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Terrorists kill 23 pastors, shut down 200 churches in Nigerian state over 4 years

Terrorists have killed 23 pastors and forced the closure of more than 200 churches in Nigeria’s Kaduna State over the past four years, according to the Rev. Joseph Hayab, chairman of the Christian Association of Nigeria in Kaduna State.
Rev. Hayab shared these figures during a meeting with Commissioner of Police Musa Garba and other pastors, according to Sahara Reporters, adding that the meeting was organized to discuss the ongoing crisis affecting the Christian community in the state.
“A pastor who was kidnapped on Aug. 8 told the CAN leadership that there are over 215 Christians abducted by the bandits in Birnin Gwari forest. They are still there,” Hayab said at the meeting, according to Vanguard. He then urged the commissioner of police to address these and other issues to restore public confidence.
Former Secretary General of the Evangelical Church Winning All, the Rev. Yunusa Nmadu, and other pastors at the meeting also called for action against religious leaders promoting hate speech. They urged the police to investigate those selling hard drugs, linking substance abuse to criminal activities in the state.
Commissioner Garba responded by emphasizing that criminality has no religious affiliation. “Security is the responsibility of all and not only that of the government,” he was quoted as saying. Garba added that the meeting was aimed at strengthening the relationship between the police and religious leaders and to discuss potential solutions to the ongoing issues.
Kaduna State is one of six states in North-West Nigeria severely impacted by bandit activities. Hundreds have been killed and several others kidnapped in the last four years.
Hayab specifically mentioned that over 115 Baptist churches were forced to shut down in areas ranging from Birni Gwari to Chukun and Kajuru. “When you go to many churches now you will see many pastors who come from churches that have been shut down because they cannot continue,” he said.
The crisis has forced various denominations, including ECWA, Assemblies of God and the Catholic Church, to close their doors. “We are forced to shut down because of insecurity in Kaduna State,” Hayab said in a statement.
Late last week, the house of a Catholic priest inside St. Rachael’s Parish was set ablaze in a suspected terrorist attack near a major highway and a military checkpoint in Kaduna state’s Fadan Kamantan area, resulting in the death of a young seminarian, Naam Ngofe Danladi, trapped in the fire, The Punch reported.
Two priests managed to escape the blaze, but the seminarian perished.
The military arrived only after the assailants fled and the church was destroyed, the U.S.-based persecution watchdog International Christian Concern said in a statement.
Last month, two Christians were kidnapped in Kaduna state, two days after gunmen described as terrorists killed a Baptist pastor in another area of the state.
Terrorists invaded the predominantly Christian community of Wusasa, Zaria, and kidnapped the two Christians, brothers Yusha’u Peter and Joshua Peter, staff members of St. Luke’s Anglican Hospital in Wusasa, a community leader in the area said at the time.
The persecution of Christians in Nigeria is particularly severe, with 90% of the over 5,600 Christians killed for their faith worldwide last year being Nigerian, according to persecution watchdog group Open Doors.
In its latest International Religious Freedom Report, the U.S. State Department noted a spike in deadly violence impacting both Christians and Muslims in Nigeria. The NGO Armed Conflict Location & Event Data Project reported there were 3,953 civilian deaths from violence across the country in 2022.
“There continued to be frequent violent incidents, particularly in the northern part of the country, affecting both Muslims and Christians, resulting in numerous deaths,” the State Department’s report on Nigeria said.
“Kidnappings and armed robbery by criminal gangs increased in the South as well as the North West, the South, and the Southeast. The international Christian organization Open Doors stated that terrorist groups, militant herdsmen, and criminal gangs were responsible for large numbers of fatalities, and Christians were particularly vulnerable.”
Nigerian Christians and human rights groups have voiced concerns for years that the violence carried out against predominantly Christian farming communities in the Middle Belt states by radicalized herdsmen has reached genocidal levels, as thousands have been killed in recent years.
