Persecution is No Road to Revival
Late in 2017 I travelled through Germany. It was the 500th anniversary of the Protestant Reformation.
The occasion made the sadness of what I observed more poignant.
Read moreAustralia cannot stand by while Rohingya people suffer
The Australian Christian Lobby has welcomed news that the Federal Government will contribute an additional $10 million towards the Rohingya refugee crisis that is unfolding in Myanmar and Bangladesh.
Read moreHow politics united to protect Coptic Christians
The Australian Christian Lobby today welcomed the Turnbull Government’s decision to allow 22 Coptic Christian families to stay in Australia and have their refugee claims reviewed.
Read morePalm Sunday and why all religions are not the same
The slaughter of dozens of Christians attending Palm Sunday services in Egypt is shocking.
News pictures of splintered pews and blood soaked carpet are so out of place with our conception of church as a sanctuary of peace, love and worship.
Read moreACL joins others in mourning for Egypt’s Coptic Christians
Revelation 6:9-11
When He opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of those who had been slain for the word of God and for the testimony which they held. And they cried with a loud voice, saying, “How long, O Lord, holy and true, until You judge and avenge our blood on those who dwell on the earth?” Then a white robe was given to each of them...
Read moreEgypt’s Coptic Christians continue to be attacked for their faith
The Australian Christian Lobby has expressed its condolences to Coptic Christians following yesterday’s murderous church bombings in the Egyptian cities of Alexandria and Tanta.
Read moreCoptic Christians in Egypt attacked for their faith
The Australian Christian Lobby has denounced the recent attack on Coptic Christians in Egypt which occurred at the epicentre of the international Coptic Orthodox community.
Read moreMotion passed in NSW parl condemning assault on Assyrian Christians
Yesterday the NSW upper house member, the Rev. Hon. Fred Nile, moved a motion in the New South Wales Legislative Council condemning the assault by the Islamic terrorist movement on Assyrian Christians. The motion was passed unanimously by the upper house.
Below is a copy of Rev Fred Nile’s media release.
13 August 2014
On Tuesday12 August 2014, Rev Nile moved the following Motion which was passed unanimously by the NSW Upper House relating to bloody attacks and murders by the ISIL Islamic terrorist movement of Assyrian Christians.
I move Private members’ business item No. 1927 outside the order of precedence, standing in my name relating to Assyrian Christian Communities.
ASSYRIAN CHRISTIAN COMMUNITIES
That this House:
(a) condemns Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant's [ISIL] assault on Mosul, Ramadi and other cities in northern and central Iraq;
(b) notes that the conflict has resulted in the displacement of hundreds of thousands of people thus becoming refugees in surrounding countries and provinces;
(c) further notes that all the Iraqi communities are affected by this turmoil particularly Assyrian Christian communities of Nineveh Province;
(d) recognises the ongoing support of the Assyrian community in New South Wales for responding to the ongoing turmoil by providing support for the refugees;
(e) supports the Australian Government in its effort to provide humanitarian assistance and protection to the displaced families;
(f) reaffirms this House's call for the establishment of an Assyrian province in their ancestral homeland in northern Iraq; and
(g) recognises the ongoing efforts of the Assyrian Universal Alliance—Australia for its tireless efforts to bring the plight of Assyrians to the attention of the Australia Government, in particular Mr Hermiz Shahen, Deputy Secretary General, and Mr David David, President of the Assyrian Australian National Federation.
“Commemoration of the Assyrian Martyrs and Genocide Day”
On Sunday 10th August 2014 the Rev Fred Nile was warmly thanked for his efforts on behalf of the Assyrian Christians in Iraq by the large audience of 600 representatives at the Commemoration of the Assyrian Martyrs and Genocide Day at Edessa Reception Hall, St Hurmizd’s Cathedral, Greenfield Park NSW.
Below is a copy of Rev Fred Nile’s media release.
Media Release
Rev Fred Nile successfully moves unanimously a Motion to protect the Assyrian Christian in Iraq from the ISIL brutal death squads
13 August 2014
On Tuesday12 August 2014, Rev Nile moved the following Motion which was passed unanimously by the NSW Upper House relating to bloody attacks and murders by the ISIL Islamic terrorist movement of Assyrian Christians.
I move Private members’ business item No. 1927 outside the order of precedence, standing in my name relating to Assyrian Christian Communities.
ASSYRIAN CHRISTIAN COMMUNITIES
That this House:
(a) condemns Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant's [ISIL] assault on Mosul, Ramadi and other cities in northern and central Iraq;
(b) notes that the conflict has resulted in the displacement of hundreds of thousands of people thus becoming refugees in surrounding countries and provinces;
(c) further notes that all the Iraqi communities are affected by this turmoil particularly Assyrian Christian communities of Nineveh Province;
(d) recognises the ongoing support of the Assyrian community in New South Wales for responding to the ongoing turmoil by providing support for the refugees;
(e) supports the Australian Government in its effort to provide humanitarian assistance and protection to the displaced families;
(f) reaffirms this House's call for the establishment of an Assyrian province in their ancestral homeland in northern Iraq; and
(g) recognises the ongoing efforts of the Assyrian Universal Alliance—Australia for its tireless efforts to bring the plight of Assyrians to the attention of the Australia Government, in particular Mr Hermiz Shahen, Deputy Secretary General, and Mr David David, President of the Assyrian Australian National Federation.
