Authority Vs Slavery

Slavery -curse received at fall 

 Ruling is Governing and Administration

Opposite of Ruling is slavery

Adam who was freely enjoying “Kingship” over all that was created lost his ruling authority over everything in a single moment and became a slave all of a sudden after sin.  Everything else in the cosmic world and nature, which he was ruler of, gained authority over him and started ruling over him now.  The animal kingdom, Climate, vegetation, who were obedient to him started raising their head against him. Even his own species (his sons) started rebellion

Slavery, oppression, suppression, discrimination, war, killing, bombing, & genocide all originated on the earth due to the first sin of Adam.

Even the serpent when it was cursed, became the least of all in the animal kingdom.  Look at the curse which fell upon the serpent – Cursed among all the animals and beasts. On belly you will crawl, dust you will eat.

Gen 3:14  The LORD God said to the serpent, “Because you have done this, cursed are you above all livestock and above all beasts of the field; on your belly you shall go, and dust you shall eat all the days of your life. 

Serpent was said to be the most beautiful animal, a species closer to human beings on the earth. Now it became the least of all animals. To satan,

Gen 3:15 I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring; he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel.” 

You will live in enmity with human beings. In all generations, Humanity will engage in an on-going warfare with satan. It will try to raise up its head, in all generations.  But it is bruised for ever.  It is not dead. But it is bruised. It will try to fight against but, will not succeed. In every generation there will be   a remnant of people who will fight with satan and win over.

To Adam,

Gen 3:17-19  And to Adam he said, “Because you have listened to the voice of your wife and have eaten of the tree of which I commanded you, ‘You shall not eat of it,’ cursed is the ground because of you; in pain you shall eat of it all the days of your life; and you shall eat the plants of the field. By the sweat of your face you shall eat bread, till you return to the ground, for out of it you were taken; for you are dust, and to dust you shall return.” 

The curses inherent in this:

1. Thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you. The earth which he was supposed to rule became enemy to him.

The earth will not be friendly any longer with Adam.  In pain he will eat the fruit – Earth will not yield its fruit and he will have to struggle and fight with it to make it yield its fruit. It will create thorns and thistles which will hurt him and trouble him.

1. “By the sweat of your face you shall eat bread”

In making his livelihood, he will have to fight hard against the soil which will consume his energy which could have been spent for inventing the beautiful things which the Lord had kept for him   on earth and in heavens.

1. For out of it you were taken; for you are dust, and to dust you shall return.” 

Man became equal to dust.

All his thoughts, desires, likings, hope, all his faculties came to be identified with the earth or mud. In one word to say, He lost his authority to rule but became equal to one of the beasts of the earth.

Here mud, clay, dust all have the same meaning.

Gen 13:16 I will make your offspring as the dust of the earth, so that if one can count the dust of the earth, your offspring also can be counted.

Abraham became Father of an earthly (earthly - natural hereafter used as a technical word to mean the unredeemed cursed generation) generation.  His generation is compared to the dust. They were created only to occupy the ends of the earth, just to fill up the earth. They will multiply and occupy lands so that the earth will not be vacant.

This need not be a saved generation. It is equivalent to dust – an unredeemed generation.

Gen 28:14 Your offspring shall be like the dust of the earth, and you shall spread abroad to the west and to the east and to the north and to the south, and in you and your offspring shall all the families of the earth be blessed.

Psa 119:25 My soul clings to the dust; give me life according to your word! 

Man was confined to live a life of this earthly realm. He was thrown out of the spiritual realm.

Intimacy with God and spiritual harmony became something unachievable.

Sr. Angelica AOJ

Six More Christians Executed by Terrorists in West African Church Attacks

Another church in West Africa's Burkina Faso was targeted by terrorists this Sunday leaving six dead.

According to Christianity Today, six Christians were killed in a Burkina Faso Catholic church in the town of Dablo, after people on motorcycles raided the church, executed five worshippers and the priest and then set the church on fire.

Reportedly, the motorcyclists entered the church during the Sunday morning Mass and opened fire on the churchgoers.

According to the Burkina Information Agency, the attackers “ordered the women and children to clear the scene before executing six men, including the priest.”

According to Reuters, the men also looted several stores in the town, including the pharmacy, before taking off.

This is the second attack in this area since Easter that have had nearly identical M.Os.

As Christian Headlines previously reported, six Christians were executed in a West African Protestant church on April 28, after they refused to convert to Islam.

Several armed motorcyclists opened fire on the Assemblies of God church in a Burkina Faso killing six people, including the church’s long-time pastor Pierre Ouédraogo, after they refuse to deny their Christian faith.

According to the Associated Press, no one immediately claimed responsibility for the attack in April, though violent Islamist extremism has increasingly become a problem in the country.

Reuters reports that Burkina Faso has seen a rise in religiously fueled attacks in 2019. Burkina Faso is a landlocked country that shares a border with Mali, a nation that has long been a center for conflict and terrorism.

Reuter reports that groups located in Mali with links to ISIS and al Qaeda have sought to “fuel local tensions and extend their influence” in Burkina Faso and the Sahel region.

