barnabasfund.org JULY/AUGUST barnabasaid 2021 BARNABAS FUND - AID AGENCY FOR THE PERSECUTED CHURCH - BRINGING HOPE TO SUFFERING CHRISTIANS

INDIA PAKISTAN LEBANON Barnabas task force responds to Education and opportunity Rebuilding hope amid rubble devastating new wave of Covid for Christian brick-kiln families of blast-shattered Beirut bringing relief in the land of fear How to find us The Barnabas Fund Distinctive You may contact What helps make Barnabas Fund Barnabas Fund at the distinctive from other Christian following addresses organisations that deal with persecution?

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Compassion in Action Vision, Understanding, 4 Christian refuge helps persecuted Ugandan converts from Islam build a new Courage and Action future with their children

Prayer for the pandemic ob observed that “Man is born to trouble as surely as sparks fly 6 A special prayer for these troubled times upward” (Job 5:7). Jabez prayed that he would be free from pain and practical gifts of love, comfort and hope (1 Chronicles 4:10) but the story of our first parents, Adam and you can give J Eve, was that pain entered into the world through their rebellion and now shapes our very existence. Covid-19 has had a devastating effect on many parts of the world, none India more so than India. Its effects on the Indian Church have been horrendous. As 7 Barnabas takes the initiative to help I write this over 350 Christian leaders are known to have died, and probably Christians in need as new Covid wave takes the real figure is far, far higher. No one has been spared – bishops, pastors, terrible toll evangelists and other church leaders have succumbed, as well as their flocks. Many ministries that have lost their leaders are on the verge of collapse. In the nightmare of Covid-19, disease is followed by economic devastation Pakistan and destitution. Analysts have coined the acronym VUCA to describe our 8 Education and vocational training enables present situation, which is characterised by volatility, uncertainty, complexity brick-kiln families to break the cycle of poverty and ambiguity. Living with VUCA creates anxiety and destroys hope. But we cannot give way to despair. The Church cannot be in retreat. We cannot flee the battlefield. Myanmar Every crisis presents an opportunity that we must seize. For God is in control 10 Bringing help and hope to forgotten and His purposes for His people and for this world will be fulfilled. Christian victims of military coup A Christian VUCA is therefore necessary. Vision. In a time of suffering, war and pestilence, Habakkuk is told to “write the vision” (Habakkuk 2:2 AV). We cannot live without vision, for vision takes us into another realm: the realm of the Divine. It gives us the Understanding Islam purpose of our existence: to fulfil the Divine will. It shows us what God from a Christian Perspective Sin, Salvation and End Times wants and our place in it. “Where there is no vision, the people perish” Pull-out (Proverbs 29:18 AV). We need to look beyond the physical and temporal to the supernatural and eternal. Understanding. We need to understand the times. Habakkuk kept Lebanon questioning the Lord, but long ago the men of Issachar had understanding of 11 Your donations help Christians to the times (1 Chronicles 12:32). Never has this gift been more urgently needed. rebuild after massive explosion in Beirut Yes, we need science to give to us rational explanations of what is happening but also we desperately need prophets, the men and women of God who will make plain the vision, set it in our context, enabling us to understand what Why does God allow suffering? is happening and our part in it. 12 Genesis 3 and the catastrophic Courage. We need courage not to retreat, not to sink under heavy consequences of the Fall burdens, not to see only opposition and obstacles in our path. Habakkuk was surrounded by catastrophe but feared only the Lord (Habakkuk 3:2) We need courage to go forward when all seems hopeless, to go forward with Mozambique compassion and a heart of love to bring comfort to the afflicted. Paul wrote of 14 Rising tide of jihadi violence causes the constraining love of Christ which compels us on (2 Corinthians 5:14AV). hunger and chaos in far north Action. All this must lead to action. Habakkuk continued undaunted with his God-given task (Habakkuk 2:1). Action requires resolve. It means taking the initiative, breaking out of our apathy, deciding what is to be done and doing it. It In Brief means seeking God’s will and guidance and then acting according to His calling. 16 Islamic terrorists seek out and kill two God calls us to a life of faith. We live the life He has called us to and we Christians in attack on Nigerian town keep trusting Him. “The righteous shall live by his faith” (Habakkuk 2:4 ESV). Such faith enables us to rejoice in the Lord, even though “the fig-tree does not bud and there are no grapes on the vines, though the olive crop fails Campaigns update and the fields produce no food, though there are no sheep in the sheepfold 18 It’s not too late to sign our Armenian and no cattle in the stalls” (Habakkuk 3:17-18). We know that ultimately the Genocide recognition petition Lord will be victorious and “the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord as the waters cover the sea”. In Touch DR PATRICK SOOKHDEO 19 Help us to feed hungry Christians International Director facing pressure and persecution around the world by filling our new food.gives boxes how barnabas is helping

Gifts to children Refuge provides remind Christian safety and support refugees of God’s Food and water to persecuted enduring love is an answer to converts in Uganda prayers as famine “I thank God that He never forgets us. He hears our prayers, sees our needs When Ugandan “Silas” converted grips Madagascar and lavishes us with His generosity.” from Islam to Christianity he was These are words of a Christian mother threatened, his home was destroyed living as a refugee in Turkey, after her and he had to run for his life. Another “God does not abandon His servants daughter Raya (5) received a pair of convert, “Thomas”, was rejected by his because he has been preparing other winter boots as a gift from Operation family and almost died in a hammer people to rescue us … when we were Christmas Joy, supported by Barnabas. attack that left him partially paralysed. starving,” said a Christian woman Both men were helped by a Barnabas- after she received food and water from Raya was among 750 children given supported Christian refuge for Muslim- Barnabas. She lives in the far south an essential item of warm clothing background believers (MBBs) and their of Madagascar, where the rains had that their parents, most of whom children, run by Pastor Umar Mulinde, failed for two years and many have fled Christian persecution in Iran or who himself suffered an acid attack died because of the resulting famine. Afghanistan, could not afford. The when he converted from Islam. gift also included warm accessories People were so hungry that they had (hat, scarf, gloves), a game, a Uganda is more than 80% Christian resorted to eating ashes flavoured colouring book and pencils as well as yet Muslims occupy key roles in society with tamarind, just to put something a healthy snack. and few Muslims are prosecuted for in their stomachs. Covid was rife and attacks on converts. MBBs are sacked there was almost no water. Many children received their presents from Muslim-owned businesses, while participating in a Christmas children of converts are thrown out of Barnabas has provided rice, beans, service of celebration conducted via Muslim-controlled schools and women cooking oil, water, soap, candles and Zoom. Our church partner said the converts are forcibly divorced from other basics to at least 1,200 families project reminds Christian families their Muslim husbands. in most urgent need. “It is because of that they are not forgotten by God and our prayers that God has provided for has “lasting emotional, psychological Pastor Umar’s refuge gives us,” said a Christian man. as well as spiritual effect” upon them. discipleship training and trauma counselling to converts and provides Thank the Lord, the rain has now vocational training in skills such fallen and we are providing maize and as baking, sewing and farming, to bean seeds for 2,600 Christian families enable them to earn a living. It also to enable them to grow crops again. enables children to go to school.

Hungry Christian families wait to receive food and water provided by Barnabas £75,000 ($106,000; Ugandan Christian converts and their €86,850) for food, water and children find security at the refuge Delighted children receive gifts from hygiene items Barnabas-sponsored Operation £10,000 ($13,920; €11,560) to £14,606 ($20,280; €16,800) Christmas Joy help support 60 MBBs and 50 for seeds to plant £20,000 ($27,975; €23,250) children a year Project references: PR1552 Project reference 54-1367 Project reference: 56-1091 00-634 (Disaster Relief Fund) Compassion in action Barnabas Aid July/August 2021 5 Strengthened and encouraged. This is what we often hear from Christians who have received support fromfrom BarnabasBarnabas Fund.Fund. ThankThank youyou for for making making this possible. Here are just a few examples of the many ways we have recently helped persecuted and pressurised Christians. Training for new missionaries Food and clean enables Church New businesses water provided for to grow in remote and jobs provided Indonesian quake regions of Nepal for converts from survivors Pressure on Christians is growing in Islam in Kyrgyzstan Hindu-majority Nepal at the same A powerful 6.2 magnitude time as the Church is expanding earthquake hit the Indonesian island rapidly. Barnabas is helping to fuel Jobs have been created and new of Sulawesi in January, killing at Church growth by funding training businesses funded for Christian least 90 people in the western coastal courses to equip missionaries to converts from Islam in Kyrgyzstan, region. Hundreds of homes and some start new fellowships in remote thanks to a café set up several years church buildings were damaged or regions of the country. ago by Muslim-background believers destroyed, and thousands were left at a bus terminal. Barnabas helped homeless, many of them Christians. The training enriches the missionaries’ with unexpected extra costs when the The government response was Biblical understanding, provides café recently lost its premises at the inadequate and survivors sheltering guidance in ministry and leadership terminal, following redevelopment of in some makeshift camps received no skills and gives the missionaries the the site, and had to rebuild. help for days after the quake. knowledge to stand firm in the face of harassment and hostility. Refresher Some officials demanded a bribe to Thanks to your support, Barnabas courses provide additional support facilitate the move but the Christians was able to respond quickly to the for missionaries already serving in refused to pay, which led to criminal urgent needs of displaced Christians. isolated communities. charges against the officials. Since We provided food parcels, including lockdown eased, business has been rice, cooking oil, condensed milk “Noah” recently came to Christ and good and the staff of six has grown and tinned fish, to thousands of attended a Barnabas-supported to 19, some working part time. Christian families. training course before returning The café’s pay-to-use toilets boost to his village in the Far Western income by 30,000 soms (£255; $355; The survivors were also in desperate mountains, one of the remotest places €295) a month, twice the average need of clean water because the in Nepal. The small fellowship he Kyrgyzstan salary. quake cut supplies, especially in started in a hut has grown to about the hilly parts of the badly affected 20, and six of his congregation are The café’s profits have enabled four Mamuju regency, which is about 16% soon to be baptised. “Praise the Lord,” converts to set up four more small Christian. Barnabas restored clean he said. “I would not have been of use businesses, including sewing and water to thousands of Christian to the Lord without the opportunity leather products. The provision of families by drilling wells at churches of that training.” jobs is important in a country where and at a Bible college. Muslim-background believers often struggle to find employment because of hostility from the majority population.

