels as slaves, men or women.""
October 1, 2018: Four Children, Grandmother among 17 Christians Slain in Attack by Muslim Herdsmen in Nigeria
"JOS, Nigeria (Morning Star News) – Armed Fulani herdsmen accompanied by militants in Nigerian army uniforms killed 17 Christians in their homes in the heart of Jos, north-central Nigeria, on Thursday (Sept. 27), including four children, area sources said.
At about 7:30 p.m. in an area known as Rukuba Road, the assailants broke into one home shooting randomly and killed 14 members of one family, including 15-year-old Ishaya Kogi, 17-year-old Jonathan Kogi, Cynthia Kogi, 22, and Lucky Kogi, 25, their uncle told Morning Star News.
Two of Lucky Kogi’s children, 3-year-old Majesty Lucky and Blessing Lucky, 14, were also killed in the assault, he said."
August 23, 2018: Leave it to Israel to declare the truth. A Nigerian Pastor pleads and begs for America to help them from the not remain silent and stand for the helpless against the radical Islamic beast persecution of Boko Haram and radical Muslim Fulani herdsmen to wipe out Christians in Nigeria. Please hear and answer his plea!
Nigerian Christians Burned Alive. Pastor Pleads to World for Help
"Nigerian Christians were massacred by their Muslim neighbors and the world is silent, not doing a thing to help them.
One Nigerian Pastor is pleading to the world, over the body of one of the murdered women in his community.
“America! Please stand for us! We are dying!”
The Attack
Muslim militants attacked the Christian community in the village of Abonong in Plateau State. They came in large numbers and surrounded the Pastor’s home, setting it on fire. Reverand Adamu Gyang Wurim, his wife and three children were murdered. They shot the pastor’s wife in the bathroom, killed two other villagers and wounded several others.
After setting the pastor’s home, the Church and as many as 95 other homes on fire, an eyewitness said that the gunmen waited to ensure that no survivors would escape the engulfed homes. The witness said that a female neighbor was also shot by the gunmen. She was injured and taken to a nearby hospital.
The attack lasted more than four hours before security personnel finally arrived on the scene. But it was too late to save the Pastor, his family and the destroyed community.
This was one of eight villages attacked in central Nigeria this week."
"The Open Doors organization reported that between 2006 and 2014, 9,000–11,500 Christians were killed and over 13,000 churches destroyed in northern Nigeria."
"Unfortunately, as Christians have nearly been wiped out by Muslims in the Middle East, with no international intervention on their behalf in that region, there probably will be no international intervention to save the Christians in Nigeria either.
While the United Nations and “enlightened” Western countries continue to ignore real human rights abusers as in Nigeria, they instead waste time accusing Israel of “war crimes” for defending itself. All while the Organization of Islamic Cooperation continues its aggressive propagandist “Islamophobia” campaign all over the West."
You must read the Open Doors report and do something. It points directly to Revelation 13:16-18 and the other beast of radical Islam and Sharia Law coming up out of the earth for the Nigerian Christians that reject the image of the beast and the mark of Islam.
"Christians are not allowed to buy land or build churches on native land. All mission schools and hospitals have been taken by the government and Christian children are denied scholarships for study. Christian girls are frequently abducted and forced to marry Muslim men.
Local sources report that Christian businesses have been closed down and Christians are seldom hired as government workers."
July 19, 2018: Archbishop of Canterbury raises profile of Nigeria attacks as new humanitarian crisis looms
"The Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, has challenged the British government on how much it is doing to help end violent attacks on Christians in Nigeria.
His comments, made in a House of Lords debate on Fulani herdsmen and Boko Haram on Tuesday (17 July), follow the publication of a report that found that more than 230 people were killed during a spate of attacks in Plateau state late last month – a figure almost three times what was stated in early news reports.
The archbishop voiced his “deep concern” about the attacks, adding that the compound of the Archbishop of Jos was recently attacked and one of his friends was killed. The attack, three weeks ago, has been blamed on Fulani herdsmen, according to the Anglican Communion News Service."
July 18, 2018: In 1914, the Ottoman Turks attempted to destroy the Christians of Turkey, the Ottomans murdered and starved over 1.5 million people. The Armenians had lived and thrived there since the day John wrote Revelation from the Isle of Patmos.
Jesus knew they would be there. Standing among the seven Menorah, He asked John to write to seven of the assemblies. To Smyrna He said: "Behold, the devil is about to cast some of you into prison, so that you will be tested, and you will have tribulation... "
Today, a Turkish court ruled they would continue to hold Andrew Brunson in prison. He is in tribulation and he is an evangelical pastor at the Izmir Resurrection Church in Turkey.
Izmir is the third most populous city in Turkey, but the thing is Izmir is not Izmir. It is ancient Smyrna. Its name from antiquity was changed in 1930 as Turkey attempted to step away from its dire history tied to the Armenia Genocide that began 15 years earlier.
"But they will treat you like this on account of My name, because they do not know the One who sent Me." John 15:21
Turkish Court Denies Release of Jailed American Pastor
"A Turkish court on Wednesday rejected appeals from President Trump and other high-level U.S. officials to release Andrew Brunson, an American pastor of a small Protestant Christian church whose prosecution and imprisonment has exacerbated tensions between the United States and Turkey.
Trump, as well as Vice President Mike Pence and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, have recently called for Brunson's release and have condemned Turkish authorities for imprisoning him on what they say are false terrorism and espionage charges.
Brunson, a 50-year-old Evangelical pastor from North Carolina, has been detained in Turkey since the fall of 2016 on charges of espionage and colluding with terrorist organizations, including Kurdish militants."
July, 6, 2018: God help us pray!!
'A Living Hell': Some 3,000 Displaced Nigerian Christians in Agony Amid Slaughter
"Nigerian Christians were have been displaced by the thousands due to mass slaughter in the villages surrounding Jos in Plateau state are in a "living hell" and agony, a watchdog group assisting the victims said.
"The displaced Christians were in a pathetic situation," an Open Doors USA worker, identified as Kerrie, said on Tuesday.
"Life has become a living hell for them. They have lost loved ones, houses, and all they labored for in the twinkling of an eye. The agony they are going through is hard to describe.
"We saw people who were still in a haze over what they have just gone through. Children were crying hysterically, perhaps because of hunger or perhaps because of hunger and the trauma."
Open Doors, which along with some indigenous churches is helping bring aid to the people in the area, estimates that at least 3,000 believers were displaced by the slaughter of over 200 people in a series of raids at the end of June.
Christian leaders in Nigeria have said that as many as 6,000 people, mostly women and children, have been killed by Muslim Fulani herdsmen since the start of the year."
July 3, 2018: Almost twice the number of dear souls lost on 9/11 have been killed in Nigeria this year. Twice!! Cal out to our Creator.
'Pure Genocide': Over 6,000 Nigerian Christians Slaughtered, Mostly Women and Children
"Church leaders in Nigeria have said that Christians are experiencing "pure genocide" as 6,000 people, mostly women and children, have been murdered by Fulani radicals since January.
"What is happening in Plateau state and other select states in Nigeria is pure genocide and must be stopped immediately," said the Christian Association of Nigeria and church denominational heads in Plateau State in a press release last week.
The church leaders said that "over 6,000 persons, mostly children, women and the aged have been maimed and killed in night raids by armed Fulani herdsmen," which is prompting their cry to the government of Nigeria "to stop this senseless and blood shedding in the land and avoid a state of complete anarchy where the people are forced to defend themselves."
The press release also pleaded with the international community, as well as the United Nations, to intervene in the Fulani attacks, fearing they might spread to other countries as well.
"We are particularly worried at the widespread insecurity in the country where wanton attacks and killings by armed Fulani herdsmen, bandits and terrorists have been taking place on a daily basis in our communities unchallenged despite huge investments in the security agencies," they added, saying President Muhammadu Buhari has failed to bring attackers to justice.
They referenced several mass-scale attacks this year, including the slaughter of over 200 people, mostly Christians, at the end of June in raids carried out by the herdsmen on local area farmers near the city of Jos."
June 27, 2018: SUB-SAHARAN AFRICA A PERSECUTION POWDER KEG—RECENT NIGERIAN ATTACK KILLS MORE THAN 200 CHRISTIANS
"The killing began on Thursday. It didn’t stop until Sunday.
By the time Muslim Fulani militant herdsmen ended their four-day killing spree (June 21-24) on northern Nigerian villages in Plateau state surrounding the city of Jos, Christians there tell us the death toll was at least 200.
Women and children were especially vulnerable. Currently, a dusk-to-dawn curfew is in place, however, our partners tell us that the violence continued despite the curfew.
In 2018 alone, militant herdsmen have targeted and killed more than 600 Christians in Nigeria’s Middle Belt region, raiding Christian villages and setting fire to homes and churches.
CHRISTIANS UNDER FIRE
Throughout Sub-Saharan Africa, we are hearing horror stories of Christians being targeted and persecuted. Across the world’s second-largest continent, Christians are under fire right now in West Africa, East Africa, Central Africa and now Southeast Africa, as each day new reports surface, bringing news of attacks and how governments are becoming increasingly hostile toward believers.
In many areas governed by Islamic law, Christians are denied or are the last to receive community services and relief, including food and medical care. Difficult living conditions like these are forcing some new believers to revert back to Islam simply to make a better life for their families. For Christians in areas like the Horn of Africa peninsula, freedom to worship is simply not a reality.
The world’s second-largest continent—including 1.2 billion people, thousands of ethnic groups and 54 internationally recognized countries—is currently a persecution powder keg.
RECORD-HIGH VIOLENCE IN WEST AFRICA
(Nigeria, Cameroon, Chad, Benin, Niger, Burkina Faso, Liberia, Ghana, Gambia, Senegal, Togo, Mauritania):
In Nigeria’s Middle Belt, Fulani militant herdsmen pose what some have called an even greater threat than the Islamic extremist group Boko Haram. In 2018, Fulani herdsmen violence has reached a record high. In Benue state alone, 492 people have been killed. Muslim militants are targeting Christian villages like those in this recent attack—raiding communities, kidnapping and raping women and children and killing the men. In April, Fulani militants attacked a church in Benue state, killing 19 worshipers, including two priests."
June 25, 2018: Nigeria: Scores killed, homes burned in Plateau State attacks
"Lagos, Nigeria (CNN) At least 86 people have been killed in attacks in central Nigeria, police said, an incident that has the potential to exacerbate ethnic tensions in an increasingly volatile region.
The violence, thought to be carried out by armed herdsmen, flared on Saturday in Jos, the capital city of Plateau State, police said.
"Eighty six persons all together were killed, six people injured, fifty houses burnt," said police spokesman Terna Tyopev.
Violence between the nomadic Fulani herdsmen, who are mostly Muslims, and farmers, who are predominantly Christians, have rocked Nigeria's Middle Belt since 2013 and are becoming more common.
Amid fears of revenge attacks from affected local communities, Simon Lalong, the governor of Plateau, announced that authorities will enforce a curfew from 6 p.m. to 6 a.m. in Jos.
Lalong called the curfew "an immediate measure to protect the lives of citizens" in a statement on Twitter and said it will be in effect "until further notice."
He promised to follow up with longer term measures to secure peace in the area.
Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari posted a message on Twitter sending condolences to those affected and appealing for calm.
"The grievous loss of lives and property arising from the killings in Plateau today is painful and regrettable," he said.
"We will not rest until all murderers and criminal elements and their sponsors are incapacitated and brought to justice," Buhari said."
June 14, 2018: Is another Boko Haram or al-Shabaab erupting in Mozambique?
"A sudden upsurge in brutal violence in northern Mozambique, including the beheadings of women and children, has sounded alarms that a violent jihadist movement like Boko Haram or al-Shabaab could be evolving. Since October last year, over 50 people have been killed in about 20 attacks in Cabo Delgado province on the Tanzania border.
Gruesome footage of headless and mutilated bodies has been circulating on social media, accelerating an exodus of citizens from the region. Multinational energy companies poised to exploit Cabo Delgado’s huge liquefied natural gas reserves have paused. Fears are growing that the violence could sabotage the exploitation of this valuable resource which remains Mozambique’s one great hope for defeating poverty.
Those allegedly responsible for the attacks apparently call themselves Ahlu Sunnah Wa-Jamâ (often abbreviated to al-Sunnah). Locals dub them al-Shabaab, even though the group doesn’t seem to be formally affiliated to its more famous Somali namesake.
Has full-blown violent Islamist extremism arrived in Mozambique, and indeed in southern Africa? Or are these just poor, marginalised locals presenting ordinary crimes as something else? Or are they perhaps the Mozambican National Resistance (Renamo) in disguise? Or, even more cynically, are mercenaries deliberately stoking violence to win a lucrative contract to protect the natural gas industry?
Interpretations have differed widely. But the latest attacks seem to be forging a growing consensus that this is indeed an incipient local variant of the sort of violent Islamist extremism seen elsewhere in Africa. Both Mozambique and the Southern African Development Community (SADC) should be paying more attention.
The birth of al-Sunnah in Cabo Delgado dates back to 2013 or early 2014, according to independent security analyst Johann Smith. But on 5 October last year it caught wider attention. Thirty to 40 gunmen launched well-coordinated simultaneous attacks on three police or military posts in the coastal town of Moćimboa da Praia, 70 km south of the Tanzania border. Two police officers and 14 assailants were killed, Smith said.
The attacks in Cabo Delgado continued at a lower level. But they took a sinister turn on 27 May 2018 when attackers killed 10 unarmed civilians, several of whom were beheaded; and burnt many houses in Monjane village in the district of Macomia."
May 25, 2018: Fulani violence against Nigeria Christians hits record high
"Violence attributed to militant Fulani herdsmen in Nigeria has reached a record high this year.
The Governor of the central state of Benue said this week that 492 people have been killed in his state alone so far this year.
Governor Samuel Ortom was speaking 22 May at the mass burial of 19 Catholics, including two priests, killed during early morning Mass at St. Ignatius Catholic Church, by herdsmen a month ago."
February 17, 2018 18 killed in Borno suicide bomb attacks
"At least 18 persons were killed and 22 others injured as three suicide bombers staged attacked a Borno community Friday night, police said.
The suspected Boko Haram suicide bombers attacked Kasuwan Kifi village in Konduga local government area of the state.
Konduga is about 25km southeast of Maiduguri, the Borno capital.
In Kasuwan Kifi, there is a thriving night market where residents sell fried fish and food ingredients. The attackers infiltrated the market and detonated themselves there."
January 2, 2018: Gunmen kill 14 churchgoers after services in Nigeria
Killers reportedly operated at two locations in coordinated attack on Christians returning from churches
"Gunmen killed at least 14 churchgoers returning from midnight services on Monday in Nigeria’s Rivers State, a police source said, after the latest violence to hit the oil-rich region.
“The gunmen opened fire on a set of worshippers at about 12.30am on Monday,” said Ugochi Olugbo, a relative of one of the victims who were attending a New Year’s Eve service.
The Nigeria Independent reported gunmen operated at two different locations, the Kirigani and Oboh axis of Aligu, Omoku, in a coordinated attack on Christians returning from church services.
“Fourteen persons died on the spot, while 12 who sustained gunshot wounds were rushed to the hospital and are receiving medical attention,” said a police source who asked to remain anonymous."
December 29, 2017: Pray for Egypt. The day after the Egyptian Parliament voted to condemn House Resolution 673 that expresses grave concern and a call to action regarding Egypt's Coptic Christian persecution, The Arab News horrifically reports that a gunman opened fire on a church:
"CAIRO: Ten people were killed and five others were injured on Friday morning in an armed clash after security forces attempted to thwart a terrorist attack targeting a church in the southern Cairo suburb of Helwan, according to Egypt’s Health Ministry."
December 28, 2017: A week ago, Representative French Hill of Arkansas sponsored H.Res. 673: Expressing concern over attacks on Coptic Christians in Egypt.
Today, in Egypt MPs refute US congress bill on Copts
"The session included the head of Egypt's State Information Service (SIS), Diaa Rashwan, Head of Free Egyptians Party’s Parliamentary committee Alaa Abid, head of Parliament’s Human Rights committee, Kamal Ami and head of parliament’s defence, National Security committee, Karim Darwish and other officials.
Radwan refuted the allegations mentioned on the US Congress bill, claiming that Egyptian Copts’ rights are violated, and they receive a second-degree citizen’s treatment. "
December 23, 2017: Coptic diocese says hundreds attack church in Egypt
"CAIRO (AP) — Hundreds of Muslim demonstrators attacked an unlicensed church south of Cairo wounding three people, an Egyptian Coptic Christian diocese said on Saturday, in the latest assault on members of the country’s Christian minority.
The incident took place after Friday prayers when dozens of demonstrators gathered outside the building and stormed it. The demonstrators chanted hostile slogans and called for the church’s demolition, the diocese in Atfih said. The demonstrators destroyed the church’s contents and assaulted Christians inside before security personnel arrived and dispersed them."
December 17, 2017: Suicide bombers kill nine at Christian church in Pakistan
"Two suicide bombers have attacked a church in the Pakistani city of Quetta, killing nine people and wounding more than 50.
Sarfraz Bugti, the home minister for the south-western Baluchistan province, said hundreds of worshippers were attending services at the church before Christmas. He said the attackers clashed with security forces, with one assailant killed at the entrance while the other made it inside.
The Baluchistan police chief, Moazzam Ansari, praised the response of security forces guarding the church, saying the attacker who made it inside was wounded and unable to reach the main building. “Otherwise the loss of lives could have been much higher,” he said.
The Quetta police chief, Abdur Razzaq Cheema, said a search was under way for two suspected accomplices who escaped.
Local television showed ambulances and security patrols racing to the scene while women and children were led out of the church’s main gate.
Islamic State claimed responsibility through its Amaq news agency, saying two “plungers” from the group had stormed the church, without providing further details.
Wasim Baig, a spokesman for Quetta’s main hospital, said three women were among the dead while four women and two children were among 57 wounded.
Aqil Anjum, who was shot in his right arm, said he heard a blast in the middle of the service, followed by heavy gunfire. “It was chaos. Bullets were hitting people inside the closed hall,” he said."
November 25, 2017: Something is happening in the Muslim world and the focus on tyranny is now centered on ancient Egypt and the wilderness of the Sinai as it was 3,500 years ago.
As Egypt retaliates, moderate Islam may somehow begin to see the truth about the radicals and their own belief. Please pray about this!
Sisi: Egypt to confront terror with 'brutal strength' after Sinai attack
"Egyptian President Abdel Fattah Al Sisi gives a televised statement on the attack in North Sinai, in Cairo, Egypt November 24, 2017.
Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi said the country's military and police would respond "with brutal strength" in a televised statement to the nation on Friday after an attack on a mosque in North Sinai left more than 300 people dead.
Naming the perpetrators "Takfiris", a term for hardline Sunni Muslims, he announced a period of mourning after the attack and said it would increase the country's resolve to oppose terrorism."
"We are fighting this alone. Egypt is confronting terrorism on the region and the world's behalf. This is why all that is happening at the moment is an attempt to stop our efforts to confront terrorism and an attempt to destroy our will which aims to stop the criminal scheme which is aiming to destroy what is left of our region," added Sisi.
"A mourning period has been announced for this painful, traitorous, vile and cowardly attack. It was aimed at destroying our morale. It was aimed at destroying our strength. It was aimed to [increase] doubt [in] our abilities.
"This painful terrorist attack, will increase our strength, power and will to stand and oppose terrorism."
Egypt's military began conducting air strikes around the area of North Sinai where the mosque attack occurred on Friday, security sources and eyewitnesses said.
The strikes have been concentrated in several mountainous areas surrounding Al Rawdah mosque where militants are believed to be hiding out, the security sources said."
"[The military and police] will return security and stability with absolute power, in the coming short period of time. This is our retaliation. We will respond to this attack with brutal strength to encounter these terrorist extremists, the Takfiris," said Sisi.
Militants detonated a bomb and gunned down worshipers in the deadliest attack in the country's modern history on Friday, state media and witnesses said."
November 5, 2017: Please pray for healing.
On the International Day of Prayer for the Persecuted Church, tribulation horror has shown its evil in a horrific massacre at First Baptist Church of Sutherland Springs, Texas.
Please, please courageously pray for healing and peace for the families in Sutherland Springs. Pray for those in Nigeria and Africa, in the Middle East, Asia, India, North Korea and around the world in tribulation!
26 dead, 20 injured in massacre at rural Texas church in worst mass shooting in state's history
"Among those killed at the white clapboard church was a 14-year-old girl named Annabelle Renee Pomeroy, according to her father, Frank Pomeroy, who is a pastor at the church.
