A major Christian rights organization has declared that Christian persecution is expected to increase in 2019 and has placed a particular emphasis on China, India, and Nigeria:

he persecution of Christians around the world is expected to increase in 2019, with a watchdog group sharing particular concern for believers in Nigeria, China, and India.

Release International, which is celebrating its 50th anniversary, said in a press release that 215 million believers face violence and discrimination for their faith.

“In Nigeria, Fulani militants look set to continue devastating attacks against Christians in the north and central Nigeria. In the first six months of 2018 alone, they killed up to 6,000 and drove 50,000 from their homes,” the group said of the situation in the African country.

A Release partner, who wasn’t named, said that there is a “deliberate plan to destroy and take over the predominantly Christian communities in the region.” The source added that Christians are facing a “strategic modern-day jihad.”

In June, the Christian Association of Nigeria and church denominational heads in Plateau State said that what is happening Nigeria is “pure genocide and must be stopped immediately.”

Watchdogs, such as the International Society for Civil Liberties & the Rule of Law, separately warned that the Fulani attacks on Christians should not be confused for decades-long clashes between cattle herders and farmers.

Emeka Umeagbalasi, Board Chairman of Intersociety, told The Christian Post in August that believers have seen their churches burned down, and have been driven out en masse.

“How many Muslim farmers are being killed by Fulani herdsmen? How many Muslim homes have been destroyed or burned? The answer is in the negative. It has nothing to do with herdsmen-farmer clashes. It is false,” Umeagbalasi told CP at the time.

The Communist government of China was also mentioned among the highest causes for concern, with new rules on regulating religion cracking down on churches, pastors and congregations throughout the country.

“The government wants to reduce Christianity to just a minor activity by unimportant older people,” another Release partner warned.

In India, Release pointed to violent radical mobs that have stormed prayer meetings, ransacked churches, and beaten believers.

“Release is providing Bibles in local languages to replace those the militants destroy and is giving vital legal aid and support to pastors who have been arrested,” the group revealed.

Other countries of particular concern for 2019 were listed as North Korea, Eritrea, and Pakistan.

Release’s outlook for 2019 comes in the heels of U.K. Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt announcing that the British government will carry out a review of Christian persecution around the world.

Hunt said last week that while the U.K. has long championed international religious freedom, much more can be done to help Christians in troublesome regions in the world, such as in the Middle East.

“I am not convinced that our response to the threats facing this particular group has always matched the scale of the problem, nor taken account of the hard evidence that Christians often endure a disproportionate burden of persecution. Perhaps this is borne out of the very British sense of awkwardness at ‘doing God,’” the foreign secretary suggested.

“Perhaps it’s an awareness of our colonial history, or because Britain is a traditionally Christian country some are fearful of being seen to help Christians in desperate need,” he added.

“Whatever the cause, we must never allow a misguided political correctness to inhibit our response to the persecution of any religious community.”

Hunt shared that he has appointed the Bishop of Truro, the Rt. Rev. Philip Mounstephen, to lead a global review of the persecution of Christians.

“With Christianity on the verge of extinction in its birthplace, it is time for concerted action that begins to turn the tide,” he added, referring to Middle East Christians.

“It is not in our national character to turn a blind eye to suffering. All religious minorities must be protected and the evidence demonstrates that in some countries, Christians face the greatest risk.”

Paul Robinson, the CEO of Release International, welcomed the planned review.

“We back the call for the U.K. to do more to support the suffering Church worldwide,” Robinson said. (source)

Christian persecution is indeed increasing around the world. Last year I noted that India in particular would a focus that would continue into the future, especially regarding the rise of Hindu nationalism and the use of the Aadhaar, the Indian national ID card, to eventually hunt down and exterminate Christians, which from what reports we have received will be in conjunction with a major world war, for as the European powers are consumed with fighting each other, the Hindu Nationalists will seek to annihilate Christians.

China has always hated Christians and persecuted them for nationalist reasons, even uniting with Muslims to do this such as during the Boxer Rebellion of 1900. China views Christianity in all its forms as a threat to the power of the Communist party, and is the reason why as with what happened last year with the scandal between Pope Francis and the appointment of Catholic Bishops in China is so important because the government is trying to take control of religion in order to eventually destroy its presence in the nation. Due to the historicity, hierarchical nature, and influence of the Catholic Church globally, the Church is a major target of government because if she can be subverted, so can the rest of the Christian denominations in China be subverted.

