International Christian Concern
PERSECUTION S E P T E M B E R 2011
inside this issue:
Poverty, Death in Cairo’s Garbage Slums ICC visits the families of Christians killed in protests following Egypt’s revolution
The final installment of our interview with Jihadist Anjem Choudary
PERSECU ION
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Interview with a Jihadist, Part IV
I N T E R N AT IONAL CHRIS TIAN CONCERN
your bridge to the persecuted church
INSIDE THIS ISSUE September 2011
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Interview with a Jidhadist, Part IV ICC’s President, Jeff King, interviews Anjem Choudary, a radical Islamist from the UK. Though most would call his views extremist, Choudary claims he is merely adhering to the Qur’an and Hadith.
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Blood of the Martyrs and Light of the Gospel The story of Birtukan and Birhane - the wife and daughter of an evangelist whose martyrdom has shed the light of the Gospel on a small community in southern Ethiopia.
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Highlights from Islam Uncensored ICC’s President, Jeff King, has just completed his first book: Islam Uncensored. In July, we introduced you to each of the 14 experts he interviewed on Islam. This month, we want to highlight snippets from our interviews with two of the men we approached for their understanding of the role Saudi Arabia plays in the spread of radical Islam.
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Poverty, Death in Cairo’s Garbage Slums In the midst of Cairo’s garbage slums, where Coptic Christians have been forced to live out their lives as third-class citizens, ICC visits the families of Christians killed in protests following Egypt’s revolution.
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Day of Prayer for the Persecuted The International Day of Prayer for the Persecuted is November 13th. ICC is offering a free resource to help your church remember the persecuted.
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Your Donations at Work In response to the request and gift of a single donor who read a story on our website, we were able to rebuild an evangelist’s home that was burned down by Muslims in Ethiopia.
From the President’s Desk Unable to stand seeing her husband being beaten to death in front of her eyes, the mother-to-be stepped between her husband and his attackers. Deflecting her attempts to defend him, the men turned on Birtukan — then seven months pregnant — and beat her until she lost consciousness. When she awoke, she was in a hospital, surrounded by the faces of friends and family. But she was struck with grief when she realized that her husband Abraham was not among them. He had not survived the brutal beating. Her only consolation was in the uninjured baby in her womb. Birtukan moved from her village to live in a grass hut with her mother and ten others. Overwhelmed with fear and grief, her spirit wasted away until she cried out to God, “Lord, have you forgotten me? No one has helped me.” Little did she know, God had already sent help her way. The next day, when a representative from ICC arrived, Birtukan was overcome by the Lord’s compassion and saving hand. She said: “Have the Christians in America really heard about me? Yesterday, I cried out to God and said, ‘Lord, have I been forgotten? I was crying yesterday and here you are today with the help I needed.” She had given up on God. Can you relate to her story? I know I can! Struggles such as betrayal, divorce, death, financial strain, and personal failure can interrupt our days, leaving us weary. It almost seems that the Lord stretches us until our faith fails, and then He brings help. Other times, there is no rescue from our struggles, and we are left to walk through the desert that we are in. Money and food can help with physical needs, but for spiritual hunger, there is only one answer: the bread of life—the water of life—the river of life. This true life is what we need and crave, and it is found only in Jesus. The deepest joy I’ve ever known came in a time of great pain. What a strange paradox. Regardless of our own circumstances, let us always remember our persecuted brothers and sisters around the world who are struggling in ways that we may never know. Whatever you give will be used efficiently, effectively, and ethically, I promise! Jeff King President, ICC
You can help today! www.persecution.org | From all of us, thank you!
Anjem Choudary (center) at the head of a Muslim protest in the UK.
Interview with a Jihadist Part IV - Final
By the standards of most Westerners, Anjem Choudary, a British citizen who was born and raised in the UK, is an extremist Muslim. According to Choudary, he simply adheres to the teachings of the Qur’an and Hadith. Choudary doesn’t shy away from making highly controversial statements to Western audiences. He says that Islam is not a religion of peace and fully believes that terrorism and jihad are part of Islam. He wants to establish an Islamic state in the UK, and throughout the world, where converts from Islam are put to death, and Christians and Jews
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are treated as third-class citizens. He was a spokesman for a now-banned Islamist group known as Isalm4UK. He has appeared on CNN, BBC and other major mainstream media. An expert on Islamic terrorism in the UK told the president of ICC that one in every six-to-seven people jailed in the UK on Islamic terror charges is connected with Choudary. This article is the final part of an interview between ICC’s president and Mr. Choudary. The first three parts of the interview may be found in our October, March and April newsletters, respectively.
