CHURCH NEWS NOTES

CHRISTIAN MISSIONARIES CRUCIFIED BY ISIS AFTER REFUSING TO DENY CHRIST

Ten Christian missionaries and a 12-year-old boy lost their lives in August after they were executed by the barbaric Islamic group ISIS because they refused to deny Christ.

Christian Aid Mission (CAM) reports that on Aug. 7th, the indigenous missionaries were captured near Aleppo, Syria after rejecting advice by their ministry director to leave the area due to violence. The men chose to stay to share the gospel with those suffering from the ISIS insurgency.

“Every time we talked to them, they were always saying, ‘We want to stay here. This is what God has told us to do. This is what we want to do,'” the unidentified director told CAM. “They just wanted to stay and share the gospel”.

The director later learned of the plight of missionaries from relatives who had been in hiding. He states that on Aug. 28, two of the men were pressured to renounce Christ and return to Islam. They refused.

“In front of the team leader and relatives in the crowd, the Islamic extremists cut off the fingertips of the boy and severely beat him, telling his father they would stop the torture only if he, the father, returned to Islam”, the ministry reports. “When the team leader refused, relatives said, the ISIS militants also tortured and beat him and the two other ministry workers. The three men and the boy then met their deaths in crucifixion”.

The men and boy were left hanging on the crosses for two days with signs hanging overhead that read “Infidels”.

The same day, eight others were brought out before a crowd of witnesses and also asked if they would renounce Christianity. When they explained that they were there to share God’s love with the people, two women missionaries were raped publicly.

All eight were then beheaded.

“Villagers said some were praying in the name of Jesus, others said some were praying the Lord’s prayer, and others said some of them lifted their heads to commend their spirits to Jesus”, the ministry director relayed to CAM. “One of the women looked up and seemed to be almost smiling as she said, ‘Jesus!'”

Their headless bodies were hung on crosses.

As previously reported, ISIS has targeted those who profess Christ, executing 30 Ethiopian “followers of the cross” in April.

“You will not have safety, even in your dreams, until you accept Islam”, the fighter, who resembles “Jihadi John”, threatened. “Our battle is a battle between faith and blasphemy, between truth and falsehood”.

In February, 21 Egyptians were also marched to their death and beheaded.

“All crusaders: safety for you will be only wishes, especially if you are fighting us all together”, the ISIS fighter declared. “The sea you have hidden Sheikh Osama Bin Laden’s body in, we swear to Allah we will mix it with your blood”.

MUSLIM JIHADISTS INTENDED TO CAPTURE EUROPE AND ALL OF “CHRISTENDOM” 

The Muslim jihadists after Muhammad had the objective of conquering all of Europe and setting up a caliphate headquartered in Rome. Not knowing the difference between false and true Christianity, and not caring that there is a difference, they thought that by conquering Rome they would conquer “Christianity”. They attacked Europe almost simultaneously from the east and the west and were halted at the battle of Constantinople in 718 and at the Battle of Tours in 732. When the army of the sultanate of Cordoba invaded the territory of the Franks in 732, he “promised to stable their horses in St. Peter's at Rome” (Serge Trifkovic, The Sword of the Prophet, p. 96). As they made their way north from Spain, the Muslims “burned churches and slaughtered the population” (Susan Bauer, The History of the Medieval World). They were stopped by Charles Martel (“Hammer”) and his army of Frank soldiers. In the East, when Mehmed II finally captured Constantinople in 1453, he took the title Kayswer-i Rum (Caesar Romanus) and intended to conquer Rome. His army invaded Italy, but withdrew after his death in May 1481. Mehmed's son Suleiman also took the title Caesar Romanus, but his advance into Europe was halted with a defeat at Vienna in 1529. The last major Islamic military invasion into Europe occurred in the 1680s and was again halted at Vienna when they were defeated by a Polish-German army. Today Islam is conquering Europe by immigration, and there are no “Christian armies” to stop them. At the same time, we know that Islam will not conquer the world, because Bible prophecy presents quite another picture.

