Help stop Christians being tortured

[davidlazarus]

Blessings to all,

As we all know, Christians around the world are being persecuted on a regular basis and have been since Jesus walked the earth in the flesh.

On 31st. May 2008 jn Egypt St. Abou Fanan Monastery which dates back to the 4th century and is home to quite a number of Monks and Novices was attacked by Islamic extremists, who tortured the Monks, including breaking their legs, cutting off their ears, tying them and having a donkey drag them along the ground and even using firearms against them.

As is usually the case when this sort of thing happens, the local Islamic police did nothing until it was far too late.

Regardless of whether we are all part of a church that has monks or monasteries, I'm sure we all desire to serve Jesus Christ. As such I'm equally sure we all agree that any form of persecution is wrong, especially against anyone professing Christ and this should be stopped whenever possible.

At this stage, the persecution of Christians in Egypt is predominantly against the Coptic Church but if this is allowed to continue unchecked then it probably will not be long before it happens to all Christian denominations.

The following link is to an online petition we've just started in reference to this attack against Christians, (regardless of whether they are Monks or not) and I hope that everyone here will sign this petition and forward it's IP to all their Christian and non-christian friends, churches, family etc.

This is just one of many that are being organised and with the aid of our God Lord and Savior, perhaps we can together put an end to this persecution happening in Egypt, not just for the Christian's sake as they will be blessed for suffering for the name of Christ, but for the sake of those doing the persecution.

http://www.petitiononline.com/coptic1/petition.html

Please join us in this fight against the forces that would put an end to Christianity in Egypt and everywhere else.

God bless and thank you all

David

 

[lovely]

David,

I hope more people sign. Thanks for providing the opportunity. The Lord bless you.

 

[davidlazarus]

Thank you "Lovely", you sound like you the Lord has you living up to your name.

I also hope more people sign, but also that this and the many others that are happening around the world draw attention to the ongoing persecutions happening in Egypt which are often being overlooked by the "western' nations.

It is a regular thing for christian women and girls to be kidnapped, rapped and tortured and often forced to marry Muslims. Men and boys are often beaten and sometimes both are killed, Christians are often unjustly arrested, refused employment and a whole range of other forms of discrimination, and almost always the Islamic government either do nothing or make only a token effort.

What is of note is they don't mind taking the tourist dollars of the Christians as it helps their economy but have no trouble persecuting the Christians of their own country, especially those of the Coptic Orthodox church which is one of the oldest in the world, even pre-dating the Roman Catholics and was founded by St.Mark personally.

Maybe public awareness will hit them where it hurts, in the fear of damaging their money making tourist industry.

Blessings to all.

David

 

[lovely]

David,

I know that when people of faith around the world stand for Jesus that for many of them persecution is always soon to follow...even death. It is a dangerous decision to follow our Lord for many of them. I have been receiving Voice of the Martyrs for some years now,and I am thankful to them for making me aware of the needs of believers in other nations. I have been in awe of many who receive Christ and go back into a country that they just escaped from to tell family and friends about Him. This is faith and dedication to our Lord. Again, I am happy to sign, and I hope others will as well. The Lord bless you.

 

[chris overy]

david, i hate to see anyone persecuted and i do agree with you it isnt right. however jesus warned us all in the word that we were going to be hated for our faith. he told us the world was going to behave like this. i am sorry but this stuff is going to continue until christ comes back.

i do have a ministry that i help these christians in these places to get the gospel out. there is a thread about it right here called ministry. perhaps you would like to help me to better equip our brothers and sisters christ to spread the gospel message in less noticable ways.

 

[davidlazarus]

Blessings to you Lovely and Chris,

Yo're both right that persecution against Christians is unavoidable, perhaps not to all physically, but to members of the faith and when one suffers the Body of Christ suffers.

However, even though this will continue, just as we will always have the poor among us ad so on. our actions to stop these things and help our neighbors in need is an expression of our Christian love for them, whether we succeed or not.

I also believe that even if all that is achieved is just one turns from persecuting another and possibly even turns to Christ, then any works the Lord should do through us are worth any effort we should make.

What I find most disturbing is not the persecutions themselves because this is to be expected, it is the apparent indifference many seem to have towards it. I don't mean this to sound judgmental, but I and my wife have posted this petition on a number of forums etc and other Christian related sites and so far only 14 people have signed from over 1000 readers combined, all of which in theory are Christian.

I appreciate that there may be countles reasons as to why so any would not have taken the time to sign such a petition but it makes me wonder as to how many of those reasons are of more importance than the well being of another person, be they the persecuted and the persecutor. Simply where is the Christian love?

