Music Executive Mitchell Solarek Launches New Christian Record Label; Talks Moving On From Mary Mary

-
0
Music Executive Mitchell Solarek Launches New Christian Record Label; Talks Moving On From Mary Mary

<b>Christian Post Report</b> – Mitchell Solarek” title=”<b>Christian Post Report</b> – Mitchell Solarek” name=”jpg” src=”http://images.christianpost.com/full/84350/mitchell-solarek.jpg” class=”imgPhoto” width=”550″ height=”450″ /> <small class=(Photo: Christian Post Report – Mitchell Solarek)

Christian Post Report – Mitchell Solarek

He discovered singer-songwriter Natalie Grant in church and helped create a highly rated television show for gospel music duo Mary Mary. Now, music manager Christian Post Report – Mitchell Solarek is taking things a step further with a brand new record label for Christian artists called Maxx Recordings.

Solarek founded the full service record label Maxx Recordings after over 10 years in the music industry as a manager with his Maximum Artist Group that has become home to award-winning artists like Grant, Donald Lawrence and Danny Gokey. The music executive told The Christian Post he is not doing anything starkly different than what he has done with his management agency where he would “quarterback artists’ careers.” Maxx Recordings, he says, is focusing on developing young talent like the band 3for3, Kolby Koloff from the hit Lifetime docu-series “Preachers Daughters” and Riley Clemmons.

While Maximum Artist Group will continue to manage its current roster of artists who are happy with their current record label situations, Maxx Recordings is providing fresh young talent with a platform for their music to be heard and distributed.

“We’ve tried to step in where we see a void and that is the development of new artists for this genre that we’re providing music for. So most of the clients tend to be very young and that is the lane that we’re traveling in at the moment,” said Solarek of his new label. “We’re trying to respond to what we think is a desperate need for positive music in our culture and have lyrics that are coming from a faith-based perspective without being necessarily preachy. So we wanted to be encouraging and positive on a lyrical level, but we want the music to sound like top 40 music.”

And tt seems radio is already responding to Solarek’s new label. Maxx Recordings’ debut act 3for3 celebrated their debut single “Halfway” being the most added single on Billboard Magazine’s Christian HOT AC/CHR singles chart. With plans to release the three person group’s EP in July and new music by Koloff in the fall, Solarek believes his early success is a sign that God has given his new venture a stamp of approval.

“That was a huge accomplishment for a brand new artist and a brand new label to come out on top in their very first week. So hoping and praying that this is God’s confirmation that we are doing exactly what we’re supposed to do,” said Solarek. “We believe here at MAXX that those artists need to have a home where they can be supported because we know the consumer is there. They just need champions to make sure that their music is taken to their consumers.”

Some may be wary of the newer sounds shaping the landscape of Christian music that may sound more mainstream, but Solarek insists that it is necessary to embrace all of the different sounds that music made for God encompasses..

“I think that there’s a place for all of it. I think there’s a place for more traditional and it’s needed, I think there’s a place for more church music and it’s warranted and needed, but I think we’ve got to acknowledge that there’s a place for a much more contemporary musical genre and it’s also warranted and needed,” he said. “So hopefully that’s where we can add to the industry not try to take away from what’s already here and become another avenue of support for these talented artists.”

Since childhood, the foundation of Solarek’s life has been his Christian faith. Although he feels blessed to work in an industry and help inspire people with the Christian artists he has worked with, the world witnessed him during one of the toughest spiritual periods of his life when he managed gospel music duo Mary Mary.

Television cameras rolled during the WE tv show “Mary Mary” where manager and executive producer Solarek exchanged heated words with group members, Erica and Tina Campbell, along with their family members. The gospel music duo fired Solarek on their reality show after years of him working with the group. Solarek later filed a lawsuit against them which TMZ first reported in 2013.

These days, Solarek still remains the executive producer of the “Mary Mary” television show, but has no other working relationship with the artists. Despite the rocky ending to their relationship, Solarek is in a place where he can reflect on what he calls the most challenging client relationship he has ever managed.

