“Blessed are you when they revile and persecute you, and say all kinds of evil against you falsely for My sake. Rejoice and be exceedingly glad, for great is your reward in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you.” – Matthew 5:11-12
CBN NEWS – An English teacher from the United States was executed in Yemen on his way to work Sunday by an al Qaeda group that accused him of “proselytizing.”
Officials said a motorcycle gunman and an accomplice pulled alongside the vehicle that American Joel Shrum was riding in and opened fire.
Shrum was on his way to work in the city of Taiz at the time of the attack. He served as deputy director of the Swedish Institute, a language school, and was born in 1983.
The assailants escaped after the shooting, but an al Qaeda-linked group quickly claimed responsibility for the attack.
“This operation comes as a response to the campaign of Christian proselytizing that the West has launched against Muslims,” an unidentified person claiming responsibility on behalf of the group Ansar al-Sharia said in a message to journalists.
The group, whose name means “Partisans of Islamic Law,” also called Shrum “one of the biggest American proselytizers.”