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10 Hard Truths About Pope Francis, Mid-East Christians and the Palestinians [+video]

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Great waves of heat but little light emerged from the controversies surrounding Pope Francis’ recent actions and statements about the Middle East. Each story followed the standard pattern of reporting about Pope Francis:

(a) Pope Francis does or says something.

(b) Secular reporters spin it to the greatest possible benefit of the nearest leftist cause.

(c) Conservatives react to (b) instead of (a) — and who can blame them? They mostly don’t read Italian or obsess about Vatican news.

(d) The Vatican issues a belated and confusing explanation, which appears only in the Catholic press, for a tiny readership.

(e) Some conservative publications accept (d), write about it and reprimand the media. Others don’t.

(f) The nearest leftist cause benefits from the perception of papal support, the whiff of infallibility, and the world moves on. Rinse and repeat.


Pope Francis is not entirely blameless. His sympathies do lean left on many issues, and conservatives have reason to disagree with some of his statements. That being said, two recent stories about Pope Francis and the Middle East are examples of the media pattern above. Pope Francis did not call Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas an “angel of peace.” He called on Abbas to become an angel of peace. That’s starkly different.

Yes, Pope Francis did finalize a process launched by previous popes, which culminated in a document that recognized the PLO entity as a “state.” This is a bad idea, but it’s the fruit of a complex history which one can’t understand without knowing a series of hard truths about the region. These are truths I’ve learned from years of study and from speaking to Arab Christians personally — during almost five years of attending a wonderful Melkite Catholic church in New Hampshire. I will simply list these hard truths, resisting the urge to moralize about them:

1. Christians in the Middle East are mostly hostages of intolerant regimes, dependent on the good will of their Muslim masters. Christians there are unarmed, divided and periodically persecuted as scapegoats for whatever is going wrong at the moment. This has been true for most of their history since AD 800 or so, with a brief respite in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, when European powers interfered with the Middle East, setting up colonies and fitfully protecting Christians. That all ended after World War II.

2. With the disappearance of their French and British protectors, many Arab Christians were suspect as agents of foreign influence, so they tried to fit in with their societies by promoting secular Arab nationalism, in the hope that this movement would replace intolerant Islam. The nationalist and socialist Ba’ath party, which once ruled Iraq and still rules Syria, was invented by a Lebanese Christian.

3. At the beating heart of Arab nationalism was opposition to Israel. Christians who signed on to nationalist movements hoped that by fervently fighting the “Zionist enemy” they could prove their patriotism, and win a space where they could survive. Some of the founding members of the PLO were Christians. Ironically, the genocidal, anti-Christian jihadists of Hamas were aided at first by the Israeli secret service, which hoped to divide its Palestinian enemy into warring factions. Oops.

4. Secular Arab nationalism was never very effective, and it began to collapse in the 1970s, to be replaced by Islamist sharia movements. Without the Soviet Union to back them, regimes like Hussein’s Iraq and Assad’s Syria became more brittle and fragile. These regimes tried to shore up their own shaky legitimacy by becoming more fervent in their support for terrorism against Israel. Saddam Hussein, for instance, while he mostly protected Christians, paid bounties for suicide bombers who targeted Jewish civilians.

5. The viciousness of such terrorist attacks hardened Israeli public opinion, and rallied American Christians to support more right-wing governments in Israel. These attacks also fed support for the overthrow of Saddam Hussein in 2003, and the proposed overthrow of Bashar al-Assad today. Of course, the collapse of such secular regimes would be terrible news for local Christians, since the only plausible replacement for them would be intolerant Islamist governments. We see that more than a million Christians were driven out of Iraq after the U.S. invaded. The U.S. did little to protect them.

6. Many American Christians don’t know and don’t care about the plight of Middle Eastern Christians. They are more concerned about American security and the defense of Israel.

