A group photo of pastors and leaders trained by GTN in Shashamene, Ethiopia.
BarnabasAid reports:
An Ethiopian Christian leader called for an international inquiry into the slaying of hundreds of Christians, including pregnant women, children and whole families, in ongoing Oromo Muslim extremist attacks in the parts of the Oromia regional state, extending south, south-east and east of Addis Ababa, since the end of June. According to reports, more than 500 were killed.
In door-to-door attacks on Christian households the Qeerroo extremists arrived in cars and, armed with guns, machetes, swords and spears, sought out and slaughtered Christians. Children were forced to witness their parents being brutally murdered with machetes.
Barnabas regional contacts confirmed attacks in numerous towns including….
Ziway and Shashamene…
An Oromo Christian was beheaded for refusing to deny his faith by tearing off the thread around his neck (worn by many Ethiopian Christians as a sign of their baptism). His widow told Barnabas, “The attackers said that it is only he/she who prostrates with us before Allah for prayer who is considered an Oromo.”
Christians’ business premises and houses were burnt down, vandalized or destroyed by the extremists. Billions of dollars of damage were caused to property, including businesses owned by internationally renowned Christian athlete, Haile Gebreselassie, in Ziway and Shashamahe towns.
The severity of the atrocities shocked local witnesses who gave accounts of harrowing scenes.
In Dera, a witness described how the killers desecrated corpses by “dancing and singing, carrying the chopped or hacked body parts of those they slaughtered”.
Another witness reported how the hacked bodies of an elderly Christian couple, who were beaten to death in their home, were dragged through the streets in Gedeb Asasa.
Thousands of traumatized survivors have fled for their lives, including orphaned children, and many are being sheltered in churches and community centers.
Since September 2018, violent ethnic clashes have led to some two million Ethiopians becoming internally displaced.
For more information on this situation, you can access the full article here.
Tragically, throughout much of Africa and Asia, this is not an isolated incident. These types of atrocities happen on a weekly, if not daily, basis.
But they never make the nightly news or the front page of American newspapers.
Over 95% of all the people on planet earth live outside of the United States. Americans make up a very, very small minority of the global population.
God loves all people – no matter their race, ethnicity or geographical location. They are made in His image. Therefore, we should deeply care what happens to them.
Please join me in praying for our brothers and sisters in Christ throughout the Majority World who are suffering immensely for their faith in Christ.
And they sang a new song, saying,
“Worthy are you to take the scroll
and to open its seals,
for you were slain, and by your blood
you ransomed people for God
from every tribe and language and people and nation,
and you have made them a kingdom and priests to our God,
and they shall reign on the earth.”(Revelation 5:9-10 ESV)
