ISIS Jihadist converts to Christianity after seeing Jesus in his dreams

In a word, YES!

There are numerous instances of Muslims throughout the Islamic world being converted to Christ through dreams and visions. Fr. Daniel Byantoro, head of the Indonesian Orthodox Mission, was himself strongly moved to follow Christ by a dream. 

The story below about an ISIS jihadi converting to Christ serves as a sign for hope, that the Lord Himself can and does reach out to touch the hearts of Muslims, even among the most bloodthirsty zealots, and leads them to repentance. It proves the Lord's love truly extends to all people. 

But this does not absolve Christians from doing all we can, both by presenting a vibrant witness through our grace-filled lives, as well as by sharing the truth of the Gospel of Jesus Christ with our Muslim neighbors.

Notice how, in the story of this jihadi's conversion, it was not only the dreams, but it was also the witness of the Christian whom he killed, who gave him a Bible moments before he was martyred, which proved the truth of the Gospel to the ISIS jihadi.

Another powerful witness certainly having an effect on Muslims is how families of Christians martyred by Muslims are forgiving their attackers and praying for them to come to know Jesus Christ and be saved from hell. The witness, the prayers, and the dreams and visions are all combining to draw many to the Lord.

Fr. Daniel Byantoro provides some very helpful thoughts on how one may go about sharing the Gospel with Muslims in an excellent interview conducted with him by Road To Emmaus. We should also keep in mind the fervent example of New Priest-Martyr Daniel Sysoev of Moscow, who publicly debated Muslims and was eventually killed by an extremist Muslim group, because he had led over 80 Muslims into the Orthodox Church, including several hard-core Wahhabis.

Let us therefore have hope!


via REPORT: ISIS Jihadist converts to Christianity after seeing Jesus in his dreams
by Mary Chastain, Breitbart News � June 15, 2015

ISIS slaughters Christians and destroys churches while they establish their caliphate in Syria and Iraq. But one militant reportedly converted to Christianity after �a man in white� appeared in his dreams.

Gina Fadely, the director of Youth With A Mission Frontier Missions (YWAM), told The Voice of the Martyrs Radio Network one of their workers met a former ISIS fighter who murdered Christians, but converted after a dream:

�He told this YWAM leader that he had begun having dreams of this man in white who came to him and said, �You are killing my people.� And he started to feel really sick and uneasy about what he was doing,� Fadely continued. �The fighter said just before he killed one Christian, the man said, �I know you will kill me, but I give to you my Bible.� The Christian was killed and this ISIS fighter actually took the Bible and began to read it. In another dream, Jesus asked him to follow him and he was now asking to become a follower of Christ and to be discipled.�

�So who knows. Perhaps this man will be like Saul in the Bible that persecuted Christians and he turned from that persecution of the early church to become the Apostle Paul who led it,� Fadely added. �God can turn it around.�

Fadely is speaking about St. Paul the Apostle, who was known as Saul before he converted. He used to persecute the followers of Jesus and some texts claim he enjoyed it as much as the ISIS fighter enjoyed murdering Christians. On his way to Damascus to persecute more followers, he is blinded by a light and hears a voice. From Acts 9:1-9:

1 Meanwhile Saul was still breathing threats to slaughter the Lord�s disciples. He went to the high priest
2 and asked for letters addressed to the synagogues in Damascus, that would authorise him to arrest and take to Jerusalem any followers of the Way, men or women, that he might find.
3 It happened that while he was travelling to Damascus and approaching the city, suddenly a light from heaven shone all round him.
4 He fell to the ground, and then he heard a voice saying, �Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?�
5 �Who are you, Lord?� he asked, and the answer came, �I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting.
6 Get up and go into the city, and you will be told what you are to do.�
7 The men travelling with Saul stood there speechless, for though they heard the voice they could see no one.
8 Saul got up from the ground, but when he opened his eyes he could see nothing at all, and they had to lead him into Damascus by the hand.
9 For three days he was without his sight and took neither food nor drink.

The jihadists cleanse areas within their caliphate of anything they deem un-Islamic. Tombs and shrines are wiped off the map while non-Muslims are forced from their homes. For the first time in 2,000 years, not a single Christian lives in Mosul, Iraq�s second-largest city and one of the earliest homes of Christianity. They destroy libraries and implement strict Islamic curriculum in schools. People must follow Sharia law. The terrorists also post pictures and videos of beheadings and public executions. They recently beheaded 21 Coptic Christians in Libya.

Kevin Sutter, another YWAM leader, told the show that an Arab leader said many Muslims are losing faith in Islam.

�Many people are now following Jesus but they keep it quiet,� he explained. �They haven�t gone public about it. They even have church in their own home, they�re watching, they�ll serve communion to one another as they�re watching TV.�

In March, apologist Nabeel Qureshi told The Christian Post dreams are significant to Muslims:

�In Muslim cultures, generally speaking, people don�t see themselves as being able to commune with God. Communion is a very Christian concept and the idea that Christ has torn down the veil � in a lot of cultures the veil is still up. In Islam, for example, people don�t expect to have God talk back to them personally, as the Holy Spirit isn�t living in them. They ask God for guidance through dreams; that�s like the one way that Muslims expect to hear from God,� Qureshi explained. 

�For someone to reach out and ask, �God, can you tell me about you?� Or, �If you�re Jesus, can you show me a dream?� That�s not strange at all� That�s kind of what Muslims do,� he added.

Freedom, Provocation and Targets

The Muslim predisposition towards jihad means �no cartoons required.�

by Ralph H. Sidway

The ultimate provocation:

A Coptic Orthodox monk makes the Sign of the Cross.

The recent Muslim jihad attack at a Muhammad Art Exhibit and Contest in Garland Texas has generated strong reactions across the political spectrum. Four of us in my church recently had a fairly rigorous discussion of some of the issues involved, with two believing the cartoon contest needlessly provoked Muslim anger, and myself and one other siding with a strong commitment to freedom of speech/expression. You can�t escape this debate. It is literally everywhere, and will likely grow in significance in the days ahead.

Although there are many expected responses along partisan lines, there have been some surprises on both the conservative and liberal ends of the teeter-totter. For example, some Fox News personalities have openly blamed Pamela Geller, the �Draw Muhammad� event coordinator, for provoking the jihad attack. (Ms. Geller has written an articulate defense, which has been published as an op-ed by TIME, Inc.)

