Eritrean Christian Refused to Renounce Faith Even Through 13 Years of Suffering in Prison

By Stoyan Zaimov
Christian Post

An Eritrean Christian has opened up about the 13 years of suffering he underwent for his faith in prison, including being punished for months at a time in a confined cell where he could not even stretch his limbs. Despite the suffering, he refused time and time again to renounce his faith.

World Watch Monitor reported on Tuesday that Shiden first came to faith in his late teens, despite the country's hostile treatment of evangelical Christians. He joined military service at the age of 22, but was caught during a secret worship meeting with other Christians.

From there he was moved to prison camps where he was made to suffer under harsh conditions, such as no sanitation, with guards taunting him and telling him to renounce his Christianity.

He answered back, however:

"I won't leave the faith because I believe it and I live by what I believe. I served this country faithfully and honestly during my military service. When you sent me to work in the field, I did that without complaining. But my belief is my personal belief, and you have to respect that. But if you don't, then I am willing to pay for it."

Later he was given two sheets of paper by prison officials, and asked to choose whether he believes in Jesus or not. Once again he stuck by his faith and told officials he was willing to pay the consequences, which is when he was moved to the general prison in Barentu, where he would spend the next 10 years.

"He was often put in solitary confinement for six months at a time, staying in a very small cell where he couldn't stretch out his arms or even stand up straight," the report describes.

At one point he was moved back to national service, but guards discovered sections of the Bible in his possession, which again had him sent to solitary confinement for a period of three months.

"During that time he saw no-one. Once a day, a cup of tea and a slice of bread were put through a gap in the door. He had no idea if anyone even knew what state he was in. He said it was a horrifying experience and that, to make it worse, just beforehand he had heard that some friends had managed to escape and cross the border," World Watch Monitor said.

Even after his release from prison after 13 years, Shiden continues suffering from the trauma of what he experienced, and with so much of his young adult life spent behind bars, he has missed out on education and job opportunities.

Although some officially recognized churches are allowed to operate in the African country, the targeting and persecution of Christians there is so severe that it is ranked at No. 6 on Open Doors USA's 2018 World Watch List of nations.

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Christians in China Fear Persecution Will Get Worse After Authorities Bomb Evangelical Megachurch

Footage of the demolition of the Golden Lampstand Church by Chinese officials in Linfen, Shanxi province, China, on January 9, 2018.

By Stoyan Zaimov
Christian Post

An evangelical megachurch was destroyed by Chinese Communist authorities Tuesday in the country's northern Shanxi province, sparking fears among Christians that the persecution they suffer will soon get worse.

China Aid said in an update Wednesday that Chinese military police detonated explosives inside Golden Lampstand Church in Linfen, destroying the $2.6 million house of worship, which was owned by the Christians who worshiped there.

A demolition crew broke apart the remaining pieces of the church after the explosion with diggers and jackhammers.

Lampstand's head Pastor, Yang Rongli, had previously spent seven years in prison on charges of assembling a large crowd to disturb traffic order, and has been under police surveillance since his release in October 2016.

Describing the demolition, the pastor was quoted as saying that at first, police surrounded the church.

"Patrol wagons guarded the church. Workers smashed the church's glass. At this point, excavators are digging into the church, but we are not allowed to enter or watch," she said.

"The village head and the police from the local police station warned all the believers against entering the church. Now, we really have no idea what is going to happen."

The order to demolish the church reportedly came from China's top officials, who control the military police.

"The repeated persecution of Golden Lampstand Church demonstrates that the Chinese government has no respect for religious freedom or human rights," said ChinaAid President and founder Bob Fu.

"ChinaAid calls on the international community to openly condemn the bombing of this church building and urge the Chinese government to fairly compensate the Christians who paid for it and immediately cease these alarming demolitions of churches."

The Guardian reports that a Catholic church in the neighboring province of Shaanxi was also demolished in a similar fashion last month, which is stoking fears among Christians that the widespread crackdown on churches continues in full force.

As many as 1,200 crosses have been removed from churches in Zhejiang province since 2015, with officials arguing that many of the demolitions have been down to building code violations.

A local pastor, who asked not to be named, said that he saw "more police than I could count" at the site, preventing worshipers from approaching.

"My heart was sad to see this demolition and now I worry about more churches being demolished, even my own," he said. "This church was built in 2008, there's no reason for them to destroy it now."

The Associated Press noted that the evangelical megachurch had a congregation of 50,000, and had been targeted by police on a number of occasions. Officials reportedly hired thugs to smash the church and take its Bible during the crackdown in 2009, when Rongli was arrested.

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Iranian Christian Convert Leads 1,500 Muslims to Christ in Sweden

Woman Keeps Evangelizing Despite Bombing and Murder Threats by Muslims

Annahita Parsan (L), minister in the Church of Sweden, in a video posted on April 28, 2017. 

(Screencap: YouTube/Tidningen Daben)

By Stoyan Zaimov
Christian Post

An Iranian convert to Christianity who is now an ordained minister in the Church of Sweden says she has helped bring nearly 1,500 Muslims to Christ over the past five years.

Annahita Parsan told Fox News in a report on Wednesday that her life, which has undergone huge tribulations, is "completely different since coming to Jesus."
The minister said she was raised in a Muslim home in Iran and married at 16, though a couple of years later her husband was killed in a car accident.

She had to fight for custody for her son, which she successfully won, and two years later was re-married to a man whose wife had died. Her second husband started beating her son, and although she wanted a divorce it was impossible for her to do because she was pregnant with a second child.

