Editorial introduction: Previously on Prophecy Today UK, we have published reports from missionary Mark van Niekerk on his trips to Iraqi Kurdistan, a much-troubled region that is nevertheless wonderfully open to the gospel at this time (please see the base of this article for links to our previous reports). Mark is a missionary with The Simon Initiative.
This time, he writes a brief plea for support in the light of multiple crises presently hitting the embattled region of Kurdistan.
Dear friends,
I’m making an urgent appeal on behalf of our Kurdish friends in Iraq. The situation there is now very bleak – I cannot believe what I have been hearing.
Imagine living in a country where the world’s banks, to all intents and purposes, have shut you off. Bombed to hell, then followed up by ISIS pillaging every city, it’s a region totally forgotten and virtually impossible to survive in.
Oil is the only source of revenue in the region but without reasonable prices, funds are not being distributed by the central Government in Baghdad. Yet the Peshmerger (Kurdish Army) and teachers remain at their posts, even though they have only received one month’s salary in the last six months. Besides all this, you may have heard recently about Iran’s and Turkey’s aggressive bombing of targets in Kurdistan. Fear is setting in once again. The Kurds are hated, as you know, by their host nations.
Sending money to our Kurdish friends has always been difficult, but it is becoming virtually impossible. I’ve had Peshmerger (Kurdish Army) widowed families in tears looking to me as their only hope. I’m the only ‘Westerner’ who goes into that part of Kurdistan, so one can understand their desperation – they see me as their only avenue to help from the outside world.
In Sulaymaniyah 16 have recently committed suicide. There are videos I’ve viewed where the man says to the crowd and reporters, “One woman and husband [pleaded] with doctors to deliver their baby. ‘We will do it for 350 dollars’, they were told. ‘And we will keep the baby and sell it.’” He continues, “We are demonstrating for what is right. And we are told this is ‘haram’ [forbidden]. Well, people are killing themselves, and that is not ‘haram’? Corona is not killing us, this bad situation is.”
A Jewish Kurdish friend I met has emigrated. He was able to speak to me recently from his new country: “Did you hear my grandfather who you met died? But we had a bigger problem this month. My uncle, who was like a father to me, committed suicide by hanging himself. He had a very close friend, an atheist, who had been given him books to read. My uncle told me he was going crazy reading these atheistic books, he was losing all hope. Well he got to that point where he snapped. Not all books are helpful to us.”
This Jewish family converted to Islam three generations ago. He is a wonderful man, interested in his Jewish roots, but is comfortable so long as people go to the mosque, synagogue or church.
Contrary to this understanding of religion, I’m in touch with a number of young Kurds who have left Islam and have embraced Yeshua. I have that privilege of teaching and exhorting these young boys who cannot allow their families to know. For some the situation is even more dangerous. Young ‘Solomon’ spoke to me for hours recently about his struggle to remain faithful to Yeshua amid all the pressure from Muslims. He had been beaten by the mullahs in front of his friends. They were threatened that if they did not come to mosque there would be trouble.
‘Solomon’ has stood firm and his friends have been witness to his refusal to return to Islam. The difficulties they face, and this man’s witness, have resulted in these young men asking questions. They don’t care about the mosque and Islam anymore. The Lord’s Ruach, Spirit, is moving in these mountains. “This land is cursed because of Islam”, my friend said. “If only we could get all the Kurds to follow Messiah Yeshua.”
This is where we can play a pivotal role in the lives of the Kurds being drawn to him, by praying. Many of you have joined me in this compassion for the Kurds and I thank you for being an integral part of something so extraordinary. I know many of you have the same heart for them that I have.
If you are able to consider giving financially, any amount would be so appreciated. It would be wonderful to send them sufficient to buy food for the 400 families we take care of when I usually visit. 20 US dollars can help a family for a month. However, I appreciate that most of you are yourselves in a predicament with Covid.
Whether you are able to support financially or in prayer, or not at all, thank you for hearing this cry from the mountains of Kurdistan.
Mark van Niekerk
You can give online to Mark’s ministry in Kurdistan by clicking here (UK donations are accepted). Read his previous reports below:
Mark van Niekerk and The Simon Initiative are independent of Prophecy Today UK.
