Part 5: Prophecies and Parables of Jesus Fulfilled.
Welcome to part 5. I would like to clarify the reason I gave some articles at the end of Part 4. These are real Statistics and when these articles are placed side by side with Matthew Chapter 24, what will come to light is astonishing. I hereby in all justice to the reader would like to give the signs of the End times as quoted by Jesus.
Please note: There is a distinction between the end of age, last days and the day of The Lord.
End of age has already been discussed.( When Grace is withdrawn)
Last days are refer to the last generation that will see the Return of Christ.
The day of the Lord is The day The Lord comes back to Earth with Great Glory.
Key factors to understand when reading this passage.
Fact: The Temple of The Lord in Jerusalem was destroyed by the romans in 70 A.D.
The temple was set on fire and all the gold had melted into the cracks and flowed down the staircase of the temple. The Romans, being greedy for the gold took apart the temple and threw the stones of the temple down, which till date has not been removed and can still be seen in the streets of Jerusalem.
Fulfilled as Jesus Predicted in Matthew 24 verse 2.
Matthew 24 New International Version (NIV)
The Destruction of the Temple and Signs of the End Times
24 Jesus left the temple and was walking away when his disciples came up to him to call his attention to its buildings. 2 “Do you see all these things?” he asked. “Truly I tell you, not one stone here will be left on another; every one will be thrown down.”
3 As Jesus was sitting on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to him privately. “Tell us,” they said, “when will this happen, and what will be the sign of your coming and of the end of the age?”
4 Jesus answered: “Watch out that no one deceives you. 5 For many will come in my name, claiming, ‘I am the Messiah,’ and will deceive many. 6 You will hear of wars and rumors of wars, but see to it that you are not alarmed. Such things must happen, but the end is still to come. 7 Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be famines and earthquakes in various places. 8 All these are the beginning of birth pains.
9 “Then you will be handed over to be persecuted and put to death, and you will be hated by all nations because of me. 10 At that time many will turn away from the faith and will betray and hate each other, 11 and many false prophets will appear and deceive many people. 12 Because of the increase of wickedness, the love of most will grow cold, 13 but the one who stands firm to the end will be saved. 14 And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come.
15 “So when you see standing in the holy place ‘the abomination that causes desolation,’[a] spoken of through the prophet Daniel—let the reader understand— 16 then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains. 17 Let no one on the housetop go down to take anything out of the house. 18 Let no one in the field go back to get their cloak. 19 How dreadful it will be in those days for pregnant women and nursing mothers! 20 Pray that your flight will not take place in winter or on the Sabbath. 21 For then there will be great distress, unequaled from the beginning of the world until now—and never to be equaled again.
22 “If those days had not been cut short, no one would survive, but for the sake of the elect those days will be shortened. 23 At that time if anyone says to you, ‘Look, here is the Messiah!’ or, ‘There he is!’ do not believe it. 24 For false messiahs and false prophets will appear and perform great signs and wonders to deceive, if possible, even the elect. 25 See, I have told you ahead of time.
26 “So if anyone tells you, ‘There he is, out in the wilderness,’ do not go out; or, ‘Here he is, in the inner rooms,’ do not believe it. 27 For as lightning that comes from the east is visible even in the west, so will be the coming of the Son of Man. 28 Wherever there is a carcass, there the vultures will gather.
29 “Immediately after the distress of those days
“‘the sun will be darkened,
and the moon will not give its light;
the stars will fall from the sky,
and the heavenly bodies will be shaken.’[b]
and the moon will not give its light;
the stars will fall from the sky,
and the heavenly bodies will be shaken.’[b]
30 “Then will appear the sign of the Son of Man in heaven. And then all the peoples of the earth[c] will mourn when they see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven, with power and great glory.[d] 31 And he will send his angels with a loud trumpet call, and they will gather his elect from the four winds, from one end of the heavens to the other.
32 “Now learn this lesson from the fig tree: As soon as its twigs get tender and its leaves come out, you know that summer is near. 33 Even so, when you see all these things, you know that it[e] is near, right at the door. 34 Truly I tell you, this generation will certainly not pass away until all these things have happened. 35 Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away.
The Day and Hour Unknown
36 “But about that day or hour no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son,[f] but only the Father. 37 As it was in the days of Noah, of the Son of Man. 38 For in the days before the flood, people were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, up to the day Noah entered the ark; 39 and they knew nothing about what would happen until the flood came and took them all away. That is how it will be at the coming of the Son of Man. 40 Two men will be in the field; one will be taken and the other left. 41 Two women will be grinding with a hand mill; one will be taken and the other left.42 “Therefore keep watch, because you do not know on what day your Lord will come. 43 But understand this: If the owner of the house had known at what time of night the thief was coming, he would have kept watch and would not have let his house be broken into. 44 So you also must be ready, because the Son of Man will come at an hour when you do not expect him.
45 “Who then is the faithful and wise servant, whom the master has put in charge of the servants in his household to give them their food at the proper time? 46 It will be good for that servant whose master finds him doing so when he returns. 47 Truly I tell you, he will put him in charge of all his possessions. 48 But suppose that servant is wicked and says to himself, ‘My master is staying away a long time,’ 49 and he then begins to beat his fellow servants and to eat and drink with drunkards. 50 The master of that servant will come on a day when he does not expect him and at an hour he is not aware of. 51 He will cut him to pieces and assign him a place with the hypocrites, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.
I need to start by saying that Jesus doesn't answer his disciples directly with a precise answer.
He doesn't do so, because He is talking about the signs of His second coming, the end of age and the day of the Lord. All by the way, are different events.
Jesus's prophecy was fulfilled in 70 A.D. when the Romans destroyed the temple. This is the same mound where today the Dome of the Rock, a Muslim Mosque stands in Jerusalem.
Be prepared again for some eye opening facts. Birth pangs has been used to describe what the world will go through. Interestingly enough, almost all prophets have used this term.
As any mother will tell you, the contractions and the start of pains for a delivery of a child is a sign that the baby is ready to be born. So, what Jesus is saying is that when you see these signs, know that He is at the door.
Prophecy1. Nation shall arise against Nation and Kingdom against Kingdom.
Please note that there can be different regional conflicts within a Nation. Hence Jesus is declaring that there will be internal and external conflicts of and within Nations.
Want to check out some stats on current ongoing wars? Here you go: Keep in mind this is taking place, Hence fulfillment of Prophecy.
The World at War | ||
|---|---|---|
Current Wars | ||
| worldwide | War on Drugs | 1971 --> |
| Brazil | Favela War | 1980s--> |
| Central African Republic | Persistent State Failure | 1980s--> |
| China | Uighur | 1996 --> |
| Colombia | Insurgencies | 1970s--> |
| Congo (Zaire) | Congo War | 1998--> |
| India | Kashmir | 1970s--> |
| India | Naxalite Uprising | 1967 --> |
| Iraq | Civil War | 2014 --> |
| Israel | Gaza | 2014 |
| Libya | Civil War | 2014 |
| Mali | Tuaregs / Islamists | 2012 --> |
| Mexico | Drug War | 2006 --> |
| Middle East/ North Africa/ Central Asia | Arab Spring | 2010 --> |
| Nigeria | Civil Disturbances | 1997 --> |
| Pakistan | Karachi Political Violence | 2007 --> |
| Pakistan | Pashtun Jihad | 2001 --> |
| Russia | North Caucasus Insurgency | 1992 --> |
| Somalia | Civil War | 1991--> |
| South Sudan | Tribal Warfare | 2009--> |
| Sudan | Darfur | 1983--> |
| Syria | Syria Revolution | 2011 |
| Turkey | Kurdistan | 1984 --> |
| Ukraine | Russian Agression | 2014 --> |
| United States | Afghanistan | 1980 --> |
| United States | Djibouti | 2001 --> |
| Yemen | Sheik al-Houti | 2004 --> |
| Yemen | South Yemen Unrest | 2007 --> |
| Yemen | Al-Qaeda Arabian Peninsula | 2009 --> |
Other Conflicts | ||
| Algeria | Insurgency | 1992 --> |
| Angola | Cabinda | 1975-2006? |
| China | Senkaku Islands | 1968 --> |
| China | South China Sea | 1988 --> |
| Georgia | Civil War | 1991--> |
| India | Assam | 1985 --> |
| Indonesia | Papua / West Irian | 1963--> |
| Israel | Palestine | 1967 --> |
| Ivory Coast | Civil War | 2002 --> |
| Korea | Korean War | 1953 --> |
| Kyrgyzstan | Civil Unrest | 2010 --> |
| Laos | Hmong Insurgency | 2000 --> |
| Myanmar | Insurgencies | 1945 --> |
| Namibia | Caprivi Strip | 1966--> |
| Pakistan | Baluchistan | 2004 --> |
| Palestine | Civil War | 2007--> |
| Peru | Shining Path | 1970s--> |
| Philippines | Moro Uprising | 1970s--> |
| Thailand | Islamic Rebels | 2001 --> |
| United States | Philippines | 1898 --> |
| Uzbekistan | Civil Disturbances | 2005 --> |
"Perpetual peace is no empty idea, but a practical thing which, through its gradual solution, is coming always nearer its final realization..." IMMANUEL KANT The United Nations defines "major wars" as military conflicts inflicting 1,000 battlefield deaths per year. In 1965, there were 10 major wars under way. The new millennium began with much of the world consumed in armed conflict or cultivating an uncertain peace. As of mid-2005, there were eight Major Wars under way [down from 15 at the end of 2003], with as many as two dozen "lesser" conflicts ongoing with varrying degrees of intensity.Most of these are civil or "intrastate" wars, fueled as much by racial, ethnic, or religious animosities as by ideological fervor. Most victims are civilians, a feature that distinguishes modern conflicts. During World War I, civilians made up fewer than 5 percent of all casualties. Today, 75 percent or more of those killed or wounded in wars are non-combatants. Africa, to a greater extent than any other continent, is afflicted by war. Africa has been marred by more than 20 major civil wars since 1960. Rwanda, Somalia, Angola, Sudan, Liberia, and Burundi are among those countries that have recently suffered serious armed conflict.War has caused untold economic and social damage to the countries of Africa. Food production is impossible in conflict areas, and famine often results. Widespread conflict has condemned many of Africa's children to lives of misery and, in certain cases, has threatened the existence of traditional African cultures. Conflict prevention, mediation, humanitarian intervention and demobilization are among the tools needed to underwrite the success of development assistance programs. Nutrition and education programs, for example, cannot succeed in a nation at war. Billions of dollars of development assistance have been virtually wasted in war-ravaged countries such as Liberia, Somalia, and Sudan. | ||
Prophecy 2. There shall be famines: Very Interesting. When there are conflicts and wars, there tends to be famines as well. I hereby post an article from Wikipedia about the list of famines' history. Please consider the fact that in 2012, 6 Countries affected although in West Africa are still the single highest number of Countries in History as compared to other years. Again, Fulfillment of Prophecy.
Here is the article:
List of famines
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Between 108 BC and 1911 AD there were no fewer than 1,828 major famines in China, or one nearly every year in one or another province; however, the famines varied greatly in severity.[1][2] There were 95 famines in Britain during the Middle Ages.[3][4]
| Date | Event | Location | Death toll (estimate) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 441 BC | Ancient Rome[5] | ||
| 400–800 AD | Famine in Western Europe associated with the Fall of Rome and its sack by Alaric I. Between 400 and 800 AD, the population of the city of Rome fell by over 90%, mainly because of famine and plague.[6] | Western Europe | |
| 639 | Famine in Arabia during the Caliphate of Umar ibn al-Khattab[citation needed] | Arabia | |
| 750's | Spain[7] | ||
| 800–1000 AD | Severe drought killed millions of Maya people due to famine and thirst and initiated a cascade of internal collapses that destroyed their civilization[8] | Maya Empire | |
| 809 | Frankish Empire[9][unreliable source?] | ||
| 875–884 | Peasant rebellion in China inspired by famine[citation needed]; Huang Chao captured capital | China | |
| 927–928 | Caused by four months of frost[10][11] | Byzantine Empire | |
| 1005 | England[12] | ||
| 1016 | Famine throughout Europe[13] | Europe | |
| 1022, 1033, 1052 | Great famines in India, in which entire provinces were depopulated[citation needed] | India | |
| 1064–1072 | Seven years' famine in Egypt[citation needed] | Egypt | |
| 1051 | Famine forced the Toltecs to migrate from a stricken region in what is now central Mexico[14] | Mexico (present day) | |
| 1097 | Famine and plague[citation needed] | France | 100,000 |
| 1230 | Famine in the Republic of Novgorod[citation needed] | Russia | |
| 1229–1232 | The Kangi famine, possibly the worst famine in Japan's history.[15] Caused by volcanic eruptions.[16] | Japan | |
| 1235 | Famine in England, 20,000 died in London alone[citation needed] | England | |
| 1255 | Portugal[17] | ||
| 1275–1299 | Collapse of Anasazi civilization, widespread famine occurred[18] | United States (present day) | |
| 1315–1317 | Great Famine of 1315–1317 | Europe[19] | |
| 1333–1337 | China[20] | ||
| 1344–1345 | Great famine in India[citation needed] | India | |
| 1387 | After Timur the Lame left Asia Minor, severe famine ensued | Anatolia | |
| 1396–1407 | The Durga Devi famine | India[21] | |
| 1441 | Famine in Mayapan | Mexico[22] | |
| 1450–1454 | Famine in the Aztec Empire,[23] interpreted as the gods' need for sacrifices.[24] | Mexico (present day) | |
| 1460–1461 | Kanshō famine in Japan[citation needed] | Japan | |
| 1504 | Spain[25] | ||
| 1518 | Venice[citation needed] | Italy (present day) | |
| 1528 | Famine in Languedoc | France[26] | |
| 1535 | Famine in Ethiopia | Ethiopia | |
| 1567–1570 | Famine in Harar, combined with plague. Emir of Harar, died. | Ethiopia | |
| 1586 | Famine in England which gave rise to the Poor Law system[citation needed] | England | |
| 1601–1603 | One of the worst famines in all of Russian history; famine killed as many as 100,000 in Moscow and up to one-third of Tsar Godunov's subjects; see Russian famine of 1601–1603.[27][28] Same famine killed about half Estonian population. | Russia | 2 million |
| 1618–1648 | Famines in Europe caused by Thirty Years' War | Europe | |
| 1619 | Famine in Japan. During the Tokugawa period, there were 154 famines, of which 21 were widespread and serious.[29] | Japan | |
| 1630–1631 | Deccan Famine of 1630–32 (Note: There was a corresponding famine in northwestern China, eventually causing the Ming dynasty to collapse in 1644) | India | 2 million |
| 1648–1660 | Poland lost an estimated 1/3 of its population due to wars, famine, and plague[citation needed] | Poland | |
| 1649 | Famine in northern England[citation needed] | England | |
| 1650–1652 | Famine in the east of France[citation needed] | France | |
| 1651–1653 | Famine throughout much of Ireland during the Cromwellian conquest of Ireland[30] | Ireland | |
| 1661 | Famine in India, when not a drop of rain fell for two years[31] | India | |
| 1669 | Famine in Bengal | India, Bangladesh (present day) | |
| 1670s and 1680s | Plague and famines in Spain[citation needed] | Spain | |
| 1680 | Famine in Sardinia[32] | Italy (present day) | 80,000 [33] |
| 1680s | Famine in Sahel[citation needed] | ||
| 1690s | Famine throughout Scotland which killed 15% of the population[citation needed] | Scotland | |
| 1693–1694 | France | 2 million[34][35] | |
| 1695–1697 | Great Famine of Estonia killed about a fifth of Estonian and Livonian population (70,000–75,000 people). Famine also hit Sweden (80,000–100,000 dead) | The Swedish Empire, of which Swedish Estonia and Swedish Livonia were dominions at that time | |
| 1696–1697 | Great Famine of Finland wiped out almost a third of the population[36] | Finland, then part of Sweden proper | |
| 1702–1704 | Famine in Deccan[citation needed] | India | 2 million |
| 1708–1711 | Famine in East Prussia killed 250,000 people or 41% of its population[37] | East Prussia | 250,000 |
| 1709–1710 | France[38] | ||
| 1722 | Arabia[39] | ||
| 1727–1728 | Famine in the English Midlands[40] | England | |
| 1738–1756 | Famine in West Africa, half the population of Timbuktu died of starvation[41] | West Africa | |
| 1740-1741 | Great Irish Famine (1740–1741) | Ireland | |
| 1750–1756 | Famine in the Senegambia region [42] | ||
| 1764 | Famine in Naples[43] | Italy (present day) | |
| 1769–1773 | Bengal famine of 1770,[44] 10 million dead (one third of population) | India, Bangladesh (present day) | 10 million |
| 1770–1771 | Famines in Czech lands killed hundreds of thousands people | Czech Republic (present day) | |
