Shocking Report: ‘Persecution of Christians Worldwide Close to Genocide’

August 26, 2019 — PJMedia.com reports: “According to a shocking new report, Christians are ‘by far the most widely persecuted’ members of a religion in the world. It also warns that this persecution is now nearing ‘genocide’ levels.

The American Center for Law and Justice (ACLJ) shared the report compiled by the Bishop of Truro the Right Reverend Philip Mounstephen. It states that violence and oppression against Christians is worsening as time goes by.

‘Evidence shows not only the geographic spread of anti-Christian persecution, but also its increasing severity,’ the report states. ‘In some regions, the level and nature of persecution is arguably coming close to meeting the international definition of genocide, according to that adopted by the UN.’

The evidence shows that Christianity is ‘by far the most widely persecuted religion.’ This is extremely noteworthy because as many as one-third of the world’s population are suffering persecution because of their religious beliefs. Of those, an estimated 80 percent are Christians…” (If the world hate you, ye know that it hated me before it hated you.  If ye were of the world, the world would love his own: but because ye are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you.  Remember the word that I said unto you, The servant is not greater than his lord. If they have persecuted me, they will also persecute you; if they have kept my saying, they will keep yours also.  But all these things will they do unto you for my name’s sake, because they know not him that sent me.  If I had not come and spoken unto them, they had not had sin: but now they have no cloak for their sin.  He that hateth me hateth my Father also.  If I had not done among them the works which none other man did, they had not had sin: but now have they both seen and hated both me and my Father.  But this cometh to pass, that the word might be fulfilled that is written in their law, They hated me without a cause.  But when the Comforter is come, whom I will send unto you from the Father, even the Spirit of truth, which proceedeth from the Father, he shall testify of me:  And ye also shall bear witness, because ye have been with me from the beginning” – John 15:18-27.)

Iraqi Archbishop: ‘Extinction Is Coming’ for Christians in Middle East

August 8, 2019 — Breitbart.com reports: “Chaldean Archbishop Bashar Warda of Erbil offered a grim prediction for the future of Christianity in the Middle East, saying recurring Islamic purges will inevitably lead to the extinction of Christians.

Although the Islamic State invasion of Iraq in 2014 led to the displacement of more than 125,000 Christians from historical homelands and despoiled the Christian community of homes, employment, and churches, this event was far from unique, Archbishop Warda told the Catholic charity Aid to the Church in Need this week.

‘This was an exceptional situation, but it’s not an isolated one. It was part of the recurring cycle of violence in the Middle East over more than 1,400 years,’ he said, which is leading to the gradual eradication of Christians from the area.

‘With each successive cycle the number of Christians drops, till today we are at the point of extinction,’ Warda said. ‘Argue as you will, but extinction is coming, and then what will anyone say? That we were made extinct by natural disaster, or gentle migration? That the ISIS attacks were unexpected, and that we were taken by surprise? That is what the media will say.’

‘Or will the truth emerge after our disappearance: that we were persistently and steadily eliminated over the course of 1,400 years by a belief system which allowed for recurring cycles of violence against Christians, like the Ottoman genocide of 1916-1922,’ he declared…” (Christians who suffer and die for Christ will receive the “Crown of Life” to place at the feet of Jesus – James 1:12; Revelation 2:10.  The 24 elders represent 12 Old Testament Tribes and 12 New Testament Apostles – saved Jews and redeemed Christians.  In Revelation 4: 10 & 11 they cast their earned crowns before the Lord Jesus Christ.  See the next report.)

Militants cut off the ears of women in horrific attack on Christian village

August 8, 2019 — ChristianToday.com reports: “The barbarism of Boko Haram, an Islamist militant group, has reached new heights after reports of women having their ears chopped off during an attack on a Christian village.

Local media reports that Boko Haram fighters stormed the Christian village of Kalagari in northern Cameroon on July 29, taking eight women hostage and cutting off their ears before releasing them.

The women are being treated for their injuries but Open Doors UK said it was not clear whether all of the abducted women had been released.

The militant group has terrorised Christian communities in Nigeria for the last decade and has now splintered and spread its violent ideology into Cameroon, Niger and Chad.

It is notorious for abducting women and girls, most famously 276 largely Christian schoolgirls from Chibok in 2014, but there have been others…” 

Aid Worker: Boko Haram Killed Schoolgirl for Refusing to Renounce Christ

July 26, 2019 — Breitbart.com reports: “Jihadis from the Islamic State (ISIS/ISIL)-linked Boko Haram killed a 16-year-old Christian schoolgirl in captivity for refusing to renounce her Christian faith and convert to Islam, a kidnapped aid worker claimed in a video released this week.

Grace Taku, an aid worker from the non-governmental organization (NGO) Action Against Hunger (ACF), blamed the death of the schoolgirl — Leah Sharibu — and another captive identified only as ‘Alice’ on the Nigerian government’s failure to fight for her release. Taku herself was kidnapped along with five other ACF workers on July 18.

She also held the Nigerian government responsible for the deaths of two Red Cross workers — identified only as Hauwa and Kabura — and a different aid worker, Alice.

Taku’s comments were captured on a nearly three-minute video, which reportedly disseminated online Wednesday by the Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP), a breakaway Boko Haram faction…”  (When this story was first published, Open Doors USA’s president and CEO David Curry said: “Tragic reports are circulating that 16-year-old Leah Sharibu, the Nigerian schoolgirl we’ve been praying for since March 22, 2018, has been killed in captivity. However, there has been no confirmation of the validity of these reports from the Nigerian government. Our field is approaching these reports with caution, as well.”  As of the printing of this Van Impe Intelligence Briefing there still is no confirmation.

In May 2018, Leah’s parents Nathan and Rebecca Sharibu told USA Today: “My daughter is alive, but they wouldn’t release her because she is a Christian. They told her they would release her if she converted, but she said she will never become a Muslim. I am very sad, but I am also overjoyed because my daughter did not denounce Christ,” 

This brave young girl is echoing the words of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, when they told King Nebuchadnezzar: “If it be so, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and he will deliver us out of thine hand, O king.  But if not, be it known unto thee, O king, that we will not serve thy gods, nor worship the golden image which thou hast set up.” [Emphasis mine].  Revelation 2:10 states: “Fear none of those things which thou shalt suffer: behold, the devil shall cast some of you into prison, that ye may be tried; and ye shall have tribulation ten days: be thou faithful unto death, and I will give thee a crown of life.”)