In the same way, let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven.
Matthew 5:16
(window in the chancel house at the Rock of Cashel, County Tipperary, Ireland / Julie Cook / 2015)
I’m beginning to feel, as well as sound, like a broken record…
Once again there is a report that ISIS, IS, Daesh, whatever you wish to call this steely precision machine of evil, has once again wielded swiftly the hand of hate and destruction over all of Christianity in Iraq. They have rendered the oldest Christian Monastery in Iraq, the 1400 year old St Elijah’s Monastery, to nothing more than dust.
The monastery was built between 882-590 AD by the Assyrian Christian monk Elijah and has been a place of worship and refuge for Christians well before the Great Schism divided Christianity into the Latin West and the Orthodox East…as it dates to the earliest days of The infant Church.
It was back in March, almost a year ago when I wrote another similar story about the dire situation taking place in Mosel with the systematic killing and destruction of any and all things Christian at the hands of the barbaric members of the Islamic State.
https://cookiecrumbstoliveby.wordpress.com/2015/03/24/blood-of-the-lamb/
And almost a full year later, nothing has been done or said…the oh so hoped for cry from the global community… which would be heard, as it is shouted out loud from every roof top around the globe, in hopes to raise a real and substantial global concern…sadly remains in large part…silent.
Oh we hear a snippet of a story here and there, yet there are more reports about who’s been nominated for an Oscar and who is boycotting the awards show due to a case of colorblindness, yet the steady and systematic destruction of all things Christian throughout the Middle East, the very birth place of our faith, is being eliminated into oblivion with nary a whimper.
Why?
Here are the latest news offerings…with even the Pentagon weighing in, claiming that the destruction of the monastery is simply one more “battle of savagery against decency…”
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-35360415
http://news.yahoo.com/only-ap-oldest-christian-monastery-073600243.html
“Get yourself ready! Stand up and say to them whatever I command you. Do not be terrified by them, or I will terrify you before them. Today I have made you a fortified city, an iron pillar and a bronze wall to stand against the whole land—against the kings of Judah, its officials, its priests and the people of the land. They will fight against you but will not overcome you, for I am with you and will rescue you,” declares the Lord.
Jeremiah 1:17-19
cookiecrumbstoliveby 
Good post Julie, but one of the reasons I refuse to read, watch or listen to the news. It’s never anything good about people, always something bad. and I hate that particular subject. I just don’t have time enough left here to keep up with negative stuff, so I pray for understanding, Peace, and the strength to follow God’s will, while also praying for Peace and Love in the world.
Hugs and love,
Angie
I too tend to avoid most news… as it is mostly petty negativity as you so aptly say—but such stories as this, the reality of what is taking place and the assault on Christianity as a whole must be brought to light–otherwise we’re all in trouble…
This is very true, and we’ve allowed it to happen since 1963, after Kennedy was assassinated and Camelot ended. I’ve watched it happen to the point that I simply can’t take any more of it. We actually gave up all rights to Christianity by not fighting for freedom of religion. We have now given up almost all of our Constitutional rights since the late ’60’s when apathy took over and we stopped voting for change, allowed the same people to remain entrenched in Congress, making it their career rather than their privilege or duty, and allowed this country, founded in the name of religious freedom, to give up that freedom of religion for Christians, and have it for all other religions. WE allowed other people to come in and take over the country by allowing our incumbents to make homes in D.C., and sell their votes to the highest bidders. China owns most of them, and by spoiling them with all the latest “toys” so we can go to work and acquire more money than the people next door instead of staying home and teaching the kids to respect their elders.
Sorry about the rant here, but I’m finding more and more that in this country, and this one only, older people are in the way. We are no longer held in respect, treated like humans, or even cared for as well as most animals. Even snakes receive better care than the elderly, and the running joke here is “when will they just line us up against a wall and shoot us”? Short answer to that one is that it’s easier to starve us to death, and makes for fewer bad headlines. Neat and complete with no one even noticing, because we are invisible now, even to our own kids.
You go girl!!!!
This is a great rant as it is steeped in truth–so therefore, not a rant, but merely the truth shouted from the roof tops—a little Irish ire—excellent 🙂
My Irish ancestors came from Wycklow, Ct Wycklow, during the potato famine, so I got that part honestly Julie. Black Irish we are, with half of me bein’ German. Not exactly a match made in heaven, but we get along foine. Too bad I can’t speak or write Gaelic. Oh, well, them’s the breaks.
ahh, my grandparents came from Co Donegal for the same reason—I’ve put learning gaelic on the ol bucket list 🙂
Prayer, the weapon of choice. Those who are called to take action are depending on the soil of our tears and prayers
Amen!
Reblogged this on Talmidimblogging.
Oh I hate so much that they’ve destroyed that old, old monastery. I know it seems insignificant in light of people losing their lives, but it was monks moving from monastery to monastery that brought the old roses first to Europe and Great Britain. The later the people coming here to the new world brought them hear. These heartless savages are not only killing people, but they are in many ways trying to wipe out our history, culture, and traditions, the very things generation after generation have built their lives on. And being the cowards that they are they do it behind coverings over their head to hide their identities. I hate killing, but it’s one thing to stand eye to eye on a battlefield and fight it out, but it’s the worst form of treachery and cowardice to kill innocent people with hidden faces. : So so sad. 😦 😦 😦