By Elizabeth Kendal
'What shall I do, then, with Jesus who is called the Christ?' Pilate asked. They all answered, 'Crucify him!' (Matthew 27:22 NIV) 'If the world hates you, keep in mind that it hated me first.' (John 15:18)
SEPTEMBER 2011 UPDATE -- During September we prayed for . . .
NIGERIA (RLPB 124), where ethnic Muslims in the volatile ethnic-religious fault-line city of Jos have been raiding ethnic Christian communities at night, inflicting terror by slaughtering unarmed civilians in their beds, doubtless with the aim of triggering an exodus. This is nothing short of ethnic cleansing. Those who commit these night-time invasions -- which are like the night-time invasions that characterised the 1990s jihad in Algeria -- doubtless justify their actions from the Qur'an: 'How many a township have we destroyed! As a raid by night, or while they slept at noon, our terror came unto them.' (Sura 7:4.)
UPDATE: NIGERIAN JIHAD
TERROR IN KADUNA STATE. On Sunday 18 September some 20 Fulani herdsmen stormed a Christian farming community in Bitaro village, Jaba Local Government Area of southern Kaduna state about 1am as the villagers slept. Armed with machetes and knives, the Muslims killed two men (both husbands and fathers) and a 13-year-old girl and wounded at least 10. Though notified immediately, police arrived too late to apprehend the attackers. Soldiers have been deployed to guard the area.
TERROR IN NIGER STATE. About 8pm on Thursday 22 September suspected Boko Haram militants converged on shops owned by Christians in Madala. Demanding the Christians recite verses from the Qur'an, the militants shot and killed those who could not. Five Christian traders were murdered.
TERROR PLANNED FOR ABUJA. On Saturday 1 October Nigeria will celebrate 51 years of independence. Boko Haram has vowed to attack selected high profile targets in the federal capital.
SOMALIA (RLPB 125), a land of terror and martyrdom, where the al-Qaeda-linked jihadist group al-Shabaab is systematically eliminating Somalia's Christians.
IRAN (RLPB 126), where state belligerence and persecution are escalating.
UPDATE ON PASTOR YOUCEF NADARKHANI: The trial court has ruled that, whilst Youcef Nadarkhani was not a practising Muslim before his conversion to Christianity, he is an apostate because of his Muslim ancestry. The Supreme Court has given Youcef four opportunities to renounce Christ and return to Islam, once daily on 25, 26, 27 & 28 September. Youcef will be executed if he does not comply. [Watch Religious Liberty Monitoring for an update.]
SEPTEMBER 2011 ROUND-UP -- also this month . . .
* ALGERIA: CHRISTIAN APPEALING FIVE-YEAR JAIL TERM
RLPB 110 (1 June 2011) reported the14 April arrest of Algerian Christian, Krimo Siaghi, on charges on illegal proselytism and insulting Muhammad. At his 25 May trial the judge imposed a severe five-year jail term along with a massive fine. Krimo's appeal will be heard on Thursday 29 September. Please pray. The verdict will indicate the degree to which the state is or is not prepared to protect religious liberty.
* INDONESIA: CHURCH SUICIDE BOMBING IN SOLO, CENTRAL JAVA
On Sunday 25 September the second worship service at the 700-strong Bethel Full Gospel Church (Gereja Bethel Injil Sepenuh) in Kepunton ended as usual at 11am. At the moment the believers started moving out a suicide bomber detonated his explosives by the main glass doors of the sanctuary. Twenty-two believers were injured -- eleven seriously and one has died in hospital. The bomber was reportedly a member of an Islamist militant cell in Cirebon, West Java. Security has been heightened and police will now screen all church visitors.
