Persecution

Persecution continues to grow on a world wide basis, and its a story that the MSM doesn't care to cover. Just a little digging reveals the increasing threat to both Jews and Christians. Sometimes its subtle and all too often it involves bloodshed. Persecution is one of the generational signs that Jesus warned us about. In today's news there are several stories involving various forms of persecution:

Bishops Discuss Middle East Threats to Christians

A two-week conference of bishops is underway in the Vatican to discuss the future of the dwindling Middle East's Muslim-threatened Christian communities.

While Christian demographics in the Middle East vary from country to country, the overall trend is the same: down. Christians currently account for some 5 percent of the region’s population, compared with some 20 percent 100 years ago. In Turkey, for instance, where the Christian minority numbered 20 percent a century ago, it today is one-hundredth of that, or 0.2 percent of the total population.

“If this phenomenon continues, Christianity in the Middle East will disappear,” Rev. Samir Khalil Samir, a Beirut-based Egyptian Jesuit taking an active role in the conference, told Reuters.

Similarly, a Christian refugee from Sudan now in Cairo, says that Christians are persecuted both in Egypt and in his homeland. He said it is difficult for a Christian to find work because many fields are closed to them, and that Christians often face the choice of converting to Islam or dying of starvation.

Recent anti-Christian incidents include the following:

Algeria: Looting and burning to the ground of a Pentecostal church, January 2009

Sudan: It is estimated that over 1.5 million Christians have been killed by the Janjaweed, the Arab Muslim militia, and suspected Islamists in northern Sudan since 1984.

Pakistan: In August 2009, six Christians - four women, a child and a man – were burnt alive by Muslims and a church was set ablaze after the alleged desecration of a copy of the Koran.

Egypt: Seven Christians leaving church services were killed and ten were injured by three Muslim shooters, January 2010

Canada Punished in UN for Backing Israel

The United Nations has humiliated Canada and rejected its bid for a seat as a non-permanent member on the Security Council, apparently because of Outlaw’s pro-Israel stand, according to Canadian media.

Newspapers in Canada called the rejection a “humiliating” defeat for Conservative Prime Minister Stephen Harper, considered one of Israel’s staunchest supporters. The blow to Canada, which has been a non-permanent Council member until now, reflects the growing dominance of Muslim countries in the international body.

The non-permanent members, beginning January 1, will include Lebanon, a declared enemy of Israel, Brazil, which is aligned with Iran, and South Africa, where anti-Israel groups flourish. Other members will be Gabon, Bosnia, Nigeria, India, Colombia, Germany and Portugal.

That says it all. Additionally, author Peter Worthington, writing for the Toronto Sun gives the following quotes:

“The United Nations has long been out of control as a dispassionate, objective, credible institution for peace, human rights and justice, so it’s a wonder decent countries still pay attention to it…
“Surely, it makes no sense to put Germany and Portugal on the Security Council — making four European countries represented. Besides, Portugal is a near-economic basket case, threatened with bankruptcy.

“The truth is, Canada’s vigorous, unqualified support for Israel under Harper worked against us at the UN, which regularly condemns Israel for policies it ignores in other countries… While the UN regularly votes in favor of human rights, roughly half of the 192 member states abuse human rights in some form in their own countries."

And this, from Pajamas Media:

Christianity: First Line of Defense for the West?

In a nation consumed with political correctness, there is one group whose sensitivities count for next to nothing — Christians. I don’t mean nominal Christians or even Catholics. I am talking about those Christians who get up every morning and genuinely reflect on how they could become better people by becoming more like Jesus.

The kind of Christian that would never consciously be hired by a university faculty committee; the kind that receives the brunt of jokes from late-night comics; the kind that believes virulently in prayer. I am talking about the kind of Christian that Thomas Friedman and urban sophisticates mockingly refer to as “American Hezbollah.”

Was it a bunch of Jesus followers that crashed airplanes into the World Trade Center? Is it Jesus followers who attack Jews on the streets of Paris so frequently and violently that French is now the most commonly spoken language in sections of Tel Aviv? Are the armed guards standing outside the synagogues in America on the High Holidays — as the liberal rabbis sermonize on the danger of Christian fundamentalism — there to protect the congregation from Jesus followers?

The cynical, ultra-left Europeans have turned over their countries to the sensibilities of radical Islam. The Europeans, ever fearful and guilty of fascism, do not possess the wherewithal to resist an Islam that undermines the very liberalism Europeans seem to cherish but are unwilling to defend. What will Europe look like when a sharia-driven, radical Islam is the dominant presence on the continent? Europe culturally will be more like the Middle East than like Western democracy.

There is much more to this commentary and it is well worth reading. It has always been interesting to me, how political correctness, in this current society, extends to almost every group imaginable except of course, Christians and Jews. These two groups remain fair game for every form of criticism, jokes, ridicule and unabashed hatred. All fair game in this upside-down world in which we are living.

This process will only worsen as we approach the tribulation and during these last seven years the hatred of Christians and Jews will reach epic proportions - never seen before on earth. As for now, the road continues to be paved.