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"Islamic State" militants reportedly carried out the execution-style killings in early 2015. A detained IS militant who witnessed the mass murder clued in authorities to the site.Libyan authorities have recovered the remains of 21 Coptic Christians who were beheaded by so-called "Islamic State" (IS) militants more than two years ago, the anti-IS organization al-Bonyan al-Marsous announced Saturday. The gruesome discovery was made in the seaside city of Sirte — the home town of former dictator Moammar Gadhafi, who was toppled in 2011. A statement said officials were led to the site by an IS militant who had witnessed the attack...

The second line of the Christmas carol slips past us. We hear “Good King Wenceslas looked out…” But what about the next bit, “…on the Feast of Stephen?” What’s that about? December 26th is St. Stephen’s Day—the Feast of Stephen—long an important celebration in the Christian calendar and now largely ignored. It’s time to bring it back. Stephen was the first Christian martyr, the protomartyr, stoned to death in the years of persecution that followed the death of Jesus. In the Acts of the Apostles, Chapters Six to Eight, we learn that Stephen was “a man full of faith,” appointed...

Wherever U.S. leadership has helped Islamic jihadis topple secular autocrats in the name of “democracy and freedom,” indigenous Christian minorities are being forced to convert to Islam or die.Many are accepting death.Most recently, on August 28 near Aleppo, the Islamic State (IS or ISIS) tortured, mutilated, publicly raped, beheaded and crucified 12 Christians for saying “they would never renounce Christ” for Muhammad.The jihadis took one group in front of a large crowd.  They cut off the fingertips of a 12-year-old boy, who steadfastly refused to submit to Islam.  They “severely beat him, telling his father they would stop the torture...

Four Christian children in Iraq were beheaded by Islamic State terrorists after refusing to recite the Muslim declaration of faith. ... It's always impressive when when someone chooses to keep faith with his or her beliefs rather than submit. But the notion that children would have that kind of courage is humbling. It makes you ask yourself: would I be as strong in my faith as a 15-year-old boy facing a horrible death? Christian martyrs are supposed to inspire us. These children's deaths go beyond inspiration and motivate us to examine the strength of our faith when placed against their...

Aid Workers Killed in Afghan Massacre Gave Years of Service KABUL, Afghanistan (Aug. 8) -- One gave up a lucrative practice to give free dental care to children who had never seen a toothbrush. Others had devoted whole decades of their lives to helping the Afghan people through war and deprivation. The years of service ended in a hail of bullets in a remote valley of a land that members of the medical team had learned to love. The bodies of the 10 slain volunteers - six Americans, two Afghans, a German and a Briton - were flown Sunday back...

Court clerks fail to forward lawyers’ request to replace ‘biased’ judges. ISTANBUL, March 18 (Compass Direct News) – The fourth trial hearing yesterday against the murderers of three Christians in southeast Turkey was postponed for another month after court clerks failed to file a request to replace judges accused of bias. Plaintiff lawyers’ official demand to replace the presiding bench of judges had been filed on March 1, but when the Malatya Third Criminal Court convened yesterday it was confirmed that the request still had not been forwarded to the higher court in Diyarbakir, which was designated to rule on...

The lede in this Wall Street Journal editorial about Turkey’s tumultuous elections – and the threat of yet another military coup (1960, 1971, 1980, 1997) – absurdly describes the EU-wanna be this way: "The Muslim world's liveliest democracy has long been a work in progress, but the stakes just got a lot higher … Turkey's future as a pluralistic, free society is on the line." Since Turkey is as democratic, pluralistic and free as any Muslim country can ever be (which is to say, not very) let’s deconstruct this nonsense: † Democracy: Democracies do not have to worry about military...

Today is Armenian Genocide Remembrance Day. The Stiletto has been championing passage of H.Res.106/S.Res.106, which would bring the U.S. in line with other Western governments in recognizing the systematic slaughter of 1.5 million Armenians in 1915-1917 by Ottoman Turks as a genocide. Some even believe that the genocidal campaign against Christian Armenians should be consdered the first Muslim jihad against a Christian population in modern history – a point of view that has gained currency in the wake of last week’s murder of three Christians by Turkish nationalists in Malatya.But today is not a day for debate or rhetoric. Today...

