Mali:Violent Muslims Aiming For Nation Takeover?

On the same day that Open Doors USA named Mali the world’s seventh worst persecutor of Christians, there were reports that al-Qaida fighters there were launching an offensive to capture two cities.

Fears are that their goal is to take over the North African nation and persecute Christian members of the population much as violent radicals in Nigeria and Somalia do against their Christian populations.

 

International Christian Concern’s Africa analyst William Stark says al-Qaida’s offensive is a major reason the nation went from being unranked to No. 7 on the list.

“Their goal is to take over the entire country of Mali. Open Doors USA just came out with a list of the 50 worst persecutors of Christians and Mali went from unranked to No. 7. This would be problematic for Christians in Mali. These extremists would likely persecute Christians to a similar extent as Boko Haram in Nigeria and al-Shabaab in Somalia,” Stark said.

The reports detail al-Qaida’s attacks on the key northern cities of Kona and Mopti. Both are crucial because they are major transportation hubs or gateways to transportation outlets.

A Malian Christian who has asked not to be identified for security reasons confirms the al-Qaida-led assault on those key cities. He says the rebels are making significant progress.

“These Islamic terrorists and extremists are at the front line of one of the regions of the south of Mali near the town of Mopti,” the Christian said.

The source also said the al-Qaida-led assault is being undertaken for a very specific religious and cultural purpose.
“They’re aiming to infiltrate the south of Mali up to the capital of Bamako in order to apply the Shariah law to all of the inhabitants of Mali,” the Christian source said.

Heritage Foundation Africa specialist Morgan Roach confirms the reports.
“While details are still emerging, there are reports that the coalition of Islamist militants, who occupy northern Mali’s three administrative regions of Gao, Kidal and Timbuktu, is making an advance southwards to Mopti, not far from where the region’s main airport is located in Sevare,” Roach said.

Read more at WND News

Israel to Build Syrian Border Fence

JERUSALEM — Israel intends to reinforce its frontier with neighboring Syria amid growing concerns about the fallout from the Syrian civil war.

Israel plans to erect a new five-meter-high fence on the Golan Heights, captured from Syria in 1967, and fortify it with trenches, barbed wire and a road for army patrols.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told his Cabinet Sunday that the Syrian army has moved away from the frontier and that what he called "Global Jihad" has moved in.  That is a reference to militant Islamists from around the Middle East, including al-Qaida.

Netanyahu said Israel would "defend its border against infiltrations and terrorism."

Israel has stayed out of the Syrian conflict, but recently a number of stray mortar rounds have landed inside Israeli-controlled territory on the Golan, prompting the army to fire back.  The incidents raised concerns that the Syrian civil war could spill toward Israel.

But Israel’s biggest concern is that Syria’s chemical weapons could fall into the hands of groups like al-Qaida or Hezbollah in Lebanon.

Netanyahu said “the Syrian regime is very unstable” and the issue of its chemical weapons is a cause for concern. He said Israel is coordinating intelligence with the United States and other allies and is prepared for any scenario.

Source

Egypt's Army Foils Attempt To Attack Church On Coptic Christmas

Egypt's army foiled an attack on a church in North Sinai on the eve of Coptic Christmas, a spokesman said on Monday, as Pope Tawadros II prayed for security in the country.

Egypt's Coptic minority is celebrating their first Christmas under the rule of Islamist President Mohammed Morsi, amid fear and uncertainty for their future.

Armed forces spokesman Colonel Ahmed Ali said that army patrols discovered a car carrying explosives between a church and a military checkpoint under construction in the early hours of Monday.

The armed forces "have foiled an attempt to bomb the Rafah Church in North Sinai," he said.
Another car, which had no license plates and carried masked men, escaped before troops could stop it.

In his sermon late Sunday in Cairo's Cathedral, Pope Tawadros II said that he prays for Egypt's security.

"Egypt is always in our prayers. We do not just pray for the land, we pray for the people," he said in a Christmas Eve mass.

Pope Tawadros II was elected in November to replace longtime Pope Shenouda III, who died in March after 40 years as the head of the largest Christian community in the Middle East.

