Monday, April 24, 2017

Islamic Bombs, Sundry Assaults for Christians at Easter



As Satan perceives time running out on him with the impending arrival of the Lord Jesus Christ (Rev 12:12), being reminded of his irreversible momentous loss that began at the first Easter has, not unexpectedly, gotten him really agitated and desperate.
His fierce but toothless goons were all over the place trying to wreak maximum havoc over the Easter period.  In the cities of Tanta and Alexandria in Egypt, Islamists attacked two Coptic churches with bombs on Palm Sunday (April 9), killing at least FORTY NINE people and wounding another 100.  In mourning the dead, the Coptics in Egypt decided to curtail “festive manifestations” during the Easter prayer services.
It wasn’t only Christians who were killed in the two Palm Sunday attacks. Three officers stationed at the site of one of the attacks were Muslim. The Egyptian government was fully sympathetic and has declared a 3-month emergency rule in the country to enable it squarely address the security threats to Christians.  It also has promised to help rebuild the Churches involved – of course lives lost are irreplaceable!
There were pockets of incidences in several other parts of the world, including assaults in public transport systems.  For instance 20 year old Hanah Bladon, an exchange student from Birmingham studying Hebrew and the Bible in Jerusalem, was stabbed to death in the Light Rail near Jaffa Gate on Good Friday (April 14).  On the other side of the globe in Australia,  Mike, also traveling by train from Campsie to Bankstown in southwestern Sydney, was accosted and thoroughly ruffled up in broad day light by “four young men of Middle Eastern appearance”. Cursing the name of the Lord Jesus and eulogizing Allah, the men violently ripped Mike’s dangling Greek Orthodox cross off his neck and stomped on it. https://www.jihadwatch.org/2017/04/australia-muslims-assault-orthodox-christian-while-screaming-f-jesus
Unfortunately, Nigeria still continues to feature in these tragic religious persecution stories.  After a few weeks of respite since the widely denounced Christmas killings, islamist cattle herdsmen came a-visiting again to Southern Kaduna, leaving the corpses of least one dozen local people behind. The attack occurred at the Asso Community in Jemaa local government area on Saturday, April 15, shortly after a “peace and reconciliation” meeting between the natives and the Fulani herdsmen.  As usual, Governor Nasir El-Rufai promptly expressed heartfelt condolences to the victims and assured that “security operations are being ramped to rid the forest areas of the bandits”. The operation by the herdsmen lasted for about 30 minutes without any help from the security agencies deployed to the area. For details, see https://www.naij.com/1099825-12-killed-fresh-southern-kaduna-attack.html   
Thank God, the Church of God is however not deterred by all these rampages of the devil. A video  posted on Facebook following the bombings at the Coptic churches in Egypt shows hundreds of Coptic Christians outside of a church enthusiastically chanting the Nicene Creed in Arabic. A widow of one the slain Christians in Egypt, speaking on behalf of the families of the martyred saints, said she has already forgiven the murderers.  The Rev. Markos Ayoub of the Coptic Orthodox Church of St. Mark in New Jersey summarised the general attitude of Copts to terrorism: “We do not accept injustice. In the same breath, we have no animosity towards anybody,” he said. “This is our faith. To love our enemies. No vengefulness. We love everybody, including even the terrorists.”  Possibly nothing can be more frustrating to the devil than hearing such a message! No looking back, Church. The King is at the door!

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