Where are the Peaceful Muslims who are Supposedly in the Majority, but are Silent?

Paul Weston's  video below  should be distributed to everyone around the world.  Please take a few minutes to watch here or view it on Vimeo using this link. 

After viewing, please pass this on to all your family and friends.  Those who plan to vote for Mrs.Clinton this coming November need to see just what this democratic candidate is celebrating!

Christians Abducted by Islamists Tell Stunning Escape Story

By Bob Unruh
World Net Daily

Three Christians working with Bibles4Mideast who were reported missing a week ago have been reunited with their coworkers and are telling a stunning story of abduction and threats and even a mysterious tunnel escape from a locked basement prison and two days’ walk across the desert to safety.

Pastor Paul Ciniraj, the director of Bibles4Mideast, sent WND a report on the return of Pastors Stephan and Samuel and Evangelist James on Monday evening in the Middle East.

WND reported a week ago that the three were attacked and beaten by “Muslim extremists” and then disappeared after they began to be suspicious over their safety in a hospital and asked to be discharged.

The members of the organization that delivers Bibles to underground house churches at various locations in 17 countries in the Middle East, a region entirely dominated at this point by Islam, reportedly got into a taxi en route home, then vanished.

The ministry, which for security reasons does not disclose its exact locations and operations, said on Monday the escape by the three men was miraculous.

They were tired and weak because of food and sleep deprivation and their long walk across the desert.

But they described how they had been returning from a worship service June 12 when they were accosted and attacked.  “Extremists jumped on us with iron pipes and stickers, took the Bibles from our hands by force, [tore them and threw them away].”

Then “somebody started beating us.”

The attackers were distracted when a bus of travelers stopped nearby, and those rescuers took the three to the hospital. There, however, the missionaries were suspicious of what was happening and asked to be discharged.

They then hired a taxi, a “fake,” called that because they are unlicensed.“There were two other passengers also inside the taxi. But when [the] car moved, they [pointed a] revolver toward us,” the three reported.

Story of harrowing escape continues

Exclusive Video: Veteran Forcibly Dragged from Air Force Ceremony for Mentioning God

By Breitbart News 

When a veteran started offering traditional remarks at a military flag-folding ceremony, several uniformed airmen assaulted him, dragging him out of the room because his remarks mentioned God. Now First Liberty Institute lawyers representing retired Senior Master Sergeant Oscar Rodriguez are demanding that the U.S. Air Force apologize and punish those responsible or face a federal civil-rights lawsuit.

For countless years, service members have given the “flag-folding speech” at military and civic events, including retirement ceremonies. Traditionally, this speech explains the colors, symbols, and history of the flag.

The flag-folding speech also contains several religious references, including, “Let us pray that God will reflect with admiration the willingness of one nation in her attempts to rid the world of tyranny, oppression, and misery. It is this one nation under God that we call, with honor, the United States of America.”

The speech closes with, “God bless our flag. God bless our troops. God bless America.”

In 2005, the Pentagon changed the speech to remove all references to the divine, substituting additional historical facts such as Neil Armstrong’s planting of an American flag on the moon in 1969. But many service members prefer the traditional speech and desire that version given at their own retirement celebrations.

Rodriguez retired from the Air Force in 2013 after 33 years of service to his nation. He has a clear and distinctive voice and is frequently asked to deliver the flag-folding speech at retirement ceremonies.

Story continues of the religious persecution of retired veteran

Take Quran 'or Die': Man Makes Terror Threats in Texas

\

World Net Daily

A man waving a Quran and dressed in a robe was arrested in Denton, Texas, Wednesday after allegedly making “terroristic threats” at several locations in town, including an IHOP restaurant, a hospital and the county courthouse.

Police first encountered Peshwaz Azad Waise, 28, following reports of a man making death threats and talking about “Allah and God.”

According to police, Waise caused a stir at the restaurant on Tuesday by approaching diners and trying to hand out Qurans. He was cited for trespassing and told to leave the area.

On Wednesday morning, he reportedly drove to Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital and tried to give a woman in the parking lot a copy of the Quran. Police say he then entered the hospital and threatened to impose the death penalty on several people for refusing.

“He told them to give the Quran to the chaplain or chapel ‘or die,'” read a police press release.

Read more at: www.wnd.com

Pastor Speaks Out: "First Christians Knew Well the Degrading Course of Systemic Moral Corruption."

By Fr. George W. Rutler

Saint Anthony, whose feast we recently celebrated, was an Augustinian canon in Portugal who joined the new Franciscan order in 1220, having been moved by the martyrdom of five Franciscans who had been beheaded by Muslims in Morocco. 

The year before, during the Fifth Crusade, Saint Francis of Assisi narrowly escaped execution when he preached the Gospel to Egyptian Muslims who had killed about five thousand Christians a few days before in Damietta. Anthony went to Morocco but became gravely ill, worked his way home via Sicily, and spent the rest of his 36 years preaching a combination of loving patience and mercy with bold insistence on Christ’s truth and stern reproof of lax clerics.

This is to be remembered when many voices today equate doctrinal orthodoxy with “rigidity” and portray the moral demands of Christ as distant ideals, if not impractical encumbrances. Saint Anthony preached against the fanatical Albigensian heretics in southern France whose misunderstanding of creation denigrated marriage and family life while promoting abortion, sodomy and assisted suicide. They considered themselves more “spiritual” than Catholic “doctors of the law” and took Pharisaic pride in boasting that they were not Pharisees. 

Bold St. Anthony was not an “Albigensian-phobe,” and reasonable people now are not phobic when they tell the truth about mental illness dressed as “transgenderism,” borders open to illegal immigrants excused as hospitality, and denial of religious freedom adjudicated as social pragmatism.

