Churches Attacked in Israel and Iraq

URGENT: CHURCHES ATTACKED IN ISRAEL AND IRAQ
By Joel C. Rosenberg

(Dallas-Ft.Worth, TX, November 3, 2010) -- As I prepare to speak at church events this week in Texas, I am deeply saddened by tragic events in the epicenter. My colleagues and I are calling on followers of Jesus Christ around the world to pray urgently for our brothers and sisters in the Middle East.

In recent days, churches in Israel and Iraq have been attacked by terrorists.

• The seige of a church in Baghdad by radical Islamic terrorists leaving at least 58 dead and 67 injured received significant international media coverage. The New York Times called it “the worst massacre of Iraqi Christians since the war began here in 2003.”
    
• But the firebombing of an Arab Christian church in Jerusalem has received almost no media coverage. On The Joshua Fund website (www.joshuafund.net), we have an exclusive report from the pastor of the church in Jerusalem that was attacked.

Clearly, our brothers and sisters in both places need us to intercede on their behalf, and to mobilize others believers to pray for them and to stand with them in their time of need. This is a key mission of The Joshua Fund, mobilizing Christians to bless Israel and her neighbors in the name of Jesus, according to Genesis 12:1-3. Please join with us in prayer at this critical moment. And please urge other Christians you know to pray as well.

In the meantime, please keep praying for:

• Gilad Shalit, the IDF soldier being held hostage by Hamas in Gaza
    
• Prime Minister Netanyahu as he comes to the U.S. for meetings with Jewish leaders this weekend
    
• The conviction of Jack Teitel, the Jewish terrorist who allegedly tried to kill an Israeli pastor and his family in March 2008, among many of his other Jewish and Arab targets. The trial has been delayed for several reasons. Please pray the trial happens and is successful.
    
• Other prayer requests are on The Joshua Fund website.

Thanks and God bless you.

For more details, and the latest headlines from the Middle East, please go to Joel Rosenberg’s blog -- http://flashtrafficblog.wordpress.com/

Six-Year-Old Suicide Bomber

There shouldn’t be doubt in anyone’s mind that Jesus is coming back soon!

Remember when we tould you about the 12-year-old Jihadist?

Later, we shared a report about the terrorist Mickey Mouse clone teaching children the glories of suicide bombing missions?

It would appear that this is more than just rhetoric.

It was reported on CNN, The Guardian, and at Hot Air that the Taliban is using children as young as the age of six as suicide bombers.

If that weren’t enough... there is a video on YouTube showing a 14-year-old that had an explosive vest strapped to his chest for the purpose of a suicide bombing attack.

Fortunately, the teenager cut the vest off and aborted the mission.

When innocent children are convinced to kill themselves and others, this is a very bad sign. This world is spiraling and we need to pray like we have never prayed before.

Come quickly Lord!


Amen!

A Little-Known Side-Affect of the Iraq War

According to The New York Times, one little-known side-effect of the war in Iraq is a boom in the dark underworld of prostitution in Syria. In establishments like the one pictured above, Iraqi women displaced by the war... afraid to return home because they could be slaughtered by Al-Qaeda... and with no male to support them financially... women are being forced to sell their bodies in order to survive. One Iraqi mother had to deal with the shame of prostituting her 16-year-old daughter so that they could have the basic bare necessities of life.

Women who came from a proud tradition, who were chaste in their dress and deportment, who wore the hijab as a sign of their modesty and morality, are now forced to display their naked bodies to drunken leering men who pay them mere pennies so that they can avoid starving to death on the streets.

Fortunately, there are Christian women in Syria who are ministering to these women and attempting to help them. Let us pray for those who are serving Christ in the Middle East, and that out of this terrible tragedy the Light may shine and that men and women may see and be saved.

"Honor Killing" of 17-Year-Old Girl

In John 8:1-11, a crowd of religious men wanted to murder a woman they claimed had committed adultery. They asked Jesus for His opinion. Jesus said:

Let him who is without sin among you be the first to throw a stone at her.
(John 8:7b AMP)

As much as those men wanted to murder that woman in their self-righteous fervor, they realized that they too were guilty of sin. Some, even worse than that woman was accused of. On that day, no stones were thrown.

On today’s news, a mob of religious men set out to murder a teenage girl for falling in love and marrying a man of a different religion. The vicious and brutal act was recorded on video that has been posted to the internet and broadcast on television for all the world to see.



This certainly gives fuel to those who are against all religion... but it was not religion that motivated Jesus when He told the woman:

I do not condemn you either. Go on your way and from now on sin no more.
(John 8:11b AMP)

Religion kills... but the love and compassion of God is expressed through the earthly ministry of Jesus Christ. It was religion that motivated the situation that was described by the Assyrian International News Agency thusly:

For four months the girl had been given shelter by a local Muslim Sheik. It was reported that in the last few days her family persuaded her to return home, convincing her that she had been forgiven by her parents and relatives for her mistake.

In a short mobile video clip which appears to have been taken by locals at seen of the murder, the girl is seen being ambushed on her way home by a group of up to 1000 men who were waiting for her to return; the men killed her in the most brutal way possible, by throwing large stones on her head. The following clips show that while she is alive and crying for help she is taunted and kicked in her stomach until someone finishes her off by throwing a large stone on her face.

Note, video links will not be posted here, as the images are graphic and disturbing. The Assyrian News Agency continues, saying:

From the clips it appears that the girl was first stripped naked to symbolize that she had dishonored her family and her Yezidi religion. She is lying on the road naked while her smashed face is covered with blood and still breathing.

According to the website and footage from the clip a number of armed local police officers were present who in fact helped the crowd to kill the woman rather than preventing the crime. Sometime later the Iraqi army arrived at the scene and refused anyone entry, including the press.

Killing women for reasons of honor, shame and religion does happens in regions of Kurdistan and Iraq. The above incidents are not uncommon in some of the deeply religious and traditional communities. For long violence against women has been commonly used as a political and religious weapon and as a means of social control.

Deep religion kills. Jesus gives life. In the Bible, Jesus says:

The thief comes only in order to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have and enjoy life, and have it in abundance (to the full, till it [a]overflows).
(John 10:10 AMP)

Turn away from religiousity and follow Christianity.