“Then you will be handed over to be persecuted and put to death, and you will be hated by all nations because of me." - Matthew 24:9
A week ago, Christians were warned to either leave the city of Mosul & other areas under Islamic State control, or they would have to pay a tax or be put to death. Today, nobody has heard from those Christians & nobody knows what is happening to them. Are they being quietly "put to the sword" as this militant strain of Islam asks they be?
The Human Rights Watch reported on July 14 that homes in Mosul were painted w/red letters to indicate Christian homes. Other homes of Shiite Muslims were also adorned. Christians who have escaped reported being deprived of all their belongings except their clothes. Jewelry, money, automobiles, even food & water were confiscated on the edge of town as Christians were forced to pass through Islamic State checkpoints. However, we know a # of Christians remained, for many reasons. Some were too destitute to travel or had weak & infirm family who could not make the desert trek to safety. Those that left were warned "don't even dream of returning." For those that remain, they can almost certainly expect harsher treatment than that meted out to fellow Muslims at the hands of ISIS terrorists. Estimates hold that 200,000 Christians live in the region, however only a fraction of these have been accounted for. Where are all the missing Christians? Are they already being put to the sword? It's very possible.
Islam is very clear on these issues, the deal is very simple. For those who live under the rule of a fundamentalist Islamic state, the options are laid bare. One can flee, convert, pay a fine, or be put to death. There will be no coexistence. And although Christians, Muslims & Jews have lived together in this region of the world for centuries, the strain of Islam that dominates them is now so extreme that Islam represents an existential threat to Christians & Jews.
Decades ago, the world watched as the Jews, & many others, including a large # of Catholics, were rounded up, persecuted by Nazis. Nobody outside of the European continent believed these people were being systematically killed on an industrial scale. Yet they were. We've seen the haunting images & video. Today, Islamic State terrorists are posing w/their victims, making videos, & even tweeting crude jokes about their carnage. They glorify & revel in their killing & believe w/all sincerity that they are doing the work of Allah. The world once solemnly promised to never allow another holocaust to happen again. Yet, we have witnessed episodes of ethnic cleansing and genocide repeatedly throughout history. Time & again, the world has stood silent as whole populations & tribes were exterminated, relocated, & forced into destitution. The only exception seems to be when the U.S. intervened in the Balkans to rescue ethnic Muslims from extermination at the hands of Christian fighters in Bosnia. Today, nobody is running toward the Christians to help them. These people are on their own & they have nothing. Over 400 families have checked into refugee camps in Kurdish controlled districts in northern Iraq. Hundreds more wander in the desert & the diaspora continues.
Read full article at: http://www.catholic.org/news/international/middle_east/story.php?id=56339
“If the world hates you, know that it has hated me before it hated you. If you were of the world, the world would love you as its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you. Remember the word that I said to you: ‘A servant is not greater than his master.’ If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you. If they kept my word, they will also keep yours." - John 15:18-20