Rev. Franklin Graham Discusses Sharia Law and Christian Persecution in the Muslim World

Greta Van Susteren begins her segment by noting that “A war on Christians is spreading throughout the Muslim world. Christians are being murdered, some by machetes, rape, jailed, forced from their homes, you name it. It is happening to them.” It is refreshing to see a more mainstream news program dedicating an entire segment to shed light upon the increasing, threatening darkness that has become the world of Islam. But it demands even more attention, not just from the media, but from our leaders. Much, much more. Watch the first 3:34 of the interview below, or watch the full 5:46 on Gretawire …

Rev. Franklin Graham: “The Qur’an demands [that] if a person leaves Islam they are to be killed… This is the law of Sharia, and it is a scary system. And Sharia Law governs all of life for a Muslim. It’s political. It’s military. It’s economic. Sharia Law governs everything … and no Western law is recognized. It’s only Sharia Law.”

Related: ‘Bloody’: Christian Persecution is ‘Coursing Through Muslim-Majority Nations from One End of the Globe to the Other’

Related: Sudan: Samaritan’s Purse Bible College Bombed by Islamic Government While Students Studied in Class

Romans 8:35, 38-39, “Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? [Shall] tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? … For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

A Match Made In Allah’s Valhalla: Sunni Al Qaeda’s Big Fat Shiite Iranian Wedding

By Cliff May – “The Bush administration waged what it called a Global War on Terrorism. Yet against Iran, the world’s leading sponsor of terrorism, no serious actions were ever taken. President Obama is waging what he calls a ‘war against al Qaeda and its affiliates.’ Yet he and his advisors are reluctant to articulate what has become indisputable: Iran and al Qaeda are affiliated.

Senior Obama officials have come closer to calling a spade a spade: Last week, Director of National Intelligence James Clapper described the relationship between Iran and al Qaeda as a ‘longstanding … marriage.’ But you had to listen carefully to hear him say that.

‘Iran has harbored al Qaeda leaders, facilitators,’ Clapper told a hearing of the Senate Armed Services Committee. They have been ‘under house arrest conditions. [Iran’s rulers] have had this sort of standoff arrangement with al Qaeda, allowing [al-Qaeda] to exist [inside Iran], but not to foment any operations directly from Iran, because they’re very sensitive about, ‘Hey, we might come after them there as well.’… So there has been this longstanding, as I say, kind of, shotgun marriage, or marriage of convenience. I think, probably, the Iranians may think that they might use, perhaps, al Qaeda in the future as a surrogate or proxy.’

Not quite a model of analytic clarity but, as I said, at least it approaches reality (and do note the cryptic warning about Iran deploying al Qaeda terrorists down the road – more about that in a moment). Also last week: The U.S. Treasury Department designated the Iranian Ministry of Intelligence and Security (MOIS) — which it described as ‘Iran’s primary intelligence organization’ — for its sponsorship of terrorism. And among the terrorist groups Treasury said MOIS supports: al Qaeda.

The forms this support has taken: facilitating the movement of al Qaeda operatives in Iran, providing al Qaeda members ‘with documents, identification cards, and passports;’ also, providing both ‘money and weapons’ to al-Qaeda terrorists in Iraq.

Michael Ledeen and Thomas Joscelyn, my colleagues at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, have for years been connecting the dots between Iran and al Qaeda. Former CIA director James Woolsey, now FDD’s Chairman, also has long argued that Islamist terrorists, despite their theological/ideological differences, can and do engage in

UN Atomic Agency Reports Iran Rapidly Expanding Nuclear Work, Israeli President Peres Reiterates ‘All Options Are On The Table’

AP – “VIENNA – Iran has rapidly ramped up production of higher-grade enriched uranium over the last four months, the U.N. nuclear agency said Friday, in a confidential report that feeds concerns about how quickly the Islamic republic could produce an atomic bomb.

The report by the International Atomic Energy Agency also said Iran had failed to give a convincing explanation about a quantity of missing uranium metal. Diplomats say the amount unaccounted for is large enough to be used for experiments in arming a nuclear missile.

