“Asia Bibi has left Pakistan and reached Canada. She has reunited with her family,” Saif Ul Malook, Ms. Bibi’s Lawyer, confirmed the news to The Guardian. (as reported in Christianity Today.)
“Release International CEO Paul Robinson questioned why it had taken so long for her to be able to leave the country.
“We are overjoyed that Asia is finally free. But why has it taken so long for this innocent woman to be allowed to leave?” he said.”
There is a reason it took so long. We may not know it precisely. What we do know is what Apostle Paul, writing to Christians persecuted in Rome, taught: “. . .we know that all things work together for good to them that love G-d, to them who are the called according to his purpose.” (Roman 8:28)
THE DAUGHTERS of Asia Bibi, a Christian woman who has been persecuted by Pakistan’s extremist far-right religious Islamic laws in a country dominated by mobs that preach hate. (photo credit: REUTERS)
“Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan has announced that Asia Bibi, a Christian woman who last year was saved from death row after being accused of blasphemy against Islam, will soon leave Pakistan to be reunited with her family.”—The Jerusalem Post.
According to the article, Ms. Bibi’s documentation is now ready, and she is set to leave the country. This came from an undisclosed source within the Pakistani government. This contradicts Pakistani Foreign Office spokesman Mohammad Faisal. He stated “Asia was free following the court’s decision.”
“To the best of my knowledge, Asia Bibi is still in Pakistan. She is a free woman. Only she can decide whether to live in Pakistan or move abroad,” Faisal said.
King David, in psalm 13, “despite the singular, first-person form employed throughout this chapter, does not speak here of his own tribulations and need for salvation. Rather, he composed this Psalm as a prayer” for G-D’s people. “. . .we have looked—and continue to look—to the Almighty and beg, ‘illuminate my eyes’ (verse 4), that He grant us the wisdom and foresight we need to overcome the hurdles we face living among hostile nations. We look forward to the time when we can fulfill David’s promise in the closing verse of this chapter, ‘I shall sing to G-D, for He has dealt kindly with me!’ “—Daily Tehillim.
How long, O LORD? Will you forget me forever? How long will you hide your face from me? How long must I take counsel in my soul and have sorrow in my heart all the day? How long shall my enemy be exalted over me?
Consider and answer me, O LORD my God; light up my eyes, lest I sleep the sleep of death, lest my enemy say, “I have prevailed over him,” lest my foes rejoice because I am shaken.
But I have trusted in your steadfast love; my heart shall rejoice in your salvation. I will sing to the LORD, because he has dealt bountifully with me.
Psalm 13—Bible Hub
I can only imagine the agony, the despair, that Ms. Bibi has endured. The agony and constantly nagging despair that continues to plague her as long as she is threatened by evil men that want nothing more than her head—literally. Her youngest child was nine when she was taken away to be held in isolation pending death. Her youngest child is now 18 years old. I can hope that throughout the ordeal, that even now as there is a ray of hope for an end to this utter nonsense, that Ms. Bibi, like King David, has been able to trust in the steadfast love of the One True Master and Savior, YeshuaJesus. I hope that Ms. Bibi, like King David, has seen a future in which she will be able to sing “I will sing to L-RD because He has dealt bountifully with me.”
Paraphrasing the prayer of King David, psalm 71:13:
May the accusers of Asia Bibi be put to shame and consumed; with scorn and disgrace may they be covered who seek her hurt.
Will Ms. Bibi make it out of Pakistan alive? It’s a cliff hanger. May G-D’s will be done.
Nothing to report on Ms.Asia Bibi. And this only means that she’s still imprisoned behind four walls. The only difference from before her acquittal, and rescue from the death sentence wrongfully imposed upon her, is that now the door to her jail is wide open—is she dares to walk through it. Her “freedom” is elusive. Walking through the open door means certain death.
While the Pakistani government made some good decisions, after making some very bad decisions, it has not continued in the proper direction. That direction would be to overturn its blasphemy laws entirely AND ensure that Ms. Bibi is given safe passage out of Pakistan.
Here’s a link to a set of articles by BBC News covering Ms. Bibi’s ordeal:
Somewhere. Hopefully in Canada. Several reports have been made of her exodus from Pakistan, her reuniting with her children, her safety in Canada, albeit hidden away. But those reports aren’t conclusive, and may only be wishful thinking.
