972 CHILDREN HELPED Through Kids Care Fund PERSECU ION.org INTERNATIONAL CHRISTIAN CONCERN 2
President’s Letter Greater Love Has. . . The following is adapted from a chapter <strong>of</strong> a soon-to–be-released book from ICC’s president, Jeff King, entitled, “Last Words <strong>of</strong> the Martyrs.” The initial reports <strong>of</strong> persecution I receive are news-oriented, <strong>of</strong>ten only the cold hard facts; who, what, when, and how. Drill down with me on any attack to the individuals affected, their loved ones, their community, and their churches and you will see and feel the massive personal tragedy that each long prison sentence or murder represents. Over the years, I’ve been able to speak directly to Christians affected by persecution and I get very personal updates from our field staff. These are extremely helpful for me to keep in front <strong>of</strong> me the true cost and emotional impact <strong>of</strong> persecution as it occurs. In March 2015, in Youhanabad, Pakistan, two suicide bombers simultaneously attacked two different churches with devastating effect. Nineteen were killed and another 80 were seriously wounded. One <strong>of</strong> my staff was just around the corner when the bombs went <strong>of</strong>f and rushed to the scene with his camera and recorded the devastating impact <strong>of</strong> the attack. Frankly, it was a scene out <strong>of</strong> a horror movie. The bomb’s shrapnel did its intended job and shredded anything in its path, whether concrete or flesh. One <strong>of</strong> his pictures haunts me. A mother was holding the body <strong>of</strong> her dying son while her spared son sat next to her. Abishey, 10, lay on the ground, his lower extremities gone. His abdomen was opened up and he was bleeding out, barely conscious, and fading quickly. His mother was holding him with her face pointed to heaven, tears streaming down her face and she was crying out in a grief that you or I will probably never experience. The healthy son, his face also twisted by shock and grief, covered in tears, was looking left. The pain and incomprehension expressed were undeniable and heart-wrenching. Abishey died because he had left the church to buy candles to light during the prayer time. He was just outside the church when the bomb went <strong>of</strong>f. One <strong>of</strong> the priests from the church told us that horror was enough to drive some <strong>of</strong> his people mad. In contrast to the horror I saw in that picture was the story <strong>of</strong> heroics, courage, and sacrifice, demonstrated by two brothers from the church, Akash and Sikander. The Christian community and churches had been rocked by several suicide bombings and these two brothers from the church volunteered to act as security at the church gate to prevent any suicide bomber from entering. Another <strong>of</strong> the church security volunteers told us what these brothers had done. “When the bomber tried to enter the church gate, Akash and Sikandar threw the metal door (<strong>of</strong> the gate) closed and it hit the bomber. He fell down, but got back up and tried to enter through the gate again, but Akash held him, holding down his arms, and pulled him away from the church.” Akash held the bomber while Sikander slammed the heavy church gate closed again when the bomber ignited his bomb. Sikander was restraining him when the bomb went <strong>of</strong>f. The death and injury toll, while terrible, would have been incredible if the bomber had made it into the church. Radical Islamists celebrated this suicide bomber and all the others as martyrs for sacrificially killing so many “infidels” that fateful Sunday. Parents <strong>of</strong> suicide jihadists even comfort themselves with promises that their children received a martyr’s reward in eternity. The shock that the bombers must experience as they enter eternity <strong>of</strong>ten haunts me. I know they are murderers, but they are deceived and so sincere in their willingness to please Allah that they will extinguish their own lives and murder hundreds around them because their religion is telling them to oppose those who resist Islam. They didn’t just come up with this crazy idea but were taught this lie by Muhammad, Islam’s holy books, and his living adherents. So the bomber pays the ultimate price to gain paradise but after death awakes to reality and finds that everything he was taught about God was a lie and that he had been obeying Satan. Furthermore, he realizes that he has killed 19 innocents and that his fate is sealed; captured by Satan, he will be in torment for eternity. 3 PERSECU ION.org MAY <strong>2017</strong> INTERNATIONAL CHRISTIAN CONCERN
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