LUTHERAN LESBIAN BISHOP CALLS FOR REMOVAL OF CROSSES 

The following is excerpted from “World's First Lesbian Bishop”, Breitbart, Oct. 5, 2015: “The Bishop of Stockholm has proposed a church in her diocese remove all signs of the cross and put down markings showing the direction to Mecca for the benefit of Muslim worshippers. Eva Brunne, who was made the world's first openly lesbian bishop by the church of Sweden in 2009, and has a young son with her 'wife' and fellow lesbian priest Gunilla Linden, made the suggestion to make those of other faiths more welcome. ... The upper echelons of the Church of Sweden, much like other national churches across Europe, seem to be fully invested in the diversity mission. Back in February, a parish church in multicultural paradise Malmö declared it would be holding a service in solidarity with the local Muslim community as a protest against a march by anti-Islamisation movement PEGIDA in the city. ... As a major bottleneck into the region, with a single bridge and ferry route connecting the country to the rest of Europe, the arrival of these [Muslim] migrants has heralded an unprecedented level of criminality in the city, as explained to Breitbart Londonby a recently retired senior police officer last month. Describing the 'no-go' zones that have sprung up around the city and calling for greater border controls to get criminal migration under control, Chief Superintendent Torsten Elofsson said: 'Years ago you could go with two officers, no problem. Now you have to send four officers and two cars--if the fire brigade want to go, they have to take a police escort. They throw stones and try to stop the fireman from putting out fires.'“

RATIONALISTS AND THEOLOGICAL LIBERALS INVENTED THE TOLERANT ISLAM MYTH 

The popular myth that Islam is fundamentally a peaceful and tolerant religion that created a “golden age” of learning and science beginning in the eighth century was invented by prominent rationalists and theological modernists more than a hundred years ago. Men such as Voltaire claimed that Europe fell into a dark age because of “Christianity” (Catholicism) and was rescued by an enlightened Islam. “In time, some scholars began to see almost all European science and learning as an Arab creation, or at least something that appeared only under the influence of the Arabs. This opinion took root in the nineteenth century, and by the early years of the twentieth century had become, in some quarters at least, part of received wisdom” (Emmet Scott, Mohammed and Charlemagne Revisited). A prominent historian in 1919 said that “Spain, not Italy, was the cradle of the rebirth of Europe” (Robert Briffault, The Making of Humanity, p. 189). This has always been complete nonsense. A “Golden Age of Islam” in Baghdad was not because of Islam, but in spite of it. Tolerant, educational-minded Muslim caliphs are not the rule in history, but the extreme exception, and they were tolerant and educational-minded by not being strict followers of the Quran. Further, most of the inventions that have been promoted as Muslim inventions were actually inventions of China, Persia, and India. 

DOCTOR FIRED FOR VOICING THE TRUTH ABOUT HOMOSEXUALITY 

The following is excerpted from “Leading U.S. hospital fires doctor”, LifeSite News, Jun. 25, 2015: “A well-loved and respected doctor with a background in sexual-risk behaviors has been expelled from one of the United States' most prestigious and top-ranked medical centers after he raised evidence-based health risk concerns over the center's decision to endorse and celebrate the homosexual lifestyle. Urologist Dr. Paul Church, a 65-year-old grandfather of 6, was expelled from Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (BIDMC) in Boston, Massachusetts, in March ... Dr. Church, a member of the Harvard Medical School faculty, has worked as a urologist at the center for nearly 30 years, conducting research on prostate and bladder cancer. He has also offered his medical talents to the poor on numerous occasions during volunteer missions to Mexico and Africa. It was 11 years ago that Church began to experience censorship and suppression from BIDMC officials, reported Mass Resistance. At this time, Church and other like-minded colleagues repeatedly raised concerns with officials over the center's decision to not only endorse the homosexual lifestyle by hosting an annual 'Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Achievement Award ceremony,' but to involve staff in LGBTQ events including participation in Boston's annual 'Gay Pride Week.' 'The evidence is irrefutable that behaviors common within the homosexual community are unhealthy and high risk for a host of serious medical consequences, including STD's, HIV and AIDS, anal cancer, hepatitis, parasitic intestinal infections, and psychiatric disorders”, Church submitted to officials via the center's communication system after receiving an LGBT-related communication. ... In April 2012, Church requested that BIDMC's communications department not send him further notices regarding LGBTQ activities. His request was ignored. ... To one such communication received in 2013 he responded ... 'Leviticus 18:22.' To another that same year: 'Romans 1:26-28.' It is for these ... responses that the medical center decided to take action this year and expel Dr. Church. ... He told LifeSiteNews his case proves that what the LGBTQ movement wants is not simply 'coexistence' with the rest of society, but total affirmation without a single voice of dissent of what the movement not only believes, but also what it practices in the bedroom”.

