BREAKING: Eritrea Now Asks Men To Marry At Least Two Wives Or Face IMPRISONMENT!

Activists have posted a memo allegedly by the Government of Eritrea asking men to marry at least two wives due to acute shortage of men occasioned by casualties during the civil war with Ethiopia.

In the statement written in Arabic assures of government support to the polygamous marriages.

The activists translate it thus, “Based on the law of God in polygamy, and given the circumstances in which the country is experiencing in terms of men shortage, the Eritrean department of Religious Affairs has decided on the following .”

First that every man shall marry at least two women and the man who refuses to do so shall be subjected to life imprisonment with hard labour.

“The woman who tries to prevent her husband from marrying another wife shall be punished to life imprisonment,” alleges the activists in their translation.

And Kenyans have reacted to these announcements with bemusement with some suggesting if they could change their citizenship immediately and take advantage of the new laws in the country.

“At this rate, I can see the Eritrea Government spreading new embassy outlets in Kakamega, Embu, Siaya and Busia counties to help hasten visa processing,” said one Kenyan on facebook.

“He is so so considerate of women! That’s good of him,” said another.

The Standard could not immediately authenticate the document nor the translation and it was not clear why the statement was not in the other two national languages, Tigrinya and Tigre.

The May 1998 to June 2000 Eritrean-Ethiopian war saw 150,000 soldiers killed from either sides but having a bigger impact on male population in the tiny Eritrea nation who were then just 4million people in total.

Extract from: sde.co.ke

NOT CALLED DID YOU SAY? - By Tosan Okotie

Not called did you say, I think you should say not heard the call- William Booth

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 “And He said unto them, Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature. He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned”. (KJV)  Mark 16:15, 16

This was the last command of Jesus to His disciples before His ascension, and as many as received Him, He gave power to become His sons (Disciples). We cannot deny this call; it is our utmost duty as believers. We have been saved to serve.

“Therefore said he unto them, the harvest truly is great, but the laborers are few: pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest, that he would send forth laborers into his harvest”. (KJV)  Luke 10:2

Someone once said, “The greatest crime a believer could ever commit is to die with the gospel not having shared it to others”.

“The Great Commission is not an option to be considered; it is a command to be obeyed” -Hudson Taylor

The command has been to ‘go’, but we have stayed- in body, gifts, prayer and influence. He has asked us to be witnesses unto the uttermost parts of the earth… but 99% of Christians have kept puttering around in the homeland” -Robert Savage, Latin American Missions

There is work still waiting for you, so you must not idly stand, do it now while life remaineth, you shall rest in Jesus land – VOM.

Irrespective of your educational status, family background, nationality or race, God has need of you. God never calls the qualified, He rather qualifies the called.

Sometimes we speak of great men that God used. These were men God raised for Himself.

These men were mighty in intellect, strong and unwavering in faith, dauntless in courage, tender in spirit, warm in affection and ready to surrender all to the Lord. Every believer has been called to spread the good news of salvation.

Martin Luther carried the message of justification by faith; John Wesley heralded the grace of sanctification; David Brainerd was able to make a highway for God’s work among the Red Indians through prayer and fasting; Charles G. Finney was a man God used mightily to promote the nineteenth century Great Awakening that blew across America and Great Britain. Kathryn Kuhlman was a woman of faith; Aimee McPherson spearheaded the Four Square Gospel Church. 

George Muller’s life shows that God is still the living God and that He is faithful to those who put their trust in Him; David Livingstone was used to spread the gospel by faith in the dark continent of Africa; Charles Spurgeon was a staunch defender of the evangelical faith; D.L Moody, though not educated but highly respected by the educated, depopulated hell by millions of souls.

Smith Wigglesworth was used of God to demonstrate the power of God through preaching and healing; Samuel Morris’ life is a challenge to all African believers that they can also do the work of God wherever they find themselves. God has no more precious gifts to give to a church or an age than men who live as the embodiment of His will and carry the message of salvation to their Judea, Samaria and the outermost part of the earth.

The great cry on every lip is for men and women who can impact this world in a positive way; men and women who do not help temper the ruinous of evil.

