Crown of Life Blog

Massive Crisis

10/25/2015

Gabe Lyons & Rich Stearns on the Refugee Crisis
Church Resource Team
World Vision

Hear Gabe Lyons of Q Ideas, World Vision USA president Rich Stearns, and our Syrian refugee expert Wynn Flaten talk about what can be done to help the millions of Syrian refugees currently living in unimaginable conditions. The jarring truth is that most Americans simply don't know how massive the refugee crisis is.

The need is great. Your church can help.

Start by watching this video that explains the scope and overwhelming need throughout Syria and neighboring countries. Help your church understand the plight of children and their families as they flee extreme violence.

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A Human Face

10/25/2015

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Annual Report
Of the US Commission
On International Religious Freedom

Putting a Human Face to Threats to Religious Freedom
by Ruth Kramer
Mission Network News

...What’s the point if nothing happens? “The reality is that Christians are restricted in their faith in at least 60 countries of the world,” explains Curry. It’s advocacy for those who have no voice. “There are hundreds of millions of people that don’t have the freedom to choose for themselves what they believe.”

Working the recommendations into policy or connecting it to assistance is one way of turning intention to action. Curry has wondered if the politics matter, and has decided that they do. “When you have an area where people do not have religious freedom, it’s the first sign that an area is going to tip into chaos. It happened in Iraq over the last 10 years, and then ISIS blew up. It’s happening right now in Nigeria. It’s happening in Pakistan.”

Bottom line: in most of the CPCs, it is dangerous (if not illegal) to own a Bible, to share your faith in Christ, change your faith, or teach your children about Jesus. Those who boldly follow Christ face harassment, arrest, torture, and sometimes death.
Yet Christians continue to meet for worship and to witness for Christ, and the hope they have attracts others. The Church is growing. More people, more persecution. It’s estimated by the World Evangelical Alliance that there are more than 100 million Christians worldwide who will suffer because they follow Christ...

Annual Report on International Religious Freedom
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Persecuted and Forgotten

10/25/2015

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Persecuted and Forgotten
A Report on Christians Persecuted for their Faith, 2013-2015
Aid to the Church in Need, UK
(Scroll Down to Request Your Free Copy)

Full List of Media Coverage

What Would a World with No Christians Look Like?
by News Staff
Breaking Christian News

Christians could soon be extinct from entire regions of the world, according to a new report from the U.K. Catholic group, Aid to the Church in Need. (Photo via Nowtheendbegins.com)

This week, the group released its latest bi-annual report, Persecuted and Forgotten?

"Christians are fast disappearing from entire regions—most notably a huge chunk of the Middle East but also whole dioceses in Africa. In large part, this migration is the product of an ethnic cleansing motivated by religious hatred," the report says.

As a result of the persecution against Christians, a massive exodus is happening in parts of the Middle East, notably Syria and Iraq...

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Week of Persecution

10/25/2015

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Rush of Syrian Refugees to Spain
by Lindsay Steele
Mission Network News

Naghmeh Abedini Under Fire for Commitment to Christian Faith
by Veronica Neffinger
Christian Headlines

Religious Freedom Abuses at Risk of Increasing in Vietnam
by Carey Lodge
Christian Today

How 100,000 Christians Fled Mosul in ONE NIGHT
by Nick Gutteridge
Sunday Express

UN Body Helping Palestinians Lay Claim to Religious Sites...
by Veronica Neffinger
Christian Headlines

House DeFunds Planned Parenthood...
by Steven Ertelt
Life News

Christians Leaders in India ... Still Await Justice
India Correspondent
International Christian Concern

...Girls Are in the Hands of God
by Veronica Neffinger
Christian Headlines

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Week of Persecution

10/25/2015

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Courtesy Open Doors USA

Hungary Shuts Border to Refugees to Preserve "Christian Values"
by Reuters
Christian Today

Washington High School Football Coach Refuses Demands to Stop Post-Game Prayers
by Carrie Dedrick
Christian Headlines

Aid Shortfalls Are Driving Desparate Syrians Back Home
by Julie A Seymour
Christian Headlines

Christian Headmaster Assaulted...
by ICC Pakistan Correspondent
International Christian Concern

Indonesia's Aceh Province Tears Down Churches...
by Kanupriya Kapoor
UK Reuters

...Islamic Radicals Follow Assyrian Christians in Sweden...
by Hazel Torres
Christian Today

Burning Black Churches Rekindle Old Fears
by Morgan Lee and Sarah Eekhoff Zylstra
Christianity Today

Church Drummer Shot Dead by Policeman...
by Veronica Neffinger
Christian Headlines

...Beheading of Christian from South Sudan
South Sudan Correspondent
Morning Star News

...Two Dozen Christian Families Left to Starve...
International Christian Concern

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The Foundation Stone Has Been Laid

10/20/2015

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Church Dedicated to Slain Christians
by Ruth Kramer
Mission Network News

The foundation stone was laid this week for a church in Egypt dedicated to the 21 Christians who were murdered by militants allied to ISIS earlier this year.

