Dear Friend,

It is true. Iraqi Christians are indeed being hunted, murdered, and forced to flee ... persecuted on a biblical scale in Iraq’s religious civil war, as reported recently by 60 Minutes.


I traveled to Iraq to see for myself. The U.S. State Department warned against the trip, citing the killing and kidnapping of Americans by Islamic terrorists. But I felt it would be wrong to reject the S.O.S. message of Iraqi Christians.

I spent eight days in Baghdad, the Nineveh Plains, and the mountains of Kurdistan. A team of armed body guards was required at all times. Four members of the team had already been shot dead by terrorists.

I spoke with scores of victimized Christians. I heard shocking accounts of murder, kidnappings, death threats, extortion, forced displacement, confiscations, loss of jobs, denial of educational opportunities, etc.

Pastor Youssef attributes his salvation from execution to the power of prayer. He was kidnapped off the streets of Baghdad, blindfolded, and held for 15 days by Islamic terrorists.

He could see nothing, but he could feel and hear everything as they beat and tortured him. Then, he heard the grisly sound of the Islamic terrorists beheading a pregnant Shiite Muslim woman.

Pastor Youssef was bound and could do nothing to protect the woman ... but the horror of the moment is ingrained forever in his memory.

The pastor survived -- and was set free. His wife and members of his congregation had provided the captors with ransom money -- but he and his family could not remain in their home for fear of further acts of violence. They fled, leaving absolutely everything behind. It is far too dangerous for them to return home.

This is the plight of Iraq’s Christians. Since the fall of Saddam Hussein, more than 40% of Iraq’s Christians have been forced to flee the country. Many others -- perhaps the majority -- are internally displaced within Iraq.

Before the Islamic conquest of Iraq, the majority of its inhabitants were Christians. Over the centuries, wave after wave of persecution gradually eroded their numerical strength. Now just a remnant is left. Even the remnant will disappear unless American and other free Christians are prepared to help.

It is now too late to save the two murdered children of Rad Azzo. Muslim gunmen broke into their home, shouted that the father was guilty of anti-Islamic activities, and began shooting.

Two of Rad’s little boys tried to escape through the window, and both were gunned down.

The grieving Christian mother and father, together with their three surviving children, were forced to leave their home and all their belongings.

Now, they are not only bereaved, but also homeless.

I pray you will want to help them -- and hundreds of thousands more like them -- stay and survive in their homeland.

Many Iraqi Christians are now swept up in an exodus of historic proportions, but those who cannot leave Iraq are in immediate peril. Militant Islamic militias force them to choose between conversion to Islam, payment of the Muslim protection money called “jizya,” -- or death.

Some Christians, along with other non-Muslims in Iraq, have fled to the mountainous north of the country, where there is less sectarian violence. But there is little food and no work – many are too ill or too poor to run further.

I am determined that Christian Solidarity International should do everything in its power to enable Iraq’s Christians to stay in their own land, and practice their faith freely and openly.

This will require emergency humanitarian aid, especially food packets, to enable displaced families to survive. But they also need security. We have already begun to urge our government in Washington, as the occupying power in Iraq, to help establish safe havens for Iraqi Christians and other religious minorities.

Please, right now, imagine yourself in the same dire circumstances. Then as God leads you, exercise the compassion I know is within you ... open the heart that I know is breaking right now for the Christians of Iraq ...

One food parcel of hope, costing $52, provides one of these refugee Christian families with enough basic food staples for two weeks.

$52 provides a hungry family with 1-1/2 pounds of meat, 11 pounds of rice, 11 pounds of sugar, about two pounds of powdered milk, and other basic provisions. It will feed their hungry children. It could save their lives. A gift of $104 will provide for two families.

I’m ready to return to Iraq immediately, but I cannot go empty-handed. I need you standing with me today.

Please ... these are the forgotten Christian victims of war in Iraq, persecuted by their own countrymen, ignored by U.S. policy-makers and bureaucrats, homeless, hurting, hungry ... they are our brothers and sisters in Christ. Please, please help.

Sincerely

P.S. Living conditions are deteriorating for these displaced and persecuted Christians, and with the cold winter upon them, the situation is likely to get even worse. Your immediate support will help stop the destruction of Iraq’s once strong and vibrant Christian community and alleviate the suffering of displaced, terrorized Christians.


Christian Solidarity International (CSI-USA)
870 Hampshire Road, Suite T, Westlake Village, CA 91361
(805) 777 7107 – phone; (805) 777 7508 – fax;  csi@csi.usa.org