ISIS continues to murder and. . .

BREAKING: ISIS JUST EMPTIED NINEVEH PLAINS – 200,000 ARAMEAN CHRISTIANS FLED

By Orthodox Christian News in Orthodox News

Aug 07, 2014 ⋅ 0 Comment(s) ⋅ Tags: Aramean Christians, Disaster, Iraq, ISIS, Persecution, Syria

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World Council of Arameans, Beirut: Last night, two Aramean children and a mother were killed as a result of a shameless attack by ISIS terrorists against Baghdeda (Qaraqosh) in North Iraq. At the same time, in the middle of the night, more than 40,000 Aramean families – comprising at least 200.000 human beings – fearfully fled their ancestral homes, towns and villages in the Nineveh region. Another unprecedented humanitarian disaster is now unfolding in Iraq.

Most recently, thousands of Aramean families had already escaped the Mosul region to the Nineveh province, after the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) terrorists rampaged the area. The Syriac Orthodox Archdiocese of St. Matthew, including its fourth-century Monastery of Mor Matay, and other local dioceses have been closed.

The Nineveh plains are now emptied from its native Christians, who belong to the Syriac Orthodox, Syriac Catholic, Chaldean and Assyrian (Nestorian) churches in the region. This is the second region that has been emptied from its Aramean population for the first time in its millennia-old history. Thus, an ancient civilization, cultural heritage and population have been destroyed and erased from Iraq’s future.

The majority, if not all, of the local Muslim population apparently did not fear their lives to abandon their homes, while the Kurdish Peshmerga fighters suddenly retreated. The withdrawal of the Kurds is striking, particularly in light of a similar situation that took place a few days ago where thousands of Yezidi men, women and children were abandoned and sacrificed to ISIS by the Peshmerga.

All the developments that have been taking place in Syria and Iraq, once again reveal that there is a clear agenda to divide Iraq into three portions: a Shiite, Sunni (ISIS-controlled) and Kurdish part, whereas defenseless and vulnerable minorities like the Aramean Christians and Yezidis are forced out of their ancient homeland.

The World Council of Arameans (Syriacs) (“WCA”) condemns in the strongest possible terms this latest ISIS invasion. This is nothing short of genocide and ethnic cleansing. A new humanitarian disaster is unfolding and the international community simply does not seem to care.

The WCA President, Johny Messo, expressed his deep concerns as follows: “How many more crimes against humanity does the world wants to see before it finally speaks up? Where are the conscience and the sense of responsibility of the world leaders? Where are the principles of ethics and objective journalism by the mainstream media? We urgently call upon the international community, spearheaded by the United Nations, the European Union, Council of Europe, the Arab League and the Organization of the Islamic Conference, to act immediately and without further delay. Not to speak is to speak and not to act is to act!”

Mr. Messo further explained: “Yesterday we arrived to Lebanon to discuss the deteriorating situation of our people in Iraq and Syria with the Syriac Orthodox Patriarch and today we would join His Holiness and the Patriarchs of the other native churches in the Middle East at a press conference this afternoon where a joint declaration would be issued. This morning, however, we were deeply shocked when His Holiness broke the news to us. We are all very troubled by this news.”

Before the USA and its allies invaded Iraq in 2003, the Aramean Christian population consisted of 1,4 million souls. Today, less than 400,000 Arameans have remained in their homeland. With the latest developments taking place, the future of this ancient indigenous population of Iraq is at the brink of extinction. In Syria, the same developments have been taking place. Similar attempts of genocide and ethnic cleansing were already successfully accomplished in Turkey in the last century, which saw its numerous native Armenian, Greek and Aramean populations dwindle to less than 100,000.

In all these cases, the foreign policies of Western countries have turned out to be utterly destructive to the many hundreds of thousands of native Aramean Christians who experienced persecutions, beheadings, crucifixion, kidnappings, expulsions and more. Simultaneously, Western governments and mainstream media have remained utterly silent and ignored the cries for help by the Arameans.

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Posted by the Orthodox Christian Network.  You can find the Orthodox Christian Network on Google+.

Persecuted Church - Iraq

As we, slowly, move towards the International Day of Prayer for the persecuted church (IDOP) on Nov 4, I thought I'd start to raise the awareness of some of the situations around the world where the Church is up against it to help us all prepare.

Are you sitting comfortably? Good, so let's see what what I can do to change that.

Even though the state does not legislate against Christians, the sectarian groups do!

Over the past ten years more than nine hundred Christians have been killed, more than seventy church buildings have been bombed. More than two hundred Christians have been kidnapped and ransomed.

