EGYPT: Christian Woman Killed in Mob Attack

Date of Bulletin: 16 April 2014

EGYPT

Every Friday, 25-year-old Mary Sameh George drove from Cairo to the nearby Ezbet El Nakhl area to visit a poor family and assist them with basic needs. While driving to visit this family on March 28, she was stopped in the Cairo suburb of Ain Shams by a mob protesting in favor of the Muslim Brotherhood.

"Once they saw that she was a Christian [because of the cross hanging on her rear-view mirror], they jumped on top of the car, to the point that the vehicle was no longer visible," an eyewitness said. "The roof of  the car collapsed. When they realized that she was starting to die, they pulled her out of the car and started pounding on her and pulling her hair, to the point that portions of her hair and scalp came off. They kept beating her, kicking her, stabbing her with any object or weapon they could find."

Voice Of the Martyrs (VOM) sources say the mob also shot her and burned her vehicle.

Christian Post, VOM Sources

Please Pray!

• Please pray that God will comfort and console Mary's family in their time of grief.

• Pray for the safety of all Christians in Egypt and that peace will soon be restored.

• Pray that the perpetrators will be caught and brought to justice.

"These six things the Lord hates, yes, seven are an abomination to Him: a proud look, a lying tongue, hands that shed innocent blood, a heart that devises wicked plans, feet that are swift in running to evil."

- Proverbs 6:16-17 -

Voice Of the Martyrs assists Christians in Egypt through VOMedical, the Families of Prisoners fund, Christian radio  broadcasts and discipleship training for former Muslims.

EGYPT: High-Profile Convert Detained for Allegedly "Inciting Strife"

 Date of Bulletin: 25 December 2013

Mohammed Hegazy, now known by his Christian name, Bishoy Armia Boulos, was arrested on Dec. 4 at a cafe in Minya, Upper Egypt. Security forces claimed he had been working for a Christian satellite TV  channel and contributing to a "false image" that Christians in Minya are targets of violence.

Boulos's friends believe his arrest was another attempt to persecute Egypt's "best-known convert from Islam." Boulos was the first Egyptian to file a lawsuit in an attempt to change the religious identity on his ID card. He had previously been arrested and tortured because of his conversion to Christianity, and he was
forced into hiding after receiving death threats.

On Dec. 10, Boulos was transferred from the prison in Minya to a prison outside the city, due to concerns for his safety. Informants had told prison security that Muslim prisoners were planning to kill Boulos for  becoming a Christian.

Sources: Morningstar News, Release International, VOM Sources

Photo: Bishoy Armia Boulos

Please Pray!

• Pray that God will intervene and protect Boulos and that international attention will result in his release.
• Pray for his wife and two children, believed to be living abroad.
• Pray that Egypt's new constitution will protect the religious rights of its citizens.

"The proud have dug pits for me, which is not according to Your law. All Your commandments are faithful; they persecute me wrongfully; help me!" Ps. 119:85-86

Voice Of the Martyrs assists Christians in Egypt through the VOMedical fund, Families of Prisoners fund, Christian radio broadcasts and discipleship training for former Muslims.

EGYPT: Islamic Extremists Lashing Out Against Christians

http://www.persecution.com/

The bloodshed in Egypt continues following former President Mohammad Morsi's removal from office on July 3 by the Egyptian military. Members of the Muslim Brotherhood are lashing out at Christians, apparently blaming them for the military's actions against Morsi.

On July 6, the Reverend Mina Abboud Sharoubeam was killed by gunmen on a motorcycle as he left his Coptic Christian church in the Al Masaeed area of Arish in Sinai, a VOM worker reported.

In additional post-Morsi violence, radical Muslims killed four Christians and
burned Christian houses and shops in Al Dabaa village in the Luxor region
of Upper Egypt. The injured and homeless in the area are taking refuge in a
church that also came under attack, our worker said. Three other Christian
churches have been burned across Egypt, and Christian businesses in
Dalga and Deir Mawas in Minya, Egypt, have also been attacked by Islamic
extremists.

VOM Contacts

Please Pray!

Christians in Egypt are asking for "prayers for protection of all Egyptians in this very hard time and for Christian families in Upper Egypt." Pray that the Lord will bring safety and stability to the region.

"Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? As it is written: 'For Your sake we are killed all day long; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter.' Yet in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us." Rom. 8:35-37

VOM assists Christians in Egypt through the VOMedical fund, Families of Martyrs fund, Christian radio broadcasts and discipleship training for former Muslims.

