Christians in East India Flee Home Village in Fear

Learn more at http://www.OpenDoorsUSA.org/PrayerApp

Friends, please pray for Christian believers in East India as around 13 families were recently forced to leave their villages. A local partner of Open Doors shares, “The Hindu extremists … are polluting the minds of the villagers and instilling hatred against the Christians. This results in such expulsion of Christians.”

Recently in East India a woman was allegedly burned alive because of her faith. Following the murder, the villagers began to protest and threaten Christians demanding they leave the village. The Christians were frightened and fled. They are now living on the outskirts of the village in their fields. Their pastor reports, “It is very cold, and they do not have proper clothing and food.“

Even under such distressing circumstances, these families still go to a nearby village to attend a prayer meeting. Unfortunately, however, the people from their home village have followed them there and continue to threaten them.

Please pray the believers in East India would find strength in the power of His might.

Pray the believers would have proper shelter, clothing and food.

Pray the believers will have courage and cling to Jesus in these difficult circumstances.

*Representative names and photos are sometimes used to protect identity.

Scripture of the Day

Mark 14

3. And being in Bethany in the house of Simon the leper, as he sat at meat, there came a woman having an alabaster box of ointment of spikenard very precious; and she brake the box, and poured it on his head.
4. And there were some that had indignation within themselves, and said, Why was this waste of the ointment made?
5. For it might have been sold for more than three hundred pence, and have been given to the poor. And they murmured against her.
6. And Jesus said, Let her alone; why trouble ye her? she hath wrought a good work on me.
7. For ye have the poor with you always, and whensoever ye will ye may do them good: but me ye have not always.
8. She hath done what she could: she is come aforehand to anoint my body to the burying.
9. Verily I say unto you, Wheresoever this gospel shall be preached throughout the whole world, this also that she hath done shall be spoken of for a memorial of her.

245 Million Christians Facing ‘Extreme’ Persecution Worldwide

Read it here.

WASHINGTON, DC — North Korea remains at the top of a list of 50 countries where at least 245 million Christians are facing “extreme persecution” this year, up 14 percent from 215 million at the beginning of 2018, the World Wide Watch List (WWL) released on Wednesday by Open Doors, a group that monitors the mistreatment of Christ followers, revealed.

At the Heritage Foundation, David Curry, the president and CEO of Open Doors, unveiled the 2019 WWL that ranks the top 50 “most dangerous” countries to follow Jesus, noting that women are especially targeted.

“The Open Doors World Watch List which you will see today is the most comprehensive grassroots study of what is happening around the world to restrict religious freedom, particularly for Christians,” he explained, adding “The data proves conclusively that Christian women are the most exploited group on the face of the earth.”

Curry highlighted several trends that are currently fueling the mistreatment of Christians, including the rise of authoritarianism and spread of radical Islam, particularly into sub-Saharan Africa.

“Radical Islam is the driver behind eight of the top 10 on the World Watch List this year, four of which are from Africa,” the Open Doors chief proclaimed.

“Africa is now a major epicenter of violence against Christians,” he observed.

Last year, worldwide persecution resulted in 4,136 deaths, 1,266 attacks on worshipping centers, and the detention 2,625 individuals, the report revealed. The number of deaths increased by about 35 percent from 3,066 at the beginning of 2018.

“Christians were killed for faith-related reasons. On average, that’s 11 Christians killed every day for their faith,” Open Doors noted.

Overall, one in 9 Christians across the world suffered from “high levels of persecution,” the organization added.

North Korea remained at the top of the list for the 18th year in a row.

Curry noted:

North Korea is number one on the World Watch List again and number one in the use of authoritarian tactics. It’s illegal to own a bible. The very suggestion that you’re a Christian can get you arrested with neighborhood watches again using old school communist tactics to control people. The use of authoritarian methods is a major trend on this year’s World Watch List and it’s a worrisome trend. We believe that churches must be sacred from authoritarian tactics.