Annabelle “was one very beautiful, special child,” Pomeroy told ABC News by phone.
At least 27 people were killed and 30 injured in a Texas church shooting Sunday morning, law enforcement sources told ABC News.
The alleged shooter is dead, and it appears there is no longer an active threat at the First Baptist Church in Sutherland Springs, about 40 miles southeast of San Antonio, police told ABC News.
A person who said she works at a gas station across the street from the church told ABC News she heard rapid gunfire at around 11:15 a.m., leading congregants from the church as well as customers at the station to run inside for cover.
“We heard several shots and we all started running inside the store,” she said."
November 2, 2017: Officials, Police in India Halt Worship in 10 Churches
"NEW DELHI (Morning Star News) – Officials and police in Tamil Nadu state, India, have ordered 10 churches to discontinue worship services, sources said.
Hindu extremists compelled state officials and police to issue orders to the churches in Coimbatore District to stop worship unless they obtain permission from the collector’s office, and the extremists intend to target 20 others in the same way, church leaders said.
“It is a well-planned conspiracy against the Christian community, as the Hindu extremists know that it is not easy to approach the collector’s office for such permissions,” pastor Johnson Sathyanathan, president of the Synod of Pentecostal Churches of Coimbatore, told Morning Star News. “The time to get such approvals can stretch from a year and a half to many more years.”
The district revenue officer (Tehsildar) told church leaders that orders against six churches were issued on the complaint of members of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), a Hindu nationalist, paramilitary organization widely regarded as the parent organization of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party. Orders were issued in one case based on a complaint by the Hanuman Sena, a fairly new Hindu extremist group."
October 29, 2017: Somalia Mogadishu: Deadly attacks rock capital
"Security forces in the Somali capital, Mogadishu, have ended a 15-hour siege of a hotel stormed by armed militants.
The gunmen entered the building after two bombs were detonated in the area. At least 20 people were killed, and it is feared more bodies will be found as security forces search the hotel.
The Islamist militant group al-Shabab said it had carried out the bombings.
Two weeks ago, 358 people died in the worst attack in Somalia since the group launched its offensive in 2007.
The al-Qaeda-linked group denies having any involvement with the 14 October attack, from which another 56 people are still missing."
October 26, 2017: In the accounts of Matthew and Mark, we can see that Jesus 'remembered' the future. He warned that mega earthquakes and Christian persecution would increase.
Just six months before Nepal's devastating 7.8 shaking from the mega quake that struck near Kathmandu when 9,000 people were killed in Nepal, India, China, and Bangladesh when 600,000 structures in Kathmandu were destroyed as nearly 16,800 were injured and some 2,800,000 people displaced, a new criminal code was registered in Nepal's parliament in October 2014 just before the earthquake.
The earth groans from the tribulation of the saints.
Now, three years later, the false Hindu prophet President Bidhya Devi Bhandari of Nepal has officially signed the tribulation law into effect from Nepal's power seat in Kathmandu after Nepal's parliament passed the bill in August, 2017.
"For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom, and there will be famines and earthquakes in various places. All these are but the beginning of the birth pains. “Then they will deliver you up to tribulation and put you to death, and you will be hated by all nations for my name’s sake. And then many will fall away and betray one another and hate one another. And many false prophets will arise and lead many astray."Nepal Criminalizes Christian Conversion and Evangelism
"President approves new sanctions targeting non-Hindus and foreign missionaries."
"Last week, Nepal enacted a law to curb evangelism by criminalizing religious conversion, joining neighboring countries like India and Pakistan, where the region’s small-but-growing Christian minority faces government threats to their faith.
The “Nepali government [has] taken a regressive step as this law severely restricts our freedom of expression and our freedom of religion or belief,” said Tanka Subedi, chair of the national Religious Liberty Forum, to Christian Solidarity Worldwide (CSW). The pastor is 1 of an estimated 375,000 Christians living in the former Hindu kingdom.
The criminal code bill, which the parliament approved in August and President Bidhya Devi Bhandari signed last Monday, establishes further constitutional protections for Hinduism (which 80% of the population practices) by restricting religious conversion and “hurting of religious sentiment,” or blasphemy.
According to a Nepali Christian site, a section of the new law reads:
No one should involve or encourage in conversion of religion.
No one should convert a person from one religion to another religion or profess them own religion and belief with similar intention by using or not using any means of attraction and by disturbing religion or belief of any ethnic groups or community that being practiced since ancient times.
If found guilty; there will be punishment of five years of imprisonment and penalty of fifty thousand rupees [approximately $770 USD]. If foreigners are found guilty; they will have to be deported within seven days after completing the imprisonment in third clause."
October 25, 2017: In one of the most horrific tribulation attacks against Christians in Syria that you can envision we have more detail on the report from two days ago. ISIS Slaughters 128 in Syrian Christian Town: 'They Attacked us Like Animals, They Came to Kill Us'
"Shocking details are emerging of a surprise 'revenge' attack by ISIS militants on what was once a predominantly Syrian Christian town.
"They attacked us like animals, they came to kill us," a resident of Qaryatayn said, speaking on condition of anonymity.
On Sunday, Syrian government troops recaptured Qaryatayn from ISIS militants. But before retreating from the town, the terror group went on a killing spree slaughtering countless people.
"They killed children {and} women," recounted one survivor. "They broke the arms of the women {and} burned them."
The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights says at least 128 people were murdered in the rampage.
"They killed more than a hundred innocent people from the families of both civilians and militants," said one resident.
Syrian soldiers, backed by various militias, regained control of the town, which was held by ISIS militants since early October. Thousands of the town's Christian residents fled for the lives.
"They left nothing behind them, they took everything, belongings, stole the houses and the cars and took the men and killed them," said one eyewitness."
October 23, 2017: Horrifically, Newsweek reports this from Syria: IN SYRIAN CHRISTIAN TOWN, ISIS MASS-EXECUTED 116 PEOPLE BEFORE ASSAD'S ARMY CLOSED IN
"Evidence has emerged of another Islamic State militant group (ISIS) mass execution, this time in the Syrian Christian desert town of Al-Qaryatain.
The militant group killed at least 116 civilians in executions committed in the days before the Syrian regime recaptured the town, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR), a U.K.-based monitoring group with an extensive network of contacts in Syria.
“ISIS has over a period of 20 days executed at least 116 civilians in reprisal killings, accusing them of collaboration with regime forces,” SOHR chief Rami Abdelrahman told the Agence France-Presse news agency.
ISIS regained control of the town three weeks ago, and then the killings began. Syrian regime forces, backed by Russian air power, arrived and liberated the town on October 21 after dozens of ISIS fighters retreated, at which point the remains of the victims of the mass execution were found.
“After the regime retook it, the town’s residents found the bodies on the streets. They had been shot dead or executed with knives,” Abdelrahman said."
October 20, 2017: WHY THE MASSIVE BOMB BLAST IN SOMALIA SHOULD BE A WAKE-UP CALL TO THE WEST
"Another day, another attack in a far-flung, volatile land. Westerners are likely to react with a shrug and a sigh to last weekend’s truck bombing in Somalia, the world’s deadliest attack on civilians in over a decade—if they heard about it at all. Yet the attack has direct implications for the United States and its allies.
Had a bombing that killed at least 300 people and injured 300 others taken place in the U.S. or Europe, it would have mesmerized the Western public. But the reality is that the West has long been inured to tragedies in places they find unfamiliar, particularly ones like Somalia where misery seems the order of the day. The country on the Horn of Africa has suffered an array of seemingly insurmountable human-made and natural disasters over the past three decades, from protracted civil war and the rise of the Islamist armed group Al-Shabab to unrelenting drought and famine."
October 18, 2017: South African Pastor 'Burned Beyond Recognition' With Hands Tied Behind Back
"The body of a South African pastor has been found "burned beyond recognition" with his hands tied behind his back in a small farming town about 50 miles outside of Johannesburg.
The body of 45-year-old Martin Beneke, the senior pastor and founder of the Johannesburg-based Life in Christ Network, was discovered in Magaliesburg on Monday. The Life in Christ Network confirmed the pastor's death in a Facebook post on Wednesday.
"It is with heavy sadness and sorrow that we have to inform everyone that the founder and head pastor of LICN, Pastor Martin, has passed away on Monday, Oct. 16, 2017," the statement reads. "There are still so many questions we have and answers we need but we trust the process. Thank you to each and everyone who are supporting his wife, two daughters and family. We appreciate it."
Police spokesperson Sergeant Mpho More told media that the discovery of Beneke's body was made by a local farmer who noticed smoke as he traveled a gravel road on his farm."
In another horrific report, Islamists Murder 28 in Nigeria, Including Christian Women and Children; President Decries 'Madness'
"Islamic Fulani herdsmen have reportedly killed at least 28 people, including Christian women and children, in a raid on a village in Plateau State, Nigeria.
Persecution watchdog International Christian Concern reported on the recent attack on Tuesday, explaining that the violent raids by the Fulani on Christian villages are escalating as the terrorists migrate further south.
The Rev. Andrew Okebe, the Zonal Coordinator of Christian Association of Nigeria, Miango District, explained what happened during the attack:
"The soldiers had told the women and children to go and hide in the primary (elementary) school class at night while the men in the village constituted a vigilante group and join[ed] the soldiers in patrolling the area. Sadly, the militia descended and the soldiers fled, leaving the defenseless villagers to be massacred by the terrorists."
Nigerian military has reportedly been unable to stop the continued assault by the Fulani on villages. Civilians have been left defenseless in the face of Islamic jihadists who want to occupy their land, Okebe said.
There have been more than 30 attacks on Christian villages alone in 2017, with the herdsmen slaughtering over 250 people and burning down hundreds of homes."
October 15, 2017: Open you Bible and your heart... pray today for Somalia!!
Pray as you have been instructed to pray for them by Messiah Yeshua: "And he told them a parable to the effect that they ought always to pray and not lose heart." John 18:1
Before today's civilian bombing in Somalia killed hundreds, 23,920 have been killed in religious persecution and terror across Africa since 1997 according to ACLED, the Armed Conflict Location & Event Data Project.
The scene in Somalia is a horrific mirror image of the radical Islamic attack in Mosul on June 8, 2017 UN: Islamic State Killed 231 Civilians Trying to Flee Mosul 240 innocent people have died so far today in Somalia from truck bombs in the capital. According to the Washington Post report:
Somalia’s decade-long battle against extremists hits grim milestone after huge blasts
"The Somali capital is a frequent target of attacks by al-Shabab, an extremist group linked to al-Qaeda, but residents said they quickly discerned that the twin blasts were of a different order of magnitude.
The death toll continued to climb overnight. By Sunday afternoon, officials said they were still trying to calculate the number of victims. The Associated Press, quoting police and hospital sources, put the total at 189, while Somali lawmakers told Voice of America that it was 218.
A large swath of a city block appeared wiped out Sunday, and a tower of charred automobiles could be seen at the bombing site."
"In 2016, al-Shabab was the deadliest terrorist group in Africa, according to the Armed Conflict Location and Event Dataset, killing 4,281 people.
Meanwhile, Somalia has struggled to maintain a stable government or a defense force capable of challenging the Islamist militants."
October 14, 2017: Christian Persecution Hits All-Time High Worldwide: Report
By Anugrah Kumar, Christian Post Contributor | Oct 14, 2017 9:05 AM
"The persecution of Christians is now "worse than at any time in history," according to a report by the Catholic charity Aid to the Church in Need, which states that not only are Christians more persecuted than any other faith group, they are also experiencing the worst forms of persecution.
The Europe-based group also found that in 12 of the 13 countries reviewed, the situation for Christians was worse in overall terms in the period 2015–17 than within the preceding two years, says the report titled, "Persecuted and Forgotten? 2015–17."
"In many countries the situation was already so severe, it could scarcely get any worse, and yet it did – the obvious exception being Saudi Arabia, where a long-established pattern of some of the world's worst oppression saw no obvious indications of deterioration," it explains.
In 2016, as many as 600,000 Christians may have suffered some form of persecution for their faith around the world. "While firm numbers are hard to come by … there is little doubt that the level of Christian persecution remains extremely high in a great number of places around the world," the report says, adding that the number of deaths are reported to have fallen below 100,000 in the past two years.
The report expresses a serious concern for the Christians in the Middle East, noting that "an eradication of Christians, and other minorities, was – and still is – the specific and stated objective of extremist groups at work in Iraq, Syria and elsewhere in the region, including Egypt."
It quotes Chaldean Bishop Antoine Audo of Aleppo as saying in March 2016 that the number of Christians had reduced to 500,000, a fall of 1.2 million – or two-thirds - within five years.
In Iraq, the Christian population declined from 275,000 in mid-2015 to below 200,000 two years later – and possibly as few as 150,000, the report says, warning that "if this decline were to continue at the same rate, it would show that" the previous report's "prediction of a virtual wipe-out of Iraq's Christian community by 2020 remains on track.""
"However," the report adds, "fears that Christians in Iraq are 'on the verge of extinction' were, to some extent, alleviated at the end of the reporting period by news of thousands of families returning to their homes on the Nineveh Plains following the defeat of Daesh (the Islamic State terror group, also known as ISIS, IS or ISIL)."
It adds that genocide against Christians has also taken place in northern Nigeria, where Boko Haram, which is now believed to be affiliated with IS, started a campaign of violence to ensure the faithful "will not be able to stay."
October 13, 2017 Police in Pakistan Beat to Death 14 Y/O Christian Boy Who Refused to Renounce His Faith
"Police in Pakistan beat a 14-year-old Christian boy to death on Monday (Oct. 9) because he had gotten into a fight with a Muslim classmate who tried to bully him into renouncing his faith, sources said.
Mushtaq Masih, father of Arsalan Masih, said that his son was a student at a private center in Jhabran Mandi village, Sheikhupura District in Punjab Province. Arsalan was at the center when seven policemen from the Bahu Chowk Police Post arrived at about 5 p.m. in their official vehicle and stormed the premises, Masih told Morning Star News."
"Arsalan was attending his tuition classes at the Ideal Science Academy when Head Constable Imtiaz, Driver Rashid, Constable Arshad and some other unidentified policemen kicked open the door and dragged him out of the classroom," Masih said. "Sardar, alias Billu, a police constable, helped them to identify the boy. With this, they all started beating Arsalan with fists, kicks and rifle butts."
October 12, 2017: The Last Christians: Priest Describes Horror, Courage of Christians Being Killed for Their Faith (Interview)
"In Mosul, IS terrorists stopped a boy in the street because he was wearing a small cross around his neck. They ordered him to throw it away, and when he steadfastly refused, they buried him alive," Knapp wrote in his newly released book, The Last Christians: Stories of Persecution, Flight, and Resilience in the Middle East.
"Whenever I hear stories like this and meet Christians of such courage, I can't help but wonder: How much is my faith worth to me? How high a price would I be prepared to pay?" The story is only one of the countless tragedies Knapp witnessed or heard about from survivors and church and human rights workers when traveling to Iraq to speak with Christians who are being wiped out for their faith.
Churches in Mosul were bombed, Christian schools were threatened with destruction unless the students converted to Islam, 5-year-old children were shot dead on their way to mass, and Christian girls were raped for refusing to wear veils, the author described. Now with the rise of IS, thousands of Yazidi and Christian women and young girls are being sold in modern-day slave markets.
Accounts tell of young women being raped for days by dozens of men, begging to be killed in order for the torture to stop, but only to be met with laughter and cynical remarks. One Christian girl who suffered "bestial abuse" at the hands of IS took rat poison to end her life, suffering a long, drawn-out death.
Other stories, such as one from the ancient Christian town of Sadat, tell of 45 men, women and children who were tortured, killed, and buried in a mass grave by radicals. Some of the young men were taken prisoners, but those who refused to renounce their faith and embrace Islam where shot dead."
October 9, 2017: Today, the BBC reported that Boko Haram suspects on trial in Nigeria's Kainji town
"The first in a series of trials of more than 6,600 people, accused of being members of militant Islamist group Boko Haram, has opened in Nigeria.
The trials are being held in secret by civilian court judges at a military facility in north-central Kainji town.
Rights activists say they are concerned about the lack of transparency in what have been described as the biggest terrorism trial in Nigeria's history.
Some 20,000 people have been killed in Boko Haram's eight-year insurgency.
Only nine people have been convicted so far of being involved in the unrest.
Four judges have started the trials at the military centre in Kainji, sources at the ministry of justice told the BBC's Ishaq Khalid in the capital, Abuja."
October 8, 2017: For those that did not believe the report... Bodies of 21 Coptic Christians Beheaded by ISIS in Libya Found in Mass Grave
"Libya's interior ministry has said they have found a mass grave with the bodies of the 21 Coptic Christians who were beheaded by the Islamic State two years ago. The remains have been sent for forensic examination.
"The heads are separated from the bodies clad in orange jumpsuits, hands bound behind the back with plastic wire," said the ministry's unit for fighting organized crime in the city of Misurata."
September 29, 2017: Tenn. church suspect's car had note referencing retaliation for Dylann Roof's Charleston attack
"A 25-year-old accused of opening fire at a Tennessee church last weekend allegedly had a note in his car referencing some sort of retaliation for the Charleston church attack carried out by white supremacist Dylann Roof two years ago, a law enforcement official said.
Police said on Sept. 24, 25-year-old Emanuel Samson shot and killed a 39-year-old woman in the parking lot of the Burnette Chapel Church of Christ in Antioch. Police said Samson then went into the main doors of the church sanctuary, shooting and wounding six people, who are all in their 60s or 80s."
September 11, 2017: Muslim Fulani Herdsmen Massacre 20 Nigerian Christians
"Muslim Fulani herdsmen in central Nigeria’s Plateau state massacred 20 Christians, including children, as they slept in the hours after midnight on Friday (Sept. 8) in an apparent reprisal attack that mystified villagers, sources said.
“The village where they claim one of them was killed over a year ago is not part of our village, and we have never had any misunderstanding with them in the past,” said John Bulus, church secretary of Salama Baptist Church-Ancha, which lost 19 members in the massacre.
Police reportedly said the attack was an act of vengeance after the discovery last week of a slain and beheaded Fulani boy who was a resident of Ancha village, Miango District in the Bassa Local Government Area. But a village Christian told Morning Star News that the area’s terrified residents were at a loss to explain why they were targeted, as the murder of the Fulani took place at another village."
September 4, 2017: 'Jailed Pakistan Christian 'Tortured To Death' For Refusing To Abandon Christ'
"Pakistani Christians demand an investigation into the death of Indaryas Ghulam, a 38-year-old Christian man who they say was tortured and sentenced to death by hanging after refusing to abandon his faith in Jesus Christ.
Ghulam was among 42 Christians detained on charges of lynching two Muslims who allegedly participated in a Taliban group attack against two churches that left at least 19 people dead more than 70 wounded in Youhanabad, a poor Christian settlement adjacent to Lahore city, church sources said."
September 7, 2017: Rohingya Muslims: Tales of horror from Myanmar
"Tens of thousands of people have fled violence in Myanmar's Rakhine state. Many speak of killings, rape and even massacres.
Off the south-eastern coast of Bangladesh, a row of crescent-shaped, wooden fishing boats approach the shore, listing dangerously in the strong winds.
As they get closer, you can see they are packed. Women on the floor, many holding on to children, men pressed against the sides of the boats.
This is the latest boatload of Rohingya Muslims, fleeing from Myanmar's Rakhine state."
August 25, 2017: Myanmar tensions: Dozens dead in Rakhine militant attack
"Attacks by militants on police posts in Myanmar's Rakhine state have left 71 people, including 12 security personnel, dead, the authorities say.
More than 20 posts were targeted by Muslim militants in pre-dawn raids, the government said, in Rakhine's worst violence for months.
Rakhine has been hit by clashes between Muslim and Buddhist communities.
The attacks come a day after a report warned more people would be radicalised if ethnic tensions were not addressed.
Rakhine state, in western Myanmar, is home to more than a million Rohingya Muslims.
Tensions with the majority Buddhist population have been rumbling for years, and tens of thousands of Rohingya have fled to Bangladesh, accusing Myanmar authorities of ethnic persecution.
A government statement said that "extremist Bengali insurgents attacked a police station in Maungdaw region in northern Rakhine state with a handmade bomb explosive and held co-ordinated attacks on several police posts at 01:00".
The government uses the term "Bengali" to describe the stateless Rohingya, because it maintains they are illegal immigrants from Bangladesh."
August 22, 2017: Al-Shabaab Beheads 3 Christians, Burns Alive Another in Kenya as Christians Plead for Help in Camps
"Al-Shabaab fighters reportedly killed four Christian men in Kenya's Lamu County last week, beheading three and burning alive another.
