Juma detailed a heartbreaking night of searching for her husband, Benjamin, who

had gone with a pastor to share the word of Christ in a nearby Muslim area.

Hours after the two men went missing, Gladys Juma went to a hospital nearby,
where she was shown a gunnysack of hacked and burned body parts and a seared
skull sitting in a burned tire rim. No one could say who they were. A few hours later,
she learned that those unidentifiable victims were, in fact, her husband and the
pastor. It hit us very hard, Juma said. In Mombasa, we had had religious tolerance
for many years and suddenly the tables had turned with no warning. We are still
healing.That healing, for herself and her four children, relies on forgiveness, on
trust in God and in her belief, she said, that America will act to make sure people
respect other peoples faith.

Christian Girl Burned Alive by ISIS Tells Her Mother "Forgive Them" before
Dying

A 12-year-old Christian girl reportedly told her mother to forgive them before she
died from ISIS attack .According to Jacqueline Isaac, vice president of the advocacy
group Road of Success, ISIS militants stormed the girls house in Mosul, Iraq
demanding that her family pay the jizya, or tax for Christians and minorities.
Her mother answered the door while the 12-year-old was in the shower.
She answered, I will pay; give me a few seconds my daughter is in the shower.
The militants replied, you dont have a few seconds, and proceeded to burn the
bathroom with the daughter trapped inside.
The girl was taken to the hospital, where she died from fourth degree burns in her
mothers arms. Before she passed, her last words were, Forgive them.
Isaac concluded her speech, "In the midst of darkness there is light. When there is
light there is hope.

Eritrean Christian Refugees Describe Horror of Persecution

Tens of thousands of Eritrean Christians have fled the nation in search of refuge
from persecution.
A refugee named Dawit said, "There is no law and no justice. When I was living in
Eritrea I was arrested because of my Christian faith. That's why I left. In Eritrea
almost every Christian faces imprisonment. Another refugee called Asmelash said,
"Eritrea is like a giant prison. The country is filled with jails, concentration camps
and prisons. And it is like North Korea, but in Africa."
Eritrea is governed by a one-party political system, under the presidency of Isaias
Afwerki. Citizens are not permitted to form other political parties. It is common for
Christians to be sent to prison or labor camps.
A refugee named Elsa described her time in prison with her sister.
She said, "We didn't get much to eat and there was no medical treatment. The
guards offered to let us go, but only if we renounced our faith in Jesus. We said no."
Elsa was beaten in prison, along with her sister. One night her sister was beaten to
death.
"I will never forget hearing the screams of my sister," she said. "I never saw her
again.

Christians Affected by Middle East Turmoil Have Been Forgotten, Says

Reporter

Christians affected by the turmoil in Syria have been forgotten

Mitchell says that the Christians have been overlooked as the world debates Muslim
entry into the U.S. and other issues.
They drive on dirt roads, exist in cramped caravans (campers) and are strangers in
their own land. For many Christians, this has become their way of life.
Mitchell writes that in Kurdistan, a refugee camp holds several thousand people,
who have been living in the camp for more than a year.
"It's really very bad because we don't have jobs and we have nothing to look
forward to," one refugee told CBN News.
The refugees have said they cannot go home.
"It's impossible to go back to our towns because ISIS took even the tiles from the
floors and there's nothing left for us," another woman said. "Even if we went back,
we cannot rebuild our homes again. That would take a long time and a lot of
money."
Another said: "We feel we have no aim here. We are still in our country, but still we
are feeling we have no aim for our life because we are people of life. We are not the
people to stay inside caravan for all our life. We are live people. We are not dead
people."

Egyptian Christian Imprisoned for Handing Out Bibles in Shopping Mall

A 35-year-old Egyptian Christian is likely to remain in jail for one to five years for
handing out Bibles in a shopping mall.

According to attorney Rafik Rafaat, Ishak did encounter a Muslim man at the mall,
though he did not know he was Muslim at first. Ishak offered him a Bible and when
the man refused and explained that the was a Muslim, Ishak apologized and left.
Rafaat said, "The word 'blasphemy' means that he was insulting the other religion,
but he didn't do that, and he didn't talk about Islam or prophets or anything like that
to be accused of blasphemy. So, now we are surprised that the attorney general
accused him of blasphemy when he didn't commit any act of blasphemy."
Nigeria: Churches Forced to Close for Being Too Noisy

Churches and other gathering places in Nigeria are being forced to shut down due
to excessive noise.
Christianity is growing in Nigeria, and there are many Christians in the city of Lagos
which has a population of nearly 18 million people.

According to ChristianToday.com, most of the churches that are being targeted for
being too noisy are not large, well-established churches but those that meet in
makeshift buildings without sound-proof walls.

Bola Shabi, general manager of Lagos State Environmental Protection Agency, said
that 70 churches have been forced to close as part of the effort to make the city of
Lagos noise-free by 2020.
"We've been so strict now that we are not going to even allow make-shift churches
in the state any longer, said Shabi. What I mean by make-shift, using tents and
uncompleted building, we are not going to allow that any further in the state."

Christians Thrown Overboard by Obama

What do you call it when 12 men are drowned at sea for praying to Jesus?

Answer: Religious persecution.

