Meet the Persecuted

Abducted

Deborah (not her real name), a teenage Christian girl was abducted by Muslims in her hometown with the plan of forcing her to convert to Islam.  She had hailed a taxi, hoping to share the ride with the passengers that were already inside.  It was a trap.  They said they would be glad to share the fare, but once she entered the car, they drugged her.  Deborah said she couldn't move and that her hands and neck went numb.  They drove Deborah very far from her small town. There, she was tied up, verbally abused, and beaten.  A veiled woman molested her. 

This incident occurred during Ramadan, the Muslim month of fasting.  When the abductors left her to break the fast at sunset Deborah was able to cut herself lose and crawled out of a window.  She ran to a nearby home and told of her plight to the Muslim occupants.  They brought her to the police who said they would investigate but nothing was done to find her assailants.

Deborah’s uncle was notified and came to help her.  When the police called her in for questioning, he went with her.  However, the police, who didn't want her uncle there, told him that he had to go into another room to sign some papers and as he entered the room, they locked him in it.

The police then concentrated on Deborah, offering her food and water. Unbeknownst to her, it contained drugs.  In her drugged state, they made up a plausible story saying that she went with the abductors willingly.  The police beat her to force her to make a statement into a recorder saying that she had not been kidnapped, that she was enamored of a Muslim boy and left her family to be with him. 

When her uncle was released from the locked room, the lies were already on tape.  There was nothing they could do, so he just took Deborah back to her village.

Please pray for the safety and protection of young Christian women in Egypt that face possible abduction because of their faith.

On the Front Lines

Rami Ayyad: A Modern Day Martyr

Below is a letter written by Rami's wife in honor of his life and to his children.

To my lovely husband, martyr Rami Ayyad.

“I tell you I love you and I will love you forever.” I remember, my love, what a   sincere husband you were always loving, kind and passionate. I remember your kind heart and sweet words and your joyful laughs. I remember your love to me, and how kind you were to me, how you always took the initiative to reconcile with me after a misunderstanding. Even when I was the one to blame, you were the one to say sorry. I remember you standing always beside me in my difficult times. You were so compassionate toward my feelings and needs.

I remember your commitment to your house, duties, and children and how much you loved the boys and used to sacrifice for them. My lover Rami, your memory will always remain in my heart, thought and mind. Your children will know that they only physically lost you. I will tell them how great you were and will remind them what you used to do to them, how kind you were to them. I will never stop mentioning those memories, never.

I will always remind your children of you. How you got up early every morning and prepared their school bags, how you waited with them outside the house until the car came and took them to preschool. Rami, I will tell the children how precise you were on raising them up in a way that you were not just a father, but also a friend.

Be proud, my children, of your father. You have not lost him forever, he sacrificed his life for you, children, so that you never feel shame as you would if he had given in. He was thinking about Jesus as well during those difficult hours. I must confess that Jesus was his true love before me and you. I will walk your path, Rami. I will raise the children the exact way you wanted me to.

Rami was a believer who loved God from his heart. The Bible was printed in his heart, not by word only, but by act, he proclaimed it. I remember how you told me that you will never deny your faith, no matter what happens. I remember how committed you were to your ministry. I know we will meet again, me, you and the children. How much I miss and look forward to that day, the day when we are all together with Jesus our God. Goodbye, my lovely husband, goodbye, martyr, goodbye, you who have made me proud and made our children proud as well. Goodbye, you who have made your church and family proud. Goodbye, you who have made all Christians proud. You are a model that we will all follow.

Please pray for Rami's wife and children.

Update: Egyptian Father’s Brief Conversion Traps Daughters in Islam

Arrest warrant rescinded for woman imprisoned because her father briefly converted to Islam.

December 2 (Compass Direct News) – A Supreme Court judge in Egypt on Nov. 22 granted Christian Bahia El-Sisi the right to appeal her conviction for falsification of documents – a charge stemming from her official papers not identifying her as a Muslim. In addition, Judge Abdel Meged Mahmood on Nov. 25 rescinded a Sept. 23 warrant for El-Sisi’s arrest, declaring that she should be free pending a final decision. The charges against El-Sisi and her sister, Shadia El-Sisi, claimed that their marriage certificates contained false information that they were Christians. Unknown to them, their religious identity officially changed 46 years ago due to their father’s brief conversion to Islam. Investigation into the sisters’ religious status began following a visit made to their father, Nagy El-Sisi, himself in prison for forgery. Nagy El-Sisi, who had briefly converted to Islam in 1962 before reconverting three years later, obtained a forged Christian ID because there is no official means for converting from Islam in Egypt. Under sharia (Islamic law), which heavily influences Egyptian law, the sisters are considered Muslims due to their father’s temporary conversion.

Bahia El-Sisi’s six children anxiously await the outcome of the appeal, fearing that, in a domino effect, their religious status may also have to change following a negative outcome.

El-Sisi remains defiant. “I am a Christian, I will remain Christian,” she told Compass. “Christ in front of me will guide my steps.”

The Word of God

A Bible Society in Iraq?

In 1978, the Iraqi government, under Saddam Hussein, decided to close down the Bible Society in Iraq.  They put the Director, in prison together with his wife and young son.  In a matter of 24 hours, 70-80 people from the home church movement had been whisked out of their homes into prisons all over the country.

In the mid 1980’s, Bible Society employees in Amman, Jordan, began to send four 20 lb. boxes of Scriptures, five days a week, into churches all over Iraq.  Soon, they began to receive thank you notes in the mail.  During their follow up visits to Iraq, the churches would pay for the Scriptures, giving more than the Bible Society asked for!  Those daily trips to Amman’s post office became a holy pilgrimage that everybody in the Bible Society wanted to be a part of.

Then toward the end of the 1980’s, the door to Iraq was almost completely open and by the mid-1990’s, the door had come off its hinges.

Before Saddam Hussein was deposed, News Service 2000 was there as a part of a team effort to bring Bibles into Iraq.  Today, News Service 2000 is helping to provide Bibles and other Christian literature to the Christians in the Middle East, partnering with the Bible Societies in that area of the Muslim world.