"Late in the night on August 17, al-Shabaab militants entered Maleli village of Witu and killed the four men; three were hacked to death with machetes and one was burned inside his home," International Christian Concern reported on Monday.
"The four men who were killed are Stephen Hizano Ponda, Charo Karisa Ngoa, Naphtali Katana Kadenge, and Joseph Gasena Ngoa.""
August 16, 2017: 16 killed, 82 injured in Borno suicide attack - Police
"The Police in Borno on Wednesday said 16 persons were killed and 82 others wounded in a suicide bomb attack on a market in Konduga Local Government Area of the state.
The commissioner, Damian Chukwu, confirmed the attack in a text message sent to journalists on Wednesday in Maiduguri.
Mr. Chukwu said that the incident occurred at a market at about 5: 30 p.m. when three suicide bombers hit the market.
He said the suicide bombers, a male and two females, who detonated the explosives at the busy market blew up themselves and killed 16 people.
Mr. Chukwu said that 82 other persons sustained various degrees of injuries in the attack, adding that the wounded were evacuated to the Specialist Hospital, Maiduguri."
August 12, 2017: Christian Persecution in India Hits Record High in First Half of 2017
"As many as 410 incidents of attacks, harassment and threats on Christians were reported in India in the first six months of 2017, the highest ever since the country's independence, according to figures compiled by partners of Open Doors. Attackers are generally from or influenced by groups associated with the governing Hindu nationalist party.
The first quarter of 2017 saw 248 incidents of persecution, and by June-end, the number grew to 410, a report by Open Doors said, noting that a total of 441 incidents were reported in all of 2016.
"When the Christians are beaten by the extremists, they receive injuries mostly on their heads or their vital body parts," a local partner of Open Doors was quoted as saying in the report. "The assaulters do not care if the person dies in the attack. They know that they will not be punished because the government (and hence the judiciary) will take their side. In most of the cases the assaulters go unpunished.""
August 8, 2017: Hindunization Leads To More Anti-Christian Violence
"If the Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh (RSS) has its way, India will soon be unified under one religion, one culture, and one language.
Non-Hindu People Are Being Targeted.
Of course, in order for this to happen, all other religious communities–including Christians–would have to be eliminated. According to the RSS organization’s founder, M.S. Golwalker, that is exactly the plan.
“The non-Hindu people in Hindustan must either adopt the Hindu culture and language, must learn to respect and revere Hindu religion, must entertain no idea but the glorification of the Hindu religion, that is they must not only give up their attitude of intolerance and ingratitude towards this land and its age-long tradition but must also cultivate the positive attitude of love and devotion instead; in one word they must cease to be foreigners or may stay in the country wholly subordinated to the Hindu nation claiming nothing, deserving no privileges, far less any preferential treatment not even citizen’s rights.”
The Plan to Eliminate Christianity
This is tragically ironic, perhaps, since it’s well known the RSS intends for India to be ‘free of Christians by 2020.’
To accomplish their goal of bringing Christians under one Hindu religion in the next few years, extremists follow these five steps:
1. The pastor is chased out of the community. Church members are not allowed to contact him or to leave their villages and worship with other believers.
2. The extremists prevent Christians from participating in the society. They are not allowed to have a government job, trade, draw water from the well, buy food and other products from local stores or to even to talk to other people in the village.
3. As the numbers show, physical violence happens more frequently too. Families are threatened, Christians are beaten up, girls and women may be raped, children may be kidnapped (e.g. Reena’s case).
4. At some point, the Hindu priest will come to indoctrinate the Christians, to remind them that they were born as Hindus and to persuade them to come back to the religion of their community.
5. If they still resist, they are often forcibly taken from their house, pushed into a Hindu procession and dragged to a temple. There they have to bow to idols, recite scriptures and often get smeared with cow dung and/or cow urine (to ‘cleanse’ them)."
August 7, 2017: Eleven dead in Nigeria church gun attack
"At least 11 people have been killed in a gun attack on a church in southern Nigeria, police say.
Up to 18 other worshippers were wounded in the early morning incident at the church in Ozubulu near the city of Onitsha.
There were conflicting reports over whether the attack was carried out by a lone gunman or a group of attackers.
Police said the shooting was the result of a feud between Nigerians from Ozubulu who were living abroad.
Anambra State Police Commissioner Garba Umar said the violence could be linked to drug-trafficking.
He said the gunman had been hired to kill a local man who was believed to be in St Philip's Catholic Church."
July 25, 2017: Al-Shabaab Slaughters 7 Christians in Door-to-Door ID Checks in Kenyan Villages
"Somali-based terror group al-Shabaab killed seven Christians in a series of deadly raids in Kenya earlier this month where the Islamic radicals went door-to-door in villages looking for believers. Previous reports noted that the militants beheaded nine civilians in Jima in Lamu County in their hunt for non-Muslims, though more information is being released now about the victims. A local pastor said the radicals have been searching for Christians to kill.
"[The militants in Jima] were asking the villagers to produce their identification cards and if you were found to be a Christian you would be shot or slaughtered.""
July 23, 2017 Report: Chinese Provinces Seek to Eradicate Sunday Schools, Christian Summer Camps
"HANGZHOU, Zhejiang (China Aid) — As China clamps down on the freedoms of its state-run churches, officials in the country’s eastern Zhejiang province have recently issued orders aimed at closing Sunday schools and keeping children from Christian events over the summer months."
July 20, 2017: US State Dept: 75% of Terrorist Deaths in 2016 Were from Nigeria, Four Others
"A report released wednesday by the United States Department of State has disclosed that 75 per cent of deaths caused by terrorist attacks across the globe world occurred in Nigeria, Iraq, Afghanistan, Syria; and Pakistan.
The report, Country Reports on Terrorism 2016, stated that in 2016, terrorist attacks took place in 104 countries, but were heavily concentrated geographically with 55 per cent of the attacks in five countries – Iraq; Afghanistan, India, Pakistan, and the Philippines, while 75 per cent of all deaths due to terrorist attacks took place in five countries – Iraq, Afghanistan, Syria, Nigeria and Pakistan."
In Iran today, 11 Christian Converts Issued Long Prison Sentences in Iran in Less Than Two Months in Sham Trials.
"The Iranian authorities must immediately halt the disturbing trend of arrests and imprisonment of Christians, the Center for Human Rights in Iran (CHRI) said in a statement today.
In less than two months, since June 2017, Judge Mashallah Ahmadzadeh of Branch 26 of the Revolutionary Court in Tehran has issued long prison sentences to at least 11 Christian converts and the former leader of the Assyrian Pentecostal Church in Iran.
“Christians are recognized as an official religious minority in Iran’s Constitution, but the state continues to persecute members of the faith, especially converts,” said CHRI’s executive director Hadi Ghaemi."
July 18, 2017 Christian Refugees Flee Islamic Persecution In Greek Refugee Camps, Seeking Asylum
"Christian refugees have been blocked from seeking asylum on the Greek mainland after fleeing Islamic persecution in the camps in the Greek Isles.
Muslim persecution of Christians from Syria, Afghanistan, and other Muslim countries has run rampant in the Moria refugee camp on the Isle of Lesbos, according to the British Pakistani Christian Association (BPCA). Christians in the camp have received death threats, been barred from openly practicing their faith, and in some cases have been beaten and had their makeshift homes destroyed at the hands of Islamic radicals. Many Christians have fled for their lives to seek asylum on the mainland, but current Greek policy turned them back to the camp, according to Wilson Chowdhry, president of BPCA."
July 12, 2017: 19 killed in Boko Haram attacks in northern Nigeria city
"Four Boko Haram suicide bombers killed 19 people in a series of attacks that targeted a civilian self-defense force and the people who gathered to mourn their deaths, police in Nigeria said Wednesday. It was the deadliest attack in months in the northeastern city of Maiduguri, the birthplace of Boko Haram's eight-year insurgency.
Borno state police commissioner Damian Chukwu said 23 others were wounded in Tuesday night's attacks. The police commissioner said 12 of the dead were members of a civilian self-defense force and the other seven people had been mourning them."
June 26, 2017: 10 killed in Maiduguri bombing — Police
"Police in Borno State have confirmed that at least 16 persons comprising seven suicide bombers and nine innocent victims died after Boko Haram insurgents attacked Maiduguri on Sunday.
PREMIUM TIMES had earlier reported that the University of Maiduguri was part of the locations attacked by the bombers who crept into the city during the curfew hours as Muslims celebrated Sallah.
Borno State police commissioner, Damian Chukwu, told journalists at a press conference that most of the attackers were teenage girls who were wired with deadly explosives."
June 20, 2017: 10-Y-O Survivor of ISIS Massacre: 'Every Time They Shot a Christian, They Yelled God Is Great'
"A 10-year-old Egyptian schoolboy who witnessed the brutal murder of his father by Islamic State militants in Minya, where 29 Christians were slaughtered in May, says the jihadists cried out "God is great" every time they shot a follower of Jesus Christ. Mina Habib told Reuters in a piece published Tuesday that his father, one of the 29 believers massacred on May 26 when IS stopped three vehicles on their way to a monastery, was killed specifically for his Christian faith.
"We saw dead people, just dumped on the ground," the boy, who is now receiving therapy at a local church, said of the attack. "They asked my father for identification then told him to recite the Muslim profession of faith. He refused, said he was Christian. They shot him and everyone else with us in the car," he said of his father, Adel. Mina said the 15 gunmen shot Christian children dead, but he and his older brother, Marco, were spared."
May 26, 2017: Egypt Coptic Christians killed in bus attack
"Gunmen have attacked a bus carrying Coptic Christians in central Egypt, killing at least 28 people and wounding 25 others, officials say.
The bus was traveling to the Monastery of St Samuel the Confessor, 135km (85 miles) south of Cairo, from Minya province when it came under fire.
No group immediately said it was behind the attack.
But Islamic State (IS) militants have targeted Copts several times in recent months, and vowed to do so again.
Two suicide bombings at Palm Sunday services at churches in the northern cities of Alexandria and Tanta on 9 April left 46 people dead.
Another suicide bombing at a church in the capital in December killed 29 people, while a Christian community was forced to flee the town of el-Arish in the northern Sinai peninsula after a series of gun attacks in February."
May 21, 2017: Church, Pastor Home Torched as Attacks on Christians Rise 40% in Southern India
Attacks on Christians in India have been increasing since the Bharatiya Janata Party won the national election in 2014
"After some high "caste" Hindus converted to Christianity and joined the Church, other Hindus burned down the place of worship and the home of its pastor in southern India this month.
Pastor John Muller and his pregnant wife found their church building and adjoining home in Attipattu village in Tamil Nadu state's Cuddalore District burnt down after they said they came home from a nearby store, according to Morning Star News.
"Recently, some villagers belonging to Vanniyar, a caste-based Hindu sect, came to Christ," Muller told Morning Star. "The same caste group opposes conversions in the village because they treat Christianity as a religion of lower castes. They don't want anyone from Vanniyar to convert to Christianity."
Muller said he and his wife lost all their possessions. "My wife is 26 weeks pregnant. We are expecting our first child. We are homeless. A kind believer is letting us rest in his house during nights for now."
A recent All India Christian Council report exposed that violent attacks on the Christian minority in India are mounting at an alarming rate, as members of groups close to the governing Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party seek to create a "Hindu nation." The report stated attacks against Christians increased by about 20 percent in 2016, and physical violence against Christians was up by as much as 40 percent.
A fresh attack is being reported every 40 hours, the report outlined. "The attacks have become severe and more frequent. Incidents used to be confined to a few states. Now the violence has spread to 23 states," the report noted."
May 13, 2017: TERROR WARNING: ISIS orders Muslims to stay away from Christian events
"THE Islamic State has ordered Muslims to stay away from Christian events and government buildings amid warnings of a future attack.
An ISIS leader based in Egypt warned Christian events, gatherings of the army and police, and areas hosting government facilities are all “legitimate targets”.
The chilling warning comes as Christians in Egypt continue to mourn after 45 people were killed and at least 100 people injured in the Palm Sunday bombings on Coptic churches.
The unnamed ISIS leader told a jihadi magazine: “We are warning you to stay away from Christian gatherings, as well as the gatherings of the army and the police, and the areas that have political government facilities.”
ISIS vowed to eradicate Christianity from Egypt in a propaganda video released in February"
May 6, 2017: Pakistan Sentences Christian Man to Life in Prison for 'Insulting Islam'
"A court in Pakistan has sentenced a Christian man to life imprisonment under the country's blasphemy law for allegedly sending "blasphemous" text messages from his mobile phone.
After the court in the city of Rawalpindi in the Punjab province sentenced Zafar Bhatti on Wednesday, legal advocacy group CLAAS, which is based in the United Kingdom and run by Christians from Pakistan, said it will challenge the decision, according to the news website Christians In Pakistan."
May 5, 2017: Seven killed, six injured in another suicide bomb attack in Borno
"The Borno Police Command on Friday confirmed the killing of seven persons after two suspected female suicide bombers attacked Mandarari ward in Konduga Local Government Area of Borno.
Murtala Ibrahim of the Borno Police Command Public Relations Unit, confirmed the incident in a statement he issued in Maiduguri.
Mr. Ibrahim said the attack took place on Thursday night.
“Yesterday at about 22.45 hours, two suspected female suicide bombers detonated explosives strapped to their bodies at Mandarari ward in Konduga LGA, killing themselves and five others."
April 21, 2017: ISIS Slits Throat of 16 Y/O Coptic Christian Boy, Leave Him to Die in Pool of Blood
"Four days after the Palm Sunday bombing of Egyptian churches, Allam Bashay Gabriel found his 16-year-old son, Gamal, with his throat slit and lying in a pool of blood, in Qai village, Upper Egypt, according to World Watch Monitor.
"The way he was killed is the way of Daesh [IS], as they are the only ones who slaughter people like that," Mr. Gabriel told the outlet. "They slaughtered my son because of his faith in Jesus Christ. It's a war on Christians, and all honest people should stand up to those who are waging this war."
Gamal was "loved by all his friends and teachers at school", his father said. "He was a very peaceful and polite person."
He added that he couldn't come up with a "reason why anyone would want to kill my son, as we are simple family and don't have any enemies. We have not been in trouble with anyone and there is no vendetta between us and other families. There also were no valuables that would have attracted criminals.""
April 19, 2017: Christian Pastor Detained in China for Singing 'Jesus Loves You'
"A Taiwanese Christian pastor was detained for singing the worship song "Jesus Love You" in Zhengzhou, Henan, in China, which officials there have branded as an "illegal religious activity."
Local officials never explained why singing "Jesus Loves You" is now deemed to be an illegal activity, though several Christians across China in recent months have been arrested and even sentenced to prison for participating in religious activities. Five Christians, including a pastor, were sentenced back in February by a court in the northeastern Liaoning province to between three to seven years in prison for purchasing and selling what authorities called "forbidden Christian devotional books.""
April 8, 2017: Church bombings kill dozens in Egypt on Palm Sunday
"CAIRO -- Suicide bombers struck hours apart at two Coptic churches in northern Egypt, killing 44 people and turning Palm Sunday services into scenes of horror and outrage at the government.
It was the single deadliest day for Christians in decades and the worst since a bombing at a Cairo church in December killed 30 people.
The Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) claimed responsibility for the violence, adding to fears that extremists are shifting their focus to civilians, especially Egypt’s Christian minority."
March 11, 2017: UN: World facing greatest humanitarian crisis since 1945
"The world is facing its largest humanitarian crisis since 1945, the United Nations says, issuing a plea for help to avoid "a catastrophe".
UN humanitarian chief Stephen O'Brien said that more than 20 million people faced the threat of starvation and famine in Yemen, Somalia, South Sudan and Nigeria.
Unicef has already warned 1.4m children could starve to death this year.
Mr O'Brien said $4.4bn (£3.6bn) was needed by July to avert disaster.
"We stand at a critical point in history," Mr O'Brien told the Security Council on Friday. "Already at the beginning of the year we are facing the largest humanitarian crisis since the creation of the United Nations."
"Now, more than 20 million people across four countries face starvation and famine. Without collective and coordinated global efforts, people will simply starve to death. Many more will suffer and die from disease."
"These two things are come unto thee; who shall be sorry for thee? desolation, and destruction, and the famine, and the sword: by whom shall I comfort thee?" Isaiah 51:19February 24, 2017 Reuters reports: Egypt's Christians flee Sinai amid Islamic State killing spree
"Christian families and students fled Egypt's North Sinai province in droves on Friday after Islamic State killed the seventh member of their community in just three weeks.
A Reuters reporter saw 25 families gathered with their belongings in the Suez Canal city of Ismailia's Evangelical Church and church officials said 100 families, out of around 160 in North Sinai, were fleeing. More than 200 students studying in Arish, the province's capital, have also left.
Seven Christians have been killed in Arish between Jan. 30 and Thursday. Islamic State, which is waging an insurgency there, claimed responsibility for the killings, five of which were shootings. One man was beheaded and another set on fire."
February 20, 2017: Beyond Nigeria, the World Watch Monitor reports: "The Islamic State has released a propaganda video, vowing to wipe out Egypt’s Coptic Christians and “liberate Cairo”."
In January, Open Doors published the results of their annual report on Christian persecution and the watch list global persecution map of nations is appalling. Nigeria's 12th on the list just behind Libya among the top 50 countries where it is most difficult if not impossible to profess and practice the Christian faith.
Please pray for all nations and people in grave tribulation.
January 6, 2017: Christians the most persecuted group in world for second year: Study
"Christians continued to be the most persecuted group across the globe in 2016, according to a study.
The upcoming report from Italian-based Center for Studies on New Religions, determined that 90,000 Christians were killed for their beliefs worldwide last year and nearly a third were at the hands of Islamic extremists like ISIS. Others were killed by state and non-state persecution, including in places like North Korea.
“U.S. policy has not had a strategy for specifically addressing the persecution of Christians,” Ryan Mauro, national security analyst for the Clarion Project, told FoxNews.com “For example, very few people are even aware that Iraqi Christians began organizing to defend themselves and needed our help."
The study also found that as many as 600 million Christians were prevented from practicing their faith in 2016."
December 30, 2016: A report from Italy's the Center for Studies on New Religions "Persecuzioni anticristiane. Introvigne: 90 mila uccisi nel 2016" has been reported by Vatican Radio horrifically stating the number of Christians killed for their faith this year:
"The influential Center for Study of Global Christianity next month will publish its statistics in 2016, about 90,000 Christians killed for their faith, one death every six minutes, a bit 'decreased compared to 105,000 two years does. Of these, 70 percent, or 63,000, were killed in tribal conflicts in Africa.
The American Center include them in the statistics because they believed that in large part it is Christians who refuse to take for reasons of conscience weapons. The other 30 percent, or 27,000, comes instead from terrorist attacks, destruction of Christian villages, governmental persecution, as in the case of North Korea."
December 17, 2016: Tribulation and death is not limited to religious persecution and terrorism.
In the economically depressed foothills of the Appalachian Mountains, poverty and economic turmoil of West Virginia horrors comes in the form of prescription drug overdose.
Drug firms poured 780M painkillers into WV amid rise of overdoses
"Follow the pills and you'll find the overdose deaths.
The trail of painkillers leads to West Virginia's southern coalfields, to places like Kermit, population 392. There, out-of-state drug companies shipped nearly 9 million highly addictive — and potentially lethal — hydrocodone pills over two years to a single pharmacy in the Mingo County town."
Rural and poor, Mingo County has the fourth-highest prescription opioid death rate of any county in the United States.
The trail also weaves through Wyoming County, where shipments of OxyContin have doubled, and the county's overdose death rate leads the nation. One mom-and-pop pharmacy in Oceana received 600 times as many oxycodone pills as the Rite Aid drugstore just eight blocks away.
In six years, drug wholesalers showered the state with 780 million hydrocodone and oxycodone pills, while 1,728 West Virginians fatally overdosed on those two painkillers, a Sunday Gazette-Mail investigation found.
The unfettered shipments amount to 433 pain pills for every man, woman and child in West Virginia.
“These numbers will shake even the most cynical observer,” said former Delegate Don Perdue, D-Wayne, a retired pharmacist who finished his term earlier this month. “Distributors have fed their greed on human frailties and to criminal effect. There is no excuse and should be no forgiveness""
December 15, 2016: Armed Muslim mob DESTROYS Christian village over church building
"A MUSLIM mob armed with rifles, clubs and machetes burnt down shops and destroyed Christian homes in an attack just days before ISIS killed 25 people in the Cairo cathedral bombing.
ensions between Muslims and the Coptic Christian community have escalated in recent days following the deadly attack on a chapel at St Mark's Orthodox Cathedral.
