Copts

 by Jerusalem Vistas~Israel Vision

Final Celebrations of the Christmas Season…

Serbians in Belgrade~Picture Credit: Blazing Cat Fur
For many people, especially outside of North America, Christmas does not come on 25 December. The Orthodox Churches in Russia and other Slavic countries as well as in the Middle East, hold their Christmas Eve celebrations on 06 January.
The Assyrian, Armenian and Coptic patriarchs celebrate with marches and services held in Bethlehem and  within Jerusalem’s Old City. There are also Christmas markets in Bethlehem and Nazareth as well as the Old City, and a variety of religious services and activities. Tourists from around the world travel to Israel for this special time.
Although this is a time for peace and celebration there are still conflicts. In the entire middle-east, Israel is the only country where the Christian population has increased. Bethlehem, which is now under “PA” control, has gone from a majority Christian to a majority Muslim city. The Christian population now is about 10%, and those remaining dare not speak out for fear of persecution. The Christmas “Tourism” business is pushed, but once the tourists leave it is a different story. There are even factions who are trying to “steal” the day by claiming that Mary was a Palestinian, and Jesus was the first Jihad. Even during this holiest time of the year, propaganda and politics rule the day.
Regardless, those who are true believers have only one thing in mind on this day~and that is the Miracle and Hope that was given to all mankind. Despite threats and oppression, the tiny Christian communities continue to pray and wait for the time when all the world will know peace.
Please pray for the Christian Communities in the Middle East! They are now among the most persecuted (and ignored) people in the world!

Божићна песма – Превјечни родисја по љети~The Pre-Eternal is Born
Angels Are Singing~Serbian Christmas Song
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 by Jerusalem Vistas~Israel Vision

Family Jailed for 15 Years~For Converting to Christianity!

You Just Can’t Make This Stuff Up!
Living in the middle-east we are well aware of the systematic persecution of Christians. In every country (save one~Israel) Christians are slowly being eliminated. Under Islam, converting to another religion can result in jail or death. This is the reality,

On 14 January 2013, the criminal court of Beni Suef (115 km south of Cairo, Egypt) sentenced Nadia Mohamed Ali and her children Mohab, Maged, Sherif, Amira, Amir, and Nancy Ahmed Mohamed abdel-Wahab to fifteen years in prison. Seven other people involved in the case were also sentenced to five years in prison.

Born a Christian, Nadia had changed her religion to marry her husband Mustafa Mohamed Abdel-Wahab. After the man’s death in 1991, Nadia decided to return to her religion of origins (to obtain her dues) and to convert her seven children.

After the conversion in 2004, Nadia and her children decided to replace their Muslim names on their identity cards with their Christian names and city of residence.** She was aided by seven Registry office employees. In 2006, one of her sons was arrested by police in an information center in the city of Beni Suef. Suspicious of the young man’s documents (where he had changed its name to Bishoy Malak Abdel-Massih) police agents interrogated him for hours until he confessed his conversion to Christianity. The judges then decided to jail not only the woman, but all of her children and seven clerks from the registration office (who were responsible for changing the documents).

Conversions from Islam to Christianity were quite common in the past, but Nadia’s case is just the beginning of the oppression of Christians. The fact is, now that Morsi and the Muslim Brotherhood have made Sharia law an integral part of the new constitution Christians in Egypt, Christian believers are at greater risk than ever.

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** From an article by Daniel Greenfield: 
An individuals religious faith is listed in Egyptian identity cards. 
Christians, converted to Islam for various reasons that attempt to return to the religion to which they belong have enormous difficulty in correcting their names on the documents. This leads many people to forge them, risking prison. The reverse process, ie the transition from Christianity to Islam is not hindered, and in many cases is favored by the very Registry officials

Fortunately Obama is springing into action by sending the Muslim Brotherhood Islamist regime a whole bunch of F-16s….