This year, Open Doors listed 11 countries where Christians are experiencing “extreme persecution”: North Korea, Afghanistan, Somalia, Libya, Pakistan, Sudan, Eritrea, Yemen, Iran, India, and Syria.

“For the first time since the start of the World Watch List, India has entered the top 10,” Open Doors pointed out.

Open Doors’ report thus argues that India is a worse place to practice Christianity than China, where persecution against followers of Jesus has intensified under Communist Party leader Xi Jinping, who has vowed to “Sinicize” the country’s religions or make them more Chinese by instilling core communist values.

“China jumped 16 spots, from 43 to 27,” the monitor group reported.

Referring to both India and China, the Open Doors report said:

Each of these countries is home to more than a billion people, so these trends are distressing. Hindu nationalists in India continue to attack Christians with what seems like no consequences, and in China, the increased power of the government and the rule of Xi Jinping continue to make open worship difficult in some parts of the country.

Open Doors described the persecution of Christians in China as the worst it has been for more than a decade, with at least 50 million people facing some form of repression this year as the Xi administration tightens its grip over religious worship, the Guardian found.

The watchdog group, alluding to the estimated 65 million Christians in India, reported:

Christians have been targeted by Hindu nationalist extremists more each year. Since the current ruling party took power in 2014, attacks have increased, and Hindu radicals believe they can attack Christians with no consequences. The view of the nationalists is that to be Indian is to be Hindu, so any other faith— including Christianity—is viewed as non-Indian. Additionally, in some regions of the country, converts to Christianity from Hinduism experience extreme persecution, discrimination and violence.

Hindu nationalist groups in India are reportedly affiliated with Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

Curry pointed out:

The BJP party, which is the ruling party, Prime Minister Modi’s party has created a radical Hindu agenda within India that seeks to push out the Christian faith and anything other than the Hindu faith. They’re not hiding it. It’s not a secret. It’s their agenda and they have created an environment where people have impunity to attack churches — hundreds of churches have been attacked.

He went on to urge “influential business people in America of Indian descent…to speak out about the discrimination against Christians in India.”

“We believe the international community is beginning to wake up to this discrimination within India … because this is a massive human rights violation and Indian needs to be held to account if they want to be part of the international business community,” Curry added.

The Open Doors chief also urged the United States and other Western nations to defend and promote religious freedom.

Curry told reporters:

People around the world are losing their freedom to choose their faith and we have to pay attention. Religious freedom is the key to what it means to be free. It is the key to what it means to be human and we believe at Open Doors that everyone should have the right to choose their own faith or if they want to have no faith at all. The United States and the Western world can lead in defending and promoting religious freedom.

Open Doors released its WWL assessment one day after the United States government marked 2019’s Religious Freedom Day on Tuesday.

Democrats Prepare Hearings on “Rightwing Extremism”

Read it here.

Prior to the 2018 midterm election, I speculated a Democrat-controlled House would result in hearings targeting “hate groups,” that is to say anybody on the “right” who challenges official narratives, otherwise known as “conspiracy theories.”

“Rep. Bennie Thompson, an African American lawmaker from Mississippi, is in charge of the House Homeland Security Committee,” reports McClatchy. “Thompson intends to hold hearings to spotlight what experts say is a growth of deadly right wing extremism in America, even if the hearings could feature members of white supremacist groups.”

Thompson said his aim is to change the dialogue and find a balance in a U.S. domestic terrorism strategy that he believes has focused too heavily on the threat of homegrown Muslim terrorism and too little the rise of far right, white nationalist, and anti-Semitic groups.

The corporate propaganda media has done a fair job of conflating “white supremacy” and political thought the government wants to silence and shutdown.

The McClatchy article follows this line and links the “trend” of antigovernment activism to Timothy McVeigh and the bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City. That event has served as a touchstone for over two decades, primarily thanks to the Southern Poverty Law Center, which has made a cottage industry out of hyping “rightwing hate” (unacceptable political thought) and the threat of violence (for the state, the two are inseparable).

McClatchy and the corporate media have attached “rightwing extremism” to a number of violent incidents that have more to do with disturbed individuals than ideology.