But just days before the bombing a mob went on the rampage in the village of Manshiet El-Naghamish in Sohag.
The village’s 2,000 Christians built a four-story building to be used as a community centre and applied to the Egyptian authorities to build a church, angering members of the Muslim community.
Local sources say tensions worsened after the bishop of El-Balyana and Al-Koshe was asked to lead a prayer meeting sparking leaflets to be sent out rallying a mob to attack the Christians.
In a horrifying attack the mob assaulted Christians using gas canisters and rocks as they looted and burned properties and businesses.
The water and power supply was cut off as roadblocks stopped firefighters coming to help."
"The Coptic Orthodox Church is the largest Christian church in Egypt and the Middle East's biggest Christian community.
Coptic Christians, who make up about 10 per cent of Egypt's 90million people, have long complained of discrimination under successive Egyptian leaders.
Christians struggle to legally build churches in Egypt, with new churches only allowed to be built by official presidential decree - and they are only issued once a year."
December 13, 2016: Nigeria: Kebbi Christians face latent pressure to abandon faith
"While violent attacks on Christians at the hands of Islamist militants Boko Haram and the Fulani herdsmen in the northeast and Middle Belt of Nigeria have captured media attention, the persistent social pressures Christians face elsewhere go mostly unnoticed.
Despite common misperceptions that they are a minority across the north of Nigeria, Christians still form the majority in half of the 12 northern states now all under Islamic law (although they are in theory exempt from Sharia provision), while there are high concentrations (25-50%) in the other northern states.
In a remote community in the north-western, Sharia-governed state of Kebbi, Christians face discrimination and persistent pressure to convert to Islam."
December 11, 2016: Attack on Coptic Cathedral in Cairo Kills Dozens
"CAIRO — A bomb ripped through a section reserved for women at Cairo’s main Coptic cathedral during Sunday morning Mass, killing at least 25 people and wounding 49, mostly women and children, Egyptian state media said.
The attack was the deadliest against Egypt’s Christian minority in years. Video from the blast site circulating on social media showed blood-smeared floors and shattered pews among the marble pillars at St. Mark’s Coptic Orthodox Cathedral, the seat of Egypt’s Orthodox Christian Church, where the blast occurred in a chapel adjacent to the main building."
October 26, 2016: A report today from WorldWatch Monitor recounts the violence and terror against Christians from 2013-2016 in the Nigerian state of Nasarawa by Hausa-Fulani herdsmen.
Nigerian Middle Belt state: 800+ Christians killed, 800+ injured, 100+ churches destroyed
"Nigeria’s Middle Belt is the scene of ever-continuing attacks on Christian farmers by mainly Muslim Hausa-Fulani herdsmen, including this past week where attacks have occurred in both Kaduna and Benue states. Now a recent report about another state in the Middle Belt, Nasarawa, shows that it too has been the scene of serious violence against Christians. In the period January 2013–May 2016, 826 Christians were killed and 878 injured. There were 102 churches destroyed or damaged.
Beside these, 787 houses were destroyed, as well as nine shops, and 32 motorised vehicles. Many families were completely deprived of their livelihoods. Around 21,000 Christians were reported as Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) in different camps inside and outside Nasarawa. Due to the difficult security situation, the authors of the in-depth fact-finding report are convinced that they were only able to report part of what really happened.
Their Nigeria Conflict and Security Analysis Network (NCSAN) report shows that Nasarawa has been engulfed in various forms of conflict since its creation in 1996. Many researchers, policy makers and government officials have explained the conflict in terms of politics, ethnicity and economic contestation over land and resources. In most cases, the religious component of the conflict has been completely downplayed, marginalised, excluded or neglected."
October 20, 2016 40 killed as suspected Fulani herdsmen raid Christian community in Nigeria
"Gunmen believed to be Fulani herdsmen have killed more than 40 people in Godogodo village, a Christian settlement in the Jama’a Local Government Area in Nigeria’s northern state of Kaduna. The area, in the south of Kaduna State, has been attacked several times before.
The gunmen were said to have attacked a military checkpoint in the area before invading the village.
One survivor, Peter Atangi, told World Watch Monitor his four children were all killed.
“The herdsmen came around 9pm on Saturday [15 Oct.]. They invaded our homes after they attacked a military checkpoint. They were armed with sophisticated guns, machetes, knives and sticks. As soon as they came, they started shooting indiscriminately and we started running in different directions.
“They shot and killed my four children. As we ran for our dear lives, they also set our homes on fire. Many of us have been rendered homeless. We don’t know where to start….”"
October 7, 2016:
Church in Northern Kenya Fearful after Gruesome Attack on Christians
"NAIROBI, Kenya (Morning Star News) – Church members in a northeastern town in Kenya fear for their lives after Islamic extremists targeted Christians in a grenade and gun attack early Thursday morning (Oct. 6) that killed six people, sources said.
Targeting predominantly Christian migrant workers from Kenya’s interior, rebels from Somalia’s Al Shabaab group reportedly took responsibility for the attack at a residential compound in Mandera, with a spokesman for the militants saying it was designed to drive Christians from the area."
September 22, 2016: As Nigeria's Christians suffer in the horrors of radical Islamic jihad, the African nation of Togo looks to Israel as the key for solutions to Africa's problems:
Israel Holds the Key to Africa's Development
"On Thursday September 22, President Faure Gnassingbe participated in a high level meeting organized by the Prime Minister of Israel, Benjamin Netanyahu.
The roundtable gathered key leaders of the continent including President Paul Kagame of Rwanda, President Ernest Bai Koroma of Sierra Leone as well as over 30 African Foreign Ministers.
The meeting galvanized the renewal of the political and economic partnership and friendship between the continent and the Jewish state.
President Gnassingbe, the keynote speaker of the forum, lauded Jerusalem's ambition to deepen its connection with Africa.
The President declared: " Whilst visiting Israel last August I was able to appreciate not only the unique security challenges your nation faces but also to better comprehend how much Israeli expertise can contribute to Africa".
Mr. Gnassingbe stressed " While Israel may not be the sole nation to master the expertise required required to allow the development of the continent, it also is the most dynamic and the most competitive."
The Head of State further added that the African continent requires concrete solutions in terms of security, education and health and further commented that the State of Israel constituted an ideal partner to fulfill the potential of the continent.
The Togolese leader concluded his speech by enticing nations unwilling to cooperate with Israel to jettison their sterile excuses and polemic and to work with Jerusalem in order to safeguard the interest of the continent.
Mr. Gnassingbe also stated:"Africa is beset is difficulties and Israel holds the key to them."
Lome will host the first Africa-Israel Summit in 2017."
August 26, 2016: The Harakat Shabaab al-Mujahidin is commonly known as AlShabaab. They are al Qaeda's affiliate militant wing of the Somali Council of Islamic Courts.
Somalia attack: 10 killed after gunmen raid restaurant, seize hostages
"(CNN) Gunmen raided a beach restaurant in the Somali capital of Mogadishu, killing 10 people and seizing hostages amid fierce battles with security forces, authorities said.
The standoff started Thursday when attackers detonated a car bomb outside the restaurant , according to Bishar Abshir Ghedi, the Mogadishu police commissioner."
"The Somali militant group regularly attacks hotels popular with Westerners in the capital. In June, gunmen stormed a hotel in Mogadishu after detonating a car filled with explosives at the gate -- an attack that left at least 15 people dead and 25 others injured, police said."
August 18, 2016: WorldWatch Monitor report: Nepal Christians attacked while trying to help
"Eight Christians are still awaiting the outcome of their trial, after they became the first people to be charged under Nepal’s new constitution. Their crime? An alleged breach of religious freedom – for distributing pamphlets about Jesus during a trauma seminar in a Christian school, following last year’s devastating earthquake (see video below).
But they are not the only Christians to suffer repercussions following their efforts to provide support. World Watch Monitor visited Champi village, near Kathmandu, to meet a group of Christians attacked in the days that followed, as they tried to distribute corrugated metal sheets to villagers.
As six of them unloaded the sheets from a truck, they were attacked by four of their neighbours, who beat them with steel rods. Other Christian families living nearby tried to stop them, but they were fought off.
“The people who assaulted us live near our house,” said Sunita Kumar, the wife of a local pastor, Suraj. “They pick on us for small reasons, but we stay silent because we are concerned about the safety of our children.”"
August 16, 2016: Nigeria violence: Suicide bombers kill 27 near Maiduguri
"Three female suicide bombers have carried out an attack that has killed at least 27 people in north-eastern Nigeria, officials say.
Dozens were injured when the women blew themselves up outside a refugee camp near Maiduguri in Borno state - a stronghold of the Islamist militant group Boko Haram.
There has been an upsurge in violence in the city in recent months. Boko Haram has been fighting to set up an Islamic state since 2009.
A report published by US anti-terrorist researchers last week said it is the first insurgency in history to use more women suicide bombers than men."
August 15, 2016: The no time to forget. Your prayers are needed. Reuters reports Boko Haram video claims to show missing Nigerian school girls
"Nigerian militant group Boko Haram has published a video apparently showing recent footage of dozens of school girls kidnapped two years ago, and saying some of them have been killed in air strikes.
Boko Haram seized more than 270 girls from their school in Chibok, northeast Nigeria, in April 2014, part of a seven-year-old insurgency to set up an Islamic state in the north that has killed some 15,000 people and displaced more than two million.
Dozens of the girls managed to flee to safety in the initial melee, but more than 200 are still missing."
August 12, 2016 Libya ‘chaos’ makes it one of world's most dangerous places to be a Christian
"It’s five years this month since Muammar Gaddafi’s government in Libya was overthrown when
rebels stormed his compound and he went into hiding. However, despite high hopes, the ongoing anarchy there now makes it “one of the most dangerous places in the world to be a Christian”, according to a new report by Open Doors International, whose World Watch Research team monitors such developments.
The Church in Libya, made up almost entirely of foreign nationals, was never entirely free to worship during Gaddafi’s reign, notes Libya: Freedom of religion in the land of anarchy, but it says the situation for Christians is now much worse.
“The anarchic political and security condition in contemporary Libya has created [an] environment conducive for radical Islamic groups to persecute Christians blatantly and violently with absolute impunity,” says the report, authored by World Watch Research analyst Yonas Dembele."
August 9, 2016 Algerian Christian gets maximum sentence for ‘blasphemy’
"A Christian in Algeria has been sentenced to five years in prison – the maximum term – and given a heavy fine for blasphemy against Islam and its prophet, for a social media post.
Slimane Bouhafs, 49, appeared before a judge on 7 Aug in the eastern town of Setif (300km from Algiers, the capital) in the Kabylie region.
He was arrested on 31 July for posting a message on social media about the light of Jesus overcoming the “lie” of Islam and its prophet. He also published photos showing the execution of a civilian by an Islamist terrorist.
Such material is judged by the authorities to insult Islam, the state religion in Algeria, according to its Constitution. The penal code provides for a penalty of three to five years in prison, along with a heavy fine, against anyone convicted of insulting Islam and Muhammad, its prophet.
The Vice-President of the Algerian League for the Defense of Human Rights (LADDH), Said Salhi, denounced what he called “this attack” on the guarantees of freedom of conscience and worship enshrined in Algeria’s Constitution."
April 26, 2016: Bloodbath in Enugu as Fulani herdsmen kill 40
"NSUKKA—About 40 persons have so far been reportedly killed by some Fulani herdsmen at Nimbo in Uzo- Uwani Local Government Area of Enugu State, sources told Vanguard at Nsukka Police Area Command, near the area yesterday. The incident took place barely 24 hours after stories filtered out that no fewer than 500 heavily-armed Fulani herdsmen sneaked into the community preparatory to launch an attack. About seven villages in Nimbo (Nimbo Ngwoko, Ugwuijoro, Ekwuru, Ebor, Enugu Nimbo, Umuome and Ugwuachara) were among the areas attacked. Ten residential houses and a church, Christ Holy Church International, aka Odozi Obodo, were also said to have been burnt by the herdsmen just as vehicles and motorcycles were destroyed and domestic animals killed."
August 5, 2016: New Boko Haram Leader Vows to Bomb Every Church, Kill All Christians
Boko Haram's leader, Abubakar Shekau, appears in a video screen grab. |
IS (also known as ISIS or ISIL) announced Wednesday in its al-Nabaa newspaper that Abu Musab al-Barnawi is the new leader of its Nigerian-affiliated outfit, calling him the "Wali" (governor) of its West African Province.
In an interview published by the IS news source that was translated by the SITE Intelligence Group, al-Barnawi vowed to kill less Muslims and more Christians."
June 27, 2016: In Venezuela, a once-leading AIDS program lies in ruins
"More than a decade ago, the country was lauded for its treatment program. Now, Venezuela is years into a political and economic crisis"
"Affordable drugs, education for at-risk groups, free condoms all helped control and reduce the country’s HIV epidemic.
But as Venezuela sinks deeper and deeper into economic turmoil, huge inflation and chronic shortages of supplies means that falling sick can be a death sentence.
The World spoke with Stephanie Nolen, Latin America correspondent for Canada’s Globe & Mail. More than a decade ago she covered the AIDS pandemic in Africa, and was recently in Venezuela where she she says, "There is nowhere in the world today where people are dying of AIDS at the pace and in the sheer numbers that they are in Venezuela: Even the poorest African countries today have HIV treatment programs.""
"I have been reporting on Venezuela’s deepening crisis for four years, and I knew about the state of the health system. But the reality of this AIDS program, which I knew from its excellent reputation, brought home the scale of how far this country has deteriorated. Feliciano Reyna, a veteran activist who founded one of Venezuela’s oldest HIV organizations, Accion Solidaria, recognized my shock. “If you’re not here and you don’t see it, it’s very hard for anyone to believe that any of this is true,” he said."
March 1, 2016: Open Doors report: The killing of Christians in northern Nigeria has increased by 62% in just one year.
"The 2016 World Watch List shows a staggering 62% increase in violent killings of Christians in northern Nigeria as churches in Nigeria unite to highlight this problem for the first time. A report to be released in Abuja by Open Doors and the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN), ‘Crushed but not defeated, the impact of persistent violence on the church in northern Nigeria’, makes a detailed study of the violence that has occurred.
A partner director for West Africa says: “This report shows that extent and impact of the persistent violence on the church in northern Nigeria is much more serious than previously expected. Once Boko Haram is defeated, the problem will not be solved. Christians living under Sharia law are facing discrimination and marginalization and have limited to no access to federal rights. We hope that this report will prompt the Nigerian government and international community to take the real suffering of persecuted Christians seriously and act on their behalf. Next to that, I hope that Nigerian Christians will become more involved with their brothers and sisters; that they will stand in the gap for them.”
The report looks at persecution from three main sources: Boko Haram, Muslim Fulani herdsmen and the Muslim religious and political elite that dominates government in northern Nigeria.
In 2015, there were 4,028 killings and 198 church attacks that Open Doors was able to record. The figures recorded for the previous year were 2,484 killings and 108 church attacks.
An estimated 30 million Christians in northern Nigeria form the largest minority in a mainly Muslim environment. They are at risk of violent persecution, as the report states: “For decades, Christians in the region have suffered marginalization and discrimination as well as targeted violence.”
Open Doors works in northern Nigeria, funding development projects such as clinics, community health training, provision of waterholes, schools and teacher training, vocational training for farmers and micro-loans for orphans and widows. Trauma work is also done with people who have suffered violent persecution; emergency relief is provided for these people.
Nigeria is 12th on the Open Doors World Watch List which ranks countries according to how difficult it is to be a Christian. Please continue to keep this nation in prayer as violence and persecution reaches unprecedented levels.
January 13, 2016: 2015 Deadliest Year for Christians Worldwide, Open Doors' World Watch List Finds
"The Christian persecution watchdog group Open Doors has released its annual list of countries where Christians face the greatest persecution and found that it has reached unprecedented levels worldwide as over 7,000 Christians were killed for their faith between Nov. 1, 2014, and Oct. 31, 2015.
Although the California-based ministry, which works in over 60 countries, stated last January that 2014 was the worst year for Christian persecution than any other time in modern history, the organization said during the rollout of its 2016 World Watch List that 2015 surpassed 2014 as the deadliest year for Christians worldwide.
Open Doors found that over 3,000 more Christians were killed for faith-related reasons during its reporting period for the 2016 World Watch List than it found during the reporting period for the 2015 report. Additionally, over 2,400 churches were attacked, damaged or destroyed during the reporting period, which is more than double the number from last year."
"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 explained at a Wednesday press conference introducing the report. "This research has concluded that after the brutal persecution of Christians in 2014, 2015 proved to be even worse with the persecution continuing to increase, intensify and spread across the globe."
December 29, 2015: Boko Haram attacks northeast Nigerian city, many killed
"MAIDUGURI, Nigeria -- Boko Haram Islamic extremists struck the northeast Nigerian city of Maiduguri for the first time in months Monday with rocket-propelled grenades and two female suicide bombers, witnesses said. At least 15 people were killed but the toll was feared many times higher.
Nigerian troops "intercepted and destroyed" 10 suicide bombers, according to PR Nigeria, an agency that disseminates government news.
Militants firing indiscriminately from the back of three trucks attacked the outlying village, soldiers engaged them, and as people were fleeing, a woman ran into a suburb yelling "Boko Haram, Boko Haram." When people gathered, she detonated herself, according to village head Bulama Isa."
"The attack comes as Nigeria's government says it has contained the Islamic uprising that has killed 20,000 people in six years and driven 2.3 million people from their homes."
December 26, 2015: Christianity Implodes in Europe; Explodes in Africa
"Christianity is experiencing an unprecedented boom on the African continent and now accounts for more than half of Africa’s total population, while Christian affiliation and practice continue to ebb in Europe, signaling a major demographic shift in global Christianity.
An article in the Christmas issue of the Economist lays out the sobering statistics of European Christianity, while holding up the remarkable growth of the Christian faith among Africans.
Christianity is experiencing more rapid growth in Africa than anywhere else on the planet, including Asia and Latin America. In 1910 less than 10% of Africans identified as Christians, whereas today 55% of the population is Christian. And while in 2015 Europe still has the largest Christian population of any continent at just over 575 million, Africa is projected to overtake it by 2025.
The growth of Christianity in Africa averages 2.78% each year, while Europe’s growth rate languishes at 0.16%, meaning that while Africa becomes more and more Christian, Europe becomes less so.
The striking growth of Christianity in Africa is not merely a question of religious affiliation, but is reflected in actual religious belief and practice. The Economist reports that 90% of self-identified Christians attend church regularly across the five sub-Saharan African countries for which data are available (Ghana, Nigeria, Rwanda, South Africa and Zimbabwe), making African Christians the most devout in the world."
December 3, 2015: Terrorism has found its way to our back door in America. It began at the front step in New York on 9/11.
The terror that is engulfing Nigeria can strike anywhere and now it has arrived in San Bernardino from Paris as a radical 'religious' man executes 14 people at a Christmas party with his wife yielding death.
While most people in the U.S. have only seen the horrors of terrorism by Islamic extremists from afar, today that terror has struck the heart of California as the four corners of the world are now entering a time of tribulation, but we are not to hate or fear Muslims. They need Jesus too.
Daniel Greenfield reports more in Frontline Mag: TERROR STRIKES SAN BERNARDINO COUNTY
But “paranoia and phobia” are the modern condition that the free world has found itself living in. Islamic terrorism can strike anytime and anywhere from a Paris concert hall to a San Bernardino County facility where disabled children were being helped. It’s ignorance to ignore that and bigotry to defend it.
“What will be done to ensure the safety of our community? Our biggest concern is the safety of our family, our children and our grandchildren,” Victoria Hargrave of Redlands Townhall had asked.
It was a good question. As the country watched police charge towards a home in the Redlands, it has become an even better question.
The shooter, Sayeed Farouk, was described by his father as a religiously devout Muslim. “He was very religious. He would go to work, come back, go to pray, come back.” Neighbors say that he "grew a beard and started to wear religious clothing. The long shirt that’s like a dress and the cap on his head.”
And at some point his “religiosity” took him down the familiar path of Jihad.
Neighbors knew something was wrong, but were afraid that they would be accused of Islamophobia if they reported it. Officially the motive of this religiously devout Muslim couple in carrying out a terrorist attack is still unknown. The evolving media narrative is that familiar standby of “workplace violence”. The sort of workplace violence involving an attack by multiple terrorists wearing body armor and throwing pipe bombs shortly after an argument at a party.
If you believe this version of the “workplace violence” story, the shooter stormed out of a party and 20 minutes later had managed to round up multiple heavily armed attackers to avenge his party argument.
It’s certainly a story. Even if it isn’t a very good story. And yet it’s a story that we keep hearing over and over again.
