Category Archives: Christianity
Catholics do good pomp :)
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Filed under Catholic Church, Christianity
When you’ve got Jesus, you’ve got everything
Mychal Massie says he has “never held animus and resentment toward any group of people much less a group of people based on color of skin. I wasn’t raised that way.” He shares what Alveda King answered him when he asked how she can harbor no hatred for white people when whites murdered both her father and her uncle, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.:
“Oh Mychal, don’t you know that I’ve got Jesus?”
She went on to explain what God had done for her and how God’s love, grace and His forgiveness of her sins had made it possible for her to love and forgive others.
Compare this with Barack and Michelle Obama. They have never suffered the painful personal loss that Alveda has, yet they are both filled with hatred for America and a deep resentment of whites. For more than two decades, they chose to regularly attend and raise their daughters in a church that preaches a gospel of extreme anti-Americanism and racial hatred.
While Michelle was at Princeton, she unfriended black classmates she thought were acting too friendly to white students. Then, she wrote her entire thesis about how awful it had been for her to endure all the white people at Princeton. Most folks would have been grateful for the chance to attend an Ivy League college; not born-to-privilege-and-mad-all-the-time Michelle Robinson Obama.
It doesn’t matter what either of them says they’re all about on The View or Oprah or Letterman. What matters is what we see them doing. In Galatians 5:19-23, St. Paul taught us the FRUITS OF SIN include:
IDOLATRY
HATREDS
RIVALRY
JEALOUSY
OUTBURSTS OF FURY
ACTS OF SELFISHNESS
DISSENSIONS
FACTIONS
OCCASIONS OF ENVY
St. Paul further taught that the fruits of the Holy Spirit are love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. What difference does it make? Nothing more nor less than eternal life. SINNERS “will not inherit the kingdom of God.”
Source:
http://mychal-massie.com/premium/whats-michelle-obama-got-to-be-bitter-about/
Catholics and the Rapture
I believe the Scripture contains hints that a Rapture will occur as part of the Sixth Seal events and that these events, plus all of Revelation Chapter Seven, will mark the end of the Ages of the Christian Church on Earth.
I further believe the texts of Seal Seven and Letter Seven (Laodicea) predict a six month period of calm following the Rapture, when the Left Behind “who have ears to hear” will have time to respond to Jesus’ knocking on the doors to their hearts. This may involve them first breaking into the houses of the “religious fanatics” who suddenly disappeared in order to get hold of all the Bibles, books and DVDs we collected but that’s another story!
In the interests of not giving scandal, I thought that before I came right out and said in public, “I think the Bible predicts a Rapture event,” I had better check what the Roman Catholic Church does and does not teach about this stuff. I located two articles by Catholic theologians that each had serious enough bona fides that I felt I could print them out and give them a good deal of my attention.
1. Catholic Answers Tract: The Rapture @ http://www.catholic.com/tracts/the-rapture
This article carries the important NIHIL OBSTAT and IMPRIMATUR stamps of approval.
2. Raptured or Not? A Catholic Understanding @ http://www.americancatholic.org/Newsletters/CU/ac1005.asp
This article was authored by a Franciscan professor of Old Testament, Semitic languages and biblical spirituality.
N.b., If you see stuff purporting to present Catholic teaching, please Please PLEASE check the bona fides before accepting it as definitive. I’ve seen some out-and-out lies presented in this “straw man” way.
The pertinent section in the Catholic Catechism for our purposes is:
Millenarian doctrines have been kicking around for centuries. They come in different varieties, but are all based in Revelation 20:1-10. Today’s Christians are familiar with two forms:
- Christian Millennialists who interpret these verses to mean that Jesus will return at end of the Great Tribulation, then rule here on Earth for a long time (usually 1000 years, hence the term millennialism), after which the dead will be raised, all souls will be judged, and God will inaugurate the new Heaven and the new Earth.
