Iraqi Christians training to fight ISIS

[Viligant_Warrior]

Iraq’s Christians Take Up Arms to Fight Islamic State

MANILA TRAINING CENTER, Iraq—Hundreds of Christian men are picking up rifles for the first time at a former U.S. military facility in the hills of northeast Iraq and training to reclaim their towns from Islamic State militants who stormed the country last year.

FFresh recruits to a new Iraqi Christian militia said their families were abandoned to militants by government forces last summer and they seek to create a force that will keep their towns and villages safe even after Islamic State is defeated. “I want to defend our own lands, with our own force,” said Nasser Abdullah, 26 years old, who is helping lead younger recruits in training.

Pray for our brothers and sisters who have decided no one but themselves are willing to defend them against this horde of animals attempting to establish an Islamic caliphate.

 

[3Scoreand10]

Pray for our brothers and sisters who have decided no one but themselves are willing to defend them against this horde of animals attempting to establish an Islamic caliphate.[/QUOTE

You do know there are some who post on this forum that will say this is wrong.
Some will say they should turn the other cheek, show love and witness to them.
But I applaud these men for their courage to fight the wicked, Godless army of satan.
I will pray for them.

 

[kennethcadwell]

At least somebody that lives over there is finally standing up to defend their own land, instead of calling for the U.S. to come in and fight their battles for them. This gets old with them letting a terrorist group or dictator take over, plea to the U.S. to come eliminate them. We do it and leave, then they turn around and let it happen again and again and again. We should not have to police other countries, it is time for them to step up and fight for their own land.

 

[dcontroversal]

Pray for our brothers and sisters who have decided no one but themselves are willing to defend them against this horde of animals attempting to establish an Islamic caliphate.[/QUOTE

You do know there are some who post on this forum that will say this is wrong.
Some will say they should turn the other cheek, show love and witness to them.
But I applaud these men for their courage to fight the wicked, Godless army of satan.
I will pray for them.

I agree and say that we should arm them to the teeth........!

 

[dcontroversal]

At least somebody that lives over there is finally standing up to defend their own land, instead of calling for the U.S. to come in and fight their battles for them. This gets old with them letting a terrorist group or dictator take over, plea to the U.S. to come eliminate them. We do it and leave, then they turn around and let it happen again and again and again. We should not have to police other countries, it is time for them to step up and fight for their own land.

As many times as I have seen you post about not defending yourself using deadly force???????????????????????????????? Vacillating is a word that comes to mind!

 

[dcontroversal]

Pray for our brothers and sisters who have decided no one but themselves are willing to defend them against this horde of animals attempting to establish an Islamic caliphate.

I agree and say bravo.......arm them to the teeth, train them and supply them........................!

 

[Utah]

You do know there are some who post on this forum that will say this is wrong.

And they say that from the safety and comfort of their homes in free countries.

 

[RachelBibleStudent]

while this conflict was still in its early stages i expressed my thought that the violence against christians in syria was actually a chastising judgment by God against the church there for overwhelmingly supporting assad who decent people would immediately denounce as an evil dictator... as support for my thought i referenced the large turnout of syrian christians at pro assad marches and rallies in spite of his long track record of evil...and the book of judges where God repeatedly handed his people over to their enemies when they turned away from him...

of course my thought was controversial and i was attacked both by people who didn't understand what i was saying and by people who deliberately misrepresented what i was saying...lots of people seemed to want to take sides in the conflict based solely on which side said 'lord lord'...

anyway this new story seems to indicate that the syrian christians are now realizing that assad has abandoned them and that their wholehearted trust in him and his worldly power was misplaced...if i can understand what is being described in this article as evidence that the syrian church is repenting and turning away from assad and back to God...then i can hope that God will raise up one of their brothers as a deliverer the way he did in the time of the judges...

 

[sc81]

while this conflict was still in its early stages i expressed my thought that the violence against christians in syria was actually a chastising judgment by God against the church there for overwhelmingly supporting assad who decent people would immediately denounce as an evil dictator... as support for my thought i referenced the large turnout of syrian christians at pro assad marches and rallies in spite of his long track record of evil...and the book of judges where God repeatedly handed his people over to their enemies when they turned away from him...

of course my thought was controversial and i was attacked both by people who didn't understand what i was saying and by people who deliberately misrepresented what i was saying...lots of people seemed to want to take sides in the conflict based solely on which side said 'lord lord'...

anyway this new story seems to indicate that the syrian christians are now realizing that assad has abandoned them and that their wholehearted trust in him and his worldly power was misplaced...if i can understand what is being described in this article as evidence that the syrian church is repenting and turning away from assad and back to God...then i can hope that God will raise up one of their brothers as a deliverer the way he did in the time of the judges...

well for starters, iraq and syria are different countries so..

also why should christians in syria have joined the rebellion against assad, they had rights and were protected by a secular govt. The rebels have been burning churches and kidnapping priests, oh yes they are "moderates" as in they only kill a moderate amount of christians and want to establish an islamic state.

joining any islamic revolution as a christian in the middle east is playing with fire, there's alot of propaganda about assad but if he loses christians in syria will be genocided.

 

[sc81]

continuing on my last post

also let's just say the christians had joined forces against assad, what position would they find themselves in today, fighting along side groups like isis and al nusra trying to build a sharia controlled state that would see them dead or having to pay jizyah tax as unbelievers, that's insane and 100 times worse than supporting assad.

