Displaying items by tag: Egypt

The village where 305 worshippers were killed by Salafi militants on 24th November had been warned against hosting Sufi gatherings. Salafi Muslims follow an ultra-conservative Islam and believe Sufis are heretics. This attack, the worst in Egypt’s history, was the security forces’ second failure in five weeks, following 50+ policemen being killed in a Muslim Brotherhood militants’ hideout. After that incident President el-Sisi demoted his army chief of staff. Washington told el-Sisi that the Egyptian security forces’ preparedness was clumsy and predictable, saying that in the fight against terror and guerrilla groups quicker action is needed, combining precise intelligence and commando forces. The Egyptians are still very far from employing advanced methods; they responded to the attacks by bombing IS vehicles.

Marilyn, a 16-year-old Coptic Christian girl kidnapped on 28 June to be ‘converted to Islam, then married off or sold’, was released and returned to her family on 30 September after police found her in a city just outside Cairo. The city, named 10th of Ramadan, is several hundred kilometres from her village. Her village priest, Father Boutros Khalaf, found out where she was being held and notified the local police. They managed to arrest her kidnappers, Taha and his brother Gaber, and released Marilyn. She was returned to her family after 92 days. This was one of a series of kidnappings by Islamist networks. Pray that the other victims will be safely restored to their families.

Rights advocates want to end Egypt’s long-tolerated child marriage tradition. Azza is in her early 20s and has given birth four times. When she was twelve her father decided it was time she got married. It mattered little to him that the groom was over twice Azza’s age and she had never met him. Azza and her sisters didn’t go to school; only their brothers were educated. In Egypt’s poor, rural communities, girls are deprived of education and become child brides at puberty, despite the legal age of marriage in Egypt being 18. But now the prosecution of an imam for marrying dozens of underage girls marks a shift in social attitudes. It also sends a message that the authorities are serious about enforcing the law. Maya Morsi of the National Council for Women (NCW) has urged parliament to raise the legal age of marriage to 21.

"Who is like You, O Lord, among the gods? Who is like You, majestic in holiness, awesome in glory, doing wonders?" Exodus 15:11

We often hear of the encouraging revivals of the past, when God did amazing things way back then, in the Great Awakenings in USA, the Welsh revival, the Korean revival, etc.

However, God is still at work today as well doing great and mighty things around the globe, and it is encouraging and inspiring to hear about what He is doing here and now.

The following is a PrayTV Studio production in which Gregg Healey, a prayer leader in Connecticut, interviews Pastor Khaled Ghobrial of the Arabic Baptist Church in Boston. Pastor Ghobrial shares how God has used and is still using the united prayers of the church in Egypt to change the course of that nation since 2011. The link below is a playlist with five segments that constitute the entire interview:

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLoJ7NaibJ99D3PhnRnmvZYGGg9wDVmzoF

Background:

* Egypt is a country of 90 million people with 85%  Muslim and only 15% Christian.  Christianity came to Egypt in 42 A.D. through the Apostle Mark who wrote the Gospel by that name. The original inhabitants of Egypt are the Coptic people (equivalent to the Native Americans in USA, or the Maori people in New Zealand).

* The Arabs invaded Egypt in 639 AD and brought Islam. Since then, the church in Egypt has been under various degrees of persecution throughout history. This drove the Church to its knees in prayer. As you know, biblically and historically, pressure and persecution causes the Church to thrive, while prosperity and times of ease often cause the Church to slumber; thus the pressure on the church in Egypt fuelled her prayers.

In this video:

* In the 1980's a prayer movement started and had five stages of growth. The stages included:

1. The Church in Egypt learning from the prayer movement in Korea.
2. The charismatic movement influence and a new understanding of the the centrality of prayer and intercession in revival.
3. A crisis that fuelled the prayer movement.
4. Learning from the prayer movement in Uganda.
5. Growing in unity across denominations and generations on a national level, and having a united vision for revival and a great harvest in Egypt. The church cried fervently, "Lord, make your name known in our land!".

