Bridge of Grace

The Nagorno-Karabakh  conflict appears to be coming to a disastrous conclusion for the Armenian people.  The conflict began near the end of the Cold War in 1988 with the dissolution of the Soviet Union.  Armenia & Azerbaijan both became autonomous states.  However, the region of Nargorno-Karabakh, which is a predominanty Armenian region within Azerbaijan's borders, voted to break off and join with Armenia, leading to a six-year conflict resulting in an Armenian victory in 1994.  The conflict ended with over 30,000 people dead, along with approximately 700,000 Azeris & 400,000 Armenians dispersed.  Unfortunately, the conflict did not end there.  Border clashes continued for years until 2020 when the Azeris attacked an overwhelmed the Armenian forces.  Although a ceasefire was called with Russian forces acting as peacekeepers, the peace soon broke down with the Azeris going back on the offensive in the month of September.  Now, the Arme...

The disappearance of Coptic Christian women from the streets of Egypt is an ongoing phenomenon that shows no signs of ending.  Authorities often tell the families of the missing girls that they have "willingly converted to Islam & married Muslim men," but this is not what's happening.  The reality is that Salafist networks across Egypt regularly plot to kidnap Coptic Christian women & subject them to forced "Islamization.  Members of these networks regularly meet in Mosques to track down Coptic girls and plot on where and how to kidnap them.  They watch their homes, monitor all of their activities, and at times use female Muslim recruits to infiltrate their lives & form false friendships to lure the Coptic girls into a false sense of security.  Then, once the timing is right, the Salafists strike.   Kidnapped Coptic Christian Girls The Salafists take them to any number of their "safehouses" where they keep the girls locked up and often drug...

  Last week in the Pakistani city of Faisalabad, rumors spread that two Christian men desecrated the Qur'an.  Soon afterward, mobs of Muslims descended on the Jaranwala district of the city and demanded the "hanging of the accused."  The protests quickly turned into a violent pogrom.  Mobs attacked numerous Christian churches, destroyed hundreds of Christian homes, broke crosses, burned Bibles, and terrorized Christians throughout the city.   Christians regardless of denomination were set upon by the mobs.  Reports by the media stated that the Salvation Army Church, one of the oldest churches in the area, was set ablaze.  Numerous other churches such as the United Presbyterian Church and the Shehrunwala church were also ransacked.  Sources within the nation of Pakistan have stated that the media reports are not doing the attacks justice.  That in truth 21 churches in the region have been either ransacked or burned, a Christian cemetery...

Shazia Imran is a 40-year-old Christian widow who was abducted, gang raped, & stabbed to death for refusing to convert to Islam and marry a Muslim by the name of Mani Gujjar.  Shazia was a resident of the city of Lahore and worked at the daycare center of the Lahore University of Management Sciences.  For months Shazia was stalked and harassed by Mani Guijar who continually pressured her to marry him.  Though the harassment was reported to the authorities, they did nothing to stop it.  On July 3rd, Shazia was abducted by Mani, his brother, and two of his cousins, who then proceeded to rape Shazia, cut her throat, and then doused her body in acid in order to try and cover up the crime.    Shazia's husband sadly died 18 months earlier, and while police have ruled his death as an "accident," many members of Shazia's family suspect that the four men who raped her are also the ones responsible for the death of her husband.  Shazia leaves behind three ch...

In recent weeks the movie "Sound of Freedom," which exposes the horrors of child sex trafficking, has become a huge sensation in the United States.  Filmed in 2018 with a budget of $14 million, the filmmakers made a distribution deal with 20th Century Fox in 2018.  However, the movie was shelved after the Walt Disney Corporation purchased 20th Century Fox and refused to release the film.  In 2023, after years of legal wrangling, Angel Guild acquired the film and with the use of crowdfunding, raised $5 million to market the film to the public.  In less then two weeks, the film broke all expectations, grossing nearly $50 million.  Yet despite this unexpected success and vastly positive reviews from audiences, the movie has found itself being attacked by some mainstream media networks such as CNN, Rolling Stone, & The Guardian.   "Sound of Freedom" was inspired by the actions of Tim Ballard, a former Homeland Security Agent who later founded "Operatio...

For the year 2023 the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) designated Pakistan as a "Country of Particular Concern," which is the worst rating when it comes to violations of religious freedom.  The problems that Pakistan faces in regards to religious freedom are not new ones, the problems are the same as they have been for years: a blend of state-sanctioned religious discrimination coupled with long-standing societal persecution.   As of today, Christians account for between 1.5-2% of the Pakistani population, though the number may be higher as ongoing persecution leads many Christian converts from Islam to hide their faith.  Many Christians have fallen victim to Pakistan's infamous Blasphemy Laws, which invoke serious prison sentences, and in some cases, the death penalty, for any who blaspheme the Islamic faith.  Human rights activists complained that for decades, these laws have been abused and used by individuals to settle per...

In a recent post on Twitter, Esra Erdogan, the daughter of Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan, stated that "There is Little Left for the Islamic Crescent to Break the Western Cross."  The tweet, posted in Arabic, is a chilling reminder of the ongoing war that Jihad has waged on the Cross for many centuries.  Over the centuries, Jihadists have continually sought to destroy the cross, whether in churches, in cemeteries, or Christians in general, as a reflection of their distain for the teachings of the Gospel that attest to the divinity of Jesus of Nazareth, that he was killed on the cross for our sins and raised from the dead to show he has conquered death, all of these are central tenants of the Christian faith that Islamic doctrine firmly rejects.   The campaign of "Breaking the Cross" has never stopped in the Islamic world.  It is still going on in this day and age, as it was shown on the cover of Dabiq, the magazine published by the infamous terrorist group ISI...