New for the Army in 2017? Beards, Nail Polish and Earrings

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Army leaders are considering some big changes to the service’s uniform and appearance policies in 2017.

The Army Research Lab has been conducting a compatibility study of protective equipment with facial hair, long hair and head coverings, an ARL spokeswoman confirmed. This includes testing combat helmets this fall at Aberdeen Proving Ground, Maryland, with volunteers – male and female – who have hair with more than two inches of volume when tied back.

And as for beards, the Army’s top enlisted soldier is open to them.

“From a personal perspective: Am I opposed to it? Not really,” Sergeant Major of the Army Dan Dailey told Army Times in November. “I think we have to look at it, we have to research on it, we have to be informed by it” . . .

The Marines, Navy, Coast Guard and Air Force all currently allow nail polish, and all of those except the Marines allow small, stud earrings in their utility uniforms. (Read more from “New for the Army in 2017? Beards, Nail Polish and Earrings” HERE)

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Christians Most Persecuted Religious Group in the World, Study Says

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Christians are the most persecuted religious group in the world, with around 90,000 killed for their faith in 2016, the director of a leading religious study group has said.

Massimo Introvigne, Director of the Centre for Studies on New Religions (Cesnur), told Vatican Radio that around half a billion Christians in the world are unable to express their faith completely freely, while around 90,000 – one every six minutes – died for their faith in the past year alone.

Referring to statistics from the Centre for the Study of Global Christianity, Mr Introvigne said around 70 per cent of Christians murdered in 2016 died in tribal conflicts in Africa. These deaths were included, he said, because very often they involved Christians who refuse to take up arms for reasons of conscience.

“The other 30 per cent, or 27,000, were killed in terror attacks, the destruction of Christian villages, or government persecution,” he added.

He told Vatican Radio that the Catholic Church is currently considering possible sainthood for individual Christians killed in territories controlled by the Islamic State terror group. Some Christians, he said, had risked almost certain death by staying in these territories to give testament to their faith. (Read more from “Christians Most Persecuted Religious Group in the World, Study Says” HERE)

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DMV Licensed 800,000 Illegal Aliens Under 2-Year-Old Law

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On the day that California officials implemented a controversial law that allows undocumented residents to obtain driver’s licenses, DMV offices throughout the state were packed with immigrants looking to take advantage of the opportunity.

Two years after the implementation of AB 60 on Jan. 1, 2015, an estimated 806,000 undocumented residents have received driver’s licenses, according to Department of Motor Vehicles statistics this month. About 14,000 of these licenses were issued in November alone, the DMV said.

The law has allowed undocumented residents to come out of the shadows and drive safely in their neighborhoods, according to Maricela Gutierrez, executive director of the immigration advocacy organization, SIREN.

“Many of them have been able to drive their kids to school and to run errands, when many times they were taking buses that would take them up to three hours to get from point A to point B,” she said. “It opened up new opportunities.”

One San Jose resident who applied for a license just a few days after AB 60 went into effect received his license in the mail shortly after. (Read more from “DMV Licensed 800,000 Illegal Aliens Under 2-Year-Old Law” HERE)

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Obama’s Historic Land Grab: 553 Million Acres for ‘Conservation’

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President Barack Obama decreed two more national monuments from his vacation home in Hawaii on Wednesday, taking 1.65 million more acres of Western land for management by the federal government.

The new Bear Ears Buttes monument includes 1.35 million acres of Utah and the Gold Butte monument includes about 300,000 acres in Nevada.

That makes a total of 553 million acres of national lands and waters that Obama has repurposed for conservation and protection using the 1906 Antiquities act, more than any other president, according to the New York Times. More than 80 percent of Nevada and about 65 percent or Utah is owned by the federal government, according to National Public Radio.

Utah Republican leaders in Congress were furious after Obama decided to designate the controversial Bear Ears monument.