Nigeria is another major area of Christian persecution which gets worse with each passing day. However, the situation with Nigeria is of particular interest because Nigeria is a major ally of the Chinese and unlike in India and China, in which the persecution comes from the hands of the government, the Nigerian situation is persecution at the hands of Islamic terrorists.

Islamic terrorism, as I have repeatedly noted, has been unmistakably connected to US foreign policy interests for decades, going back all the way to the Ottoman Empire’s persecution of Christian minorities which while not directly committed by the Americans, was enabled by their supplying large weapon supplies to the sultan and discount prices or as outright gifts to him, and then when he attacked Christians to complain about his actions but not do anything to stop him despite having the capacity to do so.

Nigeria is the most pro-China nation in the world after China, and she has long ties to Russia from the days of the USSR. Nigeria is a regional power in West Africa and has the potential to become much more powerful, and doing so would strengthen her relationship with the Chinese. The US and other Western European nations is currently in their own “Struggle for Africa” against Russian and Chinese interests that is intensifying and will continue to before a major war happens.

It is not an accident that Christian persecution is happening, and the biggest joke is that while many Americans will generously and rightly send monies to help the persecuting Christians in that nation, the Muslims who are doing the persecuting are most likely being funded by the money-printing capacities of the Federal government for geopolitical reasons just as the US funded and still supports the same Taliban/Al-Qaeda terrorists that Americans are supposed to blame for terrorism.

This is not to exonerate the terrorists, or to say that terrorism and Islam are not relevant, or that one should not help persecuted Christians. It is to say that one must see the “bigger picture” for what it is, which is that the common man is being gaslighted by the very government that claims to support him and he earnestly desires out of sincere and well-meaning patriotism to assist.

Terrorism is a serious issue, but there are two types of terrorism- the kind that people are meant to see, and that which they are not meant to see.

For example, major “terrorist attacks” are indeed terrorism, but they are meant for you and I to see them and thing “Wow, this is horrible that the (name of obviously foreign-sounding or overly nationalist American name here) group did this. We need to do what the government tells us to be safe and stop these evildoers.” 9/11 was an act of terrorism meant for the world to see, just as with the 2016 German Christmas bombing and the attacks in Brussels. They are either engineered directly, known about and simply allowed to happen, or a combination of both that is meant to be a part of a giant theater in which the common man is an unwilling and yet also unknowing spectator and participant similar to the 1998 film The Truman Show, except instead of an individual it is being applied to an entire society.

Then there is the terrorism that is not meant to be seen. These actions are harder to detect, have equally deadly and sometimes more deadly consequences, but are presented as accidents yet really are the actions of a terrorist. For example, the historic wildfires in California, while one cannot prove or say they are an act of terrorism, are an example of what a potential of such an attack in the US could look like, since it could easily be seen as an accident and has devastating consequences. I wrote a full analysis of this in July 2018, and I said this is a trend that must be watched because given the American attitude for annihilating anybody who would even so much as indirectly “threaten” the US, such kinds of attacks will be used by governments or malicious individuals just as the US uses Islamic terrorism and nationalist groups for their purposes overseas.

For Christians, they must be aware that while it is good to have patriotic sentiments and desire the best for one’s nation regardless of where one lives, and that one should work for the good of one’s nations, the alleged good of one cannot come at the destructive expense of another. Likewise, it is wise counsel for Christians to focus on preparing themselves for the future and not placing their trust in government or public institutions. This is not to say that one needs to recluse themselves for society, but rather the assuming of a greater role in managing their own affairs and reducing dependency on said institutions as they cannot be trusted long-term to serve in any way the best interests of society, let alone Christians. Examples of this include reducing debt, reducing food bills (such as cooking more at home and eating out less), and living simpler lives in general.

While the situation with persecution above is in Africa and Asia, do not be seduced into a false sense of security in the US because of her geographic isolation, for there is a virulent strain of anti-Christian persecution that is continuing to rise and is directly tied to the social decline and decline of religion that is happening in conjunction with the rise of anti-religious and anti-God ideas that are being accepted with more force in society. While the violence happening in China, India, and Nigeria, it can still come to the US but will be done in an American context, which will most likely be committed by men with finely-groomed suits and eloquent words that will be used eventually to strip them of their financial assets before turning them over to the jailer.