It begins with lies and ends with body bags."
November 17, 2015: Global Terrorism Increased by 80% in 2014
"Terrorism continues to rise, with over 32,000 people killed in terrorist attacks in 2014, the highest number recorded. Despite being highly concentrated in five countries, terrorism is spreading, with more countries recording attacks and deaths."
· Deaths from terrorism increased 80% last year to the highest level ever, with 32,658 people killed, compared to 18,111 in 2013.
Boko Haram and ISIL were jointly responsible for 51% of all claimed global fatalities in 2014.
· 78% of all deaths and 57% of all attacks occurred in just five countries: Afghanistan, Iraq, Nigeria, Pakistan and Syria.
· Iraq continues to be the country most impacted by terrorism with 9,929 terrorist fatalities the highest ever recorded in a single country.
· Nigeria experienced the largest increase in terrorist activity with 7,512 deaths in 2014, an increase of over 300% since 2013.
September 17, 2015: U.N.: Boko Haram Mayhem Has Displaced 1.4 Million Children
"Fear of attacks by Boko Haram, the Islamist extremist group of northern Nigeria known for its deadly marauding and kidnappings, has uprooted a half-million children in the past five months, Unicef said in a report released Thursday.
The newly displaced bring the total number of children who have fled from Boko Haram militants in Nigeria and neighboring countries to 1.4 million, said the report by Unicef, the United Nations Children’s Fund.
The report’s findings suggested that efforts by Nigeria’s new president, Muhammadu Buhari, who was elected partly on a pledge to eradicate Boko Haram, were not going as well as he has asserted. Mr. Buhari said last week that military forces were gaining the advantage on Boko Haram, which has been waging a campaign of bombings, burnings, abductions and plundering for years through swaths of northern Nigeria, and more recently in Cameroon, Chad and Niger."
November 13, 2015: Islamic terrorists attack in Paris massacre with gunfire and blasts in Deadly attacks across Paris
"A wave of six terrorist attacks in Paris left at least 130 people dead across the city in the deadliest violence to strike France in decades, November 13, 2015. France declared three days of national mourning. People worldwide paused for a moment of silence November 17.
The attacks, included a shootout in a Paris restaurant, multiple explosions near the Stade de France north of the city and a hostage situation at the Bataclan concert hall in Paris." CREDIT: Jerome Delay/AP"
July 25 2015: Boko Haram kills 25 in Nigeria
"Kano, Nigeria (CNN) A bloody and terrifying raid by Boko Haram on Friday left at least 25 people dead in three villages in eastern Nigeria's Adamawa state, according to residents and a local government official. Adamawa state borders Borno state, Boko Haram's birth place and main stronghold.
Storming in on motorcycles, the gunmen attacked the neighboring villages of Kopa, Maikadire and Yaffa around 9 a.m. local time, shooting and killing residents, according to witnesses and local government chairman Maina Ularamu."
July 7, 2015: EuroNews reports on more terror and tribulation during Ramadan as Boko Haram has sworn allegiance to the "Islamic State."
Nigeria: Scores killed in Jos in attacks blamed on Boko Haram
"Emergency services rushed to retrieve the injured after suspected Islamist militants killed at least 44 people in attacks on a restaurant and mosque in the central Nigerian city of Jos.
Though no one has claimed responsibility, the violence bore the hallmarks of Boko Haram insurgents, who have been stepping up attacks over the last week.
The city of Jos lies on the edge of the core insurgency zone but has been hit by Boko Haram fighters before. On Sunday, a suicide bomber attacked a church in Potiskum in the north-east of the country. At least five worshippers were killed.
Last year the Islamist group held large swathes of the north-east of the country, but the government backed by troops from neighbouring countries had managed to recapture much of the territory.
The latest attacks appear to be in response to the so-called Islamic State group’s call to step up military operations during Ramadan. In recent days more than 200 people have been killed. Boko Haram has sworn allegiance to the ISIL group.
Recent Attacks
Monday 06/07
44 killed in attacks on mosque and restaurant in Jos
Sunday 05/07
5 killed in attack on church in Potiskum
Friday 03/07
Zabarmari village attacked by several suicide bombers killing scores
Wednesday 01/07
Up to 118 killed in an attack on the village of Kukawa, 185 kilometres from Maiduguri, the capital of Borno state.
Tuesday 30/06
Up to 48 gunned down in two villages near Monguno, Borno Stat"
July 12, 2015: Boko Haram now calls itself 'Islamic State, West Africa Province'
"Boko Haram has claimed responsibility for attacks in Chad’s capital N’Djamena and the Nigerian city of Maiduguri, the SITE Intelligence Group said last night.
The US-based monitoring group said the claim of responsibility, made on Twitter, was signed “Islamic State, West Africa Province”, as Boko Haram has styled itself since pledging allegiance to the Islamic State group in March.
“West Africa Province [formerly Boko Haram] of #ISIS claimed the suicide bombings today [Saturday] in Chad and Nigeria,” SITE said on Twitter.
A statement citing Boko Haram’s Twitter message identified the attackers and said they had “pounded strongholds of disbelief in West Africa”.
At least 15 people were killed in a suicide bomb attack at a crowded market in N’Djamena on Saturday. Boko Haram had previously claimed responsibility for a June 15 attack in the city that left 38 dead."
June 2, 2014: Boko Haram bombs Maiduguri in north-east Nigeria, killing 20 people
"Boko Haram has attacked the north-eastern Nigerian city of Maiduguri with explosions and a suicide bombing that witnesses said killed as many as 20 people.
The attack began in the early hours of Tuesday morning when residents were woken by explosions, heavy gunfire and the screech of a fighter jet scrambling to protect the area.
“We are under siege,” Sumaila Ayuba, her voice shaking, told the Associated Press by telephone just after midnight from her home on the city’s western edge. “The shooting is quite deafening. Please, we need prayers.”
Hours later, a man blew himself up at Gamboru cattle market, according to witnesses who spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of reprisals. One said he counted at least 20 bodies.
More than 30 people died in attacks over the weekend.
Boko Haram’s six-year-old uprising aimed at imposing sharia law across Nigeria has killed 13,000 people and driven 1.5 million from their homes."
June 15, 2015: Charleston church shooting: Nine die in South Carolina 'hate crime'
"Nine people have been shot dead at a historic African-American church in Charleston, South Carolina, and a hunt is under way for a white gunman.
Police described the attack at the Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church as a "hate crime".
They issued surveillance images of the suspect and said he had sat in the church for an hour before opening fire.
The church's pastor, state Senator Clementa Pinckney, is reported to be among the dead."
May 27, 2015: Church leaders: ‘South Sudanese are being killed, raped and tortured’
"Human rights in South Sudan are abused “on the battlefield and in peaceful areas,” and much of the country is without effective governance, Church leaders have said.
“People are being killed, raped and tortured,” the South Sudan Council of Churches said in a May 26 statement signed by eight Church leaders, including Archbishop Paulino Lukudu Loro of Juba.
“Children are being recruited into armed groups” and “looting is endemic”, the statement said, noting that many individuals, groups and even government organs are taking the law into their own hands, “with disastrous consequences for everybody.”
According to the United Nations (UN), fighting in South Sudan has “worsened considerably” in recent weeks. About 119,000 people are taking shelter in its compounds across the country, the UN said on May 24, noting that rights monitors have been denied access to sites where they sought to verify reports of killings, rapes, abductions and the burning and destruction of towns and villages.
The world’s newest state, which gained independence from Sudan in 2011, was plunged into conflict in December 2013 between forces loyal to President Salva Kiir and rebels allied with his former deputy, Riek Machar. As many as 10,000 people have been killed and more than one million displaced in the months since."
May 26, 2015: Islamic Terrorist Attacks in Niger is Survived by Director
"John Coquerel, West Africa Regional Coordinator for GRN has now paid a visit to Niger to access the damage, and he said in his report about what he called “the incredible violence” in the country, “More than 84 churches and missions were burned of which many destroyed to the ground after being robbed and ransacked. More than 69 houses and stores knew the same treatment."
"Coquerel then pointed out what “God has done with this disastrous situation,” citing:
1. No Christian has lost their life. The deaths WERE ALL Muslims who ended up killing each other in the violence and confusion
2. About the material losses, there is hope that the government will compensate the victims, one way or another. It’s not an absolute certainty but there are signs of hope. Niger authorities have already helped by lodging the victims who have lost their house and by giving food to them. Some Christian organizations such as African Service, Samaritan's Purse and SIM have also helped in providing food.
3. This turmoil has led to a revival first in Christian community. Those who have stopped going to church by laziness woke up and started attending church again. Their faith has been refreshed somehow.
4. Above all it’s in Muslim communities that marvelous things are happening. Many of the Muslims were shocked by the terror they are capable of. Christian leaders have publicly offered their forgiveness to the authors of the terrorist acts. This forgiveness has profoundly marked the Muslims. They have hard time to believe it. They say: “If it was the Christians who have committed, say less than 10% of what has happened, we are going to kill them all. How can you forgive such acts?” In amazement, an Imam called a Pastor and asked him: “Is your forgiveness real? Isn’t it that you are planning your revenge in the guise of forgiveness? If it’s real, expect many to come to your church. We’re watching you.” It’s exactly what’s happening. Muslims, curious and astonished, now go to church, seeking to know the God of the Christians, the God who asks his people to forgive. Many of them start buying the Bible and read it.
5. An anecdote: In a Christian Bible store, the sales clerk advised her Muslim client: “Don’t you want to buy a cover for your Bible, so that you can read it without bringing attention to you?” The client responded: “No, thanks. I will read it openly. Let’s them tell me I don’t have the right to read it.” This story indicates to us that the fear of reading the Bible is diminishing among Muslims. Let’s pray that this emancipation lasts and would not be the fruit of one season."
We are not to hate or fear Muslims. Muslims need Jesus too.
April 3, 2015: Al-Shabaab have claimed responsibility: Militants Kill 147 In Kenyan University Attack
"Survivors say the masked gunmen singled out non-Muslim students and gunned them down without mercy as others ran for their lives.
Around 80 more have been confirmed as wounded in the siege at Garissa University, which has now ended after the four attackers detonated their suicide vests.
The gunmen hurled grenades and fired automatic rifles as students were sleeping, shooting dead dozens before setting Muslims free and holding Christians and others hostage.
Survivors said the masked attackers singled out non-Muslim students and gunned most of them down without mercy.
Others ran for their lives as bullets whistled through the air."
What is Al-Shabaab, and what does it want?
March 25, 2015: ISIS Expands Into West Africa, Welcoming Boko Haram Allegiance
"ISIS is expanding into West Africa after it accepted a pledge of allegiance from Boko Haram, the Islamist militant group that has killed and kidnapped thousands of people over more than a decade of terrorizing Nigeria, according to an ISIS audio released Thursday.
In the audio, which was verified by Flashpoint Intelligence, a global security firm and NBC News consultant, a spokesman says ISIS leader Abu Bakr Al-Baghdadi congratulated Boko Haram on joining the radical terrorist movement that controls parts of Syria and Iraq."
The brutal reason Boko Haram just took 500 ‘young women and children’
"This is the story of what comes after the headlines. What happens after the shock dissolves and the news marches onto the next tragedy. This is what happens to the boys, girls and women who are kidnapped by Boko Haram — and why."
March 19, 2015: Pakistani Christians Commemorate Victims of Terror Attack, Say Jihadists Will Never 'Push Back' Their Faith
"Hundreds of Pakistani Christians on Tuesday held prayer services to commemorate the victims of two Taliban suicide bombs in the city of Lahore, refusing to let terrorism silence their faith.
On March 16, suicide bombers affiliated with the Pakistani Taliban launched attacks against two churches conducting Sunday morning services in the predominantly Christian city of Lahore, killing at least 14 people and injuring 70 others. Although police said that the bombers were stopped by either worshippers or security personnel, the attackers still managed to detonate their explosives.
Christian leaders from across Pakistan country attended the funeral for the victims following two days of violent protests by the community members against the blasts. According to Reuters, the Pakistani government had called in 5,000 police and paramilitary rangers to control the law and order situation in the region, where violent clashes between Christians and Muslims erupted. Several protesters were killed and about a dozen wounded in the clashes."
March 7, 2015: African Training Exercise Turns Urgent as Threats Grow
"MAO, Chad — An oath of allegiance from Boko Haram, the Nigeria-based militant group, to the Islamic State on Saturday reinforces Western fears that the terrorist group is growing beyond its base in Iraq and Syria. These worries have prompted American and allied commandos to rush to train African counterterrorism troops to fight extremists on the continent.
The expanding effort here on the edge of the Sahara to fight militancies like Boko Haram comes as the group has kidnapped schoolgirls, slaughtered thousands of people, and now has expanded its attacks from Nigeria into Cameroon, Niger and Chad."
February 25, 2015: Nigeria pleads for your prayer. Pray for Abducted Missionary
"Bishop David Kendall released the following statement Monday, Feb. 23, urging prayer for Free Methodist missionary Phyllis Sortor:
"Dear Friends,February 19, 2015: As Obama tells the world Radical Islam has nothing to do with anything... Boko Haram Jihad Spills Over as Neighbors Plan War
Early this morning we received a report that Rev. Phyllis Sortor, our missionary in Nigeria, was abducted from the Hope Academy compound in Emiworo, Kogi State, Nigeria by several persons. The U.S. Embassy has been notified, and the State Department and the FBI are working with local authorities to find and rescue her. We are calling on the U.S. church to join together in prayer for Phyllis’ safety and speedy release."
"The Nigeria-based Islamic terrorist group Boko Haram has issued a new threat, vowing to carry out suicide bombings against Niger and Chad for sending troops to battle them.
Boko Haram has been terrorizing towns and villages in countries along Nigeria's border for weeks. In response, leaders from countries in the region gathered in Cameroon Monday to finalize war plans against the terrorist group.
As they were meeting, Boko Haram attacked a Cameroonian military base on Nigeria's border, killing at least five soldiers and wounding eight others.
Last year, Boko Haram declared it is establishing an Islamic caliphate, just like the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria. The group has waged a five-year jihad against Nigeria's government, leaving 10,000 people dead last year alone."
February 17, 2015: US Won't Help Fight Boko Haram Until Nigeria Accepts Homosexuality, Birth Control, Bishop Says
But African values are not on sale.
"VATICAN CITY — “African values are not on sale,” the new Chairman of Communications for the African bishops has said.
But Bishop Emmanuel Badejo of Oyo, Nigeria, is convinced they are under threat from what Pope Francis has called an “ideological colonization” that is seeking to destroy the family.
It's so bad, he says, that the United States has made clear it will not help Nigeria fight the Boko Haram terror group unless the country modify its laws regarding homosexuality, family planning and birth-control."
February 14, 2015: Nigerian president calls for US help as Boko Haram invade city
"Nigeria's President Goodluck Jonathan appealed for more US help in fighting Boko Haram, as the Islamists struck again on Saturday and called for a boycott of upcoming general elections.
The head of state for the first time claimed direct links between the Sunni radicals who have been waging a six-year insurgency in Nigeria and the Islamic State group in Syria and Iraq.
He told the Wall Street Journal in an interview: "Are they (the United States) not fighting ISIS? Why can't they come to Nigeria?
"They are our friends. If Nigeria has a problem, then I expect the US to come and assist us."
But Pentagon spokesman Rear Admiral John Kirby said there are no plans to send US troops to Nigeria."
Boko Haram: 200,000 Christians at Risk of Massacre in Nigeria
"Boko Haram forces appear poised to attack Maiduguri, a city of 2 million in northeast Nigeria -- meaning that 200,000 Christians could be at risk of slaughter by the Islamist terror group, say U.S. intelligence officials and experts on Nigeria.
"An attack on Madiguri is very likely," said J. Peter Pham, director of the Africa Project at the Atlantic Council, echoing U.S. intelligence officials. Pham believes, as do other experts, that Boko Haram has already placed "sleeper cells" among the tide of refugees who have fled the group's murderous rampage through Africa's most populous nation. "They've done it everywhere else they've gone," said Pham. "So why not Maiduguri?
Strategically, success in Maiduguri would provide Boko Haram with a launching point for further attacks on the neighboring states of Cameroon, Chad and Niger, all of whose territory were once part of an Islamic caliphate that lasted six centuries, ending in the 1300's. Boko Haram declared its own caliphate in the region last year."
"One big concern is the large number of Christians in the city -- about 200,000, most of them Roman Catholic. In previous attacks, Boko Haram has offered Nigerian Christians the opportunity to convert or be killed. Already, 200 Christian churches have been lost to the group's onslaught."
February 5, 2015: The cancer of tribulation spreads to Cameroon as Boko Haram, hit by 3-nation offensive, rampage in Cameroon
"YAOUNDE, Cameroon — Hundreds of Boko Haram fighters took revenge Thursday on villagers in Cameroon, shooting and burning scores to death and razing mosques and churches after warning Nigeria's neighbors not to join the battle against the Islamic insurgent group.
France's president warned that the world was not doing enough to end the wanton killings by the militants, who have waged a campaign of terror in a broad swath of northeastern Nigeria, where they declared an Islamic caliphate in August.
At least 91 villagers were killed and more than 500 were wounded in the northern Cameroon town of Fotokol on the border with Nigeria, where fighting began Wednesday and continued Thursday, Cameroonian officials said.
While Boko Haram has previously carried out attacks in Cameroon, the latest bloodshed came after the group warned Nigeria's neighbors against uniting against it. Cameroon and Chad joined Nigeria in launching an air and ground offensive against the insurgents on at least two fronts this week."
January 25, 2015: Boko Haram attacks northeastern Nigerian city, dozens killed
"MAIDUGURI, Nigeria – In fierce fighting Sunday that killed more than 200 combatants, Nigerian troops clashed with Islamic extremists who attacked Maiduguri, the biggest city in northeastern Nigeria, from three fronts.
At the same time the insurgents continued scorched-earth attacks on villages some 125 miles to the south in Adamawa state, slitting throats of residents, looting and burning homes and abducting dozens of trapped women and children, according to Vandu Kainu and other escaping survivors."
January 22, 2015: Why anti-Christian violence broke out in Niger after Charlie Hebdo
"The brutality last weekend in the African nation of Niger garnered relatively little media attention, yet, 70 churches in the southern part of the country were torched, people were killed, and thousands fled for their lives.
The attacks appear to be in retaliation for cartoons printed depicting Muhammad, the founder of Islam, in the French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo—the same paper that was the subject of a deadly attack in Paris on Jan. 7. Some say the weekend violence was a response to Niger’s President, Mahamadou Issoufou, marching in a Jan. 11 Paris rally in solidarity with other world leaders.
But Paris is far from Niger, a poor country and former French colony that is largely illiterate and overwhelmingly Muslim. Its secular government allows for religious freedom."
January 21, 2015: Boko Haram Boasts Massacre, Captures More Girls
"The Islamic militant group Boko Haram is boasting that it slaughtered 2,000 civilians in northern Nigeria.
The leader of the group, Abubakar Shekau, just made the announcement in a video, taking responsibility for the Jan. 3 attack in the northeast Nigerian town of Baga.
"We are the ones who fought the people of Baga, and we have killed them with such a killing," Shekau says, according to a translation provided by SITE Intelligence Group.
Now comes yet another disturbing report that Boko Haram also kidnapped 500 women and children in that same attack."
January 19, 2015: Dozens of Churches Burned in Charlie Hebdo Protests
"Christians in the West African country of Niger are asking for prayer after Muslim rioters burned dozens of churches in violent protests over a cartoon of the Prophet Muhammed in a new issue of the French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo.
CBN News has contacts on the ground who say the violence is spreading and the government has not provided any protection for them after Muslim protestors burned a Christian clinic and about 40 churches.
The protests also killed four people and injured dozens of others.
The latest round of protests began after midday prayers on Friday, which is Islam's holy day.
Demonstrations also took place in several Pakistani cities."
January 13, 2015: Beyond Nigeria... Libya ISIS Libya affiliate claims to kidnap Christians
"CAIRO - A Libyan affiliate of the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) has claimed the abduction of 21 Coptic Christians and released pictures of the captives.
The claim and photos were posted Monday on jihadi forums used by ISIS supporters. The Egyptian workers were seized last month in the central Libyan city of Sirte.
"The soldiers of the Islamic State in the province of Tripoli hold captive 21 Christian crusaders," the photo caption read, using a the name the group uses for itself."
January 12, 2015: 'Corpses everywhere' as Boko Haram still 'control' Nigeria town
"Kano (Nigeria) (AFP) - Boko Haram remains in control of the northeast Nigerian town of Baga more than a week after a massacre feared to be the worst since the insurgency began, a resident said on Monday."
