Dear all, I am writing this to all of my Facebook friends. I tried to send this as a message but was blocked. I know each of you in some way. Some of you are former colleagues. Some of you I know from a camp or a church, or conference. Many of you are close family. Some of you are professors, pastors, evangelists, or teachers from whose ministry and teaching I have benefited. Some of you I have only had the pleasure of meeting briefly either in a hospital, on public transport, in a cab, a barbershop, or just on the street. You are from all over the world, Australia, America, United Kingdom, Germany, Norway, New Zealand, Mozambique, South Africa, Uganda, Nigeria, Thailand, Burma, China, Poland, and probably others that I have forgotten. Some of you are Christians, some Muslims, some Hindus, others maybe without faith; all of you I consider friends. Only a very few of you I have never met in person. Whoever you are and wherever you are please read my plea to each of you. All of you know that I am a Christian. I believe in Jesus Christ and I seek to live my life following his teaching which is in the Bible. I am not about rite, ritual, or some dead religiosity, but am about genuine life and a right relationship with God who I have offended on many occasions and with whom I need to be at peace. Jesus teaches me and true Christians that as the world hated him, we who follow him can also expect to be hated (John 15:18, The Bible). Throughout history, Christians have been persecuted by most religions including Catholicism. While I believe true faith is in Christ, I believe in and seek to promote freedom of belief and religion. I have been greatly troubled recently to read of the genocidal acts of ISIS, now know simply as IS (Islamic State) in Iraq. It is because this has been weighing on me today that I write you now. We read much of happenings in Gaza, but our media and our politicians have almost completely ignored the butchery (literal) of men, women, and children who are Christians in Iraq because they refuse to convert to Islam. In the past couple of months almost 2000 have been killed in Gaza and Israel. Only two days ago 1500 people were slaughtered in one day in Iraq - both Christians and Muslims. Mosul, a city with Iraqs largest Christian Community was conquered by ISIS and all Christians were forced to pay a heavy tax, convert, flee, or be killed. Many who fled were robbed, abused, or killed. In the last month alone 1531 followers of Jesus have been confirmed as executed and this morning I read the heart-wrenching story of the systematic beheading of Christian women and Children. Additionally, other minority groups such as the Yezidi Kurds are facing extermination. Half a century ago, the world stood still as Hitler and the Third Reich led the brutality we call The Holocaust. Indeed, there are similarities between what is happening in Iraq and the Holocaust. Christians are having their homes marked with the Arabic letter N for Nazarene and are being picked off if they do not convert. Will we stand by as many did before WWII? What can we do? I have joined many of you in changing my profile picture to the Arabic letter being painted on Christian’s houses. I even read of a Lebanese news outlet that has worn t-shirts on air with the letter as a symbol of solidarity. While it may seem small, social media is a powerful influence in this modern age and we can use it for our advantage. 1. Please join me in changing your profile picture to the below image. 2. Please join me in petitioning our politicians on social media to act in Iraq. We are in a democracy that gives us a voice and to stay silent would be criminal. 3. Please join me in sending links to our main news outlets, local and national. 4. In your posts please include the hashtag #PrayForIraq and #ActForIraq 5. Please contact all of your Facebook friends and ask them to do the same. While these are small steps of action, This may be the start of a large movement for the good of our fellow man in Iraq. 6. Please like the page below and share it. I hope it will be a hub in the coming days for raising awareness of the situation in Iraq. Many thanks and every blessing to you all! Regan
Posted on: Fri, 08 Aug 2014 12:17:46 +0000