Christians threatened with 'bloody Christmas': Islamic terrorists to target churches

Islamic militants in Bitung, Sulawesi, have threatened a "bloody Christmas," warning that they will detonate bombs at key sites – including churches – in the town, reports a local newspaper.

According to the Komentar, the group that planned the recent Makassar bombings at a McDonald's outlet and a car dealership has formulated a plan to reign terror on Christians celebrating the holiday season.

A number of terrorists have already taken up their positions in the town, and a number of youths have been specially "trained" by the group to take part. There are reports that five bombs have been hidden in preparation to hit vital targets.

The police chief, mayor and the head of the city council in Bitung discussed the threat and said they were taking concrete steps to prevent it. Officials announced they will be guarding the petroleum, telephone and electricity depots, places of worship and other important facilities over the Christmas and New Year period. If Bitung's petroleum depot is hit, authorities fear the whole of North Sulawesi will be shaken.

It is strongly suspected that those planning the bombings are part of the Suryadi network, reports Komentar. Suryadi, one of the Makassar bombing suspects, is involved as a trainer with the Moro Liberation Movement and has been delegated by Jemaah Islamiah, the militant Islamic terror organization suspected of orchestrating the Bali nightclub bombings, to destroy North Sulawesi through Bitung.

The city is home to 10,000 Christian refugees. Tensions have grown over the past year prompting local Christians to report their town doesn't "feel safe" anymore.

Tens of thousands of police officers and soldiers are also being deployed around the island of Java, in Bali and elsewhere across the nation for the holiday season, as intelligence officials say the Bali bombing suspects planned more attacks, possibly timed for Christmas Eve.

Popular tourist attractions, especially churches, have been identified as potential targets for terrorist strikes, reports the Melbourne Herald Sun.

The U. S., Australia and Britain have issued warnings in recent days about possible attacks on tourists during the Christmas season.

On Christmas Eve in 2000, 19 people were killed in a series of bomb attacks on churches and priests in 11 cities around Indonesia. Jemaah Islamiah is believed to have carried out those attacks.

As WorldNetDaily reported, some 50,000 Christians in the Central Sulawesi province town of Tentena came under siege last December by a paramilitary group called Laskar Jihad, whose leader seeks to make Indonesia an Islamic state. About 15,000 Laskar Jihad troops equipped with AK-47 assault rifles, rocket launchers and bulldozers descended on the region.

At least 600 homes and six churches were burned in the weeks leading up to Christmas, residents reported to the Voice of the Martyrs, an Oklahoma-based group that monitors persecution against Christians.

The largest church in the coastal town of Poso, north of Tentena, was bombed and burned during the onslaught, and 15,000 Christians reportedly fled the area, VOM said.

In recent weeks, authorities in Singapore have also stepped up anti-terrorist measures. Popular tourist spots, including the Holland Village and Boat Quay shopping and nightclub areas, have been barricaded amid fears of car bombs.

"What we are trying to do here is create a sense of security," police spokesman Stanley Norbert told the Herald Sun.

Intelligence sources told The Straits Times that while they did not expect an outbreak the likes of the Christmas Eve bombings two years ago, there could be scattered attacks in outlying areas over the next few days. A senior intelligence official said the threat assessment for Jakarta and Java was "lower", given that police had stepped up security in these areas.

"But that does not mean that we are safe," he said. "There are concerns that the provinces in eastern Indonesia and Sumatra could be vulnerable to some kind of attack, given that there are large pockets of Christians in some of these provinces." He noted that several terrorist ringleaders had used these areas to plan their operations and, despite the wide-scale arrests over the last two months, extremist cells were still intact throughout Indonesia. Many of the Jemaah Islamiah's top leaders were on the run but still in touch with their foot soldiers, he added.

Singapore authorities have detained 31 alleged Jemaah Islamiah members since last year, following the discovery that the banned organization planned to use truck bombs to attack the U.S. embassy and other Western targets.

