Speaking Up for Persecuted Middle East Christians - CBN News Chris Mitchell

Speaking Up for Persecuted Middle East Christians

07-08-2016

CBN News Chris Mitchel

JERUSALEM, Israel – After more than two years, the U.S. State Department finally admitted what already seemed clear to most of the world: ISIS is on a genocidal rampage against Middle East Christians.

With that diplomatic declaration, religious leaders are wondering when the Church in the West will step up and speak out about this historic persecution.

From world leaders to authors on the front lines to Christian humanitarians, the alarm is going out over the plight of Christians in countries besieged by ISIS.

"Daesh is responsible for genocide against groups in areas under its control, including Yazidis, Christians and Shia Muslims," Secretary of State John Kerry said.  

Tom Doyle, author of "Killing Christians," said "We're hearing of more and more crucifixions. We're hearing (about) young boys being killed."

"We're witnessing a once in a 2,000-year crisis and it's not an exaggeration to say that we can see the elimination of Christianity in the place of its birth," Christian humanitarian Johnnie Moore said.

Even though the Church in the Middle East is suffering genocide, some say the Church in the West could do more to stand with their fellow believers.

Moore has been working with big names such as Mark Burnett and Roma Downey to bring attention to this tragedy.

"We're blind again just like we were blind at the Holocaust, just like we were blind at the Rwandan genocide, the Bosnian genocide, the Armenian genocide, we're not learning," Moore told CBN News. "But what's even more shameful and despicable about this is we are the strongest community in the world as Christians and the Church isn't even speaking up as it could."

Some believe the lack of action in the American Church lies in the pulpit, not in the pews.

"The pulpits in America have largely been silent on this issue of their fellow brethren around the world," historian David Barton told CBN News.

Barton collaborated with pollster George Barna on a nationwide survey of Christian conservatives.

They asked pastors and parishioners about 22 specific issues. Results showed parishioners put religious persecution as their number two area of special interest, with 86 percent wanting more information on the issue.

The same subject, however, didn't even register with their pastors as a topic to address with their congregations.

"So you have 86 percent of American Christians saying we need to hear about this.  We gotta be informed on it and pastors saying, 'ummm don't think I want to talk about that,'" Barton said.

"So there's this real dichotomy right now on persecution in American churches at least addressing the subject and certainly when you start addressing the subject then you're more likely you'll do something about it and that's really what Christians in the Middle East need. They need outside help. They can't save themselves. It's going to take outside help."

One Christian woman spoke with CBN News about the need for that help. As ISIS plowed across Iraq, she and her family fled their Christian village of Quraqhosh.

"Until now we can't even imagine this happening to us. It's like a dream. Everything was so normal. Our life was so comfortable and suddenly everything changed," she said.

Changed by terrorists with a deadly goal.

"They don't want any Christians to live in Iraq," she explained. "They want to kill them all or have them leave or become a Muslim."

Doyle, who has worked with the persecuted Church for years, says Christians need
to open their hearts and eyes.

"We need the pastors to speak up. This is your family," he said. "And I know what it's like to be a pastor because I did that for 20 years and so many times you're so consumed within your four walls, but we're connected around the world. We are completely connected. This is family. They may worship a little different from us.  They may look different. They may speak a different language, but they love Jesus with their whole heart."

Ironically, the Jewish community is filling the void.

"It's sort of nonsensical, but history repeats itself. One of the great allies for the displaced and persecuted Christians of the Middle East presently is the Jewish community," Moore said.

"The Jewish community sees a repetition of history, and it was the Simon Wiesenthal Center, the center that specializes in the study of genocide, that first said it was genocide against Christians in the Middle East."

Barton said rabbis recognize that Christians need to wake up.

"I'm hearing this from Jewish rabbis who are saying we appreciate the support. We appreciate you siding with Israel, guys, you got to save Christians, you got to stop this genocide," he said.

"So it's amazing that Jews who have been through this and get reminded of it – things like Yad Vashem and it's all around the country. They're saying Americans, Christians, wake up! You've got to save the Christians that are having the same Holocaust that we went through. And I find that powerful when it's being delivered by Jews who have been through it themselves. And they're now saying, Christians, wake up! It's your turn." 

"We're got to help these people, the way we hope someone would help us," Moore said. "We have to pray for them the way we hope someone would pray for us. We have to give to them the way we hope someone would give to us. And we have to speak up for them the way we hope someone would speak up for us."

Israel Today brings you what others omit! - Israel Today

Israel Today brings you what others omit!

Thursday, June 23, 2016 |  Israel Today Staff

The Yazidis, a people that have known only the silence, denial and rejection of the world, ask one question day after day, "Where is humanity” …these men were surrounded, indeed cosseted in love and experienced care so very different from the despisal this community has known for many generations.

