Eagles QB Sam Bradford on Football: The Lord Is Out There With Me

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Eagles QB Sam Bradford on Football: The Lord Is Out There With Me

I Am Second (Photo: Reuters/USA Today Sports/Bill Streicher)

Christian Post Report – Philadelphia Eagles quarterback Sam Bradford (7) passes against the Washington Redskins during the first quarter at Lincoln Financial Field, December 26, 2015, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

Philadelphia Eagles quarterback Sam Bradford will be a free agent this offseason but the NFL star knows that his help doesn’t come from those who stand with him out on the field or in the front office but from the one who stands tall within his heart.

“I know that the Lord is out there with me,” says Bradford in a video posted for I Am Second. “He’s given me all the talent that I have and without Him there’s no way that I would even step foot on a football field.”

Keeping God first is a priority for the athlete, and — despite speculation about which team he will play for — Bradford is mindful to yield to God’s will. “The minute that you start to think that you’re first and He’s second, and that what you think and what you have planned in your mind is more important than what He has planned for your life — that’s the minute your life starts to go the wrong way … If it’s not the way the Lord wants it to be, it’s not the way it’s going to be in my life.”

For a star player like Bradford there is constant pressure and expectation to do well every time he steps onto the field. “Everyone in this state, they take football very seriously. There’s a lot of pressure on me to play well and I put a lot of pressure on myself … ” In those high-pressure situations, knowing that he’s not alone helps the athlete to keep his cool.

Tennis legend Billie Jean King has been quoted as saying that “pressure is a privilege.” That sentiment is echoed by Bradford, who remembers to live in the moment.

“I’m probably one of the luckiest people alive to get to play for the team that I’ve always wanted to play for … I just try to make the most of it and have as much fun as possible.”

But Bradford reminds listeners that his life is much more than the shining moments out on the field before cheering fans. “There’s a lot of effort, a lot of sacrifice. There’s a lot of stuff that goes on behind the scenes that people don’t see,” he said. “You wake up early, go to work outs … go to meetings, go to practice … “

With a hectic schedule, the athlete finds balance, strength and refuge in Christ. “To have a relationship with the Lord, and to be able to spend time with Him every week, it’s something that really just lets me get away from everything else. When I’m with Him … I stop thinking about football. I stop thinking about any other problems that are going on in my life.”

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Source : Christian Post

10 Bible Translation Projects to Be Launched in Countries With ‘Severe’ Christian Persecution

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10 Bible Translation Projects to Be Launched in Countries With ‘Severe’ Christian Persecution

Egyptian Christian (Photo: Reuters/Amr Abdallah Dalsh)

Christian Post Report – An Egyptian Christian reads an Arabic prayer book during Sunday mass at Saint Mary Church in the heavily populated area of Imbaba in Cairo, June 17, 2012.

At least 10 new Bible translation projects will be launched in countries where Christians are highly persecuted, one of the world’s leading Bible translation organizations has announced.

Wycliffe Associates, which partners with churches and Bible translators around the world to bring the Gospel into new languages, announced in a press release this week that at least 10 new translation projects will be launched within the next 30 days in a region of the world “where conversion to Christianity is punishable by death.”

The Wycliffe press release doesn’t indicate what specific region in the world the the translation projects will take place — most likely due to security concerns. It further notes that nationals of the region will be doing the translation work since the organization can’t send Westerners to the region for prolonged periods of time “because Christians are hunted down, and vigilantes can sweep into an area without notice.”

“Yes, it’s dangerous,” Wycliffe Associates CEO Bruce Smith, said in a statement. “But so many people still have never seen God’s Word in their own heart language. We don’t know how long we have to train national translators before they’ll be on the run.”

In order to assist national translators without putting the lives of Westerners in danger, Wycliff will utilize a revolutionary Bible translation strategy that will allow translators to complete a draft of the New Testament in as fast as a year.

The strategy, which is called Mobilized Assistance Supporting Translation (MAST), reduces the time it takes translators to produce an accurate translation into their languages. In the beginning of a new translation project, translators are trained on how to use MAST.

