Islamic Militants Threaten Syrian Christians

WASHINGTON (BP) -- The U.S. State Department has issued a statement deploring what it calls "continued threats against Christians and other minorities in Syria" from militant Islamists at war with both Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and fellow Islamic militants.

According to a March 3 statement from State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki, the Islamic State of Iraq in the Levant (ISIL) announced last week in Raqqa it will force Christians in the city to "convert to Islam, remain Christian and pay a tax, or face death."

"These outrageous conditions violate universal human rights," Psaki said. "ISIL has demonstrated time and again its disregard for Syrian lives, and it continues to commit atrocities against the Syrian people. Although ISIL claims it is fighting the regime, its oppression of and senseless violence against Syrians, including the moderate Syrian opposition, demonstrates that it is fighting for nothing except the imposition of its own brand of tyranny."

The State Department's condemnation of ISIL comes as the Israeli newspaper Haaretz reported the group -- a branch of al-Qaida also known as ISIS -- had given Christians in Raqqa an ultimatum to accept a "dhimma," a protection agreement much like those between mafia families and businesses. If the agreement was not signed, the villagers would have to convert to Islam or "face the sword."

Haaretz reported Christians in the city had signed the agreement, which commits them to a biannual tax of "four gold dinars" -- about $500 per person. Those deemed middle class Christians by Islamic clerics are only required to pay half the tax, while those who are poor will be required to pay one quarter of that amount.

The average annual income in Syria is only $4,800 (US), and much less since the civil war began. That means many Christians will be unable to pay the tax and will be forced into conversion or worse.

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Research Reveals Human/Chimp Genetic Disparities, Undermines Evolutionary Theory

Creation scientists say new genetic findings challenge the evolutionary model and show that humans and chimps did not evolve from a common ancestor.

Scientists from MIT and the University of Massachusetts Medical School recently published a report in the journal Genome Research entitled “Evolutionary dynamics and tissue specificity of human long noncoding RNAs in six mammals.”

The article compares human long intergenic noncoding RNAs (lincRNAs) with lincRNAs of several mammals—including chimps and rhesus monkeys.

According to experts, lincRNAs are critically important to cells’ existence and serve many different roles. Not only are lincRNAs found within cells’ nuclei and cytoplasm, but they also assist communication between cells.

“LincRNAs play diverse regulatory roles in human development and disease,” the authors of the Genome Research article wrote, “but little is known about their evolutionary history and constraint.”

According to evolutionary theory, the lincRNA patterns of humans and chimps should be similar, since—according to evolutionists—humans and chimps evolved from a common ancestor. However, the journal article reports that a significant portion of human lincRNA is unique to humans—not found in chimps or monkeys.

“We find that at least 35% of human lincRNAs show orthologous transcripts across mammals, and 20% are not conserved beyond chimp and undetectable even in rhesus,” the scientists reported.

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Islamists Burn Students Alive to Discourage Education

Islamic militants in Nigeria continued terrorizing civilians last week, setting fire to a locked boy’s dormitory and other buildings at the Federal Government College in Buni Yadi. Fifty-nine people died in the attack. 

Although the school was not Christian, some of the victims have been identified as Christians, according to International Christian Concern (ICC). Emmanuel Ogebe, with the Justice for Jos Project, told ICC that the school was one of the few public, non-Islamic schools in the region.

“There is a high likelihood that many Christians attended the school since many northern state governments, like Yobe, spend public funds on Islamic schools and discourage Christian schools,” he told ICC. 

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Hollywood Declares: 2014 is the 'Year of the Bible'

In a throwback to the golden age of cinema, Hollywood has declared 2014 the "Year of the Bible."

From Ridley Scott's "Exodus" starring Christian Bale as Moses, to Russell Crowe playing Noah, Hollywood is gambling on new innovations in technology and star power to revisit some of the most popular stories ever told.

"It's definitely a throwback to the 1950s and early '60s," Dr. Stephen J. Whitfield, an American Studies professor at Brandeis University, told JNS.org.

Starting with "The Robe" in 1953 and Charlton Heston's 1956 Passover-related epic "The Ten Commandments," and continuing with Heston's other biblically themed films - 1959's "Ben-Hur" and 1965's "The Greatest Story Ever Told" - the post-war era was packed with movies that appealed to the conservatism of the era.

"One of the reasons biblical epics were [so] popular in the 1950s and '60s was because of the general atmosphere of piety of the era," Whitfield said.

Advances in technology also played a role, according to Whitfield.

"The second reason [for the popularity for bible-related films] was television, which was in black and white for most of this era," he said. "What movies could do is provide rich living color on a very big screen."

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Earliest Single-Cell Bacteria Contained Seven Complex Motors

A discovery a year ago in Japan continues to confound scientists: "If every school kid understood how that little thing works, the whole paradigm of evolutionary thought would have to change."

(Japan)—[Evolutionists] believe human beings evolved from a single-celled creature, which gradually becoming more and more complex over a vast time span. But what if the oldest single-celled bacteria ever found contained intricate, synchronized motors more complex than a Boeing 747? (Graphic: Seven motor, 24 gear MO-1 bacterium/via God Reports)

In November, 2012, two scientific groups from Osaka University in Japan and Aix-Marseille Université in France made a startling discovery.

