Thursday, 10/1/2020

Blessed are ye, when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake. Rejoice, and be exceeding glad: for great is your reward in heaven: for so persecuted they the prophets which were before you.

Matthew 5:11-12 KJV

"... count yourselves blessed every time people put you down or throw you out or speak lies about you to discredit me. What it means is that the truth is too close for comfort and they are uncomfortable. You can be glad when that happens—give a cheer, even!—for though they don’t like it, I do! And all heaven applauds. And know that you are in good company. My prophets and witnesses have always gotten into this kind of trouble."

Matthew 5:11-12 MSG

God's Word for Tuesday, 10/1/19

Blessed are ye, when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake. Rejoice, and be exceeding glad: for great is your reward in heaven: for so persecuted they the prophets which were before you.

Matthew 5:11-12 KJV

Not only that—count yourselves blessed every time people put you down or throw you out or speak lies about you to discredit me. What it means is that the truth is too close for comfort and they are uncomfortable. You can be glad when that happens—give a cheer, even!—for though they don’t like it, I do! And all heaven applauds. And know that you are in good company. My prophets and witnesses have always gotten into this kind of trouble.

Matthew 5:11-12 MSG

God's Word for Monday, 10/1/18

Blessed are ye, when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake. Rejoice, and be exceeding glad: for great is your reward in heaven: for so persecuted they the prophets which were before you.

Matthew 5:11-12 KJV

“Not only that—count yourselves blessed every time people put you down or throw you out or speak lies about you to discredit me. What it means is that the truth is too close for comfort and they are uncomfortable. You can be glad when that happens—give a cheer, even!—for though they don’t like it, I do! And all heaven applauds. And know that you are in good company. My prophets and witnesses have always gotten into this kind of trouble."

Matthew 5:11-12 MSG

God's Word for Sunday, 10/1/17

“Blessed [morally courageous and spiritually alive with life-joy in God’s goodness] are you when people insult you and persecute you, and falsely say all kinds of evil things against you because of [your association with] Me. Be glad and exceedingly joyful, for your reward in heaven is great [absolutely inexhaustible]; for in this same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you."

Matthew 5:11-12 AMP


Or, to put it another way,

“Not only that—count yourselves blessed every time people put you down or throw you out or speak lies about you to discredit me. What it means is that the truth is too close for comfort and they are uncomfortable. You can be glad when that happens—give a cheer, even!—for though they don’t like it, I do! And all heaven applauds. And know that you are in good company. My prophets and witnesses have always gotten into this kind of trouble."

Matthew 5:11-12 MSG

Japanese Journalist Kenji Goto, Beheaded by ISIS, Was a Christian

By Michael Ashcraft and Mark Ellis

 

Kenji Goto before his beheading

Japanese journalist Kenji Goto, beheaded by ISIS in a newly released gruesome video, also happened to be a devout Christian.

A reporter seasoned in war zones, Goto traveled to Syria hoping that Japan's pacifist stance would grant him relative safety, unlike other journalists from nations leading airstrikes against ISIS.

He failed to take into account this new brand of terrorists is breaking all previous norms, with no apparent limits to their depravity.

"You, like your foolish allies in the Satanic coalition, have yet to understand that we, by Allah's grace, are an Islamic caliphate with authority and power, an entire army thirsty for you blood," a masked militant says in the video while holding a knife to Goto's neck.

In his reporting, Goto focused on the human cost and suffering of war, not on who was winning or losing. An Associated Press report quoted his former pastor, Hiroshi Tamura, who cited his Christian faith for inspiring his reporting.

Goto accepted Jesus in 1997, which was somewhat rare considering only two percent of the population of Japan is Christian. Christ's call to reach the poor and broken in sprit seemed to motivate his journalism.

"I have seen horrible places and have risked my life," he told ChristianToday.com. "I know that somehow God will always save me."

But instead he joined the ranks of Christian martyrs who have given their lives for a higher cause – the cause of Christ. Terrorists may have taken his physical life, but they could not rob his soul of heaven's joys.

While he focused on refugees, poverty and innocent victims of war, his reporting also yearned for a world of peace and wellbeing, according to his mother, Junko Ishido.

Goto, 47, traveled to Syria in October 2014 to report on the war and to liberate an old friend, Haruna Yukawa, who was first captured by ISIS in August when he was peddling arms. Instead of negotiating Yukawa's release, he himself was grabbed by the terror group.

At first the twosome appeared in a video on Jan. 20 demanding $200 million from the Japanese government – a sum equal to that committed by Japan in non-military aid to countries fighting ISIS.

But when the stipulated deadline passed, Yukawa was executed and Goto was then offered freedom, along with a Jordanian pilot, Moaz al-Kasasbeh, in exchange for an Iraqi terrorist in Jordan.

Jordan offered up Sajida Mubarak Atrous al-Rishawi, on Jordan's death row for a 2005 attempted terrorist attack, in exchange for the pilot, but it demanded proof the pilot was still alive. Days passed without news of the exchange.

