Security agencies in the Democratic Republic of Congo arrested one of Kenya’s most wanted terrorists known for slaughtering Christians Saturday after he was captured by local youngsters, according to reports.

With the Kenyan government offering an $88,000 bounty, Rashid Mohamed Salim was captured by youths while he and two associates were going to South Africa, where he wanted to start a new life, the Kenyan news website Citizen Digital reported. 

Salim, who is university educated, is also known as Chotara and Turki Salim. He was put on the Kenyan Anti-Terror Police radar last November on terrorism charges.

The youngsters handed over Salim to security forces, the persecution watchdog International Christian Concern stated.

“This young man is a great terrorist. He is a very big player in the activities of slaughtering Christians in this part of Beni (Congo),” a source in Beni told the Maryland-based ICC.

“We have been receiving pictures and short films of him cutting the throats of Christians and the police,” the source added. “It is said that he is the one who captures them or has them captured via his telephone by fellow rebels when he is in the process of acting and publishes them as propaganda. He is already an Allied Democratic Forces commander.”

The Islamist rebel group Allied Democratic Forces, based in Uganda, has carried out attacks on civilians and clashed with security forces in Congo’s Nord Kivu and Ituri provinces in recent years, killing hundreds and displacing tens of thousands of people. Those provinces have been under a “state of siege,” according to Amnesty International.  Congo and Uganda launched a joint operation against ADF on Nov. 30. 

As security forces have been unable to prevent Allied Democratic Forces attacks, Uganda announced last month that its soldiers will stay in the DRC for as long as needed to defeat the terrorist group. Since his arrest, videos have emerged of Salim explaining his motivations for carrying out deadly attacks, according to ICC. When speaking of a video showing him beheading a DRC officer, he was quoted as saying that he had been given a machete by the ADF to “behead the government’s soldier that we had captured.”

“They told me to draw attention to all the people of the world that there was Islam in Congo, and they were invited to come and spread the Islamic religion so that Islam can rule the whole world,” he said, according to ICC. “So, I killed the FARDC soldier in the name of Allah.”

ICC reports that Salim was radicalized as a teen at a popular Mosque in Mombasa, Kenya, and is believed to have recruited youth into terror groups in East Africa. He was also believed to have joined the Islamic State insurgency in Mozambique.

It is unclear if Congo will extradite Salim to Kenya.

Salim’s father, Mohamed Rashid, told journalists on Sunday that he had not seen his son since 2020, and the family had no idea of his son’s location. 

“Dealing with the pain of his disappearance was difficult because we did not know about his whereabouts,” Rashid was quoted as saying by Kenyans.co.

“This boy went to the best schools and he performed well. He is a humble boy who loved his religion. We don’t know what got into him until things got to the point where they are now.” He called for his son to be prosecuted in Kenya. 

“My plea to the government is to help bring him to Kenya,” the father said. “He should come to Mombasa so that I see him and check that he is OK then they can do their work. He should be sentenced here.”

Source: Christian Post

January 20, 2022 (International Christian Concern) – Forum 18 recently released a religious freedom survey outlining Kyrgyzstan’s human rights violations. Kyrgyzstan’s new constitution was approved on 11 April 2021, to the detriment of Christians’ individual freedoms. Several of the provisions in this new constitution directly violate human rights standards. Human Rights Watch published its World Report this month and found an overall decline Kyrgyzstan’s human rights record since the constitution was adopted.

Assembly is illegal if the message is not in line with the values of the “people of Kyrgyzstan”. The government has also pushed to quickly change 356 laws that further limit the freedoms of the people. There has not been enough time to properly analyze what effect the law changes will have on the Christian population. Kyrgyzstan’s new Religion Law, pushed through in late 2021, is perhaps most worrisome for Christians. This law will heavily burden religious freedom if adopted in its current state. It requires state permission for congregations to exist and assemble. Additionally, 200 adult members are required to make a congregation official, while smaller congregations are not considered and thus not granted state approval. This was not an issue before since those sympathetic to the plight of the church could be counted among the 200 without actually being members. However, with the new regulations, each member must be a founding member and provide the state with their full name, date of birth, citizenship, place of residence, and passport. Additionally, congregations will not be allowed to register if they do not own a building to meet.

