How 1 Man Found Faith in the Face of Death: The Last 1 out of 21 Men Beheaded by ISIS was not Actually a Christian

From the start Jesus has reminded those who wish to follow him that the road is not soft and one has to "take up his cross" (cf. Matthew 16: 24)

But, the promise he said is clear that "...whoever loses his life for My sake will find it." (Matthew 16:25)

"For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul?" (Matthew 16:26) 
 

1 out of the 21 men beheaded by ISIS last February 2015 was not actually a Christian:

"ISIS announced the execution of 21 Copts but only 20 names were confirmed, most of them were from the province of Minya(Upper Egypt). There was an inaccuracy in the number of Egyptian Hostages; there were only 20 Egyptians(Copts). Then who was this remaining one non-Coptic victim?"

The last remaining non-Christian man is said to be:

"...[A] Chadian Citizen (Darker skin shown in picture) who accepted Christianity after seeing the immense faith of his fellow Coptic Christians to die for Christ. When Terrorist forced him to reject Jesus Christ as God, looking at his Christian friends he replied, “their God is my God“ so the terrorist beheaded him also."

Just think about his faith. It is not unlike the thief by the side of Christ:

“One of the criminals who were hanged railed at him, saying, “Are you not the Christ? Save yourself and us!” But the other rebuked him, saying, “Do you not fear God, since you are under the same sentence of condemnation? And we indeed justly; for we are receiving the due reward of our deeds; but this man has done nothing wrong.” And he said, “Jesus, remember me when you come in your kingly power.” And he said to him, “Truly, I say to you, today you will be with me in Paradise.” – Luke 23:39-43 

How a "Blue Nun" Stitched a Young Woman's Throat

Saint Mariam of Jesus Crucified in brown habit

Today, May 17 2015, Pope Francis will canonize 4 blessed in St. Peter's Square. Among them are 2 Palestinian nuns.

Saint Mariam Baouardy, known in religion as Mariam of Jesus Crucified, was born in Ibillin, located in the hill country of upper Galilee, Palestine. Her family originated in Damascus, Syria. They were Catholics of the Melkite Greek-Catholic Rite, descendants of the Archeparchy of Antioch, the place where the followers of Jesus were first called Christians.

A story goes about how a Muslim man slit the throat of the then young girl Mariam upon his intention to convert Mariam to Islam at which the young girl exclaimed in rejection: “Muslim, no, never! I am a daughter of the Catholic Church, and I hope by the grace of God to persevere until death in my religion, which is the only true one.”

The Furious man being rejected by this young Christian became violent. He kicked the young Mariam to the floor then draw a sword and slit her throat. Thinking that the young girl was dead, he dumped the bloody body of the poor girl in a dark alley and left. This happened in the feast of the birth of the Blessed Virgin, September 8, 1858. After that violent experience she then recalled how she stayed alive:

“A nun dressed in blue picked me up and stitched my throat wound. This happened in a grotto somewhere. I then found myself in heaven with the Blessed Virgin, the angels and the saints. They treated me with great kindness. In their company were my parents. I saw the brilliant throne of the Most Holy Trinity and Jesus Christ in His humanity. There was no sun, no lamp, but everything was bright with light. Someone spoke to me. They said that I was a virgin, but that my book was not finished. "

This story she recounted to her Novice Mistress in Marseilles, France. Until her death bed, Saint Mariam recalled how an unknown nun made her some soup for her recovery and how she greedily asked for more of this heavenly delicious soup:

"She made me some soup! Oh, such good soup! There I was a long time, looking, and never ate soup like that. I have the taste in my mouth. She promised me that at my last hour, she will give me a little spoonful of it."