“Professionally it broadened my understanding of the entertainment world in general. Spiritually it was one of the most challenging periods of my life,” “I am confident that I am a better person because I experienced my time with them.. I am beyond proud of the accomplishments and the work that was done at that time.”

While he admits that the relationship was not all great, Solarek chooses to focus on the good times he had with his previous clients.

“Clearly there was cameras on (and) it was very obvious that it wasn’t all great. There was a lot of really challenging and sad times, but there were also really a lot of wonderful times and memories that I will forever have,” he told CP. “I’m going to take those memories and hold onto those. The stuff that wasn’t so positive I just have to let go and not focus on those things.”

These days, Solarek is focusing on his multiple business ventures and is grateful for all of the support he has received from the fans who he may not always have time to respond to. The Christian executive wants to continue to support artists in not only fulfilling their dreams, but inspiring others.

“We’ve been very blessed. We’ve managed some wonderful artists, that’s the place we come from,” he said. “We want to be supportive in any way that we can so that they can continue doing what they are called to do.”

follow me on Twitter @CAThomasos

Source : Christian Post

How ISIS Is Similar to the Protestant Reformation?

-
0
How ISIS Is Similar to the Protestant Reformation?

Faith Angle Forum (Photo: Rodrigo Valera Photography)

Christian Post Report – Bernard Haykel (foreground), Michael Cromartie (middle), William McCants (background) speaking on “The Islamic State: Understanding its Ideology and Theology,” at the Ethics and Public Policy Center’s Faith Angle Forum, Miami Beach, May 4, 2015.

MIAMI BEACH — A Middle East expert drew comparisons between the Islamic State and the Protestant Reformation at a recent Faith Angle Forum.

If there are any lessons about ISIS that can be drawn from what happened during the Protestant Reformation, Bernard Haykel said, those lessons are “terrifying.”

“If we’re embarking or are actually already in something like the Reformation in the Muslim world, then, you know, hold on because we’re in for a really wild ride with lots of violence,” he added.

Haykel is professor of Near Eastern studies and director of The Institute for Transregional Studies at Princeton University. He was joined on the May 4 panel, “The Islamic State: Understanding its Ideology and Theology,” by William McCants, a fellow in the Center for Middle East Policy and director of its Project on U.S. Relations with the Islamic World at The Brookings Institution.

The panel was moderated by Michael Cromartie, who heads the Faith Angle Forum and the Evangelicals in Civic Life program for the Ethics and Public Policy Center.

During another part of the discussion, Haykel reminded the audience of the violence that occured during the Reformation.

“And the people who argue sloganistically that Islam is a religion of peace or Christianity is a religion of X or Judaism is a religion of Y, what does that mean? That’s not just inelegant, it’s also a very sloppy use of language. There is no such thing as a religion of something. Christianity was a violent religion at times, extremely violent, in fact, much more violent than what we’re seeing with the Islamists today. If you think of the 30 Years War, something like 30 percent of Germany’s population was killed, tens of millions of people,” he said.

Haykel also noted that ISIS is similar to the Protestant Reformation in its emphasis on individualism.

“The individual is at the core of this [ISIS] movement, the autonomy of the individual, the decision of the individual to make decisions despite, and even against one’s own family, which flies in the face of Arab and Muslim tradition,” he said.

Cromartie asked Haykel to clarify what he meant by “wild ride.”

“It’s violence,” he answered. “Basically, it’s groups in the name of God, killing each other to establish their rule. … Calvin was a really nasty guy. Okay? I mean, read up about him — and there’s a huge, a big statue of him in Geneva today — but people forget actually what the city he led was like under him.”

Haykel acknowledged that the similarities are imperfect, “because we live in a much more complicated world than back then and much more globalized world and so on,” but added that “there are really striking parallels, and they’re terrifying, actually.”

The Washington Post columnist E.J. Dionne, referring to Cromartie, then joked, “I think we should have our Calvinist host defend Calvin.”

As the participants laughed, Cromartie retorted, “over drinks tonight.”

