Victim says “Glad I am Christian” comment got him stabbed in the face

March 5, 2015 — The Oakland Press reports: “‘I said to myself, not to him, that I am glad I am Christian,’ and ‘the next thing I know,’ said 52-year-old Calvin Archer, before making a motion to show how the defendant stabbed him in the face.

Archer was testifying in the 46th District Court in Southfield during a preliminary examination for Terrence Lavaron Thomas, 39, who is facing two attempted murder charges.

The case stems from a Valentine’s Day incident near the Northland Mall bus stop where police say Thomas stabbed Archer and another man, Raymond Shackleford, following an argument about religion.

Archer said before stabbing him, Thomas was arguing with a lady about religion.

Shackleford, who was stabbed in the left hand while he tried to save Archer, also testified in the court.

‘When I arrived (at the bus shelter) he was talking to another young guy. They were talking about rap music,’ Shackleford told Judge Bill Richards as he described what he saw that day.

‘Somehow the conversation turned to religion and church,’ said Shackleford, adding that Thomas then started talking to everyone.

‘He was talking about how he was a Muslim’ and ‘we should be following Allah,’ Shackleford testified.

That’s when Archer, who was sitting on a bench next to Thomas, made the comment, and then Thomas hit him in the face.

Shackleford said when he tried to stop Thomas, his left hand was cut…”

Franklin Graham: New Obama danger for Christians

March 3, 2015 — WND.com reports: “Globally known evangelist Franklin Graham says President Obama is so sympathetic to those of the Muslim faith, he’s actually endangering Jews and Christians, opening the doors for them to be persecuted in the United States.

‘We’re going to see persecution in this country because our president is very sympathetic to Islam, and the reason I say that … is because his father was a Muslim, gave him a Muslim name, Barack Hussein Obama,’ Graham said in an interview on ‘The 700 Club’ on the Christian Broadcasting Network.

‘His mother married another Muslim man. They moved to Indonesia. He went to Indonesian schools. So, growing up, his frame of reference and his influence as a young man was Islam. It wasn’t Christianity; it was Islam.’

Graham’s remarks aren’t much of a surprise to those who listen to him frequently. He’s been an outspoken critic of Obama’s presidential policies and has decried what he’s characterized as a curious White House reach-out to Muslim groups, such as the Muslim Brotherhood.

‘There are Muslims that have access to him in the White House,’ he went on, CBN reported. ‘Our foreign policy has a lot of influence now, from Muslims. We see the prime minister of Israel being snubbed by the president and by the White House and by the Democrats, and it’s because of the influence of Islam. They hate Israel and they hate Christians, and so the storm is coming, I believe.’…” (The storm has already started and will become devastating and torrential during the 7-year Tribulation hour: “…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: And they cried with a loud voice, saying, How long, O Lord, holy and true, dost thou not judge and avenge our blood on them that dwell on the earth?” Revelation 6:9, 10; and “…I saw thrones, and they sat upon them, and judgment was given unto them: and 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” – the reward martyrs receive — Revelation 20:4. See Graham’s next warning.)

Rev. Graham: America is ‘Morally Crumbling Within’

February 25, 2015 — CNSNews.com reports: “Reverend Franklin Graham said he did not know whether President Barack Obama dislikes America, as ‘America’s Mayor’ Rudy Giuliani stated last week, but Graham said it is true that Obama ‘defends Islam and chastises Christians,’ denies the ‘religious freedoms’ of those who oppose abortion and gay marriage, and added that our nation is ‘morally crumbling within’ and that ‘we have turned our back on God.’

Former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani has taken a lot of heat from the media for his remark that he’s not sure if President Obama really loves America,’ said Rev. Graham in a Feb. 24 Facebook post.

‘I don’t know if that’s true or not, but I do know that the president defends Islam and chastises Christians, rebukes our allies and befriends our enemies, and fully supports gay marriages and abortion but denies the religious freedoms of those who don’t agree,’ said the reverend, who oversees the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association.

