Posted on 12/20/2009 3:19:51 PM PST by markomalley
In July 2008 a severe persecution of Christians broke out in the Indian state of Orissa. A 22 year old nun was burnt to death when angry mobs burnt down an orphanage in Khuntpali village in Barhgarh district, another nun was gang raped in Kandhamal, mobs attacked churches, torched vehicles, houses of Christians destroyed, and Fr. Thomas Chellen, director of the pastoral center that was destroyed with a bomb, had a narrow escape after a Hindu mob nearly set him on fire. The end result saw more than 500 Christians murdered, and thousands of others injured and homeless after their houses were reduced to ashes. Recently a strange and dramatic event took place in Orissa, which has many people talking and wondering.
In recent months, herds of wild elephants have begun to storm villages that are home to some of the worst persecutors of Christians during the troubles. In one village, where in August a year ago the Christians had to run for their lives while their homes were being destroyed by rioters, a herd of elephants emerged from the surrounding jungle exactly one year later, in July 2009, at the same time of the day of the attack.
These elephants first attacked a rock crusher machine owned by a key leader of the persecution movement. They then went on to destroy his house and farms.
Hundreds of villagers have been forced to take shelter in camps in the Indian state of Orissa after repeated attacks by a herd of elephants.
Seven people have been killed and several others injured in attacks by a herd of 12-13 elephants over the past few weeks in Kandhamal district.
Over 2,500 people living in 45 villages have been affected by the attacks, district chief Krishen Kumar said.
It is, however, unclear why this herd of elephants migrated from the Lakheri sanctuary in a neighbouring district. He said the herd had travelled some 300km into Kandhamal, and even entered a town in the district. Wildlife officials were camping at the site of the attacks and trying to find out why the elephants had come out of their sanctuary. The villagers say elephants attack their areas in herds, causing heavy destruction.
Gaining momentum, they rampaged through other non-Christian homes, demolishing gardens and singling out the home of persecutors, leaving Christian homes untouched.
These strange attacks have spread, and according to a report, the elephants have already destroyed more than 700 houses in 30 villages, and killed five people. Nobody in this area has seen or even imagined the unique appearance of a herd of wild elephants such as this. The elephants are not ordinary elephants; they appear to be on a mission.
Typically, smaller elephants enter a village first, appearing to survey the community. They then rejoin the larger herd, and larger elephant soon follow and get the job done.
The ministry partner in India stated “We think that it might have something to do with the avenging the blood of martyrs. In fact the fear of God has fallen on the local people, who have labeled these elephants “Christian elephants.”
With little help coming from the administration, the villagers have taken to road blockades. "The elephants have destroyed crops and selected houses. But officials too express helplessness. "There is no permanent habitat of elephants in Sundargarh. They come from Bihar, Chhattisgarh and Jharkhand where their habitats have shrunk. But is not clear how and why these elephants reached Orissa.
Gaining momentum, they rampaged through other non-Christian homes, demolishing gardens and singling out the home of persecutors, leaving Christian homes untouched.
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INDEED.
PRAISE GOD.
Stranger things are going to increasingly happen in our era.
BLESSED BE THE NAME OF THE LORD.
I’m on the side of the elephants!
Go elephant, go!
Anybody else have a plausible explanation other than the hand of God?
They don't call them miracles for nothing you know.
Pretty strange story. Sounds like they have been trained by the CIA. (Love the part about the younger ones acting as scouts.)
I love these elephants. I have met several of them, deep in the jungles of Sri Lanka, just me and them, eye to eye, and it was one of the highlights of my life.
IIRC The movie ‘Elephant Walk’, starring Liz Taylor was premised on the legend that ‘Elephants never Forget’ their migratory trails.
It is possible that this area they are “rampaging” has some old migration connection.
But I do love the implication that this is a mastodon miracle.
Elephants never forget...
God can use beasts to accomplish his will if he so chooses. By the way, can we bring a shipload of them over here and turn them loose on Pennsylvania Avenue?
Too bad the GOP elephant is such a wuss compared to these Indian ones.
The world is sometimes a wondrous place full of everyday miracles and some definitely not everyday. BTW, the article didn't mention exactly who it is persecution the Christians - maybe they figured they didn't need to?
Maybe they’re on a mission from God? Interesting that they single out the non-Christian homes...wonder who told them which houses those were?
2 Kings 2:24
“He turned around, looked at them and called down a curse on them in the name of the LORD. Then two bears came out of the woods and mauled forty-two of the youths.”
Ok, I’ll say it:
GEORGE W. BUSH DID IT w/the complicity of Karl Rove.
FYI - a book about elephants that I really like is When Elephants Weep.
These are amazing beings.
Hinduism, the other ROP.
And to think that Mother Teresa spent almost her entire life caring for those Hindus that their co-religionists did not want to be bothered with.
Elephants are extremely intelligent animals and their ‘’memory’’ is what you might expect for a higher-order social mammal. It doesn’t surprise me at all they would observe the comings and goings of those other animals, in the case the humans who tormented them and then dish out their brand of revenge. Although lions do hunt them, mostly their young, most animals tend to stay out of their way. I’m curious as to the identity of these ‘’villagers’’ who attacked the nuns. (Muslims maybe?)
Elephants are my favorite ‘wild’ animal.
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