  • Faith Angle Forum
    (Photo: Rodrigo Valera Photography)
    Christian Post Report – Bernard Haykel (foreground), Michael Cromartie (middle), William McCants (background) speaking on “The Islamic State: Understanding its Ideology and Theology,” at the Ethics and Public Policy Center’s Faith Angle Forum, Miami Beach, May 4, 2015.

Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks, chief rabbi of the United Hebrew Congregations of the Commonwealth of Great Britain, who spoke the next day on “A Religious Response to Religious Violence,” noted that the Reformation also produced thinkers, such as John Milton, Thomas Hobbes, John Locke and Baruch Spinoza, who laid the foundation for our modern ideas that helped end the religious violence.

“Have you found such voices in Islam?” Sacks asked.

Haykel answered that there are some, such as Rachid Ghannouchi, leader of the Muslim Brotherhood of Tunisia, but many of them are being killed by radical Muslims for what they teach.

Islamic reformers who preach nonviolence “don’t have a long shelf life or survival rate in the Islamic world. The people arrayed against such people are extremely violent and they have no problems using that violence, and we see it on a daily basis,” he said.

McCants added that there have been liberal reformers in Islam for two centuries now, but they used to be protected by imperialist Western nations, so today Islamic conservatives associate that liberal agenda with Western imperialism.

“Because of the fact that a number of these more liberal reformers were speaking and writing under occupation and often working with the colonial governments, their project was tarred and feathered with the colonial project. And so today, conservative religious critics associate liberal reformers with the imperial project. Even if [liberal reformers] are great critics of Western power in the Middle East, South, Southeast Asia, it is still a slam against your reforming opponent, your liberal reforming opponent, if they say anything at all that looks like it might be an endorsement of Western culture or Western politics,” he said.

The Faith Angle Forum brings about 20 journalists twice a year to Miami Beach for in-depth discussions about religion, politics and public life with about three to five distinguished scholars.

The EPPC website has a transript and audio of the full panel.

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

Source : Christian Post

Diocese Rejects Episcopal Church’s Proposed Settlement in Battle Over $500 Million Property

-
0
Diocese Rejects Episcopal Church’s Proposed Settlement in Battle Over $500 Million Property

Mark Lawrence (Photo: Joy Hunter)

Christian Post Report – The Right Rev. Mark Lawrence, bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of South Carolina, testifying before Judge Diane Goodstein in July 2014 over a trial surrounding the property dispute between his diocese and The Episcopal Church.

A diocese that voted to break away from the Episcopal Church has rejected a settlement in advance of their scheduled arguments later this year before the South Carolina Supreme Court.

The Diocese of South Carolina announced Monday that they rejected a proposed settlement by the national denomination offered to them earlier this month.

The Rev. Canon Jim Lewis, spokesman for the diocese, said in a statement released Monday that the settlement offer was “spurious.”

“It was a spurious offer chiefly made to disrupt submission of our brief and make them look good in the press,” stated Lewis.

“As a matter of fact, the presiding bishop’s chancellor is on record as saying they would never settle. In that, they have been utterly consistent up until now.”

  • Diocese
    (Photo: SC Diocese)
    A banner bearing the seal of the Protestant Episcopal Diocese of South Carolina.

The proposed settlement offered by TECSC came with the blessing of Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori, head of the mainline Protestant denomination.

According to the rejected settlement, the denomination agreed to let the 35 parish properties of the diocese keep their properties, regardless of whether or not they are affiliated with the breakaway leadership.

In return, the breakaway leadership was to give back all diocesan property, as well as assets and the trademark “Episcopal Diocese of South Carolina” name.

In their official rejection of the settlement, the diocese argued that there were multiple issues with how the settlement was presented to them.

“First, if it had been legitimate, it would have come from someone with authority to bind all the parties on the Episcopal Church side,” noted the breakaway diocese on Monday. “Counsel for TEC was contacted to request that they provide the necessary proof of authority, along with THEIR signature on this offer. There has been no response.”

“Equally important, a valid proposal should have come to the diocese’s lead counsel for this litigation, not to a parish representative. After nearly two weeks from the time of the original ‘offer’ that contact has still not been made.”

