A picture that’s in reality, a holy card

It’s a Reuters photograph depicting four little Iraqi children standing their ground against ISIS terrorists that should be chronicled forever as the defining moment of the courage of Christian persecution against the bloody hands of Islam.

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The picture, dated Dec. 3, 2014, which shows the Iraqi children with a donkey, couldn’t be more true to life. Even with ISIS madly rampaging through Iraq, the Reuters picture proves there is poverty in Iraq, there is reverence in Iraq and there is even hope buried under the pillage in Iraq. “Young Christians in Iraq are taking a stand against the Islamic State (ISIS)-- even if it costs them their life.” (Jerusalem Post, Dec. 3, 2014) Governments with the military forces to stop the terrorists, run from Iraq. A president withdrew troops from Iraq after thousands of the troops sent there, died defending it. But when bloodthirsty ISIS terrorists on a murderous path to make the entire Middle East their Caliphate gave four Iraqi children the choice of converting to Islam or death by beheading, the children chose “to follow Jesus”. This testimony could not have come from any media were it not for the outspoken and courageous Vicar of Baghdad, Canon Andrew White, who claimed truth to power in an interview with the Orthodox Christian Network.

“Islamic State turned up and said to the children, you say the words that you will follow Mohammed,” White stated. “The children, all under 15, four of them, said ‘No, we love Yesua (the Iraqi name for Jesus), we have always loved Yesua, we have always followed Yesua, Yesua has always been with us.’”

“Then once again, the ISIS militants forced the children to convert and yet again they refused. The terrorists decapitated all four children.” Heartbreaking and unspeakable as was their death, it brought their direct route to Heaven. There have been many martyrs declared saints by the Vatican over the last decade, but surely few crying out so loudly for genuine Sainthood. 

 White, who has received personal death threats from the Islamic State, and currently resides in Israel, continues to speak out against the evil of ISIS. He has repeatedly warned at the risk to his own life that it is “impossible” for Christians to live in Iraq due to the relentless persecution of the religious minority.  Where is the Christian world with more than 250,000 Christians desperately fleeing Northern Iraq amid ISIS persecution? The 250,000 were the last Christians residing in the region--a region which, with impunity, has been hostile to a religious minority since the very beginning of the war. 



“Things were bad in Baghdad, there were bombs and shootings and our people were being killed, so many of our people fled back to Nineveh, their traditional home,” Canon said, describing the volatile situation for Christians in Iraq. 

 “It was safer, but then one day, ISIS – Islamic State... They came in and they hounded all of them out. They killed huge numbers, they chopped their children in half, they chopped their heads off, and they moved north and it was so terrible what happened."

The Vatican should be asking for the names of the four children and their pictures which should be laid at the altar of all Catholic churches. God bless the Christian children of Iraq and keep them safe especially now that the troops there to defend them have been pulled.

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