* KIRKUK, IRAQ: THREE CHRISTIANS KIDNAPPED
On 21 September, Muslim gunmen abducted three Christian men near Fakhira village, southern Kirkuk. The Christians were ambushed when returning home to Arfa, northern Kirkuk, from a regular hunting trip. The militants killed the Christians' hunting dogs and torched their car before taking them to an unknown location. Iraqi security forces are searching for them. As tensions mount in flash-point Kirkuk, Christians are becoming increasingly vulnerable to ethnic-religious hate crimes, Islamic terrorism and opportunistic criminality including kidnappings. Please pray for God's protection of Iraq's Christian remnant.
* KAZAKHSTAN: NEW LAW WILL HURT MINORITY PROTESTANTS
On 21 September Kazakhstan's Lower House passed the controversial Law on Religious Activity and Religious Associations. Foreign missionaries will now have to re-register annually and anybody who fails the 'theological examination' or is deemed to pose a threat to 'public peace' will be expelled. In a land without a history of religious liberty or tolerance, such a law could cripple Protestant missions as Protestantism is considered 'new' and 'foreign'. Furthermore the law requires churches to have 50 adult members to be registered as a legal 'local' entity. That will be a problem for many small Protestant fellowships as Protestants account for less than one percent of the population. Unregistered worship will be illegal. Also banned is religious observance -- in particular prayer -- in all state institutions. According to the government, the legislation is designed to 'protect the people of Kazakhstan from pseudo-religious movements and cults'. The Senate is expected to approve the law and President Nursultan Nazarbayev reportedly plans to sign it. Protestants are already facing escalating repression, with one Baptist pastor lamenting to Forum 18: 'A new wave of persecution has begun once more.' Please pray that God will grant Kazakhstan's Christian leaders courage, faith and divine wisdom to face the storm.
* SUDAN: WAR ESCALATES IN BLUE NILE
[Updating RLPB 124 (7 September) and Religious Liberty Monitoring 'Sudan: War spreads across "new south" into Blue Nile' (13 September)]. The Arab-supremacist Islamist Government of Sudan has been bombing the Blue Nile capital, Kurmuk. Humanitarian agencies have been targeted, including the office of Save the Children. Insecurity has forced the state's only hospital to close. Satellite Sentinel Project imagery reveals a massive mobilisation of Sudan Armed Forces -- including some 3000 troops along with tanks, artillery, and helicopters -- travelling south from Khartoum to Blue Nile. Everything indicates a major military invasion is imminent. Without international action to disable Khartoum, civil war will engulf the country and impact the whole region. Sudan and South Sudan are accusing each other of supporting the other's rebel forces. Tensions are high. Please pray for the Church in Sudan.
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Showing posts with label Kirkuk. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Kirkuk. Show all posts
Thursday, September 29, 2011
Wednesday, May 18, 2011
108. Iraq: terror in Kirkuk as war looms
Religious Liberty Prayer Bulletin | RLPB 108 | Wed 18 May 2011
IRAQ: TERROR IN KIRKUK AS WAR LOOMS
By Elizabeth Kendal
Kirkuk is a hotly contested city in northern Iraq's 'disputed territories'. Oil-rich, hugely strategic Kirkuk is home to Arabs, Kurds, Turkmen and Assyrian-Chaldean Christians. It is essentially Iraq in miniature. For several years now this prayer ministry has been warning that Kirkuk could explode at any moment into the mother-of-all-wars. Turkey, regional Shi'ites, and regional Sunnis all have strong interests. Recently the United States Institute of Peace identified Kirkuk as the greatest threat to Iraq's stability. As the US withdrawal from Iraq approaches, tensions are escalating and the stakes are being raised, leaving Christians exceedingly vulnerable.
