Shoebat Announces “Partnership” With Sister Hatune Dogan

An announcement on Walid Shoebat’s website, written by his son Ted Shoebat:

We would like to announce that Rescue Christians will now be expanding into Syria, Iraq, Turkey and Jordan. This is a very significant step in our endeavor to deliver Christians from this current holocaust that is incessantly increasing in violence and cruelty everyday.

This expansion in our mission is due to our recent partnership with Hatune Dogan, an Eastern Orthodox nun.

That’s quick work: a few days ago, T. Shoebat embedded a YouTube video uploaded by someone else which showed Dogan speaking at a press conference in Vienna on the persecution of Christians in the Middle East; T. Shoebat added a blurb that gave no indication that Rescue Christians had any personal connection with her or with her Sister Hatune Foundation, instead referring to her as merely “a nun in Germany” (sic).

Dogan’s presentation included an account of meeting a man who claimed to be an ex-Jihadist turned-Christian who had bottled the blood of murdered Christians for sale to rich Saudis at $100,000 apiece; this caught the eye of the Examiner website, and both the Examiner and Shoebat’s site were subsequently referenced in a blog hosted by La Stampa. Although Dogan’s name appeared on a name card in the video, the Examiner originally described her as “unidentified”, but updated its account after looking at my own blog entry on the subject.

Rescue Christians is the vehicle by which Walid Shoebat and his associates say they are helping persecuted Christians in Pakistan – Shoebat’s handler Keith Davies recently appeared on Fox News to discuss the group’s activities. Much of the work on the ground is done by unnamed “partners”, and it’s difficult to assess the effectiveness of the organisation. However, Shoebat’s site has uploaded videos in which locals have expressed their thanks for support from Shoebat and from Rescue Christians, as well as hospital receipts relating to treatment given to victims of the September Peshawar church bombing.

Rescue Christians is somewhat aggressive in its view of other Christian groups working in the same area – in 2011,  Davies left a comment on this blog in which he attacked Open Doors in particular as wanting only “to collect money to pay their directors wonderful salaries”, and the Rescue Christians website carries a notice proclaiming that

…Most organizations have a mission for alleviating Christian persecution by predominantly focusing on providing Bibles, evangelizing non-Christians and sending representatives around the world to inform others about persecution.

We are unique from most others in that we focus ALL our efforts on actually saving Christians from being liquidated.

In the wake of the Peshawar bombing, Shoebat and Rescue Christians launched an attack on the Anglican Bishop of Peshawar, accusing him of “fraud” and urging people not to make donations to the diocese.

Rescue Christians’ fundraising rhetoric is similarly overheated; particularly bizarrely, Ted Shoebat recently asked for donations by comparing Christians in Pakistan with – erm – Phil Robertson of Duck Dynasty fame (H/T Right Wing Watch):

What the homosexuals want to do to Christians in America is what Muslims are already doing to Christians: slaughter and enslave them. This is why we must fight this evil, and help save persecuted Christians in the Muslim world. Donate now and save Christian lives.

Which brings us back to the issue of people being “liquidated”, as T. Shoebat goes on:

…When we read that sodomites must “be put to death, for they are guilty of a capital offense” (Lev. 20:13), or, as we read from St. Paul, that homosexuals do things that “are worthy of death” (Romans 1:32) we either ignore these words, or explain away their significance. As long as we keep tolerating the homosexual, the more they will advance.

UPDATE (2 January 2014): Dogan has now given an interview to US birther-conspiracy theorist Jerome Corsi for WorldNetDaily, in which she elaborated on the “bottled blood” story:

The blood spurting from their necks is captured in basins and then bottled.

“The Muslims sever the necks and collect the blood in vessels to sell the blood. The Muslims believe that if they kill a Christian and wash their hands in the blood of the Christian, they will go to heaven,” she explained.

Corsi adds:

Shoebat has begun accepting contributions through a foundation he created for Hatune, RescueChristians.org.

