On January 30, in Boynton Beach, Florida, two street evangelists, Tite Sufra, 24, and Stephen Ocean, 23, were shot and killed. Sufra was shot at point blank range by an 18 year old man they had been witnessing to a few minutes earlier. Ocean was shot in the back when he tried to run away. Then, after he fell to the ground, his attacker finished him off by shooting him in the back of the head.
These murders are part of a growing trend; violence against Christians. Another example is the murder of Jim Pullion, who was killed in front of his granddaughter’s high school in Owasso Michigan. His crime? Handing out pro-life literature. In an unrelated incident, Pastor Fred Winters was murdered while preaching in his pulpit in Maryville, Illinois. Meanwhile in Texas, an arsonist has burnt 11 churches to the ground.
The response of most of the national media to all of these events is to ignore them. This prompted Gary Cass of the Christian Anti-Defamation Commission to ask, “If two Muslims, or two feminists or two homosexuals were murdered, wouldn’t the media be all over it?”
So, what’s your theory? Why do you think the media has largely ignored these stories and the growing trend of violence against Christians?
As Christians we must remember that people, especially those on the left, serve the god of this world, and therefore they hate us.
Partly it’s the self-righteous hypocrites and nut jobs who misrepresent and distort the teachings of Christ, and also its because true Christianity does not seek to justify, but in fact is a condemnation of self, and all the perverse and evil things that people do.
Its interesting but I remember reading an article by someone who studied peoples passwords that they use to log in to things. They said that a surprising % of them were nasty and hateful slurs towards Christians “I hate Jesus” and “Christians suck” etc.. They really do hate us, and those who look at the past and think humanity is somehow progressed or evolved past the brutality and hatred of the past are dreaming. They do hate us, and the days are coming when we will be persecuted and become second class citizens and even be executed for the teachings of Christ as described in Revelation. Don’t underestimate the darkness of the human soul especially when they’ve been fed a bunch of lies about Christians and Christianity.
By: cupofwrath on February 15, 2010
at 3:32 am
I believe that much of the media are university educated people that have been taught that Chistians teach hate. Therefore, are to be thought of, and shown in a poor light. The mainstream media is the first to show a proclaimed Christian that kills an abortion doctor. But won’t show up to any event that shows Christians in a positive light.
I belive when the case comes to trial on this 18 year old, his lawyer will use a defence that the Christians were using hate speach against this individual. The media will find any witnesses they can to cast these two evangelists as hate mongers, and the murderer as driven over the edge by their evangelism.
We must always remember we are in this world to show the Love of Christ to the world and we know Biblically that we will be persecuted. Many times thru history it is persecution that actually has proclaimed the truth of Christ. While a comfortable Christian many times hasn’t done anything to proclaim Christ as Savior and Lord.
By: Kim Stevens on February 15, 2010
at 5:21 pm
Maybe my previous post was a bit harsh, but I do believe that there is a war against Christians going on in the world. How many college kids can tell you about the Salem witch trials or the inquisition but know nothing about how Christians have historically been mistreated and even massacred around the world in places like Japan and other places.
And then they don’t even know the facts, like that the inquisition was often used to persecute other Christians like the knights templar or that it was other Christians who put a stop to the Salem witch trials saying that torturing people to get confessions was ridiculous and unChristian.
By: Cupofwrath.com on February 16, 2010
at 12:17 am
Cupofwrath, I don’t think your last post was harsh. I think you are correct. There is a growing hostility against Christians, both in this country and around the world, and it will only get worse as we see the day approaching. You are also correct in your historical analysis. Christians have been the victim of the sword far more often than they have wielded it.
By: markcarlton on February 16, 2010
at 12:24 pm
Mark,
An excellent observation. I recall briefly hearing about the Texas church arson incidents late last week. If not mistaken I think it may have been via the local newspaper (I live in Oklahoma, so the story was probably more news worthy vs outlets on the left & right coasts for example).
