Undaunted by terror

One morning in our mission camp, our team leader summoned us to an urgent meeting. Usually we start our day by six (6) am, but today he woke us up two hours earlier. We all gathered at the village Chapel in our nightwear. This was an unusual devotion; everyone was still slow, sluggish and sleepy thus the praise/worship was not as exuberant as other days. Somehow, as our manner is, we still sang a few songs to prepare us for what God had to say. Few minutes later, our leader took the stage to address us. On a normal day he would greet and ask how well we rested, but today was different “my brethren, I sense in my spirit that the moment is almost here” he started. “We do not have all the time to do the work; I feel that we need to spend less time on frivolities and non-important issues and focus more on our heavenly mandate. There are new territories to cover, several souls to be saved and lots of Bibles to be given away. We must start early today because we need to finish the work around Wundada area and move on to Inatu village”. As he spoke we could feel the urgency in his voice, but also I felt like he may have heard something from the Lord or from one of our informants. As he started to divide us into groups, I felt like I heard some movement outside the Chapel.  I looked out the window but saw nothing. Maybe my mind was playing tricks on me.

I called my mind back to the meeting and looked up to continue listening to our leader. Suddenly, in a flash, several masked men had surrounded the Chapel. They had machine guns, machetes, and different shapes of knives and swords. The room became dead quiet; you could hear a pin drop. I said to myself “he was right, we didn’t have much time”.  The leader of the masked men broke the silence “which of you is the leader of these bunch of infidels?”  “I am” responded our leader.  “Do you want to lead your group to death or do you want to save them by telling all of them to recant their faith and convert?” asked the militant group’s leader.  “We will not renounce our faith and we will never deny our Lord” was the response. By this time fear had gripped us all and I knew… this is the moment that we pay the ultimate sacrifice of faith.

Hearing our leader say our creed was the encouragement we needed as we all, one after the other, joined him to declare our faith “we will not renounce our faith and we will never deny our Lord”. In less than a minute, every one of us had joined our hands together and fearlessly declared our unfailing commitment to Christ and His cross. It looked as if the leader of the militant group was saying something, but no one was interested anymore; we continued to chant and it got louder and louder “We will not renounce our faith and we will never deny our Lord”.

Their leader commanded them to shoot us and they shot randomly, recklessly and mercilessly. I could faintly see around the room, not one person was still standing.  It was bloody, it was deadly and unbelievable. I struggled to look around the room to see if they had left, that was when one of them placed his sword on my neck, his boot on my groin and said “you have a chance to renounce your faith and be converted or be beheaded”. I shook my head and yelled at the top of my voice “No!!!!!” and I woke up.

When I woke up from this dreadful dream, I looked out the window and saw that things were looking normal. A drunk fellow walking down the street, people still tweeting their frustration, parties happening, people marrying and given in marriage and people continue to share, retweet, comment on and discuss things they consider very important. As for me, I knelt down and prayed. Not for myself, because I just survived a horrendous dream, but for all the Missionaries who have denied themselves of pleasure, left the comfort of their homes and are at risk of being slaughtered for their faith. For me it was only a dream which I woke up from, but for many others, it is reality. Every week we get news of the merciless killing of a missionary. So far, hundreds, if not thousands, have been killed in the course of performing their duties. 

Will you stop whatever you are doing right now and pray for missionaries? Will you?

Father we pray for missionaries all over the world. Please protect them. Provide for them. Preserve them. Help them keep the faith. For those who are getting discouraged, grant them strength and courage to continue the good fight of faith. And Lord for those who have paid the ultimate price, accept their souls and grant them eternal rest.  In Jesus name!  Amen!