Egyptian president Abdel Fattah el-Sisi gave permission shortly after the February slayings, but work was delayed due to Muslim opposition. More to the point, says E3 Partners Middle East expert Tom Doyle, “El Sisi, the leader, has taken a strong stand. And even when the 21 Egyptians were killed on the beach in Libya, he ordered air strikes against Libya.” El Sisi has taken a dim view of extremist groups, which has been good for Christians. “There seems to be a temporary reprieve because the government is hitting hard against any of the Muslim groups that have been after Christians.” The situation for people of the Cross has improved somewhat, but it’s not over. “There’s still strong Islamic brotherhood and other groups within the country that are actively going after Christians...”

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God's Not Dead in El Salvadore

10/19/2015

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The Most Violent Country Has another Story
by Lindsay Steele
Mission Network News

...With a warzone just outside the home, families barely take a step outside, and parents won’t let kids leave the house unaccompanied, as gang leaders target young people to recruit. Children as young as seven or eight may be recruited. But the central age to begin gang work is 14 to 16 years old.

But that’s not the whole story of El Salvador; it’s just part of it.

“Men and women are standing in the gap. [They] are doing what is right and have dedicated themselves not to let their community, their family, their country, go down in the path of violence,” Lassegue says.

“There is one institution in the midst of all of this that is still respected in the country by both the good guys and the bad guys. And those people who have decided to stand in the gap, and that institution, is the church.”

Pastors and their families have remained in violent communities to continue their ministry work, to continue sharing that there can still be good, and to continue being a shield for children to survive and develop.

This is where Compassion steps in.

“We walk alongside of those pastors. We hold their hand of support, of prayer, and providing for them and their church members so that they can minister adequately to those children and young people in their communities.”
Compassion reinforces the ministry work the church does, and their sponsorship program introduces kids to Jesus and prevents them from joining gangs and violence.

Recently, the Compassion Director for El Salvador spoke with a man after a church service. Both his daughters were in the Compassion-sponsorship program, and he was sharing his appreciation for what was being done. Through the sponsorship, his daughters were able to stay out of any violence or ricochet of violence. That man was a gang leader and said if he’d had a program like this, he wouldn’t be where he was today...

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Persecution Overview

10/17/2015

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Global Overview Persecution World View, page 14
Persecution Magazine, October 2015
International Christian Concern

The Destruction of Christian Graves, Courtesy Persecution Magazine

February 15, a video released by Al Hayat Media, the media arm of the so-called Islamic State, or ISIS, showed the brutal execution of 21 Christians on a beach in Libya. Dressed in orange jumpsuits, the 21 men were led down the beach by Islamic jihadists and then forced to kneel before they were beheaded as martyrs who chose to identify with Jesus.

The video was labeled “A Message Signed with Blood to the Nation of the Cross,” and it was a gripping demonstration of the incredible dangers that Christians around the world face for following Jesus.

Atrocities like this continue to be committed by ISIS across the region. In Iraq and Syria, they have controlled an area of land that was home to more than 200,000 Christians.

In March, two suicide bombers from the Pakistani Taliban tried to enter the gates of the St. John Church and Christ Church in Yohanabad, Lahore, Pakistan. The attackers were stopped at the gates, but still 19 were killed and more than 80 injured as they celebrated Palm Sunday, something considered too dangerous for Islamic extremists in Pakistan.

Across Africa, from Boko Haram’s brutal attacks in Nigeria to the massacre of more than 100 university students in Garissa, Kenya, Christians were repeatedly the targets of Islamic terrorists. Due to increasing persecution at home, thousands of Christians have fled their homes — some choosing to risk their lives in an attempt to migrate north through Libya and across the Mediterranean into Europe. They face dangers not just from crossing the desert and sea in the hands GLOBAL OVERVIEW Persecution World View Boko Haram members display their weapons. of human traffickers, but also from ISIS jihadists in Libya who actively hunt down Christians. Numerous eye-witness accounts have explained that the militants will stop a caravan and go person by person searching for Christians and then either force them to swear allegiance to Islam or face execution. Such was the fate of more than 30 Ethiopians and Eritreans in March.

