When I interview Christians and Jews, I repeatedly hear “everyone knows Jesus was
Jewish.” But when I dig deeper, I discover that “everyone knows Jesus was Jewish”
really means “He used to be Jewish.”
Many believe that Jesus was born Christian and that He launched a new religion. For example, Jane, educated in Catholic school, agreed that Jesus was Jewish. But when I followed up with, “Did He remain Jewish throughout his life?” she answered, “Oh, no. He became a Christian and started Christianity.”
“When did that happen?” I asked. “When He was baptized by John the Baptist,” she answered confidently. “It says so right in the Bible.”
Noah, a young Jewish student at a small New England college, asked his Christian
fraternity brothers, “What was Jesus’ religion?” They stared at him as if he were an idiot.
After he pressed for an answer, they declared, “Christian, of course.” In fact, Jesus was born into a family of practicing Jews dedicated to Judaism. As prescribed in the Torah, He was circumcised on the eighth day after His birth. Throughout His life He was thoroughly committed to Judaism, the Torah, and Jewish practices.
He prayed in synagogues and taught Torah to “multitudes” of fellow Jews. And John the Baptist only baptized Jews to purify them for the expected arrival of the Jewish Messiah.
All this is stated clearly in the Gospels; Jane’s quote is not. To address the crucial question “Did the Jews kill Jesus?”—a charge that has echoed with deadly consequences since the crucifixion—we look at the Gospels’ accounts of Jesus’ arrest, trial and the events leading up to them.
The Gospels state explicitly who killed Jesus (John 10:17–18). Have you ever wondered what Jesus might say about virulent and enduring anti-Semitism? Indeed, what would the thoroughly Jewish Jesus have said to Church leaders, monarchs, and others who launched murderous acts such as the Crusades, the Inquisition, and genocides in His name?
Christians today, especially evangelicals, are eager to let go of long-standing
antagonisms and are reaching out to Jews in a spirit of reconciliation. But
memories of unspeakable persecution over many centuries are a barrier for
Jews to participate fully in the healing process.
Given this new environment, I appeal to my fellow Jews to drop the “Jesus”-phobia and accept Jesus as a faithful Jew—without having to embrace the claim that He was the Messiah.
To encourage this mindset, I point to the pantheon of false Jewish Messiahs
throughout history, many of whom were destructive to Judaism but are still
revered for their teachings, while Jesus is rejected. (Click to Source)
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Burkina Faso: A number of fatal Islamic terror attacks on Christians and their churches occurred throughout or were reported in May:
On Sunday 26 May, armed Muslims stormed a Catholic church during mass and opened fire on the gathered worshippers; four were killed and several others injured. killing four and injuring others.
On May 13, armed Muslims attacked a Catholic procession, slaughtered four Christiansand “burned a statue of the Virgin Mary.”
On May 12, approximately 30 armed Muslims stormed a Catholic church, slaughtered at least six worshippers—including the officiating priest—and then burned the church to the ground.
On Sunday, April 28, Islamic terrorists stormed a Protestant church and killed six worshippers, including the 80-year-old pastor and his two sons. According to a local, “The assailants asked the Christians to convert to Islam, but the pastor and the others refused.” So “they called them, one after the other, behind the church building where they shot them dead.”
On April 5, Islamic gunmen entered a Catholic church and murdered four Christians.
Nigeria: On Sunday, May 26, Muslim Fulani herdsmen ambushed and slaughtered as many as 30 Christians as they walked home after church service. The Muslim tribesmen also torched approximately 20 Christian households as part of their planned “Islamization” of Nigeria, said a local pastor, adding, “These targeted attacks on innocent Christians are unacceptable, particularly with confirmed arrests of over 30 Christian women [who work as] fruit and food vendors by soldiers … after the attack.” Separately, on May 18, Islamic gunmen killed a Christian and kidnapped two others at a Baptist church.
Central African Republic: An elderly Christian nun of Spanish/French origins who spent her days teaching young girls how to sew in the African nation was beheaded by a militant group representing and partially composed of Muslim Fulani herdsmen; around the same time the group massacred at least 26 people, in what one report refers to as “one of the biggest single losses of life in the Central African Republic (CAR) since a February peace deal.”
Turkey: The murder of an elderly Christian man is believed to have been a hate crime. According to the report, the “86-year-old Greek man was found murdered in his home with his hands and feet tied. He was reportedly tortured”:
Zafir Pinari’s death on May 14 comes just five days before the commemorative anniversary of the Greek Genocide. This genocide was conducted from 1913-1922 by the Ottoman Empire and was the systematic killing of Christian Greek citizens. By … 1923, most of the Greek population were either murdered or had fled the country. A wave of killing of Greek Christians again occurred in the 1960s. A suspect has been arrested in this case and three others are under investigation. It is not yet clear as to what motivated the murder. However, given the historical context, local press covering the incident are labeling it as a hate crime.
Pakistan: A Muslim man tortured his Christian employee to death after the latter tried to quit his job. Javid Masih, 45, worked as a livestock farmhand for Abbas Jutt. According to a source acquainted with the case, “Masih wanted to quit because he was often subjected to discrimination and religious hatred.” The deceased’s widow confirms: “We had been experiencing religious hatred from [Jutt] and his colleagues, however, we had no courage to register this with police. We are poor and belong to a downtrodden segment of society. Therefore, we are never heard. Jutt has damaged our lives and we have nothing to live for now.”
Egypt: A Muslim employee murdered his Christian supervisor on May 7, “because of his Christian faith” notes a report. Surveillance footage from a nearby building captured the incident. While passing each other, the two men speak briefly, before the Muslim man returns with a knife and butchers the Christian, who leaves behind a wife and two boys aged 15 and 9. “The Islamic holy month of Ramadan began nearly two weeks ago,” the report adds. “It is common for Christians to suffer increased violence and harassment during this time. Persecution is a constant theme of life for Egyptian Christians, as they are already viewed as second class citizens in this Islamic nation.”
Syria: Islamic militants bombed a Christian village; five children and a 35-year-old woman were killed. “The kids went out to play after some days of calm” near a monastery, explained a local priest, when a rocket struck near them, “instantly killing five and wounding others… the woman was killed in a nearby street by a separate rocket.”
Iraq: On May 13, Islamic militants connected with the Shia group, Shabak, which is supported by Iran, broke into the home of two elderly Christian women, a mother and daughter, and repeatedly stabbed them with knives. Although the mother’s age is unknown, it can be surmised considering that her daughter—who was last reported as “struggling with death” and “in critical condition”—is 69 years old. According to one report, “The women were repeatedly stabbed with a knife and their gold and money were stolen. The two victims were then hospitalized in Mosul. The daughter, who sustained a violent head injury, remains in critical condition.” Although the two women were subsequently robbed, local Christians say plunder was not the primary motive: “The attackers tried to deliver a message of threat…. I don’t think it was a robbery because they stabbed the daughter on her head by a knife which means the criminals tried to kill them…. You know who could be the ones who may attack Christians. Everyone knows them. But no one can give you the names since they are supported by the militia.”
Separately, in an address delivered in London, the Rev. Bashar Warda, Archbishop of Irbil, the capital of Iraqi Kurdistan, accused Britain’s Christian leaders of indifference to the genocide of Iraq’s Christians. Some of his comments follow:
Christianity in Iraq, one of the oldest Churches, if not the oldest Church in the world, is perilously close to extinction. Those of us who remain must be ready to face martyrdom…. Our tormentors confiscated our present, while seeking to wipe out our history and destroy our future. In Iraq there is no redress for those who have lost properties, homes and businesses. Tens of thousands of Christians have nothing to show for their life’s work, for generations of work, in places where their families have lived, maybe, for thousands of years…. Will you continue to condone this never-ending, organised persecution against us? When the next wave of violence begins to hit us, will anyone on your campuses hold demonstrations and carry signs that say “We are all Christians”? And yes I do say, the “next wave of violence”, for this is simply the natural result of a ruling system that preaches inequality, and justifies persecution. The equation is not complicated. One group is taught that they are superior and legally entitled to treat others as inferior human beings on the sole basis of their faith and religious practices. This teaching inevitably leads to violence against any “inferiors” who refuse to change their faith. And there you have it—the history of Christians in the Middle East for the last 1,400 years.
