Sad Story from a Bethlehem Christian

            When I went to church tonight, I saw a tall guy in the church lobby with a bunch of wooden religious statues, crucifixes, rosaries, and other items.   I thought it must be some kind of parish fund raiser.

At the end of mass, the priest introduced the tall guy as a Catholic living in Bethlehem in the West Bank area of Israel.  

The guy said that Catholics used to make up 90% of Bethlehem, but they are down to only 1% now as the Palestinians are driving them out.  He said that their small community may not be staying much longer and that no Christians may live in Bethlehem soon.  

He said that there used to be 5 Catholic schools in Jerusalem, but there is only one now and most Christian areas of that city have been under pressure from Jews and Arabs to leave even though their families have lived there for centuries. 

He said that the Coptic Christians are being beaten, killed, and driven out of Egypt as Sharia Law is being implemented and most Arabs who recently overthrew their government want the country to be free of Christians and to be run by Islamists. 

He said that the Grand Mufti of Saudi Arabia also decreed that the entire Middle East should be rid of Christians (which I also read about recently). 

He said that Christians in the Middle East are actually supporting the evil President Bashir of Syria who is killing insurgents and innocent people because the Christians know that the insurgents want Sharia Law and all Christians out of Syria.    Bashir at least tolerates Christians in his country, but the insurgents will force out Christians once they take over.

He said that Christians in the Middle East greatly admire the USA and its religious freedoms.   He remembers as a child when religions in the Middle East tolerated each other, but now Islamic fundamentalism and Sharia law are sweeping the area.  He said it is only going to get much worse in the Middle East.

He asked for our prayers and for us to buy some of their hand-made items that will help support the besieged Christian families that paid to send him to the USA.     

We gave him a nice round of applause.  I didn’t buy anything, but he had a good crowd looking at his tables full of items.