Evangelical Russians Suffer Most from Law Restricting Religious Freedom

Religious persecution has grown in Russia since the country’s ban on Jehovah’s Witnesses in 2017 with Russian Evangelicals feeling the pressure. Last year, over 100 Russian individuals and 50 organizations were prosecuted for any type of religious activity. 

“Believers don’t understand what they can and can’t do,” lawyer Mikhail Frolov told Forum 18, a news service covering religious freedom in Russia and surrounding countries. “Because of heavy fines, they don’t want to take the risk and therefore significantly reduce their activity, especially in public.” 

According to Christianity Today, Russian officials have interrupted worship services, charged pastors for hanging signs with church meeting times, and punished Baptists at a bus stop for discussing their faith. 

In 2016, Putin signed the Yarovaya laws, intended to prevent terrorism that also set tight restrictions on religious freedoms. Any person or organization accused of “missionary activity” can be prosecuted. Though the law strictly forbids “missionary activity”, officials are prosecuting any religious activity, including prayer meetings and church services. 

“There are potentially very wide-sweeping ramifications to this law,” Joel Griffith of the Slavic Gospel Association said in a Mission Network News report when the law was first introduced. “It just depends on, again, how it is going to be enforced, and that is a very huge question mark.” 

Believers are beginning to answer that question.

Government permits are required for all religious organizations in order to invite others to their church or discuss their faith. Fines for those punished can range from 5,000 rubles (approximately $75) to 50,000 rubles ($750). Since the law has enacted, more than half of all Russian regions experienced at least one prosecution. In 2019 so far, two Baptist pastors were punished for passing out literature at a bus stop and a Buddhist for hosting a meditation meeting.

Some churches are also required to submit sermons and reports of attendance. Yevgeny Kokora, an elder in a church along the coast of the Black Sea, told Radio Free Europe that they receive weekly calls requesting these documents. 

Jehovah’s Witnesses are also suffering. A Russian court recently sentenced Dennis Christensen, a Danish Jehovah’s Witness for six years in prison for exercising his faith. In 2017, the Russian Supreme Court deemed Jehovah’s Witnesses as an “extremist organization” and banned them from their country.

The United States Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) released a report last week on Russia’s continued prosecutions. “Religious and other communities can be financially blacklisted or liquidated, and individuals can be subjected to criminal prosecution for social media posts that are arbitrarily determined to offend the religious sensibilities of others.”

Despite the persecution, many churches are standing firm by refusing to seek government permits and approval. Griffith shared, “We are calling people around the world to please pray for churches.”

Iran's Proxy War Is The Real Problem         

Sunday night's landing of a Katyusha rocket less than half a mile from the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad was not merely the latest provocation on the part of Tehran in its battle of wills with Washington. More importantly, it verified Israeli intelligence revealing stockpiles of Iranian ballistic missiles in Iraq, poised to strike American targets. It also vindicated the dispatch of U.S. warships and fighter jets to the Persian Gulf, and the State Department's order that all non-essential diplomatic personnel evacuate Iraq immediately.

The rocket attack, then, did not come as a total shock. Still, it came two weeks after U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo suddenly canceled a trip to Germany and headed to Baghdad to warn Iraqi leaders about Iran's growing influence on their soil and threat to their sovereignty.

On Sunday, U.S. President Donald Trump made two statements that illustrate his administration's dilemma about when or whether to engage in actual battle with the Islamic Republic.

In the afternoon, he tweeted: "If Iran wants to fight, that will be the official end of Iran. Never threaten the United States again!" Yet in an interview with Fox News that aired Sunday evening, he said, " ... They can't be threatening us ... and I'm not ... somebody that wants to go into war. ... I don't want to fight. But you do have situations like Iran. You can't let them have nuclear weapons--you just can't let that happen."

Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif shot back at Trump on social media.

Alluding to U.S. National Security Adviser John Bolton and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu--both of whom have been accused of trying to manipulate Trump into going to war, he tweeted: "Goaded by #B Team, @realdonaldTrump hopes to achieve what Alexander, Genghis & other aggressors failed to do. Iranians have stood tall for millennia while aggressors all gone. #EconomicTerrorism & genocidal taunts won't 'end Iran.' #NeverThreatenAnIranian. Try respect--it works!"

Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, however, stated recently that "war is not in the offing. ... We do not want a war, and neither does the United States, which knows it does not stand to gain anything from a war. ... Iranian willpower is strong because Iran puts its trust in Allah. The boastful and bullying enemy has no real strength." In spite of Iran's "bluster and bluff"--as Jonathan Tobin has called the regime's attempt to extricate itself from the corner of crippling sanctions into which Trump has forced it--Tehran clearly knows that it is no match for the might of the U.S. military. Its leaders also are aware, however, that Americans are never keen on going to war. 

Especially when persuaded by propaganda that they are doing so in order to defend a third country. You know, like Israel, for instance, whose prime minister has been shouting about the global danger of a nuclear Iran for decades. And that brings us to the real problem facing the Trump administration right now. While a full-scale war with Iran does not appear likely in the near future, low-intensity conflict against the West and its allies already is being waged by Iran's proxies all over the world.