On the flip side, MSNBC�s �All In� host Chris Hayes, in a somewhat torturous apologetic, advocated for being provocative when it flushes out extremist would-be murderers:

My feeling, though, in the wake of this, is that there�s some part of me that feels that if the thing you�re worried about is doing an event that will provoke two people rolling up in body armor and automatic weapons trying to murder people, then it actually weirdly is important that you do that� I don�t care if it was a provocation, if what it�s provoking is attempted murder, because I want to live in a society that that is essentially not okay and not tolerated.

Ryan Mauro of The Clarion Project ably cuts through the fog of words surrounding the Garland Texas jihad attack:

The media's focus on the Mohammed drawings contest misses the mark. Whether or not one agrees with holding the event is irrelevant as to why this attack happened. It happened because of the desire to find a target; not because of the target itself.

Mauro is absolutely correct: when you�re a Muslim striving to follow as perfectly as possible the Koran and the example of Muhammad, the dar-al-Harb is filled with targets. With ISIS commanding Muslims in America to wage jihad against non-Muslims, there will be some takers who will do just that.

For Americans and Western Europeans, cartoons of Muhammad seem to have become the flashpoint of the �clash of civilizations.� But for Christians living in the Islamic world, their very being is all the provocation Muslims need. Witness:

• �Arab Spring� Muslim gangs go through buses in Cairo, Egypt checking the wrists of the passengers. Those with the cross tattooed on their wrists � a Coptic tradition � are summarily killed;

• 21 Coptic Christians in Libya are beheaded because they refuse to deny Jesus Christ and convert to Islam, or to pay the jizya;

• 30 Ethiopian Christians are shot or beheaded for refusing to deny Jesus Christ;

• The Grand Mufti of Saudi Arabia declares that all Christians must be expelled from the Arabian peninsula and all churches destroyed;

• 100 years after the Armenian Genocide (which taken in the larger context of Ottoman persecution saw 4 million Christians killed by their Muslim overlords and neighbors between 1894 and 1922) we are witnessing yet another Muslim genocide against Christians.

Christians themselves in the Islamic world are � by their very being, by their very presence � all the provocation Muslims need to slaughter them. No cartoons required.

Christians in the Islamic world cannot openly wear or make the Sign of the Cross without it provoking Muslims.  They don�t even have to do that much, they just have to be breathing. And now with Muslim desecration of Christian grave sites, they don�t even have to be doing that. 

When one has studied the phenomenon of Muslim attacks against non-Muslims for a while, one gets the sense that the term �provocation� is completely inaccurate and inappropriate. There is a better word which describes the Muslim pathology: �predisposition.�

The extent to which a Muslim grows in devout observance of Islam is the extent to which he/she is likely to follow more and more literally the commands in the Koran and the example of Muhammad. Devout observance leads to the predisposition to take action against non-Muslim targets which the Muslim believes offends his religion. 

In Muslim majority nations, this predisposition becomes so intense that the mere presence of Christians or other non-Muslims cannot be tolerated at all. This very principle is clearly expressed in the Koran:

And fight them until there is no more fitnah (disbelief and polytheism: i.e. worshipping others besides Allah) and the religion (worship) will all be for Allah Alone. � Sura 8.39

Spirituality is often mixed with paradox. Most Westerners cannot understand that, and therefore cannot accept that the more devout a Muslim becomes, the more likely he is to become a jihadi. 

It would seem that God is not without a sense of irony, for in the Islamic world, as we have seen this tsunami of Muslim genocidal persecution of Christians, we have also seen immensely powerful examples of heightened Christian faith. 

Rather than leading Christians to fear, hatred and retaliation (though one can find some examples of those humanly understandable reactions also), the Muslim slaughter of Christians has provoked (there�s that word again) responses of absolutely divine, Christ-like behavior, with Coptic, Iraqi, Nigerian and Niger Christians forgiving and praying for the Muslims who are killing their families. These examples are the very definition of true freedom: freedom from hatred, fear, and even death itself. 

Whereas the Muslim jihadis are slaves. Slaves of rage, bloodlust, and the example of their warlord prophet. Slaves of Allah, who commands them to kill.

For those who can slow down their own reactive thought processes and ponder this dichotomy between the evil, murderous behavior of devout Muslims, and the prayerful, sacrificial and forgiving response of the Christians they are persecuting, it should be clear that one of these two paths is patently false, and the other is amazingly, shiningly true.

With this in mind, it then becomes sadly clear that the future will only bring more proofs of the falsehood of Islam, in the form of more murderous Muslim jihad attacks against all manner of �provocations.�  (May the future also bring more proofs of true Christian witness as well.)

For the devout jihadi, the entire world is filled with targets. As with the Muslim persecution of Christians, no cartoons are needed.

Metropolitan Tikhon: The Kingdom of Heaven is attained by living the difficult and sacrificial way of the Cross

Here is a powerful and challenging 'word' on the centennial of the Armenian Genocide from His Beatitude, Metropolitan Tikhon of the OCA. His Beatitude's message reminds me of the famous quote from Alexandr Solzhenitsyn:

"It was only when I lay there on rotting prison straw that I sensed within myself the first stirrings of good. Gradually it was disclosed to me that the line separating good and evil passes not through states, nor between classes, nor between political parties either, but right through every human heart, and through all human hearts...  Even within hearts overwhelmed by evil, one small bridgehead of good is retained; and even in the best of all hearts, there remains a small corner of evil. 

� If only there were evil people somewhere insidiously committing evil deeds, and it were necessary only to separate them from the rest of us and destroy them. But the line dividing good and evil cuts through the heart of every human being. And who is willing to destroy a piece of his own heart?�

For a related article, please see 'Let Us Forgive All, By The Resurrection'

Visit our special Armenian Genocide Resource Page...

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Metropolitan Tikhon addresses Global Forum on Armenian Genocide

OCA, Syosset NY � April 23, 2015

On Wednesday, April 22, 2015, His Beatitude, Metropolitan Tikhon, addressed the participants in the Global Forum on the Armenian Genocide in Yerevan, the Armenian capital. The text of his address appears below.

ADDRESS OF HIS BEATITUDE, METROPOLITAN TIKHON
GLOBAL FORUM ON ARMENIAN GENOCIDE
Yerevan, Armenia
April 22, 2015

Metropolitan Tikhon at far right.