Watch here: The Yazidis Report

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Joel C. Rosenberg's Blog - "To defeat ISIS, we need to retake Iraq & cut the Caliphate in half." (Radio interview with Hugh Hewitt)

Joel C. Rosenberg's Blog

To defeat ISIS, we need to retake Iraq & cut the Caliphate in half. (My radio interview with Hugh Hewitt on Apocalyptic Islam) by joelcrosenberg (Washington, D.C.) -- Over the course of the last month, as I've been traveling across the country on The First Hostage book tour, people have been consistently asking me a series of excellent questions: How do we defeat ISIS? What should the Obama administration be doing that it isn't? If this administration can't or won't get the job done, what should the next President do? Should we send a ground force into Syria? What about the ancient Islamic prophecies that the West will get slaughtered in the Syrian town of Dabiq? On Wednesday afternoon, I was interviewed by Hugh Hewitt on his nationally syndicated talk show host. I have grown to respect Hugh as a serious thinker as well as an excellent interviewer, both on radio and in his role helping to moderate the CNN presidential debates. Hugh, a devout Christian and a skilled lawyer, reads voraciously and has an insatiable hunger to learn. Often when I'm in Israel, I enjoy listening to the podcast of his interviews not only with the presidential candidates but with key experts on foreign policy and national security matters. During our conversation about The First Hostage -- my last interview on this book tour -- we discussed each of these questions, as well as how I write novels and do my research. You can listen to the podcast of the full interview by clicking here. That said, here's a slightly more detailed explanation of my view on how to defeat ISIS: Yes, a coalition of U.S., Iraqi, Kurdish, Jordanian, Egyptian, and other Sunni Arab military forces can and must crush the Islamic State. This is a winnable war, but not with the current strategy of half-measures, pinprick bombings, and political tough talk not backed up by a serious military approach to win. What the Obama administration should be doing is pursuing a "Take Back Iraq First" approach. Since the first Gulf war in 1991, and then with the war to liberate Iraq in 2003, followed by the surge strategy in 2006-2008, the American people have identified Iraq has a strategically important country to us. Getting Iraq right matters. We have invested heavily in liberating Iraq from Saddam Hussein and from the clutches of al Qaeda and other Radical Islamic terror groups. Withdrawing all our forces in December 2011 was a terrible and foreseeable error. It created a vacuum that ISIS exploited. Now we're seeing genocide against Christians and Yazidis by the Islamic State, the wicked fruit of Apocalyptic Islam. Thus, the goal now must be to re-take Iraq -- and cut the Caliphate in half -- using decisive military force. We likely need 20,000 to 40,000 U.S. boots on the ground, primarily special forces. We need to heavily arm the Kurdish Peshmerga forces. We need to strengthen the Iraqi military. We need to increase arms (and humanitarian aid and other economic assistance) to the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, our most faithful Sunni Arab ally in the region. We also need to work closely with Egypt, the Saudis and the Gulf States and get their active participation. The mission: to storm across northern Iraq, crush ISIS wherever they are found, liberate Mosul -- Iraq's second largest city -- set the captives free, crush ISIS once and for all, and drive whatever remains of the terror group back into Syria. This could likely be done by the end of 2016 if the U.S. took the lead and was fully committed to victory. By cutting the Caliphate in half, it would deal a serious blow to ISIS morale and their sense that they are invincible. If President Obama won't pursue such a strategy, then we need to elect an American President who understands the threat of Radical and Apocalyptic Islam and has the courage and wisdom to fight to win, beginning with re-taking Iraq. No, I don't believe we should send U.S. ground forces into Syria. That Arab nation is imploding. It's engaged in a Hellish civil war. Now the Russians and Iranians are fighting there on behalf of Bashar al-Assad and his evil regime. There are no good options. There are no rationale leaders that we can identify at this point who could truly govern the country in a civilized way, even if we could defeat ISIS, remove Assad, and pacify the civil war. Syria is a hornets' nest. My heart breaks for the people of Syria. The U.S. and other world powers need to help Jordan and Lebanon care for the millions of Syrian refugees that have flooded their borders. We should not take Syrian refugees into the U.S. because we cannot vet them and determine who is a terrorist and who is not. We should use air power to consistently degrade ISIS forces, infrastructure, oil reserves, and so forth. But we should not launch a ground force into a country that we have no plan -- or ability -- at this point to truly rescue. While there are many reasons at this point not to launch a ground war into Syria, fear of ancient Islamic prophecies about an end of the world battle in Dabiq is not on the list. Those are false prophecies. ISIS is driven by them. But they are not Biblical prophecies. They are not based on truth. They are based on false teaching. We needn't fear false teaching and false prophecy. Since we can degrade ISIS in Dabiq (and Raqqa, and elsewhere) from the air, that's what we should do for now. Once we have worked with our Sunni Arab allies in the region to re-take Iraq, and degrade ISIS forces in Syria from the air, then we can re-evaluate and develop the next phase of our strategy. But while we need to understand how Apocalyptic, genocidal, Islamic eschatology motivates ISIS leaders, we need not hesitate confronting them because of their apocalypse-addled thinking. ————————– Order The First Hostage today — a new political thriller (#9 on the Publishers Weekly best-seller list) about ISIS launching a chemical weapons attack against Israel, Jordan and the United States — it’s now available in hardcover, e-book and audio formats. FACT SHEET: The Iranian leadership’s Apocalyptic Beliefs FACT SHEET: The Islamic State’s Apocalyptic Beliefs What the next US president will need to know about Iran and Islamic State.(my column in The Jerusalem Post) What’s the difference between Apocalyptic Islamic eschatology & Biblical eschatology? And why does it matter? (Video & sermon notes) ——————- Subscribe (free) to the RSS feed (click here) and receive every new posting on this blog directly via email. Order THE THIRD TARGET today , the first in this new series — now out in paperback — the New York Times best-selling novel about ISIS capturing chemical weapons in Syria and plotting genocidal attacks. Make an investment in The Joshua Fund (www.joshuafund.net), our non-profit organization to help Christians care for Syrian refugees, educate and mobilize Christians to bless Israel and her neighbors in the name of Jesus, care for the poor and needy in Israel (both Jews and Arabs) with food and other humanitarian relief, care for Holocaust survivors, and strengthen the Church in the epicenter. Read our latest Donor Report, and make a tax deductible, secure, on-line contribution before the end of the year. Follow on Twitter — @joelcrosenberg joelcrosenberg | February 5, 2016 at 1:04 pm | Categories: Uncategorized | URL:http://wp.me/piWZ7-4dh

