Muslim & Christian Women Violence

Gender-based violence ‘wielded mercilessly’ in Muslim countries. Christian women vulnerable due to profound lack of equality, claims new report.

 

Jeddah, Saudi Arabia (WWM)

By Hélène Fisher

(WORLD WATCH MONITOR, June 13, 2013) The conclusion of a new report by the US Hudson Institute researcher Lela Gilbert is clear and unequivocal: gender-based violence plays a key strategic role in the plans of those who wish to eradicate Christians and Christian belief from Muslim lands.

Gender-Based Violence as an expression of Christian Persecution in Muslim Lands, written for the World Watch List, describes how a profound lack of equality between men and women in Muslim countries means that all women in these societies are structurally vulnerable to systematic violence and discrimination in their daily lives. A parallel review of statistics on Christian persecution in these lands is made in order to infer a picture of the plight of Christian women in Muslim lands.

The resulting image is striking: the combined status of being both Christian and female significantly increases the likelihood of experiencing aggression and repression in society and at home. Gilbert focuses on Iran, Saudi Arabia, Pakistan and Egypt in her disclosure of the appalling legal and social situation for women living in Sharia law-based societies. 

 

Anecdotal evidence is supported by extracts from US State Department Reports on the four countries in question. They focus on rape and domestic violence, societal exclusion, oppressive dress codes, lack of legal protection for women, female genital mutilation, child abuse, and child marriage. 

 

The premise of Gilbert’s research is that violence experienced by Christian women living in these countries can only be properly understood within a general context of deep-seated prejudice and aggression against women. This prejudice stems from Islamic beliefs regarding the supposedly dangerous nature of female sexuality, and the roots of these beliefs are briefly detailed along with their implications. 

 

Of note is the continued assumption in these societies that females are responsible for any sexual attack they experience. The result is that shame clings to the victim following an assault and some victims are even stoned. Gilbert argues that in the context of societies where women are defined as being of little worth and are shockingly vulnerable, it is not surprising that Christian women are the targets of even greater endemic violence as a means of driving out or neutralizing Christian communities. 

 

Nine common forms of abuse perpetrated against Christian women in this strategic intent are elaborated. A number of specific cases from Pakistan and Egypt follow, which illustrate gender-based violence as a deliberate means of destroying Christian families. 

 

This report also expresses a frustration at the lack of data available in order to fully study the scope of the problem and explains why it is so difficult to obtain reliable statistics. Perhaps because of this dearth of complete information, Gilbert takes great pains to address arguments which attempt to discount reports of Christian persecution in Muslim lands.

Much is made of German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s public and unpopular acknowledgement in November 2012 that Christianity is “the most persecuted religion in the world”.... 

 

It has been said that persecution is always personal and the tone of Gilbert’s report reflects this view. Her well-documented report is both passionate and categorical in its conclusion: gender-based violence is an oft-used weapon wielded mercilessly against the most vulnerable in Muslim lands with the express goal of breaking Christians’ resolve.

Click here for the full report.

©2013 World Watch Monitor

For subscription information, contact: info@worldwatchmonitor.org

Christians Evangelizing Muslims

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Evangelizing Muslims is a Calling God will Honor.

 

“Behold, a sower went forth to sow.”

(ChristiansUnite.com)

 

The Cross and the Crescent (excerpt): For all kinds of reasons, evangelizing the Islamic world presents a tough challenge. But it is no more impossible than evangelizing the Roman world was for the first disciples. The apostle Peter tells us that evangelism is the main reason for the establishment of the Church (1 Peter 2:9-10). A glance at the book of Acts will show that the early believers evangelized fearlessly (Acts 2:8, 4:20,29; 8:4, 13:1-4). Every Christian sharing in the Lord's Supper is reminded that “as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord's death till He comes” (1 Cor 11:26).

God never orders the impossible. When he commands the Church to evangelize to the ends the earth, He equips believers with what it takes to obey. This is why He must be obeyed without reservation. You cannot call Him “Lord,” and say “no” to Him. The Lord does not take a “no” from His followers; to call God “Lord” and then say “no” to Him is a contradiction in terms.

When the Lord orders, He empowers His people to obey.

