My Gazette: Christian Persecution, Part II

 By Rich Kozlovich

What we're seeing would have been unfathomable not that many years ago.  Christian persecution worldwide, and even from nations that have been Christian nations in the past, but are now not even nominally so.  What's even more unfathomable is how many Christian leaders are actually lending credibility to all this persecution.   You can't help but wonder if these "leaders" even believe in the Bible based on the stands they're taking, or even believe in God?  Because it seems clear they don't think anyone is watching from above, or there will be consequences for their actions.  

Then there are those who can only be considered insane.  Here's Africa's Jim Jones, a Kenyan cult leader who is Charged with Terrorism After Hundreds of Followers Starved Themselves to Death.  

Paul Nthenge Mackenzie, leader of the Good News International Church, and 94 of his associates were charged in Kenyan court on Thursday with terrorism-related crimes over the starvation deaths of 429 of his followers.......Mackenzie allegedly maintained a squad of 16 enforcers to ensure that none of his followers had second thoughts and backed out of the suicide pact......Prosecutors in Malindi told reporters the charges will be filed within two weeks and will include 191 counts of child murder. According to a former cult member, Mackenzie preached that children should be murdered first, starving in bright sunlight “so they would die faster,” so their parents could be certain the children made it to Heaven before they killed themselves......

Former Finnish Interior Minister Faces Another Trial Over Posting Bible Verses, Despite Acquittal -  Oliver JJ Lane 13 Jan 2024 -  Senior Finnish politician Päivi Räsänen is facing being hauled through the courts again over “homophobic” Tweets and writings going back 20 years, despite having been acquitted in the case twice already.  The Finnish Public Prosecutor is appealing a November 2023 court decision that Päivi Räsänen, a long-serving member of Parliament, party leader, and former national interior minister was exercising free speech when she quoted the bible and discussed homosexuality on several occasions from 2004 to 2019. Räsänen is the former leader of the Finnish Christian Democrats Party and holds orthodox views on the issue, having described homosexuality as a “disorder of psychosexual development” in the past and quoted verses from St. Paul’s letter to the Romans on Instagram.

Report: Nearly 5,000 Christians Killed for their Faith in 2023 - Thomas D. Williams, Ph.D. 18 Jan 2024 - The global persecution of Christians rose sharply in 2023, according to the 2024 World Watch List (WWL) published Wednesday by Open Doors Christian charity. More than 365 million Christians worldwide suffer “high levels” of persecution and discrimination for their faith, WWL reveals, which means that one in seven Christians are persecuted because of their faith........

Pope's response to Nicaragua's brazen assault on the Church was pathetic - January 3, 2024 By Monica Showalter - After dribs and drabs of criticism in responses to reporters over the past several months, Pope Francis finally came out with a statement about the full-blown assault on the Catholic Church from Nicaragua's Marxist dictator, Daniel Ortega.  According to the New York Times:............Vatican News reported on Monday that at least 14 priests, two seminarians and a bishop had been arrested in recent days in Nicaragua, and that the country’s top church leader, Cardinal Leopoldo Brenes, had expressed his closeness “to the families and communities who are without their priests at this time.”  Closeness? What closeness? The priests were right there, and now they aren't. They've been whisked away to unknown places, kidnapped by the state, and are now ensconced in some communist dungeon where they likely are being tortured and abused. The guy in the capital, or in Rome, offering 'closeness' is far away, just saying he feels their pain..............

Pope Francis gives Marxists a pep talk -  January 12, 2024 By Monica Showalter - Of all the things Pope Francis has on his plate -- from an apparent pervert in the Grand Inquisitor's chair, to looming schisms, to dioceses bankrupted by sex abuse payouts, banking scandals, lavender mafias, and empty churches save in Africa, dialogue with avowed Marxists seems like something that ought to be very low on the papal to-do list. But here we are, the pope suddenly in 'dialogue' with members of the world's biggest failed philosophy, holding a mano-a-mano as if the two were equals, and that includes a pep talk. According to LifeSiteNews:.............

Joseph Robinette Biden, Jr. and Pope Francis two ‘Catholics’ who are followers of Karl Marx more than Jesus of Nazareth - December 30, 2023 Dr. Rich Swier - December 30, 2023 - As a Catholic I expect my fellow Catholics to live, love and act like, well, Catholics.  Today we have two world leaders who are professed “Catholics” but are acting very much un-Catholic, if not anti-Catholic. These two Catholics act much more like followers of Karl Marx than followers of Jesus Christ of Nazareth...........

The Official Catholic Church Is Alienating Its Faithful Base - January 14, 2024 By Victoria White Berger - Here in the West, ‘regular’ Catholics in the pews are worried about and baffled by Pope Francis, who regularly pounces on and ‘takes sides’ on secular and political subjects, far more than did any of his predecessors. The Pope’s recent salvo (while not against traditional marriage, but not for it, either—which marriage is a Catholic Sacrament, holy, inviolate and unique between man and woman) is his most recent upset. His highly ambiguous recommendation of the ‘blessing’ of gay couples within the Catholic Church is now, predictably enough, in fierce debate. The disputes came only a day after the Pope’s public statement approving (later, partially disavowing) the ‘blessings.’ Francis seems to enjoy poking the bear. His popularity in the U.S. is beginning to falter............