Copts, who make up around 10 per cent of Egypt's 82-million population, long complained of discrimination during the regime of Hosny Mubarak. They fear further marginalization by Islamists, who rose to power after the ouster of Mubarak in 2011.

Source 

Franklin Graham Warns 'Wicked' America

He was banned from a Pentagon prayer service because of Muslim complaints about his beliefs, and he later charged that Barack Obama has “shaken his fist” at God by endorsing same-sex marriage, so no one would expect mild platitudes from the strong-willed Franklin Graham.

But to liken America’s current situation to the status of the Old Testament tribe of Judah under Manasseh, the “wickedest king to rule?”

 

That the message that can be taken from a recent public letter posted on the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association website.

There, Franklin Graham, Billy Graham’s oldest son, warns that the nation’s fiscal cliff is nothing to worry about compared to the spiritual cliff he sees.
“Since the recent election, we’ve seen same-sex couples lining up at courthouses in several states to receive their marriage licenses, and hundreds of people gathering in public places to light up marijuana cigarettes in the states where it has just been decriminalized,” Graham wrote.

“This is only the tip of the iceberg. The moral decline we see on television programs – blatant immorality, senseless violence, media-friendly gay and lesbian behavior – is just a reflection of the moral corruption that has infected our entire nation. These are indeed dark days … but there is hope.

“The Bible says, ‘If the foundations are destroyed, what can the righteous do?’ (Psalm 11:3, ESV). No question our country’s foundations are being destroyed, but I am reminded of an era in the Old Testament where the Lord moved in a dramatic way to bring godly change to a spiritually dark and depraved nation like Judah, whose moral foundations had been seriously eroded.”

Graham, who heads not only the BGEA but also the relief agency Samaritan’s Purse, described Manasseh as “the wickedest king to rule over Judah.”

“Throughout his 55 years of evil reign, the land had been defiled with innocent blood. He led Judah into witchcraft, sorcery, and the worship of false gods and idols, including the fertility goddess Asherah. He even sacrificed his own son in the fires of idolatry,” Graham wrote.

But he noted the Bible story continues, with the account of Josiah, Manasseh’s grandson, who when he was 18 and king, came across the “book of the law.”

“Apparently it had been lost and neglected for a number of years. When Josiah heard the books read aloud by a scribe, he tore his clothes, and said, ‘Great is the wrath of the Lord that is kindled again us, because our fathers have not obeyed the words of this book, to do according to all that is written concerning us,’ (2 Kings 22:13),” Graham wrote.

Consequently, he said, “idols were smashed, spiritists and mediums forcibly removed, and the worship of the one true God reinstated,” Graham wrote.

“For far too long, as a nation we have neglected – and even rejected – the Word of God and His commands. Yet the Scriptures are mighty, able to penetrate even the most hardened and darkened hearts with convicting, life-giving power,” Graham wrote.

“This is the only cure for a sin-sickened country that is about to slip into a moral abyss, and it is why we must proclaim the Good News,” he wrote.

Overt action to minimize Christianity in America is becoming more familiar, with governments banning prayer even when it doesn’t mention Jesus, a military officer’s research paper insisting officers should abandon certain Christian beliefs and the the Air Force Academy designating a parcel of ground to be used to worship “Mother Earth and the Horned God.”

Family Research Council President Tony Perkins was disinvited to speak at a prayer luncheon at Andrews Air Force Base because of his opposition to President Obama’s call to allow homosexuals to serve in the military.

Shirley Dobson, who coordinates National Day of Prayer events, said: “Prayers uttered by those in official positions are being met with hostility, or they have been banned outright.

This opposition represents a radical change of direction for this great land. National days of prayer have occurred since 1775, when the Continental Congress asked the nation to join in a petition for divine guidance.”

Graham also has been unafraid to address the most politically sensitive issues of the day, telling CNN in an interview that “true Islam cannot be practiced in this country.”

“You can’t beat your wife. You cannot murder your children if you think they’ve committed adultery or something like that, which they do practice in these other countries,” he said. ” … I don’t agree with the teachings of Islam, and I find it to be a very violent religion.”

