My note: The Bible tells us these times are coming, the persecution of Christians has began in numbers, and the evilness of the world has began (jihad, gay rights/marriage, abortion etc)
Coptic Egyptian activist, Raymond Ibrahim in “Muslim Jihad in Christian Ethiopia: Lessons for the West” rightly states,“Muslim aggression and passivity are very much rooted in numbers: the more Muslims, the more potential for “assertive” behavior….the Ethiopian example establishes, a majority is not necessary for the winds of jihad to blow. (Among others, Muslim extremists recently setting fire to roughly 50 churches and dozens of Christian homes)
Around 615, when the pagan Quraysh were persecuting Muhammad’s outnumbered Muslim followers in Arabia, some fled to Ethiopia seeking sanctuary. The Christian king, or “Negus” of Ethiopia, welcomed and protected these Muslim fugitives, ignoring Quraysh demands to return them—and thus winning Muhammad’s gratefulness. Today, 14 centuries later, when Islam has carved itself a solid niche in Ethiopia, accounting for 1/3 of the population, Muslim gratefulness has turned to something else – not least a warning to Western states.
It’s a national tragedy when nationals of a country like Ethiopia enthusiastically support the national side of Egypt, Tunisia and Sudan whenever Ethiopia plays against the teams of those Muslim countries. This is happening despite the fact that the Ethiopian squad, unlike Egypt and Sudan where the soccer national teams don’t allow non-Muslim players to enter, consists of several Muslim players. Ethiopia has many Muslim politicians in higher positions, around 20 Ambassadors world wide (A big mistake!) The richest individuals in Orthodox Christian countries like Ethiopia and Russia are Muslims, and the richest guy in Islamic Egypt, who is an Orthodox Christian, is preparing to abandon his motherland, because of the Islamist-hijacked revolution of Presidents Mursi and Obama.
Muslims in Ethiopia have always continued to have as many rights and privileges as in no other country in the world, yet they never seem to stop conspiring against the nation that in history pardoned them time after time for their betrayal and barbaric actions against the Christian nation — they bite the breasts of Mama Ethiopia who nurtured and feed them unconditionally. It’s, indeed, a tragedy!
It’s curious, if you go to the World Watch list of the Open Doors site, you will find only four countries that readers were attracted to write their comment on. The four countries are: Ethiopia, Eritrea, Djibouti and Iraq. What could be the reason? The study says some “Orthodox Christian reprisals” against protestant churches in Ethiopia, by ignoring the fact it’s, it has been the Orthodox Tewahedo Church of Ethiopia that challenged the aggression of Islamic Jihad for centuries — and it’s still the number one victim of imperialistic wars waged by children of Ishamel long before 9/11. Well, I appreciate the wonderful job “Opendoors” is doing, but, despite the obvious facts the organization seems to have some bias towards Tewahedo Christians. Ethiopia has a non-Orhodox evangelical/protestant follower as its leader, hundreds of anti-Orthodoxy protestant churches are allowed to operate freely in predominantly Orthodox Christian terrains — without “reprisals”. Of course, Ethiopians oppose the teachings of some protestant groups because they don’t want to give their Christian country to those who left their countries of origin in Europe and America anti-Christian, faithless and morally corrupted. Know them by their fruits! That, Christian Ethiopia ranking well worse than Christian-allergic Muslim nations of Egypt and Turkey must be joke of the year 2013. Ridiculous and Laughable!
Persecution of Christians in Africa vastly increased in 2012, according to the Open Doors 2013 World Watch List of 50 countries where Christians face the most severe persecution for their faith.
The number of countries on the African continent sharply increased on the annual list due to the increasing influence of Islam, states Open Doors, an organization that supports persecuted Christians worldwide. Mali is a newcomer on the list and holds the No. 7 position. Tanzania (No. 24), Kenya (No. 40), Uganda (47) and Niger (No. 50) also moved onto the World Watch List and Ethiopia is one of the strongest risers (from No. 38 to No. 15) on the list. In addition, the small African country of Eritrea made the Top 10 for the first time at No. 10. Libya climbed from No. 26 to No. 17.