Christian persecution is not just the domain of Islamic terrorists. Increasingly, authoritarian regimes or established religious leaders are cracking down on the church, attempting to tear down their crosses in China, doing all they can to prevent Christians from worshiping in a building in Indonesia, banning Christianity in entire villages in India, imprisoning house church leaders in Iran, and using blasphemy and apostasy laws in Pakistan, Egypt, Sudan and Saudi Arabia to silence those who believe in Jesus.

Yet as persecution continues to rise around the world, it is a testimony to the endurance of faithful Christians who continue to follow Jesus no matter the cost. It is also a call to the global church to stand up for and identify with their brothers and sisters who face persecution.

In response to each of these issues, ICC serves as your bridge to the persecuted church. The following articles give an overview by geographical region and insight into some of the ways ICC is making a difference. Whether it is by bringing awareness of issues that have gone unnoticed, advocating before world leaders or providing life-saving or liferestoring assistance in the world’s most difficult places, your support allows us to bandage and build the broken body of Jesus.

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Joseph's Tomb on Fire

10/17/2015

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Palestinians Torch Joseph's Tomb in West Bank...
by Johnathan Wachtel
Fox News

Photo Courtesy Peter Lerner, Twitter

Hundreds of Palestinian rioters set fire to the site revered by some Jews as the tomb of the Biblical patriarch Joseph in the West Bank city of Nablus early Friday, ahead of an emergency United Nations Security Council session to discuss the ongoing violence.

Palestinian security forces extinguished the blaze early Friday before Israel Defense Forces could arrive on the scene, according to the Jerusalem Post. There were no injuries in the fire, but the tomb suffered severe damage.

The site has become a popular prayer site in recent years among some religious Jews. Local media showed flames leaping from the small stone structure in the West Bank city of Nablus.

The IDF said in a statement it intends to repair the site for worshippers to enter, according to JPost. The military also said it is treating the matter with the “utmost severity” and will work to identify the arsonists...

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Extinct from Iraq by 2020

10/17/2015

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Islamic State could Wipe Out Christianity in Iraq in just Five Years
by Rebecca Perring
Daily Express

Christianity could be extinct from Iraq by 2020 as bloodthirsty Islamic State (ISIS) militants continue their mission to wipe out the biblical religion.

ISIS are on a mission to wipe out Iraqi ChristiansIraqi christians, commonly known as Assyrian Christians, currently face two options, flee or suffer death at the hands of ISIS.

Christians lived peacefully in Iraq since the religion was founded, up until 2013. But when ISIS barbarians stormed the country in 2014 and declared the land as part of their Caliphate, they forced out or murdered Christians.

Under Saddam Hussein's reign there were 1.4million Christians - but now only 260,000 remain as the number fleeing from Middle Eastern nations including Iraq, Pakistan and Syria escalates...

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Crown of Life Blog

The Martyrdom of ST Stephen, Pietro da Cortona, 1660

News and Information about
Persecuted Christians from all around the
World

Persecuted saints benefit most from your heartfelt and earnest prayer.

Blessed is a man who perseveres under trial;
for once he has been approved, he will receive the crown of life which the Lord has promised to those who love Him.
James 1:12

'Do not fear what you are about to suffer. Behold, the
devil is about to cast some of you into prison, so
that you will be tested, and you will have tribulation for ten days. Be faithful until death, and I will give you the crown of life.
Revelation 2:10

New American Standard Bible
(NASB)
Copyright ©
1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971,
1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995
by The Lockman Foundation

HOW TO READ A PERSECUTION NEWS STORY

Trials make the promise sweet;
Trials give new life to prayer;
Trials bring me to His feet,
Lay me low, and keep me there.

"God often takes away our comforts and our privileges in order to make us better Christians. He trains His soldiers not in tents of ease and luxury, but by turning them out and subjecting them to forced marches and hard service. He makes them ford through streams, and swim through rivers, and climb mountains, and walk many long miles with heavy backpacks of sorrow. Well, Christian, may this not account for the troubles through which you are passing? Is the Lord bringing out your graces and making them grow? Is it for this reason He contends with you?"

Read Why Do I Face Trials?,
by Alistair Begg, Truth for Life Daily, at One Place

Christian persecution is just a phenomenon in the
Middle East.

Christians aren’t greatly
impacted by persecution.

Whatever persecution there is, the damage is superficial - more a loss of multicultural diversity than anything else.

Christians supposedly bring persecution upon themselves by proselytizing.

Persecution couldn’t
happen here.

Please read 5 Myths about Persecution of Christians, by
Kristin Wright, at Religion Today.

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