‘Cowardly act of terror’ kills eight in NYC

“This was an act of terror, and a particularly cowardly act of terror,” New York Mayor Bill de Blasio said after a man drove a truck into a Manhattan crowd yesterday. Eight were killed and eleven were wounded in the deadliest terror attack in New York City since 9/11.

This morning, Police Commissioner William J. Bratton asked, “Could it have been prevented? The New York Police Department works very hard to try to prevent terror attacks. And so many attacks have been prevented. But you can’t prevent them all. Yesterday was a very clear example of that.”

This is the sixty-seventh terror attack in America since 9/11. Where do we find the courage to face such unpredictable tragedy?

The video that shocked the world

On February 15, 2015, ISIS released a five-minute film showing the beheading of twenty-one Coptic Christians on a Mediterranean beach. The image of their deaths made global headlines. Their last words were “Lord Jesus Christ,” repeated at the moment of their deaths.

Now we’re learning that Libyan police recently found their bodies.

One of the twenty-one was an African man named Mathew Ayairga. He was not a Christian when he was forced to join the other kidnapped men on the beach. He was then asked to follow Islam or die. After witnessing the courageous faith of other Christians, he decided to become a follower of Jesus himself.

On camera, one of the terrorists could be seen asking, “Do you reject Christ?” Mathew responded boldly, “Their God is my God.” He then became a martyr for his new faith.

The next time you have an opportunity to stand boldly for Jesus, will Mathew’s courage encourage you?

What is All Saints Day?

Lemuria was a feast in ancient Rome during which the Romans performed rites to exorcise ghosts of the dead from their homes. On May 13, 609, Pope Boniface IV instituted All Saints Day, apparently intending the day to replace this pagan ritual. In the eighth century, Pope Gregory I moved the day to…