ANOTHER CHRISTMAS IN THE AGE OF JIHAD: OPPRESSION & APPEASEMENT~SWEDISH SCHOOL FORCES NON-MUSLIM STUDENTS TO WORSHIP ALLAH ON PRAYER MATS

ANOTHER CHRISTMAS IN THE AGE OF JIHAD: OPPRESSION & APPEASEMENT

BY ROBERT SPENCER

SEE: https://www.jihadwatch.org/2019/12/another-christmas-in-the-age-of-jihad-oppression-and-appeasement; 

republished below in full unedited for informational, educational and research 

purposes:

Oppression of Christians in Muslim lands and appeasement of Muslims in post-Christian lands. My latest in FrontPage:

Another Christmas is upon us, and the story is familiar: in Muslim lands, Christians are oppressed and in constant danger of violent jihad attacks. And in the lands once known as Christendom, Christians freely abdicate their own traditions and mores in order to appease and accommodate Muslims.

Take, for example, the world’s most populous Muslim nation, Indonesia. In the Sharia-compliant Aceh province, the BBC reported Monday that Christians “are preparing to celebrate Christmas in makeshift tents in the jungle.” Why? Because “their churches were destroyed four years ago by Islamic vigilante groups and the police,” and “local authorities are stopping them from rebuilding.”

Another Indonesian province, West Sumatra, has “banned Christians from celebrating Christmas in private homes….This year, authorities have barred Christians from holding worship services and Christmas celebrations in Sungai Tambang, Sijunjung Regency and Jorong Kampung Baru, Dharmasraya Regency in West Sumatra.” An Indonesian named Sudarto, who is director of the Center for Inter-Community Studies, explained: “They did not get permission from the local government since the Christmas celebration and worship were held at the house of one of the Christians who had been involved. The local government argued that the situation was not conducive. It has been going on for a long time, so far they have been quietly worshiping at the home of one of the worshipers, but they have applied for permission several times. Yet the permit to celebrate Christmas was never granted.”

Nor is that all: “The house where they performed worship services was once burned down in early 2000 due to resistance from residents.”

Anti-Christian sentiment in Indonesia runs so high that Indonesian President Joko Widodo felt it necessary to warn Muslims against committing violence against Christians on Christmas. Nearly 200,000 police officers have been deployed to protect the nation’s Christians.

Meanwhile, in Australia, according to 3aw.com, “a couple were left stranded and out of pocket after a rideshare driver refused to pick them up because they had a Christmas ham….They ordered an Uber, but as they approached the car the driver told them the ride was cancelled.” Why? “The driver told the couple he wouldn’t take them home with the ham because he was Muslim.” But surely Uber fired or at least disciplined this supremacist clown, no? No. In fact, Uber charged the couple for a cancelled ride.

In England, reports the Mail on Sunday, “children at a primary school have been told not to sing the word ‘Lord’ in the Christmas carol Away In A Manger – so that pupils of all beliefs can join in….Youngsters at Whitehall Primary School in Chingford, Essex, have also been told to sing edited versions of two modern hymns when they attend a carol service and nativity play at a nearby church on Tuesday. The words ‘Jesus the saviour’ in the carol Love Shone Down have been replaced with ‘Jesus the baby’, while the words ‘new King born today’ in the carol Come And Join The Celebration have been replaced with ‘a baby born today.’”

Why? Whitehall Primary School head teacher Zakia Khatun explained that she didn’t want students of other beliefs to feel “excluded.” She “defended her decision, insisting the school is inclusive of all children, and maintained that last year 60 children did not attend the carol service and nativity at St Peter and St Paul Church in Chingford because of their religious beliefs.”

Britain has been home to non-Christians for centuries, and they never complained about Christmas carols. There is only one group in Britain that might object to calling Jesus “Lord,” and that group isn’t likely to attend the Christmas pageant now that the word has been removed, because the whole idea of celebrating the birth of Jesus is predicated upon the now-unmentionable title.

One mother noted: “If he was just a baby boy named Jesus, there wouldn’t be a celebration in the first place. He is our Lord and Saviour and King of all Kings – that’s the whole point. It is also a tradition – it is taking away the traditions of the country.”

Yeah.

