[Today’s Prayer] ‘Boom’ during university mass, IS terror attacks also occurred in the Philippines

While a foreign tourist was killed in a stabbing attack by followers of the extremist militant group Islamic State (IS) in Paris, France, a bombing attributed to IS occurred in the Philippines.

According to major foreign media such as CNN and AFP on the 4th, a bomb exploded during a Catholic mass service that took place the morning before at the Mindanao State University gymnasium in Marawi City, Mindanao Island, southern Philippines. It is estimated that at least four people have died in this explosion and more than 50 have been injured. President of the Philippines Ferdinand Marcos Jr. described the explosion on social media (SNS) as “The most senseless and heinous incident committed by foreign terrorists.“ “Extremists who commit violence against innocent people will always be considered enemies of our society,” he said, emphasizing that additional security personnel have been deployed to support the counter-terrorism effort.

President Marcos identified the attacker as a 'foreign terrorist' but did not mention any specific information, such as the name of the terrorist group. However, the SITE Intelligence Group, a counter-terrorism threat intelligence agency that tracks the online activities of extremist groups, announced in a statement that the subject of this terrorist attack was ISIS. “IS detonated an explosive at a large gathering of Christians in Marawi City,” the statement said. IS also claimed responsibility for the explosion through its Telegram channel.

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Philippine Chief of Staff Gen. Romeo Brawner Jr. mentioned the possibility that the bomb attack was a retaliation by Muslim militants for previous failures in combat. Philippine government forces announced on the 1st that they attacked the location of armed members and executives of the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters (BIFF) and Daula Islamiyah (DI) in the southern province of Maguindanao and killed 11 people.

Mindanao Island, where the explosion occurred, is the second largest island in the Philippines and the home of several Islamic rebel groups, and there has been continuous armed conflict between the Philippine government and Islamic separatist militants for a long time. According to CNN, most Filipinos are Catholic, but Mindanao has a significant number of Muslims.

Philippine Islamic separatist militants and government forces signed a ceasefire agreement in 1996, and the largest rebel group, the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), signed a peace agreement with the Philippine government in March 2014. However, armed conflict between numerous Islamic separatist militants and the Philippine government still continues.

In 2017, militants linked to IS surrounded Marawi for five months. At the time, more than 350,000 local residents were forced to abandon their homes and move to other regions due to attacks by these armed forces. At the time, Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte declared martial law in Mindanao and began suppressing rebels. The number of deaths in this process reached over 1,000.

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Source: Money Today

By this is love perfected with us, so that we may have confidence for the day of judgment, because as he is so also are we in this world. There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear. For fear has to do with punishment, and whoever fears has not been perfected in love. (1 John 4:17-18)

We hear the unfortunate news that a bombing committed by IS occurred in Mindanao, the second largest island in the Philippines, resulting in casualties.

May the Lord comfort and quickly heal the young people who lost their lives, their bereaved families, and those who were injured in the explosion that occurred during the university mass.

Even amidst the threat of IS detonating explosives targeting large gatherings of Christians, would you help them become the Philippine church that spreads the gospel and strives to gather together with love that casts away all fear.

This is not a problem in just the Philippines, but as the time of the Lord's return gets closer, there is a dark work that promotes hatred and fear in places all over the world.

May the global church boldly strive to spread the gospel to Muslims until the end, and let the disciples who follow Jesus, who personally showed his love that endured until the point of death, rise up and march forward, illuminating all darkness with the light of the truth of Jesus.

Therefore, as the day of the Lord's return, the day of judgment, draws closer, may they have boldness and may the Philippine church and the global church strive to spread the love of Jesus to all nations.