Insurgents target five Christian churches in Iraq

Iraq (MNN)–Five simultaneous blasts during worship was a message from someone.

Broadcast reports lay the blame squarely at the feet of the terrorist group, Al Qaeda. While this was not widely picked up, it did bring to light the possibility someone wanted the church’s attention.

This latest attack was not the first, says E3 Partners Tom Doyle, and it won’t be the last. The violence is a message from the Shiite Muslims to Christians. “I think for believers, this definitely will not stop them. We do know this is happening in lots of different places, and all of this is coordinated in an effort to discourage believers from reaching out. That’s the message. Islam says, ‘We’re in control. You can’t share the Gospel.’ But, it will not stop it.”
However, Doyle says because believers wouldn’t give up, people want to hear their message. “We are helping churches in Iraq, helping them with literature and different things that will give them the opportunity to share their faith in a much better way. We have lots of people trained with Evangecube, which is a visual presentation of the Gospel, and they’re sharing it around Baghdad and different areas.”

As to reports Christians were leaving in droves, that has been substatiated by other agencies who indicated queries for the apporpriate papers spiked prior to the sovereignty handover.

Yet, there remains a dedicated core of Christians who refuse to be driven out. That remnant will be there with the love of Christ when Muslims begin to question their faith in light of the insurgent’s actions.