THE PERSECUTED CHURCH

Region: Nigeria

Rev. Joseph Hayab, the Chairman of the Christian Association of Nigeria, CAN, in Kaduna State, has said that within the past 4 years, bandits have killed 23 pastors and shut down 200 churches across Kaduna State. September 13, 2023

Update 2025

The above story is just one of many incidents that has occurred over the past few decades as Muslim radicals which include the Boko Haram, ISIS, and Fulani herders have carried out a campaign to eradicate Christians. Recent statistics have just been published indicating that since 2009, 125,000 Christians have been murdered by these groups, and another 7,800 have been abducted. In addition, 19,100 churches have been attacked and destroyed. These statistics indicate that this mass killing of Christians constitutes a genocide occurring in Nigeria. While reports of a genocide occurring against the Palestinians in Gaza are global news reported on a daily basis, this genocide in Nigeria has garnered very little media attention; and the unfortunate truth is that most western Christians know nothing of the large number of their Christian brothers and sisters being martyred on a daily basis. The Nigerian government has shown little interest in intervening and has even been accused of taking part by missionaries and relief agencies in the nation. It is a tragedy that a genocide targeting Christians in Nigeria is occurring, but it is another tragedy that a large section of their Christian brethren in other parts of the world remain blissfully ignorant of this crime.

Stories From Voice of the Martyrs Magazine

Region: Syria

From Nights of Horror to Days of Hope (June 2024)

In March of 2011, a civil war broke out in Syria between government forces and Islamist rebel groups. Rajaa and her sister, Samia, were caught up in the conflict with their families. They are Christians who lived in a majority Christian area of the city. As the war expanded the rebel groups took control of many cities. ISIS was the main group controlling their city and they soon began to target Christians by painting crosses on their homes. They also began attacking the Christians by calling them blasphemers and infidels. Soon after, they began sexually abusing the women and beating the men. A few weeks before Christmas 2011, a large battle broke out in their city, and they could not leave their houses. Samia’s husband was forced to venture out of the house to search for food, but he never returned. Two days later Samia went out searching for him and found his body lying in the street. He had been caught in the fighting and killed. Now that she was alone, she made an escape to her parents’ house where she found safety, but it was short-lived.

In January of 2012, ISIS fighters invaded the area where Rajaa lived with her husband and young daughter. The ISIS rebels began searching for the Christians in order to execute them. They made them stand against a wall with their arms outstretched in the form of a cross and then shot them. They kidnaped the Christian women to rape and torture them. In February, a large battle took place in their area where Rajaa’s and her husband lived. He was captured, tortured, and killed. Rajaa took her child and escaped to her parents’ house. Now the sisters, their parents, and the child took shelter in the home. It was not long before their house came under attack and was destroyed by a rocket-propelled grenade. The fighting also took the lives of the brothers of Rajaa and Samia. ISIS slaughtered their two brothers and two other male relatives.

After their house was destroyed, the family fled the area with only the clothes that they were wearing to the border of a neighboring country. Traveling by foot, it took them a week to reach the border. They crossed over and found relief in an emergency refugee camp. The camp housed Muslims and Christians who had fled the fighting. Even though they had escaped the horrors of the persecution by ISIS, they now found themselves the targets of hostility by the Muslim camp members who harassed them, and the men targeted the Christian women for abuse. Fortunately, after two years in the camp they found more secure housing in a shelter run by a global Christian organization. The two sisters, their mother, and Rajaa’s daughter now live in this new camp with other Christians and under the care of a godly pastor. Their family and their lives have been devastated by war and by religious persecution. They receive assistance for their survival by Christian charity organizations who provide for them through their support because of Christ’s love and compassion working through them. We should also show our concern for persecuted Christians around the world by donating to global Christian organizations.

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(Story courtesy of Voice of the Martyrs)

Region: Democratic Republic of the Congo

Hope for Living (July 2024)

Militants in the DRC, (Democratic Republic of the Congo), frequently abduct and abuse both women and men. Front-line workers estimate that 40% of Congolese women and 24% of men have been victims of sexual violence. Margurette was taken into the jungle by ADF, (Allied Democratic Forces), fighters and forced to watch as they killed her two brothers with machetes. Although she eventually escaped, the trauma left her unable to speak. But six months of spiritual care and encouragement from other Christians who had suffered for their faith have helped her recover. “God has given me hope for living,” she said.

God’s Word Heals Wounds of War (July 2024)

The Congolese mountain village of Tchabi has suffered unimaginable violence. When ADF militants launched a series of attacks starting in May 2019, they set fire to dozens of homes and buildings; destroyed a school, a church and a hospital, and ultimately murdered 182 people. Years later, villagers who had fled the area began to return and rebuild their lives. They also restored the village’s church building, where front-line workers distributed Bibles while ministering to the villagers’ emotional and spiritual wounds. “It touched my heart knowing how to forgive our enemies,” said the towns chief, whose wife was killed in the attack.

Note– The ADF is active in the northeastern part of the DRC with its intent to eradicate Christians and establish Islamic law throughout the region.

(Both stories above courtesy of Voice of the Martyrs magazine.)

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