bestcurrentnews 2016 Ramadan Prayer

The Root of Modern Day Islamic Terrorism: Part 2

2016 Ramadan GraphicIn the late 1980s, two new leaders became prominent in radical Islam: Osama bin Laden from Saudi Arabia and Ayman al-Zawahiri from Egypt. Both of these men followed the ideology of a teacher named, Abdullah Azzam. The Investigative Project on Terrorism describes Azzam:

Azzam is more responsible than any Arab figure in modern history for galvanizing the Muslim masses to wage an international holy war against all infidels and non-believers until the enemies of Islam were defeated… Azzam helped bring about the mobilization of the Muslim Brotherhood movement more than any other leader. Today, the military wing of Hamas in the West Bank is called the Abdellah Azzam Brigades.

Al-Qaeda, which is Arabic for “the Base” was founded in 1988 by Osama bin Laden. Bin Laden and Abdullah Azzam recruited and trained thousands of “holy warriors” from more than fifty countries to fight in Afghanistan. Following the Soviet withdrawal from Afghanistan, al-Qaeda began to attack western interests around the world.

Al-Zawahiri took over the leadership of Egyptian Islamic Jihad in 1993. In 1998, the group joined with five other radical groups including al-Qaeda to form the World Islamic Front for Jihad against Jews and Crusaders. One of the first joint acts of terror was the bombings of U.S. Embassies in Kenya and Tanzania.

When bin Laden was killed in May 2011, Ayman al-Zawahiri became the leader of al Qaeda – and still is. He has spent his life in “jihad” and is responsible for many terrorist attacks. He criticized the Brotherhood in his book “The Bitter Harvest”, condemning them for “taking advantage of the Muslim youths’ fervor by … steer[ing] their onetime passionate, Islamic zeal for jihad to conferences and elections.”

ISIS, a Sunni jihadi terrorist group had close links with al-Qaeda until February of 2014. The split between the groups came after al-Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri was unable to stop fighting between ISIS and another rebel group, Jabhat al-Nusra. ISIS is known for its strict interpretation of Islamic (sharia) law and brutal violence including beheadings, rapes, and floggings.

Modern day terrorism started with Hassan al-Banna’s desire to see the Caliphate restored and continue today through groups like Al-Qaeda and ISIS. The techniques for domination may differ from the Muslim Brotherhood, but the goal is ultimately the same.

Prayer Point:

Non-Islamic nations have very little understanding of the basic teachings of radical Islam and the seriousness of their message. Pray that our leaders will receive teaching about the radical side of political Islam and respond with God’s wisdom and insight to deal with the challenge and protect the innocent.

bestcurrentnews 2016 Ramadan Prayer

The Root of Modern Day Islamic Terrorism – Part 1

2016 Ramadan GraphicTwo years ago on June 29, 2014, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, leader of ISIS, declared that he was the head of the Caliphate. A Caliphate is an Islamic state led by a religious and political leader called a Caliph. The Caliph is considered a successor to Muhammad, and he rules with absolute power and authority over the entire Muslim world.

Most Muslims certainly do not recognize Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi as the Caliph or consider themselves are part of the ISIS created Caliphate. However the rise of modern-day Islamic terrorism can be directly traced to the fall of a previous Caliphate.

From the beginning of the 14th Century the Ottoman Empire, under a Caliphate in Turkey, ruled a major part of three continents from their headquarters in Constantinople (Istanbul). They ruled for 500 years until the Caliphate began to collapse after the First World War ended in 1917. In 1924, the Caliphate, which was the seat of authority that had united Muslim controlled areas, was abolished and Ataturk was unanimously elected President of a secular Republic in Turkey. The Islamic stronghold had collapsed.

Four years later in 1928, Egyptian Hasan al-Banna, in response to the recent collapse of the Muslim Caliphate, called for establishment of a world Islamic state governed by Qur’anic law and ruled by a single Caliph (or leader). Meeting with his brother and four friends they swore to live and die for Islam and the Muslim Brotherhood, the first modern radical group was born. According to the remarks of their leaders, the Caliphate is to be expanded to cover the entire globe, erasing national boundaries under the flag of Islam.