“In comparison to religious leaders like Moses, Jesus, Buddha or Confucious, Muhammad came into the world with a radically different message
... Why do you put your eternal trust in him?”
ICC: In comparison to religious leaders like Moses, Jesus, Buddha, or Confucius, Muhammad came into the world with a radically different message. He killed many people and took their wealth. He had many wives (one of them was nine years old). He enslaved many of those he conquered. He had his way with the women he conquered. He looks to an outsider like a gardenvariety warrior of his period. Why do you put your eternal trust in him? Especially since he had no miracles?
His commands. That is something that every single messenger brought. In terms of the Sharia, [or in] terms of the law and order, the Sharia of the prophet Muhammad is different from that of Jesus, which is different from that of Moses, and so on. The Sharia varies from messenger to messenger. ICC: Yes, but Muhammad is radically different from other religious leaders. Let me give you an example… Choudary: You’re not going to repeat that sentence again.
Choudary: I reject your description about him. I think it’s very insulting what you said about him.
ICC: No, no, no. Listen. Are you familiar with Joseph Smith, the man who started Mormonism?
ICC: Okay. Tell me where I’m off.
Choudary: I know Mormonism.
Choudary: I don’t want you to say things like that. It’s just unacceptable for you to say things like that to me.
ICC: From your perspective and from mine, it’s a false religion. Joseph Smith comes and says, “Look, I’m a prophet and the Scriptures are corrupted. I have the last revelation from God, so you must believe and trust me.” He started a religion, and now maybe millions around the world have followed him as a prophet and adhered to his beliefs.
What I’m saying is that, in terms of belief, the prophet Muhammad brought essentially the same message as every other messenger from God — the message to refuse to worship and obey anything other than God and to submit to Him and
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“The Quran is not from the Arabs, and the prophet Muhammad never claimed it for himself, so we must look at it as from the same god who sent Abraham, Moses, Jesus and so on. We are
convinced about the infallibility of the Quran, and therefore he must be a prophet.”
Given that example, how do you then say “yes” to Muhammad? Why do you trust that he is from God? Choudary: Every prophet had some proof he was a prophet to the people. For example, in the time of Moses, Allah gave him certain miracles to challenge the magicians. Similarly, at the time of Jesus, he was able to bring someone back from the dead, and therefore the people believed in him. In the time of the messenger Muhammad, despite the fact that he was illiterate, Allah gave him the Quran and the verses of the Quran. The linguistic meaning and the profound understanding is something that the Arab people could not match. So because he started to recite these beatitudes, and by the way there are over 400,000 sayings of the prophet which do not have the same grammar and style, the people believed in him.
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Obviously there were many other miracles like the splitting of the moon and the water that came from his fingers. There are many things that the people believed, but the thing which transcends time is the Quran. The Quran, in the style, grammar and meaning, is something on which man cannot lay his finger. The Arabs could not match it, thus the Quran is not from the Arabs, and the prophet Muhammad never claimed it for himself, so we must look at it as from the same god who sent Abraham, Moses, Jesus and so on. We are convinced about the infallibility of the Quran, and therefore he must be a prophet. ICC: To sum up — you’re saying you believe in Muhammad because of the miracle of the Quran being so amazing and beautiful? Choudary: Yes.
The protests above were organized by Muslims connected with Choudary. ICC: Moses, Jesus, and Muhammad are all held as prophets within Islam, yet Jesus and Muhammad are polar opposites. How do you reconcile them if both came from God? Choudary: Your criteria are not the same as my criteria for comparing them. The Bible and what we have on our hands today is certainly corrupted. Although it contains some truth, you cannot distinguish the truth and the corruption. This is one of the reasons the prophet
Muhammad came — to clarify the mistakes of the people. ICC: But is it at least fair to say that what we know about Jesus from the Bible (which you’re saying is corrupted) is radically different from what we know about Muhammad? At this point I lost contact with Mr. Choudary. I tried to contact him several times to continue the interview, but I was unable to get through.