- Social Justice Christians who interpret these verses to mean that human society can and should be perfected not through God’s grace, but through natural, usually political, means – e.g., Communism, Socialism. There are bucket loads of these folks in my church. They pay about as much attention to the Scriptures and the Catechism as they and their comrades on the Left pay to the Constitution. (Big names include Joe Biden, Nancy Pelosi, Kathleen Sebelius and, of course, their now-deceased “Lion of the Senate” Ted Kennedy.)
For Catholics, teachings about the Rapture tend to get thrown out with the bathwater, because they are included in many religious millennial interpretations. But the two things are actually quite separate and the Catholic Church only condemns the “Jesus will rule on Earth for a long time between the Second Coming and the Final Judgment” part. The Catholic Answers article says,
With respect to the rapture, Catholics certainly believe that the event of our gathering together to be with Christ will take place, though they do not generally use the word “rapture” to refer to this event (somewhat ironically, since the term “rapture” is derived from the text of the Latin Vulgate of 1 Thess. 4:17—”we will be caught up,” [Latin: rapiemur]).
Granted, this ingathering is usually understood to refer only to the one described at the Second Coming / Final Judgment, but there’s nothing inherent to the idea of an earlier ingathering that is condemned. What is problematic for Catholics is any interpretation that says:
- Jesus will come back here more than once and/or that
- His Second Coming will not be followed soon after by the Final Judgment.
The Rapture event I am seeing in the Sixth Seal and Chapter Seven avoids both of these problems. More on all this in my next installment.
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Filed under Bible Prophecy, Catholic Church, Christianity
Anti-Christian violence? Say what?
Radical Muslim Yusuf Ibrahim ritualistically murdered and dismembered two Coptic Christians in Buena Vista, New Jersey.
Never heard of this? Big shocker. (Not.)
Our media and their sled drivers in the Democrat Party seldom, if ever, seem to view Muslim atrocities as … you know … atrocities.
Check out this “OMG we don’t know WHY this happened!” report from ABC
RIIIIIIIIIIIGHT. A radical Muslim beheads two Coptic Egyptian Christians but we don’t know WHY?
Some whack job shoots at a Democrat and it’s INSTANTLY labeled a Right-Wing Hate Crime.
But a radical Muslim beheads … BEHEADS … two Christians and it’s all oh golleeeeeeee and head scratching.
But that’s the message from the top, isn’t it?
Muslims murder four Americans in Benghazi?
Blame a lame YouTube video nobody watched.
Ditto Black crimes. Scream slavery and Jim Crow and RAAACISM.
“If I had a son, he would look like Trayvon Martin.”
Ibrahim didn’t just murder two Christians; he beheaded them, and cut their hands off and then buried the body parts in his back yard.
IN NEW JERSEY!
Our leaders should be publicizing and condemning his actions.
Instead, Obama’s Director of Homeland Security calls conservatives and veterans the greatest threat to American security.
And Democrats from the top down are doing their best to disarm us.
Think I’m exaggerating about the bias?
Consider if the religions of the murderer and his two victims were reversed.
As one wit put it, “You’d be able to see the media storm from the moon.”
Source:
Are Veterans And Conservatives Greater Threat To Security Than Muslims?
By Mychal Massie on February 28, 2013 in Daily Rant
Filed under Christianity, Islam, Media Bias
This Lent
It’s Ash Wednesday, the first day of Lent. I love the date. 2/13/13 … Two One Three One Three. I think I’ll let that be my meditation for the day, the symbolic meaning of those numbers.
Filed under Christianity
Lone gunman halts terrorists intent on mass murder
July 25, 1993 – Charl Van Wyk, who carried a gun to a service at St. James Church, Cape Town, South Africa, stopped terrorists armed with semi-automatic weapons and bent on mass slaughter. He saved hundreds of lives.
Were people at the service put off by his action? On the contrary, some of the undecided came to Christ as a result of these events. Van Wyk notes that self-defense is biblical.
“The Bible clearly teaches, ‘A righteous man who falters before the wicked is like a murky spring and a polluted well’ (Proverbs 25:26). Surely we would be ‘faltering before the wicked’ if we cannot protect worshipers in a church!”