However, the Nigerian government has rejected claims that the violence is influenced by religious conflicts and insists it’s part of decades-old farmer-herder clashes. Data cited by the U.S. State Department suggests that violence targeting Christians accounts for a small fraction of the killings.
Sources:Christian Post
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സൗദി ഐപിസി അബു അരീഷ് വർഷിപ് സെന്ററിൽ 21 ദിവസത്തെ ഉപവാസ പ്രാർത്ഥന

സൗദി: ജിസാനിൽ ഐപിസി അബു അരീഷ് വർഷിപ് സെന്ററിന്റെ ആഭിമുഖ്യത്തിൽ 21 ദിവസത്തെ ഉപവാസ പ്രാർത്ഥനയും ഉണർവ് യോഗങ്ങളും 2023 ഒക്ടോബർ 7മുതൽ 27 വരെ നടക്കും. അനുഗ്രഹീതരായ ദൈവദാസന്മാർ ദൈവവചനം ശുശ്രൂഷിക്കും പാസ്റ്റർ പ്രയ്സൺ കോഴാമല ശുശ്രൂഷകൾക്കു നേതൃത്വം നൽകും. കൂടുതൽ വിവരങ്ങൾക്ക്+966 59 332 8038
Sources:faithtrack
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സൗദിയിൽ ഫഹസ് പരിശോധനയ്ക്ക് ബുക്കിങ് നിർബന്ധം; ഓൺലൈനായി അപ്പോയിന്റ്മെൻ്റ് എടുക്കണം

ജിദ്ദ: സൗദിയിൽ വാഹനങ്ങളുടെ ഫഹസ് എടുക്കാനുള്ള ആനുകാലിക സാങ്കേതിക പരിശോധന നടത്താൻ ഓൺലൈൻ അപ്പോയിന്റ്മെന്റ് നിർബന്ധമാക്കി. ബുക്കിങ് ഇല്ലാതെ പരിശോധനയ്ക്കെത്തിയ നിരവധി പേരെ അധികൃതർ മടക്കി അയച്ചു. വാഹന പരിശോധനാ കേന്ദ്രങ്ങളിലെ തിരക്ക് നിയന്ത്രിക്കുന്നതിന്റെ ഭാഗമായാണ് പുതിയ മാറ്റം.
vi.vsafety.sa/en/book എന്ന ഇലക്ട്രോണിക് പോർട്ടൽ വഴിയാണ് അപ്പോയിൻ്റ്മെൻ്റ് ബുക്ക് ചെയ്യേണ്ടത്. ഇലക്ട്രോണിക് പ്ലാറ്റ്ഫോമിൽ പ്രവേശിച്ച് വാഹന ഉടമയുടെ പേരും മൊബൈൽ നമ്പറും നൽകുന്നതോടൊപ്പം വാഹനം സംബന്ധിച്ച വിവരങ്ങളും നൽകണം. പരിശോധനയ്ക്ക് വാഹനവുമായി നേരിട്ടുപോകാൻ ഉടമയ്ക്ക് സാധിക്കാത്ത സാഹചര്യത്തിൽ മറ്റൊരാളെ ചുമതലപ്പെടുത്താനും സാധിക്കും.
ഈ സാഹചര്യത്തിൽ പരിശോധനയ്ക്ക് വാഹനം കൊണ്ടുപോകുന്ന ആളുടെ വിവരങ്ങളും സൈറ്റിൽ നൽകേണ്ടതാണ്. പരിശോധനയ്ക്ക് പോകാൻ ഉദ്ദേശിക്കുന്ന സ്ഥലവും സ്റ്റേഷനും ദിവസവും സമയവും ഈ പ്ലാറ്റ്ഫോമിൽ നിന്ന് തന്നെ തെരഞ്ഞെടുക്കണം. ഇതോടെ മൊബൈലിലേക്കെത്തുന്ന രഹസ്യ കോഡ്, ബുക്കിങ് പ്ലാറ്റ്ഫോമിൽ നൽകി അപ്പോയിൻ്റ്മെൻ്റ് ഉറപ്പിക്കാം.
