NIGERIA – A Nigerian church leader who fled persecution and took refuge in another country is sharing the gruesome details about his father’s death. The Christian was killed for simply refusing to deny the Bible and not choosing the Qur’an.
The Boko Ham Islamic terrorists set fire to the church temple. Pastor David-Olonade. According to a witness, he and his wife, who lived in a Christian-majority region in southwestern Nigeria, headed the Assembly of Victorious Life ministry, where they also offered services related to a school, an orphanage, and relief for widows.
When the ministry grew and they decided to expand to the north of Nigeria, where the majority religion is Islam, even knowing that there were risks. “We felt that God was showing us that we should minister to the people in the North,” he explained.
Boko Haram went on to make several attacks in the region since 2011, killing thousands of people, targeting “infidels” in particular.
The pastor explains that he wasn’t there when his church was attacked, but it changed his life forever. According to him, his wife and four children went out to participate in a congress, where he would be the main speaker.
The jihadists went to his house, looking for him. His mother managed to escape, but his father was captured. Assaulted, he said that his son was not there. The men went to the church, killed an assistant pastor and burned down the church.
Afterwards, the Boko Haram soldiers placed a Bible and a Koran in front of his father and told him to choose one. When the Christian said he was keeping the Bible, they poured gasoline on him and burned him alive.
“If they had destroyed everything I owned, it would mean nothing to me,” he said. «My father loved Jesus and he taught me to be strong.
In the end, in addition to losing his father, the pastor saw everything he worked to build for more than 18 years. Fearing to be killed as well, he decided to go to the United States with the family, where he tries to start life over.
Despite the great loss the family faced, the pastor continues to pray for his country. “Sometimes I think: ‘God, what if Boko Haram had come a day earlier? I believe that God decided to save us for a purpose. I also think about that… I pray for the Christians in the north of Nigeria, there they are being killed every day”.
Nigeria is the 14th country that persecutes Christians the most in the world, according to the Open Doors ranking.
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