Your Holinesses, Your Eminences, Your Graces, Reverend Fathers and Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

On behalf of the Holy Synod of Bishops, the clergy and the faithful of the Orthodox Church in America, I wish to thank His Holiness, Patriarch Karekin II, for his kind invitation to participate in today�s Global Forum and tomorrow�s Canonization of the Victims of the Armenian Genocide. It is a blessing to be with so many brothers and sisters from diverse Churches and organizations for this important commemoration, which touches the hearts of all who would consider themselves human beings.

I would like to preface my brief words in order to mention that I represent a Church whose geographical territory includes the United States and Canada, one of whose governments has formally acknowledged the Armenian Genocide and the other who has not, to date, done so. This is a further illustration of the geopolitical tensions surrounding this issue that were spoken of in this morning�s Global Forum session. Nevertheless, I bring to you the support and prayers of the many North American faithful who have roots in Armenia and all other regions of the world where persecution and other acts of violence against humanity have been, and continue to be perpetrated.

The Holy Apostle Paul reminds us of one of the foundations of the Christian life when he writes to Timothy: Everyone who desires to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted (II Timothy 3:12). Our Lord offered the only response a Christian can make in the face of persecution: You have heard that it was said, �You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.� But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you (Matthew 5:43-44).

We are not here today to lament the suffering and pain inflicted by others. Instead, we proclaim the power of a godly life in Christ that enables us to endure great tribulation for His sake. Hence, today we honor the lives of those Armenians martyrs who so glorified God through their sufferings.

And we are not here today merely to speak about justice but to bear witness to the truth that there can be no peace without justice. We are adamant that the suffering of the victims and descendants of the Armenian Genocide should be recognized. At the same time, we share the profound conviction that the Kingdom of heaven is not attained through war, mass murder, genocide or holocaust, but by living the difficult and sacrificial way of the Cross�by delighting in the resurrection and the love that renders all adversaries powerless.

How can we contribute to this?

Some inspiration might be drawn from Saint Gregor Narekatsi, the tenth century Armenian saint who lived at the Monastery on Lake Van in what is today Southeastern Turkey�where 100 years ago 55,000 Armenians were massacred. In an article written in 1916 by a member of the American Committee for Armenian and Syrian Relief, we read how fish drawn from that lake could not be eaten because of the multitude of floating corpses. This, certainly, is inhuman. But Saint Gregory reminds us that we are all inhuman. He writes:

We are all inhuman.
How can I call myself human,
When I have earned a place among the inhuman?
How can I be named a thinking being,
When I indulge in brutish ways?
How can I be called a seeing being,
When I have snuffed out my inner light?
How can I be known as cognizant
When I have slammed the door on wisdom?
How can I aspire to incorruptible grace,
When with my own hand I have slain my soul?

As Christians, we can begin reconciliation by recognizing�even in our enemies�our common humanity and inhumanity. By recognizing our own inhumanity, as Saint Gregory does, we may provoke the humanity of our enemies by the grace of God. Truly, this is a hard saying and a heavy cross. No one can pick up someone else�s cross. Yet, 100 years after the genocide, it is this cross of reconciliation that the descendants of the new martyrs can indeed pick up and carry, as yet another sign of resurrection and, ultimately, divine love.

Your Holiness, may the risen Saviour give you and us the courage to accomplish this.

'Let Us Forgive All, By The Resurrection'

If we�re going to claim to be Christians and worship Jesus Christ and proclaim His Resurrection, we can�t just sing the beautiful hymns of Pascha and not live by them.

by Ralph H. Sidway

'Be not faithless, but believing!'

My priest gave an astounding sermon on Thomas Sunday. In the midst of proclaiming the historical truth of the Resurrection of Jesus from the tomb, he challenged us all in a way we might never have been challenged before, especially in our age of near universal apostasy and �soft� persecution in the West, and of harsh and bloody persecution in the Middle East and throughout the entire Islamic world around the globe.

I wish I had a video for you, but you�ll have to trust my feeble paraphrase.

He said, in effect, �We can�t just sing these beautiful hymns week after week, and ignore what they actually say. They challenge us to forgive. This is the very heart of the Gospel.� 

He was referring especially to the Paschal Stichera ("Let God Arise..."), which in an ecstatic outpouring proclaims the following:

�Let us call �Brothers� even those who hate us! And forgive all, by the Resurrection��

This is the core of Christian life, to forgive and love our enemies, for Christ Himself taught us:

�You have heard that it was said, �You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.�  But I say to you, love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you, that you may be sons of your Father in heaven; for He makes His sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust...  Therefore you shall be perfect, just as your Father in heaven is perfect." (MT 5:43-48)

We have seen real examples of this divine, Resurrection Forgiveness in the statements from some of the families of the 21 Coptic Christian Martyrs of Libya:

The mother of Kyrillos (Cyrus), one of the 21 Coptic Christians recently butchered by the Islamic State in Libya, said in a recent interview that she forgives the Muslim murderers of her son � since he is now �with his Lord� � and prays that they see the light and turn from evil. 

When asked if she had any message for her son�s executioners, she said, �I thank you [for his martyrdom], may the Lord touch your hearts and light a way for you so you don�t end up in a bad place � light a way for you so you don�t end up in hell.�

In another recent example, Christians in Niger are forgiving and praying for the Muslims who destroyed their churches and killed their families:

"My prayer is that they would come to know Jesus and that the Lord would touch them even in a dream," Ruth, Pastor Issa's wife, told CBN. "I want God to do to them what He did to Paul the Apostle when he persecuted Christians. God touched him on his way to Damascus. I want those men to experience the same touch from God!"

Here in the USA, the YouTube video message from a group (Coptic Orthodox, I am guessing) calling itself �Mighty� on the West Coast, titled �A Letter from the People of the Cross to ISIS�, vividly and creatively picks up on this message of the Lord, and like the families of the Coptic and Niger martyrs, goes beyond forgiveness, inviting the members of the Islamic State to join us at the foot of the Cross where we all may unite in repentance as brothers. 

The message from 'Mighty' is proclaiming the Gospel even to ISIS, offering to them eternal life instead of the damnation which they are heading towards. Even the blood on ISIS' hands can be washed away by Christ�s loving sacrifice on the Cross.

As they say in the video, �Even now� Even you.� 

This is the message of Jesus Christ, the message of the Cross, and the message of all true Christians.

'Father, forgive them...'

When Jesus hung on the Cross, He said, �Father forgive them, for they know not what they do.�

He wasn�t just forgiving the Roman centurion and soldiers who crucified him. He wasn�t just forgiving the Sanhedrin and Temple Guards who arrested him and sentenced him to death. He was forgiving each of us who crucify Him anew each day with our sins and our carelessness, our laziness, our neglect.