These are only a few measures that will make the lives of the Christians in Kyrgyzstan more difficult and dangerous. The state disregards human rights and cracks down on what they consider “a threat to social stability, interfaith harmony, and public order”. In actuality, Christians cannot meet or worship because of the measures Kyrgyzstan will implement.

For interviews, please contact: press@persecution.org

Source: INTERNATIONAL CHRISTIAN CONCERN

In what police called a “terrorist act,” two unidentified men followed a pastor returning home in his car after a Sunday worship service and shot him to death in Pakistan’s northwestern city of Peshawar, which in 2013 was the scene of one of the deadliest attacks on Christians in the country.

The pastor, identified as 75-year-old William Siraj of Shaheed-e-All Saints Church from the Church of Pakistan denomination comprising Methodist and Anglican churches, was shot twice in the abdomen as he and his colleague, identified as Pastor Patrick Naeem, were driving home from church on Sunday.

The shooting occurred near Ring Road in the city’s Gulbahar area, leaving Pastor Siraj dead and Pastor Naeem injured, Pakistan’s Dawn newspaper reported, adding that Naeem had been discharged from the hospital where he was treated for minor injuries. Pastor Siraj’s body had been handed over to his family.

News channels showed emergency services removing the pastor from the car as people chanted “Long live Jesus Christ” while carrying his body on a bed through the streets to a house, according to Reuters.

“We demand justice and protection of Christians from the Government of Pakistan,” tweeted Bishop Azad Marshall from the Church of Pakistan.

Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby also responded to the news of the attack. “… We pray for the light of Christ’s justice, hope and peace for our sisters and brothers in the Church of Pakistan,” he wrote on Twitter.

Capital City Police Officer Abbas Ahsan called it a “terror attack” and said, “We are determined to protect minorities.” Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province’s Chief Minister Mahmood Khan offered his condolences to the Christian community and the family of the deceased. 

On Saturday, Pakistan’s interior minister Sheikh Rasheed Ahmed warned of possible terrorist strikes across the country over the next two months as security agencies had learned about sleeper cells of militant outfits in that region, The Times of India reported.

No one had claimed responsibility for the shooting as of Monday. The country’s northwestern areas bordering Afghanistan have seen a rise in militant attacks on security forces in recent days, many of them claimed by Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan, which is close to the Afghan Taliban, Reuters said.

In 2013, at least 81 Christians were killed after two suicide bombers blew themselves up at a church belonging to the Church of Pakistan denomination in Peshawar as hundreds of worshipers were leaving Sunday mass.

About 400 worshipers were exchanging greetings after the service at the 130-year-old All Saints Church when the two bombers, each carrying about 13 pounds of explosives, launched the attack. The walls were pockmarked with ball bearings that had been packed into the bombs to cause maximum carnage in the busy church.

There are about 70,000 Christians in Peshawar. The community accounts for about 2% of the 180 million people in Pakistan.

Muslim minorities, including Shias and Ahmaddiyas, also often face attacks by Sunni terror groups in Pakistan.

Source: Christian Post

Country music singer and actress Jana Kramer makes her faith public, shares her baptism moment, and testifies how she found healing in Jesus.

Jana Kramer Finds Healing In Jesus

In an Instagram post that Jana Kramer shared, she wrote, “I don’t have the words yet…I will…but for now… ‘In the name of Jesus, there is healing,’”

Baptism Video

She also shared a separate post of an emotional video during her baptism following the post. She said, “This is my battle cry. This is the day I stopped walking alone.”

The actress then remarked how she was indeed never alone in life because of God.

“He was always walking with me…I just didn’t think I deserved that,” Jana wrote. “If I’m honest I didn’t know how to trust it or if I could trust it at all. Looking up to a “father figure” with my past was hard to believe or have comfort in. I didn’t think he would stay. That he wouldn’t hurt me. So I pushed God away for years.”

