Russian airstrikes prevent Christians from leaving Iraq

by Ted Monday, Dec 7, 2015 at 12:36 PM EST

Calling into his radio show from the Middle East Monday morning, Glenn reported on the status of persecuted Christian refugees he had just visited in Iraq. Glenn was unable to disclose his actual location because the Christian camps he and his team were visiting were being targeted with threats from ISIS. Being on the ground, Glenn was able to confirm rumors that Russian airstrikes were happening in the area, which unfortunately halted the departure of a group of Christians he was meeting with. “They were supposed to be out this morning. We were supposed to leave with them,” Glenn said on radio Monday. “Last night, at about — I think it was 9 o’clock — they closed the airports because of the Russians.” Despite the challenges they were facing, Glenn remarked how amazed he was at the overall positive and hopeful attitude of the Christians, who had lost everything. “There were families where the children had been kidnapped, a child who had been killed by ISIS through torture and having their head drilled. Horrible, horrible conditions,” Glenn said. “And yet, these people have truly found the joy of Christ, and I’ve never witnessed joy like this before.” Listen to the segment or read the transcript below. Below is a rush transcript of this segment, it might contain errors. PAT: Glenn is somewhere else. But you have been in Iraq very recently. Right? GLENN: Hi, Pat. Yes. In the Middle East, we are going to be in three different areas. And we can’t say, for security reasons, because our Christians are currently being targeted. And the camps are being targeted. PAT: Hmm. GLENN: And they were supposed to be out this morning. We were supposed to leave with them. And last night, at about — I think it was 9 o’clock. They closed the airports because of the Russians. There’s rumors that — bombing in Iraq, we can verify that that is indeed the case, that there are hostilities that are happening in the area. And so I was with them as we told them that they weren’t leaving in the morning, that the airport had been closed. They were — we were together. It was the most incredible thing you’ve ever seen. These 500 families that are — I don’t mean to be crass, but literally going to the bathroom in a whole in the ground for a year and a half. They have lost everything. There was a baby that was born over the weekend in this camp that we were with. There were families where the children had been kidnapped. A child who had been killed by ISIS through torture and having their head drilled. Horrible, horrible conditions. And yet, these people have truly found the joy of Christ. And I’ve never witnessed joy like this before. They were — they were Christ-like. They were just the most Christ-like people I’ve ever met. And it’s because they’ve lost absolutely everything. And we had just finished religious service. And I stood up and I — I had brought some things that people sent to us. One woman had sent us her wedding ring. And she — and this was my mother’s wedding ring. And I’ve worn it, I think she said, 40 years. She’s a woman in Ohio. And she said, “I want to — I want to give this to the cause.” So I stood there in this makeshift church with them, and in a secure compound where people with machine guns are standing around on the outside. A church that had roadblocks around it because it had been targeted by ISIS. The people in it had received warnings from ISIS two days before, “You’re not leaving. If you don’t submit, we’ll kill you.” And security forces had been called. (inaudible) They were targeting it. And they were going to drive a vehicle from the gate and into the — STU: We are losing you a little bit here. Your signal. PAT: If you’re moving around, stop. Because we’re losing you. GLENN: Can you hear me? STU: Yeah, we can hear you now. GLENN: Can you hear me? STU: Yes. GLENN: Where did you lose me at? STU: About two sentences ago. GLENN: Where did you lose me at? So last night, I was in this service that had been targeted by ISIS, and we were told credible information. They had blocked the — the military had blocked the streets around this makeshift service. This makeshift church, this camp. And there was information that if they didn’t submit, that they would not be leaving Monday morning, which they were supposed to be. If they did not submit to ISIS, they were going to — a vehicle — an IED — basically a van and fill it with explosives and drive it through the barricade through the gate and into this church and blow us all up last night. So that was the mood in this building. And I stood before them to tell them of the millions of people in America that are praying for them and the 130,000 that had raised money to get them out. And the tears these people shed, the gratitude in their — in their faces was overwhelming. It was truly overwhelming. They happened — they came up afterwards to hug me and to thank me and to thank you through me for giving them hope that they would have a life and that their children — none of them spoke about themselves. They all told me last night about their children. They just want their children out someplace where they can have a life. I walked into a home of one of them, if you can call it a home. It’s a boxcar. It’s not even a boxcar. It’s a cargo box, you know, that you see on the back of flatbed trucks or trains. And there were nine people that were living in that. A family. They were middle class. Their daughter was going to college, a nurse. And I was talking to the dad. He was so proud. As I was walking through this camp, he opened up his door, and he looked at me and he — he didn’t speak much English. But he could say come. And he looked at me and said, “Come. Come.” And he waved me into their house. And I went into their house and I held their year and a half child who had just been born. Was a newborn when they first moved into the camp. And I held this precious child and spoke to them. And they were so full of God and so full of joy and gratitude that we were there. And I asked them, I said, “Why? You know, you gave up