Attacks on Churches
Nigeria: Muslim Fulani herdsmen stormed a church during evening choir practice and kidnapped 17 Christians on May 18. “As we were in the church, Fulani herdsmen numbering over 20 just surrounded the church and started shooting,” a church member recalled. “Everybody was terrified, but there was no way we could run because they had already surrounded the church. They were asking for the pastor’s house, and they threatened to shoot us if we don’t show them the house. Some of them went to the pastor’s house while others kept watch over us.”
Kenya: On May 17, a rampaging mob of Somali Muslims destroyed the properties of four churches—Kingdom Gospel for All Nations Ministry, Evangelical Victory Church International, End Time Army Church, and Kale Heywot Church—and injured several Christians. On the previous day, locals had called police on an outdoor Islamic event because it was getting too loud and rowdy. Citing “public disturbance,” police responded by pulling the plug on the event. On the next day, “a group of Muslim adherents stormed our church building armed with stones, machetes, and petrol,” the pastor of one of the destroyed churches said. “They broke into the church and damaged everything; from chairs to sound equipment. They also attempted to set the church on fire, but police arrived and contained the situation…. After they destroyed the chairs and equipment of this church, they split into small groups and went around stealing from the nearby shops operated by Christians. This was outright persecution of the people that subscribe to the Christian faith.” Another pastor of an attacked church said, “Our freedom of worship has been violated and we can only pray for a time when the Muslim community will allow Christians to worship without fear of being attacked. Our members are now scattered and … we have received notes at our church warning us against going to church, praying and preaching.” “The influx of the Somali people who are majorly Muslims has posed a great danger to the churches,” said the leader of another attacked church. “They have erected four mosques and are looking for portions to build other mosques. They have been threatening churches to leave so that they can build mosques on those plots.”
Turkey: On May 21, police interrupted a baptismal ceremony while raiding and subsequently shutting down an unauthorized church composed of Iranian Christian asylum seekers. “Turkey does not have a pathway for legalization of churches,” the report adds:
Many are instead forced to register as a foundation or association, and most even then will not be allowed to open a church building. For this reason, many like the church in Bolu are forced to exist in apartment buildings. It is common for Christians to report harassment and intimidation by the police who monitor their church services. For Iranian Christians, they are often challenged in that as asylum seekers, they are usually housed in extremely Islamic areas who do not want a Christian presence.
Iran: Authorities directly under the control of the Supreme Leader raided an Assyrian Presbyterian Church on May 9. They tore the church’s cross down, changed its locks, and made clear that worship was no longer be permitted at the church. Apparently the church’s crime was that it used the Persian language alongside its own Assyrian language; because the overwhelming majority of Iran’s Muslim population speaks only Persian, conducting church services in that language is seen by the Islamist regime as a seductive threat to the faith of Muslims
Algeria: Citing a law that requires special authorization for non-Muslim places of worship, authorities shut down another church and its Bible school on May 22. “I am sad to have to face this injustice,” its pastor said: “We prayed for those authorities who are persecuting us, as our Lord Jesus Christ commanded.” The church had filled all other prerequisites for legalization, and had been waiting for approval since 2017, which never came. This is the latest of several churches to be closed in recent years. According to the report, “Officials have yet to issue any license for a church building under the regulation…Several churches have since received written orders to cease all activities, and authorities have closed a number of them for operating without a license. Islam is the state religion in Algeria, where 99 percent of the population of 40 million are Muslim.”
Egypt: Authorities closed down another church in response to Muslim disapproval. “This is a very hard situation,” said one local Christian. “You can see kids praying in tears because of their feelings of fear … that is very painful for us as Christians personally. I don’t trust in the government promises, but we have to continue praying for [a] reopening the church.” “Many years ago we were praying in our houses with the priest because there was not an [existing] church,” another local Christian gave background information. “Now there are more than 400 Coptic persons in our village and the number of us increases day by day… During the last feast days (Orthodox Easter) many Copts prayed and the police had secured the building, but then the police asked Bishop Georgius to close the church because some Muslims in the village disagreed.”
Separately, an American professor teaching at Cairo’s American University was fired for refusing to emphasize Islam over other religions during his Religions of the World Class. According to one report,
Professor Adam Duker has taught Comparative Religions at the university since 2016. His dismissal reportedly comes after a conflict with Saudi billionaire Tarek Taher, who maintains close ties to the university. Taher had requested that Professor Duker focus more heavily on Islam. When Professor Duker refused, his contract was terminated effective October 2019. Professor Duker says that Taher asked him to encourage non-Muslim students to convert to Islam and that Taher wanted his lectures pre-approved before teaching. [A more detailed report on this development appears here.]
Pakistan: “A pastor … received a letter on May 1 warning him that his church would be the site of a terrorist attack unless he paid a ransom of more than $3,500.00,” notes a report. “The threat has many church leaders in Karachi on edge and calling on local authorities to provide their communities with protection….The letter also warned that if Pastor Azeem went to police, there would be consequences like the recent terrorist attacks on churches in Sri Lanka.”
In a separate incident, 38 Christian graves at a Pakistani cemetery were desecrated; the unknown assailants also defaced several crosses fixed to the graves.
Attacks on Apostates and Blasphemers
Uganda: Muslims burned the home of a former Muslim convert to Christianity and his large family (when still a Muslim he had married three women who gave him 14 children). Most of the family was indoors and barely made it out in time before the charred roof collapsed. “We thank God that no one was physically hurt but emotionally are very hurt as we continue receiving threatening messages warning us of a possible attack,” said the father. “The pressure from the extended family and radical Muslims is really troubling my family, and we cannot risk going back to our houses.” Problems began once Muslims learned the family had embraced Christianity; area Muslims began stoning their home on the same day they saw the family attend church. Muslim villagers and the imam of the local mosque also began insulting and harassing the family, with one villager saying, “If you do not come back to Islam, then expect something unusual to befall your family.” “Since then,” explained the father, “my family became vigilant, and we even hired a guard to take care of the family during the night, but the stone-throwing continued in one of the houses while the guard was on patrol on the other side of the homestead.” Even after being made homeless, the family continues to receive threatening messages, including, “The burning of the house was just warning. If you continue hardening your hearts and fail to return to Islam, then expect a worst thing that you have never seen before.” “We sincerely need prayers and financial support,” concluded the father. “My family is scattered, and the children are unable to go to school. We gave our lives to Jesus and here we are living a troubled, restless life. The law should bring these perpetrators to book.”
Pakistan: On May 15, a Muslim mob attacked a Christian family accused for allegedly blaspheming against Islam. The incident started after a Christian man asked a Muslim man who was loudly cursing on his phone near the Christian family home to move away. The Muslim responded with a derogatory, anti-Christian slur, which led to a physical altercation, until the Christian family managed to separate the two men. That night, the local mosque’s megaphones started blaring out against the Christian household, accusing them of blasphemy and adding: “All the lovers of Islam must gather together and force these demonic creatures out of this village.” A family member explains what happened next:
This was a horrifying moment for my whole family and other Christians. We felt totally helpless. In our panic we started to get ourselves ready to flee our homes and get far away from the village, however, we were all to[o] slow. In no time we start to hear Muslims gather outside our home—even the children. The violent mob surrounded our home and all of them had weapons including guns—which were being shot in the air, sticks, axes, poles and farming tools. Even the small children had weapons [and] we feared for our lives. The mob began shouting outside our home asking for our family to exit our home and receive divine retribution for our sin. It did not seem very divine—we just saw raging evil violent people ready to kill us.” Seven Christian family homes were attacked before the mobs dispersed.
Sexual Abuse of Christians
Indonesia: A May 23 report says that “ a new form of persecution is on the rise—Christian girls are being targeted by Muslim men… Influential leaders are literally training young men to target Christian girls to impregnate them”:
They target them to try and sort of diffuse the spread of Christianity because the family of the Christian girl is so ashamed that…they’re forced into marrying that daughter into a Muslim family…. The family, because the shame is so overwhelming, they agree to that… and the Muslims who are being trained to do this, they understand that. That’s why they’re doing that. They’re taking a Christian into a Muslim family so they can influence [her]. Once girls are married into the Muslim families, they’re often cut off from or abandoned by their families and they face even more difficult circumstances. In some cases, girls are the second or third wife of their persecutor and they have few freedoms.
