In the midst of the poverty and destruction left by ISIS, Kurdish Muslims are turning their backs on Islam to embrace the true Messiah. South African evangelist Mark van Niekerk shares the Gospel alongside believers in Iraq and Kurdistan and brings us this encouraging update.
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Dear family in Messiah,
Serving the Lord is both challenging and enthralling. What has become mundane and ordinary to us in the Christian West is astonishing news to people who have never heard of a Heavenly Father who identifies with their suffering. Their hearts are languishing in darkness, desperate to hear there is an alternative.
I honestly believe that if we commit and equip ourselves to be used of Messiah Yeshua, he will take us places we never thought possible. This has been my experience starting here in my native South Africa, during many years in Israel, speaking throughout New Zealand and now in recent years as I go to the inhospitable regions of the Middle East, where I have just returned from my fifth visit.
Widows are all registered so we are certain of their details, including photos and death certificates of the family member who has died or been killed. In these patriarchal societies it’s extremely difficult once the working man is no longer able to provide. Visiting Peshmerger Widows
Every time we are able to assist the widows of the Peshmerger (the Kurdish military) I’m been moved emotionally. Clad in their long black dresses and head coverings, these dear women are a woeful sight. Many of their homes are damp and poorly insulated, making heating fuel an absolute necessity.
A dear brother has opened up a ‘Widows and Orphans Organisation’ registered with the government. The patriarchal society makes it hard for single mothers to get work, so a teacher is training them as seamstresses so they can earn a living. We purchased good sewing machines for four women who are primary caregivers for their families.
Devastation in Nineveh
Numerous people warned me against visiting Nineveh, the once proud city on the banks of the mighty Tigris, where the Prophet Jonah preached. Although ISIS was officially overthrown in 2017, sleeper cells of Islamic terrorists are still underground. As we ventured past a number of roadblocks into the ruins, militias drove ahead of us with men brandishing ready machine guns.
The Al Nuri Mosque in the city centre, where ISIS leader Bakr al-Baghdadi had proclaimed the caliphate in 2014, is now destroyed. As we drove past, I recognised its green dome hanging lopsided in the air, suspended eerily by reinforced steel. We found armoured ISIS vests lying on the ground and ISIS receipt books strewn in the rubble. The evangelical church had been used as a fresh produce market.
What has become mundane and ordinary to us in the Christian West is astonishing news to people who have never heard of a Heavenly Father who identifies with their suffering.
Left: ISIS vest found in ruins of evangelical church. Right: The young girl who lost her mother and two sisters. A woman in black appeared out of nowhere. She had lost two sons, both ISIS leaders, in air attacks. “What do you think of your sons’ treatment of the Yezidi women?”1 my co-worker asked. “They are better off as [ISIS] sex slaves or dead than staying alive as Yezidis”, was her cold response.
We gave the Gospel to the families we visited, along with Bibles, provisions and some money. We met one man whose wife and two daughters had been killed when a bombed building collapsed on them. A third daughter, eight years old, had been pulled from the rubble by her legs. Her head and forehead had been partially crushed. She sensed security and climbed into my arms, hiding her scarred head with her hair. My co-worker whispered to me, “She has never in her life experienced the arms of a man embracing her in this way. It’s not in the culture.”
She took one look at the gifts we offered, showed absolutely no interest, and curled back into my arms. I could not hold back my tears: all she wanted was to be loved and secure in someone’s protective care.
Helping Refugees in Erbil
Syrian refugees driven out of their own country and now set up in semi-permanent home structures on the outskirts of Soran.In Erbil, the capital city of Iraqi Kurdistan that had been so flooded with refugees after the chaos of ISIS, numerous camps were being dismantled. Yet Syrians were still pouring into the city. As previously, we supplied all the resident families with groceries, household materials and nappies, not neglecting the Gospel. “If you had not brought this today, we would not have eaten tonight,” one man said. “This will last us nearly a month. We are so grateful.”