‘Our nation is ridiculed abroad and morally crumbling within,’ he said. ‘We are in trouble. We have turned our back on God.’…”

Public school has students ‘bowing to the sun god’

February 22, 2015 — WND.com reports: “A legal case over a public school in California that has students ‘bowing to the sun god’ is looming in an appeals court, where a team of lawyers advocating for student and parental rights is challenging the Encinitas Union School District’s Ashtanga yoga program.

It has broad implications, and it’s getting attention not just in the United States but worldwide.

Austria, for example, recently removed a similar teaching from its classes because it conflicts with students’ Catholic beliefs, and the Indian Supreme Court is examining whether the Ashtanga yoga philosophy ‘would discriminate against the Muslim and Christian minorities.’

‘At its core, this case is about the American constitutional ideal of religious freedom,’ explained Dean Broyles, who runs the National Center for Law & Policy, which is fighting the school district’s yoga campaign.

The case is now before the California Court of Appeals in San Diego…” (“Thou shalt have no other gods before me” Exodus 20:3; and “Behold, I set before you this day a blessing and a curse; A blessing, if ye obey the commandments of the Lord your God, which I command you this day. And a curse, if ye will not obey the commandments of the Lord your God, but turn aside out of the way which I command you this day, to go after other gods, which ye have not known” Deuteronomy 11:26 – 28.)

Iraqi Christians: ‘Why will no one speak out for us?’

March 1, 2015 — WND.com reports: “Former Rep. Frank Wolf, the leading voice for religious freedom in Congress for decades, says Christianity is on the verge of extinction in Iraq and the remaining steadfast believers do not see much effort from the U.S. or other Western nations to improve their plight.

Wolf served in the House of Representatives from 1981 to 2015. He is the author of the International Religious Freedom Act, which established the International Religious Freedom Office at the State Department and created an ambassador-at-large position to promote religious freedom around the world. That post has been vacant for some time.

Upon leaving the House, Wolf became the first-ever Wilson chair in religious freedom at Baylor University and co-founded the 21st Century Wilberforce Initiative. He co-led a trip to Iraq in January to observe conditions for Christians and other minorities and to speak to people firsthand. The group recently released a report based on that trip titled, ‘Edge of Extinction: The Eradication of Religious and Ethnic Minorities in Iraq.’ He said the conclusions of the visit were obvious.

‘Two things. They’re really suffering and they’re really facing extinction,’ said Wolf, who added that the people there are mystified at the relative silence in the midst of their suffering, since the Islamic State has very real plans to bring its savagery to the West as well.

‘The threat ISIS poses is not only to them but to people in the West and, quite frankly, people in the United States,’ Wolf said. ‘It’s kind of a conglomeration. They kept saying, ‘Why will no one in the West speak out for us? Does anyone care?’…” (The Latter Day apostate Christian is described in Revelation 3:15 – 17: “I know thy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot: I would thou wert cold or hot. So then because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spue thee out of my mouth. Because thou sayest, I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing; and knowest not that thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked.” The signs of an apostate.)

India: Rash of Attacks on Christians Fuels Climate of Fear

March 1, 2015 — Breitbart.com reports: “A spate of new episodes of violence against Christians in India is stoking fears that the Hindu nationalist Modi government is ushering in an era of heightened persecution.

The violence has not been localized to one specific area, but has occurred throughout the country. In the western Indian state of Goa this week, unidentified marauders profaned a statue of Our Lady of Lourdes in a village parish, striking and damaging it. In the state of Kerala, in south India, a Christian cemetery in the district of Pathanamthitta was vandalized, with graves and tombstones smashed on two consecutive days and graffiti written across the cemetery wall.

In Mangalore, in the state of Karnataka, in central India, assailants hurled a volley of stones at a Catholic prayer hall on the outskirts of the city, breaking its windows. According to local Christians, the anti-Christian violence is meant ‘to create panic and insecurity in society.’