* The Church in Egypt continued to suffer persecution under former President Mubarak.

* The Church continued to pray fervently, in unity, that the Lord would expose and displace the darkness and shine the light of Christ.

* In 2011, Egypt had a revolution that toppled President Mubarak. In its essence, it was like the French Revolution where the masses revolted against a corrupt regime. God had answered the prayers of the Church and exposed darkness!

* The Church continued to pray fervently and on 11/11/11, a united, multi-Church prayer meeting took place in Cairo with 75,000 in attendance. It was a 12 hour prayer meeting for Christ to be known and magnified in that land!

* In 2012, the revolution was hijacked by the Muslim Brotherhood, and a Muslim Brotherhood President named Morsi, came to power. The Muslim Brotherhood vowed to remain in power for decades if not centuries.

* The Church was disappointed and confused as to why after all these years of prayer for revival, God allowed the Muslim Brotherhood to take power.

* Despite the disappointment, the Church in Egypt continued to pray in unity, fervently crying out, "Lord, expose darkness, come with a mighty move of your Spirit in our land!"

* Only one year later, 33 million mostly Muslim Egyptians took to the streets demanding the ousting of President Morsi. Some world newspapers, including the  Huffington Post, called it, "The largest demonstration in the history of mankind." For 33 million Muslims in a strongly Islamic country to reject Islamic rule is historical and unprecedented. The US equivalent of that would be millions of Americans rejecting secular humanism, and realizing that it does not make sense.

* The Lord has once again heard the united prayers of His Church in Egypt and exposed the darkness in the land!

* In addition to the millions of Muslims coming to Christ, other amazing changes are happening in Egypt.

* The Egyptian constitution was re-written to provide Christians more rights and protection.

* Muslims recognized and expressed that the toppling of the Muslim Brotherhood government was the result of the prayers of the Church. They even asked the Church to continue to pray!

* In October 2015, the Egyptian Ministry of Education banned the teaching of Islam in Egyptian public schools, and substituted it with a subject called Virtue and Ethics. The US equivalent of that is for the US Department of Education to ban the  teaching of evolution and stop promoting secular humanism!

* On January 6, 2016, the current president of Egypt was the first Muslim president in the history of the country to visit the Coptic Church Headquarters. He apologized to Christians publicly on live television for their persecution, bombed and burnt church buildings, and he vowed to advocate for them and protect them. He is the best president Egypt has had since its independence in 1952. All this happened in direct response to the united prayers of the Church there!

* Lessons from the prayer movement in Egypt:

1. It takes time and persistence in prayer.
2. It takes individuals taking ownership and responding to united prayer. It is not someone else's problem.
3. Kingdom mentality, relational unity, and united prayer is key: focusing on what unites us, not what divides us.

This is what happens when Church leaders respond to God and walk in unity, consecration, and prayer!

What would happen if we all walked in unity and together mobilized the body of Christ in our region towards a united prayer movement, with a vision to see the glory of God in our midst and the subsequent outbreak of revival, where thousands of people reject secular humanism and embrace Christ?

As you know, the Scriptures contrasts for us people and generations who understood their times and responded to what God wanted them to do, and those who did not. It describes the "Sons of Issachar" in 1 Chron 12:32 as having "Understood their times, and knew what Israel ought to do." In contrast, Jesus wept over Jerusalem, because "They did not understand the times of their visitation" Luke 19:42.

We want to be people who understand our times and what God is inviting us to, which is nothing short of changing the spiritual atmosphere in our region in the same way that the Church in Egypt (and elsewhere) changed the spiritual atmosphere in their own country.

By PrayTV Studio

Pray for the Egyptian Christians to go from strength to strength and for similar movements of prayer to arise in other challenging areas of the world and especially in the Muslim-majority nations.

