Truthsthatfree.com - Peaceful Islam ?

Please read just a few of the headlines that World Net Daily has published.

January, 2006

FAITH UNDER FIRE
Beijing in post-Christmas crackdown
House church with prominent intellectuals targeted

A campaign to crack down on house churches in Beijing has intensified since Christmas, according to a monitor of the Chinese church.

Among the churches targeted was a well-known congregation in Beijing raided by Public Security Bureau agents the past two Sundays, according to U.S.-based China Aid Association.

Several eyewitness said two uniformed policemen and two plain-clothed agents rushed into the rented apartment where the Beijing Ark House Church was meeting, declaring the church was disturbing the neighbors.

Another officer, identified as Gao Xijun, told the congregation they were at an "illegal religious gathering place" because it's not registered according to State Council Regulations on Religious Affairs.

The witnesses said a plain-clothed officer, after noticing that the raid had been videotaped, beat a member of the church.

A founder of the church, Yu Jie – a best-selling author and internationally known commentator – said many members are prominent writers and lawyers, including freelance writer Bei Cun, Prof. Jiao Guobiao of Beijing University and human rights defense lawyers Li Baiguang and Gao Zhisheng.

Yu said he can't let the church continue to worship at the apartment because the "pressure [from authorities] is already very heavy."

China Aid reported several other house churches have been raided in Beijing recently. Just after Christmas, Jin Tianming, pastor of at least nine house churches in Haidian District, was detained and questioned at a police station overnight.

Dozens of other leaders in his church also were questioned. According to a reliable source, Jin's church had been negotiating with the government to register with the government. But the Public Security Bureau denied the request because Jin insisted his congregations must not be part of the government-controlled Three-Self Patriotic Movement, or TSPM.

All Protestant churches in the communist nation are required to be under the TSPM, which has put restrictions on the theology and practice of congregations to varying degrees throughout the country.

China Aid said a house church of 40 worshippers in Dayinjia Village in Jilin Province was raided Jan. 4. Five officials from the PSB and Religious Affairs office posted a government seal and declared the gathering "illegal." The officials ordered the congregation to move to a TSPM church. The pastor, Cui Guojun, 40, was released after a three-hour interrogation at a local PSB bureau.

China Aid also learned the mother of jailed pastor Cai Zhuohua was denied the right to meet him Jan. 9. The director of Qinghe Detention Center told Cai’s mother the PSB made that decision because her son' case was posted on the Internet and his defense lawyers are all "counter revolutionaries."

China Aid also said five detained church leaders in Ma Na Si County, Xinjiang Autonomous Region were released Jan. 8 under intensive international pressure.

The leaders were jailed at Ma Na Si County Detention Center after leading a celebration Christmas day. According to an eyewitness report, Pastor Guo Xianyao, 54; Lu Jianzhen, 47; Wu Haifang, 28; Wang Ximei, 54; and Zhou Bin, 50; were all in good spirits.

None of the private property confiscated was returned, however, including drivers licenses, two vehicles, a piano, a video camera, 80 copies of the Bible and 230 new towels.

China Aid says it's "deeply concerned about the escalation of crackdowns against house churches."

"The Chinese house churches have their constitutional right to hold free religious worship," said China Aid's president, Rev. Bob Fu. "House churches like the Ark House Church chose purposely to worship openly without hiding because as Mr. Yu Jie said, 'the church welcomes every sinner even President Hu Jintao and Premier Wen Jiabao are welcomed to worship with them.'"

World Net Daily
January, 2006

For more information on this topic, Click Here

FAITH UNDER FIRE
Hal Lindsey proclaims: Islam a violent religion
On national TV, Christian author declares most Muslims don't read Quran very much

Christian author Hal Lindsey proclaimed on national television last night that Islam is a violent religion, with many believers becoming more "radical" the more they read the Muslim holy book, the Quran.

"When someone becomes devout and they begin to get really into the Quran and they begin to study what it really teaches, they become what we call a fundamentalist or a radical because the Quran itself and the Hadith teaches violence," Lindsey said on "Hannity & Colmes" on the Fox News Channel. "There are 109 verses that we sometimes call war verses ... these are the verses that the radicals begin to take seriously and they begin to want to overthrow Western civilization."

Lindsey was a guest on Fox after WorldNetDaily broke a series of stories about the best-selling non-fiction writer who is in a dispute with the Trinity Broadcasting Network over the content of his own twice-weekly Christian commentary program, "The International Intelligence Briefing," because of what he considers to be efforts to muzzle his opinions about radical Islam.

"After 9-11, I really studied Islam, studied the Quran, studied what they're teaching and especially why there was a difference between the moderate Muslims and those who were radical," Lindsey said last night. "I saw that there was a tremendous danger facing this country that many Americans really didn't seem to be seeing. So I started warning that radical Islam was at war with the United States, and that the threat was as great as any enemy we'd ever faced."

Co-host Alan Colmes asked Lindsey straight out: "Islam is a radical religion in your view?"

