Important That Christians, In Their Effort to Be Christians, Not Forget About Christians
Too many American Christians are forgetting or not recognizing a major blind spot in their philosophical approach to geopolitical affairs.
The balance of compassion toward people of other faiths and toward those of our own is markedly, perhaps disturbingly, off.
Last week I ran a piece on Tucker Carlson’s interview of Lutheran pastor Rev. Munther Isaac, who discussed with great pain the travails of Christians in Palestine. First off understand that as a Traditional Latin Catholic, I and my religion have our own issues with Lutherans and Martin Luther himself, so what I say here today is an authentic effort at discussion about the issues that might narrow the gaps that exist even among Christians alone. Vitriol toward both Carlson and Isaac was seething in many social media circles, to the point of typical hyperbolic commentary from opponents of those who would offer any other point of view whatsoever besides the “official” narrative. Here is what the smug, “official” Dan Crenshaw had to say:
Don’t forget Mr Crenshaw’s record on funding to Ukraine. But more importantly in this case, it is an all-too-typical case of politics turned witch hunt to silence not dissent, mind you, but simply a testimonial from another human being who has unique experiences and something to add to the conversation.
It is the very click-bait mentality of social media folks who have many more followers than I do of which Crenshaw accuses Carlson.
Of course besides this unbalanced attack on a journalist who has done much to provide a platform for alternative voices the Mockingbird media–including Fox News–has silenced for decades, you had a great number of social media warriors stating the obvious–that as a pastor in Bethlehem who has experienced things other than what the mainstream narrative is, what he had to say was not just worthwhile, but necessary in a functioning non-tyrannical society.
Christian Persecution
It is this spirit that we should all take stock in when it comes to the number of Christians being persecuted and killed, in addition to their sacred sites being desecrated, all over the world.
Here is one report discussing the year 2023.
Nigeria last year witnessed the bloodiest year of Islamist attacks against Christians according to a new report.
More than 8,000 Christians were killed in 2023, the International Society for Civil Liberties and Rule of Law (Intersociety) has said.
The report published on Ash Wednesday gives harrowing details of killings, kidnappings, and forced disappearances of largely Christian populations in several parts of Nigeria.
Here is one discussing mass murder since 2009.
Over 50,000 Christians have been killed in Nigeria since the outbreak of the Boko Haram Islamist insurgency in 2009, a newly-released report published by a Nigerian non-governmental organization has revealed.
The report, titled “Martyred Christians in Nigeria”, has been published by the International Society for Civil Liberties and Rule of Law (Intersociety), a Nigerian-based research and investigative rights group, which has been monitoring and investigating religious persecution and other forms of religious violence by State and non-State actors across Nigeria since 2010.
“The combined forces of the government-protected Islamic Jihadists and the country’s Security Forces (NSFc) are directly and vicariously accountable for hacking to death in 2023 of no fewer than 8,222 defenceless Christians – covering a period of 13 months or Jan (2023) – Jan (2024),” said the report, signed among others by the Director of Intersociety, Emeka Umeaglalasi.
And here’s one a little more isolated to a shorter time span.
At least 450 Christians have died in a series of attacks on Christian villages in three northcentral Nigerian states since May, according to reports from religious freedom advocates.
Christian death tolls include at least 300 in several attacks in Plateau state spanning May 15–17, according to reports from Morning Star News (MSN) and CSW (Christian Solidarity Worldwide); more than 100 in attacks spanning May and June in Benue state, MSN and the US Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) reported; and 43 in Nasarawa state in mid-May, MSN reported.
Tens of thousands were displaced, according to MSN and CSW. Whole villages, dozens of church buildings and thousands of homes reportedly were destroyed. Grain was looted.