7. Israelis don’t care much about the fate of Middle Eastern Christians, whom they see (with much justice) as just another bunch of Arabs who hate them. If they thought that American Christian support for Israel depended on its intervening to protect Christians, Israelis might do something in that direction. But it doesn’t, so they don’t.

8. Pope Francis sees protecting Middle Eastern Christians as his primary task in the region. Someone, somewhere, has to take an interest in them. If not him, then who? Pope Francis believes that championing a Palestinian state will buy goodwill from Muslims toward Christian minorities, and perhaps diminish the number killed or ethnically cleansed.

Pope Francis is probably mistaken, as David Goldman has pointed out. The only hope for Christians in the region is for American conservatives to put pressure on Israel to protect them, and on Middle Eastern Christians to give up on their support for dying Arab nationalism. But whether because they have succumbed to Stockholm Syndrome, or for some other reason, too many Arab Christians actually prefer Muslims to Israelis. So they are unlikely to cooperate — as we saw from the event where an American Jewish philanthropist, Ronald Lauder, brought together the leaders of persecuted Middle Eastern Christians. Ted Cruz addressed them and in rather tactless language called on them to drop their Ba’athist strategy and support the state of Israel. They booed him off the stage. To his credit, Lauder has continued his humanitarian efforts to help persecuted Christians anyway.
The only short-term hope for Middle Eastern Christians is the survival of secular dictatorships like Assad’s in Syria and el Sisi’s in Egypt. The long-term future of Middle Eastern Christians is probably in the United States of America — if and when we revise our refugee policy to start accepting persecuted Christians instead of their Muslim persecutors. That won’t happen under a Democratic president — and unless we Christians wake up and defend our brothers, it won’t happen under a Republican president, either. Remember that the greatest catastrophe for Christians in the region since the Armenian genocide was while George W. Bush was president and Christian men like Chris Kyle were patrolling the cities of Iraq. (See “10 Hard Truths About Pope Francis, Mid-East Christians and the Palestinians”, originally posted HERE)

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NFL Star’s Facebook Post for Persecuted Christians Goes Viral

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New Orleans Saints tight end Benjamin Watson wasn’t expecting his Facebook post on persecuted Christians to go viral — but it did.

After seeing news of the Islamic State group’s slaughter of Christians in the Iraq, Syria and Libya, the NFL player posted his thoughts on his social media page, which were then shared close to 20,000 times and resulted in an invite to speak with Fox New’s Greta Van Susteren.

Here is the content of Benjamin Watson’s Facebook post:

The images keep flooding our timelines and news feeds. Men being burned alive or beheaded by masked assassins. Stories of families on the run, fleeing their homes while they are pillaged and burned. Their testimonies hold a familiar chord. “Convert, Pay or Die! …

As I sit here in a 21st century United States, I can’t help but wonder when we too will face martyrdom for our faith. On this very day nearly 50 countries have laws that restrict or outlaw Christianity, leading to the harassment, imprisonment and death of those who follow Christ. On this day, in countries like North Korea and China, Christians gather for church underground to avoid being arrested by police. On this day, in Nigeria thousands mourn the deaths of their loved ones killed by Boko Haram in their quest to overthrow the government and create an Islamic state. On this day, in Cuba, Christian ministries continue to risk their freedom as the countries continues to feel the effects of Communist rule.

(Read more about the post about persecuted Christians going viral HERE)
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Benjamin Watson’s Facebook Post

The images keep flooding our timelines and news feeds. Men being burned alive or beheaded by masked assassins. Stories of families on the run, fleeing their homes while they are pillaged and burned. Their testimonies hold a familiar chord. “Convert, Pay or Die!”

The persecution of Christians is not a new concept. As early as the first century we read about the Spirit filled boldness of Christians like Stephen and Paul who proclaimed the gospel through beatings and imprisonment, torture and death. We remember Christ’s disciples, most of whom were killed just like their master. Roman emperors like Nero, executed Christians in the most ghastly ways, using them as torches to light the evening sky.