Regarding the rejected settlement offer, TEC Bishop vonRosenberg said: “In a situation like this, where there has been so much grief and misunderstanding caused by the actions of a few, we pray that a gracious response to those who are now separated from us will hasten the day when we can be together as one unified diocese again.”

He continued, “Buildings are important, but what is most important is the people who are in them. … It is the people that we long to welcome back into The Episcopal Church once again.”

In November 2012, the South Carolina diocese voted to leave the Episcopal Church due to theological differences and the apparent mistreatment of its bishop, the Rev. Mark Lawrence.

In January 2013, a lawsuit was made by the diocese over rightful ownership of the name and property of the regional body.

The breakaway leadership garnered a few early legal victories, including an injunction allowing them to use the name Diocese of South Carolina as the lawsuit was processed.

Episcopalians loyal to the national denomination adopted the name the Episcopal Church in South Carolina and elected the Rev. Charles vonRosenberg as provisional bishop.

In February, Judge Diane Goodstein ruled in favor of the breakaway diocesan leadership, concluding that the diocese, rather than the national denomination, had control over the estimated $500 million worth of property.

In late March, The Episcopal Church filed an appeal to the state supreme court, which agreed to hear oral arguments on Sept. 23.

Source : Christian Post

ISIS Boys Brainwashed and Trained as Jihadists, Taught Carrying Out Suicide Bombings Will Be ‘Great Honor’

-
0
ISIS Boys Brainwashed and Trained as Jihadists, Taught Carrying Out Suicide Bombings Will Be ‘Great Honor’

ISIS (Photo: Screencap/Mail Online video)

Christian Post Report – Armed with massive assault rifles and rocket launchers, ISIS-trained children stand under the notorious black flag used by Islamist groups in this video released in June 2015.

Terror group ISIS has released a new 14-minute propaganda video where it shows young boys dressed in ISIS uniforms reciting from the Quran, performing military drills with weapons, and being taught that carrying out suicide attacks will be a “great honor.”

The Daily Mail noted that the video was shot near Raqqa in Syria, the captured city that the terror group has made the capital of its Islamic caliphate.

The boys in the video are shown crawling under barbed wire, being taught to use rocket launchers and AK47s, reciting Islamic prayers, listening to their teachers and carrying out their commands.

The terror group has released several videos where it shows the “cubs of the caliphate” carrying out military exercises and pledging allegiance to ISIS’ ideology.

These videos are often shared online through ISIS’ social media channels, MailOnline noted, where the boys are ‘brainwashed into believing’ that carrying out suicide attacks are a great honor.

Steve Emerson, the executive director of the Investigative Project on Terrorism, said, “Indoctrinating kids with ISIS’ fanaticism is not only the easiest population to indoctrinate but also produces new generations of ISIS believers and ultimately, at some point, fighters. This is the way you build a Caliphate.”

He continued: “Their goal is to rebuild the Islamic societies they have conquered into a global comprehensive Islamist system that takes over all aspects of society from garbage collection to teaching at the Madrassas [religious schools].”

Children have also been shown participating in some of the massacres and beheadings carried out by ISIS. Back in April, an Islamic State video showed teenage boys leading out eight Syrian men and handing out knives used by militants to carry out the beheadings.

Charlie Winter, researcher at the counter-extremism think tank Quilliam, said at the time that it would not be correct to believe such children are willingly choosing to join ISIS.

“Even if they have the perception of choice, it’s not choice. If you’re a minor and being indoctrinated from a very young age, you don’t have the power to make a serious choice. I think that it’s certainly worth considering more robustly that people are being groomed,” Winter said.

Children have been kidnapped all throughout Iraq and Syria, but also from abroad.

NY Daily News reported on Monday that a British family with nine children ranging from ages 3 to 15, are believed to have fled to Syria to join the Islamic militants.

Three adult sisters in the family are suspected of smuggling the children into Syria earlier in June behind the backs of the fathers.

“They are concerned that their children’s lives are in danger,” the fathers’ lawyer, Balaal Khan, told reporters. “The concern is for the well-being and safety of the children.”