I could go on and on, and maybe should in future articles, but that should suffice for now. All of this, from my opening on Carlson, Christian persecution in the Middle East, and Crenshaw to briefly spotlighting the massacre of Christians hardly anyone talks about, was inspired by an insidious act of violence in Australia recently when a man dressed in black stabbed Bishop Mar Mari Emmanuel, of the Assyrian Orthodox Church, as he was preaching at the altar in Christ The Good Shepherd Orthodox Church. Here is the video (Warning: DISTURBING):
A prominent Bishop of the Assyrian Orthodox Church was stabbed by an Islamic militant in the middle of a live-streamed homily in Sydney, Australia, as the man shouted “Allah Akbar.” Several other Christians attending the Divine Liturgy were also stabbed as they ran to the bishop’s defense, but according to local reports, no one suffered life-threatening injuries. Crowds rioted in the immediate aftermath, demanding the assailant be brought to justice.
And an update I add just before press time. The bishop has already forgiven the attacker:
A 16-year-old boy has been arrested over the attack and authorities are investigating it as a “terrorist incident”. No charges have been laid.
Bishop Mar Mari Emmanuel said he forgives “whoever has done this act”.
“I will always pray for you. And whoever sent you to do this, I forgive them as well is Jesus’s mighty name,” he said.
In his almost four-minute speech, Bishop Emmanuel reassured his followers he was improving.
“I’m doing fine, recovering very quickly. We thank the Lord Jesus, so there is no need to be worried or concerned,” he said.
Before this public scare, Bishop Emmanuel has been courageous and outspoken on many moral issues, including strong indictment of LGBT ideology within Christian churches–especially in Rome, a reality I know well as a Catholic and one reason why I (and a growing number of thousands) respectfully resist the current incorrect teaching coming down from what is likely a compromised, infiltrated Vatican (I say that with humility, fear and trembling, Lord). Bishop Emmanuel has also expressed inspiring vocal opposition to the draconian Australian Covid-19 lockdowns which always went well beyond anything we experienced in America, and indeed is still one of many cautionary tales we all need to remember. It absolutely almost happened here and could happen here in the future.
The bishop is direct and authentic as Christ teaches his shepherds to be, disconnected from the feel-goods of always being liked, how I so badly wish our American Catholic bishops could be. Alas, so few are brave.
If you are unaware of the rift that occurred between the East and the West in Ancient Christendom, it is worth studying as I have been doing more of. Here, Taylor Marshall offers some insight on that rift as he explores what is being called an act of terror on the bishop.
Forget Not Our Brethren
And so I return to my original point: What is so wrong with talking about these things if they are indeed realities for Christians? How on Earth can anyone ascertain that Christians talking about their unique experiences as Rev. Munther Isaac did with Carlson be considered bigoted, anti-Semitic, or Islamophobic, as the familiar, inane pejoratives go?
As I teach my students in the classroom, and as they already intuitively know as cognizant human beings, what is the purpose of one individual or group attempting to extinguish another individual or group? Whether it be intentional or not, what lies beneath that?
There is a reason authorities want to keep us squabbling with each other in our tribal banalities. There is a reason they want to take our attention away from the real enemy, an enemy that may be closer and more pernicious than decades of media mind control has led us to believe.
There is a reason they prop up certain individuals and groups who apparently can do no wrong, according to the “official” narrative.
Think about it. Think about it like one of my sixteen-year-olds who have not had their pineal glands calcified irrevocably by insidious Deep State propaganda.
I will leave you with a couple of X accounts, some optional rabbit-holing, one named “Christians for Palestine” and one named “Palestinian Christians.” Just as a very broad brush stroke, because there is so much detail I invite you to peruse, there are Christians there who deem it incomprehensible that so many Christians in America would make the mental and political decisions they are making when there are so many Christians suffering because of it.
–When, as they say, they were the ones who gave us Jesus Christ in the first place, the same Jesus Christ many folks in their part of the world would spit on–the same folks American Christians pledge their blind allegiance to.
This is all food for thought if nothing else, and perhaps even some diversification of dialogue Mr Crenshaw would absolutely abhor. We certainly hope so.
May everyone named directly or referenced indirectly ask forgiveness and do penance for their sins against America and God. I fight this information war in the spirit of justice and love for the innocent, but I have been reminded of the need for mercy and prayers for our enemies. I am a sinner in need of redemption as well after all, for my sins are many. In the words of Jesus Christ himself, Lord forgive us all, for we know not what we do.