The first Christians knew well the degrading course of systemic moral corruption (c.f.: 1 Corinthians 6:9-10 and 1 Timothy 1:8-11). They would not have been surprised at how the Canadian High Court has modified certain strictures against bestiality, the government of Massachusetts no longer identifies femaleness and maleness as biological categories, people weep when a gorilla is shot to save the life of a human child, and a student in a major university is given a light slap on the wrist for violating a young woman while being complimented for his athletic ability. 

But they would have been astonished at the politically correct reluctance to identify the religious motivation of terrorists who massacre people. In 1951, General Douglas MacArthur said, “History fails to record a single precedent in which nations subject to moral decay have not passed into political and economic decline. There has been either a spiritual awakening to overcome the moral lapse, or a progressive deterioration leading to ultimate national disaster.”

A cartoon some years back showed a Lilliputian looking at Gulliver and saying, “Either he’s very big or we are very small.” In the instance of Christ, it is not either/or: he is very big, and we are very small. But we need not remain small if by a spiritual awakening we “attain to the unity of faith and knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the extent of the full stature of Christ” (Ephesians 4:13).

The Rev. George William Rutler is pastor of St. Michael's located in New York City. Father Rutler has made documentary films in the United States and England, contributes to numerous scholarly and popular journals and has published 16 books on theology, history, cultural issues, and the lives of the saints, and also one book on sports, as a member of the U.S. Squash Racquets Association.

Use this link for more info on Father Rutler or to subscribe to his columns

19-Year Old on Being Freed from ISIS: 'I felt liberated'

Souad Hamidi poses for a photograph inside her family home,
in the outskirts of Manbij, Aleppo province, Syria

Reuters

When US-backed forces seized Souad Hamidi's village in northern Syria from Islamic State last week, the 19-year-old swiftly tore off the niqab she had been forced to wear since 2014 and smiled.

"I felt liberated," Hamidi told Reuters after swapping her black face-covering veil for a red head scarf. "They made us wear it against our will so I removed it that way to spite them."

For the last two weeks, the Syria Democratic Forces (SDF), supported by US-led air strikes, have waged an offensive against the Islamic State-held city of Manbij, near the Syria-Turkey border.

The SDF have been cutting off routes into Manbij, encircling the city by seizing outlying villages like Hamidi's, Am Adasa.

Hamidi said she woke up one morning to hear that the SDF, which includes the Kurdish YPG militia and Arab fighters, had arrived in her village.
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"We saw (SDF) fighters behind our house, digging to station their snipers, we thought they were Daesh (Islamic State) fighters, who were still inside the village," she said.

"We left, fearing we would be used as human shields during air strikes," she said. The family later returned once SDF fighters had pushed out remaining Islamic State forces.

Am Adasa had been under the militants' control since 2014, when Islamic State proclaimed its caliphate straddling Syria and Iraq. The governments of Syria and Iraq have launched offensives on other fronts against the group.

Under Islamic State, life was strictly regulated, Hamidi said, including dress codes.

"They would punish people who did not follow their rules, sometimes forcing them to stay in dug-out graves for days," she said. "Since they (SDF) took control, we are living a new life."
Sitting in her family home, Hamidi said she still fears Islamic State may return one day.

"I want to erase Daesh from my memory," she said. "I hope every area controlled by Daesh is liberated, that people are free of them and can live like we do now."

website: christiantoday.com

China: Crackdown on Christians Continues as Church Members Threatened

By Carey Lodge

Christian Today

A church in China was stopped from holding services last Sunday, and members forced to register their identification cards with authorities.

The Communist Party is believed to be becoming progressively more suspicious of the influence of Christianity, which is experiencing significant growth in China.

According to Texas-based Christian charity China Aid, local officials raided Huoshi Fellowship church in Gansu, north-western China, on May 29.

The details of each church member were logged, and the church was warned not to continue holding meetings.

The Communist party is believed to be becoming progressively more suspicious of the influence of Christianity, which is experiencing significant growth in China. Up to 1,700 churches have been demolished or had their crosses torn down over the past two years.

According to the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom, the Chinese government last year "stepped up its persecution of religious groups deemed a threat to the state's supremacy and maintenance of a 'socialist society'".

On Tuesday, four civil rights activists were detained by authorities after holding a prayer meeting for those who died in the 1989 military crackdown in Tiananmen Square.

June 4 marks the 27th anniversary of the massacre, during which hundreds of pro-democracy protesters were killed. The Chinese government considers the protests a 'counter-revolutionary riot', and commemorating the anniversary is forbidden.

A report published by China Aid last month found that persecution against Christians in China has increased sevenfold since 2008.

The Chinese government wants to replace "Christ as the head of the church with submission to the Communist Party", the report read, alleging that more Christians are harassed, beaten and tortured than ever before.

Website: christiantoday.com

“Radical” vs. “Moderate” Islam: A Muslim View

By Raymond Ibrahim
Originally Published by the Gatestone Institute

According to Dr. Ahmed Ibrahim Khadr, the first loyalty of radicals is to Islam while the first loyalty for moderates, regardless of their religion, is to the state. Radicals reject the idea of religious equality because Allah's true religion is Islam; moderates accept it.

Radicals, Khadr charges, also marvel that the moderate "finds hatred for non-Muslims unacceptable."

If true -- and disturbing polls certainly indicate that Khadr's findings are prevalent -- the West may need to rethink one of its main means of countering radical Islam: moderate Muslims and moderate Islam.  

Sadiq Khan, London's First Muslim Mayor

After his recent electoral victory, it emerged that Sadiq Khan, London’s first Muslim mayor, had described moderate Muslim groups as “Uncle Toms”—a notorious racial slur used against blacks perceived to be subservient to whites, or, in this context, Muslims who embrace “moderate Islam” as a way of being subservient to the West.

One of Iran’s highest clerics apparently shares the same convictions. After asserting that “revolutionary Islam is the same as pure Muhammadan Islam,” Ayatollah Tabatabaeinejad recently declared:

Some say our Islam is not revolutionary Islam, but we must say to them that non-revolutionary Islam is the same as American Islam. Islam commands us to be firm against the enemies and be kind and compassionate toward each other and not be afraid of anything….