| 1771–1772 | Famine in Saxony and southern Germany[citation needed] | Germany | |
| 1773 | Famine in Sweden[citation needed] | Sweden | |
| 1779 | Famine in Rabat | Morocco[45] | |
| 1780s | Great Tenmei famine | Japan | 20,000 - 920,000 |
| 1783 | Famine in Iceland caused by Laki eruption killed one-fifth of Iceland's population[46] | Iceland | |
| 1783–84 | Chalisa famine | India | 11 million[47] |
| 1784 | Widespread famine throughout Egypt[48] | Egypt | |
| 1784–1785 | Famine in Tunisia killed up to one-fifth of all Tunisians | Tunisia | |
| 1788 | The two years previous to the French Revolution saw bad harvests and harsh winters, possibly because of a strong El Niño cycle[49] or caused by the 1783 Laki eruption in Iceland.[50][51] | France | |
| 1789 | Famine in Ethiopia afflicted "amhara/tigray north" | ||
| 1789–92 | Doji bara famine or Skull famine | India | |
| 1810, 1811, 1846, and 1849 | Four famines in China | China | 45 million.[52] |
| 1811–1812 | Famine devastated Madrid[53] | Spain | 20,000[54] |
| 1815 | Eruption of Tambora, Indonesia. Tens of thousands died in subsequent famine | Indonesia | |
| 1816–1817 | Year Without a Summer | Europe | 65,000 |
| 1830–1833 | Claimed to have killed 42% of the population | Cape Verde | 30,000[55] |
| 1830s | Tenpo famine | Japan | |
| 1837–1838 | Agra famine of 1837–38 | India | |
| 1845–1857 | Highland Potato Famine | Scotland | |
| 1845–1849 | Great Famine in Ireland killed more than 1 million people and over 1.5–2 million emigrated[56] | Ireland | 1.5 million |
| 1846 | Famine led to the peasant revolt known as "Maria da Fonte" in the north of Portugal | Portugal | |
| 1849–1850 | Demak and Grobogan in Central Java, caused by four successive crop failures due to drought. | Indonesia | 83,000[57] |
| 1850–1873 | As a result of Taiping Rebellion, drought, and famine, the population of China dropped by more than 60 million[58] | China | |
| 1866 | Orissa famine of 1866 | India | 1 million[59] |
| 1866–1868 | Finnish famine of 1866–1868. About 15% of the entire population died | Finland, northern Sweden | 150,000+ |
| 1869 | Rajputana famine of 1869 | India | 1.5 million[59] |
| 1870–1871 | Famine in Persia | Iran (present day) | 2 million[60][unreliable source?] |
| 1873–1874 | Famine in Anatolia caused by drought and floods[61][62] | Turkey (present day) | |
| 1879 | 1879 Famine in Ireland. Unlike previous famines, this famine mainly caused hunger and food shortages but little mortality. | Ireland | |
| 1873–74 | Bihar famine of 1873–74. Mortality was avoided in a massive relief campaign | India | 0 |
| 1876–1879 | ENSO Famine in India, China, Brazil, Northern Africa (and other countries). Famine in northern China killed 13 million people.[63] 5.25 million died in the Great Famine of 1876–78 in India | India, China, Brazil, Northern Africa (and other countries). | |
| 1878-1880 | Famine in St. Lawrence Island, Alaska[64] | United States | |
| 1888–1892 | Ethiopian Great famine. About one-third of the population died.[65][66] Conditions worsen with cholera outbreaks (1889–92), a typhus epidemic, and a major smallpox epidemic (1889–90). | Ethiopia | |
| 1891–1892 | Russia | 375,000–500,000[67][68] | |
| 1896–1897 | ENSO famine in northern China leading in part to the Boxer Rebellion | China | |
| 1896–1902 | ENSO famine in India[69] | India | |
| 1907, 1911 | Famines in east-central China[citation needed] | China | |
| 1914–1918 | Mount Lebanon famine during World War I which killed about a third of the population[citation needed] | Lebanon | |
| 1916–1917 | Famine caused by the British blockade of Germany in WWI | Germany | |
| 1916–1917 | Winter famine in Russia[citation needed] | Russia | |
| 1917–1919 | Famine in Persia. As much as 1/4 of the population living in the north of Iran died in the famine[70] | Iran (present day) | |
| 1917–1921 | A series of famines in Turkestan at the time of the Bolshevik revolution killed about a sixth of the population[71] | Turkestan | |
| 1921 | Russian famine of 1921 | Russia | 5 million[72] |
| 1921–1922 | 1921–1922 famine in Tatarstan | Russia | |
| 1924–1925 | Famine in Volga German colonies in Russia. One-third of the entire population perished[73] | Russia | |
| 1928–1929 | Famine in Ruanda-Burundi, causing large migrations to the Congo | Rwanda and Burundi (present day) | |
| 1928–1930 | Famine in northern China. The drought resulted in 3 million deaths | China | 3 million |
| 1932–1933 | Soviet famine of Ukraine and North Caucasus area. | Ukraine | 7–10 million[74] |
| 1936 | China | 5 million[75] | |
| 1940–1945 | Famine in Warsaw Ghetto, as well as other ghettos and concentration camps (note: this famine was the result of deliberate denial of food to ghetto residents on the part of Nazis). | Occupied Poland | |
| 1941–44 | Leningrad famine caused by a 900-day blockade by German troops. About one million Leningrad residents starved, froze, or were bombed to death in the winter of 1941–42, when supply routes to the city were cut off and temperatures dropped to −40 °C (−40 °F).[76] | Russia | 1 million |
| 1941–1944 | Famine in Greece caused by the Axis occupation.[77][78] | Greece | 300,000 |
| 1943 | Bengal famine of 1943 | Bengal, India | 1.5-7 million |
| 1943 | Famine in Ruanda-Urundi, causing migrations to the Congo | Rwanda and Burundi (present day) | |
| 1944-45 | Java during World War II | Indonesia | 2.4 million[79] |
| 1944 | Dutch famine of 1944 during World War II | Netherlands | 20,000 |
| 1945 | Vietnamese Famine of 1945 | Vietnam | 400,000–2 million |
| 1947 | Soviet Famine of 1947 | Soviet Union | 1–1.5 million[80][81] |
| 1958 | Famine in Tigray | Ethiopia | 100,000 |
| 1959–1961 | The Great Chinese Famine. According to government statistics, there were 15 million excess deaths. | China | 15–43 million[82] |
| 1966–1967 | Lombok, drought and malnutrition, exacerbated by restrictions on regional rice trade | Indonesia | 50,000[83] |
| 1967–1970 | Biafran famine caused by Nigerian blockade | Nigeria | |
| 1968–1972 | Sahel drought created a famine that killed a million people[84] | Mauritania, Mali, Chad, Niger and Burkina Faso | |
| 1972–1973 | Famine in Ethiopia caused by drought and poor governance; failure of the government to handle this crisis led to the fall of Haile Selassie and to Derg rule | Ethiopia | 60,000[85] |
| 1974 | Bangladesh famine of 1974 | Bangladesh | |
| 1975–1979 | Khmer Rouge. An estimated 2 million Cambodians lost their lives to murder, forced labor and famine | Cambodia | |
| 1980–1981 | Caused by drought and conflict[85] | Uganda | 30,000[85] |
| 1984–1985 | 1984–1985 famine in Ethiopia | Ethiopia | |
| 1991–1992 | Famine in Somalia caused by drought and civil war[85] | Somalia | 300,000[85] |
| 1996 | North Korean famine.[86][87] Scholars estimate 600,000 died of starvation (other estimates range from 200,000 to 3.5 million).[88] | North Korea | 200,000 to 3.5 million |
| 1998 | 1998 Sudan famine caused by war and drought | Sudan | 70,000[85] |
| 1998–2000 | Famine in Ethiopia. The situation worsened by Eritrean–Ethiopian War | Ethiopia | |
| 1998–2004 | Second Congo War. 3.8 million people died, mostly from starvation and disease | Democratic Republic of the Congo | |
| 2011-2012 | Famine in Somalia, brought on by the 2011 East Africa drought[89] | Somalia | |
| 2012 | Famine in West Africa, brought on by the 2012 Sahel drought[90] | Senegal, Gambia, Niger, Mauritania, Mali, Burkina Faso |
Prophecy 3. Earthquakes in various Places.
I have already posted the article in a previous part showing fulfillment of Prophecy.
Prophecy 4. Persecution of Christians. Prophecy fulfilled.
"Then you will be handed over to be persecuted and put to death, and you will be hated by all nations because of me. 10 At that time many will turn away from the faith and will betray and hate each other"
My oh My. All the disciples of Jesus with the exception of Apostle John (who wrote the Book of Revelation) were executed.
Jesus said that the Church would be persecuted and will be hated. Not only that, but due to the fact that the Church is persecuted many shall turn away from the faith, and will betray and hate eachother!
I hereby post the article on The History of Christian Persecution, which will prove this Prophecy fulfilled. Till today the persecution is taking place around the world.
I could give a 10 hour lecture on this subject but for now I post the article;
Persecution of Christians
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
This article is about acts committed against Christians because of their faith. For negative attitudes towards Christians, see Anti-Christian sentiment.
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Christian missionaries, as well as the people that they converted to Christianity, have been the target of persecution, many times to the point of being martyred for their faith.
There is also a history of individual Christian denominations suffering persecution at the hands of other Christians under the charge of heresy, particularly during the 16th century Protestant Reformationas well as throughout the Middle Ages when various Christian groups deemed heretical were persecuted by the Papacy.
In the 20th century, Christians have been persecuted by various groups, and by atheistic states such as the USSR and North Korea. During the Second World War members of many Christian churches were persecuted in Germany for resisting the Nazi ideology. Hitler expressed a desire to destroy the influence of Christian churches within the Third Reich, seeing it as absurdity and nonsense founded on Jewish lies. He planned to do this after the war, and not during it, believing "that suited his immediate political purposes".
In more recent times the Christian missionary organization Open Doors (UK) estimates 100 million Christians face persecution, particularly in Muslim-dominated countries such as Pakistan and Saudi Arabia.[2][3] According to the International Society for Human Rights, up to 80% of acts of persecution are directed at people of the Christian faith.[4]
| Freedom of religion |
|---|
| Religion portal |
Contents
[hide]- 1 Antiquity
- 2 Persecution of Christians during the Middle Ages
- 3 Early Modern period (1500 to 1815)
- 4 Modern era (1815 to 1989)
- 5 Current situation (1989 to present)
- 6 See also
- 7 References
- 8 Sources
- 9 External links
Antiquity[edit]
Persecution of Christians in the New Testament[edit]
Main article: Persecution of Christians in the New Testament
Early Christianity began as a sect among Jews, and according to the New Testament account, Pharisees, including Paul of Tarsus prior to his conversion to Christianity, persecuted early Christians. The early Christians preached a Messiah which did not conform to the expectations of the time.[5] However, feeling that he was presaged in Isaiah's Suffering Servant and in all of Jewish scripture, Christians had been hopeful that their countrymen would accept their vision of a New Israel.[6] Despite many individual conversions, a fierce opposition was found in their countrymen.[6]
In 41 AD, when Agrippa I, who already possessed the territory of Antipas and Phillip, obtained the title of King of the Jews, in a sense re-forming the Kingdom of Herod, he was reportedly eager to endear himself to his Jewish subjects and continued the persecution in which James the Greater lost his life, Peter narrowly escaped and the rest of the apostles took flight.[6]
After Agrippa's death, the Roman procuratorship began (before 41 they were Prefects in Iudaea Province) and those leaders maintained a neutral peace, until the procurator Festus died and the high priest Annas II took advantage of the power vacuum to attack the Church and executed James the Just, then leader of Jerusalem's Christians.[6] The New Testament states that Paul was himself imprisoned on several occasions by Roman authorities, stoned by Pharisees and left for dead on one occasion, and was eventually taken as a prisoner to Rome. Peter and other early Christians were also imprisoned, beaten and harassed. A Jewish revolt, spurred by the Roman killing of 3,000 Jews, led to the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 AD, the end of sacrificial Judaism (until the Third Temple), and the disempowering of the Jewish persecutors; the Christian community, meanwhile, having fled to safety in the already pacified region of Pella.[6]
The New Testament, especially the Gospel of John, has traditionally been interpreted as relating Christian accounts of the Pharisee rejection of Jesus and accusations of the Pharisee responsibility for his crucifixion. The Acts of the Apostles depicts instances of early Christian persecution by the Sanhedrin, the Jewish religious court of the time.[8]
Walter Laqueur argues that hostility between Christians and Jews grew over the generations. By the 4th century, John Chrysostom was arguing that the Pharisees alone, not the Romans, were responsible for the murder of Christ. However, according to Laqueur: "Absolving Pilate from guilt may have been connected with the missionary activities of early Christianity in Rome and the desire not to antagonize those they want to convert."[9]
Persecution of early Christians in the Roman Empire[edit]
Main article: Persecution of Christians in the Roman Empire
Persecution under Nero, 64–68 AD[edit]
Main article: Great Fire of Rome
The first documented case of imperially supervised persecution of the Christians in the Roman Empire begins with Nero (37–68). In 64 AD, a great fire broke out in Rome, destroying portions of the city and economically devastating the Roman population. Some people suspected Nero himself as the arsonist, as Suetonius reported,[10] claiming he played the lyre and sang the 'Sack of Ilium' during the fires. In his Annals, Tacitus (who wrote that Nero was in Antium at the time of the fire's outbreak), stated that "to get rid of the report, Nero fastened the guilt and inflicted the most exquisite tortures on a class hated for their abominations, called Christians (or Chrestians)[11] by the populace" (Tacit. Annals XV, see Tacitus on Jesus). Suetonius, later to the period, does not mention any persecution after the fire, but in a previous paragraph unrelated to the fire, mentions punishments inflicted on Christians, defined as men following a new and malefic superstition. Suetonius however does not specify the reasons for the punishment, he just lists the fact together with other abuses put down by Nero.[12]Persecution from the 2nd century to Constantine[edit]
By the mid-2nd century, mobs could be found willing to throw stones at Christians, and they might be mobilized by rival sects. The Persecution in Lyon was preceded by mob violence, including assaults, robberies and stonings (Eusebius, Ecclesiastical History 5.1.7).Further state persecutions were desultory until the 3rd century, though Tertullian's Apologeticus of 197 was ostensibly written in defense of persecuted Christians and addressed to Roman governors.[13] The "edict of Septimius Severus" familiar in Christian history is doubted by some secular historians to have existed outside Christian martyrology.
The first documentable Empire-wide persecution took place under Maximinus Thrax, though only the clergy were sought out. It was not until Decius during the mid-century that a persecution of Christian laity across the Empire took place. Christian sources aver that a decree was issued requiring public sacrifice, a formality equivalent to a testimonial of allegiance to the Emperor and the established order. Decius authorized roving commissions visiting the cities and villages to supervise the execution of the sacrifices and to deliver written certificates to all citizens who performed them. Christians were often given opportunities to avoid further punishment by publicly offering sacrifices or burning incense to Roman gods, and were accused by the Romans of impiety when they refused. Refusal was punished by arrest, imprisonment, torture, and executions. Christians fled to safe havens in the countryside and some purchased their certificates, called libelli. Several councils held at Carthage debated the extent to which the community should accept these lapsed Christians.
Some early Christians sought out and welcomed martyrdom. Roman authorities tried hard to avoid Christians because they "goaded, chided, belittled and insulted the crowds until they demanded their death."[14] According to Droge and Tabor, "in 185 the proconsul of Asia, Arrius Antoninus, was approached by a group of Christians demanding to be executed. The proconsul obliged some of them and then sent the rest away, saying that if they wanted to kill themselves there was plenty of rope available or cliffs they could jump off."[15] Such seeking after death is found in Tertullian's Scorpiace or in the letters of Saint Ignatius of Antioch but was certainly not the only view of martyrdom in the Christian church. Both Polycarp and Cyprian, bishops in Smyrna and Carthage respectively, attempted to avoid martyrdom.
Palestinian bishop Eusebius of Caesaraea described the mass murder of Christians by Jews during the Bar Kochba revolt.[16]
The Great Persecution[edit]
Main article: Diocletian Persecution
This persecution lasted, until Constantine I came to power in 313 and legalized Christianity. It was not until Theodosius I in the later 4th century that Christianity would become the official religion of the Empire. Between these two events Julian II temporarily restored the traditional Roman religion and established broad religious tolerance renewing Pagan and Christian hostilities.
Martyrs were considered uniquely exemplary of the Christian faith, and few early saints were not also martyrs.
The New Catholic Encyclopedia states that "Ancient, medieval and early modern hagiographers were inclined to exaggerate the number of martyrs. Since the title of martyr is the highest title to which a Christian can aspire, this tendency is natural". Estimates of Christians killed for religious reasons before the year 313 vary greatly, depending on the scholar quoted, from a high of almost 100,000 to a low of 10,000.