He also says gun control progressives live in a “sheer utopian fantasy” to expect “homicidal maniacs” follow gun laws. He believes politicians should do what’s right to save the lives of children and teachers.
“In Israel teachers and parents, serving as school aides, are armed at all times on school grounds, with semi-automatic weapons. Since this policy was adopted in the 1970s, attacks by gunmen at schools in Israel have ceased,” he said.
“In 2004 Thailand adopted a similar approach for safety of children. It may be politically incorrect, but it does have the advantage of saving the lives of innocent children and teachers. The policy? Encouraging teachers to carry firearms.” he continued. “Though Thailand’s government is extremely hostile to gun ownership in general, it has recognized that teachers ought to be able to safeguard their students and themselves,” he said. “Maybe we can learn something from these countries.”
He argues strict gun control actually leads to more crime.
“Besides the mother’s womb, gun-free zones are the most dangerous places on earth. At the end of the day, we need to be prepared to defend ourselves. The only person who can stop a bad guy with a gun is a good guy with a gun; nobody else will be of much help.”
See Van Wyk describe his shooting experience and its aftermath [8:21]
@ http://www.wnd.com/2013/02/church-member-shoots-back-when-terrorists-attack/
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Filed under Christianity, Gun Control, Self Defense, Terrorism
Easter 2014: A remarkable convergence of dates!
Sources:
- Hebrew / Roman calendar @ http://www.cgsf.org/dbeattie/calendar/?roman=2013
- Orthodox Easter dates @ http://www.smart.net/~mmontes/OrthEasttbl.html
- Western Easter dates @ http://www.lexorandi.org/easter-date.html
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The Non-Canonical Gospels
Q. Why are the other Gospels not in our canon of scripture?
A. Ultimately, it was the bishops – the leaders of the Church – who made the final decision but this decision was not reached in some smoke-filled back room. It was a decision that was based upon the experience of early Christians – people like you and me – who, in the first century, had come to embrace certain books as worthy of being considered inspired by God while designating other works as either falling short of that or just downright missing the mark.
This being, said, there was no definitive list or canon of the New Testament until the 4th century. Much of what was not included in the Canon remains available to us in the form of what we now refer to as apocryphal writings. Such books give us a glimpse into the mind and heart of early Christianity and are worthwhile for study; however, they are not considered inspired because of errors they contain in their presentation of the Gospel message.
Some of our Catholic Tradition can be traced to the apocryphal Gospels. For example, the names of the parents of Mary – Joachim and Anna – come to us from apocryphal writings such as the Gospel of the Birth of Mary and the Proto-Gospel of James. Likewise, have you ever wondered why images and statues of Saint Joseph often portray him holding lilies? This is the result of a legend, included in the apocryphal writing known as the Protoevangelion, about how Joseph came to choose Mary as his spouse.
In addition to these lovely images and passages, we also find strange and misleading passages such as the story from the apocryphal Gospel of Thomas in which the child Jesus gets upset with one of his playmates and strikes him dead! This is not the Jesus we know.
In recent years, author Dan Brown has made a fortune exploiting the lack of knowledge that most people have about the apocryphal gospels by proposing that the Church has been involved in a massive cover-up of these writings for centuries. Not true. They’re on library shelves and on the internet.
Joe Paprocki, D.Min. – National Consultant for Faith Formation at Loyola Press in Chicago
CtH: I scoped out a few of the non-canonicals, then decided I don’t know the real Scriptures well enough to be confusing myself with this stuff and stopped.
The Infancy Gospel of Thomas – Purports to describe the doings of Jesus in his boyhood. Includes this disturbing story:
IV. 1 After that again he went through the village, and a child ran and dashed against his shoulder. And Jesus was provoked and said unto him: Thou shalt not finish thy course (lit. go all thy way). And immediately he fell down and died. But certain when they saw what was done said: Whence was this young child born, for that every word of his is an accomplished work And the parents of him that was dead came unto Joseph, and blamed him, saying: Thou that hast such a child canst not dwell with us in the village: or do thou teach him to bless and not to curse: for he slayeth our children.