A recent spate of deadly incidents—including the shooting deaths of 11 congregants at a Pittsburgh synagogue in October, the February 2018 shooting deaths of 17 students and staff members at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida and the August 2017 white nationalist rally in Charlottesville, Virginia—have given Thompson and other congressional Democrats anecdotal evidence about the extreme right.

The Obama administration, continuing the work of the Bush administration, had the Department of Homeland Security produce a paper on the supposed threat posed by “rightwing extremists,” who are by the state’s definition terrorists on par (or worse than) al-Qaeda and its follow-up act, the Islamic State. Republicans, at the time a majority in the House, lambasted the paper and accused the Obama administration of overreach. Then DHS boss Janet Napolitano went into damage control mode.

Napolitano apologized for the report. But the political backlash led DHS to halt work on tracking violent far right extremism, according to Daryl Johnson, the report’s author.

But now the House is in the hands of the Democrats and they want blood following the election of Donald Trump and the rise of the so-called Alt-right, or New Right.

Under Republican control from 2011 until last week, the House Homeland Security Committee repeatedly rejected calls by Thompson and Democrats for specific probes of domestic far right activities. Some Republicans now are wary that Thompson’s probe would be conducted with a partisan eye.

“Congress and the White House has looked at terrorism through the lens of the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks that killed nearly 3,000 people. The House Homeland Security Committee, established after those attacks, largely has focused on the foreign threat or potential danger posed by U.S. residents becoming radicalized by foreign terrorist groups.

That emphasis will change under the Democrats. The new terrorists are “homegrown” and include nationalists (shorthand for racist), constitutionalists, and libertarians. There will be hearings and possible show trials in the months ahead.

The DHS will finally arrive at its final destination—a national secret police focused on political activism challenging the ruling elite and their contrived political arrangement.

Thompson said his aim is to change the dialogue and find a balance in a U.S. domestic terrorism strategy that he believes has focused too heavily on the threat of homegrown Muslim terrorism and too little the rise of far right, white nationalist, and anti-Semitic groups.

In order to be classified as antisemitic, a group or an individual only need criticize Israel and its incestuous relationship with the ruling elite and its political operatives, in particular the neocon faction.

Thoughtcrime—opposition to the state and its policies—will not be tolerated by the political class. Democrats want to make sure another Donald Trump will not sit in the White House. In order to do this, they have to go after high profile individuals and groups, hold show trials, and continue the work of deplatforming “deplorables” and their “hate,” in other words, free speech.

Finally, a word of warning to the “far-left.” If you wander outside the parameters set by Democrats and their “progressive” foundations, you will also be attacked and undermined by the state, especially if you oppose Bush’s wars, which became Obama’s wars and now Trump’s.

Scripture of the Day

John 6

7. Philip answered him, Two hundred pennyworth of bread is not sufficient for them, that every one of them may take a little.
8. One of his disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, saith unto him,
9. There is a lad here, which hath five barley loaves, and two small fishes: but what are they among so many?
10. And Jesus said, Make the men sit down. Now there was much grass in the place. So the men sat down, in number about five thousand.
11. And Jesus took the loaves; and when he had given thanks, he distributed to the disciples, and the disciples to them that were set down; and likewise of the fishes as much as they would.
12. When they were filled, he said unto his disciples, Gather up the fragments that remain, that nothing be lost.
13. Therefore they gathered them together, and filled twelve baskets with the fragments of the five barley loaves, which remained over and above unto them that had eaten.
14. Then those men, when they had seen the miracle that Jesus did, said, This is of a truth that prophet that should come into the world.

Scripture of the Day

Matthew 22

7. But when the king heard thereof, he was wroth: and he sent forth his armies, and destroyed those murderers, and burned up their city.
8. Then saith he to his servants, The wedding is ready, but they which were bidden were not worthy.
9. Go ye therefore into the highways, and as many as ye shall find, bid to the marriage.
10. So those servants went out into the highways, and gathered together all as many as they found, both bad and good: and the wedding was furnished with guests.
11. And when the king came in to see the guests, he saw there a man which had not on a wedding garment:
12. And he saith unto him, Friend, how camest thou in hither not having a wedding garment? And he was speechless.
13. Then said the king to the servants, Bind him hand and foot, and take him away, and cast him into outer darkness; there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.
14. For many are called, but few are chosen.