Since I don’t watch the news or read the newspapers regularly anything I say is really just an opinion at best. However, since Christ Himself said that the world would hate His followers (John 15:17-19), I believe that from a Biblical perspective, we can take Jesus’ words to the bank.
Grace and peace be with you.
By: Christopher on February 16, 2010
at 2:52 pm
Cupofwrath …
Just wanted to “second” Mark’s affirmation, I didn’t read anything from your comments(s) that sounded harsh.
In addition to direct attacks/persecutions against Christianity, the anti-christian worldview has in some respects accomplished an agenda to keep Christians silent via political correctness. Though we should all practice censorship, I do think that sometimes we can censor ourselves at the expense of truth and God-ly principle(s).
This is not to insinuate militant responses toward the hostility projected at us nor to force our voices and opinions, lest we forget the ministry of reconciliation that we have been charged with. Rather, God willing; may He grant us the wisdom, and spirit to proclaim the gospel, defend and contend for the faith, and be ready to give an answer for why we believe so that others may be snatched from the fires of hell as well.
Grace and peace be with you
By: Christopher on February 16, 2010
at 3:14 pm
Thomas Sowell had this observation this week: “The most politically effective totalitarian systems have gotten people to give up their own freedom to vent their resentment or hatred at other people – under Communism, the capitalists; under Nazis, the Jews.”
Perhaps the left is developing a simular hatred for Christians for the same reason.
For Sowell’s compete commentary see:http://www.wnd.com/index.php/index.php?pageId=125244
By: Arlo on February 16, 2010
at 6:02 pm
Thanks Mark,
Chris,
Point well taken…we must avoid a militant “us against them” mentality and being resentful because even though there is so much hostility out there we have to boldly proclaim the gospel with love.
Thomas Sowell’s right, and I suspect that during the tribulation period Christians will be scapegoated for the world’s problems as other groups have been in the past. There is a growing move toward a militant Atheist ideology that seeks to ridicule and stamp out Christianity, as if when Christianity and “organized” religion are removed from the world all the problems will be solved and there will be global peace. Combined with a supernatural false prophet proclaiming that man is god I can see it all coming together, whether sooner or later.
By: Cupofwrath.com on February 16, 2010
at 9:24 pm
Pastor
It really is unfortunate that people are still being killed today for bringing the Good News.
That said,it is possible that there might have been an attempt to evangelize to a group of gang members hanging on the street corner,for example-the Book tells us to be wise as serpents.
But,persecution of persons of other faiths also goes on around the world e.g. in India,persecution of minority Moslems by majority Hindus.
Tunji
By: tunji on February 18, 2010
at 2:32 pm
Tunji, The incident I have shared was not an attempt to evanglize a group of gang members, but your post is a good example of what Kim was talking about, an attempt to blame the victim.
I have spent quite a bit of time in India, so I know that you are correct when you speak of the persecution of minorities in that country. I would only add that Christians also experience this. In fact, virtually every Christian I met there has experiened it to some degree. However, the Indian media does report it, and either seeks to justify or condemn it in the editorial pages of its major newspapers.
However, non of that addresses the question I raised. Here’s the deal: anti-Christian sentiment is on the rise in the United States, as is acts of violence against Christians, but our mainstream media — which is quick to pick up on and report bigotry and violence against virtually any other group — is practically silent about it. The question I asked was, why? Any answers to that question?
By: markcarlton on February 18, 2010
at 8:48 pm
Kim, I’m sorry it took me so long to approve your post. For some reason it was in my spam folder. Any future posts you make should show up right away. I agree with your first paragraph completely. I wouldn’t be surprised if the prediction in your second paragraph turns out to be correct, but my guess is the national media will continue to ignore the story. Good post.
By: markcarlton on February 18, 2010
at 8:55 pm
Pastor
1 Is it a normal reaction for people preached to shoot the preacher,even chasing the other one that tried to run away in the head? These are very unusual reactions,wouldn’t you think? If so,why do you think these evangelisers might not have applied wisdom,in choosing where and when to preach?
2 As to the silence of the US media,their silence may be due to their perception that the events are not particularly newsworthy.I’m not saying the silence is right,but these mammon-driven publications are driven by sales figures and targets.
