ICC's November E-Newsletter, Persecution 2012

PERSECUTION International Christian Concern | November 2012

‘Arab Spring’ Turns to

ARAB WINTER Why Christians in the Islamic world are paying the price for an anti-Islam film RIMSHA’S RELEASE: CHRISTIAN GIRL’S FREEDOM IS A FAR CRY FROM JUSTICE

Read how your donations are transforming the lives of imprisoned Christians

Enraged by an antiIslam film, rioters all over the Middle East are out for blood.

Here, a church in Pakistan is burned to the ground.

Your Bridge to the Persecuted Church

IN THIS ISSUE

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Photo credit: Associated Press

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“Arab Spring” Turns to Arab Winter Why Christians in the Islamic world are paying the price for an anti-Islam film.

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Rimsha’s Release: Christian Girl’s Freedom 17 is a Far Cry from Justice

A look at Pakistan’s

murderous blasphemy laws.

Kenya’s Christians: The Lastest Target of Islamic Terrorism Kenya’s Christians are enduring violent and unprecedented attacks.

Your Dollars at Work Read how your donations are transforming the lives of imprisoned Christians!

A NOTE FROM THE PRESIDENT “The mob surrounded the Christians’ houses and demanded that the 11-year-old “blasphemer” be hanged. They wanted to burn her alive…. She is an innocent child— she doesn’t even know what she did.

She is in a state of shock.”

Imagine your precious 11-year-old daughter, who is mentally challenged, in jail with the nation calling out for her blood. You know she is innocent but that doesn’t matter.

Even if she is released you know there is a good chance she will be torn apart.

Now you know what Rimsha’s parents were going through just weeks ago as she languished in jail bewildered and terrified in Pakistan (page 9).

You know the phrase “life isn’t fair”? Well it doesn’t even come close to summing up life for Pakistan’s Christians.

They live life as if sitting on a keg of dynamite and their neighbors run around playing with matches.

Jeff King, President International Christian Concern

For a Christian living in a free land we can’t even fathom what it is like to live with seeming madmen and under constant oppression and discrimination, not to mention the threat of abduction, rape, and murder.

Nothing we do in the short term can change this reality. All we can do is help here and there, pray, and CARE! Thank you for caring for the “refuse of the world” (1 Cor 4:13). Please know your gifts will be used ethcially, efficiently, and effectively.

I promise!

MIDDLE EAST

‘Arab Spring’ Turns to

ARAB WINTER CHRISTIANS IN THE ISLAMIC WORLD PAYING THE PRICE FOR ANTI-ISLAM FILM

St. Paul’s Lutheran Church of Mardan, Pakistan came under fire from a rioting mob, angered by the anti-Islam film.

Almost everything was destroyed.

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“Obama! Obama! We are all Osama [bin Laden]!” shouted thousands of protestors outside the U.S. embassy in Cairo while desecrating an American flag.

The demonstration was more than an expression of outrage over a film critical of Islam (“The Innocence of Muslims”). Rather, the rally exposed an extremist agenda—unleashed after last year’s revolutions—that is sweeping across the Middle East. Attending the protest were Egypt’s most radical Islamic groups: the al-Qaeda-linked Islamic Jihad and the Saudi-funded Salafi Wahhabis. Long suppressed under authoritarian rule, Egypt’s revolution—fondly referred to by many as the ‘Arab Spring’—gave Islamic radicals undreamt power and freedom that were never thought possible under former dictatorships.

These newly-gained liberties beg the question: is an ‘Arab Winter’ now on the horizon? For many Christians throughout the Middle East, the question no longer needs to be asked; it is reality.

Egypt’s Christian leaders wasted no time in publicly denouncing the anti-Islamic film. While many Christians disagreed with the film’s intention, their public condemnation of the video was driven by a much harsher certainty: the Church would be blamed whether or not

they had anything to do with the film’s production. Often associated with the West because of their religious convictions, Egypt’s Christians could not afford to remain silent.