The café has provided vital jobs for Muslim- One of the Barnabas-supported wells background believers in Kyrgyzstan drilled to provide clean water to survivors “Noah” brings the Word of God to his growing congregation £10,650 ($14,840; €12,330) £52,820 ($72,495, €60,975) £3,500 ($4,840; €4,040) Project reference 26-1114 Project reference: 00-634 (Small business start-ups in Kyrgyzstan) (Disaster Relief Fund) Project reference: PR1511 6 July/August 2021 Barnabas Aid Prayer and gifts

A prayer for 7 practical gifts of love, comfort and Covid-19 times hope you can give to show God’s love to your suffering O Lord and Father of humankind, Our Healer and Redeemer, family in troubled and uncertain times Look upon Your children A Man of Sorrows and acquainted With mercy and compassion with grief, In the New Testament we are reminded In this time of great suffering. Look upon His Body broken on earth. by Paul that we “fulfil the law of Christ” by For a deadly pestilence stalks Weep with them as He did at bearing each other’s burdens (Galatians our world Lazarus’ grave. 6:2). The persecuted Church is growing Leaving a tsunami of grief in its wake. Keep them close to Your heart and the faith of its members is strong but Loved ones are lost in death. For their names are engraved they desperately need our gifts of love, Families and friends mourn alone. On the palms of Your hands. hope and comfort to survive, recover and Many lie in hospital, Enter into their pain thrive in an increasingly challenging world. Hospitals that cannot cope, And bring them relief, In troubled and uncertain times, whether Whose anguished staff are in despair, Enter into their sadness Covid is still raging or it is a post-Covid While weeping families of the sick And bring them comfort, context, our suffering family face new Beg in vain for help. Enter into their despair struggles and hardships on top of the Many live in fear, And bring them hope. burdens that they already bear. Fear of falling sick, Turn their dusk into dawn, Hoping against hope Their night into day. Through Barnabas you can help That the virus will not strike. Remove the terrors of Satan’s curse with these 7 priority areas: Many are facing destitution, With Your mighty right hand. Jobs gone, savings used, If it be Your will 1 feed and nourish At their wits’ end, Deliver them from death hungry Christians Every hour in distress, That they may live, Because they cannot provide for Or if it be Your will to take 2 care for vulnerable Christian their families. them Home, communities by providing vital There is none to help. Grant to them a peaceful end access to healthcare Lord, have mercy on those You As they entrust their spirit into have made. Your hands. 3 encourage and provide spiritual sustenance to O Lord and Father of Your Church, To You, our Triune God, be the glory, persecuted Christians Your beloved, Creator and Sustainer of all. For whom Your Son died, To You be the praise, 4 give the next generation the Your blood-bought ones, Mighty and majestic Lord. opportunity to learn and equip His Body, Before You we bow, them for a hopeful future Look upon them in Your tender mercy Accepting Your Divine will, And bless Your people. Your sovereign purposes, 5 help the Church lead by For they too suffer In submission and with joy. creating the much needed With all humanity We proclaim You Church leaders of tomorrow And none have escaped these horrors. Our Lord and King, Give them Your grace to bear Our Saviour and Master, Their manifold afflictions. Our Guide and Comforter, 6 sustain marginalised Christian Give them Your protection And declare with all the Church, communities That they may know Your deliverance. “Your will be done, Give them sufficiency in all things In heaven and on earth, 7 protect Christians struggling to That they may not be in want. Now and forever.” survive natural disasters, conflict Give them the sense of Your presence And we look to that glorious Day, and anti-Christian violence, That they will know You are with them. The time of the healing of the nations, especially helping the most vulnerable of At all times and in all their sufferings When all creation will praise You, all –­ including children, elderly, widows and Give them Your Divine love Sorrow will be banished, orphans and converts – with critical aid. That they may love and serve You Suffering will cease, In all faithfulness. And death will be vanquished “My heart cries when I see my To the glory of God the Father, young children working alongside O Lord and Father of our Lord God the Son and God the Holy Spirit. me,” says Samina, a Pakistani Jesus Christ, Christian widow who works in a That great Shepherd of His sheep, AMEN brick-kiln. Her husband died of Who has borne Himself our sicknesses a heart attack and her daughter also died. “The monthly food package is a big blessing for us,” and sins, © Patrick Sookhdeo, 2021 says Samina. “May God bless you. Amen!” India Barnabas Aid July/August 2021 7

Impoverished Christian families receive vital supplies of food Barnabas helping Christians during India’s Covid crisis

ndia has been overwhelmed by a second wave Barnabas medical task force created of Covid-19. A new variant tore through the God willing, our next phase of support will provide country this year, resulting at its peak in more vital medical supplies and equipment to church than 4,000 deaths per day, as well as leading hospitals which were under severe pressure as well to new lockdown restrictions. Hospitals and as mobile medical centres to ease that pressure by other medical services struggled to respond to providing more ways to treat the sick. We have created I the pandemic – low supplies of oxygen along a separate task force, bringing together the main with the lack of beds meant that many died without Christian medical institutions in India. receiving treatment that may have saved their lives. “This second wave has been really harsh,” said Samuel, a church leader in India, adding that Christians – many from poor, Dalit backgrounds – have been particularly hard hit by the ongoing situation. Hundreds of pastors and church leaders have died. The “sheer numbers” of church leaders to succumb to the virus represent “an irretrievable loss”, he said. Pastor Kdaika and his family are among 25,000 families The restrictions on activities and the further provided with food parcels from Barnabas to help them lockdowns needed to control the virus had survive India’s Covid crisis consequences of their own. Many Christians in wage-earning jobs were unable to continue their Barnabas Fund also worked with church leaders to work – effectively, said Samuel, “they didn’t have a provide reliable information for Christians as to how job.” This, along with the closure of church services, they should respond to the pandemic. This included means that the income of church leaders taken from details about how to reduce the spread of the virus, tithes and offerings also dried up. advice about hand-washing and general hygiene, and guidance as to what action to take if somebody Barnabas emergency task force develops symptoms. It also included combating across denominations misinformation and misunderstandings about both Barnabas Fund took the initiative in providing much- vaccines and the virus itself. needed support to suffering Christians, creating an While the immediate need was for medical supplies, emergency task force of church leaders from across food and information, as well as comforting the denominations to identify and respond to needs. bereaved, in the long term Barnabas Fund will be Thanks to the generous donations of our supporters, on hand to help the hundreds of churches who have Barnabas provided food in May and June to 25,000 lost pastors and leaders. In the months and years needy Christian families. ahead the development of new spiritual leadership For poor families Barnabas provided food parcels, will become a vital need for India’s Christians. each costing around £11 (€13; $15). These usually Please continue to pray for an end to the pandemic, contained rice, wheat, flour, lentils and cooking oil. for those who are suffering financially due to lockdown Pastor Kdaika, the leader of a church in Parigada, restrictions, for those who are sick or bereaved, and Odisha State, described the food parcel as “a miracle for God to raise up a new generation of Christian … because we do not have money, we did not know leaders who will take as their mission the spiritual how we would meet our needs. But thank God that care of His people. He heard our prayer and through the Barnabas Fund we were supported.” Project reference: PR1530 (Covid-19 emergency fund) 8 July/August 2021 Barnabas Aid Pakistan’s brick kilns

God has given me this opportunity to learn about my Christian religion. This was not happening Setting free in the government school where I studied before.” These are and building up “My the words of Anosh, a young Christian from one of Pakistan’s numerous brick-kiln families, who thanks to the generosity further support for Pakistan’s of Barnabas Fund supporters now has the opportunity to attend school and get the education he needs. brick-kiln labourers Anosh had to stop attending school when his father, a brick-kiln worker, could no longer afford the fees. Anosh found himself instead working alongside his father, destined it seemed to a life of brick-kiln labour. Now, however, he studies hard to fulfil his dream of becoming a doctor so that he can support his family and help his community. Brick-kiln workers are low paid and families live at survival level. If someone falls sick, or another family crisis occurs, they have to take a loan from the brick-kiln owner. Interest on the loan is then deducted from their weekly wages and this can go on for years, even generations. As long as the debt remains, they are bonded to the brick kiln, unable to leave and get another job. It’s almost like slavery. Debt cancellation brings great joy to impoverished Christian families, yet, with support from Barnabas Fund, our project partners have been able to do so much more than simply setting free families by repaying their loans. Anosh’s story is one example of the wider spiritual and material blessings which we can bring to our brothers and sisters in the brick kilns of Pakistan.

