CHRISTIAN POST/ Ryan Foley-
Hundreds of Americans from around the country gathered on the National Mall Saturday for the third-annual March for the Martyrs.
Religious freedom advocates called on American Christians to learn from those overseas who chose to die rather than renounce their belief in Jesus Christ, saying that they should be willing to lay down their lives for their faith if they should ever have that opportunity.
The event began with live worship music courtesy of John Forystek and speeches from For the Martyrs Founder Gia Chacon, Chaldean Catholic Priest Fr. Simon Esshaki and evangelists Jacob Coyne and Shane Winnings. Participants marched slightly more than a mile from the kickoff rally to the Museum of the Bible, where a night of prayer event was held.
At the Sylvan Theater, located near the Washington Monument, Chacon and Esshaki shared stories of Christians willing to die rather than deny or renounce their Christian faith.
Chacon profiled Ragheed Ganni, a Chaldean Catholic priest who refused to yield to demands from Islamic militants to shut down his church in Iraq, vowing “as long as one person is coming to church, I will keep my doors open.” Ganni was killed by fanatical terrorists in 2007.
“After a Sunday mass, as he just finished a service and he walked outside, and gunmen said ‘why didn’t you listen to us?’ And they threatened him and some other deacons,” she stated. “When asked why he did not close the church, Chacon reported that Ganni’s last words were, “how could I close the house of God?” Continue reading…