Source : Christian Post

Former ROC Megachurch Hires New Interim Pastor to ‘Strengthen’ and ‘Empower’ Members as Ex-Pastor Faces Criminal Charges

-
0
Former ROC Megachurch Hires New Interim Pastor to ‘Strengthen’ and ‘Empower’ Members as Ex-Pastor Faces Criminal Charges

ROC Celebration Church (Photo: The Christian Post)

Christian Post Report – The Richmond Outreach Center, located in Richmond, Virginia. In June of 2015, ROC announced that they were changing their name to Celebration Church.

A Virginia megachurch that was recently hit by scandal surrounding their founding pastor has announced a new interim pastor and new name.

Richmond Outreach Center, a large church located in the Commonwealth’s capital, released a statement last Friday announcing a name change and new interim pastor.

“The Board of Directors of the Richmond Outreach Center announced today the church has installed a new transitional pastor and changed the church’s name to Celebration Church and Outreach Ministry,” the board announced on Facebook.

The statement went on to note that the new transitional pastor is Robert Rhoden, an author and experienced pastor from the Richmond area.

“Rhoden has had over 22 years of experience as a pastor in Richmond. He has served for 15 years in an executive leadership capacity for the Assemblies of God and as district superintendent,” continued ROC.

“In recent years his passion has been to mentor young ministers and help numerous churches during difficult times of transition in pastoral leadership. … Rhoden has the integrity, experience and faith to lead our church … His heart to empower the needy and strengthen the hearts of the membership has touched us deeply. We are honored to have him on board.”

  • Ex-Pastor of the ROC, Geronimo Aguilar
    (Photo: Facebook/The ROC (Richmond Outreach Center)
    Ex-Pastor of the ROC, Geronimo Aguilar

In June of 2013, local media broke the news that ROC had four of its five pastors resign including its founder.

Pastor Geronimo Aguilar, founder of ROC affectionately known as “Pastor G,” was extradited to Texas to face felony charges including aggravated sexual assault of two minors.

In the days leading up to the resignation, several women stepped forward claiming to have had sex with Pastor G, who was married with five children.

Other scandals befell Pastor G, including questions regarding financial isses and allegations that he paid a parishioner to get an abortion.

In September 2013 the board of directors released a statement acknowledging many of the allegations against Pastor G to be valid but also said that the congregation was continuing to grow.

“Over these past three months, our board of directors, working hand-in-hand with our leadership team and staff, have been stabilizing and advancing the ministries of The ROC,” stated the leadership. “We’ve seen 1,212 people make decisions for Christ during this time.”

The church hired two interim pastors that year, David Wheeler and Louis “PJ” Preston, both from Lynchburg.

Regarding last Friday’s announcement, Rhoden said in the statement that with the assignment to ROC he felt “as though I have come full circle in life.”

“During my early years I ministered in the city with Teen Challenge, and now am returning to my passion of serving the people in the city of Richmond,” stated Rhoden.

“I am confident that with God’s help, we will reach our city, providing and empowering the people — physically, emotionally and spiritually.”

Richmond Outreach Center did not return comment to The Christian Post by press time; Rhoden was unavailable for comment by press time.

Source : Christian Post

Teaching Jesus Is the Son of God Could Become ‘Criminalized’ in the UK, Warns Top Anglican Theologian Amid Anti-Extremism Orders

-
0
Teaching Jesus Is the Son of God Could Become ‘Criminalized’ in the UK, Warns Top Anglican Theologian Amid Anti-Extremism Orders

Anglican (Photo: Reuters/ Luke MacGregor)

Christian Post Report – The new Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby leaves after his enthronement ceremony at Canterbury Cathedral, in Canterbury, southern England March 21, 2013. The new spiritual leader of the world’s Anglicans was enthroned by a female cleric on Thursday, taking the helm at a time when the troubled church risks tearing itself apart over gay marriage and women bishops.

A top Anglican theologian has warned that traditional Christian teaching, such as believing that Jesus is the son of God, could become “criminalized” in the U.K. in light of the government’s new anti-extremism orders.

