Trump plans to give persecuted Christians priority refugee status

It’s about time that we had an American leader who was sympathetic to the plight of persecuted Christians at home and abroad instead of showing favoritism to religious terrorists wanting to enter and destroy America! May YHVH bless, strengthen and encourage our leaders to do the right thing. Please pray for our leaders and President Trump in particular that YHVH will guide, embolden and direct them to do his will that the kingdom of Elohim may be advanced! — Natan

Courtesy of the Washington Examiner at http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/exactly-right-jindal-backs-trump-over-travel-ban/article/2613297

Persecuted Christians seeking asylum in the United States will be given priority when they apply for refugee status, President Trump said Thursday.

“We are going to help them. They’ve been horribly treated,” Trump told the Christian Broadcasting Network in an interview set to air Sunday.

“Do you know if you were a Christian in Syria it was impossible, and the reason that was so unfair — everybody was persecuted in all fairness — but they were chopping off the heads of everybody, but more so the Christians,” he told CBN’s David Brody.

Upon being asked if he sees persecuted Christians “as kind of a priority” when it comes to granting non-citizens refugee status, Trump told Brady: “Yes.”

Trump was expected to sign an executive order Friday afternoon that would temporarily shut the door to most U.S.-bound immigrants from Muslim countries and suspend the Syrian refugee program.

“The secretaries of state and homeland security, as appropriate, shall cease refugee processing of and the admittance of nationals of Syria as refugees until such time as I have determined that sufficient changes have been made to the [U.S. Refugee Admittance Program] to ensure its alignment with the national interest,” read a draft of the order obtained by the Washington Examiner earlier this week.

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Ways to Help Persecuted Christians in Syria

The following article is from Open Door USA (http://www.opendoorsusa.org) — http://www.opendoorsusa.org/newsroom/tag-news-post/syrian-pastors-church-workers-carrying-out-ministry-with-gods-help/

SYRIAN PASTORS, CHURCH WORKERS CARRYING OUT MINISTRY WITH GOD’S HELP

August 31, 2015 by Janelle P in Middle East
Syria_2012_0260008895

An estimated 700,000 Christians have left Syria, but some pastors and church workers have made the decision to stay in the country torn apart by a civil war and the savage murders and kidnappings carried out by Islamic State (IS) extremists. Life is dangerous for Christians with daily shootings, regular bomb explosions and snipers in the streets. What makes Pastor Samuel* and relief worker Fathi* from Aleppo and Pastor Edward from Damascus stay?

Before the war began, cities such as Aleppo, Damascus and Homs were home to large Christian communities. Many of the Christians who are still in Aleppo are there for two main reasons: 1) they have no money to leave the city, or 2) they feel called to stay to help the remaining people or their congregations. One of them is Pastor Samuel, a pastor of a Protestant church with 250 members attending every Sunday. His wife and children have left the country; for them it was impossible to live under the constant threat of violence. The family endured great sacrifice. They have been separated from each other for a long time.

“Despite everything that has happened, we are all trying to do our best to serve the people who remain and provide God’s hope in a hopeless situation,” says Pastor Samuel. He sees many people coming to his church, mainly people who cannot go to their own churches because of the fighting. “In many situations the only thing we can do is pray. Psalm 91 comforts me and gives me strength.”

Fathi is one of the Syrian Christians who plays a key role in helping refugees through local churches supported by Open Doors.

“No, I never thought of leaving,” he said to an Open Doors worker. “Every day I see how we can help people deal with reality. Of course, on the other side, I think of my family. I am afraid for their lives, but not for my own. Over the last couple of years the Lord had protected me when I was stopped at checkpoints and when I went through certain areas of the city and country. God protected me.

“That keeps me going. I see how we can make a difference through the work we are doing. When bullets hit left and right of you, when buildings crash, and when you fear for your life, the bigger picture helps us to continue. We need to go on. I am happy to see it is a joint effort of different churches and denominations. It is not about me.”

Pastor Edward stays with his wife Ranaa in the Syrian capital of Damascus.

“We don’t want to leave,” he shares. “We are feeling even more responsible now. To be honest, we’re not really concerned about our own safety. We thank God who is helping us day by day. He is giving us a peace that surpasses understanding.”

All of the people leaving have left a large hole in the churches.

“Of course we feel it when people leave,” says Pastor Edward. “It depresses us to see people depart. Though many have left, the church is still full. Many new people are coming to church. That is very encouraging. We see the hand of God at work.”

The three are thankful for the Christians around the world who pray for Syria.

“We thank God for all those who pray for us and who support us,” expresses Pastor Samuel. “The Lord is watching us. He is our fortress, our strength and refuge. He will protect us.”

Syria is ranked #4 on Open Doors’ 2015 World Watch List (www.worldwatchlist.us) of the 50 worst persecutors of Christians.

Open Doors President/CEO David Curry told the Christian Post in a phone interview recently that refugees in northern Iraq and Syria are facing “huge food shortages,” with close to 300,000 Christians having limited means by which to pay for food. With millions of people displaced across the region, Open Doors estimates that $20 million will be needed to provide food for the refugees in the next 18 months. Curry said that one of his biggest concerns is that Christians “will be the last among the refugees to receive vitally needed help,” and called on Christians around the world to partner with Open Doors in order to remind those who are suffering that they are not forgotten.