Indeed, Iran-backed Shi'ite militias and terrorist organizations have been committing atrocities well beyond the Middle East. Israel has been on the front lines of this incessant guerilla onslaught, attempting simultaneously to fight off genocidal groups and individuals along its borders without launching a military offensive on an actual country.

Fending off Hamas in Gaza, Hezbollah in Lebanon and Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps members in Syria, the only democracy in the region takes great care not to kill the civilians used by the terrorists ruling their governments (and living in their midst) as human shields and canon fodder. In such asymmetric warfare, definitive victory is elusive, if not impossible.

Herein lies Iran's current advantage over the United States. In an article on Friday in the pro-Hezbollah Lebanese daily, Al-Akhbaron--translated by the Middle East Media Research Institute--editor Ibrahim Al-Amin described Tehran's global tentacles as follows: "The Soviet leader of old, Josef Stalin, was once asked about the nature of the ties between the Soviet Union--the center of the communist movement--and other communist forces around the world. 

He replied: 'We support and sponsor all the communist parties in the world. Each of us operates according to his status and circumstances. If any [communist] party experiences a crisis in its country, we will see how we can assist it and figure out the best course of action. [And] if we are in crisis, the communists around the world will no doubt come to the aid of the Soviet Union.' "

According to Al-Amin, Iran not only "possesses an arsenal that threatens the farthest edges of Western Europe, and can also destroy all the centers of influence in the Middle East," but has allies that will join it in war: a real army in Afghanistan; an influential force in Syria and Iraq; Hezbollah, a party with state-like powers; and vast capabilities in Yemen, as well as allies in Palestine and other parts of the Arab world who will feel the need to come to its aid ... "

The good news is that the Soviet Union was eventually defeated by the United States without a war. The bad news is that America did not achieve victory over the USSR until nearly 40 years after Stalin's death. Let us hope that toppling the evil regime of the ayatollahs takes far less time--with or without troops on the ground or bombs from the air. Our lives depend on it.

80 Percent of World’s Persecuted are Christians, New Report Says

An estimated 80 percent of all persecuted religious believers around the world are Christians, according to new British report that also says the level of persecution in some areas “is arguably coming close to meeting the international definition of genocide.”

The report was prepared by a panel headed by Rt. Rev. Philip Mounstephen, bishop of Truro within the Church of England, and commissioned by British Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt.

The worldwide persecution of Christians, the report says, is only worsening.

“Christianity now faces the possibility of being wiped-out in parts of the Middle East where its roots go back furthest. In Palestine, Christian numbers are below 1.5 percent; in Syria the Christian population has declined from 1.7 million in 2011 to below 450,000 and in Iraq, Christian numbers have slumped from 1.5 million before 2003 to below 120,000 today.

“Christianity is at risk of disappearing, representing a massive setback for plurality in the region.”

Christians are fleeing some countries, the report says, due to persecution that is nearing genocide levels.

“In some regions, the level and nature of persecution is arguably coming close to meeting the international definition of genocide, according to that adopted by the UN,” the report says. “The eradication of Christians and other minorities on pain of ‘the sword’ or other violent means was revealed to be the specific and stated objective of extremist groups in Syria, Iraq, Egypt, north-east Nigeria and the Philippines. 

“An intent to erase all evidence of the Christian presence was made plain by the removal of crosses, the destruction of Church buildings and other Church symbols.”

The report cited other studies that said:

• Christians were targeted in 144 countries in 2016, an increase from 125 in 2015. 
• A total of 245 million Christians suffered “high levels of persecution” according to a 2019 report – an increase of 30 million from the previous year.
• 736 attacks on India’s Christians were recorded in 2017, up from 348 in 2016.
• As many as 2,000 churches in China’s Zheijiang province were targeted between 2014 and 2016. They either were completely destroyed or had their crosses removed by government officials.
• More Christians were killed in 2018 in Nigeria because of their religious faith than in any other country in the world. Nigeria accounted for 3,731 of 4,136 fatalities in that category. About 200,000 Nigerian Christians are at risk of being killed.

An estimated 80 percent of all persecuted religious believers are Christians, the report says. 

“Given the scale of persecution of Christians today, indications that it is getting worse and that its impact involves the decimation of some of the faith group’s oldest and most enduring communities, the need for governments to give increasing priority and specific targeted support to this faith community is not only necessary but increasingly urgent,” it says.

Mounstephen’s work was an interim report. The full report is expected to be released by the end of June. 

Terrorists Execute Six Christians in West African Protestant Church

Six Christians were executed in a West African church on Sunday after they refused to convert to Islam.

According to Christianity Today, several armed motorcyclists opened fire on the Assemblies of God church in a Burkina Faso on Sunday killing six people, including the church’s long-time pastor Pierre Ouédraogo, after they refuse to deny their Christian faith. 

Christianity Today reports that the gunmen also looped the church and burned its pulpit. 

The Assemblies of God church in a Burkina Faso was founded in the 1980s and is considered one of the oldest Protestant congregations in the region.

