People of Iraq
The area around present-day Iraq was very important in the centuries before Christ. Mesopotamia comprised the Tigris and Euphrates rivers and included the biblical city of Nineveh and also Babylon as a
political and economic center. More recently, Baghdad was a famous university city and the center of art and science. But today, almost nothing of this has remained. Bombings have been part of daily life for many years. Two years ago, the extremist group Islamic State invaded large parts of Iraq, including Mosul,
the second largest city in the country.
As if it was not bad enough that Islamic State is terrorizing Iraqi Christians, other ethnic groups such as the Yezidis, and even Muslims, by expulsion, murder and enslavement, the Shia and Sunni Muslims in Iraq also fight each other through political and non-political means. Hostility between ethnic groups continues to divide the nation. There are many smaller, discriminated and persecuted minorities such as the Turkmen, Shabak and Kaka’i. The Kurds, after years of oppression, are now strengthening their semi-autonomous part of Iraq, a development that is regarded with discomfort by Iraqi Arabs.
Thousands of exiled people, most of them Yezidis, live in camps with little hope of returning to their home villages. The Christians have left the country in their hundreds of thousands, seeking safety in the West. An end to this chaos is not in sight.
But there are moments where it appears that God is at work in the midst of all this! When the few remaining Christians show the love of Christ to Muslims and Yezidis in practical ways by offering food, blankets or counseling. When a hall is filled with people seeking to know more about Christ. When the previously very secretive Yezidis question their traditional beliefs and want to follow Jesus.
Out of chaos, we can see glimpses of a new Kingdom.
LET’S PRAY
- Pray that those who have been left grief-stricken by war will experience God’s mercy and comfort.
- Pray that a stable state can be created that will respect all the minorities.
- Pray for the persevering Christians—that through their witness many will find Christ.
Post credited to the editors at Worldchristian: visit http://www. worldchristianconcern.org/donate to support mission efforts to reach the unreached for Christ.