Over two-thirds of the Christian population has left the country because of the persecution - A 1987 census put the Christian population at 1.4 million people, today there's around 400,000!

And here's why:

Leaving church, one of the families returned to their car to find an envelope containing a bullet - an indication that they had been placed on a 'death list' - the next day the family were gone, leaving everything behind as they fled for their lives.

Converts from Islam are considered legitimate targets by some, a statement made fact by accounts of the murder of eleven of the thirteen Iraqis who were baptised in 2010.

There's so much more but it's all out there (just search for 'Iraq and Christians') but as we move towards Nov 4th and IDOP can I ask you to pray for Andrew White (AKA 'the Vicar of Baghdad'), his family and his ministry with the people of Iraq:

Please pray for the Christians in Iraq and their protection:

Please pray for peace between the differing factions and sects with Islam in that nation:

Please pray for the situation in Syria - for supporting those who oppose Assad in the wrong way may well lead to increased oppression for the Iraqi Christians (and all Christians in the region).

Pax

Military Chaplaincy - One pace forward (Killing)

My post on Military Chaplaincy brought the following comment:
"Church and military just don't belong in the same sentence - those who do this have sold out"

So I guess we need to draw some lines and explain some things to set matters straight:

One of the most common comments regarding ministers and the forces is that we become part of a body that kills people and by doing so deny, and disobey, commandment number six which relates to the taking of life. Of course, what is said is, "You shall not kill' but this is a misquote of the actually wording (thanks to the KJV and the tools available to the translators then) for, as I understand it, the correct translation is:

"You shall not commit murder'

Let's dig in and take this all the way back to the very beginning (a very good place to start according to St Mary of Poppins),

The actual Hebrew (Exodus 20:13) has it as ס trə·ṣāḥ. lō (0לֹ֥֖א תִּֿרְצָֽ֖ח׃) which translates as:
'You shall not murder"

Interestingly (well it is for me) there is the additional understanding of the word 'trə·ṣāḥ' which means that 'murder', which is the unlawful or felonious act of taking a life, might also extend to cover causing life to be taken through negligence or carelessness. So the original texts are clear that this is murder that we are speaking of (i.e. felonious taking) rather than killing (i.e capital punishment, death of a combatant in war, self-defence, etc.)

The problems arise when we try to translate the original texts into a different language. For instance the first translation of the Old Testament was due to Ptolemy Philadelphus who took seventy scholars of their time and translated what we call the Septuagint (seventy) which we shorten to LXX. This is the original into koine (common tongue) Greek. In it we find:

'ου φονεύσεις' which is 'you shall not' and 'murder'

The LXX was a most accurate translation because it had knowledge ot the original and used the Hellenistic koine as an everyday language so the familiarity worked well.

The potential for trouble comes when we hit the 400 year old King James (KJV) Bible. Here we have less access to the modern linguistics that we have these days and whilst it has a myriad number of fantastic poetic elements (language of Shakespeare and all that stuff) it does have its limitations.

The KJV has Ex 20:13 as, "Thou shalt not kill." and this, being the principal Bible in the hands of so many for so long led many of the clerics (and the people who read what was as far as they knew correct) into this 'translation error'. They weren't being dodgy, they just didn't have the skills to differentiate, after all both relate to the taking of a life, and so in came one (of many) differences from the original.

The version we read (and there are many) can shape the way that we understand stuff and this is why I (and many others) will use more than a few when studying or preparing sermons and stuff. I often find myself turning back to the Greek to check (don't do the Hebrew that much as I really struggled with it). Here's a list of a few versions of the Bible and their translation of the passage:

New International Version (©1984) "You shall not murder."
New Living Translation (©2007) "You must not murder."
English Standard Version (©2001) “You shall not murder."
New American Standard Bible (©1995) "You shall not murder."
King James Bible "Thou shalt not kill.
GOD'S WORD® Translation (©1995) "Never murder."
King James 2000 Bible (©2003) "You shall not kill."
American Standard Version "Thou shalt not kill."

And that's just a snippet. Generally the more recent translators have all looked to original material and used 'murder' - something to be aware of as it makes a big difference as generations before us have found in their learning of it.

So - in a (extremely large) nutshell, we find that we should not align ourselves with those who murder and so, as our forces do not commit murder, we are in the clear regarding being part of them as ministers.

Hopefully this clears up the first issue relating to 'killing'. I will let you have a breather and then continue.

Suicide - mixed messages

Had a very interesting debate regarding suicide in that the person was bemoaning the loss of a relatively young person and the selfishness of them taking their own life and yet was, in the same breath, basically applauding the BBC documentary and the 'brave' people who had travelled to Switzerland to end it all! Now is this confused morals or what?