God would use those men who have no trust in their own power but who depend upon the might of the Lord. They are people whose relationship with God is outstanding and exemplary. The men God uses are men of integrity and faithfulness. They are people whose character cannot be questioned, men of clean hands and a pure heart.

God wants to make you His agent to take the message of life to a world in turmoil. He can use you. Shalom!

Islamic State: The Horror and the World Harvest - By Tosan Okotie

Every generation has agents that conspire against God and His kingdom. These conspirators go by various names. God has however remained the unbeatable champion. His Word cannot be broken. The kingdom of this world certainly will become the kingdom of His dear Son (Jesus).  His words are quite reassuring: After this I looked, and there before me was a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, tribe, people and language, standing before the throne and before the Lamb. They were wearing white robes and were holding palm branches in their hands. (Revelations 7:9)
'He will build His church and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it'. (Matthew 16:18)

Our focus in this edition of God's Heartbeat is the Islamic States (IS), which is also known as Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS). History tells us that it began far back as 2004 as Al Qaeda in Iraq, before rebranding to ISIS two years later. It was an ally of and had similarities with Osama bin Laden's al Qaeda. Both were radical anti-Western militant groups devoted to establishing an independent Islamic state in the region.

ISIS unlike Al Qaeda has proven to be more brutal and more effective at controlling territories it has seized. ISIS is putting governing structures in place to rule the territories the group conquers once the dust settles on the battlefield. Her initial atrocities were against Christians but it later adopted the Nicholo Machiavellian principle to crush all religious minorities and Muslims who stand in its way to establishing its structure of terror.

ISIS' beginnings can be traced to the Second Gulf War, when the U.S. along with a small coalition of other nations, invaded Iraq and toppled Dictator Saddam Hussein. Amongst the diverse insurgency fighting coalition forces and new Iraqi government was the extremist Islamic group Al-Qaeda in Iraq.
ISIS was formed out of the Al-Qaeda affiliate by Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, a mysterious jihadist who is believed to have been born in Iraq in 1971. Initially centered on Iraq and known as the Islamic State of Iraq (ISI), ISIS added the second S for Syria to its name as that nation's civil war erupted several years ago, according to Aaron Y. Zelin of the Washington Institute.
In late 2006 AQI joined with eight other Islamist insurgent groups to form the Islamic State of Iraq (ISI), without permission from the Al-Qaeda leadership. The name chosen for this new group indicated its ambitions: it was more than a mere jihadi group, but an embryonic caliphate, governed by Islamic law, to which all Muslims within its territory owed allegiance.

The Characteristics are as follows:
1. Claim to be working for Allah, the Muslim name for God.
2. They force adherents of other religions to convert to Islam or face execution.
3. ISIS have overrun communities and claimed territory as theirs leaving destruction in their wake.
4. The terrorist groups have gone on a murderous rampage in their respective vicinities, killing women, children and even their fellow Muslims.
5. They receive massive funding from unknown sources which allows them to purchase deadly state of the art weapons to carry out their attacks.

The Islamic State, which has declared a caliphate in parts of Iraq and Syria, has prompted tens of thousands of Yazidis and Christians to flee for their lives during their push to within a 30-minute drive of the Kurdish regional capital Arbil.

The Horror
The extent of heartlessness of the ISIS is beyond description. The organization has garnered international outrage for its brutal treatment of religious minorities and fellow Muslims in the territory they occupy in Syria and Iraq. Allegations of varying validity have included reports of beheading, massacres of prisoners, and attempts to exterminate Christian communities. On Aug. 14, United Nations special representatives released a joint statement calling for the highest level of humanitarian in Iraq because of ISIS. "We are gravely concerned by continued reports of acts of violence, including sexual violence against women and teenage girls and boys belonging to Iraqi minorities,"  The statement continued:  "Atrocious accounts of abduction and detention of Yazidi Christians, as well as Turkomen and Shabak women, girls and boys, and reports of savage rapes, are reaching us in an alarming manner." The UN estimated that as many as 1,500 Yazidi and Christian persons were forced into sexual slavery and tens of thousands have been forced from their homes.

