Posted on 03/08/2024 7:06:41 AM PST by SJackson
Iran claims to allow the country’s Christian minority to practice its faith in peace. The reality for many Iranian Christians, however, is plagued by whippings, arrests, imprisonment, surveillance and harassment, according to a February report from the religious freedom NGO Article 18.
One shocking finding of the Article 18 40-page study, titled "Faceless Victims: Rights Violations Against Christians in Iran," states, "By the end of 2023, at least 17 of the Christians arrested during the summer had received prison sentences of between three months and five years, or non-custodial punishments such as fines, flogging, and in one case the community-service of digging graves."
The report noted, "Despite a comparable number of Christians being arrested in 2023 as in previous years – 166 arrests were documented in 2023, compared to 134 in 2022 – fewer names and faces could be publicized."
Rev. Johnnie Moore, the president of the Congress of Christian Leaders, told Fox News Digital, "The Department of State’s absolutely insane policy toward the Islamic Republic, which is wreaking havoc worldwide, also has real life-and-death consequences for the people in Iran. The mullahs presently feel they have a license to kill whoever they want and no one will do anything.
...snip...
Moore, an influential evangelical leader, explained that Iran’s regime persecutes Christians "Because these mullahs fear the power and resolve of Iranian women, and they know that Iranian Christians, who only fear God, do not fear the ayatollah himself. The more the mullahs threaten, imprison and kill us, our movement just multiplies. No church in the world is growing, secretly, and faster than the Iranian church and Iran’s women look very much forward to the day when the world greets the first woman president of a free Iran."
(Excerpt) Read more at foxnews.com ...
“Iran claims to allow the country’s Christian minority to practice its faith in peace”
And I got a bridge to sell
Their time is short, I hope.
Same with China. They also have a Christian population that is estimated at 200 million, or so.
Please don’t give the Democrats any ideas.
17 Christians? I believe it’s WAY higher than that...
However, Jesus says “Count it as a privilege to be mocked and persecuted”....
Christians are facing the same in Pakistan where citizens are even taking to,the streets to persecute and torture Christians.
The bible says to pray for those in chains, in prison, those who are being tortured and persecuted for Christ’s sake.
We have it really very good here for now- but things are getting worse, but thankfully not as violent as some places. That is something to be truly grateful for-
The two guys must have died immediately because they didn't move at all. But the woman,dressed head-to-toe in one of those black burlap sacks,managed to free herself from her restraints and was thrashing wildly...arms and legs.
It just showed how depraved...and medieval...Iran is today.
The redeemed are those who have been spiritually born of the Spirit (Jn. 3:2-7) by effectual, penitent, heart-purifying, regenerating faith in the Divine Son of God - denied by Islam- sent be the Father - not that by Islam - to be the Savior of the world, (1 Jn. 4:14) who saves sinners by His sinless shed blood, on His account - denied by Islam-.etc.
And which effectual faith is imputed for righteousness, (Romans 4:5) and which is shown in baptism and following the Lord, (Acts 2:38-47; Jn. 10:27, 28) whom they shall go to be with or His return (Phil 1:23; 2Cor. 5:8 [“we”]; Heb. 12:22, 23; 1Cor. 15:51ff'; 1Thess. 4:17)- denied by Islam- etc.
In contrast to those who were never born of the Spirit or who terminally fall away. (Gal. 5:1-4; Heb. 3:12; Heb. 10:25-39) Glory and thanks be to God - - denied by Islam, etc.
The Quran claims to be “a confirmation of previous Scriptures and a supreme authority on them, which means that the Quran must wholly conflate with, and not contradict the Bible, as is manifestly does:
And We have revealed to you, [O Muhammad], the Book in truth, confirming that which preceded it of the Scripture and as a criterion over it. So judge between them by what Allah has revealed and do not follow their inclinations away from what has come to you of the truth. To each of you We prescribed a law and a method. Had Allah willed, He would have made you one nation [united in religion], but [He intended] to test you in what He has given you; so race to [all that is] good. [Muhammad does not say anything about them being corrupted] (Surat Al-Ma'idah 5:48: Sahih International)
[The Arabic meaning of the word "watch" (Muhaimin) can also be rendered "one who safeguards", "stands witness", "preserves" and "upholds". (See Abdullah Yusuf Ali's footnote) This clearly contradicts the view that the revelations given to the prophet of Islam allegedly abrogated the Bible! If this was the case there would be no need to confirm the Torah and the Gospel or even to watch over them in such a determined way.]
