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I'm so glad we're doing this uh topic. We don't speak enough about the persecution of Christians in the world, the number one persecuted religion in the world. What can you tell us about what's going on in Nigeria and why we've been so slow to respond? Well, first of all, just to put this in context, if you put together all the Christians persecuted for their faith around the globe, Rachel, they do not compute to the high numbers in Nigeria.
As Charlie just mentioned, 52,000 killed since 2009. That equals there's a group called Inter Society, which does pretty good polling on the ground. They say that's about 35 Christians killed every day. Okay? Three churches are destroyed every day in this area. And look, it's a combination.
In northern Nigeria, you have both Muslims and Christians being killed. But in the Middle Belt and elsewhere, it's all Christians being slaughtered. And the the perpetrators here are Boo Haram, whose name we know, uh an Islamic terrorist group. Uh you have these fani herdsmen who run around on horses or on motorcycles with machine guns.
They literally mow these Christians down. Uh these farmers who are tending to their land. It it it is an outrage. And back in 2017, the Trump administration designated Nigeria as a country of particular concern. So that when we read in chapter 13 that the saints will be given over to the hand of Satan, that terrifies people. He says, "And I saw a beast rising out of the sea.
" And he goes, "It," I love this. He calls it it. He doesn't give it a name. This beast, it's an it was allowed to exercise authority for 42 months or three and a half years. again the time in which the Israel's hidden and it was allowed to make war on the saints and to conquer them. How did he do that? Well, later on in chapter 20:4, he says, "I saw the th souls of those who had been beheaded for their witness to Jesus and for the word of God, who had not worshiped the beast or his image, had not received his mark on their foreheads or in their hands, and they lived and
reigned with Christ for a thousand years." And B, for whatever reason, Islamic terrorism is just not covered. And when you look closely, 22 Islamic terrorist groups, including Boo Haram and others, have safe haven and have a safe quarter in Nigeria. Now, here's a little news. I was told this last week. There is a group of Nigerian legislators coming to Washington this week trying to petition the Trump administration and Congress from designating their country as a one of particular concern.
They don't want this, but they're doing nothing to protect the Christian population there and to stop these radical Islamic groups from just laying waste to to uh people on the other side of the religious divide from them. But I I've spoken to Christian leaders there for decades. They will tell you they are very much a feared that Nigeria is going to turn into what Egypt and Constantinople became which remember was a m majority Christian country that over time you had an Islamic um uh destruction of the faith and that's what's happening in
Nigeria in real time. We've got to do something here at least put sanctions. remarkable. I I couldn't agree with you more. And what's remarkable is despite this persecution, the number of conversions and the faith of the African church is something that's so inspirational. So, we appreciate you joining us on this story.
It's so important that they will have a choice of either letting him, the Satan, put his symbol of worship, the mark of the beast, on their forehead, or their foreheads will be removed from their body. I often hear people say that there will be a great revival before the second coming of Christ.
And simply based upon what we're reading here, and I I I agree. I mean, it appears that most will come to Christ. As a as a Christian, I think the world's Christians will know that this country that this this region of the world means a great deal to me. And at some point today I hope to go or at some point in the next couple of days I should say I hope to go to the church of the holy supplr which Christians believe is the site that Jesus Christ was crucified in.
And I know that Christians have many titles for Jesus Christ. And one of them is the prince of peace. And I'd ask all people of faith in particular my fellow Christians to pray that the prince of peace can continue to work a miracle in this region of the world. I think that we have made incredible strides over the past week.
We're going to have to make a lot more, but I think with your prayers, with God's providence, and with a very good team behind me, I think we're going to get it done. Thank you all. Just a charge that they would use for persecution. Bill, it sounds like um this latest crackdown has wrapped up dozens of pastors. Yeah, absolutely.
The crackdown that we've seen last week was the most extensive singular crackdown on any church in China in the last 40 years. Uh so what we're seeing is a serious escalation across several cities. It's really nationwide. Um and this seems like only the beginning. Where do we go from here? Will there be a fair legal process for your father in fighting these charges? Um I definitely as a Christian I also believe in miracles and I think that um we are calling for a full um unconditional and immediate release of my family as well
as um those 21 others are detained. Um unfortunately just looking at other cases in China like other persecuted Christian Christians like it really would be a miracle if they were able to be released in such a quick and um unconditional way. So, we are bracing for a longer um um longer potential like legal battle and such, but yeah, that's that's what it'll seem like it will happen.
So, Secretary Rubio has weighed in on this. Here's part of what he said. He said, "We call on the CCP to immediately release the detained church leaders and to allow all people of faith, including members of house churches, to engage in religious activities without fear of retribution.
" Um, responding to that, China's foreign ministers told NPR said, "We firmly oppose the US side's interference in China's internal affairs under the pretext of so-called religious issues." So, Bill, is it politics that's driving this? Is it part of the US China tension? Where do you go? My sense is that, you know, when when the party when the Chinese Communist Party senses that they're about to have a difficult period, whether that's a trade war um in 2018 or a trade war now, uh they they tend to want to kind of batten down the hatches on their
society. They want to tighten the screws so that they have absolute control uh in case they're afraid that there's public unrest. Is there a US role? Should there be with respect to this? I mean, China says this is not your issue. It's domestic. Um, is there a role that the US can play? Yeah. Yeah.
Um, as um my father's daughter and my two brothers are also American citizens, when we first heard about this um our immediate response was just to ask our government to protect us and to um call out for the situation with my father. We know that we are part of a global Christian community. And so we just call out for prayer and for call out for um just not to forget us and not to forget the Christians in China.
We won't and we will continue tracking that story.