Financial training and spiritual support Our project partners also provide training and guidance for families who are now free of debt. Families whose loans have been repaid are often still impoverished, and need support in managing their income to try and avoid being trapped in debt once again. Our project partners hold classes which teach skills such as budgeting and household management. In some cases families who have been rescued from debt are able to donate a portion of their income for a “revolving loan fund” which is used to repay the debts of other bonded Christian labourers. So far 89 families have had their debts relieved by fellow Pakistani brick-kiln believers, recently freed from their own debts. Having been desperately poor, helpless and dependent for so long, the freed families are thrilled to be in a position to help other believers. Families also receive spiritual support and encouragement. No longer bonded to the brick kiln and therefore unable to rest on Sundays, many now attend church and send their children to Sunday school, as well as praying together in the family home.

Barnabas Fund-supported schools give hope to a generation of children Mahwish, twelve years old, thought she would never be able to go to school. “My father is a brick-kiln worker,” explains Mahwish. “He and my grandfather never went to Anosh and his precious school text books. He had to school.” Like many other brick-kiln families, Mahwish’s drop out of school and join his father working at the parents could not afford her school fees. brick kiln. Now, he is able to attend a new school where Now, thanks to the generosity of Barnabas Fund’s he can get the education he needs and grow in his supporters, Mahwish is able to receive the education that was Christian faith not available to previous generations. Her favourite subject is Pakistan’s brick kilns Barnabas Aid July/August 2021 9

English, and she hopes when she is older to become a nurse. Vocational training provides new opportunities to Barnabas Fund’s project partners have set up the break the cycle of poverty schools to provide for children like Mahwish so that they Many women support their husbands by helping them can develop the skills and knowledge to succeed in life, as to work at the brick kiln. Workers are paid by how many well as learning more about their Christian faith. Along bricks they produce, and working together allows couples with free school places they provide the equipment needed and families to produce more. This, however, prevents – school bags, books, pencils and paper – as well as helping women from seeking their own employment. with the provision of new school buildings. Families who Barnabas Fund partners have therefore set up a are able to are encouraged to make a small donation to the vocational programme for young women from brick-kiln schools, but this is on a purely voluntary basis. families to learn sewing and embroidery skills, thereby There are currently 33 schools for brick-kiln families, increasing their options for employment. with 73 teachers who care for 1,986 children. Girls Haleema represents the fourth generation of her family especially are encouraged to attend school in a country to work at the brick kiln. She and her husband have found it in which women are particularly disadvantaged and very difficult to provide for their children, but now Haleema Christian women doubly so. says that she can save money by making clothes for her children as well as generating an income by providing Literacy and numeracy classes help tailoring and clothing repairs to others in her community. adults to develop key skills Education, though, is not just for the children. Most adults in the brick kilns are unable to read, write or do simple sums. But Barnabas Fund supports a programme of adult literacy and numeracy for the adults of brick-kiln families. Shamin, a mother of three, was happy when her children had the opportunity to go to school for the first time, but found that she was unable to help them in their studies. “I was unable to give any kind of help to them,” she recalls. “I did not even know how to hold a pencil.” Shamin prayed to God that she too would have the opportunity to learn, and soon that prayer was answered. Simple and easy-to-understand classroom lessons are Haleema, a Christian, hopes her new embroidery skills will designed to teach the basics of mathematics, reading and enable her to generate more income for her family writing. Classroom materials are based on the Bible, and many students are delighted to be able to read the Bible for Support for new small businesses themselves for the first time. Barnabas Fund has also provided supplies and equipment “When I started to come here I did not know anything,” to enable families to start their own small businesses. This explains Shamin, “but now with help of our teacher I can allows those who would otherwise have no option but to write letters, and can solve add-and-subtract questions. continue their back-breaking labour at the brick kiln to She teaches us about the Bible as well. In this school I undertake different work. learnt some new Gospel songs, Bible verses and hymns.” It also means a year-round income in contrast to brick- kiln workers who are without work during the seasonal lay-off during the monsoon rains in July and August. More recently, brick kilns in the Punjab have been forced into a second annual lay-off from December to February due to thick smog during those months. In total 50 families have been helped in this way so far. Eight have been gifted with motorcycle rickshaws, eight with motorcycle goods carriers, six with donkey carts, two with handcarts, 14 with shop premises and stock to open a grocery store, and twelve families have each been provided with three goats. As well as these grants our project partners are on hand to check the progress of the new businesses while also offering advice and guidance. The result of all this is that freed brick-kiln families are able to keep themselves from falling again into poverty, debt and bonded labour.

Project references: 41-1356 (repaying debts of brick-kiln workers ) 41-1236 (Christian schools in brick-kiln areas) 41-1315 (adult literacy centres for brick-kiln workers) PR1391 (vocational training for brick-kiln families, including With your help, Shamin’s prayer that she would have the sewing and embroidery) opportunity to study has been answered PR1532 (small business start-ups for former brick-kiln workers) 10 July/August 2021 Barnabas Aid Myanmar Myanmar Help and hope for those the world has forgotten

Barnabas Fund partners provide emergency relief to internally displaced Christians who have left everything behind

27 and 28 March involved in anti-coup activism. These Don’t even know what I Myanmar Army allegations were unfounded. should say fighter jets These are just a few examples of Don’t even know what I launched aerial the violence and repression faced by should do On bombardments the Karen, Kachin and other ethnic- Bereft of reason against civilians in minority Christians since the Today is horrible the Papun District of Karen State. At military coup on 1 February this year Tomorrow too remote to hope for least three were killed, eight injured, which replaced the democratically and an estimated 11,000, many of elected government of Aung San Suu Our contacts in Myanmar work hard whom are Christians, forced to flee Kyi and her party the National to find families hiding in secret, to their homes and join the thousands who League for Democracy (NLD) with a provide for them the help that they have become either internally displaced military dictatorship. need, using aerial drones to discover persons (IDPs) or have sought refuge in The Karen, Kachin and Chin people their location. IDPs are given food neighbouring countries. are religious and ethnic outsiders in such as rice, oil and tinned fish, other A Karen Christian leader who was Myanmar (Burma), dominated by the essentials including medicines, clothes leading a Bible study in the area at religiously Buddhist and ethnically and baby powder, as well as blankets, the time escaped with his life. “It was Burman majority, a dominance which mats and tarpaulins as a means of around 7pm when the army jet fighter the Tatmadaw seeks to maintain. Yet, constructing some sort of shelter. dropped a bomb just feet away from thanks to our supporters, Barnabas Relief workers also share God’s word, us,” he recounted. “We ran and the Fund has been able to offer support to providing believers with Bibles in their next bomb came even closer. Thank our persecuted brothers and sisters. own language. God we survived.” “Today is a happy day for my family,” “Today is horrible; tomorrow is too said Maun. “You brought us so many remote to hope for” blessings … we had left everything “We have been constantly on the move, behind. I thought it was impossible for hiding from place to place. No house people to find us, but I think this is a to live in, no work, nothing left. I did miracle from God.” not see any future for my family, and we were so tired to run, to hide and A real difference to our persecuted live in constant fear.” These are the brothers and sisters words of “Maun” (not his real name), a Violent repression of the majority- displaced Karen Christian, husband Christian ethnic groups – as well as the and father of four. Hiding in the jungle, majority-Buddhist Shan and majority- this family have barely enough food to Muslim Rohingya, among which are a live on – because of poor nutrition and number of Christians – has continued exhaustion the mother cannot even for many decades, even during the years breastfeed her one-month-old baby. of supposedly democratic government. After the bombing in Karen State, The fear is that this repression will the church leader who survived sought increase now that the Tatmadaw has full A Karen aid worker shares the Word of God to capture the feelings of the internally control of the country. with displaced Christians displaced Christians in verse: Yet your prayers and donations make a real difference to our A few days later, 3 April, the Myanmar I stared at death face to face and was persecuted brothers and sisters, giving Army – also known as the Tatmadaw spared for now hope back to those whom the world – raided churches in Kachin State, Don’t know for how long seems to have forgotten. ostensibly to investigate allegations Food becomes tasteless, that Christians were sheltering protest totally deprived Project reference: 75-763 leaders and that church ministers were Words become meaningless (Aid for persecuted Christians in Myanmar) Pull-Out

UNDERSTANDING ISLAM FROM A CHRISTIAN PERSPECTIVE

Our pull-out series for 2021 is taken from Understanding Islam from a Christian Perspective, by Rosemary Sookhdeo, Barnabas Fund’s International Director of Finance. The following excerpts from her popular and informative book give invaluable insights into areas where the religion of Islam, which was established 600 years after Christ, has borrowed from Christianity and explains the key theological differences between the two religions. ii July/August 2021 Barnabas Aid Pull-Out

