Thousands of disillusioned Muslims embracing Christianity and "begging" Christ for healing—This is what a Christian ministry director expects to happen once Mosul is eventually liberated from the Islamic State (ISIS).
The director, who is working in northern Iraq's autonomous region of Kurdistan, told Christian Aid Mission that before ISIS captured Mosul in 2014, that city, the second biggest in Iraq, had the reputation of being closest to the gospel.
"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," the ministry director said. "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."
The director's ministry, which Christian Aid Mission assists, has been distributing Bibles, leading Bible studies and holding discipleship training sessions for displaced people for more than two years now.
The Christian leader said his ministry is getting ready to help hundreds of families who will be evacuated to camps for displaced persons once city residents begin fleeing en masse from Mosul as the war of liberation intensifies.
"We're getting ready for them. If we start seeing groups coming our way, then we're going to minister to them," he said.
The ministry director is appealing for assistance to Christians all over the world to provide aid supplies to the refugees. "We don't have many resources. I don't have a lot of food and medicine and other items, but we're going to do as much as we can," he said.
The ministry is asking for assistance to purchase food, clothing, blankets, tents, medicines and Bibles.
"I want to encourage people to supply whoever is working there, whether us or anyone else, to help these people, supply them with the Word of God, supply them with the tools they need to work with these refugees who are coming," the director said.
"And if Mosul is going to get liberated, Lord willing, we will be going to Mosul to do some work there. I hope to put a Bible in every house in Mosul and declare Christ as King of kings and Lord," he pledged.
Iraqi and other coalition forces have begun their offensive to drive ISIS out of Mosul. Latest reports said ISIS militants have forced about 1,500 families to retreat with them. They also abducted 295 former Iraqi Security Forces members from villages on the outskirts of the city, according to Reuters.
"They're keeping a lot of people hostages. Anybody running away, they're killing," the ministry director said.
"There were two brothers; they killed one of them while he was running out. Most of the people are hostages right now. They want to flee, they just can't," he said. "What's happening right now in Mosul is what they did to the Christians; it's genocide. They're killing everyone who's not working with them or not helping them."
