Our World: The forgotten Christians of the East

Tribulation Times

October 12, 2011  

(2Ti 4:6-8) For I am even now ready to be sacrificed: and the time of my dissolution is at hand. I have fought a good fight: I have finished my course: I have kept the faith. As to the rest, there is laid up for me a crown of justice which the Lord the just judge will render to me in that day: and not only to me, but to them also that love his coming. Make haste to come to me quickly.

C.S. LEWIS: “There is no neutral ground in the universe; every square inch, every split second, is claimed by God and counter-claimed by Satan.”

OPINION: Our World: The forgotten Christians of the East

COUNTDOWN TO MASSACRE: Trigger for Copts' anger: Chronicles of a church burning in Upper Egypt

REVIEW: Islam's war on the Cross: Egypt's move to democracy under threat after latest attack on Coptic community

In the 19 or so centuries since Christianity first took root in Egypt, the ritual of mourning has become an all-too-familiar experience for the majority of the country’s Coptic community.  Egypt’s eight million Copts may claim to be their nation’s oldest surviving indigenous faith, but that has not spared them from prolonged periods of persecution, most recently at the hands of Islamist militants.

In many respects, the tone was set for nearly two millennia of oppression of the Copts, one of the world’s oldest Christian sects, by the martyrdom of St Mark the Evangelist, the disciple who established the Christian faith in Alexandria just a few years after the ascension of Christ.

The establishment of a new religion was bitterly resented by the city’s pagan population, who feared it would turn Alexandrians away from the worship of their traditional gods.  They exacted their revenge on Easter Monday in 68 AD when Roman soldiers put a rope around St Mark’s neck and dragged him through the streets of Alexandria until he was dead.

These days the methods used to persecute Egypt’s Copts might not be so primitive, but their overall effect is no less barbaric.  During the latest outbreak of Coptic-related violence in Cairo on Sunday night, several Copts are reported to have been crushed to death by the tracks of an armoured military vehicle that ploughed into a group of protesters as they sang hymns and held aloft the Cross.

CALL FOR PRAYER AND SUPPORT:  "Egyptian Christians are in urgent need of our help," stated Rev. Majed El Shafie, President and Founder of One Free World International.  "We cannot afford to sit idly by and leave our brothers and sisters to face this crisis alone.  Please stand up and make your voice heard on behalf of our brothers and sisters in Egypt who live and worship in daily apprehension and fear of violent reprisals." 

"Remember that the persecuted Christians are dying every day, but they are still smiling," says El Shafie.  "They are in a very deep dark night, but they have the candle of the Lord.  The enemy can have a very strong weapon and a very strong army, but we have the Lord Almighty.  They can kill the dreamer, but they cannot kill the dream."

Ladder of Divine Ascent excerpt: "To the Shepherd"

1. In this terrestial book, O divine father, I have given you the last place, but I am certain that you are inscribed in the celestial book before us all, if indeed He is truthful who said, "The last manner of thought shall be first in dignity." (Mat 20:16).

---

Prayer request?  Send an email to: PrayerRequest3@aol.com

This month's archive can be found at: http://www.catholicprophecy.info/news2.html.

Posted via email from deaconjohn's posterous