“This arrogant act by a lame duck president will not stand,” Utah Republican Sen. Mike Lee responded in a statement. “I will work tirelessly with Congress and the incoming Trump administration to honor the will of the people of Utah and undo this designation.” (Read more from “Obama’s Historic Land Grab: 553 Million Acres for ‘Conservation'” HERE)

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President Selfie Is Actually Trying to Claim These 5 Absurd ‘Achievements’

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With just weeks left in the White House, President Obama is trying especially hard to sell a favorable legacy. In a collection called “The Record,” WhiteHouse.gov outlines five briefs that President Obama can tout as “achievements” the past eight years. We’ve broken them down here — the most ridiculous, the most arrogant, and the downright false:

1. Ending the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan

According to “The Record,” Obama responsibly “ended the U.S. combat missions in Iraq and Afghanistan, bringing home 90 percent of the nearly 180,000 American troops deployed in those countries when President Obama took office.”

U.S. armed forces are still very much in Iraq and Afghanistan, even if the fight there doesn’t look the same as it did in 2003. There’s no mention that President Obama signed a 10-year Bilateral Security Agreement with the president of Afghanistan to keep thousands of American troops in Afghanistan until at least 2024. President Obama also put boots on the ground to intervene in the Syrian civil war — despite repeatedly saying he would not put boots on the ground there.

2. Taking credit for legalizing gay marriage

President Obama is also touting an achievement for having ended “the government’s defense of the Defense of Marriage Act, leading to the Supreme Court’s landmark decisions holding the Act unconstitutional.”

Yes. You can thank President Obama — who once was against gay marriage and argued that “the term marriage itself has strong religious roots and a strong tradition that means something special to people in this country” — for the legalization of gay marriage, after he “evolved” on the issue in 2012. Just as Obama’s moral evolution on marriage was for the sake of political expediency, so is this last attempt to claim the legalization of gay marriage as an achievement of his administration.

3. Transgender military

According to “The Record,” Obama promoted “diversity and inclusion as an indispensable asset and strategic imperative in the United States’ national security workforce of more than three million dedicated military and civilian personnel.”

While Obama’s work on diversity and inclusion in the military may have impacted the non-gender conformative, it didn’t help people like Monifa Sterling, who was court-martialed as a Marine for putting up Bible verses at her work station.

4. Seizing millions of acres of land from the American people

Obama is credited for creating “the largest marine monument in the world, which is completely off-limits to commercial resource extraction” — but that’s not anything to be proud of. President Obama has unilaterally seized more land and sea for the federal government than any other president. Since taking office, Obama has claimed more than 548 million acres of land and water under the 1906 Antiquities Act. That’s 548 million acres of U.S. bountiful land and water that you, reader, will not be able to access or use in your own country.

5. Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP)

Obama is proud to have “Concluded the Trans-Pacific Partnership, a high-standard trade agreement that, if passed by Congress, would boost Made-in-America exports and American jobs, while setting strong rules of the road on labor and the environment across the fast-growing Asia-Pacific region.”

But according to President-elect Trump, TPP will be one of the first things to go at the start of his administration. That would mean that one of Obama’s signature achievements, something he’s worked on for years, will be washed away like a footprint during high tide.

And America would be better off if many other Obama “achievements” washed away along with TPP. (For more from the author of “President Selfie Is Actually Trying to Claim These 5 Absurd ‘Achievements'” please click HERE)

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Marco Rubio’s Response to Kerry’s Anti-Israel Speech Will Make You Fist-Pump!

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Senator Marco Rubio, R-Fla. blasted Secretary of State John Kerry’s “shameful” speech in a message posted to Facebook Wednesday.

“Secretary Kerry today once again decided to cater to the demands of freedom’s enemies and devote an entire speech to disparaging a country that is one of our closest allies,” Rubio wrote. He accused the Obama administration of abandoning American values abroad. “When we fail to take a stand against those that seek to deny #Israel’s right to exist or try to question the Jewish history of Jerusalem, we hurt not just Israel but our own credibility.”