Hassan al-Banna stated, “It is the nature of Islam to dominate, not to be dominated, to impose its law on all nations and to extend its power to the entire planet.” This belief has not changed. The Muslim Brotherhood can be found in over 80 countries around the world and is the root of many Muslim organizations today.

Their creed states, “God is our purpose, the Prophet our leader, the Quran our constitution, jihad our way and dying for Allah our supreme objective.”

Another Muslim Brotherhood member, Sayyid Qutb wrote a book called “Milestones” in 1964 that is widely used by radicals today. He called for the revival of Islam and said Muslims are obliged to do two things:

  1. Wage jihad in defense of Islamic lands.
  2. Wage offensive jihad in order to liberate the world from the slavery to man-made law and governments.

The Muslim Brotherhood has always relied on a gradual approach to establishing a Caliphate, but its ideology and ultimate goal of world domination is the same as groups like al-Qaeda and ISIS.

Prayer Point:

The teachings of Islam do not allow itself to coexist with other religions or political ideologies. Pray that both Muslims and non-Muslims will awaken to this reality and challenge this doctrine of supremacy within Islam.

bestcurrentnews 2016 Ramadan Prayer

The Jayvee Team Strikes Again

2016 Ramadan GraphicDuring the 2012 U.S. Presidential campaign, President Obama announced at a campaign rally in Wisconsin, “Al-Qaeda has been ‘decimated.’” A little over a year later, after ISIS had captured Fallujah, a reporter from The New Yorker pointed out that the flag of Al-Qaeda was flying over the Iraqi city. Obama responded, “The analogy we use around here sometimes, and I think is accurate, is if a jayvee team puts on Lakers uniforms that doesn’t make them Kobe Bryant…I think there is a distinction between the capacity and reach of a bin Laden and a network that is actively planning major terrorist plots against the homeland versus jihadists who are engaged in various local power struggles and disputes, often sectarian.”

Following the Orlando terror attack in June, President Obama’s administration was criticized for a failure to use the term “radical Islam.” The President said, “What exactly would using this label accomplish? What exactly would it change? Would it make ISIS less committed to trying to kill Americans? Would it bring in more allies? Is there a military strategy that is served by this? The answer is none of the above. Calling a threat by a different name does not make it go away. This is a political distraction.”

An editorial in the New York Post explains why it is important to use the term radical Islamic terror rather than simply terror: “…using the word “terror” without a limiting and defining adjective is like a doctor calling a disease ‘cancer’ without making note of the affected area of the body — because if he doesn’t know where the cancer is and what form it takes, he cannot attack it effectively and seek to extirpate it.”

Part of the problem is that Western leaders fail to acknowledge the ideology behind the terror attacks. In 2014 the United Arab Emirates issued a list of 83 Islamists groups, which it classified as “terrorist organizations.” The U.S. Secretary of State lists 60 groups designated “foreign terrorist organizations” with the majority (approximately 48) Islamist groups.

Yesterday, at least 41 people were killed and 239 injured when suicide bombers attacked Istanbul’s Ataturk Airport in Turkey. As of now Turkish authorities believe ISIS is behind the attack. Today is the 24th day of the 30 days of Ramadan. So far there have been 175 Islamic terror attacks with 122 people killed according to The Religion of Peace website tracks which Islamic attacks around the world. This number does not include the attacks from yesterday.

Muslims believe the rewards for fasting during Ramadan are multiplied. In addition to fasting, “according to Islamic practice, sacrifice during Ramadan can be considered more valuable than that made at other times, so a call to martyrdom during the month may hold a special allure to some,” said a report by the US State Department led Overseas Security Advisory Council. Affirming the report, in an audio message released by the Islamic State, ISIS followers are urged to commit terror attacks during the month of Ramadan.

“Ramadan, the month of conquest and jihad. Get prepared, be ready … to make it a month of calamity everywhere for the non-believers” (ISIS audio message).

