Pakistan: Children Attacked, Church Wrecked by Muslims After Children Disturb Islamic Prayers by Singing Christmas Carols

By Rabia Ali – “KARACHI: A group of people praying in a mosque were so irked by the voices of children singing carols at a nearby church that they decided to silence them—by attacking their house of worship.

On Saturday evening, four men attacked the Philadelphia Pentecostal Church in New Mianwali Colony in Manghopir.

A young boy, Samson, was standing outside the church as his friends sang carols on the microphone inside. The children were preparing for mass to be celebrated the next day which was a Sunday. The loud cheers became terrified whimpers when suddenly four men, one of them with an axe, barged into the church.

The men slapped the children, wrecked the furniture, smashed the microphone on to the floor and kicked the altar. ‘You are disturbing our prayers. We can’t pray properly. How dare you use the mike and speakers?’ Samson quoted, the men as saying.

The commotion inside the church made Samson call out for help. Three men ran away but one was caught by the residents who beat him up before the police reached the spot.

The incident is now a week old, but the attack frightened the community so much that all of the nine churches in the area were locked up.

‘The day after the attack people did not come for mass,’ said Lubna, the daughter of Pastor Daniel. ‘They came to our home to ask about what happened but did not go to church.’ The pastor was away.” Read more.

Egypt: Obama’s New Muslim Brotherhood Friends Host Anti-Semitic and Anti-Israel Website Articles, Claims Holocaust a ‘Tale’ Fabricated by America

By: B. Chernitsky*

Introduction

The website of the Muslim Brotherhood (MB) in Egypt, Ikhwanonline.com, contains articles with antisemitic motifs, including Holocaust denial and descriptions of the “Jewish character” as covetous, exploitative, and a source of evil in human society. While articles of this tenor have been posted on the site in the past, their posting has recently taken on greater importance in light of the group’s increasing strength following the ouster of the Mubarak regime, as reflected by the results of the recent parliamentary elections.

In addition to antisemitic content, articles on the site also include praise for jihad and martyrdom, and condemnation of negotiation as a means of regaining Islamic lands. Among these are articles calling to kill Zionists and praising the September 9, 2011 attack on the Israeli Embassy in Cairo – which one article called a landmark of the Egyptian revolution. Some senior officials in the MB’s Freedom and Justice party published articles on the site expressing reservations regarding the peace agreement with Israel and insisting that Egypt was entitled to amend it.[1] Such statements contradict assurances by Freedom and Justice party head Dr. Muhammad Mursi to senior U.S. officials that the MB would honor all international agreements signed by Egypt.[2]

This paper will present excerpts of articles posted on the MB site, dated both before and after the revolution.

MB: The Jewish Character Is Still a Source of Evil in the World

In a June 2011 sermon posted on the website, MB in Egypt General Guide Muhammad Badi’ discussed the Jews, their traits, and their actions: “Allah warned us against the deceit of the Jews and their dangerous role in

Iran: Jailed Pastor Refuses to Deny Christ, Rejects Mohammed as ‘Messenger Sent by God’

James 5:11a, “Indeed we count them blessed who endure. You have heard of the perseverance of Job and seen the end intended by the Lord …”

By Stefan J. Bos – “TEHRAN, IRAN (BosNewsLife)– Iranian Pastor Youcef Nadarkhani has rejected an offer to be released from prison if he publicly acknowledges Islam’s prophet Mohammed as ‘a messenger sent by God’ well-informed Christians and rights activists said Friday, January 13.

Iranian authorities reportedly summoned lawyers for Pastor Nadarkhani to his home city of Rasht on December 30, to explain the deal. Local officials indicated they would release the pastor if he agreed to make the statement about Mohammed, Christians with close knowledge about the situation explained.

‘However, Pastor Nadarkhani has refused to do so, and remains in prison awaiting a final decision on his case,’ confirmed advocacy group Christian Solidarity Worldwide (CSW) in a statement to BosNewsLife.

Christians said the pastor has made clear that making the demanded statement about Muhammed would amount to abandoning his faith in Jesus Christ.

Another source assisting the pastor told BosNewsLife there is concern about the renewed pressure on Nadarkhani, who faces execution for refusing to recant his Christian faith and return to Islam…

‘Keep in mind that brother Youcef has not had a Bible the entire two years and about three months that he has been in prison. He has no access to a computer or the outside world other than meeting with his wife and family,’ the source said.

Yet, the Christian said that ‘The Holy Spirit is sustaining him in his faith and endurance’. He added that the 34-year-old pastor, who is married with two children, ‘is healthy in mind and body and his faith is as strong as ever.'” Read more.

Tanzania: Muslim Extremists Strike at Christians in Zanzibar, Destroy Churches

By Simba Tian – “NAIROBI, Kenya – Far from the world media’s gaze in remote islands off the eastern coast of Africa, church buildings are razed and Christians are ostracized and imprisoned for their faith – leaving one with a skin disease.

