Gifts for the Persecuted 2011

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PERSECU ION

I N T E R N AT I O N A L C H R I S TIAN CONCER N

Gifts for the Persecuted

letter from the president In January of 1985, I was a brand new, on-fire Christian. I had

just finished college and was in church when the pastor took up a special collection. I heard the Lord tell me very clearly to give the church all the money I had left in the world — $80. I had no job and no prospects and that $80 was my security and castle wall.

Being a new Christian, I realized that (surely) God didn’t understand my financial situation and (clearly) needed me to help him see that what He was asking was unreasonable. So we had the following conversation: Me: “Lord, I can’t give away that money, that’s all the money I have and I don’t have a job yet.”

God: “Give it away.”

Me: “Lord, that’s crazy, I can’t give away my last few dollars. I don’t have anything to live on.”

God: “Give it away.”

Now, He could have explained so much to me. He could have reassured me that He owned the cattle on a thousand hills and that He could provide, but He didn’t. He simply told me again to give it all away and so I did.

Right after the service, somebody walked up to me and told me their office was moving and they needed to hire some cheap muscle for a couple days. That couple of days of work turned into several months of work that lasted until I started my “real” job. I had obeyed and he had turned $80 into almost $3,000.

Satan’s job is to focus our eyes on the material world and to look on the future with anxiety and fear; to get us to believe that we are alone, that God has forgotten us, and there’s no help coming.

Satan whispers to us and we are filled with the worries of this life. He tells us to look to our few dollars as the bulwark against a very scary world. All the while, God sits beside us quietly saying:

“TRUST ME. Your money offers you no answers. I AM the provider.

I AM the sustainer. I AM life. Your money is a snare; turn your gaze away from the world and find LIFE in me.”

If you live under a rock, you may have missed that the world is going to heck in a hand basket. The Lord is intent on teaching us that wealth is a snare. He is teaching this nation, whose God is mammon, that money is not security. It is a vapor. Jesus strongly warned us about the deceitful nature of wealth. Not money, but wealth (financial abundance).

In 2008, I sold my home and bought a new one but took $100,000 of equity and put it into the stock market. Brilliant ... right?

You know what happened. It was a very painful lesson that instantly turned my gaze away from wealth. My gaze had been diverted, but in a moment, God was again my security. Strangely, I welcomed and even treasured that loss because it so quickly brought me back to Truth and a right heart-orientation. When my heart was right again, He restored the loss.

I challenge you to give richly towards God in the midst of the world’s craziness. God is incredibly generous. If you are giving to Him, you cannot, and will not, out-give Him. In His timing, it will return to you (probably in some strange and unexpected way) multiplied.

More importantly, it will free you from the American curse of money being an idol (seeing money as being able to deliver what only God can).

I urge you to choose the persecuted as the recipient of your financial blessing, but regardless of where you give to the Lord, I know that if you lay it at His feet, it will be the means to remove the shackles from your heart and mind, and that you will find true riches in the freedom of a renewed heart that is again dependent on Him. Be Blessed, Jeff King President, ICC

Gift 1 Help us meet needs where most needed Gifts to “Where Most Needed” are used to go to the priority need of the moment.

This year, make a monthly commitment at any amount and your gift will be doubled!* If you want to be sure that your gift has the greatest immediate effect, designate your gift as “Where Most Needed.” This fund allows us to have the flexibility we need to respond quickly and effectively to the greatest needs our ministry faces.

Please make your first giving choice “Where Most Needed.”

“You shall surely give to [your poor brother], and your heart should not be grieved when you give to him, because for this thing the Lord your God will bless you in all your works and in all to which you put your hand. For the poor will never cease from the land; therefore I command you, saying, ‘You shall open your hand wide to your brother, to your poor and your needy in your land.’”

Deuteronomy 15:10-11

Double Your Impact Sign up to become a monthly partner at any amount, and your gift be matched* by another donor.

Every dollar you give this year will be worth two! *matching fund will be limited to an amount determined at a later date.

Call Now to Donate: 1-800-422-5441

new fund!

Gift 2 save our sisters from abduction, rape, slavery, and forced marriage This year, you have a brand new opportunity to give to women whose stories have gripped our hearts.

These women, our sisters, are those who are abducted, raped, forced into conversion and marriage, and even sold into sexual slavery.

Christians are particularly vulnerable to these types of crimes in Islamicdominated countries (though it happens elsewhere) because Christians are viewed as secondclass citizens, have few rights, and are generally left vulnerable and defenseless by local authorities who bow to Muslim pressure.

With your gifts to this fund, we’ll work to rescue these women (many of whom are only girls) from their captors, to provide them with places of refuge to help protect them from this kind of violence, to assist them with job training to get them back on their feet, and to provide them with any support we can.

Please give generously to answer this “SOS” call to Save our Sisters!