It is hard to believe that these were formerly wealthy businessmen with their own companies. “If we go back, we will be forced into the army for five years. The young men are gone from Syria,” I was told.
I cannot minister to these people without being broken before them. They have lost everything: their businesses, homes and family members. Yet despite being ‘Christian’, they come from Orthodox backgrounds – invariably they will say we are saved by faith and works. Having experienced the powerlessness of the Orthodox Church to protect them against ISIS, many are now responding to the true Gospel. The church meetings were packed. I wept, pleading with them to come to Jesus, and it was obvious that many hearts were moved by the Lord’s Spirit.
A number of Muslims in Erbil have come to faith in Jesus and are meeting in home groups. The only positive aspect of ISIS is that it has caused Muslims to re-evaluate their lives. Of course the challenges are great – knowledge of their conversion may well lead to death. The fear is real, yet they have made a very conscious decision to follow the truth.
Having experienced the powerlessness of the Orthodox Church to protect them against ISIS, many are now responding to the true Gospel.
Hunger for Bibles in Soran
A Salafi Muslim family, the most radical of Muslims, invited us home to hear the gospel. They asked for bibles. The young man next to me asked if I would go his home and pray for his sick child.One village in the entry to the Zagros Mountain Range, near the Iranian border, had opened their arms to us on previous visits. I was stunned to find their senior men waiting to welcome me back. After I spoke on the reconciliation between the Jews and the other half of Abraham’s descendants, the municipal head said to me, “You need to come here and teach aspects of the Bible we have never heard about. It is important for the Muslims to hear about this history and prophecy.”
During one of our visits to the town of Soran, northern Iraq, we went to see a Salafi2 Muslim family. The room was suddenly full of men and children sitting along the walls, waiting to listen. Some of them immediately opened the Bibles we offered and started reading. One young man beckoned me to go with him to his home where his child was sick. He wanted me to pray, not only for the child, but also for God’s blessing on his home and family. “Do you realise what has happened today?” a brother asked me. “This is unheard of. These are the most radical of the Muslim sects. Never will they accept this.” There is no whipping up of emotion as we see in some churches today; this is authentically God speaking to the Muslim people.
These young men came from another city in Kurdistan to get bibles.We met with mullahs who wanted Bibles and even sons of mullahs met with us clandestinely. “Islam and Mohammed are finished in Kurdistan”, we were told after meeting five young Kurds who had called us for Bible study. They were so hungry to grow in their new faith. I kept hearing, “We are tired of lies and silly stories from the mullahs [Muslim teachers].”
At one of the gatherings seven new believers were baptised, all extremely excited to be making the final cut with their past. This is a raw and emotional Christianity that I imagine the early Church experienced.
I am indebted to all whose support is prayer, and to those who have made financial contributions. Since I am able to personally administer the fund distribution while I am with our brothers, I can assure you that every penny goes directly to the people who need it.
We continue to press on, respecting the people of Kurdistan and Iraq while unashamedly presenting the message so many are desperate to hear: there is one true God in Heaven who cares. He is not the Allah of Islam who sits aloof of his slaves, offering only a fatalistic religion with no hope. Let us not miss the opportunity we have been given to serve the Lord together in this part of his vineyard.
Kurdistan in 2012.
Mark and Marie Anne van Niekerk
Mark's outreach is part of the The Simon Initiative. You can give online through this link (it is an American site but UK donations are accepted). Mark covers the cost of administration and his own involvement personally, so every penny given goes to the people of Kurdistan. Please bear the van Niekerk family up in prayer at this time, as Marie Anne has been diagnosed with incurable cancer.
Read our previous reports on Mark’s outreach in Kurdistan here:
Notes
1 The Yezidis are a monotheistic Kurdish religious minority. During the Yezidi genocide of 2014, ISIS raped many women and forced them into sexual slavery.
2 Salafism is a fundamentalist movement within Sunni Islam. Read more here.