“The Bible and what we have on our hands today is certainly corrupted. Although it contains some truth, you cannot distinguish the truth and the corruption. That is one of the reasons the prophet Muhammad came — to clarify the mistakes of the people.”
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The Blood of the Martyrs and the Light of the Gospel “We named her Berhane — it means light. The shedding of her father’s blood has shed the light of the Gospel on the Muslims in the city where he gave his life.” Tertullian once said that the blood of the martyrs is the seed of the church. There is perhaps no greater evidence of that truth than the joy in the voice of the mother who spoke these words about her daughter’s name less than two months after her husband’s brutal martyrdom. On April 21, Birtukan joined her evangelist husband, Abraham, to minister to a sick Muslim man in Worabe, Ethiopia. Abraham prayed for the man and shared the Gospel with him. As the couple left the man’s house to return to their home, they were met and stopped by three Muslim men who said they wanted to speak to the evangelist. Birtukan watched as the men led her husband away and suddenly began to beat him with rods. When she rushed in to attempt to protect her husband, the assailants turned on her — beating Birtukan, then seven-months pregnant, until she fell unconscious. With his pregnant wife lying unconscious in the dirt, the men continued beating Abraham with the rods until they had broken both his hands and 8 | You can help today! www.persecution.org
his legs. Finally, they raised their machetes and brought them down on his head — killing him on the spot. A Muslim hospital worker who saw the evangelist’s body after Abraham and his wife were found and rushed to a hospital said he had never seen anyone killed in such a brutal way.
A Widow’s Suffering When Birtukan finally awoke in the hospital, though she was surrounded by supportive friends and family, she immediately recognized that her husband was not among them. The terror that gripped her heart in that moment was realized when her friends told her that her husband had been killed in the assault. Devastated by the news, but thankful for the miraculous survival of her unborn child, Birtukan chose to move to a remote village to live with her mother once she was released from the hospital. There, Birtukan struggled with the grief over her husband’s death while sharing a small thatched-grass home with ten other people.
Comforting the Brokenhearted Eager to help ease her suffering, ICC sent one of our representatives in Ethiopia to visit Birtukan with funds to help meet her immediate needs. When he arrived and explained that ICC had heard about her plight and wanted to help, she told us something that makes all of our efforts worthwhile:
“Have the Christians in America really heard about me? Yesterday, I cried out to God and said ‘Lord, have I been forgotten? Is there anyone helping me?’ Then a man of God from our village prayed for me and said, ‘God will never forsake you.’ I believed that. I was crying yesterday and here you are today with the help I needed.”
ICC sent one of our representatives to visit the widow of a martyred evangelist in Ethiopia.
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“Have the Christians in America really heard about me? ... I was crying yesterday and here you are today with the help I needed.” | You can help today! www.persecution.org
“Her story broke my heart. I comforted her and told her how the gospel of Jesus Christ was passed from one generation to the next generation through the sacrifices of the martyrs. I also encouraged her by telling her that the Lord will never leave her.” After meeting with Birtukan, our representative said:
“Her story broke my heart. I comforted her and told her how the gospel of Jesus Christ was passed from one generation to the next generation through the sacrifices of martyrs. I also encouraged her by telling her that the Lord will never leave her.” Greatly encouraged by our visit as an answer to her prayers, Birtukan thanked the ICC donors who helped her (donors to our Suffering Wives and Children Fund), saying, “May the Lord remember you at the time of your need!”
The Light of the Gospel On July 6th, just days after our visit, Birtukan gave birth to the baby girl she named Berhane, which means “light” in Amharic. Since then, we’ve learned that Birtukan’s assessment of the effect of her husband’s shed blood was more than mere optimism. Abraham’s zeal for the Gospel drew the hatred of Muslims who resented his success in bringing Muslims to Christ. Following his death, a number of Christian leaders in the city were invigorated with fresh zeal to continue the work that Abraham had carried out so faithfully while he was alive. Church leaders are now leading the effort to mobilize greater outreach efforts to bring the light of the Gospel to Muslims in the area. Determined to preach the gospel even if it costs them their lives, the church leaders are organizing a city-wide conference to reach Muslims for Christ. One church leader told us that many Christians in the area, who are often pressured to convert to Islam, have said they would rather die than abandon their faith.
