Charlie was not alone!

In my last English language post, I paid my personal tribute to the late Charlie Kirk - that fine young man of only 31 years of age, who was assassinated as he debated with University students in the State of Utah.

I have no idea as to exactly how much comment his assassination generated, but it was certainly a lot! However, as I typed that last post, I kept thinking of the murder of so many other people who are rarely mentioned, but who, like Charlie Kirk, are killed because they are disciples of the Lord Jesus. In their cases, that is all. No political aspect to "muddy the waters". They include young men, old men, young women, old women, and children. In their cases, the females, young and old, are often raped before they are murdered.

I am, of course, referring to what is generally known as "the persecuted church". According to the organisation Open Doors, almost 4,500 disciples of Jesus were killed, for their faith, last year.

This figure could well be exceeded for this year. It was on Sunday, 7th September, that Militant Fulani herders attacked two villages in northwest Nigeria’s Kaduna state earlier this month, killing eight Christians and wounding nine others. Local resident Timothy Kimbe said herdsmen attacked Wakeh and Gadanaji villages in Kachia county in the early hours of that day. In neighbouring Plateau state herdsmen have attacked 11 villages in the Qua’an Pan area, burning more than 30 houses and displacing at least 300 Christians, since late August, sources said.

On the following day, another series of brutal attacks took place in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). At least 100 Christians have been killed, with hundreds more kidnapped.

Dozens were killed on Monday, 8th September, while attending a funeral in Ntoyo village, in North Kivu, in the east of the country. “They arrived and started killing. At this funeral place, they coldly murdered 26 Christians,” said Rev. Mbula Samaki. “Those who tried to flee were shot dead and others were killed with machetes.”  The devastating attack was carried out by the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF), an extremist Islamist group with links to so-called Islamic State.

Across the community, dozens more believers were killed in the same way over the course of two days. Rev. Mbula told an Open Doors local partner in a phone call: “The casualty count, as of now, stands at more than 70 Christians killed, at least 100 kidnapped, 16 houses, eight motorbikes and two vehicles burnt. It is horrible.” 

Pastor Paluku Nzalamingi, parish priest of Manguredjipa, shared with local news what he saw of the aftermath: “Women on mattresses in the living room… others in the corridor, still others outside in the plot. Some bodies are on the road, in plots close to the centre of Ntoyo. I was unable to count them. Most of them were shot dead.” 

The next morning the terrorist struck again in a nearby community, this time targeting Christian farmers. “The ADF arrived in Potodu,” says Pastor Paluku. “With machetes, they killed Christian farmers who were camped in their farms and those who were returning. It is a night of sadness and desolation for Christians.”At least 30 farmers were killed, though the true death toll may be even higher.

These are just two of the fifty, or so countries in which persecution takes place, to some extent, on a regular basis. Yet, these incidents never make the main news outlets in "the west"! If you are a praying person, please pray for those who suffer in these ways - simply because they own the Name of the Lord Jesus.