But not even Shoebat is claiming that Rescue Christians was “created for” Dogan, so one wonders where Corsi has got this from.

Jesus To Return Today or Tomorrow

2008: WorldNetDaily puffs David Flynn’s calculation that Jesus will return in 2013:

Newton’s End Times Calculation Corrected!

“There is reason to believe [Isaac Newton] was correct in his assumption that there would be 1,260 years until the return of Christ at the rebirth of the Roman Empire, but that the year he chose was incorrect. There is actually a better date based on the founding of Rome and the methodology of Daniel’s prophecy.”

Flynn explains: “The Romans had fixed the birth of the city of Rome and the Empire in 753 B.C.”… Because of how the prophet Daniel divided the prophetic week in half, Flynn believes the original founding date for the empire of the prophecy, Rome, would follow this pattern and be bisected. Therefore, correcting Newton’s date, the year 753 B.C. designates the founding of the physical Rome while A.D. 753 establishes the rebirth of spiritual Rome. Counting 1,260 years forward from A.D. 753, one arrives at the year 2013.

Flynn’s best-known opus is Temple at the Center of Time: Newton’s Bible Codex Deciphered and the Year 2012, which I discussed here; I also looked at some of his other claims here. He died relatively young in 2012.

The WND article also mentions another theory, which is presented as being complementary to Flynn’s calculation:

Based on his research into the Jewish Feasts, Pastor Mark Biltz of El Shaddai Ministries (as laid out in a series of two DVD teachings produced by WND Videos called “The Feasts of the Lord”) believes this time frame between 2012-2015 could be prophetic and may signal the return of Christ.

Biltz’s apocalypticism is based around lunar eclipses in 2014 and 2015, and his theory has recently been endorsed by John Hagee.

 

Claim Made That Jihadists Sell Christian Blood to Saudi Fanatics

A particularly lurid story from Sister Hatune Dogan, as part of a presentation on the persecution of Christians in the Middle East (original in German):

I’ve met someone – A priest told me: “Sister, here is someone you have to meet.” He was one of those killers. He had severe psychological problems. he became a Christian and gave it all up. I only asked: “What do you do with the blood you collect?” He said: “That’s a big business. A small bottle of Christian blood sent to the fanatics in Saudia Arabia is worth $100,000. After their Islamic conception, when they wash their hands with this blood, they become part of this sacrificing for Allah. Not our God, their Allah. It’s their Allah who asks for human sacrifice. It’s not the same God, for heaven’s sake. So, that means they were doing great business with that Christian blood. (1)

Dogan related the story after showing a jihadist beheading video which she said had been given to her by a Christian family in Baghdad, and which she said that shows the death of a man named Joseph. The date on the video is 16 September 2004; it’s not clear whether by “one of those killers” she means specifically one of the killers in this video or if she is speaking more generally.

Dogan spoke during a press conference at Club Stephansplatz 4 in Vienna as part of an event for Human Rights Day (10 December) under the name “Solidarity with Persecuted Christians” (“Solidarität mit verfolgten Christen”). A number of NGOs also participated, and the event had the support of the Archdiocese of Vienna and of Pro Oriente, which organises high-level dialogue between Roman Catholicism and Eastern Orthodox churches.

The persecution of Christians in parts of the Islamic world is of course well-documented, and it’s a subject that has received increasing coverage in recent weeks. It’s also the case that it’s difficult to overestimate the nihilistic excesses to which jihadists are willing to stoop. However, this story is so extraordinary it is reasonable to ask a few questions: who exactly is this man whom the nun met, and why has he not been punished for his confessed crimes? How has a “big business” trafficking bottles of Christian blood into Saudi Arabia managed to develop without any evidence coming to light? Also, while it’s of course possible that a terrorist financier might want to vicariously participate in a killing in this way, there’s no precedent for this “big business” in Islamic history, and Wahhabi fanatics reject religious practices that amount to “innovation”.

