Many times Christians in America speak of the persecution that is coming someday.  But the truth is that intense persecution of Christians is already here.  According to a new report from the Pew Research Center, two out of every three people in the world now live in countries where religion is highly restricted.  Governments around the globe are regularly killing Christians, torturing Christians and imprisoning Christians in absolutely horrific conditions.  But it isn't just governments that are persecuting Christians.  Jihadist groups throughout the Islamic world have taken it upon themselves to slaughter those who commit "blasphemy" by preaching the gospel.  The truth is that it is a very dangerous time to be a Christian, and things are only going to get even more intense as we get deeper into the last days.

Things are really getting frightening out there.  Just consider a few of the recent reports of Christian persecution from around the globe....

*Christian organizations around the world are expressing outrage over the killing of ten Christian medical workers who were serving the poor in the northeastern province of Badakhshan in Afghanistan.  According to reports, the Christian medical workers were killed by jihadists for "spying for the Americans" and for "preaching Christianity".

*An out of control Muslim mob in Jhelum, Pakistan slaughtered the wife and four children of a prominent Christian a number of weeks ago, but local authorities were too intimidated by the local Muslim leader to file charges.

*Two brothers were recently shot dead by Islamic extremists outside a courtroom in the Pakistani's Punjab province.  The brothers were facing blasphemy charges after allegedly distributing gospel pamphlets.

*Jihadist organizations in Indonesia have declared their intention to establish paramilitary units in local mosques to fight "ongoing attempts to convert people to Christianity".

*A Christian pastor in the Russian republic of Dagestan known for founding the biggest Protestant church in the region and for successfully sharing the gospel with Muslims was recently shot and killed by unidentified gunmen.

*Christians in Bhutan were disheartened to learn that the government there has proposed the kind of "anti-conversion law" that other nations have used as a pretext for persecuting Christians and shutting down the sharing of the gospel.

*In North Korea, you are likely to get thrown into prison for the rest of your life or tortured to death just for trying to bring a Bible into the country.

But it just isn't in other areas of the world where Christianity is being persecuted.  The truth is that Christians are now being heavily persecuted inside the United States itself.... 

*A federal judge recently recently ruled in favor of a counseling program at Eastern Michigan University that kicked out a master's student who refused to affirm the morality of homosexuality.

*A newly filed lawsuit against Augusta State University in Georgia alleges that university officials essentially gave a graduate student in counseling the choice of either giving up her Christian beliefs or being expelled from the program.

*Pastor Ronnie Wallace was recently placed under arrest in Charlotte, North Carolina for preaching the gospel in front of an abortion clinic.

*Two other Christians were arrested recently for sharing the gospel and singing hymns on a public sidewalk outside an Islamic mosque in the city of Philadelphia.

*One North Carolina pastor is demanding an apology from lawmakers in his state after he was dismissed from his chaplain duties for praying in the name of Jesus.

*Four Christians face fines of up to $500 each and up to 93 days in jail for sharing the gospel with Muslims on a public sidewalk outside of an Islamic street festival in Dearborn, Michigan.

So would you continue preaching the gospel if it meant that you would be put in jail?

That is something to think about.

The sad thing is that most American Christians don't preach the gospel anyway.

In fact, for most Americans, God is not a very important part of their lives at all.  According to a brand new study by the Barna Group, only 12 percent of American adults say that faith is a top priority in their lives.

Only 12 percent?

Unfortunately, even many of those Americans that do consider faith to be important have been completely lulled to sleep by their "shepherds".

All over the United States, Christians are being taught by their "life coaches" to "live their best lives now" while millions of other Christians throughout the world are literally risking their lives to advance the gospel.

Christians across America better start waking up.  The last days are upon us and a time is coming when Christians are going to be killed in staggering numbers.  We all need to decide right now what we are willing to give up for the sake of Christ. 

You better get ready.

Hard times are coming.