He was even forgiving ISIS.

As we enter into a new era of mass martyrdom, where all of us Christians may soon be forced by sword and circumstance to confess Jesus Christ or die for His Name, we must get aligned with the Lord, we must get ready for the trials approaching.

Which means we must have His love and forgiveness in our hearts, so we may forgive our enemies, and like the 21 Coptic Christian Martyrs of Libya, have His Name on our lips as we meekly surrender our lives into His outstretched arms.

Jesus pronounced forgiveness from the Cross, and then shattered the power of sin, death and the devil by rising from the tomb on the third day. Abiding in Him gives us the divine power to �forgive all, by the Resurrection.� 

VIDEO: Who Would Dare to Love ISIS? (A Letter from the People of the Cross)

Watch and absorb this phenomenal response to ISIS and their 'Message Signed in Blood to the Nation of the Cross'. As the Savior might say, "Let it sink deep down into your very being." 

See all posts related to the 21 Coptic Martyrs of Libya.

Courtesy of OCP Media, April 20, 2015

April 2015

MIGHTY
Email: community@mighty.la
Website: mighty.la (coming soon)
Facebook/Twitter/Instagram: @teammightyla

Vision: We want to tell the world of the great and mighty things of the Lord through online media. #teammightyla

As the world responds to the Islamic State with hatred and vengeance, there is one group that is responding differently. They are not allies with ISIS but enemies. And they have been slain by the thousands in the hands of ISIS. ISIS calls them The Nation of the Cross � The ones they have killed are bringing a message of forgiveness and hope. Declaring a love that they do not know � A love that reconciles even the worst of us and can make enemies into brothers.

We worked with several Arab Christians and Middle East Refugees to get their feedback. Also had it translated by an Arab Christian from Egypt.

Shot on a GoPro Hero 4 Black in 4k with a DJI Phantom 2. And a Panasonic GH4 with Zeiss 35mm lenses. Shot around the Big Sur region in CA.

Music is �Rise� from The Music Bed. Transcript below video...

Transcript:

A Letter from the People of the Cross to ISIS

The world is talking about you

Your apocalyptic dreams and spectacular sins

Are now awakening the middle east

In your holy war, come to holy ground

Come, children of Abraham come

The people of the cross gathers at your gates with a message

Love is coming after you.

Like a rush of wind grazing over the pacific

From hills of the mount of olives to the desert winds of Jordan

From the cedars of lebanon to the silk roads of the East

An army comes. With no tanks or soldiers

But an army of martyrs faithful unto death

Carrying a message of life

The people of the cross

Comes to die at your gates.

If you wont hear our message with words

Then we will show you with our lives

Laid down.

For every throat you slit and every woman you rape

For every man you burn and every child you turn to dust

There is blood on your hands brother

But Come Brothers Come

Come with your bloodstained hands,

Come with your eyes full of murder for the people of the Cross,

Come lay your guns and your knives at the foot of the cross

A love that is overdue and overwhelming

Breathes through your cities

Though your sins are like scarlet

They can be washed white as snow

Though you call yourselves servants

He will make you into Sons

Where can you run from His love?

Even the darkness cannot hide you

Come Brothers Come

There is the sound of a rushing rain

To remove your sins and bind your wounds

You die for your god but our God died for us

The King of Kings comes to be the sacrificial lamb

Slain on the altar where we should have been

Jesus Christ, Isa Al Masih

Walks through the Middle East

There is forgiveness tonight oh brother

There is healing for your sins oh brother

We are no different.

Apart from Christ, we are no better than the worst jihadist

Christ has been crucified once. and for All.

To make sinners like you and me into brothers

Even you.

Even now.

Source:

Christians in Niger Forgive Muslims Who Burned Churches and Killed Believers: 'We Want Them to Know Jesus Christ'

ICC Note: Christians in Niger are praying that Muslim attackers who have persecuted them would turn from Sauls to Pauls, repenting of their attacks on followers of Christ and putting their faith in Jesus. After the French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo printed images of the Muslim prophet Muhammad in mid-January, Muslims in Niger rioted, burning Christian churches and looting Christian homes. Now months later, those who were attacked are seeking to extend forgiveness and the love of Christ to those who have offended them. Related: Coptic Christian Mother Forgives, Prays for ISIS Slaughterers of Son International Christian Concern - April 17, 2015 By Leah Marieanne Klett 4/17/2015 Niger (The Gospel Herald) - Christians living in Niger, West Africa have offered Christ-like forgiveness to the radical Muslims who destroyed their homes and churches, are are continuing to share the Gospel in the region. On January 17,  hundreds of Muslims, angered by the cartoons of the prophet Muhammad published by the French magazine Charlie Hebdo, destroyed 69 churches and 11 Christian homes. Ten Christians lost their lives and hundreds more were injured in the wake of the deadly rampage. "They took pews, Bibles, chairs and sound equipment then set them on fire," said Pastor Musa Issa, whose church, Bethel Horizon, was among those destroyed. "They did this while chanting, 'Allahu Akbar!' I felt so sad. I started to cry." He added, "I feel horrible...I ask myself 'Why'? Why did they do this to us? What did we do to deserve this?'" Now, three months later, Christians living in the region are working to rebuild their community, determined to still preach the Gospel despite the dangers. "My prayer is that they would come to know Jesus and that the Lord would touch them even in a dream," Ruth, Pastor Issa's wife, told CBN. "I want God to do to them what He did to Paul the Apostle when he persecuted Christians. God touched him on his way to Damascus. I want those men to experience the same touch from God!" ... [Full Story]

National Review: 'Heaven In The Face Of Hell'

The families of 21 Coptic Christians martyred in Libya showed a gratitude not of this world. 

by Kathryn Jean Lopez
National Review, February 23, 2015

Twenty-one Egyptian Coptic Christians were slaughtered on a beach in Libya a week ago. And even in his mourning, the brother of two of them gave thanks. 

Beshir Kamel, brother of both Bishoy Astafanus Kamel, who was 25, and Somaily Astafanus Kamel, who was 23, thanked their murderers for not editing out the name of their Savior when disseminating the video of their beheadings. 

Appearing on an Arabic Christian television station, Kamel said that the families of the men, laborers who were working in Libya in order to provide for their families � 13 of them from the same small, impoverished village � were congratulating one another. �We are proud to have this number of people from our village who have become martyrs,� he explained.