Prayer Point:

Pray world leaders will recognize that in order to defeat Islamic terrorism, they must be willing to name and recognize the ideology behind the attacks and that God will reveal the motives behind any organization hiding their true intentions.

bestcurrentnews 2016 Ramadan Prayer, Uncategorized

Australian Convert Inspires Terror

2016 Ramadan GraphicThree of the most important Islamic spiritual authorities in the West are Australian Musa Cerantonio, British Anjem Choudary, and American Ahmad Musa Jibril. These three have been instrumental in encouraging jihadis to join ISIS by spreading the same fundamental Islamist message that ISIS adheres to.

Australian Musa Cerantonio was born into an Italian Catholic family as Robert Cerantonio. He claims he converted to Islam after a visit to the Vatican left him disillusioned with Catholicism. After his conversion he traveled to study Islam in Cairo with his school class at the age of 17. His status as a Western convert helped him to become popular on Islamic satellite television programs, which gave Cerantonio a global audience.

His most popular platform, other than his television programs, was Facebook. At times, he was critical of the terrorist group, ISIS, but he also referred to the group “as the best forces on the ground in Syria.” Cerantonio called for war against the United States. “If we see that Muslims are being killed by the tyrant leaders of the USA then we must first stop them with our hands (i.e. by force). This means that we should stop them by fighting them, by assassinating their oppressive leaders, by weakening their offensive capabilities etc. …This is not something that is beyond us at all.”

Cerantonio’s Facebook page was eventually taken down, but at the time it was removed he had about 12,000 subscribers. In 2014, he used a Twitter account to announce that he was traveling to Syria to join ISIS. After he tweeted that he had arrived in the Middle East to join with the terror group, he was actually discovered to have been living in the Philippines for about a year.Musa Cerantonio Facebook

Australian authorities cancelled his Australian passport, which left him without proper travel documentation so he was arrested and deported to Australia. He had kept a low profile until May 15, 2016 when he was arrested with four other men for making preparations for incursion into foreign countries (ISIS controlled areas) for the purpose of engaging in hostile activities.

An article about Cerantonio in The Sydney Morning Herald interviewed the jihadi and his family. The reporter said, “My routine explanation for why young me fall into dangerous situations doesn’t apply to Musa. He has a loving family. His parents didn’t separate until after he converted. He still sees his dad. He wasn’t an outcast at school. Bright, popular, good at sports, handsome.”

Cerantonio explained why he converted to Islam when he visited the Vatican. “”I mean, looking at the Sistine Chapel, seeing this old man with a beard, and they’re telling me that’s the God they worship? I’m like, ‘The Ten Commandments says you shouldn’t make images of God.’ I realized when we’d pray back in primary school, we’d say, ‘Holy Mary, mother of God’, and I was sort of like, ‘Hold on a moment. Mother of God? God doesn’t have a mother.’ And I was like, … this is pretty weird.’ I realized that the Catholic Church were absolute nut-jobs.”

Prayer Point:

Many Western Christians like Cerantonio may identify themselves as Christians, but they do not understand what it means to have a relationship with Jesus Christ as their Savior and Lord. Pray for a move of God throughout the Church where those who have only a “cultural” knowledge of God will have a supernatural encounter with Him.

bestcurrentnews 2016 Ramadan Prayer

ISIS: Ideas Recruit Jihadis

2016 Ramadan GraphicIn June of 2014, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, leader of ISIS, announced the formation of an Islamic caliphate called the Islamic State. The Islamic State has been quite successful in its attempts to recruit fighters for its cause in Iraq and Syria.

In a New York Times article published on September 26, 2015, intelligence analysts estimate that around 30,000 foreign fighters from 100 different countries (including about 250 from the United States) have gone to fight in Syria and Iraq. Approximately 6,000 of the foreign fighters are Westerners. It is estimated that ISIS is recruiting in the United States at about three times the rate of Al Qaeda.

The conflict in Syria has been called the most “socially mediated civil conflict in history.” Few journalists have had direct access to battles within Syria. In fact in 2013, a year before the announcement of the formation of the Islamic State, Syria was considered “the most dangerous place in the world for journalists.”

Most television media has relied heavily on YouTube videos and citizen journalists to report what is happening. According to a report released in January 2014 by the United States Institute of Peace, “An exceptional amount of what the outside world knows (or thinks it knows) about Syria’s nearly three-year-old conflict has come from videos, analysis, and commentary circulated through social networks.”

