This is soooo very, very sad. I am sorry, I did not realize this incident happened right after the Christmas service. Still I think there should be some comfort in the fact that the victims had received the divine liturgy and were in holy communion with GOD right before their repose!
I did not attend Christmas service this year. I do not know what is wrong but my spirit just feels uneasy.
GOD help the victims friends and families in their time of sorrow.
dear elsi70x7, yes, i heard that the mother of one of the victims said she gets great comfort for the fact her son is now with God. God truly comforts us in our weakness. in john 16:33, Jesus said 'in this world you will have trouble, but, take courage, for I HAVE OVERCOME the world'. out distress, although painful, is eased by the wonderful comfort given by the Holy Spirit who is sent as our comforter. i hope u have been to church since Christmas, when u feel afraid, uneasy or troubled, it is in the church you can find this peace from God.
We should not be shocked by this. Of all the religions in the world which one is attacked the most? We do not see Buddha, Confucious, any of the 3 million hindu gods, or even mohammed for that matter being blasphemed and attacked like Christ. Our citizenship is not of this world and the persecution that we endure only serves to strengthen us. We are the body of Christ, did He not suffer? So why should we be exempt, we are His body. What I am thankful for is that these people more than likely received communion only moments before their martyrdom. For me I am jealous because we live in a world that does not want us and we should long to be with Christ! May God bless the holy martyrs of Nag Hammadi!!!!
Thanks guys for your words! Of course, I would denounce every hurt and hatred, or any anger. Is this possible? Yea. But, I also believe that this is not the time to pray for the enemies of God. We had over 1000 years to do so. Now is not the time to think in our prayers of those murderers who joined Satan to fight against the children of God. In fact, I believe that we are truly heading into end time waters as prophesied out of the Bible. Learning how to properly Plead the Blood of Jesus for deliverance and protection is going to be needed by all of us in order to help keep them out of harms way as things really start to heat up in the years ahead.
Too many Christians are getting robbed, raped, abducted, murdered, sexually and physically abused, slandered, cheated, scammed, etc. All you have to do is watch the daily news and it is one horror story after another. I believe the number one reason why so many Christians are under such heavy attacks from both demons and bad and evil people in this world is because they do not have God's full protection on them. And the reason they do not have God’s full protection on them is because they have never been taught how to spiritually defend themselves using actual spiritual warfare! "Behold, I give you the authority to trample on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing shall by any means hurt you." (Luke 10:19)
If we have God’s power available to us to defeat all demons, then I believe that we also have God’s power to defeat any and all humans that may try to come against us with any type of unjust action or attack. We shouldn't be naive and remain on the defensive side like a hedgehog , when it comes to dealing with our enemies who are fighting us endlessly. Instead, we need to form out the appropriate battle prayer that will fit our particular situation and take our enemies head on like David did with Goliath.
My prayers are with the families and friends of those who were murdered at Christmas time. May God let them know that their souls are in a good place.
I am sorry, but Melchoir these are your personal opinions and are not the teaching of our Coptic Orthodox Faith.
I would not wish anyone visiting here to think that this is the opinion of our Coptic Orthodox Church. Even to the point of death we are called to pray for our enemies and those who treat us badly. We may participate in democratic and state processes as far as is possible to seek the welfare of the Christian people, but in the end, we should always pray, always forgive, always hope. Anything else is to deny our Christian Faith.
If we will not forgive others then we will not be forgiven.
If only pray for ourselves then we are doing nothing good.
The worst that can be done to us, even death, is a passing period of pain, before we enter into the light and life of God's presence. This cannot be taken away from us. Those who persecute us need our prayers because they stand on the edge of an eternal abyss.
[quote author=peterfarrington link=topic=8659.msg109611#msg109611 date=1264434804] I am sorry, but Melchoir these are your personal opinions and are not the teaching of our Coptic Orthodox Faith.
I would not wish anyone visiting here to think that this is the opinion of our Coptic Orthodox Church. Even to the point of death we are called to pray for our enemies and those who treat us badly. We may participate in democratic and state processes as far as is possible to seek the welfare of the Christian people, but in the end, we should always pray, always forgive, always hope. Anything else is to deny our Christian Faith.
