Posted on 04/17/2015 1:48:08 PM PDT by nickcarraway
Can Christianity survive, in the face of persecution and conflict, in the region of its birth? The BBC's Jane Corbin travelled across the Middle East - through Iraq and Syria - to investigate the plight of Christians, as hundreds of thousands flee Islamic militancy in the region.
As I climbed the steep mountain path above the plain of Nineveh, Iraq, the sound of monks chanting and the smell of incense drifted out of the 4th Century monastery of St Matthew. Once, 7,000 monks worshipped here when Christianity was the official religion of the Roman empire.
Almost the whole population was Christian then. Their numbers have dwindled and now there are only six monks - and no pilgrims dare to visit. "We are on the frontline with Isis and people are afraid to come here," Father Yusuf told me. "We are worried about everything: our people, our family, Christianity."
Kurdish fighters guard the monastery and on the plain I heard artillery fire and saw plumes of smoke from Western airstrikes on the positions of IS, the so-called Islamic State. They swept across the plain of Nineveh last year, forcing tens of thousands of Christians to flee from Mosul, Iraq's second city, and surrounding towns and villages.
Father Yusuf, a monk in Mar Mattai with refugee children
A handful of families have taken refuge in the monastery, as Christians have done for centuries since Islamic
SNIP
Thirteen-year-old Nardine is all too aware of what IS fighters do to girls they regard as infidels. "They are very cruel, they are very harsh," Nardine whispered fearfully. "Everyone knows, they took the Yazidi girls and sold them in the market."
"Isis have no mercy for anyone. They select women to rape them," said Nardine's mother. "We were afraid for our daughters so we ran away."
(Excerpt) Read more at bbc.com ...
Modern evangelicaldom also has some discomfort with ecumenism. It’s easy for, say, Baptists to get into the cynical position that those Orthodox monks aren’t also getting blessings of the presence and salvation of Christ in spite of human doctrine differences.
But such differences are a “luxury” of a shielded church. Let it come under common siege and soon we see that the humanly built rooms in our foxhole don’t mean that we are not all in the same foxhole, or that the same Savior is not down there with us waiting for us to call on spiritual ammunition.
What are you talking about?
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Your first post on this thread.
Which statement in it.
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....Yet see it grow in other parts of the world.
Even better news, many new Christians will be a reality with these attacks.
Yet sadly the same attacks will come regardless of what church one attends.
....Or even just go online and get info from good Christian websites.
.....Yet according the greatest book of all time, WE WIN.
I say NO to either, and here is why. Look for the good news of the Gospel to spread and take root not only in those lands which it has been aroud for a very long time, but even in the west over time.
No.
Remember the enemy is doing this because he knows that time is getting really, really short for him. But in the end, he loses.
The reality is that the more the Christian faith comes under attack, the more it GROWS.
Amen to that.
I think we are seeing a big split in the church and the formation of a real remnant. The big institutional churches are being enslaved by the government via a misinterpretation of Romans 13 and the IRS tax exempt status restrictions. Who wants a pastor that’s a part of the “clergy response team” funded and directed by the Feds.
The real Church will be found in small groups, just like it was in the beginning; an Acts based Church.
There is one nation in the Middle East where Christians practice their religion in safety. But we know how the BBC (and our so-called President) feel about that nation.
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