A CONTEMPORARY STYLE WILL ALWAYS CONQUER “TRADITIONAL” SACRED MUSIC

The following quotes are from Why I Left the Contemporary Christian Music Movement by Dan Lucarini, 2002. Speaking as a former insider, the author said that he defended CCM primarily because he loved rock music. In chapter 17, Lucarini describes his part in moving two churches from “traditional” to contemporary. It was done incrementally, beginning with soft rock. “Traditionals are initially assured by the Contemporaries that the two styles can co-exist peacefully. In reality, what happens over time is a steady slide down the slippery slope, away from all traditional music into the latest, 'edgiest' contemporary styles” (Lucarini, p. 119). “With blended services, we have created two sets of musicians with different skills. Now began the competition for the hearts of the congregation: the battle of the bands, so to speak. … Contemporary always prevailed over Traditional, because it fed the sinful desire of our flesh. Add to that the veneer of respectability given to CCM by the leadership, and many believers gladly traded the old music for the new. … the blended service is not a long-term solution … Rather, it is quite simply a transitional phase to gradually move a church service from all traditional to all contemporary. … even this separation of services [in those churches that attempt to have two different services, one traditional and one contemporary] will not remain sharp for long. Soon it will blur, and the blurring is almost always towards contemporary shades” (Lucarini, pp. 122, 123). 

DEFENDING ALL OF THE TRUTH OF GOD'S WORD 

The following statement by Sir Robert Anderson (1841-1918), from The Coming Prince, refutes the heresy of “non-essentials”: “When David reached the throne of Israel and came to choose his generals, he named for the chief commands the men who had made themselves conspicuous by feats of prowess or of valor. Among the foremost three was one of whom the record states that he defended a tract of lentiles, and drove away a troop of the Philistines (2 Samuel 23:11-12). To others it may have seemed little better than a patch of weeds, and not worth fighting for, but it was precious to the Israelite as a portion of the divinely-given inheritance, and moreover the enemy might have used it as a rallying ground from which to capture strongholds. So is it with the Bible. It is all of intrinsic value if indeed it be from God; and moreover, the statement which is assailed, and which may seem of no importance, may prove to be a link in the chain of truth on which we are depending for eternal life”.

CHRISTIAN NEWS NOTES

THE PAPACY'S FEARFUL LIES

Pope Francis heads up an institution founded on lies, so it is little surprise that his messages during the recent trip to America were filled with the same. Rome's lies include the papacy itself, the priesthood, the sacraments, Mariolatry, purgatory, and “holy relics”. There is not a hint in Scripture that Peter had “supremacy” over the apostles or that he was otherwise any kind of “pope”. It was a wretched lie from its inception. For hundreds of years, the popes used forgeries such as the Donation of Constantine, a shameless lie claiming that Constantine gave the bishop of Rome supremacy “over all the churches of God in the whole earth”, granting him a crown, and donating to him “the city of Rome, and all the provinces, places and cities of Italy and the western regions”. Pope Hadrian I (778) used this lie in his dealings with Charlemagne. It was used by other popes until it was publicly exposed as a lie during the Reformation. Then there were the Decretals of Isidore, used by Pope Francis' brother in scarlet, Nicholas I, to claim that popes “hold the place of God on earth”. These ancient lies have never been renounced by the papacy. By holding the office, regardless of how “humbly”, Francis agrees with its foundational lies, so it is no surprise that his messages are filled with more lies. Consider his message at St. Patrick's Cathedral in New York City, September 25. First, there was his whitewash of the Catholic Church's “clergy sex abuse scandal”. Addressing his fellow priests, he said: “[Y]ou suffered greatly ... by having to bear the shame of some of your brothers who harmed and scandalized the Church in the most vulnerable of her members”. The “some” actually amounts to thousands of priests who used their positions of trust to commit filthy acts with children, mostly boys. A 2004 study by John Jay College found 11,757 allegations of sexual abuse involving 5,148 priests, and the report only pertained to about half of the priests in the U.S. By then, the Catholic Church had already spent $1 billion settling lawsuits and providing “treatment” for its filthy priests, and the report observed that “the end is nowhere in sight”. The pope also lied in his address at St. Patrick's by addressing Muslims as “brothers and sisters”. Muhammad blasphemously denied that Jesus is the Son of God who died for man's sins. The Quran says, “Warn those who say, 'Allah has fathered a son.' They do not have any proof about that and neither did their fathers. It is a terrible thing that comes from their mouths. They say nothing but lies” (Surah 18:4). Instead of calling Muhammad and his people brothers and sisters, the pope should rather state that the “proof” Muhammad demanded is the virgin birth, sinless and unique life, vicarious atonement, and bodily resurrection of Jesus Christ, all based on amazing prophecies written down before He was born. If Jesus Christ is not the Son of God, there is no such thing as evidence. But then, the pope doesn't believe the gospel of salvation by the free grace of Christ without works, so he has no truth with which to confront any false religion. Another lie that the pope spoke at St. Patrick's was the lie that Mary hears and answers prayer. He said, “Let us commend to our Lady the work we have been entrusted to do”. Its vain protestations aside, Rome's doctrine of Mary is a blasphemous usurpation of Christ as sole Saviour and Mediator, and this fact alone should impel every Bible-believing Christian to renounce the papacy in no uncertain terms. The very fact that plain speaking about the Roman Catholic Church is so rare among “evangelical” Protestants and Baptists is irrefutable proof of end-time apostasy and of the rapid building of the one-world “church”.

