Egyptian Christian Leader Pleads for Prayers: 'Those Are the Hardest Days We've Ever Witnessed'
(The following analysis about the horrific violence across Egypt was written by a Christian leader in Egypt. He is unnamed due to security concerns).
The words are heavy to put together this morning. The sad day of yesterday (Aug. 14) resulted in a sleepless night not only for me, but also for millions of Christian and Muslim Egyptians who love this country and genuinely seek its good and welfare. It was a day of many tears, pain and agony for what Egypt witnessed for the violence that resulted. According to the official report of the Egyptian Ministry of Health, there were 235 deaths and 2001 injuries. The number of casualties and injuries reported by the Muslim Brotherhood and promoted by Al-Jazeera and other Muslim Brotherhood-supporting media channels are of course much higher.
This is not the time to sit to at a discussion table to decide who is right and who is wrong or what should or should not have been done in the first place. The issue now is not either to decide whether Muslim Brotherhood protesters who were forced to leave Rabaa-el Adawia and Nahda Squares (where they have camped and blocked the streets for the last 45 days) were peaceful protestors who had a legitimate political case to defend or were not. I can pretty much go further to say that it's not even the time to weep over tens of churches, Christian buildings, schools, Bible bookshops, shops and houses of Christians that have never systematically been targeted, looted, attacked or burnt down like what happened yesterday in Minya, Assiut, Sohag and several other cities.
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The murder last week of the 10-year-old girl, Jessica Boulos, as she was walking back home from her Bible study class at one of Cairo's evangelical churches by a fanatic Muslim gunman is unbearable and continues to throw it's shadows of pain on her broken family and the entire Christian community of Egypt.
In all of this mess, the loss of church buildings great, but not to be compared with the loss of the many souls, the pains of the wounds and the fear and anxiety that have filled the hearts of all that can yet happen in Egypt today and the days to come. Buildings can eventually be re-built, but when lost, souls can never be restored.
It was announced last night by our interim President Adly Mansour for Egypt to follow the emergency law for one month. Fourteen governorates (including Cairo, the capital) are now under curfew from 7 p.m. to 6 a.m. after the numerous attacks of the Muslim Brotherhood on public services buildings and private properties.
We see and hear angry Muslim Brotherhood members coming on TV screens threatening to burn Egypt down entirely to form what is so called "Egypt's free army" and fight against the current army to accelerate the battle with the Jihadists in Sinai and that Egyptians will not be able to sleep until former president Morsi is back into office.
Please continue to pray for my country. Those are the hardest days we've ever witnessed. The peaceful Egypt is now soaked into violence, hatred and desire to revenge. My heart and the hearts of millions of Christian and Muslim Egyptians are bleeding as we see Egypt turning into a strange country we've never knew before.
Please pray for:
• Peace to come back to our cities
• Wisdom to Egyptian police and army forces as they handle the major upcoming security issues that are facing them
• Tremendous power of love and forgiveness to fall on the hearts of the Christians as we seek to follow to the teachings of Jesus to pray for our attackers and persecutors and forgive them
• The voice of reason to come back to the crowds of Muslim Brotherhood protestors so the brainwashed followers may stop, think and follow the sound of reason, not the orders of deceiving leadership.
"Ya Rab" ((my Lord) save Egypt from evil!
For almost 60 years Open Doors has worked in the world's most oppressive and restrictive countries, strengthening Christians to stand strong in the face of persecution and equipping them to shine Christ's light in these places. Open Doors empowers persecuted Christians by supplying Bibles and Christian literature, training Christian leaders, facilitating social/economic projects and uniting believers in the West in prayer for Christians, who are the most persecuted religious group in the world and are oppressed in at least 60 countries. To partner with Open Doors USA, call toll free at 888-5-BIBLE-5 (888-524-2535) or go to our website at www.OpenDoorsUSA.org .