And in Germany, a Muslim woman who supports the Islamic State (ISIS) “started an apprenticeship as a truck driver sponsored by the employment office, where she also stood out due to radical statements. During a driving exercise, she is said to have answered the teacher’s question of where she actually wanted to go: ‘I’m going to the next Christmas market.’” Christmas markets in Europe have more than once been targeted for jihad massacres.

None of this is new, or surprising. It’s just another Christmas in the age of jihad.

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Sweden: School forces non-Muslim fifth graders to kneel on prayer mats facing Mecca and worship Allah in Arabic

BY ROBERT SPENCER

SEE: https://www.jihadwatch.org/2019/12/sweden-school-forces-non

-muslim-fifth-graders-to-kneel-on-prayer-mats-facing-mecca-and-

worship-allah-in-arabic; 
republished below in full unedited for informational, educational and research 
purposes:

Imagine what Sweden will be like in ten years, or 25. Right, a lot more of this.



“‘Role Play’? Swedish School Forces Pupils to Recite Muslim Prayer in Arabic – Reports,” Sputnik News, December 24, 2019 (thanks to The Religion of Peace):

Fifth-grade pupils in Bjurbäcksskolan, Emmaboda Municipality had to participate in a religion lesson, where they kneeled on prayer mats facing Mecca and worshipped Allah in Arabic, the news outlet Samhällsnytt reported.

The class was also reportedly divided by gender and the girls had to move to the back of the room.

“Today my girls came home from school and told me that they were forced to lie on prayer mats and pray in Arabic. The girls had to be in the back of the classroom. Then they would dance to Arabic music and eat Arabic cake. My girls did not even want to be there because they could not understand a word of what the teacher read from the Quran in Arabic”, an angry parent who called himself Markus told Samhällsnytt.

According to Markus, some students brought their own mats. The teacher distributed mats to the students who did not have their own. The pupils would be facing the Kaaba, the centrepiece of the Great Mosque of Mecca.

When confronted by parents, school authorities said it was “role-playing”.

“I was obviously upset to hear that. That the school, at lesson time, chooses to divide the children by gender and put the girls in the back of the classroom is absolutely crazy. As is kneeling on a rug and praying to Mecca. All while a native speaker recites the Quran”, Markus told Samhällsnytt.

According to Markus, kneeling in the face of a “hostile” religion that “oppresses and marginalises girls” contradicts the very idea of school education and sends the wrong kind of message, as is the idea that one gender is somehow more important than the other.

By his own admission, Markus wants the school to apologise, explain itself and follow Sweden’s laws. He has requested that the headmaster take a time out during the investigation period.

Tweet: “Swedish students in grade 5 in Emmaboda were forced to lie on Muslim prayer rugs turned toward Mecca and pray to Allah in Arabic. The headmaster dismisses it as ‘role play'”…

POPE FRANCIS ASSERTS: "THE CHURCH DOES NOT GROW OUT OF PROSELYTIZING---IT GROWS OUT OF ATTRACTION"

POPE FRANCIS ASSERTS: 

"THE CHURCH DOES NOT GROW OUT OF PROSELYTIZING---IT GROWS OUT OF ATTRACTION" 

BY HEATHER CLARK

SEE: https://christiannews.net/2019/12/24/pope-francis-asserts-the-church-does-not-grow-out-of-proselytizing-it-grows-out-of-attraction/;

republished below in full unedited for informational, educational and research 

purposes:

ROME — During a visit to a high school in Rome on Friday, Roman Catholic leader Jorge Bergoglio, also known as Pope Francis, told students that “the Church does not grow out of proselytizing,” but rather “out of attraction” and one’s life “witness,” stating that “[i]f someone says he is a disciple of Jesus and comes to you with proselytism, he is not a disciple of Jesus.” Some feel that Bergoglio was only referring to pressuring others into the faith, and was not condemning evangelism as a whole, while others believe that his remarks imply an opposition to confronting and “convincing” others as he opined, “The last thing I have to do is talk.”

According to reports, Bergoglio visited the approximately 800 students at Pilo Albertelli High School, where he answered questions from youth, including what he would say if an atheist asked for the reason to believe, and what his thoughts were toward other religions when he was a teacher.

