A Tale of Two Countries

Two stories struck me yesterday. In one way, they’re unrelated and yet at the same time, very much connected.

LaChanze Sapp-Gooding is the widow of Calvin Joseph Gooding. Mr. Gooding was killed on September 11^th as he worked inside the North Tower of the World Trade Center. At the time of the attack, LaChanze was 8-months pregnant with their second child.

Meriam Yehya Ibrahim is a Sudanese Christian who was sentenced to death yesterday for refusing to renounce her faith and embrace Islam. She’s also 8-months pregnant with her and her husband’s second son.

What, besides the pregnancies and the children, do these stories have in common?

Mrs. Sapp-Gooding brought people to tears yesterday at the 9/11 Museum dedication with her stirring rendition of Amazing Grace. You can watch and listen by clicking here.

Ms. Ibrahim stood bravely inside a Sudanese courtroom yesterday and knew that all she had to do to save her life was to denounce Jesus Christ. Instead she declared, “I am a Christian. And I will remain a Christian.”

You can read more of her incredible story by clicking here.

American Christians have been frustrated lately by the growing cases of religious liberty infringement by the government, and rightly so.

But isn’t it ironic and telling that on a day when the widow of an innocent man killed by radical Islamists sings Amazing Grace in front of government leaders – including the President of the United States and governors and mayors – a Christian woman thousands of miles away is sentenced to death because she won’t embrace radical Islam itself?