ICC IS HELPING NIGERIA IN HER CRITICAL TIMES

These days are certainly VERY CRITICAL for our beloved country, Nigeria. And one foreign organization that is actively playing a pivotal role has been the Washington DC -based International Christian Concern ICC.

For Nigeria to realize the fulfilment of the promised Jubilee which is due at this time (Lev 25:10), Power, as they say, must change hands. While the on-going ripples (storm?) at the Presidency and Federal Executive Council, are quite visible, it would appear all these are actually only preparing the grounds to allow for more fundamental power shifts to occur.

There is a power that has been responsible for the care-free shedding of the blood of over 13,000 Nigerians, mainly in Northern Nigeria under the platform of Islam, since the new democratic dispensation, which unexpectedly ushered in a Christian in 1999. That power has managed to continue to flourish, as, despite the flagrant abuses,no one has dared demand it be subject to the Constitution of the Land.

All that is about changing now, as the International Christian Concern has launched a sustained and intensifying campaign, making the simple demand that those who murder innocent men, women and children should be brought to justice in line with the nation's constitution! Powerful interests are being rallied round this demand, and the government structure in Nigeria is currently divinely positioned (as never before) to acceed to these demands. Now, the ICC is appealing that everyone who is able, should help give publicity to the efforts. This is certainly the minimum and genuine peace-loving and Jubilee-anticipating Nigerian can do!

Below is a copy of a letter sent by an influential US senator to the leaders of Nigeria's Legislature on the matter:



Please check the details of these efforts at http://www.persecution.org/slaughter/

Samples of the Coverage:
Setting the ‘revenge’ story straight.

Why are women and children being targeted? Why were the attackers wearing military uniforms? Was is it really a Muslim village that was attacked in January?

ICC’s President, Jeff King, interviewed CSW Nigeria representatives to find out the real story on the ground in Nigeria. Check out our full audio interview above (just click play!) to hear their answers to some important questions like these:

Why women and children? http://www.persecution.org/slaughter/

Why were the attackers wearing military uniforms? http://www.persecution.org/slaughter/


The media is calling these attacks revenge for a January attack by Christians on the Muslim village Kuru Karama. What’s the real story?

“The Kuru Karama story has still not been proven. I know Al Jazeera and, I think, Human Rights Watch, spread this story because they were informed by random Muslims on the ground that this was an attack on a Muslim village by Christian militias or Christian youths that ended up with Muslims being stuffed into wells and Muslim houses burned.

However, Kuru Karama was never a Muslim village. That’s point number one. When these people went there, they did not look for the village head, which is what you traditionally do when you want to find out what’s happening in a village… The village head is a non-Muslim. There’s no way a Muslim village would have a non-Muslim village head. And he tells us a completely different story.

He actually had to flee from the area… and he also relates that houses that were burnt and shown as Muslim, were actually Christian. And that some of the bodies were Christian. So it was not a massacre of 150 Muslims by Christians. http://www.persecution.org/slaughter/

… The fact that [the January attack] is now being used to stoke up hatred… I think those who, first of all, came up with that story, need to go back to the whole source and correct what they said.”
http://www.persecution.org/slaughter/
Mar 17 2010


Muslim Attackers Slice Baby from Belly of Pregnant Woman, Remove Victims’ Tongues

Muslim Attackers Slice Baby from Belly of Pregnant Woman, Remove Victims’ Tongues
Christian Women and Children Slaughtered in Another Jihad Attack in Nigeria

Washington, D.C. (March 17, 2010)–International Christian Concern (ICC) has learned that Nigerian Muslims slaughtered at least twelve Christians with machetes this morning in the village of Bei, Nigeria.

The attackers, who were dressed in military attire, removed the baby from the belly of a pregnant woman and cut out the tongues of their victims. The Muslims murdered three children, four teenage girls, three women (including the one pregnant woman) and two men. They also injured six Christians and burned down four houses.

“Our restraint is taken for weakness. The security is not protecting life and property of Christians. This is a religious war. The military is helping the Muslim people. We have evidence about the Military helping the Muslims. We ask the government to withdraw the military and allow the police to take over the security,” said Reverend Chuwang Avou. Reverend Avou is the General Secretary of the Christian Association of Nigeria in Plateau State.

This latest attack came on the heels of another jihad attack just ten days ago in the village of Dogo Nahawa in which 500 people, mainly Christian women and children, were slaughtered by Muslims. Over 13,750 Christians have been killed by Muslims in northern Nigeria since the introduction of Sharia law in 2001.

ICC’s Regional Manager for Africa, Jonathan Racho, said “We are deeply saddened by the latest jihad attack against defenseless Christians in Nigeria. Women and children have born the brunt of Muslim aggression. This demonstrates the senselessness of the attacks and the cruelty of the attackers. Unfortunately, the media and politicians wrongly label the attacks as ethnic violence instead of telling the truth about the ruthless Islamic jihad attack that is bent on driving Christians from northern Nigeria.”