Pastor Ouédraogo had served as the pastor of the Burkina Faso Assemblies of God church since it was founded some forty years ago. 

Reportedly, before the attack, the pastor feared that the church might be in danger since it is located near the Mali border, which has been a center for conflict for some time. 

Despite this, Ouédraogo was determined to stay in the community and continue to share the word of God in the Burkina Faso village.

In a statement from the general superintendent of the Assemblies of God in Burkina Faso, Michel Ouédraogo, the pastor’s family said of Pierre Ouédraogo, “he prefers to die for his faith rather than leave the village where he has served for nearly 40 years.”

According to the Associated Press, no one has immediately claimed the attack, though violent Islamic extremism has increasingly become a problem in the country.

Among the victims are the pastor’s son and his brother-in-law, who served as a deacon in the church.

Congresswomen Omar, Tlaib Support Gaza Terrorists In Onslaught Against Israel

Despite a ceasefire in the current conflict between Israel and Hamas, Congresswomen Ilhan Omar and Rashida Tlaib both felt compelled to show their support to Hamas and the other Gaza terrorists in their onslaught against Israel. The United States declared Hamas a foreign terrorist organization in 1997. In 2007, Hamas declared its intention to destroy America and called on Allah to annihilate every American. Palestinian terrorists from Hamas and Islamic Jiahd have fired over 700 rockets into Israel in 48 hours, killing four and injuring at least 234, not including the trauma the rocket barrage the has brought upon the Israeli civilian population - including children.

In support of the Palestinain terrorists, Omar tweeted:

"How many more protesters must be shot, rockets must be fired, and little kids must be killed until the endless cycle of violence ends? "

The status quo of occupation and humanitarian crisis in Gaza is unsustainable. Only real justice can bring about security and lasting peace. Cycle of violence? In the past year, Israel's southern communities have endured a constant volley of incendiary devices - mainly balloons filled with explosives - from Gaza that have burned fields, greenhouses and homes, causing untold destruction. Occupation and humanitarian crisis? Israel left Gaza in 2005, but has continued to supply goods, services and medical supplies to the people of the Gaza Strip who chose to be governed by Hamas in a democratic election. In the midst of this latest missile barrage, Israel still allowed a fuel shipment from Israel into Gaza "to avoid a humanitarian crisis."

When Israel pulled out of Gaza in 2005, communities left their hothouses intact, representing what could have been a thriving business for the Palestinian people as it had been for the former Jewish farmers of the Strip. The hothouses were promptly burnt down by baying mobs along with the synagogues that were also left behind. Massive economic assistance by world powers, which has poured into Gaza by the millions over the years, has been hijacked by Hamas for its terror operations.

In supporting the Palestinian terrorists, Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib, for her part, saw fit to criticize a factual headline by The New York Times, historically and currently one of the most anti-Israel and anti-Semitic newspapers on record. "When will the world stop dehumanizing our Palestinian people who just want to be free? Headlines like this & framing it in this way just feeds into the continued lack of responsibility on Israel who unjustly oppress & target Palestinian children and families. #FreePalestine "

A "ceasefire" has supposedly been reached. That usually means that Israel ceases and Hamas fires. In this case, Islamic Jihad - a terror group in Gaza that is, for all practical purposes, a subsidiary of Iran - has said that they will not abide by any ceasefire agreement and has vowed to shoot missiles into Tel Aviv.

President Trump has offered his unwavering support to Israel and its right to defend itself. At the same time, National Security Adviser John Bolton announced on Sunday that America was deploying the USS Abraham Lincoln Carrier Strike Group and a bomber task force to the Middle East in response to a "number of troubling and escalatory indications and warnings" from Iran. The White House said the move was intended "to send a clear and unmistakable message to the Iranian regime that any attack on United States interests or on those of our allies will be met with unrelenting force."

"Imagine if 600 rockets had been fired into the US or any other country besides Israel. What country would not defend itself? Every Presidential candidate needs to weigh in on their thoughts on this attack. Go ahead ... we'll wait," tweeted former U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley.

None of the 2020 Democratic candidates have commented on the situation in Israel or Gaza.

Church Closed in Egypt after Muslim Mob Frightens Children in Sunday school

CAIRO, Egypt, April 23, 2019 (Morning Star News) – A Coptic church in Upper Egypt is closed after a throng of angry Muslims attacked it this month, beating a priest and another Copt as more than 200 fearful children who had gathered for Bible lessons looked on, according to advocacy groups.

One of the injured Copts, Asaad Bakheet Rezek, told Coptic TV (CTV) that a Muslim about 17 years old beat one of the priests with a club as security forces led him from the Anba Karas Church building in Naga al-Ghafir, Sohag Governorate in southern Egypt.

The priest, identified as Father Basilious, sustained a minor head injury as security forces escorted him and another priest into an armored vehicle after the chanting mob tried to enter the building, Rezek said, adding that the children were terrified by the club- and knife-wielding crowds as they shouted, cursed and pelted the building with rocks.

