Everyday Life in Egypt

If you were a persecuted believer in Egypt, what would your everyday life look like? Here’s a snapshot from the real life of a Christian father and daughter. Outside his house, an imam shouts over a megaphone that Muslims should not shake Christians’ hands, go into their homes, or eat their food. The believer’s locks, windows, and doors are taped to prevent eavesdropping, and his sink and shower drains are taped to prevent natural gas attacks. He can’t open his window, because his neighbors throw rocks at the house. His daughter has not attended school for about a year, because she was beaten and ridiculed there before.

Why do they live like this? Because they love Jesus. The daughter was asked what enables her to handle the constant pressure of life on the run, and she answered, “God.”

Her father became a believer at an academy where he roomed with a Christian who was harassed and ridiculed. He asked why the believer was treated this way, and then asked for a Bible. When he became a Christian, the school and his family tried to make his life miserable. He was forced to wake up earlier than others, carry his mattress through flights of stairs until he was ready to pass out, and was forced to use a toothbrush to clean the bathroom. His father hired a scholar to convert him back to Islam. The scholar yelled in his ears, wrote verses from the Koran on his arms, and burned his flesh with iron rods. Yet he and his daughter told Compass Direct News that they never regretted their decision to become Christians.

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, He has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you, who by God's power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. In this you rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials, so that the tested genuineness of your faith--more precious than gold that perishes though it is tested by fire--may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ. Though you have not seen Him, you love Him. Though you do not now see Him, you believe in Him and rejoice with joy that is inexpressible and filled with glory, obtaining the outcome of your faith, the salvation of your souls. –1 Peter 1:3-9

Source: Compass Direct News