“Who ever goes to War at his own expense?” asked Paul in 1 Corinthians 9:7. What is more, when we obey Him, He guarantees the results. He is always on the throne. Before Jesus delegated his disciples to witness for Him, He told them, “All authority has been given to me in heaven and on earth” (Matthew 28:18). To those who obey and go, He says, “I am with you always, even to the end of the age” (Matthew 28:20).

Also, remember that you are not the one doing the conversion work. You are sowing the seed of the word of God. In the parable Jesus told in Matthew 13:1-9, nobody asked the sower to check if the ground was good or thorny or stony. His job was to scatter grain. In the same way, the conversion of the heart is something only the Holy Spirit can accomplish.

Paul had no delusions about this. He asked the Corinthians, “What, after all, is Apollos? And what is Paul? Only servants, through whom you come to believe—as the Lord has assigned to each his task. I planted the seed, Apollos watered it, but God made it grow. So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God, who makes things grow. The man who plants and the man who waters have one purpose, and each will be rewarded according to his own labor. For we are God's fellow workers; you are God's field, God's building” (1 Corinthians 3:5-9).

-- Abdul Hadi

International Bible scholar,

apologist and evangelist

Special Visit (OneWithThem.com). You will meet true Christians in the Persecuted Church from around the World. Glimpse their lives each day on the "Devotional." Walk as early Christians walked with Jesus in the New Testament. Know the real church is not a building, but God's love power among people. To read, sign free for the“Devotional.”

Blessings,

Bill

Nations of the End Times Battle

In the End Times, Jesus the Messiah King returns to battle the Antichrist. To know Where is to know Why!

Through the End Time scriptures, Jesus the Messiah King is battling the Muslim nations.

 (Photo by Bill Hunt c 2011)

In the End Times, Jesus the Messiah King will return to battle the Antichrist and those nations aligned with evil. These nations are enumerated throughout the Bible.

We must rely on the complete counsel of Scripture to know the Truth of the End Times. Read the scriptures as you verify the locations.

Midian is the land of Abraham's fourth son by Keturah (Gen 25:1-4).

Hab 1-2-3 Messiah returning from battle against the Antichrist.

Hab 3:3-4 Teman (Arabia), Mt. Paran

Hab 3:5-6 Cush (Sudan & Somalia), Midian

Midian is from the Jordan River to Saudi Arabia.

Balam speaks to King Balak of Midian. Moab is E and SE of Israel.

Num 24:17-19 Moab, Edom, Seir

Ezk 35 Mt. Seir, Edom

Edom includes Teman to Dedan (Yemen to Saudi Arabia).

Isa 25:10 Moab

Isa 63 Edom, Bozrah

Ezk 25 Edom, Teman (Yemen) to Dedan (Al-Ula in Saudi Arabia).

Oba 8 Edom

Zeph 2:9 Moab, Ammonites

Isa 10:24-25 Assyria, Egypt,

Isa 10:33-34 Lebanon

Isa 11:14 Philistines, Edom, Moab, Ammon

Isa 11:15, 19:1 Egypt

Hab 2:17 Lebanon

Joel 3:2-4 Valley of Jehoshaphat, Tyre (Hezbollah) and Sidon (Lebanon), Philistia (Gaza, Hamas)

Jer 25:19-29 Pharaoh king of Egypt, kings of Uz; kings of Philistines—Ashkelon, Gaza, Ekron; Ashdod, Edom, Moab, Ammon; kings of Tyre and Sidon; kings of coastlands; Tema, Buz; kings of Arabia; kings of the desert; kings of Zimri, Elam, Media; kings of North; king of Sheshach. “Eretz” does not mean the whole earth, but all these named are Middle Eastern Muslim nations.

Isa 34:3-9 Edom, Bozrah

Through the End Time scriptures, Jesus the Messiah King is battling the Muslim nations.

Walid Shoebat's book, “God's War on Terror” is perhaps the most comprehensive and detailed research ever done on the subject of Islam and its relationship to the End-Times. It's more like a thorough seminary graduate degree encyclopedia on the subject.

--Bill Hunt

Voluntarily, I most highly recommend Walid Shoebat and Joel Richardson's book “God's War on Terror: Islam, Prophecy, and the Bible” to know the Biblical Truth of the End Times. <http://www.shoebat.com>.

