http://www.assistnews.net/Stories/s04100016.htm
ASSIST News Service (ANS) - PO Box 2126, Garden Grove, CA 92842-2126 USA
E-mail: danjuma1@aol.com, Web Site: www.assistnews.net
Monday, October 4, 2004
NIGERIA PERSECUTION HOT SPOT
Open Doors Plans Spiritual, Physical Support For Christians
OPEN DOORS USA
Jerry Dykstra, Media Relations Director
Phone: 616-915-4117
E-mail: JerryD@odusa.org
SANTA ANA, CA (ANS) -- Nigeria is at the forefront of the bloody conflict between Islam and Christianity in Africa.
Muslim militants want to impose sharia law (strict Islamic law and jurisprudence) upon everyone - including Christians. Already 12 Nigerian states have implemented sharia law. The militants want to turn Nigeria into a Muslim nation.
Up to 1,500 Christians have perished so far this year - including 10 pastors - in Muslim-Christian clashes. At least 1,000 women are now widows. And more than 9,000 children have lost their parents.
Compass Direct reported this week that an Islamic militant group that has been terrorizing non-Muslim communities in northern Nigeria since the beginning of the year struck again on Sept. 20. They burned down villages, killed four policemen and kidnapped seven Christians. Other raids on Christian villages resulted in death and destruction.
The nation is home to 130 million people, making it the most populous country in Africa. With an average family size of six, the population continues to grow rapidly. Nigeria is 49 percent Christian and 45 percent Muslim with Muslims dominating the north and Christians the south.
Open Doors, an international ministry to persecuted Christians, is committed to helping Christians in Nigeria and in other African countries such as Sudan and Ethiopia where Christians are suffering for their faith in Jesus Christ.
Specific plans to help Nigerian Christians include:
Rushing 30,000 Bibles to encourage our brothers and sisters. Many Christians lost their Bibles as they fled in panic from their homes.
Providing support for 1,000 new widows. These brave women are struggling to support their families on their own.
Reaching out to the 9,000 new orphans with trauma counseling. Many of these boys and girls saw their family members brutally killed by machetes. They are deeply traumatized.
Providing food, clothing and other relief aid for widows and orphans. Many are barely surviving in refugee camps.
Helping rebuild churches that have been destroyed.
Visiting our brothers and sisters in person to encourage them under the severe persecution they are facing.
"There are so many needs in Nigeria and the rest of Africa that have to be addressed," says Open Doors USA President Dr. Carl Moeller. "And Open Doors and the Body of Christ - the church - have an opportunity to respond in the name of Jesus. Pray for our struggling brothers and sisters. And join us in helping to support them with Bibles and spiritual encouragement while also addressing their emotional and physical needs."
An estimated 200 million Christians worldwide suffer interrogation, arrest and even death for their faith in Christ, with another 200 to 400 million facing discrimination and alienation. Open Doors serves and strengthens the Persecuted Church in the world's most difficult areas through Bible and Christian literature distribution, leadership training and assistance, Christian community development and prayer and presence ministry. To partner with Open Doors, call toll free at 888-5-BIBLE-5 (524-2535) or go to our USA web site at www.odusa.org. To request a complimentary six-month subscription to our monthly newsletter Frontline Faith, call 888-5-BIBLE-5 or register on-line.
(If you would like to schedule an interview on this press release, please contact Jerry Dykstra at 616-915-4117)
Jerry Dykstra
Media Relations Coordinator
Open Doors with Brother Andrew
Telephone: 616-915-4117
E-Mail: jerryd@odusa.org
Fax: 616-667-8696
** You may republish this story with proper attribution.
Note to Smartass: Do you have a graphic of a worried sheep? If so, this post could use one...Hard to believe grenades are being smuggled inside live sheep's bottom ends. Usually the jihadis put explosives in dead animals and even dead humans, but this seems to be new (at least to me it is).
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NOTE: THE FOLLOWING TEXT IS AN EXACT QUOTE:
http://www.internet-haganah.us/harchives/002859.html
October 05, 2004
Variation on a Palestinian folk expression...
Life is like grenade: one day it's in your hand, the next day it's up your sheep's ass:
The IDF and the Shabak (Shin Bet) have foiled numerous attempts by terrorists in the Gaza strip to smuggle hand grenades inside the behinds of sheep.
The new method was foiled about a month ago after the arrest in the Kahn Younis area of a Arab cell identified with the "Abu Rish" faction of the Tanzim terrorist group. The Arabs tried to smuggle through the Mousai road in the southern Gaza Strip hand grenades inside four sheep belonging to them.
In the last few days Abrihim Draj'am, one of the members of the cell, has been charged with a crime. Draj'am is accused of exploiting the permit given to him by the IDF in order to smuggle weapons in the Gaza strip.
During the month of July, Draj'am tried to smuggle through the pass he worked at eight hand grenades in the behinds of live sheep that were passing at the passageway. The hand grenades were to be used to commit terror attacks against soldiers who were stationed at the place. In his investigation Draj'am said he was to receive the sheep with the grenades in their behinds, and then he was to remove the grenades and hide them in his house.
Grenades in a milk kettle
The arrest of Draj'am occured when he was on the way to meeting another terrorist who was supposed to train in on how to insert the grenades into the sheeps behinds. Two of his friends were also arrested.
From an investigation it was found that Draj'am was also in contact with other smugglers who used to smuggle through the Tabuah checkpoint explosive devices inside milk kettles. In the beginning six hand grenades were found inside a milk kettle, and even this smuggling operation Draj'am knew about it.
The IDF says this is the first time they have witnessed an attempt to smuggle explosive materials inside live animals. The IDF worries that terrorist groups have managed, using the same tactic, to smuggle into Gaza and outside of it many arms.
Posted by aaron at October 05, 2004 02:35 PM