Open Doors 2

(cont'd from yesterday's post)

For reasons related to their faith, 4,998 Christians across the world were actually murdered. An amazing 83% of those were located in Nigeria, "the deadliest place to follow Jesus." (Deadly danger is nothing new in Nigeria, as I've written about for years.)

Attacks on churches and Christian-run schools, hospitals, cemeteries "exploded" to 14,766 in 2023, six times the number in the previous year. That number includes the closing of churches in China (church bombed in 2019) and mob violence in India. The global number of believers forced to flee their homes because of war or extremism doubled last year to 295,120. 

Though not in the first ten of the World Watch List, the African country Congo (DRC) was the site just days ago of terrible violence on July 24. More than 57 Christian villagers were beheaded by Islamic State Central Africa Province.

Open Doors was founded to pay attention to these things around the world; to help them, and to inform the West where we know next to nothing of the price some Christians pay to follow Jesus.

(cont'd tomorrow)

Christian refuge 2

(cont'd from yesterday's post)

St. Matthew's Monastery (363 A.D.) is just 20 miles from Mosul, which Islamic State captured in 2014. 

They fully expected an attack on the monastery, with all the destruction IS had done in other cities. So the monks started evacuating their relics and art, including centuries-old Christian manuscripts and the (supposed) bones of Saint Matthew.

But the monastery was saved: "Bolstered by a U.S.-led bombing campaign, a force of Kurdish peshmerga fighters — who are Sunni Muslims — stopped the advancing Islamic State militants just 2.5 miles from the beige stone citadel of St. Matthew’s."

photo

"St. Matthew’s Monastery maintains a furnished dormitory available for Christians from anywhere in the world to come and stay free of charge."

Nadia Murad

Back in 2014, Nadia was living a quiet life with her Yazidi minority family in an Iraqi village. Then Islamic State carved a brutal path through Iraq. IS violently took over her village, executed her mother, murdered six of her brothers, and made Nadia into a sex slave.

She published her story, The Last Girl, in 2017. She was tortured, beaten, and repeatedly raped by members of Islamic State, whose "research" concluded that Yazidi are actually  property, not persons.

She managed to escape after three months of captivity and fled to Germany. She became an activist speaking out on behalf of other Yazidi, who are one of the minorities targeted for genocide by Islamic State.

Click on the Iraq or IslamicState labels to get some background on the terror and minority persecution that was IS.

(cont'd tomorrow)

Father grieves

(cont'd from yesterday's post)

An Indonesian grandfather grieves over the family who carried out the terror in yesterday's post. His son was the father of those four children. Here's what he says:

"I love my grandchildren very much. They died because of their father's ideology . . . I want to apologize to Surabaya residents who have become a victim due to my son's actions. I apologize from deep within my heart, especially to those who died because of him." He holds a photo of the family (below).

photo: cnn

An ideology is a way of looking at the world, a set of ideas about what is true and what is valued. Ideas have consequences. 

Churches bombed

A family of six, including children ages 9 to 18, coordinated bombing attacks on three churches in Surabaya, Indonesia, yesterday. Seven people died in the attacks in addition to the six family members, and an additional 41 were injured.

photo: nytimes

Islamic State (IS) claims responsibility. The mother and two daughters wore explosives and detonated themselves at Christian Church of Diponegro, the two sons used motorcycles to get onto the grounds at Santa Maria Church, and the father blew up his car bomb at the Pentecostal Church.

"Christians, many of whom are from the ethnic Chinese minority, make up about 9 percent of Indonesia’s 260 million people." Indonesia is the world's most populous Muslim nation.

It's twisted parents who would kill their kids as well as themselves, all for the sake of inflicting injury, destruction, and death on random Christians.

(cont'd tomorrow)

Russia too

Churches have been attacked in Egypt, Nigeria, Iraq, and now Russia can be added to that list. 

From the New York Times: "A man carrying a knife and a hunting rifle opened fire on worshipers on Sunday at an Orthodox church in Kizlyar, in the Dagestan region of Russia, killing at least five people and wounding several others, according to a Russian state news agency."

"The gunman shouted, “Allahu akbar” and began firing, a priest told the local news media. Churchgoers said they had prevented more casualties by closing the door to the church and stopping the attacker from getting inside.

Islamic State has taken "credit" for the murders.

photo: nytimes.com

Since 2013

(cont'd from yesterday's post)

Though IS forces were driven out of Mosul, Iraq, things are far from normal compared to pre-IS. 