I have done funeral services for a number of people who have taken their own life and the circumstances surrounding their exit have been many and varied. Some were terminally ill, some had broken relationship, others still were making a point that they 'would do it' (how I wish people would stop saying that those who threaten to do it never do!) and a couple were the result of an obviously unbalanced mind.

Some told me that the dead person was immensely brave whilst other told me they were immensely stupid. Some wanted a quiet, embarrassed, funeral service whilst others wanted flags draping the coffin and a heroes funeral with all the trimmings. But here at the place where the rubber hits the road, regardless of the route that brought them to that place, it is my job to comfort those lost and help them to make sense of their situation and move on with their lives. It is my job to help those who grieve and the get them to have some perspective and be sensitive to the situation and the ways others might interpret them (for people are often quite harsh, aren't we?).

So what do you do with someone who has lost a friend and blames them for leaving them in such an unthinking and selfish manner? How do you explain that regardless of whether one travels to Switzerland (who I will now have to regard as financial whore and executioner of Europe I suppose*) or kills themself at home on their own (does the absence of TV camera crews make the act more heinous in terms of selfishness?) there are issues that have to be addressed and truths to be acknowledged and dealt with?

Many of those I see who have killed themselves have acted out of desperation, although it seems that because of the energy and passion that men have when this point comes, what might have been a warning shot end up as winning a coconut! Part of my training long back told me that often the line between almost doing it and doing it was thin and that many seeking to exercise a cry for help do it too well! Of course this is not the case with those who travel to do it and because they have made the journey some seem to think the act is endorsed by being 'rational'. I fail to see how killing oneself is a bloody rational act, especially when the reason is that the person who has chosen to die was 'weary' (weary is not a terminal disease but being selfish and wanting to play God is!).

Let's look at it from my perspective for a moment. Those who take their lives at home do so because they have reached a place where they cannot see life continuing. They reach this for a number of reason and that the person is so desperate and in such a state that they can do the act (which must be much like standing at the edge of a rock face and jumping off for the first time when you learn to abseil) speaks volumes of the state they were in. When asked was it brave or cowardly, I have to answer (and I always do) that it was 'desperate'. They'd reached a place where they couldn't go any further and that's the reality!

Could they (those left) have prevented it)? The question is always there. Got there earlier, hadn't gone out, hadn't got back later, hadn't left them alone, had rung them to see how they were, read the sings that they now see with hindsight. The answer is always 'No' because they can't and didn't and even had they done whatever it is that demonises the situation, there's always another day and another crisis. Is this true for those who selecte a 'rational' end to their life? No, I'm sorry I don't think so for they do it clinically and in a way that has no passion, no turmoil, no nothing but the desire to be in control.

So for those who wish to laud and applaud one group and agonise and complain at the selfishness of others who are 'stay at home' suicides can I point out that being 'assisted' brings nothing except some questions for those helpful types who 'assist' (isn't it called 'murder' and isn't there a moral component to carrying out a murder, regardless of the paucity of the local societal values of the place where it happens?).

And like fertility. Even is people have the ability to create or end life the right to either is a moot point, often decided by the finances of the local NHS trust for the former and the ability to pay to visit Switzerland (or one of the other three places) for the latter!

Pax

* During the Second World War it was the Swiss who had Nazis in one room and Allied nations in others funding and providing the means for the continuation (and expansion) of the fighting. The only question raised was that of interest and the potential for making money from the transactions. In the same way Swiss vaults housed (and still do I imaging) works of art, gold and many other artefacts of a Nazi regime) It is for this reasons that I have regarded Switzerland as the 'Whore of Europe'. Now they (proudly) add the label 'executioner' to their menu!

Old age 'rational' suicide?

Is it rational for people in old age to commit suicide? Recent stories include a couple who went to Switzerland because they were old and he was going deaf, she'd been diagnosed with cancer, so they merely 'checked out'. Nan Maitland's choice to die at 84 was made because her life had 'more pain than pleasure'. She wasn't terminal, but did have arthritis.

In something reminiscent of Flaubert's Madame Bovary's "Just a little sleep and then, no more!', Nan wrote:

"By the time you read this, with the help of Fate and the good Swiss, I will have gone to sleep, never to wake. For some time, my life has consisted of more pain than pleasure and over the next months and years the pain will be more and the pleasure less. I have a great feeling of relief that I will have no further need to struggle through each day in dread of what further horrors may lie in wait. For many years, I have feared the long period of decline, sometimes called 'prolonged dwindling', that so many people unfortunately experience before they die.

