January 2018 Persecution Magazine

President’s Letter
“We ran [into] the grass but they set the grass ablaze and burned my sister,
my father, my brother, and me. I ran and met my brother Godfrey, but the
Fulanis came and [hit my brother with machetes]. They set my stepmother
ablaze and slaughtered my brother Nathaniel. They burnt my 3-day-old
stepbrother on the head and umbilical cord. They burnt Peace [my older
sister]. [After the attack], when we saw our people, we were brought down
from the hills and they took us to Kaura Hospital and later to Jos.”
Azumi Francis, Nigeria, 7, remembers Feb. 20, 2017 (pg 14).
“I would like to keep the beauty of my own vineyard and not be involved in such
a huge fight. I would like so much to (live) somewhere in quietness and rest. But
it is not possible... The quietness and rest for which I long would be an escape
from reality and dangerous for my soul... The West sleeps and must be awakened
to see the plight of the captive nations.”
Richard Wurmbrand, Tortured for Christ
Jeff King, President
International Christian Concern
In this month’s issue, you will read about the devastating war against the Body of Christ going on in Nigeria and it will be
disturbing. Like me, you may be led to cry out, “How long, O Lord?”
We who carry the burden of the persecuted fully understand the paradox of Richard Wurmbrand. As it was for him, life would
be easier if we could forget the persecuted’s plight, go back to sleep, and live out our Christian lives, blissfully unaware of
the suffering of the Body of Jesus.
You see, there is a cost on the psyche of knowing and living with the persecuted and their pain, Yet, like Mr. Wurmbrand,
we can’t abandon them for they have few friends in the slumbering Church, a Church distracted by trivial issues of pews,
carpets, basketball courts, and turf that crowd out the distant and weak call for help coming from across the world.
The Kingdom of Heaven will continue to be subjected to violence (Matt. 11:12), but having been chosen, we rise to the battle
and understand that to be awake is preferable to sleep.
Like Simon of Cyrene, we stoop down and lift the cross off of the back of the persecuted and carry whatever portion of
their load we can. And while we help carry their cross, we find ourselves transformed, bit by bit, and inoculated against the
deceitfulness of riches and the twin diseases of materialism and meaninglessness that infect our Western culture.
For we have seen in the persecuted what true love can be and we rise to their example of deepest devotion, while paying
the highest cost.
For all this, we part with our time, treasure, and talent, to bring them relief and to lift the cross off their shoulders.
As always, your donations will be used efficiently, effectively, and ethically.
I promise!
Jeff King
President
International Christian Concern
www.persecution.org
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INTERNATIONAL CHRISTIAN CONCERN
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