After the 1968 revolution Saddam Hussein consolidated Sunni Arab and Baathist control over Kirkuk's vast oil reserves through a policy of 'Arabisation'. From the early 1970s onwards hundreds of thousands of non-Arabs (mostly Kurds) were driven out of Kirkuk and replaced with loyal Arabs. Everything changed after the regime fell in 2003. Article 58 of Iraq's new Constitution stipulated that all non-original residents of Kirkuk province -- i.e. Arabs imported by Saddam Hussein -- must return to their places of origin, and all displaced families -- predominantly Kurds -- must return to the province and claim their properties. This later became Article 140 that further mandates conducting a census ahead of a referendum to determine whether Kirkuk will be annexed to autonomous Iraqi Kurdistan or remain under federal control from Baghdad. The spectre of a referendum on status has only inflamed ethnic tensions. Kurdish police and Arab soldiers recently engaged in an armed skirmish in the centre of Kirkuk. The situation is highly volatile.
But Kirkuk is not coveted by Arabs and Kurds alone. Kirkuk is also historically and strategically important to neighbouring Turkey and to Iraqi Turkmen. The Turkmen do not want to see the Kurds further empowered and they do want to see Kirkuk's oil flowing north through Turkey. In 2003 the Iraqi Turkmen Front (ITC) moved its headquarters from Arbil to Kirkuk. To challenge the ruling Kurdish bloc during the 2010 elections, the ITC entered a coalition with Ayad Allawi's secular parliamentary bloc, Al-Iraqiyya, which is strong in the 'disputed territories'. A UN-sponsored meeting on Kirkuk was scheduled to be held in Baghdad on 5 May but had to be cancelled after Arab and Turkmen representatives refused to attend unless the Kurds were denied participation. Distrust and hostility abound.
On 12 May, less than two weeks after Ersat Salihi became the head ITC Member of Parliament and ITC Kirkuk City President, Salihi's heavily-guarded home in Kirkuk was attacked with explosives while the family were all inside. Whilst nobody was hurt, this attack and the subsequent one made on investigating police were highly organised and clearly designed to send a political message. This marks the first time a Turkmen leader has been specifically targeted in Iraq, further raising the stakes.
Normally ignored by the media, beneath all this is the smallest and most vulnerable of all Kirkuk's constituent groups: the Assyrian-Chaldean Christians. These are a people who have been native to Upper Mesopotamia throughout history but are a mere remnant now, comprising less than one percent of the population. They are essentially inconsequential politically and militarily -- a threat to nobody. However, to Islamic fundamentalists they are infidel 'dogs': unclean, undesirable and unwanted. On Saturday 14 May terrorists abducted Ashur Issa Yaqub (29), a Chaldean Christian construction worker, husband and father of three, demanding an impossible US$100,000 ransom. On Monday 16 May police found Yaqub's mutilated body, dumped in the open. According to provincial health chief, Sadiq Omar Rasul, the body 'carried traces of torture and the bites of dogs'. But 'traces' of torture is a gross understatement. The torture inflicted on this young man is beyond comprehension. His gruesome murder -- labelled by the Archbishop of Kirkuk, Louis Sako, as an 'inhuman act' -- has sent shockwaves of terror through Kirkuk's remnant Christian community. If war erupts Islamic jihadists will doubtless seek to exploit the chaos to eliminate the Christian presence -- and not only in Kirkuk.
PLEASE PRAY SPECIFICALLY FOR GOD TO --
* surround, protect, lead and comfort his remnant people with his 'everlasting arms' (Deut 33:27a), so that every faithful believer will be profoundly aware of the love and presence of the Lord who never leaves or forsakes his loved ones; may those who choose to flee find refuge and may those who stay know peace.
* speak into the hearts of Iraqis that a solution might be found for the Kirkuk problem: essentially selfish greed; may reasonable sharing become possible and a devastating regional war averted with God stilling 'the tumult of the peoples'. (Psalm 65:7c)
* open the hearts of many Iraqi Muslims to receive the life-changing gospel of Jesus Christ.
