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Dear
Friends,
Bassam Ishak and I are currently in Istanbul preparing to fly to Mardin
and also Midyat where there are thousands of Syriac Christian refugees
from the Al-Hassake region of Syria. They have fled there because of the
growing violence against Christians in the region from either Al-Nusra
or armed gangs with no particular cause. There is also a titanic
struggle going on in Al-Hassake region between PYD ( the Syrian branch
of the PKK under Mr. Ocalan in Turkey and also allied with the Assad
regime) and the Kurdish Democratic Party ( the party of Barzani based in
Erbil the heart of Kurdistan in Iraq). The closure of the border was
part of a much larger geopolitical struggle going on in the region. We
simply arrived in the middle of this larger context that led to our
inability to move forward with our original plan to conduct a
Faith-Based Reconciliation workshop for 30 Kurdish and Syriac Christian
leaders as a means of forging a new social contract between them to
create a future together in the Al-Hassake region of eastern Syria.
One of the important features of Faith-Based Diplomacy is to have a part
of the team whose sole function is to engage in prayer & fasting as a
tangible means of looking to God for direction and results. This time I
called on the very best in asking The Reverend Chandermani & Kanta
Khanna from Jammu & Kashmir in India to join us on the team. Chander and
Kanta both feel a deep calling to the work of Faith-Based Reconciliation
and are humble and powerful people of prayer. During one of the truly
lowest and most challenging points in our time in Erbil the team spent
over two hours in prayer together and toward the end Chander was given
this spiritual revelation from the Holy Spirit from Proverbs 3:5
"Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own
understanding"
He was then given the following revelation:
"The Lord showed me that how the spirit of discouragement and depression
was taking hold on the team. Apparently it seems that the evil one is
unhappy over the affairs of the team working for reconciliation among
the Kurdish and Syriac Christians at Erbil in Iraq. Though the hurdle
was created by the evil one by closing the entry of the delegates at the
border of Syria/Iraq. The team found that the workshop which was the
supreme agenda died before it's birth. Hence the evil one found itself
victorious. The fact is God has his own plan and used the closure of the
border as a sign to indicate that the strategy of the team needed to
conform to the strategy of the Almighty. The Lord wanted us to see the
importance of penetrating the idea of Faith-Based Reconciliation among
the top brass of the government. Silently, the Lord was using the event
of the closure of the border for his strategy to bring some ripples of
His message. He even used the so-called friends of the team to bring the
death of the workshop because this time He wanted to involve the high
ups of the Kurdish people for His plan. Therefore, silently and
indirectly He was conveying the importance of Faith-Based Reconciliation
in the form of doubts, intentions and it's impacts. The ball has already
been rolled into the court of state government. So the meeting of the
team in the premises of the Erbil International Hotel has entered into
great success for the future role of ICRD. In fact, ICRD has made such a
great impact on all the powers in high places that they are conducting
analysis of the real intention of ICRD. So instead of just bringing
impact among the delegates, it is affecting the government officials who
in the coming days will find that ICRD is indispensable for bringing
peace and stability to the community. Therefore, the ICRD team is not
sitting without doing anything, but rather it has made an impact and to
some extent disturbed the officials and the government which as a
response closed the the entry of the delegates. So this is a unique
strategy that the Lord is doing. "
So, dear friends, continue to pray for us. At it's heart Faith-Based
Reconciliation seeks to bring the visibility of God into the strategic
political realm. One of the eight core values of Faith-Based
Reconciliation is acknowledgment of the authority of God in our lives
and in political community. Ironically, God used the Arab Spring and the
rise of the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt to bring God, faith and His
sovereignty over the affairs of nations to the front and center of world
politics. For people of faith we should look at the alarming events of
today and realize that God is creating a scenario of desperation amongst
world leaders about solving these intractable conflicts between enemies
so that they will be led to the point of expressing what one Assistant
Secretary of State said to Doug Johnston and me after hearing a report
on ICRD's activities in Kashmir " well nothing else has worked in
Kashmir. We might as well give faith a chance. "
Pray that the leaders of the Middle East will be brought to this point.
Then enemies can sit down together in a context of changed hearts and
constructive joint problem solving. I cannot help but believe that this
is what Jesus intended when he told us to love our enemies.
Yours, |
