Defining persecution

A picture of what is to come under militant atheism

Terror groups round up messengers of peace

They murdered his brother; he responded by sharing the gospel

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.

Christians pay the ultimate price as biblical prophecies are played out

The shocking story of Pakistani Christian Asia Bibi, and the persecution of Christians generally in that country, alongside the alarming news of plans to implant microchips in humans, is convincing evidence that we are surely living in the last days.

It was apocalyptic scenarios like this that the risen Jesus graphically conveyed in his Revelation message to the Apostle John, in exile on the Isle of Patmos, as a picture of what life would be like towards the end of the age, shortly before his return.

It would be particularly marked by vicious persecution of his followers, who would nevertheless be rewarded with eternal bliss in his presence by standing firm in refusing to bow to worldly pressure.

Ready to Die?

Asia Bibi was a poorly paid farm labourer who has incurred the wrath of an entire nation for apparently insulting Muhammad – a nation, it seems, that appears unable to protect her from being lynched by angry mobs after the Supreme Court acquitted her of ridiculous charges of blasphemy for which she has endured the best part of the last ten years on death row.

Her alleged crime was committed during an argument with colleagues who accused her of contaminating a vessel used for drawing water from a well – simply because she was an ‘infidel’. Now, finally, she has been freed – or has she?

The Pakistani Government, led by former cricket international Imran Khan, claims no country has so far offered her asylum – we know, shamefully, that this is so far the case with Britain, who fear reprisals from Islamists here – so she is being held in a ‘safe house’.

But she and her family remain in fear of their lives. In fact, at least two of those who have stood up for her, including a former state governor and a Government minister, have already paid with their lives for doing so.

Asia Bibi was a poorly paid farm labourer who has incurred the wrath of an entire nation for apparently insulting Muhammad

Governor of Punjab Salmaan Taseer was gunned down by his own bodyguard – shot 27 times in central Islamabad – who was subsequently hailed a hero with an estimated 100,000 mourners attending his funeral.¹

Shahbaz Bhatti, Pakistan’s minister for minorities and himself a Christian, also protested against Asia’s conviction and sentence. And less than two months after Governor Taseer’s death, his car was riddled with bullets as he drove through Islamabad. He died in hospital.

But he had evidently known what was coming, as was learnt through a video released after his assassination. Speaking to the camera, he said: “I believe in Jesus Christ who has given his own life for us, and I am ready to die for a cause. I’m living for my community…and I will die to defend their rights.”²

Persecution…and Then the End

Christians in Pakistan have suffered dreadfully, with hundreds of lives lost through suicide and other bomb attacks on churches. It is a despicable situation which none of our weasel Western governments have the spine to address.

During his earthly ministry, Jesus warned: “The time is coming when anyone who kills you will think they are offering a service to God. They will do such things because they have not known the Father or me” (John 16:2f).

And in his revelation to John, this was spelled out a little more graphically: “I saw under the altar the souls of those who had been slain because of the word of God and the testimony they had maintained. They called out in a loud voice, ‘How long, Sovereign Lord, holy and true, until you judge the inhabitants of the earth and avenge our blood?’ Then each of them was given a white robe, and they were told to wait a little longer, until the full number of their fellow servants, their brothers and sisters, were killed just as they had been” (Rev 6:9-11).

Later on, a great multitude appeared from every nation, tribe, people and language – all dressed in white robes and worshipping God who would “wipe away every tear from their eyes” (Rev 7:9-17).

Speaking of the last days, Jesus had earlier said:

Then you will be handed over to be persecuted and put to death, and you will be hated by all nations because of me. At that time many will turn away from the faith and will betray and hate each other, and many false prophets will appear and deceive many people. Because of the increase of wickedness, the love of most will grow cold, but the one who stands firm to the end will be saved.

And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come. (Matthew 24:9-14)

Alarm Bells Over Implants

Meanwhile alarm bells have been ringing over the prospect of British companies implanting staff with microchips to improve security, according to a report in The Guardian.

UK firm BioTeq, which offers the implants to businesses and individuals, has already fitted 150 in the UK. The tiny chips, implanted in the flesh between the thumb and forefinger, are similar to those for pets. They apparently enable people to open their front door, access their office or start their car with a wave of their hand. Another company, Biohax of Sweden, also provides human chip implants the size of a grain of rice.

