Pastor pleads for international support to combat deadly persecution

Editorial introduction: Jesus said that in the times of the end, Christians “will be handed over to be persecuted and put to death, and you will be hated by all nations because of me” (Matt 24:9). This prophecy seems to be coming to pass around the world today. This report sheds fresh light on the suffering of our brothers and sisters in Nigeria, for your information and prayers.

In the latest of seemingly never-ending reports of deadly violence in Nigeria comes news that suspected Boko Haram terrorists killed at least 65 people at a funeral in a village in the north-east of the country.¹

In the past decade, tens of thousands of people — mainly Christians — in the north and middle-belt regions of Nigeria have been killed by Islamist Boko Haram terrorists and armed Fulani herdsmen, while millions more have been displaced.

The facts about exactly what or who is driving the violence are hard to nail down in an environment where different interest groups advance vastly divergent narratives, and in which rumours and allegations abound.

But some of the hard facts are that the death and destruction is continuing, the tragedy which some human rights groups are calling ‘genocidal’ is not getting the global media attention it deserves, and there has been no constructive international engagement with the crisis in Africa’s most populous nation.

Fears of Government Complicity

I spoke to a Nigerian pastor who contacted Gateway News in the hopes of reaching the international community with the concerns of “many Christians” who feel that their government is not only failing to protect them but is complicit in their suffering.

Pastor Emmanuel² in Nigeria’s middle-belt Plateau state, who has spent years reaching out to Nigerian Fulani people with the love of Christ, said that many Christians now believe that most of the Fulani herdsmen currently involved in terror were brought into the country from other African countries by President Muhammudu Buhari to destabilise the government, in the event of him losing the presidential election which took place earlier this year.

Pastor Emmanuel said many Christians are also starting to believe allegations made in public in 2014 by a former national anti-corruption chief, Nuhu Ribadu, that Buhari brought in thousands of Fulani herdsmen for the same reason before the 2015 election, but abandoned them when he won at the polls, resulting in them turning to “banditry”.

Pastor Emmanuel believes that if Ribadu’s 2014 allegations against Buhari were false, he would have been arrested, but nothing happened to him and the President never denied his claims. Emmanuel believes Buhari may have found a way to co-opt Ribadu.³ Both Buhari and Ribadu are Fulanis.

Many Nigerian Christians believe that the Fulani herdsmen currently involved in terror were brought into the country by their President for political reasons.

Islamising Nigeria

Pastor Emmanuel continued that the belief that both Boko Haram and the Fulani attackers were ‘created’ by President Buhari is gaining ground in Christian circles. Likewise, many Christians are convinced that the President is pursuing an agenda to Islamise Nigeria, whose population is roughly half Christian and half Muslim (with a small percentage of traditional religionists and people of no faith). The Muslim population is mainly in the north.

Emmanuel said that Christians in Nigeria were also baffled recently by the President’s proposed ‘Ruga’ programme to resettle Fulanis on land in every state of the country and to build houses and community infrastructure for them. He said the plan, purportedly to stop clashes between farmers and nomadic Fulani herders which Buhari maintains are about grazing land, was suspended after Nigerians (especially Christians) opposed it, asking why one would build houses for foreigners all over the country. According to media reports on the failed Ruga plan,⁴ critics also said it would send out a message that violence pays.

Pastor Emmanuel said the Ruga project is another indication of Buhari’s Islamisation agenda. While it is good that the plan has been suspended, he said Nigerian Christians need to remain alert. For instance, the Government is talking about carrying out a census of Fulanis and disarming people who legally own firearms, which would leave them vulnerable to armed Fulani attackers.

He also highlighted a development in which a High Court branded the country’s main Shia Islamic group a terrorist organisation,⁵ after it staged a protest in the capital, Abuja, in which a policeman and about six members of the group died. He said the group was protesting against the detention of its leader who has been held by the Government since 2015 despite court orders to release him.

“We Nigerians are asking why the Shiites were branded as terrorists when they have done nothing that compares with the killing, kidnapping and ransacking of villages by the Fulani herdsmen, who have never been branded as terrorists,” Pastor Emmanuel said.

Many Christians are convinced that the President is pursuing an agenda to Islamise Nigeria, whose population is roughly half Christian and half Muslim.