Pakistan: Neha Pervaiz, a 15-year-old Christian girl, was raped, forcefully converted to Islam, and married to a 45-year-old Muslim man. “I was taken by my aunt, a Muslim convert, to her house on April 28 to help her look after her sick son,” recalls Neha. “But there I was asked to marry a Muslim man named Imran. When I refused, they beat me up and threatened to kill my minor brother who was with me.” She was then forced into another room and raped by Imran. “They then pressurized me to convert to Islam and marry Imram.” Over the following two days she was forced to convert, renamed Fatima, and taken to court where she was illegally married to Imran. She eventually managed to escape back to her parents.
Egypt: Muslims reportedly kidnapped a Christian wife and mother of three near Cairo. Her family has since received threatening messages saying that unless the woman embraces Islam one of her sons will targeted for slaughter. After the family took the matter to police, the latter refused to open a case, suggesting that the woman left her home of her own free will.
Raymond Ibrahim, author of the new book, Sword and Scimitar, Fourteen Centuries of War between Islam and the West, is a Distinguished Senior Fellow at the Gatestone Institute, a Shillman Fellow at the David Horowitz Freedom Center, and a Judith Rosen Friedman Fellow at the Middle East Forum.
About this Series
The persecution of Christians in the Islamic world has become endemic. Accordingly, “Muslim Persecution of Christians” was developed in 2011 to collate some—by no means all—of the instances of persecution that occur or are reported each month. It serves two purposes:
1) To document that which the mainstream media does not: the habitual, if not chronic, persecution of Christians.
2) To show that such persecution is not “random,” but systematic and interrelated—that it is rooted in a worldview inspired by Islamic Sharia.
Accordingly, whatever the anecdote of persecution, it typically fits under a specific theme, including hatred for churches and other Christian symbols; apostasy, blasphemy, and proselytism laws that criminalize and sometimes punish with death those who “offend” Islam; sexual abuse of Christian women; forced conversions to Islam; theft and plunder in lieu of jizya (financial tribute expected from non-Muslims); overall expectations for Christians to behave like cowed dhimmis, or second-class, “tolerated” citizens; and simple violence and murder. Sometimes it is a combination thereof.
Because these accounts of persecution span different ethnicities, languages, and locales—from Morocco in the West, to Indonesia in the East—it should be clear that one thing alone binds them: Islam—whether the strict application of Islamic Sharia law, or the supremacist culture born of it. (Click to Source)
Addiction Ends at the Foot of the Cross by True Salvation thru Yeshua the Messiah – Jesus Christ
An Iraqi Christian who said Jesus appeared to him twice in his dreams recounts being imprisoned by ISIS, tortured and burned three times by the terrorist group.
The man, a Yazidi, recounts his harrowing story in a documentary by Sean Feucht and Bethel Music.
“The Yazidis… were really targeted by ISIS for genocide…they were raped, they were beaten, they were executed,” Feucht told Fox News. “ISIS didn’t even want to imprison them, they just wanted to kill them, wipe them off the map.”
Feucht interviewed the man, who was not named, through his non-profit, Light A Candle Project, which goes into all parts of the world but primarily Iraq, where the Islamic State was at the height of its brutality, to help people who’ve experienced some of the world’s worst suffering.
Sean Feucht, the founder of The Light A Candle Project, told an Iraqi Christian who was tortured by ISIS that Jesus appeared to him in his dreams because he loves him. His story was their first supernatural encounter documented in an upcoming documentary with Bethel Music called “Heart and Hands: Iraq.” (Bethel Music)
The Yazidi man says he was burned alive three times by ISIS after they found out he was a follower of Christ. He said his body “didn’t burn” a single time when he was imprisoned and tortured by the radical Islamic terrorists for two months.
“He spoke to me,” the persecuted Christian shared, referencing Jesus in his dreams.
Feucht told him: “Jesus appeared twice to you in a dream because He loves you.”
The man said he was stoned and ISIS members drenched him in 20 gallons of gasoline. But even though he was burned alive, he said he inexplicably survived unharmed. He credited Jesus for surviving.
“And they burned me, but I didn’t burn,” he said.
The Iraqi Christian’s story is one account from the upcoming documentary film “Hearts and Hands: Iraq” that is expected to be released later this year. A preview was shown at the “Heaven Come” conference in Los Angeles.
Feucht said it shows what persecuted Christians go through overseas.
His group recently raised over $100,000 to distribute food, blankets, mattresses, and other materials, as well as offering trauma therapy counseling and kids programs, teaching music, and praying with persecuted Christians in the region where Christianity once flourished but is now near extinction, according to faith leaders.
“I feel like we’re really called to the most persecuted, closed, dark, marginalized places,” he said. Over the past 15 years, the Bethel Music worship leader has gone into North Korea, India, Afghanistan…”some of the topmost closed countries and places where it’s illegal to be a Christian,” he said. But they said they’ve seen and heard stories of incredible miracles.
Bethel Music worship leaders Bethany Wohrle and Sean Feucht play music with refugees as part of the “Light A Candle Project.” (Rachel Soh)
Feucht said he is encouraged by the growth of the church in Iraq, China, and India, places where it is most persecuted.
“Our team’s in Iraq right now, and the U.S. State Department just sent out this notification that said ‘All US personnel leave Iraq’ and all the NGOs left but our guys are still there. We were there through ISIS. We’ve been there through the worst of the worst,” Feucht said. “Everyone thought we were crazy. Right as everyone was leaving, we came in, and because of it, we have a thriving, flourishing project there.”
For Feucht, mission work is in his family’s DNA, as the son of medical missionaries who took him on trips to unreached people and remote places, he has seen what most Americans Christians, who make up just 5 percent of the global Christian population, don’t get to see.
“We want to re-define missions for a generation to where we’re actually the first ones to respond,” Feucht concluded. “That’s the essence of the gospel to go into places where no one else is willing to go.” (Click to Source)
(Natural News) There’s a concerted effort afoot to rebrand Satanism as a benevolent, all-faiths religious system marked by tolerance, diversity, and inclusion, as opposed to the ritualistic and overt devil worship with which most people are familiar. And leading the charge in spreading this new-breed type of Satanism to the masses are none other than Hollywood and the mainstream media, both of which having long abandoned any semblance of Christian values, are now openly proclaiming that their true goal and purpose is to usher in this more palatable Antichrist system in preparation for, and anticipation of, the Man of Sin himself.
As explained by Matthew Jacobs, writing for the Verizon-owned The Huffington Post, avowed Satanist Penny Lane recently released her new documentary, Hail Satan?, which sets the tone for this new type of devil worship that’s sure to gain popularity for its fundamental “do as thou wilt” doctrines. Instead of adherents having to wear black clothing while chanting around pentagrams and the like, Lane’s version of Satanism allows for people to essentially do whatever they want, and whatever “feels” right – and is, perhaps, best represented by the six-colored “rainbow” flag of the LGBT Mafia, a popular image that symbolizes this new anything-goes acceptance of anything and everything, except for real Christianity.
“Satanists, it turns out, are everything you think they’re not: patriotic, charitable, ethical, equality-minded, dedicated to picking up litter with pitchforks on an Arizona highway,” Jacobs writes in his glowing endorsement of Lane’s brand of Satanism. “By reclaiming the pop iconography that has long frightened evangelical America – devil worship, ritualistic sacrifice, horns, pentagrams, the so-called Black Mass – the Satanic Temple aims to catch people’s attention and then surprise them with messages of free speech, compassion, liberty and justice for all,” he adds.
Satanism is tolerant of everyone, unless you trust in Christ as your Savior
There’s nothing off-limits within the realm of Satanism – except, of course, for believing that Jesus Christ is the Son of God, and trusting in him for salvation. Christians, in other words, have no place within Satanism, nor will they be welcomed into the global Antichrist system that Lane and her fellow Satanists are chomping at the bit to see implemented by force.
While extolling the “virtues” of Satanism in terms of it supposedly propagating a dogma coexistence, Lane makes it clear that people like Vice President Mike Pence, who openly identifies as a Christian, are not to be coexisted with because, in her view, they’re trying to implement a Christian theocracy. Christianity cannot coexist with Satanism, in other words, and thus must be curb-stomped into oblivion – all in the name of “love,” of course.
This would seem to be the future of Satanism: a kinder, softer religious system of embracing the “real you” while coming together with everyone else, regardless of perceived differences, in order to tackle “problems” like “global warming” that supposedly affect the entire planet, and thus require a unified, all-is-one solution from the new global citizenry marching in lockstep under the “rainbow” banner of pride – pride being the very first sin that Satan cultivated into fruition back in the Garden of Eden.