“The greatest immediate threat to the future of Israel is not a stalled peace process, or settlements, but the abandonment of the Jewish state by the current U.S. administration at a time when it needs America’s support more than ever,” Rubio declared.

“I look forward to working with President-elect Trump and his incoming team to restore our relationship with Israel to its proper place … This shameful episode in American foreign policy cannot end soon enough,” he concluded.

Senator Tim Scott, R-S.C. (B, 89%) also condemned Kerry’s speech, characterizing the Obama administration’s proposals as “a path to pain.”

Republicans in Congress are calling to defund the United Nations in light of the anti-Israel resolution passed last week.

“Twenty-two percent of the United Nations budget comes from the American taxpayer, and I’m going to lead the charge to withhold funding until they repeal this resolution,” Senator Lindsey Graham, R-S.C. (F, 30%) told CNN.

Senator Ted Cruz, R-Texas (A, 97%) promised congressional action in conversation with the Washington Free Beacon.

“The disgraceful anti-Israel resolution passed by the UNSC was apparently only the opening salvo in the Obama administration’s final assault on Israel,” said Cruz. “President Obama, Secretary Kerry, Ambassador Power, and their colleagues should remember that the United States Congress reconvenes on January 3rd, and under the Constitution we control the taxpayer funds they would use for their anti-Israel initiatives.”

Despite near hysterics from Secretary of State Kerry in opposition to Israeli settlements in traditional Israeli lands Wednesday, the next Congress and president are unlikely to continue Obama’s radical anti-Israel agenda. (For more from the author of “Marco Rubio’s Response to Kerry’s Anti-Israel Speech Will Make You Fist-Pump!” please click HERE)

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5 Ways to Move From a Great Shaking in 2016 to a Great Awakening in 2017

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According to the Chicago Tribune, 2016 was “A year unlike any year.” Merriam-Webster, famous for its dictionaries, picked “surreal” as the word of the year, and Nigel Farage of Brexit fame opined that 2016 was the “Year Of The ‘Political Revolution’ By The Little People.”

By all counts, 2016 was a year of great shaking, perhaps of divine proportions.

In America alone, a tremendous shaking has taken place through our presidential elections alone as: the mainstream has been shaken; the political system (in particular, the Democratic party) has been shaken; the evangelical church has been shaken; college campuses have been shaken; the status quo has been shaken — just to name a few. And in each case, we could add that the shaking has not abated.

Is this the hand of God at work?

Obviously, we cannot be dogmatic about this, since we do not have the inspired commentary of Scripture to take us behind the scenes, and some of the upheaval can be explained on natural grounds alone. But from my perspective, much of the shaking is the result of the Lord responding to the prayers of His people, who for many years have been asking Him to rock our world (not destroy our world) and wake us up. Are we getting the message?

But even if I’m right about this, there is a massive difference between a great shaking and a great awakening, and the burning question is: How can we move from the great shaking of 2016 to a great awakening in 2017 and beyond?

Before answering that question, let me give you a glimpse of what a spiritual awakening looks like.

Awakening in America

Consider the First Great Awakening which took place in the American colonies between 1730-1745. Before the awakening, young people caroused and partied all night, and women were afraid to walk the streets. But in the height of the revival even Benjamin Franklin could say that “it seemed as if all the world were growing religious, so that one could not walk through the town in the evening without hearing psalms sung in different families of every street.”

Could you imagine something like this today?

Before the 1857-1858 prayer revival, the churches were becoming worldly and internalized, and immorality, violent crime, spiritualism, corruption, and atheism were on the rise (as recounted by the revival scholar James Edwin Orr). But a spirit of prayer swept across the nation, to the point that stores and businesses would shut down in some of our cities for noon prayer (again, try to wrap your mind around something like that today).

As described by Mary Stuart Relfe:

The Revival of 1857 restored integrity to government and business in America once again. There was renewed obedience to the social commandments. An intense sympathy was created for the poor and needy. A compassionate society was rebirthed. The reins of America were returned to the godly. Yet another time, Revival became the solution to the problems, the remedy for the evils, the cure of all ills.

