One of the oldest remaining Christian groups in the world is close to being wiped out by the ISIS Sunni Caliphate.
The 'sort-of' history called, 'Acts of Apostles,' tells us that on the day of Pentecost, among those who were in Jerusalem on that day and supposedly witnessed the coming of the NS, were (Acts 2:9), among others:
"Parthians and Medes and Elamites and the inhabitants of Mesopotamia ..."
It's claimed that many of these people became Christians before they returned home, and a Christian church was formed early in the beginnings of Christianity/
Many historians think that were more Christians in Asia in the first century than anywhere else, though, Egypt - Libya was also a hot spot for Christianity.
This map gives you an idea of the reach of Asian churches in the past - though much later than the first century, of course.
But no more.
Ever since the Orthodox Patriarch of Constantinople and the Pope of Rome (in 1053-1054CE) had an official falling out over doctrine and who was the boss, weakened the Church, and the later Pope Urban II envisioned a HOLY WAR on Islam (i.e. the Crusades), Christianity has been gradually losing out in west Asia.
Now the headlines,
Last few Iraqi Christians flee violence and threats in Mosul as Isis continues its takeover
tell us of the near end of 2000 years of Christianity in Iraq. The report continues:
The Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (Isis) wrestled control of the northern Iraqi city on 10 June in an attempt to carve out a Sunni caliphate.
Large swathes of Christian and Iraqi property has been seized by the militant group as it grows its governance in the aim of making Mosul the capital of its new Islamic state.
One of the properties seized by militants, the ancient Catholic Mar Behnam Monastery located 15 miles south of Mosul, was a place of pilgrimage and an important Christian landmark.
However on Sunday, it was seized by Isis fighters and its monks expelled, who were permitted only to take the clothes they were wearing.
Last week, the extremists gave Christians in Mosul three options: either convert to Islam, pay a special tax or be killed.
They gave a deadline of Saturday 19 July, which led to a mass exodus of Iraqi Christians – communities that had had 2,000-year-old links to the country – on Friday, Al Arabiya News reports.
Though a number of Christians – a religious minority in Iraq – had already fled the city after hard-line Isis captured it last month, for many the ultimatum was the final straw. The city is now said to be all but clear of Christians.
An Iraqi Christian woman fleeing the violence in the village of Qaraqush, about 30 kms east of the northern province of Nineveh, cries upon her arrival at a community center in the Kurdish city of Arbil in Iraq's autonomous Kurdistan region. SAFIN HAMED/AFP/Getty Images
Shi-ite Muslims are also in fear during this attack by Sunni Muslims.
An Iraqi woman, who fled with her family from the northern city of Mosul, prays with her copy of the Quran, but her Allah also seems helpless.
Hussein Malla/AP
The Independent report also noted:
The number of Christians in Iraq began to decrease after the 2003 US-led invasion toppled Saddam Hussein, which resulted in sectarian violence swelling.
Saddam, with his many faults, had a better understanding of the many forces exerted in the artificial, western created state of Iraq, than the ideologically driven George W. Bush, who it appears, made the situation a thousand times worse than it was.
How paradoxical, that the USA, arguably the most Christian of all contemporary nations, causes the destruction of one of the oldest Christian communities in the world.
And Jesus, as Freddy Franz may have delicately put it, seems to
have excrement and has to go to the privy... -1 Kings 18:27 NWT
and is unable to come to the rescue of his followers.