After the Victory

When we become a Christian, we recognize that our lives are not our own, and Jesus wants to empower us to walk a victorious life, even though we are now marked for persecution, we are a target for the enemy. Jesus taught in John 15:
17 These things I command you, that you love one another.
18 "If the world hates you, you know that it hated Me before it hated you.
19 If you were of the world, the world would love its own. Yet because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you.
20 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 keep yours also.

We are one body of Christ, and it's so important that we stand together - the enemy would work to divide us, but through His love and abiding by His principles, we can unite our hearts so that God will be exalted.  And, that includes uniting with those all around the world, including many who suffer for their faith, perhaps even experiencing death and imprisonment - yet, their faith is strong and they can be an example to us, and can remind us to be in prayer for those who suffer.

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We can remember that there are many who are facing persecution for their faith in Jesus Christ, and
Paul and Silas reminded early believers of what they might encounter, according to Acts 14:
21 And when they had preached the gospel to that city and made many disciples, they returned to Lystra, Iconium, and Antioch,
22 strengthening the souls of the disciples, exhorting them to continue in the faith, and saying, "We must through many tribulations enter the kingdom of God."
23 So when they had appointed elders in every church, and prayed with fasting, they commended them to the Lord in whom they had believed.

One of the sea change developments out of the Middle East is the announced defeat of the terror group known as ISIS, or Islamic State.  Although groups loyal to ISIS remain, there has been great progress made in unraveling the infrastructure of this dangerous group.

And, there are true heroes in the fight for freedom in that region.  At the recent Ministerial to Advance Religious Freedom, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo recognized two of them: William and Pascale Warda, described by The Stream website as "an Assyrian Christian couple in Iraq who co-founded the Hammurabi Human Rights Organization in 2003."

The Wardas highlighted the work of the Kurds in helping to attain victory over ISIS, and William told The Stream:

For a Christian to be appointed to the cabinet in Kurdistan and be sworn in on a Bible is a significant event. The fact of that Bible being burnt by ISIS makes a point that even our holy books were torched by those criminals of ISIS.

Today, Kurdistan is acting differently from other places in terms of their religious freedom. Beyond the appointment of one Christian official, this occasion was very important. It’s an opening for the people of Iraq to enact new legislation that grants religious freedom to the different minorities and respects human rights.

Pascale was asked about the situation five years ago when a group of Yazidis were trapped by Islamic State forces on Mount Sinjar; in her response, she said:

I was able to talk to other NGO friends who helped us very much. We were able to get humanitarian relief to thousands of families in this situation, Christian and otherwise. The area was mostly Christian so that was the majority but there were also Muslims and Yazidis. Really the Yazidis have no one. They are not of our religion, but they’ve faced so much and have no one to amplify their voice.

Another piece on The Stream website that originated at The Daily Signal tells the story of the nervousness for religious groups on what is known as the Nineveh Plains, which includes Northern Iraq.  It states:

The U.S. declared victory over the Islamic State in March after the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces overran the terrorist group’s final stronghold in the Syrian village of Baghuz.

As a territorial power, the caliphate is no more. Yet, the underground ISIS network of sleeper cells and sympathizers remains a lethal threat to Iraq’s religious minorities.

Across the country, Christians and Yazidis continue to live on edge, wary about publicly demonstrating their faiths for fear of violent reprisals. And for those who sought refuge from the Islamic State’s wrath by fleeing to safety in Iraqi Kurdistan, returning home to places such as Mosul or Sinjar remains a prohibitively frightening proposition.

So, you could say that while the widespread threat has been minimized, the ideology remains, and life continues to be precarious for Christians, as well as Yazidis, another religious minority - groups that, as the article points out - have been declining in numbers in Iraq.  According to the article:

In 2003, between 1.5 and 2 million Christians lived in Iraq, representing roughly 6 percent of the country’s overall population at that time of about 25 million. Today, the number of Christians is down to around 225,000 — about 0.006 percent of Iraq’s current overall population of more than 39 million.

And, just yesterday, I received an e-mail from an organization called Aid to the Church in Need. It featured an interview with Chaldean Archbishop Bashar Warda of Erbil, described as "one of the pillars in providing support for the exiled community." The organization notes that "In the fall of 2016, Iraqi forces and their allies recaptured the territory and to-date some 40,000 Christians have returned to the Nineveh Plains. Others have decided to remain in Erbil, while many have emigrated. Aid to the Church in Need (ACN) works closely with the local Churches on the reconstruction of the Christian towns on the Nineveh Plains."

The archbishop observes:

When a people have nothing left to lose, in some sense it is very liberating, and from this position of clarity and new-found courage I can speak on behalf of my people and tell you the truth. We are a people who have endured, with patience and faith, persecution for 1,400 years. The ISIS attack led to the displacement of more than 125,000 Christians from historical homelands and rendered us, in a single night, without shelter and refuge, without work or properties, without churches and monasteries, without the ability to participate in any of the normal things of life that give dignity; family visits, celebration of weddings and births, the sharing of sorrows. Our tormentors confiscated our present while seeking to wipe out our history and destroy our future. This was an exceptional situation, but it’s not an isolated one. It was part of the recurring cycle of violence in the Middle East over more than 1,400 years.

But, with the declining numbers, he expresses concern about the potential extinction of Christians in the nation of Iraq.

Some brief takeaways from this overall situation.  First, even though there was a victory that was proclaimed, people by and large are not getting to experience it.  A military or moral victory does not mean the end of suffering or challenge.  Perhaps a victory just means the beginning of a rebuilding process - we see that sociologically and politically, as well as spiritually...

The Bible tells us that Christ has won the victory over the power of sin and death; yet even though we have been granted that victory by Him, it is not being completely manifested.  And believers can live utterly defeated lives, even though Jesus came to set us free.  It's important that we learn and apply the principles of Scripture, enabling us to live in that victory.  The enemy has been defeated, yet he still roams about, as we're told, seeking whom he may devour.  That's why recognizing spiritual warfare and putting on God's armor, using the Word as a sword, are key in living out the victory.

Finally, we can be encouraged to pray and stand with believers who are being persecuted.  We can be grateful that the government is addressing religious freedom for all worldwide, and that provides an opening for groups who name the name of Christ to assist those who facing challenges for their faith.