For the choir director. A Psalm of David.
The fool has said in his heart, “There is no God.” They are corrupt, they have committed abominable deeds; there is no one who does good. The Lord has looked down from heaven upon the sons of men to see if there are any who understand, Who seek after God. They have all turned aside, together they have become corrupt; There is no one who does good, not even one. vv. 1-3
The folly and wickedness of men. I witnessed it yesterday on my computer screen. I witnessed twenty-one of my brothers in Christ martyred on a beach
near Tripoli, on the Mediterranean Sea. Yes, I watched five-plus minutes of a deranged monster declaring the guilt of these men from the hostile Christian Church in Egypt. I watched the angry men, possessed with the murderous spirit of the Anti-Christ, slaughter Christ’s soldiers; His beloved sons. I watched as they sawed through their necks declaring they were dying for worshiping the pagan God. I watched twenty-one men with their hands bound, forced to their knees, lips moving in silent prayer— preparing their hearts to meet Christ, savagely lose their lives. I saw the sea run red with the blood of these saints. Who are the hostile ones?
And I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded because of their testimony about Jesus and because of the word of God. They had not worshiped the beast or its image and had not received its mark on their foreheads or their hands. They came to life and reigned with Christ a thousand years. Rev. 20:4 NASB
And in her was found the blood of prophets and of saints and of all who have been slain on the earth. Rev. 18:24 NASB
And they overcame him because of the blood of the Lamb and because of the word of their testimony, and they did not love their life even when faced with death. Revelation 12:11
Do all the workers of wickedness not know, who eat up my people as they eat bread, and do not call upon the Lord? There they are in great dread, For God is with the righteous generation. You would put to shame the counsel of the afflicted, But the Lord is his refuge. vv. 4-6.
Do not believe for one moment that God did not see the beheading of His precious saints; their blood that stains the sand also cries out to Him from the sea; and He will give those with the mark of the Anti-Christ what they have coming to them.
These precious men were met with robes of white and crowns by Christ Himself. Remember that Christ has already won the victory. We are in the end-times. The devil knows his time is short and he is ramping up his evil and mustering his minions—as seen vividly in these ISIS soldiers. Christ has defeated the devil and he will spend eternity paying for his crimes against humanity.
For they poured out the blood of saints and prophets, and You have given them blood to drink. They deserve it. Rev. 16:6 NASB
And having despoiled principalities and powers, He made a show of them openly, triumphing over them in it. Col. 2:15 NASB
Then I saw an angel coming down from heaven. He had in his hand a key to the hole without a bottom. He also had a strong chain. He took hold of the dragon, that old snake, who is the Devil, or Satan, and chained him for 1,000 years. The angel threw the devil into the hole without a bottom. He shut it and locked him in it. Rev. 20:1-3 NASB
Then the devil who fooled them will be thrown into the lake of fire burning with sulphur. The wild animal and the false preacher are already there. They will all be punished day and night forever. v 10 NASB
Oh, that the salvation of Israel would come out of Zion! When the Lord restores His captive people, Jacob will rejoice, Israel will be glad. Ps. 14:7
We await the second coming of Christ to crush Satan under our feet. I am heartbroken for these twenty-one Christian brothers slaughtered on the beach. But I am rejoicing that they met the Lord whom they faithfully served.
I am thankful for the blood of Christ. Thankful that He died and redeemed me. I pray for the families of those who died at the hand of ISIS militants. I pray too for those ISIS militants. I know that may be hard to do after witnessing the blood those men shed on the beach in Tripoli. Christ shed His blood for them too. Christ does not wish for anyone to perish (2 Pet. 3:9). I pray that the deceiving spirit of the Anti-Christ loses the hold it has on the hearts of these men that are so full of hatred for Christ, and any that would follow Him. I pray the veil is removed from their hearts and that God would raise up His Saul’s (Paul) out of the midst of that evil army. I pray for the Lord to reveal Himself in Damascus Road experiences. It would serve the enemy right for messing with God’s people. I call them out of the kingdom of darkness and into the Kingdom of God’s dear Son (Col. 1:13). They will bow to Christ now, or they will bow to Christ later. But they will bow.
For this reason also, God highly exalted Him, and bestowed on Him the name which is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee will bow, of those who are in heaven and on earth and under the earth,and that every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. Philippians 2:9-11
Church, this is our wake-up call. Put aside political correctness and see this enemy for what it is. Do not be ignorant of the devil's schemes (2 Cor. 2:11). This was not only an attack on citizens of Egypt; it was an attack against those who follow the Lamb. These militants seek a caliphate; Ishmael fighting to usurp Isaac. Israel's PM declares an
Aliyah; the regathering of God's people from the nations. These events have apocalyptic implications. The turmoil in the Middle-East along with the rise in
anti-Semitism and attacks on Jews around the world are the birth pangs of the return of Christ. What will He find you doing when He returns?
The twenty-one saints that were beheaded; their names are written in the Lamb's Book of Life:
Milad Makeen Zaky; Abanub Ayad Atiya; Maged Solaiman Shehata; Yusuf Shukry Yunan; Kirollos Shockry Fawzy; Bishoy Astafanus Kamel; Somaily Astafanus Kamel; Malak Ibrahim Sinweet; Tawadros Yusuf Tawadros; Girgis Milad Sinweet; Mina Fayez Aziz; Hany Abdelmesish Salib; Bishoy Adel Khalaf; Samuel Alham Wilson; Worker from AWR village; Ezat Bishri Naseef; Loqa Nagaty; Gaber Munir Adly; Esam Badir Samir; Malak Farag Abram; Sameh Salah Faruq.