* cause the light of Christ to shine through every faithful Iraqi believer to great saving effect, for the sake of the Church and the glory of God. 'And they will do these things [persecute and kill you] because they have not known the Father, nor me.' (John 16:3 ESV)
~~~~
SUMMARY TO USE IN BULLETINS UNABLE TO RUN THE WHOLE ARTICLE
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IRAQ: TERROR IN KIRKUK
Kirkuk is an ethnically mixed, hotly contested city in northern Iraq's 'disputed territories'. As the day of the US withdrawal from Iraq approaches, many fear the resulting security vacuum will open the door for the battle for highly strategic, oil-rich Kirkuk to begin. Should war eventuate, the remnant indigenous Christian community would be exceedingly vulnerable. Islamic militants would doubtless exploit the chaos to eliminate the Christian presence -- and not only in Kirkuk. Over 14 &15 May, terrorists abducted Ashur Issa Yaqub (29), a Chaldean Christian construction worker, husband and father of three. They tortured him to death before dumping his mutilated body in the open. This 'inhuman act' has sent shockwaves of terror through Kirkuk's minority Christian community. Please pray for Iraq's besieged Christians.
IRAQ: TERROR IN KIRKUK AS WAR LOOMS
By Elizabeth Kendal
Kirkuk is a hotly contested city in northern Iraq's 'disputed territories'. Oil-rich, hugely strategic Kirkuk is home to Arabs, Kurds, Turkmen and Assyrian-Chaldean Christians. It is essentially Iraq in miniature. For several years now this prayer ministry has been warning that Kirkuk could explode at any moment into the mother-of-all-wars. Turkey, regional Shi'ites, and regional Sunnis all have strong interests. Recently the United States Institute of Peace identified Kirkuk as the greatest threat to Iraq's stability. As the US withdrawal from Iraq approaches, tensions are escalating and the stakes are being raised, leaving Christians exceedingly vulnerable.
After the 1968 revolution Saddam Hussein consolidated Sunni Arab and Baathist control over Kirkuk's vast oil reserves through a policy of 'Arabisation'. From the early 1970s onwards hundreds of thousands of non-Arabs (mostly Kurds) were driven out of Kirkuk and replaced with loyal Arabs. Everything changed after the regime fell in 2003. Article 58 of Iraq's new Constitution stipulated that all non-original residents of Kirkuk province -- i.e. Arabs imported by Saddam Hussein -- must return to their places of origin, and all displaced families -- predominantly Kurds -- must return to the province and claim their properties. This later became Article 140 that further mandates conducting a census ahead of a referendum to determine whether Kirkuk will be annexed to autonomous Iraqi Kurdistan or remain under federal control from Baghdad. The spectre of a referendum on status has only inflamed ethnic tensions. Kurdish police and Arab soldiers recently engaged in an armed skirmish in the centre of Kirkuk. The situation is highly volatile.
But Kirkuk is not coveted by Arabs and Kurds alone. Kirkuk is also historically and strategically important to neighbouring Turkey and to Iraqi Turkmen. The Turkmen do not want to see the Kurds further empowered and they do want to see Kirkuk's oil flowing north through Turkey. In 2003 the Iraqi Turkmen Front (ITC) moved its headquarters from Arbil to Kirkuk. To challenge the ruling Kurdish bloc during the 2010 elections, the ITC entered a coalition with Ayad Allawi's secular parliamentary bloc, Al-Iraqiyya, which is strong in the 'disputed territories'. A UN-sponsored meeting on Kirkuk was scheduled to be held in Baghdad on 5 May but had to be cancelled after Arab and Turkmen representatives refused to attend unless the Kurds were denied participation. Distrust and hostility abound.
On 12 May, less than two weeks after Ersat Salihi became the head ITC Member of Parliament and ITC Kirkuk City President, Salihi's heavily-guarded home in Kirkuk was attacked with explosives while the family were all inside. Whilst nobody was hurt, this attack and the subsequent one made on investigating police were highly organised and clearly designed to send a political message. This marks the first time a Turkmen leader has been specifically targeted in Iraq, further raising the stakes.