ISIS Strategic Plan
One thing Christians must learn from the ISIS is plan. They are said to have a 20years strategic plan which they are working on. They don’t fight aimlessly. In certain Salafi-jihadi circles, a so-called strategic plan of Al-Qaeda was circulated. Al-Qaeda has ostensibly been working to implement this plan according to a two-decade timetable; beginning from 2000, 9/11 terrorist attacks, and would be concluded in 2020.

The widespread belief that Al-Qaeda's bloody activities are random and not governed by any clear strategy is a misconception. Dozens of documents on al-Qaeda's projects and long-term strategic plans, have well-defined goals.

For example, one security agency, nearly a year after the beginning of the conflict in Syria, was able to intercept correspondence between the leader of al-Nusra Front, Abu Mohammed al-Golani, and a prominent Al-Qaeda figure in Lebanon, outlining the jihadi group's plans after the fall of the Syrian regime, which included recruiting experts in medicine, chemistry, IT, and telecommunications, and spreading out across Lebanon in preparation for operations, recruitment and mobilization.
Some of the features of the plan were mentioned in a book published in 2005 by Jordanian journalist Fouad Hussein, titled Zarqawi – Al-Qaeda's Second Generation. Another book circulating in jihadi forums, titled This is How We See and Want Jihad, sheds light on the objectives, plans, and stages through which al-Qaeda wants to take power. The plan calls for expanding jihadi activities to cover the entire world, “to amplify the nation's strength and terrorize its enemies.” The plan is divided into seven phases, and covers two decades, from 2000 to 2020, the year “final victory” would be achieved.

The first phase from 2000 to 2003 is dubbed the awakening stage. This phase focused on “reawakening the nation” by “dealing a powerful blow to the head of the snake in New York. The aim: to push the United States to react in a way that would “crown al-Qaeda as the leader of the nation.” This is in reference to what al-Qaeda calls the US “crusade” against Islam with the invasion of Afghanistan and Iraq, which – according to al-Qaeda – made the Americans easy prey and al-Qaeda the viral brand it is today. This phase ended with the US occupation of Iraq in 2003.

Ø The second phase from 2003 to 2006 is dubbed the “eye-opening stage.” In this phase, al-Qaeda's plan was to perpetually engage the enemy in combat, while developing so-called “electronic jihad” capabilities, in preparation for the third phase.
In parallel, al-Qaeda would expand quietly in strategic parts of the Arab and Islamic world, while using Iraq as a base to build an army to be deployed in neighboring countries, also with the start of the third phase. In addition, efforts would be stepped up to raise funds from Muslims though charities and alms, to be diverted to al-Qaeda.
Ø The third phase from 2007 to 2010 is dubbed “rising up and standing on the feet,” a phase of proactive al-Qaeda activities. During this stage, important changes would be introduced in the region surrounding Iraq.
Ø The fourth phase, from 2010 to 2013, dubbed “recovery,” coincided in reality with the Arab Spring wave of uprisings and the crisis in Syria. In this phase, al-Qaeda would focus on toppling regimes by directly participating in insurgencies against them.
Ø The fifth phase from 2013 to 2016 would see the “declaration of the caliphate or the Islamic state,” al-Qaeda's ultimate goal. This phase would see many international transformations, beginning with the demise of the Anglo-Saxon axis and the emergence of new world powers that Muslims have no strong antagonisms with, such as India and China, in tandem with the exponential rise of al-Qaeda.
Ø The sixth phase from 2016 to 2020 is the phase of “total war.” Al-Qaeda's ideologues estimate that the beginning of 2016 would be the “beginning of the confrontation between faith and disbelief, which would begin in earnest after the establishment of the Islamic caliphate,” echoing Osama bin Laden's discourse in many of his speeches. This would be followed by the final phase, the phase of “final victory,” sometime in 2020. By then, according to al-Qaeda's plans, “the Islamic state's capabilities will be great beyond measure when Muslims would number more than 1.5 billion.
” Will al-Qaeda continue to grow in strength all the way to achieving victory in 2020?