The research paper criticizing evangelical Christianity was written by a major for the School of Advanced Military Studies in Fort Leavenworth, Kan. It calls for Americans to lose the Christian belief of premillennialism because it damages the nation’s foreign interests.

“As a result of millennarian influences on our culture, most Americans think as absolutists,” Maj. Brian L. Stuckert wrote in his 2008 course requirement at the school for military officers.

“A proclivity for clear differentiations between good, evil, right and wrong do not always serve us well in foreign relations or security policy,” he said. “Policy makers must strive to honestly confront their own cognitive filters and the prejudices associated with various international organizations and actors vis-à-vis premillennialism.”

Graham wrote that America’s financial problems “are nothing compared to the spiritual and moral cliff that is far more destructive to our nation than any economic concerns.”

Read more at WND

'Not A Single Jew Will Be Left On The Face Of The Earth'

A Muslim cleric from Egypt is forecasting an end times annihilation of every Jew on the face of the Earth and says that will be the ultimate victory for Islam.

In a recent broadcast on Al-NAS Television in Egypt, cleric Mahmoud al-Masri pontificated on his belief about the future of the nation of Israel and the Jewish people.

“The final annihilation [of the Jews] will come at the time of the Mahdi, or shortly before the Mahdi appears. Then the Muslims will regain the Al-Aqsa mosque, if they do not manage to spread Islam throughout the land,” he said.

“A small group of Jews will remain, but not the Jews living in Palestine. A group of Jews from Isfahan will survive, and they will follow the Antichrist, but eventually, they will also be killed, along with the Antichrist,” he continued.

“Ultimately, not a single Jew will be left on the face of the Earth. Victory is coming, Allah willing.”

The Mahdi is believed by some sects in Islam to be the 12th imam, an end times figure who will arise to lead Muslims on a worldwide rampage in which all “enemies” of the belief are eliminated. Some Christians believe the Mahdi is the same as the biblical Antichrist, the personification of evil.

Former terrorist turned Christian Walid Shoebat noted the report, and said, “As the West attempts to split hairs when determining if Islamists with this view are part of al-Qaida or not, the words of Islamists like this fall on deaf ears. His idea of victory is for the Earth to be uninhabited by a single Jew.”

Read more at WND

Assad Outlines His Vision For Syrian Peace

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad on Sunday outlined his vision for a road map to end nearly 22 months of violence in Syria but also struck a defiant tone, calling on his countrymen to unite against “murderous criminals” whom he said are carrying out a foreign plot seeking to tear the nation apart.

In a one-hour speech to the nation in which he appeared confident and relaxed, Mr. al-Assad ignored international demands for him to step down and said he is ready to hold a dialogue but only with those “who have not betrayed Syria.”

He offered a national reconciliation conference, elections and a new constitution but demanded regional and Western countries stop funding and arming rebels trying to overthrow him first.

The proposal, however, is unlikely to win acceptance from Syria's opposition forces, including rebels on the ground, who have repeatedly said they will accept nothing less than the president's departure, dismissing any kind of settlement that leaves him in the picture.

On top of that, Mr. al-Assad's new initiative is reminiscent of symbolic changes and concessions that his government made earlier in the uprising, which were rejected at the time as too little too late.

Continued, here.

Letters Encourage Chinese Christian Prisoner

Pastor Shi and his family looking at their letters after his release

Pastor Shi Weihan lived in China with his wife and two daughters. Very early one morning, their dog’s loud barking woke them up. Pastor Shi wondered why the dog was making so much noise. Usually he barked only when a group of people came to their house.

Pastor Shi looked out the window. He saw 30 police officers and 20 vehicles.
The pastor knew why the police had come for him. He and other Chinese house-church Christians had been printing Bibles to give away free. China’s Amity Press is the only press allowed to print Bibles legally.

The police took Pastor Shi to jail. They put him in a cell that was about 60 square feet in size. (A 10-foot by 6-foot room would be 60 feet square.) More than 30 other prisoners were already stuffed into the small space.


When the police questioned Pastor Shi, he told them, “The Bible is not a bad book. We are just printing them to preach the gospel.”