Infancy Gospel of James – Aka, Protevangelium of James. The oldest manuscript is from the third century and Origen quoted it in the second century. The author is not familiar with Jewish life, but seems to have simply embellished wildly on stories in the Gospels of Matthew and Luke. One example:
XV. I [Mary and Joseph were brought together] unto the place of judgment. … [Mary] wept bitterly, saying: As the Lord my God liveth I am pure before him and I know not a man. 4 And the priest said unto Joseph: Wherefore hast thou done this And Joseph said: As the Lord my God liveth I am pure as concerning her. …
XVI 1 And the priest said: I will give you to drink of the water of the conviction of the Lord, and it will make manifest your sins before your eyes. 2 And the priest took thereof and made Joseph drink and sent him into the hill-country. And he returned whole. He made Mary also drink and sent her into the hill-country. And she returned whole. And all the people marvelled, because sin appeared not in them.
The Gospel of Mary [Magdalene] – Composed mid to late 2d century, this document communicates not the Christian vision of a world that will pass away in favor of a new world order, but a Gnostic world that needs to dissolve because it is only an illusory chaos of suffering and death. Examples:
Peter said to [Jesus], “Since you have now explained all things to us, tell us this: what is the sin of the world.” The Savior said, “Sin as such does not exist, but you make sin when you do what is of the nature of fornication, which is called ‘sin.'” …
Peter said to Mary [Magdalene], “Sister, we know that the Savior loved you more than other women. Tell us the words of the Savior which you have in mind since you know them; and we do not, nor have we heard of them.”
Sources:
- Why are the noncanonicals @ http://bustedhalo.com/questionbox/why-are-the-non-canonical-gospels-not-considered-valid
- Noncanonical literature gospels @ http://wesley.nnu.edu/sermons-essays-books/noncanonical-literature/noncanonical-literature-gospels/
- Infancy Gospel of Thomas resources @ http://www.earlychristianwritings.com/infancythomas.html
- Infancy Gospel of James resources @ http://www.earlychristianwritings.com/infancyjames.html
- Gospel of Mary @ http://www.earlychristianwritings.com/gospelmary.html
- Excerpts from the Gospel of Mary @ http://wesley.nnu.edu/sermons-essays-books/noncanonical-literature/noncanonical-literature-gospels/excerpts-from-the-gospel-of-mary/
Filed under Christianity
Jewish Feast Days in 33 AD
There’s a bunch of evidence to put the day of Jesus’ crucifixion on April 3, 33 AD, or Nisan 14, 3794 in the Jewish calendar. For example, a Greek historian named Phlegon described the same events we read about in the Gospels — i.e., that the sun was eclipsed and there were earthquakes — and he dates it to 33 AD. Pontius Pilate wrote something even more specific in a report to Tiberius Caesar:
Now when he was crucified darkness came over all the world, the sun was altogether hidden, and the sky appeared dark while it was yet day, so that the stars were seen, though still they had their luster obscured, wherefore, I suppose your excellency is not unaware that in all the world they lighted their lamps from the sixth hour until evening. And the moon, which was like blood, did not shine all night long, although it was at the full. – Pontius Pilate, 33 AD
I don’t know what caused the sky to darken in the afternoon. A regular solar eclipse only lasts minutes, not hours, and is caused by the moon, which was in the wrong place. However, a blood moon is common during a lunar eclipse, which according to NASA occurred on April 3, 33 AD and was visible in the Holy Lands.