They set out to uncover the power behind the tiny tails (flagella) that allowed the MO-1 marine bacterium to swim. Using electron cryotomography—an electron microscope and very cold temperatures—they found this "simple" creature's tails are powered by seven motors, arranged in a hexagonal array, with all gears interacting with 24 smaller gears between them.

"This is the earliest bacteria ever found," says Mark Rose, founder of Genesis Alive. "They found it in rock they claim is three billion years old," he notes. "That means it's the oldest, most complete single cell."
"The seven tails (flagella) rotate one way, and the smaller gears rotate the opposite way to maximize torque while minimizing friction," Rose notes.

These gears or bearings enable the flagella to spin very fast—so the MO-1 can swim ten times faster than E. coli and Salmonella. Some have referred to this as "the Ferrari of flagella," due to its speed and advanced design.

"This discovery baffled the microbiological world with its uncanny complexity," Rose notes. "Think of it, not one but seven proton synchronized motors interconnected with a planetary gearbox."
"The seven flagella propellers are inter-linked for minimum drag profile and maximum thrust by using 24 gears and a sheath, similar to modern aircraft and mufti-engine helicopters!" (Graphic: Seven tails-flagella-in yellow/via God Reports)

"It actually has gears and it keeps all seven motors synchronized," he notes. "Typically, any geared engines have no more than two motors. The best we could do in a helicopter is three engines and a multiple gear box to sync the engines."
"If every school kid understood how that little thing works, the whole paradigm of evolutionary thought would have to change."

Rose observes the axial proton motor is almost identical to modern AC (alternating current) brushless motors. "It has no wires, bearings or metal, and is 1/200,000 smaller than man's best device."
"The motors can drive the MO-1 bacteria at relative speeds of 100 body lengths/second. A Cheetah achieves a land speed of only 25 body lengths/second in comparison and that's in air, not fluid!" he says.

This "simple" bacterium has nearly the same number of parts as a Boeing 747—six million—which like the aircraft, work together perfectly. But these parts allow the bacterium to do something the 747 can't do—multiply itself. Note, the MO-1 bacterium has three more motors than the Boeing model.
Well-known evolutionist, Dr. Francisco Ayala of UC Irvine, has calculated the odds of human beings evolving from a single bacterium to be 1 in 10 to the 1 millionth power. However, three physicists, John Barrow, Brandon Carter and Frank Tipler, reexamined his data and said he overlooked several critical factors. They stated the odds at 1 in 10 to the 24 millionth power.

But according to probability theorists, any event with lower odds than 1 in 10 to the 50th power is considered mathematically impossible.

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Dead for 45 Minutes, Resurrected Man Tells Fox's Megyn Kelly About Experience in Heaven

"He had no heart rate. He had no blood pressure. He had no pulse, his brain had no oxygen for 45 minutes. So, the fact that he is up walking, talking, laughing and everything—I mean, that's amazing." -ICU Nurse, Emily Bishop

(Beachwood, OH)—For 45 minutes, doctors and nurses were unable to revive Brian Miller after the 41-year-old truck driver suffered a heart attack. But Miller, who says he was in Heaven during that time, claims he's alive today because God sent him back. (Photo via WJW Channel 8 News)

More specifically, according to a Fox News interview, God sent Miller's deceased father-in-law and mother-in-law to deliver a message to him that it wasn't his time and ushered him back into life.

As Miller suffered the initial heart attack, his ICU nurse, Emily Bishop, said, "His heart is just quivering in there. It's not able to pump. It's not doing anything."
Speaking later of his miraculous revival, Bishop added, "He had no heart rate. He had no blood pressure. He had no pulse, his brain had no oxygen for 45 minutes. So, the fact that he is up walking, talking, laughing and everything—I mean, that's amazing."

According to Fox WJW Channel 8 News, not only did Miller's heart inexplicably just start beating on it's own again, but he "miraculously" suffered no brain damage or loss of any bodily functions. (Photo via WJW Channel 8 News)

When interviewer Megyn Kelly asked Miller to describe his experience, he said, "I [saw] the light and just kept walking toward it. And then, all of a sudden, it opened into a most beautiful path with flowers." It was as he was walking along this path that he was met by his in-laws.
When asked about his religious background, Miller explained that he's "always believed in the Lord" and that as a child he went to church a lot but that now, since getting married and driving a truck so often, he hardly goes anymore.

Miller admits that the experience has changed his perspective on life in multiple ways and that people need to know heaven is real.

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Congressional Hearing: Christians Worldwide Being Targeted for Their Faith

WASHINGTON – Christians are the most persecuted group in the world, but most in the West don’t identify with the persecuted Church, a Congressional hearing before the House Foreign Affairs Committee contended this week.

Representative Chris Smith (R-NJ) opened the hearing by outlining various reports of Christian persecution in Syria, Egypt, Iraq and Nigeria. He told the story of Habila Adamu, a Nigerian businessman who was shot for his faith in November 2012.

