Christianity and the Middle East

So, you're excited to see what is happening in Libya. First Hussein in Iraq, then Mubarak in Egypt, and now Gaddifi in Libya. More to come? Good for Iraq? Good for Egypt? Good for Libya? Good for the world? Good for the Church or the Kingdom of God?
As Christians the final question is far more important than the former. Not to deny, of course, that the world is important to God. What I am pointing out is that many Christians do not look at world affairs through the eyes of the Kingdom of God.
Instead, many Christians are heralding the current events in the Middle East as 'signs' of Jesus' imminent return (just do a google search the end-times and the Middle East). Besides having a poor view of the end-times, these voices fail to view the world through the lens of the Kingdom of God.
The reality is that many of the events in the Middle East are not good for the Christian communities. In saying this, many Christians in the west will stop to contemplate: 'there is a church over there?' I know that when I was first confronted with the awareness that there was indeed a church over there I was somewhat surprised. My American education never told me that. I thought they were all Muslims.
Of course, it is quite obvious that there is a church over there! It is, after all, where Christianity started! Moses, David, Jesus, Paul, Mary, were all Middle Easterners.
But this Church is dying! They are suffering greatly. Many are fleeing their ancestral lands and finding refuge in other parts of the world. The result is that Christianity is in danger of having no presence in the very part of the world in which Jesus walked, in which the Church began!
As Christians we are told that whatever we do for the least of these brothers of mine, we do for Jesus (Matt 25:31-46). For Jesus' sake, then, we must reach out to our brothers and sisters in Christ!
We are putting on a conference on Christianity, the End-Times, and the Middle East Nov 18-19 at Cornerstone Fellowship in Livermore.