ISIS recruits many of their members on social media and has been known to post as many as 55,000 posts per day. In addition a large number of the foreign fighters did not receive their information about the Syrian conflict through official channels of the fighting groups, but rather through individuals who are not affiliated with any of the terror groups.

Every act by jihadists are justified by radical Islamic scholars or clerics. The ideology behind terrorism is more important than the actual terror leaders themselves. Leaders of terror groups are replaceable. Ideas, however, continue to live long after a terror leader has been killed.

Anwar al-Awlaki was an American and Yemeni imam. A Saudi Arabian news station once described him as the “bin Laden of the Internet.” He communicated his message through a blog, a Facebook page, the al-Qaeda magazine Inspire and many YouTube videos. As imam of a Falls Church, Virginia mosque, al-Awlaki had ties to three of the 9/11 hijackers. He also influenced Fort Hood shooter, Nidal Malik Hasan and the Christmas Day Underwear Bomber, Umar Farouk Abdulmatallab. Al-Awlaki was killed in a U.S. drone strike in 2011, however his teachings continue to influence Islamists in the West.

Three of the most important spiritual authorities in the West today are Australian Musa Cerantonio, British Anjem Choudary, and American Ahmad Musa Jibril. Through social media they have become new spiritual authorities to whom Western and European foreign fighters are looking to for guidance and inspiration.

Prayer Points:

Social media inspires radical Islamists, yet it also aids western governments to thwart many attacks as they identify and monitor those who follow radical ideologues. Pray that government leaders and law enforcement will have God’s wisdom and courage as they carefully balance freedom of expression with incitement to violence.

bestcurrentnews 2016 Ramadan Prayer

Genocide of Christians and Yazidis in the Middle East

2016 Ramadan GraphicWho is Daesh? Daesh is the jihadi group known as ISIS (the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria), or ISIL (the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant) or as the group likes to refer to itself as simply the Islamic State. Some western leaders feel using Daesh, an acronym formed from the Arabic, challenges the legitimacy of the group.

On March 17, 2016, U.S. Secretary of State, John Kerry announced, “My purpose in appearing before you today is to assert that, in my judgment, Daesh is responsible for genocide against groups in areas under its control, including Yazidis, Christians, and Shia Muslims. Daesh is genocidal by self-proclamation, by ideology, and by actions – in what it says, what it believes, and what it does. Daesh is also responsible for crimes against humanity and ethnic cleansing directed at these same groups and in some cases also against Sunni Muslims, Kurds, and other minorities.” This announcement came after the U.S. House of Representatives passed a nonbinding resolution by a 393-0 vote condemning ISIS atrocities as genocide.

John Kerry’s statement coincides with the European Union’s resolution in February 2016 that also declares Daesh commits genocide. The term genocide is defined in Article II of the 1948 Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of Genocide. There are two elements of the crime of genocide:

  1. The mental element, meaning the “intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group, as such” and
  2. The physical element which includes five acts:
    1. Killing member of the group
    2. Causing serous bodily or mental harm to member of the group
    3. Deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part
    4. Imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group
    5. Forcibly transferring children of the group to another group.

The Islamic State or Daesh has committed all the elements of the definition above. By asserting that Daesh is guilty of genocide, the United States and European Union have a legal duty to prevent the campaign of genocide and punish those who are committing the acts of genocide.

One would think that Christians, Yazidis, and even Shia Muslims would receive preferential treatment as refugees since western state departments have recognized that these groups are being targeted for genocide by the Islamic State, yet since the beginning of the Syrian conflict, approximately 96% of the refugees from Syria that have been admitted to the United States have been Sunni Muslims. Because ISIS has its roots in a puritanical form of Sunni Islam, Sunni Muslims are not threatened by genocide like the other groups.

Between January 2016 to May 2016, 2,099 Syrian refugees were admitted to the United States. That is almost as many as were admitted for the entire year of 2015. Out of the 2,099 refugees, only six are Christians and ten are Yazidis.