WHILE MANY CHRISTIANS disagreed with the film’s intention... the Church would be blamed whether or not they had anything to do with the film’s production.

“We are worried about violence [over the film],” said Mina Thabet, a Christian activist. “There will be more violence against us. There will be more discrimination. There will be more hate.”

PAKISTAN ON FIRE Christians in Egypt are not the only ones concerned. In Pakistan, thousands of armed rioters angered by the film stormed the compound of St. Paul’s Lutheran Church in Mardan on September 21, torching the church, a library, a computer laboratory, and several houses.

Nearly everything was destroyed.

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MIDDLE EAST

A car destroyed in a fire lit by angry rioters in Pakistan.

Nearly everything in St. Paul’s Lutheran Church was destroyed.

“Nothing is left,” a pastor at St. Paul’s said while sitting on a pile of rubble. “Pray for the healing of our hearts and hopes, that we may be the real Church in this place and be like the Prince of Peace. I do not know if I have the energy for that.”

The attack on St. Paul’s came less than a week after thousands of Muslim protestors burned crosses and threw stones at St. Francis Xavier Catholic Cathedral in Hyderabad in mid-September.

During the demonstration, gunmen fired at the cathedral door and at a nun that works at a nearby Catholic

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hospital.

“When Mother Christina, who is in charge of Lady Gram Hospital, reached the gate of the Cathedral, a few men on motorbikes opened fire on the church,” Amanat Masih, a local activist, told ICC. “Mother Christina’s driver received two bullets in his legs, but Mother Christina was not hurt.”

Violent assaults on Pakistan’s Christian community are bound to continue, church leaders say.

“The situation is tense, and among Christians, there is great concern

and fear,” said Father Samson Shukardin, the Vicar-General of the Catholic diocese in Hyderabad.

“Radicals identify America as Christian and they take it out on us, a small minority in the country.”

Muslims stretching over several miles burned images of President Barack Obama and stomped on American flags in Kano. “Death to America, death to Israel and death

RADICALS IDENTIFY AMERICA AS CHRISTIAN AND THEY TAKE IT OUT ON US, A SMALL MINORITY IN THE COUNTRY. Father Samson, Vicar-General of the Catholic diocese in Hyderabad

Twenty-three people were killed in Karachi and Peshawar, Pakistan during the violent anti-U.S. demonstrations. “The U.S. deserves only one remedy—jihad, jihad,” protestors from the hardline Islamist group Jamaat-ud-Dawa chanted in front of the U.S. consulate in Lahore. “Down with America!” mobs shouted in Karachi.

VIOLENCE SPREADING: NIGERIA Similar violence targeted Christians and foreign workers throughout the region. In the Nigerian city of Bauchi, gunmen shot dead six Christian men while they played cards on September 16. The killings occurred while tens of thousands of

The exterior of St. Paul’s Lutheran Church, destroyed by fire.

to the enemies of Islam,” shouted demonstrators with the Islamic Movement of Nigeria, a pro-Iranian Shiite group.

NIGER Two days earlier in the Niger town of Zinder, Muslims leaving Friday prayers stormed churches and set

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MIDDLE EAST

Map of violent attacks

Winners Chapel aflame during demonstrations.

“Hundreds of protesters broke down the door of the church and totally trashed it, before setting fire to all the documents and breaking a statue of the Virgin Mary,” a local radio journalist said. Three more churches were vandalized that day and several Christians were injured.

Prophet Muhammad and Islam.”

IRAQ AND IRAN

LIBYA

In Iraq, Christians working in a government office in Mosul were told to leave the city or else be killed. In Iran a Christian Web site was hacked and left with the message: “Don’t think us weak. We are more and more stronger than you that you cannot imagine. By creating this video you have just insulted our ‘Islam’ and our beloved Prophet Muhammad and break the peace between you and us.”

We are all aware of what happened in Libya. Al-Qaeda linked extremists with rocket-propelled grenades raided the U.S. consulate in Benghazi and murdered four officials, including the U.S. ambassador, in what was later revealed to be a premeditated terrorist attack.