Parsan, her daughter, and the rest of the family fled as refugees in 1984 in the wake of the Iran-Iraq conflict, but met great hardships, including spending a month in prison in Turkey because they did not have identification papers or passports. Eventually they made it to Denmark, which is where Parsan started learning more about Jesus Christ.

"In about the first or second month there, a woman came to the door to speak about God. But it was not in my interest," Parsan said. "I was so angry, I was so unhappy. But she came back the next day with a small Bible, so this time I asked Jesus to help me."

She started reading the Bible, which she had to keep secret from her husband, and grew in the faith. But her family life only got worse and she attempted to take her own life by overdosing on sleeping pills after her husband physically attacked her.

She survived the assault and that was when she woke up in a hospital and realized she was being called for greater things.

"I was too scared to go home and the police came to the hospital to talk to me. Many people were helping me find a safe place to live, and I knew it was Jesus," Parsan recalled.

"And soon, the police called to tell me that they had uncovered a plot in which my abusive husband had planned to kidnap the children back to Iran. After that, we moved to Sweden, and the policeman told me that I have an angel on my shoulder."

Two years after moving to Sweden she was baptized in the Christian faith. In 2006, she survived a car accident, which is when she said she realized God spared her life so that she could help Muslims come to Christ.

In 2012, Parson became a minister in the Church of Sweden, focusing much of her work on reaching out to the Muslim community and inviting them to explore the faith.

She has helped as many as 1,500 come to Christ in the past five years, she estimates, despite risks to her life.

"I have serious threats at least a couple of times per year, a threat of a knife attack or a bomb attack. I have a police officer attached to my case I can always call, and we have security during our services. I have other threats from my own distant family members," she revealed. "But for me, what I do is worth it."

Christians back in Iran meanwhile continue suffering intense persecution for their faith, believers have said, despite the claims of a prominent bishop who attempted to argue that they "enjoy complete freedom."

Christian Post article continues here

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Atheists Want a World Without Christianity. Here's How It Would Look

By Michelle Vu
Christian Post

Atheists and Islamic extremists have something in common – they want a world without Christianity. These strange bedfellows believe that the world would be a better place if it was devoid of this religion started by Jesus Christ two millennia ago and counts a third of the world's population as followers.

But they don't have to imagine what a 'grand' world it would be without Christianity, they just have to look at history during the Greco-Roman period and more recently during the 20th century.

"What was the world like before Jesus? Was that a great world?" asks Dr. Jeremiah J. Johnston, president of Christian Thinkers Society, in an interview with ChristianWeek. "There is nothing new about the 'New Atheism'. ... They are going to take us back to a pre-Christian, pagan, racist world of inequality because without God there is no humanity. Without God there are no morals."

Johnston is the author of the new book Unimaginable: What Our World Would Be Like Without Christianity (Bethany House, December 2017), which has an astounding 31 pages of citation notes for 200 pages of reading. The professional researcher, who also serves as professor of Early Christianity at Houston Baptist University, begins the book by looking at the world before Christianity. 

He cites ancient letters and historical records by non-Christian civilians and historians to paint a world where Greco-Roman gods often were seen as the source of harm and suffering, a fourth of the population was sick at any given time, a quarter of the population were slaves and sold naked like animals in markets, life expectancy was only 20 years of age, and infant girls and babies born with abnormalities were routinely "exposed" to the elements and wild animals to their deaths, as normal practice.

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(PHOTO: COURTESY OF ALLEN CLARKPHOTOGRAPHY)

Dr. Jeremiah Johnston is a New Testament scholar, professor, apologist and author of the new book on unresolved questions within the Christian faith, "Unanswered: Lasting Truth For Trending Questions."

"By today's standards, it was hell on earth. Poverty, sickness, premature death, domestic violence, economic injustice, slavery, and political corruption were the given of life," Johnston writes.

The concise book, written with the busy mom in mind, is divided into three parts: The World Before Christianity, The World Without Christianity, and The World with Christianity.

Before Christianity, the idea of human dignity and value were arguably non-existent. One in four people in the Roman Empire was a slave, and the ancient Greek philosopher and scientist Aristotle writes in Ethica nicomachea 8.11: "The slave is a living tool and the tool a lifeless slave." 

Slaves were property and therefore owners could sexually exploit female, male and child slaves with impunity.

Aristotle also writes in Politica, "Slaves are subhuman or lesser men, while masters are superior."

Also the Roman Law of the Twelve Tables (Leges Duodecim Tabularum), dated as far back as fifth century BC, commanded fathers to put to death their child if he/she is deformed, with a law in Table IV.1 reading: "A notably deformed child shall be killed immediately."

For women, every point in her life during the Greco-Roman era was fraught with danger. A girl baby was more likely to be abandoned or killed, young girls or teenagers were likely to face sexual abuse or forced prostitution, adult women were under the control of their husbands who had the right to abuse or abandon them, and widows faced poverty.

Christian Post article continues here

Militant Muslims Firebomb Evangelical Church in Kyrgyzstan; Flames Stop at Open Bible

By Stoyan Zaimov
Christian Post

Christians said they saw a "sign from God" following a firebombing attack by Muslim militants on an evangelical church in Kyrgyzstan. The flames burned through much of the interior but stopped at the open Bible on the altar.

"This is an amazing sign," said a man identified only as Paul, from Operation Mark, a partner of Release International in Kyrgyzstan.