Chris, in relation to the ministry you mentioned, I'm about to read the thread you mentioned and I'll get back to you on that.

May the love and mercy of Christ be shed upon you and yours.

David Lazarus

 

[Carol Lowery]

Now's there "15" brethern....... 1000 views/15 signitures....sad indeed. I call forth warriors in the name of Jesus to sign this petition. Children of the Most High King who are not afraid for the cause of Christ to step out of their closets and quit hiding behind their bibles and speak out against the things in this world that are against our Lord and what HE stands for......what we as the body of Christ represent when we accepted our Lord as our Savior. HE took the sins of the world upon HIM for "US", now what are we going to do in standing in the gap for HIM.......be silent? Well, not me! Onward Christian Soldiers we have a job to do......Come out and forward in the name of Jesus......speak HIS Truth, Stand Strong in HIS Truth. We must be road blocks to hell.

Kudos HIM,
Carolpsalm91 <><

 

[davidlazarus]

Blessings to you Carol, in the name of our God, Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

On behalf of those in Egypt of the Church of Alexandria, now called the Coptic Orthodox Church, I would just like to say thank you.

Both your words and your actions stand as a testimony before the Lord to your love for your fellow man and your heart felt desire to lovingly abide in the Word of God.

May the Lord watch over you and protect you in all things, and judge you with the same mercy and compassion that you have exhibited towards others.

Peace, Love and Blessings to you

David Lazarus

 

[Carol Lowery]

I perceive and receive your spoken blessings in the name of Jesus, and give all the glory to our Lord for the gifts HE alone bestows upon HIS children. May our Lord bless you as well in your passion to serve HIM.
I will pass this petition addy to the Cambridge Dove Ministries for the 65 thousand prayer warriors around the world to grab ahold of in prayer. I will let Gail know immediately to send it out. GBU

Kudos HIM,
Carolpsalm91 <><

 

[Gabe]

I have just signed the on-line petition and I must say that I am disgusted at the fact that in almost 2 months only 37 other Christians have done likewise. There are 2 billion plus Christians out there and countless others (Atheists, Jews etc) who would claim that they have a heart and care for others but out of the thousands who have seen or know about this petition only 37 have bothered to spend the 2 minutes it takes to sign it. As Christians we are duty bound to help others when they need it and not only that, these are persecuted Christian brothers and sisters. All David asks is for you to sign this petition, it is not like he has asked anyone to part with money or to fly across the world to defend anyone.

I urge everyone (Christian, Atheist, Jew, Muslim etc) who claims to have an ounce of moral fibre in them to please sign this petition

God bless

 

[Gabe]

Wow, the signiture count is up to 38, thats 1 new signiture in almost 1 and a half months. Impressive! :o

 

[Gabe]

My exchange with Cornelius reminded me of this old thread.

In support of 2 American Christians (IMO rightfully) charged with second-degree reckless homicide, we have a total of 280 signatures. That's 48 new signatures in 16 hours.

In support of the 8 million persecuted Christian Egyptians we have a total of 63 Signatures in 12 months.

This is truly shameful.

 

[GojuBrian]

Signed, sadly only 64 people have signed.

 

[Caroline H]

I don't know how I ever missed this thread :o 66! Gabe, you're right....it is SHAMEFUL :verysad

 

[Gabe]

Thank you Caroline, Brian and whoever Brent Reed is.

I've put it on some other sites but the numbers still at 66. Much like many of the Egyptian Christians; that petition is dead. If it were a physical petition, it would not be worth the paper its written on.

It would be nice to hear from David. I'm sure this was not what he was expecting when he made that petition a year ago.

There are a few things which I find the Christian people in general lack when compared to Muslims. This highlights one of them.

 

[paisley]

I tried to sign the petition but the webpage will not open for me. I don`t know if it is because I live in Asia. There are some websites I can`t open because I don`t live in America. But even if Asia is blocked from this website, surely there are enough American, British, and Canadian Christians who could make the numbers go up into the 100 thousands. I don`t think the problem is Christians not caring but that Christians just are not aware of this petition. It needs to be circulated on more websites, presented at local churches and Christian organizations, even Youtube and human rights organizations. The information net needs to be widely cast to get more catches!

 

[Gabe]

According to David, this petition had over 1000 views by July 08.

I don't want to bash a fellow member, but I think too many Christians feel the same way as Chris Overy (12 posts above), this to me is pretty heartless.

 

[Gabe]

I tried to sign the petition but the webpage will not open for me. I don`t know if it is because I live in Asia.