What in the world is happening to public schools in the United States?  Once upon a time they were safe and peaceful institutions where our young people could get educated and prepared for their future lives as adults.  But in today's "security conscious" America, many public schools are on the verge of becoming literal prison camps, with students regularly being handcuffed, arrested and charged with crimes.  Is this the new "Amerika" where even our schoolchildren have to be ruled with an iron fist?  What does this say about our society as a whole?  Are we witnessing the last days of the open society?

The introduction of "zero tolerance" policies in many areas of the United States has led to some absolutely ridiculous outcomes.  Just consider the following examples....

*A 6-year-old girl was recently handcuffed and sent to a mental facility after throwing temper tantrums at her elementary school.

*One 12-year-old girl in New York was recently arrested and marched out of her school in handcuffs because she doodled on her desk.

*One middle school student was arrested on Thursday for starting a fire in a restroom trash can.

*One teen in Georgia was recently arrested after he got into a fight with another student while waiting for a bus after school.

*One eighth-grade teacher in the U.S. has accused her students of committing a "hate crime" because they left a Bible on her desk and a Christmas card with the word "Christ" underlined.

*A while back, a 6th-grader's teacher told him that Jesus could not be mentioned in a Christmas poem that he was writing for class.

*A bill introduced in the Iowa House would require "age-appropriate" comprehensive sex education beginning in kindergarten.

*In Florida, students have been arrested for bringing a plastic butter knife to school, throwing an eraser, and drawing a picture of a gun.

Just what in the world is going on here?

If this is what our public schools are becoming, who in the world would want to send their kids there?

Of course not every public school is like this yet, but this is clearly the direction that the country is moving in.

If you know of more examples like this, please submit a comment and share them with us.

America is quickly changing, and unless we wake up and start speaking out now, the American we all remember may be lost forever.

A new poll by the Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life reveals that the more often Americans go to church, the more likely they are to support the torture of prisoners.

What in the world is going on?

According to the survey, 54 percent of Americans who attend church at least once per week said the use of torture against suspected terrorists is “often” or “sometimes” justified, while only 42 percent of Americans who “seldom or never” attend church services agreed with that viewpoint.

Wow.

So is that would Jesus do?

Torture helpless prisoners?

Just think about this question: Is a prisoner more likely or less likely to become a Christian if he gets tortured mercilessly by "Christians"?

What about his family?  Are they more likely or less likely to become Christians if they know their husband or their father or their son has been mercilessly tortured by "Christians"?

What ever happened to the concept of doing good to those who persecute you?

Well, the truth is that the church is quickly becoming as corrupt as the nation as a whole is, and that is saying a lot.

Imagine a government that cruelly tortures thousands of prisoners endlessly for years and years and then announces to the world that nobody will ever be held accountable for the torture.

That's torture "American style".

Where else in the world can you be waterboarded an average of 6 times per day?

It has now been revealed that terror suspect Khalid Sheikh Mohammed was waterboarded 183 times in March 2003and Abu Zubaydah was waterboarded 83 times in August 2002.

The following is how Wikipedia defines waterboarding:

Waterboarding is a form of torture that consists of immobilizing the victim on his or her back with the head inclined downwards, and then pouring water over the face and into the breathing passages. By forced suffocation and inhalation of water the subject experiences drowning and is caused to believe they are about to die.

Imagine having to go through that once.

Now imagine having to go through it 183 times in one month.

How could we treat any human being that way?

But now it is being announced that nobody will ever be held accountable for all of this torture.

President Barack Obama recently released four top secret memos from during the Bush administration that discussed the torture of terror suspects held at Guantanamo Bay and at other secret detention centers around the globe.

In a statement accompanying the release of the memos, Obama said very clearly that those who had been involved in the torture would NOT be prosecuted. Obama stated that this is a "time for reflection, not retribution."

What in the world?

No prosecution for anyone?

President Obama correctly acknowledged that this was a "dark and painful chapter in our history."

So why is nobody being held accountable?