“Our breakthrough MAST strategy is accelerating Bible translation beyond anything we could have imagined, even a couple of years ago,” Smith explained. “It’s not Westerners going into remote areas — it’s nationals being equipped to translate God’s Word themselves.”

Wycliffe also equips the translators with technological tools that allow translators to work simultaneously and share information. Additionally, the translators are provided technology that allows them to work without being detected and while on the run.

As the 2016 Open Doors World Watch List finds that more Christians around the world are being killed for their faith more than ever before, extremist violence has been a hindrance on Bible translation efforts in the past. According to the release, some translators have been forced to evacuate their homes and suspend translation work due to rising threats of persecution.

“They have no one to support them in their work because it’s dangerous for outsiders,” Smith explained.

Despite the threats of violence, Wycliffe and its associates will not be deterred from spreading the Gospel.

Including the ten projects that Wycliffe plans to launch within the next month, the Orlando-based organization aims to launch a total of 80 translation projections in hostile areas of the world and is currently raising about $400,000 to reach that goal.

“These Christians are crying out for translator training,” Smith said. “Their people long for God’s Word in the language of their heart. The MAST strategy will mean a whole new day for them.”

The Christian Post reached out to Smith for additional comment, but he was unavailable for interview before press time. 

Contact: [email protected], @IamSamSmith (Twitter)

Source : Christian Post

Lolo Jones Calls Comeback Race Miraculous

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Lolo Jones Calls Comeback Race Miraculous

Lolo Jones (Photo: Reuters/Danny Moloshok)

Christian Post Report – U.S. Olympic track and field star Lolo Jones poses at Nickelodeon’s Kids’ Choice Sports 2014 award show in Los Angeles. California, July 17, 2014.

Instead of being disappointed with a fourth place finish at her comeback race, Lolo Jones is considering it a miracle that she was even able to participate.

“It was honestly a miracle. They said they never had anybody come back that fast,” Jones told the Winston-Salem Journal. “That’s a lot of credit to the Olympic training center for helping me through it because physically it was hard, but I was like, ‘Man, I don’t know if I can get through another surgery because it’s been so many of them.'”

The 33-year-old Olympic hurdler participated in the Camel City Elite Races on Jan. 31, three months after undergoing hip surgery. After finishing fourth place in the 60-meter hurdles at 8.17 seconds, Jones called her ability to run in the Winston-Salem, North Carolina race a blessing.

“I hit a hurdle early on that knocked me out of it. So I’m not disappointed. Every race right now is a blessing because I wasn’t expecting to run indoors,” she said. “Obviously, everybody has high expectations for me, but I have to tell myself the reality — I just had hip surgery (three months) ago.”

The track star burst on the scene after winning three NCAA titles, and running in the 2008 Beijing and 2012 London Olympics. Although she currently holds the U.S. record in the 60-meter hurdles at 7.72 seconds, she has a long way to go to prepare for the Olympics in Rio de Janeiro later this year.

Still, she believes that God has helped her speed up that preparation.

“They say I recovered faster than any other athlete who had hip surgery. Originally, I was told that there was absolutely no way I could recover in time for the indoor track season,” Jones revealed in an ESPN report last month. “Recovery went so well, I’m having my first pro race at the end of this month. I think God allowed me to have this breakthrough.”

After being on crutches for close to three weeks, the hurdler and bobsledder said she went from walking, to jogging and eventually hurdling. Two months after surgery, Jones began jumping hurdles again.

Still, the road to recovery was not an easy one. After Jones’ torn hip labrum resulted in her third major surgery in recent years, she admitted to feeling defeated.

“It was the first time in my career that I thought, I don’t know if I can try this again. Mentally, I was breaking down,” she told ESPN. “I love running and had a desire to go for Rio in 2016, but the setback was mentally draining. It messed with my confidence.”

“In my mind, I couldn’t imagine how I could come back quick enough. And after so many surgeries and attempts at the Olympic medal, I had a lot of anxiety and seriously thought about quitting,” she revealed. ” I had moments when I cried and wanted to give up. I went through the typical stages of feeling sorry for yourself.”