Could a spiritual movement like this happen again in our day? To use biblical language, with people it’s impossible, but with God, all things are possible.

Shaking to Awakening in 5 Steps

Here, then, are five keys to moving from shaking to awakening.

1) To the extent prayer played a role in the shaking of 2016, it must be maintained and even increased.

Many Christians prayed fervently in the months leading up to the elections, recognizing how terribly broken our nation was and how desperately we needed divine intervention. But human nature being what it is, once we get past the feeling of crisis, we take our foot off the gas.

Now is not the time to let up. To the contrary, we must redouble our prayer focus if we want to see real, lasting change.

2) We must put our hope in the Lord, not Donald Trump.

Let’s say that Mr. Trump turns out to be a phenomenal president, appointing terrific Supreme Court justices, effectively fighting terrorism, strengthening our economy (especially in the inner cities), securing our borders and creating compassionate solutions for worthy immigrants, replacing Obamacare with a much better plan, restoring respect for America abroad — and even more.

Even if he managed to do all this, which would be more than remarkable, he would not in any way usurp the role of the church, nor could he. He could not turn the hearts of rebels and mockers; he could not restore a spirit of prayer to the church; he could not break the hold of sexual bondages; he could not unite broken families — and on and on the list goes.

So, while we pray for our president-elect to succeed in his mission, we put our trust in the Lord, not him, for spiritual awakening.

3) We must give ourselves to the Great Commission and to changing hearts and minds, especially among young people.

Change will not come to America from the top down. It must rise from the grassroots up, and the most effective “weapon” we have, along with prayer, is the gospel.

With the Lord’s help, we must make Jesus known to a generation that does not know Him, and we must demonstrate to the world that God’s ways are best — ways of life and harmony and peace.

4) If, in fact, we have been given a divine respite, a reprieve of sorts, we must maximize this opportunity with holy desperation. If we don’t, things could get worse than ever, and in a hurry at that.

Along with many other leaders, I do believe that we have been spared what could have been a disastrous Hillary Clinton presidency, in particular when it comes to issues of great concern to the church (especially abortion, religious liberty, and the meaning of marriage). But if that is true, then what we do with this respite is of critical importance.

Will we redeem the time and maximize the moment, not only on the political and social fronts but on the spiritual and relational fronts as well? Will we seize hold of our liberties and make a real difference? I dread to think of what’s ahead of us if we don’t.

5) We must not underestimate the depth of division in our country. The task is massive, and only with the help of the Holy Spirit will we see positive, lasting change.

Even if we’re right about God giving us a respite with the Trump election, we cannot forget how divisive he has been as a candidate (and even president-elect) and how these elections have revealed the deep rifts that stand between us, in particular along the lines of sex, race, skin color, age, and religion.

And while we understand that there will always be deep divisions in a nation of 330 million people, we also understand that as followers of Jesus, we have been given the message of reconciliation, both vertically and horizontally, and it is through a great spiritual awakening that these deep divides can be bridged.

The good news is that revival and visitation and renewal not only happen on a national level. Awakening also happens one life at a time, and so we do well to follow the practice of an old evangelist who was asked how he prayed for revival. He answered, “I draw a circle on the ground, then I get inside the circle, then I pray, ‘Lord, revive everything in this circle!’”

Why not start praying that prayer for yourself today? (For more from the author of “5 Ways to Move From a Great Shaking in 2016 to a Great Awakening in 2017” please click HERE)

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Will Taiwan Be the First Asian Country to Adopt Same-Sex ‘Marriage?

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Taiwan might be the first Asian country to fall to the Great Gay Juggernaut. Its government might follow the same path as many post-Christian Western governments and force its citizens to declare or pretend two men (or two women) may marry each other.

On 26 December, a second large rally in as many weeks supporting government-defined “marriage,” or gmarriage, was held in the capital city of Taipei. The rally coincided with a meeting of the country’s Legislative Yuan which was considering legislation to further the cause of gmarriage. The China Post (an English-language Taiwan-based paper) reported:

An amendment to the Civil Code was approved by a legislative committee Monday in a major step toward the legalization of same-sex marriage, as thousands-strong dueling demonstrators took place outside the Legislative Yuan.