Atheism & Islam
North Korea is still No. 1 when it comes to persecution of Christians. For the 11th consecutive year, the hermit communist country heads the World Watch List. Possessing a Bible alone can be a reason for a Christian to be executed or sent to a prison camp along with three generations of his or her family.
Apart from North Korea, the Top 10 on the World Watch List consists of eight countries where extreme Islam poses the largest threat for Christians. They are (from No. 2 to No. 9) Saudi Arabia, Afghanistan, Iraq, Somalia, Maldives, Mali, Iran and Yemen. Worldwide, Open Doors reports an increase in the persecution of Christians.
The report said second-placed Saudi Arabia, which bans public practice of any faith but Islam, has a growing Christian population because of its migrant workers and some converts it says converted after watching Christian satellite television.
“Christians risk further persecution and oppression in the future due to the rising number of converts and their boldness in sharing their faith,” it said.
Attacks and Infiltration
The most notable trend Open Doors researchers found was the increase of persecution in Africa. Fundamentalist variations of Islam rapidly gain influence on the continent. On the one hand, this was due to focused attacks, such as Boko Haram in Nigeria (No. 13). On the other, the influence of Islam increased through infiltration in different social and economic areas. Open Doors saw a similar pattern in several African countries.
“We do not necessarily distinguish one overall plan from one source in the whole of Africa. However, we do see that radical Islamic groups are patiently waiting for the right time to show their power,” Dykstra explains. “Apart from the pattern of violent attacks, we see that radical Muslims are infiltrating into politics, business and the judicial power, such as introducing Sharia family courts. On a number of occasions, Muslims were ready to step into a power vacuum. Take Mali, for example, where Touareg rebels and Muslim fundamentalists gained power in April 2012.”
Mali was a model country
Of the African countries, Mali is the most noticeable newcomer on the World Watch List due to its sudden emergence to No. 7.The situation in Mali escalated after the coup.
“Mali used to be a model country,” says Dykstra. “The situation in the north used to be a bit tense but Christians and even missionaries could be active. Currently the situation in northern Mali is somewhat similar to Saudi Arabia. Christians are simply no longer allowed to be there.”
Analysis: What Do Christians face in 2013?
My note: It has been reported that every three minutes a Christian is being tortured in the Muslim world, alone in the year 2009 more than 165,000 Christians have been killed because of their faith, most of them in Muslim countries. Currently, between 200-300 million Christians are being persecuted in the world, 80 percent of whom lived in Muslim countries and the rest in communist and other countries.
It was reported by Radio Vatican just before New Year that 105 000 Christians were killed in 2012 because of their faith. These statistics are frightening.
The questions is, why is the world silent? Where are the powerful “Christian” dominated countries? Why is the United Nations silent? Where are the NGOs and so-called human rights organizations? Why is all this so under-reported by the medias? the US, UK and France helped bring to power in Egypt Islamic extremists hostile to the free world, and were threatening to do something very similar in Syria. Now they have indeed done so by recognising the Syrian National Council as the legitimate leader of the Syrian opposition.
The mistake being made by the US and the rest is as deep-seated as it is egregious. The campaign in the west to promote the Muslim Brotherhood (to its motto: ‘Islam is the solution’ one obviously has to ask, ‘But what is the problem?’) as helpful allies against those who want to bring the west down has been making relentless and dismaying progress into the establishment for years – an establishment that refuses to see the Brothers for what they are, in essence because it refuses to acknowledge that what the west is now up against is a religious war. From that most profound and seminal error, all follows.
