THE 21 COPTIC MARTYRS OF LIBYA: 21 Men. One Beach. A Faith Stronger Than Fear.

What do you say when the knife is at your throat?

What do you see when the sea is behind you and death is in front of you?

What kind of faith looks the empire in the eye and whispers, Lord Jesus Christ?

On February 15, 2015, the world got its answer.

Twenty-one men. Laborers, farmers, fathers, sons. Ordinary Christians from the villages of Egypt, working in Libya to feed their families. Captured by ISIS. Draped in orange. Marched onto a beach at dawn. Given one choice: Deny your God, or die.

They did not deny.

With their hands bound and the waves at their backs, they spoke the Name that has shaken empires for two thousand years. Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner. Then the blade fell. The sea ran red. And the Church received twenty-one new saints.

THE 21 COPTIC MARTYRS OF LIBYA is not a story of defeat. It is the story of victory.

From the deserts of Antony and Paul, to the hidden prison of Mark, to the blood-stained sands of Sirte, this book traces the unbroken line of a faith that death cannot kill. You will walk with the mothers who ululated instead of wailed. With the Pope who wrote we forgive while the world called for war. With the brother who laid down his gun because his brother died praying. With the millions who saw the video and chose, in that moment, to believe again.

You will see why martyrdom still matters.

You will see why the Cross is not history.

You will see why terror will always lose to a Church that remembers the Resurrection.

This is a book for the afraid.

For the doubting.

For the ones who wonder if faith can survive the 21st century.

For the ones who need to know that the gates of hell have not prevailed, and will not prevail.

21 Men. One Beach. A Faith Stronger Than Fear.

Their blood was the seed.

Their witness is the fire.

Their story is yours.

Open these pages.

The martyrs are waiting.

And Christ is risen.