“I am the son of a migrant, and this has made a culture of coexistence. I went to public school and we always had companions from other religions. We were educated to coexistence,” Bergoglio stated of his upbringing in Argentina, according to a translation of his remarks. “This [one] was Mohammedan; this [one] was Jewish. But we all played soccer together. We were all friends. This taught me so much: that we are all the same, all children of God. And this purifies your gaze. It makes you human.”

He said that as a teacher, it never occurred to him to say to students, “You are Jewish; you are Muslim. Come, be converted!”



“You be consistent with your faith and that consistency is what will make you mature. We are not in the times of the Crusades,” Bergoglio said, telling of his opposition to the forced conversions of Muslims during that time, sometimes under the threat of death.

He went on to explain that he doesn’t think the unsaved need to be won over with words, as example should peak curiosity. If an unbeliever inquires about one’s life, then they can be answered.

“In front of a nonbeliever, the last thing I have to do is try to convince him. Never. The last thing I have to do is talk. I have to live by my faith,” Bergoglio opined. “And it will be my testimony that will awaken the curiosity of the other who says, ‘But why do you do this?’ And that’s where I can talk. But listen — never, never proselytize the gospel.”

“If someone says he is a disciple of Jesus and comes to you with proselytism, he is not a disciple of Jesus,” he asserted. “The Church does not grow out of proselytizing. Pope Benedict said it grows out of attraction, out of witness. Proselytism is done by soccer teams — this can be done — political parties, it can be done there. But with faith, no proselytism.”

“And if someone tells me, ‘But why do you do this?’ [I tell them,] ‘Read, read, read the Gospel; that’s my faith.’ But without pressure.”

Read Bergoglio’s responses in full here.

Bergoglio’s remarks to Italian youth are not the first time that he has outlined that while he believes Christians are called to share the Gospel, he finds evangelism and proselytizing to be two different concepts.

“We need to ask the Lord to give us the grace to feel as Paul did: to feel that fire, that burning in our hearts, to evangelize. This has nothing to do with proselytizing; not at all. The Church, the Kingdom of God, does not grow by proselytizing,” he said in 2017 before the bishops of Bangladesh. “She grows by witness. That means showing by our words and our lives the treasure we have received. That is what it means to evangelize. I live this way, I live this word, and may others see this. But that is not to proselytize.”

“The Church grows not through proselytizing but through attraction, that is, through witness. Pope Benedict XVI said this. What is evangelization? It is living the Gospel; it is witnessing to how one lives the Gospel: witnessing to the Beatitudes, witnessing to Matthew 25, witnessing to the Good Samaritan, witnessing to forgiveness seventy times seven. And in this witnessing, the Holy Spirit works and there are conversions,” Bergoglio also stated that same year.

“This calling of the Lord is expressed with such humility and respect in the text from the Book of Revelation: ‘Look, I am at the door and I am calling. Do you want to open the door?’ He does not use force, He does not break the lock, but instead, quite simply, He presses the doorbell, knocks gently on the door and then waits. This is our God!” he stated in 2015 in Ecuador.

IS IT BIBLICAL?

However, while a popular statement in recent times is, “Preach the Gospel at all times. When necessary, use words,” a number of Christians note that such a sentiment is unbiblical as “faith cometh by hearing and hearing by the word of God” (Rom. 10:17).

Michael Kruger, president of Reformed Theological Seminary in Charlotte, North Carolina, wrote in a 2016 blog post on the topic that while God’s people are “commanded to keep a close watch on more than simply our doctrine, but our lives also,” the common catchphrase “can give the impression that good deeds are primary, and that gospel proclamation is secondary.”

“On the contrary, the Bible makes it clear that ‘Word ministry’ — the proclamation of the gospel and the instruction of God’s people — is the core mission of the Church,” he explained. “The Great Commission (Matt. 28:19-20) makes it clear that the core mission of the Church is Word and Sacrament: ‘Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them … teaching them.'”

“In order to for people to believe and be saved, they have to hear the message of the gospel. Paul is clear about this reality: ‘How are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without some preaching?’ (Rom. 10:14).”

Brett Ricley of the site Display the Gospel also took the concept to task.

“The majority of Christians, who I know personally [and] who love this quote, are people that are scared of sharing their faith with others and almost never even talk about their faith in general,” he wrote. “Is this really what Jesus had in mind for his disciples when He rose from the grave and gave them His great commission? (Matthew 28:18-20) Live good lives, but only talk about it when and if it comes up?!”

