2 Timothy 3:12
The Voice (VOICE)
Anyone wishing to live a godly life in Jesus the Anointed will be hunted down and persecuted.
[1]
ISIS
is systematically going house to house to all the Christians and asking the
children to denounce Jesus. He said so far not one child has. And so far all have
consequently been killed, but not the parents. The UN has withdrawn, and the
missionaries are on their own. They are determined to stick it out for the sake
of the families even if it means their own deaths. They are very afraid and have
no idea how to even begin ministering to these families who have seen their
children martyred. Yet he says he knows God has called them for some reason to
be His voice and hands at this place at this time.
Even so, they are begging
for prayers for courage to live out their vocation in such dire circumstances.
And like the children, accept martyrdom if they are called to do so. These
brave parents instilled such a fervent faith in their children that they chose
martyrdom. Please surround them in their loss with your prayers for hope and
perseverance.
One missionary was
able to talk to her brother briefly by phone. She didn't say it, but I believe
she believes it will be their last conversation. Pray for her too. She said he
just kept asking her to help him know what to do and do it. She told him to
tell the families we ARE praying for them and they are not alone or forgotten
-- no matter what. Please keep them all in your prayers.
Naturally it shocked and saddened me that people could be so
barbaric in this enlightened age. I wondered if possibly this might be an
exaggeration of an already terrible condition. I looked up ISIS on Snopes[i]
to see if what I was reading was simply a very nasty “urban legend”. They list
the truth of the story as “Undetermined” and “Mixture”. The two sites listed
below tell more of the story. The original report was apparently sent out in
August of 2014 by Sean Malone of Crisis Support International and was intended only
for Sean’s immediate correspondents. Snopes does include a heart rending
photograph of a child beheaded in Syria in 2013. You may want to look at the
article first alone and decide whether or not you want your children to see it.
Needless to say it appears that the twenty-first century may
have its own Holocausts, Gulags, and Rwandas.
Heavenly Father, my
heart is revolted, angered, and saddened by the news I hear. I can only cry out
“Come quickly, Lord Jesus!”
[i] http://www.snopes.com/politics/war/isis.asp, and http://www.snopes.com/inboxer/prayer/seanmalone.asp
