Not a Merry Christmas for Middle East Believers in Christ,
And the future for Middle East believers will be much Worse,
As well as for those across the earth from Europe to the Pacific,
And unbelievers will continue an increasing resentment of Believers
Across The Planet From The Pacific Eastward TO The Middle Atlantic!
Believers in Europe, Africa, Eurasia, and Asia are in for a rough Ride!
December 25, 2010
http://www.tribulationperiod.com/
The early believers were put out of the synagogues for believing Jesus was the Son of God, and many were killed for believing it by both Jews and Gentiles.
The Islamic faith believes he was the son of a virgin, the Virgin Mary, but they do not believe he is the Son of God. Many believers will lose their lives to Islamic forces until Jesus returns.
John 16:2-4 – They shall put you out of the synagogues: yea, the time cometh, that whosoever killeth you will think that he doeth God service. [3] And these things will they do unto you, because they have not known the Father, nor me. [4] But these things have I told you, that when the time shall come, ye may remember that I told you of them. And these things I said not unto you at the beginning, because I was with you.
Matthew 10:34-36 – Think not that I am come to send peace on earth: I c ame not to send pe
ace, but a sword. [35] For I am come to set a man at variance aga inst his father, and the daughter aga
inst her mother, and the daughter in law against her mother in law. [36] And a man’s foes shall be they of his own household.
Matthew 5:10-12 – Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness’ sake: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. [11] Blessed are ye, when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake. [12] Rejoice, and be exceeding glad: for great is your reward in heaven: for so persecuted they the prophets which were before you.
Hebrews 11:32 to 12:3 – And what shall I more say
? for the time would fail me to tell of Gedeon, and of Barak, and of Samson, and of Jephthae; of David also, and Samuel, and of the prophets: [33] Who through faith subdued kingdoms, wrought righteousness, obtained promises, stopped the mouths of lions, [34] Quenched the violence of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, out of weakness were made strong, waxed valiant in fight, turned to flight the armies of the aliens. [35] Women received their dead raised to life again: and others were tortured, not accepting deliverance; that they might obtain a better resurrection: [36] And others had trial of cruel mockings and scourgings, yea, moreover of bonds and imprisonment: [37] They were stoned, they were sawn asunder, were tempted, were slain with the sword: they wandered about in sheepskins and goatskins; being destitute, afflicted, tormented; [38] (Of whom the world was not worthy:) they wandered in deserts, and in mountains, and in dens and caves of the earth.
[39] And these all, having obtained a good report through faith, received not the promise: [40] God having provided some better thing for us, that they without us should not be made perfect. [1] Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us, [2] Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God. [3] For consider him that endured such contradiction of sinners against himself, lest ye be wearied and faint in your minds.
Excerpt 1 from Washington Times via Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs/Daily Alert
Christianity Near Extinction in the Ancient Lands of Its Origin
Jeffrey T. Kuhner
Many Christians across the Middle East are in peril: Muslim fanatics seek to exterminate them. After al-Qaeda gunmen stormed an Assyrian Catholic church in Baghdad during Mass, slaughtering 51 worshippers and two priests, al-Qaeda in Mesopotamia issued a bulletin claiming that “all Christian centers, organizations and institutions, leaders and followers, are legitimate targets for” jihadists. The Assyrians are one of the oldest Christian sects in the world, go
ing back to the time of Christ. Some even speak Aramaic. Nearly two-thirds of the 500,000 Christians in Baghdad have fled or been killed.
In Mosul, about 100,000 Christians used to live there. Now, just 5,000 remain.
In Egypt, Coptic Christians routinely are murdered, persecuted and prevented from worshipping. In Saudi Arabia, Muslim converts to Christianity are executed. In Turkey, Islamists have butchered priests and nuns. In Lebanon, Christians have dwindled, menaced by surging Shiite and Sunni populations.
If Muslims – funded and supported by Saudi Arabia – can build mosques and madrassas in Europe and America, then Christians should be entitled to build churches in the Arab world.
Clearly, some Muslims cannot live in peaceful coexistence with non-Muslim peoples – especially in countries where
Muslims form the majority.