Prayer Point:

Pray for the Christians, Yazidis, and Shia Muslims who have been targeted by ISIS for genocide, and pray that western governments will fulfill their legal obligation to prevent the genocide of these groups.

bestcurrentnews 2014 Ramadan Prayer

I am Iraqi, I am Christian

2014 Ramadan Prayer Day 28As Christians and Muslims gathered in a Baghdad church on Sunday afternoon, Manhal Younis cried and said, “I can’t feel my identity as an Iraqi Christian.” The woman next to her in the pew, a Muslim, reached out to her and whispered, “You are the true original people here, and we are sorry for what has been done to you in the name of Islam.”

Approximately two hundred Muslims attended a rally in Baghdad to show their solidarity with the thousands of Christians who have been forced to flee from Mosul. Some of the Muslims marked themselves with the Arabic letter “N” for “Nazarene” or Christian. Both Muslims and Christians held up signs that read, “I am Iraqi, I am Christian.” The event had been organized through social media that day before, and following the rally an online video was posted on Facebook showing Christian and Muslim participants holding up their signs and singing the Iraqi national anthem.

A Muslim law professor, Mahmoud Al-Asali, lost his life for standing up against the abuse and murder of Christians in Mosul. ISIS militants in Mosul killed him.

Arabic-Nazarene
The Arabic letter “N” used to show solidarity with persecuted Iraqi Christians.

As the grip of the terrorist group ISIS (Islamic State in Iraq and Syria), also known as the Islamic State has tightened, the militants demanded that all Christians in the city convert to Islam, pay the jizya (a tax for non-Muslims), leave the city, or die. Ankawa.com reported the option to pay the jizya and stay in the city was taken away so Christians were forced to either leave their homes or convert to Islam.

ISIS used the Arabic letter, “N” to tag the homes of Christians. Those fleeing Mosul described how once the group tagged their homes, then later entered the homes taking whatever they wanted and using them as ISIS property. Some families leaving Mosul were harassed and robbed of money, jewelry and documents at checkpoints set up by ISIS, and there were reports that women had crucifixes torn from their necks as they left. One man attempting to escape with his elderly mother was forced to give the militants his car and her medicine, so he carried his mother on his back to safety.

The number of Christians in Mosul had dwindled from over 30,000 in 2003 to just a few thousand, however after the ISIS threat, it is believed that one of the oldest Christian communities in the world is now completely devoid of Christians.

Since the rally on Sunday, thousands have joined together on Twitter to express their solidarity with persecuted Christians in Iraq by using the hastag, “#WeAreN.” The Church of England and others around the world are showing their support by changing their pictures on their social media pages to the Arabic “N.”

Prayer Points:

Showing solidarity brings hope to Iraqi Christians who have been forced out of their homes. Pray that Muslims in Iraq and other Middle Eastern nations will stand up and resist the evil being done to Christians in their community; people they have worked with and who were neighbors and friends.

In addition to showing solidarity, pray for these Christians and all those who are being severely persecuted in Iraq – that God will overwhelm them with His grace, meet their daily needs and give them hope.

Pray the prayer of King David found in Psalm 55:9 over ISIS (radical Islamic group persecuting the Christians and making them convert to Islam or die). “Confuse them Lord, and frustrate their plans, for I see violence and strife in the city.”

bestcurrentnews 2014 Ramadan Prayer

Western Jihadists

2014 Ramadan Prayer Day - 23It is not a new phenomenon for Muslims in the West to travel to areas around the world to engage in jihad, however with the ongoing war in Syria and the recent announcement of the formation of a new caliphate by the terror group known as ISIS (Islamic State of Iraq and Syria), the practice is becoming more prevalent.

Gatestone Institute reports that there are now at “least twice as many young British Muslims who have gone to Syria to fight alongside ISIS and other such groups than there are fighting for Queen and country here in the British armed forces.”

A California man was arrested on July 2 before he could board a flight to Turkey where he eventually planned to go to Syria to fight with ISIS. The young man, Adam Dandach, also known as Fadi Fadi Dandach, graduated from an American high school only two years ago. He told investigators, “he would assist ISIS with anything that ISIS asked him to do, and that he believed the killing of U.S. soldiers are justified killings.” When his mother learned that he planned to travel to the Middle East, she hid his passport. He was arrested for lying on an application for a replacement passport. He claims he was more disappointed that he did not get to go to Syria to join the jihad than he was that he was arrested.