After three hours, the Judiciary and Organic Laws and Statutes Committee approved the amendment proposed by ruling party Legislator Yu Mei-nu, which replaces “male and female parties” in the Civil Code’s marriage chapter with “two parties.”

This is not considered enough to ensconce a full-blown retreat from actual marriage. But words matter, as is understood by members of the “anti campaign.”

More than 110 demonstrators from the anti campaign were taped by the wrist by police officers after they broke through the police line and barged into the Legislative Yuan, attempting to interrupt the committee meeting.

This is interesting because these active counter-demonstrations were not often seen in the Western countries which adopted gmarriage, which is a signal that hope is not yet lost for Taiwan. Also, polls only show about 37% of Taiwanese support gmarriage, a number which has been dropping.

There is not much to be sanguine about, however. Only two weeks before the latest rally, on December 11th, another huge pro-gmarriage event was also held in Taipei. One report is as many as between 75,000 to 250,000 came.

A site called Pride Watch Taiwan keeps detailed statistics on the 113 members of the Legislative Yuan. As of this writing, 57.5% (or 65) of that body’s members have expressed support in one way or another for gmarriage. The support may have only been in public settings and not (yet) made official. Only 10.6% (or 12) of the members are openly opposed, with the rest remaining mute or supporting a version of civil partnerships.

A majority of the country’s ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), 66.5% (or 46), are for gmarriage, while only 34.3% (or 12) of the opposition Kuomintang (KMT) are for gmarriage. Historically, the KMT has been the more conservative party. It was also the first party after Chiang Kai-shek decamped to the island after being chased from the Chinese homeland by the murderous Mao Zedong. There is a rich and rough history of the KMT and Taiwan, so the usual left-right party breakdowns familiar in the USA don’t apply well in Taiwan.

Pride Watch also tracks which members of the Legislative Yuan call themselves Christian, of whom there are 12. Half of these are against gmarriage, and three are neutral or support civil partnerships. And three — curiously, since gmarriage is not justifiable or compatible with Christianity — are for it. All these three are in the DPP.

The country’s president since last January is Tsai Ing-wen, a DPP member and one-time college professor. Tsai is a confirmed bachelorette and cat fancier, and has said, “In the face of love, everyone is equal. Let everyone have the freedom to love and to pursue their happiness. I am Tsai Ing-wen, and I support marriage equality.” Speaking on the same day, but not at the 11 December rally, Tsai said, “Gay people also have the right to get married.”

It’s unclear whether Tsai has the charisma or the backing to carry the gmarriage policy forward. She was elected with a wide margin, but homosexual “rights” and gmarriage were not part of the platform she ran under. And though she was very popular immediately after her election, she ran into immediate troubles for failing to uphold her campaign promises, mostly involving vacation practices and treatment of cross-straight relations with China.

Because of her inconsistencies, she has come in for no small measure of teasing. Her family name “Tsai” mimics the sound of a popular, hollow-stalk vegetable, which has given rise to the nickname Kong Xin Tsai, or “empty-hearted vegetable” (proving insults are often culturally relative).

Correspondingly, her approval rating has been plummeting, and her mirror disapproval rating rising. This could mean she has to put her focus on more pressing matters and put homosexual matters on the side.

If Taiwan falls, it will be the first predominately Buddhist nation to embrace this denial of the nature of marriage . Thus far, only post-Christian countries have adopted gmarriage. Taiwan is largely Chinese in demographics and culture, with its corresponding history of Confucianism and its intense focus on family. That this is fading is important.