Who would have an ounce of gratitude at such a moment? The answer: one who has hope � hope of something real and eternal. 

It sounds crazy to a modern secular society, one that tends to view religious faith as sentiment, comfort, and milestone ritual. 

Kamel said: �Since the Roman era, Christians have been martyred and have learned to handle everything that comes our way. This only makes us stronger in our faith because the Bible told us to love our enemies and bless those who curse us.� And he relayed what his mother had said, when asked what she would do if she ever met the man who had beheaded her son. �My mother, an uneducated woman in her sixties, said she would ask [him] to enter her house and ask God to open his eyes because he was the reason her son entered the kingdom of heaven.� 

That�s no mere sentiment, comfort, or ritual. While it�s unlikely that the Kamels� mother will face that day, Christians throughout the world have the ability to take action. 

In his response to the news from Libya, His Grace Bishop Angaelos, general bishop of the Coptic Orthodox Church in the United Kingdom, explained: �While it may seem illogical or incomprehensible, we also pray for those who have carried out these horrific crimes, that the value of God�s creation and human life may become more evident to them, and in this realization, that the wider effects of pain brought by this and other acts of brutality may be realized and avoided. We pray for an end to the dehumanization of captives who become mere commodities to be bartered, traded, and negotiated with.� 

The 21 Coptic Christians were killed because they were Christians, and some people � some of those most intimately affected by this evil � were responding as Christians. 

After committing himself to pray for those who suffer, Bishop Angaelos reminded Christians of the lesson of the witness of the 21 � a number that became a standard avatar on Twitter in the wake of the murders.  

There are geopolitical considerations and action to be taken in that sphere; there are charitable works to ontribute to; but there is also a lesson in what it is to be truly Christian that often seems the stuff of legend to us today, even as fellow countrymen of ours have dedicated their lives in radical sacrifice to love of God and service flowing from that love. As Bishop Angaelos put it: �In the midst of this sorrow, however, we must continue to dig deeper for the joy that comes from an understanding that this life is but a �vapor that appears for a little time and then vanishes away� (James 4:14), and that true glory and joy are found in an eternal life prepared for all those who live in and for love and peace.� He continued: �It is only through this understanding that we can continue to live according to the words of I Peter 3:15 as demonstrated in the life and witness of the Coptic Church and her children over centuries, �. . . always be ready to give a defense to everyone who asks you a reason for the hope that is in you. . . .�� 

Besides fundamental matters of human rights and freedom, this is why cultures benefit from having Christians in their midst; this is why it is so urgent that they not be eradicated from the birthplace of Christianity: Christians who take their faith seriously are leaven. 

Pope Francis emphasized this as he celebrated morning Mass for the Coptic martyrs: �They were killed simply for the fact they were Christians.� He echoed a theme of his own journey to the Holy Land last year: �The blood of our Christian brothers and sisters is a testimony which cries out to be heard.� He went on to say, �It makes no difference whether they be Catholics, Orthodox, Copts, or Protestants. They are Christians!� And he added, �The martyrs belong to all Christians.� 

The Christianity of the men who were martyred for their faith, is �the most important aspect of the story,� said Samuel Tadros, the author of a book on Christians in Egypt, Motherland Lost, and a senior fellow at the Hudson Institute�s Center for Religious Freedom. �ISIS gunmen chose these men from among other Egyptians living there because they were Copts,� he said. �This was no random choice. ISIS holds deep hostility to say the least towards Middle Eastern Christians. Its goal is quite simply the eradication of their existence.� 

The evil done to Milad Makeen Zaky, Abanub Ayad Atiya, Maged Solaiman Shehata, Yusuf Shukry Yunan, Kirollos Shokry Fawzy, Bishoy Astafanus Kamel, Somaily Astafanus Kamel, Malak Ibrahim Sinweet, Tawadros Yusuf Tawadros, Girgis Milad Sinweet, Mina Fayez Aziz, Hany Abdelmesih Salib, Bishoy Adel Khalaf, Samuel Alham Wilson, Ezat Bishri Naseef, Loqa Nagaty, Gaber Munir Adly, Esam Badir Samir, Malak Farag Abram, Sameh Salah Faruq, and one other man from the village of Awr is the most important news story of the pre-Oscars week, on a day that included an NBA All-Star game and Saturday Night Live�s 40th-anniversary show. Would we would give it nearly as much attention. God have mercy on us if we don�t. 

� Kathryn Jean Lopez is senior fellow at the National Review Institute, editor-at-large of National Review Online, and founding director of Catholic Voices USA. This column is based on one available exclusively through Andrews McMeel Universal�s Newspaper Enterprise Association.

Coptic Christian Mother Forgives, Prays for ISIS Slaughterers of Son

The Mother of a Martyred Saint shows the Love of Christ to those in the Devil's Grip.

Today (Sunday, February 22) is the Sunday of Forgiveness in the Orthodox Church. Great Lent begins with the Vespers of Forgiveness on the evening of this Sunday. May Christ our True God grant this faithful mother profound consolation for her Christ-like love for her enemies.


via Coptic Christian Mother �Thanks� ISIS Slaughterers of Son
by Raymond Ibrahim, February 21, 2015
h/t OCP Media

The mother of Kyrillos (Cyrus), one of the 21 Coptic Christians recently butchered by the Islamic State in Libya, said in a recent interview that she forgives the Muslim murderers of her son � since he is now �with his Lord� � and prays that they see the light and turn from evil.

Said the mother of the 22-year-old martyr � one of the many Copts who testified the name of Christ seconds before their heads were cruelly hacked off: �My son is with his Lord. He wasn�t kidnapped.  They always told me �your son has been kidnapped,� but I said, �No, he is with the Lord.��

When asked if she had any message for her son�s executioners, she said, �I thank you [for his martyrdom], may the Lord touch your hearts and light a way for you so you don�t end up in a bad place � light a way for you so you don�t end up in hell.�

While Western history acknowledges that Christians were persecuted for nearly 300 years during the Roman era, with Constantine�s conversion followed by the Edict of Milan in 313, it is often assumed that Christian persecution came to a close.  It did � only to start again with renewed ferocity during the Islamic conquests that began in the 630's till this very day (Coptic Christian Egypt was already under Muslim rule around 640 and has, since then, seen a steady dwindling of Christianity).

This is the part of history that is forgotten � or ignored � but not for Mideast Christians who still live in the shadow of the sword; who still live the life of the ancient, persecuted church, and embrace the fact that the price for their faith is often martyrdom, as it was for this woman�s son and the other 20. (Read about this 19th century Copt who endured numerous tortures and was finally immolated to death for refusing to convert to Islam.)