Persecutions of early Christians outside the Roman Empire[edit]
The Yemeni Jewish Himyar tribe, led by King Dhu Nuwas, massacred 20,000 Christians in 524.[19]
Persecution of Christians during the Middle Ages[edit]
Persecution of Christians by Persians and Jews during Roman-Persian Wars[edit]
Several months after the Persian conquest, a riot occurred in Jerusalem, and the Jewish governor of Jerusalem Nehemiah was killed by a band of young Christians along with his "council of the righteous" while making plans for the building of the Third Temple. At this time the Christians had allied themselves with the Eastern Roman Empire. Shortly, the events escalated into a full-scale Christian rebellion, resulting in a battle of Jews and Christians inside Jerusalem. In the aftermath many Jews were killed and survivors fled to Caesarea, still held by the Persian Army.The Judeo-Persian reaction was ruthless—Persian Sasanian general Xorheam assembled Judeo-Persian troops and went and encamped around Jerusalem and besieged in for 19 days.[20] Eventually, digging beneath the foundations of the Jerusalem, they destroyed the wall and on the 19th day of the siege, the Judeo-Persian forces took Jerusalem.[20]
According to the account of Sebeos, the siege resulted in a total Christian death toll of 17,000, the earliest and thus most commonly accepted figure.[21]: 207Per Antiochus, 4,518 prisoners alone were massacred near Mamilla reservoir [22] in reprisal for the Christian rebellion and pogrom of the Jews. Christian sources later exaggerated the extent of the massacre, claiming the death toll as high as 90,000.[21]: 207–208 In addition, 35,000 people including the patriarch Zacharias were deported to Mesopotamia.[21]: 69–71 The city is said to have been burn down. However, neither widespread burning nor destruction of churches have been found in the archaeological record.[22][23]
According to the later account of Antiochus Strategos, whose perspective appears to be that of a Byzantine Greek and shows an antipathy towards the Jews,[24] thousands of Christians where massacred during the conquest of the city. Estimates based on varying copies of Strategos's manuscripts range from 4,518 to 66,509 killed.[25] Strategos wrote that the Jews offered to help them escape death if they "become Jews and deny Christ", and the Christian captives refused. In anger the Jews allegedly purchased Christians to kill them.[26] 37,000 were reportedly deported by the Persians and many more thousands sold as slaves to the Jews.[27] In 1989, a mass burial grave at Mamilla cave was discovered in by Israeli archeologist Ronny Reich, near the site where Antiochus reported the greatest number of corpses were found. The human remains were in poor condition containing a minimum of 526 individuals.[28]
Persecution of Christians in the early and Arab Islamic Caliphates[edit]
In general, Christians subject to Islamic rule were allowed to practice their religion with some notable limitations, see Pact of Umar. As People of the Book they were awarded dhimmi status (along with Jews and Mandeans), inferior to the status of Muslims.At times, anti-Christian pogroms occurred. Under sharia, non-Muslims were obligated to pay jizya taxes, which contributed a significant proportion of income for the Islamic state and persuaded many Christians to convert to Islam (Stillman (1979), p. 160.). According to the Hanafi school of sharia, the testimony of a non-Muslim (such as a Christian) was not considered valid against the testimony of a Muslim. Other schools differed. Christian men were not allowed to marry a Muslim woman under sharia. Muslim men on the other hand were allowed to marry Christian women who were then expected to convert. Christians under Islamic rule had the right to convert to Islam or any other religion, while a murtad, or apostate of Islam, faced severe penalties or even hadd, which could include the death penalty.
Tamerlane instigated large scale massacres of Christians in Mesopotamia, Persia, Asia Minor and Syria in the 14th century AD. Most of the victims were indigenous Assyrians, Arameans and Armenians, members of the Assyrian Church of the East and Orthodox Churches, which led to the decimation of the hitherto majority Assyrian population in northern Mesopotamia and the abandonment of the ancient Assyrian city of Ashur.[29]
Medieval Christian persecution of heresy[edit]
In the medieval period the Roman Catholic Church moved to suppress the Cathar heresy, the Pope having sanctioned a crusade against the Albigensians, during the course of which the massacre of Béziers took place, with between seven and twenty thousand deaths. Papal legate Arnaud Amalric, when asked how Catholics could be distinguished from Cathars once the city fell, allegedly replied, "Kill them all, God will know His own." Estimates of the death toll over the twenty-year period of this campaign range from 100,000 to 1,000,000.[30][31][32]John Huss, a Bohemian preacher of reformation, was burned at the stake on 6 July 1415. Pope Martin V issued a bull on 17 March 1420 which proclaimed a crusade "for the destruction of the Wycliffites, Hussites and all other heretics in Bohemia".
The Crusades in the Middle East also spilled over into conquest of Eastern Orthodox Christians by Roman Catholics and attempted suppression of the Orthodox Church. The Waldenses were as well persecuted by the Catholic Church, but survive up to this day.
Early Modern period (1500 to 1815)[edit]
Reformation[edit]
Reformation in Scotland[edit]
![[icon]](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Wiki_letter_w_cropped.svg){kind=small} | This section requires expansion. (July 2013) |
Main article: Scottish Reformation
Reformation and counter reformation in England, Ireland and English colonies[edit]
Main article: English Reformation
The Reformation in England began in 1534 with the passing of the Act of Supremacy that made the King of England the "only supreme head on earth of the Church in England". Anyone who failed to acknowledge this was considered to have committed a treason act. It was under this act that Sir Thomas More was executed. When Queen Mary I came to the throne, the government initiated a counter reformation; around 280 Protestants were burnt as heretics, earning Mary the sobriquet of Bloody Mary.[34] However, with her death the throne passed to Queen Elizabeth I, who stated that "I would not open windows into men's souls",[35] she initiated a religious compromise which became known as the Anglican Church.[36] Elizabeth's government, while mildly tolerant of Roman Catholics, would not tolerate Jesuit missionaries, whose acts were judged to be seditious, rather than heretical, and who if captured were either imprisoned and banished or executed as traitors. The Gunpowder Plot caused renewed suspicion of Roman Catholics.During the English Civil War, those who supported the Parliamentary cause tended to be less tolerant of Roman Catholics than were the Royalists, and in Parliamentary areas there was a fresh persecution of Roman Catholics, particularly in the London area. During the war, Irish Roman Catholics who fought for the Royalists could and were summarily executed on capture (see Ordinance of no quarter to the Irish). Although usually treated in a similar fashion to Royalists Protestants, in one well known case, about one third of the Roman Catholic garrison of Basing House were put to the sword during the storming of the fortress at the end of the siege. During the Commonwealth, religious toleration was in favour for all but some extreme sects such as Ranters and Roman Catholics. One famous incident was the Naylor case, where a Quaker James Naylor was found guilty of blaspheme by the Second Protectorate Parliament, whose members ordered Naylor to suffer a punishment that included being whipped by the hangman through the streets from Westminster, being branded with the letter B and having his tongue bored through with a red hot iron.
With the Restoration in 1660, Anglican Church was established as an episcopal church with other churches banned under the Clarendon Code and the Act of Uniformity 1662. This led to the Great Ejection of Puritan minsters from their livings as Anglican priests. Over the next few centuries, religious tolerance gradually replaced intolerance, in the first instance for Protestant Nonconformists and later for Roman Catholics, the Church of England is still the Established Church in England; the Monarch, who is head of the Church can not by law be a Roman Catholic or married to a Roman Catholic.
Ireland[edit]
As punishment for the rebellion of 1641, almost all lands owned by Irish Catholics were confiscated and given to Protestant settlers. Under the penal laws, no Irish Catholic could sit in the Parliament of Ireland, even though some 90% of Ireland's population was native Irish Catholic when the first of these bans was introduced in 1691.[37] Catholic / Protestant strife has been blamed for much of "The Troubles", the ongoing struggle in Northern Ireland.English colonies in North America[edit]
This attitude was carried to the English colonies in America, which eventually became the United States. In those colonies, Catholicism was introduced with the settling of Maryland in 1634; this colony offered a rare example of religious toleration in a fairly intolerant age, particularly amongst other English colonies which frequently exhibited a quite militant Protestantism. (See the Maryland Toleration Act, and note the pre-eminence of the Archdiocese of Baltimore in Catholic circles.) However, at the time of the American Revolution, Catholics formed less than 1% of the population of the thirteen colonies.Anti-Eastern Orthodox[edit]
Main article: Catholic clergy involvement with the Ustaše
In 1656, Macarios III Zaim, who was the Greek Patriarch of Antioch, lamented over the atrocities committed by the Polish Catholics against followers of Greek Orthodoxy. Macarios was quoted as stating that seventy or eighty thousand followers of Eastern Orthodoxy were killed under hands of the Catholics. Greek Patriarch Macarios desired Turkish sovereignty over Catholic subjugation, stating:God perpetuate the empire of the Turks for ever and ever! For they take their impost, and enter no account of religion, be their subjects Christians or Nazarenes, Jews or Samaritians; whereas these accursed Poles were not content with taxes and tithes from the brethren of Christ...[38]
Anti-Protestant[edit]
Main article: Anti-Protestantism
Persecution of the Anabaptists[edit]
Main article: Anabaptist
When the disputes between Lutherans and Roman Catholics gained a political dimension, both groups saw other groups of religious dissidents that were arising as a danger to their own security. The early "Täufer" (lit. "Baptists") were mistrusted and rejected by both religio-political parties. Religious persecution is often perpetrated as a means of political control, and this becomes evident with the Treaty of Augsburg in 1555. This treaty provided the legal groundwork for persecution of the Anabaptists. Because of the belief of opposing infant baptism and refusing to fight in wars, Anabaptists were persecuted by Catholics, Lutherans, Anglicans, and Calvinists. Hundreds to thousands of them were tortured and executed for their beliefs. While settling in England, persecutions for Anabaptists continued.China[edit]
Beginning in the late 17th century, Christianity was banned for at least a century in China by the Kangxi Emperor of the Qing Dynasty after the Pope forbade Chinese Catholics from venerating their relatives or Confucius.[39] During the Boxer Rebellion, anti Christian Boxers, and Muslim Kansu Braves serving in the Chinese army attacked Christians.[40][41][42]During the Northern Expedition, the Kuomintang incited anti-foreign, anti-Western sentiment. Portraits of Sun Yat-sen replaced the crucifix in several churches, KMT posters proclaimed- "Jesus Christ is dead. Why not worship something alive such as Nationalism?". Foreign missionaries were attacked and anti foreign riots broke out.[43]
During the Northern Expedition, in 1926 in Guangxi, Muslim General Bai Chongxi led his troops in destroying Buddhist temples and smashing idols, turning the temples into schools and Kuomintang party headquarters.[44] It was reported that almost all of Buddhist monasteries in Guangxi were destroyed by Bai in this manner. The monks were removed.[45] Bai led a wave of anti foreignism in Guangxi, attacking American, European, and other foreigners and missionaries, and generally making the province unsafe for foreigners. Westerners fled from the province, and some Chinese Christians were also attacked as imperialist agents.[46]
Japan[edit]
Main article: Martyrs of Japan
Many of the Christians in Japan continued for two centuries to maintain their religion as Kakure Kirishitan, or hidden Christians, without any priests or pastors. Some of those who were killed for their Faith are venerated as the Martyrs of Japan.
Christianity was later allowed during the Meiji era. The Meiji Constitution of 1890 introduced separation of church and state and permitted freedom of religion.
India[edit]
Main articles: Anti-Christian violence in India and Anti-Christian violence in Karnataka
Muslim Tipu Sultan, the ruler of the Kingdom of Mysore, took action against the Mangalorean Catholic community from Mangalore and the South Canara district on the southwestern coast of India. Tipu was widely reputed to be anti-Christian. He took Mangalorean Catholics into captivity at Seringapatam on 24 February 1784 and released them on 4 May 1799.[50]
The Bakur Manuscript[clarification needed] reports him as having said: "All Musalmans should unite together, and considering the annihilation of infidels as a sacred duty, labor to the utmost of their power, to accomplish that subject."[citation needed] Soon after the Treaty of Mangalore in 1784, Tipu gained control of Canara.[51] He issued orders to seize the Christians in Canara, confiscate their estates,[52] and deport them to Seringapatam, the capital of his empire, through the Jamalabad fort route.[53] There were no priests among the captives. Together with Fr. Miranda, all the 21 arrested priests were issued orders of expulsion to Goa, fined Rs 2 lakhs, and threatened death by hanging if they ever returned.[citation needed]
Tipu ordered the destruction of 27 Catholic churches. Among them were the Church of Nossa Senhora de Rosario Milagres at Mangalore, Fr Miranda's Seminary at Monte Mariano, Church of Jesu Marie Jose at Omzoor, Chapel at Bolar, Church of Merces at Ullal, Imaculata Conceiciao at Mulki, San Jose at Perar, Nossa Senhora dos Remedios at Kirem, Sao Lawrence at Karkal, Rosario at Barkur, Immaculata Conceciao at Baidnur. All were razed to the ground, with the exception of Igreja da Santa Cruz Hospet also known as Hospet Church at Hospet, owing to the friendly offices of the Chauta Raja of Moodbidri.[54]
According to Thomas Munro, a Scottish soldier and the first collector of Canara, around 60,000 of them,[55] nearly 92 percent of the entire Mangalorean Catholic community, were captured. 7,000 escaped. Observer Francis Buchanan reports that 70,000 were captured, from a population of 80,000, with 10,000 escaping. They were forced to climb nearly 4,000 feet (1,200 m) through the jungles of the Western Ghat mountain ranges. It was 210 miles (340 km) from Mangalore to Seringapatam, and the journey took six weeks. According to British Government records, 20,000 of them died on the march to Seringapatam. According to James Scurry, a British officer, who was held captive along with Mangalorean Catholics, 30,000 of them were forcibly converted to Islam. The young women and girls were forcibly made wives of the Muslims living there.[56] The young men who offered resistance were disfigured by cutting their noses, upper lips, and ears.[57] According to Mr. Silva of Gangolim, a survivor of the captivity, if a person who had escaped from Seringapatam was found, the punishment under the orders of Tipu was the cutting off of the ears, nose, the feet and one hand.[58]
The Archbishop of Goa wrote in 1800, "It is notoriously known in all Asia and all other parts of the globe of the oppression and sufferings experienced by the Christians in the Dominion of the King of Kanara, during the usurpation of that country by Tipu Sultan from an implacable hatred he had against them who professed Christianity."[citation needed]
Tipu's persecution of Christians also extended to captured British soldiers. For instance, there were a significant amount of forced conversions of British captives between 1780 and 1784. Following their disastrous defeat at the battle of Pollilur, 7,000 British men along with an unknown number of women were held captive by Tipu in the fortress of Seringapatnam. Of these, over 300 were circumcised and given Muslim names and clothes and several British regimental drummer boys were made to wear ghagra cholis and entertain the court as nautch girls or dancing girls. After the 10 year long captivity ended, James Scurry, one of those prisoners, recounted that he had forgotten how to sit in a chair and use a knife and fork. His English was broken and stilted, having lost all his vernacular idiom. His skin had darkened to the swarthy complexion of negroes, and moreover, he had developed an aversion to wearing European clothes.[60]
During the surrender of the Mangalore fort which was delivered in an armistice by the British and their subsequent withdrawal, all the Mestizos and remaining non-British foreigners were killed, together with 5,600 Mangalorean Catholics. Those condemned by Tipu Sultan for treachery were hanged instantly, the gibbets being weighed down by the number of bodies they carried. The Netravati River was so putrid with the stench of dying bodies, that the local residents were forced to leave their riverside homes.[citation needed]
French Revolution[edit]
Main articles: Dechristianisation of France during the French Revolution and Revolt in the Vendée
The program included the following policies:[61][62][63]
- the deportation of clergy and the condemnation of many of them to death,
- the closing, desecration and pillaging of churches, removal of the word "saint" from street names and other acts to banish Christian culture from the public sphere
- removal of statues, plates and other iconography from places of worship
- destruction of crosses, bells and other external signs of worship
- the institution of revolutionary and civic cults, including the Cult of Reason and subsequently the Cult of the Supreme Being,
- the large scale destruction of religious monuments,
- the outlawing of public and private worship and religious education,
- forced marriages of the clergy,
- forced abjurement of priesthood, and
- the enactment of a law on 21 October 1793 making all nonjuring priests and all persons who harbored them liable to death on sight.
Under threat of death, imprisonment, military conscription or loss of income, about 20,000 constitutional priests were forced to abdicate or hand over their letters of ordination and 6,000 – 9,000 were coerced to marry, many ceasing their ministerial duties.[64] Some of those who abdicated covertly ministered to the people.[64] By the end of the decade, approximately 30,000 priests were forced to leave France, and thousands who did not leave were executed.[65] Most of France was left without the services of a priest, deprived of/liberated from the sacraments and any nonjuring priest faced the guillotine or deportation to French Guiana.[66]
The March 1793 conscription requiring Vendeans to fill their district's quota of 300,000 enraged the populace, who took up arms as "The Catholic Army", "Royal" being added later, and fought for "above all the reopening of their parish churches with their former priests."[67] A massacre of 6,000 Vendée prisoners, many of them women, took place after the battle of Savenay, along with the drowning of 3,000 Vendée women at Pont-au-Baux and 5,000 Vendée priests, old men, women, and children killed by drowning at the Loire River at Nantes in what was called the "national bath" – tied in groups in barges and then sunk into the Loire.[68][69][70]
With these massacres came formal orders for forced evacuation; also, a 'scorched earth' policy was initiated: farms were destroyed, crops and forests burned and villages razed. There were many reported atrocities and a campaign of mass killing universally targeted at residents of the Vendée regardless of combatant status, political affiliation, age or gender.[71] By July 1796, the estimated Vendean dead numbered between 117,000 and 500,000, out of a population of around 800,000.[72][73][74] Some historians call these mass killings the first modern genocide, specifically because intent to exterminate the Catholic Vendeans was clearly stated,[75] though others have rejected these claims.