New Zealander, Mark John Taylor, burnt his New Zealand passport and claims to have already been involved in fighting for the rebels in Syria. His Facebook page displays his burnt New Zealand passport and declares that he is on a “one-way trip,” declaring his intentions to die as a soldier of Mark Taylor - New Zealand JihadistAllah.

As of December 2013, the International Center for the Study of Radicalization and Political Violence (ICSR) estimated that up to 11,000 fighters from 74 nations had gone to Syria to fight. Over one quarter of these fighters are from Western countries, mostly from Britain, France, Germany, Sweden and Belgium. Although not as numerous, Australians, Canadians, and U.S. citizens have also joined the fighting.

Those joining with the jihadis are not limited to young men. Sabina Selimovic, 15, and Samra Kesinovic, 16 disappeared from their homes in Austria in April. At first it was believed that the young girls had also gone to fight in the conflict in Syria. However, it was later discovered the girls were not in Syria, but most likely in Turkey. School friends confirmed the girls had become radicalized after attending a local mosque in Vienna. Police believe that whoever helped them leave the country is manipulating their social media accounts to “turn them into pin-up girls for the call to join the civil war.”

Perhaps they were the inspiration for British twin girls, aged 16 that left their Manchester homes to travel to Syria to become jihadi brides. The girls, Salma and Zahra Halane, were among the top twenty students at their school. It is believed they may have followed their older brother who joined ISIS. The family, originally from Somalia have said they are “absolutely devastated.” It is believed the two girls and their older brother may have been radicalized over Internet forums.

Earlier this month, around 100 Muslim leaders from different Islamic theological backgrounds launched an appeal to young would-be British jihadists: “Don’t’ travel to fight in Syria and Iraq.” This call came as claims emerged that as many as three Al Qaeda instructors tutored by a master bomb-maker are believed to have gone to Syria to teach British and other Western jihadists how to make “stealth bombs.”

Frank Gaffney from the Center for Security Policy said, “What they learn there are the skill sets to bring the violence to us.”

Prayer Points:

Pray that radical terrorist teachings in mosques and through the Internet will be discovered and stopped by the authorities and appropriate leaders.

For Muslim families with children who are leaning toward becoming radicalized, ask God to intervene and give the parents His wisdom and strength in dealing with their particular situation in their family – stopping the flow of these young people into a life of jihad.

In many Western nations, the Muslim population is rapidly increasing yet they are not integrating into the Western society. Pray that Western Christians will not be fearful or allow the threat of terrorism to keep them from reaching out to Muslims in their nation and in their local community. Pray they will realize that Muslims are not the enemy, they are treasured by God and are His prize. Ask God to stir their hearts and reveal His unconditional love for them.

bestcurrentnews 2014 Ramadan Prayer

A New Caliphate?

2014 Ramadan Prayer Day 3Much attention has been focused in recent weeks on the nation of Iraq. News commentators have debated the West’s role in Iraq while much of the nation has fallen under the control a former al-Qaeda ally, the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) also known as the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL).

ISIS announced on Sunday they were changing their name to The Islamic State, declaring that they have restored the Islamic caliphate. A caliphate is an Islamic state led by a supreme religious and political leader called a caliph. President Ataturk of Turkey abolished the last caliphate, the Ottoman Empire, in 1924. ISIS leader, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi has been declared as the Caliph or leader of the new state. The group has called on al-Qaeda and other militant Sunni groups to pledge their allegiance to this newly formed caliphate.

ISIS, a Sunni jihadi terrorist group had close links with al-Qaeda until February. The split between the groups came after al-Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri was unable to stop fighting between ISIS and another rebel group, Jabhat al-Nusra. Fighting between the two rebel groups in Syria killed 7,000 people including 650 civilians caught in the crossfire. ISIS is known for its strict interpretation of Islamic (sharia) law and brutal violence including beheadings and floggings.