Help feed an entire family in Syria and Iraq for a month for just $50.

*Real names are protected for security reasons

Compiled by Jerry Dykstra. For media inquiries, contact Christine Cape at 404-545-0085 or Christy Lynn Wilson at 770-401-9842.

 

5 Things Americans Can Do to Help Persecuted Christians in Iraq

From the Christian Post at http://www.christianpost.com/news/5-things-americans-can-do-to-help-persecuted-christians-in-iraq-125821/

BY MELISSA BARNHART, CP REPORTER
September 5, 2014 | 7:39 am

Iraq(PHOTO: REUTERS/STRINGER)

A child cries in a military helicopter after being evacuated by Iraqi forces from Amerli, north of Baghdad, Aug. 29, 2014. A home to around 180,000 people, mostly Turkmen Shi’ites, the small town of Amerli is still holding out against repeated attacks by Islamic State fighters despite the fall of all the 34 villages surrounding it.

Iraqi born pastor Jalil Dawood of the Arabic Church of Dallas, who, along with other Christian leaders will be holding a rally on Sept. 14 in support of Iraqis who are being persecuted by the Islamic State, says there are five things Americans can do today to help their brothers and sisters in Christ.

“What Americans can do today is write to their representatives and tell them the U.S. government needs to take more aggressive action toward the Islamic State, because this group is not only a threat to Iraq, it’s a threat to America, eventually. And we need to deal with them now, before it’s too late,” Dawood told The Christian Post.

“I heard the president say last week that he doesn’t have a strategy. Well, ISIS’ strategy is to kill us. Their strategy is to convert us and kill us,” he asserted.

The second thing Americans can do, he said, is to provide tangible assistance to the 250,000 refugees in Iraq through trusted nonprofit organizations that are helping Christians and other religious minorities who’ve been forced to leave their homes to flee the terrorist organization.

Pastor Stephen Broden of Fair Park Bible Fellowship, who will be a featured speaker at the Dallas rally, told CP Thursday that three of the nonprofits that have been helping Iraqi Christians are Open Doors, Samaritan’s Purse and Voice of the Martyrs.

Iraqi Christians(PHOTO: REUTERS/MUHAMMAD HAMED)

An Iraqi Christian man from Mosul, who fled from violence in their country, reads a book at the Latin Patriarchate Church in Amman, Jordan, Aug. 21, 2014. Hundreds of thousands of Iraqis have fled their homes since the terrorist Islamic State group swept through much of the north and west of Iraq in June, threatening to break up the country.

Dawood added that when Americans write to their representatives on behalf of Iraqi Christians, they should ask that the government allow them to immigrate to the U.S. within six months, and to provide humanitarian aid through the United Nations while they’re waiting, “so they don’t suffer or [resort to] selling themselves for sex so they can survive.”

He also believes that there needs to be special criteria for Iraqi Christians who are seeking asylum, one that is separate and apart from the current quota system that is used for Iraqis who are immigrating to the U.S.

“There needs to be a special category to be accepted faster because these people are really the victims of this conflict,” he added.

Fourth, and the most important thing Americans can do, he said, is to pray.

And fifth, Dawood encourages Christians to take part in rallies and speak at their churches to bring greater awareness and attention to the plight of Iraqi Christians who are being persecuted in their homeland.

“To be honest with you, I’m surprised that churches here are not doing anything — anything that is tangible,” Dawood said.

“There was a London demonstration talking about suffering in Gaza and the people living in Gaza. They raised $11 million toward Gaza. The church is not raising anything significant [for Iraqis] and the needs are tremendous. This is our time to reach those people through Christ,” he continued.

Another way Americans can help Iraqi Christians is by contacting their local Arabic Christian church and support that community by helping to meet the needs of Iraqis who’ve immigrated to the U.S. and are transitioning to their new lives.

“Support that church,” he said, “because that church is trying to reach out for Christ’s sake to the immigrants and refugees — some of them are nominal Christians or Muslims. We need to at least tell them: ‘You are not alone. We love you; we pray for you; and we will help you tangibly, in this way.'”

“The church needs to reach out to those minorities in order to win them to Christ and be impactful, and not [leave them] to segregate into communities and ethnic groups. Get involved with the community; help the community; love the community that is around you. And serve the people and the churches that are already meeting the needs of these people,” said Dawood, who emigrated from Iraq to the U.S. in the 1980s.

While the Sept. 14 rally is being held in Dallas, Dawood is encouraging everyone who lives outside North Texas to hold simultaneous rallies in their communities; not only to show support for persecuted Christians and religious minorities in Iraq, but to pray and find tangible ways to help.

“Do something practical, not only in words but in deeds,” he advised. “We need to speak; we need to shout to the Lord, we need to shout to the nation.”

“This has to do with people of our faith. This is not an Iraqi issue, this is a global issue and it will touch us if we don’t do something about it,” Dawood emphasized.

“Like Bonhoeffer said, if we are silent in the face of evil we are agreeing with it, we are part of it; we become accomplices and are allowing it to happen. We don’t need to wait. We need to take action now and be heard before it gets too late.