"Boko Haram first attacked Baga, on the shores of Lake Chad in the far north of Borno State, on January 3 and subsequently razed it and at least 16 surrounding settlements.
Local officials have cited huge numbers of dead in the attacks but confirming the figures is currently impossible. Some 20,000 people are said to have been forced to flee."
January 11, 2015: Explosives strapped to girl kill 20 people at Nigerian market
"Kano, Nigeria (CNN)Explosives strapped to a girl detonated at a crowded marketplace in Nigeria, killing at least 20 people and injuring 18 others, according to police.
The police estimate differed from the local hospital's estimate, which counted 51 people with blast injuries.
The suicide blast happened at the main entrance of the ever-crowded Monday Market, the largest in the city of Maiduguri. About 12:40 p.m. Saturday, the girl was stopped for screening by vigilantes who man the gates of the market, according to witnesses and rescuers."
"Many of wounded victims taken to Maiduguri Specialist Hospital have life-threatening injuries, said Musa Kyarimi, a nurse there.
The marketplace in Maiduguri has been a frequent target. More than 45 people were killed in late November in a twin suicide attack, and more than 10 others died in another suicide blast a week later, on December 1. Another suicide bombing on July 1 left at least 15 people dead and several injured.
On Sunday, three people were killed and 43 injured in a separate attack in Potiskum, police said.
"Two female suicide bombers targeted the mobile phone market in Potiskum this afternoon, but they blew up before the could reach their targets," Marcus Danladi, police commissioner for Yobe state, said from the state capital of Damaturu.
The two bombers were also killed."
January 10, 2015: It was a dark week in France and the world is in uproar and disbelief over the horror of terror in Paris where 17 were brutally shot and killed by professed Muslim terrorist trained in Yemen.
I am grief stricken and outraged about the Paris bombings yet, as many as 2,000 have died in the past week from radical militant Muslim attacks on Christian women and children in grievous attacks in the fishing town of Baga, Nigeria. God help us if we do not cry out to Him about this!
Amnesty: Nigeria massacre deadliest in history of Boko Haram
"YOLA, Nigeria — Hundreds of bodies — too many to count — remain strewn in the bush in Nigeria from an Islamic extremist attack that Amnesty International suggested Friday is the "deadliest massacre" in the history of Boko Haram.
Mike Omeri, the government spokesman on the insurgency, said fighting continued Friday for Baga, a town on the border with Chad where insurgents seized a key military base on Jan. 3 and attacked again on Wednesday.
"Security forces have responded rapidly, and have deployed significant military assets and conducted airstrikes against militant targets," Omeri said in a statement.
District head Baba Abba Hassan said most victims are children, women and elderly people who could not run fast enough when insurgents drove into Baga, firing rocket-propelled grenades and assault rifles on town residents.
"The human carnage perpetrated by Boko Haram terrorists in Baga was enormous," Muhammad Abba Gava, a spokesman for poorly armed civilians in a defense group that fights Boko Haram, told The Associated Press.
He said the civilian fighters gave up on trying to count all the bodies. "No one could attend to the corpses and even the seriously injured ones who may have died by now," Gava said.
An Amnesty International statement said there are reports the town was razed and as many as 2,000 people killed.
If true, "this marks a disturbing and bloody escalation of Boko Haram's ongoing onslaught," said Daniel Eyre, Nigeria researcher for Amnesty International.
The previous bloodiest day in the uprising involved soldiers gunning down unarmed detainees freed in a March 14, 2014, attack on Giwa military barracks in Maiduguri city. Amnesty said then that satellite imagery indicated more than 600 people were killed that day.
The 5-year insurgency killed more than 10,000 people last year alone, according to the Washington-based Council on Foreign Relations. More than a million people are displaced inside Nigeria and hundreds of thousands have fled across its borders into Chad, Cameroon and Nigeria.""
January 7, 2015: CBN News reports: Christian Persecution: Is the Worst Yet to Come?
""The world still does not get it. The persecution of Christians is real, it is horrifically violent often, and it is spreading at an unprecedented rate in modern times,' said Open Doors USA President David Curry.
The grim-faced Curry unveiled the group's 2015 Worldwatch list today in Washington, D.C.
Each January, OD unveils its list of the world's top 50 persecuting countries of Christians. So, what's different this year compared to the 2014 list?
The 2015 list documents the worst persecution of Christians in the modern era and "perhaps the worst is yet to come," Curry explained.
He said Open Doors can confirm that 4,344 people were executed or murdered for their Christian faith in 2014. That is more than double the number for 2013. The numbers are likely much higher, but OD uses only figures that can be verified.
Curry said more than half of the global victims this year were killed in Nigeria (2,484) at the hands of the Islamic terrorist group Boko Haram.
Despite the rise of the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria--for the thirteenth year in a row-- North Korea remains the world's top persecutor of Christians. Iraq is listed as No. 3 on the list and Syria at No. 4.
Among differences this year:
Last year only one African country (Somalia) was listed in the top 10. This year there are four: Somalia (2), Sudan (6), Eritrea (9) and Nigeria (10)."
January 5, 2015: Boko Haram seizes military base in Nigeria
"(CNN) Hundreds of Islamist militants have seized a multinational military base in northeastern Nigeria, according to a government official.
"Boko Haram overwhelmed the Multinational Joint Task Force and dislodged them from their base outside Baga after hours-long fighting," said Maina Ma'aji Lawan, a Nigerian senator from the state of Borno, where Baga is located.
"They came in huge numbers heavily armed and subdued the multinational troops consisting (of) soldiers from Nigeria, Niger and Chad," Lawan said."
December 17, 2014: In Pakistan school attack, Taliban terrorists kill 145, mostly children
""'God is great,'" the Taliban militants shouted as they roared through the hallways of a school in Peshawar, Pakistan.
Then, 14-year-old student Ahmed Faraz recalled, one of them took a harsher tone.
" 'A lot of the children are under the benches,' " a Pakistani Taliban said, according to Ahmed. " 'Kill them.' "
By the time the hours-long siege at Army Public School and Degree College ended early Tuesday evening, at least 145 people -- 132 children, 10 school staff members and three soldiers -- were dead, military spokesman Gen. Asim Bajwa said. More than 100 were injured, many with gunshot wounds, according to Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province Information Minister Mushtaq Ghani.
The death toll does not include the terrorists who attacked the school, bursting into an auditorium where a large number of students were taking an exam and gunning down many of them within minutes, Bajwa said."
December 18, 2014: CNN reports... Officials: Boko Haram kidnaps 185 women and children, kills 32 people
"Kano, Nigeria (CNN) -- Boko Haram insurgents kidnapped at least 185 women and children, and killed 32 people in a raid in northeastern Nigeria this week, local officials and residents said.
Gunmen in pickup trucks attacked the village of Gumsuri, just north of Chibok, on Sunday, shooting down men before herding women and children together.
"They gathered the women and children and took them away in trucks after burning most of the village with petrol bombs," a local government official said on condition of anonymity for fear of reprisal.
News of the attack took four days to emerge because of a lack of communication. Telecommunications towers in the region had been disabled in previous attacks."
December 9, 2014: The Times of India today reports that the Hindu in India are working to convert Muslims as well as Christians in the state of Uttar Pradesh back to to Hinduism.
Rajeshwar Singh also claimed that his group has taken possession of as many as 60 churches across the state, where no Christians worship now, "as they have all been re-converted to Hinduism".
November 20, 2014: The Voice of the Martyrs gives us this horrific report today: NIGERIA: BOMB KILLS STUDENTS
"Forty-eight students were killed and 79 others were seriously injured when a suicide bomber posing as a student detonated an explosive device in Potiskum, Yobe state, Nigeria on Nov. 10. The number of fatalities is expected to rise as many of the injured have severe wounds. All those killed and injured were students ranging from 11 to 20 years old."
November 10, 2014: Pakistani Christians Burned Alive Were Attacked by 1,200 People
ISLAMABAD, Pakistan — A mob accused of burning alive a Christian couple in an industrial kiln in Pakistan allegedly wrapped a pregnant mother in cotton so she would catch fire more easily, according to family members who witnessed the attack.
Sajjad Maseeh, 27, and his wife Shama Bibi, 24, were set upon by at least 1,200 people after rumors circulated that they had burned verses from the Quran, family spokesman Javed Maseeh told NBC News via telephone late Thursday. Their legs were also broken so they couldn't run away.
"They picked them up by their arms and legs and held them over the brick furnace until their clothes caught fire," he said. "And then they threw them inside the furnace."
According to the Pakistan Christian Post
"Philadelphia: November 9, 2014. (PCP) Dr. Nazir S Bhatti, President of Pakistan Christian Congress PCC expressed his surprise in a letter to US President Barak Obama that US Administration which is custodian of Human Rights, Liberty and freedom of speech and expression around world not bothered to condemn horrific murder of Christian couple by Islamic extremists in Islamic Republic of Pakistan nor US State department uttered any comments on Christian persecution and genocide of Christians.
Nazir Bhatti wrote that Shahzad Masih and his wife Shama Bibi were burnt alive by Muslim mob on November 4, 2014, in furnace of brick kiln factory where they were detained as bonded labor by one Mohammad Yousaf Gujjar near Kot Rada Kishan in district Kasur of Punjab province.
Dr. Nazir Bhatti urged US Administration to condemn burning alive of Christian couple, press upon Islamic Republic of Pakistan to repeal blasphemy laws and to condition aid to Pakistan on human rights.
Here are contents of letter of Dr. Nazir S Bhatti to US President:
President of USAOctober 13, 2014: Thank you Abba Father for the latter rains !!!
Mr. Barak Obama
Sir,
Christian couple burnt alive by Muslim on accusation of blasphemy in Pakistan.
As your honor is custodian of freedom, liberty and human rights around world, I wish to invite you kind attention towards a sad incident in which a Christian couple is tortured and burnt alive in furnace of brick kiln factory on false and fabricate accusations of blasphemy by Muslim mob near Kot Rada Kishan in district Kasur of Punjab province of Islamic Republic of Pakistan.
On November 4, 2014, Shahzad Masih and his wife Shama Bibi who were bonded laborer of Brick Kiln Factory owner Mohammad Gujjar were locked up and to teach them lesson on fleeing away he accused them of burning pages of Quran and send his Muslim employees to nearby villages to announce from loudspeakers of mosques that come and punish blasphemer Christian couple.
It is surprising that neither US Administration under your honor nor US State Department even bothered to condemn this horrific crime of burning live of Christian couple by a mob living in country named Islamic Republic of Pakistan which is receiving billions of aid of US taxpayers.
I would appeal your honor to put pressure on government of Pakistan to end misuse of blasphemy laws against Christian, Ahamadiyyia and other religious minorities and condition US Aid to Pakistan on human rights and repeal of blasphemy laws.
Thanks,
Dr. Nazir S Bhatti
President of Pakistan Christian Congress PCC
www.pakistanchristiancongress.org
Editor, Pakistan Christian Post
www.pakistanchristianpost.com
Dated: November 9, 2014.
Boko Haram militants |
He was held for 10 months by Boko Haram, the same Islamist group that has terrorized northern Nigeria and kidnapped some 300 schoolgirls. But God brought a downpour of heavy rain and a flood to wash away his captors and secure his escape.
Rotimi Obajimi, pastor of the Redeemed Christian Church of God, was kidnapped January 6, 2014 as he traveled from his rural church toward Maiduguri, according to a story by the Sahara Reporters.
The radical group took him to Sambisa Forest, a former game preserve filled with leopards and lions that has become a haven for Boko Haram. It is suspected the group is holding the Nigerian schoolgirls in the same area.
Boko Haram has killed at least 5,000 Nigerians in the last five years and their brutality has led to 650,000 refugees forced to flee their villages. Similar to the group ISIS, they seek to establish a caliphate with sharia law, and have also been beheading their opponents. Earlier this week Boko Haram beheaded seven villagers in northeastern Nigeria.
Pastor Obajimi was tied up for months in the forest, while many in his church prayed fervently for his freedom.
During the first week of October heavy rains began. It was a deluge so strong that the camp began to flood. Because of the flooding, his captors deserted the camp and Pastor Obajimi managed to free himself, according to Sahara Reporters.
October 6, 2014: Nigeria: Boko Haram Torch 185 Churches in Captured Towns of Borno and Adamawa
Nigerian military said over 200 Islamist fighters had surrendered in country's north east (YouTube) |
Reverend Gideon Obasogie, the director of Catholic Social Communication of Maiduguri Diocese in Borno State, said the group's seizure of territory in both states has seen 185 churches torched and over 190,000 people displaced by their insurgency.
In his statement, Obasogie said Boko Haram's "ransacking and torching" of churches had forced priests to leave their homes for two months while displaced civilians were still unable to return to their towns and villages."
July 22, 2014: This news from AP is grievous. 11 parents of Nigeria's abducted girls die
July 6, 2014: Gunmen kill 22 in Kenyan attacks
Al-Shabaab terror group claimed responsibility for attacks that killed 22 in Kenya.
"HINDI, Kenya, July 6 (UPI) --At least 22 people died in two separate attacks Sunday after gunmen ambushed two towns along Kenya's east coast, officials said.
Thirteen people died just after midnight in Hindi -- near the tourist coast of Lamu -- during an attack under cover of darkness.
Later that night, a police station in Gamba was raided and nine people were killed. One person was injured and another was missing in that attack.
Al-Shabaab Islamist terror group claimed responsibility for both attacks, saying none of its militants was injured."
June 30, 2014: As the jihadist group ISIS on Sunday declared the establishment of a “Caliphate”, or Islamic state spanning parts of both Iraq and Syria with the group’s leader as the ruling “Caliph”... Nigerian Islamists attack villages, churches near Chibok, dozens killed
"Boko Haram, which is fighting for an Islamic state in largely Muslim northern Nigeria, has killed thousands since launching an uprising on 2009, and many hundreds in the past three months."
"Samuel Chibok, a survivor of the attack on Kautikiri village, about five km from where the girls were snatched, said that around 20 men in a Toyota pick-up truck and motorcycles rolled into town. They sprayed it with bullets, focusing much of their fire power on panicked worshippers in a local church.
"Initially I thought they were military but when I came out, they were firing at people. I saw people fleeing and they burned our houses," he said, adding that some people had died in the attack, including two of his relatives.
"Smoke was billowing from our town as I left."
A local pro-government vigilante, who declined to be named, said residents had now recovered 15 bodies from the village. He added that many of the deaths occurred when worshippers were locked in a church, which was then sprayed with bullets."
June 24, 2014: The Washington Times reports: Islamic radicals abduct 60 more girls, 31 boys in Nigeria
"Islamic extremists abducted another 60 girls — and this time, 31 boys — during a raid on a village in northeastern Nigeria, witnesses said.
Security officials for the village of Kummabza deny the abductions took place, The Associated Press reported. But Nigeria’s government has been slow to react to kidnappings in the past and was particularly criticized for the seeming delayed rescue response to the recent abductions of hundreds of school girls — hundreds of whom are still separated from their families, AP said.
AP reported it could not independently verify the kidnappings took place.
But Aji Khalil, a member of anti-Boko Haram organization, said on Tuesday that the kidnappings did take place over the weekend — and during, four villagers were killed.
Kummabza is located about 95 miles from Maiduguri."
June 23, 2014: Answered prayer after the birth of her child. Praise YHVH!!
Woman jailed for apostasy Meriam Ibrahim 'freed' after Sudanese court orders release
"A Sudanese woman who was sentenced to death for converting from Islam to Christianity has been released from prison, according to her lawyer.
According to the official state news agency in Sudan, a court has ordered 27-year-old Meriam Yahya Ibrahim be freed after her case sparked outrage around the world.
Ms Ibrahim's Christian American husband Daniel Wani was notified earlier this month that the appeals court in Sudan was deliberating the case, though the government had previously promised she would be released.
Sudan's SUNA news agency said today: "The appeal court ordered the release of Mariam Yahya and the cancellation of the (previous) court ruling.""
June 18, 2014: At least 14 killed in suicide bombing at Nigeria World Cup viewing site
"DAMATURU, Nigeria – An explosion at an illegal World Cup viewing site in northeast Nigeria killed at least 14 people while security forces arrested a "terror kingpin" among nearly 500 people detained as suspected terrorists in the southeast of the country, police said Wednesday.
At least 26 people were wounded in Tuesday night's blast as soccer fans were viewing the Brazil-Mexico match in Damaturu, the capital of Yobe state, police said."
June 17, 2014: The BBC reports: Islamists launch second night of deadly attacks on Kenyan coast
Red Cross says gunmen attacked Poromoko near Somali border a day after 50 people were killed in Mpeketoni
"Somali-linked Islamist militants have killed at least eight people in a second night of attacks on Kenya's coast, after a raid on the town of Mpeketoni left at least 50 dead, the Kenya Red Cross and the Somali rebel group have said.
The Red Cross co-ordinator for the coast, Mwanaisha Hamisi, told Reuters that on Monday night gunmen had attacked the Poromoko area near Mpeketoni, which lies on the coast between Mombasa and the Somali border in the north, killing at least eight people.
"We raided villages around Mpeketoni again last night," Sheikh Abdiasis Abu Musab, the spokesman for al-Shabaab's military operations, also told Reuters, saying the group had killed as many as 20 people, mostly police. "Our operations in Kenya will continue.""
June 14, 2014: A report from NBC News: Bloody Toll: Boko Haram Behind Deadliest Killing Spree Since 9/11
"In the two months since Boko Haram fighters kidnapped hundreds of schoolgirls in northeastern Nigeria, the terror group has taken at least 1,000 lives in what may be the deadliest killing spree by a single terrorist group since the Sept. 11 attacks, according to an NBC News analysis of reports from the region.
While the fate of the 272 girls kidnapped on April 14 remains unknown, Boko Haram has added to its bloodthirsty reputation since the abduction with a string of attacks -- including three that killed more than 100 men, women and children apiece. The pace of the attacks has increased dramatically since the kidnappings, instilling fear not just in the civilian population, but in the Nigerian government and security services as well, according to U.S. counterterrorism officials.
"The group's ability to conduct high-casualty attacks has evolved to an unprecedented level, even compared to 2012 when they bombed the U.N. building in Abuja,” said one senior counterterrorism official, who spoke on condition of anonymity. “This period far surpasses that. The group has learned how to make their tactics more deadly and has expanded their reach beyond the control of security forces."
The worst was an attack last month on two public markets in the towns of Gamboru and Ngala in Borno state that killed more than 300 people. That incident alone was the third-worst terror attack since al Qaeda used hijacked jetliners to attack on the Twin Towers and the Pentagon on Sept. 11, 2001, trailing only a coordinated string of car bombings targeting Yazidi communities in northern Iraq on Aug. 14, 2007, that left 796 dead, and the school massacre in Beslan, Russia, in 2004, which killed more than 380 people, mostly children."
June 9, 2014: Boko Haram abducts 20 more women, local officials say
KANO, Nigeria, June 9 (UPI) --Gunman have reportedly abducted at least 20 women from a village in northeastern Nigeria.
Local officials said Monday that the gunman, believed to be members of Islamist insurgency Boko Haram, arrived in Garkin Fulani in broad daylight.
The women were members of the ethnic Fulani group. The Garkin Fulani settlement lies just several miles from Chibok, where Boko Haram abducted more than 270 schoolgirls in an April attack.
June 1, 2014 Bombing at northeast Nigeria football match kills at least 40
"KANO: A bombing at a football pitch in Nigeria's restive northeast killed at least 40 people on Sunday in an area previously attacked by Boko Haram Islamists, a police officer and a nurse said.
The blast hit the town of Mubi in Adamawa state, one of three in the northeast which has been under a state of emergency for more than a year as Nigeria's military has tried to crush Boko Haram's five-year extremist uprising.
"There has been a bomb explosion at a football field this evening and so far more than 40 people have been killed," said the officer in Mubi who requested anonymity.
The policeman's account was confirmed by a nurse at the Mubi General Hospital, who also requested anonymity, as the health worker was not authorised to discuss the attack with the media."
May 29, 2014: Nigeria leader vows 'total war' on Boko Haram as attacks kill 35
"Abuja (AFP) - Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan Thursday vowed "total war against terrorism" following last month's mass abduction of schoolgirls by Boko Haram Islamists amid news of attacks in three border villages that claimed 35 lives.
Jonathan said in an address marking 15 years since the return of civilian rule to Nigeria that no efforts would be spared to rescue the more than 200 girls kidnapped from a school in the northeastern town of Chibok in Borno state on April 14.
"I am determined to protect our democracy, our national unity and our political stability by waging a total war against terrorism," he said.
"The unity and stability of our country, and the protection of lives and property are non-negotiable," he added.