CHAPTER TEN Sin, Salvation and End Times

Sin and Islam Christians commit this sin of shirk by associating someone else with Allah when they claim that Jesus is the Son of God. Sin is seen in a completely different way in Islam from ● The sin of apostasy or leaving the Islamic how it is seen in Christianity. In Islam there is no religion is so serious that Sharia prescribes the consciousness of sin in relation to a righteous God or death penalty for a sane adult man and for a of the seriousness of it in relation to faith. Islam rejects woman either death or imprisonment until she the doctrine of original sin and the account of Adam’s repents. This can be the barrier to Muslims fall and its consequences for the “fall of mankind”.75 coming to Christ and the fear of committing this The Quran teaches that human beings are not “fallen” can bind them to the religion of Islam. or separated from God.76 ● Sins such as murder and adultery. Islam explains man’s nature at birth as fitrah – a state of intrinsic goodness. Like Adam, people are When we talk about Jesus taking our sin on Himself born pure and sinless. “Every child is born in a state of on the cross and giving us forgiveness of sin when we fitrah, and social environment causes the individual accept Him into our life this has little meaning for to deviate from this state”, writes Islamic scholar Muslims. As Christians we consider ourselves to be Yasien Mohamed.77 This is very different from the sinful in that we constantly do things that are contrary Biblical teaching that we are “sinful from the time my to what God desires. mother conceived me” (Psalm 51:5) and “sin entered The gravity of sin in Islam is diluted by treating sin the world through one man, and death through sin, as failing to remember God’s instructions, rather than and in this way death came to all people, because all rebellion against God as it is viewed in Christianity. sinned” (Romans 5:12). The central Christian doctrine of the atonement, Islam does not conceive of sin in relation to a holy wherein our Lord Jesus takes upon Himself the and righteous God. The missionary Samuel Zwemer punishment for our sin and becomes a mediator pointed out how God’s holiness is completely ignored for the human race, is absent in Islam. Muhammad in the Quran.78 plays no mediatory role in the Quran, as the following verses make clear. “O ye who believe! Spend out of (the bounties) We have provided for you, before the Day A Muslim will have no assurance of the comes when no bargaining (will avail), nor friendship forgiveness of sins nor intercession” (sura 2:254). In fact, according to a well-known hadith, Muhammad worried about future judgement on his own family. “O Safiyah, Sin is seen within the context of a legalistic framework the Aunt of Allah’s Apostle! I cannot save you from as an act of wrongdoing and not specifically related Allah’s Punishment; O Fatima bint Muhammad [his to the human heart. Islam distinguishes between the daughter]! Ask me anything from my wealth, but I greater and the lesser sins. Greater sins would include cannot save you from Allah’s Punishment”.79 adultery, drinking alcohol, murder, homosexuality, The Quran leaves Muslims with little assurance of false testimony and theft, amongst many others. salvation. As Christians, “since we have been justified Greater sins are more serious and will lead to through faith, we have peace with God through our punishment; the lesser sins are common to everyone Lord Jesus Christ” (Romans 5:1) and we are assured and are much easier to be forgiven or overlooked. This of salvation because “there is now no condemnation breaking of the law can be remedied by good deeds. for those who are in Christ Jesus” (Romans 8:1). To a Muslim the most serious sins would be: Moreover, Jesus Himself assures His followers of eternal life when He says, “I give them eternal life, ● The sin of shirk, that is, associating someone and they shall never perish; no one can snatch them else with Allah, is an unpardonable sin. out of my hand” (John 10:28). Pull-Out Barnabas Aid July/August 2021 iii

woman decides to become a martyr? One Muslim Salvation and Islam woman caught before she could blow herself up expected to become “the purest and most beautiful form of angel at the highest level possible in heaven”.81P Salvation as we know it in Christianity does not really However, Muhammad looked into hell and saw that exist within Islam. Even the word “salvation” has the majority of its inhabitants were women. A hadith in no equivalent in Islamic thought. In Christianity sin Bukhari’s collection says, “Once Allah’s Apostle said to causes separation from a holy God, and our sins are a group of women, ‘Give alms, as I have seen that the forgiven or blotted out when we receive salvation by majority of the dwellers of Hell-fire were you (women).’”82 the acceptance of Jesus Christ as Lord and Saviour. We This hadith and a number of others state that the look to the cross and resurrection, to Jesus dying for majority of the people in hell are women. So how does a our sins and rising again for our justification, and to the woman get to Paradise? Elsewhere, the hadith teaches assurance that we have of eternal life. In Christianity, that a woman gets to Paradise by being absolutely there is an inextricable link between salvation and sin. obedient to her husband. It is this that shows her piety In contrast, Muslims understand the phrase “being and guarantees her eternal destiny. He is her paradise saved” only in the context of being delivered from or her hell, and without obedience to her husband, hell-fire to paradise, not in the context of sin’s causing there is no heaven for a woman. separation from God and the assurance of eternal The wives of the righteous and obedient are life. Many converts from Islam say that the Christian mentioned as accompanying their husbands in concept of salvation was the very thing that attracted Paradise. Women in Paradise must be submissive, them to Christ. subordinate, veiled and secluded in the harems of heaven, watching quietly as their husbands make love with the beautiful houris (perpetual virgins) of In Islam there is no assurance of heaven Paradise. Man is her master on earth and she will be subjugated to him forever in heaven as well. There is no provision made for single women in heaven. Islam does not make it clear whether a person will In evangelism to Muslim women, talking about go to heaven or hell. Whilst some texts say that all the assurance and hope of heaven can really speak to Muslims will have to go through hell before entering their hearts. If they remain within Islam, they have paradise, others indicate that those who believe and a depressing future with no hope before them when do right – the god-fearing – will enter the Gardens they die. We need to share how we have this eternal (Jannah) of Delight or Paradise.80 destiny with the King of kings and Lord of lords and Here we see the linking of believing and doing good they can have this glorious and eternal future in front works. However, the assurance of one’s eternal destiny of them as well. Many Muslim women come to Christ and escape from the agony of hell-fire is lacking within to find this assurance of salvation. Islam, and Muslims can only hope for Paradise but with no certainty. We need to share with Muslims that it is possible to have the assurance of heaven through Judgement day for Muslims putting our trust in Jesus Christ. This can be a very effective point to share in evangelism. Islam teaches the assurance of salvation only in A Muslim can never be sure of salvation at the Last the exceptional case of martyrdom. People who die Judgement. The first thing to be judged will be prayer. fighting for Islam or engaged in jihad is are called Failure to pray can render a Muslim an unbeliever and shahids (martyrs or witnesses), and their actions are will result in his being thrown into the fires of hell. To recognised as self-sacrificing and noble. Martyrdom is avoid hell he must repent before he dies, but even then not regarded as suicide or even related to it. Muslims he can never be sure of his destiny. A Muslim who believe that shahids will go immediately to Paradise has fallen into unbelief, like the person who leaves with all their sins forgiven. This act can be the only Islam, will suffer the eternal fires of hell. Those who assurance of heaven after death for the Muslim. The have committed minor sins and have not repented martyr can then intercede for seventy of his relatives will, after a period in hell, be able to enter Paradise. to enter Paradise immediately on their death. At the Last Judgement, a person’s entire sum of good deeds will be weighed on the scales against the bad deeds, and if the good deeds outweigh the bad A Muslim woman’s destiny in eternity deeds, the person will be allowed to enter Paradise. A Muslim who has done few good deeds and has not kept the duties and obligations of Islam has little hope What happens when a Muslim woman dies? Does of Paradise; even if he has done numerous good deeds she face the same fate as her husband or is there there is always the worry that the bad deeds might an entirely different set of rules? What happens if a outweigh the good deeds. Salvation is by works alone. iv July/August 2021 Barnabas Aid Pull-Out