Whether linked to the film protests or not, the deadly assault in Libya helped spark the demonstrations that swept through more than 30 countries and killed at least 51 people in the Islamic world.

AFGHANISTAN In Kabul, Afghanistan, a young woman killed herself and 14 others, mainly foreigners, in a suicide bombing on September 18. The extremist group Hezb-i-Islami claimed responsibility, saying the attack was a response to “the film insulting the 7

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LOOKING FORWARD Should these demonstrations have come as a surprise to anyone?

Perhaps no one could have anticipated that such hatred would be stirred from an obscure video that

nobody had heard of, but the warning signs have long been visible.

ICC predicted the radical Muslim threat to the Middle East early on when President Hosni Mubarak was deposed from power in Egypt in February 2011. Many Christians had also seen it coming. “No one is saying that it is a black and white issue here, but Christians will be first to pay the price if extremist groups are not stopped,” a pastor in Syria told ICC back in June 2011.

It is now painfully clear that the widely acclaimed Arab Spring, which hoped to instill democratic change and greater freedoms throughout the Arab world, has given rebirth to a radical agenda that seeks to Islamize the Middle East. It is not only the West who will pay—possibly having to sever ties with once strong allies—but more importantly, so will Christians. In Egypt alone, more than 80 Christians have been killed and several churches have been destroyed since the country’s uprising. In Syria, Christians are fleeing Islamist rebel-controlled cities in the thousands in fear for their lives. And in nearby Nigeria and Pakistan—though not having ties to the Arab Spring—thousands of Christians have been killed while extremists grow bolder by the success of their terrorist counterparts in the Arab world.

Time is running out. The agenda of Islamic movements in the region is loud and clear. “Obama, Obama, we are all Osama!” they shout from rooftops and street corners after Friday prayers. How long will it take the West to heed their warning?

CHRISTIANS WILL BE will be first to pay the price if extremist groups are not stopped.

-Syrian pastor predicts in 2011

The Arab Spring—at one time a commendable, idealistic dream— has now plummeted toward a grave reality: the only freedoms gained were those of Muslims that demand complete submission from Christians, who are now at their mercy.

During this delicate stage of transition, a new season is quickly approaching in the Islamic world— what many Christians and liberals have labeled, and fear to be, an Arab Winter.

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MIDDLE EAST

Rimsha’s Release:

Christian Girl’s Freedom is a Far Cry from Justice Rimsha taken to a helicopter after her release .

Photo credit: Agence France Presse

A Look at Pakistan’s Murderous Blasphemy Laws Crouching in a corner of a dark cell in a high-security prison in Rawalpindi, Pakistan sat Rimsha Masih, a Christian girl with mental disabilities. “She was weeping and crying and full of fear,” the little girl’s lawyer said after visiting her.

“She can’t even judge right and wrong because she’s a minor and she’s illiterate.”

broken no laws to deserve imprisonment. She was not a murderer or a thief, as were the fellow inmates jailed next to her. Rimsha was, however, a Christian. Enraged mobs and local authorities needed no other reason to throw her behind bars.

Rimsha, determined to be 14 years old by a medical review (though relatives say she is only 11) had

The Wednesday afternoon in midAugust had begun like every other day. Rimsha, a daughter of street

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THE ACCUSATION

sweepers, was performing her routine household chores – compiling rubbish and taking it to the dumpster. But on this day her menial task would prove difficult, not because of any fault of her own, but because her neighbors had plotted against her.

should be burned,” said Shaukhat Ali, an assistant at the local mosque. Several Christian homes were set ablaze and Rimsha’s mom and sister were physically assaulted. Hundreds of Christians immediately fled the violence, fearing for their lives.

Muhammad Hammad yelled at Rimsha as she walked by while pointing at the heap of trash in her hands. Among the waste were burnt pages of the Quran, he claimed. The accusations were all that was needed to ignite a fury of public anger toward Rimsha and her Christian neighbors.

