Afghanistan

Letter to the Body of Christ around the world, written by members of the Afghan Christian community on June 9 2010:

To the Body of Christ:

This letter is written by the Afghan Christian Community in New Delhi, India, which is a small community of 150 Afghan Christian refugees and asylum seekers.

We left our country because we were sentenced to death on account of our Christian faith (conversion), as Afghanistan is a Muslim country, the Afghan Government is an Islamic government, and Islam is the only formal religion of the country, and according to the constitutional law of the Afghan Islamic Republic, conversion is considered as a big crime, Christian are called pagans and infidels and are sentenced to death by the Afghan Government. Christians are considered criminals. Death penalty is waiting for all those who want to leave the darkness and come to the true light, repent from their sins, and put their faith on the Lord Jesus Christ, who is the Lord and Saviour of all human being.

We believe that you (the Body of Christ) have already heard that some pictures and movies of the Afghan believers (from Delhi and Kabul) were shown by an Afghan private TV (Noorin TV). This TV channel showed these picture in a special programme (Sarzameen Man), and the Government and people were encouraged and provoked to think about the issue of conversion, to make a stand against it and to take serious and practical measures and actions to destroy Afghan converted Christians (sons of God) and those who share the gospel of Jesus Christ to the lost.

The Afghan Parliament, Senate, Religious Council and Islamic parties and leaders made statements that the Afghan Government has to search, find, arrest, deliver to courts and execute all Afghan Christians, and the Christian NGOs and organisation have to be stopped too. University students protested against Afghan Christians in Kabul and Herat Provinces, and the Afghan Government also made a statement that all Afghan Christians will be arrested and executed, and the Christian NGOs and organisations involved with the issues of conversion will be closed.

Mr. Mujajdi, the Chairman of Afghan Senate, said that if the Afghan Government does not take serious action, he and other Islamic leaders will call and request the Afghan people to take practical measures to kill all Afghan Christians.

President Karzai himself showed his personal interest in this regard and said that all Afghan Christians will be arrested and executed and Christian organisations which are involved with this issue will be stopped. He ordered the Afghan security organs to take serious measure in this regard. The Afghan Home Minister and the Chairman of the Afghan Intelligence told the Afghan Parliament that four Afghan Christian individuals and one family have been arrested and are under investigation, 13 NGOs are recognised and suspended, names of the Afghan Christians are listed and the Afghan Intelligence agency is trying to arrest them. Two church organisations, by the names of Church World Service and Norwegian Church Aid, are closed.

As we are in contact with our brothers and sisters in Afghanistan, many believers are arrested, our houses are checked by police and intelligence people in Afghanistan, our families and parents (though they are Muslim) are under investigation and even arrested, and all Afghan believers are misplaced.

So, we (Afghan Christian Community) along with our other Afghan Christian brothers and sisters who are in Afghanistan request you to:

1. Please pray for us and for this critical situation, pray for those who are arrested, and those who are under investigation.

2. Please come together and help your Afghan brothers and sisters in Christ, as we are sentenced to death, arrested, under investigation. The Afghan Government kills us because we believe on Jesus Christ. We know that we should consider it pure joy when we suffer (James 1.1-4), and we are counting all suffering as joy. But we also know that faith without deeds is useless (James 2.14-17), and this is the time to raise your voice for your brothers and sisters, for our children, for our old parents, for the execution of 1,000 Afghan believers. This is the day that all of us should come together and pray, think, help and raise our voices to the international community, to put pressure on the Afghan Government to stop killing, persecuting and executing Afghan Christians, to give us freedom of religion, to respect and accept us as Afghan Christians.

3. We do not know how the whole world and especially the global church is silent and closing their eyes, while thousands of their brothers and sisters (Body of Christ) are in pain, facing life danger and death penalty, and are tortured, persecuted and called criminals because they believe on the Truth. We need to wake up, get up and speak up today, and to prove that we are really concerned, and care for our brothers and sisters in Christ, we should help the persecuted part of the body of Christ, for his glory. If we really believe that Lord Jesus Christ is God, then he commands us to love him and to love our neighbour. If our own brothers and sisters are in pain and suffering and we are silent and ignore them and their suffering, then the question is do we really obey the Lord Jesus’s commandment to love him and our neighbour?

So, dear brothers and sisters (the Body of Christ), we (Afghan Christian community in New Delhi), on behalf of all Afghan Christians, request you to support us by your prayers and practical measures. Let’s tell the Afghan Government that we are not pagans and infidels, we are not criminal because of our Christian faith, and let’s tell them not to sentence us to death.

May God bless you!

Afghan Christian Community

© Evangelicals Now - July 2010
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