But on the same day as his vow to end the violence a military source and residents said Boko Haram had killed 35 people in separate attacks on three villages near the border with Cameroon, opening fire on villagers and torching homes.
"Boko Haram attacked the three villages Wednesday morning in which 35 people were killed," a military officer in the Borno state capital Maiduguri told AFP on condition of anonymity.
"The insurgents hurled petrol bombs into homes, setting them ablaze and shot residents as they tried to escape," he said."
May 27, 2014: Boko Haram attack kills 31 Nigerian security personnel
"DAMATURU/MAIDUGURI Nigeria (Reuters) - Boko Haram gunmen attacked a Nigerian military base and adjacent police barracks in the northeastern town of Buni Yadi, killing 31 security personnel, security sources and witnesses said.
The attack late on Monday in Yobe state occurred not far from where the Islamist insurgents shot or burned to death 59 pupils at a boarding school in February.
The militants, whose violent struggle for an Islamic state in northern Nigeria has killed thousands and made them the biggest threat to security in Africa's top oil-producing state, are still holding more than 200 girls kidnapped on April 14, an act which provoked international outrage.
Yobe police spokesman Nansak Chegwam said he was aware of the attack but could provide no further details.
A resident of Buni Yadi, who identified himself only as Mustafa for fear of retribution, said the militants arrived in an armored personnel carrier and six Toyota pickup trucks before dismounting and firing into the air.
They fired rocket propelled grenades at both bases.
A senior security source in Yobe state said 17 soldiers were killed and 14 police officers also died."
May 24, 2014: Boko Haram militants kill dozens in latest Nigeria attacks
"Suspected Islamist Boko Haram gunmen have attacked three villages in northern Nigeria, killing 28 people and burning houses to the ground in a pattern of violence that has become almost a daily occurrence, police and witnesses have said.
Separately, a suicide bombing that was meant to happen at the TV screening of a football match in the central Nigerian city of Jos on Saturday killed three people before the bomber reached the target, a witness told Reuters.
The bomber approached the Jos Viewing Centre while people were watching Real Madrid play Atletico Madrid, but he failed to get there before his car exploded, a local journalist at the scene, Mohammed Shittu, said.
The three attacks on villages took place on Thursday in remote parts of Borno state, the epicentre of Boko Haram's increasingly bloody struggle for an Islamic kingdom in religiously mixed Nigeria.
One took place right next to Chibok, by the Cameroon border, from where more than 200 schoolgirls were abducted last month.
The most deadly was in the town of Kerenua, near the Niger border. Scores of militants opened fire on residents, killing 20, and burned houses, police said.
A police source said some telephone signals to the militants had been tracked to neighbouring Niger, suggesting they may have been directed from there. Dozens had been wounded by bullets, he said.
Since the girls' abduction on 14 April at least 450 civilians have been killed by the group, a count by Reuters shows."
May 22, 2014: Boko Haram attacks in Nigeria kill dozens more
"ALAGARNO, Nigeria, May 22 (UPI) --Boko Haram militants killed at least 48 more people in overnight attacks on three Nigerian villages.
The attacks, late Tuesday and early Wednesday, came hours after bombs at a market in the city of Jos killed over 100 people.
A witness in the village of Alagarno said residents hid in bushes as the Islamic militants arrived and set fire to houses. "We saw our village up in flames, as we hid in the bush waiting for the dawn; we lost everything," she said.
Boko Haram, with its strict interpretation of Islamic law, seeks to impose an Islamic state on Nigeria, with a population of 170 million that is about 50 percent Christian. Extremist attacks have risen recently, with an estimated 2,000 people killed in Nigeria since the start of 2014. An estimated 3,600 were killed between 2010 and 2013."
Open Doors USA reports beyond Nigeria's tribulation: Eradication of Christianity in Northern Cameroon
"Over the past year, Muslims have waged a fierce intimidation campaign against Christians in Gorea, sending anonymous written threats to kill them and burn down their churches. In April 2013, local teens carried out the threats, setting the church ablaze and scattering the Christians Though some of the Christians returned a few weeks later, it seems that the pressure has now simply become too much. Many of them, including two church officials, have followed the example of a church elder who rejected Christ by embracing Islam last year."
"These sad events are classic examples of the pressures Christians have been experiencing recently for their allegiance to Christ in northern Cameroon."
"Since the region became a safe haven for the Islamic extremist group Boko Haram, the number of violent incidents has increased, including targeted attacks on churches. There is also speculation that the insurgents have brought at least some of the more than 200 girls abducted mid-April from a secondary school in Chibok, Nigeria into Cameroon. A local pastor said, “Christians here live in terror. At night, we don’t know what might happen. I’m worried about my family and the churches in the area. In some villages, Christianity has completely disappeared.”"
May 21, 2014: Nigeria's Christian community is in tribulation attack from Islamic terrorist militants of Boko Haram whose name means, “Western Education is Sinful”. This report of horror tells us: Nigerian extremists kill 48 villagers near town where 300 schoolgirls kidnapped
"JOS, Nigeria — Islamic militants killed 48 villagers in northeastern Nigeria near the town where they kidnapped 300 schoolgirls, and the U.S. said Wednesday it was sending in 80 military personnel to expand the drone search for the captives.
The developments came hours after twin car bombings claimed at least 130 lives in this central city — an escalating campaign of violence blamed on the Boko Haram terrorist network and its drive to impose an Islamic state on Nigeria.
The three villages attacked overnight Tuesday and early Wednesday are near the town of Chibok, where the girls were abducted from their boarding school in a brazen April 15 assault that has ignited a global movement to secure their freedom."
Open Doors USA provides this message: "If you wish to to show solidarity with the Christians in Chibok, let them know that you are praying by sending a brief, encouraging message. Click here to view it."
May 20, 2014: CNN gives a MUST SEE video report on the market bombing today from Jos, Nigeria: Blasts at market kill 118 in central Nigeria, official says
"(CNN) -- At least 118 people were killed Tuesday in twin blasts at a market in the central Nigerian city of Jos, an official said, warning the toll could climb.
The explosions, which targeted Terminus market, went off some 20 to 30 minutes apart, setting fire to the entire venue.
"The death toll stands at 118. This is the number of victims recovered from the scene of the explosions, but we are still searching through the smoldering debris for more bodies," said Mohammed Abdulsalam, coordinator for the National Emergency Management Agency in the city.
"The figure may rise when the search is over," Abdulsalam said.
A journalist on the scene of the first explosion called it "massive." People were screaming and running, some covered in blood. Some had to be carried away, the journalist said.
An ambulance driver who asked not to be identified said he saw at least 15 bodies and about 30 injured.
Plateau State Commissioner Chris Olakpe described the blasts as "terrorist activities," but refused to speculate on who might be responsible."
May 19, 2014: Beyond Nigeria, FoxNews Reports the truth... Bolton: Boko Haram's threat goes beyond Africa:
May 18, 2014: Deception is a strange thing. If false opinion is repeated enough or proclaimed by those in authority it will be believed by many in the masses. Here's a good example as Robert Jackson and Senator Jeanne Shaheen of New Hampshire show their ignorance about Boko Haram before a congressional hearing recorded by C-Span.
I almost felt as if I was watching through the cigarette smoke of one of those old Rod Serling "Twilight Zone" episodes on black and white TV with the spinning vortex hypnotizing the audience.
As I watched the C-Span clip below I wondered... what is it about Robert Jackson's comments that seem so bizarre, so "staged"... is he not just deceived, is he actually lying, drunk from the wine of deception, or is he just plain hypnotized?
May 15, 2014: Beyond Nigeria... Ireland's RTÉ News reports from Sudan... Woman sentenced to death in Sudan for converting to Christianity
"A Sudanese judge has sentenced a Christian woman to hang for apostasy, despite appeals by Western embassies for compassion and respect for religious freedom.
Born to a Muslim father, the woman was convicted under the sharia law that has been in force in Sudan since 1983 and outlaws conversions on pain of death.
Meriam Yahia Ibrahim Ishag, 27, is eight months pregnant and married to a Christian national of South Sudan which broke away in 2011, human rights activists say.
"We gave you three days to recant but you insist on not returning to Islam. I sentence you to be hanged," Judge Abbas Mohammed Al-Khalifa told the woman, addressing her by her father's Muslim name, Adraf Al-Hadi Mohammed Abdullah.
The judge also sentenced Ishaq to 100 lashes for "adultery".
Under Sudan's interpretation of sharia, a Muslim woman cannot marry a non-Muslim man and any such relationship is regarded as adulterous.
Ms Ishag reacted without emotion when the judge delivered the verdict at a court in the Khartoum district of Haj Yousef.
Earlier in the hearing, an Islamic religious leader spoke with her in the caged dock for about 30 minutes.
Then she calmly told the judge: "I am a Christian and I never committed apostasy.""
In the UK today, there are Nigerian Church Leaders in the UK, Call for Mass Prayer Vigil in Westminster, for Safe Release of Abducted Nigerian Schoolgirls
Boko Haram video said to be a fake
By Dan Wooding, who was born in Nigeria
Founder of ASSIST Ministries
"LONDON, UK (ANS) -- Nigerian Church leaders in the UK are calling on all Christians to support a mass Prayer Vigil in Westminster, London, UK, on Monday, May 19, 2014 between 7.00pm – 9.00pm (UK time) to pray for the safe release of the schoolgirls abducted in Nigeria a month ago.
Six of the Nigerian schoolgirls who escaped Boko Haram kidnappers last month.
According to a news release, the event, which will be held at Emmanuel Centre 9-23 Marsham Street, Westminster, London SW1P 3DW, has the endorsement of The National Day of Prayer and Worship, The Overseas Fellowship of Nigerian Christians, Christian Concern, International Strategic Alliance Committee.
The Nigerian Church Leaders have united to condemn the situation as “deeply serious” and called on the Nigerian Government to ensure that no one should be forced into any form of religious conversion.
The event organizers are also appealing for donations which will go directly to the affected families in Nigeria."
May 13, 2014: Open Doors has people on the ground and you can send written Prayers and Encouragement To The Families of the Kidnapped Girls In Nigeria.
From Israel Today: Israeli Forces Reportedly on the Ground in Nigeria
"Israeli security forces have arrived in Nigeria to aid in the search for up to 200 young Christian girls recently abducted by the radical Islamist group Boko Haram.
On Monday, international media was abuzz after the publication of a video showing many of the captive girls dressed in Muslim garb (pictured) and reciting passages from the Koran. In the video, Boko Haram leader Abubakar Shekau says the girls will be held and continued to be forcibly converted to Islam until jailed members of his group are freed by the Nigerian government.
The government of Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan rejected the demand, and turned to the international community for assistance. Israel was quick to answer the call.
“Israel expresses deep shock at the crime against the girls,” read a statement from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. “We are ready to help in finding the girls and fighting the cruel terrorism inflicted on you.”
Members of a Nigerian delegation currently in Israel told Channel 2 News that their government had accepted the offer of Israeli aid, and confirmed that Israeli counter-terrorism experts were already en route to the West African nation."
May 12, 2014: Nigeria abducted girls: Boko Haram leader claims captives converted to Islam
"(CNN) -- A Boko Haram video emerged Monday purportedly showing some of the kidnapped Nigerian girls in Muslim headdresses and the terror group's leader declaring they have converted to Islam.
The video, released by French news agency Agence France-Presse, was shot in a nondescript bush area and showed about 100 girls.
In the 27-minute footage, the terror group's leader, Abubakar Shekau, says he is willing to exchange the schoolgirls for Boko Haram prisoners.
It shows girls dressed in black and gray hijabs, and reciting the Quran as they make Islamic declarations of faith. Shekau appears in a separate part of the video, but never with the girls."
May 6, 2014: The horrific kidnapping and tribulation of Christian girls continues. The BBC reports More Nigerian girls abducted by suspected Boko Haram militants
"Suspected Boko Haram Islamist militants have abducted eight more girls in north-eastern Nigeria.
The latest kidnapping happened on Sunday night in the village of Warabe, in Borno state. The girls taken were aged between 12 and 15.
On Monday, Boko Haram's leader threatened to "sell" more than 230 girls seized from their school, also in Borno, on 14 April.
Meanwhile, the US says Nigeria has accepted an offer of American help.
"We've already sent in a team to Nigeria," President Barack Obama said on Tuesday.
Mr Obama said the US aid was a combination of military, law enforcement and other agencies "who are going in, trying to identify where these girls might be"."
April 21, 2014: Parents: 234 girls kidnapped from Nigeria school
CHIBOK, Nigeria (AP) — "Some 234 girls are missing from the northeast Nigerian school attacked last week by Islamic extremists, significantly more than the 85 reported by education officials, parents told the state governor Monday.
The higher figure came out a week after the kidnappings when the Borno state governor insisted a military escort take him to the town. Parents told the governor that officials would not listen to them when they drew up their list of names of missing children and the total reached 234."
April 19, 2014: Boko Haram claims bombing in Nigeria's capital
"Kano (Nigeria) (AFP) - Boko Haram claimed responsibility for the deadliest attack ever in Nigeria’s capital in a video obtained Saturday, as the search continued for 85 schoolgirls still missing after a mass abduction by the Islamists.
The bombing at a bus station packed with morning commuters early on Monday killed at least 75 people on the outskirts of Abuja, hours before gunmen kidnapped 129 girls from a school in northeastern Borno state, Boko Haram's base.
Forty-four of the girls have since escaped and are now safe, officials said.
The bombing and the kidnapping, which have been condemned worldwide, have underscored the serious threat posed by the insurgents to Africa's most populous country and biggest economy.
"We are the ones who carried out the attack in Abuja," Boko Haram’s leader Abubakar Shekau said in video message obtained by AFP."
April 16, 2014: EuroNews reports: Gunmen abduct over 100 female students in northeast Nigeria
"More than 100 female students have been abducted by suspected Islamist insurgents in a raid on a secondary school in Nigeria’s northeast Borno state.
Gunmen thought to be members of Boko Haram carried off the teenage girls from the school in Chibok late in Monday night."
April 14, 2014: Sadly, this morning, following yesterday's Reuters report that: Nigeria Islamists kill 68 in two village attacks: witnesses another attack has occurred.
Nigerian bus station hit by deadly explosion.
"Many are feared dead after blast in outskirts of capital, Abuja, as hundreds of commuters travelled to work.
"An explosion blasted through a busy commuter bus station in the outskirts of Nigeria's capital, Abuja, on Monday, as hundreds of people were on their way to work.
Police have said at least 71 people were killed and 124 wounded in the blast. Reporters saw rescue workers and police gathering body parts.
The blast ripped a hole 1.2 metres (4ft) deep in the ground of Nyanya motor park, about 10 miles from the city centre, and destroyed more than 30 vehicles, causing secondary explosions as their fuel tanks ignited and burned.
There was no official comment or immediate claim of responsibility for the explosion, though bus stations are a favoured target of Nigeria's Islamist militants."
April 9, 2014: Beyond the tribulation seen in Nigeria... According to this report from Charima, to the the North in the Muslim nations of Mauritania, Western Sahara, Morocco, Algeria, Libya and Tunisia a revival is taking place in Africa among the Muslim people because Muslims need Jesus too.
You will not want to miss reading about the visions miracles and healing taking place in Algeria.
"As the sun sets over the Mediterranean Sea, Muslims across Northern Africa are converting to faith in Jesus Christ in record numbers."
""What God is doing in North Africa, all the way from actually Mauritanian to Libya is unprecedented in the history of missions" said Tino Qahoush, a graduate of Regent University and filmmaker. He has spent years traveling the region to document the transformation.
"I have the privilege of recording testimonies and listening to firsthand stories of men and women, of all ages where they can be sitting in a room and see the appearance and the presence of God appear to them in reality, like a vision, some of them gave me stories of how they carry on a conversation, it's not just a light that appears" adds Qahoush. He also says sometimes he feels jealous, "how come Jesus is visiting the Muslim world at this time and age and we don't hear that happening in the traditional Christian community."
His interviews confirm what experts say is a profound move of God in the predominantly Muslim nations of Mauritania, Western Sahara, Morocco, Algeria, Libya and Tunisia.
From the shores of Casablanca in Morocco to Tripoli, Libya, experts say the growth of Christianity, especially in the last 20 years, has been unprecedented. And now that growth is also evident in the North African nation of Algeria."
"Emboldened by God's power, Algerian Christians are now on a mission to take the gospel to the four corners of the globe.
"God has put in our heart to be able to send 1,000 missionaries by the year 2025. I really believe that maybe one day America will end up with some Muslim convert missionaries coming to reach out to the Muslims there and in other parts as well" says Pastor Qurahmane."
February 27, 2014: The original report of the death of 22 students in Nigeria has horribly been increased now to 45 murdered at the Federal Government College of Buni Yadi. The New York Times reports: Nigeria: College Attack Death Toll Rises:
"The United Nations reported Wednesday that at least 45 students were killed in the attack by Islamic extremists on a college in Nigeria this week and that the victims were as young as 13.
The death toll was higher and the age range of the victims at the Federal Government College of Buni Yadi, in Yobe State, younger than initially reported by the Nigerian authorities.
“Many lives were lost,” Manuel Fontaine, Unicef’s regional director for West and Central Africa, said in a statement denouncing the assault, the fourth that has closed a Nigeria school since last June. He said the closings had disrupted the lives of thousands of students, “many of whom have had no access to formal learning for months.”
The Islamist group Boko Haram, which has denounced public education in Nigeria as blasphemous, has been blamed for the assaults."
The original report from EuroNews:
"A terror attack in Nigeria has killed 29 boys with some burning to death, officials say.
Gunmen from the Islamist group Boko Haram stormed a boarding school in the north-east of the country, police and the military confirmed.
Police Commissioner Sanusi Rufai said the attack at the college in Buni Yadi saw some of the students’ bodies burned to ashes.
Boko Haram is fighting for an Islamic state in northern Nigeria. A similar attack in June left 22 students dead.
Violence is increasing focusing on civilians – more than 200 people were killed in two attacks last week, one in which militants razed a whole village and shot panicked residents as they tried to flee."
February 13, 2014: Recently George Weigel of the Ethics and Public Policy Center wrote...
“More Christians died for the faith in the twentieth century than in the previous nineteen centuries of Christian history combined.”
He does not provide his source but you should know that for the past two days Fox News has broadcast critical news reports on Congressman Chris Smith (NJ-04), Chairman of the House congressional panel that oversees U.S. policy in Africa who has brought light on the story of global Christian persecution to Washington D.C. via a Congressional hearing. It is an important story:
February 6, 2014: If you have been reading the posts on Nigeria you may think that northern Nigeria is only a place of doom and gloom. But praise God there is now some good news. God news.
Mission Network News reports that Boko Haram members come to Christ
"Nigeria (MNN) — The rebel terrorist group known as Boko Haram has done it again. This time they killed more than 70. Reports indicate 52 people were killed in a Kawuri village in Borno state. 22 more died in an attack on a church service in Waga Chakawa village, Adamawa state.
World Mission supports partners working there on the ground with unreached people groups. The organization’s executive director Greg Kelley says, “The people that we work with in Northern Nigeria are stationed in the vicinity of where Boko Haram is, so it’s made it very difficult for our partners to operate. They literally have one eye open at night because people are being killed and kidnapped.”
Kelley says that makes ministry difficult. That’s why World Mission is taking action. “We’re in the process of relocating our team into a more neutral environment that’s safer, that has more stability, so that they can facilitate all of the work that’s going on in the north.”
World Mission’s work with the unreached has been successful. “We of course distribute the audio Bible–The Treasure–among them. Just last week we got a report of two Boko Haram–these are the terrorist guys themselves–coming to Christ.”
Once they come to Christ, it’s amazing how God uses them. Kelley says, “They bring that same kind of intensity to the Gospel. One guy said, ‘If I could have died for a cause that I didn’t even know my fate, now that I’m a believer and follower of Jesus, I am willing to die for this truth no matter what.”
World Mission has sent more than 5,000 Treasures into the region, but the goal is to send hundreds more. First, though, they need to move their headquarters. “Right now they’re located right in the middle of the Boko Haram area. In order to move them we need $20,000. So, that would absolutely be a prayer request.”
This is a great investment because many of the conversion stories remind Kelley of the Apostle Paul: “Persecuting Christians and coming to know Jesus and becoming, arguably, the greatest missionary whoever walked on the earth. That is exactly the pattern that we’re seeing in these Boko Haram terrorists. As they give their lives to Jesus, they become some of the greatest witnesses for the Gospel.”"