Please go to www.house.gov to find contact information for your representatives and tell them to pressure Nigerian officials to bring the perpetrators of the attacks to justice and protect vulnerable Christians from further violence.
http://www.persecution.org/slaughter/

In whose hands is the Destiny of your country?

Christians who do not know the purpose of their salvation are actually just mediocre people. Their thinking reflects their life. These people’s influence on their surrounding reality equals to zero. This is not the intention of God because He knows that the destiny of the earth and people depend on His children. We do not have any excuse whatsoever before God if our nation and people are suffering as a result of our complacency.

We have to understand that we are the children of God who are called to overcome the world and set the people in the world free from slavery and bondage, be it spiritual, social, economic, cultural or political.

Until we realize that we are the children of the Almighty God and start acting like His representatives on the earth, nothing will change in our country. The destiny of your land is in the hands of the church and her willingness to declare the position of God in the society.

Neither the president nor the parliament can change the life of any country and make it better: Only people who know their God can do it. Therefore the time has come to change the position of the church, and hence, the position of every Christian.It is time for Christians to come to an active civil position, it is time to act, knock on doors, and see results. The time has come for God to be manifested to people through our good deeds, so that they see and start following God.

As citizens of a nation, members of the church need to start social organizations, charities, or other non -governmental organizations which will begin social movements. The purpose of these organizations should be geared towards radical changes in the difficult social situations of the people. Representatives of the church should help guide people in resolving their crisis. Many people, who are united by these organizations, will be able to declare freely their civil positions, going against social viruses and evil in society. People who represent social organizations in a society are a force in that country. The creation of such organizations will give God room to move in the land without the government clamping down on the church.

The world is dying waiting for us. The Promise Land is waiting, expecting our actions. Nobody can help deliver the people of the world besides us. Their lives depend on whether or not we will be obedient to God’s charge to us to be an active church.

Pastor Sunday Adelaja
Culled from chapter 2 of his book, Spearheading a National Transformation. The Untold story of the Orange revolution in Ukraine.

Restoration without genuine repentance: of Liardon, Bentley, Haggard and co

Moriel’s Jacob Prasch in his usual forthright manner has breached a hot topic affecting the Church in the United States. Not only are highly visible leaders in the Church falling from grace to grass, in their desperate attempts to stage dubious come-backs, they are putting ministry and self ahead of holiness and the Gospel. The result is that Christianity is being further derided among unbelievers, while many unstable Christians are embracing the new watered- down standards of their idols. Titled “What do Ted Haggard, Todd Bentley, and Roberts Liardon all have in common?”, Prasch listed three facts which should provide food for thought for the Church:

* All either compromised with false doctrine or preached it even before their public falls from grace.

*All have an exposed history of homosexuality while claiming to oppose homosexuality.

* All have constructed bogus doctrinal justifications for returning to the ministry. [http://moriel.org/MorielArchive/index.php/discernment/church-issues/false-prophets/haggard-bentley-liardon-and-company]

It was in 2002 that Roberts Liardon, pastor of Embassy Christian Center in Irvine, California, and influential Pentecostal author (including of the book God’s Generals), confessed to a long-term homosexual relationship with his associate youth pastor. Not only was he back in the ministry within weeks of the confession, he has more recently been announced by Colin Dye as the new head of Kessington Temple’s International Bible Institute of London. His mandate is to “train a new generation of leaders”.

Todd Bentley’s story was featured extensively on the pages of Church Arise! beginning from the height of his so-called “revival” which we felt could easily spill over to the Church in Nigeria – especially among the youths. (Vol 11 Nos 3&4, 2008). However, even while the so- called ‘revival’ was still on-going,
Todd abandoned his wife and three children, and ran off with a ministry staff who he has since married! Despite such warped theology, clear demon-inspired ministry, and unsurprising serious character flaw and immorality; after a brief suspension, Todd Bentley is back in ministry - together with the woman he ran off with, courtesy of strong backings from Rick Joyner. [A case of birds of the same feather flocking together, no doubt!] Meanwhile, as pointed out by Prasch, “Bentley's three children languish at home in Canada with his biblically rightful wife while Joyner shamefully applauds the spectacle.”

Ted Haggard’s case was a big-time disaster for evangelical Christianity in the United States (see Vol 9 No 6, and Vol 11 No 6). Prasch summarises the situation: “The former President of the National Association of Evangelicals, who was already consorting with doctrinally off-base figures, was involved with paying male prostitutes for unnatural sex and taking dangerous intoxicating drugs recreationally. And then lied through his teeth about it to his church. All of a sudden, he is supposedly "restored".”

