Abraham Kuyper, the Dutch political theologian, wrote,
"When principles that run against your deepest convictions begin to win
the day, then battle is your calling, and peace has become sin; you must, at
the price of dearest peace, lay your convictions bare before friend and enemy,
with all the fire of your faith." Keep this counsel in mind as we consider
the state of today's Middle East.
In Syria, Iraq,
and Libya, Christianity is being systematically destroyed by ISIS and groups
which think as they do. Even our State Department has declared what is
happening in these countries is nothing short of genocide. The majority of those
targeted are Christians. Thousands have been systematically executed. Catholic
observers have recorded untold numbers of
widespread rape, kidnapping, forced conversions, slavery, property
confiscations, and forced expulsions on top of the genocide. Mass graves are
spread all over the Middle East.
The number of
confessing Christians in Iraq has declined from 1.5 million to less than
200,000. In Syria, Christians have declined from 1.5 million to around 500,000.
Those who are being systematically executed are among the oldest ethic in and
religious communities in the world. Many of these groups face extinction.
Present projections indicate that in the next five years, Christianity will all
but disappear in Iraq, and possibly in Syria and Libya as well.
So, how should
today's Christian communities in the West respond to this genocide? Receiving
refugees from the Middle East is risky especially since 99% of those coming to
the West are unvetted Muslims. Why does the United States government not consider giving
Christians refuge? Something is wrong with the system and I do not see any
appropriate response from our nation's leaders.
Yet, there is
more behind this genocide than simply a war between multiple factions of Islam.
I address part of this in my new book, Lectures
from the Gates of Hell, due out next month. The real issues are
bone-chilling to say the least.
There are a great many people advocating that the US allow a significantly higher number of refugees into the country and yet they seemingly focus on Muslim refugees and say scant little about the Christians there. Thanks for shedding some light on this issue.
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