In spite of all this adversity, Christianity continued to spread because men and woman, empowered by the Holy Spirit stood strong in the face of certain death; some being delivered and others falling. As I sit here in a 21st century United States, I can’t help but wonder when we too will face martyrdom for our faith. On this very day nearly 50 countries have laws that restrict or outlaw Christianity, leading to the harassment, imprisonment and death of those who follow Christ. On this day, in countries like North Korea and China, Christians gather for church underground to avoid being arrested by police. On this day, in Nigeria thousands mourn the deaths of their loved ones killed by Boko Haram in their quest to overthrow the government and create an Islamic state. On this day, in Cuba, Christian ministries continue to risk their freedom as the countries continues to feel the effects of Communist rule.

BUT, on this day, Jesus words in Luke still ring true,

“And I say to you, everyone who confesses Me before men, the Son of Man will confess him also before the angels of God; but he who denies Me before men will be denied before the angels of God.” Luke 12:8

I tremble with fear at the thought of facing such incredible atrocities for the sake of Christ. How could I stand firm, staring down the barrel of a gun, the life of my family in the balance? I shudder, thinking of that day. I feel so inadequate. Rest assured, fellow Americans, if it hasn’t already, our day WILL COME.

Jesus goes on, providing us comfort and hope for this day. He says,

“When they bring you before the synagogues and the rulers and the authorities, do not worry about how or what you are to speak in your defense, or what you are to say; for the Holy Spirit will teach you in that very hour what you ought to say.” Luke 12:11,12

My only hope in such trying times is the power of the Holy Spirit. He is the X factor. He will give us the strength, words, and vision when our backs are against the wall. Jesus promised the believer many things. Eternal life, abundant life, peace, purpose and forgiveness to name a few. He also promises that they, like him, WILL be betrayed, hated and persecuted, even to death. (Luke 21:12-19)

The Internet has brought close what used to be foreign. Shocking, disturbing worldwide news is available in the palm of our hands. As we see these videos and images we must remember in prayer our brothers and sisters who are suffering for Christ. We must support them in any way we can for they are being witnesses to their oppressors.

Secondly, we must WAKE UP from our slumber, be on guard and stand firm. A house divided against itself cannot stand. Spiritual unity in the body will help us weather the coming storms. We must REMEMBER that as terrible as things are and will become, they are simply signs pointing to one thing; His Imminent Return.

“When these things begin to take place, stand up and lift your heads, because your redemption is drawing near.” Luke 21:28

Lord be with us.

(to like and share Benjamin Watson’s post, click HERE)

Follow Joe Miller on Twitter HERE and Facebook HERE.

Christians Growing in Niger Despite Brutal Assaults by Muslims

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Photo Credit: Christian Today The faith of the Christians in Niger continue to grow despite a series of violent attacks from January 16 to 18 that left more than 70 churches in ruins.

The attacks were perpetrated by Muslims who were angry at the latest Charlie Hebdo cartoon that depicted Mohammad carrying a sign expressing solidarity with the victims of the attack on their editorial offices earlier this month.

Now, Christians are holding meetings and services in their own homes under the protection of the Niger police.

“Last night the church members met for prayer as the pastor, who lost everything, encouraged them by flashlight to not only stand strong, but to move forward and to know that this attack will grow the church,” Christian Headlines quoted a letter from a missionary couple in the Niger. “The room was dark on the outside but illuminated by the fire in the hearts of His people, even as stones were being thrown on the roof.”

The violence began in the city of Zinder on January 16. By January 18, the destruction and attacks have spread to the capital city of Niamey. The perpetrators specifically targeted Christian buildings and properties, leading Mahamadou Issoufou to condemn the attacks on live TV. (Read more about the Christians growing in numbers HERE)

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Gospel Music Pioneer Andraé Crouch Dies at 72

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Photo Credit: USA Today
Andraé Crouch, a gospel musician who bridged the worlds of church and mainstream music for more than 50 years, died Thursday afternoon. The 72-year-old singer, songwriter and choir director had been hospitalized since Saturday at Northridge Hospital Medical Center in the Los Angeles area after suffering a heart attack.