According to AB News Agency, “Ayatollah Tabatabaeinejad stated that revolutionary Islam is this same Islam. It is the Islam that is within us that can create changes. The warriors realized that Islam is not just prayers and fasting, but rather they stood against the enemies in support of Islam.”

How many Muslims share these convictions, one from a Sunni living (and now governing) in London, the other from a Shia living and governing in the Middle East?

An Arabic language article offers perspective. Titled (in translation) “The Truth about the Moderate Muslim as Seen by the West and its Muslim Followers,” it is authored by Dr. Ahmed Ibrahim Khadr in 2011.

Read Dr. Khadr's remarks 

Christian Converts Pretend to Fast During Ramadan to Avoid Persecution

By Carey Lodge
Christian Today

Living in constant fear of persecution for their faith, Christians in Southeast Asia will pretend to observe Ramadan this month.

One Christian who is forced to hide his faith told persecution charity Open Doors that he pretends to fast in front of his Muslim colleagues so they don't suspect his conversion. "To do otherwise would result in suspicions and questionings. It is only when I'm alone or with other secret believers that I can be myself. It is not easy to live such a double life," he said.

The holy month of Ramadan is observed by Muslims around the world to mark the first revelation of the Quran to the Prophet Mohammed. Followers of Islam abstain from eating and drinking in daylight hours during Ramadan, choosing instead to eat before sunrise and after sunset."Many secret believers like me dare not reveal our faith because if we are caught we will be sent to Islamic rehabilitation centres. I've heard stories of brainwashing, torture, and mental abuse to make believers from Muslim backgrounds recant their faith in Christ."

The calendar is based on the lunar cycle, so the date of Ramadan changes every year. This year, it begins today, June 6, with the sighting of the crescent moon this evening, and the first day of fasting will commence tomorrow at sunrise. Ramadan will then continue for 30 days until July 5.

Open Doors' source explained that he used to take part in Ramadan every year until he became a Christian. Muslims believe that they gain 'pahala' – spiritual merits – for fasting, and if their merits outweigh their sins on judgement day, they are allowed into paradise.

"But praise God I am now a Christian, and I have Christ's assurance that my sins are washed away by his blood. I don't have this nagging fear any more. Now I fast to deepen my relationship with God and to know Christ more," he said.

He added he is worried about being found out, and demanded to recant his faith. "I'm terrified of denying Jesus. Therefore, please pray for me and my fellow believers from Muslim backgrounds, that he will give us the strength not to deny him."

website:www.christiantoday.com

Persecution Unveiled is an e-publication.  This blog has been  established  to educate people about the persecution of Christians, Jews and religious minorities in the US & worldwide. Persecution Unveiled has been called by God to prick the conscience of this nation and all free people to speak up and act on behalf of those who have no voice. 

Chaplain Booted Over Praying 'In Jesus' Name' Goes to Supremes

By Bob Unruh
World Net Daily

The U.S. Navy chaplain who was removed from the military for disobeying a “lawful” order banning prayer “in Jesus’ name” has asked the U.S. Supreme Court to intervene and overturn a decade of rulings in his case.

The petition for certiorari to the U.S. Supreme Court was filed by attorney John B. Wells on behalf of Gordon J. Klingenschmitt.

His case was filed back in 2011, after his removal from the military over the issue of praying “in Jesus’ name” sparked years of battles.

Since his removal, Klingenschmitt has been leading the PrayInJesusName.org ministry, and he also has been serving as a representative of the people of Colorado in the state legislature.

“It’s been 10 years since the Navy punished me as a chaplain, for quoting ‘exclusive’ Bible verses in chapel during optional Christian worship, for praying ‘in Jesus’ name’ in uniform outside of chapel, for ‘worshiping in public’ which a Navy judge ruled illegal, and for blowing the whistle by writing to my congressman and the president,” Klingenschmitt told WND.

“No judge in my case, civilian or military, has ever once defended the Constitution as they and I swore an oath to do. I pray the Supreme Court of the United States will be the first to hear my case, and grant or petition for writ of certiorari, and finally rule the First Amendment protects military chaplains’ rights to pray and preach the gospel of Jesus Christ.

“If they let such egregious violations stand, then Christ’s gospel is no longer free to be preached without government punishments in America.”

Read more at: www.wnd.com

Sunni Cleric Defends Tel Aviv Terrorists

Scene of shooting attack in Tel Aviv.
(photo credit:FACEBOOK,DANNY MECHLIS/BGU,Courtesy)

By JTA
The Jerusalem Post

Israel imposed a blanket closure on Palestinians in the West Bank following the killing of four Israelis in a terrorist attack in Tel Aviv, which drew condemnations internationally, but also praise by the well-known Muslim cleric Yusuf al-Qardawi.

The closure means no entry by Palestinians into Israel will be permitted until Sunday, during the Jewish holiday of Shavuot. Only urgent medical cases will be allowed through and passages between Israel and the Gaza Strip will also remain closed, the Israel Defense Forces said in a statement Friday.

The steps follow the slaying of Michael Feige, Ilana Naveh, Ido Ben Ari, Mila Mishayev at a café in Tel Aviv’s Sarona compound during a shooting attack by two Palestinian cousins from the Hebron area, Mohammad Ahmad Mahamra and Khaled Mahamra.

On Thursday, the attack prompted the United Nations Security Council to issue its strongest condemnation of Palestinian terror since September’s uptick in attacks.

The council condemned “in the strongest terms” the attack and expressed its “deepest sympathy and condolences to the families of the victims and to the Government of Israel.” The text of the council’s statement added that “terrorism in all its forms and manifestations constitutes one of the most serious threats to international peace and security.”

But Yusuf al-Qardawi, a Qatar-based religious authority and Muslim Brotherhood leader who is one of Sunni Islam’s most highly-regarded personalities, wrote on Twitter following the attacks that “Israel was always the first to do evil and mischief, and the resistance is trying to respond to defend itself. This is crystal clear and undeniable.”