Modern era (1815 to 1989)[edit]
Ottoman Empire[edit]
A major massacre of Assyrians and Armenians in the Ottoman Empire occurred between 1894 and 1897 AD by Turkish troops and their Kurdish supporters during the rule of Sultan Abdul Hamid II (the Hamidian massacre). The motives for these massacres were an attempt to reassert Pan-Islamism in the Ottoman Empire, resentment at the comparative wealth of the ancient indigenous Christian communities, and a fear that they would attempt to secede from the tottering Ottoman Empire. Assyrians and Armenians were massacred in Diyarbakir, Hasankeyef, Sivas and other parts of Anatolia and northern Mesopotamia, by Sultan Abdul Hamid II. These attacks caused the death of tens of thousands of Assyrians and Armenians and the forced "Ottomanisation" of the inhabitants of 245 villages. The Turkish troops looted the remains of settlements and these were later stolen and occupied by Muslim Kurds. Unarmed Christian women and children were raped, tortured and murdered.[76]
The Young Turks government of the collapsing Ottoman Empire in 1915 persecuted Christian populations in Anatolia, Persia and Northern Mesopotamia. The onslaught by the Ottoman army, including Kurdish and Circassian irregulars resulting in an estimated 2.5 million deaths, divided between roughly 1.2 Million Armenian Christians, 0.75 million Assyrians and 0.75 million Greek Orthodox Christians, a number of Georgians were also killed. The Genocide led to the devastation of ancient indigenous Christian peoples who had existed in the region for thousands of years.[77][78][79][80]
Soviet Union and Warsaw Pact Countries[edit]
Further information: Persecution of Christians in the Soviet Union and Persecution of Christians in Warsaw Pact countries
After the Revolution of 1917, the Bolsheviks undertook a massive program to remove the influence of the Russian Orthodox Church from the government while outlawing antisemitism in Russian society, and promoting state atheism. Tens of thousands of churches were destroyed or converted to other uses, and many members of clergy were murdered, including public executions and imprisonment for what the government termed "anti-government activities." An extensive education and propaganda campaign was undertaken to convince people, especially the children and youth, to abandon religious beliefs. This persecution resulted in the intentional murders of 500,000 Orthodox followers in the 20th century by the Soviet Union.[81]This persecution affected the Orthodox. It also affected other groups, such as the Mennonites, who largely fled to the Americas.[82]
Before and after the October Revolution of 7 November 1917 (25 October Old Calendar) there was a movement within the Soviet Union to unite all of the people of the world under Communist rule (see Communist International). This included the Eastern European bloc countries as well as the Balkan States. Since some of these Slavic states tied their ethnic heritage to their ethnic churches, both the peoples and their church were targeted for ethnic and political genocide by the Soviets and its form of State atheism.[83][84] The Soviets' official religious stance was one of "religious freedom or tolerance", though the state established atheism as the only scientific truth (see also the Soviet or committee of the All-Union Society for the Dissemination of Scientific and Political Knowledge or Znanie which was until 1947 called The League of the Militant Godless and various Intelligentsia groups).[85][86][87] Criticism of atheism was strictly forbidden and sometimes resulted in imprisonment.[88] Some of the more high profile individuals executed include Metropolitan Benjamin of Petrograd, Priest and scientist Pavel Florensky and Bishop Gorazd Pavlik.
The Communist regime confiscated church property, ridiculed religion, harassed believers, and propagated atheism in the schools. Actions toward particular religions, however, were determined by State interests, and most organized religions were never outlawed. It is estimated that 500,000 Russian Orthodox Christians were martyred in the gulags by the Soviet government, not including torture or other Christian denominations killed.[81][unreliable source?]
Some actions against Orthodox priests and believers along with execution included torture being sent to prison camps, labour camps or mental hospitals.[64][89] The result of state sponsored atheism was to transform the Church into a persecuted and martyred Church. In the first five years after the Bolshevik revolution, 28 bishops and 1,200 priests were executed.[90]
After Nazi Germany's attack on the Soviet Union in 1941, Joseph Stalin revived the Russian Orthodox Church to intensify patriotic support for the war effort. By 1957 about 22,000 Russian Orthodox churches had become active. But in 1959 Nikita Khrushchev initiated his own campaign against the Russian Orthodox Church and forced the closure of about 12,000 churches. By 1985 fewer than 7,000 churches remained active.[90]
In the Soviet Union, in addition to the methodical closing and destruction of churches, the charitable and social work formerly done by ecclesiastical authorities was taken over by the state. As with all private property, Church owned property was confiscated into public use. The few places of worship left to the Church were legally viewed as state property which the government permitted the church to use. After the advent of state funded universal education, the Church was not permitted to carry on educational, instructional activity for children. For adults, only training for church-related occupations was allowed. Outside of sermons during the celebration of the divine liturgy it could not instruct or evangelise to the faithful or its youth. Catechism classes, religious schools, study groups, Sunday schools and religious publications were all illegal and or banned. This caused many religious tracts to be circulated as illegal literature or samizdat.[64] This persecution continued, even after the death of Stalin until the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991. Since the fall of the Soviet Union, the Russian Orthodox Church has recognized a number of New Martyrs as saints, some executed during Mass operations of the NKVD under directives like NKVD Order No. 00447.
19th and 20th century Mexico[edit]
Main article: Persecution of Christians in Mexico
In the 19th century, Mexican President Benito Juárez confiscated church lands. The Mexican government's campaign against the Catholic Church after the Mexican Revolution culminated in the 1917 constitution which contained numerous articles which Catholics perceived as violating their civil rights: outlawing monastic religious orders, forbidding public worship outside of church buildings, restricted religious organizations' rights to own property, and taking away basic civil rights of members of the clergy (priests and religious leaders were prevented from wearing their habits, were denied the right to vote, and were not permitted to comment on public affairs in the press and were denied the right to trial for violation of anticlerical laws). When the first embassy of the Soviet Union in any country was opened in Mexico, the Soviet ambassador remarked that "no other two countries show more similarities than the Soviet Union and Mexico".[91]When the Church publicly condemned the anticlerical measures which had not been strongly enforced, the atheist President Plutarco Calles sought to vigorously enforce the provisions and enacted additional anti-Catholic legislation known as the Calles Law. At this time, some in the United States government, considering Calles' regime Bolshevik, started to refer to Mexico as "Soviet Mexico".[92]
Weary of the persecution, in many parts of the country a popular rebellion called the Cristero War began (so named because the rebels felt they were fighting for Christ himself). The effects of the persecution on the Church were profound. Between 1926 and 1934 at least 40 priests were killed.[93] Where there were 4,500 priests serving the people before the rebellion, in 1934 there were 334 priests licensed by the government to serve fifteen million people, the rest having been eliminated by emigration, expulsion and assassination.[93][94] By 1935, 17 states had no priest at all.[95] In the second Cristero rebellion (1932), the Cristeros took particular exception to the socialist education, which Calles had also implemented but which President Cardenas had added to the 1917 Mexican Constitution.[96][97]
Anti-Mormonism[edit]
Main article: Anti-Mormonism
The Latter Day Saint Movement, (Mormons) have been persecuted since their founding in the 1830s. This persecution drove them from New York and Ohio to Missouri, where they continued to suffer violent attacks. In 1838, Gov. Lilburn Boggs declared that Mormons had made war on the state of Missouri, and "must be treated as enemies, and must be exterminated or driven from the state"[98] At least 10,000 were expelled from the State. In the most violent of the altercations at this time, the Haun's mill Massacre, 17 were murdered by an anti-Mormon mob and 13 were wounded.[99] The Extermination Order sign by Governor Boggs was not formally invalidated until 25 June 1976, 137 years after being signed.The Mormons subsequently fled to Nauvoo, Illinois, where hostilities again escalated. In Carthage, Ill., where Joseph Smith was being held on the charge of treason, a mob stormed the jail and killed him. Smith's brother, Hyrum, was also killed. After a succession crisis, most united under Brigham Young, who organized an evacuation from the United States after the federal government refused to protect them.[100] 70,000 Mormon pioneers crossed the Great Plains to settle in the Salt Lake Valley and surrounding areas. After the Mexican-American War, the area became the US territory of Utah. Over the next 63 years several actions by the federal government were directed against Mormons in the Mormon Corridor, including the Utah War, Morrill Anti-Bigamy Act, Poland Act, Reynolds v. United States, Edmunds Act, Edmunds-Tucker Act, and the Reed Smoot hearings.
Kenya[edit]
In 2013, Islamic terrorists cornered people in a shopping center in Nairobi using guns and grenades. They instructed Muslims to leave. Then they shot those remaining, killing 39, and wounding 150.[101]Madagascar[edit]
In 1838, it was estimated that as many as 100,000 people in Imerina died as a result of the tangena ordeal, constituting roughly 20% of the population.[102] contributing to a strongly unfavorable view of Ranavalona's rule in historical accounts.[103] Malagasy Christians would remember this period as ny tany maizina, or "the time when the land was dark". Persecution of Christians intensified in 1840, 1849 and 1857; in 1849, deemed the worst of these years by British missionary to Madagascar W.E. Cummins (1878), 1,900 people were fined, jailed or otherwise punished in relation to their Christian faith, including 18 executions.[104]
Spain[edit]
Anti-Catholicism[edit]
Main article: Red Terror (Spain)
Persecution of Catholics mostly, before and at the beginning, of the Spanish Civil war (1936–1939), involved the murder of almost 7,000 priests and other clergy, as well as thousands of lay people, by sections of nearly all the leftist groups because of their faith.[105][106] The Republican government which had come to power in Spain in 1931 was strongly anti-Catholic, prohibiting religious education – even in private school, prohibiting any education by religious institutes, seizing Church property and expelling the Jesuits from the country. On 3 June 1933 Pope Pius XI issued the encyclical Dilectissima Nobis, in which he described the expropriation of all Church buildings, episcopal residences, parish houses, seminaries and monasteries. By law, they became property of the Spanish State, to which the Church had to pay rent and taxes to continuously use these properties. "Thus the Catholic Church is compelled to pay taxes on what was violently taken from her"[107] Religious vestments, liturgical instruments, statues, pictures, vases, gems and similar objects necessary for worship were expropriated as well or desecrated.[108] Numerous churches and temples were destroyed by burning, after they were nationalized. All private schools run by Catholic religious institutes were expropriated. The purpose was to create solely secular schools there instead.[109] Pope Pius XI, who faced similar persecutions in the USSR and Mexico, called on Spanish Catholics to defend themselves against the persecution with all legal means.During the Spanish Civil War of 1936–1939, and especially in the early months of the conflict, individual clergymen and entire religious communities were executed by leftists, which included communists and anarchists. The death toll of the clergy alone included 13 bishops, 4,172 diocesan priests and seminarians, 2,364 monks and friars and 283 nuns, for a total of 6,832 clerical victims.[105]
In addition to murders of clergy and the faithful, destruction of churches and desecration of sacred sites and objects were widespread. On the night of 19 July 1936 alone, some fifty churches were burned.[110] In Barcelona, out of the 58 churches, only the Cathedral was spared, and similar desecrations occurred almost everywhere in Republican Spain.[111]
Exceptions were Biscay and Gipuzkoa where the Christian Democratic Basque Nationalist Party, after some hesitation, supported the Republic while halting persecution in the areas held by the Basque Government. All Catholic churches in the Republican zone were closed.[citation needed] The desecration was not limited to Catholic churches, as synagogues and Protestant churches were also pillaged and closed. Some small Protestant churches were spared.[112]
The terror has been called the "most extensive and violent persecution of Catholicism in Western History, in some way even more intense than that of the French Revolution."[113] The persecution drove Catholics to the Nationalists, even more than would have been expected, as these defended their religious interests and survival.[113]
Anti-Protestantism[edit]
In Franco's authoritarian Spanish State (1936–1975), Protestantism was deliberately marginalized and persecuted. During the Civil War, Franco's regime persecuted the country's 30,000[114] Protestants, and forced many Protestant pastors to leave the country. Once authoritarian rule was established, non-Catholic Bibles were confiscated by police and Protestant schools were closed.[115] Although the 1945 Spanish Bill of Rights granted freedom of private worship, Protestants suffered legal discrimination and non-Catholic religious services were not permitted publicly, to the extent that they could not be in buildings which had exterior signs indicating it was a house of worship and that public activities were prohibited.[114][116]While the Catholic Church was declared official and enjoyed a close relation to the state, parts of the Basque clergy harbored nationalist ideas opposed to Spanish centralism and were persecuted and imprisoned in a "Concordate jail" reserved for criminal clergy.
Nazi Germany[edit]
Hitler and the Nazis had some support from Christian communities, mainly due to a common cause against the anti-religious Communists. Once in power, the Nazis moved to consolidate their power over the German churches and bring them in line with Nazi ideals. Many historians say that Hitler had a general covert plan, which some say existed even before the Nazis' rise to power, to destroy Christianity within the Reich, which was to be accomplished through control and subversion of the churches and to be completed after the war.[117][118][119][120][121][122][123][124][125]The Third Reich founded their own version of Christianity called Positive Christianity which made major changes in its interpretation of the Bible which said that Jesus Christ was the son of God, but was not a Jew and claimed that Christ despised Jews, and that the Jews were the ones solely responsible for Christ's death. Thus, the Nazi government consolidated religious power, using allies to consolidate Protestant churches into the Protestant Reich Church. The syncretist project of Positive Christianity was abandoned by 1940.
Dissenting Christians went underground and formed the Confessing Church, which was persecuted as a subversive group by the Nazi government. Many of its leaders were arrested and sent to concentration camps, and left the underground mostly leaderless. Church members continued to engage in various forms of resistance, including hiding Jews during the Holocaust and various attempts, largely unsuccessful, to prod the Christian community to speak out on the part of the Jews.[citation needed]
The Catholic Church was suppressed in Poland. Between 1939 and 1945, an estimated 3,000 members, 18% of the Polish clergy,[76] were murdered; 1,992 of which died in concentration camps. In the annexed territory of Reichsgau Wartheland, it was even harsher than elsewhere. Churches were systematically closed, and most priests were either killed, imprisoned, or deported to the General Government.
The Germans also closed seminaries and convents persecuting monks and nuns. In Pomerania, all but 20 of the 650 priests were shot or sent to concentration camps. 80% of the Catholic clergy and five of the bishops of Warthegau were sent to concentration camps in 1939. In the city of Breslau, 49% of its Catholic priests were killed, and in Chełmno, 48%. 108 of them are regarded as blessed martyrs.[76] Among them, Maximilian Kolbe was canonized as a saint.
Polish and German Christians persecuted by the Nazis. In the Dachau concentration camp alone, 2,600 Catholic priests from 24 different countries were killed.[76] Outside mainstream Christianity, Jehovah's Witnesses were direct targets of the Holocaust, for their refusal to swear allegiance to the Nazi government. Many Jehovah's Witnesses were given the chance to deny their faith and swear allegiance to the state, but few agreed. Over 12,000 Witnesses were sent to the concentration camps, and estimated 2,500–5,000 died in the Holocaust.[citation needed]
In the aftermath of the assassination of Reinhard Heydrich, Nazi authorities repressed the Czechoslovak Orthodox Church which had given aid to the assassins.[citation needed]
Jehovah's Witnesses[edit]
Main article: Persecution of Jehovah's Witnesses
In Nazi Germany in the 1930s and early 1940s, Jehovah's Witnesses refused to renounce political neutrality and were placed in concentration camps as a result. The Nazi government gave detained Jehovah's Witnesses the option of release by signing a document indicating renouncement of their faith, submission to state authority, and support of the German military.[126]
Historian Hans Hesse said, "Some five thousand Jehovah's Witnesses were sent to concentration camps where they alone were 'voluntary prisoners', so termed because the moment they recanted their views, they could be freed. Some lost their lives in the camps, but few renounced their faith".[127][128]
Political and religious animosity against Jehovah's Witnesses has at times led to mob action and government oppression in various countries, including Cuba, the United States, Canada and Singapore. The religion's doctrine of political neutrality has led to imprisonment of members who refused conscription (for example in Britain during World War II and afterwards during the period of compulsory national service).
