FROM TODAY'S READING (7/19/2016)...
Shortly after ISIS took over in Mosul every Christian home, business, institution, and church were marked and spray painted with the letter ‘Nun’ which is the Muslim symbol for ‘Nasara‘ (Nazarenes) the historical Muslim name for Christians. Then there were Nun everywhere and now there are none- no Christians left.
The Christian community in Mosul, Iraq and the surrounding area of Nineveh had existed for nearly 2,000 years and many of their churches even predated the founding of Islam. Just a few short years ago there were over a 100,000 in the community but now there are none.
- Answers For The Faith
1 Peter 4:12-19 (NLT) Dear friends, don’t be surprised at the fiery trials you are going through, as if something strange were happening to you. Instead, be very glad—for these trials make you partners with Christ in his suffering, so that you will have the wonderful joy of seeing his glory when it is revealed to all the world.
If you are insulted because you bear the name of Christ, you will be blessed, for the glorious Spirit of God rests upon you. If you suffer, however, it must not be for murder, stealing, making trouble, or prying into other people’s affairs. But it is no shame to suffer for being a Christian. Praise God for the privilege of being called by his name! For the time has come for judgment, and it must begin with God’s household. And if judgment begins with us, what terrible fate awaits those who have never obeyed God’s Good News? And also, “If the righteous are barely saved, what will happen to godless sinners?”
So if you are suffering in a manner that pleases God, keep on doing what is right, and trust your lives to the God who created you, for he will never fail you.”
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