“He will rescue their life from oppression and violence, and their blood will be precious in His sight.”

Psalm 72:14

The widow of a martryed evangelist in Ethiopia thanks ICC for their support.

Gift 3 care for the Suffering wives and children of imprisoned or murdered pastors

“Pure and lasting religion in the sight of God our Father means that we must care for the orphans and widows in their troubles.”

James 1:27

When church leaders are martyred or imprisoned, their families are often left without a provider and struggle for survival. Your gifts to this fund help us to fulfill this Biblical mandate to care for these orphans and the widows.

This year, we helped many widows. One of them was the widow of a martyred evangelist in Ethiopia. Birtukan, who was seven months pregnant at the time of her husband’s martyrdom, was left destitute and forced to move into her parent’s hut — which she and her newborn baby shared with ten others. ICC bought three cows to help Birtukan earn a sustainable income. Now, we’re building her a house so that she can raise her new baby girl in a home of their own.

Call Now to Donate: 1-800-422-5441

Gifts to our underground pastors fund contribute to the advancement of the Gospel in persecuted countries around the world.

Gift 4 Strengthen the persecuted by supporting underground pastors

“But if I cast out demons by the Spirit of God, then the kingdom of God has come upon you.”

Luke 11:20

Underground pastors are on the frontlines of persecution in some of the most dangerous countries around the world. Your gifts lend support and encouragement to those who are laying their lives down for their flocks and ensuring that the Gospel continues to advance in the face of persecution. In addition to supporting these pastors with salaries, transportation and training, we’re sending missionaries into regions where Christians have suffered severe persecution to bring the gospel together with radical demonstrations of love to the persecutors.

This year, one of our missionaries was sought out by Paul (not real name), a husband and father of two whose wife was tormented by an unclean spirit. Paul told our missionaries that he first sought help from Hindu priests, but his wife continued to suffer. When our missionary shared the gospel with the family, they opened their hearts to the Lord and asked our missionary to pray. The Father answered his prayers and delivered Paul’s wife! Today, the entire family follows Jesus.

Sponsor the full Christian education of a child from Cairo’s slums and break the cycle of poverty!

Gift 5 help children in garbage city, egypt

“Let the children alone, and do not hinder them from coming to Me; for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these.”

Christian children are sadly among Egypt’s greatest victims of persecution.

Matthew 19:14 Government policies discriminate against Christians for their beliefs and prevent parents from being educated, thereby forcing them to accept demeaning jobs, like trash collection.

Parents usually earn less than $2 a day. Children grow up vulnerable to disease, without a fighting chance for survival and little hope of making something more of their lives. Help us reverse the cycle of poverty by sending Cairo’s poorest Christian children to school!

For only $38.00 per month, you can sponsor a child’s full Christian education. Every child will receive routine medical and dental check-ups, new clothes and shoes when needed, and lunch at school every day. For your sponsorship, you will receive updates from your sponsored child’s teacher, and a personal drawing or letter from your sponsored child twice a year (for the child’s security, we can’t provide names or individual photos).

Call Now to Donate: 1-800-422-5441

We’re caring for Burmese orphans who have lost their parents in the war to drive Christians out of the country.

Gift 6 care for orphans in thailand and india

Vindicate the weak and fatherless; Do justice to the afflicted and destitute.

Psalm 82:3

Children are often the unseen victims of persecution. Every year, children are orphaned or left with scarcely enough provision to survive when their fathers and mothers are imprisoned or martyred for their faith.

In Thailand, we’re caring for Burmese orphans who may have otherwise been forced to become minesweepers for the military junta that has been driving ethnic minorities like the Christian Karen out of Burma for years. In India, we’re caring for children like Ashish (above, left), who lost his father after Hindu radicals beat him to death during the 2008 riots in Orissa, India. His mother later died in a refugee camp of cerebral malaria.

Please become a monthly partner to support these orphans. We will send you updates on our kids twice a year. Your gift of $38 a month will help us provide consistent care, food, lodging and medication for these little ones.

Gifts to our Community Rebuilding fund helped feed families who were displaced after Muslim mobs attacked Christian villages in northern Nigeria.

Gift 7 Rebuild Suffering Communities

“Then they will rebuild the ancient ruins, they will raise up the former devastations; and they will repair the ruined cities, the desolations of many generations.�

Isaiah 61:4

Persecution can, and often does, impact entire communities. Gifts to our community rebuilding fund are dedicated to responding to these kinds of needs through projects like building schools and wells, and providing job training and microfinance opportunities.

This year, we helped many communities, including Christians in northern Nigeria who were attacked by Muslim mobs following the election of a Christian president. After providing displaced Christians with immediate food assistance, we helped our brothers and sisters rebuild their lives by providing nearly 200 families with fertilizer to help restore their burned crops and rebuild their lives.