Christians in Pakistan have suffered dreadfully, with hundreds of lives lost through suicide and other bomb attacks on churches.

In earlier articles I explained that we would appear to be approaching the days when the biblical warning, also in Revelation, against taking the Mark of the Beast is about to be fulfilled. The prophecy reads: “It [the Beast] also forced all people, great and small, rich and poor, free and slave, to receive a mark on their right hands or on their foreheads, so that they could not buy or sell unless they had the mark…” (Rev 13:16f).

One of our readers, Patricia Jelbert, has already witnessed moves towards using this kind of technology in South Africa, where she warned politicians, churches and schools about it. She writes: “We need to teach our children and grandchildren to say ‘no’. The cost will be high, eventually with no access to anything money buys, but the need not to succumb is vital.”³

In another alarming step towards this apocalyptic scenario, the BBC were recently reported to be encouraging ‘straight’ staff to wear badges indicating their support for LGBTQ+ colleagues, which is likely to ensure that those whose conscience will not allow them to back a gay lifestyle will be discriminated against.

I rest my case. We are living in the last days. Christians, look up, for your redemption is near (Luke 21:28).

References

1 Pendlebury, R. Row over a cup of water that led to murder, riots and global outrage with a Christian mother sentenced to death over blasphemy charges in Pakistan. The Daily Mail, 14 November 2018. 

2 Ibid.

3 Private email communication, 14 November 2018.

Things are getting tougher for Christians in the West. But what we face is nothing compared to millions of our brothers and sisters elsewhere in the world.

Many Christians both in Britain and in the USA have suffered for their faith in one way or another in recent years. Street preachers have been arrested for quoting passages of Scripture that don’t accord with political correctness.

Doctors have lost their jobs for refusing to do abortions and nurses have been disciplined for praying with patients. Air hostesses have been forbidden to wear a cross and bakers have been fined for refusing to write a pro-same-sex-marriage message on a wedding cake.

We make a lot of fuss about these things saying that persecution of Christians is now taking place in Western nations. Certainly, Christians are having to learn to live in societies that are now hostile to the Christian faith, which is a new experience in nations that have enjoyed Gospel freedom for centuries and have taken a leading part in worldwide missionary activities. A handful of Christians have actually suffered for their faith, but this is not persecution! It does not come anywhere near martyrdom!

Christianity Being Wiped Out in the Middle East

Since the beginning of this year, thousands of Christians in Mosul, northern Iraq have been faced with the stark choice between converting to Islam or being killed. Many have been beheaded and vast numbers have fled their homes, joining the hundreds of thousands of Christians who have been driven from their homes in Syria and other parts of Iraq. According to the Open Doors World Watch List, the situation for Christians is not much better in Iran, Saudi Arabia and Yemen, and even worse in Afghanistan and Pakistan.¹

The extent of the tragedy taking place today in the Middle East is indescribable! Christianity is virtually being wiped out from the whole region where the Gospel was first preached and where communities of Christians have lived and worked for 2000 years.

The tragedy taking place today in the Middle East is indescribable.

Why is it that we make such a fuss about a handful of Christians who have experienced hardship in our nation (not to belittle their suffering in any way) but there is no outcry about what is happening worldwide with vast numbers of Christians being savagely murdered?

Though accurate statistics are notoriously difficult to find, the Centre for the Study of Global Christianity in the United States estimates that 90,000 Christians died in 2016, targeted because of their faith – that is one every six minutes!² Meanwhile, around 500 million believers live in areas of the world where they are unable to express their faith freely.³

Hundreds of Millions Facing Persecution

Christians are jailed in Pakistan on trumped-up charges of blasphemy against Islam, whilst Pakistani Christian girls are systematically targeted for rape and murder; churches are burned and worshippers are slaughtered in Nigeria and in Egypt. Approximately 215 million Christians are reported to be currently experiencing ‘high’, ‘very high’, or ‘extreme’ persecution in different parts of the world today.⁴

North Korea is said to be the most dangerous place to be a Christian with large numbers languishing in jail and regularly suffering brutal torture. But, according to an Open Doors report, it is Islamic militant extremism that remains the global dominant driver of Christian persecution.⁵

The report says that 35 out of the 50 countries on the 2017 World Watch List are Muslim-majority nations where systematic persecution of Christians is taking place. The killing of Christians by Muslims in Nigeria last year rose by 62%.⁶

Around 500 million believers live in areas of the world where they are unable to express their faith freely.

