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!
No comments:
Post a Comment