March 2009

In His Father's Footsteps by Dr. Pat

This is a story of a son who followed in his father’s footsteps. Johnny’s father opened up their home for church meetings.  Even after cruelly suffering countless times at the hands of police and Muslim neighbors Johnny’s father remained faithful. He continued to witness to those who didn’t know Jesus. Johnny, his brother and father grew in partnership for the cause of Christ. His father was later attacked and killed by local Muslims, but Johnny’s story continues….

Johnny was an integral part of the house church meetings that were held in his father’s apartment.  At the age of 23, he was a preacher, teacher, and encourager just like his father.  He was gentle, kind, bold, and above all he had a remarkable commitment to Jesus Christ. 

When the News Service 2000 team met with Johnny he told us about the attack and showed us his scars.  It all began when some of the neighborhood Muslim youth verbally accosted and poured filthy water from a second floor balcony onto young women as they made their way to the church meetings. Because of this, Johnny and his brother decided to escort his brother’s fiancé and another young woman home from the evening church meeting. As they were walking home, some local teenagers began shouting insults at them. 

Johnny being Christian didn't react to their verbal abuse with abuse of his own.  Johnny simply told them he was upset by their rudeness and impropriety.  He was polite and reasonable.  The teenagers took this as an open invitation to become more aggressive.  One of them took out a knife and stabbed Johnny in the chest, shoulder and forearm.  He then slashed Johnny's wrist severing the blood vessels and tendons right down to the bone. 

Johnny never fought back, but he lost a lot blood very quickly and passed out. A neighbor took Johnny to the hospital. Even with blood transfusions, he was in critical condition and not expected to live.  The hospital staff notified the police in the area of the attack.

When we received a phone call from Egypt that Johnny was dying, we mounted a prayer campaign through email.  A week later, we received another call saying that Johnny was expected to make a full recovery. Praise God!  Johnny is not bitter, nor is he afraid.  He told us that he would continue the house church meetings in spite of the difficulties.