Q & A

Nearly thirty years ago I was sitting in my small study reading Isaiah when I saw Assyria included in Isaiah’s prophecy found in 19:23-25. I was stunned, because I assumed Assyria was wiped off the face of the earth when they were defeated in  612 B.C. I did not pursue the prophecy at the time, but the question kept resurfacing in my mind as to how this could be true. I never dreamed that God would use that one small question to lure me into the most challenging ministry of my entire life.  Nearly thirty years ago I was sitting in my small study reading Isaiah when I saw Assyria included in Isaiah’s prophecy found in 19:23-25. I was stunned, because I assumed Assyria was wiped off the face of the earth when they were defeated in  612 B.C. I did not pursue the prophecy at the time, but the question kept resurfacing in my mind as to how this could be true. I never dreamed that God would use that one small question to lure me into the most challenging ministry of my entire life.

Although I was not viewed as an authority about the Assyrian history and its people, I spoke on the subject at a denominational world convention. A man named Reverend John Booko came out of the audience and said, “Dr. Ron, I have never heard anyone speak on this subject. I have written two books on it. If you write the next one, I’ll give you all of my research. I am an Assyrian.”

I was quite taken back by my unexpected experience of meeting an Assyrian.  Many years later, when I was ready to write the book, I spoke with Sabri Atman by phone. He heads an organization that studies and reveals the Assyrian genocides. He arranged for a meeting with Assyrian leaders in California so that I could meet with them and learn more about the Assyrian story. I found favor in their hearts and that opened the door to meet many more Assyrians. Frankly, having studied about them and now coming to know them has almost made them like my people.   

The Assyrians have ancient roots reaching back to Noah’s grandson, Ashur. Syrians do not. The Assyrians date back some 4000 years. The Syrians do not. The Syrians are the ancient Persians. The Assyrians have a much deeper history. Their homeland is in Mesopotamia (northern Iraq, a slice of Turkey and Syria), not Persia (today’s Iran). They are two totally separate people groups.

WWI began the great exodus for safety reasons. At least a million and a half scattered around the world. Then the trouble that struck at the turn of the century scattered another million into diaspora. The ISIS murderous assault in 2014 scattered even more people. Today about 250,000 remain in the land. They are struggling with severe hardship. Many are in refugee camps.  The leaders are saying that if there is one more war, Christianity will be completely gone from the region.      

I think that Reverend John Booko planted the seed. I told him I would write a book, but a great deal of study is needed before I could undertake the project. Then, when ISIS struck in 2014, I knew the time had come. I had to do something and writing the book was strongly impressed upon my mind. That is when I took the deep plunge into research and writing. 

First, in many ways the Assyrians are our spiritual parents. They were the greatest evangelistic force of the early Church. Now, our parents need us and her children must rise up and respond. Second, the Assyrian prophecy is clearly the will of God. It is older than Isaiah. God determined her place in the end-times before the foundations of the world. Third, coupled with Israel, she will be a great agent of peace in the Middle East. Fourth, to have Assyria established as a sovereign Christian nation would offer the west some solace for the loss of eight trillion dollars and untold gallons of blood. The fewer dollars in the bank and the empty chair at the Thanksgiving table will have some value other than walking away devastated and feeling it was a waste.

That is a powerful question. My purpose of existence is to hasten the coming of the day of God (2 Peter 3:12) by preaching the gospel to all nations. Assyria is like the bookends of the Church age. She was the greatest evangelistic voice that launched the Church from Mesopotamia to China and India. Then she was driven into obscurity by Islamic forces, and that just for being Christian.  Now, as she rises anew from the martyr’s blood, she will have a stronger voice for the gospel than ever. 

Prior to her fall in 612 B.C., Assyria reigned as the mightiest empire on earth. That meant that she overpowered numerous nations and subjected them to her rule. After her defeat, she wandered for some six hundred years. Then, in 37 A.D. Thomas, Bartholomew and Thaddeus preached the gospel to them and they converted as a people group almost overnight. They took the Great Commission to heart. They turned from empire building to kingdom building—God’s Kingdom, that is. With a Bible in one hand and a loaf of bread in the other, they hit the Old Silk Road and took the gospel all the way to China and India. They left between sixty and eighty million converts in their trail. They also led the world through the so-called dark ages by advancing the gospel, philosophy and medicine.

This is always a shocker. There is strong evidence that Abraham was Assyrian. He came from Ur of the Chaldees and that was Assyrian territory at the time. He clearly knew the God of Noah. He probably learned to believe God from what I believe was the remnant of true believers in Assyria.

Indeed, there is strong evidence. The Assyrians were famed Astronomers. In fact, the University of Tsukuba put out an article on October 18, 2019, with this headline:  Ancient Assyrian Astronomers Documented Solar Storms on Clay Tablets 2,700 Years Ago – Now Matched with Radioisotope Data. The Assyrians were leaders in searching the skies to find a sign of the coming Messiah. 

Yes. A highway crosses the Negev Desert connecting Egypt and Israel today. More intriguing is that a rabbinically trained Jew in Israel desires to establish an Assyrian embassy in Jerusalem so that the two nations can come to know and respect one another. This is a fact that I can verify. I have spoken with this individual several times.

The Assyrians were promised assistance in becoming a sovereign nation on her legally owned historic homeland if she aided Great Britain and France. The Assyrians proved to be valiant fighters and their feats are well documented. After the war, however, Great Britain put her empire before ethics and walked away from the Assyrians. France did the same thing. The League of Nations refused to even consider their plea for help. After engaging and fighting on behalf of these countries, and contributing much to the victory of these nations, everyone turned away and fed her to the wolves.      

We are witnessing the changing of the seasons that Jesus outlined for His disciples in Matthew 24. Frankly, the leaves are not only turned, they are already blanketing the ground. Israel has been back in her homeland since 1948. There is no imaginable reason for Assyria not to take her seat and prepare for her end-time fulfillment. Noah did not start building the ark the night before the flood, and Assyria needs strong and effective help to reestablish herself for the first time in 2600 years.