The village mayor had gone to the church premises the previous day, angry at construction underway for a fourth floor to a building annex, according to advocacy groups Coptic Solidarity and the Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights (EIPR).

The mayor accused the Christians of “treason” for the add-on. He started shouting to neighbors to take action against the church and left, later submitting a notice at the city council complaining about the construction, according to the groups. The city council immediately arrived, stopped the work and confiscated building materials, including the cement and the reinforced steel.

The next day at 4 p.m., dozens of angry demonstrators tried to enter the church premises but were unable to get through a steel door. Carrying clubs and knives, they started shouting, cursing and pelting the building with rocks, according to Coptic Solidarity.

Additional forces arrived, and Father Basilious was struck as he and another priest were escorted off the premises. Parents and church leaders were not able to move the 200 children away from the angry, chanting villagers until security forces dispersed the crowds. Though police witnessed the beating of the priest, no arrests were made.

Both Father Basilious and Father Bakhoum were taken for questioning into the evening hours.

Police issued an indefinite closure order, pending investigations, and froze all activities of the 10-year-old church, including the its daycare and the Sunday School.

The church, which held worship services every Wednesday, Friday and Sunday, was the only one serving a Christian population of about 1,300 in Naga al-Ghafir village, the rights groups said. There had been no prior trouble with Muslim neighbors.

“The Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights condemns the closure of the Anba Karas Church in Naga al-Ghafir,” an EIPR statement read. “The church was shuttered after dozens of Muslim residents of the village surrounded the church and chanted hostile slogans against Copts; a Christian cleric and another citizen were injured after being assaulted with sticks.”

The EIPR stated that the right of worship, individually or collectively, whether in a church building, home, or other building, is a fundamental right upheld by the Egyptian constitution and international human rights conventions ratified by Egypt.

“This right is not contingent on the will of the majority,” the EIPR noted.

The church was issued a permit four years ago as an association for religious activities, prayers and social services. Two years ago the church bought an adjacent 75-square meter plot and annexed a structure to the older building after submitting all payments and paperwork to authorities.

The second and third floors were built two months ago, and there were no problems until the construction of the fourth floor began.

“The EIPR condemns the practice of security agencies closing down churches in which worship services are regularly held, on the grounds that they are not officially licensed,” the EIPR statement reads. “This violates Article 8 of Law 80/2016 on the construction of churches, which provides for the continued functioning of churches and religious buildings even in the absence of the necessary permits or failure to meet the conditions for legal status. It also contradicts a letter sent by the head of the construction and public relations sector in the Ministry of Housing on Jan. 6, 2018 to Father Mikhail Anton, the representative of the Orthodox Coptic confession on the church regularization committee.”

The housing ministry official stated that 14 governorates had been instructed not to suspend any worship services in churches that had filed their applications for status with the governorate regularization committees, according to the EIPR statement.

The EIPR has documented 32 incidents of sectarian tension and violence since the church construction law went into effect, all of them associated with worship. Interventions by various state institutions in this period led to the closure of 22 churches and the prohibition of collective worship within them, it stated.

Egypt ranked 16^th on Christian support organization Open Doors’ 2019 World Watch List of countries where it is most difficult to be a Christian.

China Training Pastors to Preach on Communism, not the Bible

Officials in China’s third largest province are training pastors to include communist ideology in their weekly sermons, according to a new report from a religious liberty watchdog.

The same officials also are forcing pastors to affirm traditional Chinese beliefs – such as ancestral worship – that conflict with Scripture. 

At issue is the approval of pastors within the Three-Self Patriotic Movement, the government-approved Protestant body that faces severe restrictions.

Pastors who failed a test on communist beliefs weren’t approved. 

Last year the Bureau of Ethnic and Religious Affairs in Henan province – the third-largest province with 94 million people – began applying Communist Party membership standards to screen Three-Self preachers, according to Bitter Winter, an organization that monitors religious liberty. 

The assessment included two parts: a sample sermon and a questionnaire. 

The Bureau told the pastors to write a sample sermon that must include “national policy, traditional culture and the core socialist values” in the text, Bitter Winter reported. Christian doctrines such as eternal life, heaven and hell were prohibited from being included. 

“The preachers are worried that churches in China will eventually become the CCP’s political propaganda agencies,” Bitter Winter’s Jiang Tao wrote.

One pastor was told to prepare a sermon on the subject, “Christians must love their country.”

To gauge a pastor’s political standing, the questionnaire included questions about Chinese and communist beliefs. A pastor only passed if the answers corresponded with the beliefs of the government.  

The question, “How do you regard tomb-sweeping and offering sacrifices to ancestors?” would need to include the answer, “This is part of China’s traditional culture; Christians can sweep tombs and offer sacrifices to their ancestors; it is not against the Bible.”

The question, “Why are minors not allowed to go to church?” should be followed by the answer, “This is a national policy; not letting children enter churches is to ensure their physical and mental health.”

In one major city, Xinzheng (population 600,000), only 58 out of 100 pastors passed. In Luolong district, nearly 50 out of 80 pastors failed the assessment.  