The Western Church is Silent

Why are church leaders in the West so pitifully quiet about the persecution of our brothers and sisters in Christ? Why do we hear nothing from our church leaders? Why do we hear nothing from the Archbishop of Canterbury, bishops in the Church of England or the leaders of the Methodist Church, the Baptist Church, the Catholic church and other denominations?

Prince Charles has done more than the leaders of the churches to draw public attention to the incredible suffering of Christians in many parts of the world. He even devoted his contribution to Thought for the Day on BBC Radio 4 just before Christmas to speaking about the plight of Christians.

It surely is nothing less than a scandal that the Western churches remain so silent whilst their brothers and sisters are cruelly slaughtered or tortured and imprisoned simply because they refused to renounce their faith in Jesus, their Lord and Saviour.

Prince Charles is perfectly right in saying that Christians are the most persecuted people in the world. According to the International Society for Human Rights, a secular group with members in 38 countries, 80% of all acts of religious discrimination in the world today are directed at Christians.⁷

Why are church leaders in the West so pitifully quiet about the persecution of our brothers and sisters in Christ?

Leaders Must Speak Out

Yet still we hear nothing from church leaders in the USA, or Britain and Europe! Why is this? Is it because most of the killing of Christians is the work of Muslims and church leaders are afraid to say anything that might incur the wrath of Islamic leaders – especially if they are based in the oil-producing parts of the Middle East? Is it global politics that is shutting the mouths of Christian leaders? Or is it simply a case of ‘out of sight, out of mind’?

Church leaders should be seeking dialogue with Islamic clerics, who are the only ones who have the authority to say that the verses in the Qur’an calling Muslims to fight against Jews and Christians are not valid today. It is these verses that are used by terrorists to justify their actions: such as “Fight against those to whom the Scriptures were given (Jews and Christians) as believe in neither Allah nor the Last Day, who do not forbid what Allah and his Prophet have forbidden, and do not embrace the true faith, until they pay tribute willingly and are utterly subdued.” (Surah 9:29).⁸

But Christians should not be waiting for Church leaders to act – they should also be seeking dialogue with their Muslim neighbours. A good starting point is to compare the teaching of Jesus with that of Muhammad quoted above. Jesus said:

You have heard that it was said, ‘love your neighbour and hate your enemy’. But I tell you love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be sons of your Father in heaven. (Matt 5:43-44)

Church leaders should seek dialogue with Muslim clerics, and Christians should also be seeking dialogue with their Muslim neighbours.

We Can Each Respond

There are many other things Christians can do, such as responses suggested by Open Doors, which include prayer, writing to persecuted Christians, signing petitions, writing letters to local papers, writing to MPs and generally raising the subject with friends and neighbours and promoting discussion in the public square. We could even offer to take a refugee family into our home – or is that asking too much?

Jesus warned his followers that there would be persecution in the last days but he also said that God would hold us accountable if we do nothing to care for our brothers and sisters who are suffering and in need. Jesus said that when he returns in glory and brings the nations before him he will say to those who ignore the needs of others:

I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, I was a stranger and you did not invite me in, I needed clothes and you did not clothe me, I was sick and in prison you did not look after me. (Matt 25:42-43)

References

1 Open Doors Country Profiles.

2 Hallett, N. Christians most persecuted religious group in the world, study says. Breitbart, 28 December 2016.

3 Ibid.

4 Weber, J. ‘Worst Year Yet’: The Top 50 Countries Where It’s Hardest to Be a Christian. Christianity Today. 11 January 2017.

5 Open Doors: Persecution Trends.

6 See note 4.

7 Sherwood, H. Christianity under global threat due to persecution, says report. The Guardian, 13 October 2015.

8 There are many similar verses in the Qur’an. Click here for more information.

Acid attack victim challenges UK church over Christian persecution.

A Ugandan pastor severely injured by Islamic opponents of his faith has made a stirring appeal for British Christians to help their persecuted brothers in other parts of the world.

Umar Mulinde, who was badly burned by an acid attack outside his church five years ago, was speaking to a congregation in Doncaster, South Yorkshire, during a brief tour of the UK – organised by Methodist Friends of Israel – following treatment by Israeli doctors.