"This happened once before when Communists set fire to a Pentecostal Church during the night. The Bible and that building survived too, and there is no doubt the church in Kyrgyzstan will survive — and continue to preach the gospel."

Release International, a persecution watchdog group, reported on Monday that the radicals doused the Evangelical Christian Baptist Church in Kaji-Say with petrol, setting it on fire as a way to carry out revenge for outreach efforts.

The attack took place last week, with the fire spreading through the pews and altar cloth, but stopping right before it could touch the open Bible.

Firemen arrived to put out the flames, and no one was reported hurt, as the church was empty at the time of the fire.

Christians, who are a minority in Kyrgyzstan, say that they have been facing increasing opposition to their Gospel outreach efforts, with Operation Mark warning that tensions are getting worse.

Besides radical attacks, believers also face challenges in the face of the government, which forbids missionary work. The restrictions are found throughout countries in the region.

"In Kazakhstan, unregistered churches are not allowed to gather. In Tajikistan, Christian parents are not allowed to take their own children to church and in Turkmenistan many Christians have been arrested and beaten, interrogated and threatened. Copies of the Bible and New Testament have been confiscated," Paul explained.

"But the most difficult situation for Christians is in Uzbekistan and its autonomous republic of Karakalpakstan. Any gathering is illegal. In some places the only way to meet as a small group is to drive around town in a car."

Back in October, Kyrgyzstan, which has a history of communism, was listed by Pew among the top 10 nonreligious nations that are most hostile to Christianity and other religious institutions.

Other watchdog groups, such as Open Doors, also reported on a number of attacks on churches in the country in 2017.

Last July, a church was robbed during the night, with furniture broken, and threatening messages left by hardline Muslims reading "We will kill you," "Don't teach our children," and "Allah."

"There have been reports in the past of Christians being denied the right to bury their dead, a family fleeing their village and a husband beating his wife and daughter to try to force them to recant," Open Doors noted of the challenges facing Christians at the time. 

Website: Christian Post 

Facebook Takes Down 'Warriors for Christ' Page Citing Policy on Bullying, Hate Speech

By Samuel Smith
Christian Post

Facebook has unpublished the Facebook page associated with the pre-denominational Christian ministry "Warriors for Christ," an organization that opposes homosexuality and abortion, on grounds that it violated its community standards on bullying and hate speech.

Warriors for Christ, a West Virginia-based ministry that stands unapologetically opposed to all sinful behavior, no longer has access to its main Facebook page that had over 225,000 followers.

The main Warriors for Christ Facebook page, which is often used to post memes that lash out against society's embrace of things like LGBT rights and abortion, and is used to facilitate the organization's video ministry led by Pastor Rich Penkoski, was initially removed by the social media giant on Dec. 29.

Although the Facebook page was reinstated on Jan. 2 after an online petition was launched calling for Facebook to republish the page, Facebook administrators again took the Warriors for Christ page down last Friday.

Penkoski said in an interview with The Christian Post on Monday that his organization's Christian beliefs are being censored by Facebook because a number of LGBT activists who follow Warriors for Christ on social media had lodged complaints.

"We can't even use the term 'LGBT' in any context whatsoever or else it immediately gets flagged and banned. If we type those four letters out in our page, it gets removed," Penkoski said.

As there have been a number of Warriors for Christ's Facebook posts and videos that have been removed by Facebook, Penkoski said that other posts that have been removed included ones that displayed the organization's opposition to abortion.

"We count our posts on the page. Out of 3,000 posts, less than 3 percent had to with LGBT issues," Penkoski explained, adding that the majority of the counseling work his ministry does is to help reconcile marriages impacted by adultery.

"Yet, homosexuality is the focus that everyone keeps talking about with us. We talk about abortion. We talk about adultery. We talk about fornication. Nobody ever talks about that stuff," he added. "When Facebook pulled our page [for the first time], we were actually counseling with a young woman who was suicidal."

While Penkoski said he did not receive an explanation the first time the page was unpublished on Dec. 29, he says he did receive an email from Facebook explaining why the page was removed on Jan. 5 and left with no way to appeal the decision.

"Your Page 'Warriors for Christ' has been removed for violating our Terms of Use. A Facebook Page is a distinct presence used solely for business or promotional purposes. Among other things, Pages that are hateful, threatening or obscene are not allowed," the email reads. 

"We also take down Pages that attack an individual or group, or that are set up by an unauthorized individual. If your Page was removed for any of the above reasons, it will not be reinstated. Continued misuse of Facebook's features could result in the permanent loss of your account."

Christian Post article continues here

Pastor Andrew Brunson Marks 50th Birthday in Turkish Prison, Shares Biggest Fears in Letter

By Stoyan Zaimov
Christian Post

American Pastor Andrew Brunson, who's been held in a Turkish prison since October 2016 after he was falsely accused by the government of having links with a terror group, has shared some of his biggest fears in a letter as he marks his 50th birthday as a hostage in prison.

"I am deeply grateful to all who have prayed for me. This trial — time in prison — has stretched me far more than I ever would have imagined. I have been very weak, had many doubts, felt very alone. I know that God's grace is sustaining me, even when I do not feel that grace, and I know that the prayers of God's people are surrounding me and giving strength," begins Brunson's letter, shared by his wife in a Middle East Concern article on Tuesday.

The pastor, who formally led Izmir Resurrection Church and served the Turkish people for years before his sudden arrest, added: "One of my big fears has been that I will be forgotten in prison."