“More than 250 Christian families moved to safer places after the allegation,” Shalom Basharat, a human rights activist in Islamabad, told ICC. “The mob encompassed the Christians’ houses and demanded that the ‘blasphemer’ be hanged.

The angry mob abused Rimsha’s parents and other Christians. They blocked the main highway for hours and chanted slogans against Rimsha.”

THE CROWD WANTED TO BURN HER ALIVE...SHE IS AN INNOCENT CHILD—SHE DOESN’T EVEN KNOW WHAT SHE DID. Xavier P. William, Country Director of Masihi Foundation Pakistan

Rumors spread like wildfire through the neighborhood. It wasn’t long before police came to Rimsha’s door with a warrant for her arrest on charges of blasphemy. Muslim neighbors, angered by rumors that the Quran had been desecrated, converged into mobs and wreaked havoc on the streets the next day.

“The one who burned the Koran

A local Muslim cleric, Hafiz Mohammed Khalid Chishti, incited further animosity while happily watching the chaos unfold. “[It is] time for Muslims to wake up” and protect the Quran, he told worshippers during Friday prayers. “[Christians] committed this crime to insult us. This happened because we did not stop their anti-Islam activities before.” Chishti ranted on about Christians playing worship music too loudly in “makeshift churches” during “Muslim prayer time.”

All the while, little Rimsha languished in Adiyala jail, unable to You can help today! 800-ICC-5441

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MIDDLE EAST

understand what she did wrong or why this misfortune had befallen her. “She is suffering from trauma,” Xavier P. William, the Country Director of Masihi Foundation Pakistan, told BBC. “The crowd wanted to burn her alive…. She is an innocent child—she doesn’t even know what she did. She is in a state of shock.”

Chishti was ecstatic. He had finally accomplished his longtime goal by successfully driving the Christians out of his neighborhood.

His victory, however, was short lived. On September 1, a member of Chishti’s own mosque testified in court against him, saying that Chishti had framed Rimsha by planting the burned pages of the Quran in her possession to persuade local Muslims to rid the area of Christians. Chishti, in turn, was arrested and charged in accordance with the same laws that Rimsha had allegedly violated—blaspheming Islam by desecrating the Muslim holy book.

A week later, following Chishti’s unexpected arrest, a judge granted Rimsha’s release on bail. On September 8, Rimsha was flown by helicopter to a secure location to be reunited with her family.

Rimsha’s release was a cause for celebration for concerned Christians around the world.

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Despite her freedom, however, justice was far from being served.

Rimsha’s arrest had been baseless and served no other purpose but to affirm that Pakistan’s troublesome blasphemy laws imprison and even execute innocent minorities on nothing more than false accusations. As a result, Rimsha’s life will never again be the same. Any hope she had of returning to the home of her childhood had been lost forever.

“Once you have been accused of blasphemy it means the relocation of your family even if you are acquitted by the court,” the director of a Pakistan human rights organization in Lahore told ICC. “The people who were willing to burn Rimsha alive are now even angrier that their imam was arrested....

There is no way she can go back to her home.”

Rimsha was merely one of hundreds of Christians and other religious minorities who—to this day—languish in Pakistani jails on false allegations of blasphemy. Among those imprisoned is Asia Bibi, a Christian mother who is currently awaiting her execution. Bibi was sentenced to death by hanging by a Pakistani court in November 2010 for allegedly insulting Mohammad. Two of her closest advocates, Salmaan Taseer, the governor of Punjab, and Shahbaz Bhatti, Pakistan’s sole Christian cabinet minister and a

Hundreds of Christians have fled Rimsha’s neighborhood.

Photo credit: Voice of the Martyrs

close friend of ICC’s, were assassinated for publicly opposing the laws that condemned her.