“Nothing will be gained,” Obama said, “by spending our time and energy laying blame for the past.”

Is he serious?

Is anything gained when we put a rapist in jail?

Is anything gained when we put a serial killer behind bars?

How can he say that nothing would be gained from prosecuting those people who have committed horrific torture crimes?

Apparently Barack Obama thinks that all of this torture is not that big of a deal.

The new attorney-general, Eric Holder, also stated that there will be no prosecution of CIA operatives working within the guidelines set by the Bush administration: "It would be unfair to prosecute dedicated men and women working to protect America for conduct that was sanctioned in advance by the justice department."

Unfair?

Was it unfair to prosecute the Nazis after World War II who were "just following the orders of Hitler"?

You can read the four torture memos that Obama released here:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/page/torture-memos

The torture techniques described in these memos include.....

*Forced nudity

*"Walling", which is slamming a prisoner into a wall

*"Cramped confinement" which means "placement of the individual in a confined space"

*Stinging insects placed inside "a confinement box"

*Waterboarding - one of the memos actually admits that "the use of waterboarding constitutes a threat of imminent death"

*Sleep deprivation for several days

*Sleep deprivation while wearing a diaper

*The use of "stress positions" to cause "muscle fatigue"

*"Dietary manipulation"

*Facial and abdominal slapping

One of the most shocking things in these memos is that they recognized that the techniques that they were authorizing were ones that we condemned other countries for using.

However, the reality of American torture goes far beyond what was described in those four memos.

The truth is that it is documented that the torture of American prisoners around the world has been absolutely sadistic and brutal.

The following is list of some of the torture acts that U.S. military personnel committed against "terror suspects" as recorded in the executive summary of the Article 15-6 investigation of the 800th Military Police Brigade by Major General Antonio M. Taguba. A full copy of this report can be found at MSNBC.com.....

*Videotaping and photographing naked male and female detainees

*Forcibly arranging detainees in various sexually explicit positions for photographing

*Forcing detainees to remove their clothing and keeping them naked for several days at a time

*Forcing naked male detainees to wear women’s underwear

*Forcing groups of male detainees to masturbate themselves while being photographed and videotaped

*Arranging naked male detainees in a pile and then jumping on them

*Positioning a naked detainee on a MRE Box, with a sandbag on his head, and attaching wires to his fingers, toes, and penis to simulate electric torture

*Writing "I am a Rapest" (sic) on the leg of a detainee alleged to have forcibly raped a 15-year old fellow detainee, and then photographing him naked

*Placing a dog chain or strap around a naked detainee’s neck and having a female Soldier pose for a picture

*A male MP guard having sex with a female detainee

*Using military working dogs (without muzzles) to intimidate and frighten detainees, and in at least one case biting and severely injuring a detainee

*Taking photographs of dead Iraqi detainees

*Breaking chemical lights and pouring the phosphoric liquid on detainees

*Threatening detainees with a charged 9mm pistol

*Pouring cold water on naked detainees

*Beating detainees with a broom handle and a chair

*Threatening male detainees with rape

*Sodomizing a detainee with a chemical light and perhaps a broom stick

Does that sound like sadistic torture to you?

I certainly hope so.

Don't you think that those who participated in such acts should be held accountable?

So do I.

But apparently Obama does not, so all of the torturers are going to escape punishment and will never be brought to trial.

For even more reports of American torture that are almost too horrific to describe, read these articles:

http://www.uruknet.info/?p=30291

http://arabwomanblues.blogspot.com/2009/05/news-from-iraqs-underworld.html

The word "shame" is not nearly strong enough to describe this state of affairs.

Have the American people sunk so low that they are now perfectly willing to accept that their government brutally tortures people with absolutely no accountability?

Has the church sunk so low that it now applauds the sadistic torture of helpless prisoners?

Growing up I always regarded torture as something that the "bad guys" did. 

That was something that the Nazis and the Soviets and the North Koreans did.

Are we now becoming the bad guys?

It is a fair question.