By Veronica Neffinger, ChristianHeadlines.org
Hillsong Church’s co-senior pastor has begun an initiative to pray for the women who are victims of violence perpetrated by the Islamic State.
Bobbie Houston, co-senior pastor of Hillsong Church was especially influenced into action by a recent New York Times article in which a journalist interviewed young women in refugee camps who had escaped from being held hostage by Islamic State fighters.
The stories of the young women are horrific, with one 12-year-old girl telling of the brutal rape she endured at the hands of her Muslim captor who told her that raping her was a way to follow his religion and worship his god.
Other accounts of the violence and sex slavery perpetrated by ISIS militants have been shocking the world in recent weeks.
Houston is calling on women across the globe to designate a time of prayer for these women every day, especially at noon, in honor of the 12 year old girl in the New York Times story, Charisma News reports.
Houston says it is time to do more than to know about these atrocities.
“I’m doing this because we cannot turn away from a harsh reality that is literally happening under our noses and on our watch,” she stated. “We had to respond,” and that response is to call on “the sisterhood to pray fervently for this heinous reality happening.”
Houston urged those who take part in the prayer effort to pray for the victims, but also for the perpetrators, the enemies.
“All I know is that prayer makes a way,” she stated.
Houston added that she recently spoke with a pastor who works with the victims.“They just want to know they are not alone,” he told her.
First reported on ChristianHeadlines.org
Hillsong Pastor Bobbie Houston’s Call To Pray For ISIS Rape Victims