Majed El Shafie--the heart of the solution

To celebrate hubby’s birthday we spent the day at Canada Place taking in Missions Fest . It got off to a great start with the first plenary session where Majed El Shafie told his story.

Majed was born into a prominent Muslim family in Cairo. He carried on the family tradition and trained as a lawyer. It was during his studies that he discovered it was illegal for Egyptians to build, rebuild or even repair Christian churches. His Christian friend Tamir avoided getting into head-on discussions with him about religious things, but he did give Majed a Bible. It was through reading it that Majed realized the differences between Islam and Christianity and discovered that Christianity offered a relationship with Someone who was alive. And so he made the decision to give his life and service to the Lord.

“Once you know the truth, you have two options,” he told us. “You are either part of the problem or the heart of the solution.”

He determined to help change things for Christians in Egypt and began a mission to bring the same legal rights to the Christian community as the Muslim community enjoyed.

After just two years his organization had grown to 24,000 Christians. One day he was arrested and thrown into Abu Zaabel prison in Cairo. “We know you,” his captors said, “and all about you. Now we want you to tell us the names of the people who work with you.”

Majed refused. And so the torture began.

The first day they shaved his head, and then plunged his head alternately into hot then cold water. He said it hurt a lot. But when they again demanded he name his compatriots, the feisty Majed said, “I didn’t have a shower for a long time. This felt good.”

On the second day they increased the torture when they hung him upside down, beat him till he was bloody, tore off one of his toenails. When he still refused to name his friends his captors told him the next day they would loose three dogs on him.

That night in the blackness of his cell Majed did the only thing he could– he prayed. He praised God for allowing him to let Him suffer, like Jesus had. Then he begged that God would let him die before the next day.

The next morning, still very much alive, he heard the dogs coming down the hallway, cowered in a corner, covered his face, listened, and waited. The jingling of the dogs’ neck chains and their panting grew ever louder, but then seemed to fade. He waited for their attack but when the silence continued, he looked up to see all three dogs sitting around him. Despite the jailer’s commands that they attack, the dogs just sat there.

“Something is wrong with these dogs,” the jailer said. But when he substituted three others, the same thing happened.

Majed spent a total of seven days in that prison, the last two and a half lashed to a cross. During that time they sliced open his shoulder and poured lemon juice and salt into his wounds. He still has flashbacks and nightmares from this.

That ordeal led to unconsciousness and he awoke in the hospital. He spent some time there and eventually escaped from Egypt to Israel and through Amnesty International and the United Nations, to the U.S.

This almost 29-year-old now lives in Toronto where he has started the human rights ministry One Free World International. It’s designed to defend persecuted Christians worldwide. Besides Toronto, it also has branches inWashington DC and Florida.

Majed challenged us to pray for the persecuted church. “Do you have a coffee or a tea every day?” he asked. “How long does it take you to drink it - five minutes, ten? Every time you get a coffee, let that be a reminder to spend one of those minutes in prayer for the persecuted church.”

"Seven Prayer Points"

Persecuted Christians are dying but they are still smiling. Men can kill the dreamer but no one can kill the dream. – Majed El Shafie