As persecution continues, the families of Egypt’s martyred Christians endure as a ‘living Bible’

June 14, 2017 — ChristianToday.com reports: “Two years have passed since 21 Egyptian Christians were beheaded by ISIS on a beach in Libya. As persecution in Egypt continues, the families of those martyred in 2015 have continued in faith and hope.

The news comes from the Christian group Focus on the Family, whose Middle East team have been supporting the families of those murdered by ISIS since the February 2015 atrocities took place.

Even at the time, staff reported that: ‘We saw a living Bible in how these precious men and women responded to their pain, loss, and adversity.’

In a more recent update via email, the team wrote: ‘The great news about the families of the martyrs of Libya is that even after more than two years they still live in the condolences of the Holy Spirit and they stick to their faith that their martyrs showed to the whole world; how the real Christian should live and die for the glory of Christ.

‘While we have been visiting the families regularly we met with some of the wives of the martyrs and asked them about their kids and how they live right now, a common answer was, ‘Our kids in their new nice private school have been so proud of their fathers among their friends and they have worked hard to match with studying the new curriculums to stay up to that new level of education.’’

The legacy of those killed in Libya lives on; the team said, ‘Most of these families hang in their homes a banner with all the martyrs’ photos’, in which each martyr has a crown over their head…” (“Fear none of those things which thou shalt suffer: behold, the devil shall cast some of you into prison, that ye may be tried; and ye shall have tribulation ten days: be thou faithful unto death, and I will give thee a crown of life” – Revelation 2:10.)

Son describes his Christian father being shot dead by Islamists after refusing to renounce his faith

June 22, 2017 — ChristianToday.com reports: “The wife and son of a Coptic Christian who was among a group of 29 killed and 24 maimed while traveling to a monastery in southern Egypt have described the brutal killings by Islamist extremists and their aftermath.

The interview with Reuters follows the atrocity last month when Islamic State terrorists ambushed the group, which included Adel Habib.

Habib’s widow and son described life in their Christian village, Dayr Jarnous, where seven people were killed and where Habib’s family still lives.

Local residents told Reuters that the Egyptian government has done nothing to help the victims’ families or to ensure that similar attacks on Christians will not happen again.

Habib’s two sons, Mina, 10, and Marco, 14, were with their father when he was killed. Mina said it was a miracle that he and his older brother were spared.

Habib and his sons were in a pickup truck headed to the monastery of Saint Samuel the Confessor when Islamic State militants confronted them. Just a little further up the road, they could see the bloodied bodies of slain Christians who had gone ahead of them strewn across the desert street.

‘We saw dead people, just dumped on the ground,’ Mina recalled.

‘They asked my father for identification then told him to recite the Muslim profession of faith. He refused, said he was Christian. They shot him and everyone else with us in the car,’ he said…”  (“Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen” – Hebrews 11:1.  Hebrews 11 is called the “Hall of Fame of Faith” and it lists many Old Testament saints and the victories they had through faith.  But not all had victories in their lives: “…others were tortured, not accepting deliverance; that they might obtain a better resurrection; And others had trial of cruel mockings and scourgings, yea, moreover of bonds and imprisonment:  They were stoned, they were sawn asunder, were tempted, were slain with the sword: they wandered about in sheepskins and goatskins; being destitute, afflicted, tormented; (Of whom the world was not worthy:) they wandered in deserts, and in mountains, and in dens and caves of the earth.  And these all, having obtained a good report through faith, received not the promise:” – Hebrews 11:35b – 39.  Read Revelation 2:10 again: “…be faithful unto death; and I will give thee a crown of life.”  See the next two reports.)

Egypt’s Coptic Christians lament jihadist persecution, forgive killers, but ask: ‘Where is our government’?

June 23, 2017 — ChristianToday.com reports: “Egypt’s Coptic Christians are lamenting following the latest jihadist attack on their community, and are questioning the lack of government action to protect them.

The Ascension Day (May 26) attack on a bus of Coptic Christians in Minya killed 29, and it’s now known that the US embassy had four days prior already warned of a terrorist threat, according to World Watch Monitor.

‘How can it be that our security forces, after the warning from the US embassy, did nothing to intervene?’ said Father Bernaba Fawzy, priest of St George’s Church in the village of Nazlet Hanna. Seven of Fawzy’s church members were killed in the attack, and eight were injured.

He added: ‘This is very shameful. There must be protection for every human being in the land of Egypt, not just the Copts.’

The past six months have seen four major terror attacks against Coptic Christians in Egypt: a December bombing of a church in Cairo, two Palm Sunday bombings of Coptic churches in Tanta and Alexandria, and then the Minya shooting last month. Around 100 have been killed in the attacks…”

Protesters Surround Qatar Embassy: ‘Stop Killing Christians!’ ‘Stop Terror!’

June 29, 2017 — Breitbart.com reports: “Demonstrators organized by the National Black Church Initiative (NBCI) gathered outside the embassy of Qatar Wednesday chanting ‘stop killing Christians’ and ‘stop terror.’

Breitbart London Editor-in-Chief Raheem Kassam spoke during the protest, condemning Qatar as the ‘Club Med for terrorists.’

The Qatari government has provided sanctuary to various members of jihadist organizations, namely the Taliban, al-Qaeda, Hamas, and the Muslim Brotherhood, allowing some of them to establish official offices on its territory.

Various Muslim countries and the United States have also affiliated Qatar with Shiite state sponsor of terrorism Iran.

According to the CIA World Factbook, nearly 14 percent of the Qatari population is Christian, about 68 percent Muslim, almost 3 percent Buddhist, and the rest Jewish, other, or unaffiliated…”