In the meantime, the incredible case of Ms. Bibi has, according to Mohammad Zaheer of the Independent, has changed the way Pakistan approaches extremism. The following is the concluding part of his article:
“In Pakistan, however, just the fact that she was released is seen as a silver lining. Forget rightful compensation, not succumbing to extremist pressure and merely letting her leave the country would be considered quite the feat.
“My heart prays that the reports of her safely reuniting with her family in Canada are true. She deserves nothing less than a happy ending.
“In compelling the state to re-evaluate its long-held toxic policy of appeasement of religious extremists, she leaves behind a nation that might not be appreciative today, but owes her a significant debt of gratitude nonetheless.”
L-RD grant Ms. Bibi safe passage to her children, hide her beneath Your Wings, continue Your care for her and her family, and those who offered her help. Forgive the rest of us for turing away in her time of need. AMEIN.
“The Supreme Court upheld its decision to overturn Asia Bibi’s conviction and death sentence.” —BBC Reports.
Amnesty International is now calling for Ms. Bibi’s freedom, and that Pakistan’s Supreme Court not entertain further requests to rescind its overturn of the conviction.
“This shameful delay in enforcing Asia Bibi’s rights only reinforces the need for the Pakistani government to repeal the blasphemy laws as soon as possible, as well as other laws that discriminate against religious minorities and put their lives in danger.” —Amnesty also said in its statement.
“Pakistan’s blasphemy laws,” said Amnesty,” are over broad, vague and coercive. They have been used to target religious minorities, pursue personal vendettas and carry out vigilante violence. On the basis of little or no evidence, the accused struggle to establish their innocence while angry and violent groups of people seek to intimidate the police, witnesses, prosecutors, lawyers and judges.”
Reading Amnesty’s statement on the blasphemy laws reminds me of the Salem Witch Trials (Massachusetts 1692-93) in which a simple accusation was a death sentence. Hum. Reminds me of America during Senator Joseph McCarthy’s own brand of witch hunt.
It also reminds me of the current state of America and the “Me Too” movement. Lives ruined by an allegation, whether true or false, with but a simple statement.
“You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor” —Exodus 20:16
Generally this is thought of as lying in court and slander, which be are very conscious of with the “articles” published in Enquirer and similar “newspapers.” [using the term loudly.] It seems to me that often forgotten these days is the biblical injunction that no accusation may be brought against a person unless there are multiple witnesses. In the event one is tempted to discard this as so Old Testament, hear what Apostle Paul said: “Every charge must be established by the evidence of two or three witnesses.” —2 Corinthians 13:1)
An article in CBN goes into greater detail, showing a fuller meaning for bearing false witness.
“But the commandment against bearing false witness has a much broader application. Outside the context of the courts, it is termed slander. It is possible to bear false witness or slander by spreading rumors. For example, a well-known gospel singer was picked up in Los Angeles because of his careless driving. A search of his car revealed some white powder, and he was booked on a drug charge. It turned out that the white powder was a diet mix, and so the singer was discharged from his arrest and confinement.
“It was too late to stop the false rumors that this man was involved in drug dealing. These rumors hurt the man’s career and reputation. Those who spread them were guilty of bearing false witness.” —CBN. [ I think that singer was Andre Crouch. ]
Turning and turning in the widening gyre
The falcon cannot hear the falconer;
Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold;
Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world,
The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere
The ceremony of innocence is drowned;
The best lack all conviction, while the worst
Are full of passionate intensity.
From The Second Coming by W.B. Yeats
Perhaps the L-RD will now allow Ms. Bibi to have a G.O.O.D Day (Get Out Of Dodge), hop a plane to Canada, be welcomed, and be reunited with her family.
Pakistan’s Supreme Court to reconsider its decision to “quash” the blasphemy conviction and execution sentence of Asia Bibi.
“Pakistan’s supreme court quashed her 2010 conviction and death sentence in October, in a case that had drawn worldwide outcry from Church groups. But after days of protests by hardline Islamist clerics, Imran Khan agreed to allow a petition against the decision.