 

[RachelBibleStudent]

well for starters, iraq and syria are different countries so..

also why should christians in syria have joined the rebellion against assad, they had rights and were protected by a secular govt. The rebels have been burning churches and kidnapping priests, oh yes they are "moderates" as in they only kill a moderate amount of christians and want to establish an islamic state.

joining any islamic revolution as a christian in the middle east is playing with fire, there's alot of propaganda about assad but if he loses christians in syria will be genocided.

well the article is about christians in iraq...but as you know iraq and syria for all practical purposes have no border any more...so my hope is that this movement of christians away from supporting and relying on evil dictators is not restricted to just one side of the currently nonexistent border...

the rest of your post is exactly the kind of thinking that i believe could have warranted God's judgment on the churches there...-nowhere- does God tell christians to side with worldly evil for the sake of earthly safety...

and as they are seeing right now...they didn't even get earthly safety out of the deal...

news flash...christians -are- being genocided...with or without assad who cannot protect them and is more interested in protecting himself anyway...

 

[RachelBibleStudent]

continuing on my last post

also let's just say the christians had joined forces against assad, what position would they find themselves in today, fighting along side groups like isis and al nusra trying to build a sharia controlled state that would see them dead or having to pay jizyah tax as unbelievers, that's insane and 100 times worse than supporting assad.

well you should know that early in syria's civil war the anti assad forces were mainly defectors from the syrian army and even officials from assad's own regime who had finally seen enough of his family's brutality...

ISIS didn't even exist yet...and the nusra army had not yet come into a dominant position in the anti assad rebellion...most of the radical islamists were not even organized yet...

in fact i would argue that it was assad's regime surviving so long that actually allowed the islamists the time they needed to build up their forces and become so powerful and dangerous...and to make it so that the original syrian rebels were surrounded with assad on one side and the islamists on the other side...

so i don't see the scenario you suggest actually happening...and i actually think the syrian christians' support for assad contributed to your scenario actually coming true as is the case today...

 

[Viligant_Warrior]

... ISIS didn't even exist yet ...

ISIS is al-Qaeda in Iraq. They most assuredly did exist then.

 

[RachelBibleStudent]

ISIS is al-Qaeda in Iraq. They most assuredly did exist then.

actually ISIS is al-qaeda in iraq and syria...al-qaida in iraq had not started operating in syria yet...except where assad had already been harboring them during the iraq war...which incidentally is another fact the oversimplifiers of this conflict frequently forget...

 

[Viligant_Warrior]

actually ISIS is al-qaeda in iraq and syria...

No, ISIS currently is named for the movement they supposedly represent -- Islamic State in Iraq and Syria -- or ISIL, which is Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, "Levant" being a large region inculding areas of Cyprus,Turkey, Israel, Jordan, Lebanon, Syria, and Palestine.

You are making a great deal of errors in your posts because of this confusion. I suggest you pick up some knowledge before you start making claims that aren't supportable with facts.

ISIS used to be al-Qaeda in Iraq

The Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIS) used to have a different name: al Qaeda in Iraq.

US troops and allied Sunni militias defeated al Qaeda in Iraq during the post-2006 "surge" — but it didn't destroy them. The US commander in Iraq, General Ray Odierno, described the group in 2010 as down but "fundamentally the same." In 2011, the group rebooted. ISIS successfully freed a number of prisoners held by the Iraqi government and, slowly but surely, began rebuilding their strength.

Any questions?

 

[RachelBibleStudent]

No, ISIS currently is named for the movement they supposedly represent -- Islamic State in Iraq and Syria -- or ISIL, which is Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, "Levant" being a large region inculding areas of Cyprus,Turkey, Israel, Jordan, Lebanon, Syria, and Palestine.

You are making a great deal of errors in your posts because of this confusion. I suggest you pick up some knowledge before you start making claims that aren't supportable with facts.

Any questions?

yes i know that ISIS used to be al-qaeda in iraq...but they did not take the name 'ISIS' until -after- they had expanded into syria...specifically it was a somewhat forced merger between al-qaeda in iraq and a large part of its syrian offshoot al-nusra...

all of this did not happen until some time -after- the syrian civil war began...in the early stages of the war al-qaeda in iraq was not operating in syria except where assad was harboring them...and they were on assad's side...

 

[Viligant_Warrior]

ISIS didn't even exist yet...

ISIS is al-Qaeda in Iraq. They most assuredly did exist then.

actually ISIS is al-qaeda in iraq and syria ...

yes i know that ISIS used to be al-qaeda in iraq...

Has anyone ever told you that carrying on a message-board conversation with you is like walking around in circles?

Or maybe, running around in circles, panting, stumbling, falling down and lying there wondering why they ever started? Just curious.

 

[newlife7]

That is the sad thing about hate it often turns the victims into attackers and when you line them up side by side its hard to even tell them apart. Turn the other cheek. Vengeance is the Lord's He will repay.

 

[newlife7]

Until people realize that only good defeats evil the cycle of violence will continue.

 

[Bookends]

I don't have a problem with governments (good or bad) taking up arms against an other evil government. But whether Christians should take up arms is highly questionable. We don't see any NT Saints taking up arms to protect themselves. We don't see any Christians taking up arms until Rome institutionalized the Church (St. Augustine).

It seems to me, the Church grew most in numbers and closer to God under persecution.