The Archdiocese website has a write-up here; the head of Pro Oriente,  Johann Marte, sat next to Dogan and reportedly attacked the Wiener King-Abdullah-Dialog Zentrum for failing to speak about the persecution of Christians.

According to a profile here, Dogan is a Turkish-born Syrian Orthodox nun whose family moved to Germany when she was 15 years old, following death threats. She runs a charitable organisation, the Sister Hatune Foundation (also known as Helfende Hände für die Armen, “Helping Hand for the Poor”), which operates in 35 countries and focuses on girls who have been abducted and violated.

UPDATE (2 January 2014): Dogan has now given an interview to US birther-conspiracy theorist Jerome Corsi for WorldNetDaily, in which she elaborated on the “bottled blood” story:

The blood spurting from their necks is captured in basins and then bottled.

“The Muslims sever the necks and collect the blood in vessels to sell the blood. The Muslims believe that if they kill a Christian and wash their hands in the blood of the Christian, they will go to heaven,” she explained.

Corsi also claims that Dogan was referring specifically to “Syrian jihadist rebels” in the current conflict, which wasn’t clear in the original extract (at least in the English fragment); Dogan may have said this to him, but Corsi has a history of sloppiness when it comes to details. The story was brought to Corsi’s attention by Walid Shoebat; Shoebat is now claiming to be working “in partnership” with Dogan, as I discuss here.

***
(1) I don’t have German, and so I had to rely on a translation added to a shortened version of the video posted on-line by a crudely polemical anti-Islam YouTube channel under the heading “CHRISTIAN BLOOD BOTTLED AND SOLD TO SAUDI”.

Christian Concern’s Jamaica Anti-Gay Controversy Grows

Christian Concern has scrubbed from its website an article by Julian Mann defending CEO Andrea Minichiello Williams in the wake of controversy about her recent visit to Jamaica. Williams, who was joined by US anti-gay monomaniac Peter LaBarbera at a conference organised by the Jamaican Coalition for a Healthy Society, reportedly urged Jamaicans to keep homosexuality criminalized and to “speak” about how homosexuality is linked to paedophilia. She also apparently opined that the British Olympic swimmer Tom Daley had entered into a gay relationship because his father had died.

The comments attributed to Williams were published on Buzzfeed by J. Lester Feder, a journalist who specializes in LGBT issues, and the conference received a certain amount of critical attention in the US due to LaBarbera’s involvement. I then referred to the Buzzfeed article on this blog, giving a bit of extra background to Christian Concern’s involvement with US conservatives, and my post was in turn picked up by Changing Attitude, which “works for the full inclusion of gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people in the life of the Anglican Communion”.

Changing Attitude then produced a press release, including a quote from the Bishop of Chichester, Martin Warner:

The comments by Andrea Minichiello Williams about the decriminalisation of same sex intercourse in Jamaica have no sanction in the Church of England or the diocese of Chichester. Insofar as such comments incite homophobia, they should be rejected as offensive and unacceptable.

The Christian Church is widely perceived as homophobic and intolerant of those for whom same sex attraction is the foundation of their emotional lives. It is urgent, therefore, that Christians find legitimate ways to affirm and demonstrate the conviction that the glory of God is innate in every human being, and the mercy of God embraces each of us indiscriminately.

From here, the story reached the Independent and other papers, with the Daley angle in particular capturing the media’s imagination. The Independent article also included the detail that:

Christian Concern said Mrs Williams was “unavailable due to a private matter” yesterday.

The Independent’s coverage has come under criticism as having relied too heavily on the press release or for overegging Warner’s statement. Peter Ould made contact with Feder with some questions about the wider context; Feder responded by confirming that he had been present at the conference and  advising him “to speak with others who were there if you have more questions about what took place.”