Crouch, sometimes called “the father of modern gospel music,” led the choirs that sang on such hits as Michael Jackson’s Man in the Mirror and Madonna’s Like a Prayer. As a songwriter, he wrote several gospel favorites, most notably The Blood Will Never Lose Its Power, My Tribute (To God Be the Glory) and Soon and Very Soon, a song sung at Jackson’s public memorial service.

A San Francisco native who grew up in the Church of God in Christ, Crouch wrote his first gospel tune at age 14. By 1960, he had formed the Church of God in Christ Singers, a group that featured Billy Preston on keyboards.

He started another group, Andraé Crouch & the Disciples, in 1965, eventually signing to a contemporary Christian label, Light Records. Crouch brought a contemporary pop and R&B melodic sensibility to gospel, making him uniquely suited to appeal to both black and white audiences during the early days of the countercultural “Jesus movement” and also bringing him attention beyond the church. (Read more from story “Andraé Crouch Dies at 72” HERE)

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Devoted Christian Alice Cooper: “The World Belongs to Satan” (+video)

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Photo Credit: CNS News
Alice Cooper, the shock-rock megastar who makes Marilyn Manson look like a choir boy, stopped his hard-partying ways and returned to his Bible Christian roots in the late 1980s and today, still hugely popular and touring, says he isn’t shy about discussing his faith, says his early songs always warned against choosing evil, and contends that the world we live in “doesn’t belong to us, it belongs to Satan.”

“The world doesn’t belong to us, it belongs to Satan,” said Alice Cooper. “We’re living with that. We’re bombarded with that every day.”

“[A]lmost everything I wrote was good and evil,” he said. “Don’t pick evil. Even when I wasn’t Christian, I was saying that. God and the Devil. Don’t pick the Devil. It’s a bad idea.”

Alice Cooper (born Vincent Damon Furnier) shot to mega-stardom in the 1970s and early 1980s with hits such as “I’m 18,” ‘Schools’ Out” and the 1973 album, Billion Dollar Babies. He also was notorious for his demonic makeup and costumes and macabre theatrics on stage, which included simulated suicide and the decapitation of baby-dolls, among other dark antics.

Alice Cooper was nominated for two Grammy Awards and he and his band were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2011. He has played roles in several movies, including Wayne’s World with Mike Myers and Dana Carvey and, perhaps most ironically given his shock-rock music career, Cooper is an avid and skilled golfer. (Read more about the Christian Alice Coopers’ statement HERE)

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UNBROKEN Film Gets My Dad’s Faith Right

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Townhall.com

Townhall.com

By Luke Zamperini

It’s not uncommon to hear someone say, “I’ve been waiting my whole life for this or that story to be made into a movie.”I can’t say that about UNBROKEN, though. I’ve only been waiting 57 years.

I was 4 when the movie rights to my father’s life story were acquired by Hollywood –and finally, on Christmas Day, it will reach the big screen in the new movie directed by Angelina Jolie and starring Jack O’Connell as my Dad, Louis Zamperini.

To say I’m thrilled is an understatement. To say Dad, who passed away over the summer at 97, was thrilled is a bigger understatement.

He got to see the film before he died –Angelina showed it to him on her laptop in his hospital bed –and he was ecstatic at how it portrays his triumphs and tragedies, up till now most famously told in Laura Hillenbrand’s New York Times best-seller also titled UNBROKEN. The remarkable beats of his life are all there: the troubled and troublesome kid who turned to running for a sense of purpose and wound up representing the U.S. in the 1936 Olympics. The World War II bombardier whose plane crashed in the Pacific Ocean in 1943 and who survived for an excruciating 47 days adrift in a life raft with two fellow servicemen; and the prisoner of war who endured unspeakable psychological and physical abuse at the hands of his unusually cruel Japanese captors.