Iran insists it is not interested in nuclear weapons and says its activities are meant either to generate energy or to be used for research. But the report contained little assurances the country’s activities are purely peaceful.

Instead, it also confirmed that two IAEA missions to Tehran within less than a month had failed to dent Iran’s refusal to assist an IAEA probe of suspicions that the country has been secretly working on aspects of a nuclear weapons program.

The confidential report obtained by The Associated Press said the agency continues to have ‘serious concerns regarding possible military dimensions to Iran’s nuclear program.'” Read more.

Israel’s Peres on Iran: When We Say ‘All Options,’ We Mean It – “President Shimon Peres addressed the Iranian threat Thursday in a speech before the annual Jerusalem meeting of the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations. ‘The state of Israel is a sovereign one and it has the right and the ability to defend itself from every threat,’ he said. ‘When we say all options are on the table, we mean it!’ ‘A nuclear Iran is a strategic threat not only on Israel but on the entire world. Iran is a center of moral corruption and world terror,’ he added.” Read more.

Shhhh: State Department Quietly Warning Region About Syrian Weapons of Mass Destruction

By Josh Rogin – “The State Department has begun coordinating with Syria’s neighbors to prepare for the handling of President Bashar al-Assad’s extensive WMD assets if and when his regime collapses, The Cable has learned.

This week, the State Department sent a diplomatic demarche to Syria’s neighbors Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon, and Saudi Arabia, warning them about the possibility of Syria’s WMDs crossing their borders and offering U.S. government help in dealing with the problem, three Obama administration officials confirmed to The Cable. For concerned parties both inside and outside the U.S. government, the demarche signifies that the United States is increasingly developing plans to deal with the dangers of a post-Assad Syria — while simultaneously highlighting the lack of planning for how to directly bring about Assad’s downfall.

Syria is believed to have a substantial chemical weapons program, which includes mustard gas and sophisticated nerve agents, such as sarin gas, as well as biological weapons. Syria has also refused IAEA requests to make available facilities that were part of its nuclear weapons program and may still be in operation.

The State Department declined to provide access to any officials to discuss the private diplomatic communication on the record, such as the author of the demarche Assistant Secretary of State for International Security and Nonproliferation Tom Countryman. In a meeting with reporters earlier this year, Countryman expressed confidence that the United States knows where Syria’s WMD stockpiles are, but warned that they could become a very serious security issue for Syria and the region going forward.” Read more.

Flashback: Hezbollah may be receiving weapons of mass destruction from Syria – “French newspaper Le Figaro reported on Saturday that Israel has asked Western countries to stop their diplomatic campaign against the Syrian regime for fear that the weapons of mass destruction of the Syrian regime will fall in the hands of Hezbollah and Hamas. The newspaper said the chief of military intelligence in the Israeli army, Major-General Aviv Kochavi has relayed the Israeli position during his visit to the United Nations headquarters in New York a few weeks ago. According to a French diplomat Kochavi warned that the Syrian arsenal of weapons will be directed at Israel if the regime of Bashar al-Assad falls.” Read more.

Flashback: Nasrallah: Next War with Israel Will Start in Tel Aviv, Says Hezbollah Has ‘Many Surprises’ That Will Change the Face of the Region in a Future War – “The next war with Israel will start in Tel Aviv, not on the northern border, Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah warned on Friday, the Lebanese Al-Akhbar newspaper reported. ‘If Israel decided to wage a war against Lebanon, we will not only break the Israeli soldiers’ bones, we will smash them,’ Nasrallah was quoted as saying during a meeting with Hezbollah members. ‘The war would be waged without any red lines, and [Hezbollah] would in return commit to the new equations,’ Nasrallah said. ‘[Hezbollah] has many surprises that will change the face of the region,’ he added.” Read more.

Tunisia, Egypt Islamists Signal Bigger Religion Role

Reuters – “PARIS – After months of reassuring secularist critics, Islamist politicians in Tunisia and Egypt have begun to lay down markers about how Muslim their states should be — and first signs show they want more religion than previously admitted.