The only problem with accepting the 33 AD date is that the Synoptic Gospels all refer to the Last Supper as the “Passover feast.” We know that the Last Supper was on a Thursday, but in 33 AD, Nisan 14 was on Friday, not Thursday. When God set out the Jewish feasts, He told Moses:
The Passover of the LORD falls on the fourteenth day of the first month, at the evening twilight. -Lev 23:2
I looked up every year from 3788 through 3800; Nisan 14 just didn’t fall on a Thursday in any year within a reasonable span of the time we know Jesus died. Nisan 14 landed on 3788/Wednesday, 3789/Monday, 3790/Saturday, 3791/Wednesday, 3792/Wednesday, 3793/Monday, 3794/Friday, 3795/Wednesday, 3796/Monday, 3797/Friday, 3798/Wednesday, 3799/Monday, 3800/Monday. (The Hebrew/Roman calendar app URL is below.)
The Gospel of John presents another conundrum, in that it clearly says the Last Supper was on Nisan 13, the day before Passover, and that Jesus died on the cross even as the priests in the Temple were killing the lambs people needed for their Passover meals that evening. Nisan 14 is called Preparation Day, for obvious reasons.
In other words, John’s Gospel agrees with Phlegon, Pilate and NASA that Jesus was crucified on April 3, 33 AD. I love how that date works out in our calendar with our Bible number symbolism. The THIRD day of the FOURTH month is God plus Creation = Completeness. And two THREES for the year is like God the Father and God the Son together.
That just leaves us with the puzzling question of why the Synoptics ALL say the Last Supper on Nisan 13 was a Passover feast. Pope Benedict XVI explained it in his Holy Thursday homily in 2007. It seems that the Dead Sea Scrolls say that the Essene community celebrated a lamb-less Passover on the evening of the 13th. Neat, huh? Jesus was the Lamb at this meal during which He instituted the Holy Eucharist, giving us His Body and His Blood for all time.
The Essenes were an ascetic Jewish sect that practiced voluntary poverty. We would call them monks and, according to Josephus, a noted historian of the period, there were thousands of them throughout Roman Judea. Apparently, they expected the Messiah to arrive soon, so maybe it should not be surprising that they disappeared simultaneously with the rise of Christianity. It is speculated that most of them became Christians.
I think this fact explains the apparent contradiction between the Synoptic Gospels, which were written around 50 AD, and the Gospel of John, which was written a few decades later. People would’ve still been familiar with the Essene practices in 50 AD; some of them would’ve been former Essenes themselves. But by 80 AD, those references to a Passover feast on Nisan 13 would’ve had hands shooting up at every Bible study, especially among the Gentiles who would’ve been really clueless about the practices of an extinct Jewish sect. I think John knew there was a lot of confusion, so he wrote what he did in his Gospel to make it very, very clear that Jesus died on Preparation Day, Friday, Nisan 14.
The Passover feast starts off the week-long Feast of Unleavened Bread, which runs from Nisan 14 (sunset) until Nisan 21 (sunset). The 15th and 21st are holy rest days; that’s why they’re dark yellow on the calendar above. When Nisan 15 fell on Saturday, as it did in 33 AD, it was a High Sabbath.
Jesus was entombed throughout the High Sabbath of Nisan 15, 3794 (April 4, 33 AD).
In Leviticus 23, when God set the feast calendar for His people, He nested two special feasts within the week of Unleavened Bread – the Feast of Passover and the Feast of First Fruits. As I’ve explained, Passover always starts at sunset on Nisan 14, which means it floats around in the week from year to year. The Feast of First Fruits, however, is always on the day after the Sabbath (i.e., Sunday) that falls within the week of Unleavened Bread.
“You shall bring the first sheaf of your harvest to the priest, who shall elevate the sheaf before the LORD that it may be acceptable on your behalf. On the day after the Sabbath the priest shall do this.” Lev 23:10-11
In 33 AD, the first Easter Sunday, the day Jesus rose from the dead, was also the Feast of First Fruits.
“First fruits” was the portion of the harvest offered in thanksgiving to God. It implies the consecration of the entire harvest to come. Christ’s resurrection is not an end in itself; its finality lies in the whole harvest, ourselves. In 1 Cor 15, Paul goes into this idea, but I never knew before that the first Easter was literally the Jewish Feast of First Fruits!
