Horizons February 2012

2012

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coming events

2013

JULY 10-13 North American Christian Convention Orlando, Florida Theme: “Refreshed” President: Rick Rusaw Contact information: North American Christian Convention 513-772-9970 / www.gotonacc.org

JULY 22-28 Lake James School of Missions Angola, Indiana Contact information: Jerry Sizemore, Program Chairman 317-695-0291 / [email protected]

JULY 25-29 Global Gathering of the World Convention Goiania, Brazil “Sharing the Love that Unites” . . . Global Gathering 18 Contact information: Gary Holloway 615-298-1824 / www.worldconvention.org

NOVEMBER 9-11 Eastern Christian Conference Hershey Convention Center, Hershey, Pennsylvania Theme: “Your Kingdom Come . . .” President: Brent Storms Contact information: Eastern Christian Convention 410-836-6102 / [email protected] / www.easterncc.com

NOVEMBER 15-18 International Conference on Missions Indianapolis, Indiana Theme: “Radical . . . again!” President: John Caldwell Contact information: David Empson 317-539-4231 / [email protected]

JULY 9-12 North American Christian Convention Louisville, Kentucky President: Matt Proctor Contact information: North American Christian Convention 513-772-9970 / www.gotonacc.org

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focus

Religious Intolerancein Pakistan

Evangelizing even in persecutionby Dr. Saleem Massey

One would wonder that in this modern age the greatest challenge Pakistan “faces stems from misunderstanding that religious intolerance is a pivotal problem for the minorities” (The News

International, Lahore, January 1, 2012) and they are, alone, victims of it. A few of the factors are contributing aggravation and aggression toward the plight of minorities. They live under constant fear and feel insecure. More than that, they face injustice and discriminatory laws.

The Blasphemy Law

The Blasphemy Law is like a two edged sword in the hands of the fanatic zealot Muslims against Hindus, Ahmedis, Sikhs and Christians. This law states, that if any person converts from Islam or insults Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) and the Holy book Quran, should be put to death. A judge sentenced Mr. Ameen for life imprisonment for insulting the Quran. (The Daily JANG, Lahore, January 20, 2012). Shahbaz Bhatti, the only Christian Federal Minister of minorities, was assassinated by the Militants in Islamabad, the Capital city of Pakistan. His crime was that he raised a voice to make an amendment in the Blasphemy Law which is being misused against minorities. The Governor of the province of the Punjab, Salmaan Tasser, was “killed by one of his own security guards because he championed the cause of a Christian woman imprisoned on a false blasphemy charge. Aasia still languishes in jail, reportedly in poor, miserable and terrible conditions both physically and mentally.” (The News, December 25, 2011) “Every Muslim has a duty to kill anyone suspected of blasphemy” (January 1, 2012) against the prophet of Islam and the Holy Quran.

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Every Muslim has a duty to

kill anyone suspected of

blasphemy against the prophet of

Islam and the Holy Quran.

Recently, a friend of mine, Kathy, sent a prayer request from Australia that Pastor Yousaf Nadark-hani never practiced the Islamic faith and converted to Christian faith at the age of 19. But, the courts say that he must recant his Christian faith or die. He refused to do so -- risk-ing execution at any moment. In the Iranian Supreme Court Judges asked Yousaf to “repent.” Yousef replied: “Repent, what should I return to? To the blasphemy that I had before my faith in Christ? The judges replied: “To the religion of your ancestors -- Islam.” To which Yousaf replied: “I cannot.” Blasphemy Law is like “ a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour” (1 Peter 5:8); but, those who face persecution and remain faithful until death, shall receive “the crown of life” (Revelation 2:10). The first death anniversary of former Punjab governor Salmaan Taseer was observed with reverence on January 4, 2012. He was shot dead on January 4, 2011, by one of his own guards, Malik Mumtaz Hussain Qadri, in Islamabad. “A large number of representatives of minorities, civil rights or-ganizations and activists paid glowing tribute to Salmaan Tasser, saying he was the true defender of minorities’ rights” (Daily Times, January 5, 2012, Lahore). Christians felt orphaned after the death of Salmaan because he was a true champion of the rights of minorities. He lost his life because he stood up for the rights of a Christian woman, Aasia, who was charged with alleged blasphemy. His stance was not just about Aasia -- it was about hundreds of others, a majority of them being Muslims, who were languishing in Pakistan prisons over frivolous charges formed under the blasphemy law. Human Rights Organization demanded punishment of Mumtaz Qadri but, who knows whether he will be executed or not! Veer Kay Nau Church in Kasur

The congregation at this church is very poor and make bricks for survival. The whole family gets up early in the morning to make one thousand bricks in order to earn barely $3-5 daily. Poverty forces them to live in poor and miserable conditions. Last year, monsoon rains hit the mud church building and destroyed it completely. The congregation conducted Christmas and

THANK YOU!THANK YOU!Thank You!

Bullard, Lynn Y.Carrol CofC, IACastle Hills CC, San Anto-

nio, TXCenter CC, Knightstown, INCentral CofC Missions

Committee, Portsmouth, OH

Christian Church of Loudon County, Lenoir City, TN

Doss, Lori

Ferguson, M/M LarryFirst CC, Bryan, OHFirst CC, Fairfield, ILFirst CC, Gillespie, ILFirst CC, Monmouth, ILFirst CC, Mountain City, TNJefferson Street CC, Lincoln

ILLemmon, HelenMcKnight, M/M Robert E.Moyer, Harold & Joyce

Nicholson CC, Indepen-dence, KY

Spencer, M/M EdValley View CC Missions

Committee, Dallas, TXWiener, Paul & AliceWilliams, M/M Jon ScottWindfall CC, INWitt, FrancesWoodard, Zelma

We want to thank all of our generous supporters for their generosity to our recent appeal. Mission Services experi-

enced a very frustrating period from August through October of 2011. Just as we were introducing the missions network, our new Internet based information network, the equipment we have used for years in our printing, publishing and mailing work encountered devastating problems. The problems began with our graphic design computer. Though we have multiple firewalls and virus protections operating, a virus found its way into the operating system. This required two weeks of “in-shop” service. Once it returned, our RIP computer which creates the four color separations for printing died suddenly. Two weeks later, when the new RIP was delivered, we found it would not communicate with our imagesetter (producing nega-tives for printing). While we searched for and found the best

The following churches and individu-als have “joined the choir” since the published list in our January issue of HORIZONS. MSA continues to be greatly humbled and blessed by your involvement in our ministry to mission-aries and churches.

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Horizons February 2012

Spiritual

Transcript of Horizons February 2012