The articles states that Ms. Bibi’s children have been evacuated to Canada, and that Canada could become Ms. Bibi’s new home.
While “The court is widely expected to uphold its original decision, which demolished her conviction and was scathing of the prosecution case,” it behooves us to continue to pray the L-RD’s will and desires in this matter. I’d like to see an end to this scandalous affair, not only having original overturn upheld but to also for G.O.O.D. (Get Out Of Dodge) for Ms. Bibi; get her on a plane out of Pakastan ASAP.
Be exalted, O God, above the heavens! Let your glory be over all the earth! That your beloved ones may be delivered give salvation by your right hand and answer me! (Psalm 108:5,6)
Let the wicked fall into their own nets.” (Psalm 141:10)
“She spends her days in seclusion for fear of being targeted by angry mobs clamoring for her death. In her hideout, she longs for her children who were taken to Canada for their safety.” VOA News.
While Ms. Bibi’s continued imprisonment stands as a witness against Islam, and its tenants and intolerance, it also stands as a witness of a world that simply isn’t paying attention.
Ms. Bibi is also a portent of things to come. If not this coming year, then next, or the following. It won’t be long, however, before many more Christians will face persecution. It has been foretold.
Here’s the warning and the encouragement Apostle Paul wrote to the Roman Believers in Messiah Yeshua:
“What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things? Who shall bring any charge against God’s elect? It is God who justifies. Who is to condemn? Christ Jesus is the one who died—more than that, who was raised—who is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us.Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword? As it is written,
“For your sake we are being killed all the day long; we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered.”
37No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, or height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Mobs of Pakistanis; Demand Public Hanging or Will Shut Down Pakistan
Even though Asia Bibi will certainly be murdered in Pakistan if she is not evacuated soon.
Ms. Bibi and her husband are Christians; they are the parents of five children; they are illiterate.
The Bibi’s, since Ms. Bibi’s arrest in 2010, have received help from Mr. Joseph Nadeem and Family. The Nadeem family has been and is still threatened by Islamic groups in Pakistan.
“A number of prominent British imams have opposed extremism by joining calls for asylum for Ms. Bibi and her family. And, as the Irish people recently taught Britons, it could well be time to talk about and, if necessary, challenge all blasphemy laws, which may no longer be appropriate if indeed they ever were. Human compassion, humanitarian principles and the right to freedom of religious belief and expression, so often cited by governments but not always delivered, must surely be prominent in the responses we in the West make to situations like Asia Bibi’s.” —America, The Jesuit Review, Dec. 05, 2018.
“So I returned, and considered all the oppressions that are done under the sun: and behold the tears of such as were oppressed, and they had no comforter; and on the side of their oppressors there was power; but they had no comforter.” — Solomon, Ecclesiastes 4:1
For those interesting in Ms. Bibi’s story,
an autobiographical account is available on Amazon.
Blasphemy: A Memoir:
Sentenced to Death Over a Cup of Water
by Asia Bibi and Anne-Isabelle Tollet
Commentary:
We are appeasing a dangerous, radical enemy of humanity. I applaud the Pakistani Supreme Court for their Landmark decision to accquite Ms. Bibi of the blasphemy charges that had her on death row for eight years.
“According to local media, Pakistani police have cracked down on the Islamic radical party Tehreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan (T.L.P.) and arrested its leader, the hard-line cleric Khadim Hussain Rizvi, on Nov. 23. This is the group that organized violent protests after Ms. Bibi’s acquittal and release. Mr. Rizvi’s party paralyzed the capital city of Islamabad for weeks, cresting in a wave of protests on Nov. 25 that Mr. Rizvi called for as a way to “pay tribute to the martyrs of his party.” Mr. Rizvi has also publicly threatened a fatwa against the magistrates who acquitted Ms. Bibi.” — From the article in America.
Pakistan IS NOT inclined to appease hard-line Islamic clerics, and is standing up against them. That certainly is more than America and Britain, or it seems any other country is willing to do.
Any reduction in American aid to Pakistan, then, would be foolish, as I suggested in a previous post.
