While no one knows the political result of the unrest in Egypt, Christians are already feeling the effects of riotous distraction.
According to Assist News, the carnage took place in the village of Sharona near Maghagha, Minya province. Two Islamists groups, aided by Muslim neighbors, descended on the roof of houses owned by Christians, killing 11, including children, and seriously injuring four others.
The report stated the massacre has nothing to do with the mayhem in Egypt, but the murderers took advantage of the lack of police protection and thought they could commit their crime and no one would notice.
[…]
So far, the protests have focused on jobs, free speech and democratic elections, not religion, but a few radicals are using this distraction to attack Christians.
prayer
How to Pray for Egypt
Early this morning via their Facebook page, Operation World presented one Egyptian’s nine-item list of How to Pray for Egypt:
We have just received the note below from an Egyptian friend who has been involved in the prayer ministry in Egypt, but also involved on government level. This note is really helpful to understand the situation in Egypt and helps us to pray with insight. Please read it and pray fervently for this very special nation:
"Thank you for your messages and prayers for the Nation of Egypt. I have been in a state of disbelief and a little confused and now amazed as to what is taking place.
Many have asked me how we should pray for Egypt and to be honest I was not sure. The news is conflicting at the same time the things said do not match with my knowledge and understanding of the reality of Egypt and the people.
The past two days, listening to news on Al jezeera, BBC, and talking to parents and then talking to friends…. Each one had their own analysis and view about what is going on to an extreme… Confusion, confusion, confusion…
But one thing I sensed with them and agreed on is that last Friday, evil was unleashed in Egypt.
The Protest started as [….]
So, please Pray for:
- A peaceful transition of power. Wisdom and revelation for the leaders and to the way they address the people of Egypt.
- A quick end to this protest and the economic crisis accumulating.
- That the evil unleashed will hit a wall, and the plans of the enemy to start a civil confrontation will not succeed.
- Peace and security to return to the streets of Egypt
- A restraining of the Muslim Brotherhood and other political parties who have evil hidden agendas.
- For the Church to have a prophetic voice at this critical time. For Wisdom and revelation from the father to speak life and revealed truth to the Church and the Nation.
- The Church to move prophetically and know how to handle this difficult time with confidence and boldness.
- That Egyptians will not be taken lightly or mistreated any longer.
- That President Mubarak will leave with dignity and honor, and non of His family will be harmed.
Source: How to Pray for Egypt
HT: Stener Dahle Fagerlie (a Facebook friend)
In Detention in Eritrea
Open Doors reports the deaths of two Christians in Eritrea’s infamous detention centers.
Seble Hagos Mebrahtu, 27, died in the military training center in Sawa on January 1. According to reliable sources, Mebrahtu was apparently refused medical treatment for malaria and died soon after.
42-year-old Mehari Gebreneguse Asgedom was also denied medical treatment for complications from diabetes and injuries sustained from torture. On January 16, 2009, at the Mitire Military Confinement Center, he went home to be with his Savior.
[…]
These deaths come as the Eritrea governments’ campaign against Christians seems to have escalated. Several large groups of believers, members of the underground church, have been arrested since the end of December.
Persecution 2011
Start praying: 2011 is ramping up to be a year of heavy persecution.
Many are hoping that the first 12 days are not an omen for what the rest of 2011 will look like for believers, especially in the Middle East. Many Christian leaders, however, may find it difficult to remain optimistic.
[…]
Already, Christian and secular news sources alike have reported a rise in the persecution of Christians worldwide. The arrests of 70 converted Christians in Iran, the assassination of anti-blasphemy law governor in Pakistan, and the bombing of a church in Egypt is a lot for just 12 days. And just yesterday, six Coptic Christians were shot by Muslim extremists on a train in Egypt, killing one and wounding the other five.
Neat Little Things from God
Special Request
I made a special request of the Lord recently. Never would have done that in the past. It happened on a day that I was overcome with a sensation of intense beauty. To be overcome with beauty is to know a moment of transcendence, and to have that is to desire it again.
I asked the Lord if he would grant me to taste beauty every day, even just a fleeting glimpse of it. He knew what I meant: I was requesting not only to be presented with objective beauty, but also the subjective apparatus—to be given the capacity to be overwhelmed.
Then I went on my way and did not always remember my petition. But the Lord remembered, and daily he has been coming through with delight. One day it was….
Each time this happened, I suddenly remembered that I had asked the Lord, and so I recognized that these were no random cosmic acts but intimate winks from my Father, the giver of perfect gifts, with Whom there is no shadow of turning.
Again I say, Andrée Seu!
God Has a Whole Universe to Run
God has a whole universe to run, and just imagine the trillions of details He has to dovetail in order to make things turn out according to His plan. It would be lunacy for me to begrudge an interrupted slumber when I have no idea of the carefully positioned dominoes involved here. And besides all the cosmic reasons why I was awakened early—which started my day earlier, which got me on the road earlier, which caused me to meet an entirely difference set of people and circumstances all day long and into infinity—there are the personal reasons God means just for me.
It occurs to me that God may simply have allowed the perplexingly untimely phone call to test my heart, to see whether I will trust Him when I am baffled “The LORD your God is testing you, to know whether you love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul”— Deuteronomy 13:3. Sometimes He gives us these opportunities to exercise a muscular faith in the face of a sheer unknown—when there is no explanation but that God is God. And I believe He likes to hear us say the words—out loud and before the angels—”Lord, no matter what happens, I will trust in You.”
Those are the closing paragraphs of Andrée Seu’s Incident at Motel 6 over at WorldMagBlog.
It’s short. And it blessed me.
It might do that for you as well.
Grab and Hang On!
In case you don’t know, I really like Daily Light on the Daily Path.
Last night upon my bed, the day’s selections I read. Here they be, a testimony for thee from me….
Morning
He hath filled the hungry with good things; and the rich he hath sent empty away.
Because thou sayest, I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing; and knowest not that thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked: I counsel thee to buy of me gold tried in the fire, that thou mayest be rich. . . . As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten: be zealous therefore, and repent.
Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled.–When the poor and needy seek water, and there is none, and their tongue faileth for thirst, I the LORD will hear them, I the God of Israel will not forsake them.–I am the LORD thy God, . . . open thy mouth wide, and I will fill it.
Wherefore do ye spend money for that which is not bread? and your labour for that which satisfieth not? hearken diligently unto me, and eat ye that which is good, and let your soul delight itself in fatness.–I am the bread of life: he that cometh to me shall never hunger; and he that believeth on me shall never thirst.Read it all