Pebbles for Christ is a volunteer voice for the persecuted church.

You too could become an advocate voice for the persecuted church in your local church and community by becoming a member of VOM's Be-A-Voice Network. The Be-A-Voice Network is an online volunteer opportunity created by The Voice of the Martyrs. This ministry allows friends like you to help our persecuted brothers and sisters around the world in a real and immediate way. If you are willing to PRAY, WRITE or SHARE with others, then the Be-A-Voice Network is the tool for you!

Click here to visit Be-A-Voice's website.

Prayer Request: Egypt - Christian Mother & 7 Children Sentenced to Prison

International Christian Concern's May News Letter

http://issuu.com/persecution/docs/2012-5_e-pesecution?mode=embed&pageNumber=4

Study: John MacArthur's The Reign of Rebellion

I've just spent a couple of hours listening to & researching John MacArthur's brilliant sermon, The Reign of Rebellion Part 1. It is a study of Daniel 11:1-35. This prophecy, which has since been fulfilled, is so detailed and so fascinating that I thought I'd share it here, with my notes so that you too can benefit from God's amazing words!

You can listen to and/or read John MacArthur's sermon by clicking here: The Reign of Rebellion Part 1

Below are my notes from the sermon + some details that I researched on the internet.

Summary Notes on John MacArthur’s

The Reign of Rebellion Part 1

(Daniel 11: 1:35)

[Daniel lived ± 607BC)

The key kings mentioned in Daniel 11:

3 prominent kings before the rise of the 5 “A” kings:

• Cambyses (son of Cyrus)
• Pseudo-Smerdis (was an usurper & impostor)
• Darius Hystaspes

1. Xerxes aka Ahasuerus [486 – 465 BC] (verse 2)

·         Found in Book of Esther

·         One of greatest oriental rulers

·         Very wealthy

·         Commanded largest army in Ancient World

·         Wanted to attack Greece

·         Defeated by Power of Greece

·         150 years later, the Greeks retaliated & came led by Alexander the Great (verse 3)

Xerxes aka Ahasurerus (486 - 465 BC)

2. Alexander the Great of Macedon (Greece) [336 – 323BC](verse 3)

·         Seized entire Persian Empire

·         By age of 33, he had conquered the known world & changed the course of history

·         He overran Israel

·         He died at 33 with no legitimate descendants (verse 4)

·         His kingdom was divided into 4 parts:

v      Cassandra took Macedonia

v      Lysimachus took Thrace & Asia Minor

v      Ptolemy took Egypt (i.e. south of Israel)

v      Seleucus took Syria (i.e. north of Israel)    (verse 5)

·         Egypt & Syria warred with each other for ± 200 years on Israeli soil. (verse 20)

·         Antiochus Theos of Syria divorced his wife to marry Berenice, daughter of Ptolemy Philadelphus of Egypt. Antiochus’s 1^st wife murdered Berenice by poison. (verse 7)

Alexander The Great of Macedon (Greece) (336 - 323 BC)

3. Antiochus III The Great of Greece [223 – 187BC](verse 10)

·         King of North

·         Conquered by Ptolemy of Egypt & ruled Israel

·         Son of Callinicus

·         Had 75,000 soldiers

·         Attacked Egypt (verse 11)

·         Gave his daughter, Cleopatra, to Ptolemy in marriage (verse 17)

·         Attacked Greece, which was then ruled by Rome (verse 18)

·         Syria then had to pay taxes to Rome (verse 20)

Antiochus III The Great of Greece (223 - 187 BC)

4. Antiochus IV Epiphanes of Greece [175 – 164BC](verse 21)

   (brother of Cleopatra)

·         Gained power through intrigue

·         Devastated Egypt (verse 22)

·         Broke friendship with Egypt (verse 23)

·      Committed “Abomination of Desolation”, i.e. with help of apostate Jews he attacked Jerusalem (verse 28), slayed women & children & slaughtered a pig on the temple alter & made the priests eat the pork. (verse 31). In 3 days he killed 40,000 Jews & sold 40,000 into slavery.

·         Israel helped by Hasidic Jews (Judas Maccabeus) (verse 34) [also see First Maccabees 2)

Antiochus IV Epiphanes of Greece (175 - 164 BC)

    

5.            Anti-Christ [Still to come sometime in the future!]

The Anti-Christ (Still to Come)

You can listen to and/or read the equally brilliant The Reign of Rebellion Part 2 by clicking here:  http://www.gty.org/resources/Sermons/27-29#.Tko91GG6nlg