Swedish church to drop Bibles in ISIS-controlled areas
A church group from Sweden plans to drop mini electronic Bibles in Iraq over ISIS-controlled regions. The group named 'Livets Ord (Word of Life)', said it will use 'drones to drop thousands' of the holy book. According to the mission's director, the Bibles are 'the size of pill boxes. They have a display and doesn't require electricity to work and work on their own'.
ISIS goes on church burning spree
After its creation in its current form, in April 2013, ISIL (Islamic state of Iraq and the Levant) or ISIS, went on destroying many places of worship in Iraq and Syria. This mainly comprised the churches. These attacks include bombing and burning of churches throughout Mosul, Iraq. Large swathes of Christians fled Iraq after they were warned to covert to Islam or be killed.
Attacks in 2015
In Feb 2015, ISIS bombed Mosul's Virgin Mary Church, which served as sanctuary for few of the Christians who remained in the area. This follows the terror group's act of beheading 21 Egyptian Christians, the week before. It also went on to attack a number of Christian towns located in the North of Syria, capturing close to 90 hostages.
ISIS continues to target churches, kills French priest
In April 2016, ISIS blew up the iconic Clock Church in Mosul which was built in 1980s. In July 2016, the militant group claimed the killing of an 85-year old priest Reverend Jacques Hamel, in Normandy, France. The priest was murdered by two men with knives who slit his throat, during the 9 am Mass at the Eglise St.Etienne church.
ISIS 'kill list' uses church directories
Reportedly, ISIS was using church directories online to prepare their 'kill list'. The list specifically identified 15,000 Christian Americans and instructed the militants in America to target and murder them.
About Livets Ord
Livets Ord, founded in 1983 by Ulf and Brigitta Ekman, is an evangelical church, similar to the pentecostal movement of the United States.
What is the purpose of dropping the Bibles?
Despite media representation of the Bible drop as an 'attack' on ISIS, the church group said that it was not true and the terrorist organization was not the main target. Livets Ord said that the aim of the mission was to "pass on hope and love of Christian gospel" to those people in the ISIS-held regions of Iraq, where they were denied human rights.