January 27, 2014: The press call them terrorists, but are they the tribulationists? The Christian Post today reported that Islamic Gunmen Storm Church Sunday Service, Kill 22 Christians as Scores Murdered By Terrorists Across Nigeria
"Twenty-two Nigerian Christians were killed in an attack after gunmen entered a church service armed with weapons and explosives on Sunday.
Boko Haram, a Nigerian Islamic terrorist group seeking to eradicate Christianity from the African country and spread radical Muslim Shariah law, has been blamed for the mass shooting in the village of Waga Chakawa in Adamawa state, and also for violence that killed 52 people in Borno state at the weekend, the BBC has reported.
Terrorists reportedly attacked the village of Kawuri and detonated explosives while merchants were shutting down the crowded market. They also set alight to the homes of residents in the town, with residents still inside many of the houses.
Ari Kolomi, who fled his home in Kawuri to Maiduguri, the Borno state capital, described the destruction left by the group as devastating."
"In an op-ed for the Wall Street Journal last week, Orji Uzor Kalu, the former governor of Abia state, said fighting against Boko Haram was not only in the best interests of Nigerian Christians, but also should be a subject of international concern.
"As the world globalizes, jihadist factions such as Boko Haram align in-kind and gain both the intelligence and the capacity to strike in increasingly urban centers and beyond national borders," Kalu wrote. "We must make no mistake: This destabilizing network is a global problem, larger in scope and indeed in mission than the international community may presume. It is not just going to go away.""
January 8, 2014: Reported Christian 'martyr' deaths double in 2013: report
"(Reuters) - Reported cases of Christians killed for their faith around the world doubled in 2013 from the year before, with Syria accounting for more than the whole global total in 2012, according to an annual survey.
Open Doors, a non-denominational group supporting persecuted Christians worldwide, said on Wednesday it had documented 2,123 "martyr" killings, compared with 1,201 in 2012. There were 1,213 such deaths in Syria alone last year, it said.
"This is a very minimal count based on what has been reported in the media and we can confirm," said Frans Veerman, head of research for Open Doors. Estimates by other Christian groups put the annual figure as high as 8,000.
The Open Doors report placed North Korea at the top of its list of 50 most dangerous countries for Christians, a position it has held since the annual survey began 12 years ago. Somalia, Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan were the next four in line.
The United States-based group reported increasing violence against Christians in Africa and said radical Muslims were the main source of persecution in 36 countries on its list.
"Islamist extremism is the worst persecutor of the worldwide church," it said."
The report has a second witness from World Watch Monitor Christian deaths double in 2014 World Watch List
December 22, 2013: The reports here are about tribulation in Nigeria and beyond. Keith Davies the executive director of Rescue Christians was interviewed by Fox News on Saturday December 21st 2013.
Mr. Davies appeared on Fox to speak about persecution of Christians in Pakistan.
October 20, 2013 Massacre at fake checkpoint as Boko Haram slit throats of travellers
"Militants from the Nigerian terrorist group Boko Haram disguised themselves as soldiers and set up a checkpoint, at which they slit the throats of 19 people who stopped."
September 25, 2013: The same radical tribulation Nigeria's Christians have experienced since 2011 has been seen in Kenya as Al-Shabab, an Islamic extremist group attacked non-Muslims in the Westgate shopping mall in Nairobi, Kenya.
CBS reports: Al-Shabab says it singled out non-Muslims in Kenya mall attack
CNN reports: Al-Shabaab breaks new ground with complex Nairobi attack
And just a day later, the same kind of vicious tribulation occurred at a church in Pakistan when a wing of the Pakistani Taliban bombed the All Saints Church in Peshawar.
Fox News reports: At least 85 killed in suicide bombing at Pakistan church
September 9, 2013: Nigerian Anglican archbishop kidnapped
LAGOS (AFP) – "Nigeria's second-highest ranking Anglican archbishop was kidnapped at the weekend outside the southern oil city of Port Harcourt, capital of Rivers State, a police spokeswoman said on Monday.
"Archbishop Ignatius Kattey was kidnapped along with his wife around Eleme (outside Port Harcourt) at about 10:45 pm (2145 GMT) on Friday," spokeswoman Angela Agabe told AFP.
"His wife was later abandoned in the bush by their abductors."
A national spokesman of the Anglican Communion in Nigeria, Foluso Taiwo, confirmed the abduction to AFP, but said the circumstances surrounding the incident were sketchy.
Kattey is the dean of archbishops of the Anglican communion in Nigeria, ranking him second to the primate of the Anglican Church in the country, said Taiwo.
The cleric is archbishop of the Niger Delta province, he added.
Kidnapping for ransom occurs regularly in the southern oil-producing Niger Delta region, though authorities rarely admit to making payments.
The victims are often released unharmed after the payment of a ransom.
In the north of the country however, Islamist extremists have killed a number of their hostages."
July 12, 2013: The Christians Association of Nigeria (CAN) has issued a “final call” to the Federal Government to neutralize the violence against Christians
The Christians Association of Nigeria (CAN) has issued a “final call” to the Federal Government to neutralize the violence against Christians or risk losing the cooperation of the Christian community in its fight against Boko Haram.
Pastor Ayo Oritsejafor, the president of the Christians Association of Nigeria, who made the call was speaking after a meeting with other officials of the association over the latest attack on churches in Nigeria, which happened at the Bayero University in Kano state on Sunday.
Gunmen stormed a church service at Bayero University on Sunday and killed about 15 people and wounded several others.
Speaking after the meeting, Pastor Ayo Oritsejafor said, “The church leadership has hitherto put great restraint on the restive and aggrieved millions of Nigerians but can no longer guarantee such co-operation, if this trend is not halted immediately.”
May 9, 2013: As these updates attest, every few weeks Nigeria faces the kind of horror America witnessed in Boston. Yet many ignore the horror. Today, it happened again in Nigeria: Nasarawa cult ambush 'kills 30 police'
"Nasarawa police chief Abayomi Akeremale said about 60 police officers came under attack on Tuesday.
"We decided to send our men to the area to arrest members of Ombatse, including their priest," he told the AFP news agency.
"[They] have been going to churches and mosques initiating people into their cult by forcefully administering an allegiance oath to unwilling people."
The police were attacked near the shrine to the traditional deity of the Eggon people, in the village of Alakyo, near the state capital, Lafia.
The ambush came after 55 people were reportedly killed in the north-east of Nigeria in co-ordinated attacks by the Boko Haram Islamist militant group."
April 23, 2013: The New York Times reports Boston Suspects Are Seen as Self-Taught...
"The portrait investigators have begun to piece together of the two brothers suspected of the Boston Marathon bombings suggests that they were motivated by extremist Islamic beliefs but were not acting with known terrorist groups — and that they may have learned to build bombs simply by logging onto the online English-language magazine of the affiliate of Al Qaeda in Yemen, law enforcement officials said Tuesday."
Islamic pipe bombs are common in Nigeria and now they have found radical horror in the streets of Boston.
March 19, 2013: Nigeria bus station attack claims 22 lives AAP:
"An attack that saw two suicide bombers ram their car into a bus station in northern Nigeria has killed at least 22 people and wounded dozens more.
Police said the attack on Monday in Kano, the largest city in Nigeria's mainly Muslim north, led to a huge explosion that hit five buses, police spokesman Magaji Majia told AFP. A rescue official said the toll was at least 20 and a security source said it was likely to climb much higher.
"From our tally, 22 people were killed in the suicide blast at the New Road motor park," Majia said. Sixty-five others were injured."
December 30, 2012: Nigeria: 15 Christians 'have throats slit' by suspected extremists
"Suspected Islamist extremists have killed 15 Christians by slitting their throats in an attack on a village in Nigeria's volatile northeast, residents and a relief source have claimed.
"From the information we gathered, the attackers broke into selected homes and slaughtered 15 people in their sleep," the anonymous relief official said.
Authorities had previously confirmed the predawn Friday attack in Musari, but gave few details and said only five were killed. Musari is located on the outskirts of Maiduguri, the base of Islamist extremist group Boko Haram.
Lieutenant Colonel Sagir Musa, spokesman for a military task force in the area, said on Sunday that he stood by the toll of five dead.
Authorities tend to under-report death tolls, however, and the relief official's information matched that of residents, who spoke of 15 people having their throats slit.
Residents said they suspected the attackers were from Boko Haram."
December 25, 2012: Military: At least 5 killed in Christmas morning attack in northeast Nigeria village
"LAGOS, Nigeria – Nigeria's military says at least five people have been killed in a Christmas morning attack in northeast Nigeria, a region beset by violence by a radical Islamist sect.
Military spokesman Lt. Eli Lazarus said Tuesday that the attack happened just outside Potiskum village in Yobe state. Lazarus told The Associated Press that four others were wounded.
There was confusion about where the shooting took place. Lazarus said it happened in a church. A Yobe state police spokesman said that information officers had indicated the attack happened elsewhere in the village.
This is the latest violence in northeast Nigeria, an area where the radical sect known as Boko Haram operates."
November 26, 2012: Voice of America reports: Blast Rocks Military Church in North Nigeria
"The Nigerian military says an explosion ripped through a church on an army base on Sunday, with reports of an unknown number of casualties.
Reuters cited military sources as saying the blast was from a suicide car bomb that killed at least five people and injured dozens more.
The incident took place inside the Jaji military barracks in Nigeria's northern Kaduna state after a church service."
October 28, 2012: Today a Car Bomb Kills 8 and Injures More Than 100 as a Suicide bomber hits north Nigeria Catholic church
"KADUNA, Nigeria (AP) — A suicide car bomber detonated his explosives Sunday at a Catholic church holding Mass in northern Nigeria, injuring a number of worshipers and killing several people, officials and witnesses said.
The attack happened in the Malali neighborhood of Kaduna, a city on the dividing line between Nigeria's largely Christian south and Muslim north where religious rioting has killed hundreds in recent years. The car tried to force its way past the gate at St. Rita's Catholic church just before it exploded, witnesses at the church said."
In a report released on October 11th, Human Rights Watch stated: "Widespread and systematic murder and persecution by Boko Haram, a militant Islamist group in northern Nigeria, likely amount to crimes against humanity".
"The 98-page report, “Spiraling Violence: Boko Haram Attacks and Security Force Abuses in Nigeria” catalogues atrocities for which Boko Haram has claimed responsibility."
The report states that at least 1,500 people have been killed in bomb and gun attacks by Boko Haram over the past three years. You can download the full report here.
October 1, 2012: Students Among the Dead in Attack on Nigerian School
"ABUJA — At least 25 people were killed late Monday in what appears to be a systematic slaughter in Adamawa State in northern Nigeria. Locals say the victims, mostly college students, were individually questioned before being attacked."
September 30, 2012: Kenya is Nigeria's neighbor to the south. Today, the violence seen in Nigeria has arrived as AlJazeera reports Children killed in Kenya church attack
"At least two children have been killed and two others wounded when a hand grenade was allegedly thrown into a church in the Kenyan capital, Nairobi, police officials say.
Moses Nyakwama, the city's police chief, confirmed the injuries in the attack on Sunday.
He said that police suspected the cause of the explosion was a grenade.
Charles Owino, a deputy police spokesman, said that the attack at St. Polycarp's church occurred on Juja Road, in the eastern part of the city.
The grenade exploded, spraying the children with shrapnel.
Blood-stained children's jackets and shoes lay scattered on the floor, surrounded by remnants of metal walls that were broken and twisted by the force of the explosion.
"The children who attend this service are aged between six and 10... we usually divide them according to their ages," said Livingstone Muiruri. "They had just started the morning session when the explosion occurred."
"We were in the main church so we all ran there to assist the kids," he said.
Janet Wanja was just entering the church when the blast shook the building.
"I heard a loud explosion and then heard kids screaming," she said. "I am traumatised by what I saw, kids with injuries and blood all over. "Why are they attacking the church?""
June 17, 2012: Multiple Church Bombings in Nigeria Ignite Riots
"BUJA - Three churches were bombed this morning in Kaduna, Nigeria, igniting riots in the state capital and prompting a 24-hour curfew. The blasts killed 21 and injured at least 100. The violence Sunday is just the latest development in areas where tensions have risen dramatically recently.
Kaduna has been tense since after the 2011 elections when riots broke out killing nearly 700 people. Locals say the violence was political but it also cut across religious lines, deepening distrust between Muslims and Christians."
June 10, 2012: The BBC reports: Nigeria violence: Seven dead after Boko Haram attacks
"Boko Haram militants have attacked two churches during Sunday services, triggering deadly reprisal attacks.
In the central city of Jos, a suicide bomber blew himself up outside a church, wounding at least 50 people.
In a separate attack, gunmen opened fire during a service in Biu in northeastern Borno state, leaving at least one person dead.
Six people were then killed in Jos in reprisals when angry demonstrators took to the streets in protest.
Radical Islamist sect Boko Haram said it carried out the attacks. The group has carried out a number of attacks on churches in recent years, killing hundreds of people."
MSNBC's report stated:
"Attacks on churches have become a trademark tactic of Boko Haram, which says it is fighting to reinstate an ancient Islamic caliphate in northern Nigeria."
June 3, 2012: Deadly blast hits Nigeria church
"According to Bauchi residents, a man tried to drive a car through a fence outside the Harvest Field Pentecostal church on Sunday.
The vehicle did not break through the fence and the bomb was detonated. Some of those killed by the blast were inside the church and others were standing outside.
Eyewitness Aliku Jon told Reuters news agency: "I had just left after the morning service and was out of the church when I heard a loud explosion. I rushed back and there were dozens of people lying in pools of blood.""
April 28, 2012: AFP reports: Nigeria attack on church services kills around 20
"KANO, Nigeria — "Attackers armed with bombs and guns opened fire at church services at a Nigerian university on Sunday, killing around 20 people as worshipers tried to flee, witnesses and officials said.
Explosions and gunfire rocked Bayero University in the northern city of Kano, with witnesses reporting that two church services were targeted as they were being held on campus. One of the services was being held outdoors, while the second was inside a building, but with an overflow audience outside, witnesses said.
Officials were unable to confirm casualty figures, but an AFP correspondent counted six bullet-riddled bodies near one of the two sites.
At least another dozen bodies could be seen on a roadside by the university, but the exact number was unclear.
Musical instruments and half-eaten meals could be seen at the site of one of the services. An army spokesman confirmed the attack but could not provide a casualty toll. Lieutenant Iweha Ikedichi told AFP that it appeared the attackers used bombs and gunfire in the assault."
April 8, 2012: Nigerian Easter bomb kills many in Kaduna
"At least 38 people have died in a car bombing in the northern Nigerian city of Kaduna, officials said.
Many others were injured in the attack, which took place when officials stopped the vehicle as it approached a church.
Just hours afterwards, a bomb exploded in the central city of Jos, injuring several people.
No-one has admitted carrying out the bombings, but suspicion has fallen on Boko Haram, a militant group which had warned of attacks over Easter."
January 23, 2012: Hospitals struggle after deadly Nigeria attacks
By Africa correspondent Ginny Stein, wires
Video Report Source: 7pm TV News NSW | Duration: 2min 12sec
"Hospital staff in the northern Nigerian city of Kano are struggling to cope with a rising number of casualties after a string of coordinated attacks.
More than 178 people have been killed in a series of bomb attacks and gun fights in the country's second-largest city.
Islamist sect Boko Haram is reported to have claimed responsibility for the strike - the deadliest ever by the group.
A curfew was imposed after the violent attacks began, targeting police and immigration offices.
Police sources have told AFP that at least 20 huge blasts were heard in the city as a suicide bomber struck a police station and a car bomb targeted the state police headquarters.
A number of other police posts were targeted, including a secret police building, as well as immigration offices.
A doctor in the main hospital said the death toll had risen to 178 on Sunday, making it by far the deadliest attack claimed by the radical Islamist sect."
January 7, 2012: Church attacks in Nigeria leave at least 27 worshippers dead
Islamist group claims responsibility amid growing concern about government's inability to tackle sectarian violence
"A fresh wave of violence against churchgoers in Nigeria has left at least 27 people dead and heightened fears over security in Africa's most populous country.
The religiously motivated massacres, three in as many days since Thursday, targeted Christians in Mubi and Gombe, both towns in the north-east where a state of emergency was declared by President Goodluck Jonathan last week. Some 17 other deaths have been reported in other regions.
There is growing concern that the government's inability to tackle the rising levels of sectarian violence, blamed on radical Islamic group Boko Haram, may result in hundreds of people fleeing their homes. The group is now carrying out weekly attacks on churches and police stations in northern and central areas. Islamic clerics who speak out against the violence have been assassinated.
Last year saw an upsurge in Boko Haram's bloody activities, with some 550 people killed, culminating in a co-ordinated bombing campaign on Christmas Day across Nigeria which left 39 dead and dozens wounded, including at a church near the capital, Abuja."
January 6, 2012: Another Church Attack in Nigeria Kills 6
Voice of America: "The radical Islamist sect Boko Haram is suspected of the attack, and of pushing the country toward religious conflict.
The attack began when gunmen opened fire during a service at the Deeper Life church in Nasarawa. Theresa Munyok says that her father and her brother were among the dead.
"The only thing I heard was my mommy shouting," Munyok said. "She told me that it was gunshots and that my dad is not even breathing. She called and called and he did not wake up."
A purported spokesman for Boko Haram issued a warning on Sunday that said Christians had three days to leave the Muslim-majority north. A day earlier, Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan declared a state of emergency in 15 locations across the north after months of deadly bombings and shootings, including several attacks for which Boko Haram claimed responsibility."
January 5, 2012: At Least 5 Dead, Others Wounded in Nigeria Church Attack
FoxNews: "GOMBE, Nigeria – Gunmen attacked a church in northeast Nigeria during a prayer service Thursday night, killing at least five people and wounding others in an assault that occurred amid an increasingly violent campaign by a radical Muslim sect.
Pastor Johnson Jauro said the gunfire sprayed the Deeper Life Church in Gombe, the capital of Gombe state, injuring several worshipers and killing his wife and two others. He spoke at a local hospital, where a joint team of soldiers and police officers stood guard. Two other people later died at the hospital from their wounds and an Associated Press reporter saw their bodies.
Local police spokesman Ahmed Muhammad confirmed the attack, but declined to say how many people the gunmen killed and wounded.
The assault occurred as Nigeria remains under a warrior's attack by the sect known as Boko Haram. Know this we have been warned:
"You will be hearing of wars and rumors of wars. See that you are not frightened, for those things must take place, but that is not yet the end." Matthew 24:6
The oil-rich nation's president recently put regions of the country under a state of emergency due to the grave threat, but that did not include Gombe, which sits about 350 miles from Nigeria's central capital, Abuja.
No one immediately claimed responsibility for the attack, but suspicion immediately fell on Boko Haram. The sect has carried out increasingly sophisticated and bloody attacks in its campaign to implement strict Sharia law across Nigeria, a multi-ethnic nation of more than 160 million people.
Boko Haram, whose name means "Western education is sacrilege" in the local Hausa language, is responsible for more than 500 killings this year alone, according to an Associated Press count."
January 2, 2012: Christians warned to leave Nigeria - CNN
The militant Islamist group Boko Haram issues an ultimatum to Christians in northern Nigeria. CNN's Tim Lister reports.
December 26, 2011: After Deadly Church Attacks in Nigeria, What Do Boko Haram Extremists Want?
"PBS Newshour: "At least 39 people were killed in Christmas Day attacks on Christian churches in Nigeria. Margaret Warner discusses the bombings and the Boko Haram extremist group that claimed responsibility with Paul Lubeck, a sociology professor at the University of California, Santa Cruz."
December 23, 2011: Multiple blasts rock two Nigerian cities
"Six blasts and gunfire rocked the Nigerian city of Maiduguri on Thursday, residents and a military source said, after explosions and shooting earlier broke out in another northeastern city. "There has so far been six explosions, and four of them in the same area," the military source said, adding that a shootout had also occurred on Thursday. Gunfire and explosions had earlier broken out in Damaturu. Both cities have previously been badly hit by violence blamed on the Islamist group Boko Haram."
After Deadly Church Attacks in Nigeria, What Do Boko Haram Extremists Want? on PBS.
Persecution.org is one group that tracks the tribulation of the saints.
What does this all mean?
It means that it is now time to pray. It is time to repent and return to God's covenant, return to hear and do His word and walk in the faith of His Kingdom path so that you can ready your lamp for your coming assignment. God is a sovereign God.
He is a loving God and He has provided a way to offer you His salvation. You can accept His gift of life. Consider carefully what your life consists of, look at it and repent of your sin, ask His forgiveness and accept His gift of love through Messiah Yeshua. Today is the time. If you know you need to get your life right with God, don’t wait for tomorrow, get it right with Him now!
For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved. John 3:16-17Pray!!!