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Birtukan, the widow of a martyred evangelist, thanks ICC donors for bringing an answer to her prayers.
Sustaining the Widow The Bible emphatically teaches us about our Father’s heart for the widow and the fatherless. Birtukan and Berhane are so precious in the sight of God who “defends the cause of the fatherless and the widow, and loves the sojourner, giving him food and clothing” (Deuteronomy 10:18). He tells us that true religion is “to visit orphans and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unstained from the world” (James 1:27). Responding to that mandate, ICC is in the process of purchasing three cows and a home for Birtukan. The cows will provide her and Berhane with a sustainable income through breeding and milk sales. Thanks to all of you who have given to our Suffering Wives and Children Fund and have fulfilled the call of God to the widow and the afflicted. May God bless you!
“We named her Berhane — it means light. The shedding of her father’s blood has shed the light of the gospel on the Muslims in the city where he gave his life.” 11 | You can help today! www.persecution.org
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Highlights from Islam Uncensored ICC’s President, Jeff King, has just completed his first book: Islam Uncensored. The book is a collection of 14 interviews with experts on Islam from across the spectrum, including: conservatives, liberals, atheists, Muslims, Jews, Christians, feminists, and more. In last month’s newsletter, we introduced you to each of these 14 experts. This month, we want to highlight snippets from our interviews with two of the men we approached for their understanding of the role Saudi Arabia plays in the spread of radical Islam.
The CIA Director James Woolsey has served five times in the federal government, holding presidential appointments in two Democratic and two Republican administrations including serving as the 16th director of Central Intelligence under President Bill Clinton. A graduate of Stanford, Oxford, and Yale Law School, Mr. Woolsey has written extensively on this issue and argues that the West is in the middle of fighting a “Long War” against radical Islam. In our interview with Mr. Woolsey, he discussed the role of Saudi Arabia in advancing radical Islam and what must be done in order to defeat it.
On Saudi Arabia and Radical Islam: “The Saudis’ and Al-Qaeda’s underlying beliefs are for all practical purposes identical. … They both believe in an extreme form of Sharia, they both believe apostates and homosexuals should be killed, they both believe in stoning women who are convicted of adultery. When they stone a man, they bury him only up to his waist and he is able to scrape the dirt away, often extricate himself before he’s hurt too badly, and if he can get out and get away from where he’s being stoned, he’s let go. The woman is buried up to her neck and tied in such a way that she can’t escape.”
On the Advancement of Islam in the West: We asked Mr. Woolsey about his support of voters from his home state of Oklahoma’s who are calling for a ban on any application of Sharia law by the state courts: 13 | You can help today! www.persecution.org
“The problem tends to come up in the West with respect to women’s rights, particularly the beating of wives and the killing of daughters— so called honor killings. It’s come up a lot in Britain, the Netherlands, Germany and Italy. What happens is a husband will beat his wife, and she’ll bring charges against him, but he’ll say it is his right under his religion. One of these cases went all the way up to the Italian Supreme Court of Cassation and the beater was upheld. “ “We’ve only had one case I know of in the US where that kind of a defense was offered when a man beat and raped his wife and was upheld at the trial level in New Jersey. This was a year or so ago, and then he lost at the appellate level. When they asked me to make this robo-call, they said, “We haven’t had any cases like this in Oklahoma,” and I said, “I don’t know that you have to have one woman per state beaten, and a beater exonerated, before you pass a Constitutional amendment.”
On Fighting Radical Islam: “The first thing we’ve got to do is stop talking in euphemisms and dancing around the issue. This business of the government filing a report of Major Hassan’s killing of his 13 fellow soldiers and never mentioning the word Muslim or Islam, or anything. He’s just a random violent extremist. That’s nuts. ... Sometimes I feel like they’ll go to the extreme in thinking up euphemisms. Instead of calling terrorists ‘violent extremists,’ maybe they will call them ‘Anger Management Challenged Candidates for Therapy.’