“While these are intended as signs of inclusiveness and tolerance, their presence is in reality a sign of the unabashed brazenness of the ancient enemy of Christ planting his flag wherever he can to claim God’s people for himself,” writes Doug Mainwaring for LifeSiteNews.com about what Satan’s “rainbow” flags truly represent. “The rainbow flag in churches stands in judgment and mockery of the Primordial Sacrament, Christ’s spousal love for his perfect complement, his Betrothed, the Church … It’s just an equal sign: Dismantling the Cross of Christ.” (Click to Source)
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“Christian street preachers should be free to share the gospel, even where it means challenging the beliefs of others.” — Christian Concern, in a petition to UK Home Secretary Sajid Javid.
In recent years, dozens of Christians — clergy and non-clergy — in Britain have been arrested or fired from their jobs due to their faith. Much of the harassment is based on three sections of two British laws that are vague and open to subjective interpretations.
At an appeal hearing at Bristol Crown Court, attorney Michael Phillips emphasized the importance of freedom of speech, even in cases where the speaker does not necessarily hold the views being expressed. Another attorney, Paul Diamond, argued that there is no right not to be exposed to contrary ideas. He added that should passers-by not wish to hear the preaching, they are able to walk away.
The unlawful arrest of a Christian street preacher in London has drawn attention to the continuing use of hate speech laws to silence Christians in multicultural Britain — even as incendiary speech by Muslim extremists is routinely ignored.
On February 23, Oluwole Ilesanmi, a 64-year-old Nigerian evangelist known as Preacher Olu, was arrested at Southgate Station in North London after complaints that his message about Jesus was “Islamophobic.” A video of the arrest, viewed more than two million times, shows how two police officers ordered the man to stop preaching because “nobody wants to listen to that,” confiscated his Bible and then arrested him for “a breach of peace.”
The video was filmed by Ambrosine Shitrit, co-founder of Eye on Antisemitism, a London-based organization that tracks anti-Semitism on social media. Shortly before Ilesanmi’s arrest, Shitrit had seen him interacting with another man, who turned out to be a Muslim. She thought the Muslim was about to assault Ilesanmi when she went over and started filming with her phone. When the police arrived in response to an emergency call, the Muslim man left the scene.
The video shows Ilesanmi pleading with police, “Don’t take my Bible away. Don’t take my Bible away.” An officer responded: “You should have thought about that before being racist.” A popular blogger known as Archbishop Cranmer tweetedwhat many people doubtless felt: “Dear @metpoliceuk, Setting aside the appalling ignorance of these two officers, would you handle a copy of the Qur’an like that?”
Ilesanmi said that after he was searched, the police drove him to a remote area before “de-arresting him.” In Britain, “de-arrest” is a legal term which means that no crime has been committed. Since then, London police have changed their story about what transpired; some have accused the police of staging a cover-up.
When journalist Marcus Jones of Premier Christian Radio asked the Met Police whether they agreed that Ilesanmi had been driven away to a remote location, the Met Police expressly denied it. In an email exchange, they said that Ilesanmi was escorted “approximately 200 meters away, de-arrested and shown to a nearby bus stop.”
Upon further questioning by Jones, Met Police said that Ilesanmi “was driven approximately 3.5 miles to Hadley Wood in north London, where he was left at a bus stop.” The police also said that the man was arrested “in order to prevent[emphasis added] a breach of the peace.” The police also said, “Yes, officers checked that he had a bank card.”
Jones emailed a follow-up question:
“Mr. Ilesanmi says he was taken 5.2 miles away and dropped at the edge of Wrotham Park outside of the London transport zone. He also insists that he had no money on him when he was left by the police. I just want to be sure on the exact distance: is the 3.5-mile figure an exact distance or an estimate? Thanks.”
The Met Police responded:
“The man was driven approximately 3.5 miles to Hadley Wood in north London, where he was left at a bus stop. As stated below, the man was left at a bus stop with a bank card.”
The British watchdog group Christian Concern wrote:
“Oluwole was not taken to Hadley Wood. He was taken to Wrotham Park which is some distance away from Hadley Wood and is outside the London transport zone. He had an Oyster card [a rechargeable plastic card valid for all of London’s public transport] with him which was not accepted on the bus. He is clear that he did not have a bank card on him when the police searched him. Bank cards are in any case not accepted on the 84 Metro Line bus which he eventually caught. Furthermore, there are no ATMs anywhere near the place where the police left him.
“Oluwole had to work out where he was with his smart phone and then catch a bus back to High Barnet. When a bus came, he was told that his Oyster card was not accepted on this bus. He explained that he had been dropped there by the police and asked how he was going to get back. The driver asked him to leave the bus. He said that a passenger would help him, whereupon a passenger did volunteer to pay his £2 bus fare in cash. He still has the ticket which validates his account of what happened.”
Christian Concern launched a petition asking Home Secretary Sajid Javid to do more to ensure that the police are trained to act within the law:
“A video of street preacher Oluwole Ilesanmi being arrested outside Southgate Underground station has been seen by millions of people worldwide. It’s not the first time a Christian street preacher has been wrongly arrested in the UK.
“Christian street preachers should be free to share the gospel, even where it means challenging the beliefs of others.
“The law rightly protects freedom of speech, even if it offends, shocks or disturbs others. But too often, police officers have shown themselves either to be ignorant of this freedom or unwilling to uphold it. This leads to a chilling effect, where people are increasingly unwilling to say what they believe, for fear of arrest.”
Christian Concern CEO Andrea Williams added:
“Despite laws that theoretically support the freedom to preach in public, in practice, police officers are quick to silence preachers after any suggestion (often false) of Islamophobia or homophobia. This is not only unjust but kills free speech through self-censorship. We want to see police officers protect the freedom of street preachers by only using their powers when truly necessary.”
In recent years, dozens of Christians — clergy and non-clergy — in Britain have been arrested or fired from their jobs due to their faith. Much of the harassment is based on three sections of two British laws that are vague and open to subjective interpretations:
Section 4A (Intentional Harassment, Alarm or Distress) of the Public Order Act 1986: “A person is guilty of an offense if, with intent to cause a person harassment, alarm or distress, he — (a) uses threatening, abusive or insulting words or behavior, or disorderly behavior, or (b) displays any writing, sign or other visible representation which is threatening, abusive or insulting, thereby causing that or another person harassment, alarm or distress.”
Section 5 (Harassment, Alarm or Distress) of the Public Order Act 1986: “A person is guilty of an offense if he — (a) uses threatening or abusive words or behavior, or disorderly behavior, or (b) displays any writing, sign or other visible representation which is threatening or abusive, within the hearing or sight of a person likely to be caused harassment, alarm or distress thereby.”
Section 31 (Racially or Religiously Aggravated Public Order Offenses) of the Crime and Disorder Act 1998: “A person is guilty of an offense under this section if he commits — (a) an offense under section 4 of the Public Order Act 1986 (fear or provocation of violence); (b) an offense under section 4A of that Act (intentional harassment, alarm or distress); or (c) an offense under section 5 of that Act (harassment, alarm or distress), which is racially or religiously aggravated for the purposes of this section.”
Many of those accused of breaking the law had challenged the doctrinal claims of Islam or had made public proclamations of Christian sexual ethics. A free speech clause, tabled by Lord Waddington as section 29JA in the Public Order Act 1986, assures that public criticism of homosexuality or same-sex marriage is lawful. The amendment to section 29J (Protection of Freedom of Expression (Sexual Orientation)) states:
“(1) In this Part, for the avoidance of doubt, the discussion or criticism of sexual conduct or practices or the urging of persons to refrain from or modify such conduct or practices shall not be taken of itself to be threatening or intended to stir up hatred.”
“(2) In this Part, for the avoidance of doubt, any discussion or criticism of marriage which concerns the sex of the parties to marriage shall not be taken of itself to be threatening or intended to stir up hatred.”
Nevertheless, police often use heavy-handed tactics to remove lawful Christian preachers off the streets. Muslim street preachers, by contrast, often are treated more leniently. A video illustrates the double standards being applied by British police with regards to street preaching by Christians and Muslims.
In one instance, a Muslim judge convicted a Christian preacher of a public order offense due to his choice of Bible verses. District Judge Shamim Ahmed Qureshi, who also serves with the Muslim Arbitration Tribunal, the overseer of Britain’s Shariah courts, ruled that Michael Overd, a former British paratrooper who is now a Christian street preacher, should not have quoted a passage from Leviticus Chapter 20, which calls for the death penalty for Israelites who engage in sodomy. Qureshi said that Overd should instead have used Leviticus 18:22, which merely describes homosexual practice as an “abomination.” Overd later noted: “I am amazed that the judge sees it as his role to dictate which parts of the Bible can and can’t be preached.”
