Hill of Crosses - Kryziu Kalnas, in the city of Siauliai, Lithuania

Hill of Crosses

Kryziu Kalnas, in the city of Siauliai, Lithuania

Thought this was so interesting and amazing... something I had never heard of before. Hope you enjoy looking at the pictures and reading the explanations.

The Hill of Crosses, Kryziu Kalnas, in the city of Siauliai, Lithuania stands on a small hill, about 10 meters tall. The tradition of leaving crosses began after an uprising of the Polish and Lithuanians against the Russian tsar was squelched in 1831. Relatives of the dead rebels, with no bodies to bury, instead left crosses on this hill to commemorate their fallen.

Today there are about 200,000 crosses at the site, excluding carvings and shrines, made out of everything from wood to metal.

During the Soviet occupation of Lithuania from 1944 to 1991, the Hill of Crosses became a symbol of defiance against the Communist regime.

Three times the Soviets bulldozed the hill, but after each time both locals and and pilgrims once again would erect crosses on the hill.

Today, the crosses number in the hundred of thousands. This place attracts both locals and tourists.

Walking among numerous crosses, some decorated with devotion to loved ones, one
can hear the rosaries rattle in the wind. This little hillock has long been a potent symbol of suffering, hope, devotion, and the undefeated faith of the Lithuanian people.

  

Prayers:
Vygandas Drazdauskas with a cross asking for health for his father, success for his girlfriend for her exams, and a peaceful life.

Plea for divine help: Some of the crosses bear messages to God.

Modesta Vaisvilaite ties a cross to the hill:
When the Russians again occupied Lithuania during the Soviet period, religion was forbidden

Defiance:
When crosses continued to appear, the soviet authorities stationed KGB
agents around the site to stop people sneaking through the forest to plant crosses.

In the mist: Some stand as much as three meters tall, while there are also
countless tiny examples hanging upon the larger crosses

In 1991, when Lithuania acquired its long awaited independence, the hill
became a dual symbol of Lithuanias Catholic faith and her national identity.

  

Silhouetted in red: Pilgrims arrive at all times of day and night to pray to God

Will it come to this again, only in America? This is sad reminder.. if we don’t fight for our right to be Christian.. it will be taken away from us.

How Obama Ushered in the New Age of Christian Martyrdom - BIN

How Obama Ushered in the New Age of Christian Martyrdom

By Raymond Ibrahim October 13, 2015 Breaking Israel News

“Do you realize what you have done?” — Vladimir Putin, President of Russia

Everywhere that U.S. leadership helped Islamic jihadis topple secular autocrats in the name of “democracy and freedom,” indigenous Christian minorities are forced either to convert to Islam or die.

Many are accepting death.

Most recently, on August 28 near Aleppo, the Islamic State (IS or ISIS) tortured, mutilated, publicly raped, beheaded and crucified 12 Christians for saying they “would never renounce Christ” for Muhammad.

The jihadis took one group in front of a large crowd. They cut off the fingertips of a 12-year-old boy, who steadfastly refused to submit to Islam. They “severely beat him, telling his father they would stop the torture only if he, the father, returned to Islam.” He refused, so they “also tortured and beat him and the two other ministry workers. The three men and the boy then met their deaths in crucifixion.”

According to a Christian leader associated with the martyrs, “They were left on their crosses for two days. No one was allowed to remove them.” A sign saying “INFIDELS” was placed next to their crosses.

The other eight Christians, including two women, aged 29 and 33, were also ordered to renounce Christ and embrace Islam before a large crowd. When they refused,

“The Islamic extremists then publicly raped the women, who continued to pray during the ordeal, leading the ISIS militants to beat them all the more furiously.

“As the two women and the six men knelt before they were beheaded, they were all praying.

“‘Villagers said some were praying in the name of Jesus, others said some were praying the Lord’s prayer, and others said some of them lifted their heads to commend their spirits to Jesus,’ the ministry director said. “One of the women looked up and seemed to be almost smiling as she said, ‘Jesus!'”

“After they were beheaded, their bodies were hung on crosses, the ministry director said.”