IS ROME THE HARLOT OF REVELATION 17?

For a thousand years and more, Baptists, Protestants, and fundamentalists identified Rome with the Harlot of Revelation 17. At the end of the NINTH CENTURY, “Tergandus, Bishop of Treves, called the Pope antichrist, yea, a wolf, and Rome, Babylon” (Martyrs Mirror, 5th English edition, p. 240). In THE ELEVENTH CENTURY, Berenger of Tours denounced Rome's dogmas and maintained that the Roman Church was the See of Satan (George Faber, The History of the Ancient Vallenses and Albigenses, 1838, p. 159). THE WALDENSIANS, throughout most of their long history, identified the pope as the Antichrist. The Waldensian treatise titled the Noble Lesson, dated 1100 AD, stated: “Antichrist, the predicted murderer of the Saints, hath already appeared in his true character, seated monarchally in the seven-hilled city”. In the 13th CENTURY, the BOHEMIAN BRETHREN held that “the Church of Rome is not the Church of Jesus Christ, but an assembly of wicked men, and the whore that sits upon the beast in the Revelation. ... They declare the pope to be the head and ringleader of all errors” (Peter Allix, Ancient Churches of Piedmont, pp. 242-259). English Bible translator WILLIAM TYNDALE identified the pope as the Antichrist in his treatise The Practice of Prelates and in the preface to the 1534 edition of his New Testament. All of the REFORMATION leaders considered the pope the antichrist, including John Huss, Martin Luther, John Calvin, and and their successors. The religious harlot of Revelation 17 is aligned with the antichrist (compare Rev. 17:3 - Rev. 13:1), and like the antichrist it has two aspects: historic and prophetic. In 1 John 2:18, the apostle said, “Little children, it is the last time: and as ye have heard that antichrist shall come, even now are there many antichrists; whereby we know that it is the last time”. Though she does not fulfill this prophecy in its finality, every feature of the religious Harlot of Revelation 17 is found in the Roman Catholic Church. She has ridden through history upon the back of kings, is clothed in gorgeous robes of scarlet and purple and decked in expensive attire. She sits on seven hills, is full of abominations, and has a golden cup. She is drunk with the blood of the martyrs, and the inhabitants of the world are indeed drunk with the wine of her fornication, referring to the multitudes that blindly follow Rome's doctrines of devils.