Please be happy for me that I have been able to escape from this, for me, unbearable future. I have had a wonderful life, and the great good fortune to die at a time of my own choosing, and in the good company of two Fate colleagues.

With my death, on March 1, I feel I am fully accepting the concept of 'old age rational suicide' which I have been very pleased to promote, especially in the past 15 months. Being active in the right-to-die movement, both in the UK and globally, has been an enormously important part of my life in the last few years."

Ironically, Mrs maitland's choice does not find itself being approved of by many of the pro-euthanasia groups. One, Dignity, said:

"Dignity in Dying does not support a change in the law to allow non-terminally ill people the legal option to ask for help to end their life - we campaign for a change in the law to allow the choice of assisted dying for terminally ill, mentally competent adults only. No one should have to suffer against their wishes in the final days and weeks of their lives, and the law should seek to address this, as well as seeking to protect vulnerable people against abuse."


In an era of increasing medical progress, it is odd, churlish even, that some wish to decide on their sell by day on the grounds of personal convenience and comfort. What makes this a more worrying issue is that those who seek to 'play God' do so because they want to live on their terms, and now it seems, die on their own terms too! The ultimate two-fingered gesture and one that will require a rethink of Psalm 139:

"All the days numbered for me were decided for me, once you decided I should be!"

Life is no longer precious and no longer has either dignity, or worth, for so many people out there. We use financial indicators (i.e. it's cheaper to 'let help them die'), life value indicators (i.e. they have such a poor quality of life AKA 'they contribute nothing to society and cost us money' and happiness indicators (i.e. they'd be happier out of it (and so would we if they were).

We can sustain life, we can remove many of the inconveniences of illness and old age, and yet it seems, we want the final say - seems 'self' and selfishness make the irrational rational (for some at least.

Nah, don't think so - just proves that nothing was learnt while they were here!

Jones and Sapp - Time to make a stand

It seems to me that the time has come for Christians to make a stand against those people who preach wickedness in the name of Christianity.

One of the reasons for people becoming antagonistic towards Christians and for many others to become radicalised can be found in the vitriolic and most wicked outpourings, and the actions, of men like Terry Jones and Wayne Sapp.

Terry Jones demonstrates the immensity of his madness when he spoke of the murders last night, saying that he was not responsible for them and that it was 'time for islam to held accountable', but let's let the man speak for himself:

"We must hold these countries and people accountable for what they have done as well as for any excuses they may use to promote their terrorist activities. The time has come to hold Islam accountable. Our United States government and our President must take a close, realistic look at the radical element Islam. Islam is not a religion of peace. We demand action from the United Nations. Muslim dominated countries can no longer be allowed to spread their hate against Christians and minorities.

Let's look at the facts here:

Jones and Sapp burnt a copy of the Koran.

This act led to the protest which resulted in the murder of UN workers and security staff.

In many other places, those who seek to radicalise will be using this as fuel for their wickedness.

The reality is that the murders yesterday are an effect and the cause is Jones and Sapp, along with those in Mazar-e Sharif, and they have the blood of innocents on their hands.

The reality is that these men have incited this violence and are effectively enemies of peace and sponsors of the very violence they seek so that their message might find favour with other vile and wicked people.

The reality is that by their actions the lives of good people have been lost and the Gospel of Christ has been denied.

Islam is not a 'religion of peace' - and Christianity is? Not the way Jones and Sapp act!

The British Home Secretary was right in banning Jones from entering the country and the international community, the Church worldwide and each of us also need to act.

We can voice our views at the Dove World outreach site: info@doveworld.org. (it will do nothing, but at least we can make a stand).

We can write to the US Embassy (24 Grosvenor Square, London, W1A 1AE) asking where 'freedom of speech' ends and incitement to racial, religious and political hatred begins and asking when the US government will act against the latter exhibited by these two men. I don't want to see 'freedom of speech' curtailed, but I do want people to be held accountable for their acts. There have to be responsibilities with rights!

We can preach peace from your pulpits and ask how Christians would feel if it was the Bible being burned by Islamic believers. Would we murder or would we act as believers? Would we seek to pray for those who curse us or acts against them (knowing what Jesus calls us to do)?

Ultimately those who committed the murders are responsible for their acts, but Jones and Sapp need to be made to realise that they, by their acts, commissioned the violence and sponsored the resultant deaths.

Pax

ps. And as we pray for those who mourn today, please remember to pray for those in Afghanistan who are working for peace. Pray for the forces on the ground (especially in Kandahar where tensions are rising) and for their families at home.