However, Ould also takes the view that the comments as reported do not reflect well on Williams and that Christian Concern ought to make a response. By contrast, Julian Mann, writing on Virtue Online, defends Williams against Warner’s rebuke:

…Mrs Williams, a committed servant of the Lord Jesus Christ, gets a slap on the wrists from her bishop for speaking out against the social and moral dangers of practising homosexuality, a rebuke conveyed in a Changing Attitude press release. It will be a very sad day for the Church of England when Changing Attitude drives episcopal oversight rather than Almighty God’s revealed will in the Holy Scriptures.

This was then republished by Christian Concern under a lead-in:

A Church of England Vicar, Julian Mann, has written a piece commenting on the work of Christian Concern in upholding Biblical truths.  

Below is the text of the article, which supports the stand taken by Andrea Williams, CEO of Christian Concern

This is the only response that Christian Concern has made on the matter, and it gives no indication that “the stand taken” by Williams has been misrepresented by Buzzfeed or the Independent. And there’s no explanation for why the article has now been removed.

Certainly, I too thought the comments attributed to Williams were surprisingly virulent, which was why I maintained some caution when I quoted Buzzfeed myself. But if anything was amiss, why hasn’t Williams sought to set the record straight? I see no reason why Feder needs to defend his journalism when his subject has made no complaint of inaccuracy.

Incidentally, I know from past experience that getting Christian Concern to clarify things is not always easy.

(edited)

WND Touts Anonymously-Sourced Story on Jerusalem Holy Sites

From WorldNetDaily (WND):

US Plan Gives Jerusalem Holy Sites to Vatican

Secretary of State John Kerry quietly presented a U.S. plan for eastern Jerusalem that calls for an international administrative mandate to control holy sites in the area, according to informed Palestinian and Israeli diplomatic sources.

The exact composition of the international mandate is up for discussion, the sources said, but Kerry’s plan recommended a coalition that includes the Vatican, together with a group of Muslim countries such as Turkey and Saudi Arabia.

The international arrangement is being proposed as a temporary solution for about two to three years while security arrangements in Jerusalem between Israelis and Palestinians are finalized, said the sources.

The article is by WND middle-east correspondent Aaron Klein, who has considerable form when it comes to trotting out dramatic claims based on anonymous, vague and unverifiable sources.

What exactly is supposedly being proposed here and why are both hopelessly unclear, although  the headline has – predictably – caught the attention of End-Times doom-mongers and “New World Order” cranks. Which authorities from “Turkey and Saudi Arabia” would supposedly be involved? And what would they be expected actually to do?

And as for the Vatican, I suspect that Kerry’s diplomatic duties are onerous enough without mucking about with the status quo, which decrees who at has control of which holy spaces in Jerusalem based on how things stood in 1757.  Orthodox Christian groups jealously guard their rights, and the notion that they would allow spaces not already under Roman Catholic control to be “given to the Vatican” is absurd.

If there’s any truth at all in Klein’s report, we’re seeing it through a glass very, very, darkly.

UPDATE: It appears that Klein has garbled the whole thing; here’s Arutz Sheva on 23 December:

The Palestinian Authority (PA) negotiating team has revealed some of contents of the secretive peace talks it has been holding with Israel, under American auspices.

…Concerning Jerusalem, [journalist Baruch] Yedid reveals that discussions revolve around proposals following the model of the Vatican, whereby the Old City and the Temple Mount would be a sort of autonomous region under joint international management, including Israeli and PA representatives.

That makes rather more sense than the Vatican itself having any involvement.

Christian Concern Founder Urges Jamaica Keep Homosexuality Criminalized

Reportedly told crowd: “They hate the line of homosexuality being linked to pedophilia… So I say to you in Jamaica: Speak about it. Speak about it.”

From J. Lester Feder at Buzzfeed:

 Activists from the United States and United Kingdom opposed to LGBT rights have urged Jamaican Christian conservatives to resist repealing the country’s buggery law, similar to sodomy laws, by arguing that homosexuality is a choice and connected to pedophilia.

[Peter] LaBarbera [of Americans For Truth About Homosexualityand Andrea Minichiello Williams, founder of the United Kingdom’s Christian Concern, spoke Saturday at a conference organized by the Jamaican Coalition for a Healthy Society and the Christian Lawyers’ Association [sic – should be “Lawyers’ Christian Fellowship“] in Kingston.

