The United Bible Societies created and distributed in Egypt 1.65 million leaflets that contain Bible vereses of hope regarding trials and adversity.
Soon after after the release of the video in which 21 Egyptian Coptic Christians were brutally killed by the Islamic State, the United Bible Societies (UBS) created leaflets with Bible verses and began distributing them all over the nation. Over 1.65 million copies have been printed and distributed.
"We wanted to provide something that would comfort the grieving," said Ramez Atallah from the Bible Society of Egypt. "People are in despair and have so many questions about why those young men were killed. And while there are no easy answers, the Bible reminds us that there will be times of trial, but that God's love for us is everlasting."
"Because of the nationwide distress over these brutal assassinations, and because the leaflet was so quickly available, Christians have been distributing it everywhere"”streets, shops, buses, and trains," Atallah said. "And it's reaching people from all walks of life: we have heard many cases of Christians receiving it through Muslim friends and neighbors who got it first!"
The leaflets contain "a collection of Scripture passages about faith in adversity and God's enduring love," UBS stated, such as 1 Peter 4:12: "Dear friends, do not be surprised at the painful trial you are suffering, as though something strange were happening to you. But rejoice that you participate in the sufferings of Christ, so that you may be overjoyed when his glory is revealed. If you are insulted because of the name of Christ, you are blessed, for the Spirit of glory and of God rests on you."
In response to the deaths of the 21 Egyptian Christians, the video of which was released on February 15, Christians all over the world have held vigils and prayer meetings to honor their lives and deaths. After the killings, Egypt swiftly began airstrikes against Islamic State bases in Libya, from which the Egyptian Christians were captured and killed.
The Islamic State has released numerous videos over the past several months that portray their brutal killings of hostages, including American, British, Japanese, and Jordanian hostages, most of which were beheaded, and one of which was burned alive. The incident involving the Egyptian Christians is the first that portrayed a simultaneous killing of multiple people of one particular religious group, and the first in which the video directly points out the religion of the hostages by calling them "people of the cross, followers of the hostile Egyptian church."
The leaflets created by the United Bible Societies have been made available in Arabic and English.