Pastor Wang Yi Remains in Custody in China

Learn more at http://www.OpenDoorsUSA.org/PrayerApp

UPDATE: Pastor Wang Yi Remains in Custody in China + +

Friends, we have an update on the situation of Pastor Wang Yi, who was arrested on December 9th along with his wife and 10 elders. Some 100 believers from the 750-member Early Rain Covenant Church were detained, questioned and later released. Pastor Wang’s wife was also released. Pastor Wang and the 10 church elders remain in custody. Wang now faces a possible jail sentence of 15 years as the government alleges he is, “inciting subversion of state power.”

Many Early Rain church members have begun attending other churches in the city or have started their own small groups.

One week later, the Chinese government was still actively working to suppress Christian churches. On December 16th, 60 police and religious affairs officials arrived unannounced to shut down church services and Sunday School meetings at the 5000-member Rongguili Church in Guangzhou. Believers told one reporter, “They read out law enforcement notices declaring our venue was an illegal gathering [doing] illegal publishing and illegal fundraising and confiscated all Bibles.” Hundreds of bibles, other materials and church members’ mobile phones were confiscated, and the church was closed.

Please pray for the immediate release of Pastor Wang Yi and the 10 Early Rain Covenant church leaders still in detention.

Pray for Wang’s wife Jiang Rong and their children. Ask God for continued boldness for the Early Rain church members to continue as faithful ambassadors of Christ’s hope and love.

Pray believers from Rongguili Church will find ways to meet together and that their faith would be strengthened.

*Representative names and photos are sometimes used to protect identity.

Following Jesus is Dangerous in Iran

Learn more at http://www.OpenDoorsUSA.org/PrayerApp

Following Jesus is a Dangerous Choice in Iran + +

Esther and her husband and their young son recently had to flee their home country of Iran after being arrested for following Jesus.

In Iran, it’s illegal to convert from Islam to Christianity and the moment Esther said yes to Jesus, she also said yes to a difficult life. She and other Christians would meet in homes to worship together as going to church was too risky. Despite doing their best to be careful, Esther and her husband were eventually arrested along with others as they were gathering in a home.

After a month of intermittent questioning, Esther and her husband were given a way to avoid going to jail and not being able to see their son. During one interrogation, they were asked to sign a document announcing they would deny their Christian faith and return to Islam. “It was a new experience for me,” Esther says, “because I have to choose… But I choose Jesus.” After this, in order to avoid jail, they had to go into exile in Turkey.

Life for Iranian refugees living in Turkey is still a difficult path however. It’s tough to find work, there’s a new language to learn, refugees must check in to nearby police stations regularly, and they’re often treated as second-class citizens. But despite all this Esther and her husband say it is worth it to follow Jesus.

Please pray Esther and her family will experience a strong hope in the Lord and power of His might.

Pray their hearts would be comforted and their faith would continue to grow.

Pray they would be able to make a living and have a stable place to live.

*Representative names and photos are sometimes used to protect identity.

Open Doors prayer request with you. Learn more at http://www.OpenDoorsUSA.org/PrayerApp

Learn more at http://www.OpenDoorsUSA.org/PrayerApp

Child Witnesses Parents’ Arrest in Iran + +

Friends, Iranian believers are requesting prayer for a Christian family following a raid on their home in Mashhad, north-east Iran. Earlier this month, several intelligence agents raided the home of Amir Taleipour (39) and his wife Mahnaz Harati (36). They then arrested Amir and Mahnaz in front of their seven-year-old daughter.

Amir and Mahnaz have been held in detention since their arrest. They have not been allowed to communicate with family members, nor permitted access to legal assistance. Their daughter is now being cared for by family members.

