"The Lord is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear?
The Lord is the strength of my life; of whom shall I be afraid?
When the wicked, even mine enemies and my foes, came upon
me to eat up my flesh, they stumbled and fell.
Though a host should encamp against me, my heart shall not fear,
though war should rise against me, in this I shall be confident.
One thing I have desired of the Lord that I will seek after;
that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life,
to behold the beauty of the Lord, and to inquire in His temple.
For in the time of trouble He shall hide me in His pavilion:
in the secret place of His tabernacle shall He hide me;
He shall set me up upon a rock."
(Psalm 27:1-5)
Worship Service in Nigeria
Image courtesy/Voice of the Martyrs
According to a recent bulletin from The Voice of the Martyrs Ministries, attacks
by Islamic jihadists have widowed more than 10,000 Christian women in
northern Nigeria over the past twenty years. Yet, it seems very little of the world's
media, not to mention the western Church, has focused on this serious ongoing crisis.
Furthermore, there are many Christians in the West today who have succumbed
to the false teaching that there will be no forthcoming event called the Rapture,
which will take place shortly before the Tribulation, when the Lord Jesus
will come to take His Bride (the Church) home to heaven.
In the apostle Paul's first letter to the assembly in Thessalonica, he wrote:
"For the Lord Himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, and with the
voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ
shall rise first: Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together
with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be
with the Lord. Wherefore comfort one another with these words."
(I Thessalonians 4:16-18)
I have not only been told that I am wrong to believe this, and that the Rapture
was actually invented by a man named John Nelson Darby, but, that I will
not escape the Tribulation or "Having my feet held to the fire."
I thought about this person's crass statement as I read my VOM bulletin about
the enduring faith of my Christian sisters in Nigeria. Women like Regina, whose
husband, Danbaki, was a missionary who moved their family to a remote
area in northwestern Nigeria to preach the gospel message there.
On June 14, 2022 Islamic militants attacked the village where they
lived and murdered twelve people. Regina and her family were
captured and when the militants questioned Danbaki and found
out he was a Christian missionary, they shot and killed him.
Regina, along with their two year old son, Joshua, was beaten
by the militants, but allowed to live.
"Anytime I remember, it is so painful," Regina said. Even when
you forgive, it is not easy to forget. God is still working on my heart."
Another woman, Lydia, was selling tomatoes along the road when
militant Fulani Muslims raided her nearby village. Hearing the gun shots,
she fled into the bush, and in her panic, left behind her youngest child.
A pastor later found Lydia's son and returned him to his mother.
Unfortunately, she would later find her husband's mutilated and
murdered body and the rubble of their burned home.
"I could not stop crying," she says.
Daily survival has been hard for Christian widows in this western African nation.
In the Nigerian culture, the deceased husband's family is obligated to care for
their son's widow, unless she has left Islam to become a believer in Jesus Christ.
Lacking a formal education and no employment skills, some widows
have become targets of sexual exploitation, mainly through prostitution,
which only adds to the great distress and shame of their destitute situation.
Thankfully through the care of The Voice of the Martyrs and other missionary
groups, these women are finding both spiritual and emotional healing to recover
from their trauma, as well as vocational training for future employment.
"As these widows receive encouragement and support through
God's Word and the Body of Christ, they find hope
and learn how to forgive," reports VOM.
"I never thought I would ever forgive Boko Haram, but, I did.
I have not only forgiven them, but I love them," says a woman named Ruth.
Regina, Lydia, and Ruth have already had their feet "held to the fire".
As believers in Christ they have suffered tremendous sorrow and loss.
They have been witnesses to the most heinous acts of mass rape, torture,
and murder in a land where the government has repeatedly denied
that there is no ethnic cleansing of Christians going on there.
These women, and many like them, have been shaken to their core, tested
in ways which we in the United States of America can barely comprehend.
The Bible clearly attests, "For God hath not appointed us to wrath,
but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ Who died for us,
that whether we wake or sleep, we should live together with Him."
(1 Thessalonians 5:9-10)
While we cannot set a precise date or hour when Jesus will come for us,
like the flood in Noah's time, the Rapture, or what translates from the
Greek word, "Harpadzo" which means, "caught up" will happen one day.
Denying this will happen is calling God a liar.
A PRAYER FOR THE PERSECUTED BELIEVERS
Would those who thirst for blood
The little flock devour?
Lord, change their hearts or check their rage,
By Thine almighty power.
When dangers compass round,
May Thine uplifted arm
Restrain or frustrate their designs,
Who seek to do us harm.
'Midst savage beasts of prey,
Thou art our confidence;
From men more savage far from they,
Be Thou our sure defense.
To Thee, Almighty God,
In all our straits we come;
Do Thou protect us in the way,
And bring us safely home.
"Would Those Who Thirst For Blood"
(1818)
Benjamin Beddome
(1717-1795)
English Baptist Minister
and missionary