Article continues: http://www.jpost.com

Your Daily Bread for Life...6/11/16:America’s Christian Heritage

Two Christian Artists Who Refuse to Serve Gay Weddings Are Likely Heading to Court to Battle the Government — but There’s a Twist

By Billy Hallowell
The Blaze

Unlike some of the other Christian business owners who have made headlines of late, two Phoenix-area artists haven’t been sued or fined for refusing to offer services for a same-sex wedding, yet the two women are still very likely headed to court.

Why, you ask? Joanna Duka and Breanna Koski, owners of art company Brush & Nib, have filed a lawsuit against the city of Phoenix, Arizona, over a non-discrimination law that they claim violates their religious rights.

Duka and Koski, who met at a Bible study and later launched Brush & Nib, which creates art and calligraphy projects for a variety of purposes, including weddings, believe in ”only creating art consistent with their Christian beliefs,” according to Alliance Defending Freedom attorney Jonathan Scruggs.

Alliance Defending Freedom

“The pair willingly serve and will create art for anyone, but they cannot create art promoting certain messages and ideas. For example, Brush & Nib doesn’t create art that demeans others, promotes racism or objectifies the female body,” Scruggs wrote in an op-ed for the Arizona Republic. “They also do not create art that violates their Christian beliefs about marriage.”

At the center of the dispute is Phoenix City Code 18.4(B), which the lawyer said leaves the women with three options if they refuse to create art that violates their religious conscience: “go to jail, forsake their beliefs or shut down their business.” The code reads, in part:

No person shall, directly or indirectly, refuse, withhold from, or deny to any person, or aid in or incite such refusal, denial or withholding of, accommodations, advantages, facilities or privileges thereof because of race, color, religion, sex, national origin, marital status, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, or disability nor shall distinction be made with respect to any person based on race, color, religion, sex, national origin, marital status, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, or disability in connection with the price or quality of any item, goods or services offered by or at any place of public accommodation.

Rather than comply, Duka and Koski have decided to take action, and are asking a court to allow them to be exempt from having to create art for gay weddings and the like, with Scruggs explaining why they are so fervently opposed to the city’s non-discrimination measure.

Joanna's and Breanna's story continues here

Persecution Unveiled is an e-publication.  This blog has been  established  to educate people about the persecution of Christians, Jews and religious minorities in the US & worldwide. Persecution Unveiled has been called by God to prick the conscience of this nation and all free people to speak up and act on behalf of those who have no voice. 

Email:  persecutionunveiled@gmail.com  

Orthodox Jew Loses Job Over 'Observing Passover'

By Bob Unruh
World Net Daily

Religious rights – under fire nationwide, from demands that Christian colleges promote homosexuality to forcing nuns to pay for abortion drugs – are the focal point of a new case in the 4th Circuit Court of Appeals.

There, an Orthodox Jew is alleging she was dismissed from her job at a quasi-governmental authority, the Metropolitan Washington Airport Authority, because she observed Passover.

That, according to friend-of-the-court brief filed by The Becket Fund, is outrageous. And a spokesman says the same attitude “didn’t work out so well for Pharoah.”

“It takes some chutzpah for the government to punish a Jewish woman for celebrating Passover,” said Eric Rassbach, the organization’s deputy general counsel.

The Old Testament records how Pharoah’s army of workers, the Jewish people, were freed from his grasp by God’s power through a series of plagues when he refused to allow them time for their religious observances.

The airport authority dispatched an email statement to WND that said the district court judge “determined that the claims of religious discrimination lacked merit.”

“We have no additional comments beyond the filings in the case.”

Susan Abeles, who worked for the airport authority 26 years, had been allowed time each year to observe Passover in accordance with her religious faith.

In 2013, she followed the same procedure she had in previous years, giving her supervisors notice of her plans and several reminders.

Read the rest of Susan's religious discrimination story

Persecution Unveiled is an e-publication.  This blog has been  established  to educate people about the persecution of Christians, Jews and religious minorities in the US & worldwide. Persecution Unveiled has been called by God to prick the conscience of this nation and all free people to speak up and act on behalf of those who have no voice. 

Email:  persecutionunveiled@gmail.com  

Family of Christian Convert Seriously Ill in Prison Repeat Plea for Release

Nasim Naghash Zargaran lies on a bed in an undisclosed
location while on hunger strike

By Ruth Gledhill
Christian Today

The family of a Christian prisoner in Iran are appealing for her to be released permanently after she was allowed home on temporary leave when she became seriously ill due to her hunger strike and other illnesses.

Maryam Naghash Zargaran, a Christian convert who has been imprisoned since 2013, was given five-day leave earlier this week from Tehran's notoriously-harsh Evin Prison, according to the International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran.

"We are happy they gave her furlough, but that's not why my daughter went on a hunger strike. We want her to be free," said Zargaran's mother, Zahra Pour-Nouhi Langroudi. "Maryam has served a third of her sentence and by law she qualifies for conditional release. We don't know why she was sentenced to four years in prison in the first place."

She started her latest recent hunger at the end of May.

Her mother added: "Maryam was sentenced to four years in prison on two charges, but they had no evidence to support either one. They accused her of preaching Christianity in Babolsar with 20 other women, but no one was in court to prove that he or she had been converted to Christianity by Maryam.

Saeed Abedini/Facebook

Iranian Christian Convert Maryam Naghash Zargaran, or Nasim, in prison for practising her Christian faith in Iran.

She described how during the trial the judge joked with his staff and said: "What should I do, Haji? How many years do you think I should give her? Is five years good?"

Haji said she was too young and the judge decided on four years.

Her mother said she will be getting medical treatment for several health problems.

"Maryam is suffering from heart, ear, and spinal disc ailments, and neck and hand arthritis. She had heart disease before she was sent to prison and underwent an operation for it last year. The doctors had told her that she must absolutely avoid stressful situations, but the other problems with her ear, back and arthritis are the result of her imprisonment."

