By Theodore Shoebat
Jim Atherton, fighter for righteousness
A fifty three year old British Christian man named Jim Atherton was filled with enough righteous anger to spend £3,000 in weapons, and join a Christian militia and fight ISIS. Atherton stated:
I couldn’t stand seeing IS killing women and kids. No one seemed to be doing anything about it, so I decided I would. ,,,“I’m a middle-aged white van man. I thought if I’m going to do anything with myself it’s going to be now.
He is armed with an RPK light machine gun, a Glock pistol, and a shotgun; on his chest lies a pouch holding a grenade, alongside his Marlboro cigarettes, and on his leg is strapped a knife. With his arms, he is ready to fight. His wife was “devastated” upon hearing his decision, and his children were “panicking”, once they found out that their father was going to embark on the crusade for humanity. The sense of filial attachment is most devastating, I am sure, however this did not compel Mr. Atherton from going forth to fight for his brethren. But as Jesus Christ said:
And everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or wife or children or lands, for My name’s sake, shall receive a hundredfold, and inherit eternal life. (Matthew 19:29)
Mr. Atherton’s father was a soldier and his brother was killed in battle while in Afghanistan. While he is not a soldier himself, he has inherited the military spirit and knows how to use weapons. “I arrived with no military training but I’m fairly savvy with weapons already because my dad was into competition shooting.”
Atherton joined Dwekh Nawsha, a Christian militia whose name means “the Sacrificers,” and truly this man has sacrificed everything. In sacrificing everything, one obtains all. “Blessed are the poor in spirit: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” (Matthew 5:3) And truly are these holy and sublime words! For in being poor in spirit they have let go of all attachments, and in being absent of world ambitions, and pursuing the Law of Love — which is really the law of sacrifice — do they have the Kingdom of Heaven within their hearts. “The kingdom of God cometh not with observation: Neither shall they say, Lo here! or, lo there! for, behold, the kingdom of God is within you.” (Luke 17:20-21)
Those who have love, sacrifice themselves; those who sacrifice themselves, have God, for God is Love in all of its absoluteness. Mr. Atherton affirms that he is “prepared to die”. Truly the greatest test of the Faith is to face death, to look at death and say ‘there is no death,’ to look at carnal life and say, ‘this is not life,’ and to look to Christ and say, ‘Here stands Life Himself.’ “I am the way, the truth, and the life.” (John 14:6) These are the words of Love Himself, and to be in Love is to truly to scorn death and be in union with Life Himself. Life was crucified on the Cross, to bring to our minds the eternal truth, that carnality is death, that what we think as death is only gain, and that true life — by its very essence — continues on and never ends in the realm of everlasting love.
“Weeping may endure for a night, But joy comes in the morning.” (Psalm 30:5) Such is the earthly life. It is temporal, and by its very name, temporary. It is filled with grief and uncertainties; in one moment there is happiness, but in a transient moment it brittles away like the fall leaf. Before we can see the bliss of the sun’s light, we must endure through the darkness of night. As the prophet Malachi says:
“But to you who fear My name
The Sun of Righteousness shall arise
With healing in His wings” (Malachi 4:2)
Once the sun arises the darkness dissipates, for “light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it.” (John 1:5) So let the light of the Kingdom that is within you shine; let is war against the darkness through the righteous anger that emanates from your heart. “Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven.” (Matthew 5:16) And who will argue the actions of Mr. Atherton are not good works? Who will say that through his actions the light of God is shining from him? By his works he fights evil, he detaches himself from the world, and he allows his works to evidence his faith.
“In the Lord I put my trust; How can you say to my soul, ‘Flee as a bird to your mountain’?” (Psalm 11:1) Let our souls flee from this world and ascend the holy mountain of the Eternal Savior! Let our souls go to “God, In His holy mountain.” (Psalm 48:1) Let our souls soar up to the ceaseless sky, up to the heavenly Mount Zion, “For there the Lord commanded the blessing— Life forevermore.” (Psalm 133:3) Go up to Mount Zion, and there you will see the armies of bliss; there you will see martyrs, who gave up everything to be one with the the Divine Warrior, Who forsook everything for humanity’s everlasting life — although He contains all of the cosmos, and the universe can contain Him. There you will see the soldiers of God, who fought evil to become one with “Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God” (1 Corinthians 1:24), and to be in Christ’s army is to fear God, and “The fear of the Lord is to hate evil” (Proverbs 8:13).