…During her remarks, Andrea Minichiello Williams of the United Kingdom’s Christian Concern said Jamaica had the opportunity to become a world leader by fending off foreign pressure to decriminalize same-sex intercourse.

“Might it be that Jamaica says to the United States of America, says to Europe, ‘Enough! You cannot come in and attack our families. We will not accept aid or promotion tied to an agenda that is against God and destroys our families,'” she said, adding to applause, “If you win here, you will have an impact in the Caribbean and an impact across the globe.”

…”They hate the line of homosexuality being linked to pedophilia. They try to cut that off, so you can’t speak about it,” she said. “So I say to you in Jamaica: Speak about it. Speak about it.”

Christian Concern is probably the nearest thing in the UK to an American-style “Christian Right”  lobby group; it has links with the Alliance Defense Fund, and last year it co-hosted a conference in London with the World Congress of Families at which US conservative Don Feder explained that same-sex marriage is a Marxist conspiracy.

A few months before that event, Christian Concern’s barrister of choice Paul Diamond appeared at a “MassResistance Banquet” in Massachusetts, where he warned of the “homosexual agenda” and of the persecution of Christians in the UK. Also speaking at the banquet was Peter LaBarbera’s close associate Scott Lively, who famously co-authored a book blaming gay people for the Holocaust, and who has been been linked to authoritarian anti-gay measures in Russia and Uganda. Christian Concern also has links with an anti-gay church based in eastern Europe.

Even so, I must say I’m surprised at the reckless virulence of the quotes attributed by Buzzfeed to Minichiello Williams, particularly given that gay people in Jamaica in recent months have faced increasing violence. Christian Concern is not a fringe group: the organization’s I’m Not Ashamed campaign to promote Christian rights in the UK has been endorsed and promoted by former Archbishop of Canterbury George Carey. Other high-profile figures associated with Christian Concern include Patrick Sookhdeo (discussed here) and Nadine Dorries MP – Christian Concern previously created a website for her, and provided her with talking points on the subject of abortion.

For some reason, the Christian Concern website does not appear to carry an account of Minichiello Williams’ visit or speech, although she and LaBarbera are profiled on the Jamaican Coalition for a Healthy Society website. Other speakers listed are a lawyer named Rebekah Ali-Gouveia and Reverend Earl Thames. The JCHS is run by Dr Wayne West, who is aligned with other Christian leaders in the country.

(H/T Ed Brayton)

Fringe Conspiracy Theorist Promoted by IrishCentral

From IrishCentral:

Are the Celts one of the ten lost tribes of Israel?
Evidence that the lost Dan tribe may have reached Ireland

…Scholar Janet Moser writes: “There are certain facts that suggest that the Celts might have derived from a Jewish tradition from the East. The Celtic body of ecclesiastical and civil knowledge was Druidism. Their system can be traced to about 1800 B.C…”

The article – by “IrishCentral Staff Writer” James O’Shea – also helpfully tells us that there are “proponents of this theory on Wikipedia.” O’Shea’s article is currently being promoted by WorldNetDaily, along with a link to a second item, headlined “Glenn Beck: U.S. identified in Bible“.

The quote attributed to Moser by O’Shea was actually taken by Moser from another source, The Sign of the Dove by Elizabeth Van Buren (published by Neville Spearman Ltd in 1983). Van Buren (apparently a descendant of President Martin Van Buren) is an enthusiast of Dan Brown-like conspiracy theories, and Lionel Fanthorpe describes her as “one of the most mystical and sensitive of the Rennes-le-Chateau researchers”. Her other works include Refuge of the Apocalypse (“a temple built by Cosmic Intelligence has been uncovered in France”) and The Secret of the Illuminati.

