While the mainstream media consistently denies or downplays the genocide of Christians in Nigeria, Judd Saul, founder and director of Equipping the Persecuted, who consistently does mission work in the country, assures us that Christians and churches are being wiped out by militant Islamic groups while the Nigerian government turns a blind eye.
On a recent episode of “Relatable” with Allie Beth Stuckey, Saul unveiled the gut-wrenching reality of what is really happening to our Christian brothers and sisters in Nigeria.
“What’s happening right now is a real-life systematic jihad against Christians perpetrated by radical Islamists from the north,” he says.
One of the Muslim groups with the most radicalized factions is the Fulani tribe, which has exploded in population in the last 30 years. This growth in tandem with the tribe’s goal to take over Nigeria has culminated in the tribe gaining political power and implementing Sharia law in many regions. However, as it expands into the nation’s southern zones, where Christianity is the dominant religion, conflict has ignited.
The Fulani, Saul says, practice the same kind of radical Islam as Isis and al-Qaeda that demands death to any who refuse to submit. This even applies to fellow Muslims who refuse to adopt their specific brand of Islam.
Some news outlets and media figures have used this fact to disprove the notion that Nigerian Christians are facing genocide. But Saul says the ratio is “five to one.”
“For every Muslim killed, it’s five Christians that are killed. And what you don’t see in Nigeria are mosques being burned and destroyed and Muslim villages completely ransacked and taken over versus the Christian villages, where you have over 10,000 churches that have been destroyed and nearly 800 Christian communities completely wiped off the map,” he tells Allie.
Even worse, “the Nigerian government is complicit in these attacks, and they’re spending lots of money and resources to try to keep the status quo because the Fulani have infiltrated the Nigerian government; they’ve infiltrated the military, the entire security apparatus in Nigeria,” Saul adds.
This plays out in horrifying ways. “The people trying to defend their villages end up getting arrested by the military and put in prison, while the perpetrators, the guys actually doing the killing, get away scot-free.” And if a terrorist does happen to get arrested, he’s “let out the next day.”
The ultimate result is that Christianity is slowly but surely being replaced by Islam. The nation, once 70% Christian, is now split down the middle between Christianity and Islam, as many believers either have been killed or have converted to avoid being slaughtered.
Perhaps most disturbing, however, is who is funding this militant Muslim takeover.
“When the Arab Spring happened under Obama, and the whole destabilization of the Middle East … you saw this rise of ISIS,” says Saul. “Well, funding, weapons, everything started pouring in from the Middle East down to Northern Africa, and that is where some of the funding is coming in.”
But it’s also coming from other foreign powers, he says. China is “illegally mining all over the middle belt in Northern Nigeria.” To avoid trouble and gain mining access to “areas where Christian villages once were,” they pay these militant tribes, who then use the money to fund their violent campaign.
But the funding trail doesn’t end there. “This is how they’re also financing their war is through kidnapping,” says Saul, “and currently, we estimate there’s over 10,000 Christians being held in terror camps, held for ransom as we speak.”
The families of the hostages, he says, “sell everything they own” in futile hopes of seeing their relatives returned safely. “This has been a continuous funding source for the local terrorists.”
This deep-pocketed Muslim crusade against Christians and others, however, “can be stopped,” says Saul.
To hear how, watch the episode above.
Want more from Allie Beth Stuckey?
To enjoy more of Allie’s upbeat and in-depth coverage of culture, news, and theology from a Christian, conservative perspective, subscribe to BlazeTV — the largest multi-platform network of voices who love America, defend the Constitution, and live the American dream.
Read the full article here