Zargaran, a children's music teacher, was regularly questioned about her Christian missionary activities before her arrest in November 2012 and, along with Pastor Saeed Abedini, accused of seeking property in northern Iran for an orphanage. He was also imprisoned but released last January after a prisoner swap with the US.

According to a recent Facebook post by Pastor Saeed Abedini, Zargaran's sister Naeemeh met with Nasim in prison just before she was given temporary leave, and hardly recognised her because she had lost so much weight and much of her hair.

Continue reading Maryam's story

Persecution Unveiled is an e-publication.  This blog has been  established  to educate people about the persecution of Christians, Jews and religious minorities in the US & worldwide. Persecution Unveiled has been called by God to prick the conscience of this nation and all free people to speak up and act on behalf of those who have no voice. 

Email:  persecutionunveiled@gmail.com  

Hindu Radicals Douse Christian Pastor and Wife with Gasoline to Force Them to Convert in India

Demonstrators shout slogans as they hold placards during a protest
 outside a church in New Delhi, February 5, 2015.(Reuters/Anindito Mukherjee)

By Lorraine Caballero
Christian Daily

On April 17, two men pretending to be Christians requesting prayer sought out Pastor Deenbandhu Sameli at the Berseba Church in Karanji Village. However, when they entered the Church, they forced him and his wife to chant "jai sri ram" ("hail Lord Rama") and doused the two with gasoline, according to Christian Solidarity Worldwide (CSW).

The pastor filed a First Information Report with the police against the unknown suspects, who are believed to be members of a Hindu fundamentalist group.The attack on the pastor and his wife was done to force them to convert to Hinduism. Aside from dousing the Christian couple with gasoline, the attackers also vandalized the Church and damaged the Bibles, furniture pulpit, and even the offerings given by Church members.

In light of the incident and other attacks against Christians in India, CSW chief executive Mervyn Thomas issued a statement condemning the persecution of religious minorities in the country. He also called on the government to take concrete steps to prevent the religious minorities from being harassed.

"CSW condemns this and all other incidences of targeted violence against religious minorities, which have outraged civil society in India," said Thomas in a statement. "The Indian government must follow through on its promises with concrete actions to stem these attacks," Thomas continued.

In Bangladesh, authorities are investigating the brutal killing of a Hindu man on Saturday. Police said two radical Islamists wielding sharp weapons and riding a motorcycle hacked Nikhil Joarder to death while he was in his tailor shop in the district of Tangail, Business Insider reports.

Authorities are now trying to determine if the attack is connected to a 2012 complaint against Joarder, which accused him of insulting the Prophet Muhammad.

website:www.christiandaily.com

View video below on persecution of Christians in India

Write A Note Of Encouragement To Christians In Central Asia

Open Doors

Christians in Central Asia need your encouragement, as they are facing persecution in multiple forms. In some countries, Christian services are monitored or denied access to meet. Unregistered house churches can be raided and congregants can be fined up to the equivalent of 2 years’ salary. New converts can face beatings and death threats from family members. Christians can be discriminated against in school, work and other areas of society.

Many of these former Soviet Union states have seen a drastic increase in persecution. Join with us in offering a note of encouragement to these believers who endure so much.

Send a note of endouragement: live.opendoorsusa.org/letter/

Note to readers: 

For over 60 years, Open Doors has worked in the world's most oppressive countries, empowering Christians who are persecuted for their beliefs. Open Doors equips persecuted Christians in more than 60 countries through programs like Bible & Gospel Development, Women & Children Advancement and Christian Community Restoration.

Swedish Nun Who Saved Jews From Nazis Made a Saint

Mary Elizabeth Hesselblad. (photo credit:Wikimedia Commons)

Christian News
The Jerusalem Post

A Swedish nun who saved Jewish families from the Nazis during the Holocaust was made a saint.

Mary Elizabeth Hesselblad was canonized on Sunday by Pope Francis during a ceremony at St. Peter’s Square in the Vatican. She becomes the first Swedish saint in more than 600 years.

Hesselblad converted to Catholicism after being born a Lutheran. She saved at least 12 Jews during the Holocaust, hiding them in the convent in Rome where she served as mother superior. The Jews remained hidden for about six months, until the end of the war.

She was recognized as a Righteous Among the Nations by Israel’s Yad Vashem in 2004.

Hesselblad died in Rome in 1957 at 87.

website: http://www.jpost.com/Christian-News

ISIS Extremists Burn 19 Yezidi Girls to Death in Mosul

Yazidi refugees stand behind fences as they wait for the arrival of United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees Special Envoy Angelina Jolie at a Syrian and Iraqi refugee camp in the southern Turkish town of Midyat in Mardin province, Turkey, June 20, 2015.
Read more at http://www.christianpost.com/news/isis-horror-19-girls-burned-alive-iron-cage-refusing-sex-terror-group-164913/#F73mKEwDMD3PJikz.99

Read more at http://www.christianpost.com/news/isis-horror-19-girls-burned-alive-iron-cage-refusing-sex-terror-group-164913/#ZkcSwMJTdJdKbx4E.99

Yezidi Kurds in diaspora show support to their peers abducted by ISIS in northern Iraq. 

ARA News

DUHOK – Extremist jihadis of the Islamic State (ISIS) on Thursday executed 19 Yezidi girls by burning them to death, activists and eyewitnesses reported.

The victims, who had been taken by ISIS jihadis as sex slaves, were placed in iron cages in central Mosul and burned to death in front of hundreds of people.

“They were punished for refusing to have sex with ISIS militants,” local media activist Abdullah al-Malla told ARA News.

“The 19 girls were burned to death, while hundreds of people were watching. Nobody could do anything to save them from the brutal punishment,” an eyewitness told ARA News in Mosul.