Much of the group’s violence has been directed against Shia Muslims. On June 12, 2014 ISIS claimed they executed 1,700 “Shi’a members of the army” in Iraq although those reports have not been substantiated. The UN reports that more than 1,000 people, mostly civilians, have been killed in the fighting between ISIS and Iraqi forces.

The group has seized over one third of Iraq, and supporters of ISIS have been distributing propaganda indicating the next ISIS Control June 2014targets of their aggression are Jordan and Saudi Arabia. After taking over Mosul, Iraq’s second largest city, ISIS put up posters which read, “We call upon the people of this county to bring their unmarried girls so they can fulfill their duty in sex jihad for their warrior brothers in the city and anyone who will not appear will feel the full force of the sharia [Islamic law] upon him.” Reports indicate that ISIS fighters have been going door to door in Mosul, killing men and raping women found in the houses. A UN spokesman said he had received information that four women who had been raped committed suicide following the brutal attacks.

As many as 500,000 residents of Mosul fled the city as ISIS took over, yet according to The Telegraph tens of thousands of these residents have decided to return preferring to live under the rule of the Sunni terror group to the Shia dominated Iraqi army. The same pattern occurred in Syria where the population of cities overtaken by ISIS initially welcomed the jihadis, but then regretted the strict Islamic society ISIS created. The regulations imposed in Raqqa, a Syrian city under ISIS control, banned smoking, drinking alcohol, and tattoos, and demanded that women be covered in public although women are discouraged from leaving the house at all. The punishment for breaking any of these rules is public flogging. Stealing can result in limbs being chopped off, and committing adultery is punished by death by stoning.

ISIS has been quite successful in utilizing social media to quickly spread its propaganda. From memes (internet picture) mocking United States First Lady Michelle Obama to using popular Twitter hashtags like those related to the World Cup, the terrorist group is making a strong push to reach westerners with their message. Terrorism expert, Charles Lister says the group’s efforts has allowed them to become somewhat of a “’celebrity’ actor within the international jihadist community” with foreign supporters from around the world expressing their support and allegiance to ISIS. The group’s announced goal is to gain one billion supporters for their Islamic State.

The Clarion Project reports British authorities estimate more than 500 young radicalized Muslims have traveled from Britain to Syria to join the conflict. Estimates are that as many as two thirds of those may have returned to live in Britain, because they travel through Turkey, a common vacation destination. Two of the British born jihadis, Reyaad Khan and Nasser Muthana have appeared in an ISIS recruitment video aimed at British Muslims. Nasser’s father, Ahmed Muthana, originally from Yemen, described how he felt when he saw the video of his son, “I was shaking and in tears. …My wife fainted and has not recovered from what she saw. …I feel sick and devastated that my son is caught up in this. He was brought up to love and respect my country which is Britain.”

Many Muslims living in the West would echo the sentiment of this father. The western nation where they now live is their country. However, radical terrorist groups are aggressively seeking recruits in the West like Ahmed Muthana’s son. Nations of the world need the wisdom of God to know how to respond to the situations in nations such as Syria and Iraq. Our leaders need to hear from the God of heaven.

Prayer Points:

Pray for wisdom for the leadership of nations around the world. Pray that each world leader will be surrounded with godly counsel and truth in order to make difficult decisions regarding the uprisings in the Middle East.

Pray for the people of Iraq and Syria – those who have fled these nations and for those that have remained. Pray for the protection of families, and an end to the brutal violence.

Pray for those who have been victims of the violence – the women that have been raped and the children that have witnessed horrendous atrocities.

Pray that Muslims – both Shia and Sunni will see that the root of the violence is from the violent teachings of the Qur’an and the traditions and biography of Muhammad himself. Pray that they will see that there is a God who desires to bring His peace to their lives and their nations.

Ask the Lord for social media to become a source of spreading the gospel to the world rather than an instrument of jihadists. Pray that social media sites such as Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and others can quickly identify the jihadi propaganda and stop it. Pray that groups like ISIS will no longer be able to “hack hashtags” and spread their message.

ISIS and other terror groups target disenfranchised or disillusioned young Muslim men in the West. Pray that Muslims will see the root of their disillusionment comes from allegiance to a false god. Ask Jesus to appear to them in dreams and visions and lead godly young men across their paths to share the truth of the gospel.