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A Cup of Cold Water for Muslim Women

Miracle Witness
Q.  A Cup of Cold Water rings a scriptural promise. Could a male traveler dare to overcome a taboo and relate to Muslim women wearing black burkas?  

PRAY FOR MUSLIM WOMEN IN BURKA
Photo by Bill Hunt (c) 2010. 

We traveled across the lowlands toward the steep mountainous terrain of the Hindu Kush in Northern Pakistan. The rickety black bus periodically braked along the very narrow roads more intended for lumbering ox carts and gala painted rickshaws.

We stopped for a few occasional villagers here and there who waved to travel in the same direction. Giving rides seemed the tribal touch of hospitality in rural Pakistan. 

On the last pickup, our Pakistani driver boarded three women wearing black burkas which covered their heads and bodies full-length. They carried two little children on their arms, one a young baby. 

These women sat down quietly in the back of the bus apart from the others. They selected one seat behind me just across the aisle. The children, however, soon began to fuss. On a very hot, typical summer day, the temperature broiled about 120 degrees. 

As the fussing babies in the stifling bus cried, I thought about a story I'd heard where a husband knifed a young American visitor in the back for trying to help the native wife to her feet when she stumbled and fell. 

The babies cried.

Unsure of relating to these women, I sought a non-threatening way to help them.  The babies continued fussing from the heat, and the women nervously tried to calm them.

"And if anyone gives even a cup of cold water to one of these little ones because he is my disciple, I tell you the truth, he will certainly not lose his reward” (Matt. 10:43 NIV).

The words of Jesus rang repeatedly in my spirit. I could not succeed in ignoring them to avoid my inner fear. Finally, I unscrewed my red thermos cap, poured it with cold water, and daringly turned to hold it out toward the women. 

"Here, a cup of water in the name of Jesus for your babies," I spoke softly. 

Quickly, they took the thermos cup and gave the drink to their babies who stopped crying. Unexpectedly, the women let their veils fall open, and I was most surprised to see their youthful beauty. They were very pretty. One spoke in clear English.

"Thank you," she said sweetly. 

The women began to chatter busily among themselves as women do. 

Our bus suddenly lurched sideways.

I saw a gasoline tanker truck push pass in a flash forcing us off the main road. 

The frontier roadbeds are paved only wide enough for the wheel track of one vehicle. Two vehicles oncoming from opposite directions “played chicken” as a matter of custom. The first to flash his headlights took the right of way. We braked and skidded to a stop in the side gravel, scoring second best. 

Something felt very wrong.     

Our front left wheel hung out over the abyss, an 8000 foot cliff, balancing at a dangerous point in the Hindu Kush Mountains. 

“Freeze!” a man in the front of the bus ordered.

I looked down through my open window.

I could make out tiny specks, trucks and vehicles that dropped in past times all the way to the bottom of the mountain. 

I surrendered my life now to the hands of the Lord.

"Jesus, if I live I live and if I die I die."

I quietly prayed in his name. Fear kept me from saying much more. I knew this was God's call.

With one man directing, the other men from the front of the bus moved one-by-one, step-by-step, hand-over-hand along the seats. They crept very slowly back toward the mid section of the bus to balance the vehicle hanging over the cliff.

The Pakistani driver, under direction, very, very carefully pulled the shift lever and changed gears. 

He slowly accelerated the gas pedal, keeping his other foot on the brake. The engine pulled against the brakes. The driver reversed the bus inch-by-inch on to the solid roadbed to all four wheels. 

A sigh of relief sounded through the bus.

A beautiful day now blessed us. Around one bend in the road, we waved at mountain women bathing clothed, waist deep in a stream-fed pool of flowing water. 

Unlike the desert village women, the mountain women did not wear burkas and appeared to be quite free in their actions. They returned a dozen cheerful smiles and waves to us as we passed. This friendly scene marked such a contrast to the precarious experience of just a few miles earlier.

I reflected within my thoughts. 

In impossible danger, I yielded myself to God. His Word proved true. He cares for us. 

In exchange for a cup of water, God granted me back the Gift of Life.

