THE NATIONAL PRAYER ALTAR
MARATHON PRAYERS
Monday 11th - Sunday 17th November 2024
THE NEGLECTED ONES
The shattering sounds started in the middle of the night. You were horrified to hear rapid gunshots in your neighbourhood, mingled with screams of fear and terror. Some neighbours were screaming for help. You could clearly hear some shouting, “They are killing us! They are killing us!” As you jumped out of bed in terror, there was loud banging on your gate, with gunshots, right in front of your house. The killers were trying to break in! As they banged your gate, the killers were screaming, “Allahu Akbar! Allahu Akbar!!” At once you knew the Islamist terrorists were in your neighbourhood, on a mission to murder all Christians they would find.
There was no time to search for decent clothes, mobile phones, or your ATM card. Your only instinct was survival. In your panic, you forgot where the children were in the house. You could only shout “Everybody, run, run!” As you were giving the command, you were on your way out, in a mad rush to the only escape route, the backyard fence. It remains a mystery how you managed to scale the fence. As you landed on the other side of the fence, you ran as fast as your legs could carry you far away from the house you sweated to build for your family. Even the members of your family were nowhere to be seen. Everybody had to take care of themselves.
You joined other survivors in a long trek through the night into the next community, about five kilometres away. When you looked back, at what was your home, the skyline was aglow with orange colour from burning houses. The terrorists were setting buildings on fire and killing every Christian they could sight. There were thirteen people in your house that night, but you could only see yourself. Your senses were numbed. You just trudged along like a zombie. In your confusion, you asked yourself repeatedly, “Where are the Policemen?” “Where was the Army?”
When the survivors arrived at the next community, in the early hours of the morning, they found their way into a government premises that became the IDP camp. With no clothing, no food, and no money, everyone was at the mercy of the elements. Some of the people in the host community provided wrappers for those who fled naked and shared the little food they had. This was to be the pattern of survival for many months. No one showed up from the government. To worsen matters, no one showed up from the Church.
The most painful part of the experience was the lack of empathy from fellow Christians. You then asked, “Where is the love of Christ?” After a few days, representatives of an NGO arrived to interview the survivors, and they also brought some food relief. That was when you inquired about the Church in Nigeria. How is the Church doing?
The officials of the NGO reported that life continued as usual. The Christian brethren kept contributing money to build Cathedrals, while some “men of God” increased their fleet of exotic vehicles. A mega pastor travelled to USA with an entourage of 50 members for a 'special program' while the Church leaders from the apex body of Christianity visited the president in Aso Villa. They did not raise the issue of Christian IDPs, so that they would not offend the president. They took a group photograph with the president, and they assured him that they were praying for him to succeed and win re-election.
Then, you asked the NGO official, “Don’t they know that we are here?”
“Yes,” replied the NGO official, “they know that you are here, but they don’t care. You are not their priority.”
“But” you protested, “Jesus said we should love one another?”
The NGO official looked at you in the face, and said bluntly, “There is a lot of difference between what the Lord said, and what men do.”
As you thought about this conversation with the NGO officials in 2014, it dawned on you that it is now 2024. You have been in the IDP camp for ten years, still, the Church has not come. Many Cathedrals have been built within that ten-year period, and many exotic vehicles have been bought, but the Christian IDPs remain neglected and abandoned.
This is a real-life story, of which some Christian would say, “God forbid”. Unfortunately, some Christians are going through this situation, and some have been in the IDP camps for over ten years. They did not commit any crime.
Watchman Nee wrote in one of his books that the highest principle in the universe is the vindication of God. In every situation, God must be vindicated. In the case of the persecuted Christians in Nigeria, God made sufficient arrangements for the persecuted Christians to be taken care of, and the genocide to be prevented. In 2014, while Pastor Ayo Oritsejafor was the president of CAN, God initiated a program of fund mobilization to take care of persecuted Christians in Nigeria and a Strategy Document to be implemented to curtail the excesses of the Islamists. Pastor Oritsejafor accepted the proposals and was instrumental in getting both approved by the National Executive Committee of CAN in 2014 and 2015 before his tenure came to an end and he vacated the office. If those plans had subsequently been executed, the trajectory of Nigeria today would have been different because, the right steps would have been taken. God made adequate arrangements to take care of the persecuted Christians. God is vindicated.
After Pastor Oritsejafor left office as the president of CAN, those who took over from him had other priorities. God did not neglect the persecuted Christians, men did. According to the plan of God, no Christian in Nigeria should have remained in an IDP camp as of 2024.
If some Church leaders acted the way that they did, how about the individual Christians? Should they also follow suit? On Judgment Day, we shall stand as individuals before Christ to render account. If each Christian in Nigeria should contribute a minimum N500 a month to support persecuted Christians, a pool of funds should be available to succour the brethren languishing in the IDP camps.
What has happened to the persecuted Christians could have happened to any Christian. They did not commit any crime, neither did they offend God. They only chose to be Christians, just like every other Christian. Their misfortune is that they were born in the part of the country where the Islamists operate. How many Christians would wish to be neglected the way the IDPs have been neglected by the Nigeria Church?
It is time for all Christians in Nigeria to repent and change their attitude towards their persecuted brethren. While it may not be possible to reach the Church leaders who evidently live in another realm, individual Christians can still be reached. The reader of this prayer call has been reached and he/she can reach other Christians. Let us join hands to demonstrate the love of Christ. We can afford to give, no matter how little it may be.
For more information about how to support persecuted Christians, please visit www.layfaithful.org/donate
May we not encounter this kind of evil in the days of our pilgrimage on earth. God bless you.
PRAYER POINTS
1). Matt. 25:31,41-46
Confess the sin of Nigeria Church in neglecting the persecuted Christians in the country. In neglecting the persecuted Christians, the Church neglected Christ.
2). Rev. 3:19
Pray for genuine repentance in the Church, that will propel Christians to take care of the persecuted Christians.
3). Rom. 2:5-6
Pray for the judgment of God on all in the Church who callously prevented help from reaching the persecuted Christians.
4). Isaiah 26:5-8
Pray God’s judgment on all the terrorists and their sponsors, locally and internationally, for their unprovoked and unwarranted attacks on the saints of God in Nigeria.
5). Matt. 25:30
Pray God’s judgment on all government and security officials who failed in their responsibility to protect persecuted Christians.
6). Isaiah 40:1-5
Pray for comfort, encouragement, and strength for the persecuted.
7). Isaiah 45:12-13
Pray that God will raise righteous leadership in the country, that will execute judgment on all religious fundamentalists and ensure that the Christian IDPs return to their ancestral homelands peacefully. Amen