But now Christ has been raised from the dead, the first fruits of those who have fallen asleep. For since death came through a human being, the resurrection of the dead came also through a human being. For just as in Adam all die, so too in Christ shall all be brought to life, but each one in proper order: Christ the first fruits; then, at his coming, those who belong to Christ.
Forty days after Easter, Jesus ascended into Heaven:
Jesus presented himself alive to them by many proofs after he had suffered, appearing to them during forty days and speaking about the kingdom of God. While meeting with them, he enjoined them not to depart from Jerusalem, but to wait for “the promise of the Father about which you have heard me speak; for John baptized with water, but in a few days you will be baptized with the holy Spirit. … You will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, throughout Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” When he had said this, as they were looking on, he was lifted up, and a cloud took him from their sight. Acts 1:3ff
Ten days after that:
When the time for Pentecost was fulfilled, they were all in one place together. And suddenly there came from the sky a noise like a strong driving wind, and it filled the entire house in which they were. Then there appeared to them tongues as of fire, which parted and came to rest on each one of them. And they were all filled with the holy Spirit and began to speak in different tongues, as the Spirit enabled them to proclaim. Acts 2:1ff
In the Jewish tradition, Pentecost is called the Feast of Weeks or Shavuot. It commemorates the day God gave the Torah to the entire nation of Israel assembled at Mount Sinai. Jesus said, “I have come not to abolish the Law, but to fulfill it.” And the Holy Spirit came on Shavuot. Now there’s something to meditate on!
Sources:
- http://www.cgsf.org/dbeattie/calendar/?roman=33
- http://www.usccb.org/bible/leviticus/23
- http://catholicknight.blogspot.com/2007/04/new-theory-explains-passover.html
- http://catholicknight.blogspot.com/2007/04/exact-date-of-christs-crucifixion.html
- http://www.zenit.org/article-19341?l=english
- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Essenes
- http://bible-truth.org/Feasts-Firstfruit.html
- http://runholy.com/pilates-letter-to-caesar/
Filed under Christianity, Holidays, Sky Signs
The Gospel is in all 196 nations!
I came across these words of Our Lord the other day and it got me curious to know if this “gotta happen before He comes again” sign had been fulfilled yet. So I googled. There are 196 nations in the world. I looked them all up and learned that, indeed, the Good News has been preached to ALL NATIONS!
Nations where Christians are not persecuted, grouped by size of population, then alphabetically
- Less than 10% Christian (14 nations): Albania, Bangladesh, Cambodia, The Gambia, Israel, Japan, Kosovo, Mongolia, Nepal, Senegal, Sri Lanka, Taiwan, Thailand, Turkey.
- Between 10% and 50% Christian (15 nations): Benin, Burkina Faso, Chad, Cote d’Ivoire, Czech Republic, Estonia, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Korea (South), Liberia, Madagascar, Mauritius, Sierra Leone, Singapore, Togo.
- More than 50% Christian (118 nations): Andorra, Angola, Antigua and Barbuda, Argentina, Armenia, Australia, Austria, The Bahamas, Barbados, Belarus, Belgium, Belize, Bolivia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Botswana, Brazil, Bulgaria, Burundi, Cameroon, Canada, Cape Verde, Central African Republic, Chile, Congo (Republic of the), Congo (Democratic Republic of the), Costa Rica, Croatia, Cuba, Cyprus, Denmark, Dominica, Dominican Republic, East Timor, Ecuador, El Salvador, Equatorial Guinea, Fiji, Finland, France, Gabon, Georgia, Germany, Ghana, Greece, Grenada, Guatemala, Guyana, Haiti, Honduras, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Jamaica, Kiribati, Latvia, Lebanon, Lesotho, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Macedonia, Malawi, Malta, Marshall Islands, Mexico, Micronesia (Federated States of), Moldova, Monaco, Montenegro, Mozambique, Namibia, Nauru, Netherlands (The), New Zealand, Nicaragua, Norway, Palau, Panama, Papua New Guinea, Paraguay, Peru, Philippines, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Russia, Rwanda, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Samoa, San Marino, Sao Tome and Principe, Serbia, Seychelles, Slovakia, Slovenia, Solomon Islands, South Africa, South Sudan, Spain, Suriname, Swaziland, Sweden, Switzerland, Tonga, Trinidad and Tobago, Tuvalu, Ukraine, United Kingdom, United States of America, Uruguay, Vanuatu, Vatican City, Venezuela, Zambia, Zimbabwe.