Call Now to Donate: 1-800-422-5441

Gift 8 restore sight to the blind in sudan

A gift of $5000 can restore sight to more than 140 people!

For 20 years the Muslim North waged a war against the Christian South of Sudan. Schools, churches, hospitals, and almost all of the country’s infrastructure was destroyed. Since the majority of hospitals in the South have been destroyed, today thousands continue to live in a blindness that can easily be healed.

ICC and its partners in Sudan are working to restore the sight of Christians in the South who are suffering from cataracts and other easily cured eye diseases.

Now, for just $35, you can help restore the sight of one of your blind brothers or sisters in Christ. Give generously to let light shine out of the darkness.

Just $35 can grant the gift of sight to a Christian in Sudan.

“As He passed by, He saw a man blind from birth. He spat on the ground, and made clay of the spittle, and applied the clay to his eyes.”

John 9:1-6

Gift 9 broadcast the Gospel into the most dangerous parts of the world via Radio, Web, and TV

In the last 20 years, there has been “The Word of God explosive growth in the number of kept on spreading and Christians in the Middle East. The the number of the primacy source of this was satellite disciples continued to TV and radio. Your gifts to this fund increase greatly.” allow hidden believers and seekers in the most persecuted areas in Islamic Acts 6:7 countries to grow and learn about Christ without fear of being caught and killed. ICC currently supports broadcasts into Iran, North Africa, Somalia, and Afghanistan.

In one country, we received the following testimony from a man who described himself as a Muslim extremist: “I learned the Koran by heart and was extremely careful not to disobey the commandments which were sacred to me. I only spoke with Koranic verses and with writings from the Hadiths. I tried to be perfect for many years, but in my heart I knew that there was emptiness. ...One evening, I listened to Christian radio because I was curious to see how the people of “the book” (Christians) lived their faith. I liked the messages about love, and the teachings touched me profoundly. The Lord entered into my life. I became a new person. My hatred towards others changed into love. I pray that this will happen to others as it happened to me.”

Call Now to Donate: 1-800-422-5441

Gift 10 help send bibles to the persecuted church What we take for granted, those who are persecuted for their faith treasure. In some countries, as many as 30 people will share one Bible. That’s right, one Bible!

The Scriptures being delivered into a spiritually thirsty land are like a sustained, spiritual shower, creating new believers who just seem to sprout up wherever Bibles are sent.

A gift of $5000 can send a Bible to more than 3700 Christians!

For as low as $1.32, you can send a Bible to the persecuted.

This year, your gifts to our Bible fund allowed us to send Bibles into the darkest places on earth, North Korea, through balloon launches (left).

In other parts of the world, we can put a Bible into the hands of a persecuted Christian for as little as $1.32.

SPECIAL BLESSINGS

Gift 11 pack a shoebox full of special blessings for burmese orphans In Burma, thousands of children have lost their parents in a war meant to drive Christians out of Burma. We have been caring for children like these and hope you will join us in bringing a smile to their face this Christmas!

This year, we want to give you the opportunity to bring joy to these orphans by packing a shoebox full of gifts for us to deliver to them. An inexpensive gift for an orphaned child can make all the difference in the world. Will you take some time this Christmas and pack a shoebox of gifts for one of these precious little ones? It’s certain to bless a child who will receive nothing unless you give.

We’ve asked the caretaker of the orphanage for a wish list, and she told us the orphans would love: • • • • •

Small stuffed animals Kid-sized clothes and pajamas Kid-sized socks Combs or hair brushes Toothbrushes

This is a great chance for you to get your whole family involved and really teach them the value of giving. You might also consider suggesting it as a project for your local church or school. The possibilities are endless and the joy your gifts will bring will be a priceless treasure to you.

See the next page for instructions on packing your shoebox.

CHURCHES, SCHOOLS, AND VOLUNTEERS

If you’re part of a church or a school in the D.C. metro area that would like to adopt this project, please contact ICC about serving as a drop-off location for shoeboxes. Also, contact us at 1-800-422-5441 or e-mail us at icc@persecution.org, if you live in the area and would like to volunteer for this project, working in our office.

steps for packing your shoebox

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Locate the gift catalog order form included in this mailing and see the Special Blessings checklist side.

Find a standard size shoebox and write “Burmese Orphan� prominently on the lid.

Go shopping with your list and fill the shoebox full of special blessings.

Include a $7 check to cover transportation cost as well as your completed checklist (for receipting your gift).

Mail your shoebox to ICC (PO Box 8056, Silver Spring, MD 20907). Please make sure you include your $7 donation.

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PERSECU ION

I N T E R N AT I O N A L C H R I S TIAN CONCER N

PO Box 8056, Silver Spring, MD 20907 301-585-5915 | persecution.org |icc@persecution.org