Conservative Party MP Sir John Hayes recently warned that “the ‘golden era’ of religious liberty may be coming to an end.” He explained:
“Religious believers are, once again, facing increased pressure to restrict their faith to the ‘private sphere.’ We now see regular, and increasingly unapologetic, persecution of Christians who remain committed to biblical teaching, refusing to bow to liberal, secular orthodoxies.”
Following is the first of a three-part series which examines the persecution of Christians in Britain. Part 1 documents efforts to remove street preachers from the public square. Part 2 examines the persecution in Britain of ordinary Christians in the workplace. Part 3 documents hostility to Christianity in the British culture.
Gatestone Institute has documented more than two dozen cases in which street preachers have been unlawfully arrested, jailed and or harassed by British police, prosecutors and the judiciary:
July 2018. London. Alan Coote, a 55-year-old Christian street preacher, was arrested outside St. Paul’s Cathedral for “breaching the peace” after reading aloud from the Bible. Coote had been arguing for what he said is his legal right to preach outside the cathedral.
Martin Parsons of the Barnabas Fund, a Christian charity, said:
“This illustrates the slippery slope down which the UK is losing its heritage of religious freedom. One of the first aspects of freedom of religion to be established in England was the freedom to read the Bible in public. St Paul’s is trying to stop someone reading the Sermon on the Mount in public.”
St Paul’s Cathedral staff eventually relented, but only to the extent that they offered to allow Coote to preach on the site for half an hour each week.
The Telegraph noted that the cathedral staff’s treatment of Coote is very different to when, in 2011, St Paul’s Cathedral hosted anti-capitalism protesters as they set up camp outside the church for over three months. At the time, the cathedral’s Canon Chancellor, Giles Fraser, gave the demonstrators a warm welcome and affirmed their right to protest. He asked police to move off the steps of the cathedral.
March 2018. Barking, London. David Lynn, a Christian pastor from Canada, was arrested outside Barking underground station after a female passer-by told officers that he made homophobic comments. He was later released without charge after police admitted they were wrong to detain him.
December 2017. Camberley, Surrey. David Barker and Stephen Wan, two Christian street preachers from Reading, were charged with hate speech after hecklers told police that they had made homophobic comments. On January 15, 2018, the two men were cleared of all charges after police determined that they had not said the things they were accused of saying.
July 2017. Nottingham. Andrew Frost, a Christian street preacher, was arrestedin the city center after allegedly entering into a discussion with two passers-by about homosexuality. The two men claimed that Frost had verbally abused them and directed several lewd comments at them, all of which he denied. Frost was charged under Section 5 of the Public Order Act 1986. Nottingham Magistrates’ Court proclaimed Frost not guilty and ordered the repayment of his legal fees.
June 2017. Lincoln, Lincolnshire. Daniel Courney, an American missionary, was arrested in the High Street quarter after a Muslim passer-by told police that he had made Islamophobic comments. He was charged under Section 5 Public Order Act 1986. On September 14, 2017, the Lincoln Magistrates’ Court convicted Courney of using “threatening and discriminatory language.”
During Courney’s appeal at Lincoln Crown Court, his attorneys argued that the law provides the freedom for him to preach the Christian message, a freedom which has been upheld in the courts for many years. Courney also denied making the Islamophobic comments attributed to him. On December 8, 2017, the Crown Court overturned the Magistrates’ Court’s sentence.
June 2017. Southwark, London. Ian Sleeper, a Christian street preacher, was arrested outside Southwark Cathedral, after displaying a placard which read, “Love Muslims Hate Islam Time For The Truth.” He was subsequently released on bail after the Crown Prosecution Service could not decide whether to charge him. After having been on bail for six weeks, the police decided to take no further action against him. Sleeper, who owns a restaurant in Ashford and employs Muslims, said:
“Society needs to kick political correctness into the long grass and be unafraid to criticize Islam. It was political correctness and an abuse of my rights under the law that got me detained in a police cell for 13 hours.
“I differentiate between Muslims the people and Islam the ideology. I love my Muslim neighbor as the Bible commands, and I am friends with all my Muslim staff. But I hate the religion’s ideology. It is not Muslims we should be attacking, it’s Islam. Islam makes Muslims victims with a tight grip that holds them captive to an evil ideology.
“The majority of people we engage with on the street agree with us. This includes ex-Muslims as well as Muslims. Many Muslims fear that they are unable to speak up against and leave Islam, but I have had the privilege of meeting ex-Muslims on the street and am often joined by them in my protest.”
March 2017. Bristol. Michael Overd and Michael Stockwell, two Christian street preachers, were convicted at Bristol Magistrates’ Court of disorderly conduct and using “threatening and abusive words…likely to cause alarm.” In July 2016, Overd and Stockwell were arrested for preaching at Bristol’s Broadmead Shopping Center. Several hecklers who appeared to be supportive of Islam became loud and aggressive, with some swearing and hurling abuse. There was debate on several points, especially over the differences between Islam and Christianity. At the time Overd and Stockwell were arrested, a police officer chided one of the men, saying, “People were getting angry. You were challenging homophobia [sic]. You were challenging Muslims.” The officer accused them of “anti-social behavior.” Andrea Williams of the Christian Legal Center filed an appeal:
“The Bible and its teachings are the foundation of our society and provided many of the freedoms and protections that we still enjoy today. So it is extraordinary that the prosecution, speaking on behalf of the state, could say that the Bible contains abusive words which, when spoken in public, constitute a criminal offense.”
During the trial, Crown Prosecutor Ian Jackson argued that biblical claims about the unique, salvific role and divine nature of Jesus Christ were offensive. As a result, Jackson argued, quoting parts of the Bible in public should be considered criminal offenses under Section 31 of the Crime and Disorder Act 1998.
At an appeal hearing at Bristol Crown Court in June 2017, Michael Phillips, an attorney for Overd and Stockwell, emphasized the importance of freedom of speech, even in cases where the speaker does not necessarily hold the views being expressed. Another attorney, Paul Diamond, argued that there is no right not to be exposed to contrary ideas, adding that should passers-by not wish to hear the preaching, they are able to walk away. Bristol Crown Court agreed and acquittedOverd and Stockwell of all charges.
July 2016. Irvine, Scotland. Gordon Larmour, a Scottish evangelist, was arrested after he answered questions from a gay teenager about the Christian view on homosexual practice. Larmour, who often visits Irvine to offer Christian leaflets to passers-by, referred to the Book of Genesis and stated that God created Adam and Eve to produce children. Larmour’s answers angered the young man, who called police and told them that Larmour had made “homophobic” remarks. Larmour was arrested and charged with behaving in a “threatening and abusive manner aggravated by prejudice relating to sexual orientation” and “assault.” In January 2017, Kilmarnock Sheriff Court found Larmour “not guilty” after Sheriff Alistair Watson established that the evidence against him was unconvincing. Larmour told the Scottish Mail on Sunday:
“The police didn’t listen to me. They took the young homosexual guy’s side straight away and read me my rights.
“I feel they try so hard to appear like they are protecting minorities, they go too far the other way. I want to be able to tell people the good word of the gospel and think I should be free to do so. I wasn’t speaking my opinions — I was quoting from the Bible.
“I think the police should have handled it differently and listened to what I had to say. They should have calmed the boy down and left it at that.
“In court the boy’s friend told the truth — that I hadn’t assaulted him or called him homophobic names. I had simply answered his question and told him about Adam and Eve and Heaven and Hell. Preaching from the Bible is not a crime.”
December 2015. Beverley, Yorkshire. Michael Jones, a 66-year-old Christian street preacher, was arrested for Islamophobia. He was accused of shouting “Muslims are terrorists, they should not be allowed in this country,” “Islam is not a religion, Islam is terrorism” and “Islam does not preach the Bible, it’s not religion, it’s terrorism.” A recording of his sermon revealed that he had not said the words he was accused of saying. In February 2016, the Crown Prosecution Service dropped all charges against Jones.