Maybe of most importance, is that Taiwan has crossed a secular threshold common in those Western nations that abandoned actual marriage, with some 18-20% of its adults saying they hold to no religion. These are similar percentages in those gmarriage nations which were once openly Christian. (For more from the author of “Will Taiwan Be the First Asian Country to Adopt Same-Sex ‘Marriage?” please click HERE)

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Let ‘Em Hang: A Response to Todd Starnes’s Column on the Christmas Mall Fights

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Brawls involving hundreds of teenagers broke out at 15 malls in at least eight states the day after Christmas.

Yesterday, Fox News columnist and friend of The Stream Todd Starnes offered some thoughts about the incidents in a column entitled “Hey Parents, Malls Are for Commerce — Not Babysitting.” In the spirit of friendly disagreement, here are a few alternative arguments.

‘No Rhyme or Reason,’ or Coordinated Effort?

Starnes claims that “there was no rhyme or reason to the violence.” Reports from police actually indicate that there may have been a reason and a rhyme — in fact, an organized one.

Starnes acknowledges the speculation that social media played a role in the mall outbreaks, but given the striking similarity of the events (15 malls? Eight states? Same night?), I’m willing to give a little more credit to the organized-on-social-media theory than the growing-problematic trend theory Starnes favors.

It smells to me like a one-off online plot of mischievous rebels, and not something that should give all rule-abiding teens a bad rap from now on.

Unsupervised Teenagers Aren’t Terrorists

Starnes claims that “anyone under the age of 18 without parental supervision has no business in a mall.”

Not so long ago, I was under 18 myself, and spent my fair share of time in a mall with friends. Moreover, I have young teen relatives with young teen friends who regularly enjoy grabbing lunch at the food court, trying on clothes or catching a movie — at the mall.

I live not five minutes from one of the most popular malls in my metropolitan area, and I would say over 50 percent of the shoppers I squeeze by while meandering between stores are those “underage young people” Starnes complains about.

The worst offense I’ve seen from them in my several years of mall shopping? Not moving out of the way fast enough when I’m in a rush because they are too busy laughing with their friends, flirting with each other, or, in recent years, Snapchatting their very non-eventful exploits.

In other words, while unruly youth and teen violence are real issues, I don’t think they are the shopping-mall trends that Starnes seems to indicate.

To be fair, some share Starnes’s concerns following the frightening fights on Monday, with reports of certain malls considering restrictions or bans on underage teen shoppers. Only about one-tenth of American malls currently have such restrictions, and many others are loath to implement them. I get why.

When I first graduated college, I snagged a part-time job at my local mall’s Forever 21 to tide me over financially while navigating job applications and interviews in my field. Can you imagine how forlorn a Forever 21 would be without after school and weekend teen shoppers? (If you have never shopped in a Forever 21 — and I don’t necessarily recommend it — you’ll just have to trust me.)

The Real Reason Malls are Shutting Down

Starnes seems to think that these “rampaging mobs of teenage thugs” are the reason you don’t see as many malls anymore — or the ones you do see look creepy and abandoned, a relic of bygone ’80s glory.

“Why do you think so many enclosed shopping centers are shutting down?” Starnes asks. “Nobody wants to risk their life for a Cinnabon or a discount on hand soap at Bath & Body Works.”

Starnes is right — I don’t want to risk my life standing in line for a Cinnabon or buying discount soap at Bath & Body Works (how did he know what I do at the mall?!). But to be honest, when I go to the mall I am more concerned about a deranged lone wolf with a knife or a gun who might be attracted to a busy place, and not “little thuglings” hanging out with their friends. That’s why I keep my Glock on my body and my license to carry in my wallet (one of the benefits of being a mall shopper over the age of 21 in Texas).

The truth is that people have long been analyzing why malls are closing down (and will likely continue to close over the next decade). While the mall I frequent is always teeming with activity (the benefit of catering to an upper-middle class area), others, like the one my mom took me shopping at in the 90’s, are emptying out.

One explanation is the rise of online shopping, as this New Yorker article explained back in 2014. Another is the waning relevance of middle-class department stores like Macy’s and J.C. Penney, which have traditionally served as “anchor stores” and a main reason for people to go to a mall, according to this Money article.