If we will not forgive others then we will not be forgiven.
If only pray for ourselves then we are doing nothing good.
The worst that can be done to us, even death, is a passing period of pain, before we enter into the light and life of God's presence. This cannot be taken away from us. Those who persecute us need our prayers because they stand on the edge of an eternal abyss.
Father Peter
According to the interviews shown on TV of the families of the victims, they all have forgiven the murderers.
If this isn't a miracle, nor a fruit of God's Holy Spirit, I don't know what is.
They all have said they remarkably feel comforted, and although sad, they have nothing against those who carried out this act of violence and terror.
Forgiveness is part of our raison d'etre as Christians. It says in the Bible that God's ways is foolishness to man - and I see that. It doesnt make sense why anyone would want to forgive; but you have to look at it this way:
Those who killed really need our prayers so they can repent, how will they know God unless through our actions? And our actions in which they are expected to know God is through us showing love, forgiveness, kindness and charity.
These are the tools we use to evangelise our faith.
Basically, all this forgiveness is evangelisation of our Christian Orthodox faith to a completely delusioned and hate filled muslim nation.
[quote author=mabsoota link=topic=8659.msg109580#msg109580 date=1264353214] dear elsi70x7, yes, i heard that the mother of one of the victims said she gets great comfort for the fact her son is now with God. God truly comforts us in our weakness. in john 16:33, Jesus said 'in this world you will have trouble, but, take courage, for I HAVE OVERCOME the world'. out distress, although painful, is eased by the wonderful comfort given by the Holy Spirit who is sent as our comforter. i hope u have been to church since Christmas, when u feel afraid, uneasy or troubled, it is in the church you can find this peace from God.
Our Almighty GOD bless u dear mabsoota, for your wise words! I pray the HOLY SPIRIT will continue to comfort the victims families! What a great blessing....a Mother's Love! We look forward to the ressurrection!
I don't know much about the Egyptian Coptic Church, may God pardon me for my ignorance, but I know that all The Psalms of David are very, very important to the Ethiopian Tewahido Church and its pious followers. We love the Psalms of David, and we sing them to destroy the enemies of God.
Liars and murderers resemble the devil, and are his children, therefore it may well be expected that God should abhor them. These were the characters of David's enemies; and such as these are still the enemies of Christ and his people. We have to hate God's enemies, (not our own [Mt. 5:44]), to demonstrate our love for God (Psalms 139:19-22). When we cry out to God to judge speedily the wicked, we are expressing our hatred for the harmfulness of evil deeds and our desire that they be frustrated (Rev. 6:9-11).
No one has a natural right to murder; furthermore, it is justified and wise to exert force to prevent a murder or to punish a murderer after-the-fact. So murder falls in that category of things where there is no natural right, even in the secular world there is no legal right.
Isaiah 26:10 Even if you are kind to the evil-doer, he will not go after righteousness; even in the land of the upright he will still go on in his wrongdoing, and will not see the glory of the Lord.
Comments
I did not attend Christmas service this year. I do not know what is wrong but my spirit just feels uneasy.
GOD help the victims friends and families in their time of sorrow.
yes, i heard that the mother of one of the victims said she gets great comfort for the fact her son is now with God. God truly comforts us in our weakness. in john 16:33, Jesus said 'in this world you will have trouble, but, take courage, for I HAVE OVERCOME the world'. out distress, although painful, is eased by the wonderful comfort given by the Holy Spirit who is sent as our comforter.
i hope u have been to church since Christmas, when u feel afraid, uneasy or troubled, it is in the church you can find this peace from God.
Too many Christians are getting robbed, raped, abducted, murdered, sexually and physically abused, slandered, cheated, scammed, etc. All you have to do is watch the daily news and it is one horror story after another.
I believe the number one reason why so many Christians are under such heavy attacks from both demons and bad and evil people in this world is because they do not have God's full protection on them. And the reason they do not have God’s full protection on them is because they have never been taught how to spiritually defend themselves using actual spiritual warfare!
