Why I Am An Advocate
SUMMARY OF THE REASONS I HAVE BECOME AN ADVOCATE FOR SYRIAN CHRISTIANS.
The following circumstances have led me to become an advocate for the Syrian Christians.
I felt that Australia and the Churches approach to the Syrian refugee crisis was biased against Christians and did not accord with scripture.
My subsequent research on the circumstances relating to Syrian Christians refugees confirmed this.
The present Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, has stated that the plight of Christian refugees is largely being ignored by the western world. This statement also unfortunately embraces a very large portion of the western Christian Church.
However Lord George Carey, the former Archbishop of Canterbury, is a man who does not fall within this statement. He has directed the world’s attention to the plight of the Syrian Christian refugees, by describing how they “are being hunted like dogs by their Islamic oppressors, their property stolen, their men beheaded and their women raped.” He has urged the British government to prioritize Christians among the Syrian refugees, “because they are a particularly vulnerable group.” He has called for his government and other governments to cease only taking refugees from UN camps, because of how this discriminates against Christians.
The circumstances which breach humanitarian grounds for Christians are as follows –
The Christians in Syria are a minority, being now around 5% of the population.
They are suffering extreme persecuted, as are so many other minorities in Syrian which are targeted by IS.
However when Christians seek refuge in United Nations, (UN), camps, unlike the other refugees they are targeted by IS Jihadists sent into the camps to kill Christians. ” The Sunday Express has report that – “The jihadists are sending teams of trained killers into the UN camps disguised as refugees to kidnap and kill vulnerable Christians.”
There are also other Muslim refugee groups in the camps, who are seeking refuge from the persecution of the Assad-government. As the Christians have supported the Assad-government, these refugees are also are seeking the demise of the Christians.
Consequently, more than 2/3 rds of the Syrian Christians who have fled from IS controlled lands, do not live in the UN camps. Instead they live in camps provided by churches, schools and private homes.
However western countries such as Britain, the USA and Australia, only accept refugees from UN camps. Hence the number of Christians being settled in these countries is minimal.
This Christian discrimination has been highlighted by the American CNS news which reported – “Of 2,098 Syrian refugees admitted into the US since the Syrian civil war erupted in 2011, only 53, (.2.4%) have been Christian.”
It was further identified that prior to the civil war Syria’s population was comprised of around 90% Muslim to 10% Christian.
This means that many Syrian Christians are being denied the opportunities, which are provided to Syrian Muslim refugees, which is contrary to human rights.
The human rights violations which Syrian Christians face embrace the following –
The previously mentioned evidence indicates that in UN refugee camps Christians are being targeted by IS for death or kidnapping. The IS assassins are not targeting Kurd’s, or other disagreeing Muslim groups. Hence only a small number of Christians are willing to stay in UN camps where they risk death for the opportunity to be approved as refugees by accepting countries. Those that do, know that there is a high probability that they may be killed, before they are accepted by other countries as refugees.
In prisons in Australia, we provide security protection for child sex offenders, to prevent them from being harmed by the other prisoners. The UN camps based on human rights for minority groups need to provide such protection in their camps for Christians. Should evidence be provided that other minority, non-Christian, groups are also being targeted by IS for death or kidnapping, then protection should also be provided for them in the UN camps.
Until this is done, it follows that representations also need to be made to our government and other countries governments, to accept refugees from locations other than UN camps. The Christian refuges taken from non UN camps together with refugees from UN camps, needs to be such that the total number of Christians each year, is not less than their proportion in the Syrian population.
This is not happening at the present and is a serious human rights violation.
Consequently, Christian refugees in non UN camps have little chance of being accepted as refugees. Coupled with this is the prospect that the Christian assassin groups will find their safe house location and continue their aim of eliminating Christians from the region. Whilst this is more difficult for them than it is at the UN camps, they are still able to do this.
Whilst such action needs to be taken in the interests of justice, I believe that by the time the necessary changes were carried out, it is likely that the IS assassin groups would have achieved their genocide aims and that the UN camp security changes would no longer be necessary.
This sad situation left me with the thought, what can I do about it.
It was then that I read about the work of the Barnabas Fund Australia organization.
This organization provides shelter, food and safety for Syrian Christians in their search for a safe home. Donations to this organization are not tax deductible, as they only support Christians. By providing financial support for the work of the Barnabas Fund Australia, Christians will be both obeying and pleasing Christ.
So far, the Barnabas Fund has liberated 158 Christians from Syria, not housed in UN refugee camps, and found a new home for them in Poland.
They actively canvass governments to make changes to their regulations so as not to discriminate against Christians and to make the world aware of the special plight of Christian refugees.
In Australia it has recently been clarified by the government that Australian individuals and organisations are able to support applications of Syrian and Iraqi refugees for entry visas to Australia, under the Special Humanitarian Program, (SHP). The Barnabas Fund will assist churches and church-based groups with any applications made under the SHP provisions. You can sponsor refugees to come to Australia, either as an individual, or through a church group.
I found it to most interesting to learn of how and why the Barnabas Fund was established.
The funding for this Christian rescue mission came not from a Christian, but from the Jewish peer, Lord George Weinfield. At the age of five, he was smuggled to safety from Nazi-occupied Austria in 1938, through the help of British Quakers.
Now he has stated that he is repaying that debt by mounting a series of rescue missions to save the Syrian Christians.