“[T]e test for a preaching certificate is used to examine participants on their political thinking. Government officials don’t understand the Bible,” one pastor told Bitter Winter. “As long as you flatter the Communist Party and support it, you can pass the assessment. Otherwise, no matter how well you can talk about the Bible, it would still be useless.”

Said another pastor, who is in his 80s, “The government’s goal of training young preachers is to indoctrinate and infiltrate them, so that they use the CCP’s methods when giving sermons at gatherings, and, in the end, they will become more than willing to serve the CCP.”

Dangerous Rise of Anti-Semitism All Over The World, Including The Church

There is no place for anti-Semitism in our society, and all of us should be deeply alarmed by how rapidly anti-Semitism is rising across North America, Europe and the Middle East. The numbers that I am going to share with you in this article are incredibly disturbing, and many believe that anti-Semitism is now the worst that it has been since the end of World War II. After what we witnessed during the 1930s and 1940s, you would think that the world would never want to go down that path ever again, and yet it is happening.  Millions upon millions of people deeply hate the Jewish people just because they are Jewish, and it is getting worse with each passing day. The lastest example is the New York Times which just days after the Times published an op-ed falsely claiming Jesus was a Palestinian, placed a cartoon on their op-ed page, depicting Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as a dog leading a blind U.S. President Donald Trump.

Imagine if the New York Times cartoon that depicted Israel's Prime Minister as a dog had, instead, depicted the leader of another ethnic or gender group in a similar manner? If you think that is hard to imagine that you are absolutely right. It would be inconceivable for a Times editor to have allowed the portrayal of a Muslim leader as a dog; or the leader of any other ethnic or gender group in so dehumanizing a manner.

What is it then about Jews that allowed such a degrading cartoon about one of its leaders? One would think that in light of the history of the Holocaust, which is being commemorated this week, the last group that a main stream newspaper would demonize by employing a caricature right out of the Nazi playbook, would be the Jews. But, no. Only three quarters of a century after Der Stürmer incentivized the mass murder of Jews by dehumanizing them we see a revival of such bigoted caricatures.

Threats of rising anti-semitism caught the world's attention after the Pittsburgh synagogue shooting in October 2018, where the gunman murdered 12 people and injured 7 during Shabbat morning service.  Now another one has happened...

19-year-old John Earnest was once a quiet piano player that had a seemingly bright future in front of him, but after being infected by the vile anti-Semitism that is rapidly spreading all over the Internet, he decided that it would be a good idea to walk into a synagogue and start shooting people...

One woman was killed and three others were wounded when a man entered a synagogue during Passover services Saturday at the Chabad of Poway temple and opened fire with an AR-style assault weapon shortly before 11:30 a.m.

Poway is about 25 miles northeast of San Diego. The city's mayor, President Donald Trump and California Gov. Gavin Newsom all called the attack a hate crime.

The suspect, 19-year-old John Earnest, was arrested and is being questioned by authorities.

60-year-old Lori Gilbert Kaye was killed when she stepped in front of the synagogue's rabbi as he rushed to evacuate children.  She will be remembered as a hero, while John Earnest will be remembered as a hate-filled racist that said that Jewish people "deserve nothing but hell". All over the globe, prominent political leaders are condemning what John Earnest did.  In his statement, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called it "an attack on the heart of the Jewish people"...

"I condemn the abhorrent attack on a synagogue in California; this is an attack on the heart of the Jewish people," Netanyahu said in a statement. "We send condolences to the family of Lori Gilbert-Kaye and our best wishes for a quick recovery to the wounded. The international community must step up the struggle against anti-Semitism."

Unfortunately, we aren't talking about just a few isolated individuals.

A recent CNN survey that was conducted in Europe discovered that anti-Semitic attitudes are very widespread over there...

Anti-Semitic stereotypes are alive and well in Europe, while the memory of the Holocaust is starting to fade, a sweeping new survey by CNN reveals. More than a quarter of Europeans polled believe Jews have too much influence in business and finance. Nearly one in four said Jews have too much influence in conflict and wars across the world.

One in five said they have too much influence in the media and the same number believe they have too much influence in politics.

Other polls have showed the majority of British adults don't know that 6 million Jewish people were murdered in Holocaust, or they believe the number killed to be much less than this.

The European Union's Fundamental Rights Agency study published last year asked European Jews in 12 countries their views on anti-Semitism. Hundreds of Jews polled said they had experienced a physical, anti-Semitic attack in the past year. According to authorities in France, the number of anti-Semitic attacks in that country rose 74 percent last year.

Of course this is not just a recent trend either.  According to the Anti-Defamation League, there was a huge increase in global anti-Semitic attacks from 2016 to 2017...

The Anti-Defamation League has identified 1,986 anti-Semitic incidents in its 2017 Audit of Anti-Semitic Incidents. That's up from 1,267 in 2016, marking the highest single-year increase since the organization released its first audit in 1979.

Those are deeply chilling numbers. If you are not Jewish, you may not think about anti-Semitism much.  But for those that must deal with it on a daily basis, it is a nightmare that never ends.