Then Saturday's video appeared. It featured a black-clad terrorist speaking in a British accent – identified as the same "Jihadi John" who oversaw the beheading of U.S. journalist James Foley. Goto, dressed in orange prison-like garb, was on his knees and remained without speaking in an open desert.

The ISIS spokesman called out Japan's premier: "Because of your reckless decision to take part in an unwinnable war, this knife will not only slaughter Kenji, but will also carry on and cause carnage wherever your people are found," he says. "So let the nightmare for Japan begin."

Goto's wife gave birth to their second child in October. He has an older daughter from a previous marriage.

Goto met Yukawa in April 2014 in Syria and took him under his wing to show him the ins and outs of moving about in conflict zones. "He was hapless and didn't know what he was doing," Goto told Reuters in August. "He needed someone with experience to help him."

Yukawa was something of a lost soul. When his wife battled cancer, he attempted suicide unsuccessfully. Later his wife died, and Yukawa lived on the streets after his business went bankrupt and he lost his home. His efforts to become a military contractor was an attempt to get his life back together.

Goto was a compassionate free-lance journalist who focused on ordinary people in times of extraordinary suffering. He covered the diamond wars of Sierra Leone and the post tsunami regions of northern Japan.

In the days leading up to his death, friends set up a Facebook page calling for his release that drew tens of thousands of "likes." Demonstrators in Japan protested international terrorism holding signs "I am Kenji" – a takeoff of the solidarity with the terrorist-struck French satire magazine Charlie Hebdo.

"Kenji lives on — in all our hearts, in our daily work, every time you smile with those around you, you will be sure to remember that big smile Kenji always gave us," wrote Taku Nishimae, a New York filmmaker, as quoted in Yahoo News.

Yes, and he lives on in Heaven, too.

h/t Diana H.

Muslim Accused of Beheading 2 Christians in U.S.

MUSLIM ACCUSED OF BEHEADING 2 CHRISTIANS IN U.S.

Torture, persecution of faithful no longer reserved for Islamic nations

by BOB UNRUH

http://www.wnd.com/2013/02/muslim-accused-of-beheading-2-christians-in-u-s/


Authorities in New Jersey allege a Muslim man beheaded two Coptic Christians, burying their bodies and heads and hands in separate graves near Philadelphia, bringing the horror of the persecution of Christians in Islamic nations to the United States.

According to New York’s WABC-TV, the Muslim was identified as Yusuf Ibrahim, 28. He was taken into custody after the bodies were found.

The report said investigators alleged Ibrahim killed the victims then severed their heads and hands, and buried the remains in the back yard of a home in Buena Vista, N.J.

The report said the victims were from the Coptic Christian community in the area. One of the victims had come from Egypt not many years ago.

While the report said police did not indicate a motive, friends of the victims wondered if it was something to do with religion.

WABC reporter Jeff Pegues wrote: “To members of the close knit Coptic Orthodox church the pain is real.”

“It’s a shock, something like this doesn’t happen to people like that,” one resident told him.

The report said police described the suspect as “ruthless” and “calculating” and said he belongs behind bars.

Pamela Geller, who blogs about Islam at Atlas Shrugs, said it “appear have been a ritual killing, religious in nature.”

“The victims were Coptic Christians and the murderer was Muslim (and we are painfully aware of the status and treatment of Coptic Christians under Muslim rule in Egypt),” she wrote.

“The killing evokes this passage in the Quran: ‘When thy Lord was revealing to the angels, ‘I am with you; so confirm the believers. I shall cast into the unbelievers’ hearts terror; so smite above the necks, and smite every finger of them!” – Quran 8:12.”

Samy Hohareb, a friend of the victims, said, “I leave it for the police and the investigation.”

The New York Daily News reported Ibrahim was nabbed by detectives on Sunday after the bodies were found.

Authorities said the suspect was found driving a white Mercedes Benz that belonged to one of the victims.

Ibrahim was being held at the Atlantic County jail on charges of murder and desecration of human remains.

WND reported in September a jihadi writer who has praised the murderer of a Dutch filmmaker suggested beheading as a way of curbing criticism of Islam. The report came from the Muhib Ru’yat al-Rahman, a senior writer of a leading jihadi forum called Shumoukh al-Islam, suggested that Muslims living in Denmark, Germany, the Netherlands and the U.S. kill Westerners who criticize Islam and display their decapitated heads along roads, according to the Jihad and Terrorism Threat Monitor, a unit of the Middle East Media Research Center.

“While expressing respect for those calling to boycott European and American products over the release of the film ‘Innocence of Muslims,’ which negatively depicts Muhammad, Muhib insists that the best way to deter people from insulting Muhammad and his wives is to implement his proposal,” the report said.

The writer praised Dutch-Moroccan Muslim Muhammad Bouyeri, who killed Dutch film-maker Theo Van Gogh in 2004 over the production of “Submission,” a film criticizing Islam’s treatment of women. Dozens of forum members praised the post, expressing their agreement with the writer’s suggestions, the report said.

Geller summarized the report: “More tolerance and respect from savages demanding tolerance, respect and submission.”