Several other unfortunate cases that could be cited include Paul Crouch of Trinity Broadcasting Network (TBN). Although Crouch vociferously denied the charges of homosexual affairs with an employee, he in 1998, agreed to pay $425,000 in an out-of-court legal settlement to this man. The payment required the recipient remain silent about charges of the deviant sexual behavior. http://www.politicalbyline.com/2009/04/08/the-reading-room-recent-pentecostal-scandals/


Now, the issue is not that Christians who backslide should not be restored, but rather on what conditions and in what time frame, especially when restoration is being sought into leadership roles? One authority Collin Dye has used to justify his restoration of Liardon to leadership role, is the narrative of the Old Testament where God forgave David for his sin with Bathsheeba. Aside of several problems with this analogy, a key factor is the godly sorrow and genuine repentance exhibited by David. These ingredients have not been obvious in the contemporary situations under discussion. As a matter of fact, Ted Haggard, (probably attempting to model Bill and Hillary Clinton), has encouraged his wife to write a book on the whole saga, which is being used to generate sympathy from non-spiritual folks. 'I love a good redemption story,' a supporter was quoted. However, a critical commentator, The Phoenix Preacher [http://phoenixpreacher.com/] wrote on his blog: “Would it not be more prudent to go into obscurity and work on their marriage?“

Haggard’s former church affirms that he spurned the restoration process by quitting the stipulated counseling sessions in early 2008. Not only does this suggest a hardening of the heart, Haggard’s choosing to set up his new church only a few miles of the old Church has been described by other leaders as “insensitive and premature” According to Larry Eskridge, associate director of the Institute for the Study of American Evangelicals at Wheaton College in Illinois: "The larger question is the inability [of Haggard] to put himself under someone else's authority and whether it shows true repentance."
[http://www.latimes.com/news/nation-and-world/la-na-ted-haggard7-2009dec07,0,2372048.story

In his article, Jacob Prasch wrote: “No one suggests that a fallen brother or sister who truly repents cannot be forgiven and restored to fellowship, but once they no longer can have a good name otion with those outside of the church, 1 Timothy teaches clearly that they can no longer be restored to ministry or leadership. …… If someone in such an unfortunate situation truly repented, they would accept the ramifications of their misdeeds, do all they could to make amends, and abide by the teachings of Scripture that prohibits them from being in further ministry or leadership.

“We are forced to conclude” Prasch further wrote, “ either that their repentance is therefore disingenuous and malmotivated or else they are so fundamentally ignorant of God's Word that they should never have been in the ministry at all to begin with.”
[http://moriel.org/MorielArchive/index.php/discernment/church-issues/false-prophets/haggard-bentley-liardon-and-company]

James Dobson forced out from ‘Focus on the Family!’

Although couched in diplomatic soft-speak, the bottom line of the latest developments at the Focus on the Family ministry is that Mr Dobson has had to step aside from a ministry he founded 33 years ago. The 73-year-old respected espouser of traditional family values and strict biblical moral principles announced he is going to launch a new radio show with his son in March, adding "I cannot watch the world continue in a moral decline without offering guidance."

With a mission of "nurturing and defending the God-ordained institution of the family and promoting biblical truths worldwide," Dobson’s Focus on the Family has built an audience estimated at 1.5 million daily listeners in the U.S. and more than 200 million worldwide.

Taking over from James Dobson is Jim Daly who is said to have a markedly different style and set of priorities. "I don't see evil behind everything," The new set of leaders have made it clear they intend to broaden their agenda beyond abortion and gay marriage and adopt the bridge-building style of such evangelical leaders as pastors Rick Warren and Joel Hunter.

Commenting on this extremely sad, but telling development, Todd Strandberg of Rapture Ready writes: “We are now at the point where it is time to declare that our nation has no moral watchmen. We still have some, but they are so small in number that they don't matter to the general population. Rapture Ready is proclaiming the true gospel message, but our effort only reaches the hundreds of thousands.”

“Most of the moral leaders of my youth are now dead or are too old to be of any service. We're left with preachers who write books that appeal to people’s carnal nature.

“ I can't think of a better example than Joel Osteen. He has the largest church in North America, he is the top-rated pastor on TV, and was named ‘Most Influential Christian in America’ in 2006 by The Church Report. The Houston-based pastor refuses to mention the word ‘sin,’ and every one of his books has the word ‘you’ or ‘your’ in the title. …..It doesn't surprise me that Houston elected a gay mayor and Joel Osteen was the one giving the inauguration ceremony prayer. What shocked me is the silence in the church. (See Another Watchman Falls Off the Wall www.raptureready.com/nm/288.html)

Todd closes with a verse of Scriptures, (1 Tim. 4:1-2):
"Now the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times some (not all) shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils; Speaking lies in hypocrisy; having their conscience seared with a hot iron"

New Opportunities for the Gospel in China, Haiti

According to Christian Today, the U.K.-based Bible Society has reported a growing demand for copies of the Bible in China where an estimated 500,000 people convert to Christianity every year. Although some four million Bibles were printed and distributed across China last year, the rapid growth of the church year on year means that demand for Bibles is now outstripping supply, according to the Bible Society.

The official number of Christians in China stands at 28.6 million, but it is believed the true figure could be as high as 90 million if the estimated number of worshippers at unofficial house churches is included. To deflect the cost, the Bible Society subsidizes the cost of printing Bibles. Keeping the price low is vital for Christians living in China’s rural heartland, where 70 percent of churchgoers are found and half the population live on less than $2 a day.