“Commemoration of the Assyrian Martyrs and Genocide Day”
On Sunday 10th August 2014 the Rev Fred Nile was warmly thanked for his efforts on behalf of the Assyrian Christians in Iraq by the large audience of 600 representatives at the Commemoration of the Assyrian Martyrs and Genocide Day at Edessa Reception Hall, St Hurmizd’s Cathedral, Greenfield Park NSW.
ACL calls for increase in humanitarian intake for persecuted Christians
MEDIA RELEASE
For release: Friday August 1, 2014
Australia should raise its humanitarian intake to assist Iraqi and Syrian Christians fleeing the ‘convert or die’ regime of the terrorist Islamic State, according to the Australian Christian Lobby.
ACL Managing Director Lyle Shelton will call for an increase in the humanitarian intake to target Christians and other minorities when he addresses a rally in Melbourne tomorrow called to show solidarity with the persecuted Christians of Iraq.
“France and Kurdistan have been very generous in offering asylum to persecuted Christians and Australia should also share some of the burden,” he said.
While Australia’s leaders are understandably distracted by the other crises in Gaza and Ukraine, we must not forget the purge and murder of Christians and other minorities in northern Iraq.
“Hundreds of thousands have fled, churches have been destroyed and there are widespread reports of genocide.
“Christians have lived in this region for 2000 years and are the indigenous people of the area yet they are being driven out of their homes by murderous terrorists,” he said.
Mr Shelton said the echoes of the Holocaust were chilling with the Arabic letter N for Nazarene (Jesus) marked on Christian houses in the same way the Star of David symbol was used by the Nazis to designate Jews.
ACL has also begun an online petition for people to add their voice to the call for an increase in the humanitarian intake to help the persecuted.
Mr Shelton said Christians were by far the most persecuted people group in the world today.
The rally will be held at 1:30pm at Federation Square.
For release: Friday August 1, 2014
Australia should raise its humanitarian intake to assist Iraqi and Syrian Christians fleeing the ‘convert or die’ regime of the terrorist Islamic State, according to the Australian Christian Lobby.
ACL Managing Director Lyle Shelton will call for an increase in the humanitarian intake to target Christians and other minorities when he addresses a rally in Melbourne tomorrow called to show solidarity with the persecuted Christians of Iraq.
“France and Kurdistan have been very generous in offering asylum to persecuted Christians and Australia should also share some of the burden,” he said.
While Australia’s leaders are understandably distracted by the other crises in Gaza and Ukraine, we must not forget the purge and murder of Christians and other minorities in northern Iraq.
“Hundreds of thousands have fled, churches have been destroyed and there are widespread reports of genocide.
“Christians have lived in this region for 2000 years and are the indigenous people of the area yet they are being driven out of their homes by murderous terrorists,” he said.
Mr Shelton said the echoes of the Holocaust were chilling with the Arabic letter N for Nazarene (Jesus) marked on Christian houses in the same way the Star of David symbol was used by the Nazis to designate Jews.
ACL has also begun an online petition for people to add their voice to the call for an increase in the humanitarian intake to help the persecuted.
Mr Shelton said Christians were by far the most persecuted people group in the world today.
The rally will be held at 1:30pm at Federation Square.
Budget a first world problem compared to plight of Christians in Middle East
As we worry about the budget's impact on our standard of living, our brothers and sisters in Christ in the Middle East fear for their lives.Reports of murder, kidnapping, forced conversion and church destruction at the hands of Muslim extremists are common in places like Syria, Iraq and Egypt.
In the African country of Nigeria, more than 200 Christian school girls are still missing having been taken captive by the Islamist group Boko Haram.
It was good to see the Australian Government last week declare it a terrorist organisation.
Numbering 15 million, Christians are the biggest non-Muslim religious grouping in the Middle East.
Few now remain in Iraq and hundreds of thousands who trace their Christian roots back 2000 years to the early church have fled Syria.
According to a statement of solidarity signed by United States church leaders, 30 per cent of Syria's Christian churches have been destroyed.
According to the statement, no Christian tradition has been spared the persecution in the Middle East and Pope Francis has referred to this as the "ecumenism of blood".
Iraq's Chaldean Patriarch Louis Sako said last December: "We feel forgotten and isolated. We sometimes wonder, if they kill us all, what would be the reaction of the Christians in the West? Would they do something then?"
When I read this, I felt deeply challenged.
We are not doing nearly enough. And while the Australian Government has announced an allocation of 500 places for people fleeing the Syrian conflict, I've been told by someone who recently visited refugee camps in Jordan that slow processing by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees means that this program is undersubscribed.
ACL will again be in the federal parliament next week highlighting the plight of persecuted religious minorities in Syria.
It's great that moderate Muslim leaders such as Jordan's Prince Ghazi bin Mohammed and Iraq's Grand Ayatollah Sistani have spoken out against the violence.
And there was mention in yesterday's The Australian of acts of kindness bestowed by Muslim neighbours on the last remaining Christians in the warn-torn Syrian city of Aleppo.
Earlier this month the Colson Center for Christian Worldview awarded its annual Wilberforce Award to the Anglican vicar of Baghdad, Canon Andrew White.
In the past 10 years, 1276 members of his congregation have been killed.
He wears a flak jacket in public and is accompanied by armed guards.
Receiving his award, he quoted a young Iraqi girl: "When you have lost everything, Jesus is all you have got left. We have lost everything but we have not lost Jesus".