ICC's October 2014 E-Newsletter, Persecution, 1/4

PERSECUTION International Christian Concern | October 2014

ON THE ROAD AGAIN Come On 3 Trips with ICC as we find & serve the persecuted ICC Visits Iraq To Rescue Victims of ISIS India Pg 5

Central Asia Pg 13

PERSECU ION.ORG

INTERNATIONAL CHRISTIAN CONCERN

Your Bridge to the Persecuted Church

Iraq Pg 17

IN THIS ISSUE:

In the Midst of War Rescuing the Victims of ISIS in Iraq Pg. 17

Pg. 3 On The Road Again

Pg. 13 Central Asia

Pg. 5 India Revisited

Pg. 19 Your Dollars At Work

ICC Trips: Sleeplessness and 100 cups of tea

ICC visits India and sees a shocking rise in persecution stemming from the election of India’s radical Hindu party, the BJP.

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You can help today! www.persecution.org

A diary of our trip into Central Asia

Rescuing believers in India and Iraq

A NOTE FROM THE PRESIDENT

Jeff King, President International Christian Concern

There were ninety and nine that safely lay In the shelter of the fold.

But one was out on the hills away, Far off from the gates of gold.

Away on the mountains wild and bare.

Away from the tender Shepherd’s care.

Away from the tender Shepherd’s care.

“The Ninety and Nine”

by Elizabeth C. Clephane (1868)

geted by Hindu radicals for his success in reaching the lost.

In an effort to permanently silence him, he and his wife were attacked. She was stabbed two times and he, 10 times.

His case never made the news and he may have died from his injuries (he may still) if we hadn’t stepped in and provided the funds for an emergency surgery. The surgery helped him immensely, but he will need more care. We will stand by him as he recovers.

To reach ones like these, we scour the globe. This month, we thought we would try and take you with us on our trips so you could get a glimpse into what we do on the ground.

“If a man has a hundred sheep and loses one of them, what will he do? Won’t he leave the ninety-nine others in the wilderness and go to search for the one that is lost until he finds it?”

Luke 15:4 (NLT)

There are thousands more like Pastor M that we must go onto the highways and byways to find. We must do the work together. You see, we can do nothing without you.

The sad truth of persecution ministry is that the famous cases of persecution are often wrestled over and money showered on them as organizations seek to be connected with the “hot” case.

As always, your donations will be used efficiently, effectively, and ethically.

We too want to be in on the big case but our heartbeat, our DNA, is to leave the 99 and seek out the one. To find the victim of persecution that will never be helped if we don’t find them and rescue them.

Pastor M* and his wife (pg. 8) are a case in point. An active and effective pastor that reached many in India, he was tar-

You and I are partners that the Lord has put together to rescue His lost and broken sheep. Thank you for working with me in this holy work.

I promise!

Jeff King President Persecution.org, International Christian Concern

*Names in this issue have been changed for security.

You can help today! 800-ICC-5441

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On

THE

Road Again

W

orld travel is not always glamorous. With endless hours in airports, travels into dangerous territories, 80-hour work weeks and countless unidentifiable meals that have been lovingly prepared for you, regional managers at ICC know that a trip to our region can be grueling. Though we may sacrifice to leave our families and the comforts of home for weeks at a time, it is a small sacrifice to meet face-to-face with our persecuted brothers and sisters in Christ.

It is on these often exhausting trips that we are reminded, “This is why we do what we do.” We are reminded that news we post, the stories we write, the paperwork we submit at headquarters has a face: The face of Benjamin, who was orphaned when his parents became martyrs for Christ. The face of Maksat, who’s young sons were beaten by an uncle because they were Christians. The face of Fadi and his family, who escaped the hands of ISIS and now make their home on the streets of Erbil, Iraq, as refugees.

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Since it is not possible for all of you to hop on a plane with us, we want to invite you to journey with us on our last three trips by wandering through the following pages.

Join us in Iraq, Lebanon, Turkey, India, Nepal and Central Asia by reading the thoughts and journals of our regional managers; experience those countries through our eyes.

Join us at a Women of Faith Conference in Central Asia that looks nothing like you would expect. Join us in Iraq as we hand out aid packages to Christians who fled for the lives, with only the clothes on their backs.

Join us as our regional manager for India’s wife is introduced firsthand to persecution. Join us, as together, we bring aid and encouragement to our brothers and sisters in Christ, heroes of the faith, who in turn inspire, challenge and encourage us.