More, translated by Abdullah Yusuf Ali:
And if thou (Muhammad) art in doubt concerning that which We reveal unto thee, then question those who read the Scripture (that) was before thee... (Surah 10, Jonah, verse 94)
Let the People of the Gospel judge by what God hath revealed therein. If any do fail to judge by (the light of) what God hath revealed, they are (no better than) those who rebel. (Surah 5, Maida, verse 47)
If only they had stood fast by the Law, the Gospel, and all the revelation that was sent to them from their Lord, they would have enjoyed happiness from every side. There is from among them a party on the right course: But many of them follow a course that is evil. (Surah 5, Maida, verse 69)
But because of their breach of their Covenant, We cursed them, and made their hearts grow hard: They change the words from their (right) places and forget a good part of the Message that was sent them, nor wilt thou cease to find them - barring a few - ever bent on (new) deceits: But forgive them, and overlook (their misdeeds): For God loveth those who are kind. (Surah 5, Maida, verse 13)
Say: "O People of the Book! Ye have no ground to stand upon unless ye stand fast by the Law, the Gospel and all the revelation that has come to you from your Lord...." (Surah 5, Al Ma'idah, verse 68)
No change can there be in the Words of Allah. This is indeed the supreme Felicity. (Surah 10, Junus, verse 64)
There is among them a section who distort the Book with their tongues: (as they read) you would think it is a part of the Book, but it is no part of the Book; and they say, 'That is from God,' but it is not from God: It is they who tell a lie against God and (well) they know it! (Surah 3, Al-i-'Imran, verse 78) [meaning that some people - as Islam does -say some things are from the Book= Bible, but the Bible itself remains authoritative]
2. Muhammad could not read, and mostly likely received a perverse version of some of the Bible, which would explain why Muhammad inferred that the Christian Trinity consisted of God, Jesus and Mary ("O Jesus, Son of Mary, did you say to the people, 'Take me and my mother as deities besides Allah ?’’ Sura 5:116-117)
Faced with the above affirmation of the Bible, Islam resorted to truncating the meaning of “The Book,” the Scriptures of the Jews and Christians to only that of the Torah and the gospels (Injeel), while also asserting that these were corrupted wherever the Quran contradicts them.
However, this is a manifestly untenable argument. for there is more ancient manuscript evidence for the Bible, beginning from before the 7th centiry Quran, than there is for any literature of like antiquity.
And while this wealth of manuscripts provides Islamic with charges of corruption, parroting atheists, yet not only are these are such things as spelling,sentence structure, etc.besides covenantal distinctions instead of actual doctrinal teaching. yet
none of these aspects provides a solution to the Islamic problem, as none of the manuscripts substantiate the Koranic deviations, nor does the small percentage (contrary to typical Islamic exaggeration) of actual variants among manuscripts support the manner of massive changes which the Islamic solution requires. Moreover, the Koran, for which there is no manuscript evidence for over 100 years after it was said to be given,[25]
Thus it is seen that the manner of corruption of biblical text which Islam charges is that of the Koran, not the Bible which authority it is much based upon, and Muhammad must be charged as being one who attempted to corrupt the Bible.\
Another recourse of Islam is to invoke the Gospel of Barnabas, yet which is manifest to be a fourteenth century attempt to read Islamic doctrine into the Bible, which clearly refutes it.[33][36][35][34]
In addition, in the New Testament the nature of the people of God is essentially that of a spiritual entity, into which "body" all believers are baptized upon believing, (1 Cor. 12:13) and are translated into the spiritual kingdom of Christ. As such, the means of warfare for the New Testament church was "not carnal", that is, by the sword of men, but spiritual: "By pureness, by knowledge, by longsuffering, by kindness, by the Holy Ghost, by love unfeigned, By the word of truth, by the power of God, by the armour of righteousness on the right hand and on the left." (2 Cor 6:6-7)
In contrast, Islam works out of the model of a seventh century physical theocracy, which thus uses physical means of oppression toward those without as well as within, in order to defeat its enemies and enlarge its borders. Due to both the nature of the Koran, and Muhammad's example, and evidence from the Hadityh, many believe that "radical" Islam is more historically authentic and representative of the modern Islamic world than the "moderate" variety.[40]
Evidence supports the conclusion that considerably greater diversity existed among the earlier texts of the Koran than is reflected in the extant manuscripts studied thereafter. As is widely accepted, in the late 7th century, the Caliph Uthman, being disturbed by the diversity in the text of the Koran, organized a standardization of the Koranic manuscripts, destroying texts considered deviant, and thus cutting off access to possibly more original forms of the text of the Koran. Further steps were taken in successive centuries to fix the text and its recitation.[30] “
And, because of the emphasis on oral transmission and the vagaries of Arabic as it developed, the written text was constantly vocalized in new ways which did not preserve the original vocalization. The original vocalization must have been lost very early on if it did indeed exist. While bearing testimony to the careful preservation of one particular consonantal text, the history of the transmission of the text of the Koran is at least as much a testament to the destruction of Koran material as it is to its preservation. It is also testimony to the fact that there never was one original text of the Koran.[31][32]
Footnotes
As corrected, in pieces.
.
Islam is not a religion
But a War Plan.
ELAN is a ministry that is getting it done. Wow.
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