Calling on Christians

According to the pastor, Christians feel helpless about the security situation that threatens to destroy the country and it is vital that the international community take note of the situation, including the Government’s Islamisation campaign and complicity in the security crisis. He said they are looking to Christians around the world for prayer support and to help mobilise appropriate action.

He also said that Nigerian Christians lack a strong national voice, as the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN), which used to be that voice, has been politicised and some of its members have been bribed.⁶

A Christian political observer in Nigeria told Gateway News that while there are Christians in the country who share Pastor Emmanuel’s views, there is no formal Christian position on the security situation or allegations that Buhari has birthed terror groups.

She agreed that the Fulanis responsible for “kidnapping, raping and maiming” are mainly foreigners, but said there are many complex underlying issues around the ongoing and escalating violence in the country.

“The challenge is, talk is cheap and so you have rumours and allegations flying in all directions but no-one is coming forth with concrete evidence to support their claims.

“Having said that, in order to understand why some things defy logic in Nigeria, you need to understand that the president is Fulani. They are a minority with a super-race mentality who believe they are born to rule. So the president is first and foremost Fulani and then he is a [Sunni] Muslim and finally he is Nigerian. His loyalty is in that order. He makes no apologies about that, neither does he hide it.”

Hope for Action

Amid fresh concerns that Boko Haram terrorists may have killed kidnapped Christian schoolgirl Leah Sharibu,⁷ Open Doors USA chief David Curry accused the Nigerian Government of lacking the resources to protect terror victims and not having the will to fight the terrorist agenda of ISIS-affiliated groups in the country.

Indications that the United States and Britain are committing themselves to prioritise combating Christian persecution and religious freedom issues around the world⁸ will hopefully translate into meaningful action as far as the suffering Christian community in affected parts of Nigeria is concerned.

When one part of the Body suffers, “every part suffers with it” (1 Cor 12:26). If you would like to do more to stand with the persecuted Church in Nigeria, we recommend Open Doors UK and the Barnabas Fund. If you know of other reliable ministries working in this area, do post them below.

Notes

1 See Fox News, 30 July 2019

2 Not his real name.

3 At the time Ribadu made his explosive allegations, he was on the team of Buhari’s election opponent Goodluck Jonathan. But ironically, Ribadu was a key member of Buhari’s 2019 election campaign and described his win at the polls as a victory for Nigerians.

4 E.g. see Ruga: High-level settlement for herdsmen shot down by suspicion. Punch NG, 7 July 2019.

5 Nigeria bans local Shi'ite group after protests. Reuters, 28 July 2019

6 Having said this, CAN has accused Buhari of pursuing an Islamisation agenda. Read more here.

7 See Nigerian government admonished amidst fresh concerns about Leah Sharibu. Gateway News, 26 July 2019.

8 E.g. U.S. and Britain putting a new emphasis on religious freedom abroad. Crux, 12 July 2019.

Dark fantasies become reality as hell breaks loose on earth.

Even before I learnt that the main target of the Paris massacre was a theatre that until recently was owned by Jews,¹ I had been wondering whether we Westerners were reaping the consequences of 'dancing with the devil'.

Dark Concert

That so many civilians enjoying an evening out should suddenly find themselves face to face with a virtual firing squad almost defies the imagination. It was an appalling attack on unsuspecting individuals which had all the hallmarks of Satan. But there was evidently an elephant in the room, a great unmentionable that dare not speak its name.

London Mayor Boris Johnson referred to the perpetrators – Islamic State terrorists – as a 'death cult',² which it certainly is. But what commentators seem deliberately to have missed – along with the Bataclan concert hall's Jewish connection – was the link between such evil extremism and the dark nature of the concert that claimed most of the lives lost last Friday night.

The Eagles of Death Metal band had apparently just started a song called Kiss the devil³ when the gunmen opened fire and the auditorium morphed into the devil's domain. Fantasy became reality, with one witness describing it as "hell". I am not suggesting in any way that the victims had brought this disaster on themselves, but I am saying that Western society as a whole is partly responsible. For we have collectively lowered our guard against the demonic forces now unleashed with such ferocity, by betraying our Judeo-Christian foundations.

