Posted on 02/28/2005 7:58:25 PM PST by This Just In
One morning in February 2004 Ladi, her husband, and seven children were doing their daily chores in their home in northern Nigeria when they heard gunshots. The news spread like wildfire: "Fundamentalist Muslims are attacking our village!"
Ladi and her household usually attend morning devotions, but that morning they stayed home. "Some people in our village were at the prayer meeting when the attack started and others were at home," Ladi recalls. All the men who attended the prayer meeting were murdered.
After the initial gunshots, Ladi saw the attackers sweeping through the village-killing, looting, and burning. She witnessed the murder of one of her sons.
Ladi lost both her son and husband in the attack. "My house was looted and burned to the ground. The attackers destroyed everything," she says.
This is just one example of the alarming increase in persecution against Christians in Nigeria as the battle between the Muslim north and the Christian south rages on. Thousands have been killed and wounded in religious violence in recent years. In fact, a Nigerian government-appointed committee reported that over 53,000 Christians and Muslims had been killed in the central state of Plateau between September 2001 and May 2004. Also, many Christians have been driven from their homes and hundreds of churches and schools destroyed.
Shari'a(strict Islamic law and jurisprudence) has been implemented in 12 northern states, as Muslim forces seek to Islamize all of Nigeria. But despite the violence, the church of Nigeria keeps growing dramatically with Christians numbering 59 million.
Ladi says she would like Christians all over the world to know what is happening to believers in northern Nigeria: "We do not have food. Our homes have been destroyed. Thousands of us are struggling to survive. We are helpless and we ask our brothers and sisters in Christ to help us. We want them to see that it is because of our faith in Christ that this has happened to us."
I cant imagine living in a place like that.
When we consider the things we whine about, these people are genuinely grateful just for food and shelter for a single day, while we fret over something years ahead that we have no power over at all.
Or, perhaps more effectively, why don't you organize a troop of men and go over there to protect those innocent victims from Muslim fundamentalist violence?
People from the US did it in the 1930's to protect Spain from Franco's fascists. Neo-Nazis did it in Bosnia in the 1990's. I see no reason why Christians in the 2000's aren't over there protecting their fellows from the depredations of Muslim fascists. (No, I'm not comparing Christians to neo-Nazis... I'm sure there are hundreds of examples I could have cited, but that one came to mind.)
It's one thing to whine and pray about these sorts of problems. It's another to DO something about it that will actually have some effect.
When people claim that Muslims haven't declared war on infidels they have their heads in the sand.
You and I share differing views in this regard.
"It's one thing to whine and pray about these sorts of problems. It's another to DO something about it that will actually have some effect."
Throughout old/new testament the scriptures speak of the importance, and "effect" of prayer. To pray is to act. I'm not sure if you've ever had prayer answered. I have on countless occasions, and not always the way I wanted the Lord to answer, but He did nonetheless.
You don't have to fly to another continent to assist these "helpless" individuals. It is important to note that I have friends who are in other countries, whom I support financially, ministering to the needs of others. Furthermore, I'm guessing that right about now there are thousand of children around the world that are enjoying practical gifts that my fellow Christians and I have provided. Would you describe this as "DO"ing?
" Yes...Amen. My question is, where are the UN peacekeepers?"
Out raping the women and children.
We have much to be thankful for.
Bump.
Samaritan's Purse does a lot of work in these countries, but it's not the same as a liberating force (army). Franklin Graham took a lot of abuse for calling 'a spade a spade' in regards to muslims, but he's been doing work amongst these countries in Africa, where the Christians are being decimated by the muslims, for decades now. If anyone understands the mindset of these people, he does.
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