Nations where Christians are persecuted, grouped by degree then ranked by severity (2013 Open Doors list)
Note: The majority of these nations have <10% Christian population. Where it is more, the nation is starred.
- EXTREME (11 nations): North Korea, Saudi Arabia, Afghanistan, Iraq, Somalia, Maldives, Mali, Iran, Yemen, Eritrea*, Syria.
- SEVERE (12 nations): Sudan, Nigeria, Pakistan, Ethiopia*, Uzbekistan, Libya, Laos, Turkmenistan, Qatar, Vietnam, Oman, Mauritania.
- MODERATE (22 nations & one territory): Tanzania*, Egypt*, United Arab Emirates, Brunei, Bhutan, Algeria, Tunisia, India, Burma (Myanmar), Kuwait, Jordan, Bahrain, (Palestinian Territories, listed for persecution, but not recognized as a nation), China, Azerbaijan, Morocco, Kenya*, Comoros, Malaysia*, Djibouti, Tajikistan*, Indonesia*, Colombia*.
- SPARSE (4 nations): Uganda*, Kazakhstan*, Kyrgyzstan*, Niger.
SUMMARY of persecution sources
- MUSLIM (41 nations): Saudi Arabia, Afghanistan, Iraq, Somalia, Maldives, Mali, Iran, Yemen, Eritrea*, Syria; Sudan, Nigeria, Pakistan, Ethiopia*, Uzbekistan, Libya, Turkmenistan, Qatar, Oman, Mauritania; Tanzania*, Egypt*, United Arab Emirates, Brunei, Algeria, Tunisia, Kuwait, Jordan, Bahrain, Palestinian Territories, Azerbaijan, Morocco, Kenya*, Comoros, Malaysia*, Djibouti, Tajikistan*, Indonesia*; Uganda*, Kazakhstan*, Kyrgyzstan*, Niger.
- BUDDHIST (4 nations): Laos, Vietnam; Bhutan, Burma (Myanmar).
- ATHEIST (2 nations): North Korea (#1 worst for eleven straight years); China.
- HINDU (1 nation): India.
- DRUG CARTELS (1 nation): Colombia*.
- CHRISTIAN (2 nations): Eritrea* and Ethiopia* also appear on the MUSLIM list and require some extra explanation from Open Doors site.
Eritrea* – All evangelical churches were closed in 2002 following a government ban on religious groups other than Orthodox, Catholic, Lutheran and Islam. The government is very hard on non-traditional Christians, but members of the Orthodox Church also report on evangelical believers, and Muslim extremists are ready to take over where the government leaves off. When believers are discovered they are arrested and held in shipping containers in military camps. At least 105 Christians were arrested in 2012, and 31 Christians were reported to have died in prison.
Ethiopia* – For years, the Ethiopian Orthodox Church has persecuted believers who have left their ranks or joined renewal movements. But Islamic extremism has now become the dominant source of persecution. Converts and ‘underground believers’ have to be very cautious to avoid being traced. Muslim fanatic group, Kewarjah, is repeatedly blamed for attacks against Christians in the south-west. A new law banning all religious messages and talks from public spaces is expected to bring a wave of restrictions against Christians.
Sources:
- Persecution of Christians @ http://www.opendoorsusa.org/ @ http://www.persecution.org/ @ http://www.worldwatchmonitor.org/
- List of nations of the world @ http://geography.about.com/od/countryinformation/a/capitals.htm
- CIA World Factbook @ https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/rankorder/rankorderguide.html
- Christianity by country @ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christianity_by_country <– x-referenced this with CIA for x-tra accuracy
Filed under Christianity, Religious Liberty
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