Tipping Point Quick Hits (01.04.24)

Persecution in Nigeria, shipping in the Red Sea, and storms in every ocean

Terrifying Christmas Eve in Nigeria

The bloodiest violence since 2018 broke out in Nigeria’s “Middle Belt” region on Christmas Eve when mostly Muslim herders from the Fulani tribe attacked Christian farmers in the north-central part of this West African country. Survivors say at least 140 people were killed when men with firearms and machetes attacked 15 rural villages. Other media sources say as many as 200 people may be dead.

Most of those killed were Christians, according to Fox News:

“As I am talking to you, in Mangu local governorate alone, we buried 15 people. As of this morning, in Bokkos, we are counting not less than 100 corpses. I am yet to take stock of (the deaths in) Barkin Ladi,” Plateau Gov. Caleb Mutfwang said in a broadcast on the local Channels Television. “It has been a very terrifying Christmas for us here in Plateau.”

It took more than 12 hours for security agencies to help the victims, though the military response likely kept the death toll from rising higher. Homes and vehicles were burned, along with eight churches. At least two Christian pastors were killed. The violence seems to be related to a decades-long conflict over access to land and water, with battle lines drawn between Christians in the south and Muslims in the north.

Some sources insist drought and climate change are mostly to blame, but Christianity Today reports that the conflict definitely had a clear religious component:

Polycarp Lubo, chairman for the Plateau chapter of the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN), said the assailants sent letters to the villages warning them they “will not celebrate Christmas, but run away with their rice.” He expressed surprise that security was not able to act on such advanced warning.

Gideon Para-Mallam, chairman of the Para-Mallam Peace Foundation, expressed exasperation with secular explanations.

“A terrible genocide is taking place in Plateau State, but it is being window-dressed to look like a clash between farmers and herders,” he stated. “Sadly, false and misleading narratives are created while rivers of blood continue to flow.”

Are the Muslim herders actively trying to eliminate the Christian population in their region? It’s possible. The organization Open Doors, which tracks persecution of Christians around the world, ranks Nigeria as number six in the world of the top countries where Christians are discriminated against or actively persecuted:

Christians in Nigeria suffer persecution from an ingrained agenda of enforced Islamisation, which is particularly prevalent in the north of the country and has gradually been spreading south.

Since the northern states declared allegiance to Sharia (Islamic law) in 1999, this enforced Islamisation has gained momentum, by violent and non-violent means.

In 2022, Open Doors logged more than 5,000 murders of Nigerian Christians because of their faith, and noted that 18,000 churches and 2,200 Christian schools had been burned down since 2009.

As I have written before, the greater the frequency of persecution, the closer you can assume we are to the end. Both the Old and New Testaments warn about the global increase of persecution.

• Daniel tells us that the Antichrist will make “war against the saints…prevailing over them” (Daniel 7:21).

• Jesus says “they will deliver you up to tribulation and kill you, and you will be hated by all nations for My name’s sake” (Matthew 24:9).

• Paul tells us to expect persecution in the last days, as “evil men and imposters grow worse and worse, deceiving and being deceived” (2 Timothy 3:13).

These persecutions will continue to increase, but will not reach fever-pitch until after the Rapture. But know that Satan is ramping up his assault as he prepares for the Great Tribulation. I hope you’ll join me in praying or our Christian brothers and sisters in Nigeria—and that you’ll pray for Jesus to come quickly.

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