your life.” They walked out with nothing. Nothing. Left everything behind. And I said, “You could just submit.” And he didn’t even have a chance to answer. I hadn’t even really spoken to his wife. His wife was standing next to me. And as the translator started in and she got enough of the translation through, she immediately — the mother immediately said, “No. No.” And they translated it back. She was like, “We will die before we will deny our God. We will die, and we will die together.” These people are amazing. Absolutely amazing. Where it is left today is the airports are closed. We’re trying to get out. I shouldn’t give any — we shouldn’t give any information. But we’re hoping that they will be able to get out in the next couple of days. We missed our window of opportunity yesterday. We need prayers for these people to be able to get them out here this week. We are making several stops — several different countries throughout the Middle East and in Europe over the next few days. I’ll tell you as I leave those countries or we’re out of those areas. I don’t mean to be sketchy with you, but it was a little frightening on the plane. I’ve made a video diary, and I will post one of my videos while I was still in New York that will kind of explain the situation. I’ll do everything once it’s passed for security reasons. It’s a little frightening getting on to the plane knowing that our people in particular were being targeted by ISIS and knowing that they were walking into that. These are brave people. And they’re going to renew whatever country it is that they’re going to. It’s shameful that it’s not our country. And the president was speaking from the Oval Office last night. He said, you know, what he said. That we’re doing everything we can. I was standing in Iraq, and I can verify that that is a lie. We are not doing — you know who was doing something last night? Russia was doing something last night. We’re not taking care of ISIS as far as blocking them or killing them. That’s not what the United States is doing. The United States is protecting the interests of Turkey and Saudi Arabia. And Saudi Arabia and Turkey need ISIS to exist. And so we are protecting their interests. We are not protecting the people. And we are not rescuing the people who are absolutely in harm’s way. There is one country now. And I don’t want to say who it is. Because I was supposed to be with them today. And we were — there was a — there was a welcoming ceremony into this country that was all planned for this afternoon. But now that it’s all been called off and we hope that this country — because it’s been on the fence. We hope that the delay of their plane is not going to change that. But we don’t know at this point. But so far in Europe, there is only one country that will take these Christians. And they are well vetted. In fact, they are so well vetted that we had another country contact us. This is the Nazarene Fund. This is how out of control this is, that a greenback HEP system is now known in Europe as the Premiere HEP Vetting System. That one country was taking a group of people in and they were — they had decided that they were going to take these — this group because they will take Christians and Muslims. And this country had heard that this other country that has decided to take our Christians or at least some of them, they — they called and said, “Hey, we hear you guys have this — this system is so good. Can you help us?” Well, our team went into that country and looked and looked. And what’s happening now is we saw strange names as part of this. And they all said they were converts. So our team who are some of them, you know, the original people on it are priests and pastors. They’re the first line of defense. They went and they actually talked to these, quote, unquote, converts. Tell us about your conversion to Jesus Christ. Tell us what the blood of Jesus is all about. Tell us about your faith and the Holy Spirit. When they couldn’t answer any of the questions, we knew they were infiltrators trying to come in as Christians. It’s really amazing what’s going on and how abandoned these Christians are. And the United States of America should be ashamed of itself. As I was standing in Iraq while the president was speaking, it was shameful. I was embarrassed to be an American. PAT: Wow. STU: Uh-huh. PAT: Stay safe. We’ll be praying for you. We’ll be praying for the families. And hopefully you’ll have more for us soon, right? GLENN: Yeah. We are traveling to several different countries. There’s another camp that we’re going to that has 5,000 that have been completely forgotten. PAT: Wow. GLENN: They have no hope of getting out. Nobody is even talking about them at all. We just found out about it on the ground. So we’re going there. We’ll also be in several different European countries trying to convince them to take them. And I hope to be returning to the states by the end of the week or the weekend. STU: All right. We’ll be praying for you, or as how the Daily News has defined it, we’ll be sending you meaningless platitudes that you’re able to stay safe. GLENN: Thank you. Please don’t pray for us. Please do me a favor and please beg everybody you know to pray for the Christians that are there. When I was there and looking at their face when they were told that they were not leaving, and please pray for them. They really desperately need your prayers. We need a miracle to happen PAT: All right. We will. Appreciate it. STU: Thankfully, God is a bit of a multitasker. PAT: He can handle both. STU: We’ll do both for you. Featured Image: Smoke billows in the rural town of Husayba, in the Euphrates Valley seven kilometres (4.5 miles) east of Ramadi, where Iraqi government forces have been closing on Islamic State (IS) group militants who seized the Anbar province’s capital in May after a three-day blitz involving dozens of huge truck bombs. Iraqi security forces have fought their way to the outskirts of Ramadi, where they have been battling the IS jihadists in the past weeks. (Photo by AHMAD AL-RUBAYE/AFP/Getty Images)

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