"It is," Lindsey responded. "It's kind of like most Christians don't read the Bible very much. I believe most Muslims don't read the Quran very much. That's why most Muslims are not radical, but when someone begins to really study the Quran and they begin to read the 109 verses that call for violence and war, they become very, very different. They become radical, they feel that they need to convert people by force."

Lindsey, author of "The Late Great Planet Earth" and many other best-selling books and a weekly columnist for WND, has anchored his own program for the last 12 years on the world's largest Christian network, founded by evangelist Paul Crouch, whom Lindsey says remains his friend.

As WND exclusively reported Jan. 3, Lindsey announced he would not go back to his show following an an abrupt six-week suspension of the popular TBN-sponsored program by Jan Crouch, TBN's vice president for programming.

Though John Casoria, TBN's general counsel first told WorldNetDaily the show's suspension was simply a traditional hiatus in lieu of seasonal programming, that statement was later revised to confirm that the network believed Lindsey's program "placed Arabs in a negative light."

Lindsey responded to this allegation: "I don't have to cast radical Muslims in a bad light. If the intimidation and persecution of moderate Muslims makes radical Islam look bad, that is because it is bad – not that I 'cast' them in a bad light. But I have never cast the Arabs as a race in a bad light."

Casoria said he could not recall specific examples from Lindsey's programs that were anti-Arab or anti-Muslim, but he expressed the network's concern about how Muslims are portrayed.

"TBN is a worldwide ministry; we have an entire channel that airs 24 hours a day, seven days a week in Arabic," he said. "We are trying to reach the Islamic world and open a dialogue with them regarding Christ and Christianity."

Casoria explained, "We do not feel that the best witness of Christ is to bash them but rather to show them the nature of Christ – the way Christ said to present himself – and that is through love, understanding and the presentation of the gospel to them."

Lindsey argued, however, his program is not shown in the Middle East.

"My show is produced for the Western world and for Christians who are at the most risk from radical Islam," he said.

Lindsey has been associated with TBN since its inception in the early 1970s.

He told WND that he has "no ax to grind" with TBN, saying, "I've been happy with my opportunities for ministry at TBN. I'm thankful for the platform TBN gave me. I will speak at the gates of hell as long as they don't tell me what to say. But it appears that they are now telling me what not to say – so sadly, it's time to move on."

Lindsey also announced that he is taking his popular television program to other outlets beginning in early February. His new half-hour news and commentary series will be called "The Hal Lindsey Report." A new video version of it will also be streamed on Lindsey's website.

When the New York Times surveyed all book sales for the decade of the 1970s, it found that Lindsey's had far outsold all other authors. His "Late Great Planet Earth" alone sold more than 32 million copies.

World Net Daily
January, 2006

For more information on this topic, Click Here

GLOBAL JIHAD
Iran leader: Islam to 'rule the world'
Urges Muslims to get ready for coming of 'messiah'

Islam must prepare to rule the world, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad told a crowd of theological students in Iran's holy city of Qom, according to a report.

"We must believe in the fact that Islam is not confined to geographical borders, ethnic groups and nations. It's a universal ideology that leads the world to justice," Ahmadinejad said Jan. 5, according to Mehran Riazaty, a former Iran analyst for the Central Command of the Coalition Forces in Baghdad.

Ahmadinejad, who has drawn global attention recently for his contention the Holocaust was a "myth," said: "We don't shy away from declaring that Islam is ready to rule the world."

Riazaty, in a post on the website Regime Change Iran, said the Iranian president emphasized his current theme that the return of the Shiite messiah, the Mahdi, is not far away, and Muslims must prepare for it.

According to Shiites, the 12th imam disappeared as a child in the year 941. When he returns, they believe, he will reign on earth for seven years, before bringing about a final judgment and the end of the world.

Ahmadinejad is urging Iranians to prepare for the coming of the Mahdi by turning the country into a mighty and advanced Islamic society and by avoiding the corruption and excesses of the West.

"We must prepare ourselves to rule the world and the only way to do that is to put forth views on the basis of the Expectation of the Return," Ahmadinejad said. "If we work on the basis of the Expectation of the Return [of the Mahdi], all the affairs of our nation will be streamlined and the administration of the country will become easier."

Riazaty pointed out that Iran's speaker of parliament, Mehdi Kahrubi, said Saturday that some people working closely with Ahmadinejad believe the Mahdi probably will return in the next two years, which means Iran needs to start building more hotels.

World Net Daily
January, 2006

For more information on this topic, Click Here

MEDIA MATTERS

First TBN drops Lindsey, now Lindsey drops TBN
Best-selling author says Christian network tried to muzzle his views on radical Islam

Hal Lindsey, considered the best-selling non-fiction writer alive today, has notified the Trinity Broadcasting Network he will not return to his twice-weekly Christian commentary program, "The International Intelligence Briefing," because of what he considers to be efforts to muzzle his opinions about radical Islam.

