An estimated 100 million Christians worldwide face arrest, interrogation and even death for their faith in Christ. Many millions more face discrimination and alienation.
Yet they do no recant their faith. In the face of violent persecution, Christians the world over continue to stand for Christ.
This was particularly apparent when 10,000 Egyptian Christians recently gathered in the desert for a three-day praise and worship service. According to Open Doors World Watch, Egypt is ranked 15 out of the 50 countries that are the worse persecutors of Christians.
The three-day service was called “One Thing” after Psalm 27:4: “One thing I ask from the Lord, this only do I seek: that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to gaze on the beauty of the Lord and to seek him in his temple.”
The Open Doors article about the One Thing reads in part:
Increased persecution, the election of a Muslim Brotherhood president, and the death of the Coptic Church pope has led to thousands
fleeing Egypt in fear of the future.
But there have been rays of the light of Jesus breaking through the gloom.
Earlier this month about 10,000 Christian young people came from all across Egypt for three days to worship the Lord and to seek God’s blessing for their country. The worshippers, mostly ranging from ages 13 to 30, gathered from 10 o’clock in the morning until 8 each evening. Many traveled hundreds of miles to the worship site in the middle of the desert north of Cairo.
“To sit among over 10,000 young people, worship with them in a roaring holy noise, listen to powerful and challenging messages and pray for God’s powerful presence in our lives; really, it is hard to describe in words,” says a Christian leader. “Sitting at the very back of the small soccer stadium gave me a good view of the scene. Thousands were sitting to my right, thousands to my left and thousands more in the middle. Hardly any empty gaps!
“The wonderful fact is that these young people came from all over Egypt. About 3,000 of them came all the way from many cities located in southern Egypt. They were accommodated in conference facilities available nearby. As for the remaining 7,000, they had to come all the way, every day, riding in the morning from Cairo and Alexandria in about 130 big buses, and then ride back home every evening for the night.”
According to the church leader, another 2 million followed the event on Internet and live satellite transmission.(Read more here.)
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