About Daniel Greenfield:

A Shillman Journalism Fellow at the Freedom Center, is a New York writer focusing on radical Islam. He is completing a book on the international challenges America faces in the 21st century.
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 by Jerusalem Vistas~Israel Vision

Egypt: Christians Praying For “Divine Intervention”

In January 2011 we posted a story HERE about the Christian Zabbaleen (rubbish people) of Egypt. Born into perpetual poverty, the children leave school by age twelve to help support their families who live, eat, sleep and work their entire lives in garbage, along with rats, pigs and other animals.
Their church is a massive underground cave–excavated out of solid rock because in Egypt, only mosques get building permission. Even their tiny newspaper must be printed in secret–under a threat of imprisonment if they are caught. Young girls are kidnapped and forced to convert to Islam. Although the Coptic Christians pre-date Islam in Egypt by 600 years, and were once the majority population, systematic attacks, forcible conversion to Islam, and murder have left only a tiny fragment living in poverty and fear.
An excerpt from Bare Naked Islam’s Blog highlights their situation:
In spring 2009, at the height of the global swine flu epidemic (despite the fact that no Egyptians were affected) the authorities ordered the slaughter of all pigs in Egypt. The animal played an important role in Zabaleen’s recycling enterprise, consuming the organic waste created by Cairo’s 18 million residents and tourists. As a result of this, the living situation for the Zabbaleen has become even poorer even if they continue to breed pigs, illegally.
As if things were not bad enough, the rise of the Muslim Brotherhood has fomented a growing hatred for the Christian population and unchecked attacks. Christians, like the Jews of the past are being cleansed from the middle east, yet, the UN, the Media, Human Rights Groups and the World~Yes, this includes the voice of the Christian World~remain strangely silent. One has to ask Why?

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 by Jerusalem Vistas~Israel Vision

Coptic Christians in Egypt Are Suffering Daily Persecution!

Coptic Christians have lived in Egypt since Christianity began. Once they were the majority population, and now they number less than 10% because most of Egypt’s population has been forcefully converted to Islam through terrorism, economic means, discrimination, persecution and murder.
Now that Egypt will have a Majority Islamic Government, the Copts are suffering unbelievable cruelty. Imagine being arrested for praying in your own home! Imagine your daughter kidnapped and forced to convert to Islam by torture and rape!
 
And who is there to speak for them? Where is the United Nations? Where are all the NGO’s? Where are all the Human Rights groups? 
More important~Where is the rest of the Christian World? Why the silence? Why do we stand by while our governments support and snuggle up to the Muslim Brotherhood? Why do we allow our funds to go to any Islamic government while Christians are being persecuted?
Egyptian Christians are being cleansed from their land~those remaining suffer daily. We must not remain silent!
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 by Jerusalem Vistas~Israel Vision

Persecution of Christians in Gaza & Palestinian Territories

Manger Square~Bethlehem
Israel withdrew from Palestinian populated areas of the Judea, Samaria and Gaza. Instead of this being a good thing it has proven to be a disaster, and guess who is suffering? We know the Jews are unwelcome, but how many know that Christians are persecuted~suffering arrests, torture and even death for practicing their faith. 
Although the report lists Israel with the other Arab countries this is incorrect as the only place where Christians are not persecuted is in Israel proper. When Israel withdrew from Bethlehem the Christian population dropped from 80% to less than 15%~some say 10%.
Please listen to this report and consider what will happen if Israel is forced by the UN and the West to give up even more territory. Anyone who believes Christians will be allowed freedom need only look at the Copts in Egypt. More to the point look at the city of Bethlehem, now controlled by the Palestinian Authority.

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 by Jerusalem Vistas~Israel Vision

Egypt’s Christians Are A Dying Population

Coptic Christians in Egypt, a majority for over 1,000 years have dwindled to a mere 13% and falling. They are now much worse off then before the fall of the Mubarak government. This is due to the fact that Islam is stepping into power. While the Copts are determined to fight for their rights, many, in fear for their lives are fleeing, and  the few left behind are under constant attack. 
As this report from CBN shows, once the Muslim Brotherhood is in charge Egypt will become a complete Islamic State. The USA, UN and EU are either showing extreme naivety–or blatantly ignoring the gradual cleansing of Christians from the Middle East. With their combined “quality”  education and degrees, one would think they could apply some logical thought to see the obvious…
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 by Jerusalem Vistas~Israel Vision

Egyptian Army Demolishes Fence Protecting Coptic Christians

I urge you to go to Vlad Tepes HERE and read the entire story HERE.  Egyptian armed forces this week demolished fences surrounding ancient Coptic monasteries, leaving them vulnerable to attacks by armed Arabs, robbers and escaped prisoners, who have seized the opportunity of the state of diminished protection by the authorities in Egypt to carry out assaults and thefts.
What follows is the details of the deliberate move on the part of Egyptian armed forces to render the monks defenseless. Around 2:45 you see and army vehicle coming through the break, hear gunshots, and see at least one man who has been wounded. With the rise of the Muslim Brotherhood be prepared for more terror.

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