What If the West Only Accepted Christian Refugees from the Muslim World? - By Raymond Ibrahim - For years now, a number of mostly Eastern European nations have been arguing that, if they are going to accept any refugees from the Muslim world, they prefer Christians. Hungary, for example, has apparently been doing just that. To this, the official western response has been to cry “racism!” Barack Obama, for instance, once called such a suggestion “shameful,” loftily adding: “That’s not American. That’s not who we are. We don’t have religious tests to our compassion.” It was later revealed that his administration was doing precisely that -- but in reverse: discriminating against persecuted Christian asylum seekers, while favoring Muslims...............

 

Government banning prayer? It's already happened in one location - 27 American states have taken steps in similar direction - By Bob Unruh January 3, 2024 - One Australian state, Victoria, already has adopted laws that essentially make practicing Christianity, specifically prayer, a crime, and a commentary at The Daily Signal warns America is heading that direction with its bans on "conversion therapy." Conversion therapy is a derogatory term for counseling that encourages those who have unwanted same-sex attractions to live the lives they choose, and provides them skills to use to pursue their goals..............

Franklin Graham erupts on church officials claiming 'husband' and 'wife' are 'hurtful' - By Bob Unruh

January 3, 2024 - 'They are in essence trying to edit what the Word of God says and teaches'.   Franklin Graham, the popular evangelist who heads the Samaritan's Purse worldwide Christian charity as well as the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association that his famous father started, is scolding officials of the Methodist church in the United Kingdom.  It's because they're telling ministers that using the words "husband" and "wife" is "hurtful."  The church's ideology comes from the worldwide agenda to promote the LGBT lifestyle choices. Those lifestyles made the use of those words awkward because, for instance, when two men are "married," which is the husband, or are both?............

 

New York law attacks religious freedom - January 5, 2024 By John Klar - A New York statute targeting Chick-fil-A for its Christian faith turns American history—and Constitutional law—upside down.  The “Rest Stop Restaurant Act” seeks to compel food service providers to stay open seven days a week in publicly-owned rest areas and other facilities, or be denied contracts to provide services.  This is not merely an attack on the faith of a private business chain; it is an open war against fundamental constitutional liberties...............Historically, American colonies widely implemented “Blue Laws” that forbade trade on the Sabbath day—Sundays.  Blue Laws compelled days of rest: New York banned Sunday sales of goods in 1656, and enacted the first official “state Sabbath law” with the “Statute for Suppressing Immorality” of 1778.  New York now seeks to compel businesses to sell goods on the Sabbath, a sort of Established Church of Mammon.  It is hard to imagine that courts will approve a government's power to compel business opening hours any more than compel speech (or abortion).  Supreme Court precedent firmly holds the opposite: states can impose a day of tranquil rest.  New York is flouting well-established law. In the 1961 seminal case of Braunfeld v. Brown, liberal Justice Earl Warren observed:..............

 

Vermont Punishes Christian School For Refusing Let Their Girls Basketball Team Compete Against Males -Todd Starnes November 21, 2023 -A Vermont Christian school is fighting back after they were kicked out of the state’s largest athletic association because they refused to let their girls basketball team compete against a squad that included a six-foot-tall man. Mid Vermont Christian School chose to forfeit the game rather than violate their religious beliefs regarding sex and gender. There were also serious safety concerns about girls competing against a large man.The Vermont Principal’s Association, the largest athletic organization in the state, retaliated by kicking the Christian school out of its association. “If you don’t want to follow VPA rules, that’s fine,” VPA executive director Jay Nichols told local media. “But then you’re just not a VPA member. It’s fairly simple.”.........

 

Chinese Police Arrest Catholic Bishop Loyal to the Church and Not CCP - Thomas D. Williams, Ph.D.  6 Jan 2024 - Chinese security forces have arrested Peter Shao Zhumin, the underground Catholic bishop of Wenzhou, who has refused to join the state-run Chinese Patriotic Catholic Association.  Bishop Shao was ordained coadjutor bishop in 2011 with a papal mandate from Pope Benedict XVI but has never been recognized by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) because of his unwillingness to enlist in the Patriotic Association............

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Christians are Facing Persecution in AMLO’s Mexico - Thursday, January 11, 2024 by Karen Faulkner, Worthy News Correspondent - The US-based International Christian Concern persecution watchdog group has published a new report highlighting the ongoing persecution of Evangelical church leaders, and Protestant Christians generally, in predominantly Catholic Mexico.  In a new in depth article, ICC fellow Linda Burkle, Ph.D discusses conversations she had with local pastors during an evangelical conference in the southern Mexican city of Oaxaca in November, during which church leaders recounted the types of persecution they are facing. “Persecution has a variety of sources and forms,” Burke writes. “Drug cartels may target Christians because they do not approve of drug use nor participate in illegal activities and are averse to bribes,” Burke said......