“As more and more people are joining the church they are asking for a Bible,” said Bible Society’s China Partnership coordinator Kua Wee Seng. “This is a time of opportunity in China. Many of us feel that we mustn’t miss this opportunity or people will turn to something else, other than Christianity.” http://www.christianpost.com/article/20100220/demand-for-bible-outstripping-supply-in-china/index.html

A time of great opportunity that should not be missed is also presenting itself in Haiti where, following the catastrophic Jan 12 earthquake that killed 230,000, many are turning against voodooism. As it is said, “Haiti is 80% Catholic, 100% Voodoo!” Unthinkable before, a group of voodooists were stoned at a recent ceremony showing that Haitians are overcoming their dread of the deadly practice. In a famous picture by Associate Press now flooding the internet, Haitians are seen destroying objects that were to be used in a voodoo ceremony in the Cite Soleil neighborhood of Port-au-Prince on Tuesday Feb. 23, 2010.

Pat Robertson got into trouble for saying it, but most Haitians are now owing up it might as well be true, that the ceremony of Bwa Kayiman, where thousands, led by the freedom-fighter Boukman, had sacrificed a wild boar and sought the help of “spirits” to liberate Haiti from oppressive French rule in 1791 has been affecting the fortunes of the country to date. Then a slave, Mr Boukman, ran from his French owners and led the revolution that got independence for Haiti. Voodooism had since become an established national pastime in the country.

Of course, it is insensitive, and most probably incorrect, to attribute the earthquake in Haiti to a curse! (Catastrophic earthquakes have occurred all over the world, and Voodoo is not the only way of serving the devil!) Nevertheless, the current disenchantment with voodoosim in Haiti represents a unique opportunity to preach the unadulterated gospel. This more so as “missionaries” of cult organizations such as Mormons, Jehovah Witnesses and Scientologists are already reportedly having a field day in providing “earthquake relief” in port-au-Prince. (http://prayerandaction.com/?p=6792, also http://blogs.ssrc.org/tif/2010/02/18/haitis-pact-with-the-devil-some-haitians-believe-this-too/)

Body Bombers Coming: Expect more invasive searches at the Airports!

In the meantime, investigators have uncovered details of plans by terrorists to implant bombs INSIDE their bodies. The planned “surgical bombs) are said be in response to the new airport scanners being installed which see beneath your clothing. Experts have examined the details and they concur that it is quite feasible that explosive materials could be implanted in buttocks, appendix or even breasts just like the current practice of enhancing the female figure. All of these, of course is to justify the new invasive devices and others which will inevitably be brought up, which will in effect bring the entire world population more under government control. Apart from actual hijacking and bombing, even news such as these, or the reported “hijacking dry run” and subsequent cover-ups as seen in this report here (www.wnd.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=118490) all have the same effect as real hijackings and bombings in scarring people into accepting yet more humiliating invasive procedures that bring them under government’s control and manipulation. All as spadeworks for the coming anti-christ!

As has been pointed out by several serious commentators, the safest airline in the world is also the most threatened airline – the Israeli airline! Yet it does not result to all these several humiliating intrusions. All that is needed is a short interview which will in most cases expose a potential terrorist more effectively than any machine can. But political correctness is however cited by New World Order advocates, who in any case are more interested in introducing and testing out their new technology for effective control of the world in the years ahead. The simple option practiced in Israel is liable to be attacked by Jihadists (who still insists on wearing full veils around even at airports) as “Islamic profiling”!

US School remotely activate web cameras on students laptops to spy on them at home

Last edition, we reported on spywares on phones which turn phone into monitoring device across thousands of km, joking that it was time people became careful of phone gifts from jealous lover and peeky bosses. Well that position is playing out at a suburban Philadelphia school district where school officials are by remote means, activating the webcam on laptops the district had given to each of its 2,300 high school students as gifts. http://news.yahoo.com

In demanding an explanation for how school officers could confidently accuse his son on improper behavior while at home, Assistant principal at Harriton High school Lindy Matsko owned up to Michael Robbins that the school indeed had the ability to activate the webcams on the laptops remotely.

"This isn't just them spying on the kids, this is them intruding on the parents' home. Who knows what they are seeing?" an observer notes. Another noted: "School ends at the end of the school property, so they shouldn't really be in our business at home."

For related current news on progress in efforts to perfect the tools and climate for monitoring the lives of every inhabitant of earth, [which efforts will reach the zenith at the time of the anti-christ, following the rapture of the Church], check the following articles on the Internet:

Feds weigh expansion of Internet monitoring http://news.cnet.com/8301-13578_3-10463665-38.html

Feds push for tracking cell phones (http://news.cnet.com/8301-13578_3-10451518-38.html)

Spy chips hidden in 2.5 Million trashbins (www.educationnews.org/political/big_brother/67353.html)

One in four Germans wants microchip under skin: poll (http://www.physorg.com/news186661582.html)

ICR MARKS 40 YEARS OF MINISTRY

Many christians in Nigeria might not be very familiar with the Institute for Creation Research (ICR); but that is one organization most feared and dreaded in hell. It is an organization that has literally rescued not only thousands of top scientists, but Science itself, from the clutches of the devil. Today, it is the flagship of the highly strategic Creation Science ministry.

