More Persecution in Iraq

Last week there were dozens of Christians killed in Iraq when a group of Islamists stormed a church and took it hostage.

Today we read the headline coming out of Iraq that the attacks aimed at Christians are continuing.

A series of bombings and mortar attacks targeting Christian areas has killed at least five people in the Iraqi capital, Baghdad, security sources say.

Six districts with strong Christian majorities were hit, and at least 24 people have been injured.
The attacks come days after more than 40 people died when Islamist militants seized a Catholic cathedral.

"These operations, which targeted Christians, came as a continuation of the attack that targeted the Salvation church," the source said.

The BBC's Jim Muir, in Baghdad, says it is unclear whether Christians were killed. However the intention is clear - to underline a threat from the so-called Islamic State for Iraq, an umbrella group linked to al-Qaeda, that all Christians in the country are now a legitimate target.

Over the weekend, a senior Iraqi cleric in London called on Iraqi Christians to flee the country because it was so dangerous.

"If we stay, they will kill us," Archbishop Athanasios Dawood said after addressing a congregation of Iraqi Orthodox Christians at a service in the UK capital.

However, in Iraq itself, church and political leaders have urged the Christian communities to stay in the country where they have been based for more than 2,000 years.

Catholic representatives in the city said the community was now frightened and confused.

"People are panicked. They come to see us in the churches to ask what they should do. We are shattered by what has happened," said Saad Sirap Hanna, a priest at Baghdad's Saint Joseph church, according to AFP.

Christians - many from ancient denominations - have been leaving Iraq in droves since the US-led invasion in 2003, and about 600,000 remain.

See it here; http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-11724378

Dear Jesus, please place a hedge of angels around these suffering Christians in Iraq. Of course Satan wants them killed or driven out. He wants no part of your Holy Spirit in Iraq and will be working hard to make Iraq a Christian-free zone. Please send the blessings of joy, perseverance, and comfort to those in Iraq who are marked with the Holy Spirit. Thy will be done. Amen.

I realize that we, (born-again followers of Christ) can bring any of our burdens or cares to the throne room of God by using Jesus name. But as one reads the stories of persecution happening to our brothers and sisters all over the world, who are literally on the front lines of the spiritual battle....it makes one feel a little sheepish over most of our "cares and burdens" that we Christ followers are experiencing here in America.