Like Daniel and the lions, God saves believer from vicious dogs

'These dogs are trained to listen to their masters. But there is no higher Master than the Lord Jesus Christ.'

An Egyptian Muslim converted to Christianity and was sentenced to death for his faith - but God protected him in an amazingly miraculous way.

LOS ANGELES, CA (Catholic Online) - Law student Majed El Shafie turned to Christ despite being raised a Muslim. He came from an influential family of lawyers and Supreme Court justices.

When he realized the corruption and human injustice of Egypt's legal system, including the persecution of Christians, he knew he had to do something.

A friend introduced him to the Bible, in which he discovered God's divine justice, love and forgiveness.

El Shafie read the Bible for a year and often compared it to the Quaran. When he finished the Bible, he returned to his Christian friend and, according to Christian Today, said: "Now I know what Christianity is about. It's not a religion. It's not about going to church on Sunday. Christianity is a relationship with God. I accept the Lord and I want to receive Jesus."

He knew the price of accepting Christ into his heart but El Shafie knew what was right.

When his conversion was discovered, he was barred from practicing law, lost his good name in the city and was rejected by his family.

Though he had been cast aside by everyone who once loved him,  El Shafie explained, "None of that equal[s] anything if you know that your soul in the end will end up in Hell."

That was when the persecution began.

The police tortured El Shafie then threw him into Abu Zaabel prison in Cairo, which is notoriously known in the Middle East as "Hell on Earth."

His first day in prison saw him shaved and alternately moved from freezing cold to boiling hot water for a minute each.

"After that, they took me to my cell, and then told me, 'You tell us the name of your friends.'"

He refused and instead said, "I haven't taken a shower for a long time, so I enjoyed the cold and hot water."

The next day El Shafie was hung upside down, where he remained as jailers burned his body with cigarettes and slashed his flesh with knives.

The third day of his persecution was when the jailers loosed three dogs into his dark cell.

The snarling beasts went quiet and moved to sit beside El Shafie, not dissimilar to the lions that sat beside Daniel in the lion's den.

The guards then moved another group of snarling dogs into the cell, which all did as the others and sat calmly beside El Shafie.

"The guards were talking about it as a miracle," El Shafie recalled, adding: "These dogs are trained to listen to their masters. But there is no higher Master than the Lord Jesus Christ."

On the fourth day, a jail officer offered women, a large house, money, anything in exchange for the names of the Christians responsible for his conversion.

El Shafie was fed an elaborate meal and he "agreed" to speak to the officer.

"I can't remember the names, but I'll tell you the name of our leader, and if you can catch him, he can tell you exactly the names of all the members."

The jail officer was happy to hear this and asked the name of their leader.

"The name of our leader is Jesus Christ," El Shafie replied. "If you can catch Him, catch Him."

The enraged officer slapped El Shafie and threw him against the wall. Guards dragged him into a dark room and he was tied by his hands, arms, feet and neck to a wooden cross.

The jailers went a step further by cutting his shoulder and pouring lemon and salt on the wound then left him to hang for two-and-a-half days.

The next thing he knew, he awoke in a hospital bed. One week later, he was fully recovered from the ordeal.

Unfortunately, he was tried and sentenced to death but friends helped him pull off a daring escape.

El Shafie stole a jet ski on the Sinai Peninsula and rode it to Israel.

He was later granted political asylum in Canada and eventually earned citizenship. He remained in Canada and did humanitarian work, which earned him the Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal in 2012.

El Shafie explained: "Persecuted Christians are dying every day, but they are still smiling. They are in a very deep dark night, but they still have the candles of the living God.

"Our enemies have a very strong army, have very strong weapons, but we have the Lord Almighty. They can kill the dreamer, but no one can kill the dream."

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