She also added that her “brokenness and quite moments alone” made her realize she wasn’t truly alone. Because God never left her, and He was always there.

Photo Courtesy | Instagram – @kramergirl

“God was just waiting for me to come to him,” she added. “And I have…and today I made my faith public, and it feels really good to know no matter what happens next on this journey of life, HE is next to me walking with me. God is walking with you too through all the good and bad times, so let HIM in. I hope this encourages someone to take that next step because you aren’t alone… “In the name of Jesus there is healing.”

Finally, Jana quoted Lamentations 3:22-23 in the Bible: “The faithful love of the Lord never ends! His mercies never cease. Great is his faithfulness; his mercies begin afresh each morning.”

Many Christian celebrities and fans commended her decision to follow Jesus.

“Praise the Lord,” actress Candace Cameron Bure commented. “And all the angels sang in Heaven and rejoiced! Praise His holy name!! A step in faith reaps eternal reward.”

Source: GOD TV

A football coach who led his team into prayer after games was fired by the school. And now the Supreme Court takes his case for review.

Commitment To Give Thanks To God

In 2008, Joe Kennedy, a retired U.S. Marine Corps sergeant, made his commitment to God to give thanks to Him after each game. Whether that would be a lose or win the game. After watching the Christian film “Facing The Giants,” he was inspired to do this.” Hence, in coaching his first game and the next games, he would always do so.

Photo Courtesy | Faithpot

It all began with a compliment from a neighboring school administrator. Until his school, the Bremerton School District school administrator requested him to stop praying with his team in public. “My school district instructed me that I could pray as long as I was not leading my players in prayer,” the coach recalled. 

Football Coach Praying In Public Not Allowed

However, the school issued a new policy that said praying where others could see him was no longer allowed. For seven years, Coach Joe would walk toward the center of the field, kneel, and pray after each game. But because of the new policy, he had to stop that.

Photo Courtesy | Faithpot

Then Joe said, “Just hours before what would be my last game as coach, the school district gave me an ultimatum: If I prayed after that night’s game, they would suspend me. As a proudly retired U.S. Marine, something inside me stirred. I would have given my life defending the religious freedom of any American. And yet that very right was denied to me. That just seemed wrong and unjust.”

Fired From Work

At first, the school suspended him. But soon, the Washington state school district fired him for violating the school policy.

“It was because the school district that hired me—Bremerton School District. Just across the Puget Sound from Seattle—forced me to choose between my faith and my job,” he told Fox News in an interview.

Following the termination, Joe filed a case against the school. He fights to “vindicate my [his] rights of free speech and free exercise of my religious beliefs.”

And now, the case has finally reached the Supreme Court for review after declining to hear his case in 2019. It would be a long process, but the former football coach will continue to fight.

“Why keep fighting this? Why not move on? My answer is simple: quitting would violate everything I tried to teach my players,” he said.

“That isn’t to say this has been an easy road. There are days when I want to give up and move on with my life. There are days when I don’t think I can keep fighting this fight. But that’s when I remember the hundreds of times I told my players not quit no matter the challenge!”

Further, Joe added, “I also think of the thousands of other public school coaches and teachers whose inalienable right to freely exercise their faith in public is at risk. If the court decisions against me are allowed to stand.”

In an interview with King 5 News, Joe remarked on the bottom line of his fight. He said, “I made a commitment with God that, hey, I’m gonna give you the glory after every game. I’m not gonna hide who I am. I’m not gonna hide my faith.”

Source: GOD TV

A few months ago, Carl Sartor would have described himself as someone who hated God, but today the 35-year-old says he wants everyone to experience God’s love. 

Carl’s story of salvation is going viral on social media.

This image has more than 325,000 views on Facebook. 

Carl gave his life to Christ at Cross Church in Parkersburg, West Virginia, in November. 

The former meth addict told CBN News he had been running from God since age 5. 

