persecuted christians
This posting is part 1 of the Christmas appeal from our friends at Barnabas fund. Because their email was quite long I have decided to post part of it now, and then the 2nd part in a couple of days time. The 2nd part will include details of how you can donate to the fund should you wish to do so.
As we approach the season of Christmas, and the frenzied preparation and celebration that we anticipate, let us take time to pause and remember those Christians who will not be able to enjoy a peaceful time with their family and friends this Christmas...
Fear in Iraq
...Christians like the thousands of frightened Iraqis who face Christmas in the context of escalating anti-Christian violence. In the most shocking report from Iraq we have received, a toddler was kidnapped in Baghdad in October 2006. The mother could not afford to pay the ransom, and so the kidnappers killed the child. They returned the body to the mother. The little child had been beheaded, roasted and was served on a mound of rice. In another incident a 14-year-old Christian boy was held down by his limbs and beheaded, or, as Iraqi Christians have described it, “crucified”. His Muslim attackers called him a “dirty Christian sinner” and chanted “Allahu akbar” (Allah is great).
On 4th October a bomb exploded in the mainly Christian district of Camp Sara, Baghdad. As people gathered round to help the wounded there was a second, larger explosion. Nine Christians were killed. The attack was similar to two consecutive car-bombs, small and large, detonated outside a church in Baghdad on Sunday 24th September
On 10th October Paulos Iskander, an Iraqi church minister, was abducted in Mosul. His family attempted to meet the kidnappers’ demands - a $40,000 ransom, and a public repudiation by Iskander’s church of the remarks about Islam quoted by Pope Benedict XVI in September. They began arranging several loans, and thirty large posters were placed on churches in the city, distancing the Christians from the Pope’s words. However, Iskander’s decapitated body was discovered on 12th October, dumped in an outlying suburb of Mosul. His hands and legs had been severed, and his body showed signs of severe torture. On 19th November another church leader, Doglas Yousef Al Bazy (34) went missing; it is feared he has also been kidnapped and may suffer as Paulos did. The church community are anxiously waiting and praying for news and for his safe return.
It is not just church leaders being attacked. In late November it was reported that bakers in Baghdad were being attacked because the diamond-shaped loaves of bread they produced vaguely resembled crosses. Christian girls have increasingly become the target in a spate of kidnappings. The girls are taken at gunpoint and are frequently raped and abused, only released if their families pay large ransoms. The shame of their ordeal, which is felt far more in Middle Eastern culture than in the West, can make the victims suicidal. One girl begged her parents not to pay the ransom, too ashamed that she had been gang raped by her kidnappers to want to go home. The family did pay and she was returned to them, but the following morning she was found dead from an overdose of sleeping pills.
Aid from Barnabas Fund brings hope and encouragement to struggling Iraqi Christians.
Iraqi Christians are planting fruit saplings wherever they can. Supplied by Barnabas Fund, the young trees will help the Christians towards self-sufficiency in the future.
Iraqi Christians receive medical attention from one of the mobile clinics funded by Barnabas Fund.
End of part 1 of this message - part 2 to come in a few days time.
Before you go please take a moment to visit our Bible Network website.
As we approach the season of Christmas, and the frenzied preparation and celebration that we anticipate, let us take time to pause and remember those Christians who will not be able to enjoy a peaceful time with their family and friends this Christmas...
Fear in Iraq
...Christians like the thousands of frightened Iraqis who face Christmas in the context of escalating anti-Christian violence. In the most shocking report from Iraq we have received, a toddler was kidnapped in Baghdad in October 2006. The mother could not afford to pay the ransom, and so the kidnappers killed the child. They returned the body to the mother. The little child had been beheaded, roasted and was served on a mound of rice. In another incident a 14-year-old Christian boy was held down by his limbs and beheaded, or, as Iraqi Christians have described it, “crucified”. His Muslim attackers called him a “dirty Christian sinner” and chanted “Allahu akbar” (Allah is great).
On 4th October a bomb exploded in the mainly Christian district of Camp Sara, Baghdad. As people gathered round to help the wounded there was a second, larger explosion. Nine Christians were killed. The attack was similar to two consecutive car-bombs, small and large, detonated outside a church in Baghdad on Sunday 24th September
On 10th October Paulos Iskander, an Iraqi church minister, was abducted in Mosul. His family attempted to meet the kidnappers’ demands - a $40,000 ransom, and a public repudiation by Iskander’s church of the remarks about Islam quoted by Pope Benedict XVI in September. They began arranging several loans, and thirty large posters were placed on churches in the city, distancing the Christians from the Pope’s words. However, Iskander’s decapitated body was discovered on 12th October, dumped in an outlying suburb of Mosul. His hands and legs had been severed, and his body showed signs of severe torture. On 19th November another church leader, Doglas Yousef Al Bazy (34) went missing; it is feared he has also been kidnapped and may suffer as Paulos did. The church community are anxiously waiting and praying for news and for his safe return.
It is not just church leaders being attacked. In late November it was reported that bakers in Baghdad were being attacked because the diamond-shaped loaves of bread they produced vaguely resembled crosses. Christian girls have increasingly become the target in a spate of kidnappings. The girls are taken at gunpoint and are frequently raped and abused, only released if their families pay large ransoms. The shame of their ordeal, which is felt far more in Middle Eastern culture than in the West, can make the victims suicidal. One girl begged her parents not to pay the ransom, too ashamed that she had been gang raped by her kidnappers to want to go home. The family did pay and she was returned to them, but the following morning she was found dead from an overdose of sleeping pills.
Aid from Barnabas Fund brings hope and encouragement to struggling Iraqi Christians.
Iraqi Christians are planting fruit saplings wherever they can. Supplied by Barnabas Fund, the young trees will help the Christians towards self-sufficiency in the future.
Iraqi Christians receive medical attention from one of the mobile clinics funded by Barnabas Fund.
End of part 1 of this message - part 2 to come in a few days time.
Before you go please take a moment to visit our Bible Network website.
posted by editor | 3:26 AM
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