In August 2014, ISIS radicals took over the Yezidi region of Shingle in northern Iraq, causing a mass displacement of nearly 400,000 people to Duhok and Erbil in Iraqi Kurdistan. Tens of thousands of Yezidis remained trapped in Mount Sinjar, suffering mass killings, kidnappings and rape cases, according to local and military sources. Also, more than 3000 Yezidi girls have been taken by the radical group as sex slaves.

On November 13, the Kurdish Peshmerga forces in Iraqi Kurdistan, backed by an air cover from the US-led coalition forces, announced the liberation of the entire Yezidi district of Shingal in the northern Iraqi province of Nineveh after fierce battles with ISIS extremists. 

Yazidi refugees stand behind fences as they wait for the arrival of United Nations 

High Commissioner for Refugees Special Envoy Angelina Jolie at a Syrian and Iraqi refugee camp 

The Kurdish forces have recently discovered more than five mass graves in the Yezidi region, where hundreds of Yezidi civilians have been summarily executed and buried by ISIS jihadis. Yet, thousands of Yezidi women remain in ISIS captivity after being sold as sex slaves across the group’s territory in Iraq and Syria. 

Human Rights Watch called on ISIS to urgently release Yezidi women and girls abducted since 2014. “The longer they are held by ISIS, the more horrific life becomes for Yezidi women, bought and sold, brutally raped, their children torn from them,” said Skye Wheeler, women’s rights emergencies researcher at Human Rights Watch. 

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Former MLB Player Curt Schilling Warns 'White Christians Are Under Attack' as Left Pushes 'Civil War'

Former MLB player Curt Schilling (Photo: Reuters/David McNew)

By Leonardo Blair
Christian Post

Curt Schilling, the Christian former All-Star and World Series champion pitcher who was fired from his job as a high-profile analyst with ESPN in April over a controversial anti-transgender meme, has warned that "white Christians are under attack" and the left is pushing a civil war they want the government to fight for them.
Read more at http://www.christianpost.com/news/curt-schilling-white-christians-under-attack-left-pushes-civil-war-164907/#f0H6Rij01ff3oZGi.99

"Here's the thing that got me: When I got fired, there was a very quick, small press release stating that ESPN and the Disney company are an inclusive company and apparently the things I said were not inclusive," he said. "They're exactly the opposite. They're as exclusive and bigoted as you can be because if you share a political viewpoint that isn't left of center, you're gonna get in trouble. If I would've compared the Tea Party to ISIS, I would've been fine. If I would've talked about the Black Lives Matter movement, I would've been fine, because they do that every day… I always kind of like to know where the enemy is and who they are, and they've made themselves out to be exactly that."
Read more at http://www.christianpost.com/news/curt-schilling-white-christians-under-attack-left-pushes-civil-war-164907/#f0H6Rij01ff3oZGi.99

Curt Schilling, the Christian former All-Star and World Series champion pitcher who was fired from his job as a high-profile analyst with ESPN in April over a controversial anti-transgender meme, has warned that "white Christians are under attack" and the left is pushing a civil war they want the government to fight for them. 

Speaking in a recent interview with conservative radio host Rick Wiles, Schilling called ESPN and its parent company, Disney, extremist and bigoted while arguing that his firing was a case of white Christians being marginalized in the U.S. 

"I don't want to sound like a victim because I'm not trying to sound like a victim but I think the only thing people now acknowledge publicly is that it's okay to infringe upon or talk down on white Christians," Schilling said. 

"We all knew this was coming. The Scripture's pretty clear on what's gonna happen with us, to us, and about us in, you know, many parts of the Bible. And so I'm ok. My faith is strong, it's resolute. My challenge right now honestly is trying to hold and keep my temperament," he continued. "As a Christian, I try to temper myself because I don't want to create so much noise that people stop listening." 

Asked if ESPN and Disney had been aware of his Christian faith during the approximately 10 years he said he was affiliated with them, Schilling said they were and didn't have a problem with him as long as he kept silent about his views. "Oh yeah, I've never hidden that. I don't think that was an issue as long as I didn't talk about it," he said. Schilling then argued that Disney and ESPN are not inclusive companies. 

"Here's the thing that got me: When I got fired, there was a very quick, small press release stating that ESPN and the Disney company are an inclusive company and apparently the things I said were not inclusive," he said. "They're exactly the opposite. They're as exclusive and bigoted as you can be because if you share a political viewpoint that isn't left of center, you're gonna get in trouble. If I would've compared the Tea Party to ISIS, I would've been fine. If I would've talked about the Black Lives Matter movement, I would've been fine, because they do that every day… I always kind of like to know where the enemy is and who they are, and they've made themselves out to be exactly that."
Read more at http://www.christianpost.com/news/curt-schilling-white-christians-under-attack-left-pushes-civil-war-164907/#8QkibhCU2f0RKIVv.99

Read more at http://www.christianpost.com/news/curt-schilling-white-christians-under-attack-left-pushes-civil-war-164907/#7ALM7WPS6f2pX2J6.99"Here's the thing that got me: When I got fired, there was a very quick, small press release stating that ESPN and the Disney company are an inclusive company and apparently the things I said were not inclusive," he said. "They're exactly the opposite. They're as exclusive and bigoted as you can be because if you share a political viewpoint that isn't left of center, you're gonna get in trouble. If I would've compared the Tea Party to ISIS, I would've been fine. If I would've talked about the Black Lives Matter movement, I would've been fine, because they do that every day… I always kind of like to know where the enemy is and who they are, and they've made themselves out to be exactly that." Read more at http://www.christianpost.com/news/curt-schilling-white-christians-under-attack-left-pushes-civil-war-164907/#8QkibhCU2f0RKIVv.99 Read more at http://www.christianpost.com/news/curt-schilling-white-christians-under-attack-left-pushes-civil-war-164907/#7ALM7WPS6f2pX2J6.99 Read more at http://www.christianpost.com/news/curt-schilling-white-christians-under-attack-left-pushes-civil-war-164907/#54s20zC5CF7jk15m.99Curt Schilling's interview continues here

Curt Schilling's interview continues here: http://www.christianpost.com

Norway to Return Seized Children to Christian Parents Accused of ‘Indoctrination’

Image via Facebook/Norway Return the Children to Bodnariu Family

By Carly Hoilman

The Blaze

In January, TheBlaze reported on the Norwegian parents whose five children were taken from them in November by the government on charges of “indoctrination.” The Christian couple was accused of radicalism for raising their children with Christian beliefs.

