Benazir Bhutto assasinated just days before Pakistani general election

At time of posting, this report is 13 minutes old.

[url=http://canadianpress.google.com/article/ALeqM5iMb1loHZGB66_sDe0r78rgKiE5kQ]http://canadianpress.google.com/article/ALeqM5iMb1loHZGB66_sDe0r78rgKiE5kQ[/url]

Does anyone know about her family and their untimely deaths?

I don't know whether any of you noticed that Pakistan has been under a military government for several years. Their President had retained his military title right up until this month, until he was forced to relinquish it and step out of uniform after a lifetime in the Pakistan Army. This was pressed upon him, so that he would present a democratic face at the proposed general election.

I have the feeling that Benazir Bhutto has not been able to live in Pakistan, or, did not have her freedom in Pakistan, until the plan for this election was quite far advanced. I've just heard an interview which drew out that her life has been threatened of old.

Now, it looks as if even the President may lose credibility if he tries to head up an investigation into Miss Bhutto's death, and there is already talk of the election being postponed.

If there is one thing Pakistan doesn't need, it's a power vacuum.

The other problem is that for a strongly Muslim country, to successfully demonstrate to the world a believable difference between 'law and order', and the 'national religion' (in seeking to bring to trial those responsible for a suicide bombing of such political import) would have been a work of art in itself, without the loss of a world-renowned Opposition Party leader.

:-o

Hi ginnyrose

And Muslims will declare they have higher morals then Westerners...{{sigh}}

The bit about the 70 virgins may make headlines, but there is a lot more going on for the young people who give themselves in this way. The whole culture is fed propoganda which gives no hope, just as those European countries where God was officially banned, and dreadful things were required of those who wished to survive the ruling regieme. There is always a buffer of large numbers of ordinary people who don't agree, but cannot act to stop the rot. In any such place, a sense of moral compromise eats away at self-respect.

In general, Muslims do have a high standard of morality, but like with us, there are those who don't do what they should - and we know we all have the same kind of human heart - so 'sin' is no surprise.

Islam represents the false prophet of the Christian Bible, opposing the face of God's 'last word to mankind' through His Son Jesus Christ - whom Muslims accept as a historical figure - even as the Prophet which He was, but deny as God's Son. God has no Son and no need of a Son, they are taught. But Muslims need to hear that [i]the spirit of prophecy is the testimony of Jesus[/i], and that this Holy Spirit which God gives to every repentant believer in Jesus Christ (for the gift of eternal life, and salvation from hell), makes known to us the mind of God Himself, still, today. This liberty is to [i]every[/i] Christian, (truly not reserved only for religious leaders, which error is taught by Roman Catholic dogma also).

Those [i]Christians[/i] whose lives do not [u]focus[/u] on obedience to God - our Father's individual guidance daily (and sometimes minutely) - are as distant from being admitted to heaven as any Muslim, no matter how devoutly their religion is practised. There is only one Way to the Father, and His Name is Jesus, the Son of God. I have great hope that some Muslims reading this thread, will turn their hearts and minds to lay hold of the knowledge of God through Jesus Christ, who also said of Himself 'I am the Truth'.

But ginnyrose, I think you probably know that for those men, women and children who turn to Christ in Pakistan, life may be short. It's difficult to know whether a time of civil unrest such as may soon erupt, would be a better or a worse time to find His grace and forgiveness.

In Pakistan, becoming a Christian can lead to a fearful existence or exile for those who are not called to lay down their lives for Him; for those whom God calls to evangelise, preach or pastor, their gospel may be stifled by an untimely death. I'm not sure these killings are legal, as there have been Christian missionaries in Pakistan over many decades in the past, for at the same time as hearing of miraculous conversions today, I have heard also of men dying for Christ, there. Nevertheless, He is worthy of such full obedience, Who in His death, bore [i]all our sins away forever[/i].

Hi suzy,

That was a good post :-) I'm certainly not an expert on Pakistani politics!

We need to pray that whoever wins the election will not let this country become an extreme Muslim state or the home of the Taliban. The last thing for Pakistan and the Indian subcontinent is a Taliban state. We need to pray that tempers and anger will subside, and elections can go ahead as fairly as possible.

There have been bombs also, and while it may have seemed random to those in such a large country, this is not the first serious incident of recent weeks in Rawalpindi.

The Christians in Pakistan do not have an easy life at all and there is much persecution so we need to pray for our brothers and sisters at this time, as well as the ordinary Pakistani who only wants to live in peace.

psalm1 wrote:

pakistan has a nuclear arsenal. So many countries now with nukes. only God and his angels are holding this world together.

you got to admit though, having all these looney tune dictators with nukes sure spices up our daily lives [prayer life]

I think we better pray.
Anyone for aa pre-trib rapture?