ISIS and the World Harvest
As horrible as the ISIS situation is, God is beginning to use it to bring in mighty harvest. One of the mind-blowing testimonies filtering in recently is the conversion of some of the ISIS fighters. The most recent one was narrated by  a Youth With A Mission (YWAM) missionary in the Middle East. Speaking on The Voice of the Martyrs Radio Network,he said that one of YWAM's workers was introduced to an ISIS fighter who had killed a number of Christians. He even admitted to having enjoyed doing so, until he met Jesus in a dream.

"He [the jihadist] told this YWAM leader that he had begun having dreams of this man in white who came to him and said, 'You are killing my people.' And he started to feel really sick and uneasy about what he was doing," Fadely said.

She added that the militant was given a Bible by a Christian man who was about to be killed, which he took and read. "In another dream, Jesus asked him to follow him and he was now asking to become a follower of Christ and to be discipled," He added: "So who knows, perhaps this man will be like Saul in the Bible, who persecuted Christians and then turned from that persecution of the early church to become the Apostle Paul who led it.

Another ISIS Jihadist recently converted to Christianity after being left for death near the Eastern border of Syria where he was finally rescued by Christian missionaries from the region, reports the Aleppo Herald this morning. The man, that has miraculously survived multiple gun shot wounds after an altercation between ISIS and Syrian Army forces, was rescued by members of the Saint Dominican Catholic Presbytery of Ayyash hours after the conflict had erupted. The members of the Christian organization wanted to give the man a proper Christian burial and carried him over 26 kilometers before the man miraculously came back to life as he was believed to have died from his wounds.

The number of Muslim converts in the recent period, especially the last 14 years since the devastating Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks in the US. is said to be greater than  the entire 14 centuries of Islamic history.

"Many Muslims are saying, 'If ISIS is Islam, I'm leaving.' Some are becoming atheists," said Brother Rachid, who hosts a Christian program reaching Muslims called "Daring Questions" in Arabic language. "There is a huge wave of atheism in the Arab world right now and many are turning to Jesus Christ. Islam was never faced with this crisis before."

"Islam is going to collapse," added Brother Rachid, whose father is a Moroccan imam who lived as a secret Christian convert for 15 years. Pastor Fouad Rasho of Angered Alliance Church in Sweden, who has baptized more than a hundred former Muslims, maintained that ISIS causes many Muslims to come to Jesus.

"Every week I meet one or more persons who come to me and want to know more about Christianity and the Bible because they are very angry about being a Muslim. They don't want to continue to be Muslim," said Imran, who is also an immigrant from Syria.

Many converts keep their shift in religion a secret, fearing for their lives and for being an outcast. Imram (not his real name), a British college student from a Pakistani immigrant family, said leaving Islam is tough. "If someone leaves Islam and becomes an apostate, he is thrown out of his family; his family will be the first ones to abandon him”, he said "His friends will reject him and he will be killed and persecuted.

The Great Commission transcends just conversion. We are called to make disciples of all nations. The current harvest opens the door to a new challenge - the challenge of "Laborers"  who are willing to stake their lives to live among these converts and raise them to become formidable armies of the Lord. The harvest in this region is ripe.  The Prophet Jeremiah echoed their cry better: “...the harvest is past, the summer is ended but we are not saved” (Jeremiah 8:20)

* Tosan is An Associate Editor with God's Heartbeat Magazine

The Night Cometh...By Andrew Abah

"I must work the works of Him that sent Me, while it is day; the night cometh, when no man can work" (John 9:4).

In March 2015, God summoned over 200 mission leaders from several African nations for the 20th African Missions Summit(AMS 2015) to consider this verse of the Scripture. First, we saw the night personified as a man moving. The night is not static. It is moving and getting closer than when it began to move. This called for us to take a closer look at the divine agenda and to study God's timetable for the now like the Men of Issachar. We focused on Jesus and saw how He appropriated His time in the light of these reality.

 

To get a clearer picture of what Jesus may be saying in this verse, we need to imagine  a hard working farmer in days before modern farm machinery. He rose up early each day in order to be in the field before "first light" to take productive advantage of every minute of daylight in cultivating his crops in view of harvest. He knew that night would come, so he worked hard all day and when the night came he "rested hard"...well deserved rest for his diligence in the daylight. He knew that if he was going to have a crop to harvest, he must work diligently every waking minute because the time was short.