The same is happening in the two other Arab nations where the U.S., under the pretext of “freedom and democracy,” overthrew the secular dictators who had long kept a lid on the jihadis: Libya and Iraq.

Late last year, Andrew White, an Anglican priest known as the “Vicar of Baghdad,” recounted the horrific atrocities against Christians in Iraq — including seeing their children chopped in half for refusing to embrace Islam:

“ISIS turned up and they said to the [Christian] children, ‘You say the words [shehada, convert to Islam], that you will follow Muhammad.’ And the children, all under 15, four of them, they said, ‘No, we love Jesus [Yesua]. We have always loved Jesus. We have always followed Jesus. Jesus has always been with us.” They [ISIS] said, ‘Say the words!’ They [children] said, ‘No, we can’t.’ [White starts sobbing] They chopped all their heads off. How do you respond to that? You just cry. They are my children. That is what we have been going through. That is what we are going through.”

Targeting Christian children in Iraq goes back to soon after the ousting of Saddam Hussein. In June 2008, a Canadian parliamentary committee heard about how “militant Muslims” were crucifying Christian children: “Since the war began in 2003, about 12 children, many as young as 10, have been kidnapped and killed, then nailed to makeshift crosses near their homes to terrify and torment their parents.”

In one of his Facebook postings, White, who regularly posted pictures of Christian martyrs, wrote:

“The photo I was sent today was the most awful I have ever seen. A family of 8 all shot through the face lying in a pool of blood, with their Bible open on the couch. They would not convert. It cost them their life.”

White also told of how ISIS members came to a Christian man and said, “Either you convert to Islam or we kill all your children.” The father, in desperation, declared the shehada: “There is no god but Allah and Muhammad is the messenger of Allah,” thus becoming a Muslim. He then phoned White:

“Abouna, abouna [father, father] I said the words! Does that mean Jesus doesn’t love me anymore? I have always loved Jesus but I said those words because I couldn’t see my children being killed!”

“No Elias,” White said. “Jesus still loves you — he will always love you.”

There are many historic accounts of Christians slaughtered for refusing to renounce Christ for Muhammad — whether 100,000 Georgians beheaded or burned alive, or a “mere” 813 Italians decapitated, or else “converting out of fear. A report, for instance, from Medieval Egypt states:

In 1389, a great procession of Copts who had accepted Muhammad under fear of death, marched through Cairo. Repenting of their apostasy, they now wished to atone for it by…returning to Christianity. So as they marched, they announced that they believed in Christ and renounced Muhammad. They were seized and all the men were beheaded one after another in an open square before the women. But this did not terrify the women; so they, too, were all martyred (Crucified Again, pgs. 113-114).

In Libya, earlier this year, the Islamic State released a video depicting 21 Coptic Christians being decapitated in the North African nation. While holding their victims’ bodies down, Islamic State members shoved their fingers in the Christians’ eyes, craned their heads back, and sliced away at their throats with knives. As with the recent public rape, beheading, and crucifixion of the 12 Christians near Aleppo, some of the Egyptian Christians were also seen praying to Christ. One Coptic priest later described the scene:

“The name of Jesus was their last word… With that name, whispered at the very last, their martyrdom was sealed.

ISIS terrorists prepare to murder 21 Egyptian Christians in Libya, February 2015.

Over one month before the video appeared, the BBC had falsely reported that the majority of those now slaughtered Copts were “released.” Sadly, such downplaying of Muslim persecution of Christians is standard for the BBC.

When the Islamic State released another video in April of more Christians in Libya being massacred, a masked IS spokesman addressed “Christians everywhere“:

“We say to Christians everywhere, the Islamic State will expand, with Allah’s permission. And it will reach you even if you are in fortified strongholds. So whoever enters Islam will have security… But whoever refuses will see nothing from us but the edge of a spear. The men will be killed and the children will be enslaved, and their wealth will be taken as booty. This is the judgment of Allah and His Messenger.”

The next scene portrays the captive Ethiopian Christians being shot in the back of the head or having their heads carved off.

The ongoing slaughter of Christians by the Islamic State, and the destruction of churches and antiquities, must be laid at the feet of those Western nations that, intentionally or unintentionally, paved the way for the Islamic State.