Once accused of blasphemy, whether innocent or guilty, ‘offenders’ are often worse off when released than they were in jail. According to the advocacy group Human Rights First, 46 people charged for blasphemy in the past 25 years have been killed by mob justice while awaiting trial or after having been acquitted. The Islamabad-based Center for Research and Security Studies showed similar findings, reporting that 52 people have been killed by vigilantes since 1990, after being implicated in blasphemy cases.

In 2009, for example, 40 Christian homes and a church in the town of Gojra were set ablaze by a radical mob following rumors that Christians had desecrated the

Quran. At least seven Christians were burned alive. Hence, whether a suspected offender is officially convicted in a Pakistani court or merely accused of blasphemy by a neighbor, the offense may still merit the death sentence in one form or another.

It is no exaggeration to say that blasphemy laws are among the greatest threats against Christianity in Pakistan and throughout the Middle East today. While blasphemy laws claim to seek religious harmony through uniformity, in practice they provide cover for personal vendettas and crush the fundamental freedoms of religious minorities. These laws have further emboldened radical Muslims to commit violent acts against perceived blasphemers and, not surprisingly, the primary targets have been and will continue to be Pakistan’s vulnerable Christian communities.

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AFRICA

KENYA’S CHRISTIANS THE LATEST TARGET OF ISLAMIC TERRORISM Muslim youth wreaked havoc in Mombasa on August 27, demanding revenge for the death of Aboud Rogo Mohammed, a radical Muslim cleric. Rogo, who was known for his support of the al-Qaeda-linked al-Shabaab terrorist network in Somalia, had been killed in a drive13

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by shooting, what some claimed to be a targeted assassination. Though Christians were not responsible, in the minds of extremists who followed Rogo’s teachings, it was Christians who were to blame.

“It was an attack on Muslims, and

we will not take it lightly,” a rioter told Reuters.

condemned Rogo’s killing and encouraged anti-Christian violence.

Thousands of protestors ran rampant through the streets, ransacking shops, hacking a man to death, and lighting six churches on fire.

Protests waged on four days later.

Flooding out of Musa Mosque after Friday prayers, Rogo’s supporters shouted “Allahu Akbar!” (“Allah is great!”) as police in riot gear approached, ready for another violent demonstration. “We are not fighting because we don’t have guns. Just imagine if we had guns,” a demonstrator said before fleeing down an alleyway.

“It was as if there was a war here. Stones were flying,” recalled Herbert Kaduki, a church elder.

“They were specifically targeting us.”

Ash and broken glass covered the floors of the Salvation Army church, which has stood in Mombasa before Kenya’s independence in 1963.

Five additional churches were significantly damaged by the reckless mob violence.

IT WAS AS IF THERE WAS A WAR HERE...THEY WERE SPECIFICALLY TARGETING CHRISTIANS. Herbert Kaduki, church elder

“Muslims must take the matter into their own hands, stand united against the Kuffar [non-Muslims] and take all necessary measures to protect their religion, their honor, their property and their lives from the enemies of Islam,” read a statement released by al-Shabaab that

Kenya is no Nigeria, where Boko Haram has terrorized Christians, killing hundreds in recent months in a campaign to institute Islamic Sharia law throughout the country.

However, Kenya has increasingly become the victim of similar acts of violence, falling prey to radical Islamists crossing the Somali border into the predominantly Christian nation.

Last November, for example, Somalis threw a grenade into a church compound in Garissa, killing two Christians, including an eight-year-old girl. In March, another grenade was hurled at a group of Christians in Mtwapa, killing two and injuring 30. On April 29, a man pretending to be a worshipper detonated a grenade during a Sunday morning church service in Nairobi, killing a young man and

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AFRICA

injuring 16 others.

The worst attack, however, occurred on July 1, when militants threw grenades into the African Inland Church of Garissa and opened fire on congregants, killing 17 people, including 15 worshippers. In the coordinated assault, grenades were

Kenyan Christian praying after Garissa church attack.

also detonated at the town’s Roman Catholic Church. “[This] was the worst [recent attack in Kenya] in terms of the numbers killed, the manner of execution, the anger behind it and the anguish it has aroused as well as the national 15

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impact it has had,” said national police spokesman Eric Kiraithe.