Six road workers kidnapped by Abu Sayyaf extremists were found beheaded Thursday in Jolo. The severed heads of the six mostly-Christian workers were found in the jungles of Jolo by soldiers, four days after the workers were seized while heading to a government road project, said Major General Ruben Rafael. The workers were seized by Al Bader Parad, a commander of the Abu Sayyaf, responsible for the worst terror attacks in Philippine history. One of the soldiers who found the remains said, on condition of anonymity, that the heads had been scattered in various places in Jolo. The soldier said...

Make no mistake about it: The photos and TV footage of Turks lamenting the January 19 assassination of Armenian journalist Hrant Dink in Istanbul were nothing more than PR damage control, to show the European Union that Armenians and other Christian minorities in the 99.8 percent Muslim country do not have to fear persecution – or worse.But truth always trumps PR, and the Belfast Telegraph reports: "Less than a fortnight after huge crowds thronged the streets of Istanbul at the funeral of the murdered Armenian journalist Hrant Dink, chanting, ‘We are all Armenian,’ Turkey … showed another, more sinister face."When...

About 1,000 Christian Arabs flee Arab-dominated areas because of Arab terrorism and harassment, according to Reuters News Agency. Examples were cited of Moslems beating up Christians, uprooting their olive trees and scrawling graffiti that show nuns being raped. Hardest hit has been the Christian community of Bethlehem where tourism has declined since Arabs began the Oslo War attack against Israel. "If the situation continues, the Church of the Holy Sepulchre and the Church of the Nativity will become cold, empty museums," said Samir Qumsieh, a Palestinian-Christian businessman.

Abdul Rahman is a man of faith. "I believe in the Holy Spirit. I believe in Christ. And I am a Christian," he declared this week. Unfortunately for Rahman, he was originally born a Muslim in Afghanistan – and he has been forced to defend his religious conversion in his home country's court, where he now faces the death penalty for turning to Jesus. Despite the defeat of the totalitarian Taliban and the existence of a U.S.-backed "moderate" democratic government, it is a capital crime for Afghans to openly embrace any religion other than Islam. Shariah law, embedded in the...

LOS ANGELES, September 9 (Compass) -- Five Afghan men who had converted to Christianity have been killed in separate incidents since late June near the borders of eastern Afghanistan. All five men were stabbed or beaten to death in summary executions by Taliban adherents who accused them of abandoning Islam and then “spreading Christianity” in their communities. The first stabbing death was reported on July 1 by Reuters news agency, which received a telephone call from a Taliban spokesman identifying himself as Abdul Latif Hakimi. The caller declared that a group of Taliban fighters had killed Mullah Assad Ullah the...

GLOBAL JIHAD Islamists burn to death Christian pastor, familyMassacre of 59 came as Sudan discussed removal from terror list -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Posted: June 4, 2003 1:00 a.m. Eastern © 2003 WorldNetDaily.com Military forces led by Sudan's militant Islamist regime burned to death a Christian pastor and his family in a massacre of 59 unarmed villagers, a relief group working in the area reported. The simultaneous attack on 10 villages in Eastern Upper Nile took place as Secretary of State Colin Powell met with Sudanese Foreign Minister Mustafa Osman Ismail to discuss Sudan's removal from the U.S. list of state sponsors of...

Islamic Jihad forces are preparing to strike an Indonesian town where more than 65,000 Christians reside, according to a group that monitors persecution of Christians. The Christian community of Ranoncu Bridge on the island of Sulawesi told Washington, D.C.-based International Christian Concern yesterday that the Muslim militants are less than four miles from Tentena, a town that barely escaped an attack last November. Last fall local Christians and the Indonesian military engaged in a six-hour battle at Ranoncu Bridge that prevented Laskar Jihad forces from advancing toward Tentena. Laskar Jihad, a group that expresses allegiance to Osama bin Laden, has...

Marshall FosterSpeech from Reclaiming America For Christ Conference 2000 Originally Titled: “Winning the Souls of the Twenty-first Century Minds” Title in Tipping the Scales: “History from God's Perspective” I want to share some things I think will be very encouraging to you and at the same time give us a specific strategy for how we can win the battle for the 21st Century. Francis Schaeffer told us that if Christianity goes up, the culture should go up; if Christianity is going down, the culture is going “to go to hell in a hand-basket.” Although America was experiencing a supposed...