By now almost everyone has heard of the Iraqi shoe throwing incident. The day after the incident I came arcoss an article through Christian NewsWire: Iraqi Christians Remain Under Siege

A press release issued last week from the USCIRF states: “Although there has been some reduction in violence in Iraq since the Commission’s last report on the country in May 2007, the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom remains seriously concerned about severe violations of religious freedom there. The situation is dire for Iraq’s smallest religious minorities, including ChaldoAssyrian Christians, other Christians, Sabean Mandaeans, and Yazidis, who face a threat to their very existence in the country.

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Although it is difficult to state how many Iraqi Christians are in the country, the number in 2003, prior to the fall of Saddam Hussein, was around 550,000. Violence targeting Christians has caused many to leave the country. Church leaders in Iraq conservatively estimate that almost 75,000 Christians live outside Iraq in Syria, Jordan or in the West and that another 75,000 have fled to northern Iraq. That means less than 400,000 Christians remain in mainland Iraq. The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees has estimated that at least 2 million Iraqis have fled the country since 2003 and another 2 million are displaced inside the country, mostly in northern Iraq.

Some say that in the past few years almost 500 Iraqi Christians, including pastors and priests, have been murdered because of their faith. Even more Christians have been killed in attacks, fighting or kidnapping for money. Approximately 2,000 families (a total of 10,000 Christians) fled the northern city of Mosul two months ago due to terrorism. The violence resulted in an estimated 25 to 40 Christian deaths. Hundreds remain homeless…

My first thought was — shouldn’t they be the ones throwing shoes? As I reflected on that I thought, no, they have dropped the other shoe (Matthew 5:39). In witness to Christ they travel shoeless, as He did. They are rejected, and without aid, except from Christians and others who are of good will. They are the new martyrs and confessors. For all of our President’s professed Christian certainty, he has cast these sheep before wolves.

Caesar never understood those who would not throw shoes, slap faces, or take an eye-for-an-eye. So let’s reflect on what is essential in our witness. It is those who rely on God, not on shoes, or weapons, or the works of men. Our vindication is from God.