ICR was established in 1970 as a division of the Christian Heritage College by Dr Henry Morris and Tim La Haye, but the foundation of the Creation Science movement itself could be traced to the book, “The Genesis Flood” published by Morris and Whitcomb in 1961. This classic proffered sound scientific, historic, and scriptural reasons why the Flood of Noah mentioned in the Bible (and repeated in hundreds of cultures all around the globe) is indeed a global catastrophic event. The book also spelt out clearly the far-reaching scientific implications of such a tectonic event – spanning interpretation of the fossil records, the age of the earth itself (thousands of years, rather than billions) and several other incontrovertible facts which all spell disaster for the theory of evolution. Now the theory of evolution – though without any scientific basis has become the official position of the scientific world in explaining the origin of the universe. The ICR not only involves itself with cutting edge research about origin issues (using tested, highly-respected scientists) but also goes to great length to disseminate the findings and implications starting from among children books and cartoons to high-impact scientific meetings. Visit www.icr.org to learn more about this wonderful gift of God to our world for this generation and avail yourself of the many blessings you are sure to receive therefrom. Happy Anniversary, ICR!

Persecution of Christians On-going in Other Lands

Of course, satan-inspired persecution of the church is a mark of the endtimes, and is on-going either subtly or openly in every nation on earth (Rev 12). Recent examples include the burning in the Asian country of North Sumatra, of two Protestant churches by a Moslem crowd of not less than 1000 in the city of Sibuhuan. Asia News reported that the local Islamic community, had complained of being tired of seeing " too many faithful and too many prayers " in a place not registered as a church. According to police, neither of the two buildings .had a building permit and had to be considered "places of prayer" and not "churches". (http://www.asianews.it/news-en/North-Sumatra,-two-Protestant-churches-burnt:-too-many-faithful-and-too-many-prayers-17427.html )

Morocco is at least more liberal as it merely expelled five Christian evangelists for the crime of “unauthorised gathering and sharing of the gospel. ” Twelve Moroccans who were taking part in the meeting were arrested but eventually released after being questioned. (http://www.ansamed.info/).

With Church buildings already established in strategic places all over the United Kingdoms for decades, persecution of the Church in that country has to come in more unconventional forms – many of which have been reported in past editions of Church Arise! The latest ingenuous weapon is the so-called “Noise ordinances” whereby governmental bodies demand that Christian groups essentially be silent - so that no one can hear their worship. In one highly publicized case, the Lambeth Council issued a noise abatement notice to the All Nations Centre in Kennington which prevented the church from using any amplification for its worship music and its pastor's preaching. Following the intervention of the UK based Christian Legal Centre (CLC), an out-of-court settlement favouring the Church was agreed upon. The noise abatement order was issued without warning or discussion, shortly after the church, which has been in the same location for more than 45 years, began to publicize its services in its own neighborhood.

Onn Sein Kon, case manager at the Christian Legal Centre, said the organization has noticed an increasing number of attacks on churches because someone can hear the worship. "What is really going on here is action by secularists to try and restrict Christian freedom and expression in this country. ..” Kon explained (www.wnd.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=121972)

And in the United States, the fabled land of lady liberty, even though it is not official government policy to torment Christians, as Tite and Stephen found out (see page 1), believers are increasingly not faring any better than their fellows in Arabia or communist nations! At least 11 Christian Churches were torched by arsonists across Texas in the first two months of this year alone. Two Satan-inspired men, steeped in the new religion of “atheism” have been finally arrested for these crimes - thankfully. According to the Dallas Morning News, the Department of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms lists 90 houses of worship set on fire last year nationwide, with an average loss of about $250,000 per fire. (www.worldnetdaily.com/index.php?pageId=124615, www.getreligion.org/?p=27341).

Communists, Moslems top persecutors of Christians

The communist regime in North Korea has, for the 8th year running, topped the The World Watch List published by Open Doors to understand the unique persecution fingerprint of nations all around the world. The next eight nations on the list are from the Moslem world: Iran, Saudi Arabia, Somalia, Maldives, Afghanistan, Yemen, and Mauritania. Nigeria (north) is ranked 27 on the infamous list, no thanks to Islamists actions at Maiduguri, Bauchi, Jos, Jigawa etc (http://members.opendoorsusa.org/site/DocServer/WWL2010_test.pdf?docID=5801)

The World Watch List, was started by the Open Doors Research Department in 1991. It examines every aspect of persecution, including the degree of legal restrictions, state attitudes, how free the church is to organize itself, church burnings, anti-Christian riots and the murders of Christians that make headlines.