August 2015. Belfast. James McConnell, a 78-year-old Christian pastor in Northern Ireland, appeared at Laganside Magistrates’ Court in Belfast, after local Muslims complained that he delivered a sermon in which he described Islam as “heathen” and “satanic.” According to Northern Ireland’s Public Prosecution Service (PPS), McConnell — whose sermon was streamed live on the internet — violated the 2003 Communications Act by “sending, or causing to be sent, by means of a public electronic communications network, a message or other matter that was grossly offensive.” In January 2016, McConnell was acquitted after Belfast Magistrates’ Court Judge Liam McNally ruled that his comments did not reach the “high threshold” of being “grossly offensive.” McConnell summed it up this way:
“Islam is allowed to come to this country, Islam is allowed to worship in this country, Islam is allowed to preach in this country and they preach hate. And for years we are not allowed to give a tract out, we are not allowed in Islam, we are not allowed to preach the gospel. We are persecuted in Islam if we stand for Jesus Christ.”
April 2015. Hereford. Andrew Geuter, a Christian street preacher, was arrestedafter he was wrongly accused of making homophobic comments by a member of the public. He was held for five hours, during which time he was interviewed before being released on conditional bail. The police later determined to take no action due to insufficient evidence.
March 2015. Taunton, Somerset. Michael Overd, a Christian street preacher, was convicted of a public order offense for quoting a Bible passage condemning homosexuality. He was fined £200. District Judge Shamim Ahmed Qureshi, a Muslim, told Overd he could instead have chosen another Bible passage deemed by the judge to be less offensive. After the trial, Overd said:
“I am amazed that the judge sees it as his role to dictate which parts of the Bible can and can’t be preached. I did not quote the full text of Leviticus 20 or make reference to the death penalty, but the judge is telling me that I should use other parts of the Bible. This is not free speech but censorship. The judge is redacting the Bible.
“I have been ordered to pay compensation for causing ’emotional pain’ to someone who approached me aggressively demanding to debate the issue. There was no harm, injury or theft, just a simple disagreement over theology which I have now been fined for.”
The President of the National Secular Society, Terry Sanderson, said that the ruling appeared to make the quoting of certain passages of the Bible illegal. “Whilst we all want to encourage public civility, there is a higher principle at stake,” he said. “As long as there is no incitement to violence, then people should be allowed to speak freely without fearing legal repercussions.”
On December 11, 2015, Overd won an appeal against his public order conviction for using the “wrong” Bible verse in public. Circuit Judge David Ticehurst, sitting at Taunton Crown Court, ruled that the Crown Prosecution Service failed to provide sufficient evidence to justify the conviction. Overd said:
“Today the Court was faced with the farcical situation of a witness telling the judge that he couldn’t even remember what I had said, but simply asserting that it was ‘homophobic’ — as though the mere assertion that something is ‘homophobic’ is enough to curtail free speech.
“In this country, we are now in the ludicrous situation where the slightest accusation of a ‘phobia,’ be it ‘homophobia’ or ‘Islamophobia,’ is enough to paralyze rational action by the police and authorities. The highly politicized dogma of ‘phobias’ now too often results in trumped up charges and legal action. There is a chilling effect.
“Reasonable, law-abiding people now feel that they can’t say certain things and that is dangerous. Totalitarian regimes develop when ordinary people feel that there are certain things that can’t be said.
“Rather than prizing freedom of expression and protecting it, the police and the prosecutors risk undermining it, because they’ve become paranoid about anyone who might possibly feel offended.”
February 2014. Banbury. Bill Edwards, a 73-year-old street preacher, was arrested outside Banbury Magistrates’ Court after some people inside the building found his preaching “offensive.” He was taken to a nearby police station, where he was grabbed by six officers and pinned to the floor. In February 2014, Oxford Magistrates’ Court cleared Edwards, a former teacher, of all charges. An application for a restraining order to prevent Edwards from preaching outside Banbury Court House was refused; he was reimbursed for his travel expenses.
September 2013. Perth, Scotland. Josh Williamson, a Christian street preacher, was arrested twice in one week for breaching the peace. In an interview with The Scotsman, Williamson explained:
“The officer told me to stop as I was breaking the law. I asked him what law I was breaking and he replied that I was in breach of the peace. When I asked him to explain, he pointed to my mp3 recorder and said I was too loud. I pointed out to the officer that I wasn’t using amplification, but just my natural voice. I then asked him what a reasonable sound level would be. The police officer replied that the noise level isn’t the issue, but rather that a complaint had been made. I tried to reason with the officer, explaining that such argumentation is subjective as anyone can claim anything is too loud. After a few more minutes I was placed in the back of a police van.”
September 2013. Basildon, Essex. Rob Hughes, a 38-year-old street preacher, was arrested and jailed after he was accused by a lesbian bystander of engaging in hate speech against homosexuals. The woman in question had earlier confronted Hughes shouting that she was “gay and proud” then proceeding to tell him to “get down off your pedestal, you judgmental ****. Homophobia is not in this town.” Hughes, who had recorded everything he said while preaching, explained that he had said nothing about the issue of homosexuality and asked that her request not to be judged be extended also to him. He was later released and informed that no further action would be taken due to insufficient evidence. In May 2015, as part of an out-of-court settlement, Hughes received £2,500 and a contribution towards his legal fees for wrongful arrest, false imprisonment and breach of his human rights.
August 2013. London. Dominic Muir, a Christian street preacher, was arrestedfor preaching in the Battersea Park area. A police officer asked Muir if he had obtained permission to preach in the area. When he responded that he did not, he was told that he would be prosecuted. The council alleged that Muir had breached little-used by-laws which ban street preaching in certain parts of the borough. In September 2013, during the first hearing at Richmond upon Thames Magistrates’ Court, Muir entered a not guilty plea. The council subsequently dropped the case against Muir.
July 2013. London. Tony Miano, an American evangelist, was arrested and jailedduring the Wimbledon Championships while preaching on the street about sexual immorality. He was part of Sports Fan Outreach International, an evangelistic effort in England to share the Gospel with attendees of the annual Wimbledon tennis tournament. Approximately a dozen or more men and women were on the streets preaching, distributing tracts and engaging in one-on-one conversation with spectators. Miano, a retired Los Angeles County Sheriff, was preaching about sexual immorality from the book of First Thessalonians when a female passer-by became agitated by his message and began to curse. She then called the police to complain. Moments later, officers arrived and notified Miano that he had allegedly violated Section 5 of the Public Order Act, which prohibits public language that is threatening or insulting. After being booked, photographed and fingerprinted, he was released without charge.
February 2012. Inverness, Scotland. Kenneth Macdonald, a well-known evangelist, was cleared of behaving in an abusive manner while preaching the gospel in Inverness city center. In January 2011, a shopkeeper had falsely accused Macdonald of harassing passers-by. After more than a year of legal proceedings, Macdonald was acquitted.
September 2011. Manchester. John Craven, a Christian street preacher, was arrested and jailed for reading from the Bible after two gay teenagers asked him about his views on homosexuality. He added that “whilst God hates sin, He loves the sinner.” The teens then began to kiss in front of him and perform sexual acts. They then reported Craven to a nearby mounted police constable, who placed him under arrest for “public order offenses.” After spending 19 hours in jail, police told him there would be no charges and no further action. In March 2014, Craven was awarded £13,000 in compensation after a three-year legal battle against Greater Manchester Police estimated to have cost taxpayers £50,000.
December 2010. Birmingham. Anthony Rollins, an autistic Christian street preacher who was arrested for speaking out against homosexuality, was awarded£4,250 in damages following a court case against West Midlands Police. Birmingham County Court ruled that Police Constable Adrian Bill committed assault and battery against Rollins when he handcuffed him unnecessarily. The court also ruled that Rollins was wrongfully arrested, unlawfully detained and his human rights to free speech and religious liberty were infringed. The court ordered the police to pay Rollins’ legal costs.
April 2010. Workington, Cumbria. Dale McAlpine, a 42-year-old Christian street preacher, was charged with causing “harassment, alarm or distress” after a homosexual police officer overheard him reciting a number of “sins” referred to in the Bible, including blasphemy, drunkenness and same-sex relationships. McAlpine said that he did not mention homosexuality while delivering his sermon but admitted telling a passer-by that he believed it was against the word of God. Police officers alleged that he made the remark in a voice loud enough to be overheard by others and charged him with using abusive or insulting language, contrary to the Public Order Act. McAlpine was taken to the police station and locked in a cell for seven hours. Prosecutors later dropped the case due to a lack of evidence.