U.S. NAVY FOUNDED TO PROTECT AMERICA FROM MUSLIM SLAVERS

Between 1801-1815, the newly formed United States of America fought the Barbary Wars against Muslim slavers based in Tripoli, Tunis, and Algeria. From the 16th to the 19th century, the slavers captured an estimated one to 1.25 MILLION white Europeans (Robert Davis, Muslim Masters: White Slavery in the Mediterranean). The Muslim pirates had seized American merchant ships and enslaved the crews for ransom. Most of the men were pressed into hard labor and kept “in extremely poor conditions that exposed them to vermin and disease”. The Muslim Barbary states also demanded tribute from the American government in exchange for not attacking its ships. This piracy began immediately after America gained its independence from Britain in 1784. Two years later, Thomas Jefferson and John Adams, two of America's founding fathers, were sent to London to negotiate with Tripoli's ambassador, Sidi Haji Abdul Rahman Adja. When asked why the Muslims attacked nations that “had done them no injury”, Adja replied, “It was written in their Koran, that all nations which had not acknowledged the Prophet were sinners, whom it was the right and duty of the faithful to plunder and enslave; and that every mussulman who was slain in this warfare was sure to go to paradise. He said, also, that the man who was the first to board a vessel had one slave over and above his share, and that when they sprang to the deck of an enemy's ship, every sailor held a dagger in each hand and a third in his mouth, which usually struck such terror into the foe that they cried out for quarter at once” (Thomas Jefferson Papers, Series 1 1651-1827, Library of Congress). Note that the Barbary pirates cited the Koran as their authority for attacking and enslaving anyone who is not submitted to Allah. In 1795, America paid $1 million for the release of 115 sailors, an amount that was one-sixth of the U.S. budget. The pirates demanded an annual payment of the same amount. When Thomas Jefferson was elected America's second president in 1801, he and his fellow citizens were of no mind to accept bullying and blackmail. The U.S. Navy was built to protect America against Muslim pirates. One of the most memorable acts of the Barbary War was in 1805 when a force of eight U.S. Marines and 400 Greek and Arab mercenaries, led by U.S. Navy Lieutenant William Eaton, traveled across 600 miles of desert from Alexandria, Egypt, to capture the city of Derne (or Derna) on the shores of Tripoli. This is memorialized in the U.S. Marine Hymn. By 1816, the Barbary states were forced to cease attacking American and British ships, and the deed was accomplished by force of arms.

ISLAMIC STATE HAS EXECUTED MORE THAN 10,000 PEOPLE

The following is excerpted from “ISIS has killed more than 10,000”, Breitbart.com, Sep. 25, 2015: “The Islamic State (ISIS/ISIL) has executed more than 10,000 people, including women and children, in Iraq and Syria since the jihadist group declared a 'global caliphate' in June 2014, reports Daily Mail Online. 'The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR), which has secret sources inside ISIS territory, said 3,207 have been killed in that war-torn country,' notes the article. 'Another 7,700 were executed in Iraq, according to the Iraqi Observatory for Human Rights [IOHR], which tracks ISIS violations.' 'The soldiers and civilians who have been beheaded, shot dead, drowned, blown up, stoned to death and thrown off buildings for violating ISIS's twisted laws all contributed to this mammoth death toll,' it adds. 'The figure does not include the thousands more who have been killed in battle and suicide bombings--or the innocent people mown down by ISIS extremists as they tried to flee.' SOHR told Daily Mail Online that it keeps a tally of the terrorist group's executions after its activists have verified them from local sources on the ground. ... 'The slaughter of up to 1,700 cadets at Speicher army camp in Tikrit, Iraq, was not included in the overall death toll because it occurred on June 12, 2014, a few weeks before ISIS leader Abu Bakr Al-Baghdadi declared the caliphate,' it adds. 'Neither was the massacre of 5,000 Yazidi people in Iraq's Sinjar province last August because they were shot down by ISIS fighters as they tried to escape.'”

NOT SUCH BUMBLEBEES

The following is from CreationMoments.com, Dec. 30, 2014: “Scientists have long known that honeybees communicate the location of nectar sources to their nest mates. The language that many species use has even been deciphered. At the same time, it was long accepted that bumblebees did not communicate the location of food resources to their nest mates. After all, it is astonishing enough that a supposedly simple creature like the honeybee had mastered the advanced skill of communication, but can even simpler bees communicate? Research reveals that there are at least several species of bumblebees and other stingless bees that communicate among themselves. As might be expected, the languages differ from species to species. One species of bumblebee reports her find to her nest mates by running zigzag over the combs and bumping into her nest mates. This leads them to check out the quality of the nectar she just returned. If she has brought several good loads in, they join her in bringing in more. Other species lay scent trails to the food source. When a member of another species finds a good source, she communicates to her nest mates through a series of pulsing buzzes. As she communicates the height of the source by the speed of the pulses, she performs a circular dance that communicates the rest of the instructions. The Bible is accurate when it says that the entire creation can offer God praise. The languages may differ; the form of communication may not even look like communication to us. But now we know that since communication is a gift from God, even so called simple creatures can be given the gift by their Creator”.

—DC