The Convert to Islam Stephen Suleyman Schwartz is an American journalist who converted to Islam (Sufi) in 1997. He is a vociferous critic of Islamic fundamentalism and especially targets Wahhabi Islam. As the executive director of the Center for Islamic Pluralism, he is an expert on Islamist extremism and has appeared in many periodicals, including the Wall Street Journal, The Spectator and the Weekly Standard. Mr. Schwartz also discussed the critical role that Saudi Arabia plays in radicalizing the world’s Muslims. 14 | You can help today! www.persecution.org
On Saudi Arabia and Radical (Wahhabi) Islam: “There was a powerful clan in Nejd, headed by Muhammad Ibn Saud, and they formed a partnership with the house of Muhammad Ibn Abd-al-Wahhab, the founder of Wahhabism. The agreement was that the House of Saud would control political, financial, and governance practices while the house of the descendants of Ibn abdul-Wahhab would control religious life. The two families married and they continue to marry among themselves. This created the situation of a joint Wahhabi/House of Saud plan for control of Arabia. They took over for the second and last time in Mecca and Medina in 1924 and the Saudi kingdom was established in 1932.”
On the Advancement of Radical Islam in the West: “[Authentic] Islam did not really emerge as a significant religion in the United States until after the 1980s. When it began to emerge in numbers it had no hierarchy, no apparatus, and no organizations. Suddenly, Saudi-financed Wahhabi organizations emerged, like The Council on American-Islamic Relations, the Islamic Society in North America and some Pakistani jihadist organizations like The Islamic Circle in North America. They essentially set up a social, political and religious apparatus for Muslims in America. All of a sudden, Muslims in America had organizations that claimed to speak for them. They ended up creating a structure in the United States with Saudi money, South Asian functionaries, and [Muslim] Brotherhood literature.”
On Fighting Radical Islam: “Very simple solution. King Abdullah should cut off all money going to foreign Wahhabi dawa. He should say Wahhabism is no longer a State religion in this country, and we’ll no longer allow any money to go to finance international radicalism by Wahhabi. That will be it. It will be just like it was when the Soviet Union stopped being communist. With an end to the flow of money, the phenomenon will end.”
Order your copy from ICC today for only $14 with free shipping. Just call us at 1-800-422-5441. All profits go to ICC and ministry funding. 15 | You can help today! www.persecution.org
Poverty, Death
in Cairo’s
Garbage Slums
Cairo’s mid-July heat added to the stench of spoiled food and waste stagnating in the streets on a breezeless afternoon. Fish, eggs and half-consumed cartons of milk rotted under the sweltering sun, nearly gagging me as I walked through an alley in Mokattam’s ‘garbage community’ of Manshier Nasr. Despite the putrid scent, Coptic women, clad in black, continued their work unfazed amidst the heaps of trash covering their doorsteps and piled in the lower floors of their homes. With arms elbow-deep in garbage, they dug through rotting leftovers, human feces, and other waste in search of plastic, aluminum, and anything else worth trading for a penny’s profit. In the aftermath of Egypt’s revolution, these women were laboring in hopes of earning two dollars a day, just enough for their families to survive. ICC was there to visit nine families who had lost one of their key providers in protests demanding freedoms and equal rights for the long-oppressed Coptic community. Though the revolution had finally given them a voice to call for their own freedom, each of these nine Christian families learned that it had done little to improve the life or status of Christians in Cairo. As I sat with the brokenhearted mothers and families in their homes, they shared the tragic story of their sons’ deaths.
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Slaughter in Mokattam “Where is that gunfire coming from?” sixteen-year-old Shenouda Adly asked his friend. “The revolution has reached our doorstep,” the friend replied. In reality, the gunfire Shenouda heard was the sound of a protest in Manshier Nasr. On March 8, Christians mobilized the protest after a church had been burned to the ground days earlier by a mob in the nearby village of Sol. Demonstrations had been taking place throughout Cairo in the days following the church burning, and now the young men of Manshier Nasr decided it was time to take their stand. Hundreds of young Coptic Christians gathered in the streets, denouncing the lack of justice given to the victims of Sol and demanding an end to the discrimination that had
“The revolution has reached our doorstep.” repressed them for years under former President Hosni Mubarak and continued even into post-revolution Egypt. The freedoms and reforms they fought for in the revolution had not yet been implemented and they were growing impatient. Within hours, an opposing radical mob gathered near the Coptic protestors in an attempt to disperse them. An intense confrontation followed as the two sides began chucking rocks at one another and demanding that the other leave. “We were at one side and the Muslims on the other. We had hundreds of injured at the Coptic side,” an eyewitness said. Hearing the crackle of gunfire, Shenouda could not resist the urge to see the protest for himself, his mother told ICC. When Shenouda arrived at the scene, his father was already there and told him to return to the house immediately. This was no place for a sixteen-year-old boy. At 3:00 pm, the Egyptian military intervened. At first, the military stood by watching, then shot in the air to disperse the protestors. When those efforts failed, they opened fire on the Coptic crowd. The crowd scattered in the chaos of incoming bullets.
