Christian dad of 4 gunned down in front of family by Muslim neighbors

July 17, 2024 — The Christian Post reports: “A Catholic father of four children was gunned down by Muslim neighbors last week after he objected to their harassment of Christians in the area, his family said.

Marshall Masih of the Patiala House area in Lahore was the sole breadwinner for his elderly parents, wife and four children — the oldest 10, the youngest 18 months old. He was 29.

His sister Goshi Yaqoob, 33, said his family was asleep at 4:25 a.m. last Wednesday when four armed Muslims led by Muhammad Shani and Azam Ali entered their house from the rooftop after cutting the iron grill.

‘The assailants broke the door of my brother’s bedroom on the first floor of the house and held him and his family hostage on gunpoint,’ Yaqoob told Christian Daily International-Morning Star News. ‘They then opened indiscriminate fire on him, riddling his body with 16 bullets in the presence of his wife and minor children.’

Yaqoob was at her parents’ house at that time. The sound of gunfire and the screams of her sister-in-law and children woke her up, and she rushed to their house, where she saw four men heading to the roof. She went to her brother’s bedroom.

‘I was horrified to see his blood-soaked body lying on the floor while his wife and children were huddled in a corner crying frantically,’ she said, breaking down in tears…”  (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 have 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 your 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.  These things have I spoken unto you, that ye should not be offended.  They shall put you out of the synagogues: yea, the time cometh, that whosoever killeth you will think that he doeth God service. And these things will they do unto you, because they have not known the Father, nor me – John 15:18 – 24; 16:1 – 3.  See the next report.)

Nigeria’s Christian leaders condemn ‘evil of terrorism’ after suicide bombings

July 14, 2024 — ChristianToday.com reports: “Christian leaders in Nigeria have reacted with profound shock and dismay at the suicide bombings in Gwoza, Borno state on Saturday 29 June, which resulted in the deaths of both Muslims and Christians.

‘We are concerned about the resurgence of suicide bombing in our country and the threat it poses to the lives and livelihoods of Nigerians,’ said Archbishop Daniel Okoh, president of the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN), in a statement issued on behalf of Nigerian Christian leaders. ‘This senseless act of violence is a stark reminder of the evil that terrorism represents and the need for collective action to defeat it.’

The attacks began with a female suicide bombing at a wedding of a Muslim couple. At least two other suicide bombings followed at different locations, killing more than 30 people and injuring many others, according to Nigerian Vice President Kashim Shetim.

The two subsequent bombings on Saturday targeted a funeral and a hospital in Gwoza, near the border with Cameroon. Although no group has claimed responsibility, Islamic extremist groups Boko Haram and the Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP), with which a faction of Boko Haram is aligned, are suspected. These groups have a long and bloody history of violence in the region…”