The family appealed the decision to remove the children, but it was rejected.

As the couple’s story spread, more than 64,000 people from all over the world signed a petition to return the children to their family.

In April, Norwegian Child Protective Service officials returned the youngest of the five children to parents Marius and Ruth Bodnariu, the Christian Post reported. It is not clear why the other children were not returned at the same time.

Last month, more than 100 attorneys from around the world and members of the European Parliament wrote a letter to the Norwegian prime minister, explaining why the government’s decision to seize the children violated domestic and international law.

“We find the facts of this international incident unacceptable not only on legal grounds but also on humanitarian and moral grounds. We view these transgressions as grievous breaches of domestic and international law. … Therefore, it is important that Norway immediately release the children back to their biological parents,” the petition read. The document was published on a website created by a group called Romanian-Americans for Reunification of Bodnariu Family.

On Thursday, Romanian MP Ben Oni Ardelean announced in a Facebook post that a report on the Bodnarius’ case was approved in the Parliamentary Assembly of Council of Europe (PACE).

“The report will consider to which extent the abusive measures taken by the Childcare Social Services (Barnevernet) from Norway are compatible with the Council of Europe’s standards in this specific field,” part of the post read.

The decision to return the kids to their family is part of an agreement reached between the Naustdal Municipality of Norway and the family.

After receiving the good news, the Bodnarius wrote a letter expressing their gratitude to the many people who rallied in their defense.

“We thank you all for your love, support, prayers, and active participation in the reunification of this family. May God richly bless you and repay you for all you have done to bring this family back together,” the Romanian Pentecostal parents wrote in the statement, which was published by the Romania Insider.

The parents’ statement continued: “It is very important for all of us to respect the privacy and uninterrupted intimacy of this family in the following period as the children resettle and reintegrate themselves in their natural family home and environment.”

website: theblaze.com

European Churches Say Growing Flock of Muslim Refugees are Converting

A woman praying in the church at the now destroyed ‘Jungle'
refugee camp in Calais, France. Photo: Stephanie Lecocq/EPA

The Guardian

A growing number of Muslim refugees in Europe are converting to Christianity, according to churches, which have conducted mass baptisms in some places.

Reliable data on conversions is not available but anecdotal evidence suggests a pattern of rising church attendance by Muslims who have fled conflict, repression and economic hardship in countries across the Middle East and central Asia.

Complex factors behind the trend include heartfelt faith in a new religion, gratitude to Christian groups offering support during perilous and frightening journeys, and an expectation that conversion may aid asylum applications.

At Trinity church in the Berlin suburb of Steglitz, the congregation has grown from 150 two years ago to almost 700, swollen by Muslim converts, according to Pastor Gottfried Martens. Earlier this year, churches in Berlin and Hamburg reportedly held mass conversions for asylum seekers at municipal swimming pools.

The Austrian Catholic church logged 300 applications for adult baptism in the first three months of 2016, with the Austrian pastoral institute estimating 70% of those converting are refugees.
At Liverpool’s Anglican Cathedral in the UK, a weekly Persian service attracts between 100 and 140 people. Nearly all are migrants from Iran, Afghanistan and elsewhere in central Asia.

One in four confirmations conducted by the bishop of Bradford, Toby Howarth, over the past year were of converts from Islam. Most were Iranian and most of those were asylum seekers.

Mohammad Eghtedarian is a refugee from Iran who 
converted to Christianity. Photo: Christopher Thomond

Mohammad Eghtedarian, a curate at Liverpool Cathedral and a refugee from Iran who converted to Christianity and was later ordained, said the church was helping people to develop their faith and to apply for refugee status. “These two are intertwined. Most people apply for asylum on the basis of their religion,” he said.

His own journey, from the Iranian city of Shiraz to the UK, took him through half a dozen European countries, by truck, train and on foot. Destitute and terrified, he was offered practical and emotional support from Christians along the way….

Johannes, another Iranian, left Tehran for Vienna. Born into a Muslim family, the 32-year-old – who was previously called Sadegh – began questioning the roots of Islam at university. “I found that the history of Islam was completely different from what we were taught at school."

“A religion that began with violence cannot lead people to freedom and love. Jesus Christ said ‘those who use the sword will die by the sword’. This really changed my mind.”

Read more about the conversions of Muslims to Christianity

Iraqi Christian Details How ISIS Fighters 'Married' Her Only For Rape

By Caherine Herridge

Fox News

An Iraqi Christian who escaped the ISIS stronghold of Mosul says she was "married and divorced" as many as nine times a night, all to give her tormentors a twisted justification for rape, according to an interview conducted by an advocacy group and reviewed by Fox News.

"They had me whenever they would desire it," the woman, whose name was withheld for her own protection, says in the interview with the nonprofit group In Defense of Christians (IDC). "Especially this one, Farouk, who was obsessed with me and he would say, 'I like the people of Jesus.'"

The rapes were preceded by phony marriage ceremonies that the Islamic radicals believed gave them permission to attack her, she said.

"What wedding?" said the woman, who appears to be in her thirties and is seen sobbing and shaking in parts of the interview. "For them it was a wedding, but what kind of wedding is this?"

The woman said her story is not uncommon, and that she wants it told so the world will act to protect Christians, said In Defense of Christians President Toufic Baaklini.

Click here for genocide report by Knights of Columbus and In Defense of Christians

"She asked for her story to be heard in the United States - that it is happening not only to her, said Baaklini. "It's happened to many, many Christians, Yazidis and Yazidi woman, and others."