Iranian Christian ministry leaders say they have come to expect increased numbers of arrests of Christians in Iran around Christmas, but that the situation in 2018 is more severe than in recent years.

Please pray that God will comfort Amir and Mahnaz young daughter and keep her from anxiety and fear.

Pray that Amir and Mahnaz will be allowed to communicate with their family, hire a lawyer, and that they will be released soon.

Pray that Amir and Pray that the Lord will comfort and strengthen Amir and Mahnaz to persevere and be faithful witnesses of Christ.

Pray that Christians in Iran will be protected, stay alert and not be intimidated by state security.

Pray that State security will stop targeting citizens on account of their religious beliefs.

After you click “Pray” below, please gather your kids and write a post to kids who experience persecution on our Kids2Kids Encouragement wall by CLICKING HERE.

*Representative names and photos are sometimes used to protect identity.

Scripture of of the Day

John 17
1. These words spake Jesus, and lifted up his eyes to heaven, and said, Father, the hour is come; glorify thy Son, that thy Son also may glorify thee:
2. As thou hast given him power over all flesh, that he should give eternal life to as many as thou hast given him.
3. And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent.
4. I have glorified thee on the earth: I have finished the work which thou gavest me to do.
5. And now, O Father, glorify thou me with thine own self with the glory which I had with thee before the world was.
6. I have manifested thy name unto the men which thou gavest me out of the world: thine they were, and thou gavest them me; and they have kept thy word.
7. Now they have known that all things whatsoever thou hast given me are of thee.
8. For I have given unto them the words which thou gavest me; and they have received them, and have known surely that I came out from thee, and they have believed that thou didst send me.
9. I pray for them: I pray not for the world, but for them which thou hast given me; for they are thine.
10. And all mine are thine, and thine are mine; and I am glorified in them.
11. And now I am no more in the world, but these are in the world, and I come to thee. Holy Father, keep through thine own name those whom thou hast given me, that they may be one, as we are.
12. While I was with them in the world, I kept them in thy name: those that thou gavest me I have kept, and none of them is lost, but the son of perdition; that the scripture might be fulfilled.
13. And now come I to thee; and these things I speak in the world, that they might have my joy fulfilled in themselves.
14. I have given them thy word; and the world hath hated them, because they are not of the world, even as I am not of the world.
15. I pray not that thou shouldest take them out of the world, but that thou shouldest keep them from the evil.
16. They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world.
17. Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth.
18. As thou hast sent me into the world, even so have I also sent them into the world.
19. And for their sakes I sanctify myself, that they also might be sanctified through the truth.
20. Neither pray I for these alone, but for them also which shall believe on me through their word;
21. That they all may be one; as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us: that the world may believe that thou hast sent me.
22. And the glory which thou gavest me I have given them; that they may be one, even as we are one:
23. I in them, and thou in me, that they may be made perfect in one; and that the world may know that thou hast sent me, and hast loved them, as thou hast loved me.
24. Father, I will that they also, whom thou hast given me, be with me where I am; that they may behold my glory, which thou hast given me: for thou lovedst me before the foundation of the world.
25. O righteous Father, the world hath not known thee: but I have known thee, and these have known that thou hast sent me.
26. And I have declared unto them thy name, and will declare it: that the love wherewith thou hast loved me may be in them, and I in them.

AMERICA IS GOING TO TURN ISLAM INTO MORALISTIC THERAPEUTIC DEISM

Ergeneqon says:

December 20, 2018 at 9:47 am

Trust me when I say that the inevitable divorce between Islam and the Left will be NASTY.

Now, the following rant will be harsh, but with regard to the secularization taking place among American Muslims, I say good riddance. Here’s why.

Islam doesn’t need these traitors. It is they who need Islam.

The Qur’an is very clear on this:

0 you who have attained to faith! If you ever abandon your faith, God will in time bring forth [in your stead] people whom He loves and who love Him – humble towards the believers, proud towards all who deny the truth: [people] who strive hard in God’s cause, and do not fear to be censured by anyone who might censure them: such is God’s favour, which He grants unto whom He wills. And God is infinite, all-knowing. (Surah 5: Verse 55)

The problem with many so-called American Muslim groups and individuals is that they argue from a position of weakness.