"Thank you for not forgetting! It is a great encouragement to know there are people praying for me — it reminds me that I am not alone, and that I need to stand firm, with my face pointed in God's direction always. Thank you for standing with me in this most difficult time," he wrote.

Watchdog groups, such as the American Center for Law and Justice, have insisted that Brunson is innocent of the terror charges and that he is being used by Turkish authorities as a political pawn.

In September, Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan suggested that a deal can be made to release Brunson if the U.S. hands over Fethullah Gulen, a Muslim cleric living in Pennsylvania who Erdogan accused of staging the attempted coup against his government in July 2016.

Back in October, two commissioners appointed to the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom traveled to Turkey to meet with the pastor.

USCIRF Vice Chairwomen Sandra Jolley and Kristina Arriaga visited Brunson at the Kiriklar Prison in Izmir, urging the Turkish government to release him without delay.

"He lives in a world of psychic and physical dislocation," Jolley said in a statement. "Despite a public veneer of a legal process, the truth is Pastor Brunson has had no due process, no true information about the charges against him, unreliable court dates, and no idea when he ever again will see his children or his country."

The ACLJ noted that Brunson marked his 50th birthday on Wednesday, being forced to spend another year separated from his wife and family, who are living in America.

"Pastor Andrew remains in great danger. He should be spending this day celebrating with loved ones; instead he finds himself languishing in a Turkish prison trapped in a political nightmare," the law group urged.

"He's been forced to endure unimaginable loneliness, missing birthdays, holidays, and even his daughter's wedding day. It's time for him to come home."

An ACLJ petition in support of Brunson has been signed close to 400,000 times.

Christian Post article continues here

ISIS Threatens Attacks on Churches in Washington DC, New York on Christmas

(PHOTO: WIKIMEDIA COMMONS/MARTIN KÜNZEL)
Washington National Cathedral in Washington, D.C. on May 30, 2008.

By Anugrah Kumar
Christian Post

Islamic State supporters have threatened to launch a terror attack in Washington, D.C. and New York on Christmas, according to the SITE intelligence group. A propaganda poster carries a picture that shows Washington's National Cathedral erupting in flames while indicating that New York could be their target.

"We meet at Christmas in New York soon," reads the caption of the poster, which otherwise carries an image of Washington's National Cathedral, reveals SITE, which monitors extremist communications online.

The poster was found circulating through a pro-Islamic State encrypted channel, Telegram.

"ISIS is incentivized to make threats like this, which come at no cost to them. ISIS is not dispatching fighters around the world for complex coordinated terrorist attacks, but has largely relied upon individuals and citizens already living in Europe and the United States to commit unsophisticated attacks," Newsweek quotes Harrison Akins, a researcher at the Howard Baker Center, as saying.

A member of the New York Police Department's Counterterrorism Bureau patrols the Union Square holiday market following the Berlin Christmas market attacks in Manhattan, New York City, December 20, 2017 (Photo: Reuters/Andrew Kelly)

"These individuals' affiliations with ISIS are often tenuous and are perhaps better described as 'inspired by' rather than operationally directed. So perhaps somebody within the U.S. will take it upon themselves to commit an attack on Christmas, which falsely bolsters the perceived capabilities and reach of the group."

In October, a 27-year-old man from Virginia, Mohamad Khweis, became the first U.S. citizen to be convicted of successfully joining the Islamic State terror group, also known as IS, ISIS, ISIL or Daesh, and was sentenced to 20 years in prison. Over 100 people in the U.S. have been charged with trying to support or join IS, but Khweis succeeded.

IS managed to encourage over 40,000 fighters from more than 110 countries to travel to join their fight before and after the declaration of the "caliphate" in June 2014, according to a report, "Beyond the Caliphate: Foreign Fighters and the Threat of Returnees."

The report, recently released by the Washington-based security intelligence consultancy Soufan Center, states that there are now at least 5,600 citizens or residents from 33 countries who have returned home — accounting for about 15 percent of the fighters.

Christian Post report continues here

Sudan Evicts 2 Christian Families From Church-Owned Homes, Gives to Muslim Investor

Baraka Parish church at Hajj Yusuf, on the outskirts of Khartoum, Sudan,
February 2013. (Photo: Reuters/Mohamed Nureldin Abdallah)

By Samuel Smith
Christian Post

Two Sudanese Christian families remain homeless after a Muslim judge ruled against their appeals of eviction from their homes in Omdurman, and said that a Muslim real estate investor can rightfully take ownership of the church-owned properties.

Sources told nonprofit Christian persecution watchdog group Morning Star News that Judge Adam Tahir Haj Adam upheld the eviction of Sudan Presbyterian Evangelical Church moderator, the Rev. Yahia Abdelrahim Nalu, and the Rev. Sidiq Abdalla from their homes and awarded ownership to Hisham Hamad Al-Neel, a Muslim investor.

The move leaves the two church leaders and their families homeless. Abdalla has two children, ages 8 and 10. Meanwhile, Nalu has a 1-year-old son.

On Aug. 15, police raided the families' homes and evicted the families on court order. Al-Neel claimed he had ownership of the property for investment purposes, Radio Tamazuj reported at the time. The pastors appealed the court order.

According to Morning Star News, one of the pastors said his house wasn't even listed on the court order. The house listed in the court order was No. 567 and the pastor's house number is No. 772. SPEC leaders who spoke with Morning Star News fear that the court's ruling could lead to the demolition of at least one of the homes.