It’s not clear why O’Shea describes Moser (also known as “Jan Moser”) as a “scholar” rather than as a “crank with a website”, and he appears not be aware that she died in 2008. The quote from Van Buren actually forms just a small part of a conspiracy theory of her own devising; take a deep breath:

It is through the agency of Jewish Kabbalists such as the Sephardim and the Lubavitch Movement that the Gentiles will be judged by a restored Sanhedrin that enforces the genocidal Noahide Laws worldwide.  Yair Davidy stated, “The name DAN means ‘judge’ in Hebrew. Many lawyers and judges in the USA are of Irish descent of a particular type as is much of the police force … Descendants of Dan today appear to be concentrated in Ireland, Britain, the USA, and especially Denmark.”  This Synagogue of Satan has also infiltrated Christianity are leading pseudo-Christian organizations, as many profiles in the Council for National Policy and Discernment Ministries reveal. They also lead the Hebrew Roots / Messianic Movement for the purpose of Judaizing Christians and promoting Zionism.

I wrote about Yair Davidy and his “Brit-Am” organisation some time ago. However, Moser was keen to add that:

To suggest that the Antichrist will be from one of the tribes of Israel is likely to incur accusations of “anti-Semitism” from those who would like to conceal this fact. However, we believe that the Biblical admonition to bless the descendants of Abraham [Gen. 12:3] includes exposing the identity of the man of sin who will lead many Jews to their destruction.

Jewcy is not completely convinced.

Moser’s screed is today maintained posthumously by a certain Barbara Aho (or “Barb Aho”), on her website Watch Unto Prayer, along with other Moser essays such as “The 6-Pointed Star: The Mark of the Beast” (“Star of David or Star of Remphan?”); “The Unauthorized History of English Bible Revision” (“The Gospel According to Rothschild”); and “Heeding Bible Prophecy” (“Understanding Satan’s Plan to Counterfeit The Second Coming of Jesus Christ & The Restoration of All Things”).

Aho describes her site as “a Christian ministry which provides information on the One World Religion and New World Order”, and she and her husband Tim Aho also promote a wide range of other conspiracy theories. There are works on “Judaizing the Christian Church”; “Merovingian Lineage of the Presidential Candidates”; “The Rockefeller-Heritage Connection”; “The Judeo-Masonic Takeover of Israel”; and about how the John Birch Society is a “CFR front”.

IrishCentral was launched in 2009 as a “Global Irish website” by Taoiseach Brian Cowen at the American Irish Historical Society in New York.

Tyndale House Doubles Down on Support for Mark Driscoll

Christianity Today has a received a statement from evangelical publisher Tyndale House (link added):

 It has come to our attention that a radio talk show host has suggested that author Mark Driscoll has committed plagiarism in his recent Tyndale book, A Call to ResurgenceTyndale House takes any accusation of plagiarism seriously and has therefore conducted a thorough in-house review of the original material and sources provided by the author. After this review we feel confident that the content in question has been properly cited in the printed book and conforms to market standards.

The book is not just a one-off; as Wartburg Watch notes, the volume represents the launch a whole new “Resurgence” imprint devoted to Driscoll and associated authors, with Driscoll promising “a ton of content”.

As is being widely reported, the radio host was Janet Mefferd, who has since apologised for raising the subject publicly in an interview with Driscoll and removed details from her site. This apology has in turn prompted an assistant producer on her show, Ingrid Schlueter, to resign in disgust. In comments posted to Julie Anne Smith’s Spiritual Sounding Board and captured by Warren Throckmorton before they were for some reason removed, Schlueter paints an unattractive picture of the wider context:

All I can share is that there is an evangelical celebrity machine that is more powerful than anyone realizes. You may not go up against the machine. That is all. Mark Driscoll clearly plagiarized and those who could have underscored the seriousness of it and demanded accountability did not. That is the reality of the evangelical industrial complex…  I hosted a radio show for 23 years and know from experience how Big Publishing protects its celebrities. Anything but fawning adulation for those who come on your show (a gift of free air time for the author/publisher by the way) is not taken well…

Meanwhile, Jim West notes that Julie Anne has drawn attention to a business link between Tyndale House and Mefford’s broadcaster; according to Mefford’s website, “This site is a proud member of Salem National, a subsidiary of Salem Communications Corporation“; and according to a testimonial on the Salem website:

Salem Radio Network is one of Tyndale’s most valued and respected media partners. They have always provided us with custom advertising campaigns that deliver outstanding results. Their professionalism and expertise has brought us back year after year. We couldn’t be happier with the quality of service we’ve received from SRN. 