In North Korea according to the Report, every religious activity in the communist nation is viewed as an insurrection against the dictator, Kim Jong-Il. Arrests, torture and death are routine as North Korean officials desperately try to control all of society.

"Christians are the target of fierce government action, and once caught, are not regarded as human," said a veteran observer of North Korea. According to the president of Open Doors, Carl Moeller, "Last year we had evidence that some were used as guinea pigs to test chemical and biological weapons." Three generations of a family are often thrown into prison when one member is incarcerated.

The good news is that despite such horrible and systematic persecution, the Christian community in North Korea has been growing significantly. Open Doors said it recently provided secret training for 4,000 Christians there, books are being distributed and other outreaches that cannot be publicized are under way. http://www.wnd.com/?pageId=121147

Iran seems determined to displace North Korea from the top of the list of Christian persecutors however. On February 2, the Iranian State Security agents in Isfahan arrested Rev. Wilson Issavi a well respected, humble and devoted servant of the Church while visiting a friend’s home. The pastor, and eight other Christians including his hosts, were thrown into prison at undisclosed location and are currently awaiting charges. Earlier, on January 2, the Iranian government had forced the closure of Rev. Issavi’s church. The Church, the Evangelical Church of Kermanshah, was among the few remaining open churches in the country as at that time.

Street Preachers Killed in the United States – and the media refuse to cover it!

Tite Sufra, 24, and Stephen Ocean, 23, were shot to death on the evening of Saturday January 30 in Boynton Beach in Florida, US where they had gone out for street evangelism. They were shot by a fellow young black man, 18 year old Jeriah Woody to whom they had earlier witnessed. According to BosNewsLife, Stephen and Tite had “witnessed to Woody for fifteen minutes, when he got a phone call and told the preachers he had to go. As they walked away, Woody suddenly started walking back toward them. Sufra walked up to greet him and was killed with a shot gun blast at point blank range. When Ocean ran, he was shot in the back. After he fell, Woody shot him in the head execution style.”

Pointing out the absolute lack of interest in this story by the national media, Gary Cass of the Christian Anti-Defamation Commission raised a poser: “I’ll ask this: If two Muslims, or two feminists or two homosexuals were murdered, wouldn’t the media be all over it? These were two fine young black Christian men shot by another black man for their Christian faith, yet the media does not seem to care.”

Cass believes that “The increasing demonization of Christians in our culture makes some feel its open season on Christians” describing as “an ominous sign” of the times “that Christians are being shot on the streets and in our churches”.

“Increasingly, we see Christian ministers threatened and churches terrorized and vandalized for their stand on marriage. Now when Christians gather for worship they must have armed security,” Last year, Jim Pullion was killed while holding pro-life signs in front of his granddaughter’s Owasso Michigan high school. Reverend Fred Winters was murdered while preaching in his pulpit in Maryville, Illinois. According to Cass, “Anti-Christian defamation and bigotry has helped to create this violent climate and it must stop” www.bosnewslife.com/11425-news-alert-street-peachers-killed-in-united-states

Jigawa Govt To Compensate CAN Over Burnt Churches

In a headline that at first suggested an unprecedented change in attitude by Sharia-ruled governments in Nigeria to the wanton and carefree destructions of Christian lives and property, the Jigawa State government reportedly undertook responsibility, and offered compensation, for Churches destroyed by Islamic youths. Around January 22, eight churches had been raised down by Islamic youths who were supposedly protesting police brutality (moslems) against a tractor driver (moslem) who lost his life for violating traffic rule! (http://dynamic.csw.org.uk/article.asp?t=press&id=959)

However, reading through the details, it is clear that the statement is probably nothing more than a political ruse, which might even be a design to distract and divide the ranks of Christians. In the first instance, despite the clear facts on ground, Secretary to the State Government, Dr. Aminu Abdullahi, explained that government needed first to set up a committee … to investigate the immediate and remote causes of the incidence. It is the same committee that would additionally ”ascertain the extent of damage, as well as evaluate the cost.” Unfortunately, the government forgot to include any representative of the Christian community on the committee!
www.ngrguardiannews.com/news/article04//indexn2_html?pdate=070310&ptitle=Govt%20To%20Compensate%20CAN%20Over%20Burnt%20Churches.

It doesn’t take a prophet to predict the course of events in the several months to come. Efforts to pursue the matter and eventually obtain a cheque through the maze of government bureaucracy is guaranteed to keep CAN leaders not only distracted and possibly divided, but canned as well for a while! If the Jigawa government were serious, it could simply have followed in the footsteps of the Malaysian government, who as we reported in the last edition, simply paid compensation instantly, and directly, to the Churches destroyed by Moslem fanatics in that country last year, December 31!

