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 ...
The bearded savages have killed most of them. Their goal is to continue doing that in the rest of the world.
Could it be driven from America?
The Muslims are driving out Christianity in the ME.
The Left and gaystopo are driving out Christianity in America.
Satan has two allied armies.
Quite possibly and it could also be part of God’s plan. If there are no Christians left, then there is no reason for God to delay judgement.
If they try, I suspect they will give disaffected Muslims a rallying point that will be the breaking of Islam.
Yep. The song Stand Up, Stand Up For Jesus keeps running through my mind.
We’ll take a few jackboots down with us.
The problem with victory, is that you need to be prepared to win, fear only works as a governing principle so long as you can keep people afraid of you and all your bases covered. BTW- didn’t ISIS just lose the strategist they had leftover from Saddam?
“Could it be driven from America?”
Well, intuitively I would say no. But then again, Christianity was the dominant religion in the Middle East for about six hundred years or so. And, now it’s a minority religion and will soon be non-existent there. So, could happen here too.
I sometimes wonder how informed Western Christians are about what is happening to their brothers. I have never heard a sermon on it, although one of elders in our church, who has a military background, did mention the atrocities briefly one Sunday.
In other countries in the Middle East(other than Syria, Iraq). Christianity is becoming stronger. Used to be that Muslims becoming Christian was unheard of. Not any more, happens frequently. While still not common, there are more and more Muslims sick of Islam and turning to Christ.
Its all going according to plan.
Things will get much worse.
But in the end we win.
This is the BBC. They would weep with joy if it were to happen.
Conflict will dramatically remold a church that had it relatively easy under vaarious degrees of alliance with government.
I feel sympathy for the monks. They are probably doing the best they know. But God is insisting that we learn that we can fight lions, not just pussy cats. And sometimes the lessons can be a little rude.
vaarious => various
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