David

Recently, I wondered if our concept of 'persecution' has been warped by too many tales from the past, as we are being persecuted all the time with governments promoting immorality of many kinds by their policies, while paying lip-service to Christian values.

This is and has been a very confusing time for anyone who thought they elect politicians to create the kind of country to which they aspire. It appears that even some church leaders are not interested in being on the side which will be saved by His life whether He comes sooner or later.

The logistics of using nuclear power within our atmosphere, do make it the choice of a madman. I don't know if they would cause big or small areas of contamination, but the fallout is a serious deterent. Let's face it. Unless a person knows God and is in such fellowship with Him as to be ready to go [u]now[/u] any day any time, surviving whatever lies ahead, whether nuclear warfare or something (thought to be) less, there is going to continue to be much human need. Oh for that resurrection power to bring life and hope to earth [u]today[/u].

I guess you don't believe in a pre-trib rapture, either...

How on earth could a female rise to the ranks of power as Bhutto did, given their attitudes concerning women?

Within the Muslim household, the woman is given even more equality (in terms of her intellectual input) than in many Western (so-called) Christian homes. But, there is an extremity of Islam which does not believe in educating women, and these women [i]do[/i] have a hard time, and could be said not to reach their full potential. But, they are mothers. They work hard within their remit. They bring a softness to the Muslim male which in some ways resembles the softness of the Catholic male who has been taught to reverence Mary (and his own mother). It's peculiar in its own way.

However, like in any culture, wherever there is an extreme, it is balanced by other extremes. The veneration of virginity (for example), or official disapproval of abortion, is not necessarily what happens in people's lives, and strict aspirations to keep their laws perfectly, necessarily lead to degrees of guilt over failure. But I digress...

It seems remarkable that anyone in Pakistan really believes they can tell the world that this lady [i]died[/i] through 'hitting her head' on the sun roof of her car... when many witnesses describe hearing two shots (which were in two different parts of her body, suggesting two snipers rather than one), before the suicide bomber detonated his charge.

suzy.... When I heard that President Musharaff had been pressurised to give up his miliary status and employment, I was concerned, but I didn't anticipate this. To say 'it has gone wrong', is, I believe, to misinterpret the intention of planning general elections in Pakistan.

to let anger subside

:-?

Since the assassination of Bhutto there has been the assassination of the governor of Punjabi province, a moderate Moslem. I cannot recall his name but he called for the repeal of the blasphemy laws that currently exist in the zPakidtani penal code and have been used by the Moslem extremist to oppress the Christian.s and other minorities. This governor was assassinated by his own Moslem body guards.

I heard that the slain governor's son was kidnapped by extremist in retaliation for the killing of Bin Laden by U S special ops forces.

A few months ago Pakistan Minister of Minority Affairs Shabbaz Bhatti was killed by extremist. The Pakistani government refused him protection or an armored car. The man was a Christian and again called for the removal of the blasphemy laws from Pakistan's legal code.

Both Governor Salmon Teezer and Shabbaz Bhatti spike on behalf of Asia Bibi and called for her release. Asia Bibi is the Christian mother who gave a testimony for Christ. Presently she has been sentenced to death by the Pakistani court and could very well be the first woman to be executed in Pakistan for blasphemy for blashemy against Mohammed.

How is it that Osama Bin Laden could hide in Pakistan all these years and Pakistani intelligence did not know of it? Al Queda and the Taliban have infiltrated the Pakistani military. At least some in the intelligence community fear that. The concern is Pakistan has nuclear weapons. If the extremist get control of those weapons then the unthinkable could happen. Add to the fact India has nukes. I shudder to think what could take place between these two countries in terms of a nuclear exchange. For the last several decades India and Pakistan have been enemies. They almost cane to blows in the mid 90's. Diplomatic efforts diffused that tension.

In years past Richard Wormbrandt warned the western church over the evils of communism. He equated to a satanic system. Now the danger is Islam. I say it again the danger to the church is Islam. Satan is manifesting evil through the opression of Islam.

I am not suffering from islamiaphobia nor do I hate moslems. But in praying for the persecuted church the moslems are the biggest persecuters of Christians. It was Moslem jihadist who gave us 9/11.

The moslens need Jesus. Just as Richard Wormbrandt was that Jesus was the answer to communism saw the answer to Islam has to be Jesus.

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Blaine Scogin