Jesus lived his whole life with a sense of the fierce urgency of now. He knew that his time on earth was limited, and his days here were numbered. In a short time he would have to return to the Father (John 12:8, 16:17, 28). Whatever he had to do or whatever was to be done for him had to be

done while the opportunity presented itself. It must be done immediately.

That’s why he said, “We must work the works of him that sent me, while it is day: the night cometh, when no man can work” (John 9:4).

He was about to cure a blind man on the Sabbath day, and he knew it would incur the wrath of the rigid, Sabbath-keeping Pharisees. But that didn’t matter. He had to break protocol and get the job done while the opportunity was there, for it might not come again.

In the King James Version, Jesus says, “I must do the works of him that sent me...”. However, all other translations say, “We must work the works of him that sent me...”. His sense of urgency must also be our sense of urgency.His earlier followers expressed that same urgency when they wrote, ““Behold, today is the day of salvation” (II Corinthians 6:2). And, Wherefore the Holy Ghost saith, today if you will hear his voice, harden not your hearts...” (Hebrews 3:7-8).

The call of scripture is ever and always one of urgency. Every page of the Bible says “today.” Every tick of the clock says “today.” Every beat of your heart says “today.” Every obituary column in the newspaper says “today.” All of God’s creation seems to cry out, “Behold, today is the day of salvation.”

We too need to live and labor and love with that sense of urgency. Life is short. Death is sure and time is passing. The lost are perishing. To presume on the future is dangerous (James 4:13-17). We must act now. We must work the works of him that sent Jesus while it is day - we must, for the night cometh when no man can work. This word from our Lord reminds us of the urgency of acting by God’s timing. Time will pass, we will die, and opportunities will disappear. If we delay, if we postpone, then we may just never get around to it.

In his famous article, “Come Before Winter,” Clarence McCartney highlights on things that must be done when the opportunity arises. He cited 2 Timothy 4:21 from the Message Bible: 'Try hard to get here before winter...' as his text. According to him, there are doors of opportunity that swing open for us, and if we do not enter, they close and will stay closed forever. There are tides in our lives, and if we do not ride them, the window of opportunity will soon ebb. There are voices speaking that a year from now, a season from now, will be silent, and they will speak no more. If we are going to do some things, then we must do them while the opportunity is with us, for it will soon be gone. We must not wait for a more convenient season. There is, then, a note of urgency in all aspects of life. We must do what needs to be done while we can, while there is an opportunity, for the privilege will soon pass away.

Jesus lived his whole life with a sense of the fierce urgency of now. He knew that his time on earth was limited, and his days here were numbered. In a short time he would have to return to the Father (John 12:8, 16:17, 28). Whatever he was to do or whatever was to be done for him had to be done while the opportunity presented itself. It must be done immediately. That’s why he said, “We must work the works of him that sent me, while it is day: the night cometh, when no man can work” (John 9:4).

In the King James Version, Jesus says, “I must do the works of him that sent me...”. However, all other translations say,“We must work the works of him that sent me...”. His sense of urgency must also be our sense of urgency. His earlier followers expressed that same urgency when they wrote, “Behold, today is the day of salvation” (II Corinthians 6:2). And, “Wherefore the Holy Ghost saith, to day if you will hear his voice, harden not your hearts...” (Hebrews 3:7-8).

Specifically, I think of the emerging trends in missions as I write this charge. Many nations that we could easily gain access into are getting closed. Mauritania, a country in the West African region used to be part of the Economic Community of West Africa States(ECOWAS). As Christians in ECOWAS countries, we didn't need a visa to enter Mauritania with the gospel. They have pulled out of ECOWAS to join the Arab League, making it absolutely difficult if not almost impossible to enter Mauritania not to talk of preaching the gospel.

This North East of Nigeria which is today ravaged by the Muslim Fundamentalist  was once open and friendly but the church did not take advantage of it to impact the region sufficiently with the gospel. We had the wrong impression that the door will remain open for ever. To access very good portion of the territory now is like the head of the camel going through the eyes of the needle.