In the interview, a tape and partial transcript of which were provided to Fox News, the woman recounts how her husband vanished after ISIS took control of Mosul in 2014. Baaklini said she left two older children in the care of neighbors, and along with her new baby, began searching for him.

"People were leaving, everyone was leaving, I mean, even the Muslims were leaving," she says. "But I didn't have anybody and I had hope in my husband and I said to myself, 'If I left, where would I go?'

"I had no idea where I would go to, so I stayed," she says.

See Catherine Herridge's Report/Video included in this compelling story.

Plight of Christian women and children by ISIS continues here

Blogger's note: Christians are the number one target in Iraq and Syria. There are no words to describe this latest report of evil that ISIS perpetrates on innocent women and children. This pales in comparison to earlier reports of persecution, torture, and murder at the hands of ISIS. Call, e-mail or write the White House, your Representative and Senators. Inform them of ISIS' latest atrocities against humanity. We must speak up on behalf of those who have no voice.

To contact your Representative click here     To contact you Senator click here

To contact the White House click here

Jennifer Lawrence Attacks Christians: 'People Holding Their Crucifixes, Which May As Well Be Pitchforks'

Jennifer Lawrence, AP

By Mark Judge
CNS News, November 2015

Actress Jennifer Lawrence, star of "The Hunger Games" and the highest paid actress in the world, has harshly criticized Christians.

In an interview for the December edition of Vogue, the subject of Kim Davis came up. Davis is the Kentucky county cleark who went to jail for refusing to sign wedding licenses for gay couples.

Lawrence's reaction is described by Vogue writer Jonathan Van Meter:

The day I am at Lawrence’s house also happens to be the day after the infamous county clerk Kim Davis gets out of jail, where she had been sent for defying a court order requiring her to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples. Lawrence brings it up, calling her that “lady who makes me embarrassed to be from Kentucky.” 

Kim Davis? “Don’t even say her name in this house,” she shoots back, and then goes into a rant about “all those people holding their crucifixes, which may as well be pitchforks, thinking they’re fighting the good fight. I grew up in Kentucky. I know how they are.”

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Miss Puerto Rico Suspended for Tweets: 'Islamic God is NOT the Same God as Christians & Jews'

By Mark Judge
CNS News

2015 Miss Puerto Rico Destiny Velez has been suspended after sending out a series of tweets critical of Islam.

The tweets were addressed to filmmaker Michael Moore, who recently stood in front of Trump Tower in New York holding a sign that read "We Are All Muslim."

In response Velez, 20, tweeted:

"There's NO comparison between Jews, Christians and Muslims. Jews nor Christians have terrorizing agendas in their sacred books."

"All what Muslims have done is provided oil and terrorize this country & many others! All they do is build their mosques, feel offended by American values and terrorize innocent Americans and plant gas stations."

"Most terrorist attacks have had a religion & a name associated with them & they have been from Islam religion."

"Many pull out the card of Muslims serving in our military. Are they in the military cuz [because] they love our nation or to acquire benefits."

"Why do ppl [people] want to separate Muslims from Isis when ISIS is a group of Muslim fanatics."

"All they do is build their mosques, feel offended by American values and terrorize innocent Americans and plant gas stations and get guns and kills innocent ppl [people] and destroy precious artifacts."

"Muslims use our constitution to terrorize USA & plant gas stations."

"Islamic god is NOT the same God as Christians & Jews"

Story continues at cnsnews.com

Archbishop: Obama Engaging in “Bloodless” Pro-Abortion Persecution of Catholics

By Justin Petrisek
Life News

The Obama administration’s use of the HHS mandate to attack the religious freedom of Catholic educational institutions and other organizations is part of a “bloodless” persecution in the U.S. of those seeking to bring the “healing balm” of truth, love and mercy into our culture, Baltimore Archbishop William Lori recently stated.

“Just because this polite persecution is bloodless, we should not imagine that it is victimless,” Archbishop Lori said at the ceremonial opening of the newly-expanded Divine Mercy University in Arlington, Va., on May 19.

Archbishop Lori noted that what Pope Francis calls “polite persecution” in a free society arose due to the exclusion of faith from public schools, our laws, court decisions and government policies — such as the HHS mandate — that seek to impose limits on religion. The mandate forces employers to provide morally objectionable health insurance that covers contraceptives, abortifacients and sterilization despite their deeply held beliefs.

In his address, titled “Religious Freedom in the Year of Mercy,” Archbishop Lori, who is also the chairman of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops Ad Hoc Committee for Religious Liberty, spoke on the connections between the Year of Mercy invoked by Pope Francis and the current struggles for religious freedom in the United States. The archbishop warned that the “polite persecution” eroding religious freedom in the U.S. is creating a “merciless society.”

Many were hoping this month’s U.S. Supreme Court decision on the HHS mandate would be a victory for religious freedom, but the legal challenges against the Obama administration are set to continue. On May 16, the Court unanimously vacated the appellate court decisions and remanded the cases challenging the mandate back to the lower courts. The case brought by the Little Sisters of the Poor received the most media attention, but a number of Catholic colleges and schools were also plaintiffs in the cases heard before the Supreme Court.

Alongside the family, faithful Catholic schools and universities act as “structures that stand between the power of the state and the individual conscience,” Archbishop Lori continued. These structures are vital for human flourishing, yet they are constantly faced with external threats that seek to destroy and marginalize them. These institutions are also the ones experiencing the greatest threats to their religious freedoms, he later said, applauding the efforts of the Little Sisters of the Poor and Catholic educators who have opposed the HHS mandate.

“Let’s be clear what religious freedom means. It does not mean the freedom merely to escape cooperation with evil by the skin of one’s teeth,” Archbishop Lori said. “Rather, it means the space necessary to create in our institutions a true culture of life [and] a culture that respects the teachings of the faith.”

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