Although she has yet to earn a medal for the Olympic games where she competed for hurdling and bobsledding, Jones believes she is better off for the experience after coming up short and being publicly ridiculed.

“It proved to me how mentally tough I am, that I could pour my heart into a sport in the face of failure. This helps going into Rio, where people are saying, ‘She’s been injured, she’s too old, she should throw in the towel,'” Jones continued. “I have already faced failure. You’ve got to continue to pursue your dreams even when it hurts. It’s not how you start, but how you finish.”

Source : Christian Post

Kanye West Considering ‘So Help Me God’ Album Title?

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Kanye West Considering ‘So Help Me God’ Album Title?

Kim Kardashian (Photo: Reuters/Danny Moloshok)

Christian Post Report – TV personality Kim Kardashian and musician Kanye West arrive at the 2015 MTV Video Music Awards in Los Angeles, California, August 30, 2015.

After changing his eighth album title from “So Help Me God” to “Swish” and now “Waves,” Kanye West’s fans want the rapper to keep God in the title.

West’s wife, “Keeping Up With The Kardashians” star Kim Kardashian, 34, posted a poll on Twitter to ask fans what they thought of the first title compared to the two others previously presented by the rapper.

“WAIT new poll. Which album title do you like best? @kanyewest,” she questioned.

Out of 439,102 votes, the final poll results revealed that 46 percent of West’s fans would like to call the album “So Help Me God,” with 30 percent preferring “Swish” and the remaining 24 percent preferring “Waves.”

Last week, the 38-year-old rap mogul told fans that his latest record would be a gospel project.

“This album is actually a Gospel album,” West tweeted on Jan 27.

West has previously publicly identified himself as a Christian. In an interview with Paper Magazine last year, he recalled an enlightening moment when he went to the dentist and began to think deeply about his life after being given nitrous gas for his procedure. West said the moment allowed him to see that there was no reason for him to expect to be compensated every time he gave to someone or made a contribution to society.

The rap mogul went on to further explain his point in the context of his Christian faith.

“I’m a Christian so I’ll speak in Christian terms: God will give you tenfold. Then I said in my mind – I’m still under the gas and getting my teeth cleaned – But I just want to be remembered,” West recalled to Paper magazine.  “And I immediately corrected myself. I said, It doesn’t even matter if I’m remembered.”

The rapper and fashion mogul spoke at Oxford University’s Museum of Natural History last year where he managed to speak about applying the Bible to his life.

“There’s a Bible saying, ‘No weapon formed against me shall prosper’. Recently I’ve been doing interviews and I’ve had to go back to this verse because I don’t think there’s a living celebrity with more weapons formed against them, but I also don’t think there’s one more prosperous,” West said, in his speech, according to Oxford’s The Tab. “So what weapons have prospered? The smoke and mirrors of other opinions.”

He went on to explain why he compared “The Matrix” to the Bible of the post-information age.
“What I said was ‘The Matrix’ is like the Bible of the post-information age. I compared it like, when the hundred guys come at Neo, those are opinions, that’s perception, that’s tradition. Attacking people from every which angle possible,” West said. “If you have a focus wide and master sense is like Laurence Fishburne and you have a squad behind you, you literally can put the world in slow motion.”

The rap mogul went on to call himself a servant and speak about his responsibilities as such.

“Understand that I’m a servant. And with my voice, with my ability to build relationships with
amazing people, speak to amazing people,” West said in the speech. “Call Elon Musk out of the blue, or call Obama out of the blue…he calls the home phone, by the way. With that, I have a responsibility to serve.”

Kanye West’s eighth studio album will be in stores Feb. 11.

Source : Christian Post

Meagan Good Says ‘The Wait’ Will Change Society, Increase Two-Parent Homes

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Meagan Good Says ‘The Wait’ Will Change Society, Increase Two-Parent Homes

DeVon Franklin (Photo: Courtesy of Omg! Publicity)

Christian Post Report – DeVon Franklin and Meagan Good release their first book, “The Wait” on February 2, 2016.

