[Grem] korrigált cím az előző lev-hez: Imádkozzunk!!!!, de Queragosh 2014. aug.21. előtt vált az Iszlám Állam prédájává

2014. Sze. 29., H, 16:02:13 CEST

ugyanaz a levĂŠl, mint az elĹbb:
ImĂĄdkozzunk ĂRTĂK!!
azonban tĂśbbek kĂśzĂśtt a kĂśvetkezĹ internetes bejegyzĂŠst talĂĄltam:
Handling the urgent international prayer request
 Sandy Grant <http://matthiasmedia.com/briefing/authors/sandy-grant/>  | 26
August, 2014

In the last 24 hours, Iâve received notification via several church
members regarding an âURGENT PRAYER REQUESTâ to do with systematic
beheading of children in Iraq.

How does a pastor handle such things?

To be honest I am a little conflicted.

Those who know me personally will know I am all in favour of prayer for the
persecuted saints in Iraq and elsewhere.

I just organised and hosted an interdenominational prayer meeting for Iraq
last Saturday. Inspired by Open Doors Australia
<https://www.opendoors.org.au/comingevents/dayofprayerforiraq>, and in
fellowship with about 45 other venues across Australia, about 100
Christians from Anglican, Baptist, independent Evangelical, Pentecostal,
Presbyterian, and Reformed Churches united at St Michaelâs Cathedral,
Wollongong, to Pray for Iraq.  [image: PrayForIraqWollongongB2014-08-23]
<http://i1.wp.com/matthiasmedia.com/briefing/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/PrayForIraqWollongongB2014-08-23.jpg>
It was moving to hear from an Iraqi sister in Christ, originally from
Mosul, now a post-grad student at the University of Wollongong, share about
the impact of persecution on her immediate family. Her brother and sister
had lost homes and jobs and were displaced and dismayed. She has already
shared a photo from our meeting with her family members in the north of
Iraq to let them know Wollongong Christians have not forgotten them.
She especially asked us to pray for the children of that land to be
preserved from further harm, and also to uphold those for whom these
traumatic events cause them to doubt their faith in God.

In 2 Corinthians 1:9-11
<http://biblia.com/bible/esv/2%20Corinthians%201.9-11>, Paul and Timothy
write that those hundreds of miles away can help those like them âin deadly
perilâ. How? Answer: âby your prayersâ!
 So I believe in international prayer requests!

I have also been publicly speaking and sharing on social media about
persecution of Iraqi Christians by ISIS for well over a month, since at
least Sunday 14th July, when our parishâs sermon series on Revelation began
and I mentioned the threats to Christians in Mosul that day.

However I am also a little anxious that we check our sources carefully, and
be cautious about passing on some of the most dramatic reports.

Even back on July 14, when I passed on reports of church buildings being
burned in Mosul, it turned out that the pictures supplied in web stories of
the ISIS invasion of Mosul, were *not of burnt churches in Mosul at all*,
but of churches in Syria and Egypt that had been burned months and even
years earlier, albeit, it appears by Islamic extremists in those places.

Still terrible, but itâs not honest reporting to use pictures from other
events and to claim they showed churches were burning in Mosul.

This brings me to the âURGENT PRAYER REQUESTâ forwarded to me, by my
prayerful and well-meaning parishionersâŚ

*Date: 24 August 2014 *
Subject: *Urgent Prayers needed: Latest ISIS atrocities against Christians *

Urgent Prayer Request / Please Pray  and FAST   â  Such evil needs Fasting
as well as Prayers

URGENT PRAYER REQUEST!!!!

Please Pray. ..Fast

BREAKING URGENT NEWS! The email below was sent to Benny Mostert from
Jericho Walls:

Dear Friends,

Just a few minutes ago I received the following text message on my
phone from Sean Malone who leads Crisis Relief International (CRI). We then
spoke briefly on the phone and I assured him that we would share this
urgent prayer need with all of our contacts.

âWe lost the city of Queragosh (Qaraqosh). It fell to ISIS and they
are beheading children systematically. This is the city we have been
smuggling food to. ISIS has pushed back Peshmerga (Kurdish forces) and is
within 10 minutes of where our CRI team is working. Thousands more fled
into the city of Erbil last night. The UN evacuated itâs staff in Erbil.
Our team is unmoved and will stay. Prayer cover needed!â

What made me wonder about this email was talk of Qaraqosh falling, and that
children are being systematically beheaded.

You see, Iâd heard these claims at least a fortnight earlier.

In fact, I know that the fall of Iraqâs largest Christian town, Qaraqosh â
terrible and sad event - was reported in mainline media *almost three weeks
ago*, (for example, in *The Independent* (UK) on 7th August
<http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/isis-takes-iraqs-largest-christian-town-of-qaraqosh-9653789.html>).
Itâs not something that is just happening now.

And when I googled âBenny Mostert Sean Malone Qaraqoshâ I discovered this
âurgent prayer requestâ has been circulating on the internet *since at
least August 9th.* I saw other examples on 12th and 19th August. Some (not
all) people even passed it on on those later dates, seeming to imply it was
as if they had perhaps just received the text message personally and
directly a few minutes earlier. Not good.

In addition, I shared a âFact Checkerâ article published on August 12 from
Joe Carter
<http://thegospelcoalition.org/article/factchecker-is-isis-beheading-children-in-iraq>
at the Gospel Coalition, urging caution on the claims of âsystematic
beheading of childrenâ.

Carter does not deny atrocities have occurred, even impacting children. But
he notes that most of the information is second hand, and that evidence
supplied has been very patchy, largely from a single source located in
America (but re-quoted numerous times). In some cases, there are
demonstrable inaccuracies.

Even the very disturbing report circulating from Canon Andrew White (which
I have viewed on Youtube) mentions just one specific atrocity against a
child, which it appears Canon White did not witness, but was told about. He
says other terrible things are happening, which he does not specify (at
least in the video I watched).

Again, take the email above, from others, quoting Mostert, quoting Sean
Malone. Youâll note, Malone is reported as saying ISIS troops have come
âwithin 10 minutes of where our CRI team is workingâ. In other words, it
seems logical that his reports of systematic beheadings of children cannot
come directly from his Crisis Relief International colleagues, since they
are not in the territory controlled by ISIS. The reports must be at least
third hand.

Again, as Joe Carter says, there have been terrible atrocities occurring.
No doubt there may even be worse ones than we have accurate, first hand and
substantiated information about.

You might want to nuance Carter on this or that detail himself. However I
find Carterâs conclusion importantâŚ

As Christians, we have a duty to champion the truth. We should avoid
spreading unsubstantiated claims and inflaming dread and panic by playing
on peopleâs natural disgust of harm to children. ISIS is an organization
that has committed heinous acts of violence and violated the human rights
of many of our fellow believers. But we must not partake in the spreading
of lies, even if it is against our enemies.

Again, read the whole article
<http://thegospelcoalition.org/article/factchecker-is-isis-beheading-children-in-iraq>,
and note the C.S. Lewis quote at the end in his last update.

We ought to be often in prayer for persecuted Christians, and also for all
down-trodden and abused people, whether or not we know the details.

But we should also be cautious about passing on highly dramatic reports
unless we have taken some care to see if they can be verified or
corroborated independently.

We should not need extra drama to persuade us to pray!
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