Normal social networks have to be re-built. "A Christian writer who evacuated to Kurdistan says, “When I come back, I feel broken because my neighbors stood by and watched as our possessions were looted in front of their sight. Too many have bought into the ideology that we are infidels . .”

But still, "Christians in Iraq decorated war-torn Mosul with Christmas lights and Christmas trees and even had a visit from Santa for the first time since their last Christmas celebration in 2013."

“The community is still severely affected by the war, people are celebrating [Christmas] out of habit with dulled senses and cold emotions,” said Edward, who lives in an Assyrian Christian enclave in the Nineveh Plain."

photo: dailymail.co.uk

IS defeat

Islamic State (ISIS) took Mosul, Iraq, in 2014. Christians had four options: stay and convert, stay and pay, die, or run. One night, one hundred thousand Christians fled Mosul, leaving families and their way of life behind. 

Homes, churches, museums, neighborhoods - not only Christian - were ravaged and destroyed while IS was in control. The UN estimates that IS barbarity eventually displaced over 3 million people in the region.

But three years of fighting have culminated with a victory declared by Iraqi prime minister Al-Abadi this month. He said, "We defeated Daesh (ISIS) through our unity and sacrifice for the nation. Long live Iraq and its people."

"The US special presidential envoy for the Global Coalition to Defeat ISIS tweeted . . "We congratulate the Prime Minister and all the Iraqi people on this significant achievement, which many thought impossible."

(cont'd tomorrow)

Targeted

Sorry to give you whiplash, but we need to follow up on Monday's story about the attack on Christian churches in Egypt.

photo: ontheworldmap.com

Christians make up 10% of Egypt's 92 million citizens, so they're a minority but a sizable one of about 9 million. They've taken hit after hit from Islamic State (IS) which threatens more violence. Some have decided they are too grieved to celebrate Easter this year, occupied with digging graves and going to funerals instead.

Some doubt that the government wants to protect them. Though IS recently published warnings, there was almost no security present at the churches last Sunday.

A priest at one of the churches said, ""We were not expecting people who live with us in the same country, people with whom we've shared love and friendships, and with whom we're familiar, to do these things."

Many are "furious at a state they believe will no longer protect them from neighbors bent on their murder."

Church bombs

Yesterday, Palm Sunday, was the start of Holy Week with Easter 2017 only a week away. Our family went to church without any fear. Egyptian Christians were at church too - but 43 of them were killed there. Islamic State says they did it and promises more of the same.

photo: cnn.com

The dead were not the only victims of the bombings at two churches. There were 78 injured people whose lives are now changed - those who lost a limb or an eye, or who will lose the employment that supported their family. 

Prayer:  Father God, we ask your provision and comfort for those who are suffering today because of these bombings. Show your people how to protect themselves from the evil that is directed toward them.

Rialto Bridge

It might survive for its 1000th birthday.  Originally built of wood in the 1100's over the Grand Canal in Venice, Italy, the picturesque Rialto Bridge was rebuilt of stone in 1591.

Whether it would survive throughout history was never in question - until now. Only good Italian police work saved it a week ago from Islamic extremist barbarians.

photo: stream.org

Expecting it

Note: internet issues yesterday, sorry about the blank day :(

On December 10, there was a terror attack in Cairo, Egypt. A chapel in the complex of St. Mark's Cathedral was the site of a bomb blast that killed 25 and wounded 49 during Sunday morning mass.

photo: cbsnews.com

Islamic State claimed responsibility for the attack carried out by a 22-year-old murderer who was carrying 26 pounds of TNT. 

Many Christians are preparing themselves for forgiveness and martyrdom. “I want to send a message to those that killed my wife,” said Wagdy Anis. “I forgive him, and I pray for him and the people who are like him. That God may lighten their minds and open their vision.”

"Amad Saad Aziz lost his sister Amany in the attack. “To my martyred sister I say, ‘I love you so much and I want to be like you.’ To you who killed my sister I say, ‘We are ready for martyrdom.'"

Berlin mourns

(cont'd from yesterday's post)

Berlin's Breitscheidplatz Christmas Market was deserted today after Monday's terror attack, except for a few kiosks that sold grave site memorial candles. Mourners gathered at the nearby church to express support for the victims. 

photo: cnn.com

"Yesterday was a black day for human history, with what happened in Ankara and then here," said Devid . . "It's just depressing. . The people who do this are animals."

