Having grown up in the Muslim-dominated country of Egypt, Michael Youssef knows exactly what it’s like to face oppression for his beliefs and to defend his faith.
However, it’s something that, decades later, the founder of Leading the Way ministry and founding pastor of The Church of the Apostles in Atlanta never dreamed he be forced to draw upon while living in the United States of America. Yet here he is, like many other Christians in this country, battling a presidential administration that is becoming more and more hostile the gospel of Jesus Christ by the day.
His newest book, Hope for This Present Crisis: The Seven-Step Path to Restoring a World Gone Mad (Charisma House, 2021), explains how believers can combat this siege from within the U.S. It provides a diagnosis of the insanity of the current culture in America and a prescription to the moral decay that has beset our country.
“Growing up in a sea of a Muslim world, you kind of learn to anticipate persecution,” Youssef told Dr. Steve Greene on a recent episode of Greenelines on the Charisma Podcast Network. “You grow up strong because you are instructed in the home, you’re instructed in the church, and you know what it is like to be a believer in the Lord Jesus Christ and to be ready to defend or even die for your faith.
“So, for the first 18 years of my life, that really gave me a foundation that I never knew some 55 years later I would have to draw upon. Because we are in the U.S., I never thought I’d see the day where Christians would be persecuted. Every religion, every thought, every philosophy is tolerated except the Christian faith.
“The former president of the Southern Baptist Convention, a friend of mine, said to me, ‘Do you think God has a sense of humor, bringing a man from Egypt to be a thorn in the side of liberal evangelicals?’ I’m happy to be that. God, in His mercy and grace and favor, gave me the pleasure and joy of planting our church in Georgia 34 years ago. We just kept growing, and ever since the opening day, I will tell you that I have not changed my commitment to the gospel of Jesus Christ. I am becoming stronger. The older I get, rather than softening and weakening, I am now more committed to the preaching the uncompromised truth, the infallible Word of God.”
For more about Youssef and his attack on today’s cancel culture, listen to the entire episode here, and subscribe to Greenelines on your favorite podcast platform for more inspiring stories like this one. Order Hope for This Present Crisis to discover ways you can follow Youssef’s example and stand up for your faith in the face of persecution. {eoa}.
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