Christian minorities living in the overwhelmingly Muslim-dominated Middle East pose no possible danger to Islamic hegemony. Hence, why the hatred against them
? (Washington Times)
Begin Excerpt 2 from Middle East Online
Gloomy Christmas for Iraq’s Qaeda-hit Christians
This year’s Christmas for Iraq’s Christians will be a time of fear, cancelled celebrations rather than rejoicing
By Nafa Abdul Jabbar – BAGHDAD
December 23, 2010
Faced with renewed threats by Al-Qaeda and still mourning a church massacre, Christmas for Iraq’s Christian community will this year be a time of fear and cancelled celebrations rather than rejoicing.
The Council of Churches in Iraq has asked the faithful to limit Christmas celebrations “to a spiritual feast of participating in mass, for reasons of caution and sadness,” said Shlimun Warduni, the Chaldean bishop of Baghdad.
A pall of gloom has descended on Iraq’s badly-battered Christian community since gunmen on October 31 burst into Our Lady of Salvation church in Baghdad and began firing on worshippers.
Iraqi forces stormed the building to end what turned into a hostage situation and by the end of the operation 44 Christian worshippers, two priests and seven security forces personnel lay dead.
The attack was later claimed by Al-Qaeda affiliate the Islamic State of Iraq, which also threatened further attacks on Christians.
Ten days later a string of attacks targeted the homes of Christians in Baghdad, killing six people and wounding 33 others.
With Christmas just two days away, our Lady of Salvation carries an air of mourning rather than festivity, and its interior remains scarred more than a month after the attack.
Instead of Christmas decorations, the front of the sanctuary holds a banner picturing the two priests and the worshippers killed in the attack framing an image of a bloodied Jesus on the cross, while individual pictures of victims sit below.
“Christmas was a big feast we used to celebrate each year… with relatives and friends,” said Farqad Assad, a member of the church who had come along with her husband and two young children to pray for those killed in the attack.
But this year, “we can’t be happy like we used to be each year,” the 28-year-old doctor said.
“There is fear — we can’t go out and take our kids somewhere freely, while the threats against Christians are still there,” she said.
“This year Christmas will be mixed with the sadness of our church losing Father Waseem and Father Thair” and the members of the congregation, said Father Mukhlas Qaraiqosh Shesha, a priest at Our Lady of Salvation.
“The church used to be decorated — there used to a tree and all the trappings of celebration,” he said. But “this year, we will not do any of these things in order to save ourselves” from attacks.
Yusef Mohammed, 53, who owns the Birds of Paradise flower shop in the Mansour area of Baghdad, said Christmas tree sales are far lower than in past years.
“We used to provide 200 to 300 trees for this occasion each year. But this year we didn’t even sell 10 trees,” he said.
In the disputed northern oil hub of Kirkuk, threats against Christians caused Christmas celebrations to be called off.
“The Christians of Kirkuk will not celebrate the feast of Christmas this year, except for masses, which will not be held at night but at 10 am after myself and 10 other Christian personages received threats from the so-called Islamic State of Iraq,” Chaldean Catholic archbishop Monsignor Louis Sarko said.
“I fear that Christians will be targeted, which is why all ceremonies have been cancelled.”
Celebrations in the ethnically and religiously diverse, unrest-prone north Iraq city of Mosul have also been limited to churches.
“This year, we will only hold the religious ceremony at the churches” of Mosul, said Father Kamel, a priest at a church in the city, asking not to be further identified out of fear of attack.
“How can a mother celebrate a feast while her son was killed by the enemies of this country; how can we have a feast while my grandsons are crying for their father?” said Mariam Daniel, 57, a housewife in the city.
“Where is the feast when I see the tears in the eyes of my daughter-in-law and her loneliness which was caused by hands covered with the blood of innocents?”
Daniel’s son, a 22-year-old college student who was married with two children, was killed by gunmen three months ago near her house.
Celebrations in the southern city of Basra have also been called off.
“A statement from the Basra Churches Council was issued to cancel all the celebration ceremonies for Christmas,” said Saad Matti, a 40-year-old Christian member of the Basra provincial council.
Baghdad.”
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