Current situation (1989 to present)[edit]
According to Pope Benedict XVI, Christians are the most persecuted group in the contemporary world.[129] The Holy See has reported that over 100,000 Christians are violently killed annually because of some relation to their faith.[130] According to the World Evangelical Alliance, over 200 million Christians are denied fundamental human rights solely because of their faith.[131] Of the 100-200 million Christians under assault, the majority are persecuted in Muslim-dominated nations.[132]Every year, the Christian non-profit organization Open Doors publishes a list of the top 50 countries where persecution of Christians for religious reasons is worst. The 2014 list has the following countries as its top 10 offenders:[133]
Muslim world[edit]
Afghanistan[edit]
See also: Christianity in Afghanistan
In Afghanistan, Abdul Rahman, a 41-year-old citizen, was charged in 2006 with rejecting Islam, a crime punishable by death under Sharia law. He has since been released into exile in the West under intense pressure from Western governments.[134][135] In 2008, the Taliban killed a British charity worker, Gayle Williams, "because she was working for an organisation which was preaching Christianity in Afghanistan" even though she was extremely careful not to try to convert Afghans.[136]Algeria[edit]
See also: Christianity in Algeria
On the night of 26–27 March 1996, seven monks from the monastery of Tibhirine in Algeria, belonging to the Roman Catholic Trappist Order of Cistercians of the Strict Observance (O.C.S.O.), were kidnapped in the Algerian Civil War. They were held for two months, and were found dead on 21 May 1996. The circumstances of their kidnapping and death remain controversial; the Armed Islamic Group (GIA) claims responsibility for both, but the then French military attaché, retired General Francois Buchwalter, reports that they were accidentally killed by the Algerian army in a rescue attempt, and claims have been made that the GIA itself was a cat's paw of Algeria's secret services (DRS).Islamists looted, and burned to the ground, a Pentecostal church in Tizi Ouzou on 9 January 2010. The pastor was quoted as saying that worshipers fled when local police left a gang of local rioters unchecked.[137]
Egypt[edit]
See also: Persecution of Copts
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In April 2006, one person was killed and twelve injured in simultaneous knife attacks on three Coptic churches in Alexandria.[139]
In July 2012, Dahshur's entire Christian community, which some estimate to be as many as 100 families, fled to nearby towns due to sectarian violence. The violence began in a dispute over a badly ironed shirt, which in turn escalated into a fight in which a Christian burned a Muslim to death, which in turn sparked a rampage by angry Muslims, while the police failed to act. At least 16 homes and properties of Christians were pillaged, some were torched, and a church was damaged during the violence.[140]
From 2011-2013, more than 150 kidnappings, for ransom, of Christians had been reported in the Minya governorate.[141]
Indonesia[edit]
See also: Christianity in Indonesia
Although Christians are minority in Indonesia, Christianity is one of the 6 official religions of Indonesia and religious freedom is permitted. But there are some religious tensions and persecutions in the country, and most of the tensions and persecutions are civil and not by state.In January 1999[142][143] tens of thousands died when Muslim gunmen terrorized Christians who had voted for independence in East Timor.[144]
In Indonesia, religious conflicts have typically occurred in Western New Guinea, Maluku (particularly Ambon), and Sulawesi. The presence of Muslims in these regions is in part a result of the transmigrasi program of population re-distribution. Conflicts have often occurred because of the aims of radical Islamist organizations such as Jemaah Islamiah or Laskar Jihad to impose Sharia,[145][146] with such groups attacking Christians and destroying over 600 churches.[147] In 2006 three Christian girls were beheaded as retaliation for previous Muslim deaths in Christian-Muslim rioting.[148] The men were imprisoned for the murders, including Jemaah Islamiyah's district ringleader Hasanuddin.[149] On going to jail, Hasanuddin said, "It's not a problem (if I am being sentenced to prison), because this is a part of our struggle."[150] Later on November 2011, another attack from Islamic community happen in Ambon. Muslims set fire to several Christian houses, forcing the occupants to leave the buildings.[151]
In December 2011, a second church in Bogor, West Java was ordered to halt its activities by the local mayor. Another Catholic church had been built there in 2005. Previously a Christian church, GKI Taman Yasmin, had been sealed. Local authorities refused to lift a ban on the activities of the church, despite an order from the Supreme Court of Indonesia.[152] Local authorities have persecuted the Christian church for three years. While the state has ordered religious toleration, it has not enforced these orders.[153]
In Aceh Province, the only province in Indonesia with autonomous Islamic Shari'a Law, 20 churches in Singkil Regency face threat of demolition due to gubernatorial decree requires the approval of 150 worshippers, while the ministrial decree also requires the approval of 60 local residents of different faiths. On 30 April 2012, all the 20 churches (17 Protestant churches, 2 Catholic churches and one place of worship belonging to followers of a local nondenominational faith) have been closed down by order, from the Acting Regent which also ordered members of the congregations to tear down the churches by themselves. Most of the churches slated for demolition were built in 1930s and 1940s. The regency has 2 churches open, both built after 2000.[154][155]
Iran[edit]
See also: Christianity in Iran
The Assyrian Genocide and Armenian Genocide of World War I conducted by invading Turks drastically reduced the Christian population of Iran, as they did with Turkey, Iraq and to a lesser degree north east Syria.Though Iran recognizes Assyrian and Armenian Christians as ethnic and religious minorities (along with Jews and Zoroastrians) and they have representatives in the Parliament, after the 1979 Revolution, Muslim converts to Christianity (typically to Protestant Christianity) have been arrested and sometimes executed.[156] Youcef Nadarkhani is an Iranian Christian pastor who was arrested on charges of Apostasy in October 2009 and was subsequently sentenced to death. In June 2011 the Iranian Supreme Court overruled his death sentence on condition that he recant, which he refused to do.[157] In a reversal on 8 of September 2012 he was acquitted of the charges of apostasy and extortion, and sentenced to time served for the charge of "propaganda against the regime," and immediately released.[158]
Iraq[edit]
See also: Christianity in Iraq
According to UNHCR, although Christians (almost exclusively ethnic Assyrians and Armenians) now represent less than 5% of the total Iraqi population, they make up 40% of the refugees now living in nearby countries.[159] Northern Iraq remained predominantly Assyrian, Eastern Aramaic speaking and Christian until the destructions of Tamerlane at the end of the 14th century. The Assyrian Church of the East has its origin in what is now South East Turkey and Assuristan (Sassanid Assyria). By the end of the 13th century there were twelve Nestorian dioceses in a strip from Peking to Samarkand. When the 14th-century Muslim warlord of Turco-Mongol descent, Timur (Tamerlane), conquered Persia, Mesopotamia and Syria, the civilian population was decimated. Timur had 70,000 Assyrian Christians beheaded in Tikrit, and 90,000 more in Baghdad.[160][161]In 1987, the last Iraqi census counted 1.4 million Christians.[162] They were tolerated under the secular regime of Saddam Hussein, who even made one of them, Tariq Aziz his deputy. However persecution by Saddam Hussein continued against the Christians on an ethnic, cultural and racial level, as the vast majority are Mesopotamian Aramaic speaking Ethnic Assyrians (aka Chaldo-Assyrians). The Assyrian -Aramaic language and written script was repressed, the giving of Hebraic/Aramaic Christian names or Akkadian/Assyro-Babylonian names forbidden (Tariq Aziz real name is Michael Youhanna for example), and Saddam exploited religious differences between Assyrian denominations such as Chaldean Catholics, Assyrian Church of the East, Syriac Orthodox and Ancient Church of the East. Many Assyrians were ethnically cleansed from their towns and villages under the al Anfal Campaign in 1988.[citation needed]
In 2004, five churches were destroyed by bombing. Tens of thousands of Christians fled the country.[163][164]
In 2006, the number of Chaldo-Assyrian Christians dropped to between 500,000 to 800,000, of whom 250,000 lived in Baghdad.[165] An exodus to the neighboring countries of Syria, Jordan and Turkey left behind closed parishes, seminaries and convents. As a small minority, who until recently were without a militia of their own, Assyrian Christians were persecuted by both Shi'a and Sunni Muslim militias, Kurdish Nationalists, and also by criminal gangs.[166][167]
As of 21 June 2007, the UNHCR estimated that 2.2 million Iraqis had been displaced to neighbouring countries, and 2 million were displaced internally, with nearly 100,000 Iraqis fleeing to Syria and Jordan each month.[168][169] A 25 May 2007 article notes that in the past seven months 69 people from Iraq have been granted refugee status in the United States.[170]
In 2007, Chaldean Catholic priest Fr. Ragheed Aziz Ganni and subdeacons Basman Yousef Daud, Wahid Hanna Isho, and Gassan Isam Bidawed were killed in the ancient city of Mosul.[171] Ganni was driving with his three deacons when they were stopped and demanded to convert to Islam, when they refused they were shot.[171] Ganni was the pastor of the Chaldean Church of the Holy Spirit in Mosul and a graduate from the Pontifical University of Saint Thomas Aquinas, Angelicum in Rome in 2003 with a licentiate in ecumenical theology. Six months later, the body of Paulos Faraj Rahho, archbishop of Mosul, was found buried near Mosul. He was kidnapped on 29 February 2008 when his bodyguards and driver were killed.[172]
In 2010 there was an attack on the Our Lady of Salvation Syriac Catholic cathedral[173] of Baghdad, Iraq, that took place during Sunday evening Mass on 31 October 2010. The attack left at least 58 people dead, after more than 100 had been taken hostage. The al-Qaeda-linked Sunni insurgent group.[174] The Islamic State of Iraq claimed responsibility for the attack; though Shia cleric Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani and Iraq's highest Catholic cleric condemned the attack, amongst others.
In 2013, Assyrian Christians were departing for their ancestral heartlands in the Nineveh plains, around Mosul, Arbil and Kirkuk. Assyrian militias were established to protect villages and towns.[175][176]
During the 2014 Northern Iraq offensive, the Islamic State of Iraq issued a decree in July that all Christians in the area of its control must leave, pay a special tax of approximately $470 per family, convert to Islam, or die. Many of them took refuge in nearby Kurdish-controlled regions of Iraq.[177] Christian homes have been painted with the Arabic letter ن (nūn) for Nassarah (an Arabic word Christian) and a declaration that they are the property of the Islamic State. On 18 July, the Jihadists seemed to have changed their minds and announced that all Christians would need to leave or be killed. Most of those who left had their valuable possessions stolen.[178] According to Patriarch Louis Sako, there are no Christians remaining in Mosul for the first time in the nation's history.[177]
Malaysia[edit]
See also: Christianity in Malaysia and Freedom of religion in Malaysia
In Malaysia, although Islam is the official religion, Christianity is tolerated under Article 3 and Article 11 of the Malaysian constitution. But at some point, the spread of Christianity is a particular sore point for the Muslim majority, the Malaysian government has also persecuted Christian groups who were perceived to be attempting to proselytize Muslim audiences.[179] Those showing interest in the Christian faith or other faith practices not considered orthodox by state religious authorities are usually sent either by the police or their family members to state funded Faith Rehabilitation Centres (Malay: Pusat Pemulihan Akidah) where they are counseled to remain faithful to Islam and some states have provisions for penalties under their respective Shariah legislations for apostasy from Islam.[180]It has been the practice of the church in Malaysia to not actively proselytize to the Muslim community. Christian literature are required by law to carry a caption "for non-Muslims only". Article 11(4) of the Federal Constitution of Malaysia allows the states to prohibit the propagation of other religions to Muslims, and most (with the exception of Penang, Sabah, Sarawak and the Federal Territories) have done so. There is no well researched agreement on the actual number of Malaysian Muslim converts to Christianity in Malaysia.[181] According to the latest population census released by the Malaysian Statistics Department, there are none, according to Ustaz Ridhuan Tee, they are 135 and according to Tan Sri Dr Harussani Zakaria, they are 260,000.[181] See also Status of religious freedom in Malaysia.
There are, however, cases in which a Muslim will adopt the Christian faith without declaring his/her apostasy openly. In effect, they are practising Christians, but legally Muslims.[182]
Pakistan[edit]
See also: Christianity in Pakistan
In Pakistan, 1.5% of the population are Christian. Pakistani law mandates that "blasphemies" of the Qur'an are to be met with punishment. At least a dozen Christians have been given death sentences,[183] and half a dozen murdered after being accused of violating blasphemy laws. In 2005, 80 Christians were behind bars due to these laws.[184]Ayub Masih, a Christian, was convicted of blasphemy and sentenced to death in 1998. He was accused by a neighbor of stating that he supported British writer Salman Rushdie, author of The Satanic Verses. Lower appeals courts upheld the conviction. However, before the Pakistan Supreme Court, his lawyer was able to prove that the accuser had used the conviction to force Masih's family off their land and then acquired control of the property. Masih has been released.[185]
In October 2001, gunmen on motorcycles opened fire on a Protestant congregation in the Punjab, killing 18 people. The identities of the gunmen are unknown. Officials think it might be a banned Islamic group.[186]
In March 2002, five people were killed in an attack on a church in Islamabad, including an American schoolgirl and her mother.[187]
In August 2002, masked gunmen stormed a Christian missionary school for foreigners in Islamabad; six people were killed and three injured. None of those killed were children of foreign missionaries.[188]
In August 2002, grenades were thrown at a church in the grounds of a Christian hospital in north-west Pakistan, near Islamabad, killing three nurses.[189]
On 25 September 2002, two terrorists entered the "Peace and Justice Institute", Karachi, where they separated Muslims from the Christians, and then murdered seven Christians by shooting them in the head.[190][191] All of the victims were Pakistani Christians. Karachi police chief Tariq Jamil said the victims had their hands tied and their mouths had been covered with tape.
In December 2002, three young girls were killed when a hand grenade was thrown into a church near Lahore on Christmas Day.[192]
In November 2005, 3,000 militant Islamists attacked Christians in Sangla Hill in Pakistan and destroyed Roman Catholic, Salvation Army and United Presbyterian churches. The attack was over allegations of violation of blasphemy laws by a Pakistani Christian named Yousaf Masih. The attacks were widely condemned by some political parties in Pakistan.[193]
On 5 June 2006, a Pakistani Christian, Nasir Ashraf, was assaulted for the "sin" of using public drinking water facilities near Lahore.[194]
One year later, in August 2007, a Christian missionary couple, Rev. Arif and Kathleen Khan, were gunned down by militant Islamists in Islamabad. Pakistani police believed that the murders was committed by a member of Khan's parish over alleged sexual harassment by Khan. This assertion is widely doubted by Khan's family as well as by Pakistani Christians.[195][196]
In August 2009, six Christians, including four women and a child, were burnt alive by Muslim militants and a church set ablaze in Gojra, Pakistan when violence broke out after alleged desecration of a Qur'an in a wedding ceremony by Christians.[197][198]
On 8 November 2010, a Christian woman from Punjab Province, Asia Noreen Bibi, was sentenced to death by hanging for violating Pakistan's blasphemy law. The accusation stemmed from a 2009 incident in which Bibi became involved in a religious argument after offering water to thirsty Muslim farm workers. The workers later claimed that she had blasphemed the Muhammed. As of 8 April 2011, Bibi is in solitary confinement. Her family has fled. No one in Pakistan convicted of blasphemy has ever been executed. A cleric has offered $5,800 to anyone who kills her.[199][200]
On 2 March 2011, the only Christian minister in the Pakistan government was shot dead. Shahbaz Bhatti, Minister for Minorities, was in his car along with his niece. Around 50 bullets struck the car. Over 10 bullets hit Bhatti. Before his death, he had publicly stated that he was not afraid of the Taliban's threats and was willing to die for his faith and beliefs. He was targeted for opposing the anti-free speech "blasphemy" law, which punishes insulting Islam or its Prophet.[201] A fundamentalist Muslim group claimed responsibility.[202]
Saudi Arabia[edit]
Saudi Arabia is an Islamic state that practices Wahhabism and restricts all other religions, including the possession of religious items such as the Bible, crucifixes, and Stars of David.[205] Christians are arrested and lashed in public for practicing their faith openly.[206] Strict sharia is enforced. Muslims are forbidden to convert to another religion. If one does so and does not recant, they can be executed.[207]
Somalia[edit]
See also: Christianity in Somalia
Christians in Somalia face persecution associated with the ongoing civil war in that country.[208]Sudan[edit]
See also: Christianity in Sudan
In Sudan, it is estimated that over 1.5 million Christians have been killed by the Janjaweed, the Arab Muslim militia, and even suspected Islamists in northern Sudan since 1984.[209]It should also be noted that Sudan's several civil wars (which often take the form of genocidal campaigns) are often not purely religious in nature, but also ethnic, as many black Muslims, as well as Muslim Arab tribesmen, have also been killed in the conflicts.[citation needed]
During the Second Sudanese Civil War people were taken into slavery; estimates of abductions range from 14,000 to 200,000. Abduction of Dinka women and children was common.[210]
Syria[edit]
See also: Christianity in Syria
Syria has been home to Christianity from the 1st to 3rd centuries AD onwards. The majority of Syrian Christians are once Western Aramaic speaking but now largely Arabic speaking Aramean-Syriacs, with smaller minorities of Eastern Aramaic speaking Assyrians and Armenians also extant.While religious persecution has been reltively low level compared to other Middle Eastern nations, many of the Christians have been pressured into identifying as Arab Christians, with the Assyrian and Armenian groups retaining their native languages.
During the Syrian Civil War, armed gangs opposed to the government of Bashar al-Assad having been killing Christians; most notably in Maloula.
Tunisia[edit]
See also: Christianity in Tunisia
Since the Tunisian revolution of 2011, there has been religious violence consisting of Muslim attacks on Christians in Tunisia.[211]Turkey[edit]
The Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople is still in a difficult position. Turkey requires by law that the Ecumenical Patriarch must be an ethnic Greek, holding Turkish citizenship by birth, although most of the Greek minority has been expelled. The state's expropriation of church property and the closing of the Orthodox Theological School of Halki are also difficulties faced by the Church of Constantinople. Despite appeals from the United States, the European Union and various governmental and non-governmental organizations, the School remains closed since 1971. In November 2007, a 17th-century chapel of Our Lord's Transfiguration at the Halki seminary was almost totally demolished by the Turkish forestry authority.[212] There was no advanced warning given for the demolition work and it was stopped after appeals by the Ecumenical Patriarch.[213]In February 2006, Father Andrea Santoro was murdered in Trabzon.[214]
India[edit]
Main article: Anti-Christian violence in India
See also: Christianity in India
Tippu Sultan (1795)captured nearly 60,000 people from Mangalorean Catholic community. 7,000 escaped. Tippu Sultan’s also did lot of damages and destruction to the first century malankara (Syrian) St. Thomas Christians in Kerala. Tippu Sultan’s army set fire to the church at Palayoor and attacked the Ollur Church in 1790. Along with the old Syrian seminary at Angamaly, many churches in the Malabar and Cochin were damaged. The Mor Sabor church at Akaparambu and the Martha Mariam Church attached to the old seminary at Angamaly were brunt.Muslims in India who convert to Christianity have been subjected to harassment, intimidation, and attacks by Muslims. In Jammu and Kashmir, the only Indian state with a Muslim majority, a Christian convert and missionary, Bashir Tantray, was killed, allegedly by militant Islamists in 2006.[215] A Christian priest, K.K. Alavi, a 1970 convert from Islam,[216] thereby raised the ire of his former Muslim community and received many death threats. An Islamic terrorist group named "The National Development Front" actively campaigned against him.[217] In the southern state of India, Kerala which has an ancient pre-Islamic community of Eastern Rite Christians, Islamic Terrorists chopped off the hand of Professor T.J. Joseph due to allegation of blasphemy of prophet.