“But you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God,” writes the Apostle, “the heavenly Jerusalem, to an innumerable company of angels, to the general assembly and church of the firstborn who are registered in heaven, to God the Judge of all, to the spirits of just men made perfect, to Jesus the Mediator of the new covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling that speaks better things than that of Abel.” (Hebrews 12: 24) And who are the spirits of just men made perfect but those who “subdued kingdoms, worked righteousness, obtained promises, stopped the mouths of lions, quenched the violence of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, out of weakness were made strong, became valiant in battle, turned to flight the armies of the aliens” (Hebrews 11:33-34)?
Is this not exemplified in the soldiers who combat against the acolytes of darkness? Do they not pick up their crosses, to be as Christ when He warred against the devil and defeated him? It is the same spiritual war. Spiritual war is not some abstract state; it is a physical action done in the midst of spiritual conflict. The Crucifixion was physical, and yet it was a spiritual war. And so these crusaders who pick up their cross and endure unto the end, these are surely soldiers in the sacred battle field of the cosmic struggle between good and evil.
Life is the state of being animated, and the life that ends is only a temporal state. How is it life to live and then end? Why should we call life that which ceases? This is not life, but a test to qualify for life! “For to me, to live is Christ, and to die is gain.” (Philippians 1:21) To die in Christ, is life. Christ died, to teach us how to live. For in dying in Him, we find life. “But whoever will persevere until the end will have life.” (Matthew 24:13)
The warriors of Dwekh Nashaw are very noble. Shoebat.com actually interviewed a member of Dwekh Nawsha not too long ago. A soldier of Christ named Brett Felton.
Photo of Brett Felton (Shoebat Exclusive)
“I’m not here serving my country – I’m here serving Christians,” Brett Felton once told CBS 60 Minutes. But whatever has been told by the secular media, Brett says is not the full story. What you will watch here is a rare breathtaking interview including footage on the Christian fighters Brett trained. Shoebat.com connected hearts with this American sniper to let him speak about what has never been told before regarding the realities of how Christians in Iraq fight valiantly and also how they suffer being sold out by the Kurds (watch video below).
There are no words to describe Brett’s heroism, his deep inner wisdom and his child-like heart, which can all be seen through his eyes as he expresses his inner soul.
Like any American youngster from the east coast, this kid from Detroit initially thought it cool to have tattoos, joined the U.S. armed forces and fought in Iraq witnessing first hand the error of U.S. intervention to remove Saddam Hussein and how later Obama abandoned Iraq completely leaving behind it’s Christian community to fend for themselves. So Brett took the mantle where it was left-off.
Initially, Christ and religion were not even on his mind as he miraculously survived an IED explosion. He knew very little about Christianity or about Iraq being the cradle of his Christian heritage, until of course, he was suddenly jolted by the rude awakening having witnessed the suffering of the Christians there. He describes how Christians were sold out enduring beheadings, pillage, rape and utter misery. Instead of going home to his weeping mother, Brett quickly learned how to speak Arabic blending in the culture to become a suffering saint willing to be martyred for the cause of Christ. In this amazing footage, watching Brett spill his heart out in a never before told story, will not only bring tears, but will expose how the Kurds abandoned the Christians and sold them out to get raped and beheaded by ISIS. He speaks of loneliness and how churches and governments abandoned them in their plight to save Christianity in Iraq. He is truly a warrior mystic. Shoebat.com conducted an exclusive interview that will leave your heart and mind impacted:
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Brett was key in aiding and training his Christian comrades in Iraq. He is an American hero who became one of the leading foreign fighters in the Dwekh Nawsha Christian Militia training them on how to fight against whom Brett calls “cowardly ISIS”.
“The world is abandoning us” Brett laments adding “and we need help, who is going to help us?” He later adds profound wisdom from above: “dying is the easiest thing you will ever do … I laugh at it … but the biggest battle of them all is making the world care”.
“Convincing the world to care is more difficult than being killed for Christ” says Brett.
He describes the material world and ends with a beautiful nugget: “how do you make a people care in the first world? They go to work, they have a Mercedes, and they have a BMW, they have a nice house, what do they want? Do you know why I cry? I don’t cry because my friends die – in this I rejoice in the Lord – I cry because people want a nicer car. People want a bigger house. People want this and that. They want everything that means nothing”.
“They want everything that means nothing”, how profound.
Brett found the secret for his existence. “I will sacrifice everything in this world that I love for what I believe … carrying your cross is the most rewarding thing you will ever do in this life and the next” he says.
And if the material world is not all you seek, you can help Brett (by donating to him here). Rescue Christians will adopt his cause and deliver to him your gifts. Everything you donate to him, 100% will go to his noble cause as he tours the world in search for the suffering Christians. Please circulate this saint’s story that will awaken any Christian soul to see how the New Testament becomes alive in the life of this great American hero.