Allah decides who will be saved in no other but Jesus Christ and all other ways are lost. and who will be damned This means that anyone who does not accept Jesus as Lord and Saviour is going to a lost eternity. We have a responsibility as Christians to share the Good News In the final analysis, “Allah wills what he wills”.Sura of Jesus Christ to those we come across. 14:4 reads, “Now Allah leaves straying those whom He pleases and guides whom He pleases”. Sura 7:178 supports this teaching. “Whom Allah doth guide – The end times in Islam He is on the right path: Whom he rejects from His guidance – such are the persons who perish”. Allah decides who will be saved and who will be damned. Islam’s end-time scenario is radically different In the light of these verses, Muslim theologians from Christianity’s. Muslims believe in the lesser developed the concept of God’s eternal decree. God has and greater signs of the Hour. They believe that determined all things in advance and has written them humankind will reach a state of great suffering and down in the eternal book of his decrees. These include then the awaited Mahdia will appear. He will be the human actions. Thus, Allah decides a person’s salvation first of the greater signs of the Hour. and damnation before their birth, and their personal The Mahdi will rule until the False Messiah or history is merely the working out of Allah’s decree. Antichrist (al-Masikh al-Dajjal or al-Masih al-Dajjal), Muslims hope the final day will reveal that the decree who will spread oppression and corruption, appears. of the Divine has been favourable to them. Consistent The False Messiah will destroy humankind and the with their view, however, they will not be inclined to say, earth will witness the greatest tribulation in its history. “I am saved”, but rather to say, “I am saved if God wills”. Then Isa (as Jesus is called in Islam) will descend to earth and bring justice. The False Messiah will be killed, either by the Mahdi or by Isa, according to different There is only one true God and traditions, ushering in a period of safety and security. all other ways are lost Gog and Magog will then appear and surprise humankind and corruption will take over again. Then Isa prays and Gog and Magog will die. Later, Isa will The Ten Commandments in Exodus (20:3) make it clear die and be buried alongside Muhammad. This will be that there is one true God. This is followed through in followed by the appearance of the Beast, which will the New Testament with passages such as 1 Corinthians lead to the Day of Judgement. 8:6: “Yet for us there is but one God, the Father, from whom all things came and for whom we live; and there a The Mahdi, literally “the one who is guided”, is an eschatological is but one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom all things figure mentioned in some hadith but not the Quran. There are a came and through whom we live”. In Ephesians 4:4-6 variety of beliefs about this end-time military saviour. we read: “There is one body and one Spirit – just as you Jonathan Benthall, Islamic Charities and Islamic Humanism in were called to one hope when you were called – one Lord, Troubled Times. Manchester: MUP, 2016, p. 173. one faith, one baptism; one God and Father of all, who See sura 30:30; A. Yusuf Ali, The Meaning of the Holy Qur’an. is over all and through all and in all”. Beltsville: Amana Publications, 1999, p. 1016, fn. 3541. A good starting point for further conversation is Yasien Mohamed, Human Nature in Islam. Kuala Lumpur: A. S. Mark 12:28-29, as Muslims would agree with this: “‘Of Noordeen, 1998, p. 41. all the commandments which is the most important?’ S. M. Zwemer, The Moslem Doctrine of God. New York: ‘The most important one,’ answered Jesus, ‘is this: American Tract Society, 1905, p. 49. “Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one.”’” Al-Bukhari, Sahih al-Bukhari, in Alim, at http://www.alim.org/ However, it is important in our evangelism to library/hadith/SHB/16/4, Hadith 4:16. Muslims to point out that we believe in one God and Sura 16:31; A. Yusuf Ali, The Meaning of the Holy Qur’an. 1999, p. 644. not three gods. As well as pointing out that we believe 81 ‘Shahid’, in Encyclopaedia of Islam. Leiden: Brill, 1997, Vol. 9, p. 204. in one God we should mention that God is a triune God 82 Al-Bukhari, Sahih Bukhari in Alim. Silver Spring: Maryland: ISL of God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit. Software Corp., 1986-1999, now online at http://www.alim.org/ It says very clearly in the Bible that there is salvation library/hadith/SHB/301/1, Hadith 1:301.

International Headquarters The Old Rectory, River Street, Pewsey, Wiltshire SN9 5DB, UK Telephone 01672 564938 Email [email protected] Northern Ireland and Republic of Ireland Office 113, Russell Business Centre, 40-42 Lisburn Road, Belfast BT9 6AA Please send post to our UK office address. Telephone 02891455246 Email [email protected] South Africa Office 301, 3rd Floor, Eikestad Mall, 43 Andringa Street, Stellenbosch 7599 Telephone +27 21 808 1668 Email [email protected] UK 9 Priory Row, Coventry CV1 5EX Telephone 024 7623 1923 Email [email protected]

Published by Barnabas Aid 1934 Old Gallows Road Suite 350 Vienna, VA 22182, USA © Barnabas Aid 2021 Beirut Barnabas Aid July/August 2021 11 Hope among the rubble Barnabas helps Christians to rebuild lives shattered by Beirut blast Many organisations assessed the damage to Elias’ barber shop, but only Barnabas fixed it

lias is a Christian and a Barnabas helped repair at least 170 port. “In a country already struggling barber living in Lebanon’s houses, apartments and businesses of to survive too many crises, the capital, Beirut. Despite Christians. The arrival of winter made explosion came as a final blow,” said the many political and the work more urgent as many homes our project partner. In the year since economic crises that his that seemed to be relatively unharmed the disaster the Lebanese pound fell country has endured over began to leak, and premises awaiting to an all time low, having lost 85% E the years, he managed new doors and windows became of its value at the time of writing, to support himself and his loved ones vulnerable to water damage. causing poverty to soar in a country with the income from his barber shop. that relies heavily on imports. The That all changed on 4 August price of basic foods, nappies and 2020 when 2,750 tons of ammonium construction materials spiralled, nitrate exploded in a warehouse medicines were in short supply and at the port, killing more than 200 jobs previously thought secure were people and injuring 7,000. wiped out by the financial turmoil. The shockwaves shattered Covid-19 has compounded the city’s windows as far as 26 km away. More misery and hospitals are overflowing. than 300,000 people, including many Christians, lost their homes or were temporarily displaced because of the damage wrought. Four of the five neighbourhoods worst affected were predominantly Christian. Retired bus driver George lives in Beirut Christian families given back with his sister, a cleaner at a Christian their dignity school. They struggled to buy food as Elias’ barber shop was one of well as medication for George’s kidney thousands of business premises condition. George, who reads his much- shattered by the blast. Suddenly, treasured Bible for many hours every day, he had no work, no income and thanks Barnabas supporters for helping no means of supporting his family. him and his sister in their time of need Barnabas enabled Georgette earn enough “Many NGOs went to visit Elias and to sustain herself and her elderly brother made reports,” said our project Our first set of grants also provided partner in Beirut. “Yet it is only food for 3,400 Christian families, Georgette is a single Christian Barnabas that helped fix his shop so hygiene items for 1,000 families woman who lives with her elderly he and his family live in dignity.” (such as sanitiser, disinfectant, brother. She lost her job as a school toothbrushes etc), medical assistance cleaner after the explosion because for 112 families/individuals, and the school was no longer able to financial support for 274 Christians keep paying her. Barnabas helped in need. Some of those helped were Georgette to set up a small business converts from Islam, who could not selling her homemade pickles and receive other aid because coming tomato sauces. “Thanks to forward would put their lives at risk, or Barnabas, she is not a beggar Christian refugees from Iraq and Syria. anymore,” declared our partner. “She earns enough to enable her to Explosion a “final blow” to economy live in dignity.” Lebanon’s economy was in meltdown Christians in Beirut sign for food and and hyperinflation rife even before Project reference: PR1533 essential supplies provided by Barnabas the explosion devastated its main (Needy Christians in Lebanon) 12 July/August 2021 Barnabas Aid Why suffering?

uffering is the norm for all humanity. But why did Satan himself sin and fall from heaven? “Man is born to trouble as surely as No one tempted, tricked or cajoled him. His sin came sparks fly upward” (Job 5:7). But why entirely from within himself. That is the ultimate does God allow pain and destruction? mystery of evil. Perhaps we should be thankful that we He is good and all-powerful, so why are unable to comprehend the most profound depths does He not intervene and stop it? of pure evil. Just as God dwells in “unapproachable S Especially, why does He allow His light” (1 Timothy 6:16) there is also an unapproachable faithful followers to endure so much suffering? darkness, in which evil is shrouded, leaving it a The answer is found in Genesis 3. When Adam and mystery that we cannot penetrate. Eve ate from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil their sinful act of rebellion changed everything, Deceit and desire everywhere in the universe – although, praise God, Eve sinned because of a combination of deceit and not for ever, as one day Christ will return and put desire. The serpent deceived Eve. But did Eve also all right again. But, for now, we are living with the deceive herself as she listened to him? “The heart is physical, mental, emotional and spiritual impact on deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked.” humankind, and the rest of creation, of the Fall. Even (Jeremiah 17:9 AV). the realm of nature has turned against us and Satan As for desires, did she and Adam previously have delights in attacking us. good and right desires, which became perverted The Garden of Eden was a place of bliss and of by that fateful conversation with the serpent? God blessing. There God had blessed the first two humans intended them to enjoy the garden, its creatures and (Genesis 5:2). Indeed the whole world was full of each other. Would not this enjoyment entail good, blessing (Genesis 1:22, 28). But after the Fall, the God-given desires, including a desire to be in the ground was cursed. Lord’s presence? Suffering was not God’s intention for the ordered and harmonious world He made, with God at its One thing have I desired of the Lord, that will centre. But now Satan prowls around “like a roaring I seek after; that I may dwell in the house of lion looking for someone to devour” (1 Peter 5:8). He the Lord all the days of my life, to behold the is full of fury because he knows his time of power on beauty of the Lord earth is short (Revelation 12:12). (Psalm 27:4 AV) The serpent (identified later as the devil and Satan, Revelation 12:9) began by asking Eve whether God had Eve committed the first human sin and immediately banned her from eating “from any tree”. Eve knew the compounded it by getting Adam to sin too, who answer and boldly corrected the visitor, adding also was apparently with her when she talked with the God’s warning that if they ate from that tree they would serpent.1 Both Old and New Testaments have strong die. Then the serpent produced his big lie, directly rebukes for those who cause others to sin (1 Kings contradicting God: “You will not surely die.” The 14:16; Matthew 5:19; 18:6). serpent added a plausible-sounding reason, containing the promise “you will be like God” (Genesis 3:1-5). The effects of Adam and Eve’s sin Eve’s thought processes as she yielded to temptation The first effect of the “knowledge of good and evil” (Genesis 3:6) involved the same three factors that John was Adam and Eve’s realisation that they were naked identifies in his description of worldliness opposed to (Genesis 3:7). The shame they felt (Genesis 2:25) was the Father (1 John 2:16): desire of the body (for food), an unfamiliar emotion. Rather than moving into an desire of the eyes (for beauty) and pride (desire for “exalted sphere of Divine life”,2 their first knowledge power-giving knowledge and wisdom that would make of evil was the new guilt in their own hearts. her like God). In the evening came God’s punishment: the serpent This prideful desire to be like God was the same was cursed (Genesis 3:14), the ground was cursed reason that Satan himself fell (Isaiah 14:12-15; (Genesis 3:17-18) and life was to become hard for Ezekiel 28:1-17). Adam and Eve. Eve sinned because Satan tempted her and she For Eve it would relate partly to childbearing succumbed. All our own daily struggles against sin (Genesis 3:16). God said He would greatly increase can be traced back to Satan’s activities in the world. her istavon, usually translated “pain”. God told Adam Why suffering? Barnabas Aid July/August 2021 13

