Father, we pray for these Christians who suffer so much.
And for all Christians, especially the persecuted, the poor, the sick, the hungry, the captive, the slave, the oppressed.
In Jesus Name we pray, amen.
November 20, 2008
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Iraqi Christians
by Kerby Anderson
i get this email daily for free.........google POINT OF VIEW by Kerby Anderson
One of the saddest stories coming out of Iraq is rarely covered by the mainstream media. It is the story of the Iraqi Christians. Recently I asked Kenneth Timmerman to talk about their plight.
Back in April he wrote an article titled "Christians Face Extinction in Northern Iraq." He told the story of thousands of Christians who fled persecution in other parts of Iraq in order to return to their ancestral lands in the Ninevah Plain (just north and east of Mosul). Even then they were escaping Islamic militias and having to deal with poverty, joblessness, and despair.
Their story has now gone from bad to worse. In the last few weeks there has been escalating violence against these Christians. Thousands fled the city of Mosul and tried to find refuge in nearby structures (churches, monasteries, etc.). Earlier they were threatened by Muslim groups that demanded that they convert to Islam or pay the jizyah (a tax levied on non-Muslims those under Muslim Sharia law).
Apparently there is more at stake than just religious hatred. The collapse of any central government authority in the region virtually guarantees that these Assyrian/Chaldean Christians will be persecuted and even removed from their lands. The Kurdish Regional Government is attempting to annex the fertile land where they live because they believe it also contains rich oil resources.
These Christians have lived in this land for 2,000 years. They represent one of the
oldest Christian communities in the world. And they pray in Aramaic, just as Jesus did 2,000 years ago.
Kenneth Timmerman estimates that "approximately 400,000 Iraqi Christians have fled the country since the fall of Saddam Hussein in 2003." And "many of the 600,000 Christians who remain in Iraq are internally displaced." He suggests that we contact the president and encourage the U.S. government to work towards developing a secure homeland province for religious minorities in Iraq. The time to act is now. I'm Kerby Anderson, and that's my point of view.
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