We live in an incredibly fast paced world. We are literally bombarded with news and information from every side, and with the news cycle measured in minutes and hours, not days, it seems there is a new and dramatic crisis every day…every hour…every minute.
So, when a problem seems to be solved, to go away, it is easy to heave a sigh of relief and move on.
ISIS is defeated. Christians are moving back to their homes and villages. The President and Vice President have directed U.S. aid to go preferentially to Christians and other religious and ethnic minorities. Problem solved. At last we can move on…
If only it were that simple.
Christians can return to their homes and villages? Sure, if those homes and villages haven’t been given to Muslims to gain political favors. If those homes, villages, businesses and churches haven’t been trashed, destroyed, desecrated and even booby-trapped by departing ISIS forces.
President Trump and Vice President Pence have ordered U.S. aid to go to Christians. But that aid still filters through U.S. bureaucracies to UN bureaucracies famous for corruption, inefficiency and anti-Christian bias.
The earliest that Christians in IRAQ will begin seeing any, any, of that aid is spring. Maybe May. In February, the average nighttime temperature in the Christian regions in Iraq is 40 degrees. Cold, if you are living in a bombed out house in a destroyed village.
These people, these fellow Christians, these true, devoted believers in Our Lord still need our help. They need food, clothing, diapers, medicine, and the daily necessities of life. And, of course, they need help rebuilding their homes, businesses and churches.
Just because they are no longer in the daily chaos of the news does not mean they, and their needs have gone away.
Solidarity with the Persecuted Church has not forgotten. We are still working every day to help the Persecuted Christians in Iraq rebuild their lives. And we still depend on our generous donors to help us in that fight
It is our promise, as Americans, and as Christians, to the Christians in Iraq: you will not be forgotten.
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