The mother and sister of a 16-year-old boy murdered in a riot in Egypt thank ICC for their support. PERSECU ION
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I N T E R N AT IONAL CHRIS TIAN CONCERN
The mother and father of a young man who was killed while protesting for the rights of Christians in Egypt.
A Family’s Grief Sama’an Nazmi also joined the protest that day. “I’m not afraid,” Sama’an told a friend. “I want to protect my church and my family.” “We didn’t want to see him go,” said Sama’an’s mother. “But he wanted to help those who were injured.” The gunfire continued after Sama’an arrived at the scene. It was he who became the next victim — falling to the ground under the horrified gaze of his wife who watched from atop a 18 | You can help today! www.persecution.org
hill that overlooked the street. “They take our children, our money, and our power. They take everything. What do they want from us?” Sama’an’s mother lamented. As I sat with Sama’an’s family in their home, his wife showed me their wedding photo as their five-yearold son and two-year-old daughter chased after baby chicks scurrying across a rug. Amidst the chirps and laughing children, Sama’an’s wife broke down in tears. I was lost for words. What would she do now? How could she raise her children on her own? The only help she had was Sama’an’s mother. His father was out of the picture, having been arrested a year earlier for owning a pig, which became illegal in Cairo after the swine flu epidemic of 2009. Sama’an’s wife and mother, as well as nine others families whose husbands or sons were taken from them, continue to perform the only work they’ve ever known — trash collecting. Their children, now fatherless, are expected to contribute from as early as five years old. PERSECU ION
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Shenouda’s father returned home immediately once the gunfire had ceased to make sure his son was safe. “Where’s my son? Where’s my son?” the father shouted when Shenouda was nowhere to be found. It wasn’t until hours later that they found him in the hospital — arriving only to learn he had been shot through the chest and was already dead. “It was the army who killed him,” Shenouda’s uncle, whose hand was bandaged from being shot in the attack, told ICC. “They shot at many Christians.”
I N T E R N AT IONAL CHRIS TIAN CONCERN
How We’re Helping During our visit, ICC proposed plans to help the nine families begin a sustainable business, such as opening a kiosk to sell vegetables or soft drinks. The ideas were quickly refused. The craft of trash sifting, which has been passed down from generation to generation, is the only ‘skill’ these communities know. Though poor, these families stick to the familiar, afraid that a new vocation might leave them penniless. Unfortunately, this attitude has a ripple effect that is passed on to their children. Expected to contribute to the family’s income, the child’s education is often overlooked or ignored. Without it, a child’s opportunity for a better life vanishes and the cycle of poverty continues. For this reason, rather than pressuring families to pursue a new trade, ICC is looking into purchasing equipment that will speed up the recycling process and produce a higher income. In addition, we are partnering with the local church to help poor families understand the importance of a child’s education and hope to begin offering them the means to send their children to Christian kindergartens in the community.
If you would like to partner with ICC in our efforts to help this community, please make a donation to our Hand of Hope Fund for the Middle East and include a note designating your gift for “Egypt.” 19 | You can help today! www.persecution.org
INTERNATIONAL DAY OF PRAYER FOR THE PERSECUTED
Most Christians are only marginally aware of the suffering of Christians around the world. Additionally, when confronted with the reality of persecution, many recoil so badly that they refuse to engage. These two problems—lack of awareness and revulsion from pain—are why the International Day of Prayer for the Persecuted Church is so important. Held annually the second Sunday in November, it is a day set aside to pray for those who are persecuted. This year, that day is November 13th. To make the day of prayer a success, ICC is providing a FREE PDF for your congregation to become better informed about the persecuted. This year, the flyer features four Christians who are currently imprisoned and in desperate need of your prayers. Simply go to persecution.org/idop and download the flyer. Print as many as you like at no charge. It’s our gift to you to help inform Christians about what is happening in the world today. Also, if you choose not to have your day of prayer on November 13th, our flyers are non-date specific, so they can be used at any time! 20 | You can help today! www.persecution.org
ICC’s Annual Financial Report for 2010 An increasing number of individuals, churches, foundations and other ministry partners supported ICC during 2010 with record giving. ICC always seeks ways to wisely use the Lord’s money for ministry to the persecuted church and to maintain our administrative expenses at an absolute minimum. Our General and Administrative Expenses and Fundraising Expenses as a percentage of income was 5.2% of our total income this past year. A summary of ICC’s financial results for 2010 is provided for you below:
Fiscal Year
2010
Income Program Expenses* General & Admin.
