Pray for Persecuted Brothers and Sisters in Nigeria
A few years ago Larry Taunton wrote excellent book I highly recommend to you: Around the World in (more than) 80 Days. Larry Alex Taunton is a brother in Christ who has and excellent podcast and traveled widely around the world. Taunton is a well read author, thinker, debater and historian. I highly recommend his book on the late infamous atheist Christopher Hitchens. Below are a few choice quotes from his book Around the World on the nation of Nigeria--see the Wednesday in the Word for more on this (my recording got cut off):
"Nigeria is consistently ranked as one of the most dangerous countries in the world, if not the most dangerous.i Plateau State suffered violent clashes with armed Muslim militia, resulting in multiple instances of rioting and slaughter in 2001, 2008, 2010, and bombings in 2014. Since that time, the bishop told me, Westerners ceased coming. “Nigeria is like a scarecrow,” he said. “You only need to see it from afar to be afraid.” And they are afraid for good reason. Jay Smith, my aforementioned friend, advised me not to go for good reason, too. His opinion on Nigeria was not acquired from Tripadvisor. He went to Nigeria more than once. During a 2008 visit to that country, he spent nine hours hiding in the wheel well of a car while a mob went up and down a blocked highway looking for Westerners to kill or kidnap and hold for ransom. Nigeria was, in his view, unique to the African experience. It wasn’t that terrible things didn’t happen in other countries; it was the sheer magnitude of them in Nigeria. The bishop told me as much: “Even other Africans are afraid of Nigeria.”
“Nigeria was a country of civil war, violence, corruption, child trafficking, kidnapping, and Islamic terrorism long before there was anything worth fighting over. A former British colony, Nigeria was abandoned by the British, never again to return, at the time of the Nigerian Civil War (1967–1970). But now, with a booming oil industry, the problems were exacerbated as factions fought for control of the country and the oil fields. In 2001, 2008, 2010, and 2014, armed Islamic groups attacked Christians throughout the country. Jos, the city where we were going, was a hot spot. According to Jwan, since 2008, even Christian missionaries ceased coming. In terms of Westerners, the country was like Easter Island—signs of them remained, but they were gone.”
“I was humbled by the courage and faith of these people. To me, Luke and Patience were like Christian superheroes. Were such people given the means and help they currently lack, they would change the world. American Christians, by contrast, have allowed their culture to be hijacked by evil elements hell-bent on the annihilation of the unborn, freedom of speech, religious liberty, and the family as we know it. This is happening is because Christians have preferred silence to what I will call a soft persecution—a lost scholarship or promotion, perhaps, or being ostracized socially. There is much we could learn from Nigerian Christians. The United States Congress named Nigeria the most dangerous country in the world for Christians. Even so, those I have met here are joyous, optimistic, and prepared to defend themselves while also proclaiming the love and hope of Jesus Christ in one of the most spiritually dark places on earth.”
“There is a sense in which Nigerian Christians feel forsaken by God. It is the end of the earth. When a shooting takes place in America, it makes international headlines. Unfortunately, violence of this nature, often targeting Christians, occurs in this part of the world with great regularity and usually goes unreported in Western media. It is as if these people don’t matter. Recently a freelance videographer working for BBC told me he offered them footage of Nigerian churches being burned to the ground by the Fulani. BBC refused it. They simply weren’t interested. Even so, the country isn’t forsaken by God. As I discovered, a cheery Christian community flourishes there. For me, Jwan Zhumbes and the Christian people of Nigeria, are a living example of a great theological truth of which the Apostle John wrote in the first chapter of his Gospel: “The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.”
Again I highly recommend this book to you. It can inform your prayer life. Let us be praying for and remembering our brothers and sisters in Christ in Nigeria and in other very hostile countries around the world. Praise the Lord He has not forgotten them and He will avenge them against all injustices and evils. Woe to the fools who think they can harm Christ's church and get away with it. They cannot and they will not no matter how much power and wealth seems to be on their side. It is a delusion that has deceived them and their will be hell to pay. Praise God! Soli Deo Gloria