Finally, it is well to reflect that, whereas Islamic jihadis are fond of telling the West that they �love death as much as you love life,� many persecuted Christians under Islam do not fear death as such but, in the fashion of the ancient church, see it  as a doorway out of oppression and to the crown of martyrdom.

Metropolitan Tikhon speaks at NY memorial for 21 Coptic martyrs

Excerpts from His Beatitude's memorable address at the Memorial held on Thursday, February 19, 2015

OCA.org - February 20, 2015

There are those who would overcome the world with weapons of violence, but this is not our way. 

There are those who cling to death and to sin in order to bring about more death and more evil, but this is not our way. 

There are those who blame religion for tragedies such as the one we mourn today, but they are blind to the reality that true believers become such only when their hearts are purified of sin and their lives filled with the light of the Resurrection. 

Let us, who stand fast in our faith in Christ and His eternal victory, remember that He alone has trampled on death by His own voluntary death. 

Let us, who are filled with the hope of the resurrection, give glory to God for the martyric witness of the 21 souls who now witness to this victory. 

And let us, who each struggle in our own way to remain faithful to God, give example in our own lives of those things which we hold dear�Peace, rather than violence; love, rather than hate; and forgiveness, rather than revenge.

You may read the full text here.

AXIOS! Metropolitan Tikhon!

Three duties we owe each other at times of difficulty

 

Terrorists carry out their heinous acts to gain publicity for their cause but what is far more sinister is their motive to create division and conflict in the country and it is this that we need to be aware of and not let them succeed. The entire community has to show solidarity and unity. This means that we stand together, united against such evil forces that try to divide our different communities and create rift amongst us. I�m very pleased to say that from the President of France to Presidents of mosques in France, Muslims and non-Muslims have remained united against the terrorists.

The Prophet forgives his tormentors; The trip to Taif

The intense trials and tribulations of the Prophet�s (peace be upon him) trip to the city of Taif illustrate in abundance the virtues of forgiveness and forbearance, which were the hallmark of his gentle, stoical personality.  This trip came soon after the death of his beloved wife and constant companion of 25 years Khadija (may Allah be pleased with her) as well as that of his patron uncle Abu Talib who had been an impenetrable bulwark that stood between his nephew and the brutal Quraish. He decided to try the nearby city of Taif hoping that his call to Islam would find more willing recipients there than he was having at that time in Makka. However, the tribe of Thaqif, who ruled the city, not only declined to listen to him but mocked and ridiculed him mercilessly and expelled him from the city.

In the face of such a fierce opposition, the beloved Prophet (peace be upon him) had no choice but to retreat hastily. They ran after him, pelting him with stones which caused him severe injuries. In excruciating mental, physical and emotional pain, bleeding and exhausted, he took refuge in a vineyard. Feeling dejected, forlorn, helpless and humiliated he raised his hands and prayed a prayer which has become an iconic symbol of utter submission to the will of God in the face of complete and total despair. Read the intensity, the beauty and the moving humility of this magnificent supplication;

�O God! Please consider my weakness, my shortage of means, and the little respect  people have of me. Oh, most Merciful God! You are the Lord of the oppressed and you are my Lord. To whom would you leave my fate? To a stranger who insults me? Or to an enemy who dominates me? Would I that you have no wrath against me! Your pleasure alone is my objective.�

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An Orthodox Christian Response to Beheading by Muslims

"Will we bear witness to the truth in both our way of life and our way of death?"

by Fr. John Parker, Orthodox Christian Network � September 1, 2014

I am an unworthy man, unworthy to be called an Orthodox Christian, not to speak of the priesthood, and I write, admittedly, from the comfort of my Mount Pleasant, SC, home.  There is no Mount nearby, but it is, indeed, a pleasant seaside community on the East Coast of the United States.

As such, I ask myself: how to deal with ruthless, pitiless, pitiful souls who are so darkened that their life is spent taking the life of others�and worse, thinking that they are doing this at the direction of and with the blessing of God himself, with eternal reward?

Perhaps I will be criticized for my suggestion, sitting in my pleasant, mountless town, but we read recently that we must receive the Gospel as a child; and even a child will ask how could murder be returned by murder.  Is violence�individual or large-scale�a possible Orthodox response?

What were the apostolic and post-apostolic, and later saint�s reactions to such vicious, vile, demonic actions?

How did the disciples respond to the beheading of John the Baptist, which we commemorated on August 29?

On the precipice of martyrdom, St Stephen, the Proto-martyr begged God to forgive his killers. Was there an apostolic uprising following that?

Hieromartyr Eutychius, disciple of St John the Theologian, was beheaded after starvation in prison, an attempt to burn him alive, and cruel beatings with iron rods�which were made to cease by his prayers.  There is no account of retribution.

St Ignatius of Antioch instructed his loyal sons-and-daughters in Christ not to impede his march to martyrdom.  �Do not hold me back from life!� was his essential command.

St Lawrence, the Hieromartyr, whose memory we kept in early August, commanded his captors, who had lit him on fire while encaged, to turn him over, since he was �done on that side�.  There is not a record of retaliation.

The Hieromartyr Cyprian of Carthage, whom we remembered in the Church on August 31 was martyred by the sword as well�he, by pagans.  Among his greatest contributions to the Christian faith was the acceptance of repentance of those who had apostatized, abandoned their one true love, Jesus Christ.  He himself, though defending the true repentance of those who did commit apostasy under threat of death, did not betray Christ.

In his Life, we read,

At the trial, St Cyprian calmly and firmly refused to offer sacrifice to idols and was sentenced to beheading with a sword. Hearing the sentence, St Cyprian said, �Thanks be to God!� All the people cried out with one voice, �Let us also be beheaded with him!� 

Coming to the place of execution, the saint again gave his blessing to all and arranged to give twenty-five gold coins to the executioner. He then tied a handkerchief over his eyes, and gave his hands to be bound to the presbyter and archdeacon standing near him and lowered his head. Christians put their cloths and napkins in front of him so as to collect the martyr�s blood. St Cyprian was executed in the year 258. The body of the saint was taken by night and given burial in a private crypt of the procurator Macrobius Candidianus.

There is no record of retribution.