"All appeals presented are rejected, and implantation of court order should continue," the court order was quoted as stating. The church leaders have appealed the judge's ruling to a high court. A ruling is expected by the end of the year, according to Morning Star News.

The two pastors' homes are not the only church properties that Al-Neel has targeted. The persecution watchdog group cited anonymous sources who said that Al-Neel is the Muslim businessman behind most all of the court attempts to take over church-owned properties in the area.

According to the sources, there are more than 60 church leaders facing charges in Khartoum for opposing the turnover of church property to Al-Neel. The sources added that on Nov. 28, over 25 church leaders appeared in court on charges related to Al-Neel's claims.

"Almost all the cases were opened by Hisham," a source said.

Sudan ranks as the fifth-worst nation in the world when it comes Christian persecution, according to Open Doors USA's 2017 World Watch List. The country has been listed on the World Watch List every year since 1993.

Christian Post report continues here

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India Police Arrest 30 Christian Seminary Students, Priests Singing Christmas Carols

By Anughar Kumar

Christian Post

Police in India's central state of Madhya Pradesh arrested 30 seminary students and two priests as they were singing Christmas carols in a village. The Christians were also roughed up by Hindu nationalists, who also burned down a car belonging to the priests while police allegedly looked on.

The carol singers, who are from St. Ephrem's Theological College in Satna district in the state of Madhya Pradesh, were arrested from Dara Kalan village Thursday night "as they were conducting a routine Christmas carol singing programme which has been the practice during the Christmas season for the last 30 years," according to the Catholic Bishops' Conference of India.

Eight priests who later went to inquire about the detained priests and seminarians were also taken into custody, CBCI says in a statement, adding that the situation outside the police station in Satna "was allowed to be so hostile that even those who wanted to approach the detained persons could get no access to them." The "goons" also torched the vehicle of the priests, the statement says.

A member of the Bajrang Dal, a Hindu nationalist group associated with Prime Minister Narendra Modi's ruling party, had accused members of the seminary of distributing the Bible, photos of Jesus Christ and singing carols, according to Huffington Post.

"We were only singing carols, but the hardline Hindus attacked us and said we were on a mission to make India a Christian nation ... that's not true," Anish Emmanuel, a seminary member, was quoted as saying. CBCI called the accusation of conversion "frivolous and laughable."

"All right thinking Indians will hang their heads in shame at these terrorists who have taken on the garb of 'religious police,'" the bishops said. "We are absolutely sure that they do not speak in the name of our very broad minded and peace loving Hindu brethren."

Christian Post report continues here

No Christian Displays at Christmas! What Happened When a Woman Put a Bible Verse on Her Door

CBN News

Many people like to celebrate Christmas with bright lights, wreaths and joyful decorations on their homes. But when an elderly Christian woman from Massachusetts tried to join in the festivities by posting a Bible verse on her front door, she was met with resistance.

The American Center for Law and Justice (ACLJ) recently reported that the elderly woman's apartment complex ordered her to take down her display.

The complex notified the woman that by posting a Bible verse, she was violating federal law. They claimed her display could offend someone and said they're trying to keep the complex "religion neutral."

After the woman reached out to the ACLJ, the legal group sent a letter to the complex telling them by forcing her to take it down, they are violating the Fair Housing Act. The FHA notes that people cannot be discriminated against due to religion and are allowed to display religious items on their doors.

They stated, "While the FHA requires neutrality, it does not prohibit religious expression, nor does it require, much less permit, the removal of religious expression simply because another tenant may find it offensive."

According to the ACLJ, the complex immediately complied and the matter was quickly resolved. The woman can now proudly display her Bible verses on her front door without retaliation for the rest of the Christmas season.

Website: CBN News

When Arabs Ruled Jerusalem: What Life Was Like For Christians And Jews

On 05 June 1967, Israel launched preemptive attacks against Egypt and Syria. In just six days, Israel occupied the Gaza Strip and the Sinai peninsula of Egypt, the Golan Heights of Syria, and the West Bank and Arab sector of East Jerusalem (both under Jordanian rule), thereby giving the conflict the name of the Six-Day War.(AFP/Getty Images)

By Richard Pollack

The Daily Caller

Following President Donald Trump’s declaration that the U.S. would recognize Jerusalem as Israel’s capital, Palestinian Liberation Organization leader Saeb Erekat quickly shot back and demanded “equal rights for everyone living in historic Palestine.”

Protests over Trump’s move have sparked riots in Jerusalem, the Gaza Strip and even violent protests in Europe, from Germany to Sweden. But how exactly did Arab Muslims treat Christians and Jews when they ruled over Jerusalem for 19 years?

It appears Arabs were anything but tolerant toward either. The Daily Caller News Foundation examined Arab rule over the eastern half of Jerusalem from 1949 until 1967, and found that both Christians and Jews were routinely denied religious freedom and often faced persecution at the hands of the Arabs when Muslims were in charge of the eastern half of the holy city.

In 1947, the United Nations approved a partition plan to permit both Jews and Muslims to govern separate sectors. Israel accepted the plan but the Arabs refused it and sent their armies against a group of citizen-soldiers.

The Israelis won a surprising victory in what they called their War of Independence. In 1949, an armistice was signed by both Jordan and Israel, signaling the end to the conflict.

The western half of Jerusalem was to be governed by Israel and the eastern half by the Jordanian Hashemite Kingdom. The Jewish Quarter and many of the most sacred Jewish sites were located in the eastern half ruled by Jordan and local Arabs.

