Category: Suffering (Page 4 of 4)

A year ago yesterday 21 Coptic* Christians were executed by Islamic State terrorists in Libya, North Africa. Apparently these men were murdered because ISIS considered them “infidels”—that is, simply because they were believers in Jesus Christ.  Christians in Libya.

Similar violence occurs daily for Christians in places like Libya, Iraq and Syria.

Reading about this, I discovered a remarkable, inspirational fact in an Opinion column in “The Wall Street Journal” of February 12th.  The column was written by Bishop Demetrios of Mokissos, the chancellor of the Greek Orthodox Metropolis of Chicago.

“The 21 men executed that day were itinerant tradesman working on  a construction job.  All were native Egyptians but one, a young African man whose identity is uncertain—reports of his name vary, and was described as coming from Chad or Ghana.  But the power of his example is unshakable.  The executioners demanded that each hostage identify his religious allegiance.  Given the opportunity to deny their faith, under threat of death, the Egyptians declared their faith in Jesus.  Steadfast in their belief even in the face of evil, each was beheaded.

“Their compatriot was not a Christian when captured, apparently, but when challenged by the terrorists to declare his faith, he reportedly replied:  ‘Their God is my God.’  In that moment before his death, he became a Christian.  The ISIS murderers seek to demoralize Christians with acts like the slaughter on the Libyan beach.  Instead they stir our wonder at the courage and devotion inspired by God’s love.”

The nameless victim’s courage almost takes my breath away.  And it raises questions.  How did this African unbeliever happen to be captured by ISIS?  Did he work with some of the Egyptian Christians?  Had he seen something of Jesus in them that attracted him to the faith?  Why didn’t he try to save himself by arguing that he didn’t belong to the group, maybe even that he was Muslim?  What moved him to defiantly, devotedly, daringly declare, “Their God is my God”?

Whatever the answers, whatever the details of the deadly drama that day, the sovereign grace of our loving God was poured out into his heart.

I’m reminded of Ruth.  Her husband and her father-in-law had died in Moab.  Naomi was mournfully returning to Israel.  Ruth said to her . . .

“Do not urge me to leave you or to return from following you,
For where you go I will go . . .
Your people shall be my people,
and your God my God.”
(Ruth 1:16).

Though grievous, Ruth’s circumstances were not life-and-death.  How much more fearlessness did it take for this African to make such a confession!

I’m also reminded of the thief on the cross next to Jesus.  One thief mocked Jesus.  The other said . . .

” . . . we are receiving the reward of our deeds;
but this man has done nothing wrong.”
(Luke 23:41).

Then he turned toward the man on the middle cross . . .

“Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.”
(Luke 23:42).

And Jesus replied . . .

“Truly, I say to you, today you will be with me in Paradise.”
(Luke 23:43).

One year ago yesterday that brave African man left Libya’s blood-soaked beach and was instantly with Jesus in Paradise.

* * * * *

I find myself wondering what I would have said.  Suppose I was an Egyptian Coptic Christian.  Would I have denied my Lord to save my life?  Or would I have been devoted to the point of death?  But suppose I was that African.  To ISIS I would have been  an “infidel” only by association.  Would I have denied their God?  Or would I have had the courageous conviction to proclaim his words, “Their God is my God”?

Such a horror seems other world.  We should remember:  people in the U.S. have already died at the hand of a terrorist because they proclaimed allegiance to Jesus.  These “fiery trials” aren’t limited to the Middle East.  They are here.  Rarely, thank God.  But they are here.  And only if our head’s in the sand will we presume more of them won’t be coming.

As I write this, a brother or sister of mine in Christ is being persecuted somewhere in the world, maybe threatened with death.  In fact, Bishop Demetrios of Mokissos titled his “Wall Street Journal” article . . .

ISIS Is Guilty of Anti-Christian Genocide.

He complained that the U.S. and the UN have barely even mentioned it, let alone tried to do anything about it.  Our fellow-believers in Jesus are being systematically exterminated.  (Yes, it’s that big.)  Their only “crime”?   Faith in Jesus.

God won’t let us forget . . .

“Remember those who are in prison,
as though in prison with them,
and [remember] those who are mistreated,
since you also are in the body.”
(Hebrews 13:3).

Jesus, You were rejected, beaten and crucified for us.
Now some of us who are Yours are being treated as You were.
Protect the persecuted from the evil one.
Give them grace and faith and courage to stand strong in the evil day.
Thank You for these 21 Coptic Christians who refused to deny You.
Thank You for this one African man who proclaimed allegiance to You,
knowing in the very next second it would cost him his life.
May their examples inspire us.
May they move us from indifference to life-sacrificing devotion.
May Your church in America be given grace to wake from apathy
and to put on the full armor of God for the fight.
For the sake of Your sovereign name, I pray.
Amen.

