Rudyard Kipling"
“When you're left wounded on Afganistan's plains and
the women come out to cut up what remains, Just roll to your rifle
and blow out your brains,
And go to your God like a soldier”
General Douglas MacArthur"
“We are not retreating. We are advancing in another direction.”
“It is fatal to enter any war without the will to win it.” “Old soldiers never die; they just fade away.
“The soldier, above all other people, prays for peace, for he must suffer and be the deepest wounds and scars of war.”
“May God have mercy upon my enemies, because I won't .” “The object of war is not to die for your country but to make the other bastard die for his.
“Nobody ever defended, there is only attack and attack and attack some more.
“It is foolish and wrong to mourn the men who died. Rather we should thank God that such men lived.
The Soldier stood and faced God
Which must always come to pass
He hoped his shoes were shining
Just as bright as his brass
"Step forward you Soldier,
How shall I deal with you?
Have you always turned the other cheek?
To My Church have you been true?"
"No, Lord, I guess I ain't
Because those of us who carry guns
Can't always be a saint."
I've had to work on Sundays
And at times my talk was tough,
And sometimes I've been violent,
Because the world is awfully rough.
But, I never took a penny
That wasn't mine to keep.
Though I worked a lot of overtime
When the bills got just too steep,
The Soldier squared his shoulders and said
And I never passed a cry for help
Though at times I shook with fear,
And sometimes, God forgive me,
I've wept unmanly tears.
I know I don't deserve a place
Among the people here.
They never wanted me around
Except to calm their fears.
If you've a place for me here,
Lord, It needn't be so grand,
I never expected or had too much,
But if you don't, I'll understand."
There was silence all around the throne
Where the saints had often trod
As the Soldier waited quietly,
For the judgment of his God.
"Step forward now, you Soldier,
You've borne your burden well.
Walk peacefully on Heaven's streets,
You've done your time in Hell."
"Christianity 'close to extinction' in Middle East" by Edward Malnick
Tuesday, December 25, 2012
Telegraph December 23, 2012 Why? It's a question that the media never asks, because they know the
answer and they work furiously to obfuscate and cover up the why and the
who. Christianity faces being wiped out of the “biblical heartlands” in the Middle East because of mounting persecution of worshippers, according to a new report. The most common threat to Christians abroad is militant Islam The study warns that Christians suffer greater hostility across the world than
any other religious group. And it claims politicians have been “blind” to the extent of violence faced by
Christians in Africa, Asia and the Middle East. The most common threat to Christians abroad is militant Islam, it says,
claiming that oppression in Muslim countries is often ignored because of a
fear that criticism will be seen as “racism”. It warns that converts from Islam face being killed in Saudi Arabia,
Mauritania and Iran and risk severe legal penalties in other countries
across the Middle East. The report, by the think tank Civitas, says: “It is generally accepted that
many faith-based groups face discrimination or persecution to some degree.
"A far less widely grasped fact is that Christians are targeted more than
any other body of believers.”It cites estimates that 200 million Christians, or 10 per cent of Christians
worldwide, are “socially disadvantaged, harassed or actively oppressed for
their beliefs.” “Exposing and combating the problem ought in my view to be political
priorities across large areas of the world. That this is not the case tells
us much about a questionable hierarchy of victimhood,” says the author,
Rupert Shortt, a journalist and visiting fellow of Blackfriars Hall, Oxford.
He adds: “The blind spot displayed by governments and other influential
players is causing them to squander a broader opportunity. Religious freedom
is the canary in the mine for human rights generally.” The report, entitled Christianophobia, highlights a fear among oppressive
regimes that Christianity is a “Western creed” which can be used to
undermine them.
State hostility towards Christianity is particularly rife in China, where more
Christians are imprisoned than in any other country in the world, according
to the report. It quotes Ma Hucheng, an advisor to the Chinese government, who claimed in an
article last year that the US has backed the growth of the Protestant Church
in China as a vehicle for political dissidence. “Western powers, with America at their head, deliberately export Christianity
to China and carry out all kinds of illegal evangelistic activities,” he
wrote in the China Social Sciences Press. “Their basic aim is to use Christianity to change the character of the
regime...in China and overturn it,” he added.
The “lion’s share” of persecution faced by Christians arises in countries
where Islam is the dominant faith, the report says, quoting estimates that
between a half and two-thirds of Christians in the Middle East have left the
region or been killed in the past century. “There is now a serious risk that Christianity will disappear from its
biblical heartlands,” it claims. The report shows that “Muslim-majority” states make up 12 of the 20 countries
judged to be “unfree” on the grounds of religious tolerance by Freedom
House, the human rights think tank.
It catalogues hundreds of attacks on Christians by religious fanatics over
recent years, focusing on seven countries: Egypt, Iraq, Pakistan, Nigeria,
India, Burma and China. It claims George Bush’s use of the word “crusade” after the September 11
attacks on New York created the impression for Muslims in the Middle East of
a “Christian assault on the Muslim world”. “But however the motivation for violence is measured, the early twenty-first
century has seen a steady rise in the strife endured by Christians,” the
report says.
The 2003 invasion of Iraq left Iraqi Christians “more vulnerable than ever”,
highlighted by the 2006 beheading of a kidnapped Orthodox priest, Fr Boulos
Iskander, and the kidnapping of 17 further priests and two bishops between
2006 and 2010. “In most cases, those responsible declared that they wanted all Christians to
be expelled from the country,” the report says.
In Pakistan, the murder last year of Shahbaz Bhatti, the country’s Catholic
minister for minorities, “vividly reflected” religious intolerance in
Pakistan. Shortly after his death it emerged that Mr Bhatti had recorded a video in
which he declared: “I am living for my community and for suffering people
and I will die to defend their rights. "I prefer to die for my principles and for the justice of my community
rather than to compromise. I want to share that I believe in Jesus Christ,
who has given his own life for us.”
The report also warns that Christians in India have faced years of violence
from Hindu extremists. In 2010 scores of attacks on Christians and church
property were carried out in Karnataka, a state in south west India. And while many people are aware of the oppression faced in Burma by Aung San
Suu Kyi and other pro-democracy activists, targeted abuse of Christians in
the country has been given little exposure, the report says.
In some areas of Burma the government has clamped down on Christian protesters
by restricting the building of new churches. “Openly professing Christians employed in government service find it virtually
impossible to get promotion,” it adds. The Telegraph