In its controversial annual human rights reports for 1999, the United States Department of State criticised India for "increasing societal violence against Christians."[225] The report listed over 90 incidents of anti-Christian violence, ranging from damage of religious property to violence against Christians pilgrims.[225] In 1997, twenty-four such incidents were reported.[226] Recent waves of anti-conversion laws passed by some Indian states like Chhattisgarh,[227] Gujarat,[228] Madhya Pradesh[229] is claimed to be a gradual and continuous institutionalization of Hindutva by the Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labour of the US State Department.[230]
Israel[edit]
On November 16, 1979, the Archimandrite Philoumenos of the Greek Orthodox monastery of Jacob's Well near the city of Samaria (now Nablus), in the West Bank, was found killed. It is an unsolved murder case. Some sources (such as Very Rev. Edward Pehanich of the Greek Orthodox Church) have alleged that he may have been killed by (an) extremist Jewish Settler(s),[231][232][233] who, they allege, may have killed him with an ax in the evening[234] Some Jewish settlers had reportedly been coming to pray there and demanded that Christian symbols be removed.[235][236] After the murder, the church was desecrated and a grenade thrown in. The case was never solved.[232][237][238]Bhutan[edit]
See also: Christianity in Bhutan
Bhutan is a conservative Buddhist country. Article 7 of the 2008 constitution guarantees religious freedom, but also forbids conversion "by means of coercion or inducement".[239] According to Open Doors, to many Bhutanese this hinders the ability of Christians to proselytize.[240]Before 2008[edit]
- In 2002: According to a 2002 report cited by the Bhutanese Christians Services Centre NGO, "the 65,000 Christians [in the country] have only one church at their disposal."[241]
- In 2006: According to Mission Network News, "it's illegal for a Buddhist to become a Christian and church buildings are forbidden. (...) Christians in Bhutan are only allowed to practice their faith at home. Those who openly choose to follow Christ can be expelled from Bhutan and stripped of their citizenship."[242]
- In 2007: According to Gospel for Asia, "the government has recently begun clamping down on Christians by barring some congregations from meeting for worship. This has caused at least two Gospel for Asia-affiliated churches to temporarily close their doors. (...) Under Bhutan law, it is illegal to attempt to convert people from the country’s two predominant religions [Buddhism and Hinduism]."[243]
After 2008[edit]
According to the "Open Doors" ONG, "Persecution in Buddhist Bhutan mainly comes from the family, the community, and the monks who yield a strong influence in the society. Cases of atrocities (i.e. beatings) have been decreasing in number; this may continue as a result of major changes in the country, including the implementation of a new constitution guaranteeing greater religious liberty."[244]Nigeria[edit]
See also: Christianity in Nigeria
In the 11 Northern states of Nigeria that have introduced the Islamic system of law, the Sharia, sectarian clashes between Muslims and Christians have resulted in many deaths, and some churches have been burned. More than 30,000 Christians were displaced from their homes in Kano, the largest city in northern Nigeria.[245] Boko Haram conducts terrorist attacks against Christians.Philippines[edit]
The presence of Roman Catholics and other Christians in Muslim-dominated areas is in part a result of program of population re-distribution; this resulted hostility to Muslims, and Christians are persecuted.Sri Lanka[edit]
Christians along with other religious minorities[246] have been subjected to increased persecution and attacks owing to the widespread mono-ethnic Sinhala Buddhist Nationalism in Sri Lanka and the instinctive support extended by the state for such acts. Several right-wing forces in the country including those which enjoy direct government backing has been in the frontline in propagating anti-Christian sentiments and attacking Christians and their chapels.Many churches have reported that administrative and police officials have ordered them not to operate any longer because they have not been “authorized” by the state.[246]
While registration of Buddhist religious organizations is not mandatory in Sri Lanka, the government has been contemplating bringing all religious minorities under regulation for over a year. Churches last year complained they received a circular stating that all new constructions or continuation of places of worship will need prior approval from the Ministry of Religious Affairs.
In March, a large mob attacked a pastor’s home while the family was away and began damaging the property, demanding an end to the church services in the home, ICC said May 5.
The same pastor had been accosted and threatened by a group of Buddhists telling him to close down the church late last year, the human rights organization said. The protesters returned the next day and attacked the building during a worship service, injuring the pastor.[247]
Also in March, more than 10 churches faced persecution in the form of threats, disturbances, harassment or attacks, mostly from Buddhist monks but sometimes with the assistance of the police or a mob, ICC said.[247]
Last summer, a 14-year-old boy, the only Christian in his class at school, reportedly was severely beaten and threatened with death if he did not stop spreading Christianity.[citation needed]
Catholic World News cited a bishop May 1 in Sri Lanka who said the cause of the uptick in persecution is the growth of what he calls the “Buddhist Taliban.”[247]
Authorities are targeting particularly non-traditional or evangelical churches, apparently due to the suspicion that they might become part of the country’s civil society and pose a threat to the incumbent government in the future.
In addition to this, the state has been fully backing the construction of Buddhist Shrines and destruction of Churches and Hindu Temples in the North and the East where the majority of the people are non-Sinhalese and practice different religions.[246][248]
China[edit]
See also: Christianity in China
The communist government of the People's Republic of China tries to maintain tight control over all religions, so the only legal Christian Churches (Three-Self Patriotic Movement and Chinese Patriotic Catholic Association) are those under the Communist Party of China control. Churches which are not controlled by the government are shut down, and their members are imprisoned.In 2009, Christians must worship in registered, regulated churches. According to the Jubilee Campaign, an interdenominational lobby group, about 300 Christians caught attending unregistered "house churches" were in jail in 2004.[249]
Gong Shengliang, head of the South China Church, was sentenced to death in 2001. Although his sentence was commuted to a jail sentence, Amnesty International reports that he has been tortured.[249]
North Korea[edit]
North Korea leads the list of 50 countries in which Christians are persecuted at current time according to a watch list by Open Doors.[250]Indochina region[edit]
See also: Christianity in Vietnam, Christianity in Laos, Religion in Cambodia § Christianity, Christianity in Burma, Christianity in Thailand, Freedom of religion in Vietnam, Freedom of religion in Laos, Freedom of religion in Cambodia, Freedom of religion in Burma and Freedom of religion in Thailand
The establishment of French Indochina once led to a high Christian population. Regime changes throughout the 19th and 20th centuries led to some increased persecution of minority religious groups. Killings, torture or imprisonment and forced starvation of local groups are common in parts of Vietnam and Laos, especially in more recent years.[251]
Prophecy 5: Increase in false Prophets:
"and many false prophets will appear and deceive many people"
A false prophet is someone who misleads their followers with strange doctorine. They will say and do anything to decieve. They do not follow God's commandments.
We see that in todays world. Self Help, The Secret (popular book), Gurus, Babajis, self help gurus, prosperity preachers who teach that a person is only blessed if he is rich. So if you are poor you don't have God on your side.
These include astrologers, palmists, soothsayers, witches, socerceres, and people who do divination including seances, tarot readings, crystal ball reading, sacrifices, idolators, performing "miracles" etc. Thus, this prophecy too has been fulfilled.
Prophecy 6. Love of Most will wax cold:
Please concentrate on the entire verse:
Because of the increase of wickedness, the love of most will grow cold, 13 but the one who stands firm to the end will be saved."
Please note: I posted in article 4 murder rates around the world, articles of children committing heinious crimes, children being raped, children killing their parents to such an extent that a new term had to be created Parricide and Matricide. Looks like Homicide didn't suffice enough. I also posted divorce rates around the world and what is shocking is that all these issues are on the increase!
What is more sacred in a relationship than Parents loving their children, or a marriage between a husband and wife?
Is there any other love sacred enough in a human's life?
So, Jesus is saying, when wickeness increases, these relationships will falter and be destroyed. Where a father is against the son, daughter against mother, brothers kill eachother, for some or the other reason. An increase in live-in relationships has become hip and trendy. Having your children come up to you and demand materialistic things is an accepted trend, because of peer pressure.
Greed, materialism, ego, whims, stature, infidelity, pride, love of money and comforts, will destroy these sacred relationships.
How far gone is man in todays world? Who can you trust if not your parents, wife, siblings or children? Covetousness is now the norm. What someone else has is more important and you have to have the same or better.
That is why I posted those articles for the very reason to explain that this is a worldwide Phenomena.
Thus Fulfilling the Prophecy. There is one promise though, those who stand firm till the end will be saved.
I will come back to this phrase later. Jesus is talking about the Rapture here.
Prophecy 7. The Gospel of the Kingdom will be preached around the world as a testimony to all Nations.
This prophecy has also been fulfilled. Some Scholars believe that every person will be preached to, and thus this prophecy has not been fulfilled.
Jesus does not say that! Due to technology and internet and global television the World has been preached to. If a Nation denies the Gospel to be preached it will stand as a testimony against them. Jesus did not say everyone will be preached to. All Nations will have to listen which they have and it will be a testimony to them.
What Jesus says next is the most fearful and powerful Prophecy!
" and then the end will come".
Once all these Prophecies are fulfilled then the end will come......hmmm.
Minor recap:
1. We proved that through the ancient prophets Jesus fulfilled all the prophecies of the Torah and the Old testament. The odds of any one person fulfilling them in the History of the world were astronomical (just by fulfilling 8 the odds were 1-100000000000000000, so fulfilling them all would mean there is no current term used in English to describe the odds. We would have to make up a word like bazillion, gazzillion etc.
2. We proved through scientific data that all that Jesus prophesied had come true.
So, being a practical student of theology and a practical student of probability, where Jesus has not failed either before in Ancient times to fulfill those prophecies nor the ones He Himself had given, The fulfillment of His Second coming, and the Rapture of the Church will take place. No doubts, no excuses, no reason to doubt.
3. The Prophecies He predicted and they coming true after 2000 years also has a Staggering probabilty. All events fulfilled. What ancient text in the world gives exact minute details of the future and have been fulfilled to the decimal point? None.
Only The Bible. What is interesting is that Jesus fulfilled these prophecies and His Prophecies were fulfilled LITERALLY. No abstract theory or false interpretation!
No theology, or religious guidelines.
Jesus Now shifts gear from the birth pangs (ie. these prophecies had to be fulfillied first for the end to come) to the end of age. Now that we have concluded that those prophecies have been fulfilled, we have no choice but to accept that the end of age has begun. More so, we are living in the last days. We are about to witness something which is unprecedented in the world's history. The amount of deception, destruction will be there but more than that God Himself will come to Earth.
The Last days Prophecies by Jesus:
"So when you see standing in the holy place ‘the abomination that causes desolation,’[a] spoken of through the prophet Daniel—let the reader understand— 16 then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains. 17 Let no one on the housetop go down to take anything out of the house. 18 Let no one in the field go back to get their cloak. 19 How dreadful it will be in those days for pregnant women and nursing mothers! 20 Pray that your flight will not take place in winter or on the Sabbath. 21 For then there will be great distress, unequaled from the beginning of the world until now—and never to be equaled again.
Jesus is talking about Israel. He mentions the abomination that causes desolation spoken through the Prophet Daniel. Which is:
He will confirm a covenant with many for one ‘seven.’ In the middle of the ‘seven’ he will put an end to sacrifice and offering. And at the temple he will set up an abomination that causes desolation, until the end that is decreed is poured out on him.”
This passage refers to the Anti-Christ. An Angel of Light, ie. Satan Incarnate.
The Anti-Christ will confirm a peace treaty with many nations for 7 years especially Israel. He will also make peace with Israel's Neighbors. What is interesting is to note what I had explained in part 2 and 3, regarding the Rapture and Israel taking over Jerusalem completely. My interpretaion is a literal one of what Jesus says.
Please note:
1.To make a peace treaty there has to be a war between Israel and it's Neighbors.
2. The Anti-Christ would have to be on the scene in world politics to acutally have some influence in making this treaty. Hence the Anti-Christ has to be some of importance, A President or a Prime Minister of a country.
3. This would give Israel time to construct the Temple of The Lord, on or near the Original Temple site.
4. He stops the sacrifice and offering in the temple after three and half years. He will set up an image of His Beast (The Devil) or His Own image in the Temple complex and sit in the Temple and declare himself to be God.
5. This is the Abomination of Desloation.
The Christians don't appear to raise up or challenge the Anti-Christ, hence the Rapture should have taken place by then.
6. Like I said before when the Rapture occurs, Millions of people will be caught up to meet the Lord in the Sky. I also gave calculations of the years. So, there is noone who can oppose the Beast. What is strange is that even the Jews don't seem to be able to protest. Jesus tells them to flee to the mountains, suggesting that the Anti-Christ will overrun Jerusalem and parts of Israel with his army. Also explained in the Book of Revelation.
7. The world has and will never witness such a distress as in those days.
Moving further:
22 “If those days had not been cut short, no one would survive, but for the sake of the elect those days will be shortened. 23 At that time if anyone says to you, ‘Look, here is the Messiah!’ or, ‘There he is!’ do not believe it. 24 For false messiahs and false prophets will appear and perform great signs and wonders to deceive, if possible, even the elect. 25 See, I have told you ahead of time."
Please note: This is where my belief that the Rapture takes place before.
God seals and keeps 144000 men and women for Himself in the Last days, as witnesses to His Glory. These are called the elect who have been sealed on the fore head by the Angels of God. 12000 men from each tribe of Israel. Ref. Book of Revelation.
God says that He will pour out His wrath on the entire world, and Jesus says that for the Elect's sake ie. the Jewish people whom God has reserved for Himself, the devastation caused worldwide by wars, earthquakes and natural phenomena would have literally finished the world.
In those time, again False prophets will arise and say that the Messiah has come.
We are not to believe their lies......the reason being Jesus says
" For as lightning that comes from the east is visible even in the west, so will be the coming of the Son of Man"
Everyone will see Jesus coming to the Earth as lightening. With Great Power, and Thunder. How can every eye see him? Heard of TV? Let's look at Revealtion:
“Look, he is coming with the clouds,” and “every eye will see him, even those who pierced him”; and all peoples on earth “will mourn because of him.” So shall it be! Amen.
This is the Day the Lord Returns, hence everyone around the world will see Him. The people of the earth will mourn because of Him, even those who pierced Him.
Significant verse. The People who pierced Jesus were the Romans on the behalf of the Jews after He died on the cross. I also believe all those people who persecuted the Christians and killed them would be included in this category.
So Jesus Himself promises that He will come back, just as He ascended to Heaven, He will come back. No doubt.
Moving further towards the day of The Lord:
Immediately after the distress of those days
“‘the sun will be darkened,
and the moon will not give its light;
the stars will fall from the sky,
and the heavenly bodies will be shaken.’[b]
and the moon will not give its light;
the stars will fall from the sky,
and the heavenly bodies will be shaken.’[b]
30 “Then will appear the sign of the Son of Man in heaven. And then all the peoples of the earth[c] will mourn when they see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven, with power and great glory.[d] 31 And he will send his angels with a loud trumpet call, and they will gather his elect from the four winds, from one end of the heavens to the other.
Hence confirmed that the Day of the Lord is terrible and full of Mourning. God will gather His elect who have survived. Just like the Rapture, God will call His elect in an Instance, twinkling of an eye.
Please note: Immediately after the distress of those days being three and half years that the anti-christ persecutes the saints and elect of God (Book of Revelation) 42 months of Distress/ Jacob's trouble/ Tribulation. The powers of heaven are Shaken!
So According to Jesus When the anti- christ signs the peace agreement with many nations including Israel, that day is the start of end. That means three and half years there will be prosperity on earth, and the day he enters the temple and calls Himself God will mark 42 months of distress and destruction such as never seen before.
Wow. So who is the anti-christ? We only have his description but no one will come to know till he reveals himself in the temple.
That is why I believe the Rapture happens before he is revealed. There will not be anyone to challenge his authority.
Here are some Prophecies that the Ancient Prophets had made about the anti-christ who will wage war with Jesus when He Returns on the day of the Lord. What is cool is what happens next in the battle. Even so, Jesus starts His reign and for 7 months the people of Israel are commanded to remove the bodies and body parts from the land to cleanse it. That means there will be a massive army under the anti-christ that gets annihalted by the Lord. We will look closer at that in detail later.