All the attacks are believed to have been carried out by al-Shabaab and its sympathizers.

The Kenyan government has responded to the violence by sending troops into Somalia to fight al-Shabaab militants following the murder and kidnappings of tourists on Kenyan soil last year. In turn, alShabaab has threatened to carry out more terrorist attacks in Kenya until the troops’ withdrawal. Although Kenyan forces are successfully bringing order and security to large tracts of Somalia, al-Shabaab’s remnant is transitioning from a jihadist force in Somalia into a terrorist network in neighboring countries.

“Al-Shabaab militants are shedding their uniforms, ditching their weapons and fleeing south into eastern Kenya where they disappear into the refugee population, sheltered by sympathetic Islamists who have fled war and famine,” said Elizabeth Kendal, an analyst for the Religious Liberty Prayer Bulletin.

“Aid workers have been kidnapped and held hostage in Somalia, mines and grenades have been used to kill Kenyan soldiers, and several refugee leaders have been executed… [While] war will diminish, terrorism will doubtless esca-

A Kenyan policeman walks in the African Inland Church after an attack in Kenya’s northern town of Garissa in July. Photo credit: Reuters

late and Kenya will be targeted.”

The direct targeting of Kenyan churches and foreign organizations derives from al-Shabaab’s fundamental Islamic agenda to frighten and kill Kuffars [non-Muslims] wherever they are found, raising concerns that Islamic extremism is on the rise in the East African country.

“Christians have been killed, injured or maimed for life,” Peter Karanja, the general-secretary of the National Council of Churches of Kenya, said in a statement released in August. “The violence appears well planned, pre-meditated, and

systematic. In the last five months alone, 11 churches have been attacked.”

Imam Hussein, a Christian convert from Islam and an Ethiopian refugee who came to Kenya after fleeing persecution in his home town, said that Christians fear more violence is on the horizon. “Pastors and Christians are very afraid. I know people, mainly Christian converts, who had to leave their homes and their families because of pressures from these terrorists. It’s very dangerous. Although these militants are very few in Kenya, they are very fanatic, like al-Qaeda or the Taliban.”

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YDAW

YOUR DOLLARS AT WORK SIGHT FOR THE BLIND Community Rebuild Christians have been among those who have suffered most in Sudan’s seemingly endless civil war that claimed two million lives, destroyed hospitals and much of the South’s infrastructure.

Although South Sudan finally won its independence in July 2011, the development of the country will take time.

Many Christians in remote villages do not have access to medical treatment and often live with easily curable diseases like blindness.

For that reason, ICC funds several eye camps every year, restoring sight to hundreds of people. At an ICC-funded eye camp in July, for example, 74 cataract operations were performed and an additional 209 people were treated.

“Thank you” notes and smiles from the many people blessed by this project.

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“I had been blind since 2009 with a lot of problems,” Deng Michael, from Lomuku village, told ICC. “But, now I can see and I really thank God and for making me see again! I had lost hope in life, but God brought back my sight. I also give many thanks to ICC for encouraging us to be treated of sickness and eye problems. At first I was scared, but now I am so happy.

Thank you ICC!”

NEW GENERATION ORPHANAGE Kids Care Deep inside Burma, ICC donors are helping to restore and rebuild the lives of orphans who have faced exceptional hardship. From losing parents, to suffering from physical abuse, to being deprived of an education, all of these children have dealt with tragedy early on in their lives. At ICC’s orphanage, they receive not only care and compassion, but a Christian education that equips them to succeed in life. Earlier this year, one of the children graduated from high school, no small feat in a country where the high school exams are difficult to pass, and only one in five students does so on their first attempt. Passing the exam automatically grants admission to a government-run university.

A full stomach, a warm bed and plenty of compassion brings a smile to these faces!