Normally ignored by the media, beneath all this is the smallest and most vulnerable of all Kirkuk's constituent groups: the Assyrian-Chaldean Christians. These are a people who have been native to Upper Mesopotamia throughout history but are a mere remnant now, comprising less than one percent of the population. They are essentially inconsequential politically and militarily -- a threat to nobody. However, to Islamic fundamentalists they are infidel 'dogs': unclean, undesirable and unwanted. On Saturday 14 May terrorists abducted Ashur Issa Yaqub (29), a Chaldean Christian construction worker, husband and father of three, demanding an impossible US$100,000 ransom. On Monday 16 May police found Yaqub's mutilated body, dumped in the open. According to provincial health chief, Sadiq Omar Rasul, the body 'carried traces of torture and the bites of dogs'. But 'traces' of torture is a gross understatement. The torture inflicted on this young man is beyond comprehension. His gruesome murder -- labelled by the Archbishop of Kirkuk, Louis Sako, as an 'inhuman act' -- has sent shockwaves of terror through Kirkuk's remnant Christian community. If war erupts Islamic jihadists will doubtless seek to exploit the chaos to eliminate the Christian presence -- and not only in Kirkuk.
PLEASE PRAY SPECIFICALLY FOR GOD TO --
* surround, protect, lead and comfort his remnant people with his 'everlasting arms' (Deut 33:27a), so that every faithful believer will be profoundly aware of the love and presence of the Lord who never leaves or forsakes his loved ones; may those who choose to flee find refuge and may those who stay know peace.
* speak into the hearts of Iraqis that a solution might be found for the Kirkuk problem: essentially selfish greed; may reasonable sharing become possible and a devastating regional war averted with God stilling 'the tumult of the peoples'. (Psalm 65:7c)
* open the hearts of many Iraqi Muslims to receive the life-changing gospel of Jesus Christ.
* cause the light of Christ to shine through every faithful Iraqi believer to great saving effect, for the sake of the Church and the glory of God. 'And they will do these things [persecute and kill you] because they have not known the Father, nor me.' (John 16:3 ESV)
~~~~
SUMMARY TO USE IN BULLETINS UNABLE TO RUN THE WHOLE ARTICLE
----------------------------------------------------------------------
IRAQ: TERROR IN KIRKUK
Kirkuk is an ethnically mixed, hotly contested city in northern Iraq's 'disputed territories'. As the day of the US withdrawal from Iraq approaches, many fear the resulting security vacuum will open the door for the battle for highly strategic, oil-rich Kirkuk to begin. Should war eventuate, the remnant indigenous Christian community would be exceedingly vulnerable. Islamic militants would doubtless exploit the chaos to eliminate the Christian presence -- and not only in Kirkuk. Over 14 &15 May, terrorists abducted Ashur Issa Yaqub (29), a Chaldean Christian construction worker, husband and father of three. They tortured him to death before dumping his mutilated body in the open. This 'inhuman act' has sent shockwaves of terror through Kirkuk's minority Christian community. Please pray for Iraq's besieged Christians.
Wednesday, July 15, 2009
013. Iraq: Bombing of churches sends dark message
Religious Liberty Prayer Bulletin | RLPB 013 | Wed 15 July 2009
IRAQ: BOMBING OF CHURCHES SENDS DARK MESSAGE
Islamic jihadists launched an orchestrated terror campaign against Iraq's indigenous Christian community on Sunday 12 July 09, detonating improvised explosive devices (IEDs) at seven Baghdad churches, killing four and wounding dozens of people. Six of the IEDs were in car bombs, and the churches -- which are set well back from the road behind high walls and guarded gates -- were not severely damaged. But the message of the bombings is clear: Christians should leave. This is a warning from militants whose agenda includes the elimination of Christianity.