Commemorated on August 16, is St Constantine Brancoveanu, the 18th century ruler of Wallachia�the Romanian lands.  St Constantine was held captive on the feast of the Annunciation of the Theotokos, March 25, 1714, by Sultan Ahmet III, in Istanbul.  Having been issued a �convert or die� ultimatum, St Constantine Brancoveanu was forced to watch his sons be decapitated (including the youngest, 11 years old, named Matei), prior to his own decapitation by the sword.   Their heads were paraded on pikes, and the bodies (though later recovered by Christians) were thrown into the Bosphorus.  This took place on August 15, 1714, the Dormition of the Theotokos. Among the saint�s last words were these:

�Your majesty, you have taken my fortune, but I don�t abandon my Christian law.  I was born and lived in it and I want to die in it (i.e., as a Christian). I filled the earth of my country with Christian churches and, now, attaining an old age, should I bow to your Turkish mosques? No, your Highness! I defended my land, I kept my faith, I want to close my eyes in my faith and my sons together with me.� After that, he encouraged his sons, My children, have courage! I lost everything I had on this earthly world. We have left only our souls, we shall not lose them too, but we shall get them clean before our Savior Jesus Christ. Let�s wash our sins with our blood!�

The saints prayed for their torturers, and relentlessly clung to Christ.  To my knowledge, there are no recorded acts of violence returned for violence. It is the case, however, that with Ss Adrian and Natalia (August 26), one of their captors converted by their stalwart faith.  Was this also not the case with the 40 Holy Martyrs of Sebaste?

�Vengeance is mine,� saith the Lord.

We stand proudly with the martyrs, whose blood is the foundation of the Church.  And we beg God to grant us equal strength when we have to face what they did.

In the meantime, could it be that Western Europe and North America are facing �Islamization� not simply because of the sword, but also because:

They have many children, while we abort ours, or simply have few?

While they are spreading their diabolical teachings, we appear unconvicted by the True Faith?

Rather than bolstering a unified voice and front, Orthodox Christians are re-trenching into ethnic enclaves?

Rather than giving generously to further the work of the church, and to forgive as remarkably as we have been forgiven, Orthodox Christians remain tight fisted and petty?

Every single field is white for the harvest.  Will we bear witness to the truth in both our way of life and our way of death?

St Nikolai Velimirovitch: 'Lord, Bless My Enemies'

Bless my enemies, O Lord. Even I bless them and do not curse them.

Enemies have driven me into your embrace more than friends have.

Friends have bound me to earth, enemies have loosed me from earth and have demolished all my aspirations in the world.

Enemies have made me a stranger in worldly realms and an extraneous inhabitant of the world. Just as a hunted animal finds safer shelter than an unhunted animal does, so have I, persecuted by enemies, found the safest sanctuary, having ensconced myself beneath your tabernacle, where neither friends nor enemies can slay my soul.

Bless my enemies, O Lord. Even I bless them and do not curse them.

They, rather than I, have confessed my sins before the world.

They have punished me, whenever I have hesitated to punish myself.

They have tormented me, whenever I have tried to flee torments.

They have scolded me, whenever I have flattered myself.

They have spat upon me, whenever I have filled myself with arrogance.

Bless my enemies, O Lord, Even I bless them and do not curse them.

Whenever I have made myself wise, they have called me foolish.

Whenever I have made myself mighty, they have mocked me as though I were a dwarf.

Whenever I have wanted to lead people, they have shoved me into the background.

Whenever I have rushed to enrich myself, they have prevented me with an iron hand.

Whenever I thought that I would sleep peacefully, they have wakened me from sleep.

Whenever I have tried to build a home for a long and tranquil life, they have demolished it and driven me out.

Truly, enemies have cut me loose from the world and have stretched out my hands to the hem of your garment.

Bless my enemies, O Lord. Even I bless them and do not curse them.

Bless them and multiply them; multiply them and make them even more bitterly against me:

so that my fleeing to You may have no return;

so that all hope in men may be scattered like cobwebs;

so that absolute serenity may begin to reign in my soul;

so that my heart may become the grave of my two evil twins, arrogance and anger;

so that I might amass all my treasure in heaven;

ah, so that I may for once be freed from self-deception, which has entangled me in the dreadful web of illusory life.

Enemies have taught me to know what hardly anyone knows, that a person has no enemies in the world except himself.

One hates his enemies only when he fails to realize that they are not enemies, but cruel friends.

It is truly difficult for me to say who has done me more good and who has done me more evil in the world: friends or enemies.

Therefore bless, O Lord, both my friends and enemies.

A slave curses enemies, for he does not understand. But a son blesses them, for he understands.

For a son knows that his enemies cannot touch his life.

Therefore he freely steps among them and prays to God for them.

- From Prayers by the Lake by Bishop Nikolai Velimirovich, published by the Serbian Orthodox Metropolitanate of New Gracanica, 1999

Prayer For Our Enemies

Part of a series on prayer, transcribed from television episodes presented on Russian television in the spring of 1999 by Fr. (now Metropolitan) Hilarion (Alfeyev) with the blessing of His Holiness, the late Patriarch Alexy II of Moscow and All Russia.

Pravmir � June 10, 2010

Archimandrite Sophrony, in his book about St. Silouan the Athonite, says: �Those that hate and reject their brother are flawed in their being; they cannot find the way to God, Who loves all.� This holds true. When hatred for man settles in our heart, we are not able to approach God. As long as we hold on to this feeling, the path to God is barred to us. This is why it is necessary to pray for our enemies.

The necessity of praying for our enemies stems from the very essence of the moral teaching of Jesus Christ.

In the pre-Christian era there was a rule: Thou shalt love thy neighbor, and hate thine enemy (Matthew 5:43). The majority of people continue to live in accordance with this rule. It is natural for us to love our neighbors, those who do us good, and to treat with hostility and even hatred those who pose evil. But Christ says that our attitude should be completely different: Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you (Matthew 5:44).

Christ Himself, during His earthly life, repeatedly set an example both of love for enemies and of prayer for them. When the soldiers nailed the Lord to the Cross, He experienced frightful torments and incredible pain, but He prayed: Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do (Luke 23:34). At that moment He thought not about Himself, not about the fact that these soldiers were causing Him pain, but rather about their salvation; for, by committing evil, they were first of all harming themselves.

'When you see that someone is doing something evil, hate not him, but the devil, who is behind him.'

