“Your enemies make a tumult; and those who hate You have lifted up their head. They have taken crafty counsel against Your people, and consulted together against Your sheltered ones. They have said, ‘Come, and let us cut them off from being a nation, that the name of Israel may be remembered no more.’ For they have consulted together with one consent; they form a confederacy against You: The tents of Edom and the Ishmaelites; Moab and the Hagrites; Gebal, Ammon, and Amalek; Philistia with the inhabitants of Tyre; Assyria also has joined with them.” Ps 83:2-8.

 

Headlines in the Washington Post read:

 

Death was everywhere in the sacked the city of Mosul, a strategically vital oil hub and Iraq’s largest northern city. An Iraqi woman in Mosul claimed to have seen a “row of decapitated soldiers and policemen” on the street. Other report “mass beheadings.”

United Nations Human Rights chief, Navi Pillay, reports the summary executions “may run into the hundreds.”

"IRAQ IN TODAY’S BIBLICAL LINE UP OF NATIONS: The language of Psalm 83 is out of today’s headlines, and the foes lined up against Israel in this scripture passage inhabited the lands of Israel’s current neighbors: Some these entities include: Iraq, a part of which was once ancient Assyria. The heartland of Assyria lies in present day Northern Iraq. Edom was in land that stretches across Northern Saudi Arabia, southern Jordan, southern Israel, and into the Sinai Peninsula. Moab and Ammon were part of today’s Jordan. Gebal (also called Byblos) and Tyre are cities that can still be found in present day Lebanon, home of the Hezbollah terrorist organization. The Amalekites lived in Israel’s southern desert and Philistia settled in Gaza on Israel’s southern border, where Hamas currently reigns. All of these lands have been, or are in the process of being, overtaken by hardline Islamists. When that process is completed, these aligned Islamist forces will turn against Israel with an intensity that cannot be envisaged. Pray according to scripture: “O my God, make them like the whirling dust, like the chaff before the wind! As the fire burns the woods, and as the flame sets the mountains on fire, so pursue them with Your tempest, and frighten them with Your storm. Fill their faces with shame, that they may seek Your name, O Lord.” Ps 83:13-16

 

ISIS SEIZES TIKRIT AS ISLAMIST TAKEOVER OF IRAQ CONTINUES: The Al Qaeda-linked Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIS) has attacked the central Iraqi city of Tikrit, security sources said Wednesday, less than 48 hours after taking over the northern city of Mosul. The Islamists attacked the Turkish embassy, and police officials said the group had also freed some 300 inmates in a city prison there and made advances in parts of Kirkuk. Local authorities have reported mass beheadings throughout the city. Tikrit is dictator Saddam Hussein's birthplace and is located just 95 miles north of Baghdad. Security sources said Wednesday evening the Islamists have extended beyond Tikrit, now fighting Iraqi forces in Samarra. A number of terrorist groups have joined forces, including Baathist military commanders from the Hussein era, whose goal is to rout the government of PM Maliki. ISIS, which also seized an international airport and captured US-made weapons and equipment during its rout of Iraqi security forces, has dealt a spectacular blow to Baghdad's Shia-led government. It has cemented its effective control over the entirety of the country's western Nineveh Province, and now poses a clear threat across the Middle East. Iraqi PM Nouri al-Maliki called a state of emergency and has offered to arm local tribes and citizens opposed to ISIS. World leaders have also reacted with alarm to the news. The ISIS has already controlled the Iraqi city of Fallujah for five months, and has also led one of the strongest rebel movements fighting Syrian President Bashar Assad in Syria. (Israel National News) This rapidly spreading crisis also affects Christians remaining in Iraq. According to reports the population of Christians in Iraq once numbered 1.5 million but is now less than 200,000. The Rev. Canon Andrew White, who operates a church and health clinic in Baghdad, Iraq, said that in the face of Islamist violence, Christians continue to leave in droves. “Their stories are eerily similar; believers kidnapped for ransom; churches – some full of worshippers – attacked; clergy targeted for killing. White said this is true with his congregation in Baghdad, where he said radical Islamists have repeatedly targeted him and his parishioners. Intercede on behalf of Iraq’s believing remnant."  [JNN]

These are our brothers and sisters in Christ.  They need us now as never before.

PRAY Saints, PRAY - their lives depend on it.!!!!!!!!!!!!!.