By Lisa Haven Things are heating up and the world is utterly unprepared for what’s ahead! In a recent presidential press brief on Feb. 18th, Josh Earnest, White House Press Secretary was under fire for his statement concerning the killings of the twenty-one Coptic Christians by ISIS. In his statement rather than calling them Christians he labeled them “citizens.” Furthermore when reporting about the recently killing of three muslims, Josh Earnest, used the word “muslim” to designate their faith. Why was one faith put above another? Here is the breaking report…
Christian Persecution – A religious persecution that Christians sometimes undergo as a consequence of professing their faith, both historically and in the current era. In the two thousand years of the Christian faith, about 70 million believers have been killed for their faith, of whom 45.5 million or 65% were in the twentieth century according to “The New Persecuted.”
Persecution still remains a present day problem. Even though we may not be in the midst of the trials, they are still happening around us. In fact, America currently has a system in tact that monitors religious freedom around the world, called Countries of Particular Concern (The CPC list), under the IRFA (International Religious Freedom Act). This executive summary places countries around the world into categories of concern. The countries contained in this list experience religious freedom restrictions of some sort. Currently sixteen countries have been recommended for the CPC designation by the commission:
1- Burma – According to the CPC list, they have some of the world’s worst human rights abuses, including rape, torture, ethnic cleansing, conscription of child soldiers, and particularly severe religious freedom violations. Restrictions are placed on certain religious practices. Religious groups, including Christians, Muslims, and Buddhist monks are often faced with intrusive monitoring, arrest, mistreatment, destruction of property, severe restrictions on worship, education, and religious activities, and are targeted for violence. Click here to read more on Burma.
2- China – The government restricts religious practices to government-sanctioned organizations. Unregistered groups experience harassment, imprisonment or can be put into labor camps. Click here to read more on China.
3. Egypt- There are serious problems of discrimination, intolerance, and other violations against religious minorities. Military and security forces are known to use excessive force and live ammunition targeting Coptic Christian demonstrators and places of worship resulting in dozens of deaths and hundreds of injuries. The government also continues to prosecute, convict, and imprison Egyptian citizens charged with blasphemy. Click here to read more on Egypt.
4- Eritrea – They engage in systematic religious freedom violations. This includes torture, ill-treatment of people, arrests, and detentions. Hundreds of members of unregistered churches are said to be detained without charge, mistreated and tortured. Click here to read more on Eritrea.
5- Iran – Islam is the main religion. There are ongoing severe violations of religious freedom including torture and executions. There is also prolonged detention based solely on the religion of the accused. They also discriminate their citizens based off their religion. Click here to read more on Iran.
6- Iraq – Severe abuse of religious freedom exists. Minority religious groups are targeted, violated and intimidated, as well as a large number of religious-motivated killings. Many people are leaving the country due to their violent stand on their Islamic beliefs. Click here to read more on Iraq.
7- Nigeria – Persistent religious violations occur. The government takes little or no intervention on acts of religious violence. In fact they go as far as to permit religious violence. Click here to read more on Nigeria.
8- North Korea – Government has strict control over their people, including their religious freedoms. Citizens are forced in a certain belief system and if they do not follow it, they can be tortured, publicly executed, imprisoned, and more. Many believers are put into labor camps. They have one of the words worst repressive regimes. Click here to read more on North Korea.
9- Pakistan – Religious motivated violence persists. Laws against blasphemy remain, which stipulate life imprisonment for defamation of the Koran and a death sentence for blasphemy against Muhammad. Click here to read more on Pakistan.
10- Saudi Arabia – No religious freedom exists, all citizens must adhere to Sunni Islam. Others are imprisoned, tortured, detained, etc. for engaging in other religious activities. Click here to read more on Saudi Arabia.
11- Sudan – The government considers itself an Islamic government, which severely restricts religious practice of all other types of religion. They have violations of apostasy that could ultimately end up in the death penalty. Their restrictive Shari’ah law (Islamic law) attacks and threatens the Christian community. Acts of genocide have been known to take place. Click here to read more on Sudan.
12- Tajikistan – There are many violations on religious freedoms. The state suppresses and punishes all religious activity and imprisons individuals on unproven criminal allegations linked to religious affiliation.Click here to read more on Tajikistan.
13- Turkey – Any non-Muslim religion is persecuted. Click here to read more on Turkey.
14- Turkmenistan – Religious groups must be registered by the government. Many denominations, whether registered or not, often can’t rent places to worship and if they meet in an unapproved area, such as a private home, they are subject to police raids or court-imposed fines. Click here to read more on Turkmenistan.
15- Uzbekistan – Strict laws on religion limit the ability of religious communities to function. Thousands are imprisoned and continue to be beaten or tortured in detention. Click here to read more on Uzbekistan.
16- Vietnam – They restrict and penalize independent religious activity. The government continues to force renunciation of faith, harass, detain and discriminate religious communities. Click here to read more on Vietnam.
Not only are these thirteen countries a concern, but the CPC has a watch list containing the following countries: Afghanistan, Belarus, Cuba, India, Indonesia, Laos, Russia, Somalia, and Venezuela. These countries are considered borderline and many eventually end up with aggressive religious persecution. Please note that persecution is not limited only to the above countries. In fact, more than 40 nations around the world experience some sort of Christian persecution. All this to say, that persecution is happening, and just because we do not live in a country with a hostile environment, does not mean that we should be blind to the fact that these events are occurring. As people with religious freedoms, it is hard to grasp the concept of a mere alternative. Christ is unquestionably here and his presence is seen through the on-going battles that exist.
Whether you want to believe these events are happening or just push them under the rug is up to you, however, these events did occur and unfortunately are still occurring today. For we are getting close to the day that here in American we will suffer extreme persecution. It is at the door! Executive orders have been signed by our President, labor camps have been setup, our government has stockpiled guns and ammo,Christians have been put on the terrorist list.
For the Bible tells us in the last days… “They will lay hands on you and persecute you. They will deliver you to synagogues and prisons, and you will be brought before kings and governors, and all on account of my name.” Luke 21:12
We must remember to put our faith, hope, and trust in the Lord. We must be willing to give up everything for an undeniable God whose reality has been relevant since the beginning of time and whose existence we can’t deny. Be ready! Be ready! For extreme persecution is coming to America!
Click Link to See Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yPcT2VEXs80&list=UUBDrbqudUtPUQxAK_K2JaNQ
For More Information See: http://fas.org/irp/eprint/rightwing.pdf http://www.whitehouse.gov/videos/2015/February/briefings/021815.mp4 http://www.extremetech.com/extreme/157713-making-sense-of-the-nsa-prism-leak-as-the-real-details-emerge http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/chicago-police-detain-americans-black-site-report-article-1.2128552
God I Ask in your Holy Name That You,Protect the People Of America from the Evil that is tearing apart America ,Give the People the faith that is needed ,not to fall prey to the fear of evil,Stand Tall America,And Stand Against the evil
Thank you 🙂