1 Samuel 2:9 He will keep the feet of his saints, and the wicked shall be silent in darkness; for by strength shall no man prevail.

Yet as the Lord lives, evil reigns in the dark places of the lands. No man: rich or poor, Arab or Jew, Westerner or Easterner, religious or godless – no man shall prevail. Only God Almighty!

Attacks on God and godlessness will continue until Almighty God has prevailed, as I alluded to in part 1 of this post. Perpetrators of cowardly attacks on working civilians will continue for a time by pawns of misled leaders, frustrated religious zealots and enemies of God with hatred for their own enemies.

Jesus Christ taught us to ‘love our enemies and pray for those who spitefully use you.” We had best remember this in these last days.

How many of us remember (what we claimed we would always remember) the number of deaths on 9/11/2001?

God testifies to the evil in the hearts of men.

Genesis 6:5

The Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intention of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.

6 And the Lord regretted that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him to his heart. 7 So the Lord said, “I will blot out man whom I have created from the face of the land, man and animals and creeping things and birds of the heavens, for I am sorry that I have made them.” 8 But Noah found favor in the eyes of the Lord.

In the days of Noah  every man and woman on the earth was destroyed? The LORD prevailed with waters upon the earth for 150 days and all but Noah and seven others.

Though we focus on the eight saved, let us not overlook the deaths of so many evil men and women, perhaps 5-17 billion people  (according to various estimates) on the earth at the time only Noah and his family obeyed Almighty God.

For any who believe that God is not sovereign over the beginning and end of days, sovereign over the lives of men and woman, sovereign over life on earth itself; let us remember that God has promised a new heaven and a new earth for those who are victorious in Christ Jesus.

As in the days of Noah, wars and the actions of evil men and evil women will prevail until that day. Countries and borders will be born and disappear. God will allow men temporary power over those who do not do what is evil in the eyes of the Lord.

The Sovereign God Almighty will allow the deaths, destruction and desecration of all that is good and lawful as victims of evil and a refining of righteousness. Even now, we see and dare not ignore the signs.

In Syria alone (separate of the deaths among refugees of the current conflict in Iraq and those fleeing Pakistan), around 5,000 to 6,000 people were being killed on a monthly basis. Latest figures put the death toll at more than 191,000 over the past three years. Men and boys account for the bulk of the deaths but nearly 18,000 women and more than 2,000 children under the age of nine are also among those killed, he said.

[On 9/11, one day we recall as a tragic attack, 2,996 deaths.] Now, hundreds of thousands of deaths and the loss of many souls!

Have you heard of it, or done anything to help, dear believer?

How blind we remain to the violence of these evil men, who will stand before the Lord in judgement for their souls, rather than reap the reward of heavenly virgins. (For when they rise from the dead, they neither marry nor are given in marriage, but are like angels in heaven. – Mark 12:25)

Yet they would rape the women they capture on earth and hang or behead them for their witness to the Truth of Christ Jesus.

 1 Million + refugees, Muslims and Christians

Dear believer (in God),

Our marginal awareness of a far-distant conflict, we may believe has no affect on the body of Christ. Yet in these days of war between religions, hardly a Christian community survives openly in many areas from where refugees have fled.

Do you not know that some will be converted by the love of Jesus Christ and the generosity of Christians in their time of need?

The GOD of Abraham was not interested in saving the Jews from Roman occupation of Jerusalem. The Kingdom of Jesus is not of this earth, but a lasting Kingdom of eternal life for your soul.

Since the beginning of the Church, God has accepted any who believe into our family of God, into the loving fellowship of all believers in Christ Jesus.

The Gentiles, the Nations, sons of Esau, those who once persecuted the same Christians are welcomed (not forced) into the communion of the Blood of Christ and assurance of eternal life.

One such former enemy of Christ was Saul of Tarsus (Turkey). He ordered the execution of Stephen, a saint and leader of the church. – Acts 7:58 

Yet this same Saul, a Roman citizen as well, became an Apostle to the Gentiles. This former enemy of Jesus Christ witnessed to all of the mercy, love and grace of our Lord, Jesus Christ. – Acts 9

Rest assured that many unbelievers throughout the world will come to God and Christ Jesus, our Lord. They see the love and forgiveness of Christ demonstrated through the hands of faithful Christians.