Central Asia Trip Total Miles:

19,000

Hours of Travel:

78

Hours Spent in Meetings with the Persecuted:

150

Cups of Tea

32

# of Projects Started/ Worked on:

10

Days Away from Home:

14

Iraq/Lebanon/Turkey Trip Total Miles:

27,000

Hours of Travel:

199

Hours Spent in Meetings with the Persecuted:

180

Cups of Tea

58

# of Projects Started/ Worked on:

17

Days Away from Home:

33

India/Nepal Total Miles:

20,014

Hours of Travel:

122

Hours Spent in Meetings with the Persecuted:

200

Cups of Tea

58+

# of Projects Started/ Worked on:

17

Days Away from Home:

24 You can help today! 800-ICC-5441

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In the Midst of War. . .

Iraq

ICC Staffers Deliver Aid in the Midst of a War

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SIS. You have heard the name but you cannot imagine the brutality of these Islamic soldiers unless you have exposed yourself to the pictures and videos they distribute of decapitating, shooting, and raping their victims. They have spread like a cancer throughout Syria and Iraq leaving a massive trail of misery, dealth, and refugees in their wake. In response, ICC staffers went into Iraq in the midst of the fighting to deliver aid and encouragment.

I arrived yesterday in Erbil, the capital of Iraq’s Kurdish area. In the last month, Erbil absorbed 150,000+ refugees fleeing the ISIS advance. Tens of thousands of these are Christians from the cities of Mosul, Qaraqosh, and the Nineveh plains.

“Overnight our life changed,” Sinan told me as we spoke on our way to deliver aid to hundreds of his former neighbors. From Mosul, he, his sisters and extended family of 14 are now trying to survive in Erbil. When Mosul fell, they fled, walking seven hours to escape from the adICC staffer delivers aid to an Iraqi child in Erbil in mid August

vance ISIS (the Islamic State or IS) soldiers.

ISIS has gone back 1,400 years and is operating like the early Islamic conquerors, known for their brutality against their enemies. ISIS is sweeping across the Middle East and leaving massive destruction in its wake as they attempt to reestablish an Islamic caliphate (kingdom).

There have been mass killings of Shi’a Muslims, as well as others of Iraq’s religious minorities such as the Yazidi’s, many carried out in the most brutal fashion imaginable.

Iraq’s Christians have fled their homes en masse as they faced orders of “convert or be executed” from the ISIS fighters.

ISIS is shockingly inhumane and seemingly without precedent but looking back at the first 500 years of Islamic conquest, their methods are entirely familiar.

To the informed, their methods are very familiar, even if shocking in our “civilized” world. What is truly inhumane (not normal to humanity) is the radical love we see as the Church cares for its “neighbor.” To care for them, to love them, to expend time, energy and treasure so that they are cared for. . . that is inhumane! To the Iraqi on the ground, this outpouring of love is inexplicable. It is, in fact, a clear evidence that God is in their presence, living with them in the midst of unspeakable brutality.

We’ve seen this love in the packages of food, water, and medicine purchased by ICC donors delivered by local churches, using dozens of workers who were themselves displaced by ISIS’ advance.

I arrived at a local church partner yesterday and it was a beehive of activity with preparations for a distribution of our aid to nearly 500 kids living in a camp that has sprung up on the grounds of a Catholic church. This makeshift camp and 200 others were set up by the local church. Saad, a Christian from Qaraqosh has been organizing much of the effort to set up these tent villages to shelter ISIS’ victims as temperatures reach 115 degrees Fahrenheit. We spoke with one family whose father had

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died a few days ago from the heat and lack of water. The tents that are provided are truly the difference between life and death for some of these people.

Saad and his family are currently living in the top floor of the church.

Three generations of his family, ten people, are living and sleeping together in one room. Six other rooms are filled to the brim with Christians.

Rather than waiting to be a recipient of aid, Saad, Sinan, and Pastor Karan Above: This family’s father had died just a few days before from heat exhaustion have been serving others in need. prior to receiving their tent.

Pastor Karan led a church in Mosul. Below: Tents distributed by Christians to shield refugees from the 115 degree He and nearly twenty of his mem- temps. bers were at a late night prayer meeting when word came that ISIS had entered the town. He upside down as a result of ISIS’s attempt to rid Iraq of its and his family decided to leave. “We saw the army run- Christian community as they seek to form a new Islamic ning, throwing their guns away, and changing into civilian state. clothes, it was really troubling,” he told ICC. Just fifteen minutes after they escaped, ISIS had locked down their Unsure of where their next meal will come from, many of these Christians are uncertain of what their future will be. neighborhood and was prevented anyone from leaving.

Spoken out of desperation, some told us “please, take us Pastor Karan returned to Mosul twice over the next to the U.S.!” but the majority have told us with deep sinmonth to collect the family’s most important documents cerity, “We want to live our land, we want to stay here and and belongings. His second trip was the Sunday before live in peace.” the deadline given to Mosul’s Christians to convert to Islam or be killed. Nearly everyone we spoke to has a story When that will be possible again for Christians is a quesof their flight and the ways in which life has been turned tion that no one knows the answer to.

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