On Tanzania’s island of Zanzibar, in one week-long stretch last month Muslim extremists destroyed two church buildings, Christian leaders said. The extremists torched the building of the Pentecostal Evangelical Fellowship of Africa in Mtufani Mwera, about 12 kilometers (seven miles) from Zanzibar town, at 7 p.m. on Dec. 3, said Pastor Julius Makoho. Damages were estimated at 1.5 million Tanzania shillings (US$9,350).

‘When I arrived at the scene of incident Sunday morning, I found that the church had been reduced to ashes, with bottles seen close by that could be petrol or paraffin that could have been used for the burning of the church building,’ Pastor Makoho said.

As the assailants fled, said one church member who requested anonymity, ‘I heard them shouting, ‘We do not want a church in this area!’’

To date no arrests have being made.

Daniel Kwilembe, bishop of the 80-member church, said authorities on the predominantly Muslim archipelago tend to take no action in crimes against Christians. Bishop Fabian Obedi of the Pentecostal Evangelical Church of Zanzibar concurred.

‘The Muslims are burning our church buildings quite frequently here in Zanzibar, but the government is not speaking against this kind of destruction of our church premises,’ Bishop Obedi said.

The previous week in Kianga, about 10 kilometers (six miles) from Zanzibar town, a throng of Islamic extremists demolished Siloam Church’s building. Pastor Boniface Kaliabukama said that more than 100 Muslim extremists arrived at the church compound on Nov. 26 chanting ‘Allahu Akbar [[Allah] is greater].’

‘The security guard got scared of the mob and fled for his life,’ Pastor Kaliabukama said.

The assailants entered the church building with clubs, hammers, torches and swords, tearing it down in about three hours, the pastor said.” Read more.

Iraq: Bomb Kills at Least 53 Shiite Pilgrims in Zubair

More death and violence within the religion of peace, and another step towards Iran …

By ADAM SCHRECK and NABIL AL-JURANI (AP) – “A bomb tore through a procession of Shiite pilgrims heading toward a largely Sunni town in southern Iraq on Saturday, killing at least 53 people in the latest sign of a power struggle between rival Muslim sects that has escalated since the American military withdrawal.

Fears of more bloodshed have risen in recent weeks, with the U.S. no longer enjoying the leverage it once had to encourage the two sides to work together to rein in extremists. Most of the latest attacks appear to be aimed at Iraq’s majority Shiites, suggesting Sunni insurgents seeking to undermine the Shiite-dominated government are to blame.

Saturday’s blast happened on the last of the 40 days of Arbaeen, when hundreds of thousands of Shiite pilgrims travel to the Iraqi city of Karbala and other holy sites. The end of Arbaeen is one of the most sacred times for Shiites, and public processions to commemorate it were banned under Saddam Hussein.

The blast occurred near the town of Zubair as pilgrims marched from the nearby port city of Basra toward the Imam Ali shrine on the outskirts of the town, said Ayad al-Emarah, a spokesman for the governor of Basra province.

The shrine is an enclave within an enclave — a Shiite site on the edge of a predominantly Sunni town in an otherwise mostly Shiite province.” Read more.

Scientists: UN Soldiers Brought Deadly Cholera Superbug to Americas Infecting Haiti, Venezuela, Dominican Republic, and the United States

By MATTHEW MOSK, BRIAN ROSS and RYM MOMTAZ – “Compelling new scientific evidence suggests United Nations peacekeepers have carried a virulent strain of cholera — a super bug — into the Western Hemisphere for the first time.

The vicious form of cholera has already killed 7,000 people in Haiti, where it surfaced in a remote village in October 2010. Leading researchers from Harvard Medical School and elsewhere told ABC News that, despite UN denials, there is now a mountain of evidence suggesting the strain originated in Nepal, and was carried to Haiti by Nepalese soldiers who came to Haiti to serve as UN peacekeepers after the earthquake that ravaged the country on Jan. 12, 2010 — two years ago today. Haiti had never seen a case of cholera until the arrival of the peacekeepers, who allegedly failed to maintain sanitary conditions at their base.

‘What scares me is that the strain from South Asia has been recognized as more virulent, more capable of causing severe disease, and more transmissible,’ said John Mekalanos, who chairs the Department of Microbiology and Immunobiology at Harvard Medical School. ‘These strains are nasty. So far there has been no secondary outbreak. But Haiti now represents a foothold for a particularly dangerous variety of this deadly disease.’

More than 500,000 Haitians have been infected, and Mekalanos said a handful of victims who contracted cholera in Haiti have now turned up in Venezuela, the Dominican Republic, and in Boston, Miami and New York, but only in isolated cases…

‘Cholera is a disease of the impoverished … When the standards of living are already at the lowest levels, cholera is a killer of historic proportions. If it spreads to other parts of the world, in those kinds of settings, I fear there will be a very high rate of death.'” Read more.