As Russian President Vladimir Putin recently said before the United Nations, while addressing those nations that supported the “Arab Spring” — chief among them America:

Instead of the triumph of democracy and progress, we got violence, poverty and social disaster — and nobody cares a bit about human rights, including the right to life. I cannot help asking those who have forced that situation: Do you realize what you have done?

Whether they realize it or not, they continue to do it in Syria — with Christians often paying the highest price.[1]

Read more at https://www.breakingisraelnews.com/51015/how-obama-ushered-in-the-new-age-of-christian-martyrdom-opinion/#MePCCEVkjZVTWwFA.99

Life in the Shadow of Islam

By Dr. Mordechai Kedar September 13, 2015  Israel National News

The second Muslim Caliph, Umar bin Khattab, conquered Jerusalem in 638 C.E. without shedding a drop of blood. The city simply surrendered to him. Omar announced a list of conditions to be fulfilled by those Christians who desired to live in peace and security under Islamic rule. The document, known as the Pact of Umar, appears on the web here (Hebrew) and here (English).

Although the Pact of Umar was written over 1300 years ago, it was recently used as the basis of a document issued by Islamic State for the Christians living in the Syrian town of al-Kareten  This should not come as a surprise, since Islamic State has made no secret of its plans to reinstate ancient Islam and take us all back to the seventh century, the century during which Islamic conquests succeeded in overpowering empires and subjugating a large number of nations.

A short while ago, Islamic State gained control over the Syrian Christian town al-Kareten..The residents did not flee and instead, asked to live under Islamic State’s protection. How did the wise men of Islamic State respond? They produced a document that spells out the conditions that would allow the Christians to remain in their town underthe rule of Islamic State.

The entire contents of this document are brought below:

Islamic State, Ministry of Justice and Complaints:

In the name of Allah the Merciful and Compassionate

The Agreement Affording Protection [to Christians]:

Praise be to Allah, Cherisher and Sustainer of the world, who humbles heresy with his strength and says in the Qur’an:

“Fight those who do not believe in Allah or in the Last Day and who do not consider unlawful what Allah and His Messenger have made unlawful and who do not adopt the religion of truth from those who were given the Scripture – [fight] until they give the jizya willingly while they are humbled.(Qur’an: Repentance, Chapter 9, verse 29, Sahih International translation).

“We bear witness that there is no god except for Allah, who keeps his promise, gives strength to his armies, defeats dissenters; there is no god other than Allah and we serve only him, are faithful to him and his religion even though the infidels abhor it.

“We bear witness that Mohammed is his servant and messenger, may Allah pray for him and grant him peace, he [Mohammed] who scoffs at [fears of] battle, whose lord sent him between the hands of the clock and the sword to serve the lord alone, and sent down to him  the [Qur’anic] chapters of “War”, “Default in Duty” and “Ranks”.

“We bear witness that Jesus son of Mary is Allah’s servant and messenger, and that Allah sent his word to Mary with his own spirit because Allah said in the Qur’an: “Never would the Messiah disdain to be a servant of Allah , nor would the angels near [to Him]. And whoever disdains His worship and is arrogant – He will gather them to Himself all together. (Qur’an: Women, Chapter 4, verse 172).”

Praise be to Allah for the power of Islam, for the joy of the strength [that Allah granted the Muslims], thanks flow to him up until the Day of Judgment.

Before you is the security granted by Allah’s servant, Abu Bakr el Baghdadi, Emir of the believers, to the Christians of the Damascus region, in the al-Kareten district: He secures their persons and possessions, assures them that they will not have to do anything against their religion and that none of them will be harmed.

The conditions for the above are as follows:

1. Christians may not erect a monastery or church nor designate an area where priests hold solitary vigils anywhere in or near their towns.

2. They must not display a crucifix in public nor any of their books in any of the places traversed by Muslims, or in their marketplaces, they may not use amplifiers in their prayers and ceremonies.

3. They must not read their books aloud or ring bells where Muslims can hear them. They may ring their bells in church.

4. They must refrain from any acts of aggression against Islamic State, such as harboring spies and men wanted by Islamic State’s laws, and if they know of any plots against Muslims they must immediately report them.

