We Can't Forget - ISIS

I made the mistake (or was it?) of looking up things about ISIS and their persecution of our brothers and sisters in Iraq. And now that I write it…no it wasn’t a mistake. We’re told to remember those in chains as if bound with them, and now I can’t forget.

It’s one thing to read it – another to see it. Internet provides that opportunity, to see the reality of what’s happening, even as I write this.

What I saw sickens me. Literally; it turns my stomach sour. The pictures blink in my mind, snapshots of the misery and distress of Christians I can’t help. There’s a father holding the headless body of his little girl – beheaded as an example to Christians. There’s the body of a woman, lying on the table, her head supported so that her blood can run freely from the cut in her neck into a large, stainless steel bowl on the floor. There are children, being carried and placed in a group around a flat-faced stone while a man with a large gun stands by.

The father has an expression of desperate questioning. Maybe he’s in shock, or wondering how people can be so cruel, wondering if he could have prevented her cruel death, why she was killed, and not him.

The woman – is she dead already? She must be, from the amount of blood in the bowl, or nearly so. The blood doesn’t look like I thought it would. It’s a sick, pink color. What did she endure before they killed her? How long did her pain last? Her hands are bound behind her back and she’s undressed. The men around her show no remorse, no concern, no reaction to what they’re doing. They look as if the whole thing is part of the daily routine. How can we forgive them? Yet even Jesus forgave His heartless tormentors.

The children – I can’t tell if they’re dead, but I don’t think so. Their faces show - distress, fear or pain, maybe both. Whose children are they? Are the men carrying them their fathers, forced to carry them there? Are they heartless killers, gathering the lambs to the slaughter, so to speak – and do they think of their own children and feel even a shred, just an inkling of regret?

The children look tired. They look like they’ve given up. No, they aren’t dead; they seem to support themselves, though they lean on each other as if they’ve given up and have no strength, physical or emotional. I want to gather them in my arms and hold them and comfort them. I want to soothe their fears away.

But I can’t. I can’t hold them, I can’t stroke their hair, and can’t rock them into calmness. I can’t protect them. I can’t take their hands and give them even just one smile. They’re so helpless, so innocent – so scared.

They must wonder where their parents are, unless they watched them being killed. They’re only 3, 5, maybe 8 years old. Do they understand why this is happening? Do they know that Mommy and Daddy are gone because they loved Jesus, and, if so, does that make them think that Jesus is bad for letting this happen – or that the men are bad for hurting people who follow Jesus?

I don’t know. I don’t know the individual stories. I don’t know what to do. Will donating help? Is going to actually make a difference to buy a t-shirt which says “I support Christians hurt by ISIS”, or something to that effect? I don’t know! I wish I did! What are we to do to help?

The only idea I have is fasting. What about a day of fasting? I wonder if others will catch the heart of this…am I just being too emotional? What should be our response to this?

My heart breaks for their pain. I don’t want to forget it. But I don’t want to be satisfied with knowing that I care. If I stop there, I might as well not care.

When Peter was imprisoned, the disciples spent time together in prayer, just for him. The Lord set him free in a miraculous way (Acts 12). The Lord may not immediately set our brothers and sisters free if we pray and fast for them, but we can pray down Satan’s strongholds so they can feel the comfort and peace of the Holy Spirit. So they can be strong, so that even though their bodies are being destroyed and their homes taken and their lives are being torn apart, they will know that there is hope in Christ, and that ahead of them is only hope and joy and peace, whatever troubles they endure now.

Our prayers are answered. Jesus is very much with them, whether we pray or don’t pray, but we must pray! We need to pray that they will stand strong, that they will be encouraged, that they will not deny Him, that they will be comforted, and even that they will escape.

We must stand with them. They cannot be forgotten.

What will we say when we stand before the judgment of God, and He asks us what we did for our persecuted brothers and sisters? If we’re honest, will we have to say that we cried a tear or two, and then returned to our happy worship services or tv shows, or books or our Bible studies? Can you imagine our shame and regret as we realize we did nothing to help them?

Even more compelling to me is the thought of the power of our prayers. Imagine that you are the one watching your family being torn apart – you’re running for your life, your brother was caught and forced to deny his faith and still killed when he did, your little sister is dead, and your father is about to be executed, and your mother has disappeared. The situation is far from being resolved, and the Lord is allowing you to go through this trial – but you are suddenly wrapped in a peace that overwhelms you despite your circumstances. You feel the presence of God and you know He loves you and is there with you. You know He feels your pain and hurts with you. You remember that Jesus suffered too, and that He isn’t asking more of you than He gave.

This is what our prayers can do. I don’t know how it works. I know God is with them anyway. But somehow our prayers can pull down strongholds through faith and by God’s grace, from thousands of miles away, we can comfort them. And somehow, fasting adds to the power of that.

Maybe the fast wouldn’t be giving up all food for you – maybe it would be a video games, or movies. Maybe it would be fasting from shopping, or coffee, or snacking. Right now, what I can handle is fasting in the mornings. I sometimes give up movies, but I don’t have time for movies right now anyway, so it’s not much of a fast if I do that. I can’t manage not eating at all without getting sick, so just fasting in the mornings works for me. If gives me a few solid hours of focus and some hunger pangs to remind me to pray, and it sticks with me throughout the day (as someone who relies heavily on breakfast, I remember when I don’t have it!)

You might fast for a few hours for one day or for a week. Whatever. You might not fast at all. Whatever. Just pray. Just remember our brothers and sisters in prayer. If you find an organization you trust to donate towards the cause of helping Christians in Iraq, then donate (and let me know! I haven’t found one yet) – and if you get a t-shirt out of the deal, good for you! It will at least help spread awareness and help us not to forget soon.

Let’s love them like we would love ourselves and like we would love our own families. They are our families. They need us.