*The Coptic Orthodox Church of Alexandria is the largest Christian Church in Egypt, and also the largest in the Middle East overall.  According to tradition, the Church  was established by Saint Mark, an apostle and evangelist, in the middle of the 1st century (approximately AD 42).  (Eusebius of Caesarea, the author of Ecclesiastical History in the 4th century, states that Saint Mark came to Egypt in the first or third year of the reign of Emperor Claudius, i.e. 41 or 43 A.D. “Two Thousand years of Coptic Christianity” Otto F. A. Meinardus p28.)

God created us in his image.  The sanctity of human life stands firm on that theological foundation.

Then God said, “Let us make man in our image,
after our likeness” (Genesis 1:26a.).

The Hebrew word for “man” (adam) is the generic term for mankind, “mankind” including both men and women as the next reference makes clear.

When God created man, he made them in the likeness of God.
Male and female he created them, and he blessed them
and named them Man when they were created (Genesis 5:1b,2)

So we argue that every human life has value and, therefore,  even the terminally ill should not be assisted to commit suicide.  Who are we to take the life of one created in the image of God?  I write that not having a loved one cruelly suffer day after day with no hope of recovery.  I know that only in my imagination, not in my experience.  Nevertheless, I say, “Don’t help her die!” because her life was created in God’s image and therefore sacred.

Here is a posting from “The Federalist” ( http://thefederalist.com/2015/10/06/my-mom-just-died-of-brain-cancer-heres-why-she-opposed-assisted-suicide/ in which a daughter, Mary Karner, saw her mother slowly die from brain cancer—and still opposed assisted suicide.  You’ll find her words compelling—a miracle, really, of the faith and hope and peace and  joy only Christ can give.

My Mom Just Died Of Brain Cancer. Here’s Why She Opposed Assisted Suicide

I’ll admit it, I’m an adrenaline junkie. And judging from the plethora of new TV shows like “Trauma: Life in the ER” or “Code Black,” most of America is too. Except that’s my life. I’m a Trauma Nurse. I eat, sleep, and breathe trauma.

Every time I walk into work with a French Vanilla Swirl Latte from Dunkin’ Donuts in my hand, life and death are waiting for me. And up until this week I thought I’d seen just about everything. I’ve performed CPR till I thought my arms would fall off to keep blood pumping through a child’s body. I’ve administered life-saving medication to a patient having a stroke and seen the joy on his face when he regained his speech. I’ve had a patient fall through a ceiling onto another patient (I can’t even make that up.) I’ve held the hand of patients as they’ve taken their last breath, and I’ve hugged family members so tight I couldn’t breathe. I really thought I’d seen it all.

And then last week, my mom died. She had a glioblastoma brain tumor. I knew all about it, even cared for patients with her same diagnosis. I knew what was going to happen. But no matter how much I thought I was ready, I wasn’t. Death stings. And my beautiful, 52-year-old mother’s grave is freshly dug.

But my mom’s name was Dr. Maggie Karner. And she was the textbook definition of awesome. Don’t take my word for it, Google her.  She devoted her entire life to helping others and spreading Christ’s beautiful gift of mercy for all. I’m not sure I’ve ever heard my mom speak more passionately then when she was talking about the word “mercy.” And that’s why my mom used her last days on Earth to campaign against a very dangerous use of that word. A “merciful death” some would call it, or a “right to die.”

My mom is most famous for a YouTube video that went viral entitled “A Letter to Brittany Maynard.”  In the video my mom pleaded with Brittany, who had the same diagnosis, not to commit assisted suicide. Unfortunately, Brittany eventually chose to end her life, but my mom never stopped advocating for life. In her words, “How long will it be before the right to die quickly devolves into the duty to die? What does this mean for all who are elderly, or disabled, or just wondering if they’ve become a burden to the family?” Even while she was receiving chemotherapy, my mom spoke at the Connecticut state house to lobby against a “right to die” bill. The bill did not pass.

Difficulty Does Not Justify Suicide

That’s why my heart breaks tonight to learn the news that California’s governor has just signed legislation allowing residents of the state to take their own lives in the face of terminal illness. This makes five states in our nation allowing assisted suicide.

Believe me, terminal illness sucks. There is no way to sugar coat that. It stole my mom from me along with so many others. But it also gave me something that I could never begin to describe, the opportunity to serve her. My family and I cared for her when she could no longer care for herself. We were her left arm when hers was paralyzed. And when that became too much, we had the distinct privilege of being able to visit her at her hospice facility during the last month of her life. She was not herself, and many times confused, but she could laugh. Even up until the day before she died. We laughed about seagulls that she thought were drones. We laughed about how much she loved chocolate and McFlurry’s from McDonald’s. We laughed about all the stupid things I did as a kid. And then when she could no longer laugh, we sang to her and we prayed with her.

