One actual news story ignored by nearly all media this past Christmas was the slaughter of over 100 mostly Christian Nigerians by murderers whom the government deemed were “herdsmen.” But the murders weren’t committed in isolation. Roughly 50,000 homes were also razed, many were wounded, thousands of acres of farmland were destroyed, 10,000 people in southern Kaduna, Nigeria were displaced.
This attack was just one more in a long string of attacks by “herdsmen” who had been relentlessly terrorizing 25 villages where Christians predominantly live. The government’s response has been and continues to be: nothing.
There are moreChristians living in Nigeria than in any other country in Africa. Christians comprise at least half of Nigeria’s population, primarily living in the southern and central regions. A 2015 Journal of Research on Religion estimated that 600,000 believers in Christ currently living in Nigeria came from a Muslim background.
Which is why it is no coincidence that increased violence directed towards non-Muslims, in particular Christians, stems from a newly enacted Sharia penal law in the northern states of Nigeria. The law encourages Islamists to kill as many non-Muslims as possible.
Sam Omatseye, a columnist for The Nation, wrote,
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“The Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) has cried out and the government has seemed unable to stanch or even anticipate the attacks, again and again.
“Has anyone gone to jail or even been identified publicly? We need answers to these questions. It is not even whether the outcry of CAN over genocide is right or wrong, the question is, why is the government failing the people over and again?”
He also tweeted:
“Isn’t it time for CAN to use its tithes to buy arms for Christians for self defense?”
It’s a valid question: if Christians and churches are consistently being attacked shouldn’t they be protected? If the government won’t protect them, who will?
There is certainly a biblical case for self-defense.
And many Christian pastors throughout Africa advocate that being trained and prepared to use firearms in necessary to save and protect innocent lives. Sam Childers, the Machine Gun Preacher of East Africa, and founder of Angels of East Africa (AOEA), argues he wouldn’t have been able to save over 1,000 orphans without using guns. His mission to protect children “when no one else will” has resulted in him not only rescuing these orphans from a life of starvation, disease, or enslavement as a child soldiers, but also has enabled them to live, work, and go to school safely in a well-guarded village.
Missionary and author Charl van Wyk, the founding member of Gun Owners of South Africa, vividly explains why self-defense is needed in church in his best-selling book, Shooting Back: The Right and Duty of Self-Defense. In what became known as the St. James Massacre, an armed man saved many lives by defending innocent congregants during a terrorist attack at a church.
In Kenya, 83 percent of its 44 million people are Christians. After the 2015 murder of 150 Christian students in Garissa, Kenya, churches began hiring armed guards to protect their flock, especially since “these attackers are targeting Christians,” Fr. Willybard Lagho, a Mombasa-based Catholic priest and chairman of the Coast Interfaith Council of Clerics (CICC), told Reuters.
From Christian churches in the Indian Ocean port city of Mombasa to Nairobi’s Holy Family Basilica cathedral, uniformed police officers and plainclothes officers were hired as well as private security guards who frisked churchgoers with hand-held metal detectors and checked for explosives under cars.
In America, a growing number of churches are hiring armed security guards to protect their congregants after an increase of attacks have occurred under the Obama Administration against Christians inside church buildings or on church property.
One such church is New Life Church, located on a 30-acres in Colorado Springs, Colorado, which is patrolled by uniformed police officers and an armed safety team of roughly 20, including Special Forces volunteers from one of four nearby military bases. Its Rev. Brady says, “I love the people that I pastor. I want to protect them. But you plan for the worst, and pray for the best.”
But, not all Christian leaders agree. Rob Schenck, chair of the Evangelical Church Alliance, recently argued that Christians “have no right to use guns for self-defense” and that a Christian can’t be both “pro-life” and “pro-gun.”
He wrote in The Washington Post, “The gospel begins with God’s love for every human, and calls on Christians to be more Christ-like. At no time did Jesus use deadly force. Although he once allowed his disciples to defend themselves with “a sword,” that permission came with a limitation on the number of weapons they could possess. Numerous Bible passages, such as Exodus 22:2-3, strictly limit the use of deadly force.”
The Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. agreed in practice, viewing violence against Christians as an opportunity to bear witness to God’s love. He argued, “The end of violence or the aftermath of violence is bitterness. The aftermath of nonviolence is reconciliation and the creation of a beloved community.”
What if the lawbreaker felt remorse in response a Christian “turning the other cheek?” What if through a response of gentleness a thief changed his behavior and even starting going to church? This may seem unrealistic to some, but the testimonies of reformed prisoners throughout the country making amends to those whom they harmed attests to this possibility. Certainly, with God, nothing is impossible.
According to a recent Rasmussen poll, 55 percent of Americans believe that hate is growing in America. What if ministers led by example what it means to truly love their neighbor? Could they not be powerful agents of change to decrease hate and violence in their communities? Refusing to kill another human being might just be a start to reducing hate in America.
Source:Townhall