Yet, when a throng of Muslims threw a dozen Christians overboard a migrant ship
traveling from Libya to Italy, Prime Minister Matteo Renzi missed the opportunity to
label it as such. Standing next to President Obama at their joint news conference
Friday (April 17), Renzi dismissed it as a one-off event and said, The problem is not
a problem of (a) clash of religions.

While the prime minister plunged his head into the sand, Italian authorities arrested
and charged the Muslim migrants with multiple aggravated murder motivated by
religious hate, according to the BBC.
As Renzi was questioned about the incident, Obama was mute on the killings. He
failed to interject any sense of outrage or even tepid concern for the targeting of
Christians for their faith. If a Christian mob on a ship bound for Italy threw 12
Muslims to their death for praying to Allah, does anyone think the president would
have been so disinterested? When three North Carolina Muslims were gunned down
by a virulent atheist, Obama rightly spoke out against the horrifying killings. But he
just cant seem to find any passion for the mass persecution of Middle Eastern
Christians or the eradication of Christianity from its birthplace.

Religious persecution of Christians is rampant worldwide, as the Pew Research

Center has noted, but nowhere is it more prevalent than in the Middle East and
Northern Africa, where followers of Jesus are the targets of religious cleansing. Pope
Francis has repeatedly decried the persecution and begged the world for help, but it
has had little impact. Western leaders including Obama will be remembered for
their near silence as this human rights tragedy unfolded. The presidents mumblings
about the atrocities visited upon Christians (usually extracted after public outcry
over his silence) are few and far between. And it will be hard to forget his lecturing
of Christians at the National Prayer Breakfast about the centuries-old Crusades
while Middle Eastern Christians were at that moment being harassed, driven from
their homes, tortured and murdered for their faith.

A week and a half after Obamas National Prayer Breakfast speech, 21 Coptic
Christians were beheaded for being people of the cross. Seven of the victims were
former students of my friend and hero Mama Maggie Gobran, known as the
Mother Theresa of Cairo for her work with the poorest of the poor. She told me
these dear men grew up in rural Upper Egypt and had gone to Libya seeking work to
support their families. They died with dignity as they called out to their God, while
the cowardly murderers masked their faces.

Rather than hectoring Christians about their ancestors misdeeds, Obama should
honor these men and the countless Middle Eastern Christians persecuted before
them.

, there was more horrifying news: Islamic State terrorists released a video
purporting to show more religiously motivated killing. According to CNN, before
beheading and shooting two groups of Christians in Libya, a speaker said, The
Islamic State has offered the Christian community (the opportunity to convert to
Islam or pay a tax for being Christian) many times and set a deadline for this, but
the Christians never cooperated.
So they kill them.

Iraq: 5-Year-Old Christian Boy Kidnapped and Killed

Jin pastors Shou Wang Church, one of the largest so-called underground
churches in Beijing.

They have faced arrest, torture and death for their faith. But more than 40 years
after the Cultural Revolution. "We worshipped in secret for years," Jin said. "We were
spread out across the city meeting in different people's homes."

Once a month, among other evangelistic efforts, church members go out into the
community distributing food and clothes.

"There are so many needs in this city," said Ping, a member of Shou Wang Church.
"God is calling us to play our part as a church in reaching those who are down and
out and have never heard about the love of Christ."
Such open proselytizing is still forbidden in China. Technically, it is also an illegal
gathering since the church hasn't registered with the government nor is it part of
any of the state-sanctioned churches. But the authorities have chosen to turn a
blind eye.

It's a far cry from the dark days of the Cultural Revolution when authorities burned
churches, temples and mosques to the ground. Pastors and Christians were
routinely arrested and labeled counter-revolutionaries.

North Korea
In North Korea Christians meet in small groups in homes or in remote areas like
forests and mountain caves. They dare not sing above a whisper for being
discovered by police. Nowhere in the world is Christian persecution so fierce.
Christians have to hide their faith; Christian parents cant even share their beliefs
with their children until they are old enough to understand the dangers. Owning a
Bible could get you killed, or sent to a harsh labour camp. Despite the risks, the
church is standing firm: there are an estimated 400,000 believers.

Indonesia

Joshua is 14 years old he lives in Jakarta the capital of Indonesia. This sprawling
nation is home to the largest Muslim population in the world. Joshua and his family
are very much a minority; theyre followers of Jesus and are completely surrounded
by a strongly passionate Islamic neighbourhood.

Joshua and his family do church together in secret, in their homeFor fear of their
neighbours hearing them sing to Jesus and harming them they worship in silence;
but their hearts shout out to praise to God. They often stand and sing something
like Amazing Grace each knowing when the song starts and ends. Every so often
Joshua and his family take a trip away from their community and meet with other
Christians you can imagine how good the worship times are!

It may now be against the law for Iowa pastors to teach on Genesis 1 that God
created mankind male and female in His own image.

The state claims it has the power to regulate what the church even teaches what
they are allowed to say from the pulpit in addition to how they operate regarding
matters of gender and sexuality,

Fired for preaching: Georgia dumps doctor over church sermons

Bi-vocational pastors be warned what you say from the pulpit on Sunday could get
you fired from your public sector job on Monday.

Dr. Eric Walsh, a renowned public health expert who also serves as a lay minister,
has filed a federal lawsuit against the Georgia Department of Public Health alleging
he was terminated for delivering sermons on issues ranging from homosexuality to
evolution.