According to a forum of Christian NGOs, ‘the attacks and the frequent acts of vandalism against Christian targets in different parts of the country are worrisome.’ Most distressing is the seeming apathy of the ruling Hindu government, which, in theory, should ‘have the task of stopping the violence, ensuring peace and harmony in society, and protecting the rule of law and freedom of religion.’…” (“And who is he that will harm you, if ye be followers of that which is good?” – I Peter 3:13; and “Blessed is the man that endureth temptation [testing and trials]: for when he is tried, he shall receive the crown of life, which the Lord hath promised to them that love him” – James 1:12. God’s not talking about sin but suffering. See the next 3 reports.)

War on Christians: ISIS Goes on Church-Burning and Kidnapping Spree in Syria

February 25, 2015 — Breitbart.com reports: “Around 4:00 in the morning on Monday, February 23rd, an estimated 1500 ISIS fighters attacked a series of Christian towns in northeast Syria, burning churches, taking as many as 90 hostages, and forcing hundreds to flee from their homes.

According to reports from the Syriac Military Council, a Christian self-defense organization, when ISIS fighters attacked the town of Tel Shamiram, they separated out the men, around 50 of whom they have taken into the mountains, and approximately 90 women and children are being held prisoner in the village by ISIS militants. Some residents were able to flee and they are currently sheltering in churches in Al-Hassaka and Al-Qamishli. According to one source, ISIS has taken 30 Christian young women and plans to distribute them as concubines in the town of Shadadeh.

Bassam Ishak, president of the Syriac National Council of Syria, has made several recent visits to Washington, D.C. warning of the potential for these attacks and asking for U.S. support. He said Hassaka would no doubt be targeted because it separates ISIS in Syria from ISIS in Iraq. Ishak said that the Syriac Military Council had about 1100 troops, but weapons for only 500. The area is being defended by militia that include the Syriac Military Council (MFS), Christian police (Sutoro), the Khabur Guards, and the Kurdish People Protection Units (YPG)…”

Boko Haram Takes a Page from the ISIS Playbook with Beheading Video

March 3, 2015 — Breitbart.com reports: “The degree of coordination between Nigerian terror gang Boko Haram and the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria has been a topic of much speculation among counterterrorism analysts. It has long been a matter of record that Boko Haram idolized ISIS and sought to emulate their ideology and tactics, creating a ‘caliphate’ of their own in Africa.

The most persistent argument against deeper ties between the two groups has been the assertion that ISIS is, in addition to its many other sins, deeply racist and would not deign to cooperate with their African fellow travelers.

The new terror video released by Boko Haram has stirred up this debate all over again, as it is so clearly modeled on the ‘Jihadi John’ videos that have become a hallmark of the Islamic State. Just like ISIS, the Nigerian gang released their video, entitled ‘Harvest of Spies,’ via Twitter and sought to promote it through social media. As described by Fox News, the video ‘shows a farmer confessing under duress to spying for the police, and shows a second man, then cuts to footage of both, decapitated with their heads on their chests.’…”

Boko Haram pledges allegiance to Islamic State in audio message

March 8, 2015 — The Australian reports: “Boko Haram has pledged allegiance to Islamic State in an audio message, after three bombs wreaked havoc in northeast Nigeria, killing 58 and wounding scores.

‘We announce our allegiance to the Caliph of the Muslims, Ibrahim ibn Awad ibn Ibrahim al-Husseini al-Qurashi,’ Boko Haram leader Abubakar Shekau said yesterday, referring to Islamic State leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi.

Shekau said the pledge was made because of religious duty to Islam and as it would ‘enrage the enemy of Allah’.

The eight-minute speech, in which Shekau was not shown, was published on a Twitter account used by Boko Haram and subtitled in English, French and Arabic.

Shekau has previously mentioned Baghdadi in video messag­es yet stopped short of pledging formal allegiance.

But there have been increasing signs that the Nigerian militants, whose six-year insurgency has killed more than 13,000 people and left 1.5 million homeless, has been seeking a closer tie-up. Shek­au announced last year that the captured town of Gwoza in Borno state was part of a caliphate, and in recent weeks Boko Haram videos have increasingly resembled Islamic State propa