Islamist parties swept the first free elections in both countries in recent months after campaigns that stressed their readiness to work with the secularists they struggled with in the Arab Spring revolts against decades-long dictatorships.

With political deadlines looming, the Tunisian coalition led by the reformist Islamist Ennahda party and the head of Egypt’s influential Muslim Brotherhood both made statements this week revealing a stronger emphasis on Islam in government.

Popular List, an Ennahda coalition member tasked with writing Tunisia’s new constitution, announced on Monday its draft called Islam ‘the principle source of legislation’ — a phrase denoting laws based on the sharia moral and legal code.

On Tuesday, Egyptian Brotherhood leader Mohamed Badie said his group wanted a president with ‘an Islamic background.’ That term is vague, but not as vague as the conciliatory ‘consensus candidate’ talk heard from most parties until now.

Secularists in both countries warned voters against trusting the Islamists and these subtle changes could have come straight from a secularist playbook on how Islamists would gradually insert more religion into the political and legal systems.” Read more.

Security forces clash with radical Islamists in Tunisian town – “Police in a Tunisian town used tear gas on Thursday to break up a crowd of about 200 hardline Islamists, armed with sticks, swords and petrol bombs, who set fire to a police station, witnesses told Reuters. ‘The security forces are chasing about 200 Salafists armed with swords and sticks after an exchange of petrol bombs and tear gas,’ resident Omar Inoubli told Reuters by telephone from Jandouba, about 160 km (99 miles) west of the capital. ‘These groups set fire to a police station …. (They) are broadcasting recordings through the loudspeakers of mosques calling for jihad (holy war).'” Read more.

Uganda’s 12% Muslim Minority is Increasingly ‘Radicalizing’, Converts to Christianity Coming Under Attack

By Raymond Ibrahim – “With only a 12% Muslim minority, and an 84% Christian majority, Uganda may not seem a hotspot of Islamic activity. Yet, in recent weeks and months, story after story of attacks on Muslim converts to Christianity have emerged, with troubling implications beyond the intrinsic level. Consider the following anecdotes:

Tortured Daughter

A Muslim father, in accordance with Sharia law, imprisoned and starved his teenage daughter, Susan Ithungu, because she converted to Christianity. He had warned her and her brother ‘not to attend church or listen to the gospel message. He even threatened us with a sharp knife that he was ready to kill us in broad daylight in case we converted to Christianity.’ When she refused to recant, ‘he locked her up in a room of the semi-permanent house for six months without seeing sunlight. The younger brother was warned not to tell anyone that Susan was locked up in a room and was not given any food.’ Still young and un-indoctrinated, Susan’s brother smuggled scraps of food to his sister, though “most days she could only feed on mud”; he also dug a hole under the door, pouring water through it, which she was forced to lap ‘using her tongue.’

When she was finally rescued, she ‘was bony, very weak, and not able to talk or walk. Her hair had turned yellow, she had long fingernails and sunken eyes, and she looked very slim, less than 20 kilograms [44 pounds],’ requiring over a year of hospitalization. In an update, she has ‘forgiven her father,’ and is thankful to all the strangers who have supported her. Meanwhile, ‘none of my family members has come to see me…. My own people have abandoned me.’

Blinded and Disfigured

Last Christmas Eve saw Muslims throw acid on a church pastor, leaving him with severe burns, blinding one eye and threatening sight in the other. In his own words: ‘I was attacked by a man who claimed to be a Christian. He called out to me shouting ‘pastor, pastor,’ and as I turned to see who he was, he poured acid which burnt part of my face. As I turned away from the attacker, another man poured the liquid on my back and ran away shouting ‘Allah Akbar’ (god is great).’

The pastor, Umar Mulinde, originally ‘came from a strict Muslim family and his father was an imam. He was a sheikh (Muslim teacher) before converting to Christianity, a decision that caused a strong reaction in the Muslim community.’