Fred Markert once recalled the tragedy of missing the harvest time as he shared the story of Kublai Khan, the great Mongol leader. Khan  ruled the largest Empire the world has ever seen. It extended from the Pacific Ocean on the East to Poland on the West and from Russia on the North to India on the South. Mongol warriors were so fierce and determined that they even conquered China in spite of its Great Wall. In 1266 A.D, Marco Polo, the great explorer and adventurer went to Kublai Khan in his capital city. This fierce warrior’s heart was touched by the news of Christ’s death for the sins of the world. He sent Marco Polo back to Europe with a request to the leaders of Christianity: “Send me 100 men skilled in your religion….. And so I shall be baptized, and then all my barons and great men and their subjects. And so there will be more Christians here than they are in your parts”.

God has prepared one of the extraordinary moments of harvest for the largest empire the world had ever known, and then had delivered it to the Church! How could the Church help but jump at this incredible chance? After many years, only two missionaries came forward who were willing to endure the hardships necessary to bring the good news of Christ to the Mongolian empire and even they turned back half way into their appointment with destiny before reaching Mongolia. They left behind  the legacy of the greatest missed opportunity in church history. How did Kublai Khan respond to this silence from the west? He turned to Tibetan Buddhist, inviting them to spread their religion throughout his empire.

Dr. David Barrett’s work captioned: Chaos, Cosmos and Gospel revealed that because of the failure of the church to take advantage of the harvest while it was day time,  at one point more than half of the men in the nation were Buddhist Monks. What a tragedy!

Many seasoned missionaries whom the church heavily depended on for the great commission are gone to be with the Lord. Many labourers have fallen sick and can no longer contribute much to taking the light of the gospel to the dark places of the earth. Many souls waiting for the manifestations of the Sons of God have gone to Christless eternity. If help come when it is no longer needed, it is no longer helpful. We were told that an average of 85,000,000 people, on average, die every year. If we divide 85,000,000 by 365 days in a year, that means an average of 232,876 people are dying every day in this world.

This number would have increased with the increasing rate of terrorism, earthquake, etc. The rich man who died and went to hell desperately wanted his brothers to repent so they will not come to hell. He persuaded Father Abraham to deploy Lazarus to go reach out to them but it was too late. The Night for Lazarus to do mission had come. He cannot go back to the world any more. Do not forget the words of David to his friend Jonathan, “There is but a step between me and death.” So it is with all of us — just a step — a short step. And the uncertainty of life means that there is urgency in the call of Christ.

Every day, we pray to God for more labourers to deploy to where they are most need. We meet with thousands who are persuaded that God is beckoning on them to come over but they have reasons why they should continue to procrastinate, while the unreached people continue to cry: 'The harvest is past, the summer is ended, but we are not saved'. (Jeremiah 8:20). The church in Nigeria/Africa have enough financial resources to make meaningful impact in global missions but many missionaries have quit the mission field because of epileptic and sometimes complete lack of financial support.

Apostle Paul wrote to Timothy to make effort to come over before winter because he really needed him and some key material support. If help does not come before the winter, the help will no longer be helpful. Will you rise up now to do what you can do now before the night come?

Boko Haram: Digging into Untold History

Today it’s little known that Islam’s holy city Medina was predominantly Jewish city in the time of Mohammad. During that time the city was called Yatrib and it was inhabited by three large Jewish tribes: Banu-Nadir (or “Sons of Nadir,”), Banu-Korayzeh, and Banu-Kainuka. Consistent with Torah-based lifestyle of tilling the land, these tribes engaged in Date palm agriculture, unlike their Bedouin non-Jewish counterparts in the region, who made a living thru caravan trade from Yemen to Syria. Politically Arabia and Israel seem worlds apart but in reality the distance between Eilat, Israel’s southernmost city and Medina is the same as between Boston and Washington DC.

