Charisma Magazine

LOS ANGELES, (CDN) — At least 21 people were killed and scores were wounded on Saturday (Jan. 1) when a bomb outside a church in Alexandria, Egypt exploded as congregants were leaving a New Year’s Eve Mass celebration.

The explosion ripped through the crowd shortly after midnight, killing instantly most of those who died, and leaving the entrance-way to the Church of the Two Saints, a Coptic Orthodox congregation, covered with blood and severed body parts.

The blast overturned at least one car, set several others on fire and shattered windows throughout the block on which the church is located.

Egyptian authorities reportedly said 20 of the victims have been identified. At least 90 other people were injured in the blast, 10 seriously. Among the injured were eight Muslims. Many of the injured received treatment at St. Mark’s Hospital.

Burial services for some of the victims started Sunday (Jan. 2) in Alexandria, located in northern Egypt on the Mediterranean Sea.

Witnesses reportedly said a driver parked a car at the entrance of the church and then ran away seconds before it exploded. Government officials have claimed they found remnants of the bomb, filled with nails and other make-shift shrapnel, at the site; they suspect an unidentified suicide bomber, rather than a car bombing.

No one has claimed responsibility for the bombing, but the attack comes two months after an Islamic group known as the Islamic State of Iraq (ISI) issued a threat stating that, “All Christian centers, organizations and institutions, leaders and followers are legitimate targets for the muhajedeen [Muslim fighters] wherever they can reach them.”

Claiming they would open “rivers of blood” upon Christians, the group specifically threatened Egyptian Christians based an unsubstantiated rumor that two Coptic women, both wives of Orthodox clergy, were being held against their will after converting to Islam. The statement came after ISI claimed responsibility for an attack on a Baghdad church during mass in which 58 people were killed.

The Egyptian government continues to suspect foreign elements mounted the Alexandria attack, but an unconfirmed report by The Associated Press, citing anonymous government sources, said an Egyptian Islamic group is being investigated.

Bishop Mouneer Anis, head of the Episcopal Diocese of Egypt, said in a written statement that he thinks the attack was linked to the Iraqi threats. He added that his church has taken greater security measures at its downtown Cairo location.

“We pray with all the people of Egypt, Christians and Muslims, [that they] would unite against this new wave of religious fanaticism and terrorism,” he said.

For weeks before the ISI issued its threat, Alexandria was the site of massive protests against the Orthodox Church and its spiritual leader, Pope Shenouda III. Immediately after Friday prayers, Muslims would stream out into the streets surrounding mosques, chant slogans against the church and demand the “return” of the two women. Before that, as early as June, clerics from at least one central Alexandria mosque could be heard broadcasting anti-Christian vitriol from minaret loudspeakers during prayers, instructing Muslims to separate themselves entirely from their Christian countrymen.

The Alexandria bombing comes almost a year after a shooting in Nag Hammadi, Egypt left six Christians and one Muslim security guard dead. In the Jan. 6, 2010 attack, a group of men drove by St. John’s Church, 455 kilometers (282 miles) south of Cairo, and sprayed with gunfire a crowd leaving a Coptic Christmas Eve service.

Three men were eventually charged with the shootings, but the case has yet to be resolved.

Egypt wasn’t the only place in the Middle East plagued with anti-Christian violence over the holiday season.

The day before bombers struck the Alexandria church, an elderly Christian couple in Baghdad was killed when terrorists placed a bomb outside of their home, rang the doorbell and walked away, according to media and human rights reports. The bombing happened at the same time other Christian-owned homes and neighborhoods throughout Baghdad were being attacked.

Estimates of the number of people wounded in the attacks in Iraq range from nine to more than 13.

Mobilizing God’s Marketplace Army. That’s the theme of the 4th Annual Kingdom Economic Yearly Summit, also known as KEYS.

Eighty speakers and presenters will offer marketplace strategies and insights in general sessions, breakouts, workshops and roundtables Feb. 16-19 at the Heritage Center in Fort Mill, SC at the MorningStar Ministries campus. The event is sponsored by the Kingdom Business Association.

"We have many of the top Christian business and financial leaders globally coming together to offer strategies and solutions for the marketplace and the economy," says Dr. Bruce Cook, summit convener and president of Venture Advisers, Kingdom House Publishing and Kingdom Ventures. "This will be our biggest event yet, and we expect attendance of between 1,500 and 2,000 people plus the live webcast audience."

Patterned loosely after the World Economic Forum, but with a Christian focus, the four-day Summit will feature Rick Joyner, Os Hillman, Patricia King, Marc Nuttle, Johnny Enlow, Shawn Bolz, and dozens of others.

What's God saying to you about the economy in 2011?

What were the top religion and political trends in 2010? And how might they shape our future? That’s the topic of a Public Religion Research Institute (PRRI) study. The trends are important to note because they group expects them to continue into 2011 and beyond.

