Dealing with Social Media Trolls
Tag Archives: dealing
Queen of Sheba: Behind the Myth
The following video on YouTube is a program dealing with the Queen of Sheba. It is an interesting take on the queen, in which her relationship with King Solomon is also explored. However, I don’t think everyone will be taken with everything that is said in the program (I certainly wasn’t). Still, it is worth a look – especially the dig in Yemen.
Bomb Attack in Iraq Seriously Injures Christian Students
One person dead in explosions that end classes for students this semester.
ISTANBUL, May 5 (CDN) — At least 50 Iraqi Christian students are receiving hospital treatment following a bomb attack on Sunday (May 2) outside Mosul that killed at least one person and has forced nearly 1,000 students to drop classes for the rest of the semester.
Nearly 160 people were injured in the blasts targeting three buses full of Christians traveling to the University of Mosul for classes. The convoy of buses, which brings Christian students from villages east of Mosul, was making its daily route accompanied by two Iraqi army cars.
“This is the hardest attack, because they attacked not only one car, but the whole convoy and in an area that is heavily guarded by the army,” said Syrian Catholic Bishop of Mosul Georges Casmoussa.
The explosions happened east of Mosul between two checkpoints. A roadside bomb followed by a car bomb reportedly exploded as the buses were clearing the second checkpoint in the area of Kokjaly. The checkpoint was staffed by U.S., Iraqi and Iraqi Kurdish soldiers.
The owner of a nearby car repair shop, Radeef Hashim Mahrook, was killed in one of the blasts as he tried to help the students, sources said.
Sources told Compass that lately there have been indications that Islamic extremists intend to increase attacks against Christians in more sophisticated and targeted ways. There were no warnings of the Sunday blasts.
Nearly 20 of the more seriously injured students are receiving treatment in Erbil, capital of the semi-autonomous Kurdish region. Casmoussa said the Turkish Consulate and the Kurdish Regional Government have offered to transfer students needing more medical care to Turkey.
“Some of them were severely injured in the face, arms, necks or eyes,” said Casmoussa. “Now the Turkish consulate and the government of Kurdistan offer us to bring the most injured to Turkey to continue the care.”
Many of Mosul’s Christians have fled the city after repeated violence targeting them and live in the villages east of the city. The students on Sunday’s convoy were from Qaraqosh, Karamless and Bartella, located nearly 32 kilometers (20 miles) away.
Over 1,000 Christian students, most belonging to internally displaced families, and about 100 university faculty and staff members commute to Mosul every week in buses belonging to the Syrian Catholic Bishopric. About 15 buses served the internally displaced Christian community daily.
“The project of transportation of students will be stopped,” said Casmoussa. “We can’t continue now.”
While the church has focused on dealing with immediate medical needs, the bishop said the church simply could not take the responsibility of transporting students after such a calculated and fierce attack.
“The chief of army offered to help us again, but it is impossible,” said Casmoussa. “They were with us every day…yet this is the result. We don’t have another solution now.”
Last February, after attacks against Christians left three university students dead, the Chaldo-Assyrian Student and Youth Union proposed that the Ministry of Education open a new university in a safer area on the Nineveh plains. Nearly 3,000 Christian undergraduate students and 250 graduate students are studying in Mosul.
Casmoussa said the Christian community is hoping the University of Mosul will help Christian students who are unwilling to commute to Mosul by sending faculty members to hold semester-end examinations in Qaraqosh.
“This is [an attack] against all the Christian people,” said Casmoussa. “Our culture is immense capital for the future to build our lives, not just to have bread to eat and continue life without any sense.”
Due to the violence against Christians in Mosul, Casmoussa relocated to the village of Qaraqosh three years ago, and commutes into the city to serve his diocese. On Jan. 17, 2005 gunmen abducted him and released him the next day.
Sunni Muslim insurgents have frequently targeted members of Iraq’s Christian minority, especially in Mosul. Iraq’s current government is Shiite-led.
Report from Compass Direct News
Has Noah’s Ark Been Found?
Has the Genesis Ark Been Found? Or, is the latest ‘discovery’ just another hoax?
A team from Noah’s Ark Ministries International (NAMI) claim to have discovered the ark built by Noah as recorded in the book of Genesis. They say that the ark has been found (99.9% sure) on Mount Ararat in Turkey and that they have been inside the ark.