5. They must obligate themselves to refrain from public religious ceremonies.

6. They must respect Islam and Muslims and are forbidden to say anything against their [Muslim] religion.

7. (this part is missing)

8. Christians must be sure to pay the jizya (head tax) for each male adult among them, in the sum of four golden dinars. This refers to the dinar used in business, whose weight, 4.25 gram of pure gold, is fixed. This levy is for the rich, while those in the middle class pay half that, and the poor pay a quarter. They are forbidden to hide their possessions and are allowed two payments over a single year.

9. Christians are forbidden to own firearms.

10. They are forbidden to trade in pigs and wine with Muslims or in the marketplace. They may not drink alcohol in public, or in public places.

11.They will be allowed their own cemeteries, as is the custom.

12. They must be careful to keep the [general] rules laid down by Islamic State, such as [wearing] modest clothing, laws of buying and selling etc.

If they live up to these conditions, they will be privileged to live in the shade of Allah under the protection of Mohammed, may Allah pray for him and grant him peace,  [this protection] including their persons, property and possessions. They will not have to pay tithes on their possessions unless they bring funds for business from outside the borders of Islamic State. They are forbidden to cheat and they must not be cheated. No one of them will be punished for the misdeeds of another.

They may dwell in the shade of Allah who will pray for their protector and grant him peace until the day that Allah brings his word [at the end of time], as long as they adhere carefully to the conditions in this document.

If they do not keep any part of what is written in this document they will have no more protection and the Islamic State can do to them what it is allowed to do to militants and objectors.

Signed: Sunday 15/11/1436 Hijri, 30/8/2015 Gregorian

Seal of the Islamic State

Ministry of Justice and Complaints

This document is identical in spirit and in part of its wording, to the conditions in the Pact of Umar written in the seventh century, the early and holy days of a young, powerful and all-conquering Islam that became weakened and old as the generations passed. Now Islamic State has appeared to bring Islam back to the days of its youth, to the power of its adherents, the faith of its fighters and the glory of its conquests.

This document reflects the way a significant number of Muslims aspire to have Islam rule over Christian and Jewish culture, consolidating this control by various means, the choice of which depends on the conditions prevailing in each area.

In Islamic State, obedience is ensured by the sword, knife, rope, pole, pistol and rifle. Note that Saudi Arabia has similar laws for any Christians that live in the country or arrive there for business purposes.

In Europe, Muslim immigrants force their religious agenda on their surroundings by means of the majority that they have attained in some municipal authorities. That is the situation in several western European cities where Muslims are a majority, and where demands were raised to end the selling of alcoholic drinks and pork in supermarkets.

In the USA, there are Muslims who demand an end to the ringing of church bells and in some areas, Muslims have demanded that crosses be moved to where they cannot see them because they find them offensive..

The recent, massive Muslim migration to Europe will, without doubt, increase these demands; if not now, then in a few short years.

And although the coercive methods of Islamic State are not acceptable to most Muslims, the group’s religious demands, especially on the treatment of  Christians, are acceptable to Muslims in many different countries.

Every country that allows Muslims to migrate to it must take into account that at some point these demands will be brought up, and if it turns out that the migrants do not get what they want from the host country, they will turn that country into what they want it to be.

Reprinted with author’s permission from Israel National News

Read more at http://www.breakingisraelnews.com/48783/life-in-the-shadow-of-islam-opinion/#6tlOoSg6H4LTeg0i.99

Chinese Gov't Destroys Church Worth Millions

Chinese Gov't Destroys Church Worth Millions

CBNNews.com

Tuesday, June 16, 2015

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The Chinese government is tearing down a multi-million dollar church, leaving the congregation high and dry.

China Aid reports that officials had approved the Three-Self Patriotic Church in the city of Wenling.

Now it's being destroyed on government orders. The church will be allowed to relocate, but it's only receiving compensation for one-sixth of what the building was worth.

China's government has also been tearing down crosses from church buildings and arresting Christians who oppose the destruction of the crosses.