Christians in Egypt expect death at any time

Egypt (MNN) — “Leaders in the mosques were telling Muslims to attack Christians and kill them,” says Boutrous, a Christian from Delga, Egypt referring to a rampage of radical Muslims in August 2013.

Boutrous and his father were in their family barber shop when a mob of Muslims attacked them.

“They broke into the shop, took everything, and burned the place down,” says Boutrous.

Boutrous was able to escape the mob, but his father was caught.

“They caught my father and shot him multiple times. Then they dragged his body to the mosque,” Boutrous said.

While all of this was going, someone in the crowd with a cell phone recorded a video of Boutrous’ father’s body, bloody and full of bullets, being dragged through the streets.

This video shows the reality of how Christians in Egypt are suffering for Christ. 8thirty8, a ministry partner of E3 Partners has the video on their facebook page. 8thirty8 is a challenge to set your alarm for 8:38 PM each day to pray for believers who are either in prison, persecution, or danger,

“When they reached the mosque, they tied his body to a tractor and dragged him through the village again,” says Boutrous.

The mob continued to mutilate his father’s body while chanting, “Allahu Akbar,” Arabic for “god is great.”

Why are Christians bring attacked?

Anba Macarius, head bishop of Minya’s Coptic Church, says, “the killing and arson attacks happened because Christians supported the removal of former Islamist President Mohammed Morsi and his Muslim Brotherhood government.”

Egypt will hold presidential elections later in May.

Since then, over 100 churches and hundreds of homes and businesses have been destroyed.

“Christians in Egypt are expecting death at any time,” says Macarius.

Delga is part of the Minya province, center of the worst violence against Christians in seven centuries.

Christians make up about 10% of Egypt’s 80 million population. They face daily harassment and often consider leaving the country.

However, Bishop Maracarius tells his church that they “must endure the persecution. We must consider it an honor to endure this persecution, otherwise it will contradict the level of our commitment to our faith.”

“Christians view the current situation as an opportunity to witness about Christ through our suffering,” says Boutrous. “We have to be tolerant and keep praying for our enemies.”

E3 Partners and 8thirty8 encourage believers to pray for Christians in Egypt.

Pray that Christians in Egypt will continue to stand up for their faith. Pray that their willingness to suffer for Christ would open the eyes of their enemies. Pray that the gospel will spread through Egypt. Pray that Egyptian Christians will continue to be strong and forgive.