People walk near Damascus Gate leading into Jerusalem’s Old City taken July 14, 1967. On June 1967 Jews were allowed to enter the eastern half of Jerusalem for the first time in 19 years. Fritz Cohen/Courtesy of Government Press Office/Handout via Reuters

From the very start, the Jordanians banned Jews outright, even though the armistice promised “free access to the holy sites and cultural institutions and use of the cemeteries on the Mount of Olives.”

But the Arab governing bodies also persecuted the Christian church and its followers during the same 19 years it ruled over Jerusalem.

“Christian residents, like Jews, did not have equal rights,” noted pastor John C. Hagee, founder and chairman of Christians United for Israel, in an interview with TheDCNF.

Jordanian and local Arab edicts prohibited Christians and later Christian churches from buying land and houses in the Old City of Jerusalem, according to the nonprofit Gatestone Institute.

The Institute reported that Arab Muslims restricted the number of Christian pilgrimages permitted in Jerusalem and Bethlehem during Christmas and Easter. They further imposed strict rules on Christian schools, including mandatory teaching of the Muslim Koran.

Hagee recounted the many indignities suffered by Christians who lived in Jerusalem.

“In 1952, Jordan proclaimed Islam as the official religion, including in Jerusalem,” he recalled. “In 1953, Christians were constrained for buying or holding land near holy sites. In 1955, all Jordanian schools were to be overseen by the government and only government-sanctioned textbooks could be used. In 1964, Churches were prohibited from buying land in Jerusalem. Churches were barred from funding hospitals or social services in Jerusalem.”

While Christians faced hardship and very harsh restrictions, Jews were banished entirely from the holy city.

From 1949 onward, there were no Jewish homes, synagogues or businesses in ancient Jerusalem. Jewish homes were taken over and occupied by Arabs and Jews lost their businesses. Most Jews fled to the western half of Jerusalem or to other parts of the Israel. Israelis or Jews of any nationality could not enter the Muslim section of Jerusalem for 19 years.

The treatment of Jewish synagogues and holy sites were documented when Jewish forces entered the Old City after the Six Day War in June 1967. An official November 1967 report by Israel’s Minister of Religious Affairs found “wanton disregard of the religious rights of others,” according to news reported at the time by The Jewish Telegraph Agency.

When the Israelis entered the eastern part of Jerusalem, they found the most sacred ancient Jewish shrines had been desecrated or totally destroyed by the Jordanian army or by local Arab residents.

An ultra-Orthodox Jew walks in the Jewish cemetery on the Mount of Olives in Jerusalem June 15, 2009. Arabs took the Jewish tombstones and used them to pave roads and even used as tops for latrines when they ruled Jerusalem from 1949 to 1967. REUTERS/Darren Whiteside

One of the most spectacular acts of desecration was the destruction of the 2,000-year old Jewish cemetery on the Mount of Olives, which was supposed to be protected by the armistice. Christian clergy who raised concerns about the desecration of the cemetery was told by Jordanian authorities “to mind his own business,” according to the 1967 Israeli report.

The Daily Caller report continues here

Over 77,000 Sign Petitions Supporting Air Force Colonel Punished for Opposing Gay Marriage

By Michael Gryboski
Christian Post

A pair of socially conservative advocacy groups have sent two petitions signed by more than 77,000 people to the military in support of an Air Force colonel punished for not supporting gay marriage.

Colonel Leland Bohannon garnered headlines in October after being suspended for refusing on religious grounds to sign a certificate of appreciation to the same-sex spouse of a retiring serviceman.

Family Research Council and the American Family Association delivered 77,000 signed petitions in support of Bohannon to the Pentagon on Wednesday.

"I urge you to restore and protect Colonel Leland Bohannon's Constitutional right to freely exercise his religious beliefs by reversing the complaint against him and by removing any unfavorable remarks from his record related to this complaint," read the AFA's petition.

Retired Lt. Gen. Jerry Boykin, Family Research Council's executive vice president, said in a statement Wednesday that "we will not back down from defending the religious liberty of those in the military."

"... over 77,000 Americans have joined together in this petition to say they will not stand for service members being punished and driven out simply for living in accordance with their religious beliefs," stated Boykin.

"The action taken against Colonel Bohannon is unacceptable, and Air Force policy must be corrected to ensure this does not happen again. In addition, the complaint against Col. Bohannon needs to be reversed and removed from his record."

The incident involving Bohannon occurred at Kirtland Air Force Base in New Mexico in May, according to the Associated Press. He was asked to sign a "certificate of spouse appreciation" for an airman in a same-sex marriage.

"The certificate is an unofficial document that's traditionally given to the spouses of retiring military members, and it's not legally required to be given," reported the AP.

Bohannon asked for a religious accommodation, saying he could not sign the document due to his beliefs as a Christian on marriage.

Later, the airman filed a complaint with the Equal Opportunity office, and Bohannon was accused of "unlawful discrimination on the basis of his sexual orientation." He was then suspended.

Christian Post article continues

American Christian Street Preacher Cleared of 'Hate Speech' Conviction in the UK

American street preacher Daniel Courney had his conviction 

overturned by the Crown Court in London, England

By Anugrah Kumar
Christian Post

A court in the United Kingdom has overturned the conviction of an American Christian street preacher for using "threatening and discriminatory language" while preaching to Muslims in Lincoln.