Here are the prophecies that the anti-christ will fulfill:
1. The antichrist will be a man - Daniel 7:24-25
2. He will confirm a covenant for 7 years - Daniel 9:27
Now also, this does not mean that he creates this covenant. The word here for "confirm" is 1396 gabar (gaw-bar'); a primitive root; to be strong; by implication, to prevail, act insolently: KJV-- exceed, confirm, be great, be mighty, prevail, put to more [strength], strengthen, be stronger, be valiant. The antichrist will strengthen a covenant for a 7 year time span. Now this could be an existing covenant (like the Jerusalem Covenant) or a new covenant drawn up at that time.
3. He will rise among 10 kings - Daniel 7:8
This 10 nation union will be a revived Holy Roman Empire - Daniel 2:44
4. He will uproot 3 kings from the original 10 kings to gain political power - Daniel 7:8
5. His 10 nation union will merge into a world government which he will dominate - Revelations 13:1-2
Now this also, could refer to several things. First, the 10 nations could merge into an EXISTING world government, such as the U.N. Or it could for a new world government, much like the U.N. Or, this 10 nation confederation could be something like the new 10 nation common stock market. A union like this would definitely rule the world, without having a "seat" of power. Whoever controls the money, controls the globe.
6. He will ascend to power on a platform of peace. By peace, he will destroy many - Daniel 8:25
7. He will be promoted and exalted by a miracle working religious partner (false prophet) - Revelations 13:11-12
8. He was, and is not, and yet is - Revelations 17:8
More than likely this is referring to political power. The antichrist will have ruled, but then be taken out of power. Only to rise back up again to power as the head of the One World Government.
9. The world government over which he rules will be a red (communistic or socialistic) government - Revelations 17:14
10. The antichrist will be preceded by 7 kings or rulers. He will be the 8th king. He will also be "of" the 7 - Revelations 17:11
Now this scripture has many different ways it can be viewed. The word "goeth" in the scripture is 5217 hupago (hoop-ag'-o); from 5259 and 71; to lead (oneself) under, i.e. withdraw or retire (as if sinking out of sight), literally or figuratively: KJV-- depart, get hence, go (a-) way. So we see that he will withdraw or retire from sight. But will rise back up again to power. Now this could be taken as to mean 7 kings. Or this could be taken as 7 World Governments that have ruled. So far there have been 6. 1. Egypt. 2. Assyria. 3. Babylon. 4. Medo-Persia. 5. Greece. 6. Rome 7. Ottoman Empire.
11. He will have a mouth speaking great things. Very boastful - Daniel 7:8
12. His look will be more stout than his fellows - Daniel 7:20
The word "stout" means 7227 rab (rab); by contracted from 7231; abundant (in quantity, size, age, number, rank, quality): KJV-- (in) abound (-undance, -ant, -antly), captain, elder, enough, exceedingly, full, great (-ly, man, one), increase, long (enough, [time]), (do, have) many (-ifold, things, a time), ([ship-]) master, mighty, more, (too, very) much, multiply (-tude), officer, often [-times], plenteous, populous, prince, process [of time], suffice (-lent). So this can have several meanings. It could mean one of the following: the antichrist will be larger in size than everybody else, will be older than everybody else, will have more of a "following" than anybody else, is a higher military or political rank than anybody else, or is more qualified than anybody else. What ever this verse is speaking about, it is obvious when you look at him.
13. He will have a fierce countenance - Daniel 8:23
14. He will understand puzzling things - Daniel 8:23
15. He will cause craft to prosper - Daniel 8:25
It is interesting to note the definition of the word "craft" here. It is 4820 mirmah (meer-maw'); from 7411 in the sense of deceiving; fraud: KJV-- craft, deceit (-ful, -fully), false, feigned, guile, subtilly, treachery. No wonder, for the Bible says that he is the father of lies. So his policy or his success will make it possible for his deception of the world to prosper. God said that if you do not believe the truth, that he would send strong delusion that you should believe a lie.
16. He apparently assumes world dominating power 3 1/2 years after he confirms the covenant. He then will continue to reign for 42 months - Revelations 13:5
17. The Abomination of Desolation is the event that signals the beginning of this final 42 months - Daniel 9:27
It is interesting to note, that many scholars believe that at the Abomination of Desolation is when Revelations 12:7-10 occurs. At which point the Antichrist becomes "possessed" by Satan himself and then forces the Mark or death upon everybody.
18. He opposes God - 2 Thessalonians 2:4
19. He will speak marvelous things against the God of gods - Daniel 11:36
20. He will exalt himself above all that is called God - 2 Thessalonians 2:4
21. He will sit in the temple of God - 2 Thessalonians 2:4
22. He will claim to be God (or an incarnation of God) - 2 Thessalonians 2:4
23. He will take away the daily sacrifices from the temple - Daniel 11:31
24. He will plant the tabernacles of his palace between the seas in the glorious holy mountain - Daniel 11:45
It would seem here that the Antichrist will setup small "fortifications" in between the sea and Jerusalem, to help keep control over things in distant areas away from the main offices.
25. He will have power to make war with the saints and to overcome them - Revelations 13:7
26. He will continue this war with the saints for 3 1/2 years - Daniel 7:21, 25
27. This time of Great Tribulation is launched upon the Earth by the antichrist at the Abomination of Desolation. - Matthew 24:15,21.
Up until this time, it would seem that he is a man of peace and not war. But now he shows his true colors. Perhaps is possessed by Satan himself at this point as well. Which would account for the false front being dropped at this time.
28. During this time, the antichrist will scatter the power of the holy people - Daniel 12:7
29. He will rule a mighty and strong kingdom - Daniel 7:7
30. He was given power over all kindreds, tongues and nations - Revelations 13:7
31. His kingdom will devour the whole earth - Daniel 7:23
32. He will have great military power that will stand behind him, to enforce his laws - Daniel 11:31
33. He will try to change times and laws; and they will be given into his power for 3 1/2 years - Daniel 7:25
34. He will give great honor to the God of forces ie. Satan, with gold, silver, jewels, etc - Daniel 11:38
35. He will prosper in everything that he does - Daniel 8:24
36. He will not regard the God of his fathers - Daniel 11:37
37. He will not regard the desire of women - Daniel 11:37
It is interesting to note here that most people think that he will be a homosexual, which could be. But rather I think that he will place limitations upon children being born. Similar to what is being done in China now. Why? Because it is the natural desire of a woman, that God has given to them, to be a mother. By not regarding this natural desire, he would cause a "forced" limit on the amount of children a woman was "allowed" to have.
38. The mark of the beast will be the amount of his name - Revelations 14:11
39. All that dwell upon the Earth will worship him, except those who's names are written in the Lamb's Book of Life - Revelations 15:2
40. He will have an image made after him - Revelations 15:2
This could also be in reference to his kingdom's logo or insignia. Much like the U.N. has a logo that every soldier on a U.N. mission must wear, there might also be a logo or insignia that his armies would have to wear
His coming will be after the workings of Satan - 2 Thessalonians 2:8
41. He will fight against Jesus Christ at Armageddon (and loose I might add!) - Revelations 17:14
42. He will stand against the Prince of princes - Daniel 8:25
43. The Lord will consume him with the spirit of his mouth (which is the Word of God) - 2 Thessalonians 2:8
44. The Lord will destroy him with the brightness of his coming (which is his glory) - 2 Thessalonians 2:8
45. He will be cast alive into the lake of fire - Revelations 19:20
46. He will be tormented day and night for ever and ever - Revelations 20:10
Revelation 13 New International Version (NIV)
The Book of Revelation Chapt 13. Further states.
The Beast out of the Sea
13 The dragon[a] stood on the shore of the sea. And I saw a beast coming out of the sea. It had ten horns and seven heads, with ten crowns on its horns, and on each head a blasphemous name. 2 The beast I saw resembled a leopard, but had feet like those of a bear and a mouth like that of a lion. The dragon gave the beast his power and his throne and great authority. 3 One of the heads of the beast seemed to have had a fatal wound, but the fatal wound had been healed. The whole world was filled with wonder and followed the beast. 4 People worshiped the dragon because he had given authority to the beast, and they also worshiped the beast and asked, “Who is like the beast? Who can wage war against it?”
5 The beast was given a mouth to utter proud words and blasphemies and to exercise its authority for forty-two months. 6 It opened its mouth to blaspheme God, and to slander his name and his dwelling place and those who live in heaven. 7 It was given power to wage war against God’s holy people and to conquer them. And it was given authority over every tribe, people, language and nation. 8 All inhabitants of the earth will worship the beast—all whose names have not been written in the Lamb’s book of life, the Lamb who was slain from the creation of the world.[b]
9 Whoever has ears, let them hear.
This calls for patient endurance and faithfulness on the part of God’s people.
The Beast out of the Earth
11 Then I saw a second beast, coming out of the earth. It had two horns like a lamb, but it spoke like a dragon. 12 It exercised all the authority of the first beast on its behalf, and made the earth and its inhabitants worship the first beast, whose fatal wound had been healed. 13 And it performed great signs, even causing fire to come down from heaven to the earth in full view of the people. 14 Because of the signs it was given power to perform on behalf of the first beast, it deceived the inhabitants of the earth. It ordered them to set up an image in honor of the beast who was wounded by the sword and yet lived. 15 The second beast was given power to give breath to the image of the first beast, so that the image could speak and cause all who refused to worship the image to be killed. 16 It also forced all people, great and small, rich and poor, free and slave, to receive a mark on their right hands or on their foreheads, 17 so that they could not buy or sell unless they had the mark, which is the name of the beast or the number of its name.
18 This calls for wisdom. Let the person who has insight calculate the number of the beast, for it is the number of a man.[e] That number is 666
My only comments here are take a closer look.
There are 3 entities involved. Satan himself, the anti-christ and the false prophet.
The beast will force all people, great and small, rich and poor, free and slave, to receive a mark on their right hands or on their foreheads, so that they could not buy or sell unless they had the mark, which is the name of the beast or the number of its name.
This has a stern warning from God: DO NOT ACCEPT THE MARK OF THE BEAST!
Revelation Chapter 14
The Three Angels
6 Then I saw another angel flying in midair, and he had the eternal gospel to proclaim to those who live on the earth—to every nation, tribe, language and people. 7 He said in a loud voice, “Fear God and give him glory, because the hour of his judgment has come. Worship him who made the heavens, the earth, the sea and the springs of water.”
8 A second angel followed and said, “‘Fallen! Fallen is Babylon the Great,’[a] which made all the nations drink the maddening wine of her adulteries.”
9 A third angel followed them and said in a loud voice: “If anyone worships the beast and its image and receives its mark on their forehead or on their hand, 10 they, too, will drink the wine of God’s fury, which has been poured full strength into the cup of his wrath. They will be tormented with burning sulfur in the presence of the holy angels and of the Lamb. 11 And the smoke of their torment will rise for ever and ever. There will be no rest day or night for those who worship the beast and its image, or for anyone who receives the mark of its name.” 12 This calls for patient endurance on the part of the people of God who keep his commands and remain faithful to Jesus.
13 Then I heard a voice from heaven say, “Write this: Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from now on.”
“Yes,” says the Spirit, “they will rest from their labor, for their deeds will follow them.”
What kind of mark are they talking about? In todays society I shudder to think that without an identity card you can't buy or sell a house. Or even travel to certain countries if you don't have a credit card.
So I did some research. What type of mark could the anti-christ use?
Guess what here is an example: A chip that has all your data as well as a tracking system of any gadgets in your body.
UNIQUE DEVICE IDENTIFICATION (UDI)
VeriTeQ's "Q Inside Safety Technology" for Unique Device Identification (UDI) includes an FDA cleared, passive RFID microchip, proprietary hand-held reader and a database.
This technology enables manufacturers of reprocessed or reusable medical devices to comply with the direct part marking requirement of the FDA Final Rule for UDI. VeriTeQ's Q Inside Safety Technology reports the UDI of a medical device, in vivo, on demand, and at the point of care.
VeriTeQ's "Q Inside Safety Technology" for Unique Device Identification (UDI) includes an FDA cleared, passive RFID microchip, proprietary hand-held reader and a database.
This technology enables manufacturers of reprocessed or reusable medical devices to comply with the direct part marking requirement of the FDA Final Rule for UDI. VeriTeQ's Q Inside Safety Technology reports the UDI of a medical device, in vivo, on demand, and at the point of care.
Implantable Medical Device Identification
VeriTeQ's Q Inside Safety Technology can also be used within implantable medical devices such as breast implants, vascular ports, and artificial joints, among others. Including Q Inside of implantable medical devices helps ensure rapid and accurate access to device data (i.e. serial number, lot number, batch number, etc.) which may be potentially lifesaving in the event of a product recall or when an adverse event report is issued by the FDA.
The FDA's UDI System also incorporates a Global Unique Device Identification Database (GUDID) which will be maintained by the FDA. One of the main principles of the FDA's GUDID is to ensure the safe use of medical devices and to allow for a more efficient corrective action should a medical device recall be necessary. The VeriTeQ UDI can safely and effectively identify medical devices within the body using an external reader in a matter of seconds.
All implantable medical device manufacturers include a product identification or warranty card in their packaging that is to be given to a patient after surgery. These cards are supposed to contain the name of the manufacturer and basic information about an implanted medical device (i.e. serial number, date and place of implantation, surgeon name, etc.). There are many issues with relying on a paper-based system to get access to implantable medical device data if and when needed. Patients often lose or misplace their product and/or warranty cards; therefore when they go back to the hospital or surgeon to try and obtain the data on their implanted medical devices, the data is not accessible. VeriTeQ Q Inside Safety Technology can never be lost as it is implanted in the medical device and can be accessed with VeriTeQ's proprietary hand held reader, on demand, at the point of care.
Currently, VeriTeQ has a relationship and supply agreement with one of the world's fastest growing manufacturers of vascular ports, which are commonly used in the administration of chemotherapy medications. The purpose of embedding VeriTeQ's Q Inside Safety Technology in a vascular port is to ensure the accurate device identification and medication dosage prior to treatment. This critical identification can prevent serious injury to the patient. VeriTeQ's goal is to create an industry standard among vascular port manufacturers whereby VeriTeQ's Q Inside Safety Technology becomes the identifier of choice for these important medical devices.
VeriTeQ also has a supply and development agreement with a global manufacturer of breast implants. VeriTeQ's technology is going to be used in the European Union, Asia and Latin America to provide a better device identification platform versus the paper-based system that is in place today.
A recent example highlighting the need for accurate device identification occurred in 2010, when a France-based manufacturer of breast implants named PIP, was shut down due to the fact that the company used industrial grade silicone in their implants instead of medical-grade silicone. Unfortunately, it was found that PIP implants had double the rupture rate of other implants, and as news of leaks spread, breast implant patients grew very concerned that they may have had PIP's implants inside of their bodies. Many of these patients did not have their product or warranty cards and their plastic surgeons and surgical centers did not have records about which implants were inside each patient. This uncertainty lead to unnecessary panic among patients as well as breast implant manufacturers.
Implementation of VeriTeQ's Q Inside Safety Technology system can help provide peace of mind to patients, device manufacturers, healthcare providers, risk managers and regulatory authorities.