And though this world, with devils filled, Should threaten to undo us;
We will not fear, for God hath willed His truth to triumph through us:
The prince of darkness grim,
We tremble not for him;
His rage we can endure,
For lo! his doom is sure,
One little word shall fell him.
That word above all earthly pow'rs, No thanks to them, abideth;
The Spirit and the gifts are ours Through Him who with us sideth:
Let goods and kindred go,
This mortal life also;
The body they may kill:
God's truth abideth still,
His kingdom is forever.

A mighty fortress is our God.

And if the little word doesn't do the trick, the U.S. military will.

The prince of darkness grim, a.k.a. the Moongod of Arabia, is no match for The One True God and His worshippers.

Merry Christmas!

The Taliban blew up ancient Buddhist statues. They said, it is their country, they can do as they please. But these priceless artifacts belonged to the entire world, not to the Taliban. They committed a terrible crime, one of their many crimes in the name of Islam. Literally, for hundreds of years, since the 1200’s, the same religion of peace has come down from Afghanistan and struck India, time and again. Islam tore down the Hindu, Buddhist, and Jain temples and monuments which were thousands of years old, priceless treasures of mankind that belonged to all of mankind. They tore down the monuments and temples, and used the stone to build mosques on top of the holy spot. They did the same in Turkey to the first Christain Churches. They tore down the famous first churches of the Christian founders, and either left them in ruins, took the stone, marble, wood to build palatial homes for their despotic rulers, or built mosques on the sites. They did the same in Israel. They will do the same here in America, or in Canada, or U.K. or Russia. Now I read a statement from a mullah in Egypt. It is politicized Islam, the Islam of terror. He says he wants to tear down the pyramids. Indeed, the marble was already stripped hundreds of years ago by the same Islamists to again build palatial residents to their despotic rules, for mosques. But it is almost, sad and comical. This mullah, in the name of the religion of peace, wants to tear down the pyramids. In the name of Islam. When they take over, he says, Egypt is their country. They can do as they please, he says. But, the pyramids, they now belong to all of mankind. And I think, like the saying goes, the Pyramids do not fear Time, Time fears the Pyramids.

In the 1400’s, the religion of peace came to old Delhi. It was one of the worst massacres of humankind. Hundreds of thousands were murdered in the streets, woman raped, and this attack on this region and subsequent areas of North India were unparalleled until Nazi Germany. What the Romans did to Solomon’s Temple, to Jerusalem, it cannot in any imagination even compare to what the religion of peace did to people of India.

Today is Christmas. Can I call myself a Christian? I am not. But, I think often about the suffering of Jesus on the Cross. When the Romans put the heavy nails through his wrists, and feet. The agony of this Prince, a once and future King from the family of David. This Jesus the Christ was a royal man. Yet, he spoke such a message. And so brave. It pains me greatly to think that such a King of the Jews had to endure this, and I think again and again about the cross.

In the 7 th Century, before what we call the modern Christmas with the tree and toys, an Old English book said, ‘Wondrous was the cross of victory. I saw a glorious tree, joyfully gleaming. It was adorned with garments, decked with gold, and jewels decorated the tree of the Lord. Through the gold, I could see the strife of wretched men, that once bled on my right side. Stained with lowing of blood, but adorned with treasure. All creation wept, and laments the King’s death, Christ who was on the cross. But there is suffering and victory in the cross.’

I would like Jesus to come back and rule as King of the Jews. That would be my Christmas wish. My forefathers decorated a tree. I do not think it is a bad thing, a pagan thing. It goes way back. It represents the King. In these times, I think my people could use such a King. Because we are in grave danger. Jesus would be the King I would want.

During the same time in the Middle Ages, a Christian lay person became a religious leader of people. He actually wanted to burn crosses because he could not stand a symbol with which Christ was so horribly tortured and so cruelly killed. But in the end, the people themselves convinced him that this was not necessary. They said, this symbol will tell the Islamic invaders that as Jesus the King suffered to give us so much, we do not fear what they want to do to us. It will be a battle standard even.

And it was.

Merry Christmas.

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