~ St John Chrysostom

We should remember that people who do us evil or treat us with hostility are not bad in themselves. What is bad is the sin with which they are infected. One needs to hate sin, but not its bearer: man. As St. John Chrysostom put it: �when you see that someone is doing something evil, hate not him, but the devil, who is behind him.�

[This is why in my book and in my talks I separate our Christian reaction against Islam from our Christian approach to Muslims. We must hate Islam "with a perfect hatred" (PS 140:22 LXX), for it is purely of the devil, and is a precursor of the Antichrist, as St John of Damascus boldly wrote. But we must love and pray for our Muslim neighbors � even those who hate and persecute us � for they bear within themselves the image of God, however obscured by the wiles of the devil, and the Lord may use our prayers to overthrow satan, who tries to ensnare as many as he can.]

One needs to learn to separate the person from the sin he commits. Priests very often observe during Confession that sin is really separate from the person who repents thereof. We should be able to turn away from the sinful image of man and remember that everyone, including our enemies and those that hate us, are created according to God�s image; and it is this image of God, these rudiments of good that are in everyone, that we should scrutinize.

'Those that hate and reject their brother are flawed in their being; they cannot find the way to God, Who loves all.'

~ St Silouan the Athonite

Why is it necessary to pray for enemies? It is necessary not only for them, but for us as well. We should find in ourselves the strength to be reconciled with people. Archimandrite Sophrony, in his book about St. Silouan the Athonite, says: �Those that hate and reject their brother are flawed in their being; they cannot find the way to God, Who loves all.� This holds true. When hatred for man settles in our heart, we are not able to approach God. As long as we hold on to this feeling, the path to God is barred to us. This is why it is necessary to pray for our enemies.

Every time we approach the Living God, we should be at absolute peace with everyone whom we perceive as our enemies. Let us remember what the Lord said: Therefore if thou bring thy gift to the altar, and there rememberest that thy brother hath ought against thee; Leave there thy gift before the altar, and go thy way; first be reconciled to thy brother, and then come and offer thy gift (Matthew 5:23-24). And also other words of the Lord: Agree with thine adversary quickly, whiles thou art in the way with him (Matthew 5:25). �In the way with him� means �in this earthly life.� For if we do not manage to be reconciled here with those that hate and offend us, with our enemies, then we will be unreconciled in the future life. And to make up there for what is missing here will no longer be possible.

_______

We should not be surprised when Muslims, secularists, or others hate us, persecute us and kill us because we belong to Christ. The Lord told us to expect this: 

"The time is coming that whoever kills you will think that he offers God service" (JN 16:2).

We are living through such a time right now, and it is only going to worsen.

Our duty, in imitation of and obedience to Christ, is to forgive them, and to pray for them, even and especially from the cross of our sufferings and persecutions. 

In my unworthy estimation, the way to pray for Muslims is twofold: "Father, forgive them, for they know not...", and, per the blessed example of St Silouan the Athonite, "Lord Jesus Christ, grant that their eyes may be opened, that they may be delivered from spiritual deception, and come to know Thee through the Holy Spirit."  And if the day comes that a Muslim sword is at our neck, to pray as St Stephen the Protomartyr did, "Lord, charge not this sin against them!"

We are given the opportunity in these darkening times to prove we are Christians, to prove not only that we "believe in" Jesus Christ, not only that we "belong to" Christ, but hopefully, that we have Christ abiding in us, with the Father and through the Holy Spirit. Archimandrite Sophrony related that being a Christian is not merely hard, it is impossible. It is only by the indwelling of the Holy Spirit that we can survive these times and inherit eternal life. And the acquisition of the Holy Spirit comes only through a life of repentance faithfully lived within the confines of the Orthodox Church.

10 Ways Malala Yousafzai Has Changed the World

In October 2012, the world watched as the Taliban shot a 15-year old girl named Malala Yousafzai on her way to school. The United Nations declared Friday, July 12 Malala Day in honor of this inspirational young girl and in order to commemorate her 16th birthday. She celebrated this day by making her first public appearance and delivering a speech to the UN Youth Assembly, which only emphasized the many ways that she has changed the world at such a young age. 

1. She has sparked a dialogue about children's education throughout the world

There are currently 57 million children who have no access to education. Vuk Jeremic, the president of the General Assembly of the United Nations, stated, "Today we stand united with young people from nearly one hundred countries in seeking to ensure that no child is barred from attending school � convinced that factors like geography, gender, disability, language, wealth, and ethnicity, should not be seen as impediments to this achievement," in response to Malala's moving speech. 

2. Three million people have signed the Malala Petition

At such a young age, she has managed to encourage people to stand together behind a common cause. The Malala Petition (which Malala was the first to sign) urges the United Nations to recommit to Millennium Development Goal 2, which involves universal primary education for children around the world. 

3. Her ability to be fearless is inspiring beyond measure

When she was 11 years old, Malala wrote a diary under the pseudonym Gul Makai in which she discussed life (specifically education) under the Taliban. This diary was published by BBC Urdu. If her identity was ever revealed it was obvious that she would suffer grave consequences. Yet she continued to write and educate other individuals about the conditions in Pakistan. Through her writings, her subsequent shooting, and her inspiring speech at the UN, she has showed us all that we should never give up on a cause we believe in. 

4. She has created the Malala Fund

The Malala Fund, which will officially launch this fall, has been established in order to ensure that beyond the words of her speech, tangible results are reached in the fight for access to education. 

5. She has taught us all about forgiveness

One of the most moving moments of her speech was when she said, "I do not even hate the Talib who shot me. Even if there is a gun in my hand and he stands in front of me. I would not shoot him."

6. She has shown us that there is no age limit to stand up against injustice

Malala has been sharing her diaries with BBC since she was 11 and celebrated her 16th birthday speaking at the UN about a cause she believes in. Because of her remarkable story, in February 2013 she was the youngest individual to ever be nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize. 

7. Her story has reminded children throughout the world not to take anything for granted

So many children take the simple action of going to school for granted on a daily basis. Malala's story and her fight to attend school has reminded everyone, children and adults alike, to not takeanything for granted in our lives. 

8. She has challenged us all to wage a war...

...against illiteracy and terrorism by "picking up our books and pens." 

9. She has illustrated the importance of peaceful conflict resolution

Inspired by leaders such as Mahatma Gandhi, Malala has resorted to peaceful solutions in order to tackle the issues of girls' education and the equality of women. 

10. She has caused the UN to recommit to Millennium Development Goal 2

This goal states that "by 2015, children everywhere, boys and girls alike, will be able to complete a full course of primary schooling." After Malala delivered her speech, United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki Moon stated that the UN is committed to providing education to all children through its Global Education First Initiative. 

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