that henceforth growing food would require istavon bound God to His rational creatures was the first (“painful toil” NIV). This is an unusual Hebrew word consequence of the first sin. Adam and Eve hid for “pain”. Although istavon the noun means “pain”, themselves from God, for they dared not meet Him the same Hebrew root as a verb means to be filled after they had sinned (Genesis 3:8). But very soon they with sorrow, grief or sadness. So the pain of Adam and no longer had the option of meeting Him, because He Eve’s punishment was not ordinary pain but a pain banished them permanently (Genesis 3:23-24). They linked to sorrow and grief i.e. a spiritual and mental – and we – became alienated from our Maker and this state of mind manifesting itself in physical pain. The alienation from God lies at the root of all our suffering. cure for this pain is therefore spiritual.3 We no longer know who we are, where we belong, The other part of God’s message for Eve was that why we exist or the purpose of life. We are aware of her desire (teshuqah in Hebrew) would be for her an emptiness in our lives and we try to fill the void husband and he would rule over her. But teshuqah is with physical, material or emotional paraphernalia. better translated as “turning to”, meaning that a wife But we are suffering from a spiritual sickness and all will have single-minded devotion to her husband, and such efforts just create greater sickness in the human he will rule over her. 4 psyche. We are lonely, isolated and afraid. It is only through our Lord Jesus Christ that we can Death be at peace with God again, justified through faith in Another result of Adam and Eve’s disobedience was the One who died for us on the cross, and able even to death (Genesis 2:17). They had previously lived in rejoice in our sufferings (Romans 5:1-3). As an old hymn perfect happiness and perfect health and, says Calvin, says, “Jesus, I will trust Thee, trust Thee with my soul, guilty, lost and helpless, Thou canst make me whole.” 7 would have passed into heaven without death, and without injury. Death, therefore, is now 2. Our relationship with ourselves a terror to us; first, because there is a kind Alienation from God and the loss of our identity in of annihilation, as it respects the body; then, Him created an internal trauma, a restlessness in because the soul feels the curse of God.5 our hearts, an inner chaos. Anchorless, we are adrift. Lacking confidence in God, we place our confidence in So, the death they were to suffer was both physical ourselves – leading to anxiety and disaster. We have and spiritual. This death begins, says Calvin, with desires that cannot be met. We are no longer whole the wretchedness of human existence after the Fall, and at peace. Rather, we are at war with ourselves, so that the miseries of life are “a kind of entrance into as the realm of the Spirit and the realm of the flesh death”.6 This long process of dying, both physically wrestle with each other (Romans 7:18-20). We seek all and spiritually, began as soon as the fruit was eaten. the time for that internal wholeness (shalom) which Before the Fall, sorrow, pain and death did not exist. Adam and Eve enjoyed before the Fall, the “perfect A time is coming when they will vanish away again, peace” of those who trust in the Lord (Isaiah 26:3). for in the new heaven and the new earth “there will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain for the 3. Our relationships with others old order of things has passed away” (Revelation 21:4). Human relationships with one another were also Then there will be two trees of life (Revelation damaged by the Fall. In the very next generation, the 22:2a) and no tree of the knowledge of good and evil, first murder occurred when jealous, angry Cain killed for there is no possibility of sin in heaven (Revelation his brother Abel (Genesis 4:1-8). Human violence and 21:27). Their leaves will be like healing herbs, to restore destructiveness have been with us ever since. Trust broken people and broken relationships (Revelation is gone and wrong desires have come, causing “fights 22:2b). And “No longer will there be any curse” and quarrels” (James 4:1-2). (Revelation 22: 3). The ground of heaven will be like But in the grace and purposes of God, not only can the ground of Eden, without thistles or thorns. The individuals be restored to a right relationship with God results of the Fall will have been completely reversed. by the atoning death of the Lord Jesus Christ (Romans But until then, we are living with the effects of the 5:1), not only can good relationships with one another Fall. Life is a struggle, fraught with disease, anguish, be restored through Christ (Ephesians 2:14) but also error, doubt and conflict. Humankind is indelibly He will bring “unity to all things in heaven and on earth stained with sin (“original sin” as theologians call it), under Christ” (Ephesians 1:10). The day will come when and the wages of sin is death (Romans 6:23), both nations no longer fight one another (Isaiah 2:4) but death of the body and death of the soul. bring their splendours into the City that is lit by the glory of God (Revelation 21:24,26). Five fundamental sources of suffering The ordered peace of the Garden of Eden disappeared 4. Our relationship with the rest of creation after the Fall, replaced by disharmony, disorder and Even our relationship with the realm of nature is chaos, which affect all our relationships. affected by the Fall. Since God cursed the ground, nature has been like an enemy. We are also in danger 1. Our relationship with God from a natural world which is itself in turmoil, and Our sins and iniquities separate us from God (Isaiah groaning in its frustration and bondage (Romans 59:2). The severing of the sublime relationship that 8:19-21). Earthquakes and storms, drought and floods, 14 July/August 2021 Barnabas Aid

parasites and pathogens, stinging insects and crop- eating pests, poisonous plants, wild animals hungry for human flesh – all of these will be with us until the time of God’s holy mountain. The world that God created “very good” (Genesis Land 1:31) is no longer flawless. We must still take care of it, as God instructed Adam (Genesis 2:15), but it is imperfect, as we are, and we must not make an idol of it.

5. Our relationship with Satan We have an enemy (Genesis 3:15) who hates us and of fear seeks to destroy us. Everywhere the devil goes depravity, Terror and chaos overwhelm destruction and death follow in his wake. Matthew Mozambique’s troubled far north Henry says of this verse:

A perpetual quarrel is here commenced between the kingdom of God, and the kingdom of the In Mozambique’s far north, nowadays known Devil … war is proclaimed between the seed as the “land of fear”, terror and instability are of the woman and the seed of the serpent. That raging. In this Muslim-majority and resource- war in heaven between Michael and the Dragon rich area of a poor and underdeveloped began now.8 Christian-majority country, Islamist militants have launched at least 831 attacks since 2017, As William Philip has pointed out, with reference to killing at least 2,658 people. Genesis 3:15, the first definition of a believer in the Bible is a fighter against evil. Struggling shows that our faith is real: we have not given up the battle. For the ancient serpent will keep struggling against the Church until he is thrown into the fiery lake (Revelation 20:2,10). It is a fantasy to expect perfect health, or indeed sinlessness, as a result of deciding to follow Christ. This world is a war zone for the Gospel and will be so until the End.9 These five areas of relationship are the catastrophic consequences of the Fall and the reason that the beautiful and good world God created is now a world of suffering.

DR PATRICK SOOKHDEO International Director, Barnabas Fund

1 We are told in 1 Timothy 2:14 “Adam was not the one deceived; it was the woman who was deceived and became a sinner.” This surely refers to the order of events: Eve was the one who first ate the fruit, followed by Adam. 2 Basil F.C. Atkinson, The Pocket Commentary of the Bible: The Book of Genesis, Worthing, Henry E. Walter Ltd, 1954, p.44. 3 Ariel, “Deeper Hebrew Meanings from the Garden of Eden”, Hebrewversity, https://www.hebrewversity.com/deeper-hebrew- meanings-garden-eden/ [accessed 16 April 2021] Journal of ,”הקוׁשת A.A. Macintosh, “The Meaning of Hebrew 4 Semitic Studies vol. LXI no. 2 (Autumn 2016), pp.365-87. 5 John Calvin, A Commentary on Genesis, first published in Latin in 1554, translated and edited by John King in 1847, London, Banner of Truth Trust reprinted from the Calvin Translation Society, 1965, p.127. 6 Calvin p.127. 7 Mary Jane Walker, 1855. Since an intense wave of terror attacks began in November 2020, 8 Matthew Henry, A Commentary on the Holy Bible, 1706, London, Ward, thousands of displaced people have taken refuge on the beach at Pemba, Lock & Co., new edition, 1857?, vol. 1, p.18, referring also to Revelation 12:7. the capital of Cabo Delgado, crammed into makeshift shelters 9 Sermon at the Tron Church, Glasgow, Scotland, 21 March 2021. Mozambique Barnabas Aid July/August 2021 15