We have collectively lowered our guard against the demonic forces no unleashed with such ferocity.

'Prophetic' Media?

There was mention of prophecy in the Mail on Sunday, who recalled their "prophetic" report in May headlined "Med boats' secret cargo: jihadis bound for Britain". The same paper also reported the "chilling prophecy" of a controversial film about a terrorist rampage in Paris – about to open in French cinemas – that has now had to be withdrawn twice in the wake of the actual thing happening instead (it was also due to be screened earlier this year, but was pulled following the attacks on the Charlie Hebdo satirical magazine and the Jewish supermarket).

Hardly anyone in the media talks of biblical prophecy, however. Yet that would shed an awful lot of light on this dark subject! Just one example of this is that the world would be full of violence – as in the days of Noah – in the time immediately preceding the return of Jesus to set up his kingdom of peace.

What 'Civilisation'?

Politicians have referred to the Paris massacre as an 'attack on civilisation'. But my response is: what civilisation? We seem obsessed with dark and lurid fantasy, and with images of violence in our living rooms. We congratulate ourselves on our culture of 'freedom', bought at a great price in two world wars and, before that, with the blood of Christian martyrs. They went to the stake for the cause of publishing God's word, which has now been discarded and thrown to the winds, only to be replaced by moral relativism where there are virtually no rules for living; where we promote death (through abortion and euthanasia, for example) and set about 'redefining' marriage, family and society as a whole.

We congratulate ourselves on our culture of 'freedom', but this freedom was bought at a great price and built on the word of God, which has now been discarded.

Homophobia and Islamaphobia are among the many politically correct don'ts to have replaced the Ten Commandments. As I write, a highly respected Northern Ireland preacher is facing trial on allegations of breaking the latter rule. It's possibly only a matter of time before we are denied the freedom of saying that Jesus is the only way to God (a claim he made about himself) for fear of offending other religions. But our civilisation was built on this very statement! We believed him, because he was totally authentic, and rose from the dead. We don't have to force anyone else to believe him; we simply declare the truth about him.

Defences Down

Tragically, however, our moral defences are down, our walls have been breached, and the foundations of our Judeo-Christian civilisation have been undermined. That is why we are wobbling as a society in grave danger of collapse.

I can't speak for France and the rest of Europe, but as far as Britain is concerned, time is running out. The iconic Big Ben clock, which has become a symbol of the UK throughout the globe, has recently undergone repairs amidst fears that it is rapidly becoming beyond repair. It is, of course, part of the complex comprising our famous Houses of Parliament, which is itself in danger from crumbling foundations with talk of MPs possibly having to move out.

Building on Sand

We were once a great nation sending missionaries around the world to share the life-changing (indeed, nation-changing) good news about Jesus. But now we have thrown out what was once most precious to us. Jesus told us to build on the rock. But we have built on sand.

Instead of building on the Rock that has stood the test of time, the sure and certain foundation that is Christ, the certainty of his resurrection from the dead and his coming again to set up an everlasting kingdom, we have built on the shifting sand of appeasement, uncertainty and short-term comfort.

Instead of building on the Rock that has stood the test of time, we have built on the shifting sand of appeasement, uncertainty and short-term comfort.

But there is still hope. Our loving Saviour holds out arms of love, willing us to return from our self-imposed exile and, with Him, repair the walls that have broken down. Oh, that one of our leaders would call a national day of prayer! That is my prayer.

References

1 According to JNN News, quoting the Arutz-7 news site, a member of the radical group Army of Islam told French security services back in 2011 that "we had planned an attack against the Bataclan because its owners are Jewish". It seems the perpetrators may not have known that the venue has recently changed hands. I have consistently stated in earlier articles that the ultimate target of Islamic State is the Jewish nation, referred to in a new video as Muslims' No 1 enemy.

2 Johnson, B. Islamic State? This death cult is not a state and it's certainly not Islamic. The Telegraph, 28 June 2015.

3 Lyrics include: "Who'll love the devil? Who'll sing his song? I will love the devil and his song." Horton, H. Photos show the excitement at the Bataclan minutes before 89 audience members were killed in the Paris attackaclan minutes before 89 audience members were killed in the Paris attack. The Telegraph, 17 November 2015.