Tunji
By: tunji on February 19, 2010
at 10:07 am
Tunji, because the national media has ignored this story, all we have to go on are the reports in the local media. There is nothing to indicate that your are correct and that the evangelists were in any way responsible for the attack. In fact, the attack happened about 15 minutes after they had finished witnessing to the man who attacked them.
It bothers me that you would assume the worst about these brothers of yours. You are also ignoring the other incidents I referenced in my post. Was pastor Fred Winters doing someting that wrong in preaching a sermon from the the pulpit of his own church? You ask if such things are normal? It is becoming so. That was my point.
No, Tunji, the others who have posted her have it right. There is a culture war raging in our country which has polarized our nation. Because of this there is a growing and very ominous hatred of Christians in this country. This hatred is coming from the left, which controls accademia, the entertainment and news media. Because of this there is a willful silence whenever Christians are attacked. You see, Tunji, the of left-wing media is too busy fanning the flames to be concerned about them. Kim explained it well:
Arlo, Cup of Wrath and Christopher are, in my opinion, probably right about what it will ultimately result in. Like you, Tunji, the media assumes that if Christians are victims of violence they must have done something to deserve it.
By: markcarlton on February 19, 2010
at 2:01 pm
Good afternoon Mark,
Thanks for your comments on my post. Hope you have a wonderful weekend.
A possible reason for why this story isn’t covered in the media is there are only about 5 corporations that own most all of the mainstream media now. You can watch any of the news networks and they all seem to cover the same stories each day. These corporations seem to have slowly been working to silence any Christian voice in our nation. As with the Walt Disney Corporation which owns ABC, much of their programing seems to promote any view that goes against Biblical teaching.
Are these few companies creating their own form of censorship to keep any positive Christian stories out of the media as well as out of television programming and movies, unless it is to cast the Christian in a negative light?
By: Kim Stevens on February 19, 2010
at 8:30 pm
I don’t think its all about money with the media and their left wing bias. Look at how well conservative media like talk radio is doing, and how the NY times and other left-wing media are going bankrupt. Its simple economics that when the media is almost all slanted left, and the people don’t like it, the few media outlets that are more conservative will prosper.
These people are ideological and have been trying to indoctrinate and trick people for years, cherry-picking stories and spinning everything the way they want, and now that some conservative media outlets are fighting fire with fire they are crying foul. Its just such a disgrace. Its only free speech if they agree with it.
David Horowitz talks about how liberals are great at sort of commandeering institutions and identifying and then driving out all the conservatives and fair-minded people, creating a monolithic liberal bias there. They sort of band together and overpower all the free thinking members of the silent majority. They scare people into silence, slandering people and calling them racists if they have anything to say about it. Alot of people are too afraid to speak out.
We need to really band together and make a stand against them whereever they are. There are no Catholics or Protestants or baptists or premillennialists or tea-partiers or Capitalists, just conservatives who are taking this country back from the edge of the abyss.
By: Cupofwrath.com on February 20, 2010
at 10:05 pm
I am encouraged by the present populist uprising against big government, but in the long runs I think the side which controls academia and the news and entertainment media will win. They do this by gradually moving us to the left. The only problem comes when they over-reach and wake up the masses. That’s what I think happened this time. hopefully in will make a difference. Another hopeful sign — an this goes to Kim’s point — is the new media. It is harder for the establishment to control the message, set the agenda and get away with lies and half-truths these days.
your last post. It had a link to a Seventh Day Adventist site. During my college days I worked for a company which was owned by Adventists, and I had a number of Adventist friends. We agreed on my things, but there were, and are, a number of things they taught (and teach) that I strongly disagree with, including their “private interpretations” of the prophetic scripture.
By: markcarlton on February 22, 2010
at 8:54 pm
I was actually trying to get info about them, and there’s plenty of things I disagree with them on, like soul sleep. I could care less what Evelyn White or whatever her name had to say, but I didn’t find anything all that more egregious than what one might find in an average evangelical church these days?