"Behold, I give you the authority to trample on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing shall by any means hurt you." (Luke 10:19)
If we have God’s power available to us to defeat all demons, then I believe that we also have God’s power to defeat any and all humans that may try to come against us with any type of unjust action or attack. We shouldn't be naive and remain on the defensive side like a hedgehog , when it comes to dealing with our enemies who are fighting us endlessly. Instead, we need to form out the appropriate battle prayer that will fit our particular situation and take our enemies head on like David did with Goliath.
My prayers are with the families and friends of those who were murdered at Christmas time. May God let them know that their souls are in a good place.
I would not wish anyone visiting here to think that this is the opinion of our Coptic Orthodox Church. Even to the point of death we are called to pray for our enemies and those who treat us badly. We may participate in democratic and state processes as far as is possible to seek the welfare of the Christian people, but in the end, we should always pray, always forgive, always hope. Anything else is to deny our Christian Faith.
If we will not forgive others then we will not be forgiven.
If only pray for ourselves then we are doing nothing good.
The worst that can be done to us, even death, is a passing period of pain, before we enter into the light and life of God's presence. This cannot be taken away from us. Those who persecute us need our prayers because they stand on the edge of an eternal abyss.
Father Peter
I am sorry, but Melchoir these are your personal opinions and are not the teaching of our Coptic Orthodox Faith.
I would not wish anyone visiting here to think that this is the opinion of our Coptic Orthodox Church. Even to the point of death we are called to pray for our enemies and those who treat us badly. We may participate in democratic and state processes as far as is possible to seek the welfare of the Christian people, but in the end, we should always pray, always forgive, always hope. Anything else is to deny our Christian Faith.
If we will not forgive others then we will not be forgiven.
If only pray for ourselves then we are doing nothing good.
The worst that can be done to us, even death, is a passing period of pain, before we enter into the light and life of God's presence. This cannot be taken away from us. Those who persecute us need our prayers because they stand on the edge of an eternal abyss.
Father Peter
According to the interviews shown on TV of the families of the victims, they all have forgiven the murderers.
If this isn't a miracle, nor a fruit of God's Holy Spirit, I don't know what is.
They all have said they remarkably feel comforted, and although sad, they have nothing against those who carried out this act of violence and terror.
Forgiveness is part of our raison d'etre as Christians. It says in the Bible that God's ways is foolishness to man - and I see that. It doesnt make sense why anyone would want to forgive; but you have to look at it this way:
Those who killed really need our prayers so they can repent, how will they know God unless through our actions? And our actions in which they are expected to know God is through us showing love, forgiveness, kindness and charity.
These are the tools we use to evangelise our faith.
Basically, all this forgiveness is evangelisation of our Christian Orthodox faith to a completely delusioned and hate filled muslim nation.
dear elsi70x7,
yes, i heard that the mother of one of the victims said she gets great comfort for the fact her son is now with God. God truly comforts us in our weakness. in john 16:33, Jesus said 'in this world you will have trouble, but, take courage, for I HAVE OVERCOME the world'. out distress, although painful, is eased by the wonderful comfort given by the Holy Spirit who is sent as our comforter.
i hope u have been to church since Christmas, when u feel afraid, uneasy or troubled, it is in the church you can find this peace from God.
Our Almighty GOD bless u dear mabsoota, for your wise words! I pray the HOLY SPIRIT will continue to comfort the victims families! What a great blessing....a Mother's Love! We look forward to the ressurrection!
Liars and murderers resemble the devil, and are his children, therefore it may well be expected that God should abhor them. These were the characters of David's enemies; and such as these are still the enemies of Christ and his people. We have to hate God's enemies, (not our own [Mt. 5:44]), to demonstrate our love for God (Psalms 139:19-22). When we cry out to God to judge speedily the wicked, we are expressing our hatred for the harmfulness of evil deeds and our desire that they be frustrated (Rev. 6:9-11).
No one has a natural right to murder; furthermore, it is justified and wise to exert force to prevent a murder or to punish a murderer after-the-fact. So murder falls in that category of things where there is no natural right, even in the secular world there is no legal right.
Isaiah 26:10 Even if you are kind to the evil-doer, he will not go after righteousness; even in the land of the upright he will still go on in his wrongdoing, and will not see the glory of the Lord.