Four years ago today, 21 Christian men were were beheaded on a beach in Libya for refusing to deny their faith. They were ruthlessly murdered by ISIS, in a shocking demonstration of the savagery with which those Islamist terrorists are capable.

These appalling deaths may have led some to wonder why God allowed such evil to occur. The short answer is: because He created us with free will. We were each given the capacity to choose good or evil through every action we take. We weren’t meant to be slavish automatons. And so some of us choose to follow Jesus; and some of us choose to be cowardly barbarians.
 

But another way to understand why the wicked are frequently allowed to prevail is to recall Joseph’s words to his brothers in Egypt ~
 

 
So it may very well be that – as with so many other seemingly senseless tragedies – God has used these Christians’ martyrdom to gird the faith of Egyptian Copts ~ Coptic Christians beheaded by ISIS in video credited with ‘miracles’ in hometown ~

Iconic photographs and screenshots taken from that Islamic State propaganda video are all over the internet showing the 21 men on their knees with their backs toward the Mediterranean Sea. Behind each of the 21 men was an Islamic State militant standing with a knife that would be used to cut off their heads, thus sending a message to the world.
 
Four years later, the martyrdom of those 21 men is not forgotten in Upper Egypt as all 21 have been canonized as martyr saints by the Coptic Church.

A new book from German novelist Martin Mosebach, “The 21, a Journey into the Land of Coptic Martyrs,” details what’s happened in the last four years in El-Aour, the town where 13 of the 21 men were from ~

“It is a very dirty village. It is a very poor and primitive village,” Mosebach explained, adding that the Coptic villagers there are very strong and knowledgeable in their faith.
 
Although Christians in Upper Egypt are always under the threat of persecution, as Egypt has been under Islamic rule for 1,400 years, the faith of the Coptic Church as founded by St. Mark has been unwavering and continues to remain strong today, according to Mosebach […]
 

According to Mosebach, numerous miracle stories have built up around the 21 martyrs in El-Aour. Some stories include the martyrs being credited with saving children who fall out of windows, curing sick people and even healing a woman of infertility.
 
“Miracles didn’t save the [21] from decapitation but did prove that their sacrifices had made them Christlike and therefore accepted as such,” Mosebach wrote.

One miracle involved the son of one of the martyrs. The son was said to have fallen onto the street from the third floor of a building, causing him to break his arm in multiple places. When the son regained consciousness, he claimed that his now-dead father had caught him. Days later, the son’s X-rays reportedly did not show any fractures.
 
Although the Coptic community has faced much persecution throughout its history that continues today, Mosebach explained that Copts do not consider themselves to be victims and do not seek revenge.
 
He added that the villagers in El-Aour are proud of the martyrs for standing strong and dying for their faiths.

 

“You can go to every family in this region. They will tell you the same thing,” Mosebach explained. “That they are ready for martyrdom and they wait for the martyrdom and they are proud of the martyrs. They say that ‘our church is the church of the martyrs.’ Martyrs are the seeds of Christianity. As long as people are killed for Christianity, the church is living and not dead.”

 
We can only pray that Western Christians would be so strongly committed to their faith!
 
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Related:
Remembering The 21 Coptic Orthodox Christians Murdered By Daesh

Islamist coexistence a growing problem in Egypt

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Updated: 2-20-19
Added: Four Years After Mass Beheadings, Families of 21 Martyrs Share Hope of Heaven ~ A recent article from Open Doors ~

“We only knew martyrdom from films, but martyrdom was reintroduced and it strengthened our faith because these people, these 21 martyrs, lived among us.”