This land where Mecca and Medina stand, the Arabian stretch along the Red Sea, is the same land that was inhabited in the Biblical times by Medianites. The most famous Medianite was Yitro (Jethro) – Moses’ father-in-law. He famously joined the Israelite camp and converted to Judaism, after which he “returned to his people” (Exodus 18:27) to convert them to Judaism. Even though connection between Yatrib (Medina) and Yitro(Jethro) is more phonetic than etymological, due to the one letter variance in their roots, it is certainly an interesting conjecture based on circumstantial evidence of Jewish presence in what was historically Jethro’s homeland. The only scholarly consensus is that Yatrib is a non-Arabic word, so we know that Yatrib and its predominantly Jewish population’s origins predate Arabic culture in that land.

Muslim conquest of Medina in 630CE was of the first of Muslim conquests. Prior to becoming mighty enough to conquer the city, Mohammad tried desperately to endear the Jews of Yatrib to his newfangled religion. He sought after their validation and acceptance. For 16 months, Mohammad prayed with his few early followers along with the Jews of Yatrib in the direction of Jerusalem. After that time, Mohammad realized that Jews will not ever accept him as prophet despite his initial pleading and later threats – Jews insisted that he does not match criteria of prophet in Torah. When Mohammad took over Medina, he beheaded hundreds of Jewish men there, giving the remaining choice to leave, convert or die. His next act was to attempt and erase the Jewish past of the city by renaming it ‘Medina’. Medina means simply “city”. ‘Medina’ also sounds like tribute to Medianite- the pre-Judaic pagan past of the region. Incidentally, this is also when Mohammad turned his prayers from Jerusalem toward the pagan Kabba Stone in Mecca; it remains so until this day.

These acts of Mohamad vis-à-vis Jews of Yatrib (Medina) are clear messages from him to his followers, echoing all these fourteen centuries later. Just as Mohammad showed he cannot co-exist with Jews but must convert, erase or replace them, set the tone for Islam ever since in its attitude towards non-Muslims in general. Throughout the existence of Islam, its spread into the world, and most notably today, it is being experienced in the form of jihad- “holy war” on non-Muslims. The first to experience jihad were the Jews of Yatrib. The polemic nature of Islam evolved from the insecurity Mohammad experienced in being rejected by these Arabian Jews, and even by his own tribe members (Tribe of Qurayish). Some of his tribe could not understand why he thinks he is ‘messenger’ if his message consists of Judaism and Christianity, with which they were already familiar thru hearsay. It is important to understand that this episode in Mohammad’s evolution from unknown preacher of new faith to military and political leader impacted Islam as political ideology and as religion, making the two inseparable. Tracing the roots of this union helps understand how and why Islam majority countries simply have no substantial separation of “church and state”, which impacts social and governmental structure fundamentally.

 Source: http://www.jewsnews.co.il/2014/09/16/muhammads-first-jihad/

Australia Muslim named commander of Islamic State unit

Abu Yahya ash Shami has been reported as having been killed waging jihad for the Islamic State, so it is unclear who this new commander really is, but if he is indeed Australian, he highlights one of the West’s most important new exports: jihad terrorists.

ASIO is investigating reports the head of Islamic State, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, has appointed a 40-year-old Sydney man to a senior military leadership role in northern Iraq.

An Iraqi news website is ­reporting that an Australian fighting with Islamic State, and who goes by the name Abu Yahya ash Shami, has been named the military commander for the town of Jalula in northern Iraq.

Citing a local source, the Iraqi News site said the Australian had proved his allegiance to Islamic State after he beheaded four ­people who refused to swear a bayat, or oath of allegiance, to Baghdadi. “The Australian was fighting in the front of Deir al-Zour (in Syria) before arriving to Jalula,” the website quotes the sources as saying. “The new commander beheaded four militants belonging to different factions (who) were detained a week ago because they refused to swear ­allegiance to Baghdadi.”

The report could not be verified and there is a possibility it is a case of mistaken identity, as the nom de guerre quoted was used by Zakaryah Raad, an Australian man who was killed while fighting with Islamic State. The report also carried a picture of Raad, who ­appeared in an Islamic State propaganda video before his death. But ASIO, which in recent weeks has issued several high-profile warnings about the threat posed by foreign fighters in Iraq and Syria, is understood to be investigating the claim.

