A direct comparison between Christians who have fled Iraq and Christians who live freely within Israel, a democratic state. This photographic story strives to draw attention to the terror and hope in their eyes. Photographer and artist Rachael Lynn Reynolds uses the power of art to educate the Western world on the persecution these Middle Eastern Christians face, hoping to inspire the Church to better love our international brothers and sisters.
A Westerner's travels among the persecuted and displaced Christian remnant in Iraq and Syria teach him much about faith under fire. Gold Medal Winner, 2018 IPPY Book of the Year Award Silver Medal Winner, 2018 Benjamin Franklin Award Finalist, 2018 ECPA Christian Book Award Inside Syria and Iraq, and even along the refugee trail, they're a religious minority persecuted for their Christian faith. Outside the Middle East, they're suspect because of their nationality. A small remnant of Christians is on the run from the Islamic State. If they are wiped out, or scattered to the corners of the earth, the language that Jesus spoke may be lost forever - along with the witness of a church that has modeled Jesus' way of nonviolence and enemy-love for two millennia. The kidnapping, enslavement, torture, and murder of Christians by the Islamic State, or ISIS, have been detailed by journalists, as have the jihadists' deliberate efforts to destroy the cultural heritage of a region that is the cradle of Christianity. But some stories run deep, and without a better understanding of the religious and historical roots of the present conflict, history will keep repeating itself century after century. Andreas Knapp, a priest who works with refugees in Germany, travelled to camps for displaced people in the Kurdish region of northern Iraq to collect stories of survivors - and to seek answers to troubling questions about the link between religion and violence. He found Christians who today still speak Syriac, a dialect of Aramaic, the language of Jesus. The uprooted remnant of ancient churches, they doggedly continue to practice their faith despite the odds. Their devastating eyewitness reports make it clear why millions are fleeing the Middle East. Yet, remarkably, though these last Christians hold little hope of ever returning to their homes, they also harbor no thirst for revenge. Could it be that they - along with the Christians of the West, whose interest will determine their fate - hold the key to breaking the cycle of violence in the region? Includes sixteen pages of color photographs.
Christianity is a global phenomenon that has affected the lives of millions of people and expressed itself in many ways over the centuries. Often these expressions have been at odds with the core values of the gospel and teachings of Jesus. Imperialism, colonization, anti-Semitism, racism, misogyny--to name but some issues--have all been associated with this religion almost from the outset. They are part of a legacy that we can no longer evade in the face of the many questioning voices of the modern world. But how has this curious and conflicted situation come about? And did Jesus even intend to found a new religion? Drawing on modern scriptural studies, current academic thinking, and several decades of personal religious and monastic life the writer seeks to find answers, examining the historical record of the past two millennia. In a world that is increasingly secular and skeptical of religious claims the answer to how the Christian legacy is to be presented in a post-Christian world is crucial for the future and the challenge this book seeks to address.
Now with a new chapter! “Everywhere militants were blowing up Christians, their churches, their shops. They threatened them with kidnapping. They promised to take their children. The message to these ‘infidels’: You have no place in Iraq. Pay a penalty to stay, leave, or be killed.” Sweeping from Syria into Iraq, Islamic State fighters (ISIS) have been brutalizing and annihilating Christians. How? Why? Where did the terrorists come from, and what can be done to stop them? For more than a decade, journalist Mindy Belz has reported on the ground from the Middle East, giving her unparalleled access to the story no one wants to believe. In They Say We Are Infidels, she brings the stark reality of this escalating genocide to light, tracking the stories of real-life Christians who refuse to abandon their faith—even in the face of losing everything, including their lives. As Reading Lolita in Tehran did for Iran and We Wish to Inform You That Tomorrow We Will Be Killed with Our Families did for Rwanda, They Say We Are Infidels shines light into the Middle East through the stories of everyday heroes and heroines who will not be silenced. A must-read for anyone seeking a firmer grasp on the complex dynamics at play in war-torn Iraq and Syria, They Say We Are Infidels is the eye-opening and revelatory testimony of a journalist who heads into a war zone—and is forever changed by the people she encounters there.
