The Chairman’s Report for September

In this issue of the newsletter
New: The United States endorses terrorist and mass murderer as new ally
New: The Deep State is not dead and is influencing American foreign policy
New: Nation of Jordan to make money off Christian tourists as Bethlehem dies?
Update: Murders of relatives of orphans and orphanage staff in Nigeria

Washington Embraces a “former” Terrorist Accused of Mass Murder

In a dramatic shift in Middle East policy, the United States officially removed Syria from its State Sponsors of Terrorism list on August 24, 2026, ending a 47-year designation that had been in place since 1979.

The U.S. State Department also dropped the global terrorist designation against Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), the Sunni Islamist terrorist militia that was an off-spring of al-Qaeda.

The State Department has now given its full diplomatic endorsement to Syria’s new self-appointed “president “Ahmed al-Sharaa (formerly known as the jihadist commander Abu Mohammed al-Julani).

Not long ago, al-Sharaa had a $10 million U.S. reward on his head. Now the “former” terrorist murderer is being hailed by the White House and State Department as an essential partner with the United States in “stabilization” of the Middle East. WHY?

The Main Enemy Doctrine: Washington’s embrace of al-Sharaa is part of our centuriesold foreign policy playbook: the “main enemy” doctrine. Shia Muslim Iran is our “main enemy” in the Middle East, so our endorsement of a Sunni Muslim terrorist fits right in with the “main enemy doctrine.” To defeat Shia Muslim Iran, Sunni Muslim terrorists become our friends.

American support for Sunni Muslim terrorists is not new. The United States funded and armed radical jihadist mujahideen in Afghanistan starting with the Jimmy Carter Administration through the 1980s to counter our then “main enemy” the Soviet Union.

That “main enemy” strategy in Afghanistan paved the way for al-Qaeda, the 9-11 attack and the Islamic State. Now our government is pivoting toward Syria’s al-Sharaa to build a Sunni Muslim alliance against Iran and its proxies in the Middle East, such as Hezbollah.

Terrorist leader al-Sharaa’s past murderous background is brushed aside by the State Department for a temporary tactical alliance against Iran. The State Department has also turned a blind eye to the continued attacks against Christians under al-Sharaa’s new Islamist government.

The Bitter Reality for Syria’s Christians: While Washington celebrates a new ally against Iran, Syria’s historic Christian minority is paying the price. For decades under the former secular government, Christians were legally shielded from Islamic law, maintained their own courts, family statutes, community properties, and traditions. Those protections are gone.

Under al-Sharaa, strict Islamic Sharia law is being enforced across Syria. Churches have been bombed. Christian property is being seized and targeted killings continue to terrorize Christian communities.

Pray for the Christians of Syria and take action to help them.

Let’s Get Honest: The Deep State embedded in the State Department is responsible and President Trump has been lied to. We need to get the truth about al-Sharaa to President Trump.

Contact President Trump at www.WhiteHouse.gov/contact. Please use the form at this White House link to ask President Trump to push Syria’s ruler Ahmed al-Sharaa to stop the killing and persecution of Christians in Syria.

Together we must urge President Trump to force al-Sharaa to stop the attacks against Christians in Syria!

Despair in Bethlehem, but a Jordan Christian Site Sees New Investment

West of the Jordan river, the ancient Christian community of Bethlehem is facing economic ruin. Yet just a few miles east, on the east side of the Jordan River, the Muslim-majority Kingdom of Jordan is pouring hundreds of millions of dollars into developing and preserving one of the most sacred sites in the Christian faith.

Why? The Jordanian government wants tourism dollars going to Jordan rather than Bethlehem!

The Agony of Bethlehem: Mike Canawati, whose family has lived in the Holy Land for centuries, owns a tourism business in Bethlehem.

He wrote a heartbreaking plea to the world about the conditions for Christians in Bethlehem. He tells us that with Christian pilgrim tourism completely halted and borders closed, the economy of the city where Christ was born has flatlined. Christian income is near zero.

“Bethlehem without tourism equals zero income for thousands of families,” Canawati wrote. Describing how shopkeepers, artisans, hotel staff, and drivers have been pushed to the edge of insolvency, he announced that his home and business are now up for sale.

Facing unrelenting pressure from banks and seeing no future for his children, Canawati joined the growing ranks of local Christians contemplating permanent emigration:

“Every person who leaves takes with them a home, a family, a business, a profession, memories, and an entire lifetime of stories. Save Bethlehem’s economy before everything in it becomes for sale.”

