Out of the mountain of despair:

Published by Barnabas Fund 5  August 2020

Nigerian Christian leaders around the globe have called on the International Criminal Court (ICC) in the Hague to act now against the “pernicious genocide” in northern Nigeria.

The Southern Kaduna People’s Union (SOKAPU) letter to the chief prosecutor, Fatou Bensouda, opened by commending ICC’s role in the capture and potential extradition of the genocidal despot Al Bashir, Sudan’s popularly-deposed president.

But the church leaders go on to boldly flag that the ICC is failing Nigeria by not acting against the blatant genocidal persecution now unfolding in the north, as ongoing atrocities perpetrated by Fulani militants, Boko Haram and other murderous extremists mount day on day.

Enough of the bloodshed

A gathering of hundreds of Christians, dressed in black, protested on Sunday, 2 August against the slaughter and called on Buhari’s government to “rise to their responsibility” in Nigeria’s Kaduna State also seemed to go unnoticed by the world.

The day was marked by “fierce prayers for peace” asking God to intervene in the troubled region, reported Ibrahim Wuyo of Vanguard News, Nigeria, as the peaceful protesters waved heartrending banners. One simply said, “Enough of the bloodshed, widows and orphans are increasing.”

“The arc of the universe tends towards justice”

The arc of God’s universe, long though it is, “tends towards justice”, as a courageous man of God once said. Dr Martin Luther King Jr gave his historic address in front of Abraham Lincoln’s statue 57 years ago this month to claim the bounced “promissory note of freedom”. The “long night of captivity” had ended with Lincoln’s abolition of slavery, but racial justice and socio-economic freedom were yet owed to African Americans 100 years later.

A group of upstanding Muslim men are clearly visible in the assembly, standing close behind Dr King in support, as he spoke of conducting the struggle for freedom on the “high plain of dignity and discipline” and never allowing their righteous protest to degenerate into hate and violence.

What would such men of morality and decency make of the horrific slaughter of Christians unfolding in West Africa today at the cruel hands of Islamist extremists?

“Soul force” overcomes the force of hate

The covid-lockdown frenzy of anti-Christian violence that has spiked this year in West Africa, particularly in northern Nigeria, has barely been opposed by police or military intervention. Militants are mercilessly killing young and old with impunity – destroying lives and families, homes and hope.

The “new militancy” Dr King spoke of in 1963 answered physical force with “soul force” – love alone can conquer hate. It is just such magnificent spiritual courage we hear of from our partners in Nigeria, and other Sahel countries, where a flood of extremist violence is engulfing Christian communities.

Christians caught in this spiritual battle are forgiving their persecutors, rebuilding shattered lives amid post-covid hardships and pointing men of violence to the Prince of Peace.

In April, Rose, the 27-year-old widow of Nigerian pastor, Matthew Tagwi, prayed that her husband’s Fulani militant killers “will get to know this Jesus I know” as she forgave them and asked the Lord to save their souls.

 “Creative suffering” is redemptive

What Dr King described as “creative suffering” is a profound and redemptive force in a fallen world. Just as he called for hope at that pivotal moment, we are moved to echo his words and ask Christians in these uncertain and difficult times of accelerating global persecution not to “wallow in the valley of despair”. We place our complete trust in the Lord, knowing that, to His glory, He will exalt every valley, make the rough things of this present world smooth and every crooked place straight (Isaiah 40:4).

“With our faith we hew out of the mountain of despair the mountain of hope.”

–  Dr Martin Luther King Jr

Reposted—thanks Brian Mallalieu for posting this a few days ago

Friends,

Black lives matter protests have gone around the world while in America the looting and destruction across mostly black areas and the murder of black business people and black cops continues. What a mess!

In Canada we have a Liberal party that has made it clear that if you do not celebrate the murder of unborn children, you are not welcome in that party.  In the Democratic party of America it is the same.  The ultimate violence, state-sanctioned violence,  being torn limb from limb while still alive, is visited upon the most innocent and helpless-the unborn child and in the place that should be the safest- a mother’s womb.

We humans are moral creatures.  Meaning that whether or not we recognize the Creator’s moral law, we experience guilt over wrongs done and seek forgiveness and redemption.  Killing the unborn and sexual anarchy are now celebrated “rights” but the moral basis of creation still operates so the guilt from these actions accumulates and has to go somewhere. . . . In the leftist “progressive” universe one of the deposits for this ocean of guilt is race relations.

Orgies of guilt about the sins of white slave owners are very convenient since I do not have to face the reality of violence against the unborn or my own relational violence and sexual anarchy.  Guilt for the sins of others long dead is false guilt with no possibility of forgiveness or redemption.  White slave owner?  What about the Arabs who captured and sold the slaves to the traders?  What about the black Africans who captured and sold their black brothers to the traders?  Should they pay reparations?  Should Antifa burn down Arab North Africa (some of which still keep black slaves)?

Those captured by false guilt, see the looters and rioters as “protesters” and let them loot, burn and kill.  Since you solve the “problem” of an unwanted child by gruesome violence  does your moral logic dictate that you must accept violence as a solution to the problem of racism? To all problems?

Orgies of false guilt drive orgies of violence seeking to wipe away that guilt.  Cannot be done.  Burning, looting and murder and/or allowing percieved victims to burn, loot and murder does not remove false guilt.  Violence only multiplies violence and creates more real guilt.  (Of course, I am channeling MLK, Mandella and Mother Teresa here!)

There is only one solution to false guilt.  Truth.  I am not responsible for my father’s sins, no matter how reprehensible.

There is only one solution to real guilt.  One Man died a violent death at our hands to take that violence upon Himself and to say, “Father forgive them!”.

There is only one solution to the sin of racism- to recognize my own sins and failures, confess them and seek forgiveness from those that I have wronged and begin to love them and serve them.  Real guilt is personal, one on one, relational thus forgivable and this forgiveness leads to reconciliation and rebuilding.

Oh and is this racism?  The world goes crazy over Covid 19 which has a 99.9% recovery rate.  Starvation is 100% fatal and has a very simple cure but it really only affects brown and black people.  What the church spends on buildings and sound systems in one year could solve world hunger.  What the west spends on pet food could end starvation.  What  the world spends on armaments in one hour could solve world hunger for a year.   We have the means to do this but apparently, we do not have the will.   But then most of the starving are brown or black.  Probably nothing to see here.  While you are (if you are) joining the protests about black lives  maybe you need to ask yourself why you are riding on a collective false guilt wagon leading to more violence and think about doing something that actually makes a difference?

Yes we are seeking to help feed folks starving because of the Covid lockdowns.  In Uganda the lockdowns measures are actually increasing while the rest of the world is easing restrictions.  Typical kleptocracy playbook- keep your people in misery, the better to extort money from the west.  The more misery, the more money available to steal.

Steve (a Jesus agent on commission in East Africa)