The Telegraph reported on Monday that the Rev. Mike Ovey, a former lawyer and now principal of Oak Hill Theological College in London, was referring to British PM David Cameron’s new “Extremism Disruption Orders” proposal. Ovey warned that the measures would be a “disaster area’ for mainstream religious teaching.

“As a lawyer I think it is a disaster area and as a Christian believer and teacher I think it is a disaster area,” said Ovey, who also worked as a parliamentary draftsman in the 1980s. “There has got be a better way to do it.”

The proposal is expected to defend what it has outlined as “British values,” such as democracy, tolerance and the rule of law, and crack down against views that go against those values.

Ovey warned, however, that unless clarified, the measures could very easily be used to target preachers and the curriculum of colleges such as his. There have been a number of recent cases where Christian preachers have been arrested after people complained their message was homophobic or condemnatory.

Ovey added that it could also lead to the government establishing a link between the Church’s teachings against abortion and violent anti-abortion groups.

“That is essentially a government saying trust us with your civil liberties. I would say, frankly, human experience tells us the last thing you ever want to do is trust a government with your civil liberties,” he said.

“The government is going around saying it is all a time of national emergency. I think I want to say we have been there before and got the T-shirt. It doesn’t work.”

Cameron and his Conservative Party achieved a surprising victory in May’s general election, giving them a narrow-majority.

The British PM has said on a number of occasions that he is a Christian, and in an Easter message this year said that Christianity is “the bedrock of a good society.”

Cameron identified the values of Easter as “compassion, forgiveness, kindness, hard work and responsibility,” and said that faith is an inspiration for millions of people to make a positive difference in their communities.

Source : Christian Post

A Physician’s Calling: Preserving Life, Not Assisting Death

-
0
A Physician’s Calling: Preserving Life, Not Assisting Death

A Physician's Calling: Preserving Life, Not Assisting Death

Christian Post Report – As a physician, my calling is to promote life. I have pledged to uphold the sanctity and dignity of human life as part of the Hippocratic Oath.

It is unethical to have quickening death as an option. Yet this year alone, half of our nation’s state legislatures have proposed legalizing the practice of a person taking deadly drugs to end their life prematurely. A new Gallup poll shows that 56 percent of Americans now find euthanasia “morally acceptable.”

These trends concern me. In taking a life, you are grasping the keys out of God’s hands. That is not my place as a doctor, one who has given my life to help heal people.

Read more at http://www.christianpost.com/news/a-doctor-describes-the-sanctity-of-life-in-the-sunset-years-140337/

Source : Christian Post

Can a Donkey Teach You to Explain Your Faith?

-
0
Can a Donkey Teach You to Explain Your Faith?

Can A Donkey Teach You To Defend Your Faith?

Christian Post Report – Christians have lost the art of persuasion and they need to get it back, Christian author Os Guinness argues in his new book, Fool’s Talk: Recovering the Art of Christian Persuasion.

Balaam’s ass is the patron saint of apologetics, Guinness likes to say, because the story from Numbers 22 illustrates that the key to being a good apologist is obedience to God.

In the story, Balaam is a prophet being disobedient to God. Several times, his donkey tries to turn him around, to put him on the correct path, but he is still resistant. Balaam only corrected himself when, in verse 28, “the Lord opened the mouth of the donkey,” and the donkey talked to him.

“The Lord used a dumb donkey to speak when the prophet was resistant to it. You can see there something that’s very humble, somewhat ridiculous, and the Lord is able to use him,” Guinness said in an April 24 interview with The Christian Post. “Many of us don’t have the answers to all the questions, but are we prepared to be used by the Lord? That is the key.”