lmost one million people are facing severe hunger across northern Mozambique due to jihadi violence, according to a report A from the World Food Programme published in April 2021. Around 700,000 are estimated to be internally displaced in the northern province of Cabo Delgado, where the Islamist violence is centred. Until the beginning of 2021, food was still arriving by boat from Tanzania, through the mangrove swamps, but then the jihadists cut the supply lines, bringing the real possibility of starvation. An Islamist terror group, known locally as Al-Sunna wa Jama’a or Al Shabaab (not the Somali-based group), has wreaked havoc in the region since the insurgency began in 2017. It aims to establish an Islamic caliphate in oil- and gas- rich Cabo Delgado, an area where Three-quarters of a million people have fled Islamist violence in the far violence was previously unknown. north of Mozambique Barnabas Fund contacts confirm that anyone who will not embrace attackers. My family here barely the Mozambique army succeeded in the jihadists’ beliefs is attacked, has enough food for themselves. retaking the town. often with shocking brutality, Without this gift from God, I really More than 16,500 people fled the including Christians who refuse to don’t know how me and my little stricken district by vehicle, boat or deny Christ, and moderate Muslims. girl would have got through a day,” foot. Many, including children, walked Beheading, skinning and cutting he said thanking Barnabas for the for days through the bush to find off the limbs of their victims are the aid his family received. safety, some arriving with swollen and group’s typical methods. “What they injured feet. do to the people they capture and kill At least 50 people beheaded In some towns, the population I have never seen anywhere in Africa,” in a three-day massacre swelled to double or triple normal said an expert. In one of the worst attacks of 2020, levels as the displaced people arrived. the jihadists beheaded more than Some found shelter with other “I don’t know where my wife is. 50 people on a football pitch in families – who had little enough even I haven’t heard of her since Muatide village during three days for themselves. that bad day” of ferocious violence in November. A survivor who walked for “When they captured us, they set aside Two people were beheaded in a three days without food and water, the Christians and non-Muslims,” nearby community when gunmen covering about 30 miles, to reach recalled Mani, a traumatised shouting “Allahu Akbar” stormed Namoto on the Tanzanian border Christian survivor of an Islamist into Nanjaba village, firing weapons said, “Many children are dying in the attack on his town of Moçimboa and setting homes alight. bush … People have been captured da Praia. “After they divided us, we and others have died.” had to watch the non-Muslims and Islamic State boasted of Many hundreds of locals and Christians be decapitated.” Mani was killing Christians after ruthless foreign workers were rescued by able to flee and after eight hours on assault on Palma boat, taking them to refuge at Pemba, foot reached Muti, a small village A ruthless and prolonged assault 155 miles south of Palma. Five days near the coastal town of Palma. He on Palma began on 24 March after the assault about 1,400 people travelled on to the provincial capital 2021, and saw beaches strewn arrived at the port in a single vessel. Pemba by boat in the hope of being with bodies. The Islamist terror Barnabas Fund has been sending reunited with his daughter and sister. group Islamic State boasted on its food to some of the neediest displaced “I don’t know where my wife Internet news site of killing at least Christians. This includes staples such is. I haven’t heard of her since 55 people, including Christians as rice, beans and cooking oil, as well Since an intense wave of terror attacks began in November 2020, that bad day,” said Mani. “I lost and other civilians, Mozambican as ePap, a porridge containing protein, thousands of displaced people have taken refuge on the beach at Pemba, everything, my documents, money soldiers, and “crusaders” (meaning vitamins and other vital nutrients to the capital of Cabo Delgado, crammed into makeshift shelters and everything was burned by the Westerners). It took ten days before bring health to the malnourished. 16 July/August 2021 Barnabas Aid In Brief

Iranian Christian Eritrea frees 14 Christian convert converts Christians after in Saudi Arabia pressurised to four years in jail acquitted of theft renounce faith ERITREA SAUDI ARABIA Fourteen Christians have been A Christian convert from Islam in Saudi IRAN released in Eritrea after four years of Arabia has been acquitted of theft after incarceration in Dahlak Island Prison a court ruled there was no evidence. on the Red Sea. The Christian, named only as “A”, A Barnabas contact said the men had been accused of theft by his sister’s are believed to be the last to be freed husband. “A” had reportedly aided his from a group of 66 Christians detained sister, also a Christian convert, and her at the same time. One of the original children to escape from Saudi Arabia. group died two years ago “from illness”, Lawyers representing his brother- according to the authorities. in-law were unable to bring any The reason for the latest evidence, leading the judge to acquit releases is not known; however, “A” and dismiss the case. Eritrean church leader Dr Berhane “A” faces two further court cases, for Asmelash said it is thought the helping his sister to flee against the Christian men will be forced to join wishes of her family, and – in a separate the army. Forced conscription into the incident – allegedly trying to convert Eritrean armed forces is greatly feared, Muslims to Christianity. not least because the compulsory military service can last for many Esmaeil Narimanpour, Hojjat Lotfi Khalaf, “A” had reportedly aided years, even decades. Mohammad Ali Torabi and Alireza his sister, also a Christian The men’s release came shortly Varak-Shah, all residents of Dezful, were convert, and her children to after authorities freed on 11 April all arrested by Iranian security forces [Image escape from Saudi Arabia credit: Middle East Concern] but one of 23 Christians arrested at a prayer meeting in the capital Asmara Four Christian converts from Islam were in March. The Christian denied release The latter charge arose from a forced to sign an agreement stating they remains in prison. conversation in a restaurant in 2020, would not attend any house churches or Another twelve Christians arrested in which “A” allegedly discussed his associate with Christians as a condition in March at a prayer meeting in Assab, own conversion. of their temporary release after two days about 660 miles from Asmara, remain The brother-in-law of “A” has of interrogation. in Assab Prison. threatened violence against the wife Esmaeil Narimanpour, Mohammad At the time of writing it was and son of “A”, who may be vulnerable Ali Torabi, Alireza Varak-Shah and Hojat thought that at least 129 believers to attack should he be imprisoned. Lotfi-Khalaf, arrested in Dezful in south- were being detained in Eritrea’s jails, “A” has already spent time in west Iran on 19 April, also had to pledge often enduring inhumane and brutal prison and been flogged for his faith in to report back to the Intelligence Office conditions; however, the exact figure Christ and for helping his sister leave immediately upon being summoned. is not known. the country. At least ten other Christian converts released after a day of interrogation in Dezful on 22 April were also forced to sign the agreements. Church ministers among 24 Christians A Barnabas contact said this kind of agreement, widely used by massacred by militants in Ethiopia Iranian intelligence officials, serves as a way to pressure people into ETHIOPIA reconverting to Islam and denouncing Twenty-four Christians, including two south Oromia, surrounded the church the Christian faith. church ministers, were killed by armed and forced members of the congregation Meanwhile, a Christian couple militants in western Ethiopia on Sunday to hand over their mobile phones. have been summoned to begin jail 7 March. The armed men then killed the two sentences for belonging to a house The Christians were attending a ministers outside the church, before church in Tehran. Homayoun Zhaveh, church service in Horo Guduru Welega taking the other Christians to a nearby 62, who suffers from Parkinson’s zone (formerly Welega Province). forest where they too were killed. disease, is sentenced to two years’ Members of the militant group OLF “Please include Ethiopia in your prayers,” imprisonment and his wife Sara Shene, an offshoot of the Oromo Liberation urged a Barnabas contact. “Christians are Ahmadi, 42, to eight years. Front thought to be active in west and living in utter fear day in and day out.” In Brief Barnabas Aid July/August 2021 17

Islamic terrorists seek out and kill two Nineteen injured Christians in attack on Nigerian town in suicide NIGERIA bomb attack on four weeks. Gunmen attacked Sunday morning worship at a church in Indonesian church Kaduna State on 25 April, killing one worshipper and abducting four others. INDONESIA One Christian died and a further Nineteen people were injured when four were abducted in an attack on two suicide bombers blew themselves a church bus in Kaduna State on up outside a church on the Indonesian 6 April. In Benue State a church island of Sulawesi on 28 March, as the minister and three other Christians congregation celebrated Palm Sunday. were killed by gunmen who struck The two bombers, a man and a just as a morning service was closing woman, arrived on a motorcycle on 30 March. at a side entrance of the church in Two Christian women were Makassar but were stopped from among five students murdered entering by a security guard. Both by kidnappers following their bombers died at the scene. abduction from Greenfield University The following day, Indonesian police in Kaduna State on 20 April. arrested 13 people and seized powerful Their bodies were discovered on explosives after a series of raids. 22 April alongside the remains of a Police said the bombers were a Muslim student. The bodies of two married couple who belonged to other abducted students were found Jamaah Ansharut Daulah (JAD), four days later. a group with links to the Islamic In a separate development, State (IS, ISIS, ISIL, Daesh) terrorist kidnappers released on 4 May the group. JAD is suspected of carrying remaining 29 students, who are out suicide attacks on three churches mainly Christian, that they abducted in the city of Surabaya in 2018, Kidnappers released a video showing from the College of Forestry killing 13 people. students abducted from a Nigerian Mechanisation in Kaduna State on 11 Indonesian President Joko forestry college held at gunpoint. All the March. Ten other students had been Widodo condemned the attack. forestry students were eventually freed previously freed by the gang. “Terrorism is a crime against The release has also been humanity and has nothing to do with Two Christians were sought out and confirmed of eight Christians who any religion,” he said. “All religious killed by members of Islamic State were abducted from their church teachings reject terrorism.” West Africa Province (ISWAP) after minibus on 26 March in Kaduna State. ISWAP took control of Geidam town In Kwara State, at least 20 in Nigeria’s northern Yobe State on Christians were injured when a 23 April, causing around 2,000 mob of Muslims attacked a church residents to flee. where Christians were gathered for