They’re trying to change their own values and principles in order to not only be accepted but also to appease the very factions (mostly composed of conservatives and segments of the right) that they perceive as “oppressing” them.

This constant apologizing for their beliefs, trying to change peoples’ “perceptions” of Islam, of trying to convince others that they’re not terrorists – none of it has worked nor will such tactics work.

The support for gay marriage among these Muslim idiots is a misguided attempt at gaining acceptance from mainstream culture. But spiritually, they will pay in the long run.

It never pays to suck up, and it especially never pays to sell out God’s scripture for a paltry price.

These cultural and secularized Muslims have to understand is that we’re not Jews.
We can’t deny the claims of our faith and still be called Muslims.

I don’t care what their reasoning is – these fake Muslims who are going a long with the zeitgeist are not Muslims. They’re apostates, and they must be called out as such.

It’s nigh time that Islam in America go on the ideological offensive. We must stand firm for God, for scripture, and for the truths of Islam, with no apologetic bent whatsoever. And we must take the fight to liberalism, secularism, and all of its offshoots.

We will not make any apologies, either for the supposed violent verses of the Qur’an, controversial hadith, or dhimmitude.

No apologies. Not now, not ever, and useless parasites such Robert Spencer, Geert Wilders, Ayaan Hirsi Ali, and co can all collectively go straight to Hell.

And for the record, I was born in the US and I came from a Kemalist Turkish family, and I have thoroughly rejected the legacy and thought of Kemal Ataturk. How’s that for secularization?

It’s unbecoming of Islam to play the oppressed card, and it’s sure as hell beneath a Turk.
Story here.

Christmas Day 2018

Reason for the season, from the hearts and minds of believers.

In the world we have stories such as this, Financial collapse.

Also endless stories such as this of Christian persecution.

In this day of rememberance, please remember the one who came this day, 2000 yrs ago, to save this world of wicked mankind from sin. He came to restore fallen mankind to a relationship with a loving Father.

GOD Bless and Merry Christmas.

Chinese Pastor Penned a Powerful Declaration of Faith Before Being Dragged Off to Prison

Please read the entire letter here.
If this regime is one day overthrown by God, it will be for no other reason than God’s righteous punishment and revenge for this evil. For on earth, there has only ever been a thousand-year church. There has never been a thousand-year government. There is only eternal faith. There is no eternal power.

Scripture of the Day

1st Peter 1

2. Elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, through sanctification of the Spirit, unto obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ: Grace unto you, and peace, be multiplied.
3. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which according to his abundant mercy hath begotten us again unto a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead,
4. To an inheritance incorruptible, and undefiled, and that fadeth not away, reserved in heaven for you,
5. Who are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation ready to be revealed in the last time

Scripture of the Day

James 2

1. My brethren, have not the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory, with respect of persons.
2. For if there come unto your assembly a man with a gold ring, in goodly apparel, and there come in also a poor man in vile raiment;
3. And ye have respect to him that weareth the gay clothing, and say unto him, Sit thou here in a good place; and say to the poor, Stand thou there, or sit here under my footstool:
4. Are ye not then partial in yourselves, and are become judges of evil thoughts?
5. Hearken, my beloved brethren, Hath not God chosen the poor of this world rich in faith, and heirs of the kingdom which he hath promised to them that love him?
6. But ye have despised the poor. Do not rich men oppress you, and draw you before the judgment seats?
7. Do not they blaspheme that worthy name by the which ye are called?
8. If ye fulfil the royal law according to the scripture, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself, ye do well:
9. But if ye have respect to persons, ye commit sin, and are convinced of the law as transgressors.
10. For whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all.
11. For he that said, Do not commit adultery, said also, Do not kill. Now if thou commit no adultery, yet if thou kill, thou art become a transgressor of the law.
12. So speak ye, and so do, as they that shall be judged by the law of liberty.