Links to articles dealing with this discovery, as well as to those questioning the discovery can be found below. The website for NAMI is also below – however, the site was down when I tried to access it.
Articles concerning the ‘discovery’ of Noah’s Ark can be found below:
http://fromtheold.com/news/noah-s-ark-found-mount-ararat-press-conference-2010043017996.html
Visit Noah’s Ark Ministries International (NAMI) website at:
http://www.noahsarksearch.net/eng/
The following articles question the find:
http://www.foxnews.com/world/2010/04/30/noahs-ark-hoax-claim-doesnt-deter-believers/
Iranian Authorities Release Assyrian Pastor on Bail
Accused of ‘converting Muslims,’ church leader faces trial – and threat of murder.
ISTANBUL, April 5 (CDN) — An Assyrian pastor the Iranian government accused of “converting Muslims” has been released from prison on bail and is awaiting trial.
The Rev. Wilson Issavi, 65, was released from Dastgard prison in Isfahan last week. Conflicting reports indicated Issavi was released sometime between Sunday (March 28) and Tuesday morning (March 30).
On Feb. 2, State Security Investigations (SSI) agents arrested Issavi shortly after he finished a house meeting at a friend’s home in Isfahan. Along with the accusation of “converting Muslims,” the pastor is charged with not co-operating with police, presumably for continuing to hold such house meetings after police sealed the Evangelical Church of Kermanshah and ordered him not to reopen it.
After his arrest, Issavi was held at an unmarked prison facility in Isfahan and apparently tortured, according to a Christian woman who fled Iran and knows Issavi and his family. The Christian woman, who requested anonymity for security reasons, said Issavi’s wife, Medline Nazanin, visited the pastor at the unmarked facility. Nazanin said it was obvious Issavi had been tortured, the Christian told Compass.
Issavi’s confinement cells were so filthy he contracted a life-threatening infection, Nazanin told the Christian woman.
“They took him to the hospital and then returned him back to the prison,” the woman said.
Friends of Issavi added that he is still dealing with the lingering effects of the infection.
During Issavi’s imprisonment, authorities threatened to execute him, sources close to the case said. The joy of Issavi’s family at his release was tinged with fear as they waited in agony for the possibility of him being killed by Islamic extremists, as is common in Iran when Christians are detained for religious reasons and then released.
“Sometimes they release you just to kill you,” the Christian source said.
Issavi has not been informed of his trial date.
Issavi’s friend said that low-key ethnic Christians, such as the Assyrians, are largely unbothered for long periods of time. Active Christians are treated differently.
“When you start evangelizing, then you are in real trouble,” she said.
Iranian authorities have set up a video camera outside Issavi’s church to monitor anyone going in or out of the building, according to the pastor’s friend.
Issavi was one of a few Christians in leadership positions arrested in Isfahan in February during what some Middle Eastern experts described as a crackdown on area church leadership.
Isfahan, a city of more than 1.5 million people located 208 miles (335 kilometers) south of Tehran, has been the site of other anti-Christian persecution. In an incident in July 2008, two Christians died as a result of injuries received from police who were breaking up a house meeting.
On Feb. 28, Isfahan resident Hamid Shafiee and his wife Reyhaneh Aghajary, both converts from Islam and house church leaders, were arrested at their home.
Police handcuffed, beat and pepper-sprayed Aghajary and then took her to prison. Her husband Shafiee, who was away from the house when police arrived, was arrested an hour later when he returned to the house. Approximately 20 police officers raided the home, seizing Bibles, CDs, photographs, computers, telephones, personal items and other literature.
The couple is still being held. Other details about their detainment are unknown.
Three Christians Released
Elsewhere, three Christians arrested on Dec. 24, 2009 have been released, according to Farsi Christian News Network (FCNN).
Maryam Jalili, Mitra Zahmati, and Farzan Matin were initially arrested along with 12 other Christians at a home in Varamin. Eventually they were transferred to Tehran’s notorious Evin Prison, though the other 12 prisoners were conditionally released on Jan. 4.
Jalili, Zahmati and Matin were freed on March 17, though terms of their release were unclear. Jalili is married and has two children.