“I struggle to see how any person can exegetically come to that conclusion after reading the book of Acts (not to mention any other New Testament letter),” Ricley said. “The early church community frequented public spaces and went from home to home on a daily basis (Acts 2:46) sharing the gospel, proclaiming the Kingdom, and teaching about the resurrected Christ as those who were eyewitnesses.”

He lamented that the mindset of simply waiting to be asked about one’s faith has caused such great harm — especially in the United States.

“[I]t’s this way of thinking that has led America to be one of the top ten mission fields in the world,” Ricley opined. “Statistics show that modern Evangelical Christianity in America is in steep decline, and I believe part of the reason for this is the horrifying statistic that concludes that 95% of believers will never share their faith with one person throughout the course of their entire life!”

“That, my friends, is truly pure disobedience to the command of our Lord Jesus Christ. This is why quotes like the one above must be addressed, evaluated, and, if necessary, rebuked.”

In teaching a parable in Luke 14:23, Jesus said, “Go out into the highways and hedges, and compel them to come in, that my house may be filled.”

In Ezekiel 33:8, the Lord also warned, “When I say unto the wicked, ‘O wicked man, thou shalt surely die,’ if thou dost not speak to warn the wicked from his way, that wicked man shall die in his iniquity, but his blood will I require at thine hand.”

“CHRISTIANITY TODAY” MUST BE REPLACED WITH ALTERNATIVE CHRISTIAN MEDIA

“CHRISTIANITY TODAY” MUST BE REPLACED WITH ALTERNATIVE CHRISTIAN MEDIA

SEE: https://pulpitandpen.org/2019/12/20/christianity-today-must-be-replaced-with-alternative-christian-media/; 

republished below in full unedited for informational, educational and research 

purposes:

It is time that the evangelical establishment’s flagship publication, Christianity Today, be replaced with alternative Christian media. We have the power, the numbers, and the readership to topple the liberal rag magazine and replace it with something that represents real evangelicals (the type who actually go to church, believe the Bible, and vote Republican).



The uber-leftist Christianity Today editor-in-chief, Mark Galli, ran an editorial in the magazine yesterday, calling for the U.S. Senate to affirm the impeachment findings of the Democrat members of the House of Representatives against President Donald J. Trump. This is shocking to mainstream news consumers who assume that Christianity Today (CT) speaks for evangelicals. But for those familiar with Pulpit & Pen, you are well-aware that CT – known as Christianity Astray by our readership – is a tool of the Evangelical Intelligentsia used as a political machine to drive evangelical voters to the left.

We recently posted Top Three Liberal Articles from Democrat Rag, Christianity Today. In that post, you’ll see the gross liberalism that they espouse (and it is gross).

CT has been overtaken by Democrat dark money and the Evangelical Intelligentsia (which is funded largely by Clinton Global Initiative member and convicted felon, James Riady, Democrat financier, George Soros, and the Kern Family Foundation).





Their online readership is massive, even though their print publication – like all print publications – is dying. They’re basically having to give the print version away for free and hovers at about 200k in publication.

On Alexa, a web-ranking service, places Christianity Today at 6,905 in the United States. Pulpit & Pen ranks at 7,492 – a hair’s breadth from a publication funded by deep Democrat money and with a full-time writing staff and tons of publicity.

Pulpit & Pen, on the other hand, a low-down and despicable, despised (supposedly) discernment blog has a shoe-string budget, volunteer writers, a couple of staff members on a stipend, and a team of freelancers from around the world working for peanuts. We are headquartered in a pastor’s study in rural Montana and the majority of our work is done from laptops stationed in residential houses around the country.



Behind Pulpit & Pen are all the alternative Christian news websites we have carved out a niche for in the marketplace including Reformation Charlotte, Capstone Report, and so many more. Together, especially, we can beat the “flagship publication” of America’s fake evangelicals.

Here are ways you can help throw Christianity Today in the dustbin of history where they belong and give ordinary Christ-followers a voice through alternative media:

Support P&P from our Patreon page. Even the smallest amount helps us beat the big guys, as we are already beating other leftist rags like Religion News Service (funded by a Soros dark money grant, by the way) and Relevant Magazine. When you do stuff, you get full-access to stuff like podcasts that not everybody gets.



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