Iraq: Ancient Treasures, New Life

This ancient land holds treasures for those who know their Bibles. Originally called Mesopotamia (“Land Between the Rivers”) for its location between the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers, Iraq is also home to the early cities of Babylon, Assyria, and Ur; to Daniel and his lion’s den; to the Tower of Babel. Some have even mused if the area’s lushness makes it the original Garden of Eden. 

After the earliest Jews saw their temple destroyed in Jerusalem, they were exiled to Babylon, where they began writing Psalms. “It is there that the Jewish people got a new consciousness of the fact that God wasn’t located geographically in Jerusalem, that God could move,” says Bible scholar Sister Carol Perry, as reported by CBS News.

Looking at a map of Iraq now makes Sister Perry weep. “It’s just devastating to think of it now as a battlefield because it was a place where biblical life was born.”

The end of World War I led to the creation of the modern nation-state of Iraq, under British rule. Formal independence didn’t come until 1932. Since then, the country has bounced between stability and instability, with its rich oil reserves funding its well-equipped armed forces. 

Saddam Hussein’s rise to power led the country into the disastrous Iran-Iraq War (1980-88) and the Persian Gulf War (1990-91) before his fall from power in 2003 during the Iraq War. According to the U.S. Institute of Peace, “After Saddam Hussein’s ouster in 2003, Iraq’s new leaders struggled to chart a democratic course after decades of dictatorship.”

With its crucial biblical roots, Iraq was home to an estimated 1.5 million Christians prior to the U.S.-led invasion, according to the Associated Press. That number dropped by as much as 80% when al-Quaida took the lead on religious terrorism, with many Iraqi Christians fleeing the country. 

Then, in 2014, Christians fled yet again — this time from Mosul, when ISIS (later renamed Islamic State) captured that city. ISIS issued a chilling ultimatum: convert to Islam, pay a head tax for protection (and humiliation), or be killed. In The Ideology Behind Islamic Terrorism, published in 2019, Brother Rachid reported a chilling statement from the head of the Chaldean Catholic Church in Iraq, after that exodus: “[For] the first time in the history of Iraq, Mosul is now empty of Christians.”

Since the apparent end of the ISIL caliphate in March 2019, some are returning to their devastated communities. Yet persecution of Christians in Iraq continues to this day, ranging from family pressure, workplace discrimination, and the loss of inheritance rights, to kidnapping and other violent acts. On its World Watch List, Open Doors categorizes the top 50 countries where it’s most difficult to follow Jesus. Iraq rose from No. 15 on that list to No. 11 in 2021 (North Korea is No. 1).

According to journalist Emma Green, in The Atlantic, “The world may soon witness the permanent displacement of an ancient religion, and an ancient people,” especially in the Nineveh Plain, an area of northeast Iraq known as the heart of Iraqi Christianity.

“Religious minorities test a country’s tolerance for pluralism,” Green continues. “A healthy liberal democracy protects vulnerable groups and allows them to participate freely in society. Whether Christians can survive, and thrive, in Muslim-majority countries is a crucial indicator of whether democracy, too, is viable in those places. In Iraq, the outlook is grim.”

Please pray:

• For displaced Iraqis as they return home — that their unsettled lives will open them to spiritual truths.
• For boldness as well as protection for Iraqi Christians, especially converts from a Muslim background.
• For the rise of mature believers who can build faith communities.
• For Muslims who are seeking, that they find our programs and that God’s Spirit opens their hearts to the truth. 

With your support, AMM’s ministries are touching lives in Iraq. Click here to learn how you can help us share the gospel with those in this ancient, biblical land.

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Source: Tatiana Morales, “Biblical Iraq: A guide to Mesopotamia,” CBSNews.com, April 8, 2003; Sarhang Hamasaeed and Garrett Nada, “Iraq Timeline: Since the 2003 War,” U.S. Institute of Peace, May 29, 2020; “A timeline of disaster and displacement for Iraqi Christians,” Associated Press, March 5, 2021; “The World Watch List,” opendoorsusa.org; Emma Green, “The Impossible Future of Christians in the Middle East,” The Atlantic, May 23, 2019.