Meet Maher El Gohary
It is a clear day along the coast, but in a bungalow off the beach, Maher El Gohary sits behind a locked door with an open Bible and a crystal cross, suspicious of every voice and sandal scraping past outside.
He and his daughter, Dina, live like refugees, switching apartments every few months, not wanting to get close to neighbors. Gohary’s life has been threatened, his dogs have been killed, and it’s been suggested that he’s insane or possessed by spirits.
He is a man this Muslim nation cannot fathom: a convert to Christianity.
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A tall man in blue shorts and rimless glasses, Gohary, 56, looks as if he is ready to walk the beach. But he and Dina have just moved to the three-room bungalow. Their suitcases are still packed; the only thing hanging on the walls is a clothesline. Listening for noises outside, Gohary speaks of how years earlier the teachings of Jesus, especially parables on forgiveness and loving your enemy, changed his life.
“In Islam, if you steal your hands are cut off, but in Christianity you can be forgiven,” he says. “This compassion is what attracted me.”
Back then he was a young cadet at the police academy, inspired by a Christian bunkmate who ignored the taunts of Muslim recruits. Gohary, the son of a police general, began reading the Bible.
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Gohary listens at the door. He doesn’t want an unexpected knock, and says he and his daughter will stay here a month or so and then move on.
Source: Los Angeles Times — A Christian on the run in Egypt
HT: Persecution.org
It is tragic that this man is being persecuted for becoming a Christian. But what is more tragic yet is that he most likely does not even know the Lord Jesus Christ!
The original article states that Gohary is a “coptic Christian.” Coptic Christianity is much like Roman Catholicism. It is very mystical: teaching that the original bread Jesus shared at the first Communion is still in existence today, being multiplied each time Communion is taken. The Coptics also practice veneration (worship) of dead “saints,” required fasts of long duration, adoration of Mary as “Mother of God,” monastaries, priests, and the like.
This man has traded one delusion for another! Let’s pray for him, that he will come to a true knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ, and follow Him according to the Truth.