His challenge coincides with reports of an assassination attempt in Nigeria on Baroness Caroline Cox by Fulani Islamic militants¹ and Wednesday's illumination in red of Westminster Abbey and the Houses of Parliament in memory of faith martyrs, an initiative conceived by the Catholic charity Aid to the Church in Need.

No Country is Safe

Umar's plea also comes amid ongoing reports of violence against Christians in his country, despite the fact that Muslims are in a minority there. Even in the UK, former Muslims who have converted to Christianity are not safe, as indicated by the case of Nissar Hussain whose family had to be moved from their Bradford home under police protection following years of harassment.

Umar, now 40, suffered the "nightmare" of being "excommunicated" from his large Muslim family after deciding to follow Jesus. And having been taught to hate Jews, his heart melted when he understood from the scriptures how much God loved them.

"I have survived a dozen attempts on my life through guns, bombs and poison. On Christmas Eve 2011, as I was coming out of church, I was followed by extremists who, just as I was about to enter the car, poured acid on my face. Any metal other than gold will immediately dissolve in such a concoction, so you can imagine what happened to my skin."

A skin transplant and specialist hospital treatment only available in Israel has done much to repair his face, but it is clearly a serious handicap, requiring constant dabbing of his injured mouth while speaking. Recounting the attack, he said: "I screamed, 'Jesus!' But they shouted 'Allahu Akbar' [God is great!] They were praising God while hurting me. What kind of God is that? But for you to see me standing here is a miracle. Jesus has spared my life."

He then turned his focus to the suffering of Christians the world over and warned: "No country can say they are safe. It's a matter of time. This is not prophecy; it's a reality. Even in the UK you are sitting on a time-bomb."

Mulinde has said that no Christians are safe from persecution - even in the UK believers are "sitting on a time-bomb".

Parts of the Body Suffering

The persecution of Christians was a matter the Church in the West needed to address with the utmost urgency, he said, pointing out that, though the Ugandan constitution guarantees religious freedom and more than 80 per cent of the population is Christian, converts from Islam there are still persecuted.

"If one part of the body is hurting, the whole body suffers," he said, quoting St Paul's letter to the Corinthians on the subject of unity in the body of Christ (1 Cor 12:26). "I have buried people who have been strangled or poisoned just because of converting from Islam to Christianity."

He suggested that it wasn't 'Islamophobia' we should be concerned about, but 'Christophobia'. Efforts by media and politicians to defend Islam as a "peaceful religion" were deceptive. "Victims of persecution feel their Christian brothers have betrayed them," he said, adding that he was in touch with friends in Aleppo, Syria, who had witnessed the beheading of dozens of believers. He had a video to prove it, but did not recommend watching it in view of its gruesome scenes.

First the Jews...

Having expelled Jews from Arab lands, Islamic fundamentalists are now driving away Christians, he said. Whatever injustice is visited on Jews will sooner or later be visited on others, unless they do something to help. After the world was largely silent as violent attacks were committed on innocent bystanders in Jerusalem, bloodthirsty terrorists struck London, Paris, Brussels and Berlin as part of an ongoing attempt to bring the whole world under Islamic rule.

"Israel's war is our war if you are a Christian. I'm not a preacher of hate. I love Muslims and pray for them every day, even those who attacked me with acid. In fact, the first thing I did at the time was to ask God to forgive them!

Like it or not, the invasion is on. The Muslim extremists are trying their best to use intimidation and violence in order to establish an Islamic world empire under Sharia Law. There are even some places in the UK where the British police can't go."

Quoting a number of Quran verses calling for violence against 'infidels' (non-believers), he said: "Every non-Muslim is a candidate for death," adding: "If a church prays and does nothing, it will be defeated."

Whatever injustice is visited on Jews will sooner or later be visited on others, unless they do something to help.

Notes

1 Matthews, A. British baroness, 79, tells of her terror after she narrowly escaped an ambush by Islamist gunmen who targeted her delegation on a trip to Nigeria. Mail Online, 18 November 2016. Islamic militants have wreaked havoc among Christian communities in the area. Baroness Cox, a committed Christian, is a religious freedom campaigner and cross-bench member of the House of Lords.