The first bombing was actually on Saturday night at St Joseph's Church in western Baghdad where two bombs placed inside the church exploded at about 10 pm. No one was in the church at the time. Then on Sunday 12 July three IEDs detonated between 4.30pm and 4.45pm outside two churches in al-Karrada district, central Baghdad, and one in al-Ghadeer, eastern Baghdad. Eight were wounded as worshippers were arriving for evening Mass. Three others were wounded by a bomb detonated outside St James Church in Dora district, southern Baghdad. Four were killed and 21 injured at the Chaldean Catholic Church of the Virgin Mary in central Baghdad, where a large car bomb detonated just after 7 pm as worshippers were leaving Mass. The blast reverberated across the city, damaging the church and scorching nearby cars. At much the same time, 21 people (including 15 Christians) were wounded when another Chaldean church was targeted.
That morning in Northern Iraq, a senior Christian government official, Aziz Rizko Nissan, head of the provincial audit department, was assassinated at 8.15am outside his home in the volatile, contested city of Kirkuk. Then on Monday 13 July, a car bomb exploded outside Our Lady of Fatima Church in Mosul's Faisalia neighbourhood, injuring three children and damaging both the church and a nearby Shia mosque.
The Assyrian International News Agency (AINA) reports that Assyrian sources received text messages five days earlier warning of the impending attacks. Those warnings were immediately passed on to US forces who notified the Iraqi military. (Under new security arrangements, US forces are not permitted to act.) Despite the advance warnings, no preventative measures were enacted.
The 'real' war for Iraq is looming. This war -- which could well become a regional war -- will pit Arabs plus Turkmen against Kurds (for Kirkuk and control of the north); federalists against nationalists; Sunnis against Shi'ites; militant fundamentalists against moderates. Amidst this, the indigenous Christian remnant are extremely vulnerable, traumatised and at risk of genocide. Since the 2003 occupation their numbers have halved as hundreds of thousands have fled their homeland. According to Youssef Bahgat, a guard outside Baghdad's Evangelical Christian Union Church, 'There is fear among Christians.' Iraqi Christian Sabhan George is concerned about the church bombings. If this continues, he said, 'there will be no Christians left in Iraq.'
'In all their affliction, he was afflicted.' (Isaiah 63:9a ESV)
PLEASE PRAY SPECIFICALLY FOR:
* God to rescue, protect, preserve and sanctify his Church.
* God to 'frustrate the ways of the wicked'. (Psalm 146:9 NIV)
* the Holy Spirit to fill the Iraqi Church -- in Iraq and in exile -- with wisdom and insight to know God's will so that in the midst of all this conflict and terror she might walk worthily and please him (Colossians 1:9,10). May the Spirit give her comfort and hope amidst trauma, and grace for her 'enemies'.
~~~~
SUMMARY TO USE IN BULLETINS UNABLE TO RUN THE WHOLE ARTICLE
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BOMBING OF IRAQI CHURCHES SENDS DARK MESSAGE
Sunday's string of bombings targeting seven churches across Baghdad is a warning from terrorists who want to see Iraq rid of Christians. This terror campaign, which killed four and injured dozens, sends a dark message: Christians should flee before they are killed. The fatalities occurred outside the Chaldean Catholic Church in central Baghdad, where a large explosion at 7pm hit worshippers as they were leaving Mass. In northern Iraq, a Christian leader was assassinated in Kirkuk on Sunday 12 July and next day a bomb exploded outside a church in Mosul. The Assyrian and Chaldean Christians are the indigenous people of Iraq. Since the 2003 occupation their numbers have halved as hundreds of thousands have fled their homeland. The remnant is extremely vulnerable and at risk of genocide. Please pray for the Iraqi Church.
IRAQ: BOMBING OF CHURCHES SENDS DARK MESSAGE
Islamic jihadists launched an orchestrated terror campaign against Iraq's indigenous Christian community on Sunday 12 July 09, detonating improvised explosive devices (IEDs) at seven Baghdad churches, killing four and wounding dozens of people. Six of the IEDs were in car bombs, and the churches -- which are set well back from the road behind high walls and guarded gates -- were not severely damaged. But the message of the bombings is clear: Christians should leave. This is a warning from militants whose agenda includes the elimination of Christianity.