Lindsey, author of "The Late Great Planet Earth" and many other best-selling books and a weekly columnist for WND, has anchored the program for the last 12 years on the world's largest Christian network.

The announcement follows an abrupt six-week suspension of the popular TBN-sponsored program by Jan Crouch, TBN's vice president for programming.

"I also seek to show that radical Islam poses the greatest danger ever faced by the United States," he added. "I believe that God called me as 'a watchman on the wall' to warn America and I must obey – although it is sometimes unpopular."

On the other hand, Casoria told WND he believes the extremists are not Muslims at all but have "hijacked the religion."

Lindsey contends that "the extremists are the ones most literally following the Quran and the Hadith, which are the most holy and authoritative books of the Muslim religion. This is why violence has erupted from Muslims in virtually every century since its birth."

Casoria said he could not recall specific examples from Lindsey's programs that were anti-Arab or anti-Muslim, but he expressed the network's concern about how Muslims are portrayed.

Lindsey argued, however, his program is not shown in the Middle East.

"My show is produced for the Western world and for Christians who are at the most risk from radical Islam," he said.

Lindsey has been associated with TBN since its inception in the early 1970s.

World Net Daily
January, 2006

For more information on this topic, Click Here

Other related articles from other sources:

The Peoples' (Conditional) Right to Know

Last month Italian authorities arrested three Algerians who were members of the al Qaida -linked terror group GSPC.

The three were plotting attacks on ships, railway stations and stadiums in the United States in a bid to outdo the casualties caused on 9/11, said Interior Minister Giuseppe Pisanu.

The arrests made front page news in newspapers in Italy, Britain and France. But apparently the only U.S. newspaper to mention them was the Philadelphia Inquirer, in a short AP dispatch on page A-6. The AP did not mention that the principal targets of the plotters were in the U.S.

The incuriosity of our news media about the plotters and their plots is curious, especially in light of the mysterious death of Joel Hinrichs, 21, a Muslim convert who, wearing a suicide vest, blew himself up Oct. 1 on a park bench outside the stadium in Norman where the university of Oklahoma football team was playing Kansas State. When Hinrichs' apartment was searched after his death, the FBI found a plane ticket to Algeria.

Perhaps the Algerian plotters went unmentioned because describing how they were caught -- the Italian authorities were listening in on their telephone conversations -- would interfere with a current journalistic meme.

On December 16th, the New York Times published a story revealing that the National Security Agency has been listening in on conversations between al Qaida suspects abroad and people in the United States without first obtaining warrants.

The editors of the New York Times are in high dudgeon. The Bush administration has instituted "a major shift in intelligence gathering practices," the Times declared in an editorial.

The editors knew this wasn't true, because on May 27th, 1999, the Times printed a story by reporter Niall McKay about Echelon, a much broader electronic intercept program begun during the Clinton administration. I could find no editorials in the New York Times criticizing Echelon. Apparently, warrantless electronic intercept programs threaten civil liberties only when a Republican is president.

Journalists who are not supposed to be expressing opinions in the news columns make their views known by the term they use -- "whistle blower" -- to describe the person or persons who told the New York Times about the ultra-secret NSA program.

What, you may ask, is the difference between a whistle blower and a leaker?

A whistle blower is someone who discloses secrets helpful to Democrats or embarrassing to Republicans.

A leaker, on the other hand, is someone who discloses secrets helpful to Republicans or embarrassing to Democrats. The person or persons who told journalists that Valerie Plame, wife of Joseph C. Wilson of uranium-in-Niger fame, worked at the CIA invariably are described as "leakers."

It remains to be seen whether the person or persons who outed Ms. Plame committed a crime. It is clear that the person or persons who revealed the existence of the NSA program have done so.

And this is a crime that could have serious consequences. Those who have something to hide change their behavior when alerted they may be under surveillance. Since the New York Times story appeared, there has been a surge in the purchase of large quantities of disposable cell phones by people from the Middle East and Pakistan, ABC News reported Jan. 12th.

Disposable cell phones are popular with drug dealers and terrorists because they are all but impossible to track. Such phones were used as detonators in the Madrid train attacks in 2004.

Journalists excuse putting Americans at risk by disclosing information helpful to terrorists on the grounds of "the peoples' right to know." But "the peoples' right to know" apparently doesn't extend to major portions of the Barrett report, which is due to be released Thursday.

David Barrett is the independent counsel who investigated Henry Cisneros, secretary of housing and urban development in the Clinton administration.

Mr. Barrett reportedly found evidence of abuses of power by Clinton administration officials in the Justice department and the Internal Revenue Service.

Much of the Barrett report has been suppressed, without a murmur from journalists who complain about the NSA intercept program.

The entire Barrett report could be released without endangering national security, and it is about actual abuses of power, while critics have been unable to identify any in the NSA intercept program.

Apparently if the information is embarrassing to Democrats, the people don't have a right to know about it.

By Jack Kelly

For more information on this topic, Click Here