NIPSS advocates for State Police

Issues being brought to the fore by these events on the Jos plateau include the need to deal with the overcentralization in government structure in Nigeria. A particularly touchy issue was the need to create state police so that state government would have full power to deploy them to quell riots more rapidly. There was a heated exchange on the subject between the Federal Government Panel investigating the 2008 mayhem and members of the National Institute for Policy and Strategic Studies (NIPSS), Kuru. The spokesperson for the Institute, Dr. Mark Maduagwu, refused to be intimidated as he insisted: "the general consensus here in the National Institute is that the possibility of having a state police should be seriously considered in Nigeria. That is the general consensus. There are of course two sides to a coin. Could you believe that the advantages of having a state police may, in the long run, outweigh the disadvantages?" (Guardian, Jan 18, 2010)

Yet another carnage against Christians on the Jos Plateau

Nigeria, and the world at large, woke up on Sunday 7th March to learn of yet another carnage on the Jos Plateau. On that day, in a sordid operation that commenced about 1.30 am and lasted 2 hours, about 600 villagers in the Christian village of Dogon Na Hauwa and two others nearby, were hacked down and butchered in cold blood by Fulani herdsmen, allegedly imported from neighbouring Bauchi state. (read some details at http://www.goodseedfellowship.org/)

According to eyewitness accounts cited in a statement by the influential Christian Elders Consultative Forum, “The Hausa-Fulani Muslim militants came chanting ‘allahu akbar’ and broke into homes, cutting human beings including children and women with their knives and cutlasses.”

The statement, signed by the the National Coordinator of the group, Bishop Anderson Bok, and the Secretary General, Dr. Musa Pam, described the fresh attack as “yet another jihad and provocation” against Christians in the state.

Apart from the Christian Elders Forum, both the traditional ruler of Jos (Gbong Gwom Jos), Da Gyang Buba and the Executive Governor of the State, Jonah David Jang averred they got wind of the massacre ahead of time and had duly informed the Nigerian Army, who were supposed to be in charge of security and an on-going 12 hour curfew in place in the state, since the last mayhem at Jos earlier in January. According to newspaper reports, the army commander bluntly denied receiving any phone call from the governor, while another officer claimed he missed the route to the locations, hence arriving late at the crime scene!

However, eyewitnesses told Jonathan Racho of the International Christian concerns (ICC) that some security forces indeed arrived in time enough to witness the killings, but they refused to enter Dogon Na Hauwa. The only action taken by the security forces, according to the report, was to stop Christians who had come from neighbouring villages to come give assistance to the villages under attack. The soldiers allegedly cited the on-going curfew! (www.persecution.org/slaughter/?p=16) The state governor, a retired officer of the Nigerian Air Force himself, was barely able to check his emotions both at the frustrations from Federal agents and at the gory sight of charred bodies of innocent children and women that littered the ground.

In his reaction, the national president of the Pentecostal Fellowship of Nigeria (PFN), Pastor Ayo Oritsejafor, urged Acting President Jonathan to prove to the 140 million Nigerians especially the Christian community that they have a stake in the nation just as their counterparts who have perfected the art of provoking them at will. Speaking with newsmen, Pastor Oritsejafor said: “I have just returned from a trip abroad. While I was away I was inundated with reports of another catastrophe in the Jigawa State capital where several churches were burnt and just as I was trying to settle down and collate reports from the field I am hearing of another on a Sunday morning.”

This latest killings occurred hours before the commencement of a Peace Meeting convened by Christian stateman and former Head of State General Yakubu Gowon, who is from the troubled Plateau state.

Weeks earlier, the Plateau state government had raised alarms about the setting free by Federal government agents, of militants arrested in the previous killings. The suspects with their case files would simply be transferred to Abuja (the federal capital), and that was the end of the matter!

Speaking to journalists in Jos, earlier on in the wake of the January killings, the Plateau State Attorney General and Commissioner of Justice, Edward Pwajok said efforts to ensure speedy and transparent prosecution of all those suspected to be masterminds of the crisis were being frustrated by federal agents. Mr Pwajok further lamented that “government was disturbed because it was the same scenario after the November 2008 crisis, when all the over 300 files that had been processed and based upon which remand orders were obtained in the courts, were taken to Force Headquarters, Abuja…..And in spite of the repeated demands, no file was returned to Jos, thus leading to the release of all the suspects of the 2008 Jos unrest. Continuing, he said: “Again, all the 26 suspects arrested in the wake of the 2008 unrest on suspicion of being mercenaries were taken from Jos to Abuja and nothing has been heard from the police force Headquarters since last year,” (http://allafrica.com/stories/201001260114.html)

In the January 17th incident, the state Commissioner of Police, Mr. Gregory Anyating, had told journalists that 35 people were arrested, five in military uniform with arms. A statement by the Christian Elders described the January 17th attack.

“The attack coming in the wake of today, Sunday the 17th January 2010, after the normal Christian services in Churches is premeditated, wicked, deliberate and terrifying. Our fellow brothers and sisters were just coming out of churches in Nassarawa area of Jos when some Islamic youths pounced on them with cutlasses and other dangerous weapons. Shortly after the attack, we were made to believe that some Islamic fundamentalists were engaging themselves in some fracas after some disagreement, which spilled into churches leading to Christian casualties.