These saints of the church, so concerned for the souls of others, bless friends and forgive foes by the grace of Jesus Christ. These saints of the 21st c. Church declare Christ’s love by our concern for others.

Saint Paul and Saint Peter and Saint Stephen, along with the other martyrs, would never have had us worship them or any man of the early church above the example of Christ Jesus. Though the compassionate work of Teresa and Joan and Mary have been examples for women of faith, none would have had us revere them above the sacrifice of our Lord and Savior, Christ Jesus.

The true saints of the church are not its Bishops or icons of the past.

The widow’s mite and pauper’s pence have sustained the needy, while these true saints have withstood in long-suffering as pawns of the powers in true witness of the love of Christ Jesus.

These, along with you, dear believer, are the saints of the church, equal in every way to those named and Saints unnamed.

Christ Jesus is love, because God is love. In Him is no darkness at all, no hatred, no evil, no territory, no agenda. The mission of Christ is to save sinners – sinners like you and sinners like me; for His grace I am eternally grateful.

We hardly remember the 3000 souls who perished on just one day: 9/11/2001; yet the war against Christ, the war against freedom continues.

Pray for the persecuted. Open your eyes, your heart and your purse to those so in need.

What’s happening in Iraq? What is hidden in Syria?

Christians and Muslims and others are suffering terribly. Please READ more of this and do something, in the Name of Jesus Christ.

Iraqi refugees tell their story

Iraq (MNN) — ISIS continues its offensive across Syria and Iraq, leaving many victims in its wake. The stories of ISIS killing males above 10 years old, the systematic rape of women and girls, and the looting of personal possessions is shocking, even to many Muslims.

(See the complete interview on the link above.)

WIFE: The armed men passed by me and behind them were veiled women, wearing red clothes. And, they searched me, took my money and gold. They even searched my daughters. It was our lifesavings. They took all of it. The 450,000 dinars were in my husband’s pocket and they took it. There were six batches of money they took from me and all of the gold. My parents had sold their home. I had hidden THIS money in my house in Mosul. When we were going up from Mosul they threatened us. They took our stuff and detained us along the way, like a checkpoint.

ANNOUNCER: So, they took all the savings and everything?

WIFE: Believe me, they stole everything. They said, “Let your Bishops give you money.” They demanded our Bishops initiate a ransom for us. They didn’t let us pay the jizya tax. They threatened us. If you saw the situation of Christians at checkpoints, you would cry. They were bringing more armed men to add more pressure on us.

MAKRAM: What happened is, we were leaving Mosul. All the Christians were leaving. We went to Hamdaneya, stayed about 13 days, then [we] went to Erbil. From Erbil, we came to the church here, because this is the only place with a Coptic Church. Not just because of the church, but it’s also safer here. It’s safe and the people are good here.

ANNOUNCER: Isn’t Erbil safe, too?

MAKRAM: Erbil is dangerous and it’s not like here.

ANNOUNCER: There were Shiites in Mosul? And, ISIS was killing Shiites?

MAKRAM: Yes, they knew the Shiites and were killing them, particularly the police. They turned on each other. They turned on Islam. The Muslims despise [the police].

ANNOUNCER: So, ISIS started out against Shiites and now they’re against Christians and Yazidis?

MARKAM: Yes, ISIS doesn’t accept equality. They despise them in Mosul.

 There is precedent for the Church in helping the saints (poor) so affected by these persecutions:

 It is in this case directed by the same Apostle to the Gentiles who had first persecuted the church.

1 Corinthians 16 English Standard Version (ESV)

The Collection for the Saints
16 Now concerning the collection for the saints: as I directed the churches of Galatia, so you also are to do. 2 On the first day of every week, each of you is to put something aside and store it up, as he may prosper, so that there will be no collecting when I come.

Are you, dear believer, and your church willing to do something individually (and also corporately) now and consistently for those so in need?

Please pray about this, my fellow saint.

May we be the generous hands and open heart of our Lord and Savior, Christ Jesus, to these, and to those who witness the love of Christ through us.

Amen.