The Crown Court on Thursday overturned the conviction of the 33-year-old evangelist, Daniel Courney, whom Lincoln Magistrates had declared guilty on Sept. 14 after the Crown Prosecution Service pressed charges over complaints by Muslims on Lincoln High Street, according to Christian Concern.

While the preacher was giving a sermon, a crowd disrupted by shouting when he was saying that Jesus is the only way to God. But later a Muslim woman claimed that Courney called her "ISIS (Islamic State)" and told her to "go back to your country," an allegation that the preacher denied.

He was arrested under Section 5 of the Public Order Act.

"I came to the United Kingdom with its rich Christian history, to bring back the message of Jesus Christ," Courney was quoted as saying earlier. "The message is a simple one: repent and believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and do not follow false religions."

But due to the case, he has had to travel to and from the U.K. four times in the last three months, he added. "I have had other restrictions on my liberty during that time. I have been held in police custody and accused of being a hate preacher. At all times I simply wanted to proclaim the Gospel of Jesus Christ."
Courney thanked the Christian Legal Centre for their help and support and their free legal counsel.

"We are proud to represent street preachers in our country as they share the love of Jesus Christ with people on the street," Andrea Williams, chief executive of the Christian Legal Centre, was quoted as saying. "This case once again highlights the need for police operating in these situations to understand how the law protects free speech."

In a separate case in March, the Bristol Magistrates' Court in the U.K. convicted two Christian street preachers, Michael Overd and Michael Stockwell, of public order offenses for saying Muslims are going to Hell and Jesus is the only way to God.

They were found guilty of using "threatening or abusive words or behavior or disorderly behavior within the hearing or sight of a person likely to be caused harassment, alarm or distress, thereby, and the offense was religiously aggravated."

Christian Post report continues

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Christian Persecution Is 'the Issue of Our Time,' Says Watchdog

Relatives of victims of terrorist attack killed at least 30 Coptic Christians

By Stoyan Zaimov
Christians Post

The persecution of Christians around the world is the "tipping point" behind almost every major world crisis, a watchdog group warned during a major conference in Washington, D.C.

"This is the issue, I think, of our time. I say that with confidence because persecution, ... and particularly the persecution of Christians, is the tipping point in every major crisis around the world," said David Curry, CEO of Open Doors USA, during the 3rd Archon International Conference on Religious Freedom, a three-day conference being held in Washington, D.C.

"In North Korea, in Africa, in Iraq and Syria — it begins with persecution of Christians," he stated, according to Mission Network News.

The conference brought together Christian leaders, politicians, charity and human rights groups from around the world to talk about the ever-growing problem, given statistics that say close to 80 percent of religious persecution around the world targets Christians.

Curry noted that the conference focuses not only on leaders, but also everyday believers who are experiencing persecution for their beliefs.

"I think both approaches are terribly important — that we have senators and congressmen meeting with church officials to hear the stories of what's happening in their regions. I think it's good," Curry said, before adding, "It can't do everything.

"We need to continue to draw attention to what's happening at the grassroots level and talk about it in the halls of Congress, pray about it in churches."

Curry, whose organization documents the persecution of Christians around the world, said that when religious freedom starts to unravel, all of society begins to suffer.

"This is the issue we need to be talking about and addressing. And I think when people don't have the freedom to worship the way they choose, they basically don't have any freedom at all," he pointed out.

The Open Doors CEO said that the Advent season is a good time to pray for persecuted followers of Christ.

"[I'm] thankful for people who begin to pray now around Christmas for these folks around the [world]... I think this is an opportunity for Jesus' people to stand up in a big way and to reach out and to care for what's happening around the world and to be the moral voice," he stated.

Christian Post article continues

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7 Christian Missionaries Arrested After Hindus Accuse Them of 'Forcible Conversion' in India

 Pastor Stanley Jacob and his family

                                                      

By Samuel Smith

Christian Post

Seven pastors have been arrested in Northern India and could face years in prison after they were accused of forcible conversion even though family members say that the allegations stem from Muslim families' unwillingness to accept that their loved ones had converted to Christianity.

The London-based charity British Asian Christian Association has raised an alarm about the Monday arrests of missionaries in the Uttar Pradesh state who were charged under section 295A of the Indian Penal Code and could face up to three years for accusations that they performed a "forcible conversion campaign."

As originally reported by The Times of India, the pastors were accused of resorting to violence when the local Hindus refused to accept the evangelistic efforts after their ministry had been heavily active in the Irauli Gurjar area for the past month. The pastors were accused of trying force lower-caste Hindus to convert to Christianity.

Family members of Pastor Stanley Jacob told BACA, also known as the British Pakistani Christian Association, that Jacob and the other pastors were invited by a woman named Mamta to come to her house to pray on Monday. Mamta had recently moved to the village after she and her husband, Pradeep Singh, converted to Christianity.

"Mamta's sister had also recently converted to Christianity but all these conversions had caused upset within Mamta's family," BACA reports. "The pastors visited the house to hold a house meeting and share the gospel, pray and distribute bibles with local people who had been responding to invites to the meeting."

However, the prayer meeting was interrupted by local outraged Hindus. According to BACA, Singh's uncle, Lal, called the police. Officers arrived quickly and took the pastors away.

Lal Singh also filed a complaint even though he was not present during the meetings and claimed that the pastors were guilty of promoting blasphemous content. Singh also claimed to have been told that there were forced conversions being done.