More on the subject? This is what is going on in the world and not being televised or promoted. This next article is awesome and proves I'm not the only one searching these topics:
D.A.R.P.A. IS FUNDING AN IMPLANTABLE CHIP FAR MORE ADVANCED THAN"DIGITAL ANGEL"! M.M.E.A. - MULTIPLE MICRO ELECTRODE ARRAY IS SO ADVANCED IT CAN FULFILL REV 13:16-18! Part 1 of 4
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"And he causeth all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand, or in their foreheads: 17 And that no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name."[Rev 13:16-17]
For many years, Christians have looked at the development of an implantable device as one of THE signs that the Kingdom of Antichrist is drawing close. When Digital Angel publicly began to promote their human implantable chip, Christians the world over gasped in excitement that an implantable chip was now on the world scene, being promoted for all the medical, financial, and personal benefits it could provide the human host. When Digital Angel went public on Wall Street, and when they began to get large orders, we all felt that the prophetic time table was moving ever faster forward. However, behind the scene and very quietly, that superscret DARPA "Anti-terrorist" organization headed by Admiral John Poindexter began to pump significant dollars of research behind a new implantable chip called MMEA, Multiple Micro Electrode Array. This chip is so far ahead of the Digital Angel Veri-Chip product, it took my breath away. Once you fully understand its capability, you will realize its probable full prophetic significance, and will realize that we may have probably been pointed to Digital Angel simply so we would not be aware of MMEA. We shall present this information in a four-part series, as follows: Part 1 -- The Science of MMEA and of Brain Machine Interface (BMI) Part 2 -- DARPA Funding Part 3 -- Possible Prophecy Implications -- Blending religion with science, spiritual applications already being discussed Part 4 -- MMEA - Is The Mark of the Beast Just Another "Satanic Insert" So Commonly Used In Covens For Centuries? DEFINITION OF TERMS Always, when discussing a matter that is both complex and ill-understood by the reader, we need to properly identify key terms. There are two key terms we must properly and clearly understand if we are to comprehend the importance of this implantable chip coming upon mankind at this point in history. These two terms are: * BMI - Brain Machine Interface: Technically, this term defines the project on which scientists are working, or the type of Hardware and Software used to connect the Brain or Nervous system to a computer. Please understand that this chip is designed to work within the nerves and soft tissue of the body in order to gather electrical signals from the body and/or transmit electrical signals received from the outside to the body through the nerves! Brain Machine Interface is simply the computer software that will send out the signal to the chip; therefore, BMI is the software that will interact with the chip, to control the chip and the person in whom the chip is inserted! * MMEA, Multiple Micro Electrode Array: Multiple Micro Electrode Array, this is the actual Chip. This chip will be surgically implanted directly into a human nerve or into specific area of the brain. The Chip at the moment is a little smaller than a Tic Tac breath mint. The chip implanted into the pioneer, a Professor Kevin Warwick, had 100 Electrodes; each electrode looks like a small needle and is capable of detecting electric signals traveling through the nervous system and also sending electrical signals to the nervous system, this was all performed via a RF (Radio Frequency) device connected to the MMEA. As you can see already, this implantable chip is far ahead of anything Digital Angel has on the market; further, MMEA is light-years ahead of the RFID technology which retailers like Wal-Mart are racing into production. As we unfold the science of this chip, you will see that it offers a repressive global government the capability of controlling entire captive populations with a sophisticated software program! You will clearly see how an entire population of the earth might actually fulfill these prophetic verses:
"... the whole earth went after the beast in amazement and admiration." [Revelation 13:3; Parallel Bible, KJV/Amplified Bible Commentary] "And he causeth all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand, or in their foreheads: And that no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name." [Rev 13:16-17] Recording From Biological Tissue
"The essential requirements for a working multiple-microelectrode to record from biological tissue include: 1. A conductor forming the active electrode and the tracks, e.g. indium-tin oxide (ITO), titanium nitride;
2. An electrical insulation layer, e.g. polysiloxane, polyimide, or silicon nitride;
3. The microelectrode must be biocompatible, resistant to a physiological saline environment and sterilisation, and easily maintained in cell culture conditions for many days or weeks."[Neuronal Networks Electrophysiology Laboratory, School of Biomedical Sciences, University of Nottingham Medical School] Carefully contemplate the basic requirement listed above for an MMEA: "to record from biological tissue" One of the fundamental goals of the MMEA is to intercept and record electrical impulses from biological tissue. Currently, extensive tests are being carried out on human subjects to discover the exact electrical frequency of a wide variety of human emotions, feelings, and various mechanical actions. Each different emotion and/or feeling has a slightly different radio frequency! Therefore, by intercepting and recording the exact frequency of each emotion and/or feeling from their human test subjects, the exact frequency of each feeling can be identified and then stored into the BMI -- Brain Machine Interface software! At some future point, a person may be sent a signal from an RF transmitter that will give that person pleasure or pain, with the exact frequency coming from the BMI software! Or, the exact frequency of various mechanical orders the brain is continuously giving the muscles can be recorded and stored in the Brain Machine Interface Software; this type of software capability seems to have great promise for people suffering neural damage that prevents them from walking, for example. How scientists plan on doing this in theory is very simple. A person's body functions by small amounts of electrical energy sent in patterns that determines what a person wants to do, operating much like the Binary Code of a Personal Computer. The Brain acts a processor, sending electrical signals in proper sequence throughout the nervous system to tell the specific parts of our body what to do. These signals also travel back to our brains to tell us what we Feel, See, Hear and Smell. If we have a device implanted into a specific area of our nervous system which has the ability to detect these electrical patterns and then transmit to a computer with special software to record and analyze this data, we can, for example, determine what types of electrical patterns make us move our leg up or down. If this data was transferred to a central computer for analyzing and storage then it could be transferred back to the nervous system. This data from one person can even be transmitted to another person, or to many other persons, making them move their leg up or down, or making them feel a great variety of emotions and feelings, and/or do a variety of actions that the controller wants them to do. Instilling Thoughts In A Person's Brain NEWS BRIEF: "Defense Department funding brain-machine work", Tuesday, August 5, 2003, BY GARETH COOK, The Boston Globe, reprinted in The Post and Courier, Chareleston.net, http://www.charleston.net/stories/080503/wor_05darpa.shtml "What most people don't know is that the Department of Defense is already funding a research program with far creepier implications. The $24 million enterprise called Brain Machine Interfaces is developing technology that promises to directly read thoughts from a living brain -- and even instill thoughts as well. The research, some of which is being done at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, is already surprisingly advanced. Monkeys in a laboratory can control the movement of a robotic arm using only their thoughts. And last year scientists in New York announced they could control the skittering motions of a rat by implanting electrodes in its brain, steering it around the lab floor as if it were a radio-controlled toy car." "It does not take much imagination to see in this the makings of a 'Matrix'-like cyberpunk dystopia: chips that impose false memories, machines that scan for wayward thoughts, cognitively augmented government security forces that impose a ruthless order on a recalcitrant population. It is one thing to propose a tasteless market for gambling on terrorism. It is quite another to set some of the nation's top neuroscientists to work on mind control." As you can see, this research is getting to be quite advanced. However, we must not lose sight of the original brains behind this technology -- Professor Kevin Warwick -- and how he and his wife are currently conducting very specific research. Brief Bio of The Professor The leading scientist in this entire field is Professor Kevin Warwick: "Professor of Cybernetics at the University of Reading, UK where he carries out research in artificial intelligence, control and robotics. Kevin has published over 300 research papers and his latest paperback In the Mind of the Machines gives a warning of a future in which machines are more intelligent than humans ... In 1998 he shocked the international scientific community by having a silicon chip transponder surgically implanted in his left arm. A series of further implant experiments have taken place in which Kevin’s nervous system was linked to a computer ... Kevin's new implant experiment called 'Project Cyborg' got underway in March 2002 and is providing exciting results." [http://www.kevinwarwick.com/] The In/Out Principle NEWS BRIEF: "Brain-Machine Interfaces: Current and Future Applications", CHI Labs, , http://personal.bgsu.edu/~nberg/chilabs/bmi.htm
"The purpose of Brain-Machine Interface (BMI) research is to create outputs from or inputs to the brain that are additional to those that occur naturally. There are two possible directions of data flow (data from the brain to outside machinery and data to the brain from outside machinery). In whole, this research suggests that the brain is a much more adaptable organ than it is commonly thought to be." Did you catch the extremely important phrase? "create outputs from or inputs to the brain that are additional to those that occur naturally". In computer language, if there is a way out then there is a way in. Kevin Warwick has already started work on this principle in experiments with his wife; there is nothing mysterious here about their manner of exchanging feelings. Basically, what is happening is simply understood; the electrical signals that are detected by the MMEA in one person -- Kevin, for example, touching his arm -- are transferred via RF from the Chips transceiver to a RF receiver. This sends the signal to a remote computer for analysis and storage.
Then, if the command is given, the data can be forwarded to another person -- his wife in this current round of experiments -- who will have the same MMEA Chip with I/O capability and an RF link. This chip will then be told by the RF signal to send the same patterns of electrical signals to the nerve via the electrodes which should in theory reproduce the same action and or feeling that was originally performed and felt by Kevin. In other words, if Keven touches his arm, his wife should feel a touching sensation in her arm, in the same place and to the same degree that Kevin felt it when he touched his arm. Theoretically, Kevin could touch his arm in London and his wife could feel a touch in her arm in the same place and to the same degree, even if she were in New York City! Now, if this device will allow that type of activity, then the possibilities are many, if not endless. For example, Kevin has the idea that pain such as the type that comes from headaches have a specific electrical signal; we could manipulate the nervous system to where we would no longer feel headaches. By altering the electric current, we could also sedate people or reduce the affects of stress by recording our emotional feelings on days that we are happy and simply replay them on days we are feeling depressed. This is just the beginning of possibilities that are being discussed. If there is the possibility of manipulating people's mental and physical feelings and actions, this MMEA tool would have many practical uses by the medical community, by the individual, but most of all, by the government. Imagine having the ability to direct much needed medicines via this technology to a tumor deep in the brain and have these medicines eradicate a once-fatal condition. Scientists at the University of Michigan are working on, this very possibility right now. But, we must also seriously consider the huge potential for tight control over entire populations! It may be possible to sedate an entire population, or to make them think the same thoughts at the same time! Can you imagine this kind of weapon in the hands of the Illuminati, as they press toward their goal of tightly controlling the whole world? The Wireless Cloud Experiment What government wouldn't want the ability to tranquilize a entire city during a Riot, or better yet keep all of its citizens content or happy by continually feeding them prerecorded emotions! Imagine how small Police Forces might become if we could be controlled in this manner. Imagine how thrilled tyrants like Adolf Hitler , Josef Stalin, or Saddam Hussein would have been had they had devices like this, which could control the feelings and emotions of entire populations! Our government evidently understands the potential of control over entire populations, as evidenced by their recent "Wireless Cloud Experiment"! NEWS BRIEF: "How can people tap into a wireless 'cloud'?", By Marsha Walton, CNN Sci-Tech, July 31, 2002. "ATHENS, Georgia (CNN) -- Applications for a wireless "cloud" may not seem obvious at first, but organizers of the high-tech project in Athens, Georgia, say there are many ways in which it can be used. The University of Georgia has joined with local government to create WAG, the Wireless Athens Group. They're building a cloud over several blocks of the downtown area where anyone with the right equipment can have free Internet access. The cloud now covers about three blocks, and it will soon expand to 24. CNN's Marsha Walton looks into how users can tap into it. * Sports -- University of Georgia students already have successfully tested some options ... They used wireless technology to provide instant replays on personal digital assistants (PDAs) at a recent college baseball game. for the really devoted (or lazy) fan, students have come up with a prototype for this possibility: Beam your beer and snack order directly to a computer at the concession stand, punch in your seat number, and the food will be delivered. You never have to miss a pitch, a hit, or an argument with the umpire. * Music -- On any given night in this college town, 40 bands might be taking the stage at local bars and coffee houses. For a student unfamiliar with most of the performers, and unwilling to part with a $3 cover charge for music he or she doesn't like, the wireless "cloud" could provide a chance to sample a song or two from some of these bands. * Retail -- People walking out of class or an office and in a rush for lunch could pull up a menu from a local restaurant, place an order, even pay online via their PDA. By the time they walked a few blocks to the cafe, their food would be ready to go. * World market -- A wireless cloud in central or south America could empower people who have little access to telecommunications infrastructure now ... (customers will) be able to communicate at a very cheap rate." However, this technology has a very dark lining. This same "Wireless Cloud" hovering over a city can also communicate with, and control, MMEA chips implanted in people! Conceivably, RF transmissions from this cloud could cause everyone in whom this chip is implanted to feel euphoria, depression, or any other emotion at the same time, totally at the will of the people controlling the BMI software. If the controllers wanted to sedate the entire population, they could easily do so. If they wanted to implant thoughts in the minds of the people, they conceivably can implant them. Therefore, when New Age writings say that thoughts will be implanted in people's minds when "The Christ" arises, is this the technology which will produce those implanted thoughts? Cheap Technology Even Third World Nations Can Deploy The Reason that wireless transmission is so cheap is that there is very little hardware to install. All the hardware that is needed is a telecom link to a city; this can be done via Satellite or Land Line Links. From this, all you need to install is an RF transmitter and receiver on the tallest building in the City. Anyone with the proper RF equipment would have constant internet access. Most remote locations in the Third World are all currently running via RF and Satellite uplinks; in most of these areas, existing phone lines are turn-of-the Century Era Pulse. There are no Coin Digital Lines in many of these places, so most people are using RF in some form for internet access and mobile phones for voice communication; it is very doubtful they will ever run land lines again. In this manner, Third World Nations seem further along in this particular area than people in more advanced nations. RF is becoming popular world-wide, and it won't be much longer before we see it more and more in day-to-day use throughout the entire world.
Future Uses of the Social security Number and RF BMI
Before any person who wants to use this implantable MMEA chip in such a
manner that they can communicate via RF over the Internet, each MMEA chip must
contain a unique I.P. Address, especially if its intention is data transfer and
receiving. The person programming the MMEA chip for an individual would only
need to know that person's Social Security number; they could then program this
number in as an IP Address; they could even add that person's birthday as a
gateway address.
At this juncture, I remembered an understanding given a Methodist minister in
1798 that may have great bearing on this issue of an IP address. Listen:
"In 1798, a Methodist Minister, Adam Clarke, wrote: 'The Mark of the Beast will be an 18-digit number, 6+6+6' (Adam Clarke Unabridged Bible Commentary; as quoted in "The New Money System: When Your Money Fails", by Mary Stewart, Ph.D., 1983, p. 152).
Interestingly, this concept is being implemented by the European Union, planning to use it on every person in the world! Listen:
"In 1977, Dr. Hanrick Eldeman, Chief Analyst for the European Economic Community, announced that he was ready to begin assigning a number to every person in the world; and that he plans to use a three six-digit unit, 18 Numbers." [Ibid.]
Is the ultimate personal IP Address -- implanted in an MMEA chip in every person on earth -- going to be this 18-digit number? In the occult, the number '18' is a hidden "666", because '6+6+6 = 18'. Isn't it interesting that each American citizen is currently given a 9-digit Social Security Number, plus a 9-digit Zip Code? Have Americans already been assigned our '18-digit IP Address"? Imagine the up-to-date statistics the government would have also at any given time. They would know how many people of a certain age group are alive without even having to go any extra effort. This chip would again make law enforcement a "piece of cake" as officers could know at any time, day or night, where a person was located because of RF Positioning software plugged into the 18-digit IP Address. The average person would consider all this loss of privacy to be only be a small inconvenience compared to all of the Medical and Personal benefits of the BMI Chips. Because of the inferior education people have received since World War II, the average citizen will not realize that a loss of individual privacy equals the loss of individual freedoms. Since the inherent heart of man is terribly wicked (Jeremiah 17:9), rulers in charge of governments at the time this technology is in place will not take long to begin to scheme how to use this second-by-second knowledge of every citizen's whereabouts as the means by which to enslave them. In fact, rulers in charge when this technology was beginning to be developed will immediately begin to scheme as to how they can manipulate their citizenry to where they can take their freedoms away, and then use this technology to keep them enslaved. To work this plan to perfection, rulers need to make their plans as the technology is maturing, while keeping their citizenry ignorant as to the ultimate role the technology will play in enslaving them. The people will only be told how "beneficial" this new technology will be and how it will enhance their life. This fact is the reason it is so important that D.A.R.P.A. is heavily funding this MMEA project! D.A.R.P.A. is part of Homeland Security, the agency taking the lead in fomenting fear of the global terrorist threat that is planned to sow the chaos and terror, out of which the order of the New World Order -- Kingdom of Antichrist -- can be established. The fact they are funding MMEA research shows the ultimate end for which this implantable chip is planned! We shall fully cover D.A.R.P.A. funding in Part 2 of this series. Our Founding Fathers knew that personal privacy was critical to maintaining freedoms; therefore, they placed a high degree of emphasis on privacy in our Constitution and Bill of Rights. Today, using the manufactured threat of global terrorism as an excuse, President Bush and Attorney General Ashcroft have demanded, and have received, the most dictatorial authority imaginable, authority which allows government to take away our rights to privacy. Once this new authority is coupled with this new RF technology using the MMEA chip, the absolute, effective repression of an entire people is very possible. In fact, this is the New World Order Plan! Are you spiritually ready? Is your family? Are you adequately protecting your loved ones? This is the reason for this ministry, to enable you to first understand the peril facing you, and then help you develop strategies to warn and protect your loved ones. Once you have been thoroughly trained, you can also use your knowledge as a means to open the door of discussion with an unsaved person. I have been able to use it many times, and have seen people come to Jesus Christ as a result. These perilous times are also a time when we can reach many souls for Jesus Christ, making an eternal difference. If you have accepted Jesus Christ as your personal Savior, but have been very lukewarm in your spiritual walk with Him, you need to immediately ask Him for forgiveness and for renewal. He will instantly forgive you, and fill your heart with the joy of the Holy Spirit. Then, you need to begin a daily walk of prayer and personal Bible Study. If you have never accepted Jesus Christ as Savior, but have come to realize His reality and the approaching End of the Age, and want to accept His FREE Gift of Eternal Life, you can also do so now, in the privacy of your home. Once you accept Him as Savior, you are spiritually Born Again, and are as assured of Heaven as if you were already there. Then, you can rest assured that the Kingdom of Antichrist will not touch you spiritually. If you would like to become Born Again, turn to our Salvation Page now. We hope you have been blessed by this ministry, which seeks to educate and warn people, so that they can see the coming New World Order -- Kingdom of Antichrist -- in their daily news.
A HYPOTHETICAL SCENARIO ON USE OF SUCH TECHNOLOGY:
The Rapture will take place ( all signs have been fulfilled)from anytime now onwards.
Millions of people have disappeared. No one is accounted for.
Billions of people still on earth desperately trying to figure out what happened. God still has His people here.
What do Governments do in this frenzy? Who can give an answer?
What happens if Jesus does exsist? Some freaky explanation will be given.
Now what do we do about this scenario so that it should not happen again?
Why not mark everyone with a chip, so we know if the phenomenon happans again, where all those people went.
If you resist you will be killed.
It will be your choice. Take the mark or accept death.
That is why in Revelation it says;
"12 This calls for patient endurance on the part of the people of God who keep his commands and remain faithful to Jesus.
13 Then I heard a voice from heaven say, “Write this: Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from now on.”
“Yes,” says the Spirit, “they will rest from their labor, for their deeds will follow them
To accept the mark will be a choice between eternal hellfire or heavenly bliss, between God and satan, between glory and damnation.
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