How serious is a video made by the leader
of Nigeria’s Boko Haram? The man himself is no joke. U.S. government called him
a global terrorist. They put a price of $7-million on his head. In the last six
months Boko Haram has killed 2 053 people. So who are these thugs? Their name implies:
“People who are committed to the prophet’s (Mohammed’s) teachings.” But even
more bluntly it can be translated: “western education is fake.”
So when this leader, Abu Shekau says, on
video, to Christians: “we don’t care about that religion of yours,” he means a
lot more than apathy. Nigeria is Africa’s most populous state. The northern
half is Muslim-influenced and the north of the North is fanatically
anti-Christian. When they hear him chant, at the end of the recording: “Christians,
you are in trouble, Christians you are in trouble,” Nigerians take Shekau
seriously.
Go with me now to Mosul. The cowardly
Iraqi army threw down their weapons and fled. In roared what we now call “Islamic
State.” In just one weekend all Christians got this ultimatum: 1) Stay and
convert to Islam; 2) Pay Islamic tax (which is too much for most families to
pay); 3) Leave Mosul taking nothing but their clothes. Christians who stayed
would be executed. And they were!
Consider these mournful words:
"Too many of us thought that forced conversions and expulsions of entire
religious communities were part of a distant, medieval past. There was little
that we could do to stop this horrible episode.” Rabbi Yitzchok Adlerstein,
head of Interfaith Affairs at the Wiesenthal Center.
Yes Rabbi, you and I could do little,
but while our President fiddled with executive orders over birth control pills,
the US military sat on its hands as Syria burned. Bombing a few trucks
threatening a mountain isn’t going to cut it, any more than Bill Clinton’s
cruise missiles did in preventing 9/11. If you are going to strike – hit training
camps and supply routes. Hit very hard. Do it yesterday already!
But I must also add that the USA isn’t the
world’s policeman. In 50 countries where persecution happens, at least one
event every 3 months, 27 of them are lands where its weekly or even daily in
the last 14 days. More Christians have died for their faith in the 21st
Century than in all the others put together. Can the US take on 50 countries?
The Jewish holocaust is becoming small pickings by comparison.
North Korea, armed with its police state
forces and neighborhood spies, kills its Christians quietly and efficiently. It
rivals the Muslim threat in numbers jailed and tortured.
So the Western mind cries out for a
solution. There isn’t one! Not in this present evil world. Jesus knew that from
the beginning. He startled his hearers saying: “Blessed are you when people
insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because
of me. Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the
same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.” Jesus predicted: “A servant is not greater
than his master. If they persecuted me, they will persecute you also.” At least
the situation is not yet at: “Then you will be handed over to be persecuted and
put to death, and you will be hated by all nations because of me.” He was right
about the other. It’s only a matter of time!
Love generously. Live boldly. Witness
clearly. Die bravely. There will be enough grace for each of those.
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