The first bombing was actually on Saturday night at St Joseph's Church in western Baghdad where two bombs placed inside the church exploded at about 10 pm. No one was in the church at the time. Then on Sunday 12 July three IEDs detonated between 4.30pm and 4.45pm outside two churches in al-Karrada district, central Baghdad, and one in al-Ghadeer, eastern Baghdad. Eight were wounded as worshippers were arriving for evening Mass. Three others were wounded by a bomb detonated outside St James Church in Dora district, southern Baghdad. Four were killed and 21 injured at the Chaldean Catholic Church of the Virgin Mary in central Baghdad, where a large car bomb detonated just after 7 pm as worshippers were leaving Mass. The blast reverberated across the city, damaging the church and scorching nearby cars. At much the same time, 21 people (including 15 Christians) were wounded when another Chaldean church was targeted.
That morning in Northern Iraq, a senior Christian government official, Aziz Rizko Nissan, head of the provincial audit department, was assassinated at 8.15am outside his home in the volatile, contested city of Kirkuk. Then on Monday 13 July, a car bomb exploded outside Our Lady of Fatima Church in Mosul's Faisalia neighbourhood, injuring three children and damaging both the church and a nearby Shia mosque.
The Assyrian International News Agency (AINA) reports that Assyrian sources received text messages five days earlier warning of the impending attacks. Those warnings were immediately passed on to US forces who notified the Iraqi military. (Under new security arrangements, US forces are not permitted to act.) Despite the advance warnings, no preventative measures were enacted.
The 'real' war for Iraq is looming. This war -- which could well become a regional war -- will pit Arabs plus Turkmen against Kurds (for Kirkuk and control of the north); federalists against nationalists; Sunnis against Shi'ites; militant fundamentalists against moderates. Amidst this, the indigenous Christian remnant are extremely vulnerable, traumatised and at risk of genocide. Since the 2003 occupation their numbers have halved as hundreds of thousands have fled their homeland. According to Youssef Bahgat, a guard outside Baghdad's Evangelical Christian Union Church, 'There is fear among Christians.' Iraqi Christian Sabhan George is concerned about the church bombings. If this continues, he said, 'there will be no Christians left in Iraq.'
'In all their affliction, he was afflicted.' (Isaiah 63:9a ESV)
PLEASE PRAY SPECIFICALLY FOR:
* God to rescue, protect, preserve and sanctify his Church.
* God to 'frustrate the ways of the wicked'. (Psalm 146:9 NIV)
* the Holy Spirit to fill the Iraqi Church -- in Iraq and in exile -- with wisdom and insight to know God's will so that in the midst of all this conflict and terror she might walk worthily and please him (Colossians 1:9,10). May the Spirit give her comfort and hope amidst trauma, and grace for her 'enemies'.
~~~~
SUMMARY TO USE IN BULLETINS UNABLE TO RUN THE WHOLE ARTICLE
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
BOMBING OF IRAQI CHURCHES SENDS DARK MESSAGE
Sunday's string of bombings targeting seven churches across Baghdad is a warning from terrorists who want to see Iraq rid of Christians. This terror campaign, which killed four and injured dozens, sends a dark message: Christians should flee before they are killed. The fatalities occurred outside the Chaldean Catholic Church in central Baghdad, where a large explosion at 7pm hit worshippers as they were leaving Mass. In northern Iraq, a Christian leader was assassinated in Kirkuk on Sunday 12 July and next day a bomb exploded outside a church in Mosul. The Assyrian and Chaldean Christians are the indigenous people of Iraq. Since the 2003 occupation their numbers have halved as hundreds of thousands have fled their homeland. The remnant is extremely vulnerable and at risk of genocide. Please pray for the Iraqi Church.
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