Canawati’s plea is the plea for help of all of Bethlehem’s Christians. Our programs are helping some Christian families … With more funding we could help more families.

The Kingdom of Jordan Invests in Christian Tourism: The Qasr al-Yahud baptismal site is used by Christians living on the west side of the Jordan. This area is controlled by Israel but officially part of the Palestinian territories.

Directly across the Jordan river from Qasr al-Yahud the Jordanian government committed $120 million in new project agreements to expand the UNESCO-listed Baptism Site of Jesus! (Al-Maghtas, or Bethany Beyond the Jordan).

Oddly, Jordan’s Muslim Prime Minister, Jafar Hassan, is heading a committee preparing the baptismal site for the 2,000-year millennium celebration of Christ’s baptism.

Jordan’s plan includes building a biblical-style pilgrim village ($40 million), a dedicated 5,500-square-meter Baptism Site Museum ($50 million), a robust surrounding infrastructure ($27 million), and a scenic green conservation corridor ($3 million).

The Unfolding Divide: The difference between the two banks of the Jordan River highlights the tragedy unfolding in Bethlehem. Families who have safeguarded the birthplace of Christianity for centuries are being starved out and driven into exile.

As Christians in Bethlehem are driven out, a secular-leaning Muslim monarchy is building state-of-the-art infrastructure to welcome millions of future Christian pilgrims. It is not right that the Kingdom of Jordan will be making money off Christian pilgrims celebrating the 2,000th anniversary of the Baptism of Jesus because they cannot access the site on the West Bank.

Just 200 People Associated with our Nigeria Ministry – FIVE MURDERS

As we minister to persecuted Christians in Nigeria’s Middle Belt, the violence is not a distant headline! The terror killings are an unrelenting reality that strikes at the heart of our own ministry family.

Across our ministry operations based out of Jos, Plateau State, our immediate circle is small. There are 165 children sheltered at our orphanage. Our teaching and administrative staff, and our hands-on field workers coordinating outreach, bring our core group to about 200 people.

Five murders associated with this small group is not a “statistical anomaly.” The fact that these attacks have directly affected our ministry staff in Nigeria underscores the sheer intensity of the ongoing jihadist onslaught. Our tiny circle of 200 out of a Nigerian population of 243 million has endured five murders of loved ones in the past 24 months plus other losses.

In addition, a family we supported who had taken in a displaced orphan was wiped out by the Sunni Muslim Fulani.

The pattern of bloodshed directly touching our orphanage family reveals how inescapable this persecution has become.

• The Murder of School Principal’s Brother: In a brutal ambush, the brother of our orphanage school principal was targeted and murdered by armed Fulani militia, bringing deep personal grief to the educators shaping our children’s lives.
• The Slaying of a Teacher’s Brother: In a separate terror attack, another of our beloved teachers lost her brother to a Fulani attack, leaving our classroom staff to mourn while continuing to care for traumatized children.
• The Killing of an Orphan’s Brother: The terror struck the children directly when the surviving brother of one of our resident orphans was ambushed and killed in his home village.
• The Kum Village Massacre: In July, heavily armed Fulani militia raided the village of Kum, murdering four members of a single family—the birth mother and three young half-siblings of 17-year-old Joshua, a longtime resident of our Jos home. Our Nigerian Director stood alongside Joshua at their graves as death threats against the surviving community continued.
• The Targeted Attack on a Supported Host Family: The slaughter in Kum also claimed the lives of a displaced Christian family receiving monthly ministry stipends to care for orphaned relatives, marking yet another assisted household attacked and butchered.

If a typical American community of 200 people experienced four or five violent murders and targeted massacres among immediate family members over two years, it would be declared a national catastrophe. In Nigeria, for our small ministry family, it is the daily price of remaining faithful to Christ.

Those are just the most recent examples. The same year our original orphanage location in Miango was attacked and destroyed and the homes of orphanage staff were destroyed, including one of our Board of Director’s homes. A vendor who owned a nearby store in Miango we were ordering food from was also murdered.

Our ministry brothers and sisters and the orphans we house are living martyrs enduring an active campaign of erasure as are all Christians in Plateau State. Even though the orphans are victims themselves they help our staff in outreach to families in Plateau State who are under continued attack.

The Religious Freedom Coalition and Heart for the Persecuted Church remain committed to providing food, fortified shelter, trauma care, and the hope of the Gospel to persecuted Christians in Nigeria and the Middle East.

Prayer Focus: Please pray fervently for Christians under attack in Plateau and other Middle Belt States in Nigeria. Pray for the Christians of the Holy Land!