If people waited until marriage to have sex, actress and The Wait author Meagan Good believes there would be an increase in two-parent households.

While promoting her book, The Wait: A Powerful Practice for Finding the Love of Your Life and the Life You Love with her co-author and film executive husband DeVon Franklin, Good spoke about how society would be different by implementing celibacy in relationships.

“I believe society would be different bcuz we would have more 2parent homes & marriages built on solid ground 2 God willingly last,” the “Minority Report” actress tweeted.

Last month, Good told The Christian Post that she has witnessed a number of marriages fail. However, now she is more confident in the institution of marriage after implementing the principles in her new book within her own relationship.

“I’ve seen so many marriages around me deteriorate. The short term thought was a great one but the long term one was very scary to me,” Good revealed to CP. “I think the difference is with implementing The Wait, the foundation that we have is so solid that it makes me feel so much safer and gives me so much more confidence — not just in our marriage but in what God is doing in us and through us. He honors our marriage because we took the time to honor Him with our foundation.”

She went on to speak about the differences in relationships when those involved decided not to be physical before marriage.

“We settle for things that we normally wouldn’t settle for if we weren’t co-dependant on them physically. So I would say the wait helps you come to the space of knowing if this person is really your [spouse] or identifying if they are not your [spouse] and why, much quicker,” Good explained. “A lot of times you don’t get that resolution with this person you want to be with long term because it takes you a lot longer to actually learn about them as a human being. It [can] take you a lot longer to realize this isn’t someone you should be with because you’re wrapped up in the physical part of the relationship.”

In their book, the couple delves deeper into practical things to do while waiting for marriage. Still, they acknowledge the fact that the waiting process can be frustrating.

“I think it’s so important, not only in dating but in life, that when you’re frustrated about something you not focus on the negative,” Franklin, the CEO of Franklin Entertainment, told CP. “What I have learned is that frustration can disrupt what you should be focused on, which is ‘show me Lord how to not get frustrated. Show me how to stay positive and open minded so that I can see where you want to bring my person from.'”

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Source : Christian Post

Kirk Franklin Wants to Sit With Sinners

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Kirk Franklin Wants to Sit With Sinners

Kirk Franklin (Photo: RCA Inspiration)

Christian Post Report – Kirk Franklin’s 11th studio album “Losing My Religion” was released Nov. 13.

Kirk Franklin is not interested in spending all of his time with Christians who believe they are perfect, the gospel music songwriter and producer wants to be in the company of sinners.

“I want to sit where the sinners are…the well sometimes make me sick. #randomthought #losingmyreligion,” Franklin tweeted.

The 46-year-old “Losing My Religion” recording artist wrote his social media post after pictures surfaced of him spending time in a recording studio with rap mogul Kanye West. The gospel music producer said he is frustrated with sitting around while lost souls are confused by the lifestyle of Christians.

“Ok…the point of my heart was the subculture of Christianity, where we just sit and go back and forth can be frustrating. The lost are dying and confused by our preaching but our living is not always the same,” he wrote. “I’d rather be trying to win them instead of arguing with ‘us.’ ..I’m tired of practicing, i want to get in the field and play.”

The concept of Franklin’s twelfth studio album “Losing My Religion” centers around urging people to rely more on relationship than the laws of religion.

However, the Christian artist is making it clear that there is nothing wrong with identifying your faith.

“I would never say that claiming you’re a Christian is wrong. I understand that there is a human aspect of being able to identify people whether it’s African American, Hispanic or Asian,” he previously told The Christian Post. “But the definition doesn’t define the relationship, meaning you can be married and still not know intimacy. You can be religious and not know relationship.”

To avoid any confusion, Franklin decided to use a parable to further illustrate his point.

“If you were drowning in a lake, I drove by you and saw you drowning…if I jumped out of my car and jumped in the water to save you, you’d be very appreciative wouldn’t you? When you saw me, you would always speak to me, you would always hug me,” he said. “Now imagine if you were drowning and I drove by. Instead of jumping in the water to save you, I stood on the side to yell ‘kick harder, breathe faster, Stay afloat!”

