I had a chance to visit one of the few Assyrian Christian Churches the other day. As I told you in a previous post, the Christian Church is almost extinct in this Country. The years of persecution and terrorism has really taken it's toll. The sad thing is that America is not standing up for these brothers and sisters in Christ. There is no out cry to save them and there are no relief efforts to help them. Why???? If this were China or Africa it might make headline news. Instead it is in a place that we pump billions of dollars into. Churches and Christian everywhere need to start making noise. Wouldn't it be sad if every Christian disappears from this land where God created mankind, the Garden of Eden, the Birthplace of Abraham?
"Between 10,000 and 30,000 of Iraq's 800,000 Christians have fled the country since the fall of Saddam Hussein's regime, according to Christian
groups in Baghdad. Although Christians make up only about 3% of Iraq's 25 million people, the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees has said they account for about 20% of the refugees fleeing Iraq for Syria. They are escaping a climate of violence and a surging Islamic radicalism that have made the practice of their faith a deadly enterprise.
The worst moment came on Aug. 1 when Islamic insurgents - most likely connected with terrorist leader Abu Mousab al-Zarqawi, according to Iraqi
government officials - attacked five churches in Baghdad and Mosul with car bombs, killing a dozen people. While Muslim authorities in Iraq widely condemned those attacks, local Christians say security has continued to deteriorate. Says Layla Isitfan: "If I can't go to church because I'm scared, if I can't dress how I want, if I can't drink because it's
against Islam, what kind of freedom is that?"
Like the larger insurgency targeting U.S. troops and the new Iraqi government, the campaign against Christians appears to be becoming more organized. Sa'ad Jusif, a Chaldean-Assyrian Christian, was kidnapped on Sept. 8, according to Dr. Munir Mardirosian, who heads a political party for Armenian Catholics in Baghdad. His captors showed
him a list of 200 names, most of them Christian, and demanded to know where they lived. When he refused, he was hung from the ceiling and beaten with iron pipes. He was released only when his family paid a $50,000 ransom on Sept. 13. He left the next day for Jordan. Says Mardirosian: "If they opened the doors to America or Australia, I can say there would not be one Christian left in Iraq."
article found at: http://www.christiansofiraq.com
Posts
It is evidence of a war not seen by our eyes. The war Satan has waged with God. With all his failed attempts, he still battles. When he couldn't take God's throne, he decided to take God's creation. From Adam and Eve all the way till now, this is his battle tactic.
ReplyDeleteI'm pretty much saying ... I hear ya. :) This area will be in my prayers.