In a recent letter, the orphanage director, Mrs. S, said, “The children are being fed well because of the regular support of ICC. Before ICC support, there are times we do not have sufficient funds to feed the kids. Sometimes, we just have enough rice and lentils (even this, we add lots of water and only small amount of lentils). We have to work hard to plant some vegetables on the small lawn we have (just about ten square feet).

“With the coming of ICC, everything changes for us. We have good food, children gain more weight now; we can buy some clothes and stationeries as needed. In addition, just knowing that we have faithful partners who will come alongside our struggle gave us a deep sense of peace. Thank you ICC.” You can help today! 800-ICC-5441

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YDAW

Children of the Orissa orphanage, standing proudly next to their new refrigerator.

THEIR FIRST REFRIGERATOR Kids Care The children at an ICC-sponsored orphanage in India were enamored at something that can be found in every kitchen in America: a refrigerator.

These children, orphans since 2008 when their parents were martyred in anti-Christian attacks, had never had a fridge. Up until now, the orphanage directors spent over an hour every day going into town to buy fresh fruit, vegetables and milk. This was valuable time that 19

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could have been spent with the children. When one of the older girls was diagnosed with an illness requiring medication that needed to be kept cold, ICC stepped in and sent the funds for their very first refrigerator.

Soon after it was plugged in, the children had their first lesson in making ice. Once the science lesson was explained, one of the youngest boys declared: “We must freeze milk and sugar cubes!� The orphanage director expressed his heartfelt thanks at this simple, yet life-changing gift. The lives of these little ones has been greatly improved. Their precious smiles warm our hearts. We hope they warm yours too.

The eight believers who were wrongly imprisoned for reporting an attack by Hindu radicals.

WRONGLY IMPRISONED: converting Hindus to Christianity.

The police took action immediately ICC PAYS FOR BAIL and arrested the eight Christians.

Underground Pastors Pastor M* (named withheld for security) and his congregation suffered at the hands of radical Hindus numerous times over the past few months.

Ugly new heights were reached, however, when Hindus barged into a prayer meeting and began attacking the pastor and those present.

The attackers even went so far as to “rip the clothes off a widow” who was rescued before things got worse. Pastor M went to the police to report the attack, but saw no results. However, the attackers, angry that he reported them, went to the police and accused Pastor M and seven other believers of forcibly

Unable to cover bail, the believers were faced with losing their property as payment, and were at risk to be detained until the case was resolved.

“We were sure we would go back to jail,” said Pastor M. “We had no hope until an ICC representative called us and said: ‘Have hope.

God is with you and we are with you. We will pay your bail.’ Tears fell out of my eyes when I heard this good news.”

Though the fight is not over, knowing that they are not alone and that the Body of Christ around the world cares has given them hope and strength to carry on.

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INTERNATIONAL DAY OF PRAYER FOR THE PERSECUTED (IDOP)

November 11, 2012

To raise awareness of the persecuted Church, ICC is providing a free prayer bulletin insert for your congregation to become better informed about the persecuted. This year, the bulletin features four of the darkest countries in the world that are in desperate need of your prayers.

Simply go to persecution.org/idop and download the bulletin.

Bulletins are free of charge. It is our gift to you to help inform Christians of what is happening in the world today.

The bulletins are non-date specific, so you are free to host an IDOP on a date most convenient.

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YOU CAN HELP TODAY! SEND DONATIONS TO: ICC PO BOX 8056 SILVER SPRING, MD 20907 OR ONLINE AT WWW.PERSECUTION.ORG

GIVING TO ICC VIA YOUR WILL Provide now for a future gift to ICC by including a bequest provision in your will or revocable trust. If you would like more information on giving to ICC in this way, please give us a call at 1-800-ICC-5441.

ICC makes every effort to honor donor wishes in regards to their gifts. Occasionally, a situation will arise where a project is no longer viable. In that case, ICC will redirect those donated project funds to one of our other funds that is most similar to the donor’s original wishes.

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