"I'm so sad," said Evita. "Twelve people dead and they were just here having a nice evening with their family. It's shocking."

"I'm shocked, I'm very concerned. I'm angry, also," said Alice.

(from http://www.cnn.com/2016/12/20/europe/berlin-mourning-christmas-market-attack/index.html)

What ISIS wants

Where did ISIS or Islamic State come from? What do they want? Bad news of their murderous path to power frequently makes the headlines (scroll down to see the last two days' posts).

They don't keep what they want a secret. They filmed themselves executing Christians and entitled it, "A message signed with blood to the nation of the cross".

Why France?

(cont'd from yesterday's post)

"Since January 2015, IS-inspired attackers have killed at least 235 people in France, by far the largest casualty rate of any Western country." Other European countries have suffered terror attacks but France seems to be a particular target. Why?

Large areas of Africa and the Middle East were French colonies, some of them held til just ~60 years ago, and some still have a French military presence. Families and descendants from those areas live in France today where they populate poor and alienated districts. Islamic State recruiting propaganda reaches these people and also French-speaking Muslims in Raqqa, Syria.  

Francois Hollande, president of France, said that their Western values also motivate attacks. "Terrorists will not give up on anything until we stop them."

Target France

France has been in a state of emergency since last November. Yesterday they endured yet another murder by ISIS followers, this time the knifing of an 84-year-old priest who was conducting mass in church.

This CNN author says it is part of Islamic State's international war on Christians, that they want a war between religions.

"Not only has the group driven out Christian populations from cities such as Mosul, but it has targeted them for death across the Middle East, including in Egypt where a local Islamic State affiliate has assassinated Coptic priests. In Nigeria, ISIS affiliate Boko Haram killed more than 4,000 Christians last year and attacked almost 200 churches, according to figures compiled by a Nigerian Christian organization."

The archbishop of Rouen, city near the site of the attack, said "I cry out to God with all men of goodwill."

(cont'd tomorrow)

Executed

Yazidis are a religious minority among the Kurds, a Middle Eastern ethnic group who form a large part of the population across several countries in this area:

Yazidi and other religious minority women are enslaved by Islamic State as they conquer territory.  According to Kurdish news source ARA News, nineteen women were burned alive last Thursday in Mosul, Iraq, as punishment for refusing sex with IS fighters.

Let's decide to never become callous to the victims of Islamic State.

Define it

Going back one more time to the subject of last week - exactly what is genocide? If the U.S. government is placing its whole authority into this accusation against Islamic State, then we need clarity about what it is.

It was a new term in the 1940's to describe the coordinated effort to exterminate a group by murder and may include violence to their art, historical record, language. Think of IS destroying ancient sculpture, churches - the goal is to wipe non-Islamic groups off the map and out of history.

Jewish/Polish lawyer and scholar Raphael Lemkin's definition of the new term was adopted by the United Nations in 1948. He had in mind the examples of Simele, Iraq, where Assyrian Christians were targeted in 1933 by the Iraqi government, and Ukraine, where the Soviet Union starved 5 million in order to stamp out political resistance.

America has united politically to denounce genocide. In this time of extreme disagreement on so many things, I'm glad my country can unite on this.

Call it

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, the highest American official for foreign policy, answered the genocide question Thursday for the Obama administration: Islamic State is committing genocide. Congress had urged the administration to do just that by March 17, yesterday.

This does not legally obligate the U.S. militarily, so it doesn't mean we will apply more force. But plain words are still important because there should be no confusion about what IS has done.

Here are bits of the Secretary's statement:

"[Islamic State] is responsible for genocide against groups in areas under its control including Yazidis, Christians and Shia Muslims . . genocidal by self-proclamation, by ideology and by actions in what it says, what it believes and what it does.

"One element of genocide is the intent to destroy an ethnic or religious group in whole or in part. Its entire world view is based on eliminating those who do not subscribe to its perverse ideology.

"The fact is that [IS] kills Christians because they are Christians, the Yazidis because they are Yazidis, [and] Shia because they are Shia."

IS crimes

Just in case you've missed the stories about IS targeting religious minorities - or if the media you follow haven't reported it - here's an NBC news clip about the notorious slaughter last year of 21 Egyptian Christian men.

Other ones can be found under the label "Islamic State" or here


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