According to another survey of Jewish people living in Europe, 90 percent indicated that they believe that anti-Semitism is growing in the country in which they currently live.  The following comes from the Guardian... The report found 90% of respondents felt antisemitism was growing in their country and 30% had been harassed. Over a third avoided going to Jewish events or sites because of safety fears, while the same proportion had considered emigrating. Nearly 80% no longer reported minor incidents because they thought "nothing would change".

Even in polite mannered Canada the number of antisemitic incidents in Canada spiked in 2018, according to a new study published on Monday. The 2018 Annual Audit of Antisemitic Incidents commissioned by the League for Human Rights of B’nai Brith Canada showed 2,041 incidents of antisemitism took place last year, a 16.5 percent increase from 2017. The study also showed a 28.4-percent jump in antisemitic harassment, a 61.5-percent increase since 2015.

Here in the United States, anti-Semitism is rising rapidly as well.  In fact, there are an increasing number of "Christian churches" and "Christian ministries" that claim to be Christian but that also boldly express hatred for Israel and for the Jewish people at the same time.  

Much of this hatred finds it's roots in replacement theology which essentially teaches that the church has replaced Israel in God's plan. Adherents of replacement theology believe the Jews are no longer God's chosen people, and God does not have specific future plans for the nation of Israel. 

If you are anti-Semitic, you are literally embracing evil itself. And you can see it in their eyes.  You can literally see the evil in the eyes of anti-Semitic terrorists in the Middle East, in the eyes of crazed skinheads in Europe, and in the eyes of deranged extremists in the United States.

I love the Jewish people, and I am proud to stand with Israel.  We are not going to put up with anti-Semitism, and we are going to fight it wherever it is found.

Police in India File Charges against Pastors for Refuting False Account of Attack, Sources Say

HYDERABAD, India, March 22, 2019 (Morning Star News) – Three pastors in western India have been criminally charged in retaliation for refuting a false account of a Hindu extremist attack on six Christians that left a teenage girl unconscious, sources said.

Three of the six Christians beaten in Maharashtra state this month were also charged in retaliation for reporting the assault that left them with injuries requiring hospital treatment, said pastor Pandharinath Bhagya Gowri, one of the accused church leaders. 

Police who took exception to Pastor Gowri and two other pastors trying to correct a false report about the beating later charged them with the same accusations filed against the assailants, such as house trespass with intent to assault, even though the church leaders were not even present during the attack, he said.

Hard-line Hindus in Bandhan village, Palghar District in February had cut the Christians’ water supply and warned them that worse would happen if they did not renounce their faith, Pastor Gowri told Morning Star News. On March 1 a mob of Hindu extremists showed up in the neighborhood of three Christian families, burst into their homes and started beating and kicking them, he said.

“At least six Christians including women and children got injured in the attack,” Gowri told Morning Star News.

Teenage Christian Sapna Dodhade was beaten unconscious, and the Hindu extremists continued striking her and the five others even after they fell limp, the pastor said.

“The young Christian could not take their beating, she fell unconscious,” he said, adding that a team of local pastors rushed to Bandhan that day to bring the injured to a hospital in a nearby town. “Her condition was serious. While she was getting treated at the government hospital in Palghar along with other injured Christians, police officers came to record the victims’ statements.”

As the victims told Inspector Shidava Jaybhave about the ordeal they had suffered for attending church services at a neighboring village, another officer accompanying her “interrupted the victims, and he began narrating his own version of events,” Pastor Gowri said.

“It was totally a false narrative, and he was misguiding officer Jaybhave by telling lies,” he told Morning Star News. “I informed her, ‘Madam, the constable is trying to divert the matter,’ but she shouted at me and asked me to shut my mouth.”

Pastors Sainath Ambo Rawate and Navashu Mangalya Jadhav joined him in telling her that Christians had been beaten severely enough to be hospitalized and that the matter should not be taken lightly, but she refused to listen and threatened to file charges against them, he said.

“We told her, ‘Had police booked cases and taken action against villagers who were harassing Christians, this day would not have come,’” Pastor Gowri told Morning Star News. “But this went wrong with her. It must have chafed her ego that ‘illiterate villagers’ were questioning the police.”

On March 3, pastors received a phone call from police informing them that Inspector Jaybhave had summoned them to Manora police station, he said. There the three pastors discovered that a counter case had been filed against them and three of the victims of the attack on the same charges filed against the Hindu extremists: House trespass with intent to cause assault, unlawful assembly, rioting and criminal intimidation.

“After a few moments passed by, she told us that we are in her custody and cannot go from there unless we furnished the bail procedure by paying some amount,” he said. “We were not even present at the site of attack, and the victims are helpless, bedridden because of the assault, but police booked us.”

With the help of an attorney, the pastors were released on bail after spending the day in custody.

The three beaten Christians charged were Mahima Dumada, 23, her husband Mangesh Dumada, 29, and Shantaram Dodhade, 57. They were also taken into custody and released after paying bail of 15,000 rupees (US$218). 

Pastor Gowri said sources have told him that Inspector Jaybhave planned to file other false charges against them.