“[M]asked gunmen armed with AK-47 entered his home. They told his wife to leave, as they were here to ‘do the work of Allah,’” Smith explained, noting that moments later the men asked Adamu if he was a Christian and why he had not accepted Islam.

“I am a Christian. We are also preaching the gospel of the true God to you and to other people who do not yet know God,” Adamu replied to the gunmen.
“Habila, are you ready to die as a Christian?” the men asked. “I am ready to die as a Christian,” Adamu replied.

“They asked him again, ‘Are you ready to die as a Christian?’” Smith relayed. “[Adamu] replied, ‘I am ready,’ and before he had closed his mouth, a bullet ripped through him.”
Adamu miraculously survived. Smith held up a photo to show where the bullet had exited the Christian’s body.

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Suicide Bomber Instructor Accidently Blows Up Entire Class of Islamic Terrorists in Iraq

An Iraqi suicide bomber instructor set off his own explosives during a training on Monday, ending the lives of himself and his pupils.

(Ahmed Saad/Reuters)

Smoke rises from the site of a bomb attack near Khullani Square in Baghdad February 5, 2014.

The instructor, who was teaching a class at a camp in the Sunni region of the country, north of Baghdad, accidently detonated his bomb, killing 21 other would-be suicide bombers. The casualties were part of a group formerly linked to the al-Qaeda terrorist group.

The ironic incident is a brief moment of respite for many Iraqis who have been forced to ensure years of violence and killing in the country; in 2013, nearly 9,000 people were killed. Thus far, 2014 has not been anymore hopeful; roughly 1,000 Iraqis were killed last month. Meanwhile, suicide bombers have made themselves an ever present menace in Iraqi civilian life, relentlessly targeting markets, mosques, sporting events and funerals.

Liquor storekeeper Raad Hashim said that he was tremendously relieved by the death of the 22 men, who almost certainly would have ended the lives of dozens of innocent Iraqis and Syrians.
"What happened today was not death, but it was life to us," Hashim told The New York Times. "Those 22 who were killed today might have killed hundreds of Iraqis, hundreds of innocent souls. May they burn in hell."

Although he initially burst out laughing at the news, Hashim suggested that the suicide bombers' onslaught of violence has devestated the country.

"This is so funny. It shows how stupid they are, those dogs and sons of dogs," he said, before acknowledging that the accident also gave him "pain, as I remember all the innocent people that were killed here."

Hashim interpreted the suicide bomber's act as one that had been God-inspired.
"This is God showing justice. This is God sending a message to the bad people and the criminals in the world, to tell them to stop the injustice and to bring peace. Evil will not win in the end. It's always life that wins over death," said Hashim.

Source

Casual Sex and Casual Faith

Casual sex can refer to one night stands and non-relational sex, where there are no strings attached. How often do people approach God in similarly casual ways?

Biblical prophets write of how God’s people often play the harlot (See Ezekiel 16, for example). The problem becomes so bad that God tells Hosea to take for himself a prostitute as a wife. Their marriage involving her various adulteries and Hosea’s faithfulness in the midst of her infidelities symbolizes God’s relationship with his people, Israel. Instead of remaining faithful to the God of the covenant who had blessed them, Israel turned to Canaanite deities and worshipped and honored them as the source of their plenty (Refer to Hosea).

How do these Old Testament realities bear upon the New Testament church? Old Testament allusions ring out in Paul’s words to the church in 2 Corinthians 11:

I wish you would bear with me in a little foolishness. Do bear with me! For I feel a divine jealousy for you, since I betrothed you to one husband, to present you as a pure virgin to Christ. But I am afraid that as the serpent deceived Eve by his cunning, your thoughts will be led astray from a sincere and pure devotion to Christ. For if someone comes and proclaims another Jesus than the one we proclaimed, or if you receive a different spirit from the one you received, or if you accept a different gospel from the one you accepted, you put up with it readily enough. (2 Corinthians 11:1-4)

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Shocking Expose’: Former Egypt Pres. Morsi’s Collaboration with Al Qaeda

By Raymond Ibrahim

As former Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi’s trials continue, it’s enlightening to consider what is likely to be one of the centerpieces: longstanding accusations that Morsi and his Muslim Brotherhood party worked with foreign terrorist organizations, including Al Qaeda, against the national security of Egypt.

Based on these accusations of high treason, Morsi and others could face the death penalty.

Concerning some of the more severe allegations, one of Egypt’s most widely distributed and read newspapers, Al Watan, recently published what it said were recorded conversations between Morsi and Muhammad Zawahiri (see picture, above), Al Qaeda leader Ayman Zawahiri’s brother. In these reports, Watan repeatedly asserts that Egyptian security and intelligence agencies confirmed (or perhaps leaked out) the recordings.

Much of the substance of the alleged conversations is further corroborated by events that occurred during Morsi’s one-year-rule, most of which were reported by a variety of Arabic media outlets, though not by Western media.

In what follows, I relay, summarize, and translate some of the more significant portions of the Watan reports (verbatim statements are in quotation marks). In between, I comment on various anecdotes and events – many of which were first broken on my website – that now, in light of these phone conversations, make perfect sense and independently help confirm the authenticity of the recordings.

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