Iran has a longstanding history of religious repression. Shia Islam is the official state religion and is ensconced as such in Iran’s constitution. Every year since 1999, the U.S. Secretary of State has designated Iran as a “Country of Particular Concern” for its persecution of Christians and other religious minorities.
According to the 2009 International Religious Freedom Report issued by the U.S. Department of State, persecution of Christians and other religious minorities in Iran continued to get significantly worse.
“Christians, particularly evangelicals, continued to be subject to harassment and close surveillance,” the report states. “The government vigilantly enforced its prohibition on proselytizing by closely monitoring the activities of evangelical Christians, discouraging Muslims from entering church premises, closing churches, and arresting Christian converts.”
Report from Compass Direct News
What Happened Today in Church History?
Particularbaptist.com is a ‘portal’ for many Reformed and Particular Baptist resources, including a growing resource pool of church history articles, books and studies.
I have recently been working a little on the church history section of the site which is called the ‘Institute of Church History.’ Within the institute portion of the site is a section known as ‘What Happened Today in Church History?’
This is an area of the web site at particularbaptist.com that I am seeking to develop further. I am hoping to embed pictures (where possible) of the various historical figures of the past, as well as links to other resources on my site relating to the event covered for each particular day. These links could be to further articles/books dealing with the historical figure, articles/books dealing with the event or that could shed further light on it, etc. In summary, I am seeking to provide as rich an experience as I can for visitors to the site.
Obviously this will take some time to complete and in some respects the work will be an ongoing one as more information and resources come to hand. I have decided to start with November and work through each month as we come to them within the coming year.
Visit ‘What Happened Today in Church History?’ at:
PAKISTAN: LAHORE – Another Deadly Terrorist Attack
There was another terrible terrorist attack in Lahore, Pakistan, today. Terrorists have attacked a police training centre and killed some 20 people and injured another 90 from initial reports coming out of Pakistan.
Hopefully this attack will provoke the Pakistani government into seriously dealing with the Taliban and terrorists operating from within Pakistan. There seems to be a widely held view (including my own) that there are many within Pakistan supporting both the Taliban and terrorism – including a number of people with the Pakistan security forces.
BELOW: Some footage of the attack
CRUEL OPPRESSION OF CHRISTIANS INCREASING IN LAOS
Christianity is labeled a “foreign religion” in Laos, so becoming a believer is considered near treason, reports MNN.
Christians in Communist-ruled Laos report escalating persecution. According to the World Evangelical Alliance, believers are dealing with more outright harassment and intimidation tactics.
The trend began in 2004 when reports began to surface about the treatment believers received at the hands of the government.
Some have been held at gunpoint and forced to renounce their faith in Christ. The government has also put extensive restrictions on all religious groups. While the government has worked to improve their human rights record, the church is not yet free from persecution.
Two believers and a pastor have been handcuffed and in stocks since August for refusing to renounce their faith. 32-year-old Pastor Sompong Supatto and 18-year-olds, Boot and Khamvan Chanthaleuxay were taken from a house church because they were practicing their faith.
They were officially arrested August 3 for refusing to sign papers renouncing their faith. They had been threatened several times previously but had continued to worship.
According to Compass Direct reports, Pastor Supatto faces life behind bars for leading the Boukham church. The teenagers will only be released when they renounce their faith.
Report from the Christian Telegraph
TURKEY: PKK STRIKES AND TURKISH REPRISALS
17 Turkish troops were killed in clashes with Kurdish Workers Party (PKK) rebels on Friday. 15 soldiers were killed and 2 abducted (there bodies were later recovered) following a cross-border ambush by PKK rebels.
The PKK is fighting for a Kurdish homeland in south-eastern Turkey. Since 1984, when the fighting began, some 40 000 people have been killed.
Turkey has responded to the PKK attacks with two days of bombings aimed at hitting Kurdish rebel bases. The PPK bases in northern Iraq and south-east Turkey were bombed by Turkish air force bombers.
The PKK says it has sustained no casualties as a result of the Turkish attacks, despite there being numerous targets in the bombings. It is believed that several thousand PKK rebels are based in northern Iraq – a staging post for attacks on military targets inside Turkey.
The clashes have been the heaviest between the two forces since early this year.
The PKK is considered a terrorist organisation by the United States and the European Union.
BELOW: A report dealing with the PKK attacks in Turkey
Random Thoughts 