“Today Rawate, Jadhav and I are facing criminal charges for what happened in the hospital on March 1,” Gowri said. “We are a devoted team of local pastors who advocate for religious freedom for Christians in our surrounding villages. We stood up for the Christians in Bandhan that day, and I will never take a turn back from defending any Christian facing similar situation in future.”

Inspector Jaybhave was not available for comment, and officer Avinash Dakre of the Manor police station claimed that she “has no role in this.”
Dakre told Morning Star News that Pastor Jadhav was arrested because the Christians’ opponents told him that he visits the village often, “hence we suspect his involvement in this matter.”

Asked the basis for arresting and charging the pastors in the Bandhan attack, Dakre said, “That is not an issue; if they are not involved, I will consider striking down the charges before filing the charge sheet.”

He declined to comment on Hindu extremist targeting of Christians for holding worship services, saying he was only recently posted to the police station and that the investigation was ongoing.

Pastor Gowri said area Christians had been facing harassment for three months prior to the March 1 attack, leading them to file three police complaints. Police registered First Information Reports (FIRs) but failed to name the accused and closed the cases without investigating, he said.

As opposition to Christian worship rose, Mahima Dumada had filed a police complaint on Feb. 11, and police registered cases charging hard-line Hindu villagers with insults to provoke breach of peace and criminal intimidation, he said. In retaliation, the villagers cut the supply of water to Christian families.

“By March 1, it was already three days since the water pipeline was disconnected,” Pastor Gowri said. “They threatened the Christians, warning them to stop attending the church and renounce Christianity if they wanted the water supply back, or face the consequences.” 

Another Attack

On Feb. 24, members of the Hindu extremist Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) stormed into a house church in Gadgapara village, also in Palghar District, where at least 30 Christians were gathered for Sunday worship. They disrupted Holy Communion and assaulted the Christians, including women and children, sources said.

The Maharashtra unit of legal advocacy group Alliance Defending Freedom-India brought the matter before the area police inspector, identified only as Ganshyam, and the harassment stopped.

Following complaints to Superintendent of Police Gaurav Singh, officers at Virar East police station filed cases against assailants for unlawful assemblies, rioting, voluntarily causing hurt, insult intended to provoke breach of peace and criminal intimidation.

ADF-India recorded five incidents of hostilities against Christians from Maharashtra in the first quarter of 2019, including an attack on a catholic institution in Kolhapur District. There has been a significant rise in attacks against Christians in Maharashtra since 2014, according to Baban Kamble, a Christian leader and human rights defender from Maharashtra.

“Particularly in Palghar District, we have seen the highest number of attacks,” Kamble said. “Every next week, there have been mob attacks on churches. In Manor and Virar areas of the district, churches have long been shut after they came under the attack of Hindu extremist mobs.”

Life-threatening attacks have taken place such as one in Kowad, and cases have been filed and the accused brought to court, “but the real faces who are behind these attacks have not been exposed yet,” Kamble said.

“Recently, a Christian’s leg had to be amputated after he was brutally attacked by Hindutva [Hindu nationalist] activists,” Kamble said. “We are in the mission of building a pack of young Christian volunteers who can reach out to the victims in cases of persecution. We need to be prepared to deal with incidents of violence and discrimination against

Christians and must raise our voice through peaceful protests, and also before the parliament and legislative assemblies of the states.”

India is ranked 10^th on Christian support organization Open Doors’ 2019 World Watch List of the countries where it is most difficult to be a Christian. The country was 31st in 2013, but its position has been worse each year since Narendra Modi of the Bharatiya Janata Party came to power in 2014. 

Archaeologists May Have Found the Old Testament City of Ai

Dr. Scott Stripling and a team of archaeologists say they may have found the location of the Biblical city of Ai from the Old Testament.

The team, the Associates for Biblical Research, has been excavating the site near Jerusalem for years, according to SputnikNews.com.

“There were 14 years of difficult digging with an 8-year hiatus due to the Intifada,” Stripling said, referring to the Palestinian uprising against Israel. “We suffered from constant vandalism. But we persevered and did an excellent job of excavating.”

The city of Ai was a Canaanite city described in the Book of Joshua where the city was ambushed by Joshua and the Israelites.

Previously, archaeologists and historians have thought that the ruins of the city were near el-Tell in the West Bank. However, Stripling’s team is claiming that the city was located at Khirbet el-Maqatir.

Stripling said the biblical description of the Israelites hiding in a dip could be present-day Wadi Sheban, which is just west of the ancient city of Ai.

Stripling is expected to publish his findings and what he calls “compelling evidence” later this year.

“This gives us a regional perspective, an overview of what was happening in the highlands of Israel in antiquity,” he said. “We can see transitions in the culture.”

Stripling says he is a Christian and his work has bolstered his faith.

“My work in archaeology in Israel has affected me profoundly as a believer,” he said.

“I already believed in the Bible, but as the years go by I have seen hundreds of examples of synchronisation between the material culture we are excavating and what I read in the text. This is a constant reminder that there is a God and that he left a record of his work in history.”