By: Cupofwrath.com on February 23, 2010
at 1:44 am
Pastor Mark
There isn’t any deficit of Church people with good hearts and a deficit of common sense,like the Americans who recently wanted to take children out of Haiti without any kind of documentation.
That is why I am surprised that you can consider the suggestion by me that these people might possibly have chosen the wrong corner of the street to evangelize,as blaming the victim.
Yes, there were riots in Northern Nigeria when Mr Bonnke once came to preach to the dominantly Moslem population.There was the recorded case of the Catholic priest in Eastern Nigeria who led his congregation to destroy a local shrine,and was run out of town .These involved group action.
At the personal level I have been spat upon,ridiculed by co Directors over my religious beliefs etc.But reacting to one on one evangelism by murder must be a rather rare occurrence,I believe,even in the USA.This is why I suggested it might be the work of hoodlums,or possibly a drug addict.
Perhaps the media such as Fox is more concerned trying to see whether the color of the President’s handkerchief is red,and if so,gleefully declare that that is one more piece of evidence of his ‘socialism’.Than,comment on dead evangelizers.
Tunji
By: tunji on February 23, 2010
at 4:08 pm
Hi Cupofwrath. I actually used to watch “It is Written,” years ago when George Vanderman was the host of the program. It was a well done program and so smothly done that most of the time you didn’t even realize he was a seventh day adventist, and many times I agreed with him. But there were other times when he would make his views on things like Elen White known. Also, he was a bit of a sissy. You know the type some one once spoke of when he spoke of three sexess: Male, Female and Clergy.
Be that as it may, I thought I knew the point you were making by referencing the article, and much of it was pretty good. But the author did veer into some adventist distinctives. However, you did have a point when you said that its no worse than what can be found in the average evangelical church these days.
By: markcarlton on February 23, 2010
at 8:43 pm
Tunji, as with the case you have judged earlier, all of the facts are not in the case in Haiti which you reference. You are right that murder for evangelism is an unusual occurrence, but my point is that hatred of Christians and the violence that accompanies it are becoming more and more common in this country. Your explanation of Fox’s silence is cute, though our president’s Marxism is obvious enough that the accumulation of additional evidence is gratuitous. But, since you’re in a theorizing mood, any theories on the silence of the majority of the media on this and other acts of violence against Christians?
By: markcarlton on February 23, 2010
at 8:52 pm
Hi Mark, Yeah that was the basic point about persecution of the end-times. My previous comments were (2nd time this thread) a bit harsh. Its not that I don’t care what she said. Without opening a can-of-worms about whether there can be modern “prophets” or prophetical gifts, there are some things she said that are easily disproven in scripture. No one gets a free pass on that.
By: Cupofwrath.com on February 24, 2010
at 1:20 am
Tunji,
I don’t know why Fox news didn’t cover this, but the point has been made here, that a professional baby-killer is hailed as a martyr and practically given a 21 gun salute by the lamestream media, but an abortion protester who is murdered in front of a highschool doesn’t get coverage.
By: Cupofwrath.com on February 24, 2010
at 4:07 am
Pastor Mark
You asked for the theories,and you indeed had been given a possible explanation- the mainstream media do not consider such events newsworthy.
They would rather continue their unrelenting drivel against the President of the United States-apparently their readers and listeners consider such things worth reporting on.They are driven by circulation figures and advert revenues.
Tunji
By: tunji on February 24, 2010
at 6:08 pm
Hi Cup of Wrath. With regard to Elen White, despite Adventist attempts at defending her, Elen White was also a plagiarist.
Tunji, the mainstream media is guilty of unrelenting drivel, but it is slobbering all over itself defending the President, not opposing him. Certainly you are correct in saying that the mainstream media does not consider the shooting of Christians newsworthy, but that invites the question, why not. Cupofwrath is correct in pointing out that they considered the shooting of late term abortion doctor, George Tiller, newsworthy (which it was), but why the silence of an equally brutal murder of an anti-abortion activist?