According to BACA, the seven pastors were refused bail on Wednesday.

"I can't express the frustration I feel for these pastors. Words simply cannot convey the anger I feel when I think of their unwarranted arrest based on the lies of local people fearful of the Gospel message of Christ," BACA's lead officer in India, Pastor Naresh, said in a statement. "Men trying to save the lives and the souls of other are arrested on the whim of extremists, but they never lose their calling or faith."

Christian Post report continues 

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Children, Entire Evangelical Families Being Arrested in Eritrea Simply for Praying

By Stoyan Zaimov
Christian Post

Entire evangelical Christian families, including children, are reportedly being arrested in new persecution tactics being used by Eritrean officials, human rights activists have said.

"Since May of this year, nearly 200 Christians have been arrested. The interesting thing about this — they have shifted tactics ... Instead of just raiding church services or Bible studies, now the government is going to the homes of Christians, and they're arresting the whole family," Todd Nettleton of Voice of the Martyrs USA told Mission Network News.

"Even children have been put under arrest if they're part of a Christian family."

Nettleton explained that the children are taken into custody when their parents are arrested, and said that 16 students were taken by officials in November, simply for praying.

"Even as bad as it was, this seems like even a step further in the persecution of Christians — to arrest even children who are involved in Christian activities," Nettleton added.

The country's Christian population, roughly half of the nation, are given a choice to worship at the Orthodox Tewahedo Church, the Eritrean Catholic Church, and the Evangelical Lutheran Church, but all other house churches and Christian meetings are not tolerated.

"The Evangelical Church has been outlawed in Eritrea by the government. Any kind of public church meetings are illegal, other than those in the approved denominations by the government," he stated.

"So anytime Christians gather together, they face arrest, they face persecution and imprisonment. Many times those imprisonments are in horrible conditions, even being held in shipping containers which have no plumbing. They have very limited air supply, they're closed off, they're [hot] in the summer, they're very cold in the winter."

Both a major Catholic and an Islamic school were also recently targeted. Christian Solidarity Worldwide told The Christian Post in November that the government "appears obsessed with controlling every aspect of the lives of its citizens."

Khataza Gondwe, CSW's team leader for Africa and the Middle East, explained that the three permitted Christian churches, including the one sanctioned Islamic branch, are not free from government interference.

Christian Post report continues

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China Urges Rural Christians to Replace Jesus Images with Xi Jinping

By Frances Martel
Breitbart

Chinese officials and residents in a rural area of Jiangxi province have revealed a government plan to “melt the hard ice” in the hearts of Christians towards communism by denying them pivotal poverty relief packages if they do not replace images of Jesus in their households with photos of President Xi Jinping.

One official stated that the move was necessary because Christians are “ignorant” and need to be taught to worship the state, not God.

The move is the latest in a string of crackdowns against Christianity in the Xi era. Xi’s regime views Christianity, which has experienced a popularity boom in the past decade, as a challenge to the supremacy of the Communist Party’s growing cult of personality around Xi himself.

The South China Morning Post first picked up on the social media posting that revealed the program, noting that the post showed someone replacing their Christian images with Xi Jinping’s official headshot and praised local Communist Party officials for having transformed locals “from believing in religion to believing in the party.”

The social media post tracked efforts in the town of Huangjinbu, in southeastern Jiangxi province. It claimed that up to 600 residents had “voluntarily” replaced their images of Jesus, resulting in 453 new photos of Xi hanging on living room walls.

The Washington Post, which also reported on the post, noted that Communist Party officials in Yugan county in Jiangxi, where Huangjinbu is located, had noted with panic the rapid growth of the region’s Christian population an expressed “a sense of crisis” about it in a regional meeting in October. This new effort may have been a result of brainstorming to solve the problem of more people believing in Jesus than communism.

The South China Morning Post confirmed the efforts with Qi Yan, identified as “chairman of the Huangjinbu people’s congress.”

“Many rural people are ignorant. They think God is their savior. … After our cadres’ work, they’ll realize their mistakes and think: we should no longer rely on Jesus, but on the party for help,” Qi told the newspaper. Some, he added, became Christians due to “illness in the family,” which the communists argue can only be cured through “the Communist Party and General Secretary Xi.”

Qi claimed that the government has only forced individuals to place photos of Xi over their Christian images in “the center of their home,” not their bedrooms or other private areas.

A local resident, which the South China Morning Post identified as “Liu,” stated that many families were forced to remove their images because they would otherwise not receive their poverty relief packages, putting their lives in jeopardy.

Breitbart report continues

Blogger's Note: 

Christianity is prohibited in all communist societies. As a matter of fact, many if not all religions are viciously suppressed in communist societies; for example, the only tolerable religion in North Korea is the personality cult of Kim Il Sung. 

The reason communist leaders forbid all other forms of religion is because everything outside of state worship takes the focus and glory off the government. And Christianity is especially hated, since God’s “invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead, so that they are without excuse, because, although they knew God, they did not glorify Him as God, nor were thankful, but became futile in their thoughts, and their foolish hearts were darkened.” 

In sum, communist leaders do not acknowledge Christianity’s truth because it contradicts all the things they hold dear in their “superiority” over their people.

Quote from "Communism vs. Christianity", by Sarah Merly (15 year-old homeschooler). Check out her blog here

Persecution Unveiled has been by God to prick the consciences of this nation and all free people to speak up and act on behalf of those who have no voice.  Follow us on  Pinterest, and Google and like us on Facebook.