ICC Note: The reality of persecution in the Middle East has forced many in the church to wake up. Finally hearing their stories has been a reminder of the cost of following Christ. But once we know, we can’t unknow and therefore we need to act. This is a challenge many church leaders are repeating and it is a call for the Church to stand with brothers and sisters suffering for identifying with Christ.

09/26/2015 Iraq (Union Leader) – Imagine sitting home one day when suddenly you hear loudspeakers screaming from cars outside. With a hate-filled militancy, soldiers declare you must abandon your faith and pay a tax that is more than the value of your home, or leave. You are told you have one hour to decide.

To stay is to die, but so is to leave. As you try to decide what to do, you hear your beloved elderly neighbor arguing with the soldiers, explaining that this is not how we are meant to live, and then you hear a shot and the screams of his daughters as they are taken away.

Looking at your own two young girls, you grab your family, your elderly parents, and you run, making your way into the desert with little food, water or hope. Your girls, should the terrorists get hold of them, will be sold as sex slaves, their prices listed online. As your heart breaks to the uncertain future that lies ahead, and as it mourns all that has already been lost, you scream for the world that moves by, you scream because you feel someone must break the silence.
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