By: markcarlton on February 24, 2010
at 7:49 pm
Hi All The Love of God and Jesus Christ be with you.
In light of the recent Christian killings in Nigeria I would ask if Tunji would investigate and let this forum know what really happened, your call Tunji. the FOX news story is http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,583433,00.html
FOX says more than 200 were killed in Christian/ muslim violence.
Today’s kids grow up in a classroom that despises God, and does not even offer intelligent design as an alternative to the flawed and untrue theory of evolution. So why would the media, less FOX News, air stories about something that is not even taught in public schools?
These events are foretold in Daniel, Isiah, Revelations and other places in the bible so, we as Christians should not be that surprised.
By: Somecandor on March 12, 2010
at 1:46 am
somecandor
Busy.
If you would Google ‘Riots in Jos’,I have no doubt you will obtain all the info you need on that riot,and the one 1 week ago,in Jos.
Tunji
By: tunji on March 13, 2010
at 7:44 pm
Somecandor
Delayed response.
Plateau State is a north- central State in Nigeria,with Jos as its capital.In the north of the state are largely Moslems,while Xtians are more in southern Plateau State.The balance of the State’s population consists of animists and a variety of minority beliefs.
The problems in Jos are a mix of ethnic,political,religious,land rights, and other problems.Every 4 years or so in recent times,there have been serious disturbances.The frequency of the bloodletting and the scale as well as the extent of preparation for conflict are more elaborate recently.There was much destruction and loss of lives by both Christians and Moslems in January and March 2010.
Starting from the immediate.In January it seems that a Christian who was displaced and had his house burnt down in the sectarian disturbance 3 or 4 years ago, returned to the land and tried to rebuild.He was confronted by Moslems who said the real estate now belonged to a Moslem in the area,who had used the absence of a claimant to the land,to ‘possess’ the property.
The Christian’s friends,relatives and supporters came and some minor scuffling and fighting took place that day.It is said that the Christians killed a pig and spilled its blood on the land,knowing quite well that no true Moslem would thereafter go near that land.The Moslems came back at night and killed several Xtians,even in other parts of the town.Christians rallied and murdered Muslims, and so it went on for several days.
However,in one massive retaliation Christians attacked an isolated village on the outskirts of town.Several dozen men,women and children were killed,many bodies were dumped into wells.
It is widely believed that the attack by at least 200 Moslem mercenaries in March was in retaliation for the January incident- at least 500 Christians died in March.Most of them came from 3 isolated villages on the outskirts of Jos.The killers were people from the neighbouring, almost-entirely Moslem State of Bauchi.It was widely reported that they were paid a specific sum for each Pastor killed,and another sum for each other person killed.Many of the killers wore Nigerian Army uniforms.The Army Divisional Commander Major General Maina,a Moslem, is openly said to have aided and abetted the killings,ignoring intelligence reports of strange movements around the villages in the days prior to the attack.
It is instructive to note that practically nothing in tangible terms has been done to address the deep seated roots of the problems that lead to such inhuman slaughter.The problems in Jos are not very dissimilar to those in say the Niger Delta of Nigeria,or to those in the former Yugoslavia.
Jos right now is a city divided.Secret killings continue,and at least 20 people,Muslim and Christian, have ‘disappeared’ since the March mayhem.Personally,I have had to take extraordinary measures to protect our Jos branch and staff in recent weeks.
I hope this has been of some help.
Tunji
By: tunji on April 9, 2010
at 3:39 pm
All
Having survived the latest spasm of sectarian violence in Jos,our Jos Branch Manager Mr S O G Wukwa passed away on Tuesday 15th June 2010 (aged 51 years) in a motor accident-the only fatality, although other occupants of the vehicle received various degrees of injury.
The accident occurred a few miles to Bauchi,while on a business trip.He is survived by his elderly father,a retired clergyman.
May the Lord receive his soul.
Tunji
By: tunji on June 22, 2010
at 1:37 pm
Amen, Tunji. My condolences on your loss.
By: markcarlton on June 22, 2010
at 1:47 pm