CONTENDING FOR THE FAITH
Christians in Northern India Forgo Christmas Celebrations After ‘Record’ Year of Persecution
December 26, 2023 — Breitbart.com reports: “The Hindu nationalist government of India presided over the escalation of Christian persecution in the country at a ‘record pace’ in 2023, religious freedom experts told Breitbart News, and faces little to no pressure to protect their Christian populations from the West.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi has repeatedly claimed in public — including on the lawn of the White House in June — that India is not a hotbed of persecution or violence against religious minorities.
‘I’m actually really surprised that people say so. And so, people don’t say it. Indeed, India is a democracy,’ Modi said while standing next to President Joe Biden during a visit to Washington this year. ‘We have always proved that democracy can deliver. And when I say deliver, this is regardless of caste, creed, religion, gender. There’s absolutely no space for discrimination.’
In reality, Hindu nationalists organized mob attacks on Christian communities throughout the year, burning down churches and often destroying entire neighborhoods, leaving Christians displaced…
As a result, Christmas celebrations will be largely absent in Manipur, local media reported Thursday…” (Great persecution will soon overtake most Christians in a majority of the world. Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness’ sake: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are ye, when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake. Rejoice, and be exceeding glad: for great is your reward in heaven: for so persecuted they the prophets which were before you. – Matthew 5:10 – 12; 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. – John 15:18 – 21; …When he had opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of them that were slain for the word of God, and for the testimony which they held. — Revelation 6:9; …I saw the souls of them that were beheaded for the witness of Jesus, and for the word of God, and which had not worshipped the beast, neither his image, neither had received his mark upon their foreheads, or in their hands; and they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years. – Revelation 20:4; and 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. – Revelation 2:10. See the next report.)
Nigerian Christians, Forgotten by the West, Face Christmas Under the Shadow of Jihadist Genocide
December 26, 2023 — Breitbart.com reports: “Christians in Nigeria will celebrate Christmas this year facing a relentless onslaught of jihadist terrorism seeking to eliminate them from the country, experts told Breitbart News, with little support from their government.
In the northeast, Nigerian Christians have endured decades of attacks by Boko Haram, the Islamic State-affiliated terrorist organization committed to killing Christians and forcing young girls into sex slavery ‘marriages’ with their fighters. In the central Middle Belt, jihadists belonging to the majority-Muslim Fulani ethnic group regularly conduct raids on Christian communities, burning down entire villages and occupying land historically populated by Christian majorities. The objective in both cases is the genocide of Nigerian Christians and the establishment of a sharia ‘caliphate’ system.
International Christian Concern named Nigeria the world’s top oppressor of Christians in its 2023 report — the world’s most dangerous place to be a Christian — as a result of the ’20-year genocide against Christians’ there by Boko Haram, the Fulani, and other jihadist elements…”