Dear Christian Friends: Greetings and I hope this day finds you and your family well as you continue your ministry for the Lord. Indeed here on the East Coast USA we are enjoying wonderful weather and looking forward to the Spring and Easter season that proclaims the beauty and greatness of our Lord! As many of you know, I minister with a group organized as Pakistan Christian Post. The editor, Mr Nazir Bhatti, is one who has personally suffered in the prisons of Pakistan because of his petitions to the government for political and social reforms to improve the lives of the Christian minority in Pakistan. Mr. Bhatti had this great vision to develop the PCP website and print paper after he and his family, wife, five daughters and one son, were granted religious asylum to live in the United States just a few years ago. Since that time, the entire Bhatti family has devoted a majority of their time and income to maintain the website and bring a print edition to life. The PCP web edition has been going now several years and the first print edition was published here in the USA in Philadelphia just last September, 2003. Copies were also shipped to Pakistan and the United Kingdom for distribution in those countries major cities. The paper includes most information from their PCP website, but also pictures and additional articles not on the website. Mr. Bhatti's vision to have the paper published directly in Pakistan is to give hope to the minority Christians who either have no access to computers/website or are granted little access for education, but want to learn to read better, especially English - so these articles will interest them to learn and also give encouragement that their condition and needs will one day improve. We are asking now PRIMARILY for prayers that the petition to government agencies in Pakistan overseeing publishing will go smoothly and without opposition. But we are also trying to obtain annual subscriptions from churches in the USA and other 'western' Christians to help defray costs of printing and distribution, especially for mailings to Pakistan until/if permissions can be obtained to print there. Attached are pages that you can run either separately or back-to-back as a flyer with basic details on subscriptions and other things the common church-going Christian in America can consider doing to help the PCP. Anyone desiring to subscribe to receive the print edition can phone/email myself or other contacts found on the Pakistan Christian Post website. You can also contact Mr. Bhatti directly for complete details on PCP background and efforts. His NYC office is 718-418-5942. As always, I thank you for your own service and dedication as we each continue to fulfill the Gospel mission to bring the lost to Christ as well as assist our sisters and brothers in Christ overseas. Jeanne Swartz USA. PAKISTAN CHRISTIAN POST The first and only paper developed by and for Pakistani Christians (and Christians being persecuted in other countries) web and print editions available Developed to give voice to the 15 million Christians in Pakistan who risk imprisonment, torture, rape, floggings and even death just for being Christian or when they try to speak out themselves! Would you like to help your Christian brother/sisters overseas in Pakistan? As an average Christian in the USA - what can you do? 1) First and foremost please PRAY for the health and spiritual direction of Mr. Nazir Bhatti, editor of the Pakistan Christian Post. Also pray for all those involved in efforts to improve the political and social conditions of the Christian minority in Pakistan (3-5% of the total population is Christian, perhaps 15 million) 2) Speak out and write letters to your local elected leaders and to the leaders of Pakistan and other Islamic-based countries where Sharia law is practiced. 3) Support organizations such as The Pakistan Christian Post, Christian Freedom International, International Christian Concern, and Voice of the Martyrs that speak out against religious injustice. Read about world-wide persecution of Christians on their websites. 4) Subscribe to the Pakistan Christian Post. A yearly subscription of $60.00 will have a copy of each quarterly addition delivered directly to your home. If you do not feel able to take on this rate for a full subscription at this time, perhaps a few families in the church can chip in to have a copy delivered to the church so all families of the parish can read the edition - this is especially effective if you have a library or evening classes for children's religious training. If we can get 12 firm subscriptions of $60.00 this will cover the cost of maintenance for the website for 6 months out of one year. If we can get 12 more subscriptions, this will cover the cost of printing and distribution of 500 copies of one quarterly edition in the United States. Another 12 subscriptions will cover shipping to Pakistan and the UK, which has the largest Pakistani population outside indo-asia. 5) Invite a speaker from Pakistan Christian Post or any one of the other groups to come to your church and speak. 6) Adopt a Pakistani immigrant family (or family member). Most Pakistani Christians come to the USA with only the clothes on their back! They have left everything and often fled in terror for their lives because of death threats issued against them by one of the various militant islamic groups. This "befriending" might include buying groceries, clothing, helping drive them to appointments or taking them shopping until they can learn English and obtain drivers licenses. Most especially to consider would be helping them to find 'living wage' jobs and to help sponsor one of their children to attend a Christian grade, high school or college. The majority of Pakistani's who come to the States have limited work experience and education, therefore they often work in the most basic service-oriented jobs (gas station attendants, cab drivers, housekeeping). So most simply can not afford to have their children educated in private schools or go on to college. Most Pakistani youth 15-25 years old are working to help with basic family expenses and then put aside money for their advanced education at a future time. 7) Also please remember to pray for the radical islamic groups most bound up in the 'violent' trappings of Islam that they preach and participate in many abhorrent practices such as rape, floggings and even murder of those from minority religions, which they base directly on Islamic laws found in the Quran and hadith - that these groups will be brought to justice. Also pray for the 1.2 billion muslim people around world (approximately 5 million in the USA) who are still 'lost' and have no understanding of the truth about Christ - that any who might be questioning their religious practices and truly seeking to know who God is will find a Christian that can witness to them and "love them to Christ" - and remember, that Christian God wants to use to witness just may be YOU! Do you know where and why floggings and crucifixion are still happening today??!! Here are some examples - January 2004 - Khartoum: Intisar, a teenage student from Yambio in southern Sudan has been sentenced by a court in the Kalaka suburb of Khartoum to 100 lashes for adultery after giving birth to a child out of wedlock. Intisar was originally sentenced in July 2003, while seven months pregnant. She appealed against the sentence, but the appeal court upheld it in August. Intisar's baby was born in September, and her sentence would have been carried out on 20 December, but was postponed due to her deteriorating health. In an interview with the news agency Agence France Presse, Intisar said her mother had tried in vain to persuade the man to marry her and to sign a statement admitting responsibility for the child. Instead he denied ever having met her, and according to the version of Islamic law practiced in Sudan, this denial was sufficient to exonerate him, since Intisar was unable to produce four male witnesses to verify her version of events November 2002 - A 29 year-old man became the first person in southern Nigeria to be punished under Islamic law when he was given 100 lashes on Thursday for indulging in pre-marital sex. Suleiman Shittu was flogged before a crowd of hundreds in front of the main mosque in the southwestern town of Ibadan, Oyo State, which has a large Muslim population. Oyo State has not formally introduced Shari'ah law, but Shittu made a confession and voluntarily submitted himself for punishment before an independent panel set up by a pro-Shari'ah group early in the year. As two men administered the punishment, the watching crowd roared "Allahu Akbar" (God is great) at each stroke of the cane. January 1997 - Elie Dib Ghaleb, a 30 year-old Christian Lebanese national has been sentenced to 39 lashes and one years' imprisonment reportedly solely for having married Mona, a Muslim woman from the United Arab Emirates (UAE). Elie Dib Ghaleb has been working in the UAE, where he met Mona, since 1988. In June 1995 they were married in Lebanon. Subsequently, Elie Dib Ghaleb went back to his work in the UAE, while Mona returned to the United States of America to complete her business studies in Florence, South California. Elie Dib Ghaleb is reported to have been beaten a number of times since his arrest. He is also alleged to have been flogged many times after investigation with him by police in al-'Ain. He is said to be suffering from high blood pressure, for which he was hospitalized twice for treatment. Under Shari'a (Islamic) law, in force in the UAE, a Muslim woman is not allowed to marry a non-Muslim man unless he converts to Islam. Such marriage under Shari'a in the UAE is considered null and void, and the parties may be subject to punishment such as imprisonment or flogging for fornication. April 2000 - Teenage boys in Saudi Arabia who pester schoolgirls face public floggings and possible prison terms. The daily Al-Eqtissadiah reported that boys loitering outside schools in the holy city of Medina would be punished. Following complaints from schoolgirls and parents, Medina's governor, Prince Megren, set up a committee to stop what the newspaper called immoral behaviour. "The committee will impose strict and immediate punishments on violators, including public lashing on the spot where the offence occurred, and both lashing and imprisonment for repeat offenders," said the paper. April 2001 - In Zamfara State under the Sharia legal system for having pre-marital sex as well as lying against three men, accusing them of putting her in the family way, as a women group has already taken up her case. The three men were released for want of evidence while Bariya Magazu was convicted and sentenced to 180 lashes of the cane which was executed shortly after her delivery. Ms. Magazu was sentenced in September 2000 and despite worldwide outcry the sentence was finally carried out. FACTS: Under Islamic law, floggings must be administered with "kindness" as well as justice. In Pakistan, it was claimed that women were flogged in a "dignified" manner. This was explained that, under flogging, women often urinate and defecate and it is not dignified for the woman to perform such evacuation in the presence of male witnesses, so she had to be covered from waist down by a hessian bag. General Zia explained that this was flogging with "style" ! >From the Quran: "The woman and the man guilty of Zina (adultery or fornication), - flog each of them with a hundred stripes: Let not compassion move you in their case, in a matter prescribed by God, if ye believe in God and the Last Day: and let a party of the Believers witness their punishment." …. Surah An-Noor, 24 Verse 2 >From the Hadith (traditions based on Mohammed's saying/life) Abu Dawud 38:4357 When the Apostle of Allah cut off the hands and feet of those who had stolen his camels and apostacised and had their eyes put out by fire, Allah reprimanded him and revealed: "The punishment of those who wage war against Allah and His Apostle and strive with might and main for rnischief through the land is execution or crucifixion." (38A359).. or the cutting off of hands and feet from opposite sides or exile from the land" This was "revealed about polytheists and if any of them repent before they are arrested it does not prevent from inflicting on him the prescribed punishment which he deserves" Muslim 623 The Prophet said: "It is not permissible to take the life of a Muslim except in one of the three cases: the married adulterer, a life for a life (if the person is Muslim), and the deserter of Islam." What can you do? 8) First please PRAY for the many people around world still so bound up in the trappings of Islam that they can accept, allow and even participate in these abhorrent practices. 9) Speak out and write letters to your local elected leaders and to the leaders of Islamic-based countries where Shariah law is practiced. 10) Support organizations such as The Pakistan Christian Post, Christian Freedom International, International Christian Concern, and The Voice of the Martyrs that speak out against such crimes. Read about world-wide persecution of Christians on their websites. Invite a speaker from one of these groups to come to your church and speak.