March 2010. Glasgow. Shawn Holes, a 47-year-old American street preacher, was fined £1,000 for “uttering homophobic remarks” that were “aggravated by religious prejudice.” Holes, a New Yorker who was touring Britain with colleagues, was arrested by police while responding to questions from people in Glasgow City Center. He said later:
“There were homosexuals listening – around six or eight of them – who were kissing each other and cuddling, and asking ‘What do you think of this?’ It felt like a set-up by gay campaigners. When asked directly about homosexuality, I told them homosexuals risked the wrath of God unless they accepted Christ.”
Holes said that he had no choice but to admit the charge at Glasgow Sheriff Court because he wanted to fly home to see his wife, and his father, who is in a hospice. However, he said he had expected to be fined only about £100.
August 2009. Manchester. Miguel Hayworth and his father, John Hayworth, two street preachers, were accused by police of inciting religious and racial hatred for reading from the Bible and handing out tracts at St. Ann’s Square. Miguel Hayworth said:
“At 2 pm, I was approached on more than one occasion by several police officers who falsely accused me, stating that I was inciting hatred with homophobic and racial comments. One plain-clothed officer, who was with the other two uniformed officers, said: ‘It is against the law to preach and hand out tracts: preaching causes offense and handing out tracts is harassment and could result in an arrest.'”
Hayworth said that at about 2.30 pm another officer warned him that he could be arrested and that his actions were being filmed and recorded. He stopped preaching. Critics claimed that a Muslim preaching Islam in the street would not have been treated in such a way by police. (Click to Source)
Soeren Kern is a Senior Fellow at the New York-basedGatestone Institute.
(Natural News) The vast majority of Americans have come to expect biased coverage from the so-called “mainstream media,” and what’s more, they have come to expect that coverage will be designed to advance the Democrats’ Left-wing agenda.
That’s according to some of the most recent polling data available.
But additional evidence also supports the contention that what the media tends to cover aren’t subjects that are of vital interest or importance to most Americans, and that the media covers ‘narratives’ it helps create, failing — intentionally — to give equal weight to similar stories.
The most recent example involves how American journalists initially covered the terrorist attack in New Zealand. Immediately after news of the attack first broke, the Democrat-aligned media filled their airwaves and bandwidth with far-Left pundits and politicians, as well as their own hosts and reporters, who were all quick to blame POTUS Donald Trump’s anti-Muslim “rhetoric.”
In the days that followed, the same Left-wing media outlets hammered on the narrative that 28-year-old alleged attacker Brenton Tarrant is a “white nationalist” and “right-wing extremist” who hates Muslims — as though only white, right-wing extremists are behaving as terrorists these days and the only people they are murdering are people of Islamic faith.
The fact is, however, that by far, the bulk of terrorist attacks this year — and in recent years — have been committed by Muslim extremists, and often against followers of other faiths. But our media doesn’t often report those and when they do, reports are quick, superficial, and fact-based. No narratives, no outraged guest analysts, and no lecturing, finger-wagging hosts. (Related: How the media distorts the New Zealand shooting to protect radical Muslim jihadis while demonizing white people.)
As reported by Natural News:
On January 27, Muslim extremists bombed a Roman Catholic cathedral on the Philippine island of Jolo, killing some 20 people and injuring dozens of others. But you probably didn’t hear about this horrific religious massacre because the perpetrators were violent Islamic terrorists that targeted Christians, which means the Leftist media pretty much completely ignored it.
In all, “there have been 453 Islamic terror attacks in 31 different countries so far this year – and these are just the ones that have been reported,” Natural News continued. “In total, just in 2019 so far, there have been a shocking 1,956 people murdered by Islamic terrorists, and another 2,019 injured, according to TheReligionOfPeace.com.”
The new ‘protected class’
While the vast majority of Americans are aware of what happened last week in New Zealand, probably an equal number are completely in the dark about the fact that there have been more than 450 terrorist attacks this year so far committed by Islamic extremists, including many against Christian believers. That’s because the American legacy media won’t report on those stories; to do so would conflict with their carefully crafted narrative that Muslims are victims and most often die at the hands of white European/American nationalists.
Naturally, if these attacks were reported with the same breathlessness, vigor, and depth, Americans would have a much different opinion of radical Islam, and would understand it poses a far more serious threat than they have currently been led to believe.
According to The National Sentinel, it appears as though Muslims have become the American Left’s “new protected class.”
The site quoted CAIR research director Dr. Abbas Barzegar, who launched an attack against the First Amendment during a press conference after the New Zealand shootings, implying that there should be no criticism of Muslims allowed.
He said social and traditional media do “not allow these people to exploit freedom of speech.”
And no one from the media pushed back.
When our country was founded, patriots bequeathed us a free and independent press they believed was essential to protect our liberties, primarily by holding the powerful accountable. By allowing themselves to become agents of the powerful, today’s establishment media have violated the founders’ intent. (Click to Source)
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The recent death toll of Christians in Nigeria has reached 120 with this week’s slaughter of more than 50 by Fulani Muslim militants in the Kaduna state of Nigeria, the Christian Post reported.
The Fulani jihadists, who have become a greater threat to Nigerian Christians than the Islamist terror group Boko Haram, stormed the villages of Inkirimi, Dogonnoma, and Ungwan Gora in the Kajuru Local Government Area last Monday, destroying 143 homes, killing 52 people, and wounding dozens more.
The assailants reportedly split into three groups, the first of which fired upon the people, the second set fire to buildings, and the third chased down people fleeing from the scene. Victims of the assault included women and children.
Monday’s incident followed an attack the day before in the Ungwan Barde village in Kajuru, where 17 Christians were killed and dozens of homes were burned.
In the first week of March, Muslim extremists massacred more than 30 Christians in Karamar village, setting fire to several houses and a church. The terrorists reportedly shot at families trying to escape the fire, killing 32.
The spate of recent attacks against communities has taken place within the predominantly Christian Adara chiefdom of southern Kaduna.
The governor of Kaduna state, Nasir El-Rufai, has imposed a dusk-to-dawn curfew on the Kajuru Local Government Area to try to contain the violence.
In late February, militants attacked the Maro village, killing 38 Christians and torching homes as well as a Christian church.
The Christian Post reported that Fulani militants killed thousands of Christians in 2018 alone in what many are calling a Christian genocide in Nigeria’s Middle Belt.
Last December, a leading Anglican bishop in Nigeria, Dr. Benjamin Argak Kwashi, said that the Muslim Fulani militants represent the number one terrorist threat facing Christians in Nigeria.
“The government is able to provide protection [to the Christians], but what’s obvious to everybody is that the government is unwilling,” Kwashi told Breitbart News.
“The Fulani herdsmen are a bigger threat,” Kwashi added. “Boko Haram operates in the northeast and scantily moves into other areas, but the Fulani herdsmen are widespread. They’re everywhere now. So the Fulani are a bigger threat.” (Click to Source)
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The Disney Channel’s decision to feature its first-ever gay character and “coming out story” has prompted the conservative group, One Million Moms, to launch a petition against the media giant.
“The Disney Channel is deliberately choosing to ‘move forward’ and promote adult content to children,” One Million Moms (OMM) said in its petition, signed by over 6,000 people as of Friday morning. “By choosing to move in the direction of more ‘adult’ stories and content, the Disney Channel – and the entire Disney media empire – may be choosing to sacrifice something far more precious… children’s innocence.”
According to Deadline, Season 2 of Andi Mack, set to premiere Friday, October 27 at 8 p.m. ET, will feature Cyrus Goodman (played by 15-year-old Joshua Rush) making a self-discovery about his sexuality.
In the premiere, 13-year-old Andi (Peyton Elizabeth Lee) is wondering if her parents will get married, as well as figuring out how she feels about her longtime crush Jonah (Ashley Angel). Cyrus, Andi’s best friend, will also realize he has feelings for Jonah, in the process of discovering he’s gay.
“In the season premiere, Cyrus confides his feelings to a supportive Buffy, a scene intended to provide positive role models for children – and adults – watching,” notes Deadline. “Subsequent episodes will follow Cyrus’ ongoing story, which will include wrestling with how to tell his new girlfriend Iris.”
“Andi Mack is a story about ‘tweens’ figuring out who they are,” Disney Channel said in a statement. “[Creator] Terri Minsky, the cast and everyone involved in the show takes great care in ensuring that it’s appropriate for all audiences and sends a powerful message about inclusion and respect for humanity.”