"Why must it be churches and Christians who will suffer from an all-Muslim affair?...."Why will Islamic fundamentalists engage themselves on a Sunday morning shortly after the service if the 'terror' act was not premeditated?"

The statement ominously warned: "While thanking the Plateau State government for its prompt reaction, which quickly restored peace to the city, we call on our Moslem brothers and sisters to see this as the last of such provocation on the Christians in the state. Enough is enough."

It is apparently the “prompt reaction” of the state government that angered the Islamic fundamentalists who found out they could not have the field day of free killing they had hoped for. More than 367 suspects and mercenaries were arrested during the crisis (although none prosecuted, as a result of direct intervention by agents of the Federal Government).

Apparently, as many of the foreign press with their usual sympathy and shameless bias towards Islam have been trying to portray, the March 7 incidents are “reprisal” acts for the January failure. For instance, in a report submitted by one Shuaibu Mohammed and written by Nick Tattersall, Reuters described the March massacre as “clashes between pastoralists and villagers!” What “clashes” when innocent folks (mainly women and children) are roused from their beds in the middle of the night by gunshots and burning roofs, to be hacked down with machetes as they stepped into the streets? According to ‘earwitnesses’, each stab of the long knife or hack by the matchete is followed by grunts of “allahu akbar”, which the murderers apparently used to steel themselves to the dastard act. Not a single one of the cold-blood murderers was killed – Clashes indeed!

Whereas, it is on record that every act of violence to date on the Jos plateau had been first instigated by Islamic elements. The latest tactic of attacking sleeping villagers in Jos suburbs simply reflects the seeking of easy targets by these Haman-minded jihadists (see Esther 9:1-2) - as Christian youths in Jos had now taken their own security into their own hands following the abysmal failure of government security forces.

Describing the March 7 killings as “cowardly killing of innocent Christians” National Secretary of PFN, Pastor Wale Adefarasin said the incident was further evidence that terrorist attacks similar to September 11 and the failed Christmas Day bombing in the United States now thrived in Nigeria. “Nigerians demand that for the first time all the perpetrators of these shameless acts including those that have aided and abetted them must feel the full weight of the law.” he concluded.

FRUITS OF NIGERIA’S JUBILEE IN CRITICAL FLOWERING STAGE

Roughly a third into the year of Jubilee, Nigeria effected a change in Commander in Chief of her armed forces, as Dr Goodluck Jonathan addressed the nation in that capacity on Tuesday 9th February. In the strange ways only the LORD is capable of working out, this momentous event happened peacefully with neither the death or demotion of President Yar Adua, nor a military putsch!

Only the LORD knows what the future holds, but it would seem the major breakthrough Nigeria needs to actualize her Jubilee has already occurred, for the first public action of the new Commander in Chief, was the removal of the erstwhile ‘troubler of Israel’, in the Justice Ministry! Somehow, despite obvious excesses by this minister, and public outcries against him, President Yar Adua seemed unable to do anything with the attorney general that had obviously been imposed on his administration. All that is now irreversible history as Nigeria roars ahead into her glorious destiny this year of Jubilee!

Even before his investiture with full presidential powers, Goodluck Jonathan had promised that criminals involved in the re-engineered Jos genocide will certainly be brought to justice, according to the law of the land. Ironically, a group of Nigerians interpreted that pronouncement as unprecedented threat and vowed, publicly, that even if for that reason alone, they would not allow the man of destiny into the presidential office. Apparently they did not know Who really is at work in the affairs of Nigeria, or what time it is!

And even, if Jonathan wanted to back out of his promise to deal with the Jos issue firmly and squarely no matter who is involved, a desperate card played by these fundamental clogs in the wheel of Nigeria’s progress, is leaving the acting President with little choice other than to act firm and fair. That is the massacre with impunity of hundreds of Christian villagers on the Jos plateau again in the morning of Sunday 7th March. There is understandable outrage and call for action from all over the world. As at press time, the seemingly untouchable National Security Adviser had lost his position while the Army headquarters is under an unprecedented probe!

All these developments are highly significant, and discerning Christians can understand that the fruits of Nigeria Jubilee are indeed being formed, albeit in troublous processes.

We urge Nigerian Christians to follow-up on the LORD’s dealing with watchfulness, determination, righteous living and prayers. To bring forth fruits all the way unto maturity, “honest and good heart” must be combined with patience (see Luke 8:14-15).

Visible success, among other parameters, would require that the current moves of exposing the masterminds and issues behind the Jos crises be brought to its logical conclusion and firmly dealt with according to the nation’s constitution; and that the electoral reforms be implemented in time for the coming elections. According to Pastor Sunday Adelaja, who God used mightily in the Orange Revolution that turned Ukraine around for Christ, “the redemption of a country depends on the position of the Church.” (see also the Exhortation column on page 8 for more counsel from Pastor Adelaja – the Nigerian-born “Moses” of Ukraine!)