An Egyptian blogger writes: ‘Lack of parking spots used to be one of the few concerns on Cairo streets, but there’s a different perspective now. Families used to go to church together to celebrate; now they separate, attending mass in twos and threes in different churches. It’s a precaution so that at least part of the family will survive in the event of a bomb attack. Now that most places of worship have closed their doors to visitors for “safety” reasons, people have lost the opportunities to make their usual summer spiritual visits to places of peace and prayer. Churches have cancelled all children’s summer camps and trips. I make fewer trips to church, and have become very selective where I go. With many warnings on social media against going to malls and public places, I am wary about my errands. Security checks and metal detectors all around me add to my fear instead of making me feel secure.’

On 28 May, the day after a deadly attack on a bus of Christian pilgrims, SAT-7 Arabic radio presented a vital Christian viewpoint on the threats that believers face from extremists. The gunmen had demanded that the believers renounce their Christian faith and shot them when they refused. This was the latest in a series of attacks on Coptic Christians since December 2016, including three suicide bombings of church services that left 75 people dead. Responsibility was claimed by IS. During the funeral of the slain Christians, one believer said, ‘Why are we being killed? We don’t hate anyone. Our religion is one of love.’ Sorial Gabriel, a priest, said: ‘We will never ask for anything but peace. We have nothing but peace. The world is witnessing how the Church is glowing, and the Cross is glowing.’ The Christians remain firm in their faith; one said, ‘If we are weak then God is strong and protects us’. A professor at the Evangelical Theological Seminary in Cairo said: ‘I was on Egyptian national television and an extremist said to me, “In God’s name, I hate you.” I replied, ‘In God’s name, I love you.”’

Between 9 and 16 June, as part of a Ramadan prayer focus, approximately one million people prayed for the Domari people. There is great expectation that God will do amazing things in this season! In recent years workers have seen some breakthrough, with individuals coming to faith. But whole tribes need to be transformed to worship Jesus Christ. They are originally from Northern India, as are the Roma in Eastern Europe. Domari moved to Asia between 700 and 1000 years ago; but wherever in the world they settle, they are known for the same type of things. The enemy has corrupted all that God has created them to be, but we know that they can be so much more. Instead of sorcery, may they be called to prophecy and receiving revelation from God: instead of immorality and prostitution, may they experience deep intimacy with God. See also

Just hours before the beginning of Ramadan, masked gunmen riding three SUVs killed 29 and wounded 22 Coptic Christians on pilgrimage to a monastery in Upper Egypt. Most were children. This was the fourth attack on Christians since December. The bus was travelling in the desert towards a remote monastery 140 miles south of Cairo, where Christians account for more than 35% of the population, the highest ratio in any province. Security and medical officials fear the death toll could rise. Following the attack, acknowledging the lapses of security, Major-General Faisal Dewidar was transferred from his post in charge of security, as part of a wider reshuffle that included thirteen other Interior Ministry officials being removed from their posts and appointed elsewhere. Egypt then launched a series of airstrikes that targeted what it said were militant bases in eastern Libya in which the assailants were trained (see the next article).

Egypt’s tourism minister recently met Vatican tourism officials in Rome, to discuss the idea of expanding the country’s religious tourism map by adding the route that Jesus, Mary and Joseph are believed to have used when fleeing Palestine. Egypt aims to boost an industry that has been hit hard since the 2011 revolution, and hopes that highlighting its religious heritage will attract many visitors. In 2005, there was a plan to feature the holy family's connection and journey, but it never got off the ground. A committee was established last year to revive it, but little has been accomplished so far. Tourism has long been a major source of income for the country. Historically Egypt was a sign of hope, refuge and help. When the region suffered famine, Jacob and his sons went to Egypt. When Jesus was persecuted, he was taken there. Pray for Jesus, not tourism, to bring hope to Egypt today.

Please see this wonderful, Christ-like and moving response to the bombings of the Coptic churches by a Coptic priest. What a testimony and loving attitude.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iO6MwqDlIYY