Read more from this story HERE.

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‘Unbroken’ Hero Found Christ at Billy Graham Crusade

By Fox News

The much-anticipated movie “Unbroken” tells the story Louis Zamperini, an Olympic runner who became a World War II hero after his plane was shot down over the Pacific Ocean.

The film covers Zamperini’s brutal internment in a Japanese POW camp, but it doesn’t chronicle the years after the war, when Zamperini found Christianity after attending a Billy Graham crusade.

In fact, there is a only brief mention of Zamperini’s Christian faith at the very end of the film.

Billy Graham’s son, Franklin Graham, the president and CEO of Samaritan’s Purse, appeared on “America’s Newsroom” today to react to the decision not to feature Zamperini’s faith more prominently in the film.

Graham said director Angelina Jolie did an amazing job adapting the book, but she only covered 33 chapters out of 39.

Read more from this story HERE.

Exclusive: Christian Magistrate Resigns After Being Ordered to Violate Conscience and Preside Over Homosexual Weddings

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In a case certain to be replayed in judicial chambers throughout the United States, a North Carolina magistrate had to decide this week whether he would violate deeply held religious convictions and submit to the tyranny of the state or lose his job.

His predicament started with a ridiculous ruling from a Bush-appointed federal judge who ordered North Carolina to marry homosexuals despite the fact that such marriages were illegal under state law. The federal judge parroted other activist rulings throughout the country that have commandeered the Constitution’s equal protection and due process clauses to invalidate state voters’ efforts to protect traditional marriage.

Of course, there’s absolutely no way that the drafters of the federal Constitution (and its amendments) ever intended such provisions to mandate homosexual marriage. Every state in the union – until relatively recently – criminalized sodomy.

Not buying the argument that the Constitution intended to protect homosexual marriage, a magistrate refused to marry two homosexual men in Pasquotank County, North Carolina. The state court system reacted swiftly, issuing a memorandum ordering all judicial officers to officiate over such marriages or face termination.

That prompted Rockingham County Magistrate John Kallam, Jr. to resign. The committed Christian stated that when he began work as a judge, there was no expectation that he would preside over homosexual weddings. He also noted that marrying two men, or two women, “would desecrate a holy Institution established by God Himself. Since performing marriages is an integral part of being a Magistrate and in light of recent changes in North Carolina law, I can no longer fulfill my oath of office in good faith.”

He concluded his resignation letter with the words of King David: “‘He that rules over men must be just, ruling in the fear of God’. Where there is no ‘fear of God’ there can be no justice!”

Judges in Alaska are now faced with a similar predicament. After a Bush-appointed federal district court judge in Anchorage used the same twisted logic to invalidate the state constitutional amendment approved by an overwhelming number of Alaskans, Governor Sean Parnell asked the judge to stay his order while it was appealed. The activist judge rejected the Governor’s request, even though the Ninth Circuit subsequently granted a hold until the Supreme Court could review it.

Ultimately, Justice Kennedy, on behalf of the Supreme Court, refused to delay implementation of the Anchorage federal judge’s decision. That means, any day, the Alaska Court System – presided over by a justice who previously ordered a privately owned hospital in the valley to abort babies – will likely issue a directive similar to the North Carolina decree. It remains to be seen how magistrates will respond here.

It also remains to be seen how “We the People” will react to the elites’ hijacking of our Constitution and culture. The majority of Americans still believes, despite the endless efforts of Hollywood and judicial activists, that God ordained marriage as between a man and a woman. Given this commitment to God over man, the elites’ dogged efforts to consolidate control and impose their immorality on the rest of the nation may have just hit a massive speed bump.

