A British Christian aid worker murdered in the Afghanistan capital of Kabul last week has been laid to rest.
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(Photo: AP Images / Serve Afghanistan, Ho)This is an undated handout image released Monday Oct. 20, 2008 by the charity SERVE Afghanistan, of aid worker Gayle Williams.
The funeral of Gayle Williams, 34, was held in Kabul’s British cemetery on Sunday. The ceremony was joined by around 50 expatriates, including mother Pat and sister Karen, as well as the British Deputy Head of Mission Andrew Patrick and Vice-Consul Laurence Jenkins.
Williams was shot dead last week as she walked to the offices of Serve Afghanistan, the organization she had spent the last few years volunteering for.
The Taliban claimed responsibility for her death, saying it had killed her because she was spreading Christianity.
During the funeral Sunday, mourners heard a reading of Williams’ favorite Psalm, Psalm 84, and joined in singing hymns. Afghan police stood guard nearby and streets were sealed off to prevent traffic passing close to the cemetery.
The leader of the funeral declined to be named out of concerns for security. He was quoted by the BBC as describing Williams as “a delightful young woman who loved life.”
“[A]nd she had that life cruelly cut short,” he continued.
“Two armed men gunned down a young, defenseless girl. It is hard to see this as anything other than a cowardly act that brings shame on the people who carried out this murder. And it brings shame and guilt on those that inspired them to do it.”
A colleague at Serve Afghanistan said Williams had “a positive perspective on life and through her joyfulness many heavy clouds were lifted.”
“She was a joyful and courageous woman,” the colleague was quoted as saying. “We lost a dear co-worker and we loved her.”
Williams’ family later visited the presidential palace at the invitation of President Hamid Karzai.
Serve Afghanistan has halted operations in the country following Williams’ death, and is one of many aid agencies in the region reviewing security and future operations.
The U.K.-registered Christian charity has been working with Afghan refugees since 1980 in Pakistan and gradually moved both its project work and its head office into Afghanistan itself. In 2005 Serve provided full-time paid employment to over 200 Afghan nationals
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Thank you Jesus that our sister is with you in Heaven and through her death, has brought a light to a most difficult area of the world!
I pray that you hold her friends and family close, that they may know your presence, your peace and joy that only you can provide in these times.
And I pray for conviction and revelation for the people who committed the murder, as well as for those who ordered it to be carried out. They too need the Lord's salvation, and only He can provide true justice, or forgive their sins and provide eternal life for them.
I hate to see any christian martyred, but I praise the Lord for the good that He can do through any circumstance.
From the article:
"And it brings shame and guilt on those that inspired them to do it.â
How often westerners are brainwashed by the mohammedans...
...we also believe in Jesus...they say..
we are the religion of peace...they add.
But in their countries it is blasphemy to preach Christ...
Did not the pharisees have Jesus crucified because they claimed that he blasphemed?
How often these same mohammedans condemn the Hebrews for what the Pharisees demanded of Pilate..to crucify Christ..
And yet they do the same...they persecute physically persecute and kill Christians for the same reasons.
Then they claim that their killing is warranted from God...
What Jesus said of those that persecuted him, also is true for those who persecute Christians..
-Why do you not understand what I am saying? It is because you cannot hear My word.
You are of your father the devil, and you want to do the desires of your father. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in truth, because there is no truth in him...He who is of God hears the words of God; for this reason you do not hear them, because you are not of God...John 8:42...
Jesus said- Your father Abraham rejoiced to see My day, and he saw it and was glad. John 8.56