The police were irritated at the way Pastor Shi was answering, or not answering, some of their questions. One day, they took his clothes, handcuffed him, and made him stand outside in the cold. Then they sprayed him with cold water.

“God save me,” he prayed. “I don’t want to be here. You helped Peter get out of jail. [See Acts 12.] You can help me today.”

But God did not send an angel to rescue Pastor Shi from jail. Instead, the next time the police sprayed him with cold water, the water felt warm. The Lord reminded him, “My grace is sufficient for you.” [See 2 Corinthians 12:7–10.]

The police let Pastor Shi go free for 37 days, then he had to return to jail. In his new cell, he talked to the prisoners about Jesus, and many men decided to trust Christ as their Savior.

Hope in the Mail

One day a guard took Pastor Shi to an office and showed him piles of letters all addressed to the pastor. Many more letters came to Pastor Shi’s house.

The guard did not let Pastor Shi have the letters. But Pastor Shi knew the letters were God’s way of telling him that he had not been forgotten.
The police did not like the letters. “You have too many friends,” they told Pastor Shi. He replied, “These friends are like my brothers and sisters in America.”

Pastor Shi’s wife and daughters were also encouraged by the letters. “It brought the hope of heaven to our home,” Pastor Shi said. He also said that his father came to Jesus as a result of seeing all the letters from Christians.

Pastor Shi was released from prison in February 2011. He and his family later left China so that he could continue Bible studies in another country.

Source

Netanyahu Stands Behind "Palestinian State" Vision

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu has affirmed to Channel 2 that as elections approach, he stands behind the principles he outlined in his speech at Bar Ilan University in 2009.

Channel 2's Knesset reporter, Amit Segal, did not say Monday evening whether the information came directly from Netanyahu, but from the way in which he reported the news, it was clear that it had been approved by the Prime Minister.

This means that Netanyahu supports the creation of a demilitarized Palestinian state, conditional upon "a public, binding and unequivocal Palestinian recognition of Israel as the nation state of the Jewish people," and with Jerusalem remaining the united capital of Israel.

Earlier on Monday, Likud MK Tzipi Hotovely (Likud) said that Netanyahu's Bar Ilan speech was made for "tactical" reasons only and did not reflect Likud's true platform.  She claimed that the speech was meant "to expose Palestinian Authority chairman Mahmoud Abbas's true positions to the world."

More, here.

Netanyahu: We're Building a Digital Iron Dome

Photo: GPO

Israel is building a "digital Iron Dome," Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu said at the opening ceremony of a new national program to train young people for cyberwarfare Tuesday.

"Israel's vital systems are under attack from Iran and other elements. This will only increase as we enter the digital age," Netanyahu stressed, speaking at the Ashkelon Academic College.

Continued

Iran Urges OIC to Move to Harness Insult to Islam

TEHRAN (FNA)- Iran condemned the insults leveled against the prophet of Islam in the US and European movies and magazines, and called on the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) to compile a convention to prevent such blasphemous acts.

Speaking to reporters in his weekly press conference in Tehran on Tuesday, Iranian Foreign Ministry Spokesman Ramin Mehman-Parast deplored certain western media for promoting and supporting sacrilegious acts against divine sanctities and the prophet of Islam. "We want those who are behind this move to go on trial and be punished and we expect the OIC to take urgent action to compile a convention to prevent such acts and don't allow these publications to create a rift among divine religions," he underlined. His remarks came after a number of western movies and cartoons were released in the western media in recent years which insulted the prophet of Islam and Muslims. In September, French weekly Charlie Hebdo published cartoons of Prophet Mohammad (PBUH). The publication of the offensive cartoons came amid widespread outrage over a US-made film that insulted the prophet of Islam. The anti-Islam movie drew condemnation from numerous countries, including Afghanistan, Egypt, Libya, Indonesia, Malaysia, Bangladesh, Iran, Yemen, Iraq, Pakistan, Somalia, Sudan, Morocco, Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, etc. And unfortunately again, a French journal has recently announced its intention to release a number of sacrilegious cartoons against the prophet of Islam on Wednesday. Source