September 26, 2018 (Morning Star News) – Nearly a year after declaring that attacks on Christians had hit a level not seen in decades, a Coptic Orthodox bishop in Egypt continues to lament a stream of incidents of violence against churches in Upper Egypt.

 

Coptic Orthodox Bishop-General of Minya Anba Makarios this month confirmed that an Islamist assault on four Christians’ homes after mosque prayers on Aug. 31 left two Copts with knife wounds in the head and face.

 

Makarios issued a statement saying the homes of Adel Saeed Rizq, Reda Abdel-Sayed Rizq, Kamel Fawzy Shahata and Fawazy Shahata Boutros in Dimshau Hashim village were damaged and plundered because the assailants objected to the Copts using a small hall in one of the homes for worship.

 

The village has no church facility, so after the damages to the homes, the Coptic families were forced to hold a Sept. 6 funeral in the street, according to Egyptian news outlet Watani.

 

At the four homes in the village in Minya Governorate, some 250 kilometers (155 miles) south of Cairo, the assailants stole gold jewelry, smashed electric equipment and set part of one property on fire. A fireman was injured attempting to douse it. The wounded Copts received treatment at Minya Public Hospital, according to Watani.

 

Makarios reported that Minya police arrested 38 Muslim extremists, released 19 and held another 19…

CNN is reporting that a third woman has come forward with allegations against Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh.  

Julie Swetnick who attended Gaithersburg High School in Maryland is accusing Kavanaugh of engaging in inappropriate behavior in high school.

Swetnick said in a sworn statement given to the Senate Judiciary Committee that she attended “well over ten” parties where Kavanaugh was present. 

She continued saying, Kavanaugh would “drink excessively at many of these parties and engage in abusive and physically aggressive behavior towards girls, including pressing girls against him without their consent, ‘grinding’ against girls and attempting to remove or shift girls’ clothing to expose private body parts. “

Swetnick’s statement includes a series of serious allegations that have not been corroborated. 

Kavanaugh responded to these allegations in a statement released by the White House saying, “This is ridiculous and from the Twilight Zone. I don’t know who this is and this never happened.”

Reportedly, President Donald Trump has not commented on these allegations against Kavanaugh as he left for a United Nations meeting on Wednesday.

Photo courtesy: Getty Images/Alex Wong/Staff

Thousands of Christians from around the world are flocking to Israel to celebrate the biblical Feast of Sukkot this week.

The Feast of Sukkot also known as the Feast of Tabernacles is held between September 23 and September 30 and welcomes Christians from around the world. Together, Christian’s gather to celebrate the provisions that God made for the Jewish people in the past and to “look forward to that promised Messianic age when all nations will flow to this city to worship the Lord,” the Feast of Tabernacles website stated.

The feast is orchestrated by the International Christian Embassy Jerusalem (ICEJ), and this year they are celebrating the annual feast’s 38th year.

The festival is welcoming more than 5,000 Christians from nearly 100 countries this year for the weeklong celebration, and according to CBN News many have come dressed in national costumes and are ready to worship God and stand with His people.

One young woman from Vermont, Charity, told the outlet, “I know it’s going to be a life-changing experience.” 

Charity continued, “I love Israel and I think that it’s a time when things are going to turn around and it’s very prophetic and to be a part of being able to give back to the people that gave to us.” This is the Vermont native’s first time in Israel.

David Parsons, vice president of the ICEJ, explained to CBN News that people…

Around 30 people have died following attacks by Fulani militants on five predominantly Christian communities in northeast Nigeria. 

According to World Watch Monitor, between September 13 and 16, the villages of Gon, Bolki, Ndumusu, Yotti and Yanga, in Numan local government area (LGA), Adamawa state, were under attack by Fulani militants who pillaged, murdered, chased, kidnapped, and burned down the houses of villagers.

According to Amnesty International, this area is the same place where 3,000 homes were destroyed last December after fighter jets, sent by the Nigerian Air Force, allegedly fired rockets at villages where Fulani herdsmen were attacking Christians.

In regard to the current attack, a local pastor told World Watch Monitor that 27 people had been confirmed dead. He added that, when residents heard gunshots, many fled into the bush or the river. Many who fled to the river, he said, drowned because they could not swim. 

Though 27 people have been confirmed to have lost their lives, the local pastor, who chose to remain anonymous for his protection, said ten people are still missing, four from Yanga and six from Bolki.

He said, “Nobody knows the whereabouts of these people missing. Since their dead bodies are not found, it is too early to declare them dead. We will give them the benefit of doubt; maybe some of them may return home to their…

Last week, a man barged into a Connecticut church and confessed to a four-year-old murder that had gone cold. 

William Leverett walked into Open Gate Ministries Church pastored by Michael Trazinski last Wednesday and told the parishioners that he was responsible for the killing of 54-year-old Melissa Millan in 2014.

When the pastor heard Leverett’s confession he said he knew “Justice needed to be done.” 

The pastor and two other church members took Leverett, 27, to the Simsbury Police Station and had him turn himself in.

According to the arrest warrant affidavit released Monday, Leverett walked into the precinct and said, “I’m here to turn myself in for the murder on Iron Horse Boulevard almost four years ago.” 

Fox News reports that in his full confession the man told police that he went to the trail that night looking for “human contact” after going to a treatment meeting for sex offenders.

Leverett was a registered sex offender who had been charged with sexually assaulting a child in 2009 in Colorado and according to his confession, he was scared that a woman he had met would find out.

He told the police he was “embarrassed and scared and figured that if I just killed somebody, it would make all that go away and I wouldn’t have to explain myself.”

Then he ran into Millan, a mom of two, jogging on the trail and decided to take…