Joel C. Rosenberg: Nation has lost confidence in Obama's ability to defeat Islamic terror.

As President Obama prepares for final State of the Union, nation has lost confidence in his ability to defeat Islamic terror. (Here’s the latest polling.) by joelcrosenberg (Virginia Beach, Virginia) -- During his 2015 State of the Union address, President Obama never mentioned the terms "Islam" or "Islamic extremism" or "Radical Islam" or"Apocalyptic Islam" or even "al Qaeda." He never even used the term the "Islamic State," calling our very serious enemy "ISIL" instead. He insisted that "in Iraq and Syria, American leadership -- including our military power -- is stopping ISIL’s advance," even though at that point the Islamic State had essentially doubled its territorial gains over the course of 2014, was slaughtering Muslims, engaged in genocide against Christians and Yazidis, and had recently seized Mosul, the second largest city in Iraq. What's more, Mr. Obama insisted that the mortal threat facing the American people wasn't from a nuclear Iran or a genocidal Islamic State. Rather, he said that "no challenge -- no challenge -- poses a greater threat to future generations than climate change." Even by August 28, 2015, after the Islamic State had seized more than one-third of the territory of Iraq and James Foley, an American journalist, had been beheaded by ISIS, the President admitted that “we don’t have a strategy yet” to defeat ISIS. In November of last year, the President insisted in November that his policy had“contained” ISIS. The next day came the terror attacks in Paris, and soon thereafter the attacks in San Bernardino. What, then, will the President say on Tuesday night, when he delivers his final State of the Union address? Will he finally acknowledge the threat of Radical and Apocalyptic Islam? Will explain them -- and their differences -- to the American people? Will he lay out a comprehensive strategy to actually defeat ISIS? Most Americans aren't holding their breath for such decisive leadership. In the wake of the attacks in San Bernardino and Paris and in so many other places -- and FBI arrests of at least 80 ISIS loyalists operating here in the homeland -- the American people have lost confidence in President Obama's ability to protect us from the terrorists. More Americans than ever before now believe the terrorists are winning, and the U.S. is losing the global war with Radical Islam. In fact, a recent CNN poll found a 17-point jump in the number of Americans who believe the terrorists are winning. What’s more, the CNN poll reveals that: Only 18% of Americans believe that the U.S. and our allies have the upper hand against the terrorists. Three-out-of-four Americans (74%) do not believe the United States is doing an effective job in the war against Radical Islamic terrorism. Nearly two-out-of-three Americans (64%) specifically disapprove the way President Obama is handling the threat posed by the Islamic State. The central theme of my recent novels -- The Third Target and The First Hostage -- is this: “To misunderstand the nature and threat of evil is to risk being blind-sided by it.” To the extent that President Obama and his senior team continue to fail to truly comprehend the evil we and our allies are facing from Iran and the Islamic State, the more dangerous a year 2016 is likely to be. ————– Order The First Hostage today — it’s now available in hardcover, e-book and audio formats. FACT SHEET: The Iranian leadership’s Apocalyptic Beliefs FACT SHEET: The Islamic State’s Apocalyptic Beliefs What the next US president will need to know about Iran and Islamic State.(my column in The Jerusalem Post) ——————- Subscribe (free) to the RSS feed (click here) and receive every new posting on this blog directly via email. Order THE THIRD TARGET today , the first in this new series — now out in paperback — the New York Times best-selling novel about ISIS capturing chemical weapons in Syria and plotting genocidal attacks. Make an investment in The Joshua Fund (www.joshuafund.net), our non-profit organization to help Christians care for Syrian refugees, educate and mobilize Christians to bless Israel and her neighbors in the name of Jesus, care for the poor and needy in Israel (both Jews and Arabs) with food and other humanitarian relief, care for Holocaust survivors, and strengthen the Church in the epicenter. Read our latest Donor Report, and make a tax deductible, secure, on-line contribution before the end of the year. Follow on Twitter — @joelcrosenberg joelcrosenberg | January 11, 2016 at 11:10 pm | Categories: Uncategorized | URL:http://wp.me/piWZ7-3QM