The Vanishing reveals the plight and possible extinction of Christian communities across Syria, Egypt, Iraq, and Palestine after 2,000 years in their historical homeland. Some of the countries that first nurtured and characterized Christianity - along the North African Coast, on the Euphrates and across the Middle East and Arabia - are the ones in which it is likely to first go extinct. Christians are already vanishing. We are past the tipping point, now tilted toward the end of Christianity in its historical homeland. Christians have fled the lands where their prophets wandered, where Jesus Christ preached, where the great Doctors and hierarchs of the early church established the doctrinal norms that would last millennia. From Syria to Egypt, the cities of northern Iraq to the Gaza Strip, ancient communities, the birthplaces of prophets and saints, are losing any living connection to the religion that once was such a characteristic feature of their social and cultural lives. In The Vanishing, Janine di Giovanni has combined astonishing journalistic work to discover the last traces of small, hardy communities that have become wisely fearful of outsiders and where ancient rituals are quietly preserved amid 360 degree threats. Di Giovanni's riveting personal stories and her conception of faith and hope are intertwined throughout the chapters. The book is a unique act of pre-archeology: the last chance to visit the living religion before all that will be left are the stones of the past.
Christians often struggle to know where to start when it comes to telling others about God, Jesus, sin, and salvation. In this short book, J. Mack Stiles challenges us to view evangelism as something we do together instead of something we do alone, helping churches cultivate a culture of evangelism that goes beyond simply creating new programs or adopting the latest method. The seventh volume in the 9Marks: Building Healthy Churches series, this book will help Christians joyfully embrace evangelism as a way of life as it equips them to share their faith with those who don't yet know Jesus. Part of the 9Marks: Building Healthy Churches series.
Maryam Rostampour and Marziyeh Amirizadeh knew they were putting their lives on the line. Islamic laws in Iran forbade them from sharing their Christian beliefs, but in three years, they’d covertly put New Testaments into the hands of twenty thousand of their countrymen and started two secret house churches. In 2009, they were finally arrested and held in the notorious Evin Prison in Tehran, a place where inmates are routinely tortured and executions are commonplace. In the face of ruthless interrogations, persecution, and a death sentence, Maryam and Marziyeh chose to take the radical—and dangerous—step of sharing their faith inside the very walls of the government stronghold that was meant to silence them. In Captive in Iran, two courageous Iranian women recount how God used their 259 days in Evin Prison to shine His light into one of the world’s darkest places, giving hope to those who had lost everything and showing love to those in despair.
The jihadist group ISIS (the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria) has been wreaking havoc in northern Iraq and Syria. But its reign of terror is not confined to the Middle East. Its 2014 beheadings of American journalist James Foley and Israeli-American journalist Steven Sotloff have shocked the world and instilled fear in the hearts of many Westerners. ISIS is the wealthiest, most technologically advanced, and most powerful terrorist organization in history. Its members are extremely diverse, having been recruited from countries all over the globe, including Canada, Britain, and the U.S. Now that ISIS has the world’s attention, what’s next? Governments around the world have spent billions of dollars employing military strategies, and they are still convinced that ISIS is mainly a political problem that requires a political solution. But what if the answer isn’t political or military? What if the real solution is spiritual in nature? Missionaries from the underground church of China are launching a spiritual offensive. They are not armed with a sentence of death but with a message of life, and ISIS jihadists are in their crosshairs. In ISIS, the Heart of Terror, you will learn about the missionary vision “Back to Jerusalem” and the underground church’s unique method of responding to ISIS by evangelizing Muslim militants. Discover how Chinese missionaries are fulfilling the Great Commission by sharing the gospel with some of the most unreachable people groups in the world, and find out how Christians everywhere can take part in a powerful evangelization of the Middle East.
Proposes that the Middle East and the Islamic faith--rather than Europe and Christianity--will initiate the End of Times, discussing the connections between the Bible, current world events, the Koran, and the Antichrist.
