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In this issue

• Anti-Semitism: Where Did it Come From?
• Purim 2017 and a Wave of New Visitors
• Congregation Tiferet Yeshua On the Move
• A New Time for Maoz Brazil

Our hearts are breaking over the series of bombings targeting Christians in Egypt yesterday.
The BBC is reporting at least 45 people have been killed, with many more injured, after IS (Islamic State) set off bombs at three Coptic churches in Alexandria and Tanta during their Palm Sunday services. The group has targeted Copts in Egypt recently and has warned of more attacks. The Egyptian government has declared a three-month state of emergency in response to the attacks.

Christians in Sudan request prayer against ongoing attempts to seize church property, which led to the fatal stabbing of a church elder on 3rd April.

Against the wishes of the church denomination, the government has imposed an illegal committee on the Sudan Presbyterian Evangelical Church. Since 2013 this committee has been selling church properties to businessmen aligned with the government. Dozens of churches have been affected.

In this issue

• Is God Giving America a Second Chance?
• It's a New Day in Washington!
• Looking for Israel's Modern-Day Levites
• Worshipper Revelation at a New Age Festival
• Maoz Canada here to Serve YOU!

“I was in five different prisons, each worse than the last. I was placed in group cells with drug traffickers, violent criminals and radical Muslims- even ISIS members. I was deprived of sleep for days in a cell with no running water, where mice ran over my body every time I lay down.” – Petr Jasek, The Voice of the Martyrs Regional Director for Africa, imprisoned in Sudan for 445 days, released this weekend.
Inspired by years of serving Christians imprisoned for their faith, Petr said he felt honoured to be able to serve God while himself the prisoner of a brutal Islamic regime. He embraced his imprisonment as an opportunity to share the gospel with many who are normally inaccessible to missionaries. He saw many come to a saving faith in Christ. Peter also said he was peaceful and joyful while in prison, a miracle that only God could do. We can be inspired by Petr’s example, to boldly witness for Christ wherever we are.
 
– Please continue to pray for the other two Sudanese men who were arrested with Petr and have been unjustly sentenced to 12 years in prison. Pray for their families and that they will be released soon.
 
Believers in Sudan have become bolder- not more cautious- in their witness for Christ since Petr and the others were imprisoned, even singing hymns outside the courthouse during the trial.

Systematic targeting of Coptic Christians is happening in Egypt’s Sinai region by IS militants. Hundreds of believers have fled the area after seven Christians were murdered in the past several weeks.

Please pray that this violence would stop, and that Christians and churches in Egypt would be safe.

Watch one family’s story on BBC News here: http://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-39123061

Read more at World Watch Monitor here: https://www.worldwatchmonitor.org/2017/5029259/