Note that “Appeasement in an international context is a diplomatic policy of making political or material concessions to an aggressive power in order to avoid conflict. The term is most often applied to the foreign policy of the British governments of Prime Ministers Ramsay MacDonald, Stanley Baldwin and Neville Chamberlain towards Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy[2] between 1935 and 1939.” —Wikipedia
Refugee status for Ms. Bibi has been squashed by UK Prime Minister Theresa May, according to CBN. Ms. May is concerned about upsetting British Muslims.
Furthermore, the article states:
“May’s indifference about Bibi has angered many people in the UK. According to the website Jihad Watch, May’s government has welcomed two jihad preachers, who praised the murderer of a man who had broken Pakistan’s blasphemy laws. One of the preachers was even welcomed by the Archbishop of Canterbury. “
“LONDON – Last week’s terror attack by a British-born Muslim proves again that a radical community exists within Britain. Its goal: create an Islamic nation. And there is a quieter force at work that will likely achieve that desire long before guns, bombs and violence.
This is not Karachi. It’s London.
Britain’s policy of mass immigration has brought what one expert calls “demographic upheaval” to the United Kingdom that could change almost everything.”
My Comments
Aid to Pakistan in 2016: 780 million dollars. (USAID) This is a very Seriously Flawed Approach to Helping Our Friends.
If Britain becomes a Nation under Islam, it will have done what Adolf Hitler could not accomplish with bombs.
Perhaps you don’t think it could happen in the United States, even if it were to occur in England. I disagree. Here’s why: Some years ago a “guru” and his followers moved into a small Oregon county. They established residence. They grew. They voted. Voila! They became the power of that county. It worked for only a short time. The “guru” was eventually run out of the county after breaking some laws. His followers fled, too, as I recall, not really having a way to support themselves and stay.
Islam is a religion of peace. Okay. Fine. That’s what I’ve heard, anyway. What exactly does that mean? Does it mean that Islam derived from the Quran supports peaceful relations with all people? Doesn’t exactly look like it to me. Or does it mean that Islam’s peace initiative is making all Infidels (those who are not of Islam) either convert or die?
Interestingly, Christianity, like Islam, has a mandate to make disciples of all people. Convert the lost, is often the way it’s presented. And Catholicism has done its share of forced conversion in the past. But that’s not a directive of the Christian Scriptures. Most Protestant denominations make disciples by offering something that appeals to the would-be convert. Not under force, under threat of death.
Judaism does not, as far as I am aware, have any mandate to convert anyone. Judaism, however, does believe that eventually Israel will become the religious center of the Earth, and all nations will believe and worship the G-D of Israel. The G-D of our L-RD Yeshua (Jesus). I believe this, too. I believe all Israel, all of Judaism, will acknowledge Yeshua as Messiah, as L-RD. Apostle Paul believe this as well.
“Lest you be wise in your own sight, I do not want you to be unaware of this mystery, brothers: a partial hardening has come upon Israel, until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in. And in this way all Israel will be saved. . .” [Romans 11:25,26]
Last week, Pakistani Christian Asia Bibi Pakistani was cleared of blasphemy charges. JonahzSong has previously carried posts about her imprisonment. Ms. Bibi spent over eight years on death row for alleged crimes against Islam’s Prophet.
Today, at Paul Thinking Out Loud there is a link to an article at Religious News Service that reports “Yes TV, Canada’s largest multifaith broadcaster, has sent a letter to the Canadian government offering to sponsor and settle Asia Bibi.”
The article goes on to state that despite Ms. Bibi’s release, she is staying in a converted prison cell fearing for her life. Those who wanted her murdered by the State, now want to murder her themselves. Even her lawyer and his family have fled Pakistan.
Pakistanis Demand Death
Even the New York Times has posted an Op-Ed piece on Pakistan’s New Religion of Blasphemy citing Islamic Conservative that want Ms. Bibi murdered (hanged for blasphemy).
It hasn’t stopped their either, for “Posters were put up with fatwas against the judges who had issued the Bibi decision. The judges’ guards and cooks were urged to kill them before evening; anyone who did would earn great rewards in the afterlife,” wrote Mohammed Hanif.
True to the Prosecution.org slogan, “It didn’t end with the coliseums; Christians are still Persecuted.”
Mobs of Pakistanis Demand Public Hanging or Will Shut Down Pakistan
Jonah’s Song 