$2,031,076 $776,663 $78,767
Fundraising**
$27,579
Total Expenses
$873,009
*Program expenses are funds we spend to do ministry. For instance, if we provide support for a persecuted pastor, that is considered a “program expense.” In 2010, we received a million dollar gift for Bibles that we will spend over the next few years, which means the ratio of program expenses to income may seem skewed. ** This figure is derived using an arbitrary percentage of all general and admin expenses.
ICC Board Members James Schnabel, Chairman Dr. Frank T. Robb, Vice Chairman Jeffrey King, President
Richard Tucker Ed Wormald Scott Streator Christopher Kirk
ICC Facebook Community Reaches 100,000 One of the ways ICC keeps its expenses low in raising awareness for the persecuted is by utilizing Facebook - a free resource with minimal advertising cost that has enabled ICC to reach more than 100,000 people from around the world with the plight of the persecuted. We invite you to become a part of this growing community that is standing with and praying for our brothers and sisters in Christ. You can join by visiting facebook.com/persecuted and clicking “Like” at the top of the page. 21 | You can help today! www.persecution.org
YOUR DONATIONS AT WORK A Sudanese man thanks ICC for restoring his sight
Restoring Sight to the Blind For several years now, ICC has funded cataract surgery camps in remote areas of southern Sudan that have cured the eyesight of hundreds of patients. At a camp held in June, Elia Moga (above) was able to see for the first time in years, having suffered from bilateral cataracts. We spoke with Elia while he was waiting to have his second cataract surgery (the first having been done days earlier at the same camp). We asked how the cataract had affected him, and he told us that he is a pastor and has not been able to read his Bible or preach. He is also a farmer, and has been idle for years without the ability to tend his crops. Elia’s son then went on to explain that his father could not even go to the latrine by himself. Both Elia and his son were ecstatic about Elia’s sight being restored. Elia was beaming and said aloud, “Thank you, ICC!” while standing in line. The surrounding crowd roared with laughter along with Elia. ICC has long been involved in helping Christians in southern Sudan. The seemingly endless civil war in the south claimed two million lives and destroyed hospitals and much of the region’s infrastructure. As a result, southerners in remote villages did not have access to medical treatment or facilities, and were forced to live with easily curable diseases like blindness. Many Christians are still living in blindness, not able to afford or having no access to treatment. ICC funds numerous camps each year that restore sight to hundreds of patients in a remote area of South Sudan. For just $20, you can restore the sight of a brother or sister in Christ by giving to our Hand of Hope fund for Africa and including a note for “Sight for the Blind.” PERSECU ION
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I N T E R N AT IONAL CHRIS TIAN CONCERN
Ethiopian evangelist thanks an ICC donor for rebuilding his home after it was burned down by Muslims
Concerned Supporter Rebuilds the Torched Home of an Evangelist On March 29, Muslim radicals burned down the home of an Ethiopian evangelist because of his success in bringing Muslims to Christ. One of our supporters read the story on our website and called to ask if he could help rebuild the evangelist’s home. We were able to respond to his request immediately after we received the donation to start the process of rebuilding. We are so grateful for the concern of our supporters! If you ever read a story in our newsletter or on our website and would like to help a specific victim, please do not hesitate to call us. We will do everything we can to get in touch with the victim and provide the necessary relief or assistance. Call us at 1-800-ICC-5441.
An evangelist’s new home under construction PERSECU ION
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I N T E R N AT IONAL CHRIS TIAN CONCERN
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