Franklin continued by asking, “if I did that, and I’m yelling the instructions to you would you be as appreciative?”

The minister of music likened religion to the person standing on the side of the lake and yelling instructions to a drowning individual.

“God sent His son to jump in the lake to save us. We’re so appreciative of Him nobody has to tell us to keep the law,” he said. “We automatically fulfill the law because of our gratitude for him jumping into the lake.”

For Franklin, it is important to promote the relational aspect of Christianity, because he remembers a time when he did not see a lot of God’s love in religion.

“There’s a lot of people like me who the system never introduced to the love of God. Knowing God as a loving father is very foreign to them,” he previously told CP. “I think most people in mainstream America, they don’t know God. There’s always more picket signs [saying] ‘God hates gays’ or ‘God hates abortion.’ But when have you seen a picket sign that says ‘Jesus loves you?'”

Source : Christian Post

Bieber Leads Fans to ‘Jesus Calling’

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Bieber Leads Fans to ‘Jesus Calling’

Bieber Leads Fans To "Jesus Calling"

Christian Post Report – Justin Bieber is encouraging his fans to start reading the Christian devotional Jesus Calling, which has sold more than 15 million copies worldwide.

In an Instagram post on Saturday, Bieber shared a quote from Jesus Calling, written by missionary Sarah Young, that includes two Bible verses from Psalms and 1 Corinthians, in which Christians are advised to trust in the Lord.

More than 1.1. million people have liked Bieber’s Instagram post and over 23,000 people have shared comments about the daily devotional’s message:

Read more at http://www.christianpost.com/news/justin-bieber-daily-devotional-book-jesus-calling-instagram-purpose-album-156454/#wG1u8jobY8DzDcFm.99

Source : Christian Post

How Do Super Bowl 50 Advertisers Rank by Christian Consumers?

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How Do Super Bowl 50 Advertisers Rank by Christian Consumers?

superbowl 50 (Photo: Reuter/Noah Berger)

Christian Post Report – A security guard stands watch outside Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, California January 27, 2016. The venue will host the Carolina Panthers and Denver Broncos in Super Bowl 50 on February 7. Picture taken January 27, 2016.

The Faith Driven Consumer group has recently released a scorecard of Super Bowl 50 advertisers based on their compatibility with American Christian buyers.

The scorecard, which has been posted on the Faith Driven Consumer website, rely on the group’s Faith Equality Index that judges corporate businesses based on their “full inclusion of the Faith Driven Consumer market segment as an equally valued, welcomed and respected community in [America’s] rich rainbow of diversity. “

Companies such as Axe Body Spray and T-Mobile received low scores of 11 and 19 out of 100, respectively, which is based on factors such as “Faith Compatible Corporate Actions” and “Public Commitment to Faith-Driven Consumers.”

Acura and Honda both received the top score among Superbowl 50 advertisers of 46 out of 100, with FEI explaining in the breakdown that Honda and Acura received 30/30 points in the Faith-Compatible Corporate Actions for showing respect for pro-life views on abortion, embryonic stem cell research and euthanasia, and on sexuality, gender, marriage and family, as well as promoting a wholesome image.

Pepsi received 38 points, Amazon got 32, Doritos was rated 27, Snickers scored 24, and Coca-Cola got 23. The NFL itself was scored  24.  For full list of Superbowl 50 advertisers’ score, click here.  

Chris Stone, founder of Faith Driven Consumer, said in a press release that Super Bowl 50 is a “prime opportunity” for Americans to recognize and support brands that cater to the Christian consumer.

“This is a prime opportunity for all American consumers to recognize which brands specifically include faith-driven consumers in their diversity rainbow, compared with other communities those brands have specifically prioritized. As faith-driven consumers watch the ads on Sunday, they’ll choose the advertiser — or its competitor — based on their Faith Equality scores,” Stone said in a press release.

