Rudyard Kipling"
“When you're left wounded on Afganistan's plains and
the women come out to cut up what remains, Just roll to your rifle
and blow out your brains,
And go to your God like a soldier”
General Douglas MacArthur"
“We are not retreating. We are advancing in another direction.”
“It is fatal to enter any war without the will to win it.” “Old soldiers never die; they just fade away.
“The soldier, above all other people, prays for peace, for he must suffer and be the deepest wounds and scars of war.”
“May God have mercy upon my enemies, because I won't .” “The object of war is not to die for your country but to make the other bastard die for his.
“Nobody ever defended, there is only attack and attack and attack some more.
“It is foolish and wrong to mourn the men who died. Rather we should thank God that such men lived.
The Soldier stood and faced God
Which must always come to pass
He hoped his shoes were shining
Just as bright as his brass
"Step forward you Soldier,
How shall I deal with you?
Have you always turned the other cheek?
To My Church have you been true?"
"No, Lord, I guess I ain't
Because those of us who carry guns
Can't always be a saint."
I've had to work on Sundays
And at times my talk was tough,
And sometimes I've been violent,
Because the world is awfully rough.
But, I never took a penny
That wasn't mine to keep.
Though I worked a lot of overtime
When the bills got just too steep,
The Soldier squared his shoulders and said
And I never passed a cry for help
Though at times I shook with fear,
And sometimes, God forgive me,
I've wept unmanly tears.
I know I don't deserve a place
Among the people here.
They never wanted me around
Except to calm their fears.
If you've a place for me here,
Lord, It needn't be so grand,
I never expected or had too much,
But if you don't, I'll understand."
There was silence all around the throne
Where the saints had often trod
As the Soldier waited quietly,
For the judgment of his God.
"Step forward now, you Soldier,
You've borne your burden well.
Walk peacefully on Heaven's streets,
You've done your time in Hell."
Forced conversion and attempted kidnap – an Egyptian Christian’s asylum story
Tuesday, January 07, 2025
Christian Concern : A Christian legal expert details the story of a Christian woman who
faced extreme difficulty in seeking asylum after resisting Islam.
Soon after Christmas, the first major date of significance in the
Christian calendar is the 6 January: slaughter of the innocents.
Those of us from less liturgical backgrounds will scratch our heads
and ask the question, what’s the relevance of slaughter of the
innocents?
The day marks the arrivals of the Magi – also known as the Three
Kings or the Wise Men – visiting Jesus. Soon after the visit by the
Magi, an angel appeared to Joseph in a dream telling him to flee to
Egypt with Mary and the infant Jesus since King Herod would seek the
child to kill him.
In an ironic inversion of the Exodus story, Egypt became a place of
refuge for the family. Christianity arrived in the country over the
coming centuries and was the majority religion until 10th
century, when Islam (which had arrived in 641 AD) became the majority
religion. Now, the Christian population stands at about 10% (10 million)
of the population.
Christians and Muslims now live separate lives and mostly in peace.
But things are not easy for the Christian community; especially not for
Christian women. Between January 2011 and March 2014, 550 Coptic girls
were kidnapped, forced to convert to Islam, and forced to marry their
captors[1].
The same source indicates that 40% of the girls were raped prior to the
conversions and marriages. The Research Fellow said that Coptic women
who have been kidnapped have also been raped, in some cases by multiple
perpetrators.
‘Maria’[2]
was one such Christian Egyptian woman that the Christian Legal Centre
helped for four years. She was a married, middle class, Coptic Christian
mother of one, working in a high-flying role in an Egyptian bank. She
and her family lived in a nice area of Cairo; they sent their daughter
to a private Christian school and they belonged to a country club. She
and her family now live in a bedsit in England, her husband has not
worked for 4 years, they have no money and she works in low paid
employment. Why?