Disney reportedly worked with GLAAD, PFLAG, The National Campaign to Prevent Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy, and Common Sense Media “to ensure the story arc is age-appropriate and respectful.”
OMM, however, disagrees.
“What is wrong with having family-friendly content that is acceptable for all ages or even leaving a couple of networks solely for children’s entertainment?” the conservative group asks. “Disney Channel is gradually becoming another Freeform Network. As one of only a few channels catering to children, it cannot possibly be that Disney Channel has a financial need for more adult viewers.”
The petition adds, “By choosing to abandon family-friendly entertainment, Disney’s inexplicable choice to move toward more “adult” fare may ultimately prove to be a huge mistake.”
On social media, others voiced their dismay over Disney’s decision to include a gay storyline.
“Disney is one of the most rabidly left-wing and openly anti-Christian companies in the entire world,” wrote conservative commentator Matt Walsh.
“Because your kids are never too young for the left’s agenda,” conservative journalist Brittany M. Hughes wrote in a Facebook post.
Ray Comfort, of Living Waters Publications, simply linked to his film, Audacity, which shares how to engage gays and lesbians in a loving and respectful way with the Gospel.
This is not the first time Disney has been accused of pushing the LGBT agenda on children. Earlier this year, an episode of the cartoon “Star vs. the Forces of Evil” featured gay couples kissing during a boy band concert, marking the first on-screen same-sex PDA on a Disney cartoon show.
At the time, Ken Ham, CEO of the Ark Encounter, the life-sized Noah’s Ark theme park in Kentucky, urged parents not to support the “unbiblical” company.
“They’re redefining the family-do you want to entrust your kids to be influenced by Disney?” Ham asked parents in a Facebook post.
“Take the kids to real family-friendly attractions like the Ark Encounter and Creation Museum,” he encouraged. “These two family attractions honor and stay true to God’s Word in all areas, including marriage and gender.” (Click to Source)
Source: Gospel Herald.com
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Actress Melissa Joan Hart is opening up about her faith journey and the path that led her to call Jesus her Savior, and she’s coming under fire for it.
In an interview on “Journeys of Faith,” Paula Faris’s podcast for the ABC network, Hart reveals that she now attends a Presbyterian church, studies the Bible, and is always seeking to grow to closer to God.
Hart is taking a lot of heat for the interview, with haters blasting her on social media, calling her names and cursing her for her belief that all people need to know Christ. Most of the comments from her critics aren’t fit to reprint.
Apparently, a lot of people are angry that she believes Jesus is the path to heaven, which is the central belief of Christianity. She’s even been accused of being anti-Semitic because she believes what Christians believe.
It’s because her son met a Jewish boy at school and then asked his mom about who’s going to heaven and what it takes to get there. Hart told him we need to know Jesus to get to heaven. Her son and his new school friend engaged in many discussions about faith. So did Hart and the other boy’s mom who had called her at the beginning to discuss what the boys were talking about.
“I’m a Christian, I believe that Jesus is my savior. I believe in God and I believe in Jesus as His son,” she explained in the interview.
Hart says if someone asks her what she believes, she tells them that believing in Jesus is what “unlocks the doors of heaven.”
So how did the actress who became famous for the sit-com called “Sabrina the Teenage Witch” turn into a devoted follower of Christ?
Hart tells Faris she was raised Catholic on Long Island while her husband was raised Baptist in Alabama. Over time, as a married couple they searched for unity in their pursuit of faith in Christ, and they eventually settled on becoming Presbyterian.
She’s put her kids in Christian preschool and has been studying God’s word through a Community Bible Study where she lives in Connecticut. She loves being surrounded by Christians she can pray with and says her goal is continual growth by getting to know God through getting to know the scripture.
Hart says she sometimes struggles with doubt like anyone, but, “Then I close my eyes and tap into the Holy Spirit and let Him speak to me. And you feel that warmth and you feel that change.”
While she didn’t discuss her prior acting role as a teenage witch, she did talk about how she sometimes senses fear and a real spiritual darkness and engages in what the Bible calls spiritual warfare.
She talks about moments when she feels darkness around her in her home, and she recognizes she can make the darkness leave by speaking in faith out loud.
“When I’m in my house and I’m afraid if I’m by myself or my husband’s asleep before me, and I get afraid and I’m walking the halls and you just get that creepy feeling like goosebumps up your back like something’s not right, I just say out loud, you know, ‘This is a Jesus home, Satan’s not welcome here, get out, this is a home for Jesus,” she said.
“Immediately… you feel that darkness go away,” she explained.
“One of the great things that I’ve learned is that darkness is just the absence of light and without Jesus you just have this darkness and then Jesus is the light… so not having Jesus in your life just leaves this void,” she said.
Meanwhile, Hart reveals she was cautious about deciding to accept an acting role in “God’s Not Dead 2” because sometimes Christian movies “can be really cheesy,” but she felt this one would be done well. She believes Hollywood has finally seen the value in faith-based films, so better resources are now being devoted to make them.
Hart’s newest project is called “No Good Nick” which is being created by Netflix. It’s a comedy about a couple who take in a 13-year-old into their family and then discover she’s a bit of a con artist with a hidden agenda. (Click to Source)
Recovery Room 7 is a community of people with similar backgrounds, where people from all walks of drug & alcohol recovery can meet together, share, socialize, interact, join in fun activities, share meals, pray and learn. It’s a place of joy and awakening to their true purpose in life. Jesus Christ is always present and ready to receive everyone in Recovery Room 7. We will be located in beautiful Northwest Montana. If you would like to donate to get Recovery Room 7up and running, please go to ourPayPal Donation Link here.
Get onlineand get completely recovered! We are a Biblical Online Recovery Program that is life changing and empowering. We are Teen Challenge Certified Teachers and have integrated the world famous Teen Challenge PSNC curriculum for the most healing fusion of elements for your recovery. VRM is breaking the chains of addiction for a lifetime! Check us out!
Yesterday the party of death shot down and blocked the Infant born alive act. All democrats but 3 voted against it. This is very serious.
SEC. 2. FINDINGS.
Congress finds the following:
(1) If an abortion results in the live birth of an infant, the infant is a legal person for all purposes under the laws of the United States, and entitled to all the protections of such laws.
(2) Any infant born alive after an abortion or within a hospital, clinic, or other facility has the same claim to the protection of the law that would arise for any newborn, or for any person who comes to a hospital, clinic, or other facility for screening and treatment or otherwise becomes a patient within its care.
So again I ask How can a Christian be a Democrat? This is the biggest question the Churches in America should be crying from every pulpit. We have watched as states pass abortion up to and after birth. We have watched states trying to prevent this attacked and silenced. But what have we seen from the church?
Every single Christian in America who is a democrat should be in a race to their respective election headquarters to change their party affiliation. There are other alternatives such as independent. God is calling on His people to take a stand.
The Pope even spoke out recently and compared Abortion to hiring a hit man to take out a problematic person. According to Reuters he went on to say:
“I ask you: ‘Is it right to ‘take out’ a human life to solve a problem? What do you think? Is it right? Is it right or not?”
The only way this murder on demand will end is if the church stands firm. According to Pew Research Christianity is declining in America which is no surprise as emerging churches are doing a great dis-service to the faith. Anyway they say we are around 70% Christian and say this:
“To be sure, the United States remains home to more Christians than any other country in the world, and a large majority of Americans – roughly seven-in-ten – continue to identify with some branch of the Christian faith.”
So why are we silent on murder? Why don’t we send the party of death a great message from God?
It goes right along with Cortez and her push for government control of our lives in every aspect. She recently announced that we should think about not having children because life will become too hard. (More) That is the most ignorant thing to date she has said. Even worse than not eating hamburger because of her push to kill the Ag industry while regulating cow gas emissions. It’s worth noting that communist China limits births also. Is this what we want? (China’s population control)
How can a Christian be a Democrat? They can’t, not in good conscious. Too harsh? No it’s the truth. It’s time to decide who you will serve, mans sinful evil heart or God. Take a stand and shout I Am Not Ashamed Of The Gospel Of Christ! (Click to Source)
#speakboldlythetruth
Get online and get completely recovered! We are a Biblical Online Recovery Program that is life changing and empowering. We are Teen Challenge Certified Teachers and have integrated the world famous Teen Challenge PSNC curriculum for the most healing fusion of elements for your recovery. VRM is breaking the chains of addiction for a lifetime! Check us out!
