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 June, 2007 Newsletter
Pastors Letters
Chuck@blowthetrumpet.net
Jun 27 2007 12:00AM
Greetings Dear Saints,
Love you all very much and enjoy writing to you . Thanks for your replies also, it is a blessing to hear from you. I want to share with you a press release from a friend of mine who is an attorney in Pakistan for the persecuted. I felt you would want to read it and pray. These are our brothers and sisters in Pakistan and we cannot just ignore such crimes.
PAKISTAN: MOB ASSAULTS CHRISTIANS WITH AXES, GUNS
Police slow to register case; Muslim extremists pressure doctors to under-report injuries.
ISTANBUL, June 20 (Compass Direct News) – Christian families fled a Pakistani village in Punjab
province this week after an armed mob injured Protestants preparing for an evangelistic meeting, the
victims' lawyer said. Seven Christians were injured when at least 41 Muslim men armed with guns, axes
and wooden sticks attacked a Salvation Army church in Chak 248 north of Faisalabad on Sunday night
(June 17), lawyer Khalil Tahir Sindhu said. The Christians' refusal to give in to demands that they
cancel the evangelistic meeting prompted the attack, Sindhu said. Armed Muslims had stormed the home
of Christian Sarwar Masih on June 16, injuring his teenage son, Shahbaz, and daughter, Robeela. They
warned Masih, a member of the Human Life Association that was organizing the outreach, to cancel the
evangelistic meeting scheduled for the following day at 6 p.m. "They had just put up posters advertising
the event two or three days before, so this is what triggered the attack," Sindhu told Compass from
Faisalabad. Emboldened by the fact that they had obtained written permission from local union council
head, Badir Munir, to mount a loudspeaker that would broadcast the sermon, the Christians continued
with their plans to stage the event. Believers were already at the church carrying out preparations
when the mob attacked at 5 p.m. on Sunday evening. According to Sindhu, the mob used axes and wooden
sticks to assault the Christians and desecrate the church, firing pistols into the air to cause panic.
He said that many of the church books were ruined and that seven Christians suffered from bruises and
fractured bones. In some cases, the bones were exposed. "Some of the injuries were caused by being hit
with the blunt side of an axe, while others were caused by the weapon's sharp side," Sindhu said.
The lawyer said that Christians had fought back against the attackers outside the church, and that
one Muslim had allegedly been injured. He said that Muslims from Chak 248 had also registered a
First Information Report (FI) yesterday against four Christian men whom they claimed had started
the fighting. In the FIR, Chak 248 resident Abdel Ghafoor claimed that four Christians had thrown
trash at the home of Muslim Abdel Hammad, attacking and injuring him when he protested. Police Drag
Feet and initially refused to file a case against the mob, lodging an FIR only yesterday evening after
Sindhu and 50 Christians from the village lobbied the district inspector general. "They finally
registered a case because they knew that it would get bad attention if they didn't," Sindhu told
Compass today. National English-language daily Dawn reported yesterday that the injured Christians had
allegedly been forced out of Allied Hospital in Faisalabad, only hours after arriving for treatment
on Sunday night (June 17). But Sindhu said the injured victims had received medical examinations at
Dijkot hospital. The real problem, he said, was that doctors came under pressure from the Muslim
attackers to under-report the Christians' wounds. "Five of the medical certificates are incorrect,
including the certificate of Shahbaz Masih, because it fails to mention his fractured bones," Sindhu
said. The lawyer plans to submit a petition tomorrow for Faisalabad district and sessions judge
Muhammad Yusuf to order a second medical examination to correct the mistakes. Sindhu is also
dissatisfied with the FIR, which names 16 of 41 attackers, because it fails to charge the mob
with illegal trespassing and religious hatred under penal code articles 452 and 295-A, respectively.
He hopes to add charges of terrorism, as almost all of the Christian men from the village have
fled to escape reprisal attacks, and those who remain live in fear. Sindhu is helping to house
and feed 28 Christians from Chak 248, who are afraid to return home. Christian politicians told
Compass today that they plan to increase lobbying efforts to ensure that the case is not dropped.
"We all condemn this tragic event," Shahid Arif, a former district assembly member, told Compass
from Faisalabad while on his way with several other Christian leaders to discuss the incident with
district assembly head Rana Zahid Tauseef. Speaking from Faisalabad, where he heads inter-religious
dialogue for the diocese, Catholic priest Aftab James Paul commented that violence against
Christians stems from antagonistic messages from various parts of society. "The whole education
system is like that, the media, both print and electronic, and the Muslim religious clergy also
teach negative things," Paul said. "The whole atmosphere in this country is anti-minorities and
anti-poor. All the weak sections of society are victimized." The priest called on Christians to
set aside Friday (June 22) as a day of prayer for the Pakistani church. He said that it is often
on Friday, after midday prayers at the mosque, that violence occurs. "All Muslims are not bad, in
fact most of them are very good and want peace and harmony," Paul said. But the priest remained
skeptical about Muslim fanatics. "To change the hearts and minds of these people is very difficult.
It's not impossible, but I don't know how long it will take." END
I ask you to use this powerful Word of faith we are practicing to pray for these our brethren in Pakistan. I have been to Faisalabad, Pakistan. I have met Attorney Khalil Tahir and we prayed together in person as he wept for his people. I have fellowshipped with the beautiful people of Pakistan and preached in their house churches and I can tell you they are as real as the people you interact with wherever you currently live.
This is not just another news story, it is real people who are suffering, and we get the privilege to minister to them.
Love you all so much!
Pastor Chuck
FICC--Word of Faith to the Nations!
Chuck@blowthetrumpet.net
www.Blowthrumpet.net
941-447-4538 (cell)
Jesus is Lord!
1 John 3:16-18
Hereby perceive we the love of God, because he laid down his life for us: and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren. But whoso hath this world's good, and seeth his brother have need, and shutteth up his bowels of compassion from him, how dwelleth the love of God in him? My little children, let us not love in word, neither in tongue; but in deed and in truth.
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