A Cop’s Perspective

As someone who has grown up in a family of law enforcement and security officers, it’s easy for me to reach out to someone who can offer this unique perspective. I called my closest cop friend yesterday to ask whether Starnes’s statement that “if teenagers disrupt commerce and cause mayhem, they should spend the night in jail” was unequivocally fair.

My cop friend said no. He said in any fight involving anyone, the resulting consequences “totally depend” on the situation. He said it’s possible for one party to get arrested and another go free, for one or both (or several) to be handcuffed or made to sit down while the officers investigate, for one or multiple parties to be given tickets, etc.

Additionally, Starnes’s comment that “hardly anyone was arrested” in the December 26 mall fights is not exactly true. Eight teens were charged in Aurora, Ill. (where CNN reported that police were considering raising some misdemeanor charges to felonies), five teens arrested in Aurora, Colo., and seven juveniles were arrested in Memphis, Tenn.

If the multiple police officers responding to these calls on Monday decided to arrest only a certain amount of teens in each case, I am going to trust that they had a reason, and I’m also going to trust that their first priority (and rightly so) was the safety of all around.

(Side note: Christmas weekend can be one of the worst, busiest times for law enforcement officers. Filling jail cells with all 200 teens involved in no-weapons-found mall brawl might not be their top priority the day after Christmas.)

Teens Aren’t All Bad

There is one point that I’ll agree with Starnes on. America doesn’t need any more programs for youth paid for by the government — which is what Starnes says that some people are pushing for in light of Monday’s events. If there truly is a need for more youth programs, then churches, religious groups, non-profit or family-led efforts should step up and provide them. And in fact, many already are.

I won’t deny that trouble making teens are out there (aren’t they always?), but I’ve made somewhat of a habit of defending my Millennial generation, and that goes for those trailing behind a few years in age as well.

I say, let them eat Cinnabon — and shop — and hang at the mall — while we still have malls left. (For more from the author of “Let ‘Em Hang: A Response to Todd Starnes’s Column on the Christmas Mall Fights” please click HERE)

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Boko Haram Remains a Threat to Christians in Nigeria and Cameroon

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Showing that the Islamic extremist group Boko Haram remains a threat, a local self-defense group saved Christians gathering to celebrate Christmas in a town in northern Cameroon.

According to AllAfrica.com reports, the self-defense group saw a suspected member of Boko Haram riding a bike toward the Christians. When they tried to search him, he detonated his bomb, said the state’s governor. He killed himself, two members of self-defense group and a nearby civilian. Christmas day attacks on three other towns were also reported.

The Nigerian government claims to have driven the Islamic terrorist group out of their home in the Nigerian part of the large Sambisa forest. It seems to have survived across the border in Cameroon.

Not Yet Safe

However, Nigeria is not yet safe. On the same day as the attacks in Cameroon, two young female suicide bombers tried to attack a market in Maiduguri. Maiduguri is the largest town in the northeastern Nigerian state of Borno.

“One of the bombers was instantly killed in the explosion, while the second was lynched by irate mob in the vicinity,” said a spokesman for the Borno state police. Security forces detonated the other bomb.

Congratulating Nigerian president Mohammadu Buhari for his success against Boko Haram, a leading opposition party warned that other forests where terrorists and criminals hide out needed to be cleared. They “have become killing fields,” said the spokesman for the Peoples Democratic Party.

The previous president, Goodluck Jonathan, a Christian, was a member of the party. Buhari, a retired general, is Muslim.

As reported on Monday, Boko Haram has killed at least 20,000 people and displaced at least 2.6 million since 2009. By keeping farmers from farming, the group has put 14 million people in need outside help.

In October, 21 of the schoolgirls kidnapped by Boko Haram were released and returned to their homes for Christmas. About 250 more remain missing. Many are thought to be have been forced to marry Boko Haram soldiers and convert to Islam. (For more from the author of “Boko Haram Remains a Threat to Christians in Nigeria and Cameroon” please click HERE)

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