> Brethren:    Given the obvious Calvinist bias of CT (they try to hide it
more successfully sometimes than others), the news of these suspicious
groups is unfortunate.                                                  
                             Recently, for example, Pat (700 Klub)
Robertson got all agitated by a 'report' that '4 Christians' had been
lynched 'by Muslims' in Iraq, 'because they were Christians'. His 'news'
showed an Assyrian Church (they have a very distinctive architecture)
and that was that. It is significant that these deaths (if they
happened) have been ignored, while all sorts of 'persecution' of 'house
churches' (read Prot. denominations that are alien to Iraq where ther
Church was brought perhaps by the Magi and perhaps by St Thopmas on his
way to India has,been present in Mesopotamia since the beginning of the
Christian era) gets unwarranted publicity.                              
                                                      It is unfortunate
that the historic Church-of which we are an integral part-has said so
little about our own folk there in Iraq and allowed every 'Johnny come
lately' to usurp and approrpiate the 'Christian' dimension of that
ancient land now under its second year of illegal occupation for their
own agenda. Our duty is indeed 'to all men' but 'first tothe household
of Faith'.                                                              
                        There is no need for 'missionaries'in a land
that has been Holy Catholic & Apostolic for 2 millenia. There needs to
be a balanced reporting and these 'house churches'(sic) need to get back
where they belong.                                                      
                                 It is significant that the Church was
NOT persecuted under the B'aathist regime (indeed some of the B'aathist
founders were Eastern Christians).Blessings. GDVW+
> Christianity Today, March 2004
>
> Emerging from the Shadows
> House-church Christians start renting buildings, and dream of evangelism.
> Runo Samuelson in Baghdad | posted 03/11/2004
>
> On a Sunday evening, a mighty hymn of praise rang out from a living room
> crowded with 50 people. The room hosts a house church in Baghdad. In the
> front of the room, revamped for this service, stands a small, simple
> wooden cross. The congregants stand up. Some raise their hands. Others
> look toward the ceiling and close their eyes.
>
> The pastor of the house church is Jules V. Jules, 43, a building
> construction engineer by training. Jules, who has led the church for five
> years, tells those assembled that they can trust God and his promises in
> any situation. He says God is faithful even in times of persecution.
>
> In February 2003, just before the war broke out, security forces arrested
> Jules and 15 other Christian men, throwing them into different prisons in
> Baghdad. Saddam's government prohibited group meetings in private homes
> and did not allow more than one church of any one denomination in a
> neighborhood.
>
> Jules said he was one of seven prisoners locked in a dark, humid cell
> measuring seven-and-a-half by seven-and-a-half feet. After 30 days, in
> what he considers a miracle, he was suddenly released.
>
> The country is still not safe for evangelists. In February an
> execution-style attack against American Baptist missionaries riding in a
> rented van killed one minister and wounded three others. They were in Iraq
> to help start Baghdad's first Baptist church.
>
> Jules comes from a Presbyterian background, and the other members of this
> house church have Presbyterian and Catholic roots.
>
> "It all started as a prayer group in 1995," Jules said. "We were 15 to 20
> people who met every week in different homes … so the security police
> would not find us."
>
> Jules said members recently signed a five-year lease on a building that
> can accommodate 300 to 400 people. They began worshiping there in
> February.
>
> The Christian Alliance Church, which is Presbyterian in polity and has 400
> members, has also started renting its own building in Baghdad. Members say
> they want to evangelize their neighbors.
>
> That desire might be difficult to achieve. Religious rights advocates say
> the interim constitution states that laws may not contravene the tenets of
> Islam.
>
> "We don't want to mix with politics," says Thomas Ghassan, pastor of the
> Christian Alliance Church. "We want our freedom and welcome the change in
> our country. Now it's time for all Christians to continue to evangelize
> among our Arabic and Muslim friends here."
>
> Copyright © 2004 Christianity Today. Click for reprint information.
> April 2004, Vol. 48, No. 4, Page 22
>
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