Read more at http://www.christianpost.com/news/os-guinness-why-balaams-ass-is-the-patron-saint-of-apologetics-and-christians-need-to-recover-the-art-of-persuasion-cp-interview-1-2-140293/

Source : Christian Post

Al-Qaeda Second in Command Killed in Drone Strike; Once Incited Jihadists to ‘Eliminate the Cross’

-
0
Al-Qaeda Second in Command Killed in Drone Strike; Once Incited Jihadists to ‘Eliminate the Cross’

<b>Christian Post Report</b> – Yemeni Al Qaeda chief Nasser al-Wuhayshi speaks at an unknown location in this still image taken from video obtained by Reuters TV.” title=”<b>Christian Post Report</b> – Yemeni Al Qaeda chief Nasser al-Wuhayshi speaks at an unknown location in this still image taken from video obtained by Reuters TV.” name=”jpg” src=”http://images.christianpost.com/full/84366/yemeni-al-qaeda-chief-nasser-al-wuhayshi-speaks-at-an-unknown-location-in-this-still-image-taken-from-video-obtained-by-reuters-tv.jpg” class=”imgPhoto” width=”550″ height=”450″ /> <small class=(Photo: Reuters/Reuters TV)

Christian Post Report – Yemeni Al Qaeda chief Nasser al-Wuhayshi speaks at an unknown location in this still image taken from video obtained by Reuters TV.

Nasir al-Wuhayshi, the man recognized as al-Qaeda’s second in command, has reportedly been killed in a drone strike in Yemen, marking the terror group’s heaviest loss since the death of leader Osama bin Laden.

CNN reported that al-Wuhayshi led the al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula branch, which is one of the most active wings of the faltering terror group.

AQAP released a video statement on Tuesday confirming his death, and announced that military chief Qasm al-Rimi would be taking his place.

“We in al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula mourn to our Muslim nation … that Abu Baseer Nasser bin Abdul Karim al-Wuhayshi, may God have mercy on his soul, passed away in an American strike which targeted him along with two of his mujahideen brothers,” Khaled Batarfi, a senior member of the group, said in the video.

Yemeni officials said the AQAP leader and two of his aids were killed in an airstrike attack in Mukalla, located in southeastern Yemen’s Hadramawt province.

Al-Wuhayshi has made several provocative statements during his time, and in April 2014 told followers in Yemen that “We must eliminate the cross. … The bearer of the cross is America!”

His remarks echo warnings released by terror group ISIS earlier this year, which beheaded 21 Coptic Christians in Libya in a video titled “A Message Signed With Blood to the Nation of the Cross.”

While ISIS has grown significantly in the past year and has conquered territory across Iraq and Syria, al-Qaeda has refused to pledge allegiance to ISIS’ leadership, and has largely been pushed to the sidelines.

Terrorism analyst Paul Cruickshank called the development “the biggest blow against al-Qaeda since the death of bin Laden.”

BBC News noted that al-Qaeda militants in Yemen remain active, however, and have seized territory and infrastructure.

Islamic groups analyst Murad Batal al-Shishani added:

“Nasser al-Wuhayshi was a major global figure among jihadists, even supporters of al-Qaeda’s rival Islamic State viewed Wuhayshi with respect.”

“As well as creating AQAP itself, Wuhayshi also played a major role in forming the AQAP off-shoot, Ansar al-Sharia, in 2011, to appeal to disaffected youth in Yemen at the time of the Arab Spring. AQAP’s leader cultivated good relations with local tribes, which helped his group advance in various places in the south of the country.”

Al-Shishani reflected that al-Wuhayshi’s death “is no doubt a big blow for AQAP, but it seems to have been prepared for this moment, swiftly naming another highly influential figure, Qasim al-Raymi, to succeed him.”

Cruickshank suggested that the successor, al-Rimi, is also a formidable leader, which he called the “brains of the operation.”

He said that the change in leadership is expected to have “a degree of continuity” as al-Wuhayshi and al-Rimi worked closely together.

Source : Christian Post

‘All Churches in America Have Muslim Spies in Them’ Who Are ‘Cataloging’ Every Jew and Christian in Preparation for Jihad, Warns Author Avi Lipkin

-
0
‘All Churches in America Have Muslim Spies in Them’ Who Are ‘Cataloging’ Every Jew and Christian in Preparation for Jihad, Warns Author Avi Lipkin

Avi Lipkin (Screengrab: SkylineChurch.org)

Christian Post Report – Jewish author Avi Lipkin speaks at the FUTURE Conference at Skyline Church in San Diego on June 15, 2015.