“I’ve always had this emptiness in my life,” he said. “No matter what religion I followed, I always believed that when you died, you were dead. That was it. You were in the ground.” 

Carl shared he was an atheist for 15 years and a Satanist for five years.

“I would argue you tooth and nail that He did not exist. I was living in a vicious cycle of drugs and alcohol. I had a severe anger problem. I blamed everyone and everything,” he wrote in a Facebook post. “I also blamed God.”

Carl said it wasn’t until he hit rock bottom in 2021 that he began to have an open mind about Jesus. 

“I couldn’t stand who I was and what was going on in my life,” he explained. “I tried to commit suicide.”

Carl decided then to try Cross Church where Minister Rich Walters had invited him more than a year ago.

“He said, ‘I’d love to have you for service.’ I said, ‘I walk a different path, buddy. You’d never catch me there. It will be a cold day in hell before you see me in church.'”

But it was that invitation, a word of knowledge about Carl’s life, and a message on forgiveness that led Carl to let go of hate and give his life to Christ. 

“We didn’t even get to the preaching yet because we were still singing, praising, and worshipping. We didn’t even make it 15 minutes in that service before he ran to that baptismal tank,” Walters wrote on Facebook. 

“Today, he’s a worshipper. Today, he’s a believer. Today, he’s my brother in Christ. It’s like the old song says…’There’s just no telling what you’re gonna do, in that moment Jesus gets a hold of you!!!!’ Praise God!!!” he added.

“I feel completely whole. I feel at peace with myself. There is no longer a void,” Carl told CBN News. “Everything has changed about me.”

It is a life-changing experience that Santor wants everyone to have.

“I’m spiritually alive now and that happened when He wrapped His arms around me…and I felt that love,” he explained.

“God is real and I will continue to walk this path with Him beside me. By His grace, I’m by far the best version of me I have ever been,” Carl wrote on Facebook. “My God is an awesome God and I pray that everyone gets to experience His love as I have.”

Source: CBN NEWS

A Christian pastor in eastern Uganda sustained serious injuries after he was beaten by Muslim relatives and accused of being a disgrace to the family. 

Bashir Sengendo, a former mosque leader, returned home on Jan. 12  to visit his family in the Namutimba District. It was his first visit since leaving in 2016, Morning Star News reports.

“This request continued for the last six years, but I had been reluctant to go back home,” Sengendo told Morning Star News. “I was shocked to receive a cold reception and slept without food, only to be attacked and beaten badly in the morning by my brother and my uncle. They cut me with an object in the head, back and hand.”

During the attack, police and neighbors heard Sengendo screaming and came to his rescue. 

“As the attackers were hitting me, my uncle said that the family spent a lot of money training me as a Muslim teacher and that I have caused a lot of shame to the family and Muslims at large,” Sengendo said.

The pastor was badly wounded and taken to a local hospital. Doctors assessed him for blood loss and deemed him critically ill, according to Morning Star News.

Sengendo converted to Christianity in May 2016. He spent six months attending a Bible college, then became a pastor.

As CBN News has reported, the assault on Sengendo is just the latest incident of persecution against Christians in Uganda. 

Muslim extremists killed a 58-year-old Christian pastor in October after he refused to close his church which was located near their mosque. Pastor Stephen Lugwire of Bunangwe estate in the Namutumba District was violently attacked while tending to his sheep.

In another attack, a 19-year-old Christian was beaten and strangled to death by radical Muslims in eastern Uganda while with some of his friends in August. Dante Tambika, also known as Patrick, was murdered by five Muslim teenagers when he was fishing.

And a Christian man was hit in the head with a machete by his Muslim brother after he converted to Christianity in July.

Muslims make up only 14 percent of Uganda’s population with high concentrations in eastern areas of the country. Christians make up 82 percent. 

World Watch Monitor, a persecution watchdog, notes on their website, “A home-grown Islamist rebel movement has taken root in neighboring Democratic Republic of the Congo, which has emboldened Ugandan radicals to increase pressure on Christians.” 

Source: CBN NEWS