Robert P. Jones, CEO of PRRI, outlined the following 10 trends:

1. Nearly half (47 percent) of Americans who identify with the Tea Party movement also identify with the Christian right.
2. Pew found that 18 percent of Americans believe President Obama is a Muslim, and PRRI found that 51 percent say his religious beliefs are different from their own.
3. Fifty-seven percent of Americans are opposed to allowing NY Muslims to build an Islamic center and mosque two blocks from ground zero, but 76 percent say they would support Muslims building a mosque in their local community if they followed the same regulations as other religious groups.
4. Americans are about five times more likely to give an "F" than an "A" to churches for their handling of homosexuality. Two-thirds see connections between messages coming from America's churches and higher rates of suicide among gay and lesbian youth.
5. Forty-five percent of Americans say the values of Islam are at odds with American values and way of life, while a plurality (49 percent) disagree.
6. If another vote similar to Proposition 8 were held now, 51 percent of Californians say they would vote to allow gay and lesbian couples to marry.
7. At least seven-in-10 Americans say that protecting the dignity of every person, keeping families together, and the Golden Rule are important values that should guide immigration reform.
8. In his new book American Grace, Robert Putnam found that between one-third and one-half of all American marriages are in interfaith marriages, and roughly one-third of Americans have switched religions at some point in their lives.
9. Despite high levels of religiosity, Pew found on average that Americans only answered about half of 32 questions correctly on their Religious Knowledge Survey.
10. The 2010 congressional election revealed relatively stable voting patterns by religion compared to past elections. GOP candidates held an advantage among white Christians, while Democratic candidates held an advantage among minority Christians and the unaffiliated.

And an 11th for 2011. Nearly 6-in-10 Americans affirm American exceptionalism, that God has granted America a special role in human history. Those affirming this view are more likely to support military interventions and to say torture is sometimes justified.

What say you? Do you see these trends as shaping our future?

Some call it Civil Rights Day. Others call it Dr. Martin Luther King Day. Whatever you choose to call it, the Christian civil rights leader’s birthday is being remembered during the Festival For Life on Jan. 17 at the Wesley Biblical Seminary in Jackson, Miss.

A group of black pastors is organizing the event to draw attention to what they see as the next wave of the civil rights movement King helped pioneer: dignity and equal protection for unborn children.

Festival For Life will show five pro-life videos, including “Maafa 21,” which features pro-life activist Dr. Alveda King, King’s niece. The event is sponsored by American Family Radio and Pro-Life Mississippi.

“It is very important to point out that the Life issue is one of, if not the most serious civil rights issue that any people, African Americans or any other people, have ever faced,” Pastor Joseph Parker of Campbell Church African Methodist Episcopal church in Pulaski, Tenn., told LifeSiteNews. “If ever there was a civil rights issue worth standing up for, this is it!”

Pro-Life Mississippi is also holding an event called “The Gospel and the Cry of the Fatherless” on January 21-22. The two-day conference will focus on abortion, adoption and the plight of fatherless children.

Wrapping up January’s agenda, the group is holdings its 24th annual Pro-Life Mississippi “Candlelight Prayer Vigil for the Unborn” on January 22 at 6 p.m. at the Mississippi State Capitol Building.

What's your take? Do events like these make a difference?

As Lee Grady noted in his “Year in Review” article, Christian persecution increased around the world in 2010. Now, a new list has emerged chronicling the top 10 anti-Christian acts in America last year.

DefendChristians.org, a ministry of the Christian Anti-Defamation Commission, just offered up its list based on an online poll of Christians. According to Dr. Gary Cass, Chairman and CEO of DefendChristians.org, the results demonstrate a double standard is being applied against Christians and their faith, values, and liberty.

"If these same types of actions were taken against other groups one would call it bigoted,” Cass says. “We are exposing the shameful behavior of bashing Christ and biblical values for what it is, ‘Christophobia,’ the irrational fear and hatred of Christ and His Word."

Here are some highlights of the top 10 list:
       
1. The Employment Non-Discrimination Act: A proposed federal bill that would require ministries, including churches, to hire people who oppose their beliefs or who live in open defiance of their values.

3. Julea Ward and Jennifer Keeton persecution: The two Christian students were expelled from their respective Master's programs in counseling at two different universities because they wouldn't deny their faith and affirm the validity of the homosexual lifestyle.

5. Civil rights violations Christians were denied their civil rights and falsely arrested for disorderly conduct at an annual Arab festival in Dearborn, Michigan for sharing the Gospel. This happened the previous year, too. The Christians were acquitted both times of all charges.

9. The Southern Poverty Law Center labeling: The organization has continued to label many mainstream Christian organizations that promote traditional marriage as "hate groups" and "anti-gay" in lists that include violent racists groups.

"Every year the list of attacks grows as godless secular values are inflaming the minds of many against Almighty God, Jesus Christ and Christianity,” Cass says. “Most of the attacks are merely rhetorical. Increasingly they are becoming codified into policies that encroach on Christian's academic freedom and liberty of conscience. Freedom of speech is denied to Christians while they are slandered by radical organizations. In extreme cases the hatred boils over into violence.”

What's your take? What anti-Christian movements did you see in 2010 and what do you expect in 2011? Share with me in the comment box below.