Jewish author Avi Lipkin warned Monday that “all” churches in America have been infiltrated by Muslim spies who frequently pretend to have found Christ but are really looking to provide intelligence to radical Muslims who will try to kill all Jews and Christians when jihad is ordered upon the U.S.

Lipkin, who has authored a number of books critical of radical Islam, frequently speaks at Christian churches around the U.S. to emphasize the importance of unity between the Jewish and Christian communities in standing against the advance of radical Islam. Lipkin, who immigrated from New York to Isreal in 1968, spoke at this week’s Future Conference held at Skyline Church in San Diego where he proclaimed that the world is facing the “most interesting” biblical period since the days of Jesus Christ and contended that the coming of the Messiah is just around the corner.

“We are realizing with our own very eyes fulfillment of more Bible prophecy than in any other generation in 2,000 years,” Lipkin asserted. “I believe the Messiah is in our time and I believe Israel will realize its borders.”

As Lipkin believes that Israel will soon expand its borders to occupy part of Syria, he argued that soon after, jihadi orders will be called to rid the world of Jews, Christians and other non-Muslims.

When Muslims are called to jihad, Lipkin believes that they will already have personal information on Jews and Christians because they will have used deception to build personal relationships with those they seek to exterminate.

Explaining that it is a violation of the Quran for Muslims to seek relationships with Jews and Christians, Lipkin said there is an exception for those who plan to act as Islamic spies on churches and synagogues.

Lipkin further explained that his wife, an Egyptian-born Jewess named Rachel, is an avid monitor of various Islamic broadcasts, television feeds and other Islamic news outlets. In one particular Arabian broadcast, Lipkin said Rachel heard the claim made that “all” churches in America have Muslim spies.

“It is very dangerous for a Muslim to even be associated with Christian missionaries or Christian churches unless they are spies. My wife has picked up broadcasts that say all the churches in America have Muslim spies in them, including former Christians who converted to Islam,” Lipkin said.

“When Muslims come to you and say ‘Oh yes, we have accepted Christ and we are born-again,’ you gotta be real careful because lying in Arabic is not only permissible it is commanded. Lying is a virtue in Islam to defeat the enemy.”

Lipkin told the story of one highly-decorated Middle Eastern Muslim doctor who applied for a Canadian visa in order to set up a medical office in Edmonton, Alberta. Before leaving for Canada, Lipkin explained that radical Muslims demanded that she record the personal information, addresses and phone numbers of her Jewish and Christian patients in Edmonton. The Muslims demanded that after she acquired the personal information of her non-Muslim patients, she had to send it to them on a disk so that information can be used to kill her patients once jihad has been ordered in Canada.

“When a war breaks out in the Middle East and orders for jihad come to the Muslims of Canada, the Muslims of Edmonton will kill the Jews of Edmonton and Muslims of Toronto will kill the Jews of Toronto and the Muslims of Vancouver will kill the Jews of Vancouver,” Lipkin continued.

“This was in 1999 but even now, they are cataloging the Jews wherever the Jews live. The Muslims like to have ecumenical relations with the Jews because they want to know who the Jews are and they go to the rabbis and want to be best friends with a rabbi. They want to get close with the rabbi because it will be easier to reach him and kill him.”

Lipkin further suggested that when the orders for jihad are made, Muslims are to kill the Jews on Saturday (the Jewish Sabbath) and then kill the Christians on Sunday.

“Allah wants to kill the Jews on Saturday and kill the Christians on Sunday; kill the Hindus, kill the Buddhists, kill the blacks in Africa and the Muslims kill each other all in the name of Allah,” Lipkin contended. “The bottom line in Islam is that every Jew dies and after that every Christian dies. Jesus Christ is coming back.”

“Ask any Muslim and they will tell you that Jesus is a Muslim,” Lipkin added. “On that day of judgement, every Jew and every Christian who has not converted to Islam will have his throat personally slit by Jesus Christ, the Muslim.”

Source : Christian Post

1...3,3813,3823,383...3,897Page 3,382 of 3,897