– Bill Hunt © 2010   

Black Cobra and a Mysterious Angel

Miracle Witness

In this true story of a cobra and a mysterious angel, God saves me from a venomous death-bite and delivers a surprising message about my future wife. 

SNAKE CHARMER AND BLACK COBRA
Photo by Bill Hunt (c) 2010

East meets West. There's no more strange a day. On my adventurous arrival in Pakistan, I settled my bag into a temporary stay at the white-walled hostel, and headed right into the sun-hot streets to see what I could see. 
 

From a dirt mound nearby on the outskirts of the City of Karachi, I sat down and watched the activities of a desert nomad encampment of Bedouins. This was an intriguing scene right out of the Bible. 

The tribesmen, camels, donkeys, sheep, dogs, brown cloth tents, campfires, and shade overhangs were a sight that reminded me of Jacob and the twelve patriarchs. 

Along the outer road, I came upon three snake charmers stationed at the side of the road. Being an avid photographer, I squatted down with my movie camera near one snake charmer to get vivid pictures of the snake. 

These were not the giant king cobras, but the black cobras, hooded cousins, considered one of the most deadly venomous snakes on earth. They can paralyze and kill a full-grown man within fifteen to thirty minutes. 

With my camera, I moved in very, very close to the cobra swaying from the basket and the charmer with his wood flute. The snake abruptly turned his black, sinister hood toward me, eye-to-eye. 

“Ooh!” 

The small group of Pakistanis around me distinctly groaned. I suddenly knew my assumption of safety mistaken. 

Face to face, the snake waved, dangerously excited at my presence. He was set to give me a venomous death-bite. 

In emergency prayer mode, I struggled to crawl back very slowly and smoothly not to startle the snake to strike. 

I backed on my hands and feet right through my now very serious case of double-layered goose bumps. 

The snake charmer capped the cobra back into the red straw basket. I noticed he, too, was sweating and trembling. 

"Thank you, Jesus," I said as I stood up relieved, "for delivering me from that snake -- and death."

The Mysterious Stranger

At that moment, a handsome Pakistani in his thirties, spoke. 

"Are you married, Sahib?"

"Am I married? No!" 

I wondered what he wanted.

"Do you have a picture of your lady friend, right now?" he asked. So I reluctantly pulled out a wallet portrait.

"This girl is not the girl you will marry!" he stated. 

"No, the girl you will marry has brown hair like this one, but she is taller. In fact, you have already met her. Where does this one live?"

"On Long Island, New York," I said.

"The girl you will marry does not live there," he said. "She lives up, further north." 

"My parents live in Maine." I tested him by giving leading information.

"No, she is not from Maine," he said. "Where have you just come from?" 

"Upstate New York."

"Yes!" he said, "she is there. 

“You have already seen her. She lives there, way up, in Upstate New York, farther north. That is the woman you will marry, but not this one, Sahib.” 

I offered him rupees to test him. 

“No Sahib! Not rupees. I just wanted to tell you." 

I had no idea who this man was, or whether I should consider anything he said. He did not seem ominous. 

I looked down at the snake charmer and raised my head again to look at the stranger. 

He wasn't there!

I turned to look for his face in the crowd of bystanders. He had vanished! There was no one like him in sight along the open road. 

Was he from God? Was he an angel? 

Puzzled, a stranger in a strange land, I wasn't sure how to judge what had just happened. 

A year later, I met the girl he described in the place he foretold. He spoke a true word. She would, indeed, become my wife. But that's another story. 

Our lives are meant to walk with God. 
-- Bill Hunt (c) 2010

Muslims and Christians choose Peace or War by God or Satan

Reflection

Q. Would you pray for Peace among Muslims and Christians?

TREASURE OF PAKISTAN
Photo by Bill Hunt (c) 2010

In my dream, there is this vast wilderness trial of life. But far back in the wilderness is a CORNER RETREAT, a garden. In the green and flowery garden is a white marble bench. And sitting on the bench is Jesus waiting to talk with us in prayer.

In prayer, I grieve for Pakistan, a kindly nation I visited as a young man. I grieve for Swat, a sovereign and very peaceful mountain people.

I grieve for Afghanistan, a desert people so long torn by terrible war. I grieve for Iraq, so slaughtered by tribal hatred. I grieve for Iran where many seek truth and freedom under a blind religious dictatorship.

