Jerusalem
Luke 21:20
And when ye shall see Jerusalem compassed with armies, then know that the desolation thereof is nigh.
I know that the armies are not yet at Jerusalem’s doorstep (Hamas being the closest so far), but things are beginning to gel for the end time conflict of armies in the Holy Land. ISIS, now called the Islamic State, is continuing its advance and ethnic cleansing efforts in northern Iraq. The attacks on Christians and Yazidi minorities continue. The men are killed. The women and young girls enslaved. Children are being beheaded. Those who do not convert must flee for their lives or die.
The Kurds have opened a corridor to Kurdistan in northern Iraq which they are defending so that the Christians and Yazidis can escape. But they are outgunned by the more sophisticated American weapons of the ISIS forces that were captured in Mosul, Kirkuk and other areas defended (I use that word loosely!) by the Iraqi Army. I wonder whose brilliant idea it was to leave all those weapons behind when the U.S. pulled out? Why didn’t they just blow it all up so it wouldn’t fall into the radical’s hands. Obviously, the Iraqi Army was incompetent or even complicit in the loss of billions of dollars of modern weapons and ammo. We are not talking about antiquated M-16s. ISIS got howitzers, armored Humvees, rockets, and enough arms and ammunition to supply an army of 200,000! Now U.S. arms and ammunition are being used to murder Christians and other minorities – men, women and children. Contrary to all logic, the U.S. arms its own enemies. Thankfully, the Kurds are there to help save some.
The U.S. has been dropping food, water and tents to those surrounded and trapped on Mt. Sinjar. Then the U.S. planned a rescue mission – then they didn’t. But at least half of the 40,000 Yazidis trapped on the mountain have escaped through the Kurdish corridor into Kurdistan. The Kurds crossed over from Syria and fought their way to the trapped refugees and created the escape route. We should thank God for the Kurds. Old men and young boys have taken up arms and joined the Kurdish Peshmerga regulars to fight ISIS and save the fleeing and starving refugees still trapped and not yet able to make it to the Kurdish Corridor.
(Please see http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/aug/10/kurdish-rebels-yazidi-iraq-isis for a very good update on the situation in northern Iraq entitled, Iraq: US plans rescue mission for besieged Yazidi refugees.”)
The British joined the U.S. in dropping supplies. The French have decided to now join[1] and are preparing to also airdrop supplies of food and water to the fleeing refugees and those who have already made it to Kurdish cities.
The U.S. has finally started ratcheting up it’s, up until now, pin-prick bombing strikes on some ISIS targets[2] and is weighing the option of sending Special Forces to fight ISIS. The problem as usual is the U.S. administration has dithered around “weighing options” while children have been getting their heads chopped off, little girls getting raped, and ISIS’ power continuing to grow. It will be much harder to deal with them now.
The U.S. Congress should be outraged that we have not done something sooner. What if the U.S. would have helped stop Hitler at the beginning? Thousands of young American men and women would not have died. What if the U.S. would have stopped Hitler before the extermination of the Jews of Europe really got under way? Where have been the intense and non-stop cries to save these poor children? Doesn’t anyone care anymore? As a people, it appears we have lost our moral compass. Could that be because we are too busy removing Bibles from Navy desks and the 10 Commandments from our government buildings and parks?
Wake up America. This is what happens when you kick God out! Women and children are butchered, Christians are crucified. Innocent people are dying, and the President and the U.S. Congress waste time “weighing options” or go on vacation. Now the evil has grown exponentially and looks unstoppable with billions of dollars in financing and modern U.S. war weapons.
God help us because we have lost our way.
Pope Francis I
Pope Francis[3] has called for the world community to fight the ISIS terrorists who are committing demonic atrocities in Syria and Iraq. I suspect the power of the Pope’s call will bring a reaction from especially the Europeans. The French Foreign Minister has already flown to Kurdistan.
Please pray for the innocents and pray for Jerusalem, the stated goal of the Jihadi Islamic State. And please pray that God open the eyes of the leaders of the United States of America, and the people who put them in power.
In Jesus, the King of Jerusalem’s Holy Name,
T. Leon Sexton
[1] http://english.cntv.cn/2014/08/11/VIDE1407721442906402.shtml
[2] US Strikes Iraq With Land-Based Bombers, Newser, http://www.newser.com/story/192589/us-strikes-iraq-with-land-based-bombers.html?utm_source=part&utm_medium=united&utm_campaign=rss_topnews
[3] Iraq: Pope Francis Urges World Action Against Islamic State
https://uk.news.yahoo.com/iraq-pope-francis-urges-world-action-against-islamic-163202091.html#metksvF
Photographs:
Jerusalem:
| Description |
English: Jerusalem Old City from Mount of Olives.
|
| Author | Wayne McLean |
Pope Francis I:
| Description |
English: Pope Francis, Private audience of Centesimus Annus Pro Pontifice CAPP at Clementine Hall, Vatican City
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| Date | 25 May 2013 |
| Author | Christoph Wagener |