My mom said it best in an op-ed in the Hartford Courant: “My brain may be cancerous, but I still have lots to contribute to society as a strong woman, wife and mother while my family can daily learn the value of caring for me in my last days with compassion and dignity.”

I’m here to say that she was right. No matter how hard it was and still is. She was so right. And the greatest honor of my life was to care for my mom in her last days. I hope and pray that her legacy will continue to inspire caring American voters to support those choosing to squeeze life for every drop that it has to give. Support hospice and palliative care programs that give true meaning to “death with dignity.” Let those fighting illness and disabilities know that they are precious, no matter what. They should never have to feel for a second that they might have a “duty to die” just because the option is available.

Mary Karner is a Registered Nurse currently working in Connecticut.

When Isaiah wrote, “they shall mount up with wings like eagles” (40:31), he didn’t have helicopters in mind.  But if Chloe Valdary gets her way, Middle East Christians may.

Writing in last Friday’s “Wall Street Journal”, Valdary (a Robert L. Bartley Fellow at the Journal) recalled how in 1975 air and sea missions saved tens of thousands of Vietnamese.  Eventually they were resettled in the U.S.  She advocates the same approach for the persecuted Christians in the Middle East.

Since the rise of . . . ISIS, about 125,000 Christians have fled [Iraq].  After ISIS took [the city of] Mosul in June 2014, the city’s Christians flocked to Erbil, the Kurdish capital.  In Syria, once home to nearly two million Christians, at least 500,000 have been displaced during four years of war.  It is ISIS policy to kidnap and rape Christian women and girls.  The terrorist group has razed Christian sites, including monasteries dating to the fifth century.  Last October the ISIS magazine Dabiq referred to Christians as “crusaders” and vowed to kill “every Crusader possible.”

That should remind Western policy makers:  Christians are not random victims, caught in the maw of Mideast strife.  They are targets of genocide, much like the Jews during World War II.  This entitles them to broad protection under the 1951 U.N. Genocide Convention, to which the U.S. is a signatory.

It is also worth noting that because Christians in Iraq and Syria are facing genocide—as opposed to displacement—there is a limited window for rescue.  Unlike the thousands of refugees pouring into Europe, who are mostly escaping the violence driven by the sectarian war in Syria, Christians are facing a targeted campaign of annihilation.  The U.S. ought to take that into consideration when prioritizing the resettlement of the additional 30,000 refugees the country is slated to absorb over the next two years.

Valdary goes on to note that a California Democrat has introduced in the House of Representatives a bill to require the secretary of state to “report to Congress a plan to expedite the processing of refugee admissions applications” for religious minorities threatened by ISIS.  Valdary writes . . .

The bill hasn’t moved in Congress, partly due to inattention but also because the Obama administration seems to want nothing to do with it.

Mark Arabo has founded the Minority Humanitarian foundation, a non-profit whose mission is to get Iraqi Christians out before it is too late.  Arabo . . .

. . . is essentially running an underground railroad to help Christians escape.  “We are bringing them to America, Australia and France,” he said.  “In the U.S. alone, we have identified 70,000 Christians who have been displaced and have matched them with 70,000 people willing to bring them in.”  But that depends on the administration’s willingness to allow them to enter.

* * * * *

The scale of suffering in the world staggers my mind—and I see only bits and pieces on TV, the Internet and in print.  This suffering is intentional.  It’s persecution.  Not as in, you might lose your job.  But in, you will be killed if we catch you.

These are our brothers and sisters.  Their fine points of doctrine may differ from ours.  They may worship differently.  But many certainly have genuine faith in Jesus.  That makes them family.  Whatever we believe about end-time theology, this is their Tribulation! 

Should I write my representative and ask him to get moving on House Resolution 1568, the “Protecting Religious Minorities Persecuted by ISIS Act of 2015”?  Should you?  One thing I know you and I must do is pray.  I’ve become so cynical about the government, and my faith in God’s intervention is sometimes weak.  But, if not out of great faith, then out of desperation for our brothers and sisters, I (we) should pray for the Father to save his family from this demonic, antichrist evil sweeping the Middle East.

I know:  something else to pray for.  It never ends.  The list always lengthens.  But we are at war and the lives of our brothers and sisters in Christ hang in the balance.  May our Father protect them.  May he save them from the evil of ISIS.  And may he, if he so wills, use even helicopters to “mount [them] up with wings like eagles.”