A spiritual person
is a conquerer and a triumphant person. He
causes joy in heaven and is an example on earth.
We, the members of the struggling church on the
earth, pass a period of trial in which we face
many spiritual warfares which St. Paul the
Apostle indicated, saying, “We do not wrestle
against flesh and blood, but against … spiritual
hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places.” It
is a war that needs “the whole armor of God”
that we may be able to stand against the wiles
of the devil (Eph 6 :12,11). God wants us to
conquer, and heaven watches our struggling and
rejoices at our triumph. The angels and the
spirits of the saints in heaven pray for us that
we may conquer: “There will be more joy in
heaven over one sinner who repents…” (Lk 15:7)
God’s grace likewise helps us to conquer, and
His Spirit works within us for the same purpose.
But if we fall and are defeated, we will grieve
His Holy Spirit by whom we were sealed for the
day of redemption (Eph 4 : 30). A spiritual
person is Victorious. The spirit in him
overcomes the lusts of the body, conquers the
devils, the world, and the material things. It
will be carried in the end with rejoicing by the
angels into heaven. Such a person is...
03:00 PM
Sunday 29 June 2008 Updated
every Sunday
New Book:
Christians in Muslim Egypt...
Rioting in Fayoum
By Nader
Shukry-Emad Khalil, Watani News
Two years ago 23-year-old Dimiana Makram
Hanna went missing from her home in the
village of al-Nazla in Fayoum, 100km
southwest Cairo. Dimiana’s parents reported
her missing at the local police station, and
were told a few days later that she had
converted to Islam and married one Mohamed
al-Sayed Zaki. As is customary, the police
refused to let the young woman’s parents or
the local church priest see her, and the
family realized they had forever lost their
daughter. A few months later, however, the
family fell victim to a swindler who
persuaded them he could let them see their
missing daughter whose address he claimed to
know. When her brothers Maged and Boutros
Hanna, accompanied by friends from Cairo,
headed to that address they were captured by
the police, charged with attempting to
abduct their sister, thrown into prison for
two weeks, and were only released following
huge demonstrations by Copts. Dimiana’s
brothers went home but later relocated in
Cairo....
Those confounded maps
By Nader Shukry, Watani News
Last Wednesday a 50-member
special committee formed by Minya governor Ahmed
Diaa Eddin left Minya, some 250km south of
Cairo, and headed 30km south to the fourth
century desert monastery of Abu-Fana. The
alleged task of the committee, which was
accompanied by security forces in more than 15
trucks, was to draw the borders of the monastery
grounds in order to determine the path of a
protecting fencing wall. For Abu-Fana inmates
and Mallawi bishopric—to which the monastery is
affiliated—that task was in itself preposterous
since it implied that the monastery grounds were
not well defined. But it was a fact that the
monastery was in possession of the ownership
documents of all its grounds and has been
regularly paying the annual land tax incurred.
The attack, The move by Minya governor came in
the aftermath of the barbaric attack waged
against the monastery by the tribal desert
dwellers in the area—commonly denoted as
‘Arabs’—on 31 May. Four....
Article
of
the
Day
Shelved and ignored
By Youssef Sidhom,
Watani News
The persistence on the part of officials and
media circles to overlook the conspicuous
absence of the bill for a unified law for
building places of worship from Parliament’s
agenda during its last round is nothing
short of amazing. While prominent figures in
Parliament, the government and the ruling
National Democratic Party (NDP) have
publicly talked of the successes and
failures of the last round, nobody even
touched on the bill and why it was not
discussed in the last round, which is the
fourth since it was first introduced to
Parliament. The striking consensus on
disregarding the bill almost implies a
secret conspiracy to overlook it. It might
be understandable that the Parliament
speaker, the government and top NDP
officials avoid shedding light on the issue
since it signifies a failure on their part,
but why did all others in the political and
media field follow suite? Indeed, everybody
appears to have agreed to silence.
Abdel-Latif al-Manawi who hosts the talk
show ++Weghat Nazar (A Viewpoint)++ had an
interesting talk with Moufid Shehab,
Minister of State for Legal Affairs, in
which they covered the draft laws missed in
the last parliamentary round. The bill for a
unified law for building places of worship
was conspicuously absent. And when Shehab
tackled the laws Parliament intends to
discuss in its upcoming round....
Selected Articles
Curious reaction
The Egyptian Gazette
DESPITE being in office for some years now,
Minister of Education Youssri el-Gamal has
apparently failed to set his house in order.
Nor does he have plans to do so, although he
consistently argues about plans already
drawn up to upgrade education. But the
Minister has told parents and his senior
aides that he has a new strategy to benefit
new generations, who will be properly
equipped to rise to challenges at home and
abroad. Fears that the Minister's alleged
educational reform policies....
Selected
Articles
A drop in the ocean
The Egyptian Gazette
EGYPT is well acquainted with child labour,
as children have worked in the cotton fields
since the year dot. However, there is no
single institution that gives precise
statistics for child labour in Egypt,
although we need to know this before
launching any programmes to tackle the
problem. Still, NGOs and the governmental
National Council for Childhood and
Motherhood (NCCM) have pushed through many
laws forcing families to ensure their
children get a basic education. But there
are still many children....
By
Copts-United
Copts screaming
Calm has returned
to Deir Abu Fana, a village 210km south of
Egyptian capital, Cairo, after the release of
three monks abducted amid tensions between
Muslims and Coptic Christians.
Violence erupted on Saturday when local Muslims
claimed the expansion of a Coptic monastery was
being carried out illegally on state property.
In Mallawi, a nearby town, on Sunday Coptic
Christian protesters chanted....