Blunt on Christian Facing Martyrdom in Sudan: ‘She Is Wife of U.S. Citizen’

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Photo Credit: APSen. Roy Blunt (R.-Mo.) and Sen. Kelly Ayotte (R.-N.H.) sent a letter to Secretary of State John Kerry and Secretary of Homeland Security Jeh Johnson today flatly asserting that Meriam Ibrahim, who is eight months pregnant and who is imprisoned in Sudan with her 20-month-old son where she awaits martyrdom for refusing to renounce her Christian faith, is in fact the wife of an American citizen.

On Monday, State Department spokesperson Jen Psaki would not affirm that Ibrahim’s husband was a U.S. citizen when directly asked about it by CNSNews.com.

“As you are aware, after refusing to recant her Christian faith, Meriam was sentenced to death by hanging in a Sudanese court last week,” Blunt and Ayotte wrote in the letter to Kerry and Johnson. “Meriam, 27, is currently 8-months pregnant and has been imprisoned along with her 20-month-old son since February.

“She is the wife of U.S. Citizen Daniel Wani,” the senators said.

At Monday’s State Department press briefing, CNSNews.com asked spokesperson Jen Psaki about a report in the Morning Star News that said State Department officials at the U.S. Embassy in Khartoum had told Daniel Wani he would have to provide DNA evidence to prove he was the father of the 20-month-old boy imprisoned with his wife before the department would help him.

That news report quoted Wani as saying: “I provided wedding documents and the baby’s birth certificate and doors were closed on his face. … I’ve tried to apply for papers to travel to the USA with my wife and child, but the American Embassy in Sudan did not help me. My son is an American citizen living in a difficult situation in prison.”

Read more from this story HERE.

Christian Alternative to ObamaCare Growing Fast as Deadline Nears

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Photo Credit: Natural News With just weeks left to sign up for insurance on HealthCare.gov, a growing number of people are opting to enroll in a Christian alternative to traditional health insurance.

Nationwide networks of fellow believers help share each other’s major medical bills through what’s known as health care sharing ministries.

“It works just like insurance. I have an insurance card. I show it just like anyone else would. I have a deductible. I have a monthly premium that I pay,” explained Eileen Wade, who joined the health care sharing ministry, Medi-Share, in 2011.

The nation’s three largest ministries boast more than 242,000 members, spanning all 50 states, who agree to live so-called biblical lifestyles — meaning regular church attendance; no drugs, tobacco, or sex outside of marriage; and limited alcohol consumption.

This kind of healthier lifestyle helps keep monthly premiums lower than that of other health insurers for most members.

Read more this story HERE.

Christian Group Plans 100-Foot-Tall Jesus Statue in Muslim-Dominated Nazareth

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riojesusAs Christians from across the globe flock to the Holy Land in time for Christmas prayers and ceremonies, some in the community in Nazareth are seeking to reaffirm the historical importance of their town by erecting a statue of Jesus that would tower more than 100 feet above the city.

The idea for the statue comes from Bishara Shlayan, a Christian merchant seaman who lives in Nazareth, the childhood home of Jesus. Shlayan has seen the demographics of Nazareth change considerably in recent years, with the Christian community becoming a minority while the Muslim population has grown to 70 percent of the 80,000 residents of the northern Israeli town.

“Slowly, but surely, the Christian identity in Nazareth is beginning to disappear,” said Shlayan, noting that signs in the main square declare that “There is no power but Allah.”

The plan is for the statue of Jesus to be sit atop Mount Precipice, also known as the Mount of the Leap of the Lord, the promontory where according to Luke 4:29-30, a mob attempted to drive Jesus off the hilltop only for him to pass through them without injury. Shlayan is raising money for the project, but recently got what may be even more important backing: Israel’s Tourism Minister Uzi Landau gave him the green light, saying, “Start it, and we will bless it.”

“I don’t believe in statues, but it is a symbol of love and peace,” Shlayan told The Jerusalem Post. “People who are against it, it comes from jealousy.”

Read more from this story HERE.