IM Mission Report
The Most Dangerous Place on Earth for Christians
Who will separate us from the love of Christ? Will tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?
(Romans 8:35)
IOM America has been blessed with multiple representatives/missionaries in the country of Nigeria. Each representative has kept me up to date on the horrid conditions indwelt believers face in their country. Believers who claim that they have Christ living within their mortal bodies are the most targeted Christians. To the Muslims combatants, it is viewed as a claim to having "Alah" in their souls, which is an abomination to their radical beliefs. Please read the story about Deborah.
On May 12th, 2022, Deborah Samuel (also known as Deborah Yakabu) was brutally murdered by her fellow classmates at Shehu Shagari College of Education in Sokoto, Nigeria. Deborah was a bright student, set to graduate with her home economics degree in the 2023/24 school year. In an exchange on WhatsApp with her fellow students, Deborah had credited her last semester’s passing examination grade to “Jesus o.” Instantly, Muslim students in her class were outraged.
Citing blasphemy of the prophet Mohammed and Islam in general, the young woman’s classmates took matters into their own hands to execute so-called “justice” for her “crime” of blasphemy. She was then dragged out of class, stoned to death, and her body was set on fire. Her murderers were only charged with “disturbing the peace.”
This is not an isolated incident. There is a pattern of extreme persecution that Christians now face in Nigeria—the most dangerous place on earth to be a Christian. Last year alone, 4,650 Christians were martyred in Nigeria, and thousands more were kidnapped - most shipped off for human trafficking.
There are now more documented cases of Christian martyrdom in Nigeria than every other country combined. Now is the time to take action. We must kneel and pray for our brothers and sisters who face torture, and even death for their faith in Christ.
Last year, our government removed Nigeria from the Countries of Particular Concern “CPC” watch list. This means that our government no longer identifies the persecution happening in Nigeria as a problem. They have turned a blind eye to the killing of Christians in Nigeria. Is this a set up for what is to come for America? This has only served to embolden the attackers and remove pressure from the Nigerian government to protect its Christian citizens.
While it is easy for us to pigeon-hole this type of persecution as the norm. It is not. Persecution comes in many forms. Pain is pain. Persecution is "diogmos," which means to pursue another to cause suffering. In America, the classic style of persecution is isolating fellow believers through passive aggressive silence. Maybe we all need a wake-up call. Lord, bring on your testing, we need to know if our faith is authentically in Christ and not a "Christ" figure.
IOM Prayer Guide HERE
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