Attorney-General George Brandis has said publicly that a number of Australians in Iraq and Syria had progressed from being mere foot soldiers and were now occupying leadership positions with jihadist groups. As many as 60 Australians are believed to be fighting in Iraq and Syria, with dozens more supporting the terrorist outfit from Australia.

Among them is former Sydney man Abu Sulayman, who is a sharia official and operational planner with Jabhat al-Nusra, al- Qa’ida’s affiliate in Syria and bitter rival of Islamic State. Sulayman is considered by ASIO to be among the most senior terrorists ever produced by Australia. The report came as more details emerged about a Brisbane father now fighting for Islamic State in Syria.

As revealed in The Weekend Australian, Afghan-born Zia Abdul-Haq, who has adopted the nom de guerre Abu Yusseph, is believed to be in a unit with other Westerners from Canada and France, after leaving a son and former wife behind to enter the conflict. He had also sought a wife in Syria, bragging to friends on Twitter that one woman had told him his fighting in the “jihad” would be his dowry to her.

Brisbane newspaper The Sunday Mail yesterday reported that Abdul-Haq was a finance officer and moved to Australia in his late 20s. He had been “brainwashed” after hearing a talk by prominent radical cleric Musa Cerantonio. Mr Cerantonio, who was deported from The Philippines this year and has been identified as one of the most influential English-speaking clerics for Western fighters in the conflict, yesterday hit out the brainwashing claims. “At the time that I gave the talk that was mentioned in the article, the Islamic State did not even exist — it was given two years before the group was even founded,” he said.

Source: http://www.jewsnews.co.il/2014/09/01/australia-muslim-named-commander-of-islamic-state-unit/

ISIS Laptop Reveals Project to Build Biological Weapons

Foreign Policy reports reveals contents of a laptop found in Syria, laying out instructions for building chemical weapons and detailing attempts to weaponize bubonic plague.

US intelligence officials discovered that one of the world’s nightmare scenarios may have some base in reality as, according to a report in Foreign Policy last Friday, a laptop was recently discovered in war-torn Syria, detailing the attempts and ambitions of the Islamic State (ISIS) to build and use weapons of mass destruction.

According to the report, the computer was discovered in the city of Idlib in north-western Syria, near the Turkish border after fierce battles in which other resistance groups captured the area, and with it an ISIS post.

Foreign policy said that the computer belonged to a Tunisian national who studied chemistry at two separate universities in his home country before leaving to join ISIS in Syria.

The Syrian rebels who captured Idlib didn’t know what was on the computer or what importance it may have and therefore passed it on to Foreign Policy reporters who initially thought that the laptop was empty.

Only after further investigation did they discover tens of thousands of folders and documents in French, English and Arabic. The computer’s contents were originally unsurprising for a terrorist organization like ISIS. Reporters found old videos of Osama Bin Laden, a guidebook for building a bomb and stealing a vehicle, and how jihadists should use disguises and fake identities to travel from country to country without being caught.

Finally, after hours of filing through the computer’s documents, Foreign Policy reporters found documents proving that the Tunisian had taught himself how to construct biological weapons for attacks that would astound the world.

Perhaps the most alarming of the documents however, detailed ISIS sanctioned work to weaponize the bubonic plague and other viruses that would have an even greater affect than that of a localized chemical attack.

“The benefits of a biological weapon are that it doesn’t come up often, and the losses are massive,” said the instructions on the laptop. “When a mouse is injected by the bacteria, the symptoms of the disease begin to show after 24 hours. It’s best to use in places like underground trains or soccer fields and it can be used in a suicide attack as well.

Alongside the instructions was also a message of religious approval for the use of such weapons – part of a Fatwa which says that, “If the Muslims can’t overwhelm the infidels in any other way, they are allowed to use weapons of mass destruction to kill everyone and erase them and their descendants from the earth.”

While the idea of ISIS establishing such devastating weapons can easily conjure fear, this isn’t the first me that terrorist organizations have brought the issue of biological weapons to the forefront of the war on extremism.

Source: http://www.jewsnews.co.il/2014/09/01/isis-laptop-reveals-project-to-build-biological-weapons/