When those you have a responsibility to care for Christ’s sheep don’t do this, God will find others who will. We certainly serve a faithful God
From my reading of the available information it appears that the number of Syrian refugees being rescued by the Barnabas Fund is greatly inadequate. The Barnabas Fund has both the organization and ability to save Christians refugees from being slaughtered. However due to insufficient available funds, an optimum rescue is not unfortunately happening.
I know that there are many compassionate and faithful people in Christ’s Church who if they knew of the circumstances facing the Syrian Christians, would provide financial support for their rescue.
I see the Syrian Christian refugee situation as being a little like the situation which existed at Dunkirk in the Second World War. The Christians are like the allied army, trapped on the beach with nowhere to retreat. The navy did not have the means of taking them from the beach to some of the ships in deep water. There were also not enough ships to transport the defeated army from France to England. If it had not been or the thousands of small craft sailed by civilians from England to Dunkirk to rescue the trapped army, it would have been destroyed.
The Syrian Christians need financial support from their fellow Christians to permit an effective and adequate rescue mission to be accomplished. However this won’t happen unless their fellow Christians know of the circumstances and need for this action
Apart from financial support the most important thing we can do in this situation is to pray for our Syrian brothers and sisters.
The organization, International Christian Concern, states that whilst most Syrian Christians feel that the World is indifferent to their slaughter, they are desperately seeking prayer from their fellow Christians.
These have been the reasons which have been the motivation for this article.
SCRIPTURES WHICH SUPPORT THE NEED TO RESCUE SYRIAN CHRISTIANS.
In Matthew 25, people are described as being similar to either ‘sheep,’ or ‘goats.’ Jesus as the shepherd who will separate the sheep from the goats on the final judgement day, describes the sheep as those persons who in their earthly life served Him, by serving in various ways the least of “these brothers of mine.”
They will be blessed by Jesus.
Whereas the goats are described by Jesus as those persons in their earthly life who did not serve Him, by serving in various ways the least of “these brothers of mine.”
Rather than being blessed by Jesus they will suffer permanent separation from Him.
Applying this analogy to the Syrian refugee situation, the Syrian Christians would be the sheep, whereas the non-Christian Syrians would be the goats.
As Christians we have a shepherd’s role to care for the needs of Jesus’s sheep.
In John 21, when Jesus reinstates Peter, He asks him three times if he loves Him. With each of Peter’s responses, He asks him to – feed His lambs, care for His sheep and feed His sheep.
There is no mention of goats in this commission.
In the New Testament Paul seeks collections from the more prosperous churches in the region, to provide care for those churches in the region, which are in need.
It would be expected that in the area of the needy churches, there would also be non-Christians who were also in similar need. However these are not mentioned.
It is therefore apparent that the primary purpose of the prosperous churches was to support the Christian family in the poorer churches. There would have been some distribution of the collected funds to help the needy non-Christians in these areas, in accordance with Jesus teaching. However this would have been a secondary objective.
Logically if you are starving, you have no ability to provide food for others.
In John 13, Jesus gives a new commandment to His followers, which is to love one another. By this He states that – “all men will know that you are my disciples.”
There are many types of love and many definitions. However in this command for me, ‘love’
embraces two parts. The first is the motivation to want the best for the other person. The second is to do those things, according to your resources and abilities, to best achieve that result.
Would the world see us as a disciple of Jesus, by the love we show for the Syrian Christians’ suffering?
In 1Timothy 5:8, Paul states that, “if anyone does not provide for his relatives, and especially for his immediate family, he has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever.”
Syrian Christian refugees are part of the Christian family. If we refuse to provide help to them, which is less than we are capable of, then Paul’s statement is true for us.
Lastly, with the story of the Canaanite woman in Matthew 15, who asks Jesus to deliver her daughter from a demonic spirit, Jesus tells her that it is not right to deny God’s blessings to His chosen people, and give them to their dogs. The woman replies that even the dogs eat the crumbs of the food given to God’s chosen people, when they drop from the table to the floor.
Jesus endorses the woman’s reply and grants deliverance from the satanic spirit to her daughter.
The above scriptures confirm that there is a priority with Christian ministry. It must first be to the needs of Christians and then non-Christians. It must be both, but in that priority.
Scripture also tells me that God who is love, has a priority on how we are to love and act in love.
In the Old Testament the Shema, in Deuteronomy requires us to – “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul and with all your might.”
Jesus, in Mark 12 : 28-30, confirms this and also states that in addition to this first commandment, the second commandment is to – “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”
This priority has a purpose. We are unable to love our neighbor as God wants us, until we first love and serve God. God in His response to our love gives us His love, which enables us to love our neighbor as God wants us.
Jesus in John 15 : 5, states that “without me you can do nothing.”
Hence if we try to reverse the priority of these commandments, by seeking to carry out the second commandment whilst not doing the first, we must fail.
Similarly, Jesus states in Luke 14 : 26 that – “If anyone comes to me and does not hate his father and mother, his wife and children, his brothers and sisters …. He cannot be my disciple.”
This shows very clearly that our love for Jesus needs to be our first priority, above that of all our other relationships.
When a person becomes a Christian, they become a new spiritual creation, Jesus lives in them.
As Jesus lives in all Christians and they are members of God’s family, when we refuse to help our fellow Christians if we are able to do this, and instead help those who are not part of God’s family, we are reversing this priority. Should we do this, it is understandable why we would come under God’s judgement as described in Matthew 25.
CONCLUSION.
Our response to the faithfulness of our Syrian brothers and sisters in Christ must be more than words and to ignore their plight.
We need to seek positive discrimination for them, so as to conform to both the requirements of scripture, as well as the laws of natural justice
Diego Colina.
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