Aid worker expects Muslims to leave Islam and come to Christ as situation in Iraq worsens

Jardine Malado Tuesday, November 15, 2016

Displaced Iraqis queue for food after fleeing from their homes at Shahrazad village east of Mosul, Iraq last Nov. 11. | REUTERS/Ari Jalal

A Christian ministry director in Iraq is expecting Muslims to abandon Islam and turn to Jesus Christ as the situation in the country gets worse.

The ministry director, who works in the autonomous region of Kurdistan, told Christian Aid Mission that Mosul was once considered as a city that was most hesitant toward the gospel. His ministry now has distributed Bibles, led Bible studies and provided discipleship training for the displaced people for more than two years and he has seen many turn to Christ.

"So now they see the true face of Islam, they saw the teachings of Islam and they know what it means to be under the Islamic State. I believe a lot of heart-breaking stories will come out of Mosul with people who are ready to leave Islam and beg for Christ to take their lives and give them healing," said the ministry director.

An Iraqi-led coalition recently launched an operation to retake Mosul from ISIS. Hundreds of thousands of the city's residents are expected to leave the city as the coalition liberates more towns and villages.

The director is worried that ISIS is committing more atrocities as they lose ground in the city. It was reported that the militant group recently took 550 families from villages surrounding Mosul to be used as human shields. The militant group also executed at least 284 men and boys on Oct. 20 and 21.

Even the newly liberated towns are not safe for return, according to the director. He stated that ISIS have left snipers in the territories it once controlled.

"Qaraqosh is 90 percent liberated, and the other 10 percent doesn't have any soldiers but they have snipers there; ISIS has snipers everywhere. They have built tunnels from house to house so it's not 100 percent secure," he said.

The director said that the ministry is preparing to aid the hundreds of families that are going to be evacuated to the refugee camps as the Mosul offensive continues. He hopes to put a Bible in every house in the city after it is liberated.