അപ്പോയിൻ്റ്മെൻ്റ് എടുത്ത ശേഷം അതിൽ മാറ്റം വരുത്താനും ആവശ്യമില്ലെങ്കിൽ റദ്ദാക്കാനും ഇതേ പ്ലാറ്റ്ഫോമിൽ തന്നെ സൗകര്യമുണ്ട്. എല്ലാത്തരം വാഹനങ്ങൾക്കും പുതിയ ചട്ടം ബാധകമാണെന്ന് അധികൃതർ അറിയിച്ചു.
Sources:globalindiannews
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Archaeologists discover ‘very rare’ ancient inscription paraphrasing Psalm 86

Archaeologists from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem recently reported that an ancient inscription paraphrasing the first two verses of Psalm 86 was uncovered from a remote site in the Judean desert of Israel.
According to a statement from the university, the four-week excavation project in the Hyrcania Fortress occurred in May, spearheaded by Oren Gutfeld and Michal Haber of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem in cooperation with Carson-Newman University and American Veterans Archaeological Recovery.
In the “pilot” season for the excavation, efforts were centered on two key areas of the fortress. In the southeast corner of the summit, a segment of a prominent upper fortification line was uncovered, dating to approximately the first or second century B.C. In the northeast corner, archeologists removed a deep layer of building stones that collapsed from the upper floor into an elongated basement hall.
A sizeable building stone lying on the plastered floor of the hall features lines of text painted in red with a cross at the top. The inscription was written in Koine Greek, the language the New Testament was written in.
The text was deciphered by epigraphist Dr. Avner Ecker of Bar-Ilan University, who says it is a paraphrase of Psalms 86: 1–2, also known as a “prayer of David.”
“Jesus Christ, guard me, for I am poor and needy,” the inscription reads.
The first two verses of Psalm 86 state, “Hear me, Lord, and answer me, for I am poor and needy. Guard my life, for I am faithful to you,” according to the New International Version.
Ecker said that Psalm 86 “is one of the most common psalms in the Christian liturgy in ancient times.”
“This psalm holds a special place in the Masoretic text as a designated prayer and is notably one of the most frequently recited psalms in Christian liturgy,” Ecker said in a statement. “Thus, the monk drew a graffito of a cross onto the wall, accompanied by a prayer with which he was very familiar.”
Gutfeld, a university teaching fellow, told The Washington Times that the discovery is the first time he can recall a phrase from the Psalms inscribed on a huge building stone.
“It’s very, very rare — a unique something [that’s] bigger than the inscription itself,” Gutfeld added.
Ecker said that “syntax errors made in the transcription” indicate that the writer of the lines “did not speak Greek as his mother tongue, but was a native of the area, perhaps even a local, and spoke a Semitic language.”
Researchers discovered another inscription at the site, but it has not yet been deciphered.
In the rubble of the excavation site, a small gold ring that appears to be child-like in size was uncovered. It has an oval turquoise stone engraved with Arabic Kufic script.
Another Arabic epigraphy expert was called to the scene to analyze the ring.
Nitzan Amitai-Preiss from the Hebrew University said a unique pattern in the script suggests the ring was also used as a seal.
“The script style is indicative of the early Islamic period, during the Umayyad and Abbasid Caliphates in the 7th and 8th centuries A.D.,” Amitai-Preiss said in a statement shared by the university.
In a joint statement, Haber and Gutfeld warned that “our excavations will draw the attention of looters.”
“The problem persists; it was here before us and will likely continue after us, underscoring the need for academic excavation — particularly in such a sensitive site as Hyrcania, though this is just one example. We are simply trying to stay a few steps ahead,” researchers reported.
Sources:Christian Post
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