Are not five sparrows sold for two pennies? Yet not one of them is forgotten by God. Indeed, the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Don’t be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows. Luke 12:6-7
Holy Land Converts (2002-03)
Targeted by Extremists
Converts to Christianity in the Palestinian Authority area and local Christians who support them have been targeted by Islamic extremists.
A man who headed into a mountainous region of the area in mid-July 2003 carrying Christian materials including cassettes, videos and Bibles, was one such victim. After he had been missing for approximately ten days, during which his friends and family received no word from him, his body was returned. He had been brutally killed and his body carved into four pieces as a warning to other converts. He left behind a wife and two small children.
In a separate incident in 2002, a local Christian received a phone call telling him that a convert from Islam was in a serious condition in hospital. He immediately set off and on the way his car was deliberately driven off the road by another vehicle. The phone call later proved to be a hoax designed to lead him into the trap.
Jesus lover of my soul,
Let me to Thy bosom fly,
While the nearer waters roll,
While the tempest still is high;
Hide me, O my saviour, hide,
Till the storm of life is past;
Safe into the haven guide,
O receive my soul at last.
Charles Wesley (1707-88)