Aprel Mabson
~Tyndale House Publishers

It is reasonable to suppose that this business association may explain Mefferd’s reverse ferret.

However, this is not the only source of pressure on Mefferd: some of Driscoll’s previous books are published by Crossway, and Wartburg Watch observes that Crossway’s VP of Editorial Justin Taylor took to Twitter to warn that “I wouldn’t recommend authors go on @JanetMefferd’s show after she pulled this during an interview with @PastorMark”. What is this, if not the “machine” of which Schlueter writes?

Pastor Driscoll has always struck me as a controlling and somewhat sinister figure, so I’m not surprised that he appears to believe that he can use other people’s work unattributed and not expect to be challenged for it.

(H/T: Jonathan MerrittRightWingWatch; Warren ThrockmortonWartburg Watch)

WND Claims Jonathan Cahn Speech Was “Suppressed”

Hints of something sinister afoot, from WorldNetDaily:

‘THE SPEECH YOU WERE NEVER SUPPOSED TO SEE’
Suppressed, deleted, removed from Net – now unedited version back

It was delivered by Jonathan Cahn, author of the best-selling book “The Harbinger,” Jan. 21, 2013, the morning of Barack Obama’s second presidential inauguration, at the Presidential Inaugural Prayer Breakfast. The unofficial gathering, which included members of Congress, government leaders and Christian ministers, took place just one hour before Obama took the oath of the presidency…

I blogged on the event here, drawing on an eyewitness report from RightWingWatch; the line-up included a pastor who regularly prays for Obama’s death, and WND‘s birther conspiracy-theorist publisher Joseph Farah sent a message. Cahn is the author of a best-selling  paperback explaining how God allowed 9/11 to occur because the USA is under God’s judgment and headed for disaster, and this was why he was given centre stage.

Cahn’s speech was taped and posted on-line; however:

 Thousands of viewers began noticing that as they tried to repost it and send it to others, the links to the speech were going dead. Confusion and speculation spread through social media.

WND even received threats for trying to air it.

“I wasn’t surprised by what happened,” says Cahn. “Whenever God is moving, there will always be resistance, and that resistance will be commensurate to the degree of His moving.”

…But through a series of legal actions, the entire speech has now been freed up for release.

But what kind of threats? From whom? What kind of “legal actions”? The headline – and the quote from Cahn – intimates dirty tricks by ideological opponents; but if so, why doesn’t WND name names? A Charisma report about Cahn’s speech from February also has a passing reference to “some suppression on the Internet”, but is equally mysterious about what that actually means.

My suspicion is that WND is being coy because the “suppression” actually refers to a worldly copyright dispute between parties who should be religious and political allies. The speech was posted to YouTube by Cahn’s “Hope of the World” outfit (Tagline: “An End-Time Ministry for an End-Time World”) on 4 February with the following notice:

We are officially re-releasing Jonathan Cahn’s Message to America. We at Hope of the World have confirmed that we have the proper legal rights to distribute this video online. Please feel free to copy.

The video begins with a short intro that also appears in the version embedded in the new WND story; but there is an earlier version, posted in January to a number of YouTube channels, which begins with a different intro screen and includes a banner identifying the “Presidential Inaugural Prayer Breakfast” as the event just before the end. One wonders if Cahn and the event organisers had different views on who owns the copyright to the recording of Cahn’s speech. What else could WND‘s reference to “freed up for release” mean?