Along with their advertiser scorecard, Faith Driven Consumer has also developed an interactive shopping game that allows Christian consumers to find faith-compatible brands based on ten different categories.

Whenever a shopper matches one of the categories to a brand, they are entered to win a $25 Walmart gift card.

The purpose of the “Faith Driven Super Bowl Party Game” is to encourage Christians to shop faith-compatible brands in a fun, interactive way, Stone explained. 

“Millions of Americans will buy food, beverages, decorations, TVs and electronics, and other items for family Super Bowl parties. We’re encouraging our community to actively do business with the brands that score highest in welcoming them,” Stone, a certified brand specialist, said. “The game we created offers everyone —both in the consumer and brand communities — a fun way to interact, understand, and share Faith Equality Index scores.”

The Faith Driven Consumer group has offered its reviews on several different businesses, including airlines, banks, movie theaters, and more.

As stated on its website, the purpose of the group is to help Christians make everyday decisions based on their biblical worldview.

“[American Christians] make daily decisions based on our biblical worldview and see everything we do in the context of stewardship. Our heartbeat is to give honor to God with every choice we make,” the group states. 

Super Bowl 50 is set to take place this Sunday in Santa Clara, California, between the Carolina Panthers and the Denver Broncos. 

Source : Christian Post

Indian Christian Man Publicly Shamed by Hindu Extremists for Allegedly Converting Locals

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Indian Christian Man Publicly Shamed by Hindu Extremists for Allegedly Converting Locals

<b>Christian Post Report</b> – School children listen to a speech by a Christian leader during a protest rally in the eastern Indian city of Kolkata August 29, 2008.” title=”<b>Christian Post Report</b> – School children listen to a speech by a Christian leader during a protest rally in the eastern Indian city of Kolkata August 29, 2008.” name=”jpg” src=”http://images.christianpost.com/full/86637/school-children-listen-to-a-speech-by-a-christian-leader-during-a-protest-rally-in-the-eastern-indian-city-of-kolkata-august-29-2008.jpg” class=”imgPhoto” width=”550″ height=”450″ /> <small class=(Photo: Reuters/Jayanta Shaw)

Christian Post Report – School children listen to a speech by a Christian leader during a protest rally in the eastern Indian city of Kolkata August 29, 2008.

An extremist Hindu group recently humiliated a Christian man in Uttar Pradesh, India, after accusing him of converting Hindus to Christianity.

Police in Uttar Pradesh’s Jalaun District are currently searching for several members of Bajrang Dal, an extremist group that kidnapped Awdhesh Kumar Savita, alleging that he tricked Hindus into converting faith.

After being kidnapped, Savita was blindfolded as militants shaved his head and paraded him around town on a donkey. 

The 35-year-old Christian man had been accused of luring local residents to a town meeting, then forcing them to eat beef and stomp on photos of Hindu gods as a way of converting them to Christianity.

Savita has denied the claims, telling local media outlets that he “has been practicing Christianity for the last few years. But I have never insisted on converting anybody.”

Police were able to arrive at the village in time to save Savita from further humiliatation or harm, and authorities are now searching for the militants involved in the public shaming.

Nalin Kohli, leader of the Bharatiya Janata Party, has condemned the recent attack, distancing his political party from hardline militants, although the two groups have been linked in the past. 

“We need to ensure that we arrive at some kind of thinking as to how we can prevent these incidents,” Kohli told IBN Live.

“With regard to the police, they need to take the strongest possible action and the guilty whoever it is, has to be punished for such barbaric crimes. We all have to be sensitive about our religious practices, our faith and not do anything which causes hurt to anyone. At the same time, no one can be justified to take law into their own hands,” Kohli added.

Savita’s wife, Rekha, has told local media outlets that the hardline Hindu group had fabricated its conversion accusations, suggesting that her family was being targeted for taking their 7-year-old son to a Christian hospital instead of a Hindu hospital.

Manoj Kumar, the police chief of the nearby Orai police station, told UCA News that allegations of Savita’s forced conversion practices are untrue.