I grieve for Americans and people from all over the world who have suffered and died as a result of these conflicts.

“A Muslim is brother to every other Muslim,” I have been told.

Really?

If so, the Al Qaeda and the Taliban violate their own Muslim faith! Not to mention, God's universal law that all mankind are, indeed, brothers on this earth. Jesus told the story of the Good Samaritan.

God is goodness; Satan is evil.

Both religions believe this. Violence is the offspring of evil, both Muslims and Christians know.

The key is to choose God and goodness. I pray for wisdom and peace among Muslims and Christians.

Death by Stoning at the Steps of the Mosque

Miracle Witness

Q. How do you respond to severe trials in life?

MOSQUE COLLECTIVE PRAYER
Photo by Bill Hunt (c) 2010.

I wondered as I walked if God's presence was in this Mosque for the prayerful Muslim.

The artistry of intricate, multicolored, inlaid tiles covered the walls of the Mosque in a tree-shaded village in Northern Pakistan. The decor glittered in streams of hot sunlight.

Off the open central court, beyond the rectangular reflecting pool used for prayer washing, we found within the outer walls a hidden sanctuary, an open alcove shaded and cooled by a high curved ceiling.

Within a few moments, my Christian friend, Chris, another young American serviceman, with our Pakistani host, and I, each dressed in casual clothes, exited the Mosque and leaned over to tie on our shoes.

"Stand still. Don't say a thing!

“Don't move!" our alert Pakistani host exclaimed.

I looked up alarmed to pay more attention to our surroundings. Before us a crowd of Pakistani villagers assembled, and a strong-voiced spokesman addressed them.

"They plan to stone you!

“They believe you are spies!" our guide warned under his breath.

Sure enough, the men throughout the crowd threateningly held big gray stones in their fists and shouted toward us angrily. 
 

"They won't stone you as long as you stand here on the steps of the Mosque," said our guide.

Instantly, the thought came, I'm not leaving these step!

Could there be food in a Mosque? Could one live here for days?

The gravity of the situation turned my thoughts quickly to Jesus and I surrendered my life to him.

In a few moments, I could die a painful, bloody death as a target of heavy flying, fist-thrown rocks.

I thought of Jesus in the courtyard facing Pontius Pilate. I thought of Steven or Paul before crowds of bloodthirsty men. But now I prepared for death. In my spirit, I began to pray.

Never had I planned to die in such a way.

Our brave Muslim host suddenly acted on an idea. He approached the crowd and began shouting to the assembled men. He seemed quite a spokesman in his native dialect, but I couldn't understand his Pushtu or Urdu language.

"These men are not your enemies, they are our friends," he may have said. "Look, they have visited the Mosque with me. This agitator is lying to you and dishonoring our nation. These men have come in peace, not as enemies." 
 

All I know is, by God's wonderful grace, the crowd amazingly turned on the agitator.

He darted up the street trying to escape as the angry villagers quickly followed around a corner after him.

Our Pakistani host, my Christian friend, Chris, and I escaped down the street, not knowing what would befall us.

"Keep running!" they yelled back at me.

I noticed both my friends racing a distance ahead. My lungs hurt, my feet grew sore. I ran as best I could. I ran with my face in the air, swinging clenched fists.

Something made me look up. The sunlight slapped through tall leafy treetops over my head all along the village way.

In such an anxious moment, I recognized the unmistakable presence of the all-seeing God.

Amazed, I realized at the same time absolutely no one else appeared on this wide village street which served as our avenue of escape. No one peered out a window, no one stood in a doorway. One woman closed her shutters as we hurried by.

Running for my life, physically, I felt my heart beat a strained rhythm in my chest. At the same time, spiritually, I found myself experiencing an incredible, overwhelming inner peace.

…..

Note

In CORNER RETREAT, among things we can talk about are faith, hope, love, prayer, scripture, miracles, blessings, marriage, and living through trials in the neighborhood, the nation, and the world today.

I'm a BLOG neophyte. I request prayers to develop this BLOG.

Your comments are extremely Valuable. Leave your comments following the A-B-C's, as one teacher said. Make them Audible (clear), Brief, and Christ-centered.

Blessings to you,

Bill Hunt (c) 2010