Christians Are Being Denied US Visas While 'Cradle of Christianity Is Wiped Off the Map,' Evangelicals Warn
A faith-based global ministry has initiated a "Fostering Families" program in which it's calling on over 1,000 churches in America to take in persecuted refugees from the ongoing crisis. Rev. Kevin Jessip, president of Global Strategic Alliance, said Christians are being wiped out from the Middle East, while at the same time being denied visas in the United States, and it's an urgent time for the rest of the Christian body to wake up and help.
"It's inappropriate for the Untied States of America to discriminate against a minority religion who is in dire need of asylum. These are proven cases at the UNHCR that we've seen of people who have been denied, and are in jeopardy of losing their lives," Jessip told The Christian Post in a phone interview on Thursday.
"Not only have they ran and lost everything, but now, in many cases, we are seeing people facing another impending threat, and that is starvation," he said, noting that most of the Christian refugees don't even have basic resources to provide food for themselves.
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Grace Knodt, vice president of GSA, who also spoke with CP over the phone, noted the urgency of the situation.
"As far as our Christian brothers and sisters are concerned, they are facing imminent death, many of them," Knodt said.
The program's goal is to enroll a minimum of 1,000 American churches and embrace the refugees who are fleeing war and terrorism in Syria and the surrounding region by the millions.
"I believe that the church needs to wake up, and we need to revive that which is about to die. The very church, the body of Christ, is being eliminated in the Middle East, and the very cradle of Christianity, is being wiped off the map," Jessip added, drawing from Revelation 3:2 in the Bible.
"And if the rest of the Christian body does not awaken at this time and begin to move by the power of God's Holy Spirit and take action to help these people, we will answer for that one day. We have to do everything that we possibly can."
Many of these refugees have been making their way to Western European countries, stretching resoureces and national borders.
The GSA was formed to help protect the persecuted church and provide safe havens throughout the Middle East, and focuses on building alliances and supporting workers on the ground who are engaged with displaced marginalized people, Jessip told CP.
The organization has also been working with immigration services both globally and domestically; it has held meetings with U.S. congressmen, and spoken at the U.N. to highlight persecution of Jews and Christians on a global basis.