“The complaint is not valid as preliminary investigation has proved that Awadesh Savita was not involved in conversion activities,” Kumar said, adding that “More arrests will follow in the coming days.”

The International Christian Concern [ICC] watchdog group has warned that Bajrang Dal and its umbrella group, the Sangh Parivar political party, have been seeking to cleanse India of Christians for the past few years. 

ICC pointed to one particularly alarming incident in 2014 when members of the Bajrang Dal group stormed a church in Sahakarinagar village and began beating its pastor and congregants during a Bible study.

These extremist Hindu groups are similar to the Islamic State terror group, the ICC said in a 2014 press release.

“Like Christians facing ISIS in Iraq, millions of Christians across India are facing persecution at the hands of radical Hindu nationalist groups,” the press release said, as reported by The Christian Post. 

“Without drastic change, this difficult situation will likely only get worse, as radical Hindu nationalist groups popping up across India have been given almost complete impunity under the new Hindu nationalist government led by [Bharatiya Janata Party]  and [Prime Minister] Narendra Modi,” the statement added.

Source : Christian Post

Pakistani Christian Father Tortured to Convert to Islam, Considers Suicide, but Refuses

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Pakistani Christian Father Tortured to Convert to Islam, Considers Suicide, but Refuses
Christian Post Report – A member of the Pakistani Christian community holds a placard as he shouts slogans during a protest rally to condemn Sunday’s suicide attack in Peshawar on a church, with others in Lahore September 23, 2013. A pair of suicide bombers blew themselves up outside the 130-year-old Anglican church in Pakistan after Sunday mass, killing at least 78 people in the deadliest attack on Christians in the predominantly Muslim country.

A Pakistani Christian man, a father of five, was reportedly threatened and psychologically tortured by Muslim coworkers who wanted him to convert to Islam, and even though he considered suicide, he refused to convert.

“They very often called me ‘kafir’, which means unfaithful, and they threatened me that they would resort to false accusations of blasphemy if I refused to convert to Islam,” said Patras Hanif, the Pakistani man who was the victim of abuse, according to Fides News Agency.

Hanif, who worked at a construction site in Multan, in Punjab, faced violence and harassment from fellow workers who wanted him to abandon his Christian faith, which at one point even drove him to consider suicide.

The father turned to Christian lawyer Sardar Mushtaq Gill, however, who has taken on a number of persecution cases in the Muslim majority country.

“Extremism, hatred, motivated only by a different faith, preconceived hostility: this is the suffering Christians in Pakistan go through. Islamic extremist groups would like to eliminate Christianity and other religions,” Gill said.

“This extremism is the cause of the exodus of religious minorities in Pakistan. Political leaders and Muslim religious leaders should publicly discourage these attitudes and start a more ambitious program of religious harmony, recalling that all citizens have equal rights and dignity,” the lawyer added.

There have been several cases of violence and murder by Islamic mobs against Christians in the country over the past several months. Earlier this week, the son of a Pakistani Christian servant recalled the brutal beatings that his father endured at the hands of police in the town of Gujranwala, trying to get him to confess to a crime he didn’t commit, which eventually led to his death.

Another Christian father in the town of Sialkot Tehsil in Punjab was shot to death by unknown gunmen in January, which prompted Christians to take the streets in protest against what is being investigated as a “terrorist attack.”

“An investigation is under process and will be extremely vigorous. So far the motive of the killer is unknown, this may even have been a small scale terrorist attack. The police authority is committed to find the killer and we hope to have success as it happened in broad daylight,” investigating officer Mohammed Masood told British Pakistani Christian Association officer Shamim Masih.

Women and girls have also been subjected to harassment and violence, particularly by Muslim men. Earlier in January a 17-year-old Christian girl was killed after she and her friends rejected the sexual advances of drunken Muslim men in Lahore, Defence Colony. The rejection caused the Muslim men to turn violent, and crash their car right into the girls.

“How dare you run away from us, Christian girls are only meant for one thing, the pleasure of Muslim men,” one of the men reportedly said.

Source : Christian Post

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