ISIS’ Assault on Ancient Christianity Continues With the Abduction of Over 90 Syrian Christians

Not two weeks ago, the Islamic State in Syria (ISIS) released video entitled “A Message Signed with Blood to the Nation of the Cross.” The stark message to Christians showed, in graphic detail we will not reproduce, 21 Coptic Christians being beheaded by a hooded squad of Islamist terrorists. It was just the latest in a long line of atrocities committed against the Middle East Christian community, and followed on the heels of the death of Kayla Mueller. The Christian aid worker’s letter to her family strengthened our faith.

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But the horror for those in the Middle East hasn’t ended. As the self-proclaimed first caliphate in nearly a century continues to expand, its hardline stance against all non-Muslims – and even many Muslims who don’t confess ISIS’ specific brand of political Islam – becomes more bleak.

Today, a Syrian human rights organization released news that ISIS has abducted over 90 Christians from their homes. There is little doubt in the mind of global Christendom that these few are slated to be the latest in a line of martyrs.

But we should take heart, as said in Revelation:

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 witness they had borne. They cried out with a loud voice, “O Sovereign Lord, holy and true, how long before you will judge and avenge our blood on those who dwell on the earth?” Then they were each given a white robe and told to rest a little longer, until the number of their fellow servants and their brothers should be complete, who were to be killed as they themselves had been. (Revelation 6:9)

So much pain, with the spread of evil, but we shall “overcome by the blood of the Lamb and the word of our testimony” (Revelation 12:11). We testify to Christ. As Martin Luther is credited as saying: “It makes no difference to me if you cut off my head; I worship a God who will give me a new one.”

Join with the staff at FaithHub and the millions of Christians worldwide in our community as we pray for those abducted, and for the abductors – that God would work in ISIS for forgiveness and the full knowledge of Jesus.