David Curry, CEO of persecution watchdog, Open Doors USA, has made a shocking revelation of the persecutions Christians face in Nigeria, especially in the Northern part of the country.
Recall that in 2019, Nigeria was ranked 12 among the Top 50 Countries Where It’s Most Dangerous To Be Christian. This shows an increase in the level of Christian persecution in the country compared to last year when it was ranked 14.
The battle over the separation of church and state continues to rage in the United States, but David Curry wants American Christians to know what persecution is like in other areas of the globe — and it’s a pretty shocking paradigm.
“It’s a different world,” Curry said in a recent interview on “The Pure Flix Podcast,” noting the intensity of the persecution in some countries. “What it can do for us, though, is to inform us and we can learn a lot from these people in these countries in our own walk. As such, I think they treasure Scripture more.”
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He continued, “They believe in worship together and church more — to be able to get together and talk about Jesus in safety and to let your kids go to church and learn are the kind of things that we so devalue in some ways and we can learn a lot from them.”
Curry explained that the fate of Christians in northern Nigeria is especially dire. Nigeria has an estimated 91 million Christians. There has been a rise in Christian persecution in the last decade, with an average of 10 Christians a day being killed for their faith.
“There are these Islamic terrorist groups with safe haven in the north and the government has done little to nothing to root them out,” he said. “That makes the north of Nigeria one of the most dangerous places for Christians.”
There has been an attack against Christian churches or groups at least once every two weeks, Curry said. One of the most recent occurred on May 18 where Islamic extremists attacked a choir practice; 17 members are still being held captive.
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“We don’t know who is alive and who is not. The women are either forced into marriage to jihadists — under Shariah law there is often nothing they can do to get those individuals back — they are ransomed to raise money for terrorist activity or they are killed,” Curry said. There are a number of things that can happen and none of them are good. This is the kind of thing that happens in the north of Nigeria.”
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Despite the attacks and Christian persecution, Curry said Nigerian Christians are living out their faith in amazing and inspiring ways.
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“Their life is stripped down to the basics and they decide what is the most important. And it comes down to their spiritual life and that piece you get from scripture and wisdom to help you live every day, even in these really hard circumstances, especially in these really hard circumstances,” he said. “I think it’s really critical. You can find these folks that are held captive for a long time and you see their faith walk grow despite [the fact that] they have been stripped of every comfort.”
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