No, its not just you. It was working a few days ago, but I just clicked on it now and it wouldn't open for me neither.

 

[paisley]

Gabe, thank you for letting me know this is not a country blocked site. I tried again and now there are 69 signatures. I did not realize so many people had viewed this petition already. I agree with you that this is really sad. I also looked at Chris` post and I can only imagine that he is a very young, naive man. I sometimes hear young, enthusiastic, "on fire" Christians say things like "I pray for persecution to come to America" or "Persecution is wonderful because it sets hearts on fire for God like nothing else". I don`t think anyone that says such a thing is married, with children. Nor do I think they can possibly imagine what that suffering entails and how many unbelievers it automatically sets a wall between them and Christ. I don`t think they can possibly imagine how widespread persecution will be the result of many more people going to hell than heaven. I don`t think they realize the duty of the body of Christ is to do everything we can to rescue our persecuted brothers and sister not send them information on how to survive more discreetly while their children are ripped from their arms and forced to bow down to other gods or government. They can`t possibly imagine. I think it is a heart of passion for Christ that one makes such a statement but nonetheless the desire for persecution is a very immature desire. Jesus got away or avoided persecution every chance He could until the end. Persecution is not something we should accept or pray to fall upon ours or other Christians heads. I pray for persecuted Christians throughout the world almost every single day. If I could get them out of the situation I would. Persecution breaks my heart because I am a mother and every single person who is persecuted is someone`s child. I can`t even imagine the agony of knowing my child (whether small or grown) was being persecuted. People need to think about the persecuted as if they were someone they really loved, then they would sign the petition because they couldn`t bear not to.

 

[Sanitarium]

General comment not directed at anyone specific:

I find it abhorrent that in today's world, many people need a reason to stand up and fight against the oppression of fellow human beings. In this case, many of you sit in your comfortable houses worrying about [relatively] meanginless things like the gas bill or what's for dinner, and you think it's a kindness; an act worthy of 'reward' - that you have taken 'time out' from all these 'important things' to stand up and say that you think people should have the same rights that you have - not to have to worry about being attacked in your house or while walking down the street, etc..

Yes, the reason in this case? It's "persecution against Christians." You turn away and blind your eyes from the persecution against others, only to stand up and "this must be stopped!" just because the person/people involved just so happen to be Christians. How many prospective Christians have you damned to torture, persecution or death all because you deemed it 'not worthy' of your precious time.

Don't bother with this guy (warning a little blood) - after all, he's only a Hindu and they're 'not saved' according to you. Who cares if they are persecuted just as much (or worse) than the one [overall] insignificant incident you have this petition against? What was his crime? Daring to walk down the street just as Muslims were coming out of the mosque after Friday prayers. He was beaten to death.

I noticed the OP had incorrectly labelled these Muslims as "extremists". Anyone who has studied Islam knows this is not the case. These are the Muslims who are fundamentalists (not to be confused with fundamentalist type Christianity). In Islam, you're 'all in' or 'all out' - you can't be halfway; the Quran refers to these 'halfway' or 'cultural' Muslims as hypocrites who will burn in the 'hottest fires of hell.'. These 'extremists' are the "good Muslims" (but bad people) who are following Islam as it is supposed to be followed.

This post may be deleted (I cannot prevent it) but I am not 'calling out' anyone specific here. I am disgusted that you (general) have deliberately segregated yourselves in this manner: "We are Christians", "we side together." This makes you no better than the "Muslim police officers" (OP) who did nothing. They did nothing while Christians were attacked, because they sided with their fellow Muslims; and you (general) do nothing if the persecut-ee is not a Christian.

The fact is that in Muslim-majority areas, ALL unbelievers are persecuted; whether they be Christian, Jew, Yazidhi, Pagan, Atheist, Zoroastrian, etc... In fact, Christians & Jews (except Israeli's) are given [slightly] more leeway because they are considered to be "ahl al kitab" - people of the book (Islam claims the Quran is the 3rd 'installment' from god - the first being the Torah and the 2nd being the gospels).

It bears saying again: how many potential Christians are you closing your eyes against in order to favour the Christians and ignore the rest? Let us hope these persecuted Christians are doing a better job of showing unbelievers Christ's love than you do.

The Quran makes it clear that you are only to treat Muslims with kindness (well not quite for women but that's another matter), and this is partly WHY Muslims do not treat unbelievers with much respect or human decency.

Does the bible have the same mandate?

Your selling point to convince people to sign this petition should not be "they're Christians!" it should be "they are fellow human beings."

This Atheist is truly disgusted.