“So far they have killed two Christians and two Muslim school teachers. They went to their homes and slaughtered them”

“Everybody is running away because a peaceful protest against a state the insurgents have started killing government directive that Christian people who are Christians and schools must allow female Muslim The scene at the side entrance to those with Western education,” said pupils to wear a hijab. the church after suicide bombers a resident. Church leaders stated that riding a motorcycle detonated their “So far they have killed two allowing pupils to wear Islamic dress explosives as Christians inside Christians and two Muslim school goes against the schools’ Christian celebrated Palm Sunday teachers. They went to their homes and values and pointed out that allowing slaughtered them,” said another local. Islamic dress would aid terrorists To view our most current news It was one of a series of deadly engaged in school abductions to scan this with your device assaults on Christians in less than quickly identify Christian children. 18 July/August 2021 Barnabas Aid Campaigns Campaigns update

It’s not too late to sign our petition UK Prime Minister calling for the UK government to Boris Johnson urged to speak up for recognise the Armenian Genocide persecuted Thank you to everyone who has signed our petition calling on the UK government to officially recognise as genocide the mass murder of Armenian, Nigerian Christians Assyrian, Syriac and Greek Christians in the Ottoman Empire before, during and after the First World War. So far 12,725 of you added your names to our 6,537 of you signed our open letters call for the government to formally acknowledge these historic atrocities. to Commonwealth leaders (including Between 1893 and 1923 some 1.5 million Armenians died in the 3,852 who signed the letter to UK Prime Ottoman Empire in a policy of extermination of Christian minorities. In Minister Boris Johnson) asking them addition some 2.25 million Assyrian, Greek and Syriac Christians were to raise persecution of Christians in also killed within Ottoman territories between 1914 and 1923, making a Nigeria as a matter of concern at the 2021 total of 3.75 million Christians killed. Commonwealth Heads of Government Recognition of the first Armenian Genocide may help to avert a second one. Meeting beginning 21 June in Rwanda. God willing, by the time you are reading this, the letter will have been delivered to There is still time to join our campaign. Please sign the petition to 10 Downing Street. We do not know, at the UK government enclosed with this magazine and encourage the time of writing, whether Mr Johnson family, friends and others to follow your example. You are welcome will have acted on it. to photocopy it. Further copies of this petition are available from 9 Priory Row, Coventry, CV1 5EX or to download from: A “Christian genocide” – USCIRF www.barnabasfund.org/armenian-genocide The United States Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) warned in April 2021 of a “Christian genocide” if the government of US President Joe Biden recognises the Armenian Genocide Nigeria cannot protect Christians from for the first time Islamic terrorism. On 24 April Joe Biden became to first US president to formally recognise USCIRF committee member Gary L. the mass killings of Armenians and other Christians as genocide, Bauer said, “Nigeria’s government seems declaring, “Let us renew our shared resolve to prevent future atrocities unable or unwilling to stop the growing from occurring anywhere in the world.” carnage. Radical Islamists are committing Dr Patrick Sookhdeo, International Director of Barnabas Fund, violence inspired by what they believe is a had written a personal letter to President Biden. Dr Sookhdeo has also religious imperative to ‘cleanse’ Nigeria of written to UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson. Our petition calls upon the its Christians. They must be stopped.” This governments of the UK, Australia and New Zealand to also recognise the violence is still ongoing. Armenian Genocide. The Prime Minister was asked to direct the Commonwealth Heads of Government What the UK government says to consider diplomatic pressure and policy Thank you to supporters who have written to their MPs to urge the UK responses to the following: government to recognise the Armenian Genocide. The government is making the argument that it is a matter for 1. the Nigerian Government’s failure to the courts rather than politicians to decide whether a mass killing respond adequately to the violence; constitutes “genocide”. You can respond to this argument by pointing 2. the need for persecuted communities to out that in other cases – such as that of the Uyghurs in China – MPs be protected; and have declared that genocide has taken place. In several other countries, 3. the need for Nigerian authorities to including the United States, politicians – not judges – have made the bring perpetrators of violence to justice. decision to recognise the Armenian Genocide. Remind your MP that these matters are of more than just historic Thank you for supporting our interest. The invasion of ethnic-Armenian Nagorno-Karabakh by brothers and sisters in Nigeria by Azerbaijan, supported by Turkey, and subsequent accounts of war crimes your signature on the Open Letter. including torture, execution of civilians, and destruction of churches has Please continue to uphold them in raised fears of a new Armenian genocide. your prayers. 19 July/August 2021 In Touch Barnabas Aid

Help fill our food.gives box We need YOU! Barnabas Fund is launching food.gives, where you (or your church) will be able to donate dried food from a selected list for poor and persecuted Christians globally. Using our long established and trusted network of Barnabas Fund partner churches, we can now channel not just your generous financial donations, but also dry foodstuffs from Christians in the West, through Christians, to hungry Christians in places of pressure and persecution. Save the date for

You Share. We Ship SCAAW 2021 Food.gives is really simple. This is how it works. Suffering Church Action and Inform us on 024 7623 1923 or Awareness Week this year runs from [email protected] or via www.food.gives if you are willing to: Sunday 31 October to Sunday 7 November ● Commit to putting together a monthly food box as an . The theme will be “ individual God’s faithfulness in times of or as a family; suffering Be a representative of this initiative in your church, encouraging ” and we will be focusing on ● Isaiah 40:1-11. your church family to donate food to your global Christian family; We will send you the relevant Starter Pack, depending on the above. Be a part of SCAAW as we stand This will include: with our suffering Church family in thought, prayer and practical ● Information leaflet/s; action. You can make a difference to ● A food box for the church and/or for yourself (or family); the lives of our poor and persecuted ● Poster (for church only); brothers and sisters by praying, And once your box is full, let us know and we will arrange for it to be raising funds and informing others collected. You can then start with the next food.gives box about the persecution of Christians by holding an event at your local church or group. Harvest Thanksgiving. Why not ask your church to donate their harvest gifts from our list of selected food items? Then we can collect and ship them to needy Christians in India or elsewhere.

Sisters raise money to help Pakistani Christian widows

Sisters Alice and Leah Hicklin have raised more than £300 for Barnabas to help us provide monthly food parcels to Christian widows in Pakistan who are struggling to feed their families. The girls, aged eight and six, from Midlothian in Scotland, UK, decided to host an online bake sale after discussing at home about what it must be like to be hungry. For their fundraiser, they picked five delicious treats, including fruity oat bars and marshmallow krispies, to tempt customers to their JustGiving website and posted buyers a box of their chosen baked goodie in exchange for a minimum donation of £6. Mum Jacqueline Hicklin said that, together with their four-year-old brother Matthew, the girls helped with all the baking and the packaging. “They were Sisters Alice and Leah delight in the results thrilled to be able to raise £336,” said Jacqueline. “Alice worked out that it was of their baking enough to feed a family for 16 months!” Project reference: PR1460 Christian widows in Pakistan £9.99 Second edition (Plus £4.72 P&P) Heroes of Our Faith Inspiration and strength for daily living In this outstanding devotional book you will find 366 stories of Christians who gave their lives for their Lord. These believers, from New Testament times to the present day, witnessed to the truth and power of the Gospel by their faithfulness to Christ. Their stories inspire us to live wholeheartedly for Him. The book is interwoven with Bible verses, hymns, prayers and words of wisdom. Spend a year with these great heroes of our faith and allow God to touch your life.

ISBN: 978-0-9825218-9-2 Number of Pages: 380 Cover: Hardback RRP: £11.99

Hated Without a Reason The remarkable story of Christian persecution over the centuries Patrick Sookhdeo “Historically and geographically panoramic in its information, this very important survey is admirably balanced, both in substance and tone. Its profound and subtle reflectiveness does not impair its readability. Most timely, and needed.” John Finnis FBA, Professor of Law and Legal Philosophy at the University of Oxford 1989 to 2010, and now Professor Emeritus

“This fine book powerfully shows how the persecution of Christians has been a constant feature in human history, and continues today. Yet it also concludes that Christians must proclaim freedom of religion for all, and act accordingly. Freedom is God’s gift to humanity.” Professor Roger Trigg Ian Ramsey Centre for Science and Religion, University of Oxford, UK £9.99 (Plus £4.72 P&P) ISBN: 978-1-7321952-4-0 Cover: Paperback RRP: £14.99

To order, please contact your nearest Barnabas Fund office (addresses on inside front cover). Cheques for the UK should be made payable to “Barnabas Books”. [email protected]

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