The 21 Coptic Martyrs

"I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith." 2 Timothy 4: 7

From the ISIS propaganda film.

You can listen to me read this here:

I am sharing this short film that was just released, The 21. This film is beautiful and sad and victorious. It affected me deeply and I know it will you, too. I already wanted to share it but special thanks to

Ciska Schenk

for sending it to me as well. Please share it far and wide.

As I have mentioned in other essays (but there are always new subscribers so I explain again), having had the honor of meeting Richard Wurmbrand when I was a child…

…a Jewish/Christian martyr who spent 14 years tortured in a communist Romanian prison for refusing to deny his faith, I am greatly affected when I read or see anything like this story of the Coptic martyrs, because I have looked into the eyes of a martyr and seen the indestructible faith, the strength and joy there, despite the suffering.

As you watch the film, look at the dark figures towering over the men kneeling on the ground and know that right there is the clearest example you will ever see of good against evil. We are taught that success means wealth and power. The more wealth and power we have, the more we can do what we want, and that’s what freedom means.

But no one is freer than those men kneeling on the ground, stripped of everything but their unshakeable faith. That is why the men above them, hate them so much. Because no matter how much they torture or terrorize the men on the ground, they cannot bend or break them. The men on the ground are free to love and forgive their enemies, while the men with the knives are slaves to fear and hate.

In the essay on ISIS that I am publishing immediately after this; I have much more to say on this topic. The two pieces go hand in hand.

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