This answer is simple: Christians rank low in an unacknowledged hierarchy of victimhood. Christians across the globe don’t become radicalized in support of their fellow believers, and persecuted Christians never respond with terrorist violence, don’t retaliate or murder others in reprisals. This also tends to render their plight less newsworthy in the media eyes. Utterly disgusting! The mainstream media will never remain indifferent, if this had happened to Palestinians – of course there would have been worldwide protests in the West and elsewhere. They seem to be more concerned about Muslims in Kosovo, Bosnia, Chechnya, Darfur/Sudan, Ivory Coast, Northern Nigeria and now Myanmar/Burma than the fate of their persecuted Christian brothers and sisters in 52 majority Muslim countries. They have already started spreading too much propaganda about the situation of the aggressive Muslim Bengali invaders in Myanmar. How pathetic! This all shows the hypocrisy of the media, politicians and mainstream intellectuals. That is the bitter reality and it makes you think that warning those indifferent and fear-governed Westerners is not worth it. When darkness knocks at their doors they deserve the ultimate punishment for their callousness regarding the fate of Christians in Muslim countries
Growing persecution of Middle Eastern Christians and holy sites by radical Islamists in the Middle East and Africa in 2012 resulted in large numbers of murders, bombings, imprisonments, church closures and forced conversions to Islam. In addition, the rise of Islamic governments – coupled with tepid responses from some Western countries, the UN and many NGOs – has contributed to unprecedented levels of Christian persecution.
In the course of interviews with The Jerusalem Post, leading experts on Middle Eastern Christians commented on the plight of the region’s dwindling Christian population and Israel’s role in fostering Christianity.
There was no shortage in 2012 of repressive and bloody campaigns against Christians in Iran, Gaza, Nigeria, Libya and Egypt.
Reuters reported a few weeks ago that in Libya two church workers were killed. “Attackers threw a homemade bomb at an administration building belonging to the Egyptian Coptic church in Dafniya, close to the western city of Misrata.” The wire service noted that Egypt’s consul in the city, Tareq Dahrouj, said he had visited the church and the building where the two church workers were killed early on Sunday.
Jay Sekulow, chief counsel of the American Center for Law and Justice, a Washington- based organization that promotes religious freedom in the US and across the globe, told the Post that Israel is the “most free and protective of religious liberty for Christians” of all the region’s nations.
Underscoring the severe dangers, the British daily The Telegraph headlined a pre- Christmas article: “Christianity ‘close to extinction’ in Middle East.” The paper reported on a new study titled “Christianophobia” showing that the “lion’s share of persecution faced by Christians arises in countries where Islam is the dominant faith.”
The media reported in July that Hamas had kidnapped Palestinian Christians in Gaza in order to force them to convert to Islam. “Hamas digs up the bodies of Christians from Christian burial sites in the Gaza Strip claiming that they pollute the earth,” said Reverend Majed El Shafie, President of One Free World International (OFWI), who will head a delegation of human rights activists, members of parliament from Canada and religious personalities.
On Christmas Eve, the Nigerian-based Boko Haram Islamist terror group attacked a church, marking the third straight year that the terror group has murdered Nigerian Christians in the church on a Christmas day. The Islamic group slashed the throats of Christians right inside their churches or at their homes, adding that at least 15 of such barbaric killings have been reported in the past number of days, while worshipers had to watch in terror as their colleagues’ throats were slashed open.
On Friday, Raymond Ibrahim, from the Philadelphia-based Middle East Forum, noted in a report titled “Egyptian Cleric Threatens Christian Copts with Genocide” that Islamic leaders continue to portray the popular protests against President Mohamed Morsi and his recently passed Shari’a- heavy constitution as products of Egypt’s Christians.
Recently, as captured on video, Muslim Brotherhood leader Safwat Hegazy issued a threat to the country’s Christians at an open rally.
Asked about his prognosis for the new year, the American Center for Law and Justice’s Sekulow said he hoped there would be more “international focus” on this increasingly problematic issue.
